Fundamentals of Prosperity | Page 4

policies, but a plan or
policy without a religious motive is like a watch without a spring or a

body without the breath of life. The trouble, to-day, is that we are
trying to hatch chickens from sterile eggs. We may have the finest
incubator in the world and operate it according to the most improved
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