,illustration3 ,the ,author ,dollars and ,sense ,revised and ,enlarged ,edition ,being ,memoranda made in the ,school of ,practical ,experience ,,herein ,,are ,golden ,helps for ,employer and ,employee ,cheer1 ,courage1 ,help for the ,weak1 ,weary1 ,discouraged ,ones who ,live in ,shadowland ,cures for ,worry and ,fear ,backbone ,instead of ,wishbone ,,and ,guides and ,experience which will ,bring ,success in ,business1 ,happiness in ,your ,home1 ,respect of ,your ,neighbors1 ,love of ,friends1 and altogether ,many ,helps which will show you how to make this life well worth the living ,by ,col4 ,wm4 ,c4 ,hunter ,price ,paper ,cover1 #be cents a ,copy ,cloth ,bound1 #ej cents a ,copy ,pro rata for any quantity ,published by ,hunter 4 ,company ,oak ,park1 ,illinois4 ,u4,s4,a4 ,each ,chapter ,separately ,copyrighted in #aijf ,copyrighted in ,book ,form1 #aijg ,revised and ,enlarged ,edition1 ,copyright1 #aijh by ,wm4 ,c4 ,hunter ,all ,rights ,reserved ,contents ,aches and ,pains #ajj ,advertising #cb ,advice #ci ,ambition #ah ,anger #id ,argument #db ,associates #fa ,backbone and ,wishbone #ajh ,brains1 ,birth1 ,boodle #aje ,bribes #abj ,buying #cd ,catching ,up #ic ,cigarets #fd ,compensation #be ,competition #cj ,credit #aa ,debt #ajc ,discontent #ih ,do ,good #ajh ,double ,equipment #aji ,dressing #ajj ,elimination #df ,employees #hi ,enthusiasm #ib ,expenses #ce ,financing #if ,fixed ,charges #fc ,friends #hh ,frozen ,dog ,tales #abi ,generalists #ii ,get ,away #aji ,good ,fellowship #fg ,good for ,evil #fe ,gossip #abj ,groundwork #g ,grumbling #fj ,hard ,times #ei ,hard ,work #fh ,health #ef ,home ,life #gg ,honesty #gc ,horse ,sense #ej ,hypochondriacs #abb ,independence #he ,initiative #aaj ,kindness #fi ,lawyers #ai ,laxity #ib ,learn to ,play #ff ,learn to ,say ,no #i ,managers #ea ,memory #gi ,monthly ,dividends #ajb ,my ,symphony #abf ,never ,quit ,work #ac ,night ,work #aaa ,obedience #aac ,optimism #gh ,our ,sons #aag ,patience #eg ,pay ,day #aad ,perspiration #hg ,politics #abc ,precedent #ie ,producers #ba ,profanity #abc ,promises #hd ,pull #aai ,reading #dj ,rule of ,gold #abe ,salesmen #ga ,saving #aae ,selling #eb ,short ,letters #hg ,sizing ,up ,things #bg ,sleep #fj ,specialists #dg ,speculation #dc ,stand ,when ,selling #ae ,stenographers #aba ,success #gd ,system #abd ,the ,boss #bf ,the ,man1 ,not the ,plan #bc ,the ,string #di ,thinking #ge ,vacations #ee ,vantage ,ground #af ,waiting for ,success #aaf ,worry #ha ,dedication ,the ,author respectfully dedicates this book to the ,officers and ,proprietors to the ,managers and ,superintendents to the ,buyers and ,sellers to the ,clerks and ,office ,men to the ,youth seeking promotion to the ,boy with his first job and to all who wish to get ,happiness ,health and ,dollars4 ,dollars and ,sense ,groundwork ,when you cut a melon1 your friends will come with eager mouths and sit under your shade tree and help you eat it4 ,few of these friends would respond to your call for help when you were working in the hot sun raising that melon4 ,many people accept the dividends and benefits of friendship but give you a cold shoulder when called upon for assessments of friendship4 ,the world is full of young men whose objective is snaps4 ,they are looking all the time for what they can get and not what they can give4 ,to forge ahead1 you must give value received4 ,you can't draw out all the time4 ,the employe must do what he is paid to do and then some1 for it is this then some or plus that gets your salary raised4 ,the employer and employe must realize that each must make profit4 ,it is because there are so many ingrates and so many four flushers that so few succeed4 ,this book will be welcomed by those who are square1 ambitious and patient4 ,it is not theory4 ,it is not preaching4 ,these chapters will be old friends to you1 and you may read a few minutes or a few hours4 ,you may read and re-read as often as you wish1 for you will always find some new truth impressed on you every time you read4 ,keep this book1 carry it with you1 and you will be benefitted4 ,worry and fear will fade and peace and courage will grow within you the more you study these pages4 ,the writer has been at it for #cb years4 ,he has had successes1 failures1 joys1 sorrows1 and experienced the passions1 the problems1 the difficulties you have experienced4 ,since the age of ten years he has been upon his own resources and the #cb years since then have been years of study1 working and playing1 all blended into a happy life4 ,the jolts1 set backs1 sorrows1 worries1 fears and discouragements are the things which made him strong4 ,they were experiences4 ,smooth sailing doesn't bring out the stuff one is made of4 ,it takes shadows to make sunlight appreciated4 ,it takes reverses to make success4 ,it takes hard knocks to polish you4 ,this is a book of experiences1 not one of theories4 ,there is no attempt to make this a literary effort4 ,all the writer hopes for or cares to do is to truthfully state facts and experiences in plain language4 ,study the thought rather than the expression4 ,it is ,sense the writer wants to express rather than nonsense4 ,the writer is happy to say that the previous editions sold rapidly and his friends not only read1 but pass the word along4 ,the way to get happiness is to make others happy and the present of one of these books to a friend or employe is a quick way to get happiness4 ,let us go along together and consider some of the problems which we all have to face in our business as well as our social life4 ,a volume could be written on each chapter4 ,but volumes are tiresome and herein you will find net values which are the result of boiling down4 ,so now we have the groundwork of this book4 ,we understand each other4 ,simply take these truths for their evident worth4 ,you won't agree with the writer in all things1 of course not4 ,if1 however1 you get one truth that will help you1 then you have been repaid for reading this book and the writer has been repaid for writing it4 ,learn to ,say ,no4 ,look over the history of the thousands who have failed in business1 and you will find in nearly every instance the failure was due to an inability to say ,no4 ,people come to us under various guises and ask us to do things which in our better judgment we had rather not do1 and too many have not the backbone to say ,no4 ,we are led to invest in mining stocks and to embark in precarious enterprises because we cannot say ,no4 ,we endorse notes and go security for our friends1 not because we want to but because we cannot say ,no4 ,there is a class of good fellows who are after us to join them in physical pleasures1 the foregoing of which would be better for us physically1 financially and mentally4 ,too many join them because they cannot say ,no4 ,it is rarely a man goes off deliberately and gets drunk4 ,the lone drunk is usually the result of sorrow1 sudden financial blow or a hard jolt of some sort4 ,the man who gets drunk generally does so because he cannot say ,no when bibulous friends press him to take a drink4 ,the ability to say ,no1 to refrain from going with the crowd1 to decline to go down stream is1 more than any other one thing in this life1 the mark of a strong character4 ,the one who can say ,no is going to succeed4 ,temporarily he may feel ashamed2 he may find it hard to withstand the jibes and jeers and criticism of his friends for refusing to join them in things he should not do4 ,our old friend--the law of compensation--comes in here1 for in proportion as a man has the ability to say ,no1 who has the courage of his convictions1 whose duty is to his body and his family before the temptations that surround him1 so in proportion as there are few such individuals these individuals stand out as marked successes4 ,the manager of one of the biggest breweries in the ,united ,states has not tasted liquor of any kind in the last twenty years4 ,surely this man shows his courage1 for his action in face of his occupation is a supreme test of backbone and ability to say ,no4 ,the embezzler does not start out to do wrong4 ,some friends want to borrow money or someone needs financial aid temporarily1 and1 either at the request of friends or because the individual has something he wishes to purchase and has not the patience to wait1 he borrows from the firm by means of the ticket in the drawer plan4 ,he repeats the operation frequently until his conscience is dulled1 and he gets the habit4 ,some day he wakes up to find he has several tickets in the drawer1 and resorts to extreme measures1 trying to beat the races1 or to win money by gambling on stocks or grain4 ,one day he finds he is in a dickens of a fix4 ,he sees no way out of it4 ,he takes more money and skips out1 only to be caught later on and made to suffer1 and all this because he could not say ,no to temptation4 ,learn to say ,no4 ,set your jaws firmly and say ,no4 ,the friends who go back on you and criticize you for saying ,no to the things that are hurtful to you are unworthy of the name of friends1 and you can very well get along without them4 ,friends who ask you to do the things you should not do are the very ones who are of no service to you in time of need4 ,the individual who says ,no regardless of the flings and taunts that are cast at him is the one who eventually makes a success4 ,character counts above all things in the business world4 ,the banker extends credit on character oftener than we imagine4 ,the banker knows how to say ,no4 ,a man's credit and character are most important factors in business1 and many a man without security has attained magnificent success through untiring energy1 ability1 character and courage enough to say ,no4 ,in proportion as you grow strong and unhesitating in saying ,no1 the temptations and opportunities to say ,yes will lessen in number4 ,exercise your back bone and your jaw bone1 so you can say ,no and stick to it4 ,credit ,no factor is so necessary in building up business as credit1 and no factor is so necessary in building up credit as truth4 ,it is comparatively easy to start credit1 but the art is to keep credit4 ,the young business man who says ,i want no credit1 ,i buy and sell for cash makes a mistake4 ,it is all right to pay promptly1 but do not establish a spot cash payment basis1 for later on1 when you ask credit1 your creditors will think something is wrong4 ,establish a credit whether you need it or not4 ,it is a good advertisement and a frequent help4 ,be reasonably slow in paying your bills1 but positively sure that you do pay them4 ,when you get a sharp or blunt letter asking for a settlement1 go to your creditor face to face1 set a date when you will make a payment and keep your agreement4 ,don't be specific as to amount unless you are decidedly sure you can do it4 ,be specific as to date1 however1 and be there or have your check there on the date4 ,suppose a man owes you #ajj and you ask him for it and he says ,here are ten dollars on account1 and on next ,thursday ,i will make another payment1 and as often as ,i can ,i will pay something until you are fully paid up4 ,you don't get angry at that man when you see his intentions are good and he is doing his best4 ,so long as your creditor gets something every time he writes it keeps him good natured4 ,it is the man who breaks promises who gets hard usage from the creditors4 ,if you owe more than your present cash balance can liquidate1 make a pro rata payment all around among your creditors4 ,write a good square letter saying nothing would please you more than to send a check in full1 and that this payment is made as evidence of your willingness and intention to keep good faith4 ,keep in touch personally with your creditors as far as possible4 ,talk to them of your plans and prospects4 ,always tell the truth4 ,have your account as a moral risk rather than as a ,dun or ,bradstreet risk4 ,there is sentiment in business4 ,creditors have hearts and they have good impulses4 ,they appreciate friendship and especially gratitude4 ,don't believe a word of that great untruth ,there is no sentiment in business4 ,don't get angry when asked for money4 ,admit your slowness and tell your creditor that as an offset for your present slowness you have a good memory and a heart that appreciates1 and some day your purchases will be much larger1 and those who are your friends now will certainly get the benefit when the time comes that you do not require favors4 ,an honest1 frank1 heart to heart talk is most valuable4 ,the credit man keeps the truthful man in mind and his account under his protecting wing4 ,the credit man glories with you1 and has a distinct interest in your success when it comes4 ,it often happens that the small bank or small manufacturer is the best place for the beginner to go for credit4 ,you can get closer to the small growing creditor than you can to the big fellow who is independent4 ,the big bank is cold blooded4 ,it insists upon security and collateral4 ,your account in a big bank is only an incidental detail1 and the cashier is cold and distant and blunt4 ,the small bank1 however1 gives you more time and attention1 is more interested in you and can remember you much better than the big bank4 ,avoid bad associates4 ,you can't play the races and give wine dinners and maintain strong confidence with your creditors4 ,you must be worthy of the confidence reposed in you4 ,it is your duty and part of the contract to be reliable and truthful4 ,every time a creditor gets out of sorts go to him and pay him something1 and he will quiet down4 ,be grateful4 ,don't be afraid to express yourself freely and frequently on this point4 ,when you are caught up and financially strong stick to those who stuck by you4 ,remember1 credit is based on confidence in the individual rather than in his bank account4 ,don't get into nasty arguments or disputes4 ,give and take4 ,be fair4 ,be square4 ,keep your temper4 ,stoop to conquer4 ,cut out all thoughts of revenge4 ,when a house does not treat you right1 curb your temper1 and1 as soon as you can1 get in touch with some other good house4 ,tell the new house frankly why you changed4 ,credit is a subsidy1 and it stands the hustling business man in good stead4 ,many men have started in business with a capital only of ability1 hard work1 honesty and good reputation4 ,the use or abuse of credit determines whether a man will rise or fall4 ,keep your record clean1 and if later you get on the shoals your past will stand you in good stead4 ,if you have been given to sharp practice or dishonesty1 woe be unto you when you fall4 ,remember these things carefully4 ,keep in personal touch with your creditors1 keep your promises1 pay on account when you cannot pay in full1 hustle1 be honest1 keep good company1 don't gamble1 don't be a sport4 ,if you practice these virtues1 offers of aid will come to you rather than flee from you4 ,never ,quit ,work ,the average young man makes up his mind that at fifty or sixty years of age he will retire and take things easy for the rest of his days4 ,the average young man makes a great mistake4 ,it is far better to wear out than to rust out4 ,to the young man work is a drudge1 a necessity to keep him alive4 ,in middle age work is an accepted thing and we are used to it1 and feel rather the better for having occupation4 ,in old age work is a necessity to keep the mind and body young4 ,there is scarcely a more miserable spectacle than the man of fifty or sixty who has retired with ample fortune4 ,he loafs around the house4 ,goes from one club to another4 ,gets lonely4 ,feels blue4 ,he tries to kill time in the day looking forward to the meeting of his cronies in the evening4 ,the cronies are busy in the day time and they have engagements and pleasures in the evening1 so that our retired friend seems to be in the way4 ,he finds that the anticipation of retirement was a pleasure1 and that the realization is a keen disappointment4 ,there is nothing1 says ,carnegie1 absolutely nothing in money beyond a competence4 ,when one has enough money to buy things for the home1 for his family comfort and enjoyment1 when he has sufficient income to take care of himself and his family1 surplus dollars do not mean much4 ,the business man should prepare for his future so that if ill health overtakes him he may have the where-with to surround himself with comforts1 travel and the best of care4 ,the man who enjoys pleasures of the home and friends1 who trains up young blood to take hold of the business1 who travels and enjoys himself as he goes along has the right idea4 ,we must learn to enjoy life now instead of waiting for tomorrow1 for tomorrow may never come4 ,the man who cashes in1 puts his money in bonds and retires from all work goes down hill quickly1 and feels he is of no use in the world4 ,the farmer who moves in town to live on his income is a sorry individual unless he has a garden and chickens1 or buys and sells farms1 or occupies his time with work of some kind4 ,the retired1 non-working farmer who has moved to town gets up in the morning1 goes to see the train come in1 whittles a stick1 loafs at the hotel or store1 goes to the next train1 talks of his rheumatism1 goes to bed at eight o'clock1 and the next day goes through the same rigmarole4 ,we have all seen these old codgers who have retired4 ,they are not happy because they have quit their life's habit of work1 and are rusting out4 ,occupation is the plan of nature to keep man happy1 so when you have all the money you need1 have some occupation or hobby to occupy your time4 ,the man who retires from any active work is merely counting the days until he dies4 ,when old age comes and your body or brain won't let you do or care for as much as you could in your younger days1 then get lighter work or lighter cares4 ,keep busy if it is only raising chickens or gardening1 or studying astronomy or botany4 ,keep at it as long as you can4 ,die in the harness instead of fading slowly away4 ,cultivate the reading habit in your younger days that it may be a pleasant occupation when your legs and hands grow feeble with age4 ,when you quit work or occupation of some sort then life has no beauty for you4 ,stand ,when ,selling ,you can make your point clearer1 you can talk with more force1 you can impress and convince your customer better if you stand while he is seated4 ,have you ever noticed that when you are seated and the other fellow is standing it puts you at a disadvantage8 ,try it some time4 ,have you not noticed that if you are seated and your adversary is standing1 when you get enthusiastic and wish to combat his argument1 it is impossible for you to get in your best licks while you are seated8 ,you involuntarily rise when you make your strong points and are full of your subject4 ,how far would a life insurance man or an advertising man get if he sat down and leaned back and relaxed while talking to you8 ,you will observe that the good solicitor declines with thanks your proffered chair4 ,he stands up1 he knows the value of standing4 ,by the relation between his standing and you sitting it makes him a positive and you a negative force4 ,he forces--you receive4 ,how much would an orator impress his audience if he delivered his lecture in a sitting posture8 ,you cannot combat argument very well if you are sitting1 nor can you convince others as well sitting as standing4 ,when you call on a customer carry a busy air with you4 ,stand up4 ,talk straight from the shoulder4 ,make your point and claims clear4 ,place your position or proposition definitely1 forcefully and quickly before your customer4 ,make a good get-away when you have accomplished your purpose4 ,if you don't land him the first time1 get away anyway4 ,let him see that your time is money1 and that you appreciate that his time is money1 too4 ,don't visit4 ,gracefully and politely decline the chair that is offered2 say that your limit of time and disinclination to trespass require your stay to be brief4 ,stand4 ,keep busy and active4 ,get away quickly1 and you will be welcome next time4 ,the short stayer is a welcome guest4 ,he may not land his customers as quickly1 but in the end he will land more customers1 and hold them closer and retain them longer than the tedious1 visiting1 social bore who sits and sits and sits4 ,the ,best ,vantage ,ground ,in closing a contract or settling a dispute it makes considerable difference whether you are in the other fellow's office or in your own4 ,the man in whose office the transaction takes place has the decided advantage4 ,if you have a disputed bill1 or if you wish to make a contract for material or merchandise use every effort to get the other man in your office4 ,when you go to another office you are on the aggressive1 when another man comes to your office you are on the defensive4 ,it is great diplomacy to get the man you deal with to come to you instead of going to him4 ,in proportion as you are diplomatic you will be able to benefit4 ,if you meet the other man in a club1 hotel or a place outside of your office or the other man's office1 then the vantage ground is even and neither has the best of it so far as location is concerned4 ,starting from an even vantage ground the advantage shifts greatly one way or the other according to whether you go or the other man comes4 ,railroad officials1 bankers and great merchants realize the importance of having the vantage ground in their favor4 ,the merchant1 for instance1 has private rooms and regular office hours for his buyers1 and he lets the manufacturers come to him4 ,stop a moment and look over your own experience1 and you will recall numerous instances where it has been to your advantage to close a deal in your own office4 ,there is nothing in what we have written in this series of talks that has less theory in it than this particular chapter4 ,there is no point we have made more surely proven by experience4 ,the army that attacks the enemy in the enemy's country has the odds against it1 as all wars have proven4 ,men fight best at home on their own vantage ground4 ,whether you are buying or selling try to close the deal in your own place of business4 ,if you have travelers on the road let it be part of their business and duty to invite and persuade customers to call at your place of business when they are in town4 ,ambition ,a man without ambition had better content himself with learning a trade4 ,a good mechanic is fairly sure of three dollars a day1 and fifty-two weeks' employment in the year4 ,the mechanic does not have many worries4 ,he does not have notes to meet at the bank4 ,he does not have to face the ingratitude of employes and petty jealousies1 for he has no employes working for him4 ,he lays down his tools when the bell rings and goes home to his family4 ,his ambition is to have a good place to sleep1 plenty to eat1 money enough to buy clothing for his family and to send his children to school1 and extra spending money enough over his fixed charges to allow him to take his family to the circus when it comes to town4 ,ambition makes men strive to get ahead4 ,ambition cultivates taking chances4 ,nearly every man is a gambler4 ,some of you will be shocked at this statement1 yet upon careful analysis nearly every move a successful business man makes is a gamble4 ,he is betting that he will take in more money than he lays out on a new plan4 ,the man with ambition is a gambler4 ,the man who learns a trade and does not strive to increase his earnings is not a gambler4 ,we pride ourselves on our ability to buy cheaply1 because the cheaper we can buy the greater our earnings will be and the less our gamble4 ,any man with two hands and ordinary health can earn a livelihood1 but the ambitious man wants to make a name for himself and to make a success in business1 so he works harder than he would do if his problem were only the obtaining of money enough to buy the things necessary for his existence4 ,the moment a man loses ambition1 his progress1 so far as business advancement is concerned1 ceases4 ,nearly every successful business today is successful because the proprietors1 in the infancy of the business1 were filled with ambition which made them work hard4 ,we are all familiar with the successful business man who loses his ambition4 ,it is an absolute certainty that as soon as a man loses ambition his business falls off1 unless he makes it an object to take care of the ambitious young men in his employ1 so that they may keep up the pace of progress he established4 ,lawyers ,keep in touch with a lawyer1 but don't take his advice on business matters4 ,a lawyer should be like a dictionary--a place of reference4 ,lawyers by the very nature of their vocation have much to do with concerns who are in trouble1 and with firms who are poorly managed4 ,lawyers know law first and business second2 the business man knows business first and law second4 ,the advice of one successful business man is worth the advice of twenty-three lawyers on a matter of business4 ,use the lawyer to keep you out of trouble4 ,let him see your contracts and the papers and agreements pertaining to leases1 sales1 purchases1 royalties1 and all documents which may from their nature be brought into court as evidence4 ,these things are the ones on which to take the lawyer's advice4 ,when you are pushed into a corner and must fight1 then get the best lawyer1 for in a fight in court1 like a fight in the prize ring1 the best trained and equipped man usually wins4 ,it's more often the best lawyer wins than the best side of the case4 ,legal struggles seldom pay4 ,law suits take up time and money1 and the result1 even if in your favor1 seldom offsets the time1 money and worry you have expended4 ,the good lawyer keeps you from fighting4 ,many lawyers1 however1 are grafters1 and they advise fight1 for they win whether you do or not4 ,settle disputes even if you are imposed on4 ,there is little satisfaction in getting a judgment for one hundred dollars1 when your lawyers fees are fifty dollars and you have expended two hundred dollars' worth of time and worry over the case4 ,ask your lawyer's advice on the legal status of your operations1 and not on business propositions4 ,if you are a success in business that is an evidence1 generally speaking1 that your judgment is good4 ,you can get all the advice you want for nothing4 ,if you state a case and lay out a proposed plan1 and then ask your friends' advice on the subject1 you can safely count that nine out of ten will say that your proposition is all right as outlined by you4 ,these friends figure that you have given the plan much thought and study1 and it is much simpler for them to coincide with your opinion than to take an opposite view4 ,honestly between ourselves we must admit that when we seek advice we generally do it only for the purpose of having our own opinions confirmed1 and1 if our friends do not agree with us1 we say they are prejudiced4 ,lawyers don't see the smooth1 systematic1 well balanced side of business1 and their knowledge is all negative instead of positive on business matters4 ,if you have an important move in mind1 map out the plan carefully1 lay the plan out in detail1 be conservative in your estimate of prospective profits1 and always make a liberal allowance for cost over the figures you have prepared1 and deduct a liberal percentage from the receipts you anticipate4 ,be very conservative in matters of figures1 and then some4 ,the building you propose to put up will cost far more than your architect tells you4 ,you know this in advance1 and you make an allowance for extras1 but when the bills all come in you will find that in addition to the estimated cost and the extras which you have figured on1 there will be something else to pay4 ,the sales of a business you propose to embark in will be less than you or your manager figure they will be4 ,always allow for enthusiasm and imagination in the matter of prospective receipts4 ,when your plans are all in shape show the documents1 contracts and agreements to your lawyer1 and get his legal1 but not his personal1 advice4 ,you must be the doctor of your own business4 ,remember1 a lawyer knows law1 and a business man knows business4 ,be a ,producer ,employes are divided into two classes--the kind that makes profits and the kind that is on the expense side of the ledger4 ,the young man who has the foresight and ability to get on the selling side1 the side that brings profit to the house1 has the decided advantage over the young man who is on the expense side4 ,book-keepers1 stock-keepers1 clerks and all other expense employes are paid far lower salaries than the salesmen and buyers1 those who produce results4 ,in the newspaper business the editor with his college education has practically attained his limit of progress when he is #dj years old4 ,he may get from #bj4jj to #hj4jj or even #ajj4jj a week as editor4 ,the young man in the advertising department may get from #ej4jj to #bjj4jj a week4 ,he is a producer of tangible results2 the editor produces theoretical results4 ,in every business the man who sells things1 who brings in the profits1 is the man who gets the best pay4 ,the boss will grudgingly give a dollar a week increase to the book-keeper4 ,he only thinks what it would cost him to replace the book-keeper4 ,the producer gets his increases in #e4jj and #aj4jj a week jumps4 ,the expense employe is in competition with the great army of the unemployed1 and there are multitudes who will work for less money than the man who is holding his job on the expense side4 ,the producer1 on the other hand1 knows how much profit he is bringing into his house1 and if those profits are steadily increasing he may be sure his salary will increase proportionately4 ,if it does not he can always get another position by laying the facts and figures before some more enterprising house4 ,the producer is seldom out of a situation4 ,if for any reason he is out of employment temporarily he can go to a good house and work on commission1 or get a small drawing account1 and at three or six months talk salary on actual showing made4 ,the shrewd business man won't let profits slip away if he can help it1 so the real producer sits in a pretty good seat4 ,he has only to show what he can do and he will be paid accordingly4 ,the expense man's only stock in trade is faithfulness1 neatness and amount of detail he can handle4 ,he has little lee-way in the matter of salary1 for thousands are faithful1 thousands are neat and thousands can perform great amounts of detail4 ,the young man just out of school should have for his ideal that he shall be a producer first and a proprietor later on4 ,to this end he should equip himself by spending four or five years acquainting himself thoroughly with all the phases and departments of the business and learning the facts about the manufacture of the goods he expects to sell eventually4 ,all this understanding and preparation will be of great service when he is a salesman1 and greater service when he is a proprietor4 ,the writer started wholly dependent upon his own exertions for a livelihood at fourteen years of age4 ,at fifteen he learned shorthand by evening study4 ,at sixteen he attended to the correspondence and mail order department for his employer4 ,at eighteen he was getting #h4jj a week in cash for his services1 and many times that amount in valued experience4 ,one day he got a blank application for a #ge4jj clerkship in the ,post ,office4 ,at that time appointments were made by political pull and not through the civil service4 ,the writer took the blank to a relative1 who was the leading politician of the ,state4 ,he asked for the endorsement of this senator and received this advice3 ,young man1 my signature to this sheet would get you the job1 but if you were my son ,i would not let you take the place4 ,i will give you some advice1 which is this--never take a political1 railroad or bank job4 ,in all these callings you are in competition with thousands of others4 ,the compensation is small1 the chance to better your position is remote1 and you are a machine4 ,if you want to make a success of life be a producer1 learn to sell things4 ,this advice was acted on1 and the writer remembers it as the turning point in his career4 ,it is a sad thing to see the old man working for #dj4jj or #ej4jj a month who in the past drew #c1jjj or #d1jjj a year4 ,such men were expense men and not producers4 ,moves on the checker board of business are made quickly4 ,the man with silver hair may be an accountant or confidential man drawing a good salary4 ,something happens1 his firm goes out of business or sells out1 and our old friend is left without a position4 ,he has been used to the comforts and associations a good salary allows1 and now he finds himself out of a place and faces the necessity of starting over again1 and his competitors are young and active men ready for the battle of life4 ,the old man out of a job goes around amongst his friends4 ,the friend can do nothing but gives him a letter of recommendation4 ,he is passed along from one to another until he is foot-sore and heart sick and weary of it all4 ,he winds up as a sleeping car conductor1 or gets a position as floor walker or clerk at the inquiry desk4 ,the producer1 be he ever so old or ever so often out of a job1 can catch on again4 ,he gets his job on results and not sympathy4 ,business men are on the lookout for producers4 ,young man1 learn to be a producer4 ,the ,man--,not the ,plan ,we are prone to give credit to the plan as being the thing that makes a successful business4 ,it is not the plan1 it is the man behind the plan that is responsible for the success4 ,the man who has a well-defined ideal1 who hews to the line1 who eliminates all deterrent influences1 who concentrates his energy on his ideal1 who bends his efforts towards the one thing is pretty sure to accomplish his purpose4 ,we often see a man make a marked success in a field that others have considered barren4 ,take a small town1 for instance1 where there are many retail stores4 ,the people of the town will tell the prospective merchant that the town is already overcrowded with stores1 that none of the stores seem to be making more than a bare living1 and that it would be impossible for another store to make a success1 on account of the already overcrowded conditions1 yet the right man comes along and starts a store in that town and makes a marked success4 ,if the plan were the making of success1 all an enterprising business man would have to do would be to pick out some plan which was successful and then imitate it4 ,the great ocean of business has many derelicts on it as a result of copying plans4 ,it is a part of the law of compensation that the man who originates a plan and carries it to successful conclusion has a patent on his business4 ,this patent is his individuality and good business equipment4 ,the man who steals his plan physically is unable to steal the mental end4 ,since men have recorded facts in the shape of history1 we find that men have made successes of plans and businesses that have been discarded by their predecessors as played-out plans4 ,when a plan is presented to you do not calculate the outcome by the plan1 but by the man4 ,two banks may start side by side with exactly the same office furniture and exactly the same business operations4 ,they use the same kind of money2 they make loans on lands or on securities4 ,the operations of these two banks may be as closely identical as possible1 yet within ten years one bank will have considerable surplus and the other may be out of business4 ,if the plan were the measure of success these two banks should fare equally well1 but the fact that they differed so materially is in itself evidence that the success is determined by the individuals and not the plan4 ,the illustration of a bank may be carried into other lines1 merchandising1 manufacturing or railroading4 ,compensation ,the law of ,compensation is--you pay for what you get1 or you get what you pay for4 ,this law says if a horse can run fast it can't pull a good load and vice versa4 ,this law says a horse cannot go fast far4 ,it says that for every sorrow there is a joy1 for every positive there is a negative4 ,where evil exists there is some good to offset it1 says compensation4 ,the law of compensation is the measure optimists use1 and in nearly every chapter we have written in this series1 compensation will be found as a ground-work4 ,you can't get away from nor violate this rule of compensation4 ,it is not new1 it is as old as creation itself4 ,centuries ago it was expressed this way3 ,whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap4 ,too many try to ignore this great rule1 they try to get something for nothing4 ,you may eat first and pay afterwards1 or you may pay first and eat afterwards4 ,you may play the butterfly2 sip life's sweets and sow your wild oats now1 but pay day will come and may be you will be unable to pay4 ,you may spend your income now and suffer want later on4 ,you may work hard now and play as you go along4 ,you may have happiness each day you live2 you can make life worth living if you work4 ,happiness is compensation for work2 no work1 no happiness4 ,you may have what you want1 but1 you must pay for it4 ,millions cost happiness and often cost health too4 ,the dinner is properly balanced when it has sweets as well as substantials4 ,the sensible person finds the dinner is better if the sweets come after the substantials4 ,to violate the law of compensation is to eat the sweets first and then the substantials1 and by this law the substantials do not taste good when they are eaten after the sweets4 ,the man who procrastinates is violating the law of compensation4 ,when you see your duty attend to it at once4 ,the ,boss ,by the boss we mean the active proprietor1 the executive head1 the owner of the business4 ,he is sometimes called the old man4 ,the success of an institution depends largely upon the example set by the boss4 ,if the boss is careless in little things1 if he is sharp in his practice1 if he does mean acts1 he may rely upon it his employes will copy him1 and later on1 when some blow strikes the business1 he will find it has happened through the practices of the employes who got their cues from the boss4 ,kindness wins kindness2 love wins love4 ,if the boss is generous and charitable1 if he sets a good example1 he will have an esprit de corps among his employes that is of incalculable value4 ,there is not one chance in a thousand for the boss to make a success unless he has risen to the position of boss1 and climbed and earned his position through steady progress4 ,the boss must know how to do the things he hires others to do4 ,the boss who can show an employe his error in a kindly manner and point out a better method1 leaves a good feeling in the heart of that employe4 ,the boss who shows his heart to the employe and is concerned in the things not necessarily business will be repaid a thousand-fold in loyalty and willingness on the part of the employe4 ,employes deeply appreciate consideration1 and especially the little kindnesses which are not what might be called business practice4 ,the boss should not be too far aloof2 he should be just head and shoulders above those working under him2 he should be just far enough above that he stands out as a commander4 ,he should be willing to grant an audience to an employe and should work with him4 ,the boss should say we rather than ,i4 ,he should talk with the employes and not down to them4 ,he should make each individual under him feel that he is part of the institution and an element in its success4 ,remember this--employes watch the boss and they copy him4 ,where you find hard working employes you will find a hard working boss4 ,the boss cannot run the whole business himself2 he is dependent upon willing hands1 and1 in order to get willing hands1 he must have willing hands himself4 ,if the boss is alert and discovers wastes and leaks in his business1 the employes will discover them too1 and the business will receive double benefit4 ,sizing ,up ,things ,one of the most necessary as well as beneficial practices a man can have is to take fifteen minutes to an hour each day and devote the time to sizing up things1 to planning the day's work for the morrow1 to threshing the wheat from the chaff1 to reviewing the accomplishments of the day4 ,sizing up things can only be well done in solitude4 ,the benefits of sizing up things in solitude are so great it is a wonder more has not been written on the subject4 ,plants grow in darkness1 yet the common understanding is they grow in sunshine4 ,the sunshine is absolutely necessary for the growth of the plant1 but the real growth is done in the quiet darkness4 ,a man's brain develops in solitude1 yet bustle and crowds and business activity are as necessary to the man as sunshine is to the plant4 ,the real brain and moral growth takes place in solitude4 ,here again we must remember the law of compensation1 for if a plant had all sunshine and no shadow1 and if a man had all hustle and bustle and no solitude1 it would be like a machine without a governor2 the man and the plant would run so fast something would have to give way4 ,on the other hand compensation says that if a man is too much in solitude1 or the plant too much in darkness1 they will wither and die4 ,man has always had strong admiration for the strong individual1 whether bird1 beast1 fish1 plant or human4 ,there are two kinds of birds1 the kind that lives in flocks1 like the blackbird and the wild duck1 and the kind that lives by itself1 like the eagle4 ,amongst birds the eagle is chosen as an emblem for the flag1 and never the duck or blackbird4 ,amongst beasts there are two classes1 the herd kind like sheep1 and the strong individual1 like the lion4 ,the lion is the symbol of strength and courage1 the sheep the symbol of innocence and simplicity4 ,the lion appears on coat of arms but not the sheep4 ,in the fish family there are two classes1 the kind that lives in schools1 like the mackerel1 and the kind that lives by itself1 like the whale4 ,when first the savage drew a rude picture of a fish on his hut it was a whale1 and not a mackerel4 ,we do not find the mackerel's picture excepting at the fish dealers and on the menu1 and then only because the mackerel is good to eat4 ,among trees the one that attains great proportions and beautiful symmetry is yonder giant oak or elm that grows in the open4 ,it needs room to breathe and grow4 ,it grows better if it is segregated from the crowded forest4 ,the giant tree is not the one that grows in the dense forest4 ,there are two kinds of men1 the kind that lives in the herd and the kind that has strong individuality that needs room to grow4 ,the herd man exists in infinitely greater numbers than the individual man4 ,we cannot imagine ,lincoln1 ,bismarck1 ,webster1 ,clay1 ,edison or ,burbank living in the herd1 or spending their time in the boulevard cafes4 ,the man who lives in a herd1 who is ever present where the lights are bright1 where gaiety abounds1 where excitement reigns1 where feasting is present1 soon gets himself into the habit of cultivating this excitement4 ,he is never happy when alone4 ,the brain never sleeps and something must occupy it4 ,the herd man fills his brain with frivolous things1 he seeks constant excitement4 ,he is like the plant always in the sun1 he burns himself out4 ,the great man with the individuality is great because he has always spent plenty of tune by himself1 sizing up things in solitude4 ,sizing up things makes the brain grow and makes it stronger4 ,the universities of this country tend in a great measure to produce the herd man4 ,the students dress alike4 ,all have the same mannerisms1 all have the same tilt to their hats1 and all the same turned up trousers4 ,they feed at certain restaurants and crowd in flocks4 ,very few college men learn the benefits of sizing up things in solitude until in after years4 ,on the other hand the student in the school of practical experience does not copy his fellow students4 ,that is why in this great practical experience school we find ,lincolns1 ,edisons1 ,jim ,hills and ,carnegies4 ,those men have to wrestle with the problems for themselves4 ,they had to size up things in solitude instead of reading the sizing up from text books1 as is done in the regular university4 ,every man before retiring at night1 or even during the day1 should take a few minutes to himself and carefully analyze the doings of the day4 ,he should weigh the positive and negative acts1 the good and the bad1 the wise and the foolish1 the right and the wrong impulses1 the gain and loss in achievement4 ,he should strike a balance1 and if he sees that the bad1 deterrent and backward things in the lead he should resolve to get a move on himself4 ,the man who goes along without this sizing up things in solitude is like the merchant who keeps no record1 who pays his bills from the cash drawer and takes what is left for profit4 ,he will still be running a little shop in twenty years1 while his competitor who sized things up each day will be in the wholesale business or will have retired with a competency4 ,try this sizing up things for two weeks1 and the benefits you will receive will be so manifest it will need no further suggestion to make you keep up the practice4 ,competition ,the saying is competition is the life of trade1 and this saying is true1 or it would not have endured so long4 ,if it were not for competition we should be living in the woods in a state of savagery4 ,ages ago all men and women led the simple life4 ,their chief vocation was idleness4 ,when the weather was hot the man sat in the shade2 as the sunshine crept to him he moved into the shade again4 ,in winter he reversed the process4 ,when our savage ancestor felt a pain in his stomach1 his simple instinct showed him that if he put things in his mouth and swallowed them the pain in the stomach would leave4 ,this low browed man's whole object in life was to keep from having those hunger pains1 and the only energy he expended was in hustling for food and in protecting his food from the other savages4 ,one day a man observed that the beasts lived on each other1 so he conceived the idea that it would be good for him to live on other animals4 ,that it would be easier than digging roots and gathering herbs1 so this man caught and ate slow-moving animals4 ,he used a club to do the killing4 ,along about here competition began1 for another man learned to throw a club and kill his game4 ,then another competitor discovered that a round stone was a more effective weapon than a club4 ,these hairy forbears of ours lived in caves until competition led up to the building of huts4 ,one day a savage discovered that while the skins of animals were hard to eat1 they nevertheless made a good body covering4 ,another discovered that if the skins were tied about him it left his arms free to act4 ,this man was the first tailor4 ,he punched holes in the skin and tied the rude garment together with strips of skin4 ,this first tailor was quite an important man among his fellows on account of his great discovery4 ,some of these wild men were fleet of foot and had well developed cunning4 ,they became expert hunters4 ,on the other hand some of the less active1 by the law of compensation1 became more expert tailors1 so trade was formed4 ,the hunter killed enough for himself and the tailor1 while the tailor made clothes for both of them4 ,in these days the woodsman lived on animals and the plainsman on vegetables mostly4 ,so the woodsman traded skin clothing with the plainsman for grains and herbs1 and this marked the birth of commerce4 ,then dugouts and canoes were built1 and thus our ancestors crossed lakes and seas and developed maritime commerce4 ,from away back in those dark ages up to the present time competition has stimulated mankind and spurred him on towards better conditions4 ,the whole human race has benefited by each improvement which competition has brought about4 ,we have in mind a certain mail order house that up to #ahid had things its own way4 ,then it sold two to three million dollars worth of merchandise annually4 ,a competitor came into the field1 stirred things up1 and now the old mail order house is doing eight to ten times as much business per annum as they did before they had the competition4 ,in the matter of competition we must early learn not to worry over competition1 but to derive as much good from it as possible4 ,if a competitor does something better than you do1 do not kick or protest1 but jump into the band wagon and do the thing as well or better than he does it4 ,price cutting is the simplest and most common phase of competition1 but a better way to get advantage over your competitor is to improve your business by cutting off wastes and leaks1 and reducing fixed and fancy charges so you can give your customers more quality and more quantity for the money4 ,in proportion as you increase the value you give for a dollar1 just so you will find it easier to get the dollar4 ,do not regard competition as hurtful to your business1 but rather look upon it as a pace-maker for you4 ,if you had ten experts working for you studying how to improve your business you would certainly get benefit from it1 but probably not enough benefit to offset the great cost of hiring these ten experts4 ,on the other hand1 if you have ten competitors who are sitting up nights studying how to improve their businesses1 you can get the benefit of their experience without it costing you anything4 ,the world is big and there is room for all1 but old compensation says the prizes are given to the fittest4 ,if you are a laggard1 if you are on the defensive instead of on the aggressive1 get busy1 wake up1 do it now4 ,advertising ,good advertising is good publicity4 ,advertising is the thing that makes your trade increase4 ,everything you do in connection with your business and every act of yours outside of your business is an advertisement4 ,reputation is an advertisement1 so is honesty1 politeness1 correspondence1 methods1 catalogues1 circulars and salesmen4 ,neatness is an advertisement1 and so is promptness1 thoroughness4 ,and then there is another kind of advertising which is your statement in the newspaper4 ,this is the printed kind of advertising1 and this kind of advertising is the most common1 in fact1 when we suggest that you should advertise1 it immediately comes to your mind that advertising is space in the newspaper4 ,keep in mind1 however1 when we speak of advertising we refer to everything in connection with your business that makes an impression upon the public or the prospective buyer4 ,some of the old timers refrain from printed advertising in newspapers1 saying that the best advertisement is merit4 ,merit is a good advertisement1 but it is mighty slow in its action4 ,if the inventor of the typewriter planned and built the machine in his barn without letting anyone know about it1 if he kept absolutely quiet about his doings1 relying on the fact that the typewriter had merit1 it would never be known to the public unless he told about it4 ,if the inventor of the typewriter waited for merit alone as the vehicle for acquainting the world with the merits of the typewriter1 the world would never know of it1 unless1 perhaps1 a fire inspector or an health officer accidently stumbled across the machine while inspecting the premises4 ,if the inventor waited for intrinsic merit to sell his goods1 he would find that months and years would elapse before he could develop his business into profitable proportions4 ,if you have a good thing you must tell about it4 ,telling makes selling4 ,telling is advertising4 ,professional men hold up their hands in horror when you suggest advertising to them4 ,they tell you they don't believe in advertising1 that it is not ethical1 that it is not dignified4 ,doctors and lawyers are most notable in this respect4 ,one of the first things of their code of ethics is ,thou shalt not advertise4 ,they mean paid newspaper advertising4 ,the man who originated this idea evidently did not have the money to pay for any1 and it was a case of sour grapes4 ,let us look into this matter of ethics and see whether the doctor and the lawyer really believe what they say about this matter of advertising4 ,it is a rare spectacle to find a lawyer who will not gladly give an interview to a newspaper reporter during some important trial4 ,the doctor gladly avails himself of the opportunity to read a paper before a medical society1 and he sees to it that this paper is published in a medical journal later on4 ,professional men belong to clubs1 take part in public affairs1 speak before people1 work on committees1 and actively take part in anything that will bring them in the limelight of publicity4 ,they do this advertising themselves1 yet they say they do not believe in advertising4 ,uncle ,sam builds war ships1 equips his soldiers splendidly1 conducts his business affairs with high grade talent1 all this that the ,united ,states may be well advertised among our sister nations4 ,advertising is absolutely essential to successful business4 ,not printed advertising alone but all kinds of advertising4 ,the quality1 the price1 your aggressiveness1 everything in your business is an advertisement1 either a good advertisement or a bad one4 ,it behooves you to see the advertising you do1 whatever kind it may be1 is of the good kind4 ,if you expect to remain in business a long time your advertisements must be good4 ,keep in mind that methods are advertisements4 ,one bad move1 which is a bad advertisement for you1 calls for two or more good moves or good advertisements4 ,have everything1 every detail of your business carry a good advertisement1 that is1 have it help your business4 ,have every employe pulling on the same center tugs and have them all face forward1 and your vehicle will move forward4 ,buying ,the buyer derives much information and much shrewdness by carefully watching the seller's methods4 ,some buyers seem to think that bull-dozing tactics1 cute lies and irritable manners make the seller humble1 weak-kneed and non-combative4 ,this is a great mistake4 ,the best buyer is first a gentleman4 ,he keeps his word1 he is patient and he knows his business thoroughly4 ,the buyer gains much by being open and above board with the seller4 ,let the seller know that your success consists in getting as much value as you can for the money1 and that your continuous trade will result only through fair treatment4 ,let the seller understand that the better he treats you in the matter of price and quality the better you will be able to treat your customers1 and the longer you will be able to deal with the seller4 ,the moment a buyer shows bull-dozing methods1 the seller is antagonized1 and his object then is to soak the buyer4 ,the buyer who keeps his temper and goes at the matter philosophically is the one who wins out4 ,the buyer should explain to the seller that the seller can get the best of him once and may be twice1 but not more than that4 ,the main thing for the buyer to possess is a most thorough knowledge of the goods he buys4 ,learn who makes the goods and where they are made1 and get at the factory cost4 ,then learn whose factories have the best reputation1 and whose are the best fitted and established to make the goods you buy4 ,remember you can afford to investigate4 ,when you find a factory over-sold you will find that factory more independent4 ,when you find a factory short of orders you will find them eager for your trade1 and the chances are you can do much better with this factory than with the one that is behind on its orders4 ,don't get excited1 don't hurry4 ,speak gently4 ,know your ground4 ,cultivate a reputation for fairness rather than smoothness4 ,laxity and indifference in buying means that you are allowing wastes and leaks to creep in your business1 and that you are placing a handicap on your traveling salesman1 for goods well bought are half sold4 ,expenses ,if you get confidential with ,mr4 ,bradstreet or ,mr4 ,dun so that they will give you access to the inside history of the commercial concerns which have failed in business1 you will quickly discover that in the majority of cases the cause of the failure was too much expense4 ,it has become quite a common saying in speaking of failures that the expenses ate up the profits4 ,our friends ,mr4 ,dun and ,mr4 ,bradstreet tell us that there is about one concern in fifty which succeeds in business4 ,if you will look at the successes you will find out that the proprietors were good buyers as well as good sellers but that the particular point that made them successful was their ability to make careful analysis in the matter of expenses4 ,the business man should have his expenses divided into as many classifications as possible4 ,his payroll should be separated into various departments1 office1 salesmen1 workmen1 accounting1 and so on2 through all the items of expense the division should be made as finely as possible4 ,the proprietor should have a statement each week on his desk showing how every cent was expended4 ,these items should be summarized monthly1 and constant reference made to the items of expense in comparison with items of expense for the previous month1 as well as items of expense for the same month of the previous year4 ,one of the pit-falls in nearly every business is general expense or sundry expense4 ,this department is a catchall for a lot of items1 and it hides a lot of leaks and wastes in business4 ,you can't divide your expense items too minutely4 ,the finer the divisions1 the easier you can detect a waste of money4 ,the business man who has a statement of both receipts and expenses is in the position of the first engineer of an ocean steamer2 he does not seem to be doing much and does not worry unless something goes wrong1 then he shows his training and ability to mend breaks and repair weak places4 ,if the business man analyzes his sources of income into several divisions the same as he does his items of expense1 he will find it an easy matter to correct errors that creep in the business4 ,he does not have to worry about those items of expense which show minus1 nor about those items of receipts which show plus4 ,with a finely divided sheet of both expenses and receipts you can quickly determine where the profit is coming from and where the leaks appear4 ,if an expense item shows plus1 you can run down that item and see reasons for it and endeavor to bring down that expense4 ,if a receipt item shows minus1 you can run down that item and endeavor to increase the receipts4 ,the writer has a little printed card on his check book and it reads ,drive the axe into expenses4 ,it is a constant reminder to stop the wastes4 ,the only real success that comes to the business man is the profits at the end of the year1 that is1 the amount of money he makes net4 ,it is easier to increase profits by cutting the expenses in many cases than it is to increase profits by increasing sales4 ,and here let us remark that on this subject1 as well as all the other subjects we are writing about in this series of articles1 we have in mind the matter of common sense1 temperate action4 ,extremes carry things too far4 ,you must not cut the expenses beyond the point where it seriously interferes with the sales4 ,if you are interested in this matter of expense1 and you certainly should be1 take up your items of expense for last month or last year1 go over the cost of help1 the cost of raw material and the cost of manufacturing2 go over each branch of your expenses1 analyze the items carefully1 look into every point thoroughly1 and we will guarantee that at the end of your analysis you will see where you can save a respectable sum in the operation of your business4 ,in going into this matter of expense1 do not take all the items at once1 but take each item up separately and go through it thoroughly4 ,do not assume that you are paying too much for everything1 but use good sense and good judgment and see that you get your money's worth4 ,take the item of wages4 ,look over the individuals in your employ1 and you will see a place1 for instance1 where two persons can do the work three are now doing4 ,remember1 it is generally true that where two persons are engaged in handling a certain department and they are overworked1 the tendency is to give them additional help4 ,when this is done you will find thenceforth all three are busy4 ,in other words1 each of the two persons who were formerly overworked ease up and do less work the moment the third person is given as assistant4 ,you have noticed that where you put three employes to do the work formerly done by two1 it is almost impossible--if you take the employe's word--to get two employes to do the work after three have been doing it4 ,the work should push the employe4 ,the employer should get full capacity of his employes4 ,look over your pay roll and make up your mind that here and there you are going to employes and ask them to help you save money1 and at the same time you will let them earn more money for themselves4 ,you will find that this plan works admirably4 ,for instance1 if you have three employes getting #aj4jj a week each2 go to the two who do the most work and say to them3 ,if you can do the work of this department with one less employe ,i will give you each #c4jj a week more4 ,in this way you will pay two employes #ac4jj a week instead of three employes #aj4jj a week each4 ,this will save you #d4jj on that particular part of your payroll4 ,if you save proportionately all through your payroll it will make a decided profit in itself4 ,saving can also be made in the payroll by taking one of the heads of the department into your confidence and letting out the work to him by contract1 offering to give him one-half1 or one-third or one-quarter of the amount he can save in his department4 ,it is surprising to see how different his argument will be when his pocket is affected4 ,for instance1 in the past he explained to you that his department is behind in its work because he has not enough help4 ,he has been asking for more help right along1 but never asked that some of the help be laid off4 ,if1 on the other hand1 you say to him you will give him one-third of what he can save in the matter of wages in his department1 you will instantly notice that his whole argument and attitude change4 ,he discovers that he has ability to pick out employes who do the most work1 and lets out the four-flushers and idlers4 ,remember1 that as a rule the best paid employes are the cheapest4 ,you can well afford to pay the heads of your departments more wages if they can save you more money4 ,a manufacturer should divide the number of completed articles done per day or per week by the amount of wages paid1 and find out what the wage item is in each department per article4 ,suppose that under your present system it costs you eighty cents in wages per article in ,department ,a1 sixty cents per article in ,department ,b1 etc4 ,explain to the foreman of ,department ,a that it is now costing you eighty cents per article for wages in his department1 and to the foreman of ,department ,b that wages are costing you sixty cents per article in his department4 ,tell these employes you will give them one-third or one-half of whatever they can save in their departments4 ,you will find ,department ,a will cost you from seventy to seventy-five cents per article thereafter1 and ,department ,b from fifty to fifty-five cents per article1 and in the meantime the foreman of the department is making more money for you1 and likewise making more money for himself1 than under the old system4 ,this matter of expense is most important1 and should have the most serious attention of the proprietor4 ,advice ,one of the things most frequently asked for and yet one seldom made use of1 is advice4 ,ninety-nine times out of a hundred the man who comes to you for advice as a matter of fact really wants to have his own opinion confirmed4 ,do not go around with a pocket full of advice offering it to everyone4 ,if you advise a man to change his habits or manner of life he will resent your proffered aid4 ,the best way to give advice is to take another fellow for example and hit your friend through the illustration of the other fellow4 ,let him discover the point himself rather than let it appear that you are telling him the thing4 ,the matter of advice is a very hard thing to properly understand4 ,you advise another to do a certain thing1 forgetting in the meanwhile1 that if you were in his position your view-point would be his and not your own4 ,you play your strong qualities against his weak ones4 ,it is easy enough for you to advise a drunkard not to drink1 but difficult for you to understand his view point on the subject if you are not a drinking man yourself4 ,giving advice usually comes about because we see a weakness in others4 ,the opposite of this weakness is a feature in our own make-up4 ,the business man who is constantly asking advice is advertising the fact of his uncertainty of his own actions4 ,your great problems must be decided by yourself4 ,the one thing that separates the sheep from the goats1 and success from failure1 is the ability to analyze1 study and weigh problems for yourself1 and to make decisions for yourself4 ,the law of compensation comes in here again1 for in proportion as you have self-reliance and good judgment your success will be measured4 ,you may rely upon it that if you go about seeking advice1 you will get two kinds of advice--,first3 the advice that concurs with your own preference or decision2 and1 second1 the kind that is in opposition to your views4 ,you accept the first kind because it tickles your vanity1 and you throw aside the second1 saying the advice is prejudiced4 ,don't ask advice4 ,size up and weigh the problem yourself and use your own best judgment4 ,reading ,the business man who goes along day by day without taking on any responsibilities or without tackling more difficult problems1 finds he does not progress4 ,the man who gets into a rut and reads light1 frothy literature all the time--the kind that is pleasing to the imagination1 the kind that leaves no permanent impression--does not progress mentally4 ,reading should be like eating1 we should have the dessert as well as the substantials4 ,it would be a great mistake to eat dessert alone1 and it is certainly a mistake to read light1 frothy reading matter alone4 ,one of the prime requisites to a successful career is concentration of thought4 ,few things will dissipate thought as much as over-reading of newspapers4 ,the newspaper starts in with the first page1 and by the time you have finished the last column oh the last page you may have read a hundred articles1 each one of these articles touching on a different line of thought4 ,the daily newspaper contains climaxes of all kinds4 ,each article is a distinct change of thought4 ,the daily newspaper gives us statistics1 sorrow1 laughter1 crime1 passion1 death1 lies1 humor1 and so on all through the gamut of the scale of human experience4 ,the man who craves the newspaper soon finds his line of thought frequently interrupted1 side-stepped1 drawn1 cut off and dispersed4 ,abundant evidences are at hand where the book reader acquired the daily newspaper habit and reads the daily to such an extent that it is impossible for him to read books thereafter4 ,he has broken his continuity of thought1 and when this happens book reading is impossible4 ,everyone should read two or three or more books at a time4 ,one should be an interesting book1 whether history1 story or comedy1 so long as it is well written and along lines that will hold one's interest4 ,one should read one book after another of this sort as a dessert for his dinner1 as it were1 but along with it he should eat substantial food in the nature of substantial reading4 ,do not read yourself to sleep at night over a light novel4 ,read your novel for an hour or so2 then take up your old philosopher or scientist and read a page1 or as much as necessary to find some thought clearly expressed so that it will be burned into your mind4 ,that thought will remain and will be of service to you in years to come4 ,read daily newspapers scantily4 ,read items concerning the business you are engaged in4 ,read the doings of ,congress and the important events of the day4 ,go over the head-lines1 if need be1 and eliminate all those shocking stories of crime and sordid influence4 ,do not let yourself get into the habit of reading the details of horrible crimes and bad impulses and criminal acts4 ,skip over all the details of hangings and murders4 ,they are weeds in the mind that choke up the beautiful flowers of thought4 ,remember1 everything you read depresses or elevates1 and in proportion as you accustom yourself to read substantial matter so in proportion you will progress in this world1 and have a flood of thoughts at your command when requirements come upon you calling for clean-cut expressions4 ,you will write better letters1 you will converse better1 you will enjoy social intercourse better if you read helpful reading matter from books and read newspapers very sparingly4 ,argument ,not once in a thousand times will one man convince another in an argument1 and the benefits you get if you do convince the other fellow will not compensate you for the waste of energy expended on the other nine hundred and ninety-nine times when your efforts failed4 ,you convince a man against his will and he is of the same opinion still4 ,there is a mighty lot of difference between argument and reason4 ,you may accomplish more by dividing your case into one or two good reasons and telling your adversary that you will not argue the case1 but you will let him look at these reasons1 and when he takes it up logically you will have no fear of his conclusion1 for truth must triumph4 ,while argument itself is a footless proposition1 it is infinitely more so if your argument is with those of less mental calibre than your own1 for by the law of compensation1 in proportion as a man is ignorant1 he makes up in perversity and lack of analytical ability4 ,do not stoop to contend with those who have no standing1 mentally1 morally or physically4 ,it is a waste of time4 ,if it is your purpose to change a man's opinion1 do not try to do it by argument4 ,study the ground carefully4 ,state your points with preciseness1 make careful analysis of every phase of the situation1 take up the matter point by point4 ,start with your adversary by getting on ground on which you both will agree4 ,take up the points on which there can be little chance for differences of opinion4 ,you will find the other man will get in the habit of agreeing with your propositions and that his antagonism weakens4 ,state facts that are right and truthful1 and are so plain that the truth will be self-evident4 ,after you have made several propositions on which the other man agrees with you wholly1 then make a proposition that is ninety per cent4 his way and ten per cent4 your way4 ,gradually increase that ten per cent4 until you swing him around so that he sees the truth4 ,he then imagines that he has made the deduction himself4 ,remember1 you can swing the biggest ship around by a steady1 slow1 gentle pull4 ,on the other hand a sudden strain on the hawser would produce no effect whatever on the ship4 ,the man who wishes to convert another to his way of thinking must be a diplomat if he is successful4 ,do not get excited1 keep cool and collected1 be sure of your ground1 be positive in your assertions1 make the whole matter clear1 and use good judgment1 sound reason and clear logic4 ,speculation ,you are playing against odds when you speculate4 ,the only man who has a sure thing on the ,board of ,trade or ,stock ,exchange or the race track is the man with the ,wienerwurst privilege4 ,the successful business man some day wakes up to the fact that his bills are paid1 and that he has surplus money4 ,this surplus money should be used for investment purposes and not for speculation4 ,of course1 it is hard to draw the line where investment leaves off and speculation begins4 ,when you speculate on margins you are like the fellow holding on a bear's tail as it runs around a tree--if you lose your hold the bear will get you4 ,the man who makes an investment1 buying stocks or real estate and paying cash for them does not have to worry about the market4 ,prices may be up or down1 but the man who has paid for what he has bought will sleep well4 ,you can't beat the speculation game4 ,the only ones who make a success1 and their success is ephemeral1 are those who make speculation their whole occupation4 ,the professional speculator is merely a high grade gambler1 and he always winds up a loser4 ,go to the ,stock ,exchange or the ,board of ,trade and you will see at either place a half a dozen old fellows hanging around4 ,they are all men who have seen better days4 ,a little inquiry and diplomacy on your part will bring forth the fact that these men were once prominent figures on ',change4 ,when you have more money than you need in your business buy good farm lands out west1 or good timber lands4 ,no man ever bought good farm land or good timber land at the prevailing market price and lost money eventually4 ,of course1 at different seasons of the year the price of land may go down a little temporarily1 but the moment a good crop comes in1 the price goes up again4 ,with good clear farm land you can always go to the nearest bank and borrow from sixty to seventy-five per cent4 of its value4 ,real estate is the true basis of wealth1 and if you want to play a sure game1 buy land that produces things4 ,when you buy vacant property in a large city1 it is mere speculation4 ,the land does not bring in any remuneration1 and you are simply betting that the prices will increase4 ,every large city has abundant instances of vacant property that is not worth as much now as it was ten or twenty years ago4 ,real estate booms come in cycles4 ,prices go up and men get the fever and buy vacant property4 ,the boom explodes1 property goes down and you can't get your money back4 ,the chances are you have bought the property on two or three years' time1 and it certainly is paying for a white elephant when you are paying for land that is worth less than what it cost you4 ,you cannot get out1 however1 because the original payment has already been made1 and your only hope is to save something on your investment4 ,notwithstanding the fact that certain business sections and certain residence sections in any city steadily increase in price1 yet the average real estate in the city increases by very slow percentage4 ,the same amount of money1 put out in mortgages1 with the interest added and compounded1 will develop wealth greater than the average vacant property investment1 for where one lot soars up to a high price there are a hundred that don't increase at all1 and the picking out of the lot that is going to increase in value is as hard as picking out the horse that is going to win the race4 ,it is because the vacant city property has only speculative value that the business man should not touch it4 ,buy farm property that you can rent4 ,it will bring you interest on your money right along1 and the tendency of farm land is and always has been steadily forward4 ,mr4 ,yerkes1 of ,chicago1 was a speculator who made millions in the street-car system4 ,he was thoroughly familiar with ,hydraulics1 and he soaked the stocks as full of water as possible and then unloaded on the investors who speculated in street-car stocks4 ,these speculators are now holding the bag4 ,when ,mr4 ,yerkes closed out his holdings in ,chicago he granted an interview1 and one truth he uttered in that interview has ever been remembered by the writer4 ,it is so valuable an expression coming from such a successful speculator that we are going to give it to you4 ,it is as follows3 ,i have never known a business man to successfully speculate in grains or stocks for two years4 ,the business man who is watching the ticker or calling up the ,stock ,exchange every day1 who takes little flyers1 is skating on mighty thin ice4 ,when you buy farms you are exchanging your money for the most certain thing in the world1 for the basis of all wealth is land1 and money simply represents the things which come out of the land4 ,the things that grow on the land are exchanged for gold1 and the gold is exchanged for things that come out of the land4 ,the ,government exchanges the gold for pieces of paper called money1 which in reality means that you can exchange these pieces of paper for gold1 and you can exchange the gold for the things that come out of and grow upon the land4 ,the stock broker may not like this chapter because the more speculation the more he benefits4 ,he gets a rake-off every time a man buys and every time a man sells4 ,he plays a sure thing4 ,he is like the man with the ,wienerwurst privilege4 ,don't ,speculate4 ,invest4 ,elimination ,one of the greatest brain savers is elimination4 ,every man should try to operate along lines of the least resistance1 eliminate the deterrent influences and all things that fret him4 ,do not look for trouble4 ,do not concern yourself too much over disagreeable things over which you have no control4 ,do not build up an intricate system in your business4 ,have simplicity your ideal4 ,eliminate all useless moves4 ,if you have disturbing influences in your institution1 such as an employe who is continually causing friction1 eliminate that employe4 ,the man who causes friction is pulling back on the forward impulses of your business1 and he is holding back one or more men who are trying to help you forward4 ,get rid of useless things that take your time or cause you worry4 ,remember that as you grow successful people will come to you under various excuses to get your aid financially or morally4 ,they want you to go into new companies4 ,the officers of the ,club to which you belong will ask you to be a director4 ,you will be invited to dinners1 asked to speak1 asked to do a thousand and one things1 and in proportion as you accede to these demands you will find the demands increasing until finally you have little time to attend to your own affairs or to attend to your family4 ,have as your center idea--elimination4 ,everything that takes your time from your business or your family is an extra tax on your strength4 ,eliminate every habit that holds you back1 every practice that unfits you for progress1 every person who depresses you1 every move that is not necessary1 every footless idea that crowds your brain4 ,the ,specialist ,when this nation of ours was born nearly every one was a generalist4 ,the merchant sold a general line of merchandise4 ,the doctor was also a farmer and a horse trader4 ,in those days there were very few specialists4 ,as time passed some of the wiser individuals turned specialist and succeeded4 ,the doctor who is a generalist cannot excel in any one branch of medicine1 or compete with the specialist who devotes all his time and study and practice towards one point and towards the treatment of a specific ailment4 ,the merchant who sells everything cannot compete with the man who makes it his business to sell one class of goods4 ,this is an age of specialists1 and what we considered a specialist twenty-five years ago is only a generalist from the present standpoint4 ,the specialist of twenty-five years ago has been divided again and again4 ,the best doctor today is one who doctors the eye alone1 the stomach alone1 or the nerves alone4 ,he can do more for you and knows more of your case in five minutes' observation than the generalist would in three months4 ,with the keen competition of these days it is necessary for the individual to be a specialist in business4 ,pleasure and recreation are the only things in which an individual should be a generalist4 ,were it not for specialists we should know little about the sun1 little of electricity1 little of steam1 little of railroads1 little of advertising1 little of anything else4 ,it is because individuals have made a speciality of one thing1 because they have concentrated their energies and their brain power on one thing that the world has progressed4 ,recreation is for relaxation1 and the business man should see to it that he gets the full benefit of recreation4 ,if he carries specialism into recreation1 recreation is spoiled1 for the moment a man is a specialist in recreation he strives to excel1 and this striving to excel is hard work1 and that is the same thing he is doing in business4 ,the business man who plays billiards and no other game doubtless will play a better game than the generalist who indulges in all sorts of games and recreations1 but the man who makes a specialty of billiards finds his powers centered on this game of billiards4 ,he puts his thought on it and wishes to excel1 he wishes to make a record1 and billiards then become business4 ,this striving to excel in a game brings forth the same gambling instinct manifested in business4 ,it is his ,i will4 ,the business man who plays a good game of billiards some day meets his superior1 and the superior is the individual who does nothing but play billiards4 ,if a man tries to be a specialist in billiards and a specialist in business1 even though both callings commence with ,b1 he will find that a division of effort is a division of results1 and he will not be a success in either business or billiards4 ,in proportion as he excels in billiards he will be lacking in business1 and vice versa4 ,we remember the story of a young friend of ,herbert ,spencer who joined the great philosopher in a game of billiards4 ,the young man played a most excellent game4 ,when they had finished ,spencer remarked3 ,young man1 your education has been greatly neglected1 you play billiards too well4 ,be a specialist in business and a generalist in pleasure4 ,play billiards1 swim1 ride1 play golf and indulge in all athletic sports and so long as you get uniform pleasure and recreation from these things you are doing right1 you are helping your mind and developing your body and letting your brain rest1 so that it may be keen and a greater help in your specialty1 which is business4 ,the world needs specialists1 and it needs specialists in recreation as well as business1 but the man who tries to be a specialist in business as well as a specialist in recreation will fail in both1 or1 at least1 his success will be only moderate4 ,it is necessary for life's scheme that we have individuals who have steady incomes so that they do not require to enter the strenuous business life4 ,it is necessary to have such individuals1 so that they may devote themselves to being specialists in recreation1 otherwise the sports would die out4 ,if you go in for sport do not expect you can compete with anybody who goes in for sport exclusively4 ,you can't win in two callings or occupations4 ,the ,string ,there is a string to every proposition1 and it behooves you to look out for the string before acceding to the requests that are made of you4 ,when a stranger comes and offers to do things for you1 to let you in on the ground floor1 or assures you that he is working for your interest1 you may be sure there is a string to his proposition1 and the string is that1 as a matter of fact1 it is himself instead of you he is looking out for4 ,don't bite at the chance that is offered you to get something for nothing4 ,the biggest kind of a string is always in such a proposition4 ,remember this1 that people are selfish4 ,each man looks out for his own interest1 and even if he is protecting your interest1 it is because his own interest will be better conserved by looking out for yours4 ,don't decide on important matters too quickly4 ,don't get tied up in big contracts with strangers until you have found every strand of the string4 ,don't be too suspicious but hunt for the string4 ,it pays to be very conservative on all matters in which others are interested4 ,sometimes the string in the proposition is legitimate and the other fellow may be more interested than you are1 but it certainly behooves you to see what this string is and to understand exactly where the end of the string is tied4 ,don't draw up in your shell and look upon every man with a proposition as trying to take advantage of you1 but put down this as a truth--,there is a string to every proposition1 and you must find that string before you close the deal4 ,horse ,sense ,just how the expression horse sense came into use is not known1 but the meaning of the combination means good reason1 old fashioned logic1 simple analysis and actual truth1 and the basing of your actions upon simple things rather than complex things4 ,the man who uses horse sense in his transactions gets along further and faster than the man who uses selfishness and smartness4 ,to be possessed of horse sense is a most valuable asset4 ,it is something you can use every day of your life4 ,horse sense is really one of the things that makes up the law of compensation4 ,the law of compensation itself is the quintessence of horse sense4 ,luck is the gambling chance1 and horse sense is the investment and security chance4 ,the man with horse sense may not go as far in a day as the man with luck1 but he will progress more days and go further eventually than the lucky man4 ,horse sense is one of the most valuable things in the business world1 and it is one of the rarest things4 ,it is so valuable because it is so rare4 ,in the business world today the men who are doing great things are the men who have horse sense4 ,we call these men wonderful and look upon their accomplishments as the result of some mysterious1 wonder-working power that they possess4 ,wonder workers are only flashes in the pan4 ,do not hire your employes on account of your preference for a certain color hair or certain colored eyes4 ,do not hire your employes on account of their physical appearance1 or on account of their ability to dress in the height of fashion4 ,get down to their net worth4 ,find out how much horse sense they have4 ,hire employes1 as far as possible1 who are blessed with old fashioned horse sense4 ,the ,manager ,the good manager is one who commands respect1 not through his authority but because those under him appreciate that he has more ability and experience than they have4 ,the selection of a good manager is very important1 for the success of one's business depends upon its management4 ,the proprietor cannot do all the things himself1 and he must rely upon his lieutenants4 ,give a certain class of work to ten girls4 ,put them in a room by themselves with no one in authority4 ,come back next day and you will find that there is one girl who is laying out the work for the others4 ,there is something in this girl that makes her a natural manager1 and there is a certain instinct amongst the rest of the girls that makes them acknowledge this one girl as their superior1 and the one to go to for advice4 ,this natural leadership is the quality the manager should possess4 ,above all1 the manager1 like the boss1 must know how to do things he hires others to do1 and the things we have said concerning the boss is likewise true of the manager1 for the manager is the next step below the boss4 ,the successful boss would not have obtained his present position if he had not been a good manager previously4 ,let the manager read thoroughly our chapter on the boss if he has ambition to be boss some day4 ,the mistake frequently made by the manager is to take credit himself for the work done by those under him1 for such a manager may be sure that sooner or later his position in this respect will be found out1 and to his surprise he will find that the employe who has been doing the things for which he has taken credit will take the manager's place4 ,employes are quick to detect this spirit in the manager4 ,they see that their own efforts are not known to the boss1 and it makes them indifferent1 because they see no appreciation for what they are doing4 ,on the other hand1 if the manager says a good word to the boss concerning an employe who has shown marked ability1 it redounds to the manager's credit that he is liberal enough to give credit where it properly belongs4 ,truth will out as sure as the sun will shine1 and the manager cannot conceal his subordinates' abilities and pass them off as his own for any length of time4 ,the good manager will say a kind word to the boss about the employe1 if he is the right sort4 ,it makes an employe feel confidence in the manager when he knows that the manager is appreciative and ready to tell his superior of good things in the employe's favor4 ,the manager who is bad tempered1 suspicious and tries to take credit that does not belong to him is only holding his position temporarily1 and some day he will be let out of the institution for which he is working1 and will find himself forced to the extremity of getting a place somewhere else back in the ranks from which he had temporarily risen4 ,selling ,time was when the best salesman was the one who could tell the biggest lies1 drink the most whiskey and show his customers the liveliest time4 ,today the best salesman is distinguished by the following attributes3 ,truth1 trustworthiness1 together with a fine knowledge of the goods he is selling4 ,the man who sells goods must be prepared to hear from nearly every man that his price is too high4 ,if the buyers would always tell the truth1 then the salesman who sold the most goods would simply be the one who actually sold at the lowest price4 ,price does not mean anything4 ,price is high or low only when quality is taken into consideration4 ,the man who sells merchandise1 or advertising1 for instance1 must be thoroughly acquainted himself with the thing he sells4 ,he must be reliable1 he must give good measure1 he must keep his word4 ,we hear a good deal about the live-wire1 rapid-fire salesman1 who goes out on his initial trip and comes back with a bagful of orders4 ,it must be remembered that ever and always there is the law of compensation to take into consideration4 ,the salesman who bags a lot of orders on the first trip does not get so many the second time4 ,he has colored his picture too highly on the first trip4 ,he has made too many side promises1 too many mis-statements1 and the customer finds out he cannot be believed1 and this smooth article of a salesman is not as welcome in the buyer's office the second trip4 ,on the other hand and in strict accordance with the law of compensation1 the salesman who tells the truth1 who moves quickly1 who does what he agrees to and knows what he is talking about1 who talks convincingly and attends strictly to business will eventually succeed4 ,the great house of ,marshall ,field ,co4 of ,chicago have operated along the line of fairness1 good treatment and willingness to right a wrong and correct a mistake quickly4 ,marshall ,field had horse sense when he inaugurated his business4 ,wonder workers who start out with a burst of speed and smash records in the matter of selling will still be salesmen at fifty years of age1 for you can't go fast far4 ,those wonder workers change frequently4 ,they flit from house to house4 ,they work because they need the money to have a good time with1 and as soon as they get the money they proceed to have a good time until their little pile runs out1 and then they get another job4 ,business men know this wonder worker well4 ,go into any wholesale house and you will find them4 ,they are living in the past and relating their conquests4 ,they never speak of the present but always of the past4 ,they have done things they can't do again4 ,the good salesman is doing things now better than he has done in the past4 ,the permanently successful salesman does not cut much of a figure in the matter of dress4 ,he is not as handsome as the wonder worker4 ,in fact1 he may be physically uncouth1 but he has a heart under his rough exterior4 ,the customers he mingles with have confidence in him4 ,they know he will do what he promises1 and finally this man is the one who builds up a good trade and at fifty years of age he has a place of his own1 sends salesmen on the road1 and his house does a good business because his policy permeates the institution1 and the customers have confidence in the house because he is at the head of it1 and they are familiar with his methods and practice4 ,some buyers seem to think that it is necessary for them to give the impression to the seller that they are buying at lower prices than the seller quotes4 ,the wonder worker tries to make each customer believe that he is buying at the lowest price4 ,the common sense salesman does not resort to such tactics4 ,the average buyer does not concern himself so much about being able to buy cheaper as he does to feel sure that his competitor does not get better treatment than he does4 ,in the matter of selling there is no one thing that ultimately proves so successful as the one price plan4 ,by that we mean the same price to all who purchase the same quantity or the same amount in a given time4 ,the more elastic and variable your prices1 the more ingenuity required to keep these cut prices from getting into the hands of your customers4 ,this matter of cutting prices causes no end of worry4 ,in proportion as you indulge in cutting prices1 so in proportion you will receive an increased number of cut price offers4 ,let it be known that your prices are subject to reduction at the hands of a smooth buyer1 and the news will travel fast4 ,let it be known that you don't cut prices1 and that news will gain currency in the trade1 and you will not have cut prices offered you4 ,there is something in the matter of selling beyond dollars and cents1 and that is dollars and sense4 ,remember this1 when you sell goods you are also selling reputation4 ,if your goods are bad your reputation will be bad too4 ,you can't have a good reputation and sell bad goods and make a permanent success4 ,remember1 every sale you make is an advertisement4 ,remember1 you can take advantage of the buyer once or twice1 but if you want to hold his trade you must be fair with him4 ,smooth tactics that bring in present money react and lose trade for you later on4 ,vacations ,every man owes it to himself and to his family to take a vacation each year4 ,vacate means to get out or away from1 and if you take your so called vacation by a trip to another city and spend your time in the whirl of industry1 you are not helping yourself1 you are not taking a vacation4 ,neither are you resting your mind and body if you go to a swell summer resort where white duck trousers in the day and full dress in the evening is the rule4 ,the real vacation you get is when you take yourself away from the business marts of trade1 and go to a place where you can get your feet on good old mother earth4 ,go where fences are unknown1 where there are no keep off the grass signs1 climb the hills1 walk through the forests1 fill your lungs with good ozone1 say to yourself all these beautiful things are mine4 ,nature has arranged it so that the poorest man in the world can get the most priceless things as easily as the multi-millionaire4 ,the four most precious things in the world are good air1 good food1 good water and good health4 ,money cannot buy any one of these things4 ,the man with millions cannot get any better air1 or more nourishing food1 or purer water1 or better health than can the poor man4 ,the man who goes to the big woods for his vacation1 who lives out of doors1 who gets near to nature1 is putting by a reserve in his constitution and brain that he will draw upon for the remainder of the year4 ,such vacations will clear the cobwebs from your brain4 ,it will give you ability to do greater things1 and make you see the beautiful side of life4 ,a man should not depend wholly on his two or three weeks in the woods1 however4 ,he should take a little vacation every day4 ,he should arrange to get some benefit for his brain and body in each twenty-four hours4 ,he should take a few moments each day and devote it to mental and physical relaxation4 ,and1 above all1 he can get a good vacation every twenty-four hours if he sleeps properly4 ,our good friend ,grizzly ,pete1 of ,frozen ,dog1 understands the real vacation when he says4 ,mighty pleasin' sport1 you bet1 sittin' on a rock2 ,beats a store or office an' workin' by a clock4 ,clears away the cobwebs from your weary brain2 ,gives you inspiration2 makes you a man again4 ,there ain't no medicine ,i know for the appetite ,like a summer mornin'1 waitin' fer a bite4 ,lazy summer days are here--ain't you kind o' wishin' ,that you had your old clothes on1 an' was settin here a-fishin'8 ,health ,there is no misfortune1 no real hard luck except sickness and poor health4 ,if you find your health is becoming impaired1 change your methods and vocation4 ,change before it is too late4 ,a stitch in time saves nine times nine in matters of health4 ,get plenty of exercise1 good air1 good water1 sleep with your windows open in winter as well as summer1 walk over two miles every day4 ,avoid worry4 ,do good deeds4 ,help others4 ,eliminate evil thoughts and deterrent influences4 ,if your health is impaired1 forsake dollars if necessary and make health your first concern4 ,dollars are worth having1 but sense is infinitely better to be possessed of4 ,if your health will not permit you to get dollars and cents1 then make it your object to get health and sense4 ,rockefeller would give his millions if he could have the health of nearly any of the thousand of employes who work for him4 ,a good stomach is rather to be chosen than great riches4 ,patience ,supposin' fish don't bite at first1 ,what are you goin' to do8 ,throw down your pole1 chuck out your bait1 ,an' say your fishin's through8 ,you bet you ain't2 you're goin' to fish1 ,an' fish1 an' fish1 an' wait ,until you've ketched a basketful ,or used up all your bait4 ,suppose success don't come at first1 ,what are you goin' to do8 ,throw up the sponge and kick yourself8 ,an' growl1 an' fret1 an' stew8 ,you bet you ain't2 you're goin' to fish1 ,an' bait1 an' bait agin1 ,until success will bite your hook1 ,for grit is sure to win4 ,patient effort and hard work each day1 properly directed1 will surely bring success4 ,failure comes to those who grow weary in the struggle1 and to those who overwork themselves and overtax their abilities4 ,such persons hope that by large sacrifices of sleep and happiness1 and by extra application and hard work1 they will build for themselves fortune1 that they may be happy at some future time4 ,they make a great mistake in this respect4 ,divide your energies so that each individual day is successful1 no matter how much the success may be4 ,it is the men who are doing little things today who will be picked out to do great things tomorrow4 ,and while you are making a little success each day1 be sure that your heart sings while your hands work4 ,men who can do things are discovered4 ,they need not push themselves to the front4 ,good men are scarce1 and the great successful business men of today are the ones who know how to do the work that they are hiring employes to do4 ,talent in this direction will surely attract the attention of your superiors4 ,learn to master the details of your business yourself4 ,use conscientious effort and painstaking effort4 ,make a round-up each night of what you have done during the day4 ,see wherein you have been in error and wherein you could have improved the day's work and you will be better fitted for tomorrow's duties4 ,after closing your day's business1 devote a part of the evening to your family and friends1 and a part of it to some good book4 ,it is not the clock that strikes the loudest that keeps the best time4 ,the expensive chronometer works steadily along doing its work well and faithfully4 ,it does not attract as much attention as the gilt clock with its sweet chimes1 but men who know things are aware that the chronometer has the more real merit4 ,have the chronometer for your ideal and not the fancy clock1 for true merit will certainly receive due reward4 ,we should all have some ideal which we hope to attain tomorrow1 but let us remember that the way to reach the ideal tomorrow is to make today successful4 ,patience is a virtue few of us are possessed of1 but the story of every successful business has written on every page of its history patience and perseverance4 ,do not get discouraged if your rate of progress each day is not as much as you hoped for1 but1 so long as you are going forward and are patient1 you may be sure that you are gaining4 ,hard ,times ,hard times follow good times with unerring regularity and certainty2 this is in perfect accordance with the rule of compensation4 ,in good times we should prepare ourselves and erect strong guards around our business1 so that when hard times come we may find ourselves able to go through the troublous times4 ,if prosperity ran on unchecked1 the ordinary1 well-established business would soon be a thing of the past1 for people would speculate instead of work4 ,when the manufacturer has his bills paid and finds a surplus in the bank1 that surplus is likely to be turned into speculation4 ,when everyone speculates values rise1 and continue to rise until prices reach fictitious altitudes1 and then comes about the cashing in4 ,it so happens that the cashing in is a general movement1 and when this happens hard times quickly follow4 ,the successful business man should keep his money where it is get-at-able1 and when hard times come and the prices go away down to low water mark1 then he should buy4 ,later on prosperity will return1 as sure as the sun will rise1 and the things bought during the hard times will greatly increase in value4 ,hard times and prosperity rotate several times in a man's business career4 ,hard times are necessary to the general scheme1 for with continuous prosperity business would increase to such a momentum that there is no telling what the results would be4 ,in times of prosperity you must make preparations for the hard times that are sure to come4 ,if your pumps are greater than your leaks1 your craft won't sink when the storm of adversity and hard times breaks across your ship4 ,sleep ,no one can do his best work if his mind is wool gathering4 ,if an employe is thinking about the races1 he is cheating his boss1 for he cannot give him his best service4 ,if the employe is in the habit of being up late nights1 he cannot concentrate his mind nor bring out the best there is in him4 ,nothing is so good for the hard worker1 nothing will stand him in such good stead1 as plenty of sleep4 ,go to bed early4 ,get lots of sleep every night and you will be ready and strong for the fray of the morrow4 ,if you get plenty of sleep you are far ahead of your fellow employe who does not get enough sleep4 ,sleep smooths out the wrinkles1 builds up a storage battery in you and gives you confidence in yourself4 ,you hold your head higher1 your step is more elastic1 your eyes are clearer1 your mind works better1 and your stomach does its full duty if you have taken plenty of time for sleep1 for sleep is the plan of nature to restore the mind and the body4 ,lack of sleep means wilful waste of your energies and a dulling of your abilities4 ,business men pay for ability1 keenness1 alertness and capacity1 and in proportion as you limit these qualifications by lack of sleep1 so in proportion will your salary be kept down4 ,grumbling ,grumbling kills friends4 ,the business man who is ever grumbling and growling about things makes a blue atmosphere about him4 ,people somehow or other seem to prefer a rosy atmosphere to a blue4 ,there is no good in grumbling4 ,it gains nothing4 ,grumbling is an evidence that you have not sized things up correctly4 ,that you are laboring under a delusion2 that you are looking at the world through blue glasses1 that you are not making proper estimates of other people4 ,grumbling is an advertisement to the world that you are not well balanced4 ,grumbling won't help things a bit4 ,the more you indulge in the habit the more firmly it becomes fixed upon you1 and later you will find it almost impossible to shake it off4 ,the grumbler grows to be a pessimist2 he says disagreeable things2 he makes his friends feel ill at ease4 ,the grumbler gradually loses his acquaintances and even his close friends4 ,if you are starting on the grumbling path1 pull yourself together and cut the habit quick and short4 ,grumbling and indigestion go hand in hand4 ,if you have indigestion1 square yourself against it1 make up your mind you will not indulge yourself and vent your ill feelings in grumbling4 ,if you can start out each day with a resolve not to grumble you will find the proposition not difficult4 ,the first two or three hours of the day is the time when your resistance is called into play4 ,there is no better antidote or cure for the poisonous grumbling disposition than the following1 which has been for many years a pet sermonette of the writer3 ,be pleasant in the morning until ten o'clock1 the rest of the day will take care of itself4 ,associates ,birds of a feather flock together4 ,a man is known by the company he keeps4 ,like begets like4 ,we are creatures of environment4 ,all these truthful sayings have been preserved as proverbs simply because they are simon pure truths4 ,the matter of associates is most important for the business man or employe to consider4 ,the young man who spends his time in gambling1 drinking or dissipation cannot do his best work4 ,he can no more hide these practices than the clouds can obscure the sun permanently1 for evil1 as well as truth1 is sure to come out4 ,one of the best attributes a man can possess is character4 ,character gives him credit at the bank1 it gives him a standing among men4 ,if the employe ever expects to be a boss he must have character1 and he must associate with men of ideas who will be helpful to him4 ,a man will never improve his game of billiards if he always associates and plays with an inferior4 ,he may satisfy himself for the time being that he is a big toad in a little puddle1 but if he plays with a poorer player than he is he is bound to retrograde4 ,the only way we can advance is to surround ourselves and associate with uplifting influences and healthful individuals4 ,our eyes should be turned forward and not backward4 ,it will make several seconds difference in the speed of a horse whether he is running against a horse he can beat or running against a horse that can beat him4 ,race horse men have reduced this truth to actual practice4 ,they have what is called a pace maker4 ,when they want a horse to trot fast they mount a boy on a running horse just ahead of the trotter4 ,if a man associates with his inferiors1 the association will surely keep him from progressing4 ,if you want to make money1 if you want to progress in the business world1 go where money is being made and mix with people who are making money4 ,no man is naturally bad4 ,no man gives himself over to criminal acts or hurtful habits solely upon his own instincts4 ,these actions and habits come about through associations4 ,go to the criminal court any day and you will see evidences of the man who is pulled down on account of his associates4 ,mix with your superiors in matters of business and morals and you will unconsciously absorb qualities and ideas that will push you to the front4 ,hitch your wagon to a star4 ,aim high4 ,pick out ideals in business1 and eliminate from your path all deterrent influences4 ,there is no hold-back like harmful associations4 ,you will be judged by the company you keep4 ,old dog ,tray was really a good dog1 but he suffered because of his propensity to associate with bad dogs4 ,fixed ,charges ,fixed charges are sums you have to pay out regularly1 week after week1 or year after year4 ,when you buy materials and supplies1 when you lease property or hire employes1 or pay interest on borrowed money all such things are fixed charges1 and it calls for the best there is in a man to keep these fixed charges down as low as possible4 ,when you buy a single item1 such as a desk or a chair or a waste basket1 do not lose a lot of valuable time trying to save too much on those articles4 ,when you go to ,new ,york once a year1 do not stay at a second class hotel for the several days you are in ,new ,york1 when by the expenditure of fifty cents a day more you could stop at a good hotel4 ,it is false economy to spend five dollars' worth of time to save fifty cents4 ,when you are buying single articles that are not fixed charges you have a little more leeway in the matter of price than when you are buying things that come under the head of fixed charges4 ,in the matter of fixed charges the penny you save on the unit assumes vast proportions in the many multiples4 ,some men will deny themselves a respectable desk because they can buy a cheaper one for ten dollars less1 and this same person will lose a thousand dollars through laxity in buying things that come under the head of fixed charges4 ,if you buy one lead pencil never mind whether the price is five or ten cents1 but if you buy great gross lots every few weeks you can afford to be very circumspect and painstaking in the matter of price4 ,if you are buying a shirt1 fifty cents one way or the other does not make much difference1 but if you are in the furnishing goods business and buying thousands of shirts at a time1 twenty-five cents a dozen means quite a lot4 ,the matter of stationery and printing comes under the head of fixed charges4 ,if you are buying letter paper for your personal use and you require but three or four hundred sheets in the course of a year1 don't bother very much about the price per quire4 ,the stationery you use in your business1 which you buy in large quantities1 you should be careful of4 ,plain1 respectable1 good quality letter paper is the kind used by successful concerns4 ,the fancy-colored1 freakish paper is nearly always used by the four-flusher in business4 ,he is trying to put on a good front4 ,he uses hand made paper and hand made envelopes4 ,all the get-rich-quick people use fancy1 high-priced stationery4 ,the successful house uses a good quality of linen or bond paper1 and a medium grade1 regular stock size envelope4 ,envelopes are thrown away2 letters are saved4 ,that is why an envelope does not require to be as good quality as the letter4 ,it is the letter and what you put on the letter that cuts the ice4 ,fixed charges usually hide a lot of little leaks4 ,stop them4 ,many little leaks make a big aggregate in the course of a year1 and there is no place where these leaks start as easily as in the matter of fixed charges4 ,cigarets ,we cannot call to mind a single instance where the habitual cigaret smoker got to the top of the ladder and held his position4 ,we see heads of large establishments smoke cigarets1 but the habit was acquired after the position was attained4 ,the cigaret smoker suffers from lapses of memory1 his nerves are shattered1 his judgment is not good1 he forgets things and is irritable4 ,he cannot hope to compete with the clear-brained individual who does not smoke cigarets4 ,it is not the cigaret itself that does the harm1 it is the smoke inhaled into the delicate lung tissue4 ,this smoke covers the lungs with yellow nicotine1 carbon and poisonous gases4 ,some men smoke pipes because they wish to escape the criticism to which the cigaret smoker is subject4 ,the pipe smoker who inhales does himself more injury than the cigaret smoker who inhales1 because the pipe smoker takes in more smoke4 ,go to the medical college dissecting room and see the lungs of a man who inhaled smoke1 and you will quit the habit if you have been guilty4 ,don't burn your lungs with cigaret smoke1 or pipe smoke either4 ,the fight to get to the front is hard enough anyway1 and if you want to win1 do not poison your blood with tobacco smoke4 ,return ,good ,for ,evil ,one of the first laws was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth1 but as time went on and man developed mentally his animal instincts were subordinated and the law was changed1 and the new law was this3 return good for evil4 ,nearly every man who has an injury done him tries to repay the injury4 ,he must either repay it with good or with evil4 ,if he repays it with evil he does not get satisfaction4 ,if he repays it with good he gets happiness4 ,it is certain that payment of evil with good can satisfy a man who is looking for revenge1 while it has always been a question whether there is any satisfaction in paying evil with evil4 ,if a man does you a mean turn he is expecting you will repay him in like manner4 ,he guards himself against this4 ,he is ready for your revenge1 but if you repay him with good you attack him in a weak spot and make him feel like thirty cents1 and this is all the revenge you can ask for4 ,it is all right to get square with a man who does you a wrong1 and the best way to get square is by doing him a good turn4 ,you should keep mental ledger accounts with all of your friends and all your enemies4 ,when a person does you an injury1 debit him until you have a chance to credit his account with some good turn2 when you credit his account be sure you overpay what you are owing him1 so you will have a balance coming to your credit4 ,we have been taught to return good for evil1 but we have heard the saying so many times that few of us pay any attention to it4 ,it's worth while testing1 this rule of returning good for evil4 ,the next time someone harms you1 repay him by doing him a kindness1 and see if you don't feel happier1 and at the same time get all the satisfaction you are looking for4 ,it matters not whether the person to whom you have done a kindness appreciates it2 you have been benefited and received happiness by your own act1 for virtue is its own reward4 ,the man who returns good for evil1 has the satisfaction of the man who has on clean underwear1 the world may not know it but he does1 and that is all that is necessary4 ,learn to ,play ,nature has given us many positives and negatives4 ,it has given us the ability to work hard1 and it has given us the ability to play hard4 ,work while you work and play while you play4 ,the man who is successful is the man who works hard during business hours1 and then goes home and leaves his office behind him and takes up play4 ,a man should devote a part of each day to recreation1 to outdoor exercise1 to frivolity and to frollicking with his children at home4 ,if he does not care to play1 worry will take the place of play4 ,worry and hard work together will kill a man4 ,work and play will make him live4 ,no two things can occupy the same space at the same time4 ,these brains of ours are always busy1 and we should be careful what we give the brain to act upon4 ,if we work hard all day1 the tendency is that in the evening the brain revolves the things that have been going through it during the day4 ,a review of these thoughts produces worry1 especially if our occupation has been a strenuous one and if things have not been to our liking4 ,when we devote ourselves to play1 then worry and brain rack will be absent all the time we are playing4 ,play was made to rest the brain4 ,your sleep will be better if you have indulged in recreation1 and your mind will be clearer the next morning4 ,good ,fellowship ,call a man a fellow and he will resent it1 call him a good fellow and he feels complimented4 ,the good fellow is ever found where pleasures abound4 ,he shines at the dinner4 ,his knowledge of mixed drinks is a revelation4 ,the good fellow spends his time where the glasses clink1 where the horses run1 and where the revelers congregate4 ,his earnings go for dinners1 bottles and shows1 and while these occupy his mind he imagines he is having a good time1 that his actions evidence good fellowship4 ,go to the clubs and you will see the good fellow4 ,he is spoken of by all the other good fellows as a good fellow4 ,and they are all good fellows together4 ,some day the good fellow is taken sick and dies4 ,he has not a cent to his name1 and the other good fellows take up a collection to bury him4 ,the only persons at the funeral are the other good fellows1 and the only requiem he receives is ,well1 he was a good fellow4 ,the good fellow at fifty is working for the good business man4 ,the good fellow is like the butterfly1 and sips life's pleasures1 and shows off his fancy colors1 living for today only4 ,the successful man is like the ant1 he works and puts something away each day1 where he can get at it in the future4 ,when winter comes with its chilling blasts1 the butterfly has nothing in reserve and it starves to death1 while the ant keeps himself alive on the product of his own labor4 ,some day the good fellow finds himself in need4 ,he goes to other good fellows1 but they can't help him because they are in the same boat themselves4 ,then our good fellow grows pessimistic1 and finds out too late that it does not pay to be a good fellow4 ,good fellows don't get good jobs very often4 ,when they do get them they don't hold them very long4 ,it is a mighty poor recommendation to be referred to as a good fellow4 ,people seem to think that the words good fellow cover a multitude of sins1 and when a man has done wrong1 or makes a mistake1 or uses bad judgment1 the other good fellows try to excuse his faults by saying--,well1 he is a good fellow1 anyhow4 ,the good fellow bursts upon us with his halo about him4 ,as time passes the halo dims and the good fellow peters out4 ,the good fellow who is so popular at the ,club today is found tomorrow trying to eke out an existence selling books and life insurance to other good fellows4 ,there is nothing in good fellowship that can be negotiated at the bank4 ,the credit man of the wholesale house does not give credit on good fellowship4 ,hard ,work ,it is a mistaken idea that hard work kills men4 ,hard work never killed a man4 ,it is the improper care of oneself when he is not working that does the damage4 ,the more a man does with his brain the less his hands will have to do4 ,the better a man's reasoning and common sense are1 the more successful he will be4 ,it requires hard work these days to keep up in the race4 ,you cannot make a success unless you work hard4 ,hard work will be much easier if you keep worry out of it4 ,hard work brings success1 but to do hard work1 the machinery must be in good order4 ,you must keep your constitution up1 you must have plenty of sleep and you must learn to eat and breathe properly4 ,no story of success has ever been truly written that did not depict hard work in every line4 ,success comes by inches1 not by leaps or bounds4 ,success is the pushing forward each day by hard work4 ,burn the candle at one end only and you replace each day what you have burned1 by rest1 sleep and recreation4 ,by burning the candle at one end only and replacing it fully each day1 your candle will not burn out4 ,kindness ,a little word in kindness spoken1 ,a motion or a tear1 ,has often healed the heart that's broken ,and made a friend sincere4 ,there's nothing in business that pays so well as kindness4 ,a man may spend his money1 and in proportion as he spends it he reduces his principal4 ,with kindness the matter is different1 for in proportion as you spend kindness your principal increases4 ,lincoln said ,you can catch more flies with a drop of honey than with a gallon of vinegar4 ,kindness is beautiful4 ,it brings round you many persons who are ready to say kind words to you4 ,this subtle1 potent influence of having lots of friends to help you by their actions and showing their hearts is a great blessing4 ,it is surprising that people know so little of the value of kindness4 ,the word gentleman is really a compound word1 meaning gentle-man1 and these words together in their simplicity are the true definition of the word gentleman4 ,kindness means gentleness4 ,no man is a gentleman who is not kind4 ,people are glad to recognize goodness and kindness in an individual4 ,no one can act the part if he is not sincere4 ,we must cultivate kindness1 if there is little of it in our makeup4 ,we must take an inventory of our qualities1 and if the weeds of mean impulses are crowding out the delicate flowers of kindness1 we should pull out those weeds and give the flowers a chance to grow4 ,lincoln was a kind man1 kindness was his chief delight1 and his examples of kindness have been of untold benefit to millions of people4 ,you remember he said1 ,when they lay me away let it be said of me that as ,i traveled along life's road ,i have always endeavored to pull up a thistle and plant a rose in its stead4 ,life at best is short1 and the only things we really get out of life are happiness1 health and love4 ,money cannot buy these things4 ,the trouble with many business men is that they imagine good examples and kindness have no place in business4 ,they think the time to be kind is after they have attained success financially4 ,they think the time to show kindness is outside of business hours4 ,the real way to be happy is to do the thing now1 live each day for itself4 ,get kindness in each day4 ,the man who is grave1 austere1 the man who tries to skin the other fellow1 who devotes all his energies to money-making alone1 finds as the years go by and he has attained his goal1 but that he does not know how to enjoy himself4 ,there are three periods in a man's life--the future1 the now and the past4 ,when we attain old age our life is largely made up of reminiscences1 or looking back over the past4 ,if our past life has been one of struggle1 worry and getting the best of the other fellow1 then there is little happiness in looking back over such a life4 ,the true philosopher does the thing now1 he lives each day4 ,he puts kindness into his action1 and when he grows old1 he can look back through a life that was pleasant as he lived it1 and pleasanter now in living it over again4 ,one of the ,greek philosophers expresses the following beautiful thought3 ,if there is any good deed ,i can do1 or kindness ,i can show1 let me do it now4 ,let me not defer or neglect it1 for ,i shall not pass this way again4 ,the trouble is that some of us keep our kindnesses1 or rather the expression of it1 until it is too late4 ,we should remember--,do not keep the alabaster box of your love and tenderness sealed up until your friends are dead4 ,fill their lives with sweetness1 speak approvingly cheerful words while their ears can hear them2 the kind things you mean to say when they are gone say before they go4 ,the flowers you mean to send for their coffins send to brighten and sweeten their homes before they leave them4 ,if my friends have alabaster boxes laid away full of fragrant perfumes of sympathy and affection which they intend to lay over my dead body1 ,i would rather they would bring them out in my weary and troubled hours1 and open them1 that ,i may be refreshed and cheered by them while ,i need them4 ,i would rather have a plain coffin without a flower and a funeral without an eulogy1 than a life without the sweetness of love and sympathy4 ,let us learn to anoint our friends beforehand for their burial4 ,post-mortem kindness does not cheer the troubled spirit4 ,flowers on the coffin cast no fragrance backward over life's weary way4 ,the ,salesman ,selling goods or soliciting requires careful study4 ,the salesman who makes the greatest success in the long run is the man who has practiced truth and established himself in the confidence of his customers4 ,the whirlwind makes a good showing on the start1 but1 by the law of compensation1 what a man gains in speed he loses in power4 ,some customers are slow to open up and extend their confidence to a salesman4 ,others make up their minds quickly and express their preferences4 ,a great deal of preliminary work can be avoided if the salesman is tactful on the start4 ,first impressions are lasting1 and a salesman should study carefully his first appearance4 ,he should be neatly but not flashily dressed4 ,he should be a gentleman above all things4 ,the gentleman dresses so that later we can not accurately describe the clothes he wore4 ,it is the flashily dressed salesman we can describe later on1 for his clothes are so out of the ordinary that they are remarkable in this respect4 ,the flashily dressed salesman is remembered by his clothes rather than by his personality4 ,the solicitor should never smoke in the presence of the customer on first acquaintance4 ,the matter of smoking in a customer's presence has prejudiced many a man against a salesman who has this practice4 ,business men have prejudices1 and to some smoking is highly obnoxious4 ,under no circumstances smoke in a customer's presence unless the customer is smoking1 or until at least you are well acquainted with him1 and have received his permission to smoke4 ,times without number the writer has left his half-finished cigar in the hall-way before entering the customer's presence4 ,story telling is like a two-edged sword2 sometimes it helps and sometimes it is a distinct disadvantage to tell stories4 ,you must know when to tell stories1 and1 above all1 do not tell stories to your customer that he could not repeat in his home4 ,above all things1 the salesman must know his man4 ,if the customer gives evidence that he is fond of a story1 then remember a good story and tell it to him4 ,no salesman ever made a distinct hit by telling vulgar stories4 ,while a customer may laugh1 he forms an opinion of you that is not complimentary1 and1 if you are always telling stories that you would not repeat where women were present1 the customer forms a very low estimate of your character4 ,the facts are the world is full of good stories1 and good stories help your case1 while vulgar stories hurt it4 ,drinking is another method used by many salesmen to gain favor with a customer1 and what we have said about vulgar stories may be applied to the matter of drinking4 ,years ago it was a general practice to take the customer out and get him half seas over before trying to sell him4 ,the customers who are most susceptible to influence through whiskey are the ones who are most likely later on to cause you trouble1 either through failure in business or through their preference for some other individual who can outdo you in the matter of drinking4 ,you must get your customer by the heart and not by the stomach4 ,you must make your customer believe in you4 ,in these days the business man likes to deal with a salesman who is business from the start4 ,he only buys goods because he expects to make money on them1 and the sooner the transaction is over1 the sooner he can turn his attention to other matters4 ,the best advertising solicitors and best salesmen are those who get business on business grounds and through their knowledge of their business1 rather than through their ability to tell stories1 order dinners and drink liquor4 ,the good salesman studies the other side of the question4 ,he acquaints himself with the method used by the customer in disposing of his goods4 ,he does not talk his own side of the case all the time4 ,he works with the customer1 tries to give him good advice and shows an interest in the customer's business4 ,such a salesman gets close to the customer1 and retains his patronage long after the good fellow has passed away4 ,be wise1 be patient1 and above all things1 acquaint yourself thoroughly with the goods you are selling4 ,know more about them than your customer does4 ,live up to your obligations4 ,keep your appointments4 ,study your customers' welfare4 ,help them when opportunity offers4 ,the life insurance solicitor who gets the most turn-downs is the one who writes the most policies1 because the fact he gets so many turn-downs is owing to the fact that he has seen so many people4 ,hard work1 cheerfulness1 honesty1 patience1 sobriety and knowledge of good goods will make a man a successful salesman4 ,honesty ,under this caption we are expected to say ,honesty is the best policy4 ,this expression is as old as the hills1 and if it were not good it would not have obtained so long1 for honesty certainly is the best policy4 ,many a man in business practices absolute honesty and integrity1 because honesty is the simplest and best method he knows of for doing business4 ,no man can succeed permanently1 who is dishonest in his practices4 ,the successful business man is the one who practices honesty in all actions and dealings during his business experience4 ,honesty begets honesty4 ,the man who is honest in his dealings with his fellowman has a subsidy which money cannot buy4 ,he gets honest treatment at the hands of others4 ,the merchant who cuts a bolt of silk in the middle and puts different prices on each piece1 may figure he is making money by his action1 but retribution is sure to follow4 ,honesty is a slow road to wealth1 but1 in accordance with the law of compensation1 in proportion as the business built up on honesty is slow1 so in proportion will it last longer4 ,honesty is the best advertisement a man can have in his business4 ,success ,if after the employe strikes a balance each day1 he finds that he is moving forward1 then he is on the road to success4 ,and so it is with the business man1 only the proportions are greater4 ,one cent put at four per cent4 interest per annum nineteen hundred years ago1 with interest added to the principal every twenty-five years1 would represent today more money than there is in the world4 ,it would have taken twenty-five years before the original investment of one cent was doubled4 ,if a man had started that plan his grandchildren would have said the scheme was no good because it was too slow4 ,the boy goes to school regularly and shows little advance in his mentality if you measure from day to day1 but the boy is gaining every day4 ,he is going ahead slowly but certainly4 ,the gambler and the foolish man like success to come quickly and with great strides4 ,it is because there are many foolish men and gamblers that the get-rich-quick fake thrives4 ,the man who gets rich suddenly usually indulges in such sports as lighting cigars with ten dollar bills1 and his wind-up is in the pauper's grave4 ,no man knows the true value of money unless he has worked for it4 ,the man who has earned his dollars through the penny route knows the value of the penny1 and he gets mighty good value when he spends a dollar4 ,the man who walks steadily in one direction does not appear to be making much progress4 ,the ship on the ocean seems to be standing still4 ,when night comes the man who has been walking steadily has disappeared1 and the ship that seemed to be standing still has vanished beyond the horizon4 ,the law of compensation says1 ,the more haste the less speed1 and so in the matter of success1 we must not feel discouraged because the speed at which we are traveling forward does not seem noticeable when compared with the rapid pace of some of our friends4 ,be not impatient4 ,learn to wait4 ,be a good stayer4 ,do not let the success of the get-rich-quick creature deter you from your resolve to move forward slowly4 ,you will get there in the long run4 ,and when your hair is silvered and cares rest easily upon your shoulders1 the long road you have traveled will be a source of infinite satisfaction to you4 ,your retrospection will be pleasant1 and the very things that were hard in your youth1 are sources of satisfaction to you in your old age4 ,do not use the yard measure in counting your progress1 but use the inch rule that has fine fractions on it4 ,thinking ,i did not think is an excuse offered by many4 ,thinking is the thing in business4 ,the trunk railroad1 the trans-,atlantic cable1 the steam engine1 the electric light1 the wireless telegraph1 the very republic in which we are living1 came about through thinking4 ,every man should take from five to fifty minutes each day to divorce his mind from the strenuous activity surrounding him1 and devote that time to thought1 and good will come out of it4 ,the brain is like a muscle1 it must be exercised or it becomes flabby4 ,cultivate concentration of thought2 study your sphere of usefulness2 cut out the weeds that grow in your brain2 get out of the mental rut you are in2 stop drifting2 keep your brain healthily active4 ,men are paid either for what they think or for what their muscles do4 ,man's muscles have a limit2 he can move just so much matter by physical force4 ,but his capacity from a mental standpoint is unlimited4 ,the world offers golden prizes to the man who thinks4 ,therefore we should cultivate our brains and make them expand4 ,the brain is like a plant4 ,if you nourish and cultivate it and care for it1 it will grow too4 ,excitement1 striving for pleasures1 indulging in reading light1 frothy literature1 excessive daily newspaper reading are all weeds and thought killers4 ,don't act on impulses4 ,the get-rich-quick man or the fake mine promoter says1 ,buy today1 the price goes up tomorrow4 ,these fakirs don't want you to think4 ,thinking is an enemy to their persuasive arguments4 ,if you think1 and think rightly1 the fakir does not get you4 ,when you get a nasty letter don't answer it right away4 ,think it over4 ,think carefully4 ,if your thoughts of revenge are so strong that you cannot calm yourself down1 then write a letter and express yourself in the fullest degree4 ,leave the letter on your desk4 ,do not look at it for three hours4 ,then when you look at it you will instantly determine to tear it up1 because in the meantime you have been thinking4 ,thoughts expressed on paper have a different sound than if they are uttered verbally1 therefore you should think carefully when you write4 ,cultivate poise1 calmness1 and practice careful thought before you speak or write4 ,in proportion as you master difficult problems through thought1 your brain will be ready for greater conquests4 ,here are some things to think about during these times when business is so good4 ,these prosperous times are dangerous times4 ,in times of prosperity we build up false idols1 and raise our hopes and ambitions beyond the safety point4 ,prosperity makes most of us careless4 ,we don't give our business the careful consideration we should4 ,we run to extremes during prosperous times4 ,we should make the most of prosperity while it is here4 ,we should enjoy it to the fullest1 but we should remember that for every high tide there is a low ebb4 ,prosperity should enable us to put away a reserve for the hard times4 ,we should be careful that prosperity does not turn our heads or cause us to lose our vigilance4 ,home ,life ,after all we say and do1 the real pleasure of this world comes from the home4 ,the gilded palaces we see in our travels abroad are beautiful to look upon presently1 but later on they serve their purpose to make a contrast with the sweet simplicity of home4 ,when you go home1 cut business out1 and let play and sociability and love occupy your time4 ,a married man should be in partnership with his wife4 ,the man being fitted with sturdier physique1 with strong ability to combat1 should take up the heavy burden of business1 for those are the things he can do the best4 ,the wife should take up the home part of the duties of the firm1 and when evening falls each member of the firm should try to lessen or take away the cares to which the other has been subject during the day4 ,the best place in the world is the home1 and in proportion as home life is unsatisfactory or uncongenial1 so in proportion are the ,clubs filled with dissatisfied and unhappy men4 ,if you want to hear pessimistic talks on home life1 talk with those derelicts who spend most of their time at the ,clubs4 ,learn to make much of little things4 ,learn that smiles and good humor in the home bring happiness1 and iron out the frowns and check the mean impulses arising within us4 ,be pleasant every morning until ten o'clock1 and the rest of the day will take care of itself4 ,start out in the morning right and happiness will be home at night4 ,there is nothing in your old age that will be such a comfort to you as retrospection1 or looking back over a long life of happiness in the home4 ,the happy little incidents which today seem trivial will be remembered in the future1 and a thousand and one occurrences which are happening in the home are being put away in the store-house of memory1 later to be called upon and enjoyed again4 ,in the evening of life when you and your silver-haired partner sit before the fire place1 when you have retired from active participation in your respective branches of the business1 which is bread winning on the part of the man and bread making on the part of the woman1 then you will have a happiness and satisfaction which all the gold in the world could not buy4 ,the pleasures of the old who have had happy homes during their lives are the greatest pleasures in the world4 ,the sunset of your life will not be beautiful unless your home life was pleasant during your day of work4 ,optimism ,the man who is an optimist may be laboring under a delusion1 but certain it is that he is happy while under the delusion4 ,every man should have ideals4 ,he should see the beauty and good in things4 ,he may not accomplish his ideals1 but the anticipation and working out of them is a mighty pleasant vocation4 ,the pessimist is always unhappy1 and when no definite thing is before him to worry about1 the very fact that there is nothing to worry about makes him unhappy4 ,the pessimist says ,business is not half as good as it would be if it was twice as good as it is4 ,the optimist says ,business is twice as good as it would be if it was only half as good as it is4 ,grizzly ,pete1 of ,frozen ,dog1 ,idaho1 is an optimist1 and ,webb ,grubb1 of the same town1 is a pessimist4 ,a short time ago they had a big rain storm in ,frozen ,dog4 ,webb ,grubb kicked about the rain4 ,grizzly ,pete1 all wreathed in smiles1 said ,rain is a mighty good thing to lay the dust4 ,a few days later the sun came out oppressively warm4 ,webb ,grubb kicked about the warm weather4 ,grizzly ,pete1 again all smiles1 said ,hot weather and sunshine are mighty good things to dry the mud4 ,the pessimist goes about with a dark lantern peering into out-of-the-way places1 ever looking for meanness and things to find fault about4 ,the optimist goes about in the bright sunlight looking for the beautiful things1 and sees more things by the aid of the great sunshine than the pessimist can find with his little dark lantern4 ,the optimist rises in the morning with gladness in his heart1 sunshine in his face and smiles upon his lips4 ,the mere privilege of living and enjoying nature is a priceless satisfaction to him4 ,he gets good out of life every moment he lives4 ,he is a man to be envied1 if envy is ever allowable4 ,the pessimist warps his mind and his physique1 and his influence on others is decidedly bad4 ,the optimist raises the average of the world by his presence1 the pessimist lowers the average4 ,the optimist is in the majority1 however1 and the world is growing better4 ,learn to see beauty in the small things4 ,study nature4 ,watch the processes of plant life and animal life4 ,surround yourself with helpful influences2 books1 music1 friends4 ,there is no investment a man can make that yields such unbounded returns as optimism4 ,optimism cannot be bought with money4 ,it is as free as the air we breathe4 ,that is why poor people generally are optimists4 ,memory ,the man whose memory allows him to play four games of chess blindfolded is good for nothing else4 ,book-keepers who can name every folio page and every customer's balance are good for little else4 ,there is nothing in mental gymnastics from the dollar standpoint4 ,the good lawyer or the good business man does not rely on his memory1 but rather his ability to find out things and get at results4 ,if you remember only the customers who are slow pay or shaky1 it will be a lot easier than to remember the names of all the customers who pay promptly4 ,if your wife wants you to get something down town tomorrow1 write her request on a little piece of paper1 roll it up in a ball1 put it in your pocket with your loose change4 ,forget the incident1 let the paper do the memory act4 ,next day when you reach in your pocket for change you will find the little ball with the reminder on it4 ,if there is something you want to attend to at home1 drop yourself a postal card4 ,carry a little pad of paper in your pocket4 ,write down the little things you are to do4 ,don't store your mind with these temporary matters4 ,let the tab remember for you4 ,let your mind be like a sieve1 and have the meshes coarse enough to keep in the big things and let the little things go through4 ,have your business figures written down1 your comparative sales1 increases or losses4 ,study the written figures4 ,have system4 ,do things methodically4 ,don't trust to your memory4 ,if the thing you see or hear is worth keeping1 write it down on the little tab4 ,the orator who commits his speech to memory is in a sorry plight if he forgets a sentence4 ,if you are to speak at a dinner1 lay out your plan1 divide your topic into several parts4 ,jot down the catch lines1 and just before you speak look over the ticket4 ,charge your brain with the points or ideas and build the words around them4 ,don't remember things with verbatim correctness4 ,remember the skeleton thought1 the idea4 ,when you quote a price or figure1 jot it down4 ,confirm the verbal statement by a written memorandum4 ,memory is a bad servant sometimes4 ,you remember a thing one way and the other fellow remembers it another way4 ,you are both honest1 but one of you is wrong4 ,if you had made a memorandum in duplicate or jotted down the figures1 what trouble it would have saved you4 ,where dollars are concerned it is good sense to trust to a written memo41 and not to any mental memo4 ,no use to cram your brain with transient things1 when lead pencils and paper are so cheap and so easily obtainable4 ,the employe who trusts to his memory hurts the business1 and after he quits a lot of misunderstandings will come up4 ,insist on your employes making memorandums of things and prices1 for when the employe goes he takes his memory with him4 ,if he has a memorandum you know the facts4 ,worry ,nothing will prevent effective work like worry4 ,if you are given to introspection and worry1 and allow these things to go unchecked1 they become habits with you1 and while your sleep1 in a measure1 is an antidote for worry1 yet the more worry you have the less soundly you will sleep1 and consequently the less effective sleep will be in correcting the injury caused by worry4 ,sunshine and darkness cannot be present at the same time1 for in nature one of the first rules we find is that no two objects can occupy the same place at the same time4 ,no matter how much one is given to the worry habit1 he experiences reflex moments when he does not worry4 ,some of our pessimistic friends who are given to the worry habit say it is impossible for them not to worry4 ,you are thinking of what you are reading1 and if your mind is interested in it you are not worrying while you are reading these articles1 and this shows that if you are interested in reading there is little chance for worry to get in2 for your mind is occupied4 ,men have tried all sorts of things to escape worry4 ,some of them frequent places where gaiety and mirth abound1 so that they are for the time being banishing worry1 but in proportion as these things keep one from worrying1 the reaction is stronger when it does come1 and the individual who tries to escape worry by going the pace and occupying his time with light things1 suffers more keenly from worry when it does come4 ,some men turn to drink to kill worry4 ,many a man imagines while he is drunk and his brain is clogged with alcohol that he is the happiest man in the world1 and some of them go to the extent of imagining their finances are in a flourishing condition4 ,the alcohol fills the brain with fancy pictures1 and for the time being the mind forgets to worry4 ,when the alcohol wears away the brain takes up the worry again in an increased degree4 ,to kill worry by the active process is like trying to cure rheumatism by external application4 ,the only thing you do is to stop the pain temporarily4 ,the best way to cure rheumatism is to go at it through the blood4 ,eradicate the uric acid from the system1 and then the rheumatism will disappear4 ,the best way to cure worry is not by local applications1 but by getting at the root of things4 ,eliminate as far as possible the things which cause worry4 ,remember that as long as you live there will come things across your path that are not to your liking4 ,you should be philosophical1 and make the best of things that are about you4 ,look at the bright side rather than the dark4 ,there are only two things in the world to worry about4 ,first--the things we can control or change2 second1 the things over which we have no control4 ,now1 it is manifestly useless to worry over the first kind2 for we can correct the thing and there will be nothing to worry about4 ,it is manifestly useless to worry over the things we cannot control1 for1 as set down in the second proposition1 we cannot change the things4 ,it therefore behooves us to eliminate from our calculations the second kind of worry1 for no amount of worry can possibly change that kind4 ,we must therefore confine our attention to the first kind1 the kind we can change1 and when we have changed the thing there is no cause to worry4 ,nothing helps a man's health so much as contrasts in climate or habits4 ,when the doctor tells you it is necessary to go to ,california or ,arizona1 or some other distant point1 he knows that fifty per cent4 of the good you will get by the change is from the water1 air1 sunshine and surroundings1 and the other fifty per cent4 of the good you will get is because you have been taken away from the very things that have been causing you worry4 ,if you can't get contrasts by trips to other distant points1 you can get the contrasts right where you live4 ,if your mind is occupied in the day with deep thinking and hard business problems1 you should occupy your evening with something that will contrast with it4 ,take up some light literature1 play with your children1 or work at some hobby in which you are interested4 ,the trouble with those who worry most is that they have worked themselves up to such a frenzied state they can't read anything excepting startling newspaper articles and freakish1 frothy books4 ,the man with rheumatism cannot cure himself in a day1 neither can the man with the worry habit eradicate worry from his make-up in a day or so4 ,the man who worries should make up his mind he is going to read and get interested in the reading4 ,let him set apart ten minutes the first day1 and agree that he will devote those ten minutes honestly1 intently to the subject before him4 ,the next day he can add a minute or two1 and so on until he can read one or two hours at a time4 ,finally1 the wrinkles will be ironed out and the horizon will be brightened4 ,as we are1 so is the world to us4 ,the most familiar objects change their aspect with every change of the soul4 ,when you worry1 everything is distorted1 everything appears unnatural1 the world looks dark1 our friends seem far off4 ,the jokes we hear fall flat4 ,we indulge ourselves in pessimism4 ,when the whole matter is summed up philosophically1 there is no bad luck in the world except sickness4 ,all other so-called hard luck is simply temporary4 ,if you lose your money1 don't worry about it1 make some more4 ,if you lose a friend1 don't worry2 show him his mistake4 ,if you lose an opportunity1 do not worry2 be ready for the next one4 ,life is short4 ,the end of life is death4 ,what's the use of worrying4 ,worry is like drink4 ,the more you give it the more it fastens on you4 ,cultivate a cheerful disposition4 ,mix with people who are cheerful4 ,do not allow the garden of your mind to grow up with worry weeds4 ,occupation kills worry4 ,if your mind is filled with uplifting work or brain training it will have little time to worry4 ,promises ,a business man may be rated as worth a million1 but if he breaks his promises regarding payments or fulfillments of contracts1 he will find later on those who deal with him will insist upon cash transactions4 ,keeping promises is the basis of credit4 ,let it be said of you that you always keep your promise2 that you have never been known to break your word1 and you will need little persuasion to get the credit man's ,o4,k4 ,if you purchase for cash right along1 some day you can ask for and will receive a small credit1 if you promise to make your payments on a certain date4 ,if you keep your promise you can repeat the operation4 ,later on you will be given larger credit1 because you have been keeping your promises4 ,you can increase your credit step by step to amazing proportions if your promises are always kept4 ,the business world places much confidence in promises4 ,the note in the bank is a written evidence of the promise4 ,the note says on the face of it ,i promise to pay4 ,the ,government of the ,united ,states issues bank notes on the face of which is a promise4 ,when you make promises as regards dates1 jot down the promise in your memorandum book4 ,whatever you do1 keep that promise4 ,the man who breaks his promise in little things will break them in greater ones4 ,when you make a promise to meet a man it is just the same as promising to pay a man money4 ,in either instance you are in the man's debt1 and the obligation is not cancelled until the debt is paid4 ,in other words1 until the promise is fulfilled4 ,just so sure as the sun sets1 the man who habitually breaks his promises will surely break his business4 ,independence ,it seems to be the rule rather than the exception that the moment a business man attains success he grows independent4 ,there is no such thing as independence within the full meaning of the word4 ,every creature in the world is dependent more or less4 ,the man who takes delight in his so-called independence and forces it to the front1 soon receives knocks4 ,the constant tapping and knocking hurts anyone4 ,boosts beat knocks4 ,the man who has a reputation for being independent never gets boosts4 ,some business men forget the obligations they are under4 ,they forget the help that was extended to them in time gone by4 ,they furnish up a fine mahogany office1 with an outer room1 and outside of this another room with an information desk4 ,they cultivate coldness and independence4 ,they make it difficult for their friends to see them4 ,they put a lot of red tape around their business1 and by these acts they get out of touch with the pulse of the business4 ,they look at things through colored glasses4 ,their judgment gets warped4 ,in proportion as a man cultivates independence and autocratic ideas1 just so in proportion is he nearing the brink over which many have fallen to destruction4 ,when an independent man has a fall1 his enemies glory and loud are the shouts that arise from them1 and if we listen closely we will hear the multitude say3 ,serves him right4 ,there is nothing like democracy in business4 ,by this it must not be understood that the head of the concern is to see every pedler1 or every life insurance agent4 ,but if the business man is accessible1 and greets you with a glad hand1 and in the pleasant manner turns you over to the proper department head1 you go away from the office satisfied1 and you give this man a boost instead of a knock4 ,the late ,p4 ,d4 ,armour was a good example of the point we are making1 he did not waste time in social visits during business hours1 but anyone who had business with the ,armour ,institution could get an interview with ,mr4 ,armour4 ,it has often been remarked by business men that they would rather have a turn-down from ,mr4 ,armour than an order from some of the other houses1 for ,mr4 ,armour always made one feel good4 ,no one can be independent4 ,the larger one's business is the more the proprietor is dependent on those around him4 ,it takes many months to build a sky scraper1 yet a wrecking company can tear a sky scraper to the ground in a few days1 and so it is with a man's reputation4 ,it takes years to get good credit in the commercial world1 but if success spoils a man and makes him independent1 he has created enemies1 and there is no telling where these enemies will get in their work4 ,it is like the worms eating through the bottom of a ship4 ,some day the craft goes down because of the silent attacks made in it1 which were not visible from the surface4 ,some day the independent man is surprised to have the bank call him in and insist that he take up his loans4 ,he is astonished2 he does not know why this sudden change has happened1 but like as not some secret enemy in the bank1 or some secret competitor who has a friend in the bank1 has gotten in his work1 and then this independent man finds out how really dependent he is4 ,the safer a man is from attacks1 the safer his business is from the financial standpoint1 and the more generous this man should be in his consideration for others4 ,no man can afford to be independent4 ,men who have built up their business slowly are not the ones whose heads are turned and who affect this independent air4 ,the independent man is nearly always the newly rich or the suddenly successful business man1 and the moment he sets himself up as independent he is made the target for an army of enemies who are waiting for a chance to injure him4 ,short ,letters ,most business men make much ado about nothing in the matter of correspondence4 ,they use a wilderness of words to express themselves4 ,they write at such length that the original meaning runs into so many by-lanes that the meaning is lost4 ,the man who writes long letters usually deals out high sounding phrases and customary paragraphs such as he has picked up through his perusal of others' letters4 ,the average business man seems to glory more in his ability to use euphonious sentences than to talk to the point4 ,letters should be like telegrams1 they should be short and to the point1 so there will be no misunderstanding on the part of the recipient4 ,there is one business man that we have been in close touch with for over fifteen years4 ,we have heard from him an average of once a week1 and in all that time he has never written a letter of over twenty-five lines4 ,our records show there is no customer with whom we had so much business dealings and so little misunderstanding as this one4 ,write short letters4 ,use small words4 ,don't be blunt1 but be short4 ,perspiration ,no matter what one's aspirations may be1 success will not come without perspiration4 ,it is well this is so1 otherwise success would not be appreciated4 ,that which a man earns by perspiration he appreciates and knows how to enjoy4 ,if success were something that could be drawn by chance1 like a prize1 success would not be worth anything4 ,the measure of any valuable thing1 or condition1 or relationship is the amount of work1 energy1 trouble and sacrifice that has been expended to obtain it4 ,none is to be more pitied than the rich idle-born1 who have every comfort around them4 ,they do not know that perspiration must be added to aspiration before they get success4 ,friends ,how little the average business man understands this word friends4 ,in everyday conversation we hear one man say to another ,mr4 ,blank is a friend of mine4 ,as a matter of fact the word acquaintance could be substituted in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred where the word friend is used4 ,real friends are few and far between4 ,a real friend is never determined until a test has been made1 and this test is usually troublous times1 adversity or the loss of a loved one4 ,when afflictions come to our families1 or reverses come to our business1 when the dark clouds hang over us1 when stormy seas are about to swamp us1 when we need help1 then is the time we find who are our true friends4 ,when such calls for friendship arrive it is surprising to see how we have been mistaken in individuals4 ,those upon whom we counted most shrug their shoulders1 draw their skirts about them and give us good advice1 while those whom we had never counted as friends come to the front and lend helping hands4 ,the word friend has been greatly abused4 ,around places of gaiety1 where drinks and good fellowship abound1 we frequently hear the word friend1 but in the time of trouble those who pose as friends will not help us1 and the few who would help us cannot because they have squandered their substance and have not the ability to help us4 ,a friend in need is a friend indeed4 ,there is no relationship more sacred than friendship4 ,friendship carries with it love4 ,the true friend is not one made in a hurry4 ,there is no friend like the old one with whom you went birdnesting in your youth1 the friend that has plodded along life's road with you shoulder to shoulder4 ,when you have a friend who has proven himself such1 never let up so long as you live in your evidences of gratitude for the kindness he has shown you4 ,repay him with interest for his good offices1 and let your actions towards him ever be a source of happiness and pleasure to him4 ,nothing is so much appreciated between friends as gratitude1 and nothing will kill friendship like ingratitude4 ,genuine friendship is such a rare jewel that when you have a positive demonstration of it1 let it be your great concern that you will do nothing to mar this friendship1 for broken friendship is a source of grief to both friends so long as they live4 ,employes ,the success of any business depends upon the hearty cooperation of the employes4 ,we have often heard that a corporation has no soul4 ,a corporation probably has no soul but most of us forget that the officers of the corporation have souls and hearts1 and in proportion as the individual at the head of a corporation or private enterprise treats his employes just so he will be repaid4 ,we are paid back what we pay out4 ,if we are harsh and mean to others1 ever suspicious1 ever looking for evil motives1 those who work for us will be suspicious of us and look for evil motives behind our every act4 ,the employer who shows consideration1 cultivates respect and sets a good example will find it pays from a monetary standpoint1 as well as in the satisfaction he has in knowing that he is doing the right thing4 ,lincoln said ,a house divided against itself must fall4 ,if the employes of an institution spend their time in wrangling and quarreling1 it means a divided house1 and the house will certainly suffer4 ,set a good example to your employes4 ,take them into your confidence4 ,recognize ability4 ,advance worthy ones1 and you will find everyone from the office boy to the officer pulling on the rope in the same direction1 and you will get full measure of ability from everyone who works for you4 ,it is impossible to suddenly get a perfect working force4 ,a good organization comes through the process of evolution and elimination4 ,whenever an employe does all he is hired to do and a little more1 that employe is in a position to occupy a place of greater responsibility4 ,if an employe is a sluggard or a four-flusher1 he may be sure these things will be found out and he cannot hope for advancement4 ,employes should remember that the most successful institution is the one whose managers are developed from the rank and file4 ,the best houses do not hire high class help from other concerns4 ,the most successful men are those who started in at the bottom of the ladder1 and by perseverance and pluck and aptitude they climbed the ladder until they reached the top4 ,employes should remember that the most difficult problem the employer has to solve is that of good employes4 ,a small want ad4 in the metropolitan daily will bring an army of cheap help4 ,the market is full of cheap help1 but good employes that are worth over #b1jjj a year are very scarce4 ,the high priced employes are generally the best money makers of the institution1 for they are selling their brains rather than their hands4 ,the hands are limited1 the brains are not4 ,employes1 there are golden opportunities before you4 ,disregard the clock4 ,bend your energies toward doing your work well4 ,the advancement will be sure to follow4 ,the trouble with many employes is that their minds are filled with outside matters of a frivolous nature4 ,in every large city there are thousands of dude employes1 the kind who wear high collars1 the kind who spend all their salary for clothes4 ,the dude employe stands in his own light4 ,he wears a higher priced tie than the boss2 he is immaculately neat2 he looks like a fashion plate1 but at the same time his tailor bill is not paid1 he is owing money right and left4 ,he spends his evenings in the cafes1 and at odd moments during the day he dodges out to look over the racing form and smoke a cigaret4 ,this dude employe sits up late at night4 ,he spends his salary1 and more too1 in the gay life4 ,he is tired next morning when he comes down4 ,the dude employe who wears a high collar is not the one that knuckles down to hard work4 ,perspiration and high collars do not go well together4 ,the dude employe does not like perspiration1 so he sees to it that he does not exert himself enough to perspire4 ,employes should remember that very truthful axiom3 ,the employe who never does more than he is paid for is never paid for more than he does4 ,the employe should remember that the boss takes large chances in hiring help1 for there is not one employe out of ten that is a good investment4 ,the employes should remember that it is necessary for the boss to make a good margin of profit on each employe1 else he could not maintain his business4 ,every employe who studies how much he can do is a help to an employer4 ,every employe who sees how little he can do is a hold-back to the institution4 ,employes should remember that prosperity goes in cycles1 that it is but three generations from shirt sleeve to shirt sleeve4 ,over ninety per cent4 of the bosses today started in and worked their way up from the ground4 ,the young man who inherits a partnership in his father's business really has a handicap on him1 and is not as likely to succeed as an employe who starts in at the bottom of the ladder4 ,employes should remember that responsibilities only come to those whose shoulders are broad enough to bear them1 and when additional responsibility comes to an employe that employe should look upon the responsibility as a distinct advantage to him1 for it gives him an opportunity to show the stuff he is made of4 ,laxity ,when young men start in business their thoughts are all prospective4 ,they look forward to the time when they will attain success4 ,they work hard4 ,they put enthusiasm and long hours into their business4 ,as years pass they attain success and cash in this world's goods4 ,they buy beautiful homes and surround themselves with luxury4 ,they indulge in high living4 ,they have country places4 ,they take things easy4 ,they sit back in their chairs and imagine their business will go on forever because they are so well established4 ,the hard worker is entitled to slacken up a little as success comes to him1 but the moment his energies commence to wane1 he should see to it that he gets the right sort of young material in the institution to keep up the enthusiasm and hard work which he himself has had4 ,in the very nature of things it is impossible for a man to keep up his youthful pace in his mature age1 for1 as we have frequently observed1 you can't go fast far4 ,one of the principal elements in ,marshall ,field's success was that he got enthusiastic1 hard workers around him4 ,the moment he saw signs of laxity in any of these individuals1 he let them out and got new material4 ,laxity means loss of power1 and with loss of power the machine does not do as good work4 ,laxity in business is a waste4 ,enthusiasm ,in these days of keen competition and wonderful activity it is necessary for the business man to have enthusiasm4 ,if he lacks in this1 his business will be at a stand-still1 while his enthusiastic competitor goes forward4 ,enthusiasm should not be carried to an extreme any more than any other good thing should be carried to an extreme1 but at that it is better to be over-enthusiastic than not enthusiastic enough4 ,no one can be truly enthusiastic who does not believe in his business4 ,enthusiasm is a form of advertising4 ,it shows the people you deal with that there is something going on and that you believe in your own medicine4 ,catching ,up ,nearly every one in this business world seems to be engaged in the occupation of catching up4 ,nearly everyone is a little behind in the matter of finances4 ,as soon as one gets across the stream and is on dry land and has his bills all paid1 then he takes on new responsibilities and goes deeper in debt4 ,it is a very hard game1 this catching up4 ,the game of existence is very easy to play when you are caught up4 ,we have tramped through the forests of the great ,west1 and we have invariably found that the pace-makers or leaders are the least tired at night1 while the followers or those who are behind trying to catch up1 are the ones who are most fatigued4 ,some people are habitually behind with their hauling1 as the ,missourians say4 ,no matter how their salaries may increase they are proportionately behind with their hauling all the time4 ,when an employe gets #ej4jj a month he is owing #ge4jj1 he is working hard at the catching-up game all the time4 ,he figures that if he only got #ge4jj a month1 he could apply the #be4jj extra and could catch up in three months4 ,the theory is all right but the practice is not1 for when this individual gets #ge4jj a month1 instead of applying that #be4jj extra to catching up1 he finds that he wants better neckties and better underwear1 and makes greater expenditures all along the line1 so instead of wiping out that #ge4jj debt he had when earning #ej4jj a month1 he finds himself #aej4jj in debt on his #ge4jj salary4 ,this catching up has a bad influence4 ,it worries the individual2 he does not do his best work4 ,when you have all your bills paid and a surplus of #ejj in the bank1 your head is higher1 your chest is broader1 your backbone stiffer1 and you have a confidence that helps you take on greater responsibilities4 ,to be in debt is to be under obligations to your friends1 and it kills off those strong qualities which you naturally possess but which warp when you are catching up4 ,the man who is catching up cringes instead of standing erect1 he is suppliant instead of dominant4 ,he is disturbed by little things1 and in the meantime the catching up process is tearing down his nervous system4 ,get caught up with your hauling4 ,whatever your income is1 save a percentage of it4 ,do not mistake us in thinking that we are preaching the old sermon of the savings bank1 which is1 save your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves1 for our friend ,grizzly ,pete of ,frozen ,dog1 ,idaho1 says3 ,save your pennies1 the dollars will be blown in by your heirs4 ,no man gets rich through mere saving1 but it is the training the man gets in saving the pennies that gives him a good idea of values of things and shows him the importance of having a reserve4 ,if the boss is extravagant in little things1 the employe multiplies the extravagance4 ,if you are always catching up while you are an employe you will always be catching up while you are boss4 ,if you are always saving and putting by a reserve while you are an employe1 you will be doing the same thing when you are a boss4 ,the principle is the same4 ,it is merely a question of figures4 ,do not take on financial responsibilities until you see your way clear to meet the responsibilities1 and in addition to meeting them1 see to it that you have made an allowance for good measure4 ,catching up calls for double effort and double work4 ,anger ,in proportion as a man is wise1 he controls his anger4 ,centuries ago the following truth was written3 ,whom the gods would destroy they first make angry1 and in the same era there was also given us another truth3 ,a soft answer turneth away wrath4 ,a man's judgment gets twisted1 his ground becomes insecure and his point of vantage weakens when he becomes angry4 ,the man who keeps calm when the other fellow gets angry has infinitely the best of the matter4 ,let the other fellow fret and stew and get red in the face1 but you keep calm and you will win the fight every time4 ,control yourself1 change the subject1 and absent yourself when anger shows4 ,cultivate poise1 refrain from lowering yourself to the methods of the ignorant1 which is anger4 ,by keeping your temper when your adversary gets angry you thereby show your superiority1 and your adversary instinctively feels you are a bigger man than he is4 ,a cool head is wonderful capital for an employer or an employe4 ,don't mistake coolness and poise for submissiveness and servility4 ,don't let people impose on you and take advantage of your good nature4 ,state your position in cool1 well-weighed words1 and carry conviction with them by your manner4 ,it takes two to make a quarrel4 ,whenever anger is present1 do not be one of the two4 ,precedent ,precedent has caused many failures4 ,we refuse to make a bold move and inaugurate a new system because we hate to break away from the methods established by successful predecessors4 ,we say ,let well enough alone4 ,we forget that times change1 and that conditions which made our competitors successful1 may not now exist4 ,if you have the precedent habit it is an admission that you have not the brains to originate1 and you are trying to take advantage of another's brains4 ,you remember the old fable of the lion and the jackass4 ,the jackass was browsing on thistles in the desert4 ,it took all his time to gather enough of the scanty vegetation to keep him alive4 ,one day the jackass noticed the lion comfortably eating a lamb1 whereupon he said ,that's the scheme for me4 ,i will do the same trick as ,mr4 ,lion1 and forth-with the jackass found a dead lion and covered himself with the lion's skin1 hoping that with the lion's skin he would appear as a lion and thus be able to catch game in large portions1 and relieve himself of this slow monotonous1 hard work he had been used to4 ,the jackass sallied forth1 but he could not catch a lamb4 ,he had copied the lion so far as physical appearances were concerned1 but he did not have the brains of the lion1 and he failed4 ,there are hundreds of wealthy business concerns today who are slowly dying from dry rot because they have not the nerve to break away from the precedent that built up their businesses4 ,they let sentiment outweigh common sense4 ,they maintain the same old lines and follow the same policy because that policy years before things made them successful4 ,many manufacturers continue to advertise in publications which have long since lost their advertising value4 ,these manufacturers have the habit1 and on account of precedent they are afraid to break away4 ,they do not recognize that since they started there are dozens of newer1 brighter and better publications than the ones they are using4 ,columbus1 ,marconi1 ,edison1 ,stevenson1 ,newton1 ,fulton1 and hundreds of other originators would never have succeeded if they had followed precedent4 ,they required strong courage to break away from accepted methods4 ,each of these men was told in so many words that the thing never had been done1 and consequently could not be done4 ,business men who throw aside precedent are more apt to succeed1 for by throwing aside precedent they show they have originality instead of the ability to copy4 ,financing ,a financier and a general are much the same thing4 ,the financier makes the dollars do the work at the best place1 and the general does the same thing with his soldiers4 ,the financier with plenty of money in the bank and the general with plenty of soldiers at his command are alike4 ,they give the order and the thing is done1 for they have the material to do the thing with4 ,the difference between the good financier and the bad financier is like the difference between the good general and the bad one1 the difference being that the good one makes a little go a long way1 and gets the best results from the little under his command4 ,the cause of many failures is due to bad financing instead of bad business4 ,the trouble is few business men know exactly where they are at4 ,a detailed statement should be kept of all obligations4 ,the business man should get along as far as possible without giving notes1 and when he does give notes he should see to it that the notes are taken up when due4 ,the business man who overstocks shows he is a bad financier4 ,the man who buys too much on possibilities makes a mistake4 ,as you go along this year you should make statistics of the receipts and expenses by the day1 week1 month and year4 ,with these figures you can make up a budget of your receipts and expenses for the coming year with reasonable correctness4 ,keep your resources well in hand4 ,buy often rather than buy in large quantities4 ,if you are owing money to the bank1 have your plans arranged so that you can realize on your assets quickly4 ,the good general always plans his campaign to be ready for attack that may come through unexpected sources4 ,the good financier is always ready for an attack on his finances4 ,the concerns from whom one buys may be prosperous4 ,the bank with whom one deals may be flourishing1 and yet without warning something happens and you are suddenly called upon to liquidate your indebtedness4 ,you should be prepared for this sudden call4 ,financing is an art1 and you will never be a good financier unless you have had perplexing problems to solve4 ,in order to solve problems you must have the pro and con1 in other words1 the details of your receipts and expenses4 ,these figures should be put down plainly1 with elaborate detail1 if necessary1 so you may count on your figures and make your plans accordingly4 ,preparing for emergencies is one of the first things the financier should understand4 ,discontent ,while in another part of this book we show that ambition is one of the things that makes success1 yet it must not be forgotten that discontent is another great factor in bringing about success4 ,when the young man quits school he has life before him and has ambition to succeed4 ,it is not particularly necessary that we find out what his ambition is to start him on the right path4 ,let the young man get started at any thing4 ,if he is ambitious and has ability in him to manage a business he will get there finally4 ,he may get started in the wrong line and this will make him discontented4 ,the discontent will cause him to try another tack1 and so long as discontent makes him change he will finally get into the right line by the process of eliminating those callings which make him discontented4 ,time after time we find in reading the stories of successful business men that they have floundered around in the beginning of their career from one business or calling to another4 ,discontented with each of them they changed and changed and changed until they finally struck the thing best suited to them1 and all the changes they made in the past were distinctly beneficial because of the experience they obtained4 ,if it were not for discontent many of the leaders in the business world today would still be on the farm or clerking in a country store4 ,keep busy1 young man1 do the first thing that comes handy4 ,change your job if you are discontented1 for no one can do his best work if his heart is not in it4 ,when discontent causes you to change frequently you may be sure that some day you will strike your gait1 and then ambition will fire you to stick at it4 ,when you get on the right track and are not discontented you have struck it right4 ,the ,generalist ,the chapter on ,the ,specialist is almost inseparable from this chapter4 ,one is the positive1 the other the negative4 ,what we have said about the specialist we could repeat by taking the opposite of the question for the generalist4 ,this one point1 however1 we wish to make clear1 even at the risk of repetition4 ,do not be a generalist in business4 ,if you divide your efforts your results will surely be divided4 ,the business man who goes in many outside ventures will not get along as far in the matter of wealth as the man who does one thing well4 ,we hear about ,the jack of all trades1 but the aftermath of the jack of all trades is master of none4 ,only one concern in fifty succeeds in business1 therefore it calls for your best efforts if you wish to succeed4 ,it calls for a singleness of purpose4 ,if you make more money than is necessary in your business put out the money in some form of investment that will require little of your attention4 ,buy mortgages or real estate4 ,get stuff that you can put in the green box in the safety deposit vault and not have to worry about4 ,the stockbroker has a lot of unwritten history about the business man who divides his energies between his office and the ticker4 ,the business man who is trying to make more progress than his competitor in business and at the same time trying to beat out the stock market is dividing his energies1 and between the two occupations he is likely to fail4 ,be a generalist in pleasure and recreation1 but not in business4 ,our ,aches and ,pains ,when we work hard with our body all day our backs ache and our muscles ache4 ,this is all right1 for ,nature has given us sweet refreshing slumber to drive away the aches and pains so that on the morrow we are ready for the fray4 ,in proportion as we have endured these backaches and pains and are patient in our occupation1 the aches will lessen until finally we have laid up a store of energy so that the aches will not bother us4 ,the backaches and muscle-aches and headaches we have1 when they come from honest work performed for the benefit of those we love1 are sweet aches and pains4 ,they represent sacrifice1 these aches and pains do1 and sacrifice brings happiness4 ,the only way to be truly happy is to do something for somebody1 and doing something for somebody is making a sacrifice for somebody4 ,the aches and pains we have endured in performing labor for those we love is the best evidence of genuine sacrifice4 ,we gladly suffer when our efforts are appreciated1 and when those for whom we work are grateful1 but there is one pain that never lessens1 and it is the pain that kills4 ,that pain is a heartache1 and the heartache comes from ingratitude4 ,after we have endured backaches and headaches for those we love and find the effort has not been appreciated1 then comes the heartache1 and that is the ache that kills4 ,whenever anyone does something for you1 your first concern should be to show appreciation4 ,gratitude is one of the most priceless gems in nature's collection4 ,there is nothing lower on the face of the earth than an ingrate and a snake's belly4 ,dressing ,many persons look upon the good dresser1 and think that good dressing is an evidence of success4 ,in dressing1 as in everything else1 the extremes should be avoided4 ,the man who is temperate has the right idea4 ,a man must be temperate in dressing as in all other things4 ,we have all seen the solicitor and the business man who look like a fashion plate or tailor's model4 ,each day he appears with a different suit4 ,he wears the latest ties1 the latest shoes1 and appears in the height of fashion4 ,this extra dresser is a four-flusher1 for he is trying to appear as something that he is not4 ,grizzly ,pete says ,it ain't what's on a man but what's in him that counts4 ,in proportion as a man's character or mental training is lacking1 he often tries to make up for it in dress4 ,with some it is a case of ninety per cent4 dress and ten per cent4 man1 and with others ninety per cent4 man and ten per cent4 dress4 ,in trying to find a word of cheer for the good dresser1 the writer vainly endeavored to recall some successful business man who had climbed the ladder step by step through a period of years1 during which he was always dressed in the height of fashion4 ,we recall to mind several extreme dressers who are possessed of millions1 but these millions were the result of accident or inheritance rather than ability4 ,we cannot remember any instance of a plodder who started in with nothing and made his millions who during the operation dressed in extremes4 ,we have an autographed photograph of ,marshall ,field1 and we venture to say that there are fifty men in ,field's store more expensively dressed than ,marshall ,field was at the time this picture was taken1 shortly before his death4 ,not that ,marshall ,field was poorly dressed1 but that he was dressed like a gentleman4 ,a gentleman does not wear extreme collars1 extreme neckties1 extreme coats4 ,marshall ,field's clothes fitted him well1 the goods were of splendid quality1 but of modest design4 ,marshall ,field was ninety per cent4 man and ten per cent4 dress4 ,when a man recognizes he has not the ability to make a name for himself on account of his brains1 he resorts to dress in order to give him distinction4 ,the ability to dress in the extreme of fashion is an advertisement to the world that dress is your specialty1 and if you are a specialist in dress you will not be a specialist in business4 ,declare ,monthly ,dividends ,make it a rule to declare dividends every month4 ,we venture to say to the business man that you are meeting all your fixed charges1 paying your rent and employes1 paying for postage stamps1 lights1 taxes and all other fixed charges4 ,when the ,government put a two cent tax on your checks you paid that tax4 ,you certainly can add one more fixed charge to your business1 and that fixed charge should be a percentage of your cash receipts4 ,it is usually a difficult thing to draw your profits out of your business in a lump at the end of the year1 but if you draw your profits out in monthly installments1 you can do so without any burden4 ,the business man should figure what percentage of his cash receipts is profit1 and this percentage should be deducted every month1 less a little leeway to make the matter easier4 ,make the percentage a fixed charge and put this money away in a special account as a reserve fund if you do not wish to draw the dividends out of your business4 ,if you have this reserve fund drawn out in monthly installments1 you are ready for attack if your creditors call on you suddenly4 ,if you have a snug little sum in a separate bank as a reserve sufficient to withstand any attacks on your business1 your step will be more elastic1 you will have more confidence in yourself1 you will have less worry than if you are keeping your nose to the grindstone and have no reserve4 ,there is some amount between a dollar a week and a thousand dollars a week which you can draw out of your business without affecting it4 ,if you make this a fixed charge you will take care of it1 and you will arrange your business and your purchases so that this fixed charge will be properly taken care of each month4 ,you will trim your expenses a little closer1 and your business will thus benefit by having this fixed charge4 ,nearly every failure is due to sudden calls of creditors or refusal of the bank to extend further credit4 ,this fact shows plainly the necessity of having a reserve fund4 ,take your figures for several years back and find what percentage of the total receipts was profit4 ,if1 for instance1 your business earned #i1jjj and your total sales were #ajj1jjj1 then #i of your receipts represents profits4 ,you can therefore declare a monthly dividend of #h1 and when ,christmas comes you will have an extra dividend1 being the accumulated #a each month you did not draw out in dividends4 ,debt ,if it were not for debt most banks would go out of business1 for banks live because debt is a recognized factor in business4 ,the plan of getting rich through saving is a very difficult and practically impossible road to wealth4 ,the man who is working himself out of debt puts in better effort and longer hours into his business than the man who does not owe a cent4 ,go in debt reasonably and carefully1 and you can make money with other people's money4 ,money has a fixed value in itself in the matter of earning capacity4 ,this fixed value is #e or #f or #g as the case may be4 ,one who puts his money in securities gets his money which the cash earns without effort on his part4 ,the hustler1 however1 can make #aj1 #ae or #bj on the money1 plus his hard work4 ,therefore there is an opportunity for a hustler to borrow money at #e or #f1 and with that money and his energy earn #aj or #ae4 ,the active man can therefore pay #f per annum for money1 and use that money to discount monthly bills at from #b to #e4 ,the building and loan association1 the installment firms and monthly payment real estate concerns show what people can accomplish who go into debt4 ,thousands of families now live in their own homes because they went into debt4 ,few of these families would have homes if they started in on the saving-the-money-first plan and bought for cash4 ,don't go in too deeply4 ,calculate your earnings in business4 ,allow a wide margin for discount on your figures4 ,hard times and unlocked for reverses come1 therefore you should play safe4 ,go into debt on a #be or #ej basis of what you are reasonably sure you can pay4 ,up to forty years of age a man is sowing and tilling1 and after forty he reaps4 ,the farmer goes into debt during the spring and summer1 and reaps in the fall4 ,very few of our great men had much money before they were forty years old4 ,up to forty is the debt period4 ,up to forty a man pays interest2 after forty he collects interest4 ,business calls for the hardest kind of work up to forty or fifty4 ,after that time the man makes up in judgment and experience what he lacks in physical activity4 ,work hard until you are forty4 ,go into debt and make the money you have borrowed earn money4 ,after forty make money by investing your funds in sound securities1 so you will run no risk of losing what you have worked so hard for during your younger days4 ,the average banker is over forty4 ,the hustling business man who borrows is usually under forty4 ,nature gives the young man ambition1 ability and willingness4 ,nature gives the middle aged man judgment1 experience and conservatism4 ,forty years will determine what is in a man4 ,if he has the stuff in him to earn a competence at forty1 he has usually acquired the judgment and experience to keep it after he is forty4 ,the man born with a golden spoon never knows what hard work is4 ,he does not go into debt because he has plenty of money for his requirements4 ,at forty he has not the experience of his brother who was born in an environment of hard work and little money4 ,the law of compensation thus bestows a subsidy on the poor boy and a handicap on the rich one to even things up4 ,the poor boy goes into debt and works hard2 the rich one lets the money do the work for him4 ,there is no joy or happiness in the possession of things we have not worked for1 so while we envy the rich who have never worked we should take satisfaction in the law of compensation which gives us a subsidy in the way of ability to work hard and earn money1 so that later on we may enjoy the money better than our rich friend who has never worked for his money4 ,don't go into debt on the wholesale plan1 hoping to make a big coup4 ,don't try to be a millionaire4 ,don't set too big a mark4 ,have your ideal advancement1 no matter how little that advancement is4 ,if you go forward each week or each year you will find at forty or fifty that your substance piles up much faster than you imagine4 ,from forty to fifty years of age most fortunes are made4 ,from twenty to forty your efforts have been foundation work1 and the foundation does not show up much above the ground4 ,from forty to fifty you are building the superstructure1 and when you commence building that your progress seems more rapid4 ,healthy indebtedness is a great incentive to hard work and a material benefit in building character and gaming experience that in later years will be of untold value to you4 ,brains--,birth--,boodle ,one of the weaknesses of the human race is envy4 ,no one is entirely free from envy1 although the true philosopher who has studied himself and has things sized up correctly is nearly free from envy4 ,human kind have three measures for gauging the other fellow4 ,we measure the other fellow either by his knowledge--which is brains1 by his pedigree--which is birth1 or by the money he has accumulated--which is boodle4 ,these three ,bs are like three stars in the sky4 ,the first star--,brains is usually the dimmest1 but it is really the brightest star of all4 ,mankind is prone to look at the brighter stars of birth and boodle4 ,these three stars of ,brains1 ,birth and ,boodle1 are three aristocracies4 ,the first aristocracy has no less authority than that of the ,almighty4 ,the aristocracies of birth and boodle are sham counterfeits gotten up by man4 ,they do not mean anything when put into the crucible and tested by fire4 ,the aristocracy of brains differs from the aristocracies of birth and boodle as the sun differs from the jack-o-lantern1 or as the music of the soul differs from the bray of the burro1 or as a pure woman's love differs from the stolen affections hashed up by the fourth husband4 ,brains like air and water1 are not always appreciated until we have analyzed and investigated thoroughly4 ,the foolish man thinks champagne is the finest drink4 ,the wise man knows water is the best drink1 even though water costs nothing4 ,the foolish man has for his ideal--money or birth4 ,the wise man takes off his hat to brains4 ,the measure of a man is his brain and not his birth or his boodle4 ,thought1 reason and knowledge are possible to the man who has a brain4 ,no man can buy brains1 and truly he is an aristocrat of the highest order who is blessed with a good brain4 ,some people whose ancestors came over with the ,pilgrim ,fathers have a picture of the ,mayflower in their homes and they seem to take a great deal of pride in the picture of the ,mayflower4 ,there seems to be a halo around the ,mayflower4 ,the descendants of the passengers of that ship look upon the picture of the ,mayflower as a sort of seal or guarantee of the good qualities of their forefathers1 and consequently1 being direct descendants they take unto themselves a lot of credit for something in which they had no hand in the making4 ,the ,mayflower was afterwards used as a slave ship1 but our disciples of birth do not want to know about this4 ,some of the passengers in the ,mayflower performed acts and violated laws and conducted themselves in such a manner that would cause people of these days to be put in jail for the same offenses4 ,some of these good ancestors of the present descendants of birth burned witches at the stake4 ,time wipes out a lot of things1 and this is probably as it should be1 but certainly it is true that the world is progressing and the good man of today is probably better and broader than some of these glorious ancestors to whom so many take off their hats4 ,some of our forefathers in ,europe were little less than pirates and buccaneers4 ,their descendants today knowing that they can make great claims with little fear of contradiction1 extol the virtue of their forefathers and complacently take on a superior air4 ,they have thought over the matter of birth so much that they really think they are superior beings4 ,grizzly ,pete of ,frozen ,dog1 ,idaho1 doesn't take much stock in the aristocracy of birth4 ,he says1 ,it ain't what's on a man and it ain't what his father was that counts4 ,the only thing to judge a man by is what's in him and what kind of brains he has4 ,one thing about this glorious ,western country of ours is that a man gets credit for and he is punished by his own individual acts4 ,it doesn't make any difference how far back his pedigree runs1 if he doesn't make good himself1 people have no use for him4 ,the heritage of birth is mighty thin fabric and mighty weak material for a man to use in making a cloak of exclusiveness to put around him4 ,we anticipate that some of our readers will take exception to our attitude on the matter of birth4 ,we wish to be plainly understood that the matter of good birth and good ancestors is a good thing to have4 ,the writer has a pedigree that would be his passport into the aristocracy of birth if he chose to belong to that lodge4 ,your good ancestors is no handicap4 ,it is a credit to you1 but mark this down well3 ,you1 yourself1 are entitled to no credit for any acts of your ancestors4 ,your measure is and should be taken for what your own net worth is4 ,the aristocracy of boodle is the slimmest aristocracy of all4 ,yet there are more people who try to get into that lodge than any other4 ,the possession of the dollar seems to be the ambition of everyone1 and usually the first thing we try to find out about a man is how much is he worth8 ,the thinker1 however1 knows that the possession of money doesn't make a man any better than his neighbor who has no money--their morals and their acts being even4 ,brains4 ,that's the true aristocracy4 ,the professor in college who has spent a lifetime in study and has devoted his talents to uplifting mankind is an aristocrat4 ,he may be getting two or three thousand dollars a year1 while his brother with lesser knowledge is getting ten times that much in another vocation4 ,the aristocracy of brains always has been1 is now and ever will be the enduring aristocracy4 ,even those who belong to the aristocracies of birth and boodle find they are sham counterfeits and many of them turn to study and to good impulses hoping they may get into the lodge of the aristocracy of brain4 ,in business the aristocracy of birth or the aristocracy of boodle is a decided handicap4 ,they make the individual think he is superior and he is above doing things which seem to him trivial1 because he thinks he is a superior being4 ,the man with brains1 however1 digs as well as climbs4 ,without brains1 business would go to the dogs1 for if business were conducted by men of birth and boodle without brains1 you can easily see that the whole fabric would fall to pieces4 ,backbone and ,wishbone ,in proportion as a man's backbone weakens his wishbone seems to develop4 ,the ten dollar a week man spends his time saying3 ,i wish ,i had the luck other people have4 ,he says3 ,i wish ,i had this place1 or ,i wish ,i had that job4 ,he is ever wishing4 ,things in our body1 whether muscle or bone1 develop by usage1 and if we use the wishbone all the time it will develop into huge proportions4 ,on the other hand if we develop our backbone and use it frequently1 we may not have cause to use the wishbone so much4 ,brace up4 ,stand erect4 ,strengthen your backbone and1 with it1 your jaw bone4 ,say ,i will instead of ,i wish4 ,the world bestows her prizes on men with backbone and the blanks on those who use their wishbone4 ,do ,good ,doing good is planting seed1 the harvest may not show at present but in the future you are going to reap it4 ,a man is paid back precisely in the same coin he pays out4 ,if he plants weeds or mean impulses the harvest will be weeds and mean impulses4 ,if he plants seed of good deeds he will harvest good deeds4 ,centuries ago it was said ,cast your bread upon the waters and it will return to you many-fold4 ,the man who is doing good as he goes along1 who is lending help1 kindly counsel and encouragement will find the world is a pretty good place to live in after all4 ,as he journeys along through life he will find the good he has done in the past has flourished and returned to him in greatly increased proportions1 like the bread cast upon the waters4 ,it is not only the good one actually gets for the good1 he has done1 but it is the profit that comes in the way of happiness he gets for his actions4 ,the true way to obtain happiness is to do something for somebody4 ,you get back out of the general exchequer of good in the world full payment for the good you have done1 plus a profit of happiness which comes from the very doing of good4 ,the ,get-,away ,after you have driven the nail home make your get-away4 ,many a solicitor has lost his prestige because1 after having accomplished his point1 he hung on4 ,it is quite an art to know when to make the get-away4 ,study your customer carefully1 and when you have made your point clear and your proposition is presented to him in the best possible manner1 then get away4 ,the bore is a bore because he does not know how to get away4 ,the solicitor is always welcome if it is known he is not a hanger-on1 and that he gets in and gets out quickly4 ,double ,equipment ,for the employe there is nothing better to possess than double equipment1 by which we mean the ability to do two things well4 ,from the employer's standpoint nothing will stand his business in such good stead as to have his employes doubly equipped4 ,in the printing business1 for instance1 the old time printer knew how to set type1 lock up forms and to run a press4 ,nowadays we seldom find a printer in the broad sense of the word4 ,in the big printing establishment we find the various branches of the printing trade have employes who are specialists at one thing4 ,in the printing trade the craftsman is either a compositor a proof-reader1 a make-up man1 a pressman or a binder4 ,the employe who can set type and also run a press is a decided advantage to the employer4 ,the writer knows a certain publishing house whose every employe is doubly equipped4 ,the rule of the proprietor is that every job or branch of the business must have more than one person competent to run it1 and that every person must know how to do two things4 ,double equipment on the part of the employe gives the employer great resources4 ,when sickness1 accident or other causes prevent the employe from filling his accustomed place1 then the proprietor can call on others who have the double equipment1 to fill in the gap4 ,the employe who is following a particular line in the establishment should acquaint himself with some other branch of the business or some other trade1 if he is a craftsman4 ,the employe who is doubly equipped is decidedly at an advantage over the employe who knows but one thing4 ,initiative ,initiative is simply the willingness and ability on the part of an employe to do things that are not simply routine1 to do things he is not told to do1 to look for opportunities to help the boss or to improve the business wherever possible4 ,the employe who has no initiative in his make up is going around a circle and when you go around a circle you don't go forward4 ,there is no one thing outside of honesty1 ability and hard work that will help the employe to go forward like initiative4 ,in every great business there are many opportunities for the employe to do things he is not told to do and when an employe gets the initiative habit he is not long in attracting the attention of the boss4 ,look over the work you are doing1 study the matter carefully1 figure out some plan whereby the value of the work you are doing will be increased4 ,find a chance to lessen the expense in your department4 ,put into practice some idea that will increase the receipts4 ,acquaint yourself with the operations of other employes in similar work4 ,wherever you find a plan better than yours1 take advantage of it4 ,keep your eyes wide open and you will find many opportunities for doing things you are not told to do4 ,every employe should carry out to the letter the directions given him by the boss and in addition to this he should have initiative1 which is doing things the boss did not tell him4 ,it is the plus or initiative in a man's make-up that helps him to the front4 ,night ,work ,it is always a question among experienced business men whether night work and ,sunday work help the game of business4 ,of course there are occasions when a job must be finished or work completed within a specified time and if you are behind with your hauling1 it is necessary to turn all your resources into a singleness of purpose to get the thing done4 ,the trouble is1 however1 that many business men figure on this night work as part of the regular scheme and in this they overdo the matter4 ,the law of compensation says that a man is good for just so much work and if he spreads the work over into longer hours the intrinsic value of each hour is lessened4 ,a man who habitually takes work to his home to finish and counts upon these extra hours1 will soon find the value of his work decreases4 ,we should all remember that we should work while we work and play while we play4 ,work hard during your business hours1 conserve your energies1 but outside of business hours1 let play1 study and recreation occupy your time4 ,if you go home from business at night and forget the things you have been doing in the day and use your time for the things in life outside of business1 the next day1 when you go to your office1 you can make things fly4 ,it is proverbial that the busy man is the one to go to if you wish things done promptly4 ,those of us who were born and reared in the country know a familiar type that is to be found in every country town4 ,he may be a carpenter or blacksmith1 or may run a repair shop of some kind4 ,we find him going to the post office in the middle of the day to get his mail4 ,we frequently find him in the back part of the country store playing checkers4 ,at other times he is watching a horse trade4 ,again he is arguing politics4 ,this man does not get in over four or five hours' simon pure hard work in a day4 ,you take a job to this man and it will drag days and weeks4 ,you become impatient at the delay4 ,you get after the man and his answer is that he has not the time4 ,it is practically a truism that those who offer the excuse that they have not the time are really the ones that have the time4 ,some of our friends treat us shabbily in the matter of correspondence and when you get a letter from one of them1 he says3 ,excuse me for not writing sooner1 but ,i really have been so busy that ,i have not had the time to write4 ,as a matter of fact it takes five or ten minutes to write a letter and the person who pleads for forgiveness through lack of time has wasted a hundred times the minutes necessary to write a letter4 ,the busy man1 accepts his duty as a matter of course1 a ranges his correspondence and work in systematic order and goes at the thing1 hammer and tongs1 and gets the thing done4 ,night work is usually evidence that the man does not do his work properly in the day time and he is like our friend in the country who wastes time in the day and tries to make up for it by night work4 ,the thing to do is to work hard in the day time and rest at night4 ,obedience ,several years ago1 our friend ,elbert ,hubbard wrote a little sermonette entitled ,carrying the ,message to ,garcia4 ,the story was simply this3 ,president ,mc,kinley called an orderly and gave him a letter and said3 ,deliver this letter to ,general ,garcia4 ,the employe did not stand around and ask a lot of fool questions about the trains and things4 ,he put on his hat and duster and he delivered the letter to ,garcia4 ,these facts were stretched out in many words and made a little booklet4 ,that booklet reached the sale of more than a million copies4 ,it seemed to make a hit with business men throughout the country4 ,a certain railroad bought and gave a copy to every employe4 ,business men followed the example4 ,the great sale of the book and the wide-spread interest it created would seem to indicate that carrying the message to ,garcia was an unusual thing and so remarkable that it attracted attention4 ,as a matter of fact the whole theme of the story was simple obedience4 ,there are thousands of institutions in this country who have employes who will carry the message to ,garcia4 ,richard ,harding ,davis1 you remember1 was dining with friends in ,london4 ,the discussion was along the lines of obedience and the like4 ,on a wager he called a messenger boy1 gave him a letter addressed to his fiancee in ,chicago1 told the messenger boy to deliver the letter to the lady and bring back an answer4 ,that fifteen year old boy carried the message to ,garcia1 or in other words to ,mr4 ,davis' sweetheart4 ,the ,colonel of a regiment has under him about twelve hundred men4 ,directly under him are his majors1 and then come the captains1 lieutenants1 sergeants1 corporals and privates4 ,the first rule in the army is obedience of orders without question4 ,if obedience were subject to question on the part of the subordinates1 the colonel could win no battles4 ,when your superior gives an order1 the thing to do is to carry it out4 ,if the order is wrong you will not be to blame1 but your superior will suffer4 ,there are times1 of course1 when an order is given that is manifestly impracticable and initiative on the part of the employe might save trouble4 ,on the other hand1 an executive would be greatly handicapped if his orders were subject to interpretation and analysis by his subordinates4 ,the executive may give an order and in the giving have in his own mind the relation of this order to some other order he has given in an entirely different department and upon the proper execution of all the orders given through the various departments depends the ultimate success of his plan4 ,the thing for the employe to do is to obey orders willingly1 quickly and to the letter4 ,the employe is not blamed when he does his duty4 ,it is a source of great satisfaction to the boss to know he has dependable employes and that when he gives an order the thing is done so far as further effort on his part is concerned4 ,pay ,day ,we have all tried all sorts of plans regarding pay day1 but the plan most satisfactory to all concerned is to pay each ,tuesday or each ,monday for the previous week4 ,if the nature of your business is such that ,monday is an unusually busy day1 then ,tuesday should be your pay day4 ,monday is usually called blue ,monday1 because the employes blot out some of the sunshine on ,sunday by thinking of the hard week's work ahead of them4 ,much of the blueness is driven away1 however1 if in looking forward they know that ,monday or ,tuesday they will get their pay checks4 ,the old fashioned habit of paying off ,saturday nights is a bad one1 especially if most of the employes are men4 ,many men are weak and it is difficult for them to pass a lot of saloons on ,saturday night without the money in their pockets burning a hole4 ,the ,saturday pay day may mean that a percentage of your employes will not show up on ,monday morning4 ,many men will go on a spree on ,saturday night on the theory that they can rest up on ,sunday1 who would not think of going on a spree on ,monday night or ,tuesday night1 for it would interfere with the work next day4 ,the writer does not know of a single concern that has adopted this ,monday or ,tuesday pay day plan and practiced it for a reasonable time without finding it works admirably4 ,try it in your business and you will not go back to the ,saturday pay day4 ,saving ,we will not indulge in the proverbs handed out by the savings bank in the matter of saving4 ,we are not pessimistic when we say that no man ever became wealthy through the savings bank plan of putting away a certain amount each week4 ,we will say1 however1 that there is no better training for the employe than this one thing of saving4 ,saving a part of your weekly income and putting it away1 if carried on for a number of years becomes a habit and it means that you will keep your expenses within your income4 ,it is the saving habit that makes the benefit1 for later on when you are in business the habit stands you in good stead and teaches you the value of having a reserve4 ,by all means1 put away a certain amount each week4 ,if it is not a dollar1 put away fifty cents4 ,if that is too much1 put away half of it1 or even ten cents a week4 ,have some amount as a fixed charge in your operations and put this amount in the savings bank4 ,later on your balance will grow and you will have much satisfaction in watching its development to better proportions4 ,habitual saving makes you careful in the things you do4 ,it teaches you the relationship between principal and interest4 ,it shows you that when you buy something useless and pay ten dollars for it that it is costing you interest each year to maintain it4 ,the man who does not save is pretty sure to live beyond his means and some day trouble or affliction will come and he will be out of a job and then he appreciates the difference between the butterfly and the bee4 ,when you haven't anything to fall back upon1 the world is a mighty blue place4 ,when you have money in the bank it is a mighty good place to live in4 ,waiting ,for ,success ,it takes a good poker-player to know when to lay down his hand4 ,it's a wise business-man who knows when to quit a forlorn hope4 ,it's all right to build up a business4 ,it is all wrong to play a losing game in business for a succession of years in the hopes of ultimate success4 ,as years go by the business man is establishing matters on a firmer and more solid foundation4 ,sales generally increase2 the volume of the business gradually grows greater4 ,this fact is responsible for many business men continuing their business at a loss1 lured on by the hope of final success4 ,it's all right to build a reputation and to be patient1 but when the odds are against you and by all the changes you make and all the brains and ingenuity you put into your business1 you cannot turn it into a profitable basis1 then get out of that business and start something new4 ,it's all right to build1 provided that as you go along you are making a living profit1 but dogged determination to play a losing game year after year is not to a man's credit4 ,every man has some particular channel in which his talents will fit and produce good results4 ,if your business goes along year after year at a loss1 it is evident that your talents are not in the right channel4 ,the great thing in business is that it shall respond quickly and show signs of life right away4 ,if it does not1 then the business is wrong4 ,the shores of the great ocean of business are strewn with wrecks which have been dashed to pieces on the rocks sailing for that false beacon light1 keep everlastingly at it brings success4 ,this saying is true1 providing you are making expenses and some profit as you go along1 but to keep everlastingly at it when your business shows a loss means failure4 ,the thing that lures many on is the increased sales4 ,meanwhile1 the expenses are increasing proportionately1 and if these two lines are always parallel1 there is no hope of your making a success4 ,better quit before you get too deep in the hole and have a lot of dead horses to pay for4 ,it's all right to have ambition1 tenacity and patience in business and to look forward to the far future as crowning success of your efforts1 but it's all wrong unless you are paying expenses and making a living while doing these things4 ,our ,sons ,the noblest and most important work we have to do is the training and teaching of the coming generation4 ,the successful business man has no more difficult problem to solve than what he will do with his son4 ,it is a fact that the greatest successes in the business world today are those men who had to start in the battle early1 and fight their way to the front4 ,the successful business man usually tries to arrange matters so that his son will not require to go through the hard working school of experience he himself attended1 and in this the business man rather goes to the other extreme in that he tries to make things easy for his boy4 ,as the twig is bent so the tree is inclined4 ,the young mind is plastic and capable of receiving impressions1 and we know that the impressions made in our youth are lasting all our days4 ,the problem in the country is not so difficult1 for there are so many things to do about the home that the young country boy usually has plenty of chores and duties to perform4 ,occupation is a decided blessing and a present benefit to a boy4 ,people in the cities have all creature comforts about the homes1 transportation facilities are ample1 the homes are heated by steam1 stores are in abundance1 people buy from day to day1 and every little convenience is at hand to keep the scheme of living going along smoothly4 ,because the city boy is surrounded with schools and the comforts of home he has much time on his hands4 ,the boy is active1 and if his activity is not turned on useful things1 it will be turned on useless things4 ,the young boy goes to the grammar school1 and the daylight hours1 outside of school hours1 are devoted to play4 ,this is right and as it should be1 but when the boy gets along to twelve or fourteen years of age1 the parents should arrange for him some little duties1 some regular task to perform4 ,the youngster will get accustomed to this1 and it is decidedly beneficial4 ,as the boy enters the high school he finds his hours shorter and his leisure hours longer4 ,the high school period is a most important one in the boy's life1 and the father should see to it that the high school boy is occupied for several hours each day1 either in his own place of business or in some other establishment4 ,there is no way of teaching a boy the value of money like having him work for money4 ,arrange to pay your boy so much an hour for the duties he performs4 ,have his occupation regular1 talk with him about what he has done during the day1 be a companion to the boy1 and soon you will notice that he evinces interest in the things he is doing1 and as time passes1 ambition is fired in his breast1 and when the time comes for him to enter the threshold of business he has been prepared for the work4 ,it is strange that while we parents realize the importance of education1 we pay so little attention to the boy while he is going to school4 ,we should keep in touch with the boy's teachers and with the boy himself1 taking an interest in his studies4 ,the business man as a rule drifts apart from his son during his younger years4 ,there is nothing that will help the boy so much as being a companion to him1 being interested with him in the things he does1 whether work or study4 ,fathers and sons should be comrades4 ,a close companionship between father and son is not only a great satisfaction and source of happiness to each of them1 but is decidedly beneficial to both4 ,by all means have some regular occupation for your boy while he is going to school4 ,keep in close touch with him4 ,explain to him the things he does not understand4 ,show him the great possibilities ahead of him if he does right1 and the impossibility for him to succeed if he does wrong4 ,pull ,the young man who is expecting to get a fat job through pull is working on a false basis4 ,the young man whose objective is to get a snap shows he has not ambition1 and surely this young man will occupy inferior positions as long as he gets a job through pull4 ,there is a legitimate pull in business1 and that is activity and ability4 ,don't look for snaps4 ,snaps are merely traps4 ,men are not paid for snaps1 but for snap4 ,the average young man just out of college looks for a job through the pull of his father or some relation1 and in this he is making a great error4 ,the best way to get a job is to get it without pull through your own energy and aggressiveness4 ,the best jobs are obtained through push and not pull4 ,the ,city ,hall and ,government buildings all have the word pull on the front door1 and in direct contrast with this you will notice the front doors of the successful business institutions are marked push4 ,gossip ,it is surprising to see the extent to which gossip is carried on among business men4 ,the funny papers always refer to women and the members of the sewing societies as gossips of the first class1 but if the gossip going around business circles could be tabulated1 we are sure the sewing society would have the joke on us4 ,it is a footless thing to spend valuable time in idle gossip1 for the gossip is seldom a successful business man4 ,gossip takes hold of some men to such an extent that most of their waking hours are spent in finding out something to tell to someone else1 and thus leaves but little time for business4 ,bribes ,many business men seem to think that bribes are efficient helps4 ,it is not so4 ,the moment you bribe a person you acknowledge your dishonesty by paying for his dishonesty1 and you may be sure that the bribe habit will grow2 the demands of the men accepting the bribe will grow to alarming proportions4 ,for every dollar you make by bribing someone1 you are losing ten dollars in other ways1 especially in your own self respect and satisfaction4 ,the moment you give a bribe you are under obligations1 and some day or other the facts will be brought out and you will suffer the consequences of your own weakness4 ,underhand1 clandestine information you get is no more than dishonesty on your part4 ,you can get better information and accomplish your purpose more surely by going direct to a competitor1 stating your case plainly1 and announcing your abhorrence of underhand methods4 ,your competitor will appreciate you more for your fairness1 and he will go out of his way to give you information when you have shown you are square4 ,stenographers ,few young men realize the advantage of learning stenography4 ,we all know the young man who writes shorthand comes in touch with the boss at once1 and while acting as amanuensis or secretary is getting a schooling that money could not buy4 ,he is going through and becoming familiar with business as it actually exists4 ,he sees the decisions made by his employer1 and he unconsciously absorbs methods which would be almost impossible for him to learn were it not for his proximity to the boss4 ,shorthand is decidedly beneficial1 first--because it is a good training for the mind2 second--it is a help all through one's life4 ,it enables him to take down memoranda and keep notes of verbal transactions2 it enables him to get in the private office1 and to be in the middle of the nerve centers of business4 ,some of the greatest men in this country were shorthand writers4 ,the stenographer who is alert soon gets to the center of the business2 he soon has responsibilities given him by the boss1 and is in direct line for promotion4 ,hypochondriacs ,here is a type we run across every day in business4 ,we see the apparently well man taking out a pill box or a bottle of medicine as he sits down to lunch4 ,we ask him what is the matter1 and he proceeds to tell us about his bodily ills and infirmities4 ,many men seem to take a keen delight in having something the matter with them4 ,they go to a physician1 though often the disease is practically mental4 ,you can't get health out of a glass bottle4 ,the man who is taking medicine all the time is going at things wrong end to4 ,if his stomach is out of whack he should change his method of living rather than to try to cure his dyspepsia with stuff that comes in a bottle4 ,the man who needs a tonic before he can eat a lunch had better take plenty of air and exercise than to take poisonous drugs into his system4 ,if you are a smoker and find you have no appetite for lunch1 give up cigars in the forenoon1 and you will notice an immediate difference when you sit down to the noonday meal4 ,the hypochondriac imagines he has things the matter with him1 and he becomes confirmed in his belief1 he finds that so long as he lives he has something the matter with him4 ,he no sooner gets cured of one than something else attacks him4 ,there is no medicine like air and exercise and occupation4 ,the man who gives in to trifling ailments is in a sad plight4 ,he is never happy unless he is sick4 ,he is unreasonable1 and he is the last one to appreciate what can be done by a man who cures himself through the mental processes4 ,we all know that we can take a perfectly well man and pre-arrange to have a dozen of his friends on a given day greet him with some remark about his ill appearance4 ,that man will be sick before the tenth man accosts him4 ,politics ,politics is a losing game4 ,every man owes it to himself and to his family and to his country to take an interest in politics to the extent of getting out to the primaries and voting for the right man1 and help to get good men in office4 ,but when a man carries politics to extremes or mixes it with his business1 his business is sure to suffer4 ,there are two kinds of politics--the honest kind and the grafting kind4 ,the honest politician gets very slight remuneration for the time and energy he spends1 and the grafting politician sooner or later winds up in the soup through his dishonest practices4 ,there is no greater danger to business than to have the proprietor spend much of his time in politics4 ,the upright business man will not descend to the things practised by the dishonest politician1 and the sharp business man who has no compunctions on this score will make a loss in his business4 ,the law of compensation surely comes in here1 for in proportion as a man plays politics his business is bound to suffer4 ,profanity ,twenty-five years ago profanity was found on every side4 ,today you find it only among laborers4 ,business men won't allow profanity4 ,swearing goes with lying4 ,the truthful man can look you in the eye and chisel out his words and you know he means it4 ,the liar gets angry and swears1 and he is a bluff4 ,truth doesn't need curse words to make it stick4 ,some great men swear and many small men swear4 ,usually1 however1 the truly great man doesn't swear4 ,men who think1 men who study and analyze1 seldom swear4 ,swear words are usually used as fillers in sentences4 ,some men have limited knowledge of adjectives so they resort to swearing4 ,mark this when you hear a man firing a volley of profanity in rapid succession--,you lose respect for that man6 ,profanity is an easier habit to acquire and harder to give up than its distant relative1 slang4 ,slang has its value for it has taken place of much profanity4 ,slang and profanity1 and logic and thought don't mix well together4 ,the more profanity1 the less brains in your make-up4 ,profanity is a hold-back4 ,system ,system is all right so long as it lessens labor4 ,generally system is complex and increases fixed charges4 ,the system of copying every letter is a waste of time4 ,not once in a thousand cases do you require to refer to a letter4 ,have fixed rules and prices and you won't have to refer to letters4 ,when you do copy a letter copy it on the back of the letter you are answering4 ,use a carbon sheet4 ,have ,simplicity your rule instead of ,system4 ,system has tangled many institutions4 ,beware of system that makes more work4 ,don't clutter up your office with a lot of useless data and wagon loads of old letters and records4 ,rule of ,gold ,centuries ago ,confucius was walking through the woods soliloquizing and analyzing and sizing up things in solitude4 ,while thus engaged he was waylaid by two ,chinese peasants4 ,these men had heard of ,confucius' philosophy1 but they could not make much out of it1 for ,confucius used words beyond their limited understanding4 ,these men1 with raised clubs1 halted ,confucius and said to him3 ,our minds are small4 ,we do not understand the things you say4 ,tell us how to live4 ,make your story short or we will slay you4 ,we can only remember as much as you can tell in a moment4 ,therefore1 stand on one foot and tell us quickly what we are to do4 ,we can only remember what you can tell while standing on one foot4 ,confucius stood on one foot and said3 ,sing1 fat1 bong1 lung1 looy1 which1 being interpreted1 means what you would like others to do to you1 do to them4 ,this is the golden rule which has been handed down through centuries4 ,it has been alloyed and simulated4 ,it has been attacked1 but1 like all pure gold1 it has endured forever4 ,there is no line of action we can suggest or anything that will prove more valuable to the young man or old man through life than the golden rule4 ,the golden rule is not theoretical1 but a wholly practical help1 and so in closing this series of talks with you1 the writer feels that the essence of all the logic1 good advice and philosophy may be summed up in the following3 ,do unto others as you would have others do unto you4 ,in saying good-bye we suggest that you particularly remember the key to knowledge1 which is ,o4,r4,b41 and which means ,observe1 ,reflect and ,benefit1 and the practice of the following3 ,work1 ,horse ,sense and ,golden ,rule4 ,,the ,,end ,my ,symphony ,by ,,col4 ,wm4 ,c4 ,,hunter ,i have set my mark at ,truth1 ,my purpose fixed1 ,i shall not hesitate2 ,ever on and on again ,i go toward the goal of my ambition2 ,i shall not turn aside or pause4 ,the pleadings of the ,siren1 ,the wiles of the ,devil1 ,the threats of mine ,enemies1 ,shall not make my ,purpose change4 ,obstacles may block my path ,and ,darkness blur my way4 ,but ever firm with ,right my guide ,i shall keep pushing on4 ,i may not reach my grand ,ideal1 ,but be that as it may1 ,the journey to it surely will ,be a pleasant one2 ,and should ,i fall upon the way1 ,my face shall be toward the place ,i started for4 ,truth is ,right and ,right is ,truth1 ,wrong shall surely fail2 ,i shall not be discouraged ,at ,clouds or ,storms4 ,i know the ,sun doth shine1 ,it beams somewhere tho' ,i see it not4 ,i fear not but the end of ,time ,will show all ,things that are1 are best ,for the ,eternal plan4 ,truth endureth and ,lies shall not obtain ,for any length of time4 ,in ,shadow ,land are upstretched hands ,and1 midst the noise of this ,great ,world ,are feeble cries for help2 ,my ear shall practice to hear such calls1 ,my hands shall train to lift the fallen2 ,noble men and women who are pushed aside ,need champions for their cause2 ,man1 where'er he is or what he be ,is none the less my brother ,and needs the strong to cheer him on4 ,what we extend in help and cheer1 ,brings its reward in ,happiness4 ,it is not for me to say or think ,look out for myself first2 ,the bird1 the beast1 the stream that flows1 ,the hills1 the fields1 the land1 the sea1 ,are ,parts1 are ,things like me1 ,and all belong to one ,grand ,plan2 ,the stars1 the moon1 the sky1 ,and endless space as well1 ,are ,parts of one machine1 ,that runneth by but ,one ,grand ,power ,of which ,i am in truth a part1 ,an ,atom though ,i be4 ,all things that are1 are best-- ,this much ,truth ,i know1 ,though why things are ,i can't explain1 ,my ,vision still is dim4 ,all answers will be given out ,when time shall be no more1 ,and so ,i keep a-plodding on1 ,and on and on my way2 ,my face is to the ,light1 ,my heart doth sing for ,joy2 ,i strive to do the best ,i can each day ,in ,act and ,thought and ,word2 ,i know not just the plan of things that are ,but back of all is ,truth1 ,and ,truth ,i seek2 ,i shall not know all ,truth ,until the great ,revealing ,time4 ,col4 ,hunter's ,symphony is printed on heavy parchment paper4 ,illustrated in colors4 ,size #i x #ab inches4 ,it is suitable for framing or may be hung on the wall with ribbon4 ,price1 postpaid1 #be cents a copy4 ,another ,colonel ,hunter ,book ,illustration3 ,front cover of the book ,,frozen ,,dog ,,tales ,,and ,,other ,,things ,this book is full of pathos and humor4 ,it is all stories and sketches depicting life in the far ,west4 ,it tells of the doings of ,grizzly ,pete1 ,joe ,kip and other inhabitants of ,frozen ,dog1 ,idaho1 where ,colonel ,hunter has his beautiful ranch4 ,it breathes the spirit of the mountains and the forest4 ,in ,dollars and ,sense you have read the business side of ,colonel's life4 ,in ,frozen ,dog ,tales you get his life as he sees it while close to nature4 ,the book is much larger than ,dollars and ,sense4 ,it is bound in fancy cloth covers in colors4 ,it has #bjj pages and one or more pictures on every page in colors4 ,if you like ,dollars and ,sense1 you will love ,frozen ,dog ,tales4 ,it touches your heart strings and the next moment convulses you with laughter4 ,the price of ,frozen ,dog ,tales is #a4jj per copy1 postpaid4 ,address ,,hunter ,,co41 ,oak ,park1 ,ill4 ,,col4 ,,hunter',s ,autographed ,motto ,we want every reader of ,dollars and ,sense to have one of these brass mottoes4 ,the illustration below shows the size4 ,illustration3 ,be pleasant every morning until ten o'clock1 the rest of the day will take care of itself ,wm ,c4 ,hunter ,the autographed motto is engraved and enameled4 ,it has a hole in the center to tack it up4 ,the motto can either be worn as a pocket piece1 or it may be tacked up on your desk1 on your dresser1 or on the wall4 ,,the ,,plate ,,is ,,two ,,inches ,,in ,,diameter ,,price #aj ,,cts4 ,,postpaid ,address ,,hunter ,,co41 ,,oak ,,park1 ,,ill4