1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — Xo. 4. 315 



the raw material can be properly distributed. And here the 

 responsibility of the distril)ution is thrown back upon the 

 young men who are seeking for occupation. It has been 

 said to be impossible to construct ' ' a silk purse from a sow's 

 ear." But, if you are not adapted by nature to become a 

 successful lawyer, you may make an excellent blacksmith. 

 You might prove a failure as a preacher, and yet make a suc- 

 cessful farmer. But that would not prove that the mental 

 requirements of the ftirraer's avocation are greater than those 

 of the latter. It might, perhaps, be more properly styled 

 the adaptation of means to an end. 



It is not my purpose — in fact, it would be presumptu- 

 ous — to undertake to point to any particular occupation as 

 preferable to others. There are golden as well as honorable 

 possibilities in most of them, waiting to be improved by the 

 3'oung men and boys now coming and to come upon the stage 

 of active life ; and it remains for them to study their own 

 capabilities and measure their own ambition, with that care 

 and shrewdness which will enable them to make a wise 

 choice. And it is to this end that I Avould aid them, so far 

 as may be possible. 



The desire to secure a large fortune I consider a laudable 

 one ; but the means to be employed must be free from 

 avarice and all miserly love of gain for its own sake ; for, 

 while " the love of money is the root of all evil," money itself 

 is a blessing, for almost every material good may be pur- 

 chased therewith. "If riches increase, set not thy heart 

 upon them." This wise admonition does not carry with it 

 the inference that the increase of riches is not a commend- 

 able object of desire. Some one has condensed a great 

 deal of truth into a few lines, as follows : " There is a burden 

 of care in getting riches, fear in keeping them, temptation 

 in using them, guilt in abusing them, sorrow in losing them, 

 and a burden of account at last to be given up concerning 

 them." 



That class of occupations represented by the largest num- 

 ber of millionaires, will, I think be found to involve the 

 greatest risks and the most anxiety, while the slow and 

 steady gains secured by the mechanic and farmer are liable 

 to those objections only in a comparatively small degree. 



