MUST YOU BE BORN WITH MONEY
TO BECOME A SUCCESS?
How important is being born with a "gold spoon" in be-
coming a success in life? Can money buy success?
CAN YOU TAKE the money you inherit and put it on the
barrel head and buy success by the pound ?
Will money "make money?"
Traveling around as a newspaperman, seeing rich men
all around me, seeing successful people people owning their
own business, or running them from plush offices, I figured
perhaps they had money to get to these top places.
So I checked up on my theory.
I saw, for example, Charlie Wilson, former head of Gen-
eral Electric Company. He once worked for $4 a week.
John P. Mansfield, in 1920, was a factory worker. In 1952,
in America, the "Land of Opportunity," he became the
president of Plymouth Motors.
Charlie Schwab got his start pushing (not pulling) a
wheelbarrow.
The head of Arrow Shirts once worked as a clerk in a
retail store.
Vincent Riggio, president today of Lucky Strikes, once
was a barber, then a salesman for his firm. Today he is the
head.
None of these men had money to start them off.
Money Is Apt To Hurt You
Money is apt to weaken your effort You don't work so
hard. You relax, and then the slow turtle, the phigger, passes
you by.
Hershey, the candy bar king, once had to sell his choco-
lates off a little wagon. He had no golden spoon to help him.
Wrigley, the chewing gum man, used to sell soap chips
door-to-door to make a living.
If he had been born with money, he might not have had
the urge, perhaps would not have needed an urge, to make
him create the great chewing-gum firm.
Money oftentimes lulls you falsely into over-relaxation,
and then somebody passes you by up the ladder of Success,
Fame, and Fortune.
Money Is Not Needed
Giannini, who headed that famous chain of banks in
California, wasn't born with money.
He needed money. So he sold vegetables off a truck to get
his start.
John Hartford started his 15,000 A & P stores with one
"hole in the wall" in 1912.
"Oscar" of Waldorf fame was once a bus boy.
Ralph Hix, the late head of the New Yorker Hotel, was
also a bus boy and also was not born with money.
It seems money doesn't necessarily help you make a
success.
Look at the backgrounds of men at the top, around you,
and you'll find only too often they were once "poor boys."
So don't begrudge the fact you weren't born with money,
for your chances of going to the top are better.
Golden Spoons Will Tarnish Fast
Money gives you a false sense of security; that is, if it has
been given to you, for then you have no way of knowing
how important it is.
But if, as with these men I have just mentioned, you
earn that money yourself, then somehow or other you know
how to hang on to it.
It has relative value.
You know how hard it was to earn so you make it hard
for it to get away.
Gold spoons tarnish fast Many a boy or girl born with
money soon loses it.
Many a widow who inherits it loses it just as fast.
Be glad you will have to earn your money. It will have
more meaning, will buy you more happiness.
One thousand of my newspaper story successes proved this
to me.
How To Borrow Money
There may come a time when you need some money to
buy a few work supplies.
There is no mystery to borrowing money. Any banker
will tell you that.
Here are four successful hints to use when you drop
around for a loan:
1. Think out the interview in advance.
2. Start your conversation by explaining exactly what
you want the money for; how long you will need it; and
how you'll pay it back.
3. Be prepared to offer some type of security.
4. Don't promise more than you can do.
How To Build Financial Credit
Once you get money, you will need to build up financial
confidence in a community. Here is how:
Most important of all pay the loan on time.
Bank credit is a very important factor in your future
success.
So establish a good reputation and you'll be welcomed
back.
Visit your banker. Get to know him. Get him to know
you.
It is a lot easier to do business with people you know, and
your banker is surely one youll want to know.
And he wants to know you> too.
Money Itself Won't Work
But as I've said, money all by itself won't turn Castles in
Spain into something real.
So don't get a loan, and then sit back and hope that is
all that is needed.
Worse yet, don't sit back waiting for a mythical pot of
gold to make its appearance.
The chance of winning a fortune on a radio program is
very remote.
Many a son has made his fortune while he was waiting
for his rich uncle to die!
Eric Johnston, the movie man and censor, late of govern-
ment fame, sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door.
He had no money, nor security to borrow it. Neither did
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, or other movie stars.
They made it.
Did You Know?
There is such a thing today as a Horatio Alger Awards
Committee of 3,000 people.
That this great American tradition of recognizing success
hasn't died down ?
That here were the men who recently won these awards:
Ralph Bunche, 1950 Nobel Peace Prize winner, worked
his way through college as a janitor.
Milton Eisenhower, President of Pennsylvania State Col-
lege, earned his way through school as a farm boy.
James J. Kerrigan, President of Merck & Co., started with
them at $3 a week.
Charles Kettering, General Motors research consultant,
was a telephone lineman.
Thomas E. Millsop, President of Weirton Steel Co., began
as a laborer.
Norman Vincent fede, Ecclesiastical figure, was a grocery
boy in small Ohio town.
W, A. Roberts, President of Allis Chalmers, educated him-
self on an Ozark farm.
Remember, the day and spirit of Horatio Alger hasn't
died!
Dreams Aren*t Made from Gold Linings.
