How to Get Rich

From the introductory. It is safe to say that everyone who is not rich is desirous of having wealth, and is striving in one way or another to acquire it. The possession of riches is often spoken of as a doubtful blessing, when the cares and responsibilities attendant thereto are considered; however, one would need to travel far to find a person unwilling to accept a heavy load of this world's goods - cares, responsibilities and all. But while it is well known that the poor are often unhappy and discontented, yet wealth does not by any means invariably bring happiness and contentment. At a meeting in London to make arrangements for one of Mr. Moody's campaigns, a speaker expressed the hope that Mr. Moody would -do something for the miserably poor of London.- -I shall try and do so, - the evangelist replied, -and I hope also to be able to do something for the miserably rich.- The ambition to acquire a competency, however, is certainly a laudable one. Money in itself is neither good nor evil; all depends on the way in which it is used. But the first thing is to get it. An advertisement appeared in the public press some years since, offering for one dollar to send to any address the secret of the sure road to wealth. In return for his dollar each person accepting the offer received a slip of paper, on which were printed these words: WORK HARD AND DO NOT SPEND A CENT. Of course, this was merely a scheme for enriching its originator without his working at all. The advice was absurd, as it was practically impossible to follow it. However, any person may hope to become reasonably well off if he will pursue the proper course, and in order to determine what this course is, the writer has sought and obtained from men who have been successful in various walks of life, valuable hints for young men on the acquirement of wealth, which are presented in the following pages. Stephen Girard, John Jacob Astor, A. T. Stewart and Cornelius Vanderbilt, who amassed colossal fortunes, were all poor boys. The Astor estate is by far the greatest in the country, amounting in value to about $350,000,000, and was principally accumulated through investments in improved real estate - a method of getting rich advocated by General Butler in the letter from him printed in this volume. Vast fortunes have been secured in this country by a few men in speculation, but that is a species of gambling and not to be recommended. The Marquis of Vauvenargues wrote what is undoubtedly true, that -rapid successes of every kind are the least durable, because they are rarely the work of merit or industry; the ripe but laborious fruits of prudence are always of tardy growth.- Rede, writing on the art of money getting, says: -Some men with the best intentions have so little fortitude, and are so fond of present ease or pleasure, that they give way to every temptation, while others, possessed of greater strength of mind, hold out to the last, and then look back with complacency on the difficulties they have overcome, and the thousands of their fellow-travelers that are lagging far behind, railing at fate, and dreaming of what they might have been. This difference of the progress which men make in life who set out with the same prospects and opportunities, is a proof of itself that more depends upon conduct than fortune.-...