Think And Grow Rich 3

FAITH

VISUALIZATION OF, AND BELIEF
IN ATTAINMENT OF DESIRE

The Second Step toward Riches
AITH 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; 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 autosuggestion,
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 orders [affirmations] 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 auto-suggestion,
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 physical 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 selfconfidence.
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 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.
SECOND 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.
THIRD 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.
FOURTH 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.
FIFTH 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.
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 autosuggestion
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.
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,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 life, work 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 hastaught 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 theWest, 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 tointroduce 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 Stillmans 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 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 Tubeand 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 frostcracking
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 mentionedby 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 $82,000,000 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
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.

THEREARENO
LIMITATIONS TO
THEMINDEXCEPT
THOSEWE
ACKNOWLEDGE
BOTHPOVERTY
ANDRICHES ARE
THEOFFSPRING
OF THOUGHT
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.