428 THE PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL POWER
But Dr. Harper, shrewd in the use of Imagination as he was, pro-
vided for just such contingencies by the way he stated his case. First, he
placed the streetcar man on the defensive by informing him that it was
not certain that he (Dr. Harper) could get the permission of his Board
to accept the money and name the Hall after him. In the second place,
he intensified the desire of the streetcar man to have his name on that
building because of the thought that his enemy and competitor might
get the honor if it got away from him. Moreover (and this was no acci-
dent either), Dr. Harper had made a powerful appeal to one of the most
common of all human weaknesses-by showing this streetcar man how
to perpetuate his own name.
All of this required that he make practical application of the law
of Imagination.
Dr. Harper was a master salesman. When he asked for money, he
always paved the way for success by planting in the mind of the person
of whom he asked it a good sound reason why the money should be
given-a reason which emphasized some advantage accruing to the
person as the result of the gift.
Often this would take the form of a business advantage. Again it
would be an appeal to that part of man's nature which prompts him
to wish to perpetuate his name so it will live after him. But, always,
the request for money was carried out according to a plan that had been
carefully thought out, embellished, and smoothed down with the use of
Imagination.
COMMENTARY
When the editors of this revised and updated edition set about the task of reviewing
the material in the original edition, it was concluded that there were certain instances
where the text would benefit tram the inclusion of contemporary stories. However,
once the task was actually begun, it became clear that very often Napoleon Hill's
stories illustrated certain concepts so well that replacing those would have resulted