Young men after they get through their business training, or
apprenticeship, instead of pursuing their avocation and rising in their
business, will often lie about doing nothing. They say; "I have learned
my business, but I am not going to be a hireling; what is the object of
learning my trade or profession, unless I establish myself?'"
"Have you capital to start with?"
"No, but I am going to have it."
"How are you going to get it?"
"I will tell you confidentially; I have a wealthy old aunt, and she will
die pretty soon; but if she does not, I expect to find some rich old man
who will lend me a few thousands to give me a start. If I only get the
money to start with I will do well."
There is no greater mistake than when a young man believes he will
succeed with borrowed money. Why? Because every man's experience
coincides with that of Mr. Astor, who said, "it was more difficult for
him to accumulate his first thousand dollars, than all the succeeding
millions that made up his colossal fortune." Money is good for nothing
unless you know the value of it by experience. Give a boy twenty
thousand dollars and put him in business, and the chances are that he
will lose every dollar of it before he is a year older. Like buying a
ticket in the lottery; and drawing a prize, it is "easy come, easy go."
He does not know the value of it; nothing is worth anything, unless
it costs effort. Without self-denial and economy; patience and
perseverance, and commencing with capital which you have not earned, you
are not sure to succeed in accumulating. Young men, instead of "waiting
for dead men's shoes," should be up and doing, for there is no class of
persons who are so unaccommodating in regard to dying as these rich old
people, and it is fortunate for the expectant heirs that it is so. Nine
out of ten of the rich men of our country to-day, started out in life
as poor boys, with determined wills, industry, perseverance, economy and
good habits. They went on gradually, made their own money and saved it;
and this is the best way to acquire a fortune. Stephen Girard started
life as a poor cabin boy, and died worth nine million dollars. A.T.
Stewart was a poor Irish boy; and he paid taxes on a million and a half
dollars of income, per year. John Jacob Astor was a poor farmer boy,
and died worth twenty millions. Cornelius Vanderbilt began life rowing a
boat from Staten Island to New York; he presented our government with
a steamship worth a million of dollars, and died worth fifty million.
"There is no royal road to learning," says the proverb, and I may say it
is equally true, "there is no royal road to wealth." But I think there
is a royal road to both. The road to learning is a royal one; the road
that enables the student to expand his intellect and add every day to
his stock of knowledge, until, in the pleasant process of intellectual
growth, he is able to solve the most profound problems, to count the
stars, to analyze every atom of the globe, and to measure the firmament
this is a regal highway, and it is the only road worth traveling.
So in regard to wealth. Go on in confidence, study the rules, and above
all things, study human nature; for "the proper study of mankind is
man," and you will find that while expanding the intellect and
the muscles, your enlarged experience will enable you every day to
accumulate more and more principal, which will increase itself by
interest and otherwise, until you arrive at a state of independence. You
will find, as a general thing, that the poor boys get rich and the rich
boys get poor. For instance, a rich man at his decease, leaves a large
estate to his family. His eldest sons, who have helped him earn his
fortune, know by experience the value of money; and they take their
inheritance and add to it. The separate portions of the young children
are placed at interest, and the little fellows are patted on the head,
and told a dozen times a day, "you are rich; you will never have to
work, you can always have whatever you wish, for you were born with a
golden spoon in your mouth." The young heir soon finds out what that
means; he has the finest dresses and playthings; he is crammed with
sugar candies and almost "killed with kindness," and he passes from
school to school, petted and flattered. He becomes arrogant and
self-conceited, abuses his teachers, and carries everything with a high
hand. He knows nothing of the real value of money, having never earned
any; but he knows all about the "golden spoon" business. At college, he
invites his poor fellow-students to his room, where he "wines and dines"
them. He is cajoled and caressed, and called a glorious good follow,
because he is so lavish of his money. He gives his game suppers, drives
his fast horses, invites his chums to fetes and parties, determined
to have lots of "good times." He spends the night in frolics and
debauchery, and leads off his companions with the familiar song, "we
won't go home till morning." He gets them to join him in pulling down
signs, taking gates from their hinges and throwing them into back yards
and horse-ponds. If the police arrest them, he knocks them down, is
taken to the lockup, and joyfully foots the bills.
"Ah! my boys," he cries, "what is the use of being rich, if you can't
enjoy yourself?"
He might more truly say, "if you can't make a fool of yourself;" but
he is "fast," hates slow things, and doesn't "see it." Young men loaded
down with other people's money are almost sure to lose all they inherit,
and they acquire all sorts of bad habits which, in the majority of
cases, ruin them in health, purse and character. In this country, one
generation follows another, and the poor of to-day are rich in the
next generation, or the third. Their experience leads them on, and they
become rich, and they leave vast riches to their young children. These
children, having been reared in luxury, are inexperienced and get poor;
and after long experience another generation comes on and gathers up
riches again in turn. And thus "history repeats itself," and happy is he
who by listening to the experience of others avoids the rocks and shoals
on which so many have been wrecked.
"In England, the business makes the man." If a man in that country is
a mechanic or working-man, he is not recognized as a gentleman. On
the occasion of my first appearance before Queen Victoria, the Duke of
Wellington asked me what sphere in life General Tom Thumb's parents were
in.
"His father is a carpenter," I replied.
"Oh! I had heard he was a gentleman," was the response of His Grace.
In this Republican country, the man makes the business. No matter
whether he is a blacksmith, a shoemaker, a farmer, banker or lawyer,
so long as his business is legitimate, he may be a gentleman. So any
"legitimate" business is a double blessing it helps the man engaged in
it, and also helps others. The Farmer supports his own family, but he
also benefits the merchant or mechanic who needs the products of his
farm. The tailor not only makes a living by his trade, but he also
benefits the farmer, the clergyman and others who cannot make their own
clothing. But all these classes often may be gentlemen.
The great ambition should be to excel all others engaged in the same
occupation.
The college-student who was about graduating, said to an old lawyer:
"I have not yet decided which profession I will follow. Is your
profession full?"
"The basement is much crowded, but there is plenty of room up-stairs,"
was the witty and truthful reply.
No profession, trade, or calling, is overcrowded in the upper story.
Wherever you find the most honest and intelligent merchant or banker,
or the best lawyer, the best doctor, the best clergyman, the best
shoemaker, carpenter, or anything else, that man is most sought for,
and has always enough to do. As a nation, Americans are too
superficial--they are striving to get rich quickly, and do not generally
do their business as substantially and thoroughly as they should, but
whoever excels all others in his own line, if his habits are good and
his integrity undoubted, cannot fail to secure abundant patronage,
and the wealth that naturally follows. Let your motto then always be
"Excelsior," for by living up to it there is no such word as fail.