Fundamentals of Prosperity: What They Are and Whence They ComeBabson, Roger Ward
Philosophy
Fundamentals of Prosperity: What They Are and Whence They Come
Babson, Roger Ward
Business; Success
We have forgotten the latent power in the human soul, in the individual,
in the community, in the different parts of the country. We have
forgotten those human possibilities upon which all prosperity ultimately
depends. I cannot perhaps emphasize this any more than by saying that
the foundation of progress is spiritual, not material.
The greatest resources of the world to-day are human resources,--not
resources of iron, copper and lumber. The great need of the hour is to
strengthen this human foundation and revive in men a desire to produce
and a joy in service. Business men are the one group that can do it.
They understand the emotions, understand the importance of the
intangible things. They understand how to awaken in people new motives.
So my appeal is not to wait too long to revive man and awaken the soul
which is slumbering to-day.
The nation is only a mass of individuals. The true prosperity of a
country depends upon the same qualities as the true prosperity of its
people. As religion is necessary for the man, it is also necessary for
the nation. As the soul of man needs to be developed, so also does the
soul of the nation.
* * * * *
Let me tell one more personal incident. Not long ago I was at my
Washington office spending the week. While there a little Western Union
messenger girl came in to apply for a position. It was in the
afternoon--about half-past five. I was struck with the intelligence of
the girl's face and asked her two or three questions. She was tired. I
asked her to sit down. I was astonished to hear her story.
She had been born and brought up in the mountains of West
Virginia,--many miles from civilization. Her father and mother died when
she was four years old. She had been living with an old grandfather and
brother. When I began to talk with her I found her to have a most
remarkable acquaintance with Emerson, with Thoreau, with Bernard Shaw
and with the old Eastern writers.
I said to her: "How is it that you are delivering telegrams in a khaki
suit and a soldier cap?"
She replied: "Because I could get nothing else to do. I lived down there
in the mountains just as long as I could. I had to get to the city where
I could express myself and develop my finer qualities. When I got to
Washington there was nothing that I could do. They asked me if I could
typewrite, but I had never seen a typewriter. Finally, after walking the
streets for a while, I got a job as a Western Union messenger."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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