Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made

Great Fortunes, and How They
Were Made

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James D. McCabe, Jr., Illustrated by G. F. and E. B. Bensell
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Title: Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made
Author: James D. McCabe, Jr.
Release Date: February 24, 2005 [eBook #15161]
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GREAT FORTUNES, AND HOW THEY WERE MADE
Or, The Struggles and Triumphs of Our Self-Made Men
by
JAMES D. MCCABE, JR.,
Author of Planting the Wilderness, etc., etc.
Numerous Illustrations from Original Designs by G. F. & E. B. Bensell

[Illustration: CONSTERNATION AT THE SIGHT OF FULTON'S
MONSTER.]

"MAN, it is not thy works, which are mortal, infinitely little, and the
greatest no greater than the least, but only the spirit thou workest in,
that can have worth or continuance."--CARLYLE.

George Maclean, Philadelphia, New York and Boston Electrotyped at
the Franklin Type Foundry, Cincinnati
1871

"The physical industries of this world have two relations in them: one
to the actor, and one to the public. Honest business is more really a

contribution to the public than it is to the manager of the business
himself. Although it seems to the man, and generally to the community,
that the active business man is a self-seeker, and although his motive
may be self-aggrandizement, yet, in point of fact, no man ever manages
a legitimate business in this life, that he is not doing a thousand-fold
more for other men than he is trying to do even for himself. For, in the
economy of God's providence, every right and well organized business
is a beneficence and not a selfishness. And not less is it so because the
merchant, the mechanic, the publisher, the artist, think merely of their
profit. They are in fact working more for others than they are for
themselves."
HENRY WARD BEECHER.

PREFACE.
The chief glory of America is, that it is the country in which genius and
industry find their speediest and surest reward. Fame and fortune are
here open to all who are willing to work for them. Neither class
distinctions nor social prejudices, neither differences of birth, religion,
nor ideas, can prevent the man of true merit from winning the just
reward of his labors in this favored land. We are emphatically a nation
of self-made men, and it is to the labors of this worthy class that our
marvelous national prosperity is due.
This being the case, it is but natural that there should be manifested by
our people a very decided desire to know the history of those who have
risen to the front rank of their respective callings. Men are naturally
cheered and encouraged by the success of others, and those who are
worthy of a similar reward will not fail to learn valuable lessons from
the examples of the men who have preceded them.
With the hope of gratifying this laudable desire for information, and
encouraging those who are still struggling in the lists of fame and
fortune, I offer this book to the reader. I have sought to tell simply and
truthfully the story of the trials and triumphs of our self-made men, to

show how they overcame where others failed, and to offer the record of
their lives as models worthy of the imitation of the young men of our
country. No one can hope to succeed in life merely by the force of his
own genius, any more than he can hope to live without exerting some
degree of influence for good or evil upon the community in which his
lot is cast. Success in life is not the effect of accident or of chance: it is
the result of the intelligent application of certain fixed principles to the
affairs of every day. Each man must make this application according to
the circumstances by which he is surrounded, and he can derive no
greater assistance or encouragement in this undertaking than by
informing himself how other men of acknowledged merit have
succeeded in the same departments of the world's industry. That this is
true is shown by the fact that many of the most eminent men attribute
their great achievements to the encouragement