Fundamentals of Prosperity | Page 4

regulations--moreover, the eggs may appear perfect specimens--but unless they have the germ of life in them all our efforts are of no avail."
I have referred to the fact that the security of our investments is absolutely dependent upon the faith, the righteousness and the religion of other people. I have stated that the real strength of our investments is due, not to the distinguished bankers of America, but rather to the poor preachers. I now go farther than that and say that the development of the country as a whole is due to this something, this indescribable something, this combination of faith, thrift, industry, initiative, integrity and vision, which these preachers have developed in their communities.
Faith and vision do not come from the wealth of a nation. It's the faith and vision which produce the wealth. The wealth of a country does not depend on its raw materials. Raw materials are to a certain extent essential and to a great extent valuable; but the nations which to-day are richest in raw materials are the poorest in wealth. Even when considering one country--the United States--the principle holds true. The coal and iron and copper have been here in this country for thousands of years, but only within the last fifty years have they been used. Water-powers exist even to-day absolutely unharnessed. Look the whole world over and there has been no increase in raw materials. There existed one thousand years ago more raw materials than we have to-day, but we then lacked men with a vision and the faith to take that coal out of the ground, to harness the water-powers, to build the railroads and to do other things worth while. So I say, the second great fundamental of prosperity is Faith.

III
INDUSTRY VS. OPPORTUNITY
Industry is the mother of invention. Struggle, sacrifice and burning midnight oil have produced the cotton gin, the sewing machine, the printing press, the steam engine, the electric motor, the telephone, the incandescent lamp and the other great inventions of civilization. Some religious enthusiasts think only of the "lilies of the fields" and forget the parable of the talents.
A few years ago I was employed by one of the largest publishing houses in the country to make a study of America's captains of industry. The real purpose of the study was to discover some industry or some man that could be helped greatly through national advertising. In connection with that study of those captains of industry, I tabulated their ancestry. These were the seventy greatest manufacturers, merchants and railroad builders, the leading men who have made America by developing the fields, the forests, the mines and the industries. What did I find? I found that only five per cent. of these captains of industry are the sons of bankers; only ten per cent. of them are the sons of manufacturers; fifteen per cent. of them are the sons of merchants, while over thirty per cent. of them are the sons of poor preachers and farmers.
Why is it that ministers' sons hold a much more important place in the industrial development of America than the sons of bankers? The ministers' sons inherit no wealth, they have no more than their share of college education; they are not especially religious as the world measures religion. In fact, there is an old saying about "ministers' sons and deacons' daughters." I would be false to my reputation as a statistician to hold up these captains of industry as saintly examples for young men to follow. But the fact remains nevertheless that these men are creating America to-day. Now, what's the reason?
The reason is that these men have a combination of the two traits already mentioned and a third added thereto;--namely, the habit of work. They have inherited a certain rugged integrity from their mothers and a gift of vision from their fathers which, when combined with the habit of work--forced upon them by their family's meager income--means power. Integrity is a dry seed until put in the ground of faith and allowed to grow. But faith with works is prosperity.
A man may be honest and wonder why he does not get ahead; a man may have vision and still remain only a dreamer; but when integrity and vision are combined with hard work, the man prospers. It is the same with classes and nations.
It has been said that genius is the author of invention. Statistics do not support this statement. The facts show that industry is the mother of invention. Struggle, sacrifice and burning midnight oil have produced the cotton gin, the sewing machine, the printing press, the steam engine, the electric motor, the telephone, the incandescent lamp and the other great inventions of civilization.
Why is it that most of the able men in our great industries came from the country