The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1937. SUCCESS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 252, 23 October 1937, Page 8

The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1937. SUCCESS

is the goal toward which men strive. When a man

reaches his goal, he is to be accounted successful. The greater the notice which is given to his achievements, is too often regarded as the measure of his success. But is the notice which his efforts attract the true measure of the intrinsic worth of his career? It may not be.

There are some men to whom Nature has been kind: they are born with strong physical endowments, their mental equipment is of equal calibre, and their early environment helps them to an accurate assessment of what is worth striving for; that is to say, their scale of moral values is a correct one. Such men come to prominence, and it is to be expected that they should do so. Such a man was Lord Rutherford. Those who were in close association witli him declared that he was a Big Man, big in every way, in stature, in mind and in spirit. There was an element of selflessness in his effort, and doubtless it.was because of this element that he was the success as a scientist that he was. The success was not in what he accomplished, but in what manner of man he became. He expressed himself through the medium of scientific work, his merit lay in his persistence in that effort, in submitting himself to the long years of discipline, in counting the years of experimentation and research well spent even though the material rewards were not always reaped by himself personally, in going forward in quest of that goal which he set himself to discover or to reveal. There are more men who are greatly endowed than those who achieve great things because, of their number, only a portion are strong enough to strive to exploit their natural talents. There is another type of man who achieves success; only to find that another field opens up before them. Lord Nuffield is to-day an exemplar of this type. Like the Cadburys, and Lord Lcverhulme, Lord Nuffield found that when he had attained to a measure of economic success he had but gained entry into a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of Pow’er. Had he stopped at the threshold of this new kingdom he could have been accounted a successful man according to some standards, not a very desirable standard perhaps, but certainly one which registers accomplishment in a difficult field, the field of manufacturing. Lord Nuffield was not as well endowed by Nature as Lord Rutherford, for the former has had to contend against indifferent health, and he has triumphed over this physical handicap. Mentally, Lord Nuffield is one of the world’s remarkable men, his executive ability being exceptional. But the making of money is only the key, and many men fail to use that key when it is placed in their hands. They prize the key so much that they cannot bring themselves to use it. Can they be accounted successful under such circumstances? 'Wealth docs not always go with constant merit. Lord Nuffield is one of those successful men who has walked from one kingdom to another, from the kingdom of commerce to the kingdom of higher citizenship, using his executive power in directing wealth into socially beneficial channels. Lord Nuffield’s success lies in the victory over himself. Like Lord Rutherford he has kept his star bright and has moved constantly towards it. His success lies not in his millions nor in his munificence.

It is not given, however, to all men to come to outstanding notice. The field of the average man is much more circumscribed, his field of operations decidedly more limited than the stage on which Rutherford and Nuffield have walked. And yet, the average man, has within his own province the opportunity for doing as do those who come to eminence. They are great by reason of the importance of their tasks and achievements, but the world cannot be peopled by the sons of Colossus, it must have lesser men, and this world witnesses great movements only when they play their part aright. General Chiang Kai-shek is the Great Man of Ch ina, but China, with its five hundred millions, is not equal to the United Kingdom with its population of less than fifty millions, because the average Englishman amounts to so much more than the average Chinese. The success of the Age, then, depends upon the average man making a success of his own life. Mr. Charles J. Poynter, whose life has just been closed, was a typical example of a successful man. He had no outstanding endowments save a native keen insight into human conduct. He had a true sense of values which he carried into his business, and he exercised that same true sense of human values in his association with the Wanganui Orphanage. Unobtrusively he carried the burdens of others, attracting little notice to himself, but rising above the desire to go as far as he could in securing his position. His life was a nicely-poised harmony and when a man achieves that he, too, may be called successful, even though the world goes on, missing him only for a time from lii-t accustomed niche, but raising no monument to his name.