CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
THE MAN WHO "THOUGHT" HIS WAY INTO PARTNERSHIP WITH THOMAS
A. EDISON
TRULY, "thoughts are things," and powerful things at that,
when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and
a BURNING DESIRE for their translation into riches, or other material
objects.
A little more than thirty years ago, Edwin C. Barnes discovered
how true it is that men really do THINK AND GROW RICH. His discovery
did not come about at one sitting. It came little by little, beginning
with a BURNING DESIRE to become a business associate of the great
Edison.
One of the chief characteristics of Barnes' Desire was that it was
definite. He wanted to work with Edison, not for him. Observe, carefully,
the description of how he went about translating his DESIRE into
reality, and you will have a better understanding of the thirteen
principles which lead to riches.
When this DESIRE, or impulse of thought, first flashed into his
mind he was in no position to act upon it. Two difficulties stood
in his way. He did not know Mr. Edison, and he did not have enough
money to pay his railroad fare to Orange, New Jersey.
These difficulties were sufficient to have discouraged the majority
of men from making any attempt to carry out the desire. But his
was no ordinary desire! He was so determined to find a way to carry
out his desire that he finally decided to travel by "blind
baggage," rather than be defeated. (To the uninitiated, this
means that he went to East Orange on a freight train).
He presented himself at Mr. Edison's laboratory, and announced he
had come to go into business with the inventor. In speaking of the
first meeting between Barnes and Edison, years later, Mr. Edison
said, "He stood there before me, looking like an ordinary tramp,
but there was something in the expression of his face which conveyed
the impression that he was determined to get what he had come after.
I had learned, from years of experience with men, that when a man
really DESIRES a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his
entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it,
he is sure to win. I gave him the opportunity he asked for, because
I saw he had made up his mind to stand by until he succeeded. Subsequent
events proved that no mistake was made."
Just what young Barnes said to Mr. Edison on that occasion was far
less