Show OM A LOG CABIN TO THIS THE CABINET 4 tOrl D C nov 7 1897 wai washington hing my mv I 1 doubt whether my story I 1 am certain it the aeling t la Is worth WO rth will int interest erest few people and there is ia extraordinary in it nothing the speaker was gen russell A alger aleer secretary of war ex governor united states arm army y one of the of th the of the country dealers lumber largest lare pat of success in life we had been abatt chatting ing had urged him to tell me the and I 1 artory of his boyhood saying there s were ere tho thousands hsands of poor boys in the 4 united jilted states w who ho were discouraged i obstacles which they saw before att at the f ittem and that a word from him as to s Ss his struggles might give them courage the fight it was some sto ta continue persuade the see sec I 1 could ame mme wore before korv lata to give me the story he said ar AV not a public matter and it was ww ionly 7 urging the ab above ove that atly after alfter an my he went on he said whether any boy who is 11 1 doubt at life today has a worse out bartine tar arting tine jaeok ak than ahad I 1 had I 1 was born in a log in medina county ohio my blather pioneer farmer he er was a poor unlucky man and for some t 8 an other nothing he touched touche d teason or rs med to prosper r when he settled y AT ohio the state was an almost un he took up a broken wilderness i tract of woodland and cleared a por mn of it b ut he did not do well af had charge of a woolen at erward he halll i 11 this did not succeed and he died when I 1 was about twelve asars old leaving four children and support them at times othine to we but little to eat and 1 I ber one dreary period when th father ther and MO mother ther were sick for z in the same bed soon after mother died and it was not long behare father followed her to the wave I 1 had bad a sister who was older abatt I 1 but there were two others who were aouger younger and I 1 was you know lat it twelve for a time I 1 worked for 4 neighbor receiving three teacups and this formed the food a day OU the family W we e had hada a cow and i the milk from this we made what we called thickened milk we had I 1 remember a little corn in the imse my sister and I 1 shelled a bag of this and I 1 carted it on my back to a 4 mill nine miles away and there traded it for meal I 1 walked to the j and an back it was eighteen miles feat but I 1 lo 10 do not remember that I 1 was worn rora out by the trip A boy of twelve does not amount to much 11 said L I 1 what could you ft ao v 1 1 I could not do much replied gen oral eral alger aiger but I 1 was head of the family and felt I 1 must do something I 1 found homes formy for my younger leother other and sister land and then arranged ta U wark for my board and clothes and fuyi br three months schooling during the winder I 1 did this until I 1 was fourteen i asa my older sister died I 1 then 1 I 1 ought to be worth more d myed biped out to a tanner farmer who paid me ra a month for the first month 4 tor for the second and 5 tor for the next four months the next year he gave me 6 a month the next 6 the third 8 the fourth 10 the fifth 12 and the sixth and seventh years 15 a month these were great wages in those days tor for farm hands we had no reapers readers or mowers then and all work was done by hand all of this time the secretary continued 1 I went to school a part of the year I 1 got the idea when I 1 was very young that I 1 must have an education if I 1 expected to do anything in the world so after a time I 1 worked only six months of each year and went to the other six while at school I 1 worked for my board mornings evenings and saturdays I 1 remember I 1 worked one winter in a blacksmiths shop where I 1 used the hammer and acted as a helper I 1 grew I 1 very rapidly and when I 1 was still a young boy I 1 could do the work of a man at een I 1 was six feet tall and weighed pounds then you spent your vacations on a farm general alger said I 1 yes I 1 hired out as I 1 have said for half of each year to a farmer and kept this up seven years that was my only vacation I 1 have a little account book at home which contains all the payments which my employer made me he charged me for every hour I 1 lost during working days and also for everything he gave me outside of my meals I 1 remember once I 1 had two halters stolen while I 1 was at a mill getting some grinding done dene I 1 was charged twelve shillings for them and this was deducted from my wages not long ago one of my boys came into my office at detroit with a bill for a dress dresp suit the bill amounted I 1 think to 70 As I 1 paid it I 1 told him how I 1 had worked for two years when a boy for less than what he had paid for one suit but general these wages seem to me very low were you a good workman 9 did you receive as much as the average hand the secretary of war looked at me rather curiously for a moment and then said laid 1 I was considered a very good hand physically I 1 was very strong I 1 remember that there was a country store in the village of richfield where I 1 was attending school at the back of the store there was a room in which scrap iron was stored one of our amusements was seeing which boy could lift the most we would take a board about two feet wide by two and one half long and lay it across a glass box we would pile iron upon the board until we had as much as we thought a man could lift and then one of us would bend over and catching hold of the opposite ends of the board try to raise it I 1 could lift more than any of my fellows and I 1 have at times lifted pounds in that way T remember that I 1 could mow faster with a scythe than anyone I 1 knew but this was more due to knack than to strength it was all in the hanging of the scythe on the 1 I remember said secretary alger as a smile swept around the corners of his eyes when I 1 first saw my name in the newspapers it was in a description of my skill as a hay bay pitcher there was a test one day as toi to who could unload hay the fastest and I 1 was one of the crack pitchers the hay bay was hauled into a barn on a wagon it had to be pitched from the wagon over the big beam I 1 stipulated that there should be two men to keep the hay back from the beam and went to work I 1 unloaded a ton of hay in less than five minutes this was considered quite a feat and a description of it was published in the cleveland newspapers I 1 can remember today how delighted I 1 was when I 1 saw my name there school general I 1 asked 1 I taught school for two wint winters e ra replied general alger after that I 1 went into the office of wolcott UP son at akron ohio to study law I 1 had to borrow money to keep me white while I 1 was studying after I 1 was admitted to the bar I 1 went into the law office of otis coffinberry wyman at cleveland and soon earned enough to pay my debts I 1 found that the confinement of the law was injuring my health and I 1 looked around for something else to do I 1 had heard of the profits that were to be made in the lumber business in michigan and concluded to go there to try my fortune A young man named goddard went with me we borrowed 1000 and started in the lumber business in grand rapids under the naz name of a alger goddard our business was to buy lumber and ship it to chicago at this point general alger stopped a moment he has you know made a large fortune in lumber and I 1 thought that from this time on the story of Ms ma career would be one of prosperity I 1 11 said 1 I suppose you made a good deal of money in your lumber busl business nes general r no I 1 did not was the reply at M least not at that time we did eriq first and soon built up such tf i good d trade that I 1 thought toy gros groset ft were good enough to allory jig to marry I 1 had fallen in love with blerot of the young girls of grand R rapids ids the lady was willing and the wedding took place we went east on our wedding trip I 1 taking for expenses ISO which I 1 pot got by a draft on the chicago C firm with which we were deal dealing irig when I 1 returned I 1 found that our chicago fernl had failed and that my draft had gone to protest this was in april 1881 1861 it I saw at once that our firm was ruined by bv the failure and I 1 was in desperate straights I 1 had ordered furniture in cleveland for the two rooms in which we were to begin our married life and knew that the bill would be along tn a few days all I 1 had left was a gold wat watch e h w emch 11 I 1 c h I 1 h had a d taken in trade I 1 wa want nt to the banker who held my draft told him how bow I 1 was situated and asked hirn him to boyi ho the wold erold watch as security until the timp time came when I 1 could pa it he refused to receive it but I 1 left it on hi his s counter and went away the I 1 next morning that banker failed A list of his assets was published and among them the item of a dratt draft of alger goddard secured by a gold watch and chain this announced the failure to the people of grand rapids I 1 cannot tell you how badly I 1 felt that day 1 I remember how I 1 went into one of the hotels where a lot of men were talking when one of the rich men of the town a man named mills said to me 1 I see young man that you have got your name in the paper and that you have lost your gold watch and chain the words were uttered in a sneering tone they cut me to the heart 1 I A could have sunk through the floor but I 1 said 1 I know that mr mills I 1 gave the banker my watch because I 1 could not pay my debts and if there is any one here to whom I 1 owe money I 1 am willing to give him anything I 1 have as security if I 1 owe you a cent and you want my coat to hold until I 1 can pay you I 1 will take t off and give it to 10 you my deep feeling must have been expressed in my tones for as I 1 said this the tears came into eyes he saw that failure was a serious thing with me and said no yoking young man if you owed me anything I 1 am sure you would pay it I 1 beg your pardon for foe taunting you of your loss well this failure our company my furniture dealer told me that I 1 could keep the furniture and pay him when I 1 could just about this time the war broke out I 1 raised a company and was chosen captain when I 1 came out of the army I 1 found that I 1 had saved enough to be able to pay my debts and that mrs alger had put aside five hundred dollars in bonds out of the money I 1 had sent home but general I 1 thought your fortune was made out of lumber yes that is true to a large extent replied gen alger the most of the money I 1 have made has been in the lumber business but my success did not come until later on when I 1 came out of the army my first investment was in a brick making concern in detroit I 1 lost in this but while running it I 1 had put a little money in a small vessel the vessel paid for itself in less than a year I 1 made other investments in lake vessels and soon had quite ite a little capital the idea that t there K ere was money in the lumber business stuck to me and I 1 induced two capitalists named moore to put in some money with me to buy pine lands they were in fact to furnish the capital and I 1 was to have one third of the profits for managing the business the first year I 1 bought worth of umber timber walking miles through the woods with a pack on my back to select the timber I 1 picked out a place tok for a logging camp and spent that winter in getting the logs out for the market I 1 took mrs alger and my oldest child who was then with me into the woods we drove a distance of one hundred miles in a sleigh to the camp and our home that winter was a little log cabin I 1 dont know that I 1 have ever enjoyed a winter so much 1 I had thirty five fave men under me and had bad to get up at 5 every morning to start to work mrs alger did her own cooking and we were happy all winter long I 1 only got out a million and a quarter feet of logs board measure during that winter the next winter I 1 had formed the co part Vier ship of moore alger in which I 1 had a half interest mr moore doing little more than furnishing the credit that year we got out about seven mil lion feet of logs which we sold and the next year fifteen million feet and from that time our lumber operations bavo been in quite large figures mr bloore aled soon after and with some other gentlemen we formed our present p resent concern cone xon orn cern of alger smith co we have for years sold as much as one hundred and fifty million feet of lumi ber a year our business amounting to something like a year what is the best investment you ever made in lumber general alger one of the best things we ever did said general alger abger was in the buying of a tract of pine from mr william E dodge of new york I 1 had examined the property and could tell to a few thousand feet just how much pine there was on it mr dodge had an agent named frost in detroit I 1 went to him and asked him what he would take for the land he replied that mr dodge wanted for it I 1 told him to telegraph an offer from me of he did so in a few hours a telegram came back which read tell general alger he can have the tract for and all the time he wants to pay for it in if he will take it now but that it if it Is not taken at once the price will be we took it well we cut one hundred million feet of lumber off that tract and sold it for above the cost of lumbering at another time we made a nice little investment by buying some canal lands of new york men there were 1500 acres in the tracts and the canal company had estimated that there were feet of pine on them I 1 examined the lands and when the man asked me 2650 an acre for it I 1 accepted his proposition the pine was of high grade and we cut feet off of it Is there much money to be made in pine lands today general not so much as in the past said general alger the pine of michigan and wisconsin have been pretty well thinned out and that which Is left is valued at about what it is worth I 1 doubt not that there are some good chances in the southern states and along the pacific coast but the high freight rates across the conti continent prevent the very general use of pacific lumber here canada has some lumber but it is not as good as michigan pine besides wood is not used so much now as it has bebenin the past The age we live in is one of iron and steel rather than wood buildings are now being made of steel fences are made of wire and iron has taken the place of wood in a great variety of things just one word more general said I 1 as the secretary of war rose wont you give me a word of advice for the young men of today can you not in a few words say what constitutes the elements of success 1 I believe that success in life depends largely upon the man replied general alger 1 I think that will power has a great deal to do with it if one decides that he will succeed he Is pretty sure to do so provided he devotes all his energies to it it is the man who goes ahead who never knows that he to is whipped who never loses confidence in himself who succeeds success Is the result of hard work and sticking to it my rule Is to do the thing that is before me and to do it as well as I 1 can there are several things however I 1 would say A man should do as he agrees and his word should always be as good as his bond every man should live within his income and should try to save something he should remember that a successful life is not a battle but it is a long campaign and that the contest must be kept up for years there is one thing that ought ato 0 be said concerning the hardships of the laborer concluded general alger 11 1 I know all about it for no one ever worked longer hours per day and in less easy places than 1 I I lard ilard work is as essential to happiness as exercise is to physical growth and physical effort is nothing compared to mental la a bor in its wear or tear upon the man or woman the pleasure of lation is in the battle for it with its excitement and not in the possession of it |