The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-09-10
The Part Luck Plays

Recently a man created something OF . sensation AT q
conference of social workers in Minnesota when he re-
marked that luck, more than anything else, plays q
major part in human success or failure.
His observation, he said, was that persons who were
socially, economically and morally unfit frequently were
more successful than others Of equal intelligence and in
dustry and with economic, social and moral virtues
besides.
The statement made so much Of an impression that the
news associations made a feature story of it and Cir
culated it about the country. Apparently it was in the
same category with the famous story of the man biting
the dog and thereby getting into the headlines.
But was there anything so startling in the statement,
after all? If there is, we cannot see it. The only oddly
about the remark was that it was made by . social
worker. who is called on constantly to deal with the poor
and unfortunate. Quite probably such persons. in their
efforts to inspire the downtrodden with new zeal. may
forget the part which chance plays in fortune or mis-
fortune. But the rest Of us probably never overlook
the fact.
The only exceptions to that rule. apparently. are those
men who have been exceedingly fortunate and have ac-
CURED large fortunes. With power In their hands, the
great and the near great frequently are subjected 10
sycophantic adulation and the result sometimes Is to
create in their own minds the idea that they, and they
alone. are responsible for their success.
From such men we get the success stories which dom.
mate q certain type. Of magazine. Each one Is different
and yet all are alike. From reading them one would
think that honesty. hard work. faithfulness. . lust for
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are the source Of all success
These things count, Of course. but the rule doesn't
always work. Nearly everyone knows Of one or more
cases In which success went to the dumb rather than
the Intelligent; where the shirker profited more than
the worker: where the man Of the butterfly type reached
. higher pinnacle than one who possessed the sterling
virtues. where moral fitness seemed not to have been
taken into account at al BY whatever power portions out
success and failure.
Men have been made successful against their own
judgment: they have been made successful by q chance
acquaintance formed ct = critical time: they have been
mazda successful BY the need Of someone else rather than
by Their own performances. There Is no question As to
the part chance plays In human existence.
An automobile is wrecked. One is killed or, manned
Tor Life. another escapes unh~armed-perhaps to wreck
another automobile. And fate seems not to take into
account the comparative usefulness Of the person In
6ured or the persons who escaped.
There Is much to be said fof the cultivation Of per-
sonal economic and civic virtue. Of course. The spend
thrift finds himself unable to take advantage o. IN op-
pFtunit3 where . little cash would 60 q long way; the
Immoral man frequently is not regarded as a good credit
risk Positions Of trust are not knowingly conferred on
psEeous whose integrity has not been fairly well estab.
lHhoa
Ne1ccub Carlton, president Of the Western Union
Ieaeefaph company, remarked not so long ago that there
- = Aest : dosen men IN his otsanization vhs could