A HIDDEN DOCTRINE

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 296, 14 December 1931, Page 5

A HIDDEN DOCTRINE

Economist Gives Advice to Students. “WORK FOR THE MARGIN.” (Special to the “ Star.”) WELLINGTON, December 14. “ I will disclose to you one of those hidden economic doctrines, the doctrine of the margin,” said Professor B. E. Murphy, professor of economics at Victoria College, in an address to the students of Wellesley College. “ In school, as in other contests, the best do not as a rule win by yards, they win by margins. If it is a 100 or 220 yards race, the winner gets home Lv inches. The head boys do not shut the others out by 30 or 40 per cent, but probably by 2 or 3 per cent. There are - .ceptional cases, but only when there are very exceptional individuals. In 99 cases out of 100 a little more diligence would have resulted in a man being more successful.” He said that he had noticed in the selection of judges and other eminent officials that one had been only a little bit better than the others, and it was this margin that had won distinction for him. There was only one genius in 10,000 who need not keep on striving in order to be successful, and in the vast majority of cases it was a case of striving for the margin. Much has been said of the luck of life, but luck seldom visited the unworthy, and one noticed that, as a rule, luck in the long run attended only those who were worthy of it. It was sound character and true ability that carried a man through his entire life, and he urged the boys leaving school to work for the margin which would place them on the way to success.