was never interrogated on the subject, but other statements of his indicate that he would endorse the Law as being a possibility, if not in fact a reality.
Dr. Elmer Gates endorsed the Law, in a conversation with this author more than fifteen years ago. Dr. Gates is a scientist of the highest order, ranking along with Steinmetz, Edison and Bell.
The author of this philosophy has talked to scores of intelligent business men who, while they were not scientists, admitted they believed in the soundness of the Law of the Master Mind. It is hardly excusable, therefore, for men of less ability to judge such matters, to form opinions as to this Law, without serious, systematic investigation.
* * * * *
Let me lay before you a brief outline of what this lesson is and what it is intended to do for you!
Having prepared myself for the practice of law I will offer this introduction as a “statement of my case.” The evidence with which to back up my case will be presented in the sixteen lessons of which the course is composed.
The facts out of which this course has been prepared have been gathered through more than twenty-five years of business and professional experience, and my only explanation of the rather free use of the personal pronoun throughout the course is that I am writing from first-hand experience.
Before this Reading Course on the Law of Success was published the manuscripts were submitted to two prominent universities with the request that they be read by competent professors with the object of eliminating or correcting any statements that appeared to be unsound, from an economic viewpoint.
This request was complied with and the manuscripts were carefully examined, with the result that not a single change was made with the exception of one or two slight changes in wording.
One of the professors who examined the manuscripts expressed himself, in part, as follows: “It is a tragedy that every boy and girl who enters high school is not efficiently drilled on the fifteen major parts of your Reading Course on the Law of Success. It is regrettable that the great university with which I am connected, and every other university, does not include your course as a part of its curriculum.”
Inasmuch as this Reading Course is intended as a map or blueprint that will guide you in the attainment of that coveted goal called “Success,” may it not be well here to define success?
Success is the development of the power with which to get whatever one wants in life without interfering with the rights of others.
I would lay particular stress upon the word “power” because it is inseparably related to success. We are living in a world and during an age of intense competition, and the law of the survival of the fittest is everywhere in evidence. Because of these facts all who would enjoy enduring success must go about its attainment through the use of power.
And what is power?
Power is organized energy or effort. This course is properly called the Law of Success for the reason that it teaches how one may organize facts and knowledge and the faculties of one’s mind into a unit of power.
This course brings you a definite promise, namely:
That through its mastery and application you can get whatever you want, with but two qualifying words—“within reason.”
This qualification takes into consideration your education, your wisdom or your lack of it, your physical endurance, your temperament, and all of the other qualities mentioned in the sixteen lessons of this course as being the factors most essential in the attainment of success.
Without a single exception those who have attained unusual success have done so, either consciously or unconsciously, through the aid of all or a portion of the fifteen major factors of which this course is compiled. If you doubt this statement, then master these sixteen lessons so you can go about the analysis with reasonable accuracy and analyze such men as Carnegie, Rockefeller, Hill, Harriman, Ford and others of this type who have accumulated great fortunes of material wealth, and you will see that they understood and applied the principle of organized effort which runs, like a golden cord of indisputable evidence, throughout this course.
Nearly twenty years ago I interviewed Mr. Carnegie for the purpose of writing a story about him. During the interview I asked him to what he attributed his success. With a merry little twinkle in his eyes he said:
“Young man, before I answer your question will you please define your term ‘success’?”
After waiting until he saw that I was somewhat embarrassed by his request he continued: “By success you have reference to my money, have you not?” I assured him that money was the term by which most people measured success, and he then said: “Oh, well—if you wish to know how I got my money—if that is what you call success—I will answer your question by saying that we have a master mind here in our business, and that mind is made up of more than a score of men who constitute my personal staff of superintendents and managers and accountants and chemists and other necessary types. No one person in this group is the master mind of which I speak, but the sum total of the minds in the group, co-ordinated, organized and directed to a definite end in a spirit of harmonious co-operation is the power that got my money for me. No two minds in the group are exactly alike, but each man in the group does the thing that he is supposed to do and he does it better than any other person in the world could do it.”
Then and there the seed out of which this course has been developed was sown in my mind, but that seed did not take root or germinate until later. This interview marked the beginning of years of research which led, finally, to the discovery of the principle of psychology described in the Introductory Lesson as the “Master Mind.”
I heard all that Mr. Carnegie said, but it took the knowledge gained from many years of subsequent contact with the business world to enable me to assimilate that which he said and clearly grasp and understand the principle back of it, which was nothing more nor less than the principle of organized effort upon which this course on the Law of Success is founded.
Carnegie’s group of men constituted a “Master Mind” and that mind was so well organized, so well co-ordinated, so powerful, that it could have accumulated millions of dollars for Mr. Carnegie in practically any sort of endeavor of a commercial or industrial nature. The steel business in which that mind was engaged was but an incident in connection with the accumulation of the Carnegie wealth. The same wealth could have been accumulated had the “Master Mind” been directed in the coal business or the banking business or the grocery business, for the reason that back of the mind was power—that sort of power which you may have when you shall have organized the faculties of your own mind and allied yourself with other well organized minds for the attainment of a definite chief aim in life.
Side note: If you can run a losing race without blaming your loss on someone else, you have bright prospects of success further down the road in life.
A careful check-up with several of Mr. Carnegie’s former business associates, which was made after this course was begun, proves conclusively not only that there is such a law as that which has been called the “Master Mind,” but that this law was the chief source of Mr. Carnegie’s success.
Perhaps no man was ever associated with Mr. Carnegie who knew him better than did Mr. C. M. Schwab. In the following words Mr. Schwab has very accurately described that “subtle something” in Mr. Carnegie’s personality which enabled him to rise to such stupendous heights.
“I never knew a man with so much imagination,
