Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1911 — No Great Danger When Poor Boys Can Rise to Prominence. [ARTICLE]

No Great Danger When Poor Boys Can Rise to Prominence.

Dayton, 0., Journal. Tte rise of James A. Ferrell to the head of the great steel corporation, succeeding William E. Corey, marks the ascent of another capable man from the ranks. Farrell began as a laborer in a wire mill when he was only sixteen years old. Corey began at the same age when he entered the chemical laboratory of Edgar Thompson steel works. Schwab started in as a stake driver with the same company.

Most of the directors of the financial committee of the steel trust had only a common school education. Phipps was an office boy, Ream a farm boy, Frick a clerk for a flour merchant, Perkins an insurance clerk, and Widener left high school to learn the meat business. 'There is no reason to assume from this record that any young fellow who started in the same way would rise to become the head of a billion-dol-lar corporation. Only those men rise to that position who are fit for the job. The others stop at the limit of their capacity. It does not show that the man who has the ability and the capacity need not be afraid of conditions today. Maybe it is not the greatest thing in the world to be president of the steel trust. Probably not. But if that sort of success appeals to a young man today and he thinks he has the right sort of sinew for the job, he need not spend time in envying the fellow who was born with a gold spoon in his mouth. The thing for him to do is to start just where he happens to be standing and get whither his ambition leads. There are plenty of examples, and James A. Farrell furnishes one of them.