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
71 AJrV IfH E Jl
IUUSTIATION IY K tUGO
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 Swim 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 oat 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 500 colleges.
These award winners made fortunes because
they possess the obvious virtues for success a
dynamic, outgoing personality, belief in people,
capacity for hard work, and. a flair for sales
manship. In addition, they have four special
traiU that set them apart from more average
men traits which can help you develop a more
successful life:
Itll-Rtlitaot 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
PriUfit, Horatio Algw CommittM
of ttw American Schoob and Collys Aun.
as told to
Flora Rhela 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 I
home so can you," he founded the Famous Art
ists' School and the Famous Writers' School in I
Westport Conn. The schools have taught 54,000 1
students in 54 countries by correspondence.
Don't Malts Meaty Tir Oily Mttivitioa None I
of our men wasted energy dreaming about gold I
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 50 inventions and heads his own
company, Sunnen Products.
Statist aai Stiziif fat Opiortnity 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 the;
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
Ltari Iran Toir Fillirtt 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: "Whatevef 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 and 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 tcouldn't be complete with
out a popcorn lunch, too. The amusement
park scene teas caught by L. Willinger.
Family
Weekly
7
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