Chapter - Index
CHAPTER 3 -
FAITH
VISUALIZATION OF, AND BELIEF IN
ATTAINMENT OF DESIRE
The Second Step toward Riches
FAITH is the head chemist of the mind. When FAITH is blended
with the vibration of thought, the subconscious mind instantly picks
up the vibration, translates it into its spiritual equivalent, and
transmits it to Infinite Intelligence, as in the case of prayer.
The emotions of FAITH, LOVE, and SEX are the most powerful of
all the major positive emotions. When the three are blended, they
have the effect of "coloring" the vibration of thought
in such a way that it instantly reaches the subconscious mind, where
it is changed into its spiritual equivalent, the only form that
induces a response from Infinite Intelligence.
Love and faith are psychic; related to the spiritual side of
man. Sex is purely biological, and related only to the physical.
The mixing, or blending, of these three emotions has the effect
of opening a direct line of communication between the finite, thinking
mind of man, and Infinite Intelligence.
HOW TO DEVELOP FAITH
There comes, now, a statement which will give a better understanding
of the importance the principle of auto-suggestion assumes in the
transmutation of desire into its physical, or monetary equivalent;
p. 67
namely: FAITH is a state of mind which may be induced, or created,
by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind,
through the principle of auto-suggestion.
As an illustration, consider the purpose for which you are, presumably,
reading this book. The object is, naturally, to acquire the ability
to transmute the intangible thought impulse of DESIRE into its physical
counterpart, money. By following the instructions laid down in the
chapters on auto-suggestion, and the subconscious mind, as summarized
in the chapter on auto-suggestion, you may CONVINCE the subconscious
mind that you believe you will receive that for which you ask, and
it will act upon that belief, which your subconscious mind passes
back to you in the form of "FAITH," followed by definite
plans for procuring that which you desire.
The method by which one develops FAITH, where it does not already
exist, is extremely difficult to describe, almost as difficult,
in fact, as it would be to describe the color of red to a blind
man who has never seen color, and has nothing with which to compare
what you describe to him. Faith is a state of mind which you may
develop at will, after you have mastered the thirteen principles,
because it is a state of mind which develops voluntarily, through
application and use of these principles.
Repetition of affirmation of orders to your subconscious mind
is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion
of faith.
Perhaps the meaning may be made clearer
through the following explanation as to the way men sometimes become
criminals. Stated in the words of a famous criminologist, "When
men first come into contact with crime, they abhor it. If they remain
in contact with crime for a time, they become accustomed to it,
and endure it. If they remain in contact with it long enough, they
finally embrace it, and become influenced by it."
This is the equivalent of saying that any impulse of thought
which is repeatedly passed on to the subconscious mind is, finally,
accepted and acted upon by the subconscious mind, which proceeds
to translate that impulse into its physical equivalent, by the most
practical procedure available.
In connection with this, consider again the statement, ALL THOUGHTS
WHICH HAVE BEEN EMOTIONALIZED, (given feeling) AND MIXED WITH FAITH,
begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent
or counterpart.
The emotions, or the "feeling" portion of thoughts,
are the factors which give thoughts vitality, life, and action.
The emotions of Faith, Love, and Sex, when mixed with any thought
impulse, give it greater action than any of these emotions can do
singly.
Not only thought impulses which have been mixed with FAITH, but
those which have been mixed with any of the positive emotions, or
any of the negative emotions, may reach, and influence the subconscious
mind.
From this statement, you will understand that the subconscious
mind will translate into its physical equivalent, a thought impulse
of a negative or destructive nature, just as readily as it will
act upon thought impulses of a positive or constructive nature.
This accounts for the strange phenomenon which so many millions
of people experience, referred to as "misfortune," or "bad
luck."
There are millions of people who BELIEVE themselves "doomed"
to poverty and failure, because of some strange force over which
they BELIEVE they have no control. They are the creators of their
own "misfortunes," because of this negative BELIEF, which
is picked up by the subconscious mind, and translated into its physical
equivalent.
This is an appropriate place at which to suggest again that you
may benefit, by passing on to your subconscious mind, any DESIRE
which you wish translated into its physical, or monetary equivalent,
in a state of expectancy or BELIEF that the transmutation will actually
take place. Your BELIEF, or FAITH, is the element which determines
the action of your subconscious mind. There is nothing to hinder
you from "deceiving" your subconscious mind when giving
it instructions through autosuggestion, as I deceived my son's
subconscious mind.
To make this "deceit" more realistic, conduct yourself
just as you would, if you were ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MATERIAL
THING WHICH YOU ARE DEMANDING, when you call upon your subconscious
mind.
The subconscious mind will transmute into its physical equivalent,
by the most direct and practical media available, any order which
is given to it in a state of BELIEF, or FAITH that the order will
be carried out.
Surely, enough has been stated to give a starting point from
which one may, through experiment and practice, acquire the ability
to mix FAITH with any order given to the subconscious mind. Perfection
will come through practice. It cannot come by merely reading instructions.
If it be true that one may become a criminal by association with
crime, (and this is a known fact), it is equally true that one may
develop faith by voluntarily suggesting to the subconscious mind
that one has faith. The mind comes, finally, to take on the nature
of the influences which dominate it. Understand this truth, and
you will know why it is essential for you to encourage the positive
emotions as dominating forces of your mind, and discourage--and
eliminate negative emotions.
A mind dominated by positive emotions, becomes a favorable abode
for the state of mind known as faith. A mind so dominated may, at
will, give the subconscious mind instructions, which it will accept
and act upon immediately.
FAITH IS A STATE OF MIND WHICH MAY BE INDUCED BY AUTO-SUGGESTION
All down the ages, the religionists have admonished struggling
humanity to "have faith" in this, that, and the other
dogma or creed, but they have failed to tell people HOW to have
faith. They have not stated that "faith is a state of mind,
and that it may be induced by self-suggestion."
In language which any normal human being can understand, we will
describe all that is known about the principle through which FAITH
may be developed, where it does not already exist.
Have Faith in yourself; Faith in the Infinite. Before we begin,
you should be reminded again that:
FAITH is the "eternal elixir" which gives life, power,
and action to the impulse of thought!
The foregoing sentence is worth reading a second time, and a
third, and a fourth. It is worth reading aloud!
FAITH is the starting point of all accumulation of riches!
FAITH is the basis of all "miracles," and all mysteries
which cannot be analyzed by the rules of science!
FAITH is the only known antidote for FAILURE!
FAITH is the element, the "chemical" which, when mixed
with prayer, gives one direct communication with Infinite Intelligence.
FAITH is the element which transforms the ordinary vibration
of thought, created by the finite mind of man, into the spiritual
equivalent.
FAITH is the only agency through which the cosmic force of Infinite
Intelligence can be harnessed and used by man.
EVERY ONE OF THE FOREGOING STATEMENTS IS CAPABLE OF PROOF!
The proof is simple and easily demonstrated. It is wrapped up
in the principle of auto-suggestion. Let us center our attention,
therefore, upon the subject of self-suggestion, and find out what
it is, and what it is capable of achieving.
It is a well known fact that one comes, finally, to BELIEVE whatever
one repeats to one's self, whether the statement be true or
false. If a man repeats a lie over and over, he will eventually
accept the lie as truth. Moreover, he will BELIEVE it to be the
truth. Every man is what he is, because of the DOMINATING THOUGHTS
which he permits to occupy his mind. Thoughts which a man deliberately
places in his own mind, and encourages with sympathy, and with which
he mixes any one or more of the emotions, constitute the motivating
forces, which direct and control his every movement, act, and deed!
Comes, now, a very significant statement of truth:
THOUGHTS WHICH ARE MIXED WITH ANY OF THE FEELINGS OF EMOTIONS,
CONSTITUTE A "MAGNETIC" FORCE WHICH ATTRACTS, FROM THE
VIBRATIONS OF THE ETHER, OTHER SIMILAR, OR RELATED THOUGHTS. A thought
thus "magnetized" with emotion may be compared to a seed
which, when planted in fertile soil, germinates, grows, and multiplies
itself over and over again, until that which was originally one
small seed, becomes countless millions of seeds of the SAME BRAND!
The ether is a great cosmic mass of eternal forces of vibration.
It is made up of both destructive vibrations and constructive vibrations.
It carries, at all times, vibrations of fear, poverty, disease,
failure, misery; and vibrations of prosperity, health, success,
and happiness, just as surely as it carries the sound of hundreds
of orchestrations of music, and hundreds of human voices, all of
which maintain their own individuality, and means of identification,
through the medium of radio.
From the great storehouse of the ether, the human mind is constantly
attracting vibrations which harmonize with that which DOMINATES
the human mind. Any thought, idea, plan, or purpose which one holds
in one's mind attracts, from the vibrations of the ether, a
host of its relatives, adds these "relatives" to its own
force, and grows until it becomes the dominating, MOTIVATING MASTER
of the individual in whose mind it has been housed.
Now, let us go back to the starting point, and become informed
as to how the original seed of an idea, plan, or purpose may be
planted in the mind. The information is easily conveyed: any idea,
plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of
thought. This is why you are asked to write out a statement of your
major purpose, or Definite Chief Aim, commit it to memory, and repeat
it, in audible words, day after day, until these vibrations of sound
have reached your subconscious mind.
We are what we are, because of the vibrations of thought which
we pick up and register, through the stimuli of our daily environment.
Resolve to throw off the influences of any unfortunate environment,
and to build your own life to ORDER. Taking inventory of mental
assets and liabilities, you will discover that your greatest weakness
is lack of self-confidence. This handicap can be surmounted, and
timidity translated into courage, through the aid of the principle
of autosuggestion. The application of this principle may be made
through a simple arrangement of positive thought impulses stated
in writing, memorized, and repeated, until they become a part of
the working equipment of the subconscious faculty of your mind.
SELF-CONFIDENCE FORMULA
First.
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I know that I have the ability to achieve the object
of my Definite Purpose in life, therefore, I DEMAND of myself
persistent, continuous action toward its attainment, and
I here and now promise to render such action.
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Second.
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I realize the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually
reproduce themselves in outward, physical action, and gradually
transform themselves into physical reality, therefore, I
will concentrate my thoughts for thirty minutes daily, upon
the task of thinking of the person I intend to become, thereby
creating in my mind a clear mental picture of that person.
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Third.
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I know through the principle of auto-suggestion, any
desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually
seek expression through some practical means of attaining
the object back of it, therefore, I will devote ten minutes
daily to demanding of myself the development of SELF-CONFIDENCE.
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p. 75
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Fourth.
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I have clearly written down a description of my DEFINITE
CHIEF AIM in life, and I will never stop trying, until I
shall have developed sufficient self-confidence for its
attainment.
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Fifth.
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I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure,
unless built upon truth and justice, therefore, I will engage
in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects.
I will succeed by attracting to myself the forces I wish
to use, and the cooperation of other people. I will induce
others to serve me, because of my willingness to serve others.
I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and
cynicism, by developing love for all humanity, because I
know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring
me success. I will cause others to believe in me, because
I will believe in them, and in myself.
I will sign my name to this formula, commit it to memory,
and repeat it aloud once a day, with full FAITH that it
will gradually influence my THOUGHTS and ACTIONS so that
I will become a self-reliant, and successful person.
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Back of this formula is a law of Nature which no man has yet
been able to explain. It has baffled the scientists of all ages.
The psychologists have named this law "auto-suggestion,"
and let it go at that.
The name by which one calls this law is of little importance.
The important fact about it is--it WORKS for the glory and success
of mankind, IF it is used constructively. On the other hand, if
used destructively, it will destroy just as readily. In this statement
may be found a very significant truth, namely; that those who go
down in defeat, and end their lives in poverty, misery, and distress,
do so because of negative application of the principle of auto-suggestion.
The cause may be found in the fact that ALL IMPULSES OF THOUGHT
HAVE A TENDENCY TO CLOTHE THEMSELVES IN THEIR PHYSICAL EQUIVALENT.
The subconscious mind, (the chemical laboratory in which all
thought impulses are combined, and made ready for translation into
physical reality), makes no distinction between constructive and
destructive thought impulses. It works with the material we feed
it, through our thought impulses. The subconscious mind will translate
into reality a thought driven by FEAR just as readily as it will
translate into reality a thought driven by COURAGE, or FAITH.
The pages of medical history are rich with illustrations of cases
of "suggestive suicide." A man may commit suicide through
negative suggestion, just as effectively as by any other means.
In a midwestern city, a man by the name of Joseph Grant, a bank
official, "borrowed" a large sum of the bank's money,
without the consent of the directors. He lost the money through
gambling. One afternoon, the Bank Examiner came and began to check
the accounts. Grant left the bank, took a room in a local hotel,
and when they found him, three days later, he was lying in bed,
wailing and moaning, repeating over and over these words, "My
God, this will kill me! I cannot stand the disgrace." In a
short time he was dead. The doctors pronounced the case one of "mental
suicide."
Just as electricity will turn the wheels of industry, and render
useful service if used constructively; or snuff out life if wrongly
used, so will the law of auto-suggestion lead you to peace and prosperity,
or down into the valley of misery, failure, and death, according
to your degree of understanding and application of it.
If you fill your mind with FEAR, doubt and unbelief in your ability
to connect with, and use the forces of Infinite Intelligence, the
law of auto-suggestion will take this spirit of unbelief and use
it as a pattern by which your subconscious mind will translate it
into its physical equivalent.
THIS STATEMENT IS AS TRUE AS THE STATEMENT THAT TWO AND TWO ARE
FOUR!
Like the wind which carries one ship East, and another West,
the law of auto-suggestion will lift you up or pull you down, according
to the way you set your sails of THOUGHT.
The law of auto-suggestion, through which any person may rise
to altitudes of achievement which stagger the imagination, is well
described in the following verse:
"If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't
If you like to win, but you think you can't,
It is almost certain you won't. p. 78
"If you think you'll lose, you're lost
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow's will--
It's all in the state of mind.
"If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
"Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!"
Observe the words which have been emphasized, and you will catch
the deep meaning which the poet had in mind.
Somewhere in your make-up (perhaps in the cells of your brain)
there lies sleeping, the seed of achievement which, if aroused and
put into action, would carry you to heights, such as you may never
have hoped to attain.
Just as a master musician may cause the most beautiful strains
of music to pour forth from the strings of a violin, so may you
arouse the genius which lies asleep in your brain, and cause it
to drive you upward to whatever goal you may wish to achieve.
Abraham Lincoln was a failure at everything he tried, until he
was well past the age of forty. He was a Mr. Nobody from Nowhere,
until a great experience came into his life, aroused the sleeping
genius within his heart and brain, and gave the world one of its
really great men. That "experience" was mixed with the
emotions of sorrow and LOVE. It came to him through Anne Rutledge,
the only woman whom he ever truly loved.
It is a known fact that the emotion of LOVE is closely akin to
the state of mind known as FAITH, and this for the reason that Love
comes very near to translating one's thought impulses into their
spiritual equivalent. During his work of research, the author discovered,
from the analysis of the lifework and achievements of hundreds of
men of outstanding accomplishment, that there was the influence
of a woman's love back of nearly EVERY ONE OF THEM. The emotion
of love, in the human heart and brain, creates a favorable field
of magnetic attraction, which causes an influx of the higher and
finer vibrations which are afloat in the ether.
If you wish evidence of the power of FAITH, study the achievements
of men and women who have employed it. At the head of the list comes
the Nazarene. Christianity is the greatest single force which influences
the minds of men. The basis of Christianity is FAITH, no matter
how many people may have perverted, or misinterpreted the meaning
of this great force, and no matter how many dogmas and creeds have
been created in its name, which do not reflect its tenets.
The sum and substance of the teachings and the achievements of
Christ, which may have been interpreted as "miracles,"
were nothing more nor less than FAITH. If there are any such phenomena
as "miracles" they are produced only through the state
of mind known as FAITH! Some teachers of religion, and many who
call themselves Christians, neither understand nor practice FAITH.
Let us consider the power of FAITH, as it is now being demonstrated,
by a man who is well known to all of civilization, Mahatma Gandhi,
of India. In this man the world has one of the most astounding examples
known to civilization, of the possibilities of FAITH. Gandhi wields
more potential power than any man living at this time, and this,
despite the fact that he has none of the orthodox tools of power,
such as money, battle ships, soldiers, and materials of warfare.
Gandhi has no money, he has no home, he does not own a suit of clothes,
but HE DOES HAVE POWER. How does he come by that power?
HE CREATED IT OUT OF HIS UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRINCIPLE OF FAITH,
AND THROUGH HIS ABILITY TO TRANSPLANT THAT FAITH INTO THE MINDS
OF TWO HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE.
Gandhi has accomplished, through the influence of FAITH, that
which the strongest military power on earth could not, and never
will accomplish through soldiers and military equipment. He has
accomplished the astounding feat of INFLUENCING two hundred million
minds to COALESCE AND MOVE IN UNISON, AS A SINGLE MIND.
What other force on earth, except FAITH could do as much?
There will come a day when employees as well as employers will
discover the possibilities of FAITH. That day is dawning. The whole
world has had ample opportunity, during the recent business depression,
to witness what the LACK OF FAITH will do to business.
Surely, civilization has produced a sufficient number of intelligent
human beings to make use of this great lesson which the depression
has taught the world. During this depression, the world had evidence
in abundance that widespread FEAR will paralyze the wheels of industry
and business. Out of this experience will arise leaders in business
and industry who will profit by the example which Gandhi has set
for the world, and they will apply to business the same tactics
which he has used in building the greatest following known in the
history of the world. These leaders will come from the rank and
file of the unknown men, who now labor in the steel plants, the
coal mines, the automobile factories, and in the small towns and
cities of America.
Business is due for a reform, make no mistake about this! The
methods of the past, based upon economic combinations of FORCE and
FEAR, will be supplanted by the better principles of FAITH and cooperation.
Men who labor will receive more than daily wages; they will receive
dividends from the business, the same as those who supply the capital
for business; but, first they must GIVE MORE TO THEIR EMPLOYERS,
and stop this bickering and bargaining by force, at the expense
of the public. They must earn, the right to dividends!
Moreover, and this is the most important thing of all--THEY WILL
BE LED BY LEADERS WHO WILL UNDERSTAND AND APPLY THE PRINCIPLES EMPLOYED
BY MAHATMA GANDHI. Only in this way may leaders get from their followers
the spirit of FULL cooperation which constitutes power in its highest
and most enduring form.
This stupendous machine age in which we live, and from which
we are just emerging, has taken the soul out of men. Its leaders
have driven men as though they were pieces of cold machinery; they
were forced to do so by the employees who have bargained, at the
expense of all concerned, to get and not to give. The watchword
of the future will be HUMAN HAPPINESS AND CONTENTMENT, and when
this state of mind shall have been attained, the production will
take care of itself, more effectively than anything that has ever
been accomplished where men did not, and could not mix FAITH and
individual interest with their labor.
Because of the need for faith and cooperation in operating business
and industry, it will be both interesting and profitable to analyze
an event which provides an excellent understanding of the method
by which industrialists and business men accumulate great fortunes,
by giving before they try to get.
The event chosen for this illustration dates back to 1900, when
the United States Steel Corporation was being formed. As you read
the story, keep in mind these fundamental facts and you will understand
how IDEAS have been converted into huge fortunes.
First, the huge United States Steel Corporation was born in the
mind of Charles M. Schwab, in the form of an IDEA he created through
his IMAGINATION! Second, he mixed FAITH with his IDEA. Third, he
formulated a PLAN for the transformation of his IDEA into physical
and financial reality. Fourth, he put his plan into action with
his famous speech at the University Club. Fifth, he applied, and
followed-through on his PLAN with PERSISTENCE, and backed it with
firm DECISION until it had been fully carried out. Sixth, he prepared
the way for success by a BURNING DESIRE for success.
If you are one of those who have often wondered how great fortunes
are accumulated, this story of the creation of the United States
Steel Corporation will be enlightening. If you have any doubt that
men can THINK AND GROW RICH, this story should dispel that doubt,
because you can plainly see in the story of the United States Steel,
the application of a major portion of the thirteen principles described
in this book.
This astounding description of the power of an IDEA was dramatically
told by John Lowell, in the New York World-Telegram, with whose
courtesy it is here reprinted.
"A PRETTY AFTER-DINNER SPEECH FOR A BILLION DOLLARS
"When, on the evening of December 12, 1900, some eighty
of the nation's financial nobility gathered in the banquet hall
of the University Club on Fifth Avenue to do honor to a young man
from out of the West, not half a dozen of the guests realized they
were to witness the most significant episode in American industrial
history.
"J. Edward Simmons and Charles Stewart Smith, their hearts
full of gratitude for the lavish hospitality bestowed on them by
Charles M. Schwab during a recent visit to Pittsburgh, had arranged
the dinner to introduce the thirty-eight-year-old steel man to eastern
banking society. But they didn't expect him to stampede the
convention. They warned him, in fact, that the bosoms within New
York's stuffed shirts would not be responsive to oratory, and
that, if he didn't want to bore the Stilimans and Harrimans
and Vanderbilts, he had better limit himself to fifteen or twenty
minutes of polite vaporings and let it go at that.
"Even John Pierpont Morgan, sitting on the right hand of
Schwab as became his imperial dignity, intended to grace the banquet
table with his presence only briefly. And so far as the press and
public were concerned, the whole affair was of so little moment
that no mention of it found its way into print the next day.
"So the two hosts and their distinguished guests ate their
way through the usual seven or eight courses. There was little conversation
and what there was of it was restrained. Few of the bankers and
brokers had met Schwab, whose career had flowered along the banks
of the Monongahela, and none knew him well. But before the evening
was over, they--and with them Money Master Morgan--were to be swept
off their feet, and a billion-dollar baby, the United States Steel
Corporation, was to be conceived.
"It is perhaps unfortunate, for the sake of history, that
no record of Charlie Schwab's speech at the dinner ever was
made. He repeated some parts of it at a later date during a similar
meeting of Chicago bankers. And still later, when the Government
brought suit to dissolve the Steel Trust, he gave his own version,
from the witness stand, of the remarks that stimulated Morgan into
a frenzy of financial activity.
"It is probable, however, that it was a 'homely'
speech, somewhat ungrammatical (for the niceties of language never
bothered Schwab), full of epigram and threaded with wit. But aside
from that it had a galvanic force and effect upon the five billions
of estimated capital that was represented by the diners. After it
was over and the gathering was still under its spell, although Schwab
had talked for ninety minutes, Morgan led the orator to a recessed
window where, dangling their legs from the high, uncomfortable seat,
they talked for an hour more.
"The magic of the Schwab personality had been turned on,
full force, but what was more important and lasting was the full-fledged,
clear-cut program he laid down for the aggrandizement of Steel.
Many other men had tried to interest Morgan in slapping together
a steel trust after the pattern of the biscuit, wire and hoop, sugar,
rubber, whisky, oil or chewing gum combinations. John W. Gates,
the gambler, had urged it, but Morgan distrusted him. The Moore
boys, Bill and Jim, Chicago stock jobbers who had glued together
a match trust and a cracker corporation, had urged it and failed.
Elbert H. Gary, the sanctimonious country lawyer, wanted to foster
it, but he wasn't big enough to be impressive. Until Schwab's
eloquence took J. P.
Morgan to the heights from which he could visualize the solid
results of the most daring financial undertaking ever conceived,
the project was regarded as a delirious dream of easy-money crackpots.
"The financial magnetism that began, a generation ago, to
attract thousands of small and sometimes inefficiently managed companies
into large and competition-crushing combinations, had become operative
in the steel world through the devices of that jovial business pirate,
John W. Gates. Gates already had formed the American Steel and Wire
Company out of a chain of small concerns, and together with Morgan
had created the Federal Steel Company. The National Tube and American
Bridge companies were two more Morgan concerns, and the Moore Brothers
had forsaken the match and cookie business to form the 'American'
group--Tin Plate, Steel Hoop, Sheet Steel--and the National Steel
Company.
"But by the side of Andrew Carnegie's gigantic vertical
trust, a trust owned and operated by fifty-three partners, those
other combinations were picayune. They might combine to their heart's
content but the whole lot of them couldn't make a dent in the
Carnegie organization, and Morgan knew it.
"The eccentric old Scot knew it, too. From the magnificent
heights of Skibo Castle he had viewed, first with amusement and
then with resentment, the attempts of Morgan's smaller companies
to cut into his business. When the attempts became too bold, Carnegie's
temper was translated into anger and retaliation.
He decided to duplicate every mill owned by his rivals. Hitherto,
he hadn't been interested in wire, pipe, hoops, or sheet. Instead,
he was content to sell such companies the raw steel and let them
work it into whatever shape they wanted. Now, with Schwab as his
chief and able lieutenant, he planned to drive his enemies to the
wall.
"So it was that in the speech of Charles M. Schwab, Morgan
saw the answer to his problem of combination. A trust without Carnegie--giant
of them all--would be no trust at all, a plum pudding, as one writer
said, without the plums.
"Schwab's speech on the night of December 12, 1900,
undoubtedly carried the inference, though not the pledge, that the
vast Carnegie enterprise could be brought under the Morgan tent.
He talked of the world future for steel, of reorganization for efficiency,
of specialization, of the scrapping of unsuccessful mills and concentration
of effort on the flourishing properties, of economies in the ore
traffic, of economies in overhead and administrative departments,
of capturing foreign markets.
"More than that, he told the buccaneers among them wherein
lay the errors of their customary piracy. Their purposes, he inferred,
had been to create monopolies, raise prices, and pay themselves
fat dividends out of privilege. Schwab condemned the system in his
heartiest manner. The shortsightedness of such a policy, he told
his hearers, lay in the fact that it restricted the market in an
era when everything cried for expansion. By cheapening the cost
of steel, he argued, an ever-expanding market would be created;
more uses for steel would be devised, and a goodly portion of the
world trade could be captured. Actually, though he did not know
it, Schwab was an apostle of modern mass production.
"So the dinner at the University Club came to an end. Morgan
went home, to think about Schwab's rosy predictions. Schwab
went back to Pittsburgh to run the steel business for 'Wee Andra
Carnegie,' while Gary and the rest went back to their stock
tickers, to fiddle around in anticipation of the next move.
"It was not long coming. It took Morgan about one week to
digest the feast of reason Schwab had placed before him. When he
had assured himself that no financial indigestion was to result,
he sent for Schwab--and found that young man rather coy. Mr. Carnegie,
Schwab indicated, might not like it if he found his trusted company
president had been flirting with the Emperor of Wall Street, the
Street upon which Carnegie was resolved never to tread. Then it
was suggested by John W. Gates the go-between, that if Schwab 'happened'
to be in the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia, J. P. Morgan might
also 'happen' to be there. When Schwab arrived, however,
Morgan was inconveniently ill at his New York home, and so, on the
elder man's pressing invitation, Schwab went to New York and
presented himself at the door of the financier's library.
"Now certain economic historians have professed the belief
that from the beginning to the end of the drama, the stage was set
by Andrew Carnegie--that the dinner to Schwab, the famous speech,
the Sunday night conference between Schwab and the Money King, were
events arranged by the canny Scot. The truth is exactly the opposite.
When Schwab was called in to consummate the deal, he didn't
even know whether 'the little boss,' as Andrew was called,
would so much as listen to an offer to sell, particularly to a group
of men whom Andrew regarded as being endowed with something less
than holiness. But Schwab did take into the conference with him,
in his own handwriting, six sheets of copper-plate figures, representing
to his mind the physical worth and the potential earning capacity
of every steel company he regarded as an essential star in the new
metal firmament.
"Four men pondered over these figures all night. The chief,
of course, was Morgan, steadfast in his belief in the Divine Right
of Money. With him was his aristocratic partner, Robert Bacon, a
scholar and a gentleman. The third was John W. Gates whom Morgan
scorned as a gambler and used as a tool. The fourth was Schwab,
who knew more about the processes of making and selling steel than
any whole group of men then living. Throughout that conference,
the Pittsburgher's figures were never questioned. If he said
a company was worth so much, then it was worth that much and no
more. He was insistent, too, upon including in the combination only
those concerns he nominated. He had conceived a corporation in which
there would be no duplication, not even to satisfy the greed of
friends who wanted to unload their companies upon the broad Morgan
shoulders. Thus he left out, by design, a number of the larger concerns
upon which the Walruses and Carpenters of Wall Street had cast hungry
eyes.
"When dawn came, Morgan rose and straightened his back.
Only one question remained.
"'Do you think you can persuade Andrew Carnegie to sell?'
he asked.
"'I can try,' said Schwab.
"'If you can get him to sell, I will undertake the matter,'
said Morgan.
"So far so good. But would Carnegie sell? How much would
he demand? (Schwab thought about $320,000,000). What would he take
payment in? Common or preferred stocks? Bonds? Cash? Nobody could
raise a third of a billion dollars in cash.
"There was a golf game in January on the frost-cracking
heath of the St. Andrews links in Westchester, with Andrew bundled
up in sweaters against the cold, and Charlie talking volubly, as
usual, to keep his spirits up. But no word of business was mentioned
until the pair sat down in the cozy warmth of the Carnegie cottage
hard by. Then, with the same persuasiveness that had hypnotized
eighty millionaires at the University Club, Schwab poured out the
glittering promises of retirement in comfort, of untold millions
to satisfy the old man's social caprices. Carnegie capitulated,
wrote a figure on a slip of paper, handed it to Schwab and said, 'all
right, that's what we'll sell for.'
"The figure was approximately $400,000,000, and was reached
by taking the $320,000,000 mentioned by Schwab as a basic figure,
and adding to it $80,000,000 to represent the increased capital
value over the previous two years.
"Later, on the deck of a trans-Atlantic liner, the Scotsman
said ruefully to Morgan, 'I wish I had asked you for $100,000,000
more.'
"'If you had asked for it, you'd have gotten it,'
Morgan told him cheerfully.
* * * * * * *
"There was an uproar, of course. A British correspondent
cabled that the foreign steel world was 'appalled' by the
gigantic combination. President Hadley, of Yale, declared that unless
trusts were regulated the country might expect 'an emperor in
Washington within the next twenty-five years.' But that able
stock manipulator, Keene, went at his work of shoving the new stock
at the public so vigorously that all the excess water--estimated
by some at nearly $600,000,000--was absorbed in a twinkling. So
Carnegie had his millions, and the Morgan syndicate had $62,000,000
for all its 'trouble,' and all the 'boys,' from
Gates to Gary, had their millions.
* * * * * * *
"The thirty-eight-year-old Schwab had his reward. He was
made president of the new corporation and remained in control until
1930."
The dramatic story of "Big Business" which you have
just finished, was included in this book, because it is a perfect
illustration of the method by which DESIRE CAN BE TRANSMUTED INTO
ITS PHYSICAL EQUIVALENT!
I imagine some readers will question the statement that a mere,
intangible DESIRE can be converted into its physical equivalent.
Doubtless some will say, "You cannot convert NOTHING into SOMETHING!"
The answer is in the story of United States Steel.
That giant organization was created in the mind of one man. The
plan by which the organization was provided with the steel mills
that gave it financial stability was created in the mind of the
same man. His FAITH, his DESIRE, his IMAGINATION, his PERSISTENCE
were the real ingredients that went into United States Steel. The
steel mills and mechanical equipment acquired by the corporation,
AFTER IT HAD BEEN BROUGHT INTO LEGAL EXISTENCE, were incidental,
but careful analysis will disclose the fact that the appraised value
of the properties acquired by the corporation increased in value
by an estimated SIX HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS, by the mere transaction
which consolidated them under one management.
In other words, Charles M. Schwab's IDEA, plus the FAITH
with which he conveyed it to the minds of J. P. Morgan and the others,
was marketed for a profit of approximately $600,000,000. Not an
insignificant sum for a single IDEA!
What happened to some of the men who took their share of the
millions of dollars of profit made by this transaction, is a matter
with which we are not now concerned. The important feature of the
astounding achievement is that it serves as unquestionable evidence
of the soundness of the philosophy described in this book, because
this philosophy was the warp and the woof of the entire transaction.
Moreover, the practicability of the philosophy has been established
by the fact that the [paragraph continues] United States Steel Corporation
prospered, and became one of the richest and most powerful corporations
in America, employing thousands of people, developing new uses for
steel, and opening new markets; thus proving that the $600,000,000
in profit which the Schwab IDEA produced was earned. RICHES begin
in the form of THOUGHT!
The amount is limited only by the person in whose mind the THOUGHT
is put into motion. FAITH removes limitations! Remember this when
you are ready to bargain with Life for whatever it is that you ask
as your price for having passed this way.
Remember, also, that the man who created the United States Steel
Corporation was practically unknown at the time. He was merely Andrew
Carnegie's "Man Friday" until he gave birth to his
famous IDEA. After that he quickly rose to a position of power,
fame, and riches.
THERE ARE NO LIMITATIONS TO THE MIND EXCEPT THOSE WE ACKNOWLEDGE
BOTH POVERTY AND RICHES ARE THE OFFSPRING OF THOUGHT
Attribution: THINK and GROW RICH ©
1938, published 1938, by THE RALSTON SOCIETY, Meriden, Conn.
This text is in the public domain in the United States by the
terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because it was
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of this book. This is not a complete reproduction of the 1937/38
edition. The preface and the chapters have been reformatted
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to ensure accuracy, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the
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