THE HABIT OF SAVING 265These formulas may be assimilated so that they become a part
of your mental machinery, through the law of habit, if you will follow
the instructions for their use which accompany each of them.
It is assumed that you are striving to attain financial independ-
ence. The accumulation of money is not difficult-once you have
mastered the fear of poverty and developed in its place the Habit of
Saving.
I would be greatly disappointed to know that any student of the
course got the impression from anything in this or any of the other
lessons that success is measured by dollars alone.
However, money does represent an important factor in success,
and it must be given its proper value in any philosophy intended to
help people in becoming useful, happy, and prosperous.
The cold, cruel, relentless truth is that in this age of materialism
a person is no more than so many grains of sand, which may be blown
helter-skelter by every stray wind of circumstance, unless entrenched
behind the power of money!
Genius may offer many rewards to those who possess it, but the
fact still remains that genius without money with which to give it
expression is but an empty honor.
The person without money is at the mercy of the person who has
it-regardless of the amount of ability one may possess, the training
they have had, or their native genius or natural gifts.
There is no escape from the fact that people will weigh you very
largely in the light of bank balances, no matter who you are or what
you can do. The first question that arises in the minds of most people
when they meet a stranger is how much money does he or she have?
If they have money they are welcomed into homes, and business op-
portunities are thrown their way. All sorts of attention is lavished on
them. They are entitled to the best of the land.
But if, for example, a man's shoes are run down at the heels, his
clothes are not pressed, his collar is dirty, and he shows plainly the