Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 April 1919 — Great Men Are Bold. [ARTICLE]

Great Men Are Bold.

Were one to analyze the careers of 200 or 300 of our leading men of finance and Industry it would probably develop that not half of them continued in the line of business in which they started, but struck boldly out in the direction where they saw the biggest opportunities and where their Inclination lay. One of the earliest and most notable Instances of this was Commodore Vanderbilt, who was so old before he turned to railroading that his family and his advisers importuned him to let well enough alone and not to enter an entirely new field at his time of life. This readiness of brainy giants to take up new [things and to throw their whole selves into them is really one of the principal reasons why the United States has led the world in so many lines of endeavor. Wealthy Europeans, as a rule, avoid the new, avoid untried paths; they are inclined to worship precedent.