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Show "At The Bottom" : ; There's a good deai-of- talk these-days -and considerable nt.cspaper publicity about the sons of the. nation's rich meri "starting at the bottom,, the same, as dad did."'- The latest, news story comes from some little town in Minnesota where L. W. Hill, jr. the grandson of James J. Hill, great railway magnate, has started at the bottom by taking a job as timekeeper time-keeper for' a suction gang at $2.35 per. day,-plus bunk and board. He is quoted as' saying, "Grandfather started at the bottom, and so did Dad, I guess I can, too." ' , The news story goes ahead to say that young Hill is "fresh, from Yale and Oxford," and then proceeds to show that the grandson is starting in just as humble a way as the grandfather, the "great Empire Builder," as he often is referred re-ferred to. But the lines are not parallel. The young man who is "fresh from Yaie and Oxford," if he has used his time wisely in making friends as well as learning some of the things that are taught in these schools, is not really beginning be-ginning at the bottom. He has his education and his friends as foundation. Then, too, he probably did not start "at the bottom" in the sense that he worked his way through these two educational institutions. He will not remain at the bottom bot-tom because men directly over him cannot help but realize that he, some day will be over them. Therefore they will see that he is shielded from many of the hard knocks which the grandfather, who actually started at the bottom and achieved a great success, received. , Then again there must be a certain sense of financial security in knowing, despite the $2.35 per day wage, that 'dad' is chairman of the board of directors of the Great Northern railway and that in case the $2.35 should not provide pro-vide all the necessities of life an extra dollar might be "scraped up" in an emergency. James J. Hill, the grandfather, grand-father, had no such sense of security when he started "at the bottom." No, no matter how hard he may try, and his sincerity in the trial is not doubted in the least, the grand-ion grand-ion cannot start "at the bottom." The great achievement of his grandfather, and the position of his father, have given i'im ctTtain advantages that he cannot throw off, no matter how hard he may try. He is to be congratulated on the effort ef-fort he is making. This is much better than loafing for a few years and then stepping in an executive position which is tho mute followed in some cases. |