“When the Civil War began, I offered my services to the government, and
was placed in charge of the military telegraph in the Department of
Arkansas. Missouri and Kansas were subsequently added to my territory.
I served through the war, and, at its close, when I was twenty-seven
years old, I became a district superintendent for the Western Union
Telegraph Company in the southwest. I have been with this company ever
since, having served in various capacities in St. Louis and Chicago.
This is my fiftieth year in the telegraph business, and I became
president of the Western Union just fifty years to a month after I
first entered the Joliet office and asked for work.”
“Do you think that a young man starting in commercial life to-day has
as good a chance to rise as one had fifty years ago?” Colonel Clowry
was asked.
“Yes, indeed; in my opinion the chances of success in commercial
business, for the right sort of young men, have never before been so
good as they are at the present time, provided that the young men are
well educated, honest, industrious, and faithful, and not handicapped
by mental or physical defects.”
“But you had only a common-school education, Colonel Clowry.”
“Yes, and that is quite sufficient in business if it is supplemented by
some technical training. I have always thought that a full university
course has a tendency to unfit young men for the rough struggles
incident to the small beginnings of a commercial business career.
It is advisable for boys to enter business early in life, so that
they may be moulded to their work, and be in line for promotion when
opportunities present themselves. Boys have an idea nowadays that they
can leave college and immediately fill important positions in business
life. There was never a greater mistake. Although I was in charge of
an office six months after beginning work, it has taken fifty years to
reach my present position.”