With the hope of gratifying this laudable desire for information, and
encouraging those who are still struggling in the lists of fame and
fortune, I offer this book to the reader. I have sought to tell simply
and truthfully the story of the trials and triumphs of our self-made
men, to show how they overcame where others failed, and to offer the
record of their lives as models worthy of the imitation of the young men
of our country. No one can hope to succeed in life merely by the force
of his own genius, any more than he can hope to live without exerting
some degree of influence for good or evil upon the community in which
his lot is cast. Success in life is not the effect of accident or of
chance: it is the result of the intelligent application of certain fixed
principles to the affairs of every day. Each man must make this
application according to the circumstances by which he is surrounded,
and he can derive no greater assistance or encouragement in this
undertaking than by informing himself how other men of acknowledged
merit have succeeded in the same departments of the world's industry.
That this is true is shown by the fact that many of the most eminent men
attribute their great achievements to the encouragement with which the
perusal of the biographies of others inspired them at critical periods
of their careers.
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