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I
have more than once been asked: "What has been the secret
of your success?" I have had no particular secret, or any
special business ability. I have only taken ordinary care and
used common sense. I have, I admit, generally "scorned
delights and lived laborious days." I have tried to grasp
the skirts of happy chance, And breast the blows of circumstance. |
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commercial success consists in getting means fairly and using them
wisely. True political economy is in reality true moral economy. I
hate waste anywhere and everywhere. What is wasted by one person is
wanted by some other person. The unnecessary luxuries consumed by
the few are as detrimental to the consuming few as the judicious use
of such means would be beneficial to the few and the many. I would
write the words, "Waste not, want not," over the doors of
Parliament Houses, palaces, cottages, workshops, and kitchens ; and
if the spirit and meaning of the motto were put into practice, the
world would spin through space with double joy. While a member of
Parliament I always, when opportunity offered, lowered the gas within
reach that was burning to waste. I did so for a double reason-to prevent
waste and to preserve the purity of the air of the House; but I never
saw or heard of any other member or servant of the House doing a similar
thing. I would try to be as careful in the use of public property
as if it were my own, and I have been as thoughtful in the use of
means for public advantage as in expending means for personal or domestic
use. |
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extravagance is not the only foe to be feared and guarded against.
Empire ambition, attended as it generally is with additional expenditure,
anxiety, and dilution of national energy, should be well bridled and
saddled, or it may lead to Empire disaster. A particle of matter cannot
be in two places at the same time; as with matter so with men, communities
of men, and the spirit that animates them. If individual or national
force be expended in one way, it cannot exist to be utilised in any
other way. The more a piece of gold is beaten, the wider the area
it covers and the flimsier it becomes. As with gold so with national
power. That which grows most rapidly is subject to most rapid decay.
It is the same with men, mushrooms, oak-trees, and empires. The larger
an ambitious and fighting empire is extended, the greater the necessity
to protect every part of its frontier as well as its central heart.
Certain great nations having entered on an era of industrial competition,
the most industrious, economic, and enlightened nation will make the
most solid progress, and probably live the longest. What is most wanted
at the present time is not a more expanded, but a consolidated empire,
and the best way to consolidate the British Empire is not to fan Imperial
ambition, as so many are prone to do and never tire of doing, but
to build up at home healthful, educated, and prosperous citizens.
By so doing, and only by so doing, can we broaden, deepen, and strengthen
the foundations of our commonwealth, make it "four-square to
all the winds that blow," and advance human interests by the
force of our example. We cannot do this by constantly multiplying
Imperial responsibilities and anxieties, and at the same time increasing
taxation by leaps and bounds, with a large proportion of our people
in great towns undergoing physical deterioration. But we can maintain
our position and earn national and international fame by a wise use
of the industrial and moral resources within reach and under control;
by cultivating and applying the arts of peace, and acting towards
other nations, great and small, as we would they should act towards
us. |
| I
must at last bring this hop, skip, and jump record to a conclusion.
I could have said much more about my journalistic experiences; the
other papers I have owned and edited; House of Commons life; people
I have met; correspondence I have had complimentary freedoms of boroughs
I have received; the associations of which I have been president;
the many interesting foundation-stone laying and opening ceremonies
in which so many distinguished men and women took part; and the success
which has attended the several institutions I have provided; but I
have already occupied much more space than I intended, and conclude
by repeating what I said in the introductory paragraph, that I have
jotted down these reminiscences in the interest of facts and for self-protection,
and to prevent, if possible, the publication of inaccuracies in future.
On some other and suitable occasion I may supply additional reminiscences
to those given, and thereby render the record less scrappy and more
complete. |
| London, August, 1905 |
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