GREAT FORTUNES AND HOW THEY WERE MADE; OR THE Struggles and Triumphs of our Self-Made Men

The chief glory of America is that it is the country in which genius and industry find their speediest and surest reward. Fame and fortune are here open to all who are willing to work for them. Neither class distinctions nor social prejudices, neither differences of birth, religion nor ideas, can prevent the man of true merit from winning the just reward of his labours in this favoured land. We are emphatically a nation of self-made men, and it is to the labors of this worthly class that our marvellous national prosperity is due. The Term “Great Fortunes” is not used here to designate pecuniary success exclusively. A few of the men whose Lives are herein recorded never amassed great wealth. Yet they achived the highest success in their vocations and their lives are so full of interest and unsatisfactory had they been passed over in silence. The aim of the writer has been to present the histories of those who have won the highest fame and achieved the greatest good in their respective calling whether that success has brought them riches or not and above all of those whose labors have not only opened the way to fortune for themselves but also for others and have thus conferred lasting benefits upon their country.