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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 / / / ' 7 / /U. c rC T3USINESS Success: 7 what it is and how to secure it. \ A LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE TORONTO YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, BV JOHN MACDONALD. TORONTO : ADAM, STEVENSON & CO. 18 72 'nwwumr iLwi^ V mmmm M^^£^t^ /ifZ/L^, TO thf: young men OF OUR DOMINION, -ITS BL'SISKSS MEN TO BK,- THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS DEDICATED WITH TUB BEST WISHES OF THEIR FRIEND THE AUTHOR. PEEFACE. I had promised to deliver a lecture for the Young Men's Christian Association of this city in the early part of last year, on " Business Success." Duties, many and pressing, prevented my fulfilling that engagement earlier than last month. Many who heard it then, (in- cluding business men, in whose judgment I have much confidence), and others who heard of it, expressed a wish that it might be published. The thoughts contained in it have been gathered from observation during the many years of an active busi- ness life. It will not be considered presumptuous then, if even the writer should think that their study will prove of service to the man of business, while the young man about setting out in life, (whatever his calling), cannot but be benefitted by their perusal. It may be said that there are causes which lead, not only to success, but to failure, which are un- VI PREFACE. noticed here ; this, I admit; but the reader will remem- ber that the matter was prepared not with the view of furnishing an exhaustive treatise on so important a sub- ject, but as a lecture only, within which nothing more could be pressed than would interest an audience for a reasonable length of time. Enough will be found, however, if carefully read and duly acted upon, to guard from failure ; — enough to point the way to a successful business career. I have preferred, in this small volume, making no additions to the manuscript. This will make it more welcome to those who have but little time for reading, and none the less to those who have most. The book, I trust, will have the effect of leading to a higher standard of commercial morality ; of deterring some from entering business whose talents fit them for other callings ; of inspiring others with high resolves to battle bravely and to win ; and of leading all to acknow- ledge that God is seen in commerce as He is in every part of His vast universe ; and that without His blessing, " it is vain to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows. " J. McD. Oaklands, Toronto June, 1872. ^^nj *i\>^*S=a»..: gftjiUhiUfflffl Business Success. T has been affirmcMl that the majority of busi- ness men fail at some period of their career : that not more than five out of every hundred succeed. Both statements are startling; and yet neither should be hastily dismissed without careful examination. Whatever differences of opinion there may be about the first, we arc inclined to think that experience will fully confirm the second. There are no changes so great in any country as those found among its business men. Nor any calling is there, or proftssion, which yields so small a measure of success as business, in proportion to the numbers engaged. You find Judges on the Bench and Lawyers at the Bar, you find others actively engaged in their professions for ten, twenty, and thirty years. Not so with business men : you look for old familiar faces and they are gone. As 6 BUSINESS SUCCESS. you pass along the streets you find, instead of well known names, those of strangers, and before you are well familiar with them they disappear to give place to others. Think of the men in our own city, who not only sat upon our Bench, but adorned it ; whose opinions were respected not only at home, but beyond it ; think of those who in Law and Medicine took the very first place in their professions ; men of mark, whose names be- came household words, and who engaged in active duties to the last, passed away full of years, and full of honours ; and then look back, if you will, and count the number and tell the names of your successful business men of the same period. You will find but few, nor will you be able, we think, to make the average of those who suc- ceed, more than five per cent. Take up a Directory of this city which will carry you back twenty or thirty years : look for the names of the business men of those days : they have disappear- ed ! You will be struck in finding the number who have been unsuccessful ; but great as the number is, do not think it greater than that found in other cities of the same population : there is not a town or ham- let on this continent, which does not furnish the same results. The story of the majority of business men is, that they have been unsuccessful. But some BUSINESS SUCCESS. f will say : Canada is too small a field to form a fiiir estimate of the proportion of successful business men. Take a wider one : look at the United States ! We ven- ture to assert, without having examined the figures, that not five per cent, of the merchants of New York suc- ceed. Quite likely says one : American merchants gen- erally, are little better than a set of sharpers. Not so. There is no higher type of business men to be found than the high-toned American merchant. That there are unprincipled traders in the United States, we think quite possible ; but have we not this class among ourselves ? We cannot see the propriety in any man bringing a sweeping charge against the business men of any country, simply because his transactions may have been (perhaps from choice) with the least reliable of its traders. Equally unsafe would it be to form our judgment from the verdict of those who complain only because they found themselves less skilled in the sharp practices of trade, than the sharper men into whose hands they fell. Some of the most advanced men of the day are business men, foremost in every good work ; with views too broad, sympathies too noble, and souls too great to suffer them to do anything small, mean, or contemptible ; — whose princely incomes afford them ample opportunities of originating and executing BUSINESS SUCCESS. I' benevolent schemes on a large scale. Such men are found in every land to-day, but in none do you find finer specimens, or in none do you find a larger proportion, than in the United States. Yet, take the city of New York in the year 187 1 : it had three hundred and twen- ty-four failures, with liabilities amounting to $20,740,000. In the United States the failures for 187 1 were 2915, with liabilities $85.252.000 ; in 1S70, 3551, with liabili- ties $89,242,000; while in 1861, the liabilities were $207,000,000; and in 1857, over $291,000,000. These figures I know are very startling, and many will at once say that they must represent a loss to creditors y^r^^t7«^ any- thing, in proportion, which exists in Canada. Let us see. From 1864 to 1869, ^^ period of a little over four years, there were in this Dominion, three thousand three hun- dred and thirty-two Insolvents, sufficient with their fam- ilies to people a city ; and with liabilities sufficient to build it substantially, to adorn it with squares, foun- tains, handsome public buildings, churches and schools. Look at Ontario, this favoured province, not in a year of scarcity, but in a year of plenty, — in the most prosper- ous year of its history ; one might well say : surely there were no failures ! \^ 48 BUSINESS SUCCESS. claiming " Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all." It rests with the mothers to say what our merchants will be ; whether they are to ex- hibit those equalities which make them successful, or those which render success impossible. Wills have t broken, restraints have to be imposed, self-denial learned, perhaps i)ainfully ; — all these lessons have to be taught him by a mother who fully comprehends how essential they are to his future, and intelligently understood by the boy before he has finished that education which will enable him to go forth into life. Mothers who pamper their boys, who encourage them in an expenditure which can ill be afforded, which can beget only habits of idleness, extravagance and pride, who cannot think of having t' n do what their fathers had to do, are ruining them. _ j do not think so, I know, but they are ; and that poor, dear boy of yours, (we may say to a many a mother,) who is so good, and so gentle, and so kind, and who knows so little of the world (although he knows vastly more of it than you think he does) has been unfitted by you (with the best intentions I have no doubt), yet by you, for that station in life which he might have filled with credit had his training been different ; and who, unless he be taught, and that speedily, that there are fields in which he may win greater distinction than in hanging about his mother's skirts ; unless he go out into the world and prove him- ' BUSINESS SUCCESS. 49 self a man, he will become an incubus on society, and so far as any practical benefit he is every likely to be to any one, beyond some dmcy hair dresser, or going to evening parties, he might just as well be put in a band-box, and allowed to remain there. There are hundreds of young men among us, and some who are no longer young, who are suffering life to pass away in unbroken dreams of what " the governor" is going to do for them. While others will tell you with the great- est seriousness, that they have a rich old aunt either in Ireland, or elsewhere, or some other relative at whose decease they will be "mnde" for life. They tell you this with an earnestness wliich would lead you to believe that no tidings would give them greater pleasure than those of the death of the kind friend by whom they expect to be remembered. Send your boys out into the world, let them become familiar with its rough side. Let them make their own mark. Teach them to be noble, self-reliant and true. Be careful of your expenditure ; every dollar you with- draw from your business needlessly is a thrust at your suc- cess. It is like taking away an effective man in presence of the enemy. It is worse ; it is like taking an effective man and handing him over to the enemy. Some wonder why the end of the year finds them no better off than they so BUSINESS SUCCESS. were at its beginning. There have been large sales, fair profits, but no addition to capital. There need be no mystery. They indulged in everything their fancy led them to desire. This because it was a trifle, that because they wanted to be like some neighbour, and something else because they wanted to surpass another. The temp- tation all the stronger because these matters, whatever they might be, had not to be paid for for several months. These people never know what it costs them to live ; an account they never keep ; self-denial they do not under- stand. Could you get them to keep an account just for twelve months (but you could not), of all the money spent upon trifles, you would startle them, though we fear you could not cure them, for in business or out of busi- ness, such persons never succeed. They pass through life making no headway, and when age comes upon them, it finds them without j^rovision for its infirmities. Be careful of your time. Time is money ; husband it well ; let it be understood that, when men look for you in business hours, you are to be found. You cannot afford to be gossiping with others, or have others coming to gossip with you. Many a man has been ruined by that readiness which leads him to attend to every one's business but his own, neglecting to attend to his own fortune, as he busies himself with the affairs of others, to J BUSINESS SLXCESS. SI be pitied at last for his pains. In every comnnmity it is the simplest possible thing to put yotir finger upon scores of just such men. Be careful of j-our companions. If you want to succeed, the theatre, the saloon, the gambling hall, are not the places for you. He would not be a ])rudent merchant who would open accounts with young men knowmg them to be frequenters of such |,laces. Don't seek companions who can only corrupt, while you can find so many who can profit. Don't engage in work that is hurtful, when vou can find so much that is elevating; the world is full of work in which you can be helpful to your fellows : "LIve.s of great men all remind us n« can make our Jives sublime, And, departing, leare behind us Footprints on the sands of time. Footprints thai perhaps another, Sailing o'er lifc'.s solemn main, A forhrn and shipwrecke I bro'htr' Seeinj, shall take heart again." You can find, in the work in which this and kindred Associations is engaged, enough to occupy the time you may have to give, enough to call forth the talent you pes. 52 BUSINESS SUCCESS. sess, you will find among the workers in such Associa- tions congenial spirits, whose friendship may not only be profitable, but life-long, and all the more endearing be- cause found in connection with work so elevating ; and thus from the first you may shew that it is possible to do well for both worlds, to be "diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the I>ord." Young men have found their account sometimes suddenly closed, forgetting that the banker or the mer chant could forsee that the money spent at the saloon, the gaming table, and at the livery stable for fast horses, could have one end only, and that end ruin — not of busi- ness only, but of mind and body. They felt that in opening the account they made a mistake, they decide, however, to make a present loss, rather than afford an opportunity of making it greater, and so close the ac- count. If you want to be successful, be careful of your companions. T Be careful of your character. " A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. — Prov. 22, i. Character, like a shadow, accompanies all men, and whether good or bad, it cannot be shaken off. A father who leaves to his son a good name, and that only, leaves him a priceless inheritance ; one which will never fail him if fully appreciated and properly improved. BUSINESS SUCCESS. 53 1 Love the truth. Let nothing move you from it, for no earthly consideration swerve from it, sufter loss if it must be, but speak the truth. Never equivocate ; never give an answer to mislead, or an answer that you know misleads ; never take advantage of your reputation for truthfulness to promote your own ends by framing your speech so as to have the semblance of tmth while m your heart you know you are misleading; such conduct is more reprehensible than glaring falsehood, and though you may thus gain a temporary advantage, rest assured ^ that upon no such foundation can you erect a successful business. Be careful of the interest of your creditors ; if you are anxious that no one should lose by you, you begin with the best incentive to success. So long as you are thus influenced, you are furnished with one of the best safe guards against failure. Credit is capital ; do not abuse it. You have secured it possibly more on account of your character than your means. So long as you maintain it unimpaired, it is a fortune; be careful of it. Feel that your first duty is to discharge your obligations, to divert into unwarranted channels not one dollar which should be applied in reducing them. Your capital puts you in possession of means, if you waste the one, rest assured you will destroy the other. 4 54 BUSINESS SUCCESS. The man who relies upon a credit to enable him to carry on his business may be called I know a dependent man, and yet I fancy that if business were reduced to an absolutely cash basis, many large and healthy concerns in the old world, and in this new one, would find themselves suddenly pulled up. But admit that the man who does conduct his busi- ness on a credit derived from the merchant or banker, is a dependent man. It has been so ordered that every high-minded man does experience just in that state, a plea- sure and a satisfaction as great as he is ever after likely to know, no matter how great the volume of his business'or the extent of his means. Nothing can give greater pleasure to a high-minded business man than to discharge his ob- ligations ; and in doing this he is affording his creditors the best evidence he can give them that their confidence has not been misplaced. But he is doing more than this, even though a humble trader, he tends by every such transaction to strengthen and uphold public credit. He leads even the doubtful man to put confidence in his fel- low man, he leads those who look at balance sheets only as actuaries, to feel satisfied that, although the crisis may come, and may bring with it much suffering, and much loss, that with men thus careful of their credit, who thus look upon their obligations as sacred, the crisis may be severe, and may be wide-spread, but it cannot be uni- versal. BUSINESS SUCCESS. 55 Do not be restless because you have to do your business upon credit, so long as you feel you have never abused it, or intend to do ; so long as you are conscious that you are worthy of it, and intend to be ; so long as you feel that it is a benefit, not only to yourself, but to those who bestow it. You occupy a good position, a proud position, one that will afford you as much pleasure as you are ever likely to know, throughout your entire busi- ness career, and while the man who is constantly straining his credit to the utmost limits, and ever calling give! give ! has it continued with doubt, if indeed it is not curtailed or stopped, yours will be increased, as your business requires its expansion, and that to the mutual advantage of your creditors and yourself. When the crisis comes, and when men who have much at stake look over their assets, and as name after name passes under their eye, the question is not so much what a man has, but what he is ; not what his means, but what his character. Is he truthful? Will he equivocate? Will his as- sets be found to be the property of his father-in-law, or of some creditor trumped up for the occasion ? or will he be one who has nothing to hide, but will be found on that, as upon every other occasion, clear as the noon day ? This carefulness, while it will inspire you with forti- ! i I i I 56 BUSINESS SUCCESS. tude, will lead you to avoid all speculations ; will lead you to be satisfied that at nothing will you make so much, or do so well, as at your own business. A miner sometimes stumbles upon an immense nugget of gold, or one may find a diamond of enormous value ; but that the value of either gold or diamonds are not affected by such occurren- ces, is good evidence that they are but accidental. So with speculation ; one man in ten thousand, reckless enough to employ in some wild enterprise the means entrusted to him for his business, may come out safe ; but where he does, more than one thousand will fail. The young man who, in Wilmington, not long since, helped a feeble old man over a street-crossing, was engaged in active business ; that act was but the outcropping of his own goodness of heart. Soon after he found himself very unexpectedly remembered in the old man's will to the extent of Forty Thousand Dollars. He had already found his reward by contributing to the old man's comfort ; the legacy was an unexpected reward, though not a richer one than the other. But the young men who make it their business to wait at street crossings to help feeble old men over, that they may be remembered by them in their wills to the extent of Forty Thousand Dollars, will have to wait a very long time — as they deserve to do. This carefulness will lead you statedly to take your BUSINESS SUCCESS. 57 stock and balance your books. Which of us would feel safe with a captain who neglected taking his daily obser- vations ; nor with such a captain would we be surprised to find ourselves among the breakers. You may regard it as a safe rule that the man who does not take some method of periodically ascertaining his position, is not likely to make a successful business man. This carefulness will lead you judiciously and con- stantly to insure your property. It is simply amazing how many men are ruined by the neglect of this simple matter; not in territily desolating fires merely, but in fires which happen throughout the year in our towns, villages and cross-roads. Men who obtain a credit should feel it to be a duty incumbent upon them to insure their property against loss by fire. This carefulness leads many to insure their lives. The husbanding of the means for the payment of the premiums is itself a discipline of the most healthful character to every beginner, while the thought that he does this to promote the welfare of those he may leave behind him, and to make his creditors yet more safe, enables him with a lighter heart and a firmer purpose to push his business. lur This carefulness will make you cheerful. Many a man has failed in business through his manner ; has been mmm 58 BUSINESS SUCCESS. li' s_ unconscious of the cause, and had no friend honest enough to tell him the truth. A man who has a monopoly of a commodity which people want, and must have, and which they can obtain only from him, may be as gruff, and as uncouth and as surly as he pleases, without affect- ing his income. But where men have to deal in com- modities the very same as hundreds of competitors have to offer, bought as well, held in quantities as large and qualities as good, they will go to the man whose face has the most sunshine and who serves them most plea- santly. And you cannot blame them. There are some men, and good men too, and honest men, yet they pass through life as though no pleasant sunbeam had ever shed its soft light across their countenance, and who have never learnt the important lesson, that true suavity of manner is an important element in a man's business success. A Rothschild or a Baring may assume a stiffness or an indifference of manner without injury to themselves, which would simply be fatal to any young man who had his business to make. To one of the Rothschilds a Gemian prince brought letters of credit ; he was shown into the inner room of the famous banker, whom he found busy with a heap of papers. On his name being announced the banker nodded, offered his visitor a chair, BUSINESS SUCCESS. . 59 and went on with his work. The prince, who felt that everything should give way to one of his rank and dig- nity, was not prepared for this treatment, and, standing, said, " Did you not hear, sir, who I am ]" repeating his titles. " Oh ! very well," said Rothschild, " take two chairs then." Until you become a Rothschild or a Baring, a little more attention will be expected on the part of those who bring letters of credit to you ; and you never will become either the one or the other, nor will you ever be possessed of the means or influence of many men found in grades far below such commercial giants, unless you impress the mind, not of a prince merely, but of your humblest patron (who may one day become a prince), that, in doing business with you, he confers as great a favour upon you as you can possibly confer upon him. Whatever a man's position, it costs little to be courteous to all. The constant exercise of this quality will minister immensely to his own happiness in passing through life, while it will greatly contribute to the happiness of others. As soon as you can afford it (not before), get mar- ried. No companion can be so helpful to you in every respect as a good wife. No spot in this world should have such attractions for you as your own home, made comfortable by your own industry, and gladdened by the smiles of those who love you. IP 60 BUSINESS SUCCESS. Young men should marry as early as circumstances will warrant, as one of the best means of saving them from numberless snares, and securing their happiness and prosperity. Marry in your own station ; don't wait until you have amassed a fortune, that you may look for the hand of some Nabob's daughter, possibly to be refused ; when the sympathies of youth no longer remain, and when such a marriage, even if practicable, could be but one of policy or convenience. You can always find among your own friends those quite as good as yourself, and whose sympathies and associations, being like your own, afford the best evidence that your life will be a happy one. It is as true to-day as it was when written by the wise man, that " Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing." — Prov. xviii. 22. Be enthusiastic. From the moment of your begin- ning, let your motto \>t forward! Be determined to be successful, or the probabilities are you will fail. Inspire every one about you, as far as that is possible, with your own earnestness, cheerfulness and truthfulness. Place every man in your employment in the position for which he is best fitted. Keep no drones about you ; have no unfaithful men about you ; no eye-servants who, though making their bread from your business, are neither true to its interests nor to you. I BUSINESS SUCCKSS. 6x Be the mainspring of your own business, the con- trolling and directing power which keeps the whole in constant and harmonious motion ; impress every one around you that you are a thorough master of your own business, able to guide your vessel in the tempest as in the calm ; that difficulties but inspire you with greater earnestness to achieve greater results. Take an interest in every one in your employment ; an interest in their comfort, welfare and happiness. Give them your confi- dence ; don't suffer faithful services to go unrewarded. In addition to what you promise to pay them, let them feel that they, as well as you, have a direct pecuniary interest in the development and extension of your busi- ness, and that the more they are able to make for you the more will they make for themselves. Advertise your business. Better, however, a hun- dred times, never do so, than do it untruthfully. If it be true that not more than five men out of every hundred succeed, make up your mind to be one of them, if but one of that five, take the highest commercial position ; try for it. Do not expect to escape without detractors. There never was a successful man, and there never will be, who had not and who will not have his enemies. The envious will look on and say, with apparent sin- cerity, that they hope this will not end in disaster, while 63 BUSINESS SUCCESS. nothing would give them more pleasiire'than your failure. There will be those who, while speaking fairly to your face, would damage your credit if they could. But there is a power in the really earnest, progressive man, which bears down the combined assaults of envious and spiteful men. Never mind 'them; go on. What though they call you mean, as perhaps they will ; over-reaching and unprin(M"pled, as possibly they may ; go on, extend your business upon sound and honourable principles, and every hour you will increase the distance between your- self and your traducers ; and as you go up, they will go down. Keep wisely extending your business, making all you can ; and, as you do so, giving all you can. Undertake nothing upon which you cannot ask Ood's blessing ; do not forget that it is His blessing alone which maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow ; and do not forget that all who seek success without it — however large their business, or numerous their friends — will find that, for all their toil and care, they have but gathered for this world and the next, " Sadly at iasi, nothing but leaves y So conducting your business, you will have litt^ fear from the crisis ; for although it is certnin to ruin to thousands, it is almost equally cert: .o L»e t you. The crisis either makes or mars a man. '' i'he i BUSINESS SUCCESS. 65 . crisis of 1837, which brought ruin upon so many thou- sands, made George Peabody. Three-fourths of all the banks in the United States fell with a terrible crash ; thousands of prosperous traders were ruined ; credit for the time paralyzed ; American securities were worthless. Amid all this upheaving, Peabody stood firm. In the parlour of the Bank of England, where not half a-dozen men in the kingdom would have been listened to on American matters, his judgment commanded respect ; his integrity won back confidence in the securities of his country. That day, so dark to so many,- was the begin- ning of his greatness, placed him at once in the foremost rank of merchant princes, gave him unbounded credit, and ultimately a world-wide reputation ; led to that splendid career familiar now to every school-boy, to the amassing of a princely fortune ; to the founding of a noble charity, which finds homes for the poor of London without making them paupers — which ministers to their comfort without causing them to sink their independence ; and whose name would have lived throughout all time, even without the statue erected at the Royal Exchange to perpetuate his memory. " Show me a man diligent in business, he will stand before kings, and not before mean men." Do not be frightened at difficulties ; do not let disasters overwhelm you. ** s 64 BUSINESS SUCCESS. I I ;! The history of the Allan Steamship Company is part of our country's history. A Canadian line seemed not only a desirable undertaking, but one urgently de- manded by the growing trade of the country. Such a line the Allan Company undertook, and gave it their name. Disaster seemed to attend all its early efforts ; ever and anon came the tidings of the loss of well-built ships, and not of ships only, but of brave men ; and then came sadder, stories still, where ships went down and none were left to tell the tale. Yet the Company went on ; some predicted their failure, perhaps wished it ; others said the subsidy ought to be withdrawn, and would have withdrawn it, if they could. Yet the Company went on. Ordinary men would not only have quailed before losses less overwhelming, but sank under them. Yet the Company went on ; it wa'" their crisis, and it made them ; they learnt lessons from disaster, and benefitted by them ; improved their steamships, their discipline and management ; so perfected their entire system, that their fleet of steamships to-day is as large, as safe and as skil- fully managed as any line in the world ; while the men themselves are living examples of what can be accom- plished by the pluck that refuses to be daunted, and the energy which knows no tiring. Nor is it at all unlikely that those of our Canadian youth, who exhibit like energy and produce like results, may be honoured with marks of BUSINESS SUCCESS. 65 royal favour such as those bestowed on the founder of that Company, which not even the envious can grudge, and which all right thinking men will say have been well deserved. Another illustration, and we have done. No disaster ever fell upon people, during the century, equal to that which fell upon the people of Chicago on the 9th of October of last year. Never did a people in any land rise above disaster with more commendable energy. The burned area extended over two thousand one hun- dred and twenty-four acres, or nearly three and half s(iuare miles ; seventeen thousand/our hundred and fifty buildings were destroyed; ninety-eight thousand five hun- dred people were rendered homeless ; two hundred and fifty perished in the flames : property amounting to six hundred and twenty millions of dollars was destroyed. To form some idea of the extent of this disaster you may fancy every building in this city swept away, and add to it another city of moderate size. Imagine every man, woman and child in Toronto, Hamilton and Kingston^ and nearly three thousand more belonging to some other city, shivering beside the smouldering remains of their dwellings, the homes once not of comfort only, but of opulence; not homeless merely, but destitute of food, clothing and means. Imagine the entire wealth of this 66 BUSINESS SUCCESS. city swept away in a few hours by the devouring flames, then multiply that twenty fold, and you will have some idea of the desolation and ruin caused by that terrible con- flagration. And then if you were told that that vast company, stripped of all earthly goods, rose up after that night of desolation with a calm settled confidence, with an energy which, appearing to be more than human, refused to be stilled, and which seemed to defy disaster even so appalling. If you were told that such men went forth, with glad trustful hearts, to begin anew life's battle, full of life and full of hope, determined to make their cities of the future greater far than their cities of the past, the whole would appear to you but as some wild fairy tale which you would find it impossible to believe ; yet all this the people of Chicago did. J I 1 Four weeks after the fire, and ere its smoke had fully cleared away, the Chicago Tribune had this article : " We are once more on our feet ; we have not much to otter in the way of sliow, architecture, or plate glass. We do not wear good clothes, we are decidedly shabby ; but we have within us an abundance of the same stuff that made the first Chicago a great city. Our credit in all the markets of the world is unimpaired ; our geographi- cal position the same as it was before the fire ; we have as many railways as before ; as many trains running on BUSINESS SUCCESS. 67 them, and all heavily laden ; we have the money in hand to pay the interest on our city debt ; to rebuild our burned bridges and our public offices ; we have faith in God and a heart full of gratitude to the whole world for its timely assistance in the hour of our calamity, and now we start again to achieve honourable distinction among American cities, a trifle crippled, a little hurt, somewhat untidy in outward seeming ; but still, with unconquered souls." That these were not boastful utterances, but the lan- guage of men of calm, resolute, settled purpose, may be gathered from what has actually taken place. On the 1 8th March, just five months after that desolating fire, the Chicago Times had this article : " Animation, confidence, prosperity, were the char- acteristics of the week just closed. On every hand, in every channel of trade there was a glow of life which seemed to bid defiance to the disasters of the past. Even the ruins were all aglow with life, and in each and every block of the new Chicago, the merry ring of hammer and trowel kept time to the movement of merchandize from buildings yet scarcely completed. To-day her trade is more expansive, her profits larger, her prospects brighter, than at any other period of her history. The 68 BUSINESS SUCCESS. millions of property swept away in the fire are things of the past and ahiiost forgotten, and ere the year is old, will, through the rapid strides of trade, be nearly or quite recovered." ai i^ We might have called your attention to the history of those who became renowned as business men, whose characters pure, grand and lofty, might be presented to you as models in every way worthy of your imitation. We have chosen rather to call your attention to those principles which formed the foundation of their greatness. We have done this because the humblest one in this as- sembly may adopt them; and, practising them, must be successful. There are none here who cannot be noble, virtuous, and true ; none who need be either idle or slothful. Each one may be fired with a lofty ambition to improve his own condition and minister to the good of his fellows. Influenced by the principles which have made our great men great, you will be successful. Yours may not be a renown as great as that of Peabody. You may never have the large means, or the large heart, or the large sphere of the great and good Henry Thornton, of whom Wilberforce said t'^ Hannah More ; " If you undertake the work of reclaiming and clothing the neglected, I will find the means, for I have a rich banker in London, Mr. H. Thornton, whom I cannot oblige so much as in BUSINESS SUCCESS. 69 m in drawing upon him for such purposes." But if your sphere should not be so large, you will find one ample enough for the profitable employment of your energies, and if your wealth should not be so great, you will have all you need for yourself and others. You cannot all be Wilber- forces, or Thorntons, or Peabodys, but you may all be successful. Your future is before you, and it is for you to make it just what you please. In this Dominion you will find a field large enough to task your ability, with rewards abundant enough to recompense you for your toil. You can be the founder of your own business and of your own fortune. It may be yours to take many a brother by the hand in whom you find