The Ph i ist ineEAST AU' O ' A,E' IE COUNTY,NEW ' O 'K

E v erything done in hate has to be done

ov er again.

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Store 'ailures

—UBBE other day I read this sentencein one ofR . G . Dun 85 Company’sweekly reports, The average lifeofa successful General Store istwenty years —then it fails .' Onedoes not lookfor literature in trade

reports . Literature consists in telling the thingby saying something else . This gives the readeran opportunity to guess what is meant—it is akind ofpleasing puzzle ' and the joy ofthereader lies '

ln solving the problem . It 18 the satisfaction with himself that pleases the gentlereader, not the joy in the literature . Reading isself—discovery, and when we understand wementally pat ourselves on the back .

And sothat remark in the Dun report caughtme—I was pleased with myself. I read into itmy own experiences .

The average life of a successful general store18 twenty yearsfthen it fails .' If it is n’

t successful it would not live at all . If it exists twentyyears a goodly degree of success must attend it 'and it fails on account ofits success .As long as a country store is small

,and is run by

a man of average ability who can carry in hishead a schedule ofwhat he has in stock

,the

place escapes disaster. The owner buys and hesells 'he usually remembers about what a thingcosts, and he sells at a profit .In small stores, out West, if a patron wastrusted,we used to chalk the item down on thestovepipe . The amount of money in the cashdrawer at night represented the cash sales ofthe day. If somebody pinched a few dollars, orlifted a pair ofboots,we did n’

t know it unlesswe caught the miscreant in the act .In a country store an inventory is taken once ayear. At the end of the second year stock isfound on hand that was on hand a year before .No special effort is made to work it off— thehope and expectation is that it will e v entuallybe called for.The

h

business increases—diligence and hardwork have their reward . ' clerk is employedbesides the usual boy. Things

v are prosperous .Another clerk is hired .

2

The owner’s credit is good —he buys on time .If bills are due and he has not quite enoughmoney to meet them, he pays what he can andgives his notefor the balance .Business continues good— new lines are takenon. If there is no money to pay notes that comedue, the notes are renewed J The inventoryshows a profit offive, eight or ten thousand ayear. Money may be a little tight

,but it is tight

everywhere . Business is good—the country isprosperous J JDid you know that an active, hustling,rustlingman is «only at his bestfor about fifteen years?That is a fact . He is n’

t donefor then, only he iswilling that others should take the leadfor awhile and shoulder the burden .

Things are left to others —our merchant takeslittle trips,or spends a part ofhis time on hisfarm looking after his live stock.

The very success ofthe business leads to carelessness and inattention . Vigilance is relaxed JIn the general store there is no system ofbookkeeping to show what pays and what. not. Theinventory does not reveal the dead stock, andthe book accounts do not show what accountsare worth their face and what not.A good dunderhead clerk, not over greedy,cansteal from his employer a thousand dollars a

3,

year for ten years and the boss in the averagesuccessful country store will never know it. Thebigger the business, the more leaks . I used towork in a country store where a twelve-yearold boy stole eggs from us at the back door andbrought them around in front and sold us ourown property J He kept this up for a year, andhe might have kept it up indefinitely had he nottaken in a partner and tried to do a wholesalebusiness J JSuccess did for him, too lDead stock

,bad accounts, pilfering clerks,

pinching setters and lime in the bones oftheboss, work the certain ruin of every country

store J JIf the business

'

is so small that the proprietorand his wife can remember everything theyhave instock

,and then sell for cash, and can

not get or will not accept credit, then the business is safe until their sons grow up and takethe management— then five years busts the

shebang J JExpansion without system spells failure JOrganization means that a man shall grow withhis business, but the man who grows with hisbusiness is as one in a hundred .

A million mice nibble at every business concern J J

In order to avoid leaks there must be a systemthat will locate them . The department store

,

where there is a system which tells every day,

every week,or every month just what each de

partm ent pays, is the safest business that exists .If any one department does not pay, it is reformed and made to pay or else eliminated .

No big business can possibly succeed unless it isdivided up into departments .A non-paying department is never allowed tocontinue and drag the whole concern down tobankruptcy as in the good old general store

,

where jumble and guesswork audit the accounts .(I The successful country store is an easy markfor every petty thief and little poker player intown . The village Smart Aleck hires out asclerk and supplies his friends the things theyneed, just as a sneakerino reads the postalcards and hands out the news, if he or sheclerks in the post-office .

UCCESS in business nowadays turns onyour ability to systematize . John Wana

maker, one ofthe most successful merchantsthe world has ever known

,knows every night

just what department of his vast business ispaying and what not .The business of John Wanamaker owes its

5

THE PHI success to system . No business long remainsLISTINE greater than theman who runs it. And the

'sizeof the business is limited only by the size of theman. Our limitations say to our business

,

Thus far and no farther .' We ourselves fixthe limit.Without system the most solid comm ercial structure w ill dissipate into thin air .

qThe Gould System,the Vanderbilt System,the

theiHill System, the Harriman System, thePennsylvania

' ‘

System— they are all rightlynamed . It is system that makes a great businesspossible . WhenJay Gould gathered up a dozenwarring, struggling streaks of rust and rightsof—way and organized them into a railroadsystem, he revealed the master mind .

The measure of your success is your ability toorganize

,and 3 if you cannot bring system to

bear,your very success will work your ruin .

The average life of a successful general storeis twenty years— then it fails .' And it fails thruits lack of'system— the man does not grow withhis business . An army unorganized is a mob JNapoleon’s power lay in his genius for system,

and h e whipped the 'ustrians, one againstthree

,not only because he knew the value of

time,but because he had the ability to system

atize. But the finances? ' asked his secretary .

I will arrange was the reply.

6

The character ofthe man at the head,mirrorsitself in every department or every enterprise

,

but perhaps in the hotel business, most clearlyand quickly ofall . A certain kind oflandlordcan care for a certain number of Guests'

and the quality of the guest attracted is according to the quality of the landlord . Increase thenumber of people to be fed and housed

,and

usually your hotel keeper quickly gets into veryhot water. Fifty extra people upset his system,

and either his guests leave or else his help'

steal him to a standstill . A new and bettermanager must then come in

,or the referee in

bankruptcy awaits around the corner with astuffed club .

The measure ofa man’s success in business ishis ability to organize .The measure ofa man’s success in literatureis to organize his ideas and reduce the use ofthe twenty-six letters ofthe alphabet to a system so as to express the most in the least space .

The writer does not necessarily know morethan the reader

, but he must organize his factsand march truth in a phalanx.

In painting,your success hinges on your ability

to organize colors and place them in the rightrelation to give a picture of the scene that isin your mind .

Oratory demands an orderly procession ofwords, phrases and sentences to present anargument that can be understood by an averageperson J JMusic is the selection and systematization ofthe sounds of nature .Science is

'

the organization of the commonknowledge of the common people .In life everything lies in the mass—materialsare a mob

,—a man’s measure is his ability to

select,reject and organize .

J J J' bad comprom ise is better than a good

lawsuit.J J J

BusinessHE civilized world is now experiencing a great Mental andSpiritual Awakening .

It is an Awakening similar to thatof Greece in the time of Pericles 'of Rome in the time of Augustus '

of Italy in the time of Michael Angelo-' say,in

the year 1 492 ,when Columbus set sail and theinvention of printing gave learning to thepeople J JWe are living in the greatest time the world has

8

ever seen—a time that will live in history asThe Great American Renaissance . Some willcall it The Age of Edison .

'

Beginning with a shower of inventions and disco v eries, this Awakening has extended to everydomain ofhuman thought and endeavor . Thevast changes

,for example, in the matter of

Transportation, only symbol the changes thathave occurred in our ideals of right and wrong .

Within thirty years’ time we have evolved :A new science of Education .

A new science of Theology .

A new science of Medicine .

A new science of Penology .

A new science of Business .Emerson defines Commerce as the taking ofthings from where they are plentiful to wherethey are needed .

Business is that field of endeavor which undertakes to supply to humanity the materials thatlife demands .The clergy are our spiritual advisers, preparing us for a good place

'

in another world . Thelawyers advise us on legal themes— showing ushow to obey the law

,or else‘

ev ade it, and theyprotect us from lawyers . The doctors look afterus when disease-belief attacks our bodies .

'nd until about the year 1 876, we called The9

ology, Law and Medicine,' The Three Learned

Professions .' If we use the phrase now, it isonly in a Pickwickian sense— for we realizethat there are now fifty-seven varieties oflearned men .

The greatest and most important of all the professions is that of Commerce or Business . Medicine and Law have their specialties— a dozeneach— but Business has ten thousand specialties or divisions .So important do we now recogm ze Business,or this ministering to the material wants ofhumanity

,that Theology has shifted its ground,

and within a few years has declared that to eatrightly

,dress rightly and work rightly are the

fittest preparation for a life to come .The best lawyers now are Business Men, andtheir work is to keep the commercial craft in asafe channel

’

where it will not split on the rocksoflitigation nor founder in the shallows of misunderstanding . Every lawyer will tell you this,To make money you must satisfy your cus

tom ers .

The greatest change 1n business came with theOne-Price System . This has all been broughtabout since the Civil War .The old idea was for the seller to get as muchas he possibly could

_

for everything he sold .

10

Short weight, short count and inferiority inquality were considered quite proper and right,and when you bought a dressed turkey from afarmer

,if you did not discover the stone inside

the turkey when you weighed it and paid for it,there was no redress . The laugh was on you .

And moreover a legal maxim— caveat emptorlet the buyer beware

,

' made cheatinglegally safe .Dealers in clothing guaranteed neither fit norquality, and anything you paid for, oncewrapped up and in your hands

,was yours be

yond recall Let the buyer beware ''

A few hundred years ago business was transacted mostly thru fairs, ships, and by peddlers .Your merchant of that time was a peripateticrogue who reduced prevarication to a system .

1] The booth gradually evolved into a store,with the methods and customs of the irresponsible keeper intact, the men cheated theirneighbors and chuckled in glee until theirneighbors cheated them

,which of course

,they

did . Then they cursed each other, began againand did it all over . John Quincy Adams tells ofa certain deacon who kept a store near Boston,who always added in the year 1 775, at top ofcolumn, as seventeen dollars and seventy-fi v e

cents J J

The amount of misery,grief

,disappointment

,

shame, distress,woe, suspicion and hate causedby a system which wrapped up one thingwhen the buyer expected another

,and took ad

vantage of his innocence and‘

ignorance as toquality and value, cannot be computed infigures . Suffice it to say that duplicity in tradehas had to go . The self—preservation of the racedemanded honesty, square dealing, one price toall J JThe change only came after a struggle

,and we

are not quite sure of the One-Price yet .But we have gotten thusfar, that the man whocheats in trade is tabu . Honesty as a businessasset is fully recognized . If you would succeedin business you can’t afford to sell a man something he does not want 'neither can you affordto disappoint him in quality any more than incount . Other things being equal

,the merchant

who has the most friends,will make the most

money . Our enemies will not deal with us .To make a sale and acquire an enemy is peorpolicy . To a peddler or a man who ran a boothat a bazaar or fair, it was get your money nowor never .' Buyer and seller were at war. Onetransaction and they never met again . The airwas full of hate and suspicion, and the savagepropensity of physical destruction was refined

K

to a point where hypocrisy and untruth tookthe place of violence . The buyer was as bad asthe seller— ifhe could buy below cost heboasted of it. To catch a merchant who had tohave money was glorious—we smote him hipand thigh ' Later we discovered that, beingstrangers

,he took us in .

The One-Price System has come as a necessity,since it reduces the frictions of life and protectsthe child or simple person in the selection ofthings needed, just the same as if the buyerwere an expert in values and a person who

could strike back if imposed upon. Safety,peace

and decency demanded the One-Price System .

And so we have it— with possibly a discount tothe clergy

,to school teachers and relatives as

close as second cousins . But when we reach thepoint where we see that all men are brothers,wewill have absolute honesty and One Price to all .(JAnd so behold we find the Government making favoritism in trade a crime and enforcingthe One-Price System by law. And just remember this, law is the crystallization of publicOpinion and no law not backed up by the will ofthe people can be enforced . As we grow betterwe have better laws . In Kansas City last weekthree men were fined forty thousand dollarseach for cutting prices . They were railroad men,

13

and railroads have only one thing to sell,and

that is transportation . To cut the price on it andsell to some at a less figure than to others

,is

now considered not only immoral, but actuallycriminal . The world moves .And this change in the methods of Business

,

and in our mental attitude towards trade haveall grown out of a dimly perceived

,but deeply felt

belief in the Brotherhood of Man, of the Solidarity of the Race .Also in the further belief that life in all of itsmanifestations is Divine.

Therefore he who ministers to the happinessand well-being of the life of another is a priestand is doing God’s work.

Men must eat, they must be clothed, they mustbe housed .

It is quite as necessary that you should eat goodfood, as that you should read good books, heargood music, hear good sermons or look uponbeautiful pictures .The necessary is the sacred . There are nomeni al tasks . He that is greatest among youshall be your servant .' The physical reacts onthe spiritual and the spiritual on the physical,and rightly understood, are one and the samething .We live in a world of spirit and our bodiesare the physical manifestation

1

ofa spiritual14

thing,which for lack ofa better word we call

God .

'

J JWe change men by changing their environment . Commerce changes the environment andgives us a better society . To supply good water

,

better sanitary appliances, better heating apparatus

,better food, served in a more dainty way

—these are all tasks worthy of the highest intelligence and devotion that can be brought tobear upon them, and every Christian preacherin the world to-day so recognizes

,believes and

preaches J JWe have ceased to separate the secular fromthe sacred . That is sacred which serves .Once a business man was a person who not onlythrived by taking advantage of the necessitiesof people

,but who banked on their ignorance of

values . But all wise men now know that theway to help yourself is to help humanity.

We benefit ourselves only as we benefit others .11 And the recognition of these truths is whathas to-day placed the Business Man at the headofthe learned professions—he ministers to thenecessities of humanity.

J J

T o carry a res pons ib ility g iv es a

s ens e ofpow er .

The New WayHE

'most numerous of all thevarious divisions of trade is that ofRetail Grocer.There are two hundred and fiftythousand Retail Grocers in America . We can’t eat a meal without

first interviewing our grocer . You can omit thepreacher

,waive the lawyer, but you ’11 have to

send for the doctor unless you deal with theright grocer.Our lives are literally in his hands .He supplies the fuel that keeps our vital processes in motion .Just a little of the wrong kindoffood and our outlook on the world is disturbed

,and the young men carry us out.

Of all the men in my employ,the only one

with whom I dare not break friendship is'

mycook,

' said Frederick the Great . He wouldbetter have said ' my grocer,

' for the cookcooks what the grocer provides . Of all men theRetail Grocer should be a man of integrity andintelligence J JBut ' what do we find? This— that the GroceryTrade is popularly regarded as the smallest,meanest and most insignificant of all thedivisions of business . When we wish to expressour disdain we call him a ' Grocer’s Clerk,' and

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coachmen and grocers, andw

atezat theZsam e

table . Possibly the idea was all right,only they

did not think enough of coachmen and grocers .1] And the grocer is growing honest—or Ishould say, he is desiring to be h onest.And all we sincerely desire comes about.Grocers deal in two kinds of goods—packageand bulk . The package goods are packaged bythe manufacturer, and bulk goods are packagedby the grocer.With the marvellous invention of machinesthat can talk, have come machines that package goods without the touch ofhuman hands,in one-tenth of the time and at one—half the costthat a grocer can package them .

Many of these package or propr1etary goodsare made by r esponsible, scientific men, whoguarantee weight, count and quality . To facilitate trade they place on the package the retailprice at which it shall be sold .

J And within a very few years some of thesemanufacturers have begun to pr1nt a guarantee on the package that if the consumer 1s notsatisfied with his purchase 1n every way, theretailer is authorized to pay the customer hismoney back.

This plan of trade is called Mone‘

ybacking your

product J J

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It is a brand-new idea, and never before hasbeen attempted in the history of the world .

Money back without question or quibble on

demand 'J JThat is to say

,the retailer offers to give the

customer back his money on the return of thegoods 'the wholesaler stands ready to take backfrom the retailer all or any goods and pay hismoney back 'the

'

m anufacturer agrees to takefrom the wholesale dealer his stock and returnthe money on demand .

The i nitiative in this New Way,it will be seen,

has come and must come from the m anufacturer who has the capital

,the courage and the

faith to Moneyback his product .The plan of Moneybacking all package goods:saves the Retail Grocer from the risk of overstocking, and better still, it saves the m anufacturer and his salesman from the temptation of

'

putting out inferior goods,and selling stock for '

which there is no market .And this gets us around to the ethical propos1tion that no Business Man can afford to sell'anybody goods that he does not need . All trademust be reciprocal or it is immoral . Thisthought has found lodgment in the businessworld only since 1 890 .

Package goods are coming into general usefor19

three reasons : First, the realization that goodsin bulk exposed to dust

,dirt and bacter1a in the

air, and from the handling by human hands areunsanitary and dangerous.Second, the economy, safety,tastefulness and great convenienceofthe package . Third

, the guarantee of qualitythat goes with the name of a responsible andscientific manufacturer.And this is appreciated by all intelligent people .(JYet in handling package goods there has beenone very great and serious evil to face for allparties concerned . And that is the cutting ofprices . If a proprietary brand was known by thepublic to be excellent and desirable, some dealerin order to attract trade was sure to cut

'

the

price q the regular retail pr1ce fixed by themanufacturer and printed on the package wastwenty-fiv e cents, some dealer would advertiseit at twenty cents . Another would meet the cut

by selling it ,

for eighteen cents, or actual costto him . Even if he sold at ten per cent profit helost money

,for a retailer should have at least

twenty per cent margin or he is skating on thinice J JWhat was the result? -Why, the genuine brandwould be dislodged from the market and something just as good made by an 1rresponsible

maker would be substituted,and the precious

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innards ofthe consumer would pay the penalty.

1] The great question has been, how can theRetail Grocers be protected against each other,so all may reap a legitimate profit, and the public still be protected from spurious brands andbulk goods of doubtful quality?The Moneyback plan was good as far as it went,but it did not stop cutting prices, which meantruin for the brand and ruin for the dealer .When one man cut one thing, one anotherthing, each would have to meet the cut ofalland all ofeach, and so ruin each other’s business J JThe vast increase in proportion ofpackagegoods to bulk goods requires that the retailerbe protected against his own indiscretion ' andthe package goods industry must be confined tothose who have the ability and faith to Moneyback their products . The time is at hand, andnow is when retailers will refuse to buy any butMoneyback goods, and when manufacturers inorder to save themselves must adopt the New

Way J JAnd this is the New Way

,the invention ofMr.

A . Schilling ofSan Francisco,a man who has

raised Business to a Fine Art . The New Wayis a ridiculously simple plan, but a methodwhich means a just profit

,and a fair fieldfor

2 1

all concerned . So here you are : The m anufacturer fixes the retail price and bills to the wholesale dealer at that price, less his trade discount,freight prepaid, an agreement being S1gned thatthe wholesale dealer shall keep to the established pr1ce, and give up his stock if he breaksthe agreement, the whole transaction beingMoneyback either way on demand .

The wholesale dealer then bills to the retailerat the retail price, no discount excepting theusual d1scount for cash in ten days . When theretailer opens his case he finds in an envelope adraft for the amount of his profit on that particular case . He signs his name on the back ofthis draft, and at once deposits it to his creditin the bank as so much cash . On the back ofthis draft is an agreement that the retailer willgiveup his stock, and accept his money back ondemand ifhe cuts the price

,and when he en

dorses the draft he signs the agreement .And that is all there is of the New Way . It is sosimple and p lain that any grocer

’s clerk canunderstand it

,yet being new

,it will take a little

time to come into general use,for we always

look with suspicion on new ideas and new plans .1] But it has got to come— it has got to come inorder to raise the busrness of the Retail Grocerto a point where it commands respect, insures

22

safety,and where the man makes a profit that

will make him respect himself. This has got tocome

,1n order to encourage the manufacturer

to give us the best result of his labor,and to

insure the consumer that he is getting what hepays for.Study it out now, ye wise men, and see if youcan find a single, solitary flaw in the New Way '

J J

The extrem e ofth e law is th e ex

trem e ofinju s tice .

J J

' Message To GarciaN all this Cuban business there isone man stands out on the horizonofmy memory like '

Mars at perihelion . When war broke out between Spain and the United States,it was very necessary to communi

cate quickly with the leader ofthe Insurgents .Garcia was somewhere in the mountain fastnesses ofCuba—no one knew where . No mailnor telegraph message

'could reach him . The

President must secure his co-Operation andquickly J JWhat to do 'Some one said to the President,

' There is a

2 3

fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garciafor you

,if anybody can.

'

Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be de-s

livered to Garcia .

How the fellow by the name of Rowan tookthe letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch,strapped it over his heart, in four days landedby night offthe coast of Cuba from an openboat, disappeared into the jungle, and in threeweeks came out on the other side of the Island,having traversed a hostile country on foot, anddelivered his letter to Garcia—are things I haveno special desire now to tell in detail . The pointthat I wish to make is this : McKinley gaveRowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia 'Rowan took the letter and did not ask

,Where

is he at ?By the Eternal ' there is a man whose formshould be cast in deathless bronz e and the

statue placed in every college in the land . It 18not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening ofthe vertebrae which will cause them to be loyalto a trust, to act promptly, concentrate theirenergies : do the thing Carry a message to

Garcia .

' J JGeneral Garcia is dead now, but there are otherGarcias . No man, who has endeavored to carry

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What ’s the matter with Charlie doing itIs b e dead?Is there any hurry?Shan’t I bring you the book and let you look itup yourself?What do you want to know for?And I will lay you ten to one that after you haveanswered the questions

,and explained how to

find the information, and why you want it,the clerk will go offand get one of the otherclerks to help him try to find Garcia—and thencome back and tell you there is no such man .

Of course I may lose my bet, but according tothe Law of Averages I will not .Now if you are wise

,you will not bother to ex

plain to your ' assistant ' that Correggio is indexed under the C’s, not the K

’s, but you will

smile sweetly and say, Never mind,

' and golook it upyourself. And this incapacity for independent action

,this moral stupidity

,this in

firm ity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift— these are the thingsthat put pure Socialism so far into the future JIf men will not act for themselves

,what will

they do when the benefit of their effort is for all?11]A first mate with knotted club seems necessary 'and the dread ofgetting ' the bounceSaturday night holds many a worker to his

place . Advertise for a stenographer,and nine

out often who apply can neither spell norpunctuate—and do not think it necessary to JCan such a one write a letter to Garcia?You see that bookkeeper,

' said the foremanto me in a large factory .

Yes,what about him

Well,he ’s a fine accountant, but ifI ’d send

him up-town on an errand, he might accom

plish the errand all right, and on the otherhand

,might stop at four saloons on the way,

and when he got to Main Street, would forgetwhat he had been sentfor .

Can such a man be entrusted to carry a messageto Garcia?We have recently been hearing much maudlinsympathy expressed for the down-troddendenizen ofthe sweat-shop,' and the homelesswanderer searchingfor honest employment,'and with it all often go many hard words forthe men 1n power . 1

Nothing is said about the employer who growsold before his time in a vain attempt to getfrowzy ne’er-do-wells to do intelligent work 'and his long, patient striving after help thatdoes nothing but loaf when h is back is turned .

In every store and factory there is a constantweeding-out process going on. The employer is

27

constantly sending away help that ha v eshown the1r 1ncapacity to further the interestsof the business, and others are being taken on .

No matter how'

good times are, this sorting continues : only if times are hard and work isscarce, the sortrng 1s done finer—but out andforever

'

out the incompetent and unworthy go .

It is the survival of the fittest . Self-interestprompts every employer to keep the bestthose who can carry amessage to Garcia .

I know one man of really brilliant parts whohas not the ability to manage a business of hisown

, and yet who is absolutely worthless to anyone else, because he carries with him constantly the insane suspicion that his employer isoppressing, or intending to oppress him . Hecannot give

'

orders, and he will not recerv e

them . Should a message be given to him to taketo Garcia, his answer would probably be,Take it yourself ''

To-night this man walks the streets looking forwork, the wind whistling thru his threadbare coat . No one who knows him dare employhim, for he is a regular firebrand of discontent .He is impervious to reason, and the only thingthat can impress him is the toe ofa thick—soledNumber Nine Boot.Of course I know that one so morally deformed

is no less to be pitied than a physical cripple 'but in our pitying, let us drop a tear, too,for them en who are striving to carry on a great enterprise

,whose working hours are not limited by

the whistle, and whose hair is fast turningwhite thru ' the struggle to hold in line

dowdy indifference, slipshod imbecility, and theheartless ingratitude,which,butfor their enterprise,would be both hungry and homeless .Have I put the matter too strongly? Possibly Ihave 'but when all the world has gone a-slumming I wish to speak a word ofsympathyforthe man who succeeds- {he man who, against

great odds, has directed the efforts ofothers,and having succeeded, finds there ’s nothing init : nothing but bare board and clothes . I havecarried a dinner pail and worked for day’sw ages, and I have also been an employer oflabor, and I know there is something to be saidon both sides . There is no excellence, per se, inpo v erty ' rags are no recommendation 'and allemployers are not rapacious and high-handed

,

any more than all poor men are virtuous . Myheart goes out to the man who does his workwhen the boss' is away, as well as when he isat home . And the man who,when given a letterfor Garcia, quietly takes the missive, without asking any idiotic questions

,and with no

29

lurking intention of chucking it into the nearestsewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it

,

never gets laid off,' nor has to go on a strikefor higher wages . Civilization is one long anx

ious search for just such individuals . Anythingsuch a man asks shall be granted . He is wantedin every city, town and village— in every office,shop, store and factory . The world cries outforsuch : he is needed, and needed badly— the manwho can CARRY A MESSAGE TO GARCIA .

B e on th e lookoutfor th e great joy sand ne v er let m osqu ito s w o rry you

into a p as si on .

J J

Kindergarten ofGodEAR Playmate in the Kindergartenof God : Please do not take lifequite so seriously— you surely willnot get out of it alive . And as foryour buying and selling, yourchurches and banks, your news

paper and books,they are really at the last of no

more importance than the child ’s paper houses,red and blue wafers

,and funny scissors things .

Why,you grown-ups '

'

all your possessions are'30

only just to keep you out ofmischief,until

Death, the good old nurse, comes and rocks youto sleep . Am I not r ight?The child ’s paper doll lasts a day, and a copy ofthe daily paper lasts only half a day or until thenext edition appears and as for a church edifice

,

it only endures two days if made ofwood, andthree if made of stone . In Egypt I saw men unearthing stone temples, and no one reallyknows what god these temples were dedicated

to, much less, why . The god they sought toserve is as dead as the folks who 1nv ented him .

«1 Take my word for it, Dear Playmate, this lifeis only a big joke . But we are here

,and so let ’

s

have all the fun we can . And in order to getalong best we should cut our scissors things aswell as we can, and model only pretty toys outofthe mud that is given us . It ’s all Kindergarten business tho : the object is .to teach us . Ireally believe we are learning things

,and if we

are ever called to a Higher Grade,we should beprepared to manage more diffi cult lessons thanwhen we began here .We are all children in the Kindergarten ofGod .

Take my word for it, Playmate, and I know asmuch about God and His plans as any man evertrod this green earth . I know as much as you,and you know as much as I, and we are both

3 1

Sonsof God, and it doth not yet appear wha t weshall be .Systems of Guesswork,facetiously called Theology,

' do not introduce us to God . Theologiansare absurd men with high-cut vests andb ishop ’s voices, and I never saw one yet thatcould break a horse

,sail a boat or run a straight

furrow. Learned men—professors of Christology, praters on Homiletics, writers ofSyllogistic Essays and such

,have confounded and

confused men and covered truth with theirbrush piles ofwords . These men with manysharked up reasons are bad anglers

,and the

wind of their wings withers as it passes . Theirefforts have all tended to befog and blind,whilethe Seers and Prophets and Poets and Doershave endeavored to simplify .

Do unto others as you would be done -by

you understand that,do you not? But what doesa man mean

.

‘

when he talks of Predestination,Vicar1ous Atonement

,Redemption by Faith,

and Hell and Damnation?Please take my word for it when I say thatthese schemes of salvation are as idle vapors 'for I am a Son of God,and most preachers whopreach their little schemes are children ofthe Devil,born in sin and admit it.I am a thought of God 'I was loved into being,

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Get O ut or Get in Line.

F all the letters,messages and

speeches of Lincoln were destroyedexcept

fthat one letter to Hooker,we should still have a good indexto the heart of the Rail-Splitter .GJIIn this letter we see that Lincoln

ruled his own spirit 'and we also behold the factthat he could rule others . The letter showsfrankness

,kindliness

,wit

,tact

,wise diplomacy

and infinite patience .Hooker had harshly and unjustly criticisedLincoln, his Commander-in-Chief

,and he had

embarrassed Burnside,his ranking ofi cer . But

Lincoln waves all this in deference to the virtues that he belie v es Hooker possesses, and promotes him to succeed Burnside . In other wordsthe m an who had been wronged prom otes

'

the

man who had wronged him,over the head ofa

man whom the prom otee had wronged and forwhom the promoter had a personal friendship .

(JBut all personal considerations were sunk inview of the end desired . Yet it was necessarythat the man promoted should know the truth,and Lincoln told it to him in a way that did nothumiliate nor fire to foolish anger' but whichcertainly prevented the attack of cerebralelephantiasis to which Hooker was liable .

34

Perhaps we had better give the letter entire,and THE p H ]

so here it is LISTINEExecutive Mansion

,

Washington, January 2 6, 1 863Major—General Hooker :General : I have placed you at the head oftheArmy of the Potomac . Of course I have donethis upon what appear to me to be suflicient

reasons,and yet I think it best for you to know

that there are some things in regard to which Iam not quite satisfied with you .

I believe you to be a brave and skilful soldier,which, of course, I like .I also believe you do not mix politics with yourprofession

,in which you are right.

You have confidence in yourself,which is a v aluable if not an indispensable quality.

' ou are ambitious, which, within reasonablebounds, does good rather than harm ' but Ithink that during General Burnside’s commandofthe army you have taken counsel ofyourambition and thwarted him as much as youcould, in which you did a great wrong to thecountry and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer .I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, ofyour recently saying that both the army and thegovernment needed a dictator. Of course it wasnotfor this, but in spite ofit, that I have giventhe command . Only those generals who gainsuccesses can set up dictators . What I now askofyou is military success, and I will risk thedictatorship . The government will support youto the utmo st ofits ability, which is neither

35

more nor less than it has done and will do forall comm anders a I much fear that the spirit youhave aided to infuse into the army, of criticizing their commander and withholding confi

dence from him,will now turn upon you . I shall

assist you as far as I can to put it down. Neitheryou nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, couldget any good out of an army while such a spiritprevails in it. And now beware of rashness'beware of rashness, but with energy and 'sleeplessvigilance go forward and give us victories .

Yours very truly,

A . LINCOLN

NE point in this letter 1s especially worthour consideration, for it suggests a con

dition that springs up like deadly nightshadefrom a p0 1sonous soil . I refer to the habit ofsneering

, carpm g,grumbling at and criticising '

those who are above us

The man who 1s anybody and who does anything 1s surely go1ng to be criticised, vilified andmisunderstood . This is a part of the penalty forgreatness

, and every great man understands it 'and understands

,too

,that it is no proof of

greatness J The final proof of greatness liesin being able to endure contumely without re

sentment. Lincoln did not resent criticism 'heknew that every life m ust be its own excuse forbeing

,but look how he calls Hooker’s attention

to the fact that the dissension Hooker has sown

is going to return and plague him ' Neitheryou nor Napoleon,were he alive, could get anygood out of an army while such a spirit prevailsin it .' Hooker’s fault falls on Hooker—otherssuffer, but Hooker suffers most of all .Not long ago I met a Yale student home on avacation. I am sure he did not represent the trueYale spirit

,for he was full of criticism and bit

terness toward the institution . President Hadleycame in for his share, and I was supplied items,facts

,data

,with times and places for a peach

ofa roast .'Very soon I saw the trouble was not with Yale,the trouble was with the young man J He hadmentally dwelt on some trivial slights until hehad got so out of harmony with the institutionthat he had lost the power to derive any benefitfrom it. Yale is not a perfect institution—a fact,I suppose

,that President Hadley and most Yale

men are quite willing to admit 'but Yale doessupply certain advantages

,and it depends upon

the students whether they will avail themselvesofthese advantages or not .If you are a student in a collegefseize upon thegood that is there J You get good by giving it .You gain by giving— so give sympathy andcheerful loyalty to the institution J Be proudofit . Stand by your teachers— they are doing

3?

the best they can . If the place is faulty,make ita better place by an example of cheerfully doingyour work every day the best you can. Mindyour own business .If the concern where you are employed is allwrong

,and the Old Man a curmudgeon

,it may

be well for you to go to the Old Man and confidentially,quietly and kindly tell him that he is acurmudgeon . Explain to him that his policy isabsurd and preposterous . Then show him howto reform his ways, and you might offer totake charge of the concern and cleanse it of itssecret faults .Do this

,or if for any reason you should prefer

not,then take your choice of these : Get Out or

Get in Line . You have got to do one or theother— now make your choice . (Hfyou workfor a man

,in Heaven’s name work for him '

1] If he pays you wages that supply you yourbread and butter

,work for him - speak well of

him,thinkw ell of him, stand by him and stand

by the institution he represents .I think if I worked for a man I would work forhim . I would not work for him a part of thetime

,and the rest of the time work against him .

I would give an undivided ser v 1ce or none .If put to the p1nch

,an ounce of loyalty 1s worth

a pound of cleverness .

38

If you must vilify, condemn and eternally disparage

,why, resign your position, and when

you are outside, damn to your heart’s content.

But I pray you, so long as you are a part of aninstitution

,do not condemn it . Not that you will

injure the institution— not that— but when youdisparage the concern of which you are a part ,you disparage yourself .More than that

,you are loosening the t endrils

that hold you to the institution,and the first

high wind that comes along, you will be uprooted and blown away in the blizzard ’s track—and probably you will never know why JThe letter only says

,Times are dull and we

regret there is not enough work,

'et cetera .

Everywhere you find those out—of—a-job fellows .Talk with them and you will find that they arefull of railing

,bitterness and condemnation J

That was the trouble— through a spirit of faultfinding they got themselves swung around so theyblocked the channel

,and had to be dynamited .

They were out of harmony with the concern,and no longer being a

- help,they had to be re

moved . Every employer is constantly lookingfor people who can help him 'naturally he is onthe lookout among his employees for those whodo not help

,and everything and everybody that

is a hindrance has to go . This is the law of

trade—do not find fault with it 'it is founded onNature . The reward is only for the man thathelps

,and in order to help, you must have

sympathy J JYou cannot help the Old Man so long as you areexplaining in an undertone and whisper, bygesture and suggestion, by thought and mentalattitude

,that he is a curmudgeon and his sys

tem dead wrong . You are not necessarily menacing him by stirring up discontent and warming envy into strife, but you are doing thisYou a re getting yourself upon a well-greasedchute that will give you a quick ride down and

out J JWhen you say to other employees that the OldMan is a curmudgeon, you reveal the fact thatyou are one 'and when you tell that the policy

ofthe institution is rotten,' you surely show

that yours is .Hooker got his promotion even 1n spite of°hisfailings : but the chances are that your employerdoes not have the love that Lincoln had— thelove that suffereth long and is kind . But evenLin

’

coln could not protect Hooker forever JHooker failed to do the work, and Lincoln hadto

,

try some one else . So there came a time whenHooker was superseded by a Silent Man, whocriticized no one

,railed at nobody

—not even

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Business consists in the creation,production

,

transportation and distribution Ofthe thingsthat are necessary to human life . Thru this exercise of our faculties

,we educt the best that is

in us— in other words, we get an education .

Inasmuch as business supplies the necessitiesoflife

,it is impossible to have a highly evolved

and noble race excepting where there is aScience of Business .Business is human service .Therefore business is essentially a divine calling J JOnce men sang

,religion is the chief concern of

mortals here below.

Other men have always thought that killing wasthe chief concernofmortals here below.

Gladstone said,Only two avenues ofhonor

are open to young men— the army and thechurch .

'

This has been the prevailing Opinion oftheworldfor nearly two thousand years, and is theOne reasonwhy the Dark Ages were dark. During that thousand years of night the priest andsoldier were supreme . It was one long panic,and human evolution was blocked through fear .

The race crawled,crept

,hid

,dodged, secreted,

lied and nearly diedThe world can only be redeemed through busi

42

ness ' for business means betterment, and no

business can now succeed that does not add tohuman happiness.In Wisconsin I saw a palace in a park

,clear

back in the country . It was a general store,

where everything was sold that people use andneed . This store had rest rooms, bath rooms,lunch rooms and an art gallery . It was simplya storefor farmers .The owner ministers

,and he is making money .

He is helping himself by helping others .In all ofthe great cities are stores that areradiating centers ofbeauty, education and industry,where the welfare of employees and thepublic is carefully considered by m en ofpower .1] That many wrongs and inequalities exist inbusiness is very true 'butZthey must and can berighted without smashing the business fabric .Just here are required men with great insight,patience, poise and lO v e of kind .

He who makes war on business removes theroof from homes

,takes the bread from mouths,

leav es'p

human bodies naked to the storm—re

places'

confidence with fear, hope with dread,love with hate— and robs men oftheir right towork J JIf in the last two thousand years men had devoted one half as much time to this world as to

43

another, one half as much time to business asthey have to war

,this earth would now be a

paradise,peopled with a noble, happy, self

sufli cient race, proof against panic . A panic isjust a little cross-section of the Dark Agesmake it permanent and you have the DarkAges

,indeed .

The world has had enough ofwar . War meansdestruction, waste, violence, disease, desolation, poverty and

‘

death .

To prepare for war is to have war— for we getanything for which we are prepared .

It is a sad comment on this country to thinkthat during the year just passed, a year Ofpeace

,the United States spent more for war and

war tools,than for its entire public school sys

tem twice over.Luther Burbank says you can only change thenature of a plant by chang1ng its environment .

You can only improve the natures of men byimproving their surroundings . Business bettershuman environment . Scientific business meansgardens

,flowers

,fruits

,vegetables 'quick, safe

and cheap transportation of folks, commoditiesand

'

messages ' books, maps, furniture, p1c

tures,playgrounds

,pure water, fresh air, per

fect sewerage, sunshine— health, happiness,hope and lov ew because business gives O ppor

44

tunity to work, earn, grow and become JThe word education sometimes stands foridleness

,but business always means work, ef

fort,industry. It means intelligent, thoughtful,

reasonable and wise busy-ness .

Only the busy person is happy. Systematic,daily, useful work is man

’s greatest blessing .

ELBERT HUBBARDJ J

When inertia gets the better ofyou, it istim e to telephone to the undertaker.

J J

Helpful HintsHARLES LAMB said that when hereached his offi ce fifteen minuteslate he always went away half anhour earlier so to make the matterright . This was a joke . The chroniclate is always marked on the time

bookfor a lay-offwhen times get scarce .'

Your interests are the interests Of the house,

and theirs are yours—BE ON TIME .

Mr . Buckner, Vice-President ofthe New YorkLife Insurance Company, said to an employeewho asked for a raise in pay, I would feelmuch more inclined to double your salary if you

45

HE p H I_ lived on half that which you now have . This is

LIST INE no business of mine, but I express this to you asa friend .

'

J JYoung men who

‘

loiter around the entrance tothe store or factory, and smoke, gossip, chewand spit, would do well to eliminate it. Bepeculiar, and when you come to your work goto work,

' even if it be five minutes before time .

This habit marks the difference between theyouth who is going to be foreman and otherswho have no luck.

If you are going to be absent, tell your foremanso and get his approval . If you are unavoidablydetained from work, send word why.

J J' o not talk during working hours except onbusiness

,and then only to the head ofyour

division or to the head of the department .

J J' O not refuse to do what you are told, nor do itgrudgingly, simply because you do not understand the reason for it . If the one who tells youmakes a mistake, he is the one who will sufferfor '

it, not you .

J JHaving promised to Obtain goods or informa

46

tion,or to deliver goods by a certain t ime, do

not start the thing going and trust to luck forthe rest . ' O your own part in full, and then follow up to know that the rest is moving on

schedule time . Remember that the thingspecially promised and ofspecial importanceneeds most watching . Accidents and life ’svarious hindrances get after just thosethings with a keen scent .

J JKeep your shop open . Losing time hurts yourgrowth in your employer’s business as it wouldin your own if your shop were open and closed,O E and on. Avoid absence . Be on the job allthe days and hours the business allows .

J JGive each customer your whole attention—andjust as considerate attention to a little buyer asa big one.

J JIf your business is to wait on customers, becareful ofyour dress and appearance . Do yourmanicuring before you reach the store . Dentalfloss is a good investment . A salesman with abad breath is dear at any price . Let your dressbe quiet, neat and not too fashionable . To havea prosperous appearance helps you inwardlyand helps the business.

As a salesman, know your stocks—what youhave, and the facts of make, use, beauty andfashion which help and interest a customer.This will make you enthusiastic over yourgoods, and a good salesman without your knowing it . However

,do not be too eager or unduly

talkative .

To guy visitors or give short,sharp

,flippant

answers even to stupid or impudent people is agreat mistake . Meet rudeness with unfailingpatience and politeness and see how much better you feel .

Get your Happiness out of your work or youwill never know what real Happiness is .

As to the habit Ofgetting everything packed andready for a quick scoot when the bell rings, thisdoes not mean for you a raise . Work as ifyouowned the - place— and perhaps you may.

Date all letters,memoranda and statistics— the

Dating Habit is a good one .

If you dislike a fellow employee or are dislikedby him, do not make a parade of the matter .

Quarreling and backbiting are not compatible

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