Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1908 — Reputation and Luck. [ARTICLE]

Reputation and Luck.

Nobody gifted with a sense of humor can fail to be diverted by the Pucklike manner in which luck makes and unmakes reputations for business ability. A score of years ago a gentleman named Jennings was an extensive owner of downtown real estate in Chicago. He was the first, I believe, to develop on a large scale the modern system of the ninety-nlne-year lease —whereby the owner insures himself and his heirs for a century an absolutely fixed rental, free and clear of all charges. After Mr. Jennings had leased a lot of his lands for ninety-nine years a depression came on. Other people’s incomes were curtailed: but his was stable. “What foresight!” said the town. “What sagacity! What superb ’business judgment.’ Mr. Jennings views on the business situation and outlook were eagerly sought. The depression passedrealty prices advanced immensely; the Jennings lots could have been leased at twice the rental named in the old indentures. The town shook its head sympathetically over poor Mr. Jennings’s deplorable short-sightedness.