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On my way home in February,
I stopped off at Pittsburg, and addressed about 700 people at a banquet
given by the Bankers' Association, mostly young men. Mr Herr, president
of the Westinghouse Company, presided. I received a warm welcome, and
spoke, about as follows:
ADDRESS BEFORE THE BANKERS
CONVENTION
The first matter that I
wish to bring to your attention is Honesty. You may be surprised when I
say to you that there are two kinds of honesty. One. the clean cut
genuine article that is carried out in word, deed and action; the other
kind permits a man to go right up to the prison doors, but being smart
enough, he keeps out. The latter kind of honesty you should have nothing
to do with. You must work in this world as no success can be obtained
without work. The men that are looking for soft snaps, if they manage to
get them, will never get any further along. The man that works and wants
plenty of it is the fellow that gets up to the top. Work, to me, is one
of the greatest pleasures I have; and if you follow this course to its
logical conclusion your greatest pleasure will be in the work that you
are doing and the satisfaction of seeing what you can accomplish. Life
is short and you are all here for a purpose. That purpose is not to lie
around doing nothing, but to work and accomplish results.
It is commonly reported
among young men that there is not the opportunity now to progress that
there was many years ago. This is a fallacy. There never was a time in
the history of the world when young men were in such great demand, and
there are more vacancies and places at the top than ever before. Our
educational system of today has a great deal to do with giving young men
this misconception. A young man coming out of a university gets the idea
that the education he has obtained will earn for him a living.
To illustrate what I
mean: A fine strapping young man came to see me and said he wanted a
position. When a young man asks me for a position it is like showing a
red flag to a bull. If he asks me for work it has exactly the reverse
effect on me. I questioned him about his experience. He replied, that he
was a university graduate. Finally to try him out,. I asked what wages
he wanted, he promptly replied $2400 a year. I stated that there was
only one job in our employ that would suit him and that I would not like
to give it to him, as it was the position I held myself. He went away
crestfallen when I gave him this advice: "The next place you go, ask for
work, and tell them to let you work a week so as to show them what you
can do." He thought that because he had a university training it would
earn for him his living. This is not the case, a man must apply himself
and work, to get up, otherwise he will fail.
It is a great thing to
endeavor to be independent and the only way this can be accomplished is
by strict economy and saving. There are more opportunities for such men
than ever before. Ask any man who is at the head of a large company and
he will immediately tell you of the great difficulty he has in getting
men capable of taking charge of a business. It is of great advantage to
a young man to study hard and learn the conditions that exist throughout
the world. Especially is it beneficial to him to know the geography of
the world, so that when the name of a place comes up he can immediately
locate m his mind as to where it is.
To illustrate my meaning:
In addressing a meeting of one of the large Chambers of Commerce some
years ago, I stated that I was given a complimentary luncheon by the
Chamber of Commerce at Hankow, and that a banker was present from a city
with a population of three-quarters of a million people, the capital of
Hupeli Province, which city is directly across the river from Hankow;
and I asked that any in the audience who knew the name of this city to
hold up their hands. There was not a single hand raised. Now what would
you think of a man in a foreign country that did not know the name of
Pittsburg. After I had finished my address a gentleman in the audience
rose and said to the chairman that it would not be right to let me leave
before telling them the name of that city, as there was not a man in the
whole audience who knew the name of it. It was Wuchang.
Turning more particularly
now to. banking. I would say to you that you are blessed in Iiving in a
country that has the gold standard. In China we have the silver standard
which is the bane of our existence, as every roaming the value may be
different from the value of the night before. In this connection I would
caution you to beware of fails. You recollect the first time that Mr.
Bryan ran for the Presidency? He came very near going in on the free
silver issue, which, if put into operation, would have so demoralized
the banking system as to have practically put us out of business.
I would also call your
attention to the importance of our having banks in foreign countries.
Practically all our business has to be done through foreign banks; in
fact it was only two years ago that national banks were permitted to
engage in foreign banking. This has now been changed, and a few American
branches are now being established in different parts of the world.
I then explained to them
the working out of exchange as between different Chinese States, and
also between China and this country.
VANCOUVER MADE WESTERN
TERMINUS
Some time ago, on account
of the drastic clauses in the La Follette Seamen's Bill, which of course
we expected to be enforced (but which never has been), The Robert Dollar
Company moved the terminus of its British Steamship Line from San
Francisco to Vancouver, B. C., and in a recent visit I found that we had
succeeded beyond our expectations, as our ships were running full of
cargo to and from the Orient, and we were making preparations for an
extension of the service. However, as we considered the price of ships
too high we finally decided to await lower prices before buying more
ships, and had to content ourselves with chartered steamers, with which
to do the best we could to keep up our service until we could buy more
steamers.
Upper—SAWMILL, AT DOLLARTON, B C.
Lower—LOG DUMP FROM OUR CAMP AT UNION BAY
At this time we discussed
a proposition to produce cargoes for our ships when hard times would
come upon us, and after a thorough investigation decided that the only
sure way to get lumber cargoes would be to build a saw mill of our own.
So we bought 100 acres of land near Roache's Point on Burard Inlets six
miles from Vancouver and built a modern, up-to-date saw mill, especially
constructed to supply our China trade. We intended to buy our saw logs,
but soon found out that we must buy and own our own forests and get out
our own logs. In a very short time we found ourselves producing from two
camps all the logs necessary to supply our mill, so our business was a
gradual advance from one stage to another to meet necessities as they
arose. Then we had to build a number of scows to carry the lumber; the
next was a tug to tow them and a car barge to bring the empty cars to
the mill, and return the loaded ones to the railroads. Then we had to
lay out a village, and build houses for our employees; these we consider
to be the best working men's houses to be found anywhere. Each house has
a garden and the rent of §15.00 a month includes water, electricity and
wood. A postoffice, with a daily mail service has been established,
which is called Dollarton. Dollarton also has a church, the minister
being on our pay roll, and a school. It is a very happy and contented
community.
In April of this year
Mrs. Dollar and I made another of our trips to China. I remember very
well my first voyage, which ended very unsatisfactorily. When about six
years old I got a large washtub and floated it on the Forth and Clyde
Canal. I had a stick for an oar, but when 1 tried to propel the tub it
only turned around and around. I drifted away from shore, and becomming
frightened, made a great outcry for help. My father was in a lumber yard
near by and hearing the S. O. S. call came to see what was the trouble.
Seeing me adrift in a tub. he came out in a boat and rescued me. The
reward I received was a first-class licking. This was my first and last
voyage in a tub.
Had many important
matters to attend to in Shanghai, one being that I had decided we must
have a wharf, warehouses, and a terminal for our steamers. I examined
the Whangpoo River ten miles from Woosung to above the arsenal on both
sides of the river, and after much thought decided on a site at the
mouth of Pai Lien Chien Creek, where I bought about twenty acres of land
having 1000 feet of river frontage, but later we added to it, and now
have about three tunes as much. The wharf which we built is the
strongest and most substantial wooden wharf I ever saw, and our godowns
are all reinforced concrete and perfectly fireproof. A good boiler and
engine-house furnishes pumping facilities and electricity, so I feel
safe in stating it is an ideal up-to-date plant, and should last without
repairs for many years. There is no salt water in the river, but it
requires filtering for drinking. We have a plant for this purpose.
I had no idea that
business would grow to anywhere near the proportions it has reached, as
I felt sure one-third of the land would be sufficient for all our
requirements. Our wharf now can dock two of the largest steamers, and we
have two-story godowns 500 feet long by 100 feet wide, besides
examination sheds 800 feet long by 40 feet wide. We have also opened a
lumber yard on this ground, and even with our very big capacity it is
crowded to the limit. Besides, our tonnage has recently been doubled,
and although it looks improbable at this writing, the growth has gone so
completely beyond my highest expectations that I don't like to
anticipate what will take place in the future.
We built a fine
substantial office, as well as dwellings for our officials, and
adjoining our land a large sized village has sprung up. On my last visit
I arranged to build a school house to educate the sixty children of
school age who are in the village, and also agreed to pay the teacher
and all expenses connected with it for the first year. Our ferry steamer
makes hourly trips and carries over 200 persons, we also carry many men
from Shanghai. Last year we carried over one million passengers and, as
is the custom, no fares were charged. |
