TITE SUNDAY OREGCiXTAX, POITCXANIV JUNE 18, 1910.
A
Yesterday is your enemy;
forget what you were; con
sider what you are and de
termine what you mean to be.
The man who carries a rab
bit's foot is usually hare
brained. Wit and will are the
only proven lucky charms.
12
Verses f
W
Herbert Kaufman J
A.
mi " " fin
THE ANVIL CHORUS
BY HERBERT KAUFMAN.
When Fortune knocks Envy promptly follows suit. Every winning starts a whining.
Disappointment often consoles itself with defamation and depreciation.
Jealousy is a bitter cur, but seldom a biting one. So don't be disturbed by the bark of
toothless brains.
It's mainly insignificant folks who resent the existence of accomplishments beyond their
own range. The Adam Family is notoriously reluctant to accept the superiority of any
fellow. If failures would concede successes more graciously, hey would soon learn to
conceive them.
Only big men appreciate the merit of others that's the quality which makes them
great. To recognize genius is the next thing to possessing it.
Ignorance and inefficiency are least ready to accord merit its due. The less a man
knows, the wilder his jeers against knowledge. Vanity is intolerant of a better the dog
in the manger is Conceit's special pet.
Your progress is sure to arouse the resentment and provoke the hostility of numbers
who secretly want what you have and wish to be what you are.
An admission that you can honestly achieve beyond their capacities, necessitates a
frank self -measurement to which few are willing fo submit demands a confession of in
feriority. You can't put your name on all men's tongues without leaving a bitter taste in some
of their mouths. The derision of fools and the mud-flinging of soreheads is a standard pen
alty for ambition.
Distinction can only be gained through bold and positive courses. No decisive action
ever lacked the disapproval of those who held opposite views, or who were profiting by
the continuance of contrary conditions.
Do your best and don't mind the rest. Assumption of power invites slander and
malice is a challenge to back-biters and dirt-throwers.
It's a hopeless aspiration to escape the rut and misinterpretation. The most you can
look for is a set of partisans sufficient to offset an inevitable batch of ill-wishers.
Nonentities are not talked about there's no subject for discussion.
People who are without enemies simply haven't attracted notice. You can't please
everybody.
No rule of conduct is acceptable to the entire community. The thief is hostile to hon
esty. Hypocrisy frowns upon frankness. Originality threatens the security of reaction
aries. Wisdom exposes folly.
Right cannot prevail without thwarting wrong. The inauguration of an improvement
unmasks the authorities who fail to fulfill their responsibilities.
Shirkers can't be expected to applaud the example of zealous workers.
Self-interest is a paramount trait in human nature, and is asserting itself when a dis
placed individual discounts the intelligence which thrashed him.
Generosity is a rare coin and stingily spent. Even when we have breadth enough to
understand why we lost, egotism still insinuates that the other man didn't honestly earn
his recognition.
Bunglers have an arsenal of unworthy hints with which to explain the advancement
of their associates. Mediocrity loves company and seeks to reduce its betters to the com
mon level.
The road to the top is filled with muddy stretches. You can't escape them and "get
there."
A strong man cannot assert himself without trampling upon the aspirations of
weaker opponents therefore there's certain to be an outcry in his wake.
The only time you need begin to worry is when you hear nothing but kind things about
yourself. Then you can be sure you are a "dead one" of no one else do all speak gently.
Like other men, you might have
won
A splendid place, too, in the sun.
But your career was ill begun.
You loafed and lazed and would not
dare.
When you were young yoa didn't
care.
Now that you're grown your mind
is bare.
How long was it since last you took
A look inside a useful book?
With libraries on every hand
And all world wisdom at command,
You never seized the chance to
train
Your undeveloped little brain.
What wonder you are forced to
strain
So hard to earn a living wage!
You lay your failure up to age
But it is not too late to try
Once more. Ambitious hearts deny
Finality. We do not weigh
Men's years, but what they do and
say.
Results alone count in this day
The game's still young, why don't
you play?
Every Error Is as Big as Its Consequences
FAILURE is seldom spontaneous. Commerce is, in a measure, at the
mercy of world conditions, but even war rumbles its warnings. Light
ning never leaps out of an utterly clear sky. Every storm signals in
advance. Carelessness is an omniverous profit eater. A loosely controlled
organization soon becomes unreliable no system is better than the vigi
lance which directs it. Baseball offers an excellent example of the neces
sity for. constant observation. It demands alert control 24 hours to the day.
A star team holds its lead only as long as its manager keeps his men under
observation. If he isn't aware how his players act off the diamond, he can't
rely upon them in the field. A bad score usually starts the night before.
What do you know about the habits of your subordinates? How can
you tell the fitness of any employe to cope with an important situation, if
you aren't sure that he is in condition to use his wits in an emergency?
Most concerns are wrecked by the disregard of seeming trifles. But so are
most ships. The hidden reefs which most seriously menace navigation are
built by tiny marine insects, each insignificant of itself, but in combination
able to rip the guts out of an ocean liner.
Sound your course constantly watch your charts. You're sailing
to ruin, if you can't tell what's going on beneath the surface.
Starving the Watch Dog to Feed the Lap Dog
THE expense of an adequate military establishment is tremendous, but
not nearly so heavy as the maintenance of the Pork Barrel.
The appropriations annually fed to Congressional "poodles" are
more than ample for the up-keep of a competent Army and Navy.
Millionaires and Others
IN 1790, authorities tell us, there was less than a bil
lion dollars' worth of property in the thirteen
states. Since 1850 we have increased our assets
thirty-fold.
Today, the biggest fortunes in the country belong
to persons whose grandfathers were mainly peasants
ana wnose own parents were dirt poor.
Une of the significant facts of our history is the
rise of a new and constantly more powerful group of
plutocrats in each successive generation.
Money does make money, but not nearly so much
of it as brains create. Cash has no imagination. It
seldom anticipates developments and instinctively
sticks to guaranteed certainties. All in all, born mil
lionaires are very obtuse and reactionary gentry.
An assured income tends to dull enterprise. Very
few wisdom teeth have ever been cut on silver spoons.
wnen a youngster learns that his future has been lib
erally provided for, he seldom feels like learning any-
1 ml i i? i . . . i i
uimg eise. a nose wno nve easny are not apt to imnK
hard. There is little sense where there are many dol
lars. Lotuses are pleasant eating, but are blamed
poor brain food.
Luxury stupefies initiative. Heirs to big estates
are notorious for their ignorance of the processes
through which they derive their money. With an oc
casional exception, their business affairs are delegat
ed to hired men who do not share in the profits of suc
cessful speculative ventures but are, on the other hand,
held strictly to account for poorly advised investments.
This attitude tends to make severe conservatives of
their managers and explains, in part, why inherited
capital is so inaccessible for the inauguration of inno
vations. The vast profits of early railroading, oil exploita
tion, electric development, rapid transit, pioneer min
ing, gas, and the telephone went to hitherto obscure
men, who had sharpened their wits in struggle. They
weren't afraid to take risks there was nothing else
for them to take. After experience had demonstrated
the validity of their plans, the "play saf ers" bought the
bonds. .
Tomorrow the same tale will be repeated. Their
own children will be just as blind to potentialities.
Opportunity won't hang around a doubter's waiting-room.
There are always too many ambitious folk
eager to back her suggestions with credulity, hope and
energy. Motion pictures offer the latest example to
point. It took men who were still pushing through the
crowds to realize where the crowd had begun to turn.
The automobile was driven to half a million yearly out
put by the far sight of a few shrewd students of cur
rent conditions.
A Scotch immigrant boy, a country storekeeper's
clerk and an unschooled stationary engineer are our
three richest contemporaries. Some baby in the tene
ments, a farm lad and one of the countless orphans in
war-stripped Europe are likely to found fortunes later
on which will dwarf those of Rockefeller, Carnegie
and Ford, just as theirs belittled the estates of the
Knickerbockers.
Believe Me, Bo!
(The Rough Neck Speaks on Recruiting)
I BEEN readin' by the papers that the big New York
parade
Ought to satisfy your Uncle Sam that we are not afraid :
That the manhood of the country will be found when danger
calls.
Ready for the good old Springfield and the khaki overalls.
I was there and saw them marching and it almost took a day
From the time the first band started till the music died away.
Drygoods clerks, dray drivers, bankers, doctors, lawyers, engi
neers, Leading citizens and others, all prepared up to their ears.
Me, I wasn't with the hikers on account a leg o' mine
.Which an Igorrote bolo messed for keeps in Ninety-nine.
It was great to watch 'em passing, dolled up in their Sunday
rags ;
It was great to see the waving of two hundred thousand flags ;
But it seemed to me that every guy that showed himself in line
That day had ought to. hunt the nearest Armory and sign.
We need men in the National Guard, we need a bunch to fill
The regiments provided for by this new Army Bill.
Parades are fine, but what's the use of holdin' them for show?
I'm hailing from Missouri all the time, believe me, Bo!
Speakin' from my own experience and hopin' you'll excuse
A rough neck like yours truly givin' folks like you his views.
Men who haven't had some soldiering (and say, this ain't no
slam)
When they face a well-drilled army, aren't worth a tinker's
dam.
I'm a.hick, I don't know nothin' and I may be right or wrong,
But we ought to push recruitin' while enthusiasm's strong.
De Senectute
PENINNAII ELIZABETH CURRY insists that the infirm
ities of age are attitudes of mind. Personally she be-
, lieves in being young and believes it so hard that she's
able to stand over a hot cookstove these muggy days and do
household chores between times. She sees no reason why she
should stop working she s only seventy-nine years old.
Activity defies time, disuse wears out human beings an
anemployed mind is an auto cannibal, it feeds upon its own ceils.
Elizabeth hasn't had time to worry about herself she's too
busy making the most out of life. She proves that the limit of
efficiency is largely a matter of individual will. IJer unim
paired strength is a reproach to all men and women who sur
render to a few gray hairs. Here's the story of a humble do-
' mestic to rekindle faith in emitters the land over. She stands
on the firing line (or hiring line if you will) facing circum
stances with a valorous heart and eager hands.
Confidence always could put a calendar out of business. Age
doesn't count if you don't stop to count it.
Copyright, 1918, by Herbert Ksatiasa. Great Brltala aad All Other Rights Reserved.