ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE 



existence among mankind, is of similar character, 

 though on the whole less fortuitous. Cooperation, 

 knowledge, altruism, have done much to eliminate 

 the element of chance. An acorn becomes an oak 

 where ten thousand other acorns fail, mainly by 

 luck, while the child becomes the man mainly 

 through the care and nurture of his parents and of 

 the community in which he lives, but he reaches a 

 position of power and prominence largely through 

 his inherent capabilities. Fortune plays a part here 

 also, as it did with Lincoln and Lee and Grant, but 

 these men all had the native endowment upon which 

 Fortune could build. 



In the natural competition that goes on in every 

 town and city, the success of one man over another 

 is not, as a rule, the result of violence or wrong; men 

 of high purpose and character in business and pro- 

 fessional life add to the positive wealth and well- 

 being of all; they often lift the whole community to 

 a higher and better standard of living; the unfit 

 profit by the achievements of the fit. The men who 

 have added to the wealth and well-being of this 

 country could be counted by the thousands. It is 

 also true that the men who have accumulated their 

 millions at the expense of others, by fraud and chi- 

 canery, or have diverted the earnings of others into 

 their own coffers, could be counted by the thou- 

 sands. It is this class of men who make the poor 

 poorer. But did the achievements of such men as 



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