Skip to main content

Full text of "The Creed of the Conquering Chief, as Expounded by the Inspired Orator"

See other formats


Google 



This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 

to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 

publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing tliis resource, we liave taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 
We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for in forming people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 

at |http: //books .google .com/I 




'^3'tl 




The Creed 



of the 



Conquering Chief 



As expounded by the 
Inspired Orator 



1W1*»J» 



An Experiment in Psychology 



Vrittw down by 

ALBERT LEWIS PELTON 



1919 
The Pbltok Publishing Co., 

Mbrtdbn, Conn. 



KCHSHI 



Copyrislitad 

1014 

A. L* PSLTOir. 



J. F. TAPLEY CO 

NEW YORK 



THE PROFESSOR'S PROLOGUE. 



(Hsre follows explanation of how 
the Professor came to try out this 
experiment in Mind -power. It 
gives the scientific basis upon which 
it was carried through.) — Authar^s 
note. 



THE PROFESSOR'S PROLOGUE. 



Last evening, at the Psychic Arts Auditorium, 
a lecture of striking power and scientific impor- 
tance, was delivered under rather tinusual cir- 
cumstances. 

Today I called upon the Professor and asked 
if he would tell me now he came to discover and 
apply his principle of "induced inspiration". His 
story, as well as the lecture itself, follows : 

Man is great ! 

He is the crowning work of the Maker of all 
created things! 

But he gains his greatness and maintains his 
position of supremacy, solely because he possess- 
es that wonderful power : MIND — the ability to 
think, reason, and forge forward along such 
lines as he chooses. 

He is forever impassably separated from all 
other orders of creation — because no other has 
this "Mind" attribute. 



For many years I have been an investigator 
in the great field of phenomena known as Psy- 
chology — ^the study of the Human mind. 

In my studies and researches in the realm of 
mental power, my experiments had been largely 
in the realm cooMnonly. termed "genius". 



2 The Creed of 

Genius is the classification given certain men 
who exhibit rare qualities of mind-power. It is 
used to describe the sort of men who concentrate 
and intensify to the nth degree, phases of brain 
energy which the mass of men use only in a weak, 
scattering way. 

Men of Genius are tinmistakable guide-posts 
where History records man's passage from the 
beginning to the end of world-life. Men of 
genius are snow-capped peaks rising above the 
foothills covered by the submerged multitudes. 

I had sought to discover the causes or secret — 
the foundation principle, as it were, of the great 
man. Time after time I had mentally asked 
myself : 

J. Are there any definite laws which the supe- 
rior man applies? 

2. Is "Genius" a divine endowment — the des- 
pair of all to whom it does not come early 
and clearly in life? 

J. Are men of genius a "race apart' — each 
one struck off from the Great Center only 
at odd intervals? 

Those were some of the questions that I tried 
to find answer to in my mind. They caused much 
thought and meditation. In whatever direction 
I stretched forth my hand for some tangible re- 
sult — always was it made manifest ttiat the 
genius-mind exemplified these deep truths : 

1. Thought intensified, 

2. Vision made concrete, 

3. Qear observation frozen into fact. 

In short — it is Mind-power turned into 



The Conquering Chief. 3 

ACTION. Genius Is a form of swift, unwaver- 
ing, energy-charged, Will-directed Thought-force 
vitalised into life. This is the turning point at 
which the man of genius separates himself from 
the hum-drum crowd. 

Thought is Power! 

Again and again declare that great truth. Be- 
lieve it. Dream it. Go forth and CARRY IT 
INTO ACTION. 

Ah yes! — ability to think — ^that is the great 
man's chief characteristic. It is Brain-energy 
turned productive; it is the ever-present trait 
which makes men masters. 

I have watched men at work and men at play. 
I have seen the mass — the so-called "submerged 
millions"— and their minds grow little else than 
weeds. Their brains are giving them scant 
harvests. Something has blighted and stunted 
their productiveness. Their brain plants seem to 
have scarcely enough depth or root to save them 
from blowing across the sands — ^withering and 
disappearing. 

And they constitute the bulk of mankind ! 

Yet again — ^here and there I have seen a man 
whose mind was productive to a remarkable 
degree. Deep, fertile, steadily reaching upwards 
— self-centered, sturdy and strong. They owned 
brains which were yielding rich fruits of thought 
— a Mind in all its greatness. 

The Mind has two levels or phases of action. 
The upper or surface level which often reveals 
beautiful blooms and hangs heavy with rich and 



4 The Creed of 

luscious fruits — ^those wonderful products of 
mental growth and hanrest. The lower level — 
that deep, unfathomable sea — is where the sur- 
face life roots down and from which it draws its 
nourishment and power. 

These two levels of the Mind are given tihe 
names conscious and sub-consciotis. The mind- 
life of which we are aware in the round of the 
day's duties, is the Conscious phase of mind. 
Deep down below the surface, where exists a 
vast mental life of which we are not aware, is 
the 8u1>*conscious realm — ^an accumulated reser- 
voir of Thought-energy. 

It is from these depths that men of genius 
draw a brinMning measure of creative power. It 
is from this unfailing spring the great man sucks 
up into conscious use, tibe huge drafts of thought 
or idca-force which he turns into visible ACTION 
or RESULTS. Then men call him "genius". 

The relation of the upper mind tx> the lower 
(under) mind, might be illustrated in this way:: 
after a heavy rain storm you will find the ground 
still damp or wet on the surface. But deeper 
and deeper down — ^trickling through the grains 
of sand — ^the bulk of the rain has passed, finally 
to accumulate far below the surface, awaiting 
the call of the artesian drill. 

Such a reservoir is ybur sub-conscious mind. 
It is incessantly receiving a supply of thought 
material from the upper mind ; it is storing, com- 
bining, mixing, increasingand amassing POWER. 
Great is he who has learned the secret of making 



The Conquering Chief. 5 

this sub-conscious treasuiy yield up its illimitable 
wealth. 

I asked of many I met -/What is the secret of 
reaching this great reservoir of Powerf How 
can this sub-conscious mind be tapped in the way 
the genius draws upon it? How can the aver" 
age man command this creative force in a master- 
ly fashion?'^ 

And always did those who had given the sub- 
ject any thought reply "O, genius is just 'inspira- 
tion', thafs air. 

People seem to hold the common belief that the 
great man is a peculiar personality, tmsolvable 
excepting on the ground of a divine "inspiration" 
having suffused lus every cell and fibre and nerve 
— ^and made him what he is. 

Therefore my problem resolved into this ques- 
tion: "What is 'inspiration', so called?" 

I say: Lispiration is a Mind a-flame. 
Inspiration is a Heart a-glow. 
Inspiration is a Body a-tingle. 

Inspiration, as explaining the great man's 
secret, is nothing else than a flare of the sub-con- 
scious mind-energy leaping up into the field of 
the conscious mind — and rapidly ripening fruits 
or products which astonish the average person. 

I have seen men at their work — dull, listless, 
mind-vacant. "Nobody at home" as the expres- 
sion is. And again, here and there I have seen 
another kind of man, through whom was pulsat- 
ing a vibrant life-energy — a Mind-energy — aCrea- 
tivt energy. He is eager, ambitious, and alive in 



6 The Creed of 

every cell — reaching forward; his very soul 
seems to be peering out of his eye-windows — 
beaming in every action and effort to express his 
true Self. It is to men of this type that "inspira- 
tion" comes as a spark which sets fire to the gift 
of greatness. 

What, then, is the secret of this inspirational 
spark? 

To solve this question called for deep thought, 
careful test and close observation. I confess 
that even now I have found no universal, good- 
for-all formula. I fear that none ever will be 
found. The training, the goals, the heritage 
and the lives of men are so widely different, that 
each must find his own special route. 

♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 

I will here set forth how I came to conduct 
the psychological experiment which forms the 
chief part of this treatise. There was a young 
man of my acquaintance who represented the 
high type of man pictured a few paragraphs 
back. He was ambitious, bright; he was a 
zealous student of life — and frequently possessed 
of a burning desire to do BIG THINGS. 

One evening I invited him to my study, I 
explained some of the fundamental principles 
upon which the human mind acted. I propound- 
ed my theories. I pointed out that any man, 
barring actual mental weaklings, was capable of 
rich thought, creative intellect and endowed with 
powers to do what is usually termed "phenomen- 
al thinking." But I also made it clear that most 



The Conquering Chief. 7 

of us, alas, allow this quality of genius to 
slvunber, to weaken, and to die away. We go 
throu^ life unaware of what we might do, of 
the high goals we might reach, of the brilliant 
accomplishments really open to us, of the masses 
of men we might lead — ^and the success-heights 
we might surmount. 

All, in the last analysis, because we are too 
"indolent" to make the strong-hearted attempt. 

I told him that with his permission and co- 
operation, I wished to bring into action, if pos- 
sible, the so-called mental state "Inspiration". It 
would be a quickening of his braih powers into a 
creative, forceful, brilliant mind-machine. 

I asked him if he knew of any sense-stimulus 
that seemed to make his mind increase its action — 
any external influence that caused a sort of mental 
thrill and a concentration of his powers. If you 
say, mentally, "/ can and I wilV — and experience 
a sense of increased power while holding that 
thought, then you will realize what I mean. 

The young man said that on several occasions 
he had listened to the rippling tones of a sweet- 
tongued music box, and that at such times a new 
world of possibility seemed to beckon to him; 
that at such times his ambition seemed to well 
up from the depths of his being and urge him 
to magnificent advances. 

That was enough ! 

The secret of the sense-stimulus which opened 
the road to his "genius centre" was clear. With 
his co-operation I felt assured I could carry 
through an experiment in psychology that would 



8 The Creed of 

be of genuine interest. As a scientific explana- 
tion of how it was to be produced has consider- 
able bearing upon the actual results achieved, I 
will give a brief anal3rsis. 

While listening to the tones which stirred his 
greater ambitions the young man, mentally, was 
in a borderland state between consciousness and 
im-consciousness — ^he was verging on a state 
allied to sleep — ^but not precisely 5ie same. In 
our dreams we often do great things ; sometimes 
we are kings and leaders. Sometimes we are 
builders of wonderful estates. This is because 
the conscious mind — ^the mind which scarcely 
dares think of ^eatness as a POSSESSED 
FACT — ^in sleep, is stilled. The dominant do-all 
and be-all subconscious mind then has full sway. 
Oh that we might learn to express more of this 
sub-conscious mind in our waking hours ! 

Now, then — ^what I sought to do was to get 
hiB mind into such a condition that it was on die 
delicate balancing point between the conscious 
and the imconscious states : : — ^all the while keep- 
ing his "upper" mind in condition to interpret 
the "under" mind's mess^cs. I wanted to get 
a concrete record of what was being brought up 
from the mental reservoirs or mind-storage 
center. 

My plan was to give a public demonstration of 
my theory, and accordingly the following an- 
nouncement appeared in the local press : 



The Conquering Chief, 



EXPERIMENT IN PSYCHOLOGY 
Friday Evening, October so 

PSYCHIC ARTS AUDITORIUM 

An ezperltnent in practical psycholo^ 
vriU be made, in an attempt to have a 
young man demonstrate the deeper 
powers of the Hmnan Mind— its Creadvo 
Ability and Genius Qualities. 

In the role of an Inspired Orator he 
wfll deliver the lecture 

THE CREED OF THE CONQUERING CHIEF 

Nothing like it has ever before been 
tried. Everybody interested in the ad- 
vancement of Psychic Research is invited. 



Immediately I began to prepare the youog 
man's mind for the test. It was not to be an 
illustration of h}rpnotism4 for in that state the 
subject docs only what the operator directs : vol- 
untary action is for the time being suspended. 
My experiment was to leave full mental control 
to the young man. What I sought to accomplish 
was to bring the subconscious or "imder mind" 
into unustially close touch with the conscious 
powers of mind. 

He came to my study evety evening and X 
instructed him to let his mind and thought be 
receptive to my directions. They were purely 
"suggestion" as generally understood and were 
along the following lines : 



10 The Creed of 

"You arc to appear before an audience on 
Friday Evening. You will be calm, cool and 
collected. You will be poised in manner. You 
will have no hesitation nor fear. You will 
be master of the situation. You are to advance 
forward on the stage, easily, thoughtfully and 
quietly, as the tones of your favorite — the 
beautiful Evening Sjrmphony — reach you. You 
are to feel the old thrill of ambition — the sense of 
greatness, the desire for leadership. You are to 
let your thoughts soar — ^you have often done this 
in tiie quiet of your home. Now you are to give 
actual utterance to what you see and hear and 
feel. You are to be aware, in a general way, of 
your surroundings. But more than this : you are 
to let your subconscious mind hold forth unre^ 
strained." 

"You are to deliver the inspired lecture "THE 
CREED OF THE CONQUERING CHIEF". 
You are to say everything at your command that 
has a bearing on this subject — if you wish, quote 
from other thinkers along this line. Understand 
—-you are to address this audience on the subject 
''The Creed of the Conquering Chief". 

"You will become fired with Ambition — ^your 
brain will create principles and rules which 
underlie the philosophy of the Creed of Con- 
quest — ^the Art of WINNING in every legiti- 
mate phase of life. You are to remember that 
the human mind, divine spark glowing in it, 
creates from time to time, superhuman works. 
You are to sink betow the level of ordinary 
consciousness and draw out rich thoughts from 



The Conquering Chief. 11 

your intellectual storehouse. You are to believe 
and wUl that this treasure is to come within your 
reach." 
"You are to deliver the inspired lecture **8tt|f 

0m2i of tift <Simiptrrttt0 (t\^V. 

And so I instructed him each evening— clearly, 
forcefully, directly. I could see that it was 
sinking in. There's a glow in men's eyes that 
tells rare tales — if only one will observe closely. 
His were telling me of what the subconscious 
mind was accumulating. By Wednesday evening 
I knew — or could estimate fairly well — that his 
brain was quickening for the birth of the oration. 
For down in this "under mind" wonderful things 
take place, of which we are not often aware. It 
knows, sees, hears, thinks and creates a vast 
mind-life which seldom rises to where we can 
record it. I was to make the form of inspiration 
which loosened his sub-conscious gates let out 
new values. 

On Friday evening a somewhat curious though 
intelligent and friendly audience filled the Audi- 
torium. The young man came to me in a retiring 
room at the rear of the stage shortly before the 
time set for the lecture. He was controlled and 
at ease — and seemed eager to go ahead with the 
experiment. He assured me that he had done 
much active thinking and had picked up a number 
of gems from diflFerent sources. But he also 
believed his sub-conscious mind was to give up 
a rich amoimt of "food for thought". 



12 The Creed of The Conquering Chief. 

At the time announced, I stepped before the 
audience and briefly outlined my plan, and what 
I hoped to demonstrate. I stated that there were 
ways of stimulating the human brain or Mind to a 
much greater degree of Creativeness than was gen- 
erally practiced. What was universally needed 
was that each individual find the key for his 
peculiar sub-conscious lock. This voung man; 
when stimulated by a certain form or music, was 
aroused, mentally, to a high degree of mental 
power. It was practically the so-called ''inspira- 
tion" which was said to explain the fine flights 
of genius. I asked for the utmost consideration 
on the part of the audience and retired. 

The exquisite harmonies of the Evening Syror 
phony began and the young man advanced to the 
center of the stage. Gradually the tones died 
away and he began this address : 



THE CREED 

OF THE 

CONQUERING CHIEF 



As delivered by the Inspired Orator 



''Tk^ World JRemtmb^s only Those 
who hove Conquered it,** 



THE CREED OF THE CONQUERINO 

CHIEF. 

Behold ! I address this message to the hearts 
of men. 

I call you fearlessly to look upon the mner 
shrine wherein you hold dear your ambition of 
ambitions — that guarded life - secret which is 
nothing less than your desire to BE SUPERIOR 
— to be supreme in your life-sphere — ^to be dom- 
inant and TO LEAD. 

In short — ^it is your self calling for CON- 
QUEST. 

I know my own heart in this respect. I know 
the fundamental traits of other men's hearts. 

Unafraid, I express my self. I speak that 
which is within me. I talk of natural, inexorable 
laws. I set forth my own instinct. You will 
come to agree with much that I say. 

If I advance opinions and tenets which sur- 
prise you^ — which you have never thought of be- 
fore—which possibly "cut in" — then I ask you: 
^Why should I be shackled by the cottony bands 
which most men allow to hold them in everlc^t- 
ing subjectionf Why may I not dispel these gos- 
samer threads of foolish tradition and maudlin 
sentiment which a mere breath of intellectual 
effort will scatter to the skies f 

Go with me with an Open Mind, and the spirit 
of investigation; frankly admit that which you 



18 The Creed of 

know exists and stands as a heart-deep law of 
your own hopes in this world. 

♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 

I am to speak to you of the Creed of the Con- 
quering Chief. 

♦1. From Philosophy, Nature and Science I 
shall draw lessons along this line, and deduct 
certain foundation principles. You will find that 
they combine into a code of Thought and Conduct 
which must characterize the person who is to 
actually demonstrate the idea contained in the 
title of this lecture. 

It is not my intentioft to set forth views that 
will appeal to him "who runs and reads," but 
to him who stops and thinks. 

Ponder well the thoughts that follow. Ac- 
cept none that are diametrically opposed to your 
deepest beliefs — nor reject any merely upon 
sentiment, guess-work, or unwarranted prejudice. 
Test and weigh, apply and observe. If in your 
best judgment you can finally give it the stamp 
of approval — and by 2q)pn)val,I mean the decision 
that it is based upon Natural Law — ^then use as 
you choose. 

There is nothing novel or new in the idea of 
Conquest. From the moment man first calls his 
vital powers into action in a gasp for breath at 
birth, on through the years until he again gasps 
for breath ere passing into the next state of being 
— ^he confronts the constant necessity of conquest. 

It is instinctive and incessant. 



The Conquering Chief, 19 

♦2. It will be well, before going further, to 
have a clear understanding of the exact meaning 
of this subject. This will foreguard against 
needless misconception and bias. Note these 
definitions : 

Creed: — ^A definite summary of what is be- 
lieved ; an exposition of important points, 
as in Science, Religion, Conduct. 

Conquering : — ^The act of subduing or over- 
coming by Mental Power; to gain or ob- 
tain the Victory. 

Chief: — ^A Commander; principal or most em- 
inent in any quality or action ; having the 
most influence. 

Will you imderstand, then, that the "Creed of 
the Conquering Chief" is to be : 

An investigation into the art of oyercoming 
by Mental Power, and gaining the Oreat Vic- 
tory through wplication of definite and im- 
portant scientific Imes of Human Conduct— « 
resulting in the Commander; the person ''em- 
inent in exerting the most influence." 

*3. We live in an artificial state of society. 
There is not the rugged, vital, aggressive type 
of man now, as of old. Members of the civilized 
social order are emasculated, as it were, if com- 
parison is made with the natural man. We see 
foppery, vanity, and effiminacy on all sides. 
There is a fawning attitude, a silly manner of 
clothing, and a sinking of individuality. 

There is a fading away of the steel and sinew 
whi^ xmit the old-order gqwi4 type of l^s^der. 



20 The Creed of 

There is a rising upof organizations, combines etc ; 
there is the "lodge" and "linked-together-for- 
mutual-protection" fraternal clans. 

Everywhere is a lack of "I" and the strengA- 
sapping dependence upon the "we". 

Let a man openly stand out — ^vibrant and puls- 
ating with egoism — ^boldly expressing a rugged, 
vital self-hood and a dominant self sufficiency — 
and what happens? Just this: the gaping, un- 
reliant, unaggressive, conquered mass — ^the sub- 
dued Crowd — follow him with their terrier- 
yelping. They cannot rise to equal dominance. 

*4. The price that every Conquering Chief 
must pay for prominence is the envy, the 
calumny, the attack by the hordes lower down. 
It calls for masterful brain and nerve and manner 
to stay there — at the forefront. 

Few people can summons the stamina required 
for the perilous position of Leadership. 

It is tfie high art of Conquest. 

Can you master it? 

*S. If you could silently, quietly, clearly, peer 
into the hearts of the sad failures in life — ^if you 
could once learn the never-revealed sombre 
secret of men and women who merely serve as 
the back-ground mass of humanity — ^the dark 
wall whidi sets forth in added brilliance the 
splendor of the successful — ^THERE, in that 
closed chamber, would be read the Tale of FEAR 
— cringing, hesitating, shrinking, servile COW- 

a&dice:. 



The Conquering Chief. 21 

It is a tragedy. 

For it's the story of bright hopes blasted — ^the 
record of things hoped for, but never gained. 

It's the life history of a good soul seeking high- 
er levels of power and unfoldment, but bound 
and shackled and scared by an ever present : "Oh, 
I dare not" 

It's the chronicle of youth's fine faith in a 
golden future, filled witii health, happiness and 
financial ease — ^all gradually dinuned and blotted 
and finally sunk into oblivion. All because the 
race struggle for supremacy requires MEN WHO 
DARE. 

In other words — men who are fired with the 
spirit of The Conquering Chief. 

*6. If you are to go on with me, you must 
have the Open Mind. 

Tens of thousands grind out their grist of 
human grief, in a never-changing, never-widen- 
ing, soul-stunting narrowness of mental visioa 

The Open Mind is the precursor of Progress. 

*7 To accept some of the background prin- 
ciples to be here set forth, you may have to cast 
aside some long cherished delusions. Under- 
stand, I say you may have to— of course if you do 
not hold these unscientific tenets, you cannot 
cast them forth. 

*8. First of all I would have you understand 
what the Scientific method of investigation is. I 
give it to you in the words of a sound thinker. 

"Pure Science has four n:iain principles at its 



22 The Creed of 

foundation — analysis, synthesis, imagination and 
absolute elimination of opinion and Self. It is 
hard to tell which of these four is most important, 
but one in particular represents the sum total of 
the diflference between scientific and unscientific 
method. The average man, untrained in the 
scientific method of thinking when he approaches 
a problem, allows himself to sway and stagger 
under the influence of his opinion, prejudice, bias, 
habit and ignorance. Science on die other hand, 
deals with nothing but facts, has no opinions, ad- 
mits no prejudice, eliminates personal habit, 
analyzes to the smallest possible atom, deals in 
fact only, and admits nothing as a fact unless it 
stands the test of ice cold reasoning and logic." 

Read that again. Get it well into your man- 
ner of handling matters; Know clearly what this 
Scientific metbDd of thought is. The Conquering 
Chief must refuse either to assume something 
that does not exist, or to be blinded by bias — ^and 
thus be led to lines of action which are not based 
upon EXISTING FACTS. 

The foregoing master analysis of the scientific 
method yields the first great principle : 

Resolve to be swayed neither by feeling, 
sentiment nor guesswork, but always seek to 
discover the underlying LAW and act upon 
that. 

*9. Man has lived ten thousand years — and 
more. But never has he succeeded in defeating 
the action of natural law. 

To be sure, be has greatly changed existing 



The Conquering Chief. 23 

conditions in which some natural law was acting 
— ^and so arrested, or intensified the action of that 
law. He has perhaps combined one law with 
another and so secured a new result. 

♦10. Now, the Conquering Chief must realize 
that there is a natural rule of action — a definite 
"cause" — ^preceding every desired Result. "Big 
men search for the underlying law — and obey it. 
They think, then act," says St. Elmo Lewis. One 
of the very first principles in Natural Philosophy 
is, that there can be no effect produced, without 
there being a Cause (law) in back of it. 

Therefore, always seek for the imderlying Law, 
or Cause or Starting Point if you would produce 
any desired Effect. If instead of merely reading 
what I say here, and passing it by — ^you will begin 
to USE this principle, you can achieve wonders. 

It has a tremendous bearing in EVERY field of 
human endeavor. 

*1L You know that if you turn a railroad 
switch a certain way, it will throw the oncoming 
express into a siding — and wreck it. You know 
that if you put your finger into the fire, it will 
be burned. You know that if you jump off a 
high building down to the pavement, your bones 
will be broken. 

These are mechanical and physical laws. 

They have always existed. Man gradually 
finds out what they are, and then uses as he 
chooses. The possibility of wireless telegraphy 
existed ten thousand years ago, as it docs now. 



24 The Creed of 

But man did not then know the law. He did not 
know how to initiate the required Cause. 

♦12. I want to have you consider then, the an- 
alogy of this rather uninteresting analysis of 
Cause and Effect, as it applies to the Creed of the 
Conquering Chief — to your success in general. 
Right at this moment you are confronted by 
problems which you want to solve to the best 
advantage to yourself. 

You want Success. You want Ability. You 
want Money. You want Influence. You want 
Culture. You want a hundred an one things. 

If you will begin at once to investigate, observe, 
test, analyze and endeavor to find out: What is 
the Law that will yield the next result I want? 
You can find that Law and by putting it into 
operation you will secure the Effect you desire. 

I cannot go into the details of using this Law 
in any particular way you wish to use it ; I can 
only give you the principle. It is for you, in 
your own individual way, to discover the details, 
and COMBINE THEM. 

*13. Knowing the Scientific method of think- 
ing, and using Natural Law, are the first essen- 
tials, then, of the man of superior qualities. But 
balancing these, must be the ability to APPLY 
this method, or as we term it — you must have 
POWER, and this subject I will consider in a 
moment. 

The petty, narrow mind see only close at hand — 
immediate connections and results. The broad, 
philosophic mind sees in the far expanse and re- 



The Conquering Chief. 25 

mote results, relations, rewards, AS WELL AS 
CLOSE AT HAND. Demand for yourself the 
broad-gauge view -point which considers all 
human relations and achievement and eras in the 
light of world-processes. 

♦14. Before the advent of steam railways, 
electric transportation, flying machines and auto- 
mobiles and ocean greyhounds — the average man 
was supposed to be familiar with conditions ap- 
proximately 15 miles from where he lived. 

Today men know a thousand miles and more. 

Don't stay in the 15-mile t)rpe of Mind — de- 
mand the thousand mile radius — the Open Mind. 

*15. I assume you are listening to this lec- 
ture, because there's a spark in your breast which 
urges you up the "ambition route", to a position 
of chieftainship. You wouldn't bother to come 
here unless you were interested in the Creed of 
Ae Conquering Chief. 

Boldly do I proclaim that you have the oppor- 
tunity and the power to attain what you now 
want. And then, with greater and more bril- 
liant wants, you have the power to gain them and 
so mount indefinitely. 

♦16. Understand : Great Men balance Great 
Deeds; Great Deeds insure Great Men. 

Great men are not a race-apart — an exceptional 
drop from the sea ot life— dropped loose once 
in an era. 

Great Men are little men INTENSIFIED— 
EXPANDED. 



26 The Creed of 

Just as a big bubble is a little one into which 
has been breath increased energy. 

♦17. As Ibsen says in "Human Quintessence" : 
"If we take qualities as the point of departure 
(speaking of great men) we can discover, not- 
withstanding tilie enormous variations of talent — 
NO REAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 
EVERYDAY PEOPLE and GREAT MEN, but 
only dissimilarity in gradations and degree. 
The qualities which give such men their superi- 
ority over others are, in their roots, COMMON 
TO ALL HUMANITY. They are, in the main 
points, the same as those which have secured 
for the human being as a species, his privileged 
position in planetary life. But in the individual 
offshoots they bloom with rare intensity. They 
express themselves here in a clearer mentality 
or a mightier will or a more refined and complex 
feeling." 

♦18. Grasp the FACT here : you have within 
your make-up, EVERY ONE of the qualities 
and traits which the great man has. The degree 
to which you develop and apply these forces is 
to a very great extent one of your own choosing, 

♦19. The Conquering Chief — the successful 
leader — ^the great man — is cine who rises above 
the average. But he is not separated from the 
crowd by a yawning abyss. 

You have the endowment. To what degree 
will you raise it? 

♦20. Remember, to falter, hesitate, and back 
down on your plans — ^to give up — ^to weaken and 



The Conquering Chief. 27 

Itmly quit, is to rend asunder the conquest power 
within you. 

Make great plans — but forever fight forward 
for their consummation Make plans at first 
well within your power of accomplishment. Do 
them. Surmount them. 

When you have risen a degree — ^view from 
aloft the incline up which you have come. It 
creates confidence. It develops power. It in- 
stills courage. It steels the sinews for greater 
effort. Then gradually brave steeper ascents — 
try the larger task. Gk) upwards. Dominate. 
CONQUER — until you reach and master the big 
things. Some day in your career you will assay 
the Grand Ascent — ^your Life's Ambition: your 
Crowning Achievement in Life. Up, up you go, 
with adequate ability, clear sight, sure steps, iron 
grip, unfailing energy. 

For so do Ae World's Great rise. 

♦21. Emerson, in his clear, precise way, tells 
us: 

"Life is a search for Power; and this is an 
element with which ihe earth is so saturated there 
is no chink or crevice in which it is not lodged — 
that no honest seeking goes unrewarded/* 

You should interpret his use of the word 
"Power" as meaning an intangible force, influ- 
ence, medium or "something" which man can 
control and make use of to attain his legitimate 
goals. 

♦22. It is here that I want to introduce an- 
other clement of our Creed as follows : 



28 The Creed of 

All the Power you can ever use now ezuts 
and awaits your intelligent mastery. 

♦23. You will get inspiration from this gem 
by William Ellery Qianning: 

POWER. 

"The Passion for Power is one of the most 
universal. The child never exults and rejoices 
more, than when it becomes conscious of power 
by overcoming difficulties, or compassing new 
ends. Power is the chief element of all the com- 
manding qualities of our nature. It enters into 
all of the higher virtues ; it enters into intellect- 
ual eminence. It is power of thought and utter- 
ance which immortalizes the products of genius. 

"There are various kinds of power which it is 
our duty to covet, accumulate and hold fast. 
First, there is an inward power, the most prec- 
ious of all possessions ; of power over ourselves, 
power to stand trial, to bear suffering, to front 
danger; power to follow our convictions, how- 
ever resisted by menace or scorn ; power of calm 
reliance in seasons of darkness and storm. A- 
gain there is power over outward things, the 
power by which the mind triumphs over matter, 
presses into service the subtilest and strongest 
elements, makes winds, fire and steam its minis- 
ters, rears the city, opens a path through the 
ocean, and makes the wilderness blossom as the 
rose. These forms of power, especially the first, 
are glorious distinctions of our race, nor can we 
prize them too highly/' 



The Conquering Chief. 29 

*24. All day long — from early morning till 
late at night — through the hurly-burly of the 
morning hours, and the push and pull of the ad- 
vancing day — even impressed upon your mind as 
you go to sleep and often aroused into activity 
during your dreams — you are searching for 
Power. 

You want Power to Succeed ; you want power 
to do and to dare ; you want power to deal with 
others; you strive for power to rise above the 
commonplaces of life — to be a leader. For in- 
stinctive in every man is a great natural desire 
for supremacy — ^the working out of an all-inclu- 
sive principle "survival of the fittest*' 

"In order to be able to think and draw con- 
clusions, it is necessary to acknowledge thai 
which exists" 

This is the difficult thing for the mass of men 
and women. It is so easy, so entrancing, so 
beautiful to let the mind roam off into the Ely- 
sian field of dreams, of idealism; to shut our 
eyes to that which actually exists — ^the conditions 
in which we are really placed. A man may shut 
hinwelf in a closet and vow there's no such thing 
as sunshine. And yet it exists just the same. 

And from this statement I want to draw an- 
other bearing upon our Creed as follows : 

Realizimf that throughout the world, amoB|r 
all indiTidHals, there is a fundamental Will- 
to-be-Powerful, and admitting the existence of 
this deidre for domiuanoe, I shall aim te make 
mj ceaduet 1»efit this large calibre. 



30 The Creed of 

♦25. Men are not equal — ^never have been— 
and so far as we can now determine — NEVER 
WILL BE. So long as ambition enters into the 
measure of a man, and free will exists, — ^there 
will be leaders — and followers. There will be 
the great, and the small. Socialisms, Utopias, 
and any other plan of making men equal — ^will 
never stand the test of time. If to-day you 
should place the same opportunity before two 
men who are equals, what will be the result? 
I will let Prof. Tyndall tell you : 

''Suppose two men to he equals at night, and 
that one rises at six while the other sleeps until 
nine the next morning — what becomes of your 
levelling? Nature secures advance, not by the 
reduction of all to a common level, but by the 
encouragement and conservation of what is best.'' 

By a strange coincidence, within a few hours 
after finding the above, I picked up a current 
magazine which had just reached my desk. In 
it I read: 

J. P. Morgan, King. 

"J« P* Morgan was a king. There are two 
kinds of rulers of men. One kind is chosen by 
heredity or the ballot; the other kind bv the 
same process of natural selection that holds in 
nature — ^the process by which the oak becomes 
tallest, a bull strongest, a bird swiftest. 

"Democracy is only an affair of equal oppor- 
tunities; it can never be a levelling of abilities. 
To the end of the human drama we shall instinc- 
tivelv continue to put forth our kings. 

''A king is a man with that secret; mysterious 



The Conquering Chief. 31 

sometfiing in him that makes him a master and 
causes o Aers to be glad to serve. ♦ * * ♦ 
The real rule of men will always be a theocracy, 
composed of men raised up by the nature of 
tilings to command/' 

*26. Out of this thought we may weave an«: 
other section for our Creed : 

Success and conquest comes only from each 
man's individual efforts wisely, swiftly^ inces- 
santly exerted. Permanent power cannot be 
acquired by any artificial plan of levelling men. 
Only as you hue closely to Nature's pkn of 
encouragmg that which is best, can you reach 
supremacy* 

♦27. Gerald Stanley Lee wrote a great book. 

It is called "CROWDS— a Book for the Indir 
viduoV\ 

I wish I might stop and write a book: "INDI^ 
VIDUALS—A Book for the Crowd". 

♦28. Lee, in his book, weaves a mind-gripping 
stoiy of crowds — people in masses. He talks of 
their ambitions, their machines, their goals, 
their methods. He deals with where they are 
going; how they are going; what they are after; 
how they are trying to get it ; and how they are 
trying to express themselves. 

But always as the "crowd", the mass, under- 
stand. 

It is a sort of socialistic interweaving of men 
in bulk — Hit ebb and flow of the multitude as 
they surge along through life. 



32 The Creed of 

♦29. A crowd represents a levelling of men — 
a pulling down of the dominant — 2l lowering of 
leaders. Not that the masterful man has com- 
mitted any crime against the laws of created be- 
ings — but simply because he is above the mass, 
do they seek to pull him down. "If we can- 
not get up where you are, mayhap we can pull 
you down to where we are" is the attitude of the 
crowd. 

In other words, the social leveller's ideal is the 
annihilation of the every- where active and always- 
has-been-active law of LEADERSHIP — survival 
of the superior. 

♦30. Is the grand forest giant that towers 
above the others by twenty or thirty feet, an un- 
healthy principle in nature ? Is it a blot upon the 
surrounding forest? Is it an illustration of an 
unfair law? 

♦31. Is the shining, quivering, energy-charged 
turf -king, that out-distances all other blue-bloods, 
unhealthy and against natural law? Does he 
represent Nature turned against herself? This 
fine pacer with the swifter step, the better com- 
bination and opposition of muscle, and the evener 
use of energy — the superior balance of bone 
against bit — ^is it an illustration of any principle 
unfair to other horses ? 

♦32. And yet the "crowd" would pull down 
the Leader. *'He is great; we are not great. 
We want him down with us." THAT IS THE 
PRINCIPLE RAMPANT TODAY. 



The Conquering Chief. 33 

'*'33. Against it must act the Law of the Gm- 
quering Chief. 

♦34. And so, instead of the development of 
Crowd, in bulk — rather would I raise up here and 
there, that individual who is endowed for supre- 
macy — for leadership — for command. To be 
sure there are "natural" leaders who raise them- 
selves. But> there are also other finely endowed 
souls who if the plan is opened to them, MAKE 
QUICK STRIDES TO THE GOAL. 

♦35. Oh ! I would write a book for the INDI- 
VIDUAL — ^and scatter it broadcast through the 
CroWd. Let them ponder over it. Let them 
draw conclusions. Let the lessons work upon 
an individual here and another there in that 
motley gathering. There are a few sparks slum- 
bering in breasts which await the touch of hidden 
ambition to fire them with an energy which would 
brook no resistance. 

*♦♦♦♦♦♦« 

♦36. ^The fundamental failure of humanity 
so far is self-assertion" says a clear thinker. 
"Everything in a social machine, if it is a machine 
that really works, is based upon the profound 
and special study of the individual." 

The Creed of the Conquering Chief is one 
phase of such a study. 

*37. I believe in the intense culture of the 
individual. 

The mammoth chrysanthemum is the result 
of cutting away from the plant all other buds 



34 The Creed of 

and shoots, and flooding that whole plant's life« 
force into the one magnificent bloom. 

♦38. I believe in this as applied to the individ- 
ttaL I believe in eliminating surrotmding clods 
and clods and worthless material. If you wish 
to interpret me as saying the "side-tracking of 
the crowd that demonstrates that it will NOT 
grow" — all right 

I believe in the man who forget ahead of the 
mAss. 

I believe in the forest king among men. 

I seek the high altitudes. 

I claim the open road for the great soul that 
can conquer. 

I do not believe In organization — as effected 
today. 

I do not believe in allying one's powers with 
others — ^as individuals. 

I do not believe in a labor tmionism that would 
shackle individual power and effectiveness — 
that would kill off the opportunity for leadership. 
I abhor any clique of miscellaneous men who 
want life on a tmif orm level. 

♦39. My ideal is a picture of energy-charged 
youth, readiing for the stars : heart afcune, mind 
aglow, body aquiver. 

Give me the open road, minus a yoke, that I 
may run to the limit of my endowments and 
my own inner willingness to conquer. Allow me 
to pay my own price for the jewel of power— 
and buy just as brilliant a gem as I am willing 
to exchange personal effort for. 



The Conquering Chief. 35 

♦40. I want ahcadness-of-thc-crow<L 

♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 

♦41. The torches of past civilizations and 
races of men still stand high enough to cast a 
light forward to this day. These pillars that 
still rise high enough to tell of long dead ages are 
simply THE GREAT MEN OF THOSE ERAS. 
If tiie crowd had its way — its life record would 
be levelled so low, with its Conquering Chiefs 
pulled down, that the turning rim of the world 
would have long since blotted its history from our 
view. 

♦42. Begin to raise your own light aloft— 
high-force from your paA the scum that clutters 
your feet as you progress — ^those who cannot and 
will not face upward. 

It is the liiw of life — ^the principles upon 
which the forest king rises aloft. 

Get out of the Crowd. Do this by making 
your mind on a pattern that deliberately rises 
aloof from that crowd. 

♦43. This is the law of the Conquering Chief. 

♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 

♦44. Inasmuch as you are here listening to 
this lecture of your own free will and choice, I 
shall take the time to consider even at greater 
length, this crowd-principle. 

The idea of Conquest in the personal realm — 
the Law of Leadership — ^also links with it the 
existence of the ''mass'^ or multitude. Its oppo- 



36 The Creed of 

site is the hum-drum thousands : drifting, shifting, 
swayed and dominated followers. 

♦45. It infers that there is a man here and 
another there who rises to supremacy. Hence, 
in order to a fuller understanding for attaining 
your position of command, you must know some 
of the characteristics which typify the crowd- 
man. This is in order that you may escape the 
negative influence in your own life, as well as 
positively apply them as required. 

♦46. The great analyst of the Crowd-man, 
Gustave Le Bon, says : "Man, as a part of a mul- 
titude, is a very different being from the same 
man as an isolated individual. His conscious 
individuality vanishes in the unconscious person- 
ality of the crowd. Among other characteristics 
of crowds, we must note their infinite credulity, 
and exaggerated sensibility, their short-sighted- 
ness and their incapacity to respond to the influ- 
ence of reason". 

This is just a way of stating that you must 
stand alone if you are to conquer. Men in 
groups, lose individuality. They see from an 
exaggerated, narrow, unbalanced viewpoint. 
They can not or do not use deliberatt reason 
before acting. 

♦47. Let a leader, charged with magnetism 
(the art of influence) stand before such a crowd, 
and throw out stirring sentiments, and over 
the gathering he spreads a psychological man- 
tle which carries them off their feet; it freezes 
self-control, deadens judgment, benumbs reason. 



The Conquering Chief. 37 

And this assertion applies whenever the actions 
urged be for good or for ill. 

♦48. All progress of the individual is a mat- 
ter of inner unfoldment 

life moves from within, outward. The germ 
or vitality is always at the center, not on the 
surface. The growth of the tree or the plant, 
of the animal or the fruit, is not that of adding 
on the outside, but a supply from the inside. 

♦49. The individual determines his own posi- 
tion in life, according to the amount of intelligent 
effort exerted. It is for this reason, that men 
NEVER WILL BE EQUAL, because there are 
those — the majority — ^who will not work to ac- 
quire this Inner Power. 

You, then, must rank among the Great, or the 
mediocre. 

♦SO. As Victor Hugo remarks: "Mediocrity 
is in favor of him who annoys her the least and 
resembles her the most. Out of all the stones 
that pickaxe and calumny and diatribe and insult 
can tear away from the base of the great man, 
a pedestal is erected for the second rate man." 

The Conquering Chief must be one grand fight 
against mediocrity — that type of commonplace, 
self-satisfied, lazy attitude which expects to be 
taken in hand by "fortune" and raised aloft. 

*51. The master tool with which great men 
work in this world is Intellect. 

With that wonderful gift is carved and cun- 



38 The Creed of 

ninglv wrought and ingeniously ocmstructed all 
that nas marked man's steps across the pages of 
history. It has reared temples, created beautiful 
art, produced marvels mechanic. 

♦52. Also, on the reverse, it has stampeded 
races into annihilating conflict. 

This great tool the workman KAKE8 FOK 
HIMSELF. 

♦53. There is the collossal fact which makes 
of your life an opportunity and of success a rare 
reward. 

Man can make himself into whatever he 
chooses. The rough metal for this tool is man's 
at birth — ^he makes and molds and uses it as he 
chooses. 

♦54. The great man is the man who makes 
himself out of an3rthing he finds at hand. As 
Lee puts it: '7/ success cannot do it, he makes 
failure do it. If he cannot make success express 
the greatness of the vision that is in him, he 
makes failure express if\ 

But always does there go into his plan of 
action the stream of conquest--4ie lives and 
moves in a sea which floods his consciousness 
always with the belief: "I am the power of ac- 
complishment". 

'1 will win.'* 

"I demand conquest of myself." 

♦55. If you ask me :"Who are the great men^ 
and 7vhen and how do they emerae from the 
massr* — I will ask you to listen to Nietzsche : 



The Conquering Chief. 3ff 

"The i^reat man — a man whom Nature has built 
up and mvented in a grand style — ^What is such 
a man? First, in his general course of action, 
his consistency is so broad that owing to its 
very breadth it can be surveyed only with difficid- 
ty, and consequently misleads; he possesses the 
capacity of EXTENDING HIS WILL OVER 
GREAT STRETCHES OF LIFE, and of des- 
pising and rejecting all small things, whatever 
most beautiful and "divine" things of the world 
there may be among them. Secondly, he is cold^ 
er, harder, less cautious and more free from the 
fear of 'public opinion," If he is unable to 
lead, he walks alone ; in his dealings with men his 
one aim is to make something out of them. His 
greatness consists in this: to will something 
great, together with the means thereto." 

"The great man is conscious of his power 
over a people, and the fact that he coincides 
temporarily with a people or with a century. 

♦ ♦ ♦ The object is to attain that enormous 
energy of greatness which can model the man of 
the future by means of discipline." 

♦56. The aim of the Conquering Chief must 
be the acquirement of that huge ability or energy, 
capable of putting forth such a preponderance 
of power from within, that he will not be sway^ 
or influenced by the powers external. 

There are still certain tremendous forces of 
Nature, such as the cyclone, the lightning's 
stroke, the earthquake, which man acknowledges 
master. But there are lesser forces over which 
he has made himself Chief. 



40 The Creed of 

*S7. In this connection weighty warning Is 
given by the great thinker Haddock who says : 

"Personal life is a play between the powers 
without, and the powers within the central func- 
tion of Will. ^ 

Personal Life ends in subjection to such ex- 
ternal powers or rises to mastery over them," 

And before analyzing this principle, I want to 
set down another essential to our Creed : 

The pathway to Power calls for everlasting* 
vigilance, to the end that your own natural 
weak tendencies may be overcome by never 
yielding to their solicitations. 

♦58. The history of the human race as we 
know it, is one long, unbroken record of man's 
struggle to rise to mastery over external powers. 

Man has come up from the brute. From the 
study of the earth's various stages of formation. 
Science tells us that life on the planet runs back 
more than six thousand millions of years. 

♦59. When man first confronted his environ- 
ment — Nature — ^back there in the midnight of 
human history, when the first faint trace of 
Mind (that which forever impassably separates 
us from the realm of brute creation) — ^when the 
first faint streaks of gray were beginning to 
modify the hitherto black night of living things — 
back there men still fought like beasts and with 
beasts. 

This was his initial striving to acquire domi- 
nation and conquest over external powers. 



The Conquering Chief. 41 

♦60. The first ally was the club, the hurled 
rock, and similar means of offense and defense. 

♦61. As the gray-black of human history's be- 
ginnings was assuming the delicate rose-tint of 
Sie dawn, man was acquiring still more sway 
over external powers. He constructed a place of 
habitation and made weapons — since self-protec- 
tion is the first law of created life. 

So the tale of triumph runs. Personal life has 
come up through the ages, ever acquiring more 
control, and extending the individual's reach to a 
widening sphere of mastery. First it was over 
other creatures ; then it was the Elements ; then 
it was travel and navigation — the crossing of a 
continent — ^the sending of messages with or with- 
out mechanical connections; the conquest of the 
air, etc. 

♦62. And there is still another goal to be 
reached — the sending of Thought from Mind to 
Mind, without any intervening physical agent. 

♦63. The day when men fought like beasts 
has gone. We live in the great Age of Mind — 
an era when Mental Forces reign supreme. The 
great successes to-day — the Conquering Qiiefs 
— are the men of great mind-power. 

From this we may draw a brief rule for our 
Creed as follows : 

Mind-power is to-day the sole measure of 
mastery. Resolve that your own Brain shall 
be made to work for you with all its might. 

♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 



42 The Creed of 

*64. The other day I read thfc : ';A11 light is 
at aome point condensed into flame ; in the same 
way every epoch is condensed into man. The 
man having expired, the epoch is dosed — God 
turns the page. These different periods, \duch 
we name epochs, have all their dominant points. 
What is that dominant point? Is it the head that 
wears a crown, or is it the head that bears a 
thought? Is it an aristocracy, or is it an ideaf 

*65. Answer this for yourself. 

Do you see in which direction the power lies ? ? ? 

♦66. It's with the man WHO HAS AN 
IDEA— and a Brain to nurture it— AND THE 
SPIRIT OF CONQUEST TO PUT IT OVER. 

*67. Life's pathway never runs on a level — 
it is an incline on which you are either climbing 
up or slipping down. What is the secret of the 
art of always GOING UP, rather than down? 
In "Thus Spake Zarathustra" I find this : 

"And this secret spake Life herself unto me, 
'Behold I am that which mtist ever surpass it- 
self/ " 

From which flashes out a broad declaration of 
conquest : 

Always will I strive to be greater than I am. 
I must SURPASS MYSELF. In each success- 
ive act, test, encounter, thought, I will BE 
GREATER than in the one previous. I am 
what I am now; but in an hour I must be MORE 
than I am now. In everything must I exert 
MORE POWER TO SURPASS MYSELF. 



The Conquering Chief. 43 

♦68. Stirpassing of self is the first aim; sur- 
passing of others is tfic second. This is the sub- 
stance of Emerson's ** Every man believes he has a 
greater possibility/' You draw a circle to the 
utmost of your ability to-d3ay, but on the morrow, 
lo — you must still draw one outside of that. You 
nmst surpass yourself. 

This is involved philosophy, bordering, perhaps, 
upon mysticism. But— STOP AND THINK! 

♦69. "IV^tever cannot obey itself is com- 
mandecT' says the great writer on "surpassing 
self". The failures in life are the men who could 
not or would not obey themselves ; they became 
commanded by others. They could not hold to 
tiie course ; they lost their grip. They did not do 
as they promised their own hearts they would do. 

♦70. They failed to surpass themselves. 

For such is the nature of things — ^he who can- 
not obey himself, in an ever widening way — is 
commanded by others. 

♦71. The Conquering Chief MUST OBEY 
HIMSELF — ^if he is to conmiand others. 
Consider with me, for a moment: 

THB MXNUTE BUILDEBS. 

♦72. It is here that I would have you work 
into your plan of action this declaration : 

From now on I vow I wiU try to act the part 
of a man TEN TIMES BIGOEE THAN I NOW 
am; for by so doing, I construct greater powers 



44 The Creed of 

in my own brain which wUl actually bnild me 
into such a leader. I refuse to longer be confin- 
ed by the shadowy walls which heretofore have 
cramped me into a narrow sphere. From this 
day forth the word ''limit" is banished from 
my mind* 

♦73. You and I are architects of the minutes. 
We build ourselves every moment 
What you are this minute is the result of what 
you were building during the thousands of min- 
utes that already have passed. 

What you will be in a minute from now de- 
pends upon what you are now, plus what you are 
mentally demanding that this present moment 
shall add. Every turn around of the second 
hand, arc you building yourself anew — ^are you 
changing, altering, revising, remaking, IN- 
CREASING? 

♦74. Just as surely as the pilot of a vessel 
deliberately moves his wheel one way, and swings 
the huge greyhound to the east — or moves it the 
other way and swings it toward the setting sim, 
and so pursues his course as he elects, and final- 
ly reaching his port if his steering has been cor- 
rect — ^just so can you deliberately direct your 
own course toward any goal. 

♦75. I repeat: You are the product of min- 
utes. Each minute is an opportunity to build — 
for growth, advance, gain, supremacy, CON- 
QUEST. 



The Conquering Chief, 45 

It all rests with you. 

Keep your eyes on the minutes. 

The minute makes the man. 

The Creed of the Conquest calls for the ever- 
lastingly aggressive, watchful mind, which rea- 
sons, plans and forges ahead as the moments pass. 

♦76. Stop a minute, in the quiet, and see the 
logic of this. In your own inner sanctum YOU 
know what you are building — or not building. 
YOU know what you are doing with the minutes. 
YOU know whether you are increasing your 
power. YOU know if you are gradually shrink- 
ing smaller and smaller in the life scale. YOU 
know what effectiveness or lack of it is evident 
in your building plans. 

There's no limit to your building possibilities, 
if you will persist. One of the surest principles 
in the material world is this : Nature achieves the 
grandest results by the simplest means — the con- 
stant adding together of atoms. 

*77, A gigantic planet is but molecules 
assembled. 

Your life and your stature is the addition of 
minutes. ^ 

From this draw a law of Conquest 

In the eternal flow of moments, each one con- 
tains a grain of power and success which I 
OAN grasp. I resolve that never will I be 
f onnd unndndful of this principle of conquest. 
I will gather power from every living minute. 
Alertness and ACTION are the qualities which 
secure this value. 



46 The Creed of 

*78. Be a BuUder of Minutes. 

♦79. The story of man's conquest on this 
earth as we read it in the records of the past, 
has an ever recurring similarity. It repeats it- 
self. Hordes of men have trod earth's crust — 
and passed on. Civilizations have risen to great 
heights and now sleep in silence. 

Even we at this late day can gaze back upon 
the life and action of one of these great cycles 
— as we watch on history's screen the Rise and 
Fall of the once-great Roman empire. Back of 
that numberless otiier nations have risen and 
fallen. 

We think we have invented wonderful things 
— ^have learned rare Arts — ^have produced phe- 
nomenal results. We have. And yet the musty, 
mystic symbols and traces of ancient races tell 
us of slumbering peoples that have known them 
"as of old". 

♦80. The sun rises and sets today. It has 
done this for ages. And because of this fact we 
say IT WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO- We 
say it is an established law. 

♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 

Very well, then — ^now note one of the central 
laws we are soon able to deduct in the Creed of 
the Conquering Chief. 

♦81. Men have come and gone — ^and their 
lives yield certain laws which we must admit as 
established, and ready to produce the same re- 
sults whenever the same or comparative condi- 
tions are present. 



The Conquering Chief. A7 

I shall now give you a sombre, stop-and-think, 
statement. From one who (pursuing the scien- 
tific method of investigation) has cast personal 
bias, sentiment, and theory to the winds. He 
speaks solely from a master insight into the plan 
of action of Conquerors. If I could explain 
away or reject his assertion, gladly would I do so. 
But clearest, coldest reasoning seems to establish 
it as a FACT. And as a part of our creed be- 
speaks for the acceptance of "established fact" 
I give to you as follows: 

"Every one who would be FREE must show 
his power. Unalterable remains the basis of all 
earthly greatness. He who exalteth himself shall 
be exalted. Bravery includes every virtue ; hu- 
mility every crime." 

And in this Age of Mind you must understand 
Bravery to mean MENTAL courage. From this 
rises another Creed axiom : — 

Always positively assert your own mental 
authority. Be not a worm of the dust nor a 
follower and yielder to others. With vigor- 
ous, clear, swift mentality openly assault tiie 
situations confronting you. Remember that 
the main difference between the submerged 
millions and the risen leaders is largely one of 
Brave Self-assertion. 

And again the shout of the grim philosopher 
cuts our hearing with this : 

''Therefore, if you would conquer Wealth and 
Honor, Power and Fame, you must be practical 
and cool. Only the powerful can be free, and 
Power is non-moral," 



48 The Creed of 

♦82. The strong man masses his combined 
energies — mental and physical, in an assault upon 
difficulties. He is calm, cool, concentrated, 
scientific, swift and sure — ^a living illustration of 
his best powers in action. 

♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 

♦83. At this point I wish to make defense of 
certain of my principles. 

I realize that they are not exactly in line with 
so-called "brotherly love", "golden-rule-ism," etc. 

♦84. I say this: theological postulatlngs ; 
theories, assumptions and "taken-for-granteds", 
based upon sentiment, upon "heart-work", are 
one thing. Scientific data based upon existing 
facts is another. Once in a while a man is will- 
ing to talk along the lines of cold-blooded, un- 
colored reasoning : set solid upon established fact 
* — worked out with deliberate analysis. 

♦85. Philosophy, as a phase of religious ex- 
position, has dealt largely (speaking by illustra- 
tion) with the golden hues of the fruit ; with the 
emotions awakened by the soulful music. But 
Science has come along and cut the apple open 
and dealt with the real heart of the matter — ^it 
has considered the seeds that are to grow other 
apples. Likewise, instead of considering only 
the rich harmonies of the music — it has found 
out how many vibrations per second in the ether 
will cause these tones. 

♦86. Philosophy deals with "heart-stuff". 
Science deals with cold fact. 



The Conquering Chief, 49 

♦87. And so I say: The idea of individual 
supremacy and conquest — this thought of per- 
sonal triiunph, and the principle of rising above 
others — is just the illustration of a huge law of 
nature — the survival of the fittest. 

This is evident in all branches of the animal 
world. 

♦88. "But", say the heart-influenced teachers 
of philosophy and ethics : "The reason that con- 
quest and survival of the fittest should not be 
followed as a principle, when we reach the heights 
of the human mind, is because that grand pos- 
session "soul", separates mankind from the lower 
orders and warns him to overlook the action of 
such a law." 

All right then! They say because man has 
"soul", he comes in another class from all other 
living animals. 

*89. ^ Well, what is this so-called "soul", then, 
which is claimed as the dividing line between 
natural animals which do live out the law of con- 
quest, and the animal man — ^which is supposed 
not to exemplify it? 

The "teachers" will reply : "if is the imperish- 
able part of the human person — it is the man 
^'himself* — his spark from the Divine Fire — his 
drop from the ocean of Infinite Life" — ^and that 
sort of thing. 

Allright, again ; admit this to be true. 

♦90. Then follow this thought: Science, 
working upon its hard and fast, sentiment-minus 
basis — ^swayed neither by emotion nor personal 



50 The Creed of 

opinion, says and proves the following :/A^ first 
forms of organized life on this planet run back 
to a form of shell fish. 

♦91. Gradually, as the centuries flung their 
round years into the background of eternity, 
this starting point of life began to evolve a more 
complex form. It passes from the shell-form, 
to that of the vertebrae (having a backbone — ^the 
first foundation for Conquest-power, as it were). 
Then, ^ the centuries come and go, it develops 
the four footed animals and reaches the lower 
forms of man-shaped animals. 

Suddenly (not in the sense of a quick change 
so far as time-period is concerned, but as contrast- 
ed with the old order of animals) a leap forward 
is made — ^and there stands on the earth, pre- 
historic man. 

♦92. This IS millions of years backward from 
our day. Again a jump forward, immeasurable 
compared with the old forms — and there begins 
that wonderful era on this earth — ^the so-called 
Third Great Year. It is here there enters re- 
corded history the first Dynasty of the Human 
Race — our first definite traces of man as a man. 

♦93. Now see this: from the shell life of 
millions of years ago, through all these tedious 
stages of progression and evolution — on up 
through to the man-giant of today: WHERE 
IS THE DIVIDING LINE? At what point 
does " soul" come into evidence ? At what period 
does the animal soul transform into "man soul" ? 



The Conquering Chief. 51 

♦94. This idea of "soul'* is something that 
is said-to-be; something assumed and allowed. 
But it is not now, nor has it ever been, broken 
open and analyzed and its make-up shown in con- 
crete terms. Science cannot help us here, for the 
soul cannot be found to be analyzed in a matter- 
of-fact way. 

♦95. Well, what I am getting at by means of 
this digression is this: since we do not show 
where the dividing line stands between animal 
and man in this "soul" region — and as objection 
to using the Law of Conquest and the survival 
of the fittest has been based upon the assumption 
of man being above such a law, because he has 
a soul — ^then I insist upon classifying man as 
an animal on this earth's crust, and that so far 
as his relation to others of his kind, he is in the 
struggle for existence and he will fight for supre- 
macy and conquest — regardless of "soul science". 

♦96. Understand this fact : philosophy, ethics, 
religions, clans, juggle with many great ideas 
which are based upon assumptions. To illus- 
trate : a few of us conceive the idea that we wish 
to move a mass of men to act in a certain way 
(naturally, for our own profit) . So we get together 
— ^the few of us — ^and we say: "Assuming this 
and that to be true (whether or not incontrovert- 
ible Science will prove it to be so) — ^why then, 
mercy upon us ! — <ill these other codes, which we 
have worked out, BASED UPON THE ORIG- 
INAL ASSUMED PRINCIPLES, must be 
plaiQ as da/\ 



52 Thi Creed of 



«<i 



'Now, we'll just arrange our 'net results*, 
drawn in from the original assumed belief, into a 
code. Of course the mass must accept it, for it is 
logical when tested against our 'first principles' 
which we started with." 



♦97. These "first principles" might, or might 
not be true. As I said, they were "assumed" at 
the start without proof. Hence it is impossible 
to call them scientific (that is, demonstrable in a 
true-to-fact way). 

♦98. Now, after a time — ^after the original 
creators of this assumed code have passed sdong 
— and generations have accepted these rules of 
conduct — ^have taken them and lived according 
to them, merely upon the say-so of their fore- 
fathers — ^then it becomes a well nigh universal 
belief that such a code is exact. And the be- 
lievers call it the height of absurdity, hypocrisy, 
presumption and audacity to in any way question 
the rules of the code, 

♦99. I go into this at such length in order to 
suggest to you that we are today sWayed and led 
by religious beliefs, political tenets, and social 
conventions which MIGHT be the outworking 
of ASSUMPTIONS of centuries ago. It 
MIGHT be, under scientific analysis — and with 
guess-work eliminated — that one great religious 
sect represents the HUGEST SWINDLE EVER 
GROUND INTO THE BRAINS OF ANY 
UVING OUASS OF LIFE EVER LOCATED 



The Conquering Chief. S3 

UPON THIS (AND POSSIBLY, ANY 
OTHiER) PLANET. 

♦100. Therefore I say: do not be afraid to 
question any established code of conduct. It 
may be right. It may be wrong. And I bring 
this axiom forward to you : 

Leadership in so far as possible, progresses 
on KNOWN and SCIENTIFICALLY ESTAB- 
TJSHFiD principles. 

*'Take nothing for granted" is a rule of pecul- 
iar significance. 

♦101. Perhaps you say: "It is instinctive to 
cling to these faiih^\ You may say : ''Involun- 
tarily and unsought they well up from some- 
wheres in man's being". 

Let's analyze this "instinct" which you say re- 
pels you from the use of the Creed of Conquest. 

♦102. Man of today has plenty of "instincts" 
which have been stamped into his make-up during 
the progress of the race. We have instincts 
which did not appear until ages after the first 
appearance of the race upon the earth's surface. 

♦103. It is possible for one man, or a body 
of men, to instill new "instincts" into a yielding 
and thoughtless and dassent-think-for-themselves 
following. Inner moving motives can be germin- 
ated, and nurtured and brought forth in men's 
minds without their knowing it. 

Under the sway of mental domination (the 
secret by which vast numbers of men have been 
xed and moved to action) — a strong mind beafing 



54 The Creed of 

over, influentially, upon a weaker one — ^an exerting 
of authority upon weakness and ignorance — I 
say upon this basis, a crafty class of preposterous 
prophets have led hundreds of thousands into 
the acceptance of certain beliefs which belong 
in the dankest mire of discarded mental refuse. 

♦104. Those so led believe they are following 
natural instincts. 

Let a man with a live mind and the spirit of 
conquest consider these absurd faiths and he will 
reject them with the utmost scorn. 

Yet these rules have for so long been ground 
into the sinew and fibre of the people that they 
call them "instincts". They are man originated, 
man impelled, and man maintained. 

♦105. And believe me — no man ever created 
an instinct. 

The individual blindly adhering to these witch- 
eries of the soul is helpless before a keen intellect 
that questions them, and tears them apart and 
exposes the sham upon which they are built. 

*106. So I beseech you: do not softly sit 
down and quietly accept as "holiest truth", all 
that masquerades under the garb of "Instincts" 
divine laws and similar sham. 

Understand me clearly — I did not say not to 
accept anything that is so classed ; I said not to 
accept ALL, that is so termed. 

♦107. And from this emerges one of our main 
codes which is arranged as follows : 



The Conquering Chief, 55 

1. The Great Intelligence of the Universe, re- 
vealing through Nature, never advances on 
theories, sentiments, feeling, guesswork, or 
on any basis excepting that of Unalterable 
Law. 

2. All unsound reasoning, wishing, hoping of 
man is swept aside and counted as naught 
before the unchangeable LAW and FACT 
of Nature. 

3. Nature asserts — ^and infallibly demonstrates 
— that the man who leads and succeeds and 
takes the richest prizes, must be calm, cool, 
confident and COURAGEOUS. 

4. The "survival of the fittest" is the deepest, 
soundest, most clearly evident LAW of Na- 
ture relating to the coming and going of 
life on this planet. 

5. Nature, with an object in view — ^a result to 
be accomplished — never hesitates, dawdles 
or delays. Neither does she ask permission 
to perform, but strikes out boldly and in- 
trepidly, STRAIGHT FOR THE FINAL 
GOAL. 

♦108. With the foregoing in mind, I have ob- 
served that men can be divided into three main 
classes : 

1. The men of Will-power (the leaders). 

2. The men of Desire (those whose intentions 
are good but who fail to put forth the nec- 
essary Dominance and Action to win out. 
They are the men who "wish" instead of 
DEMAND). 



56 The Creed of 

3. The men of Fate (those who give up all the 
glory of human achievement because they 
say "it's all no use — things will never come 
my way" This remark is correct: they 
certainly will never "come" but they can be 
APPROPRIATED— and that is what the 
Men of Will-power do). 

♦109, The Conquering Chief naturally belongs 
to the first class — ^the dynamic personality as- 
serting it own ; claiming its own ; and invariably 
striving to make ACTION of the particular 
character required to win its own. 

♦110. Look to the biography of the world's 
great men, living or dead, and in nearly every 
instance one masterful trait stands out more 
prominent than all others. It is the real secret 
of their supremacy. And this I term indomi- 
table, unconquerable WILL — self-declared re- 
fusal to yield an inch to the external forces 
which seek to thwart progress. 

Napoleon was a superlative example of it; Bis- 
mark had it ; Grant illustrated it splendidly ; Mor- 
gan mastered it; Roosevelt in action is a whirl- 
wind example of it ; Edison owes his famous con- 
centration and persistence to it. Yes — the cap- 
tains of Industry, Finance, Invention, Art, 
Science — all build their immortal achievements 
upon invincible Power of Will. 

*11L " 7 will' is the Sovereign state of Mind 
— ^the most intense attitude of Self towards all ex- 
ternal forces. Your Self witli Will in action 



The Conquering Chief. 57 

has for servants the Body, Intellect and the Feel- 
ings. And with these servants fully disciplined, 
the sovereign Self goes forth to conquer a World, 
a Universe/* 

And for this reason^ I would play up strong, 
in bold-faced type : 

Knowing that only as I enter the ra nks o f 
the First Grade of men— THOSE OF WILL 
POWER — can I expect to be a Conquering 
Chief y I do pledge myself to the large devel- 
opment of thiis Prime Quality. I will neither 
passively wish for things, nor drop back to 
the third grade of those who abdicate their 
realms imder the delusion that Life is a matter 
of pre-arranged destiny. 

It is around this central power of WILL that 
the whole contest of conquest revolves. 

♦112. Every great Nation — ^living or dead — 
has come up through the line of conquest. Every 
great nation and race to-day maintains its inde- 
pendence because of the inherent ability to con- 
quer — ^to maintain its freedom. When nations 
attack, the strong, the skillful, the scientific be- 
come victors. 

Now, this same law or principle acts among 
the individuals who collectively make up such a 
nation. The analogy holds good; it extends 
from the nation to the individual. Skill, strength, 
science (ALL AS PHASES OF MENTAL 
POWER) — maintain sway to-day. 



58 The Creed of 

♦113. ^'The meek shall inherit the earth'* is a 
beautiful thought which has many followers. 

Without wishing to interfere with anybody's 
religious beliefs, I will say that this principle is 
contradicted by every phase of life and inanimate 
nature (if there be such) — all the way from 
molecules to planets. 

*1 14. Molecules attain supremacy in their tiny 
spheres through sheer inherent energy tumea 
into a superior force — they crowd the weaker out. 
In all lines of natural activity, even to the ponder- 
ous planet broken from the titanic strands that 
held it to its orbit, falling to its new point of 
equilibritun — ^it knocks aside all lesser planet- 
forces. 

♦115. Again I state: every phase of life and 
phenomena discredits the statement at *113. 

The meek may "inherit" — ^but the Conquering 
Qiief's come along and appropriate that which 
was inherited. 

♦116. I suggest to you that there are two 
component elements of Conquest. Namely: 
Strategy and Weight. In the human individual 
this translates into Plan of Thought plus Energy 
in Action, The two multiply into each other, 
though always does one degree of Strategy ac- 
complish as much as two degrees of Energy. 
Strategy is the superior quality. 

♦117. And I have given you the foregoing be- 
cause it is very important in the development of 
the Conquering Chief that you understand this 
analogy. 



The Conquering Chief. 59 

There Is a delightful passage In the old Norse 
Sagas which I want to bring in here : 

"When Svipdag came to the gates of the burg, 
they were closed (for it was customary to ask 

S^rmission to see, or take part in the war games). 
UT Svipdag did not take this trouble. He 
BROKE THE GATES DOWN and rode in. 
"Queen Visa said, *TMs man will be welcome^,'* 
From this you may draw this law : 

Ask of no man permission to perform that 
which is within you to do. Boldly strike out 
upon your own initiative, and DO while the 
multitude stand by in mouth-stretched awe. 
The reliant, the bold— -the Conquering Chief 
steps forward and plucks the prize while others 
marvel at his daring. 

♦118. In what has thus far been written I 
have given vou underlying principles. Grim and 
sombre and opposed to ordinary teachings per- 
haps, but nevertheless the BED ROCK of lead- 
ership up to the present moment in man's history. 
And so far as we know — to be the bed rock in the 
future. 

♦119. Understand — I am not writing to mental 
weaklings, nor to dare-not-look-facts-in-the-face 
dreamers. It is a matter of interest to Thinkers 
WHO CAN LOOK TRUTHS STRAIGHT IN 
THE EYE. And the definition of truth is "that 
which is, has been, or will be" These things 
HAVE BEEN, ARE NOW, and so must be ac- 
cepted as Trutibs, 



60 The Creed of 

It Is here that I wish to introduce something 
of a lighter and more inspirational nature. For 
long I have wanted to give you the following, 
which I term : 

THE FOURTEEN ELEMENTS OF 
PBAOTIOAL POWER.* 

1. ENERGY is inherent power. 

Cultivated as follows : You are invited to sup- 
pose yourself about to undertake some enormous 
physical and mental task. Are you ready? 
Summon, now, all the energy of your being. Do 
not move a muscle. Attend to the sense of 
energy, all over the body, or concentrated in the 
mind. Now for the task! You are, equal to it! 
It shall be done ! Control. Do nothing * * * 
* * * * You have caught the idea of the 
energy sense. Practice it until that sense is ever 
at your instant command. 

2. FORCE is active power. 

Developed by multiplying self into every de- 
partment of the business. 

3. FIRMNESS is controlled applied power. 

Put the idea of the strong, even hand-grasp 
on a weapon or tool into the handling of people 
and situations. 

4. INDEPENDENCE is superiority oyer 
foreign power. 

*PormnUted by Frank Channinff Haddock. PnbUsh^d ^ P«i^ 
mission of National School of Salesmanship, MlnneaiK>lis, lllaa. 
(owBWB of oopyriffht). 



The Conquering Chief. fd 

Developed only by deliberate, persistent growth 
of such consciousness and by conduct free from 
dependence. 

8. SILF-BEUANOI is Mifldmee in per- 
sonal power. 

Grown by opeainf of valuation of one's owa 
judgment 

6. RIBOLUnOHT is tonrafa*powar and con* 
fldenee-power mited. 

It 18 unfolded by the incessant mental affirma- 
tion:''/ can ami I mil, and the thing shall be 
doner 

7. DITEBlDII'ATIOir is powvr applied and 
held. 

Cultivated by domg all sorts of things clear to 
the end, whether important or no, eveiy day for 
months. 

8. DE0I8I0R is power prompt^ applied. 

Acquired by exercise and quick observation 
and swift deliberation and forced choice^ foU 
lowed by instant action. 

9. PIB8BTBV0E is oontinninf powar. 

Attained by brinjpnr to best finish every de- 
tail, no matter how trivial. 

10. SRDITBANOI is resistinf power. 

Brought about by declining, with great energy, 
to yield to contrary solicitation. 

11. DA&nra is power loosed im fall. 
Cultured by letting go full physical power, Iqr 



62 The Creed of 

throwing self resolutely into certain kinds of 
action concerning which you are fearful or ner- 
vous, and by contact with daring men and situa- 
tions, and by brave thought concerning big ven- 
tures. 

12. PUSH is oyercoming power. 

Secured by the habitual energetic thrusting 
forward of self and business. 

18. BESTRAINT is power balanced by 
power. 

Cultivated by attending to reasons for caution 
and self control. 

14. TAOT-WnX-POWEB is personal abili- 
ty nicely adjusted to other wills for the sake of 
pleasing and winning. 

It is all the above powers FINESSED IN 
ACTION. 

You cannot study the foregoing analysis too 
often. Especially the bold face definitions should 
be memorized and frequently recalled and 
throughout the day constant effort made to make 
ACTION correspond. 

♦120. May I introduce to you one of the little 
known Laws of Conquest? I fotmd it in the 
writings of Henri Bergson. 

"The first impulse is to seek shelter; the sec- 
ond, which is the better, is to become supple as 
possible for flight and above all for attack — at- 
tack being the most effective means of defense. 



The Conquering Chief, 63 

♦ ♦ And in a general way, in the evolution 
ol lift, just as in tfie evolution of human societies 
and of individual destinies THE GREATEST 
SUCCESSES HAVE BEEN FOR THOSE 
WHO HAVE ACCEPTED THE HEAVIEST 
RISKS." 

♦121. "The greatest successes have been for 
those who \have accepted the heaviest risk^'. 
Mull over that for some time. It's the "whole 
thing*' to the Conquering Chief. The daring to 
reach for the biggest attainable prizes — ^before 
which the multitude stand in awe — this is a 
central law. 

♦122. The world is filled with cowards who 
dare not attempt big things. Convention, and 
ridicule and "what will people say?" are ghosts 
which take the starch from them. Forget these 
bugaboos. IGck 'em into the scrap heap. The 
best successes are open to you if only you take 
the heaviest risks — ever balanced by cool, dis- 
cerning judgment. 

♦123. *'Dare what no other man will dare. 
Seek to accomplish what no other man would 
attempt, is the very way to display yourself as a 
superior being in your own and in other^ eye^\ 
Every phenomenal conquest but testifies to the 
abandoning of tradition in the man's inner mind. 
It is sheer decisive, dazzling DARING that wins 
out for scores of big men of the present day, and 
the gaping onlookers haven't the faintest idea of 
the real truth of the matter. 



64 The Creed of 

♦124. Danton, addressing the French revolu- 
tionists said : "In order to defeat the enemies of 
this country we need audacity and still mare 
audacity, and always audacity III 

Take your "cue" from that. 

*125. Oh! I confess I am not adrancing a 
philosophy and creed for the mass (considered as a 
mass). Here and there is a man who will 
gather together the threads of this lecture and 
weave for himself a wonderful fabric. 

I beliere in that individual. 

I believe he is coming to supremacy. 

I believe in the man who works out his own 
destiny on a grand scale. 

But I do not believe in the man who leans — 
who cannot stand alone. 

My idea of strength is the rugged oak on the 
mountain peak. Stalwart and sturdy; growing 
and existing against the odds of nature. 

♦126.' The price for this prominence among 
men is the struggle to tower above belittlement, 
insult, jeer, sarcasm and insolence. 

Can you pay that price? 

Will you pay that price? 

♦127. Listen to this, then: 

"Little by little, as the twilight of ancient 
things was approaching, a sufficient shadow was 
created around the monarchy for the sombre 
splendor, peculiar to great men of revolutions, 
to become visible to the eye. MIRABEAU 
WAS BEGINNING TO RADIATE/' 



The Conquering Chief. 65 

There U one of the fine "inspiration-stimula- 
tors'' of modem literature. May you feel the 
thrill and upward urge of that passage. May 
you see in your mind's eye all that it would con- 
vey — ^the sombre backgroimd, the brilliant central 
figure RADIATING POWER. A genuine 
CONQUERING CHIEF. 

♦128. Here highly resolve Aat you too will 
begin to Radiate — against a background of the 
ever-present commonplaces in life. Build you 
a structure of personality and achievement that 
will stand out in bold, rugged, bright outline 
against the twilight sky. 

Be a Conquering Chief. 



♦129. Oh ! I ask you : 'What is life worth if 
it he not filled with a wonderful effort toward 
great accomplishmentf" 

♦130. W t is a man's frame and vesture 
worth as a home for his soul and intellect, if 
his veins are not filled with a fire and an energy 
that give no peace when lazy loafing seeks to 
lull him to sleep? 

Grant me the right to a life of strife and at- 
tainment. 

♦131. As was said of a real Conquering 
Qiief:— "He delighted to hurry through his 
dominions, to multiply himself by rapid move- 
ments, to gather at a glance the capacities for 
improvements which evenr place possessed; to 
suggest plans which would startle by tlieir origi- 



66 The Creed of 

nality and vastness; to project in an instant, 
works which a lifetime could scarcely accomplish, 
but which would leave behind the impression of 
superhuman energy." 



♦132. Refuse the dead stare of standing still — 
of accepting as final an3rthing whatsoever* Man 
has erred for ages — we have found supposed 
truths to be errors. One device is succeeded 
by a better. Creeds and religions arise — ^and then 
better ones are bom. Things of today will 
change — so will those of to-morrow. 

The whole progress of man attests to the glory 
and grandeur of agitation — ^the desire for con- 
stant conquest and change — and for success ris- 
ing to higher levels. "To augment, to increase, 
to win strength, to march forward, to be worth 
more today ttian yesterday — ^that is at once glory 
and life" says the philosopher. 

♦133. It is said that in Athens every man 
represented himself. Be your own representa- 
tive and make good to the last ounce of energy 
possessed. 

G)nstant, preparing Napoleon's wardrobe, for 
his meeting the Russian Emperor Alexander, 
remarked : 

"Sire, your majesty desired to put on the large 
Russian decoration. 

"Ah, it is true" said Napoleon, "come, put it 
on • 

Then turning to Talma, the great actor who 
was present, he said "You see, we monardis 



The Conquering Chief. 67 

pursue the same course you da We put on 
different costumes, according to the part we play. 
I wore a fez in Egypt, and today I put on the 
imperial star of Russia'*. 

But sire, everywhere you play your part Tvith 
masterly skill, and the world, which is your audi- 
ence, applauds your majest3r*' replied Talma. 

♦134. That is YOUR part. 

PLAY WITH MASTERLY SKILL EVERY 
ACT. PLAY FOR THE CHIEF GOALS YOU 
SEEK. PLAY WITH YOUR BHND CLEAR 
AND YOUR EYE OPEN. PLAY WITH THE 
CONSCIOUSNESS OF POWER AND ABILI. 
TY AND ABUNDANT ENERGY FOR WIN- 
NING WHAT YOU WANT. 

*13S. In time you are sure to create a stress 
in the nature of things, which must — ^not may, 
but simply MUST give way and open to you the 
road to Chieftainship. 

And the Thought to hold is the Spirit of Con- 
quest It is the fire in youth's veins which attempts 
tiie impossible and presses forward toward the 
Infinite. Catch this thrill of conquest — fight on 
— admit into your mind no sense of limitation. . 

♦136. I know what I say. I have experience<f 
this thing — ^with blood rushing through my veins ; 
with energies unexplainably multiplied; with 
nerves atingle with a sensation as though charged 
with vitality unmeasurable ; with brain tensed and 
aroused to a rare readiness for creative thinking 
— thoughts flashing out over the whole world 
and experiencing a sense of touching the realm 



68 The Creed of 

of genius. My e3res were opened to big financial 
vision and a courage-confidence for startling 
phases of practical ability awaited my conunand. 
In short — it was a sure grip upon the Art of 
Conquest. 

*137. The Conquering Chief may well read 
and review and ponder a lesson which I am to 
draw from that master study of fiction and fact 
'TOILERS OF THE SEA." Out in the ocean, 
on three barren rocks, the character "Gillatt" has 
essayed to recover single-handed die enrine of a 
wrecked steamer. Tust at the moment of victory, 
when about to sail nis sloop home, a late sunmier 
e<^uinoctial storm breaks forth in all its fury of 
wmd, lightning and rain. 

The huge endowment of conquest-power scin- 
tillates as the following depicts man's defiant, 
daring, and decisive battle against the elements 
in their worst frenzy: 

"Gillatt was surveying the heavens In his turn. 
He raised his head defiantly now. After every 
stroke of his axe he stood erect and gazed up- 
ward, almost haughtily. He was, or seemed to 
be, too near destruction not to feel self-sustained. 
Would he Yield to despair ! No ! In the presence 
of the wildest fury of ocean he was watchful 
as well as bold. He planted his feet only where 
the wreck was firm. He ventured his life, and 
yet was careful ; for his determination, too, had 
reached its highest point. His strength had 
grown ten-fold greater. He had become excited 
by his own trepidity. The strokes of his axe 
were like blows of defiance. He seemed to have 



The Conquering Chief. 69 

gained in directness what the tempest had lost. A 

pathetic struggle I On the one hand indefatigable 
will ; on the other, inexhaustible power. It was 
a contest with the elements for the prize at his 
feet The clouds took the shape of Grorgon masks 
in the immensity of the heavens ; every possible 
form of terror appeared; the rain came from 
the sea,the surf from the cloud ; phantoms of the 
wind bent down; meteoric faces revealed them- 
selves and were again eclipsed, leaving the dark- 
ness still more intense ; then nothing was visible 
but the torrents i aging on all sides — ^a boiling sea ; 
cumuli heavy with hail, ashen hued, ragged 
edged, seemed seized with a sort of whirling 
frenzy ; strange rattlings filled the air ; the inverse 
currents of electricity observed by Volta darted 
their sudden flashes from cloud to cloud. The 
prolongation of the lightning was terrible; tfi« 
flashes passes close to Gillatt. The very oer^sa 
seemed appalled. Gillatt moved to and fro on 
the tottering wreck, though the deck trembled 
under his feet, striking, cutting, hacking with 
the axe in his hand, his features pallid in the 
gleam of the lightning, his long hair streaming, 
his feet naked, his face covered with the foam of 
the sea, but still grand amid the wild tumult of 
the storm. 

But there was unquenchable fire in his eye. 

Superb fire, will-power made visible! Such 
is the eye of man. The eyeball tells how much 
of the man there is in us. We reveal ourselvea 
by the light under our eyebrows. Petty con- 
sciences wink ; grand consciences flash. If diere 



70 The Creed of 

is no spark in the eyeball, there is no thought in 
the brain, no love in the heart. He who loves, 
wills; and he who wills, lightens and flashes. 
Resolution gives fire to the look, — a fire com- 
posed of the combustion of timid thoughts. 

The headstrong are really the sublime. The 
man who is only brave owes it to impulse; the 
man who is only valiant merely possesses that 
temperament; the man who is courageous has 
only one virtue; the man who is headstrong in 
the truth is sublime. All the secrets of great 
souls lie in the one word Perseverando, Per- 
severance is to courage what the winch is to the 
lever, a perpetual renewal of the point of sup- 
port. Let tiie goal be on earth or in heaven, 
to reach the god is everything; in the first case 
one is Columbus, in the second case, Jesus. 
Never to disobey the dictates of your conscience, 
never to allow your will to be disarmed, results 
in suffering, but in triumph as well. The pro- 
pensity of mortals to fall does not preclude the 
possibility of soaring. From the fall comes the 
ascension. Weak souls are disconcerted by spec- 
ious obstacles ; strong souls, never. Perish they 
possibly may; conquer, they certainly will. 

The decline of physical strength does not nec- 
essarily impair the will. Faith is only a second- 
ary power ; the will is the first. The mountains, 
which faith is proverbially said to move are 
nothing in comparison with what the will can 
accomplish.'* 

♦138. Weigh well the thought of this; bum 
it into your brain cells; saturate your sinews 



The Conquering Chief. 71 

witn its strength ; gain vitality and valor from its 
victorious message. 

♦139. The Conquering Chief MUST have 
huge endowment of Perseverance, tmwavering 
decision, daring, and the fearless holding to the 
pathway to his goal — ^unswayed by the cheers 
or jeers of the mediocre multitude. 

♦140. If you will try to combine all that I have 
thus far said into an energetic, aggressive, in- 
trepid plan of Action, you will experience the 
thrill of Power as you read the following classic 
from the great Victor Hugo (which you may 
interpret VICTOR, YOU GO). 

"Human thought attains in certain men its 
maximum intensity. 

The human mind has a summit 

This summit is the ideaL 

"In each age three or four men of genius un- 
dertake the ascent. From below the world fol- 
lows them with their eyes. These men go up 
the motmtain, enter the clouds, disappear, re- 
appear. People watch them, mark them. They 
walk by the side of precipices. A false step 
does not displease certain of the lookers-on. 
They daringly pursue their road. See them 
aloft, see them in the distance; they are but 
black specks. "How small they are," says the 
crowd. They are giants. On they go. The 
road is uneven, its difficulties constant. At each 
step a wall, at each step a trap. As they rise 
the cold increases. They must make their lad- 
der, cut the ice and walk on it, hewing the steps 



72 The Creed of 

in haste. Every storm is raging. Neverthe- 
less they ^o forward in their mad^ss. The air 
beoomes difficult to breathe. The abyss increases 
around them. Some fail. Others stop and re- 
trace their steps; there is a sad weariness. 

"The bold ones continue; those predestined 
persist. The dreadful declevity sinJcs beneath 
and tries to draw them in; glory is treadierous. 
They are eyed by the eagles ; the lightning plays 
about them; the hurricane is furious, iio mat- 
ter, they persevere.*' 



They reach the pinnacle. 

They are Super-men. 

They are G)nquering Qiiefs. 

60 you and profit by their example. 



r 




,i 



cs...