Library Collections: Document: Full Text

A Man May Be Worth $100,000 a Year

HE is president of the State Bank of Olivia, Minnesota, and his name is Michael J. Dowling. That he holds a position of responsibility and trust and reached it after a long, hard fight is interesting.

But the fact that Michael Dowling started out on his life career, minus both legs, his left arm and the fingers of his right hand is more than interesting. It is teeming with significance. On Mr. Dowling's own word he is neither wonderful nor exceptional. He is simply an ordinary mortal who has never known what it means to quit and who uses the brains with which he was endowed.

His accident was the result of a fierce Minnesota blizzard in which he happened to be caught, thirty-five years ago. When he was physically able to get around -- it took much longer in those days than it does now -- Dowling decided that he had to have an education. He absolutely refused to become a public charge; and it was arranged for him to attend school where he was so apt a pupil and developed so strong a liking for school work that he became a teacher himself.

But a country school wasn't big enough to hold Dowling very long and he went into business. From that day he climbed steadily. He married; one of his daughters is in college, and the other two are preparing to follow her. His political career, which made him speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, established him as a man of affairs in his community, and he is so looked upon today.

Mr. Dowling never thinks of himself as a cripple because he isn't one. He laughs at you when you mention the word. He drives his car, rides horseback, and enjoys life with the enthusiasm of a boy. It is natural that the success of the handicapped man should be close to his heart; and it has been always. But when the war came to America, Mr. Dowling's desire to serve his country was quickened, and he offered himself for any work among the wounded that might bring cheer and sound practical advice.

There are no illusions in his mind as to the re-education of the soldier and sailor. He has deep confidence in the power of American medicine and surgery and in the teaching brains of the country that will be brought into play. What he emphasizes as the greatest need in this country today is common-sense -- 'horse-sense' he calls it -- toward the handicapped man. Sentiment, yes; but intelligent sentiment that will kindle a man's ambition, not quench it.

He has a fine inspiriting philosophy, has Michael Dowling, and a whimsical manner of stating it. When he was asked how much he thought physical disability interfered with a man's earning capacity his answer was characteristic: "From his neck down a man is worth about $1.50 a day; from his neck up, he may be worth $100,000 a year."