INTRODUCTION
The Man Who “Thought” His
Way Into Partnership With
Thomas A. Edison
Way Into Partnership With
Thomas A. Edison
TRULY, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that, when they
are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a
BURNING DESIRE for their translation into riches, or other
material objects.
A little more than thirty years ago, Edwin C. Barnes discovered
how true it is that men really do THINK AND GROW RICH. His discovery
did not come about at one sitting. It came little by little, beginning with a
BURNING DESIRE to become a business associate of the great Edison.
One of the chief characteristics of Barnes’ Desire was that it was definite.
He wanted to work with Edison, not for him. Observe, carefully, the description
of how he went about translating his DESIRE into reality, and you will
have a better understanding of the thirteen principles which lead to riches.
When this DESIRE, or impulse of thought, first flashed into his mind he
was in no position to act upon it. Two difficulties stood in his way. He did
not know Mr. Edison, and he did not have enough money to pay his railroad
fare to Orange, New Jersey.
These difficulties were sufficient to have discouraged the majority of
men from making any attempt to carry out the desire. But his was no ordinary
desire! He was so determined to find a way to carry out his desire tha finally decided to travel by “blind baggage,” rather than be defeated. (To
the uninitiated, this means that he went to East Orange on a freight train).
He presented himself at Mr. Edison’s laboratory, and announced he had
come to go into business with the inventor. In speaking of the first
meeting between Barnes and Edison, years later, Mr. Edison said, “He
stood there before me, looking like an ordinary tramp, but there was
something in the expression of his face which conveyed the impression
that he was determined to get what he had come after. I had learned, from
years of experience with men, that when a man really DESIRES a thing
so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the
wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win. I gave him the opportunity he
asked for, because I saw he had made up his mind to stand by until he
succeeded. Subsequent events proved that no mistake was made.”
Just what young Barnes said to Mr. Edison on that occasion was far
less important than that which he thought. Edison, himself, said so! It
could not have been the young man’s appearance which got him his start
in the Edison office, for that was definitely against him. It was what he
THOUGHT that counted.
If the significance of this statement could be conveyed to every person
who reads it, there would be no need for the remainder of this book.
INTRODUCTION
Barnes did not get his partnership with Edison on his first interview. He
did get a chance to work in the Edison offices, at a very nominal wage,
doing work that was unimportant to Edison, but most important to Barnes,
because it gave him an opportunity to display his “merchandise” where
his intended “partner” could see it.
Months went by. Apparently nothing happened to bring the coveted
goal which Barnes had set up in his mind as his DEFINITE MAJOR
PURPOSE. But something important was happening in Barnes’ mind. He
was constantly intensifying his DESIRE to become the business associate
of Edison.
Psychologists have Correctly said that “when one is truly ready for a
thing, it puts in its appearance.” Barnes was ready for a business association
with Edison, moreover, he was DETERMINED TO REMAIN
READY UNTIL HE GOT THAT WHICH HEWAS SEEKING.
He did not say to himself, “Ah well, what’s the use? I guess I’ll change
my mind and try for a salesman’s job.” But, he did say, “I came here to
go into business with Edison, and I’ll accomplish this end if it takes the
remainder of my life.” He meant it! What a different story men would
have to tell if only they would adopt a DEFINITE PURPOSE, and stand
by that purpose until it had time to become an all-consuming obsession!
Maybe young Barnes did not know it at the time, but his bulldog determination,
his persistence in standing back of a single DESIRE, was destined
to mow down all opposition, and bring him the opportunity he was seeking.
When the opportunity came, it appeared in a different form, and from a
different direction than Barnes had expected. That is one of the tricks of
opportunity. It has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often it
comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Perhaps
this is why so many fail to recognize opportunity.
Mr. Edison had just perfected a new office device, known at that time,
as the Edison Dictating Machine (now the Ediphone). His sales-men
were not enthusiastic over the machine. They did not believe it could be
sold without great effort. Barnes saw his opportunity. It had crawled in
quietly, hidden in a queer looking machine which interested no one but
Barnes and the inventor.
Barnes knew he could sell the Edison Dictating Machine. He
suggested this to Edison, and promptly got his chance. He did sell the
machine. In fact, he sold it so successfully that Edison gave him a contract
to distribute and market it all over the nation. Out of that business association
grew the slogan, “Made by Edison and installed by Barnes.”
The business alliance has been in operation for more than thirty years.
Out of it Barnes has made himself rich in money, but he has done something
infinitely greater, he has proved that one reallymay “Think and Grow Rich.”
How much actual cash that original DESIRE of Barnes’ has been worth
to him, I have no way of knowing. Perhaps it has brought him two or three
million dollars, but the amount, whatever it is, becomes insignificant when
compared with the greater asset he acquired in the form of definite knowledge that an intangible impulse of thought can be transmuted into its physical
counterpart by the application of known principles.
Barnes literally thought himself into a partnership with the great Edison!
He thought himself into a fortune, tie had nothing to start with, except the
capacity to KNOW WHAT HE WANTED, AND THE DETERMINATION
TO STAND BY THAT DESIRE UNTIL HE REALIZED IT.
He had no money to begin with. He had but little education. He had no
influence. But he did have initiative, faith, and the will to win. With these
intangible forces he made himself number one man with the greatest
inventor who ever lived.
Now, let us look at a different situation, and study a man who had
plenty of tangible evidence of riches, but lost it, because he stopped three
feet short of the goal he was seeking.
THREE FEET FROM GOLD
One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when
one is overtaken by temporary defeat. Every person is guilty of this
mistake at one time or another.
An uncle of R. U. Darby was caught by the “gold fever” in the gold-rush
days, and went west to DIG AND GROW RICH. He had never heard that
more gold has been mined from the brains of men than has ever been taken
from the earth. He staked a claim and went to work with pick and shovel.
The going was hard, but his lust for gold was definite. After weeks of labor,
he was rewarded by the discovery of the shining ore. He needed machinery
to bring the ore to the surface. Quietly, he covered up the mine, retraced his
footsteps to his home inWilliamsburg, Maryland, told his relatives and a few
neighbors of the “strike.” They got together money for the needed machinery,
had it shipped. The uncle and Darby went back to work the mine.
The first car of ore was mined, and shipped to a smelter. The returns
proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! A few more cars of
that ore would clear the debts. Then would come the big killing in profits.
Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Darby and Uncle! Then
something happened! The vein of gold ore disappeared! They had come
to the end of the rainbow, and the pot of gold was no longer there! They
drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again-all to no avail.
Finally, they decided to QUIT.
They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars, and
took the train back home. Some “junk” men are dumb, but not this one!
He called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating.
The engineer advised that the project had failed, because the owners
were not familiar with “fault lines.” His calculations showed that the vein
would be found JUST THREE FEET FROM WHERE THE DARBYS
HAD STOPPED DRILLING! That is exactly where it was found!
The “Junk” man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, because
he knew enough to seek expert counsel before giving up.
Most of the money which went into the machinery was procured
through the efforts of R. U. Darby, who was then a very young man. The
money came from his relatives and neighbors, because of their faith in
him. He paid back every dollar of it, although he was years in doing so.
Long afterward, Mr. Darby recouped his loss many times over, when
he made the discovery that DESIRE can be transmuted into gold. The
discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance.
Remembering that he lost a huge fortune, because he STOPPED three
feet from gold, Darby profited by the experience in his chosen work, by
the simple method of saying to himself, “I stopped three feet from gold,
but I will never stop because men say ‘no’ when I ask them to buy
insurance.”
Darby is one of a small group of fewer than fifty men who sell more
than a million dollars in life insurance annually. He owes his “stickability”
to the lesson he learned from his “quitability” in the gold mining business.
Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much
temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a
man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to QUIT. That is exactly
what the majority of men do.
More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has
ever known, told the author their greatest success came just one step
beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them. Failure is a trick
ster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping
one when success is almost within reach.
A FIFTY CENT LESSON IN PERSISTENCE
Shortly after Mr. Darby received his degree from the “University of
Hard Knocks,” and had decided to profit by his experience in the gold
mining business, he had the good fortune to be present on an occasion that
proved to him that “No” does not necessarily mean no.
One afternoon he was helping his uncle grind wheat in an old fashioned
mill. The uncle operated a large farm on which a number of colored sharecrop
farmers lived. Quietly, the door was opened, and a small colored
child, the daughter of a tenant, walked in and took her place near the door.
The uncle looked up, saw the child, and barked at her roughly, “what
do you want?” Meekly, the child replied, “My mammy say send her fifty cents.”
“I’ll not do it,” the uncle retorted, “Now you run on home.” “Yas
sah,” the child replied. But she did not move.
The uncle went ahead with his work, so busily engaged that he did not
pay enough attention to the child to observe that she did not leave. When
he looked up and saw her still standing there, he yelled at her, “I told you
to go on home! Now go, or I’ll take a switch to you.”
The little girl said “yas sah,” but she did not budge an inch.
The uncle dropped a sack of grain he was about to pour into the mill
hopper, picked up a barrel stave, and started toward the child with an
expression on his face that indicated trouble.
Darby held his breath. He was certain he was about to witness a
murder. He knew his uncle had a fierce temper. He knew that colored children
were not supposed to defy white people in that part of the country.
When the uncle reached the spot where the child was standing, she
quickly stepped forward one step, looked up into his eyes, and screamed
at the top of her shrill voice, “MY MAMMY’S GOTTA HAVE THAT FIFTY CENTS!”
The uncle stopped, looked at her for a minute, then slowly laid the
barrel stave on the floor, put his hand in his pocket, took out half a dollar,
and gave it to her.
The child took the money and slowly backed toward the door, never
taking her eyes off the man whom she had just conquered. After she had
gone, the uncle sat down on a box and looked out the window into space
for more than ten minutes. He was pondering, with awe, over the whipping
he had just taken.
Mr. Darby, too, was doing some thinking. That was the first time in all
his experience that he had seen a colored child deliberately master an
adult white person. How did she do it. What happened to his uncle that
caused him to lose his fierceness and become as docile as a lamb? What
strange power did this child use that made her master over her superior?
These and other similar questions flashed into Darby’s mind, but he did
not find the answer until years later, when he told me the story.
Strangely, the story of this unusual experience was told to the author
in the old mill, on the very spot where the uncle took his whipping.
Strangely, too, I had devoted nearly a quarter of a century to the study
of the power which enabled an ignorant, illiterate colored child to
conquer an intelligent man.
As we stood there in that musty old mill, Mr. Darby repeated the
story of the unusual conquest, and finished by asking, “What can you
make of it? What strange power did that child use, that so completely
whipped my uncle?”
The answer to his question will be found in the principles described in
this book. The answer is full and complete. It contains details and instructions
sufficient to enable anyone to understand, and apply the same force
which the little child accidentally stumbled upon.
Keep your mind alert, and you will observe exactly what strange power
came to the rescue of the child, you will catch a glimpse of this power in
the next chapter. Somewhere in the book you will find an idea that will
quicken your receptive powers, and place at your command, for your own
benefit, this same irresistible power. The awareness of this power may
come to you in the first chapter, or it may flash into your mind in some
subsequent chapter. It may come in the form of a single idea. Or, it may
come in the nature of a plan, or a purpose. Again, it may cause you to go
back into your past experiences of failure or defeat, and bring to the surface
some lesson by which you can regain all that you lost through defeat.
After I had described to Mr. Darby the power unwittingly used by the
little colored child, he quickly retraced his thirty years of experience as a
life insurance salesman, and frankly acknowledged that his success in
that field was due, in no small degree, to the lesson he had learned from
the child. Mr. Darby pointed out: “every time a prospect tried to bow me out, without
buying, I saw that child standing there in the old mill, her big eyes glaring
in defiance, and I said to myself, I’ve gotta make this sale.’ The better
portion of all sales I have made, were made after people had said ‘NO’.”
He recalled, too, his mistake in having stopped only three feet from
gold, “but,” he said, “that experience was a blessing in disguise. It taught
me to keep on keeping on, no matter how hard the going may be, a lesson I
needed to learn before I could succeed in anything.”
This story of Mr. Darby and his uncle, the colored child and the gold
mine, doubtless will be read by hundreds of men who make their living
by selling life insurance, and to all of these, the author wishes to offer the
suggestion that Darby owes to these two experiences his ability to sell
more than a million dollars of life insurance every year.
Life is strange, and often imponderable! Both the successes and the
failures have their roots in simple experiences. Mr. Darby’s experiences
were common-place and simple enough, yet they held the answer to his
destiny in life, therefore they were as important (to him) as life itself. He
profited by these two dramatic experiences, because he analyzed them,
and found the lesson they taught. But what of the man who has neither the
time, nor the inclination to study failure in search of knowledge that may
lead to success? Where, and how is he to learn the art of converting defeat
into stepping stones to opportunity?
In answer to these questions, this book was written.
The answer called for a description of thirteen principles, but remember,
as you read, the answer you may be seeking, to the questions which
have caused you to ponder over the strangeness of life, may be found in
your own mind, through some idea, plan, or purpose which may spring
into your mind as you read.
One sound idea is all that one needs to achieve success. The principles
described in this book, contain the best, and the most practical of all that is
known, concerning ways and means of creating useful ideas.
Before we go any further in our approach to the description of these
principles, we believe you are entitled to receive this important
suggestion. ..WHEN RICHES BEGIN TO COME THEY COME SO
QUICKLY, IN SUCH GREAT ABUNDANCE, THAT ONE
WONDERS WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN HIDING DURING ALL
THOSE LEAN YEARS. This is an astounding statement, and all the
more so, when we take into consideration the popular belief, that riches
come only to those who work hard and long.
When you begin to THINK AND GROW RICH, you will observe that
riches begin with a state of mind, with definiteness of purpose, with little
or no hard work. You, and every other person, ought to be interested in
knowing how to acquire that state of mind which will attract riches. I
spent twenty-five years in research, analyzing more than 25,000 people,
because I, too, wanted to know “how wealthy men become that way.”
Without that research, this book could not have been written.
Here take notice of a very significant truth, viz: The business depression
started in 1929, and continued on to an all time record of destruction,
until sometime after President Roosevelt entered office. Then the depression
began to fade into nothingness. Just as an electrician in a theatre
raises the lights so gradually that darkness is transmuted into light before
you realize it, so did the spell of fear in the minds of the people gradually
fade away and become faith.
Observe very closely, as soon as you master the principles of this
philosophy, and begin to follow the instructions for applying those
principles, your financial status will begin to improve, and everything you
touch will begin to transmute itself into an asset for your benefit.
Impossible? Not at all!
One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man’s familiarity
with the word “impossible.’’ He knows all the rules which will NOT work. He knows all the things which CANNOT be done. This book was
written for those who seek the rules which have made others successful,
and are willing to stake everything on those rules.
A great many years ago I purchased a fine dictionary. The first thing I
did with it was to turn to the word “impossible,” and neatly clip it out of
the book. That would not be an unwise thing for you to do.
Success comes to those who become SUCCESS CONSCIOUS.
Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become
FAILURE CONSCIOUS.
The object of this book is to help all who seek it, to learn the art of
changing their minds from FAILURE CONSCIOUSNESS to SUCCESS
CONSCIOUSNESS.
Another weakness found in altogether too many people, is the habit of
measuring everything, and everyone, by their own impressions and beliefs.
Some who will read this, will believe that no one can THINK AND
GROW RICH. They cannot think in terms of riches, because their thought
habits have been steeped in poverty, want, misery, failure, and defeat.
These unfortunate people remind me of a prominent Chinese, who
came to America to be educated in American ways. He attended the
University of Chicago. One day President Harper met this young
Oriental on the campus, stopped to chat with him for a few minutes, and
asked what had impressed him as being the most, noticeable characteristic
of the American people.
“Why,” the Chinaman exclaimed, “the queer slant of your eyes. Your
eyes are off slant!
What do we say about the Chinese?
We refuse to believe that which we do not understand. We foolishly
believe that our own limitations are the proper measure of limitations.
Sure, the other fellow’s eyes are “off slant,” BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT
THE SAME AS OUR OWN.
Millions of people look at the achievements of Henry Ford, after he
has arrived, and envy him, because of his good fortune, or luck, or genius,
or whatever it is that they credit for Ford’s fortune. Perhaps one person in
every hundred thousand knows the secret of Ford’s success, and those
who do know are too modest, or too reluctant, to speak of it, because of
its simplicity. A single transaction will illustrate the “secret” perfectly.
A few years back, Ford decided to produce his now famous V-8 motor.
He chose to build an engine with the entire eight cylinders cast in one
block, and instructed his engineers to produce a design for the engine. The
design was placed on paper, but the engineers agreed, to a man, that it was
simply impossible to cast an eight cylinder gas engine block in one piece.
Ford said, “Produce it anyway.”
“But,” they replied, “it’s impossible!”
“Go ahead,” Ford commanded, “and stay on the job until you succeed
no matter how much time is required.”
The engineers went ahead. There was nothing else for them to do, if
they were to remain on the Ford staff. Six months went by, nothing
happened. Another six months passed, and still nothing happened. The
engineers tried every conceivable plan to carry out the orders, but the
thing seemed out of the question; “impossible/”
At the end of the year Ford checked with his engineers, and again they
informed him they had found no way to carry out his orders.
“Go right ahead,” said Ford, “I want it, and I’ll have it.”
THINK AND GROW RICH
They went ahead, and then, as if by a stroke of magic, the secret was
discovered.
The Ford DETERMINATION had won once more!
This story may not be described with minute accuracy, but the sum
and substance of it is correct. Deduce from it, you who wish to THINK
AND GROW RICH, the secret of the Ford millions, if you can. You’ll
not have to look very far.
Henry Ford is a success, because he understands, and applies the principles
of success. One of these is DESIRE: knowing what one wants.
Remember this Ford story as you read, and pick out the lines in which the
secret of his stupendous achievement have been described. If you can do
this, if you can lay your finger on the particular group of principles which
made Henry Ford rich, you can equal his achievements in almost any calling
for which you are suited.
YOU ARE “THE MASTER OF YOUR FATE, THE CAPTAIN OF
YOUR SOUL’ BECAUSE ...
When Henley wrote the prophetic lines, “I am the Master of my Fate, I
am the Captain of my Soul,” he should have informed us that we are the
Masters of our Fate, the Captains of our Souls, because we have the
power to control our thoughts.
He should have told us that the ether in which this little earth floats, in
which we move and have our being, is a form of energy moving at an
inconceivably high rate of vibration, and that the ether is filled with a
form of universal power which ADAPTS itself to the nature of the
thoughts we hold in our minds; and INFLUENCES us, in natural ways, to
transmute our thoughts into their physical equivalent.
If the poet had told us of this great truth, we would know WHY IT IS
that we are the Masters of our Fate, the Captains of our Souls. He should
have told us, with great emphasis, that this power makes no attempt to
discriminate between destructive thoughts and constructive thoughts, that
it will urge us to translate into physical reality thoughts of poverty, just as
quickly as it will influence us to act upon thoughts of riches.
He should have told us, too, that our brains become magnetized with
the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds, and, by means
with which no man is familiar, these “magnets” attract to us the forces,
the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of
our dominating thoughts.
He should have told us, that before we can accumulate riches in great
abundance, we must magnetize our minds with intense DESIRE for
riches, that we must become “money conscious” until the DESIRE for
money drives us to create definite plans for acquiring it.
But, being a poet, and not a philosopher, Henley contented himself by
stating a great truth in poetic form, leaving those who followed him to
interpret the philosophical meaning of his lines.
Little by little, the truth has unfolded itself, until it now appears
certain that the principles described in this book, hold the secret of
mastery over our economic fate.
We are now ready to examine the first of these principles. Maintain a
spirit of open-mindedness, and remember as you read, they are the
invention of no one man. The principles were gathered from the life
experiences of more than 500 men who actually accumulated riches in
huge amounts; men who began in poverty, with but little education,
without influence. The principles worked for these men. You can put
them to work for your own enduring benefit.
You will find it easy, not hard, to do.
Before you read the next chapter, I want you to know that it conveys
factual information which might easily change your entire financial
destiny, as it has so definitely brought changes of stupendous proportions
to two people described.
I want you to know, also, that the relationship between these two men
and myself, is such that I could have taken no liberties with the facts, even
if I had wished to do so. One of them has been my closest personal friend
for almost twenty-five years, the other is my own son. The unusual
success of these two men, success which they generously accredit to the
principle described in the next chapter, more than justifies this personal
reference as a means of emphasizing the far-flung power of this principle.
Almost fifteen years ago, I delivered the Commencement Address at
Salem College, Salem, West Virginia. I emphasized the principle
described in the next chapter, with so much intensity that one of the
members of the graduating class definitely appropriated it, and made it a
part of his own philosophy. The young man is now a Member of
Congress, and an important factor in the present administration. Just
before this book went to the publisher, he wrote me a letter in which he
so clearly stated his opinion of the principle outlined in the next chapter,
that I have chosen to publish his letter as an introduction to that chapter.
It gives you an idea of the rewards to come...
My Dear Napoleon:
My service as a Member of Congress having given
me an insight into the problems of men and women, I
am writing to offer a suggestion which may become
helpful to thousands of worthy people.
With apologies, I must state that the suggestion, if
acted upon, will mean several years of labor and
responsibility for you, but I am en-heartened to make
the suggestion, because I know your great love for
rendering useful service. In 1922, you delivered the
Commencement address at Salem College, when I was
a member of the graduating class. In that address, you
planted in my mind an idea which has been responsible
for the opportunity I now have to serve the people of
my State, and will be responsible, in a very large measure,
for whatever success I may have in the future.
The suggestion I have in mind is, that you put into a
book the sum and substance of the address you
delivered at Salem College, and in that way give the
people of America an opportunity to profit by your
many years of experience and association with the men
who, by their greatness, have made America the richest
nation on earth.
I recall, as though it were yesterday, the marvelous
description you gave of the method by which Henry
Ford, with but little schooling, without a dollar, with
no influential friends, rose to great heights. I made up
my mind then, even before you had finished your
speech, that I would make a place for myself, no matter
how many difficulties I had to surmount.
Thousands of young people will finish their schooling
this year, and within the next few years. Every one
of them will be seeking just such a message of practical
encouragement as the one I received from you.
They will want to know where to turn, what to do, to
get started in life. You can tell them, because you have
helped to solve the problems of so many, many people.
If there is any possible way that you can afford to
render so great a service, may I offer the suggestion
that you include with every book, one of your Personal
Analysis Charts, in order that the purchaser of the book
may have the benefit of a complete self-inventory,
indicating, as you indicated to me years ago, exactly
what is standing in the way of success.
Such a service as this, providing the readers of your
book with a complete, unbiased picture of their faults
and their virtues, would mean to them the difference
between success and failure. The service would be
priceless.
Millions of people are now facing the problem of
staging a come-back, because of the depression, and I
speak from personal experience when I say, I know
these earnest people would welcome the opportunity to
tell you their problems, and to receive your suggestions
for the solution.
You know the problems of those who face the
necessity of beginning all over again. There are thousands
of people in America today who would like to
know how they can convert ideas into money, people
who must start at scratch, without finances, and recoup
their losses. If anyone can help them, you can.
If you publish the book, I would like to own the first
copy that comes from the press, personally autographed
by you.
With best wishes, believe me,
Cordially yours,
JENNINGS RANDOLPH
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