THE FAT MAN
When we were children and went to the circus, our favorite performer in
the sawdust ring was always the clown, and our favorite clown was the fat
one. In fact, we do not remember ever having seen a clown who was not a
fat man.
Alas! how many were the tribulations of our rotund friend! How he was
buffeted, and paddled, and slapped! How often he tumbled and fell! How
maliciously inanimate objects flew up and hit him in the face! How
constantly his best efforts went for naught, how invariably he was
misunderstood! How great was the glee with which everybody persecuted him
and knocked him about the ring! And yet, notwithstanding all his troubles,
did he win from us a sympathetic sigh or even the fraction of a tear,
except tears of laughter? All his troubles seemed funny to us.
Millions are still laughing at the comic tribulations of dear old John
Bunny, although he has gone beyond the power of things to trouble him. We
have laughed and are still laughing at Thomas Wise. From the days of
Falstaff down to those of the "movies," we have enjoyed laughing at the
plights of a fat man on the stage.
FAT MEN RULE THE WORLD
In real life it is much the same. Every fat man knows that only by unusual
patience, good nature, and friendly tolerance can he live with his
fellows. He is the butt of all jokes; he must smile at a constant patter
of pleasantries about his unusual size. He hears the same old stupid japes
over and over and over again. If he weren't the prince of good fellows and
the best-natured man in the world, it would fare ill for those who torment
him.
As a matter of fact, it may be better for the rest of us than for the fat
man that he is good natured, easy going, genial, fond of a good laugh;
because fat men rule the world. Perhaps that is why it is so funny to us
to see them in trouble. It is one of the foibles of humanity always to
find pleasure in the mishaps of its rulers and superiors. The pranks of
the schoolboy are intended to cause perplexity and distress to his
teacher. This is true of the college youth in his playfulness. The same
human trait manifests itself in a thousand other ways.
The fat man was born to rule. He enjoys the good things of life. He is
fond of luxuries. He has a keenly developed sense of taste, and a nice
discrimination of flavor. He likes to wear good clothing. He likes soft,
upholstered chairs, comfortable beds, a goodly shelter. Like old King Cole
(always pictured in our nursery books with a Garguntian girth), he enjoys
"his pipe and his bowl and his fiddlers three." He is fond of a good joke,
and laughs more heartily than any one else at it. In fact, enjoyment and
pleasure may be said to be the keynote of the typical fat man's
personality. But he is too heavy for physical activity. His feet are too
small for the weight of his body. He does not care for strenuous physical
exercise. It is not his idea of a good time to follow a golf ball all over
a twenty-acre field. He does it only because he thus hopes to reduce his
flesh and enable himself to become once more the romantic figure he was in
his youth. For, while the fat man may be a master of comedy, and while he
may be a ruler of the people, he is not romantic. The big fellows do not
well sustain romantic rôles, except in grand opera, where nearly
everything but the music is illusion and elusive. Our novelists all tell
us that as soon as a man's girth begins to increase, he looks ridiculous
in a fine frenzy. J.M. Barrie makes a very keen point of this in his story
of Tommy and Grizel. It was the increasing size of his waist band that
drove poor Tommy to such extreme measures as to cause his final downfall
and death. His one great aim in life was to be romantic, and when the lady
of his desires giggled about his increasing size it was too much.
Scientific research, philosophy, and the more strenuous and concentrated
forms of mental activity seem to require a certain degree of asceticism in
order to be wholly efficient. We are told that the person who feeds too
well causes his mind to grow rather ponderous in its movements. He is
inclined to fall asleep if he remains quiet and practices severe mental
concentration for too long a time.
HE PLANS WORK FOR OTHERS
If, therefore, the fat man cannot work at physical labor, if he is not
fitted for romance, if he is incapacitated by his love of the good things
of life for severe mental labor, what can he do to fill his purse, supply
his table, clothe his portly person, and surround himself with the
elegancies and luxuries which are so dear to his heart?
Evidently the fat man found out long ago that the eager, active, restless,
energetic, muscular, raw-boned soldier and workman was far more interested
in the exercise of his muscles and in outdoor activity than he was in
securing niceties and luxuries. He also learned that the thinker, the
philosopher, the scientific experimenter, and all who took delight in
mental effort were more deeply interested in their studies, in their
research, in their philosophies, and in their religions than they were in
money, food, clothing, and shelter. So he set about it, with his jovial
personality, his persuasiveness, and keen sense of values, to organize the
thinkers and philosophers under his direction, so that he could take and
use for himself the product of their mental labors. He was perfectly
willing to agree to feed and take care of them, to clothe and shelter
them, in return for what they could give him. They didn't eat much. They
didn't care much for fine clothing. They were perfectly satisfied in very
plain and rather ascetic surroundings. They were, therefore, a rather
inexpensive lot of people for him to keep.
Taking the plans, schemes, inventions, and discoveries from those who
thought them out, the fat man carried them to the muscular fellows, who
were just spoiling for a fight or for some opportunity to exercise their
physical powers. These he organized into armies--to fight, to till the
soil, and to build and manufacture. These armies carried out the ideas the
fat man got for them from the lean and hungry thinkers. They gloried in
hardship. They rather enjoyed roughing it, and took delight in privation.
Therefore, they also were a comparatively easy burden on the hands of the
fat man; who was thus enabled to sit upon a golden throne, in a
comfortable palace, surrounded by all the beauties and luxuries gathered
from the four winds, and enjoy himself while directing the work of both
the intellectual giant and the physical giant.
THE SLENDER SCHOLAR AND THE RUGGED SOLDIER
Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Spencer, Emerson, and Bergson were
philosophers, and were all lean and slender men. Lord Kelvin, Lister,
Darwin, Curie, Francis Bacon, Michelson, Loeb, Burbank, and most of our
other scientists are also of the thin, lean type. Shakespeare, Longfellow,
Holmes, Ruskin, Tindall, Huxley, and a long list of other intellectual and
spiritual writers were men who never put on much flesh. James Watt, Robert
Fulton, Elias Howe, Eli Whitney, S.F.B. Morse, Marconi, Alexander Graham
Bell, the Wright Brothers, and nearly all of our other great inventors
have also been men whose habit was slender. Alexander, Napoleon,
Washington, Grant, Kitchener, and most of our other great soldiers, while
robust, are of the raw-boned, muscular type. They do not belong in the
list of the fat men. The same is true of our great railroad builders, of
Stanley, Peary, Livingston, and other explorers, of De Palma, Oldfield,
Anderson, Cooper, Resta, and our other automobile racing kings. You look
in vain among the aviators for a huge, rotund figure. Spend a week in New
York City looking over subway workers, structural iron workers, guards,
brakemen, motormen, carpenters, bricklayers, truckmen, stevedores, and
boatmen. Go out into the country, look over the farm hands, the gardeners,
the woodsmen, and all who work with their hands in the midst of nature,
and in all the list you will find very few, if any, fat men. Fat men are,
therefore, doing neither the actual intellectual nor the actual physical
work of the world.
THE FAT MAN'S MODERN THRONE
Study butchers, bakers, chefs, provision merchants, and others who deal in
food products. Among them you will find a good many corpulent figures.
They are interested in good things to eat. They know how to handle them.
They know how to purchase them, and they know how to sell them. They are
able to tickle the palate of the lean and hungry scholar, of the robust
and active soldier or worker, and, especially, of men as epicurean as
themselves. They are, therefore, successful in the handling of food
products. Go a little further--study foremen, superintendents, managers,
and presidents of corporations. In many a large upholstered chair, which
represents, in our modern life, the golden throne of the olden days, you
will find a fat man. Here, as of old, they are taking the ideas of the
thinkers and the muscular powers of the workers, and combining the two to
make profit for themselves. At the same time, they are finding for the
thinker a market for his ideas that he himself could never find. Unless
the fat man fed him, the lean man would become so lean that he would
finally die of starvation. The big fellow is also finding a market for the
muscular power, energy, and skill of the worker; a market which the
worker, by himself, could never find.
THE FAT MAN'S VALUABLE SERVICE
Recently we made a study of a large corporation. Amongst other things, we
found it required ten thousand dollars capital to provide the building,
machinery, help, tools, advertising, selling, and other necessities of
that business for every employee on the payroll. It also required unusual
organizing ability and unusual selling ability to gather together the
means for manufacturing the product and getting it into the hands of the
consumer. It also required considerable genius to collect the money for
the product and apply it to the needs of the workers in the form of
payroll. These services of the fat man are often forgotten by those who
work under his direction.
In order that huge industries may be built up and employment secured for
hundreds of thousands of men, large bodies of capital must be gathered
together. This is a work for financiers. Go down into Wall Street, in New
York; La Salle Street, in Chicago; State Street, in Boston, and look over
the financiers there. A considerable number of them are fat men. Because
thinkers and workers cannot appreciate financial value, many of them
complain loudly because the fat man sits in an easy chair and reaps the
profits from their efforts. They restlessly agitate for an economic system
which will yield them all the profits from their ideas and labor. They
want to eliminate the capitalist--to condemn the fat man to a choice
between scholarship or working as they work and starvation. They know
human aptitudes so vaguely that they want to turn the corpulent into farm
hands or philosophers and the great mass of lean and bony into financial
rulers.
There is a prevalent notion among the unthinking that capital takes about
four-fifths of the products of labor's hands and keeps it. A committee of
the American Civic Federation, after three years of careful investigation
in industries employing an aggregate of ten million workers, found that
this idea is based upon the assumption that capital gets and keeps all the
gross income from production except what is paid to labor. It leaves out
of account the cost of raw materials, the upkeep of buildings and
machinery, and miscellaneous expenses. When these are subtracted from
gross income, the committee found, labor receives two-thirds of the
remainder in wages and salaries, capital one-third for interest, upkeep of
capital, and profit.
FINANCIER AND JUDGE
With some exceptions, neither the deep thinker nor the hard physical
worker is capable of handling finances. They are lacking in financial
acumen, due, no doubt, to the fact that the thinker is interested chiefly
in the object of his thought, the worker chiefly in the exercise of his
powerful muscles. Neither of them is sufficiently eager for the good
things of life to have a true and unerring sense of financial values. The
lean man is nervous. He is inclined to be irritable; he probably lacks
patience. Therefore, he is not well qualified to judge impartially. The
active, energetic, restless man is not contented to sit quietly for hours
at a time and listen to the troubles of other people. He must get away, be
out of doors, have something to do to exercise those splendid muscles of
his. Therefore, it is left to the fat man to sit upon the bench, to listen
to tiresome details of the woe of those who have had trouble with one
another. Because he is neither nervous nor irritable; because his mind is
at rest; because he is well fed and well clothed and has no need to be
anxious, he can take time to be impartial and to judge righteous judgment
between his fellowmen. And so you will find fat men on the bench, in
politics, in the halls of legislature, on the police force, and in other
places where they have an opportunity to use their judicial ability.
HOW MISFITS HAPPEN
So unerring is the fat man's judgment of values, as a general rule, that
it is not at all likely that he would ever find himself a misfit were it
not for the fact that many men are lean and slender or muscular and robust
up to the age of 30 or 40, and after that put on flesh rapidly. These men,
therefore, are often deceived in regard to themselves. In the slenderness
of youth, they feel active and are active. In short, they have the
qualities, in these early periods of their life, which we should expect in
men of similar build. They are, therefore, too likely to enter upon
vocations for which they will find themselves unfitted as the years go by
and they put on more flesh. It often happens that men of this class
graduate from the ranks of thinkers or workers into the ranks of managers,
financiers, bankers, and judges, as they put on flesh and become better
and better adapted for that particular kind of work. The only trouble is
that sometimes they are not well enough trained--they do not have
sufficient education for the higher positions. In these cases they remain
misfits. Oftentimes they succeed in getting into positions of
comparatively mediocre executive nature, when they could assume and make a
success of very much higher positions if they had a true knowledge of
their vocations.
A FAT MAN'S SUCCESS
The story of Hon. Alfred L. Cutting, of Weston, Massachusetts, perhaps
illustrates as well as any other in our records the aptitudes and
vocational possibilities of this type. Mr. Cutting comes of good old New
England stock, his ancestors on both sides having settled in Massachusetts
comparatively early in the seventeenth century. His father and his
grandfather before him were merchants, and young Alfred began working in
the parental general store as soon as he had finished school.
As a youth, Mr. Cutting was quite distinctly of the bony and muscular
type, being very active, fond of rowing and fishing, a great lover of
nature and of long tramps through the beautiful hills of eastern
Massachusetts. As he entered manhood, however, he began to put on more
flesh and to take less interest in strenuous outdoor sports. At the same
time, he began to take a hand, in a quiet, modest way, in the town
politics of Weston. While still a comparatively young man, he was elected
a member of the board of selectmen of this town and has held this position
with singular acceptability to his fellow-citizens almost continuously
ever since.
For a number of years, Mr. Cutting was associated with his father and
brother in the general store, but, as time went on, he became ambitious to
enlarge his activities. He, therefore, assisted in the organization of the
New England branch of the Sheldon School, of Chicago, and was its manager
for a number of years. When he first undertook this work, Mr. Cutting had
never made a public speech in his life, and, while he was interested in
politics and ambitious for success along this line, he felt greatly
handicapped by what he considered to be his inability to face an audience
acceptably. It was at about this time that we first formed the
acquaintance of Mr. Cutting and, upon consultation, informed him of his
natural aptitudes and talents. He immediately began a careful study of
public speaking, supplementing this study with actual practice both in
politics and in his capacity as manager of the Sheldon School. In 1908 and
1909 he was a member of the House of Representatives for the State of
Massachusetts, gaining credit for himself as a member of important
committees and rendering to his own constituency unusually faithful and
efficient service.
SUCCESS IN EXECUTIVE CAPACITY
As manager for the Sheldon School, Mr. Cutting selected and trained a
number of salesmen and assistants in the leadership of whom he did
excellent work, he himself delivering lectures before boards of trade,
chambers of commerce, trade conventions, and other such bodies in all
parts of New England. He has since, however, given up this particular line
of work to devote himself to politics, to his civic duties, and to the
management of his growing mercantile business. He is, at present, chairman
of the board of selectmen for the town of Weston, an office which he has
held with distinction for five years. He is also a member of the executive
committee of the Republican Club of Massachusetts. In 1913 he was the
Republican candidate for representative in Congress for the thirteenth
district, at the special election held during that year to fill the
vacancy caused by the promotion of the Hon. John W. Weeks to the United
States Senate. This was the year when the Progressive vote was very large
and the Republican candidate for governor in Massachusetts was thousands
of votes behind the Progressive. Notwithstanding this unusual political
situation, Mr. Cutting, though not elected, led his Progressive opponent
by more than 3,000 votes, and, by his splendid leadership, helped lay the
foundation for the Republican victory in the same district the following
year. At this writing, Mr. Cutting has just won a notable victory at the
polls, having been elected a member of the board of county commissioners
for Middlesex County by a very large plurality. He carried every district
in the county except two, and in nearly every district he ran far ahead of
his ticket.
POLITICAL PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES
Mr. Cutting's ability, however, is by no means fully indicated by the
offices which he has held. He has never been an office seeker, but has
preferred rather to work as a political leader. His great interest in
politics arises, first, from his ardent desire for excellence and
efficiency in the public service. Under his leadership, the town of Weston
has built and maintains more miles of excellent roads, at less cost to the
tax payer, than any other town of its area in the State. Its schools and
other public institutions are similarly efficient and conducted with a
similar degree of economy. Second, Mr. Cutting enjoys politics because he
loves the game. Like all true sportsmen, he plays to win, but is neither
chagrined or cast down if he loses. He is always able to rejoice with the
victor if beaten in a fair fight.
FINANCIAL ACUMEN
Mr. Cutting is one of the organizers of the Metropolitan Bank of Boston,
and a prominent member of its board of directors, thus indicating his
growing interest in financial matters.
The portraits of Mr. Cutting, shown on pages 126 and 127, are well worthy
of study. In them are evident his cheerfulness, his geniality, his
shrewdness, his friendliness, and his honesty of purpose. These are shown
largely in the expression, but also in the full, found development of his
head just above the temples, in his long back head, and in the general
squareness of the head. This squareness, especially in the back, indicates
also his prudence, his tendency to take precautions and, through
foresight, to forestall disaster. The narrowness of the head, just above
the ears, indicates mildness of disposition and an ability to secure his
ends by tact, diplomacy, and intellectual mastery rather than by open
combat and belligerency. The fulness of the eyes indicates Mr. Cutting's
command of language, and the broad, square chin his determination and
deliberation; the long line from the point of the chin to the crown of the
head, his love of authority and his ability to lead and to rule.
INDICATIONS OF APPROACHING STOUTNESS
The man of slender build who has indications clearly marked and easily
recognizable of approaching stoutness should prepare himself for
executive, financial, judicial, or merchandising work. He should study
law, economics, finance, banking, politics, political economy, public
speaking and other such branches. If he has the ability to write, he
should prepare himself to write on financial or political subjects. Many
of our most noted political writers are fat men. Such writers as Alfred G.
Lewis, Samuel G. Blythe, and others are good examples of this type.
Indications of approaching stoutness are not difficult to detect. Heredity
has a powerful influence. The young man who resembles his father in facial
appearance and coloring, will probably grow stout if his father is a fat
man. When the face inclines to be round, the cheeks rather full, and the
lips full, there is a fair probability that the individual will take on
flesh. A concave form of face is also another good indication. The concave
face is shown in Figure 31. It will be seen that it is prominent at the
point of the chin, and not so prominent at the mouth, and prominent at the
top of the forehead, near the hair line, and not so prominent at the
brows. The nose, also, is inclined to be sway backed. Another indication
which should have a bearing in the choice of a vocation is the thickness
of the neck, especially, at the back, and a fulness of the back head, at
the base of the brain. Such fulness is shown in Figure 16.
Wideness of the head, in comparison with length and height, is also
another indication that the individual may put on flesh as he grows
older. The man or woman who has a majority of these indications will do
well to prepare himself or herself for a position of command.
The world is a richer, pleasanter, better fed, better clothed, and happier
place because of its fat men. It is true, they enjoy the good things of
life themselves, but, as a general rule, they also like to see others
enjoy them, and well deserve the rich rewards they reap. We are glad that
so few of them are ever poor and hungry.
[Illustration: FIG. 17. Beaumont, Aviator. His square jaw, strong
chin, large nose, large ear, convex profile, and alert, keen expression
all indicate activity, energy, love of motion, desire for speed, and
physical courage.]
[Illustration: Photo by Paul Thompson. N.
FIG. 18. The late Lincoln Beachy, Aviator. A man of consummate physical
courage and coolness. Note long lines of face and unusually long,
prominent chin.]
[Illustration: _Copyright by Harris & Ewing_.
FIG. 19. Col. George W. Goethals, Builder of the Panama Canal and Governor
of Canal Zone. Of the intellectual but bony and muscular type. Short,
stocky, enduring, and resistant. Finer and kindlier than FIG. 20 or FIG.
21, as shown by texture and expression, but firm, dogged, and just. A
natural-born executive for construction or mechanical work. Note firm
mouth and chin, with slight droop at corners, showing determination and
self-control.]
[Illustration: _Copyright American Press Association_.
FIG. 20. Field Marshal von Hindenberg, of the German Army. A splendid
example of the bony, muscular type. Unusually determined, persistent,
enduring, and resistant. Prudent, far-sighted, dogged, unsentimental,
capable of enduring great hardship. Note short, stocky build; big, square
chin and jaw; long, square head; relentless expression of mouth and eyes;
coarse texture, and big, heavy-tipped nose. A great executive, especially
as a relentless driver and rigid disciplinarian.]
[Illustration: _Copyright American Press Association_.
FIG. 21. Rear Admiral Frank E. Beatty, of the American Navy. A fine
example of the bony and muscular type. Rugged and enduring, keen, alert,
and resourceful. Finer and kindlier than von Hindenberg, but not quite so
fine, intellectual and kindly as Goethals. Just and determined as an
executive, of which he is an excellent type. Note finer texture and more
genial expression.]
[Illustration: FIG. 22. William Lloyd Garrison, the Great Abolitionist. A
man of the bony and muscular type, with the passion of his type for
freedom. A man of high ideals, great courage, determination, and
perseverance. Note large, well-formed features; forehead prominent at
brows; long upper lip, and high, spirited expression. Such a man cannot be
overlooked.]
[Illustration: _Photo by Pach, N.Y._
FIG. 23. Samuel Rea, Railroad Builder and Executive. Very alert, keen,
practical, matter-of-fact, hard-headed; a good observer, a quick thinker.
Very decisive, determined, and persistent. Understands construction,
mechanics, and operation. Note well-developed brows; moderately low,
square forehead; height of crown; width of head; large, well-formed nose,
mouth, chin, jaw, and ears, and keen, but calm, self-possessed
expression.]
[Illustration: FIG. 24. Lon Wescott Beck, the Sign Poster of Death
Valley. An out-of-doors man. Loves grandeur of scenery, wide spaces. Note
long, square, prominent chin; long lines of face; width between eyes, and
width at top of head.]