Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-11
BY MYRT.4 ETHEL CAWOOD.

RE your inherent traits Of character and
~ your lifes work influenced by the stars?
~ Since early childhood have heard that
the stars rule our fate. Napoleon liked
to talk about his star of destiny" Volumes
have been written on the subject of astrology.
It Is one Of the pet superstitions Of the ages
The question puzzled me. Out of my puzzle
ment grew an elaborate scheme to test this
arbitrary wielder of fate. I studied human
beings themselves, not by the stars, nor from
books, but by their own lives. A venerable
aStrologer told me that could not prove or
disprove the science" of aStrology because I
knew nothing about it. admit my ignorance,
both then and now. However, during the last
10 years I have interviewed many men--thou-
sands OF them. Some of them were amazingly
successful, and some were mediocre. Others
were failures at one tjne or duty-and emil
nently successful at others. OF course there
were total failures-if there are such in life
Not one Of these men know they have been
interviewed For they were all paper inter-
views. This study was made from the records
IN the War Department of World War officers
Each mans file consists of huge mass of
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., clippings, opinions and
other data of various kinds. These men are
never allowed to see their own files, from which
man Is seen impersonally, as others see him.
therefore; my opinions are formed without n"
influence OF personal contact After stddyiug
men for several years from their personal rec
ords, decided to put my observations relative
to their birth month to concrete test
1 disregarded all men who were unsuccessful
physically incapacitated, and those under 80
years OF age. Then 1 tabulated 1000 sue
cessful men, just as they came, without picking
them out for any reason whatever These
are living men who help daily to turn the
wheels OF industry, science and society. Should
name them, you would know many Of them
zach man was first listed according to his
profession Then I noted his traits of
character. These were found in unexpected
places and ways--in letters of Recommendation.
reports of his work by superiorS efficiency rec
ordS records of achievement and so on Often
a mans own correspondence gave him away
Not infrequenty there were newspaper clip
pings sent in by enemies or friends or COM
plants from creditors of financial irregulari-
ties. Perchance court records of divorce or
civil troubles were on file which clearly indi-
Gated the mans character.
After reading through a heterogeneous file
from one to three inches thick all pertaining
to one man, it is easy to form a fair Judgment
OF that individual. When anything was found
In mans papers that might be termed a trait
OF character l put 1t down under his birth
month. For instance, a man born in April
had no early educational advantages Under
the heading education" he claimed grammar
school. night school and correspondence courses.
He is now so years old and is president OF his
own manufacturing plant From these facts
alone it is easy to list to his creditor to
Aprlrs credit. rathe"-t.le following: studious-
ness, ambition, perseverance. executive ability
and that intangible something so few people
have-the vision of multiplication which is the
basis of manufacturing in quantity In this
way all outcropping traits Of character were
listed under each month. Tr>"cn trails that
- .-...,'-.,,- 49,. -.t.l. .....r .-...,- -