Little Visits with Great Americans. Эндрю Карнеги
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I consider the turning-point.”
PERSEVERANCE, MR. FIELD’S ESSENTIAL TRAIT.
“What one trait of your character do you look upon as having been the most essential to your successful career?”
“Perseverance,” said Mr. Field; but another at hand insisted upon the addition of “good judgment” to this, which Mr. Field indifferently acknowledged. “If I am compelled to lay claim to these traits,” he went on, “it is simply because I have tried to practice them, and because the trying has availed me much, I suppose. I have always tried to make all my acts and commercial moves the result of definite consideration and sound judgment. There were never any great ventures or risks—nothing exciting whatever. I simply practiced honest, slow-growing business methods, and tried to back them with energy and good system.”
“Have you always been a hard-worker?”
“No,” Mr. Field said, with the shadow of a smile. “I have never believed in overworking, either as applied to myself or others. It is always paid for with a short life, and I do not believe in it.”
“Has there ever been a time in your life when you gave as much as eighteen hours a day to your work?”
“Never. That is, never as a steady practice. During the time of the fire in 1871, there was a short period in which I worked very hard. For several weeks then I worked the greater part of night and day, as almost anyone would have done in my place. My fortune, however, has not been made in that manner, and, as I have said, I believe in reasonable hours for everyone, but close attention during those hours.”
“Do you work as much as you once did?”
“I never worked very many hours a day. Besides, people do not work as many hours a day now as they once did. The day’s labor has shortened in the last twenty years for everyone. Still, granting that, I cannot say that I work as much as I once did, and I frankly admit that I do not feel the need of it.”
“Do you believe,” I went on, “that a man should cease laboring before his period of usefulness is over, so that he may enjoy some of the results of his labor before death, or do you believe in retaining constant interest in affairs while strength lasts?”
“As to that, I hold the French idea, that a man ought to retire when he has gained a competence wherewith to do so. I think that is a very good idea. But I do not believe that when a man retires, or no longer attends to his private business in person every day, he has given up interest in the affairs of the world. He may be, in fact should be, doing wider and greater work when he has abandoned his private business, so far as personal attention is concerned.”
QUALITIES THAT MAKE FOR SUCCESS.
“What, Mr. Field,” I said, “do you consider to be the first requisite for success in life, so far as the young beginner is concerned?”
“The qualities of honesty, energy, frugality, integrity, are more necessary than ever to-day, and there is no success without them. They are so often urged that they have become commonplace, but they are really more prized than ever.”
“I should like to know what you believe should be the aim of the young man of to-day?”
“He should aim,” said Mr. Field, “to possess the qualities I have mentioned.”
“By some, however,” I suggested, “these are looked upon as a means to an aim only. Would you say to the young man, ‘get wealth?’ ”
“Not,” Mr. Field answered, “without practicing unflinchingly these virtues.”
“Would you say to him, ‘acquire distinction?’ ”
“Not at any expense to his moral character. I can only say, ‘practice these virtues and do the best you can.’ Any good fortune that comes by such methods is deserved and admirable.”
“Do you believe a college education for the young man to be a necessity in the future?”
“Not for business purposes. Better training will become more and more a necessity. The truth is, with most young men, a college education means that just at the time when they should be having business principles instilled into them, and be getting themselves energetically pulled together for their life’s work, they are sent to college. Then intervenes what many a young man looks back on as the jolliest time of his life—four years of college. Often when he comes out of college the young man is unfitted by this good time to buckle down to hard work, and the result is a failure to grasp opportunities that would have opened the way for a successful career.”
“Would you say that happiness consists in labor, or in contemplation of labor well done, or in increased possibility of doing more labor?”
“I should say,” said Mr. Field, “that a man finds happiness in all three. There certainly is no pleasure in idleness. I believe, as I have said, that a man, upon giving up business, does not necessarily cease laboring, but really does, or should do, more in a larger sense. He should interest himself in public affairs. There is no happiness in mere dollars. After they are had one cannot use but a moderate amount of them. It is given a man to eat so much, to wear so much, and to have so much shelter, and more he cannot use. When money has supplied these, its mission, so far as the individual is concerned, is fulfilled, and man must look further and higher. It is only in the wider public affairs, where money is a moving force toward the general welfare, that the possessor of it can possibly find pleasure, and that only in doing constantly more.”
“What,” I said, “in your estimation, is the greatest good a man can do?”
“The greatest good he can do is to cultivate himself in order that he may be of greater use to humanity.”
“What one suggestion,” I said, in conclusion, “can you give to the young men of to-day, that will be most useful to them, if observed?”
“Regardless,” said Mr. Field, “of any opinion of mine, or any wish on the part of the young men for wealth, distinction or praise, we know that to be honest is best. There is nothing better, and we also know that nothing can be more helpful than this when combined with other essential qualities.”
VI
Honesty, the Foundation of a Great Merchant’s Career
THE men who manipulate the levers that move the world, with few exceptions, were once poor boys. One of the largest retail stores in the world, in Philadelphia, and one of the handsomest stores in America, in New York, are monuments of the genius, industry and integrity of a “boy with no chance” who has become the peer of any of the merchant kings of our century. He is also one of the very foremost in many other enterprises.
To accomplish all these various things, it would be supposed that Mr. Wanamaker must have been a pet of fortune from the first. But that is not so. He began with nothing, as money goes, and has pushed his way to the top by sheer force of character, and by unwearying work.
I know of no career in this country that offers more encouragement to young people. It shows what persistency can do; it shows what intelligent, well-directed, tireless effort can do; and it proves that a man may devote himself to helping others, to the Sunday school, to the church, to broad philanthropy, and still be wonderfully successful in a business way.
A STANCH INHERITANCE.