YOUNG MEN IN POLITICS.
“And because I believe this is true, I hope to see earnest, honest young men go into politics. If they have strong convictions of what is right, and force of character enough to hold to these convictions against the many wrongful pressures and influences of political life, they will achieve success of the best kind.
“To-day, more than ever before in its history, the country needs men of this kind. Conditions have come into existence which must be changed. From an experience of years in practical business, I say that the young man now starts in commercial life heavily handicapped. In almost every line of business, he must fight great accumulations of capital, that usually either crush him or make a hireling of him. It has been said that the very name of America is a synonym of opportunity. It was so once, but my experience has taught me that this is entirely true no longer.
EVILS OF CONCENTRATION.
“In my opinion, the reason for the present hard conditions for the rank and file of men is the concentration of business within a few hands. This is a vast subject, and I do not intend to discuss it now. I only want to say that the remedy for the evil, which is felt most keenly by young men trying to succeed in life, lies largely in their own hands. Let them interest themselves in politics and insist, in the first place, that public utilities in cities, such as gas works and street-car lines, which all the people must use, and which bring in great revenues, be conducted for the benefit of the people at large, instead of for a few individuals. This would be only the first step to bring about improvement, but it would be a very important one. The present conditions may be worse before they are better, but, sooner or later, the problem will be solved. I have too much faith in the American people not to be sanguine of the future. And even now, although fortunes cannot be acquired as easily as they used to be, there are ample opportunities to acquire true success in life.
A WRONG CONCEPTION OF SUCCESS.
“The trouble with a great many young men is that they have a wrong conception of success. Large numbers imagine it lies in mere money-making. Yet the average millionaire is not a happy or even a contented man. He has been so engrossed from his youth in piling up dollars that he has had no time for the cultivation of the higher qualities of his mind and heart, in the exercise of which the only true happiness is to be found. You may remember that Emerson said: ‘Happiness lies only in the triumph of principle.’
“Of course, a certain amount of money is a necessity, and more of it enables one to enjoy many things which would be an impossibility without it. I am not advising any young man not to do all he can in a legitimate way to make money; but, if he is successful, he must be careful to keep money his servant, and not let it become his master.