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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1963)
How to Become a Millionaire Many of America's richest men weren't born to wealth as winners of the Horatio Alger Awards prove but they do have certain traits in common Ir ' -L ILLUSTRATION IT IOI IUGO HORATIO ALGER was a drab, unhappy man. A poor boy, he failed in the ministry and then devoted his life to writing books that would show other boys how to succeed. These books Strive and Succeed, Try and Trust, Sink or Sivim inspired your fathers and grandfathers to achievement Today Horatio Al ger stands as a symbol of the American rags-to-riches dream an old dream but still valid. Each year I have had the great pleasure of handing out Horatio Alger awards to men who, as the embodiment of this American dream, have lived lives as if inspired by those old novels. They are selected by the Horatio Alger Awards Com" mittee, supplemented by the votes of campus leaders at 600 colleges. These award winners made fortunes because they possess the obvious virtues for success a dynamic, outgoing personality, belief in people, a capacity for hard work, and, a flair for sales manship. In addition, they have four special traits that set them apart from more average men traits which can help you develop a more successful life: Sttf.RtUaaea Movers and makers, the men whose lives personify the great American suc cess story have pushed their companies into new methods and enterprises, always seeking better By KENNETH J.BEEBE rVwidant, Horatio Alger Commlttta of ttia American Schools and CoMsgoi Ann. as told to Flora Rheta Schreiber ways to serve people's needs. For instance, some body once said of super-self-reliant Murray D. Lincoln, insurance-company executive and chair man of the board of CARE : "When he goes to Heaven, he'll take one look around, decide the place could stand some straightening out, and ask St Peter for a broom." Most people think family connections are in dispensable to success, yet many of our winners were forced into self-reliance early in life. Some became the "man" of the family even before they were in their teens. But spurred by having to support their families (typically a widowed mother and a" large brood of younger brothers and sisters), they achieved success earlier and more impressively than persons who are less ur gently driven. Take, for example, Albert. Dome," renowned ad vertising artist, illustrator, and educator who was born in the slums of New York's East Side. After finishing seventh grade, he had to leave school to support his mother, two sisters, and a younger brother. At five, he had resolved to be come a great artist but family circumstances made him take a detour newspaperboy, office boy, salesman. By the time he was 21, however, he had caught up with his original ambition and was already earning $20,000 a year in his chosen field. Today he is the most successful of all com mercial artists and is reputed to have earned more money than anyone else in his field. Moreover, altruism accompanied personal suc cess. Spurred by the thought, "I studied art at home so can you," he founded the Famous Art ists' School and the Famous Writers' School in Westport, Conn. The schools have taught 54,000 students in 64 countries by correspondence. - Daa't Make Malty Vir Oily Mativatita None of our men wasted energy dreaming about gold for its own sake. As Joseph Sunnen, a multi millionaire St Louis industrialist and one of our winners, puts it: "I just don't think anybody who wants only to make a million dollars can be hap py. He has based his happiness on nothing. The only way to achieve both money and happiness is to make money a by-product of service." Joe Sunnen has lived this philosophy to the letter. The son of a coal miner, he left school at 14 to work in a garage. His observations about faulty cars on this first job led to his later de veloping a valve lifter for automobiles. Today he holds patents on 60 inventions and heads his own company, Sunnen Products. StisUf ni Salilag tat Oaiartaaity Our men didn't wait for opportunity to knock but did the knocking themselves. Take an 18-year-old farm boy, the 11th of 12 children, without a high school education or business experience, who lost three jobs in his first two working years. Still determined, he started making brushes in th? basement of his sister's home. It was through this simple undertaking that Alfred C. Fuller became the original Fuller Brush Man, whose company today has more than 7,000 door-to-door dealers and annual sales of $100 mil lion. He made his own opportunity in the face of total discouragement Lttra fraa Taar Failartt Too often, we sur render to failure and refuse to try again. Actu ally, failure can be a mirror which shows us how we erred, what part outside events played in it, and how we can avert future mistakes. Taught to read and write by Annie Oakley and given his show-business ABCs by Buffalo Bill, award winner George A. Hammid, outstanding showman and authority on fairs and expositions, believes that: "Whatever success I have attained, I owe to my failures. A hungry showman learns more from one resounding failure than he does from two successes." The experience of our Horatio Alger winners proves that in this country men without wealthy backgrounds or special privileges can- succeed spectacularly. By their own efforts they pulled themselves up from obscure beginnings. They are a living testament to the fact that Americans can still transform their rags into custom-tailored suits ahd their pennies into dollars. I can only tell you about them, however. If you want to join them, it's up to you. COVER: A roller-coaster ride or a trip through the tunnel of love wouldn't be complete with out a popcorn lunch, too. The amusement park scene was caught by L. Witlinger. Family WeeJcIy I IT. 1 UONWB I. DAVIDOW rmident ' P.MuAtr oa,d of WALTtR C MEYfUt Vi PraMmt PATRICK I. OtOUIKI Adwtitmg Director MOtTON FRANK Director Publithtr RJoiim Sond all aSrvtltlng commvnkatiafu to Family Wooklv. IS3 N. Midiioan Ax.. CMcooo I, III. Addrm all camaMxicaMam about tltorial hrtvrat la toMb Abmaya. Mm ildll. Hot London. E- No York, 22, N. Y. todk tyow IW J. OppMr. Hollywood. lU, FAMILY WIKIY MAOAZINI. IMC, 153 N. Mkhioan A.... CMcogo I, III. All right. Mnd. (MUST V. MIYN Biitor-in-Chitl UN KAITMAN Btmtin EiiUr totFJtr FirzoiuoN uif PHILLIP OYKSTIA AH DincUr Mk'lANII Of PMfT Food SdiUr
