STAND FOR SOMETHING
The greatest thing that can be said of a man, no matter how much he has
achieved, is that _he has kept his record clean_.
Why is it that, in spite of the ravages of time, the reputation of
Lincoln grows larger and his character means more to the world every
year? It is because he kept his record clean, and never prostituted
his ability nor gambled with his reputation.
Where, in all history, is there an example of a man who was merely
rich, no matter how great his wealth, who exerted such a power for
good, who was such a living force in civilization, as was this poor
backwoods boy? What a powerful illustration of the fact that
_character_ is the greatest force in the world!
A man assumes importance and becomes a power in the world just as soon
as it is found that he stands for something; that he is not for sale;
that he will not lease his manhood for salary, for any amount of money
or for any influence or position; that he will not lend his name to
anything which he can not indorse.
The trouble with so many men to-day is that they do not stand for
anything outside their vocation. They may be well educated, well up in
their specialties, may have a lot of expert knowledge, but they can not
be depended upon. There is some flaw in them which takes the edge off
their virtue. They may be fairly honest, but you cannot bank on them.
It is not difficult to find a lawyer or a physician who knows a good
deal, who is eminent in his profession; but it is not so easy to find
one who is a man before he is a lawyer or a physician; whose name is a
synonym for all that is clean, reliable, solid, substantial. It is not
difficult to find a good preacher; but it is not so easy to find a real
man, sterling manhood, back of the sermon. It is easy to find
successful merchants, but not so easy to find men who put character
above merchandise. What the world wants is men who have principle
underlying their expertness--principle under their law, their medicine,
their business; men who stand for something outside of their offices
and stores; who stand for something in their community; whose very
presence carries weight.
Everywhere we see smart, clever, longheaded, shrewd men, but how
comparatively rare it is to find one whose record is as clean as a
hound's tooth; who will not swerve from the right; who would rather
fail than be a party to a questionable transaction!
Everywhere we see business men putting the stumbling-blocks of
deception and dishonest methods right across their own pathway,
tripping themselves up while trying to deceive others.
We see men worth millions of dollars filled with terror; trembling lest
investigations may uncover things which will damn them in the public
estimation! We see them cowed before the law like whipped spaniels;
catching at any straw that will save them from public disgrace!
What a terrible thing to live in the limelight of popular favor, to be
envied as rich and powerful, to be esteemed as honorable and
straightforward, and yet to be conscious all the time of not being what
the world thinks we are; to live in constant terror of discovery, in
fear that something may happen to unmask us and show us up in our true
light! But nothing can happen to injure seriously the man who lives
four-square to the world; who has nothing to cover up, nothing to hide
from his fellows; who lives a transparent, clean life, with never a
fear of disclosures. If all of his material possessions are swept away
from him, he knows that he has a monument in the hearts of his
countrymen, in the affection and admiration of the people, and that
nothing can happen to harm his real self because he has kept his record
clean.
Mr. Roosevelt early resolved that, let what would come, whether he
succeeded in what he undertook or failed, whether he made friends or
enemies, he would not take chances with his good name--he would part
with everything else first; that he would never gamble with his
reputation; that he would keep his record clean. His first ambition
was to stand for something, to be a man. Before he was a politician or
anything else the man must come first.
[Illustration: Theodore Roosevelt]
In his early career he had many opportunities to make a great deal of
money by allying himself with crooked, sneaking, unscrupulous
politicians. He had all sorts of opportunities for political graft.
But crookedness never had any attraction for him. He refused to be a
party to any political jobbery, any underhand business. He preferred
to lose any position he was seeking, to let somebody else have it, if
he must get smirched in the getting it. He would not touch a dollar,
place, or preferment unless it came to him clean, with no trace of
jobbery on it. Politicians who had an "ax to grind" knew it was no use
to try to bribe him, or to influence him with promises of patronage,
money, position, or power. Mr. Roosevelt knew perfectly well that he
would make many mistakes and many enemies, but he resolved to carry
himself in such a way that even his enemies should at least respect him
for his honesty of purpose, and for his straightforward, "square-deal"
methods. He resolved to keep his record clean, his name white, at all
hazards. Everything else seemed unimportant in comparison.
In times like these the world especially needs such men as Mr.
Roosevelt--men who hew close to the chalk-line of right and hold the
line plumb to truth; men who do not pander to public favor; men who
make duty and truth their goal and go straight to their mark, turning
neither to the right nor to the left, though a paradise tempt them.
Who can ever estimate how much his influence has done toward purging
politics and elevating the American ideal. He has changed the
view-point of many statesmen and politicians. He has shown them a new
and a better way. He has made many of them ashamed of the old methods
of grafting and selfish greed. He has held up a new ideal, shown them
that unselfish service to their country is infinitely nobler than an
ambition for self-aggrandizement. American patriotism has a higher
meaning to-day, because of the example of this great American. Many
young politicians and statesmen have adopted cleaner methods and higher
aims because of his influence. There is no doubt that tens of
thousands of young men in this country are cleaner in their lives, and
more honest and ambitious to be good citizens, because here is a man
who always stands for the "square deal," for civic righteousness, for
American manhood.
Every man ought to feel that there is something in him that bribery can
not touch, that influence can not buy; something that is not for sale;
something he would not sacrifice or tamper with for any price;
something he would give his life for if necessary.
If a man stands for something worth while, compels recognition for
himself alone, on account of his real worth, he is not dependent upon
recommendations; upon fine clothes, a fine house, or a pull. He is his
own best recommendation.
The young man who starts out with the resolution to make his character
his capital, and to pledge his whole manhood for every obligation he
enters into, will not be a failure, though he wins neither fame nor
fortune. No man ever really does a great thing who loses his character
in the process.
No substitute has ever yet been discovered for honesty. Multitudes of
people have gone to the wall trying to find one. Our prisons are full
of people who have attempted to substitute something else for it.
No man can really believe in himself when he is occupying a false
position and wearing a mask; when the little monitor within him is
constantly saying, "You know you are a fraud; you are not the man you
pretend to be." The consciousness of not being genuine, not being what
others think him to be, robs a man of power, honeycombs the character,
and destroys self-respect and self-confidence.
When Lincoln was asked to take the wrong side of a case he said, "I
could not do it. All the time while talking to that jury I should be
thinking, 'Lincoln, you're a liar, you're a liar,' and I believe I
should forget myself and say it out loud."
Character as capital is very much underestimated by a great number of
young men. They seem to put more emphasis upon smartness, shrewdness,
long-headedness, cunning, influence, a pull, than upon downright
honesty and integrity of character. Yet why do scores of concerns pay
enormous sums for the use of the name of a man who, perhaps, has been
dead for half a century or more? It is because there is power in that
name; because there is character in it; because it stands for
something; because it represents reliability and square dealing. Think
of what the name of Tiffany, of Park and Tilford, or any of the great
names which stand in the commercial world as solid and immovable as the
rock of Gibraltar, are worth!
Does it not seem strange that young men who know these facts should try
to build up a business on a foundation of cunning, scheming, and
trickery, instead of building on the solid rock of character,
reliability, and manhood? Is it not remarkable that so many men should
work so hard to establish a business on an unreliable, flimsy
foundation, instead of building upon the solid masonry of honest goods,
square dealing, reliability?
A name is worth everything until it is questioned; but when suspicion
clings to it, it is worth nothing. There is nothing in this world that
will take the place of character. There is no policy in the world, to
say nothing of the right or wrong of it, that compares with honesty and
square dealing.
In spite of, or because of, all the crookedness and dishonesty that is
being uncovered, of all the scoundrels that are being unmasked,
integrity is the biggest word in the business world to-day. There
never was a time in all history when it was so big, and it is growing
bigger. There never was a time when character meant so much in
business; when it stood for so much everywhere as it does to-day.
There was a time when the man who was the shrewdest and sharpest and
cunningest in taking advantage of others got the biggest salary; but
to-day the man at the other end of the bargain is looming up as never
before.
Nathan Straus, when asked the secret of the great success of his firm,
said it was their treatment of the man at the other end of the bargain.
He said they could not afford to make enemies; they could not afford to
displease or to take advantage of customers, or to give them reason to
think that they had been unfairly dealt with,--that, in the long run,
the man who gave the squarest deal to the man at the other end of the
bargain would get ahead fastest.
There are merchants who have made great fortunes, but who do not carry
weight among their fellow men because they have dealt all their lives
with inferiority. They have lived with shoddy and shams so long that
the suggestion has been held in their minds until their whole standards
of life have been lowered; their ideals have shrunken; their characters
have partaken of the quality of their business.
Contrast these men with the men who stood for half a century or more at
the head of solid houses, substantial institutions; men who have always
stood for quality in everything; who have surrounded themselves not
only with ability but with men and women of character.
We instinctively believe in character. We admire people who stand for
something; who are centered in truth and honesty. It is not necessary
that they agree with us. We admire them for their strength, the
honesty of their opinions, the inflexibility of their principles.
The late Carl Schurz was a strong man and antagonized many people. He
changed his political views very often; but even his worst enemies knew
there was one thing he would never go back on, friends or no friends,
party or no party--and that was his devotion to principle as he saw it.
There was no parleying with his convictions. He could stand alone, if
necessary, with all the world against him. His inconsistencies, his
many changes in parties and politics, could not destroy the universal
admiration for the man who stood for his convictions. Although he
escaped from a German prison and fled his country, where he had been
arrested on account of his revolutionary principles when but a mere
youth, Emperor William the First had such a profound respect for his
honesty of purpose and his strength of character that he invited him to
return to Germany and visit him, gave him a public dinner, and paid him
great tribute.
Who can estimate the influence of President Eliot in enriching and
uplifting our national ideas and standards through the thousands of
students who go out from Harvard University? The tremendous force and
nobility of character of Phillips Brooks raised everyone who came
within his influence to higher levels. His great earnestness in trying
to lead people up to his lofty ideals swept everything before it. One
could not help feeling while listening to him and watching him that
_there_ was a mighty triumph of character, a grand expression of superb
manhood. Such men as these increase our faith in the race; in the
possibilities of the grandeur of the coming man. We are prouder of our
country because of such standards.
It is the ideal that determines the direction of the life. And what a
grand sight, what an inspiration, are those men who sacrifice the
dollar to the ideal!
The principles by which the problem of success is solved are right and
justice, honesty and integrity; and just in proportion as a man
deviates from these principles he falls short of solving his problem.
It is true that he may reach _something_. He may get money, but is
that success? The thief gets money, but does he succeed? Is it any
honester to steal by means of a long head than by means of a long arm?
It is very much more dishonest, because the victim is deceived and then
robbed--a double crime.
We often receive letters which read like this:
"I am getting a good salary; but I do not feel right about it, somehow.
I can not still the voice within me that says, 'Wrong, wrong,' to what
I am doing."
"Leave it, leave it," we always say to the writers of these letters.
"Do not stay in a questionable occupation, no matter what inducement it
offers. Its false light will land you on the rocks if you follow it.
It is demoralizing to the mental faculties, paralyzing to the
character, to do a thing which one's conscience forbids."
Tell the employer who expects you to do questionable things that you
can not work for him unless you can put the trade-mark of your manhood,
the stamp of your integrity, upon everything you do. Tell him that if
the highest thing in you can not bring success, surely the lowest can
not. You can not afford to sell the best thing in you, your honor,
your manhood, to a dishonest man or a lying institution. You should
regard even the suggestion that you might sell out for a consideration
as an insult.
Resolve that you will not be paid for being something less than a man;
that you will not lease your ability, your education, your
inventiveness, your self-respect, for salary, to do a man's lying for
him; either in writing advertisements, selling goods, or in any other
capacity.
Resolve that, whatever your vocation, you are going to stand for
something; that you are not going to be _merely_ a lawyer, a physician,
a merchant, a clerk, a farmer, a congressman, or a man who carries a
big money-bag; but that you are going to be a _man_ first, last, and
all the time.