When I asked him what the true idea of success is, he replied, without
a moment’s hesitation:
“Money-making is the cheapest kind of success. It doesn’t indicate
the highest development, by any means. I will give you a simple
illustration, embodied in an incident which occurred this very day. A
friend of mine, a professional gentleman of high mental attainments,
had been offered a salary of ten thousand dollars a year by a
corporation engaged in transportation. He was strongly tempted to take
it, for he is working for the government at a salary of only five
thousand dollars. He admitted to me, however, that he is capable of
far greater usefulness, in his present work, than he would be in the
employment of the railroad. Thereupon I strongly advised him to reject
the larger offer, and he has done so. My reason was simply that money
does not measure one’s place in the world, one’s mental triumphs, or
one’s usefulness to humanity.”
“But money is a helpful factor in life,” I urged, “and is considered
indispensable, nowadays, in climbing up the ladder.”
“Well,” he replied, “if I had a son and a hundred thousand dollars, I
would keep them apart.”
In the senate a new member is not supposed to take part in debates, or
even discussions. The atmosphere is not only dignified, but frozen. I
strongly anticipate, however, that there will be a thawing out before
long. The presence of Mr. Dolliver ought to act like an old-fashioned
depot stove in a cold-storage room.