Fundamentals of Prosperity | Page 5

districts? The reason is that the country boy is trained to work. Statistics indicate that very seldom does a child, brought up in a city apartment house, amount to much; while the children of well-to-do city people are seriously handicapped. The great educator of the previous generation was not the public school, but rather the wood box. Those of us parents who have not a wood box for our children to keep filled, or chores for them to do, are unfortunate.
Run through the list of the greatest captains of industry, as they come to your mind. How many of the men who are really directing the country's business gained their position through inherited wealth? You will find them astonishingly few. There is no "divine right of kings" in business. In fact, statistics show us that the very things which most people think of as advantages, namely, wealth and "not having to work" are really obstacles which are rarely surmounted.
Industry and thrift are closely allied. Economic studies show clearly that ninety-five per cent. of the employers are employers because they systematically saved money. Any man who systematically saves money from early youth automatically becomes an employer. He may employ thousands or he may have only two or three clerks in a country store, but he nevertheless is an employer. These same studies show that ninety-five per cent. of the wage workers are wage workers because they have systematically spent their money as fast as they have earned it. They of necessity remain wage workers. These are facts which no labour leader can disprove and which are exceedingly significant. This is especially striking when one considers that the employer often started out at the same wages and in the same community as his wage workers. The employer was naturally industrious and thrifty; while those who remained wage workers were not.
The development of this nation through the construction of the transcontinental railways, the financing of the western farms, and the building of our cities is largely due to the old New England doctrine that laziness and extravagance are sins. In some western communities it is popular to laugh at these New England traits; but had it not been for them, these western communities would never have existed. The industry and thrift developed by the old New England religion were the basis of our national growth.
I especially desire to emphasize this point because of the position of certain religious enthusiasts who think only of "the lilies of the field" and forget the parable of the talents. It is a fact that the third fundamental of prosperity is Industry.

IV
CO?PERATION--SUCCESS BY HELPING THE OTHER FELLOW
Our industrial system has resulted in making many men economic eunuchs. The salvation of our cities, the salvation of our industries and the salvation of our nation depend on discovering something which will revive in man that desire to produce and joy in production which he had instinctively when he was a small boy.
A few days ago I was present at a dinner of business men in Boston who were called together in order to secure some preferential freight rates for Massachusetts. The principal theme of that gathering was to boom Massachusetts at the expense of the rest of the country. At the close of the dinner I was asked to give my opinion and said: "Let us see how many things there are in this room that we could have were we dependent solely on Massachusetts. The chairs and furniture are from Michigan; the cotton is from Georgia; the linen from Ireland; the silver from Mexico; the glassware from Pennsylvania; the paper from Maine; the paint from Missouri; the clock from Connecticut--and so on." Finally I got the courage to ask if there was a single thing in the room that did not originate from some state other than Massachusetts. Those men were absolutely helpless in finding a single thing.
The same fact applies in a general way to every state and every home. Look about, where you are sitting now. How many things are there in the room just where you are,--there is a table, a chair, a shoe, a coat, a necktie, a cigar, a lampshade, a piano, a basket--for all of these you are dependent upon others.
The same fact is true when we analyze one staple like shoes which, primarily, are made of leather. Where does the leather come from? Just follow that leather from the back of the steer until you buy it in the form of shoes. Think where that steer was raised, and where the leather was tanned. Think of all the men engaged in the industry from the cow-punchers to the salesmen in the stores. But there is more than leather involved in shoes. There is cotton in the shoe lacing and lining. There is