Ji ?2 T *- c ^ o ■ m i^— i u MwiiniaHHiii Olnrttfll ICam ^rlinol Sltbrary Metbttt S. Slaube CUnllwttmt 1948 memoml ($iU of tlje g>tu6Enta nf tljE aiorneUJIatB g-tljanl Cornell University Library JK 2271.C63 Self-made man n American Ife 3 1924 024 902 557 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024902557 THE SELF-MADE MAIST IN AMEEIOAK" LIFE BY GROVEE CLEVELAND Ex-President of the United States New Xokk : 46 East I4th Street THOMAS Y. CKOWELL & COMPANY Boston: 100 Pubohase Stebbt B7onix Copyright, 1897, By Thomas Y. Ckowell & Company. C. J. Petees & Son, Tti'ogbaphebs, Boston. A. MUDGK & SON, PSINTISEB. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY DPON THE OCCASION OF ITS ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-PIEST ANNIVEESARY. THE SELF-MADE MA'N IN AMEEIOAI^ LIFE. I SHALL treat the topic I have selected with- out any attempt to lead the way into untrodden fields of thought or to point out new truths. I not only believe that if I should enter upon such an undertaking I would be guilty of bold presumption, but it seems to me we can quite as profitably improve the time we spend to- gether in renewing our acquaintance with some old truths, and recalling their relationship to human life and effort. In following this sug- gestion we shq,ll manifestly find it easier if we start from familiar ground, and take our de- parture from some well-known landmark. With this introduction I hope I may be tol- erated in the announcement that I propose to 7 8 THE SELF-MADE MAN submit on this occasion some simple reflections concerning the Self-Made Man. There has been so much said of him at ran- dom, and he has been so often presented as an altogether wonderful being, that it is not strange if there exists in some quarters an entire misapprehension of the manner of his creation, as well as an exaggerated idea of his nature and mission. A romantic and sentimen- tal glamour has enveloped him, magnifying his proportions, and causing him to appear much larger and in every way greater than other men. As to the origin of his qualities of size and greatness, the notion seems to be current that they are the direct results of the frowns of Fortune, which deprived him of educational advantages, and doomed him to travel to suc- cess by a road rugged with obstacles and diffi- culties. Of course in this view of the self-made man success is a necessary factor in his ex- istence ; for unless he accomplishes something not altogether commonplace and usual, he is deemed unworthy of the name. Indeed, it need not surprise us to find that success alone, IN AMERICAN LIFE. 9 if reached after a fierce struggle with difficul- ties and disadvantages, leads, by familiarity and easy association, to a sort of hazy conception that these difficulties and disadvantages were not untoward incidents, but necessary accom- paniments to such success. I desire here explicitly and emphatically ^ to express my respect and admiration for those who have won honorable success in spite of dis- couraging surroundings, and who have made themselves great and useful in their day and generation through the sheer force of indomi- table will and courage. Nothing can be more noble and heroic than their struggles ; and nothing can be more inspiring and valuable than their example and achievements ; and whatever may be their measure of success, their willingness to undergo hardships to win it, dem- onstrates that they have in their nature the fibre and lasting qualities that make strong men. But while we thus pay a deserved tribute to true manliness, we by no means admit the fanci- ful notion that the difficulties that stood in the way of these self-made men were essential to 10 TBE SELF-MADE MAN their success. They were obstacles which they overcame, thus winning distinction and honor. Thousands of others have been discouraged by these same obstacles, and found an appropriate place among dullards and drones. It is true that many eager men have laid the foundations of future usefulness and greatness in study be- tween the hours of their labor for bread, and by the light of a pine knot or open fireplace ; but many others have spent the same time not more profitably than in careless, sleepy indolence, and have by the same light undermined their men- tal and moral health with vile books and com- panionship, or in learning the first lessons in vice. We have all seen handsome and quite elab- orately carved articles or trinkets which were made entirely with a pocket-knife. As curi- osities they challenge our interest because of the ingenuity and difficulty of their construc- tion with such a simple tool ; but we do not regard them as more useful for that reason, nor do we for a moment suppose that the pocket- knife was essential to their construction, or that IN AMERICAN LIFE. 11 their beauty or merit would have been dimin- ished by the use of more effective and suitable tools. It is well to remember, too, in considering those who succeed notwithstanding difficulties, that not all successes, even though so gained, are of that useful and elevating kind that should excite our admiration. The churlish curmudgeon, who by sharp practices and avari- cious dealing has amassed a fortune, should not be permitted to cajole us by boasting of his early privations and sordid self-denial. .• We are at liberty to resent in any case the attempt to cover a multitude of sins with the cloak of the self-made man, by playing upon our regard for the worth and labor that conquers a useful and honorable career ; and the successful political hack should not be allowed to distract us from a damaged character, by parading his humble origin, his lack of early advantages, and the struggles of his boyhood, as independent and sufficient proofs that he is entitled to our suf- frages. The truth is, the merit of the successful man 12 THE SELF-MADE MAN who has struggled with difficulties and disad- vantages must be judged by the kind of suc- cess he has achieved, by the Tise he makes of it, and by its effect upon his character and life. If his success is clean and wholesome, if he uses it to make his fellows better and happier, and if he faithfully responds to all the obliga- tions of a liberal, public-spirited, and useful citizen, his struggles should add immensely to the honor and consideration he deserves. If, on the other hand, his success is of the grasping, sordid kind, if he clutches it closely for his selfish gratification, and if with success he is bankrupt in character, sordidly mean, use- less as a citizen, or of evil influence in his relations with his fellow-men, his struggles should not save him from contempt. Those in- cluded in either of these classes may in the ordinary acceptation be termed self-made men ; but it is quite evident that there are so-called self-made men not worth the making. Let us exclude these from further consideration, ^nd direct our attention to the manner of production and the characteristics and use of the men who JJV AMERICAN LIFE. 13 fit themselves to benefit and improve human conditions according to their environments, who, if they fulfil their mission, learn that the fruits they gather are sweetest when shared by others, and who cheerfully yield, in benefactions to their fellow-men, self-imposed tithes in kind, from their accumulations of hand, mind, or heart. This will not be a departure from our topic. The men thus descril^ed are self-made men because they can only be the products of self-endeavor and struggle — often to overcome external difficulties and disadvantages, and always to improve whatever opportunities are within their reach, to subdue the selfishness of human nature, and to stimulate its noblest aspirations. The construction of such a man requires fit material and the use of proper tools. Some grades of material may be capable of better finish and finer form than others; but all will yield sufficiently to treatment to become strong, durable, and useful. Manifestly among the tools to be used in the construction of the best quality of our self- 14 TBE SMLF-MADE MAN made man, education is vitally important. Its share of the work consists in so strengthening and fashioning the grain and fibre of the mate- rial as to develop its greatest power and fit it for the most extensive and varied service. This process cannot be neglected with the expecta- tion of satisfactory results ; and its thorough- ness and effectiveness must depend upon the excellence and condition of the tool employed, and the skill and care with which it is used. Thus the advantages of our common schools, freely offered to all, and often forced upon the unwilling, furnish an education by no means to be underrated. We are far from overlooking its grand accomplishments, and we are not un- mindful of the thousands of instances where it has adequately wrought in the production of our ideal self-made man; but, considered as a tool necessary to this supremely important con- struction, it cannot be claimed that in quality and certainty of results it compares with the higher education supplied by our universities and colleges. Happily we are able to recognize conditions 7JV AMERICAN LIFE. 15 which tend to an improved appreciation of col- legiate advantages. The extension of our school system ought to stimulate the desire of pupils to enjoy larger opportunities; the old superstition concerning the close relationship between the greatness of the self-made man and meagre educational advantages is fast dis- appearing ; and parents are more generally con- vinced that the time and money involved in a college course for their children are not wasted. In these circumstances it appears to me that there is no sufficient reason why so many of our young men fail of enrolment among our college students. I am afraid the fault is largely theirs, and that they do not fully real- ize the great benefit they as individuals would derive from a liberal education; and, even if oblivious to this, it would seem that the obli- gation resting upon them to do their share towards furnishing to our country the kind of self-made men it so much needs ought to incite them to enter upon this duty in the surest and most effective manner. We are considering the importance of a lib- 16 THE SELF-MADE MAN eral education in its widest usefulness and from a point of view that excludes the idea that such an education is only valuable as a prepa- ration for a professional career. In my opinion, we could as reasonably claim that our profes- sional ranks are more than suificiently recruited, as to say that educated men are out of place in other walks of life. We need the right kind of educated self-inade men in our business cir- cles, on our farms, and everywhere. We need them for the good they may do by raising the standard of intelligence within their field of influence ; we need them for the evidence they may furnish that education is a profitable factor in all vocations and in all the ordinary affairs of a community ; and we especially and sorely need such men, abundantly distributed among our people, for what they may do in patriot- ically steadying the currents of political senti- ment and action. In a country like ours, where the people are its rulers, it is exceed- ingly unfortunate that there should be so many blind followers of the lying partisan and the flattering demagogue. IN AMERICAN LIFE. 17 After what has been said, it is probably un- necessary for me to state that I am attempting not only to present the self-made man as he ought to exist, but also to speak of him in his relations to the common every-day life of our people. I am considering my topic with the mass of our American citizenship con- stantly before my mind. My thought is, that this mass can be, and ought to be, greatly im- proved, and made a better and safer depository of our trust in the perpetuity and beneficence of a free government. • I believe this can be accomplished by adding to our citizenship more of the leaven of genuine, well-constructed, and well-equipped self-made men. They must of course be not only well-constructed and weU- equipped, but they should be in sincere sympa- thy with all that concerns the betterment of the conditions surrounding them; in other words, they should be actively useful. • Of all useless men the most culpably useless are those who, having educational acquirements and fitness for beneficial work, do no more than exploit their acquirements in the false and unhealthy socia- 18 THE SELF-MADE MAN bility of habitual club life, or only utilize them as aids to the selfish pleasure of constantly restless foreign travel, or as accessories to other profitless enjoyment. Such a waste of qualifi- cations for valuable service is especially blame- worthy in a country like ours, where so many national problems remain unsolved, and where vast development awaits the most strenuous and intelligent effort. I have mentioned a liberal education as a most important process in the construction of our ideal self-made man. ■ I hardly need say that this education means something more than mere book-learning, and that it includes not only the practical knowledge and information concerning men and things which so easUy accompanies the knowledge of books, but also the mental discipUne and orderly habit of thought which systematic study begets. Ob- viously this definition excludes that measure of book-learning barely sufficient to claim a diploma, and used for no better purpose than to decorate the ease of wealth and ornament an inactive existence. IN AMERICAN LIFE. 19 I am conscious that I have done little more than to touch upon the importance of a liberal education as essential to the proper construc- tion of our self-made man. I have intentionally avoided a more extended discussion of a propo- sition which it seems to me is so plainly certain. And yet notwithstanding the potency of this factor, and even though education may have contributed to the construction all that it can accomplish, the work, if still lacking moral stamina and resistance, will be a sad failure, if nothing worse. • We have known of those to whom education had given all its gifts, who yet did wrong con- tinually, espousing every vicious and unright- eous cause, and delighting in the prostitution of their splendid powers and acquirements to the betrayal and injury of every noble purpose. We have seen the scholar in public life teaching tricks to tricksters, and with the mask of education on his face leading the way to the lowest depths of partisan deceit and intrigue. When direful anarchy held possession of the proud capital of France and drenched her 20 THE SELF-MADE MAN streets in blood, education, though not absent, failed to stay the fury that decreed the horrors of those appalling days. In the unrestrained revelry of impious wickedness and godless rage, morality and conscience were banished. The historian of that dark period has told us : — " The services of religion were now univer- sally abandoned; . . . baptism ceased; the burial service was no longer heard; the sick received no communion, the dying no conso- lation ; . . . the village bells were silent ; Sun- day was obliterated ; infancy entered the world without a blessing, and age left it without a hope ; ... on every tenth day a revolutionary leader ascended the pulpit and preached atheism to the bewildered audience; ... on all the public cemeteries the inscription was placed: ' Death is an eternal sleep.' " Since, therefore, education does not create the moral qualities without which our self- made man is so lamentably imperfect, it is obvious that other tools must be employed to supply the deficiencies. For this labor nothing can take the place of a sensitive, discriminat- IN AMERICAN LIFE. 21 ing conscience and a courageous conception of right and duty. ■ In good or bad plight every- one should have these tools ready at hand ; and he is the most fortunate who has kept them in the best condition. It sometimes hap- pens that with our growth there comes to us a feeling that the tender conscience and aver- sion to wrong of childhood are too strict and narrow to suit the sterner activities of our ma- turer years ; and I am not sure that instances are lacking of a kind of arrogance of educa- tion, generally appearing in its early stages, which confidently assumes that the heart and conscience which answered the purposes of younger days do not befit the dignity of learned men. The toleration of such ideas by those en- gaged in self-making, indicates that their most important tools need attention. The obedience, conscience, and affection of the child should not only be carefully protected by the man against injury and harm, but should grow stronger with our growth, and keener and brighter with our years. If thus strengthened 22 THE SELF-MADE MAN and burnished, tliey will be found abundantly adequate to contribute to the construction of our self-made man the qualities of obedience to every duty and obligation ; moral courage that dares at all times to confess fealty to the laws of God and morality; unyielding integ- rity, imwavering devotion to country, and con- stant love for humanity. "We must remember, however, that after the happy completion of this construction, its care and preservation cannot be safely neglected. Our self-made man will be exposed to the warp- ing distortion of temptation from without, and to the corrosion of selfishness from within. But continual watchfulness, and well-directed activity in attempting to compass the high pur- poses of his creation, may easily baffle tempta- tion ; while by opening his heart to the bright influences of love for his fellow-men, and by deeds of charity and kindness, he may save himself from selfishness. There should be no cause for depression in recalling the fact that success will not always bring to our self-made man either riches or IN AMEBICAN LIFE. 23 fame. Though these rewards will be lavishly distributed, he to whom they ipay not be forth- coming, if he endures to the end and remains true to himself and his mission, will have in his own keeping a more valuable reward, in the consciousness of duty well and faithfully performed. Popular applause is, of course, gratifying; but there are times when a man's own satisfaction with his conduct is a better criterion of real merit. Wealth should by no means be disparaged as representing success, provided it is accom- panied by a reasonable realization of the ob- ligations its possession imposes. We cannot attempt to fix the extent of these obligations ; but we are entitled to insist that in the race for riches the feeling and sentiment that make good citizenship should not be stifled, and that the rich, directly, by charity and beneficence, or indirectly, through their liberal enterprise and active thrift, should do something for hu- manity and the pubUc good. If wealth is the best that can be exhibited as a result of suc- cess, it cannot do less than to make its fair 24 THE SELF-MADE MAW contribution to the -welfare of society. This burden should not be altogether shifted upon those who, though without riches, constantly give from the results of their nobler successes gifts that exalt humanity. We have a right to complain of the rich if, after spending their hves in gathering wealth, they find in its pos- session no mandate of duty, and no pleasure, save in the inactive and sordid contemplation of their hoard. But sordidness is not confined to those whose only success consists in riches. There is a sor- didness of education more censurable, though perhaps less exposed. There are those whose success is made up of a vast accumulation of education, who are as miserly in its possession as the most avaricious among the rich. No one ife justified in hoarding education solely for his selfish use. To keep it entirely in close custody, to take a greedy pleasure in its contemplation, and to utilize it only as a means of personal, unshared enjoyment, is more un- pardonable than the clutch of the miser upon his money ; for he, in its accumulation, has n %^^ IN AMERICAN LIFE. \3oV >/ been subjected to the cramping and narrowing " " influences of avarice, while he who hoards edu- cation does violence to the broad and generous influences which accompany its acquisition. Our self-made man ought to see his course so plainly that it should be easy for him to avoid the wrong of sordidness in the possession of any of the rewards of his success. The obligations of wealth and the obliga- tions of education are co-operative and equally binding. The discharge of these obligations involves restraint as well as activity. The rich man should restrain himself from harbor- ing, or having the appearance of harboring, any feeling of purse-proud superiority over his less wealthy fellows. Without such restraint the distance is lengthened between him and those whom, by contact and association, he might benefit. It is thus, too, that envious discon- tent and hatred of the rich are engendered and perpetuated. So also the man of education should carefully keep himself from the indul- gence, or seeming indulgence, in a supercilious loftiness towards his fellow-citizens. ■ Otherwise 26 THE SELF-MADE MAN he will see those whom he might improve and elevate, if within his reach, standing aloof, and answering every invitation to a nearer ap- proach with mockery and derision. The benign mission of both the educated and the rich is among and with their fellow-men of less educa- tion and less wealth ; and genuine, hearty com- panionship is absolutely needful to the success of their missions. While our self-made man should not fail in his appreciation of the importance of these re- straints, he ought especially and with clearness to apprehend the binding force of the active and affirmative obligations which are laid upon the rewards of success. Considered as co-operar tive, these obligations in their aggregate are as numerous as the points of contact in human in- tercourse and as varied, as the conditions of human existence ; and yet there should be no difficulty in their recognition, nor should there be any doubt as to the kind of^success upon which each is imposed. Their concurrent dis- charge involves enlightened and discriminating charity; the inauguration and encouragement IN AMERICAN LIFE. 27 of agencies for increased culture and informa- tion; intelligent liberality in business, with a clear regard for the interest and welfare of those who toil; a constant exemplification of the strength and nobility of strict integrity ; the incitement, by precept and example, to frugal- ity and economy; the continual inculcation of the benefits and usefulness of education in every occupation ; the stimulation of genuine patriot- ism ; the cultivation of independent and thought- ful political judgment ; and last, but by no means least, a hearty and helpful interest in the min- istrations of religion, and the extension of a healthy moral sentiment. But while education and wealth regarded as rewards of success may be referred to as thus acting in concurrence, they are also subject to obligations to each other, which ought, without question, to be reciprocal. If education gives, from its accumulation, the culture and purify- ing surroundings which make riches in every way more useful and desirable, then surely wealth owes in return generous benefactions to those institutions of learning, which, in abne- 28 THE SELF-MABE MAN gation of riches, foster education and stimu- late its growth. We are sometimes led to suppose, however, that there has been some neglect in the adjustment of these obligations,; for it seems quite certain that if the accounts were fairly stated, the universities and colleges of our land would have a large balance to their credit. I will not close without a more specific refer- ence to a particular condition of American life, which sadly needs the active and persistent inter- position of our well-constructed and well-pre- served self-made man. Evidence is constantly accumulating that at no point can he do more vitally useful work than in the field of politics. The fact that this word, signifying the science of government and the administration of public affairs, is associated in the common mind with sharp manipulation and smooth deceit, plainly shows how badly it has been "soiled with all ignoble use," while the contempt with which self-seeking candidacy and party subserviency, even in a canvass now pending, spealcs of disin- terested citizens organized to secure good gov- 7iV AMERICAN LIFE. 29 emment, as "a modern school of doctrinaires," and as "college professors," startlingly illus- trates how confidently arrogant partisanship dares to insult thoughtful and intelligent citi- zenship. ■ Since our hope of the perpetual endurance of our government, as the source of priceless bene- fit to the American people, and as proof of man's right and fitness to govern himself, must rest upon the people's intelligence and patriotism, these should be carefully protected against malign agencies which continually attempt to undermine them ; and they should be constantly supported and re-enforced by the thoughtful educated men of the land. • Already a dangerous advantage has been gained by the forces of recklessness and selfishness, largely through the indifference of those who should have challenged their first ad- vance ; and now, when partisanship without giv- ing reasons assumes to lead, and hosts without reason seem willing to follow, and when party organization, which should be the servant of in- telligence and patriotism, proclaims itself their master, and attempts to bind them hand and 30 te::e self-made man foot, the time has surely come when all the in- telligence and education of our land should hear a call to duty. To say nothing of actual danger to our in- stitutions, all must see that we cannot gain their most beneficent results, if the best intel- ligence and the most disinterested patriotism among our people either refuse to enter the field of politics, or allow themselves to be driven from it. I am not condemning party allegiance founded on reason and judgment. Party men we mai/ all well be | but only with the reservation that thoughtful and patriotic citizens we must be. In our public life we may be sure that, as a general rule, our servants and agents will be no better than the people who create them. They may be infinitely worse through the people's neglect or betrayal. ■ Therefore no true American should be will- ing to endanger the interests involved in his citizenship, nor the pride which every good man has in the maintenance before the world of the high character of his government, by inaction, IN AMERICAN LIFE. 31 or a careless indication of his choice for those to be intrusted with national affairs. If the popular will in this regard should be voiced by the intelligence and patriotism of our countrymen, and if they should be alert and exacting in the enforcement of their will, the danger of misgovemment and of a misrepre- sentation of our national character would pass away. A just people, willing to concede equal rights and privileges to every citizen, would enforce justice and equahty in their govern- ment; a frugal and economical people would command frugality and economy in public ad- ministration ; a people who valued integrity and morality would exact them in high places ; a people who held sacred the honor of their country would insist upon its scrupulous pro- tection and defence; and a people who love peace would not again suffer the humiliation of seeing dashed from their proud grasp the almost ripened hope of leadership among the nations of the earth, in the high mission of driving out the cruel barbarities of war by the advent of the pacific methods of international arbitration. 32 THE SELF-MADE MAN. • Happy is the land where examples of hero- ism and wise statemanship abound, but happier far is the land where the people rule ; and for- tunate above all are those people when their government is controlled, watched, and de- fended by the virtue, patriotism, and intelli- gence of millions of truly self-made men. -