LII Beginning as Telegraph Operator He Built the Canadian Pacific. “WHAT is success?” questioned Sir William Van Horne, half-reclining within the hospitable arms of a big chair in his luxurious residence in Shelbrooke Street, Montreal. “You, Sir William, should surely know,” I remarked. “You are accredited by the world with being very familiar with it.” “There are numerous subjects upon which the world and I do not agree,” replied, with a smile, the famous railroad builder. “What is success?” he repeated slowly. “You might say, of course that it is the achievement of a purpose, but in the selection and formation of your purpose you may have made a failure, and then the whole is failure. “Is contentment success? I am sure it is not. Is wealth? Not by any means. Is power? Not at all.” Sir William was silent for a moment. “The truth is,” he said suddenly, “the word success is one of the hardest in the language to define, and I won’t attempt it. I should say however, that a man’s real success in life can be pretty accurately measured by his usefulness as a member of society. “He may be rich or poor, courted or ignored, but if he does things which at once or eventually make for progress in the world he is most assuredly a success. If, for example, he discovers something new in science, invents a valuable article, paints a great picture, writes a great book, develops a great industry, or——” “Or builds a great railroad?” I interrupted. Sir William smiled, and after a pause remarked, “I suppose you intend that to be a personal allusion, but we are not discussing personalities. I will say, however, that some of the men whom down in the States you call captains of industry have my admiration. I care very little whether they give money to charity, whether their work is colored by an active consciousness of its value to anybody outside of their families, their friends and themselves. Most of the men of this stamp are just in their dealings, and it is to their initiative force that the United States owes her material greatness. They have started wheels of industry that have given honest work and many of the comforts of life to millions of self-respecting men. They are rich, yes, and we say that riches do not constitute success. Nevertheless, these men have achieved it in one of its highest forms.” It was very plain from his manner that in making these remarks Sir William’s thoughts were quite remote from his own career. Yet he himself is one of the most conspicuous and striking representatives on the continent of the class of men he was discussing. His humble start as a small boy in a railway station, contrasted with his present place as a giant in the field of railroading, indicates the height of his own achievement. His career has been a long series of upward steps.