Chapter II: Part 2

On the other hand, if you have ten competitors who are sitting up nights studying how to improve their businesses, you can get the benefit of their experience without it costing you anything.

The world is big and there is room for all, but old compensation says the prizes are given to the fittest.

If you are a laggard, if you are on the defensive instead of on the aggressive, get busy, wake up, do it now.

Advertising

Good advertising is good publicity. Advertising is the thing that makes your trade increase.

Everything you do in connection with your business and every act of yours outside of your business is an advertisement.

Reputation is an advertisement, so is honesty, politeness, correspondence, methods, catalogues, circulars and salesmen. Neatness is an advertisement, and so is promptness, thoroughness. And then there is another kind of advertising which is your statement in the newspaper. This is the printed kind of advertising, and this kind of advertising is the most common, in fact, when we suggest that you should advertise, it immediately comes to your mind that advertising is space in the newspaper.

Keep in mind, however, when we speak of advertising we refer to everything in connection with your business that makes an impression upon the public or the prospective buyer.

Some of the old timers refrain from printed advertising in newspapers, saying that the best advertisement is merit. Merit is a good advertisement, but it is mighty slow in its action.

If the inventor of the typewriter planned and built the machine in his barn without letting anyone know about it, if he kept absolutely quiet about his doings, relying on the fact that the typewriter had merit, it would never be known to the public unless he told about it. If the inventor of the typewriter waited for merit alone as the vehicle for acquainting the world with the merits of the typewriter, the world would never know of it, unless, perhaps, a fire inspector or an health officer accidently stumbled across the machine while inspecting the premises.

If the inventor waited for intrinsic merit to sell his goods, he would find that months and years would elapse before he could develop his business into profitable proportions.

If you have a good thing you must tell about it. Telling makes selling. Telling is advertising.

Professional men hold up their hands in horror when you suggest advertising to them. They tell you they don't believe in advertising, that it is not ethical, that it is not dignified. Doctors and lawyers are most notable in this respect. One of the first things of their code of ethics is "Thou shalt not advertise." They mean paid newspaper advertising. The man who originated this idea evidently did not have the money to pay for any, and it was a case of sour grapes.

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 advertising.

It is a rare spectacle to find a lawyer who will not gladly give an interview to a newspaper reporter during some important trial.

The doctor gladly avails himself of the opportunity to read a paper before a medical society, and he sees to it that this paper is published in a medical journal later on.

Professional men belong to clubs, take part in public affairs, speak before people, work on committees, and actively take part in anything that will bring them in the limelight of publicity. They do this advertising themselves, yet they say they do not believe in advertising.

Uncle Sam builds war ships, equips his soldiers splendidly, conducts his business affairs with high grade talent, all this that the United States may be well advertised among our sister nations.

Advertising is absolutely essential to successful business. Not printed advertising alone but all kinds of advertising. The quality, the price, your aggressiveness, everything in your business is an advertisement, either a good advertisement or a bad one. It behooves you to see the advertising you do, whatever kind it may be, is of the good kind.

If you expect to remain in business a long time your advertisements must be good. Keep in mind that methods are advertisements.

One bad move, which is a bad advertisement for you, calls for two or more good moves or good advertisements.

Have everything, every detail of your business carry a good advertisement, that is, have it help your business.

Have every employe pulling on the same center tugs and have them all face forward, and your vehicle will move forward.

Buying

The buyer derives much information and much shrewdness by carefully watching the seller's methods.

Some buyers seem to think that bull-dozing tactics, cute lies and irritable manners make the seller humble, weak-kneed and non-combative. This is a great mistake.

The best buyer is first a gentleman. He keeps his word, he is patient and he knows his business thoroughly.

The buyer gains much by being open and above board with the seller. Let the seller know that your success consists in getting as much value as you can for the money, and that your continuous trade will result only through fair treatment.

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 customers, and the longer you will be able to deal with the seller.

The moment a buyer shows bull-dozing methods, the seller is antagonized, and his object then is to soak the buyer.

The buyer who keeps his temper and goes at the matter philosophically is the one who wins out.

The buyer should explain to the seller that the seller can get the best of him once and may be twice, but not more than that.

The main thing for the buyer to possess is a most thorough knowledge of the goods he buys. Learn who makes the goods and where they are made, and get at the factory cost.

Then learn whose factories have the best reputation, and whose are the best fitted and established to make the goods you buy.

Remember you can afford to investigate. When you find a factory over-sold you will find that factory more independent. When you find a factory short of orders you will find them eager for your trade, and the chances are you can do much better with this factory than with the one that is behind on its orders.

Don't get excited, don't hurry. Speak gently. Know your ground. Cultivate a reputation for fairness rather than smoothness. Laxity and indifference in buying means that you are allowing wastes and leaks to creep in your business, and that you are placing a handicap on your traveling salesman, for goods well bought are half sold.

Expenses

If you get confidential with Mr. Bradstreet or Mr. Dun so that they will give you access to the inside history of the commercial concerns which have failed in business, you will quickly discover that in the majority of cases the cause of the failure was "too much expense."

It has become quite a common saying in speaking of failures that "the expenses ate up the profits."

Our friends Mr. Dun and Mr. Bradstreet tell us that there is about one concern in fifty which succeeds in business. 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 expenses.

The business man should have his expenses divided into as many classifications as possible. His payroll should be separated into various departments, office, salesmen, workmen, accounting, and so on; through all the items of expense the division should be made as finely as possible.

The proprietor should have a statement each week on his desk showing how every cent was expended. These items should be summarized monthly, and constant reference made to the items of expense in comparison with items of expense for the previous month, as well as items of expense for the same month of the previous year.

One of the pit-falls in nearly every business is "general expense" or "sundry expense." This department is a catchall for a lot of items, and it hides a lot of leaks and wastes in business.

You can't divide your expense items too minutely. The finer the divisions, the easier you can detect a waste of money.

The business man who has a statement of both receipts and expenses is in the position of the first engineer of an ocean steamer; he does not seem to be doing much and does not worry unless something goes wrong, then he shows his training and ability to mend breaks and repair weak places.

If the business man analyzes his sources of income into several divisions the same as he does his items of expense, he will find it an easy matter to correct errors that creep in the business. He does not have to worry about those items of expense which show minus, nor about those items of receipts which show plus.

With a finely divided sheet of both expenses and receipts you can quickly determine where the profit is coming from and where the leaks appear.

If an expense item shows plus, you can run down that item and see reasons for it and endeavor to bring down that expense. If a receipt item shows minus, you can run down that item and endeavor to increase the receipts.

The writer has a little printed card on his check book and it reads "Drive the axe into expenses." It is a constant reminder to stop the wastes.

The only real success that comes to the business man is the profits at the end of the year, that is, the amount of money he makes net.

It is easier to increase profits by cutting the expenses in many cases than it is to increase profits by increasing sales. And here let us remark that on this subject, as well as all the other subjects we are writing about in this series of articles, we have in mind the matter of common sense, temperate action. Extremes carry things too far. You must not cut the expenses beyond the point where it seriously interferes with the sales.

If you are interested in this matter of expense, and you certainly should be, take up your items of expense for last month or last year, go over the cost of help, the cost of raw material and the cost of manufacturing; go over each branch of your expenses, analyze the items carefully, look into every point thoroughly, 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 business. In going into this matter of expense, do not take all the items at once, but take each item up separately and go through it thoroughly.

Do not assume that you are paying too much for everything, but use good sense and good judgment and see that you get your money's worth. Take the item of wages. Look over the individuals in your employ, and you will see a place, for instance, where two persons can do the work three are now doing. Remember, it is generally true that where two persons are engaged in handling a certain department and they are overworked, the tendency is to give them additional help. When this is done you will find thenceforth all three are busy. In other words, each of the two persons who were formerly overworked ease up and do less work the moment the third person is given as assistant. You have noticed that where you put three employes to do the work formerly done by two, it is almost impossible--if you take the employe's word--to get two employes to do the work after three have been doing it.

The work should push the employe. The employer should get full capacity of his employes.

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 money, and at the same time you will let them earn more money for themselves. You will find that this plan works admirably.

For instance, if you have three employes getting $10.00 a week each; go to the two who do the most work and say to them: "If you can do the work of this department with one less employe I will give you each $3.00 a week more." In this way you will pay two employes $13.00 a week instead of three employes $10.00 a week each. This will save you $4.00 on that particular part of your payroll. If you save proportionately all through your payroll it will make a decided profit in itself.

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 contract, offering to give him one-half, or one-third or one-quarter of the amount he can save in his department.

It is surprising to see how different his argument will be when his pocket is affected. For instance, in the past he explained to you that his department is behind in its work because he has not enough help.

He has been asking for more help right along, but never asked that some of the help be laid off.

If, on the other hand, you say to him you will give him one-third of what he can save in the matter of wages in his department, you will instantly notice that his whole argument and attitude change. He discovers that he has ability to pick out employes who do the most work, and lets out the four-flushers and idlers.

Remember, that as a rule the best paid employes are the cheapest. You can well afford to pay the heads of your departments more wages if they can save you more money.

A manufacturer should divide the number of completed articles done per day or per week by the amount of wages paid, and find out what the wage item is in each department per article.

Suppose that under your present system it costs you eighty cents in wages per article in Department A, sixty cents per article in Department B, etc. Explain to the foreman of Department A that it is now costing you eighty cents per article for wages in his department, and to the foreman of Department B that wages are costing you sixty cents per article in his department. Tell these employes you will give them one-third or one-half of whatever they can save in their departments. You will find Department A will cost you from seventy to seventy-five cents per article thereafter, and Department B from fifty to fifty-five cents per article, and in the meantime the foreman of the department is making more money for you, and likewise making more money for himself, than under the old system.

This matter of expense is most important, and should have the most serious attention of the proprietor.

Advice

One of the things most frequently asked for and yet one seldom made use of, is advice. 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 confirmed.

Do not go around with a pocket full of advice offering it to everyone. If you advise a man to change his habits or manner of life he will resent your proffered aid. The best way to give advice is to take another fellow for example and hit your friend through the illustration of the other fellow. Let him discover the point himself rather than let it appear that you are telling him the thing.

The matter of advice is a very hard thing to properly understand. You advise another to do a certain thing, forgetting in the meanwhile, that if you were in his position your view-point would be his and not your own. You play your strong qualities against his weak ones.

It is easy enough for you to advise a drunkard not to drink, but difficult for you to understand his view point on the subject if you are not a drinking man yourself.

Giving advice usually comes about because we see a weakness in others. The opposite of this weakness is a feature in our own make-up.

The business man who is constantly asking advice is advertising the fact of his uncertainty of his own actions. Your great problems must be decided by yourself.

The one thing that separates the sheep from the goats, and success from failure, is the ability to analyze, study and weigh problems for yourself, and to make decisions for yourself.

The law of compensation comes in here again, for in proportion as you have self-reliance and good judgment your success will be measured.

You may rely upon it that if you go about seeking advice, you will get two kinds of advice--First: the advice that concurs with your own preference or decision; and, second, the kind that is in opposition to your views. You accept the first kind because it tickles your vanity, and you throw aside the second, saying the advice is prejudiced.

Don't ask advice. Size up and weigh the problem yourself and use your own best judgment.

Reading

The business man who goes along day by day without taking on any responsibilities or without tackling more difficult problems, finds he does not progress.

The man who gets into a rut and reads light, frothy literature all the time--the kind that is pleasing to the imagination, the kind that leaves no permanent impression--does not progress mentally.

Reading should be like eating, we should have the dessert as well as the substantials. It would be a great mistake to eat dessert alone, and it is certainly a mistake to read light, frothy reading matter alone.

One of the prime requisites to a successful career is concentration of thought. Few things will dissipate thought as much as over-reading of newspapers.

The newspaper starts in with the first page, and by the time you have finished the last column oh the last page you may have read a hundred articles, each one of these articles touching on a different line of thought. The daily newspaper contains climaxes of all kinds. Each article is a distinct change of thought. The daily newspaper gives us statistics, sorrow, laughter, crime, passion, death, lies, humor, and so on all through the gamut of the scale of human experience.

The man who craves the newspaper soon finds his line of thought frequently interrupted, side-stepped, drawn, cut off and dispersed.

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 thereafter. He has broken his continuity of thought, and when this happens book reading is impossible.

Everyone should read two or three or more books at a time. One should be an interesting book, whether history, story or comedy, so long as it is well written and along lines that will hold one's interest. One should read one book after another of this sort as a dessert for his dinner, as it were, but along with it he should eat substantial food in the nature of substantial reading.

Do not read yourself to sleep at night over a light novel. Read your novel for an hour or so; then take up your old philosopher or scientist and read a page, or as much as necessary to find some thought clearly expressed so that it will be burned into your mind. That thought will remain and will be of service to you in years to come.

Read daily newspapers scantily. Read items concerning the business you are engaged in. Read the doings of Congress and the important events of the day. Go over the head-lines, if need be, and eliminate all those shocking stories of crime and sordid influence. Do not let yourself get into the habit of reading the details of horrible crimes and bad impulses and criminal acts. Skip over all the details of hangings and murders. They are weeds in the mind that choke up the beautiful flowers of thought.

Remember, everything you read depresses or elevates, and in proportion as you accustom yourself to read substantial matter so in proportion you will progress in this world, and have a flood of thoughts at your command when requirements come upon you calling for clean-cut expressions.

You will write better letters, you will converse better, you will enjoy social intercourse better if you read helpful reading matter from books and read newspapers very sparingly.

Argument

Not once in a thousand times will one man convince another in an argument, 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 failed.

You convince a man against his will and he is of the same opinion still.

There is a mighty lot of difference between argument and reason. You may accomplish more by dividing your case into one or two good reasons and telling your adversary that you will not argue the case, but you will let him look at these reasons, and when he takes it up logically you will have no fear of his conclusion, for truth must triumph.

While argument itself is a footless proposition, it is infinitely more so if your argument is with those of less mental calibre than your own, for by the law of compensation, in proportion as a man is ignorant, he makes up in perversity and lack of analytical ability.

Do not stoop to contend with those who have no standing, mentally, morally or physically. It is a waste of time.

If it is your purpose to change a man's opinion, do not try to do it by argument. Study the ground carefully. State your points with preciseness, make careful analysis of every phase of the situation, take up the matter point by point. Start with your adversary by getting on ground on which you both will agree. Take up the points on which there can be little chance for differences of opinion. You will find the other man will get in the habit of agreeing with your propositions and that his antagonism weakens. State facts that are right and truthful, and are so plain that the truth will be self-evident.

After you have made several propositions on which the other man agrees with you wholly, then make a proposition that is ninety per cent. his way and ten per cent. your way. Gradually increase that ten per cent. until you swing him around so that he sees the truth. He then imagines that he has made the deduction himself.

Remember, you can swing the biggest ship around by a steady, slow, gentle pull. On the other hand a sudden strain on the hawser would produce no effect whatever on the ship.

The man who wishes to convert another to his way of thinking must be a diplomat if he is successful. Do not get excited, keep cool and collected, be sure of your ground, be positive in your assertions, make the whole matter clear, and use good judgment, sound reason and clear logic.

Speculation

You are playing against odds when you speculate.

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" privilege.

The successful business man some day wakes up to the fact that his bills are paid, and that he has surplus money. This surplus money should be used for investment purposes and not for speculation. Of course, it is hard to draw the line where investment leaves off and speculation begins.

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 you.

The man who makes an investment, buying stocks or real estate and paying cash for them does not have to worry about the market. Prices may be up or down, but the man who has paid for what he has bought will sleep well.

You can't beat the speculation game. The only ones who make a success, and their success is ephemeral, are those who make speculation their whole occupation. The professional speculator is merely a high grade gambler, and he always winds up a loser.

Go to the Stock Exchange or the Board of Trade and you will see at either place a half a dozen old fellows hanging around. They are all men who have seen better days. A little inquiry and diplomacy on your part will bring forth the fact that these men were once prominent figures on 'Change.

When you have more money than you need in your business buy good farm lands out west, or good timber lands. No man ever bought good farm land or good timber land at the prevailing market price and lost money eventually. Of course, at different seasons of the year the price of land may go down a little temporarily, but the moment a good crop comes in, the price goes up again.

With good clear farm land you can always go to the nearest bank and borrow from sixty to seventy-five per cent. of its value.

Real estate is the true basis of wealth, and if you want to play a sure game, buy land that produces things.

When you buy vacant property in a large city, it is mere speculation. The land does not bring in any remuneration, and you are simply betting that the prices will increase.

Every large city has abundant instances of vacant property that is not worth as much now as it was ten or twenty years ago. Real estate booms come in cycles. Prices go up and men get the fever and buy vacant property. The boom explodes, property goes down and you can't get your money back. The chances are you have bought the property on two or three years' time, and it certainly is paying for a white elephant when you are paying for land that is worth less than what it cost you. You cannot get out, however, because the original payment has already been made, and your only hope is to save something on your investment.

Notwithstanding the fact that certain business sections and certain residence sections in any city steadily increase in price, yet the average real estate in the city increases by very slow percentage. The same amount of money, put out in mortgages, with the interest added and compounded, will develop wealth greater than the average vacant property investment, for where one lot soars up to a high price there are a hundred that don't increase at all, 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 race. It is because the vacant city property has only speculative value that the business man should not touch it.

Buy farm property that you can rent. It will bring you interest on your money right along, and the tendency of farm land is and always has been steadily forward.

Mr. Yerkes, of Chicago, was a speculator who made millions in the street-car system. He was thoroughly familiar with Hydraulics, and he soaked the stocks as full of water as possible and then unloaded on the investors who speculated in street-car stocks. These speculators are now holding the bag. When Mr. Yerkes closed out his holdings in Chicago he granted an interview, and one truth he uttered in that interview has ever been remembered by the writer. It is so valuable an expression coming from such a successful speculator that we are going to give it to you. It is as follows: "I have never known a business man to successfully speculate in grains or stocks for two years."

The business man who is watching the ticker or calling up the Stock Exchange every day, who takes little flyers, is skating on mighty thin ice.

When you buy farms you are exchanging your money for the most certain thing in the world, for the basis of all wealth is land, and money simply represents the things which come out of the land. The things that grow on the land are exchanged for gold, and the gold is exchanged for things that come out of the land. The Government exchanges the gold for pieces of paper called money, which in reality means that you can exchange these pieces of paper for gold, and you can exchange the gold for the things that come out of and grow upon the land.

The stock broker may not like this chapter because the more speculation the more he benefits. He gets a rake-off every time a man buys and every time a man sells. He plays a sure thing. He is like the man with the Wienerwurst privilege.

Don't Speculate. Invest.

Elimination

One of the greatest brain savers is elimination. Every man should try to operate along lines of the least resistance, eliminate the deterrent influences and all things that fret him.

Do not look for trouble. Do not concern yourself too much over disagreeable things over which you have no control.

Do not build up an intricate system in your business. Have simplicity your ideal. Eliminate all useless moves. If you have disturbing influences in your institution, such as an employe who is continually causing friction, eliminate that employe. The man who causes friction is pulling back on the forward impulses of your business, and he is holding back one or more men who are trying to help you forward.

Get rid of useless things that take your time or cause you worry.

Remember that as you grow successful people will come to you under various excuses to get your aid financially or morally. They want you to go into new companies. The officers of the Club to which you belong will ask you to be a director. You will be invited to dinners, asked to speak, asked to do a thousand and one things, 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 family.

Have as your center idea--elimination. Everything that takes your time from your business or your family is an extra tax on your strength.

Eliminate every habit that holds you back, every practice that unfits you for progress, every person who depresses you, every move that is not necessary, every footless idea that crowds your brain.

The Specialist

When this nation of ours was born nearly every one was a generalist.

The merchant sold a general line of merchandise. The doctor was also a farmer and a horse trader. In those days there were very few specialists.

As time passed some of the wiser individuals turned specialist and succeeded.

The doctor who is a generalist cannot excel in any one branch of medicine, or compete with the specialist who devotes all his time and study and practice towards one point and towards the treatment of a specific ailment. The merchant who sells everything cannot compete with the man who makes it his business to sell one class of goods. This is an age of specialists, and what we considered a specialist twenty-five years ago is only a generalist from the present standpoint. The specialist of twenty-five years ago has been divided again and again. The best doctor today is one who doctors the eye alone, the stomach alone, or the nerves alone. He can do more for you and knows more of your case in five minutes' observation than the generalist would in three months.

With the keen competition of these days it is necessary for the individual to be a specialist in business.

Pleasure and recreation are the only things in which an individual should be a generalist.

Were it not for specialists we should know little about the sun, little of electricity, little of steam, little of railroads, little of advertising, little of anything else. It is because individuals have made a speciality of one thing, because they have concentrated their energies and their brain power on one thing that the world has progressed.

Recreation is for relaxation, and the business man should see to it that he gets the full benefit of recreation. If he carries specialism into recreation, recreation is spoiled, for the moment a man is a specialist in recreation he strives to excel, and this striving to excel is hard work, and that is the same thing he is doing in business.

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 recreations, but the man who makes a specialty of billiards finds his powers centered on this game of billiards. He puts his thought on it and wishes to excel, he wishes to make a record, and billiards then become business.

This striving to excel in a game brings forth the same gambling instinct manifested in business. It is his "I will." The business man who plays a good game of billiards some day meets his superior, and the superior is the individual who does nothing but play billiards.

If a man tries to be a specialist in billiards and a specialist in business, even though both callings commence with "B," he will find that a division of effort is a division of results, and he will not be a success in either business or billiards. In proportion as he excels in billiards he will be lacking in business, and vice versa.

We remember the story of a young friend of Herbert Spencer who joined the great philosopher in a game of billiards. The young man played a most excellent game. When they had finished Spencer remarked: "Young man, your education has been greatly neglected, you play billiards too well."

Be a specialist in business and a generalist in pleasure. Play billiards, swim, ride, play golf and indulge in all athletic sports and so long as you get uniform pleasure and recreation from these things you are doing right, you are helping your mind and developing your body and letting your brain rest, so that it may be keen and a greater help in your specialty, which is business.

The world needs specialists, and it needs specialists in recreation as well as business, but the man who tries to be a specialist in business as well as a specialist in recreation will fail in both, or, at least, his success will be only moderate.

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 life. It is necessary to have such individuals, so that they may devote themselves to being specialists in recreation, otherwise the sports would die out.

If you go in for sport do not expect you can compete with anybody who goes in for sport exclusively. You can't win in two callings or occupations.

The String

There is a string to every proposition, and it behooves you to look out for the string before acceding to the requests that are made of you.

When a stranger comes and offers to do things for you, to let you in on the ground floor, or assures you that he is working for your interest, you may be sure there is a string to his proposition, and the string is that, as a matter of fact, it is himself instead of you he is looking out for.

Don't bite at the chance that is offered you to get something for nothing. The biggest kind of a string is always in such a proposition.

Remember this, that people are selfish. Each man looks out for his own interest, and even if he is protecting your interest, it is because his own interest will be better conserved by looking out for yours.

Don't decide on important matters too quickly. Don't get tied up in big contracts with strangers until you have found every strand of the string.

Don't be too suspicious but hunt for the string. It pays to be very conservative on all matters in which others are interested.

Sometimes the string in the proposition is legitimate and the other fellow may be more interested than you are, but it certainly behooves you to see what this string is and to understand exactly where the end of the string is tied.

Don't draw up in your shell and look upon every man with a proposition as trying to take advantage of you, but put down this as a truth--There is a string to every proposition, and you must find that string before you close the deal.

Horse Sense

Just how the expression "horse sense" came into use is not known, but the meaning of the combination means good reason, old fashioned logic, simple analysis and actual truth, and the basing of your actions upon simple things rather than complex things.

The man who uses horse sense in his transactions gets along further and faster than the man who uses selfishness and smartness.

To be possessed of horse sense is a most valuable asset. It is something you can use every day of your life.

Horse sense is really one of the things that makes up the law of compensation. The law of compensation itself is the quintessence of horse sense.

Luck is the gambling chance, and horse sense is the investment and security chance.

The man with horse sense may not go as far in a day as the man with luck, but he will progress more days and go further eventually than the lucky man.

Horse sense is one of the most valuable things in the business world, and it is one of the rarest things. It is so valuable because it is so rare.

In the business world today the men who are doing great things are the men who have horse sense. We call these men wonderful and look upon their accomplishments as the result of some mysterious, wonder-working power that they possess. Wonder workers are only flashes in the pan.

Do not hire your employes on account of your preference for a certain color hair or certain colored eyes. Do not hire your employes on account of their physical appearance, or on account of their ability to dress in the height of fashion. Get down to their net worth. Find out how much horse sense they have. Hire employes, as far as possible, who are blessed with old fashioned horse sense.

The Manager

The good manager is one who commands respect, not through his authority but because those under him appreciate that he has more ability and experience than they have.

The selection of a good manager is very important, for the success of one's business depends upon its management. The proprietor cannot do all the things himself, and he must rely upon his lieutenants.

Give a certain class of work to ten girls. Put them in a room by themselves with no one in authority. Come back next day and you will find that there is one girl who is laying out the work for the others. There is something in this girl that makes her a natural manager, and there is a certain instinct amongst the rest of the girls that makes them acknowledge this one girl as their superior, and the one to go to for advice. This natural leadership is the quality the manager should possess.

Above all, the manager, like the boss, must know how to do things he hires others to do, and the things we have said concerning the boss is likewise true of the manager, for the manager is the next step below the boss. The successful boss would not have obtained his present position if he had not been a good manager previously.

Let the manager read thoroughly our chapter on the boss if he has ambition to be boss some day.

The mistake frequently made by the manager is to take credit himself for the work done by those under him, for such a manager may be sure that sooner or later his position in this respect will be found out, 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 place. Employes are quick to detect this spirit in the manager. They see that their own efforts are not known to the boss, and it makes them indifferent, because they see no appreciation for what they are doing. On the other hand, if the manager says a good word to the boss concerning an employe who has shown marked ability, it redounds to the manager's credit that he is liberal enough to give credit where it properly belongs.

Truth will out as sure as the sun will shine, and the manager cannot conceal his subordinates' abilities and pass them off as his own for any length of time.

The good manager will say a kind word to the boss about the employe, if he is the right sort. 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 favor. The manager who is bad tempered, suspicious and tries to take credit that does not belong to him is only holding his position temporarily, and some day he will be let out of the institution for which he is working, and will find himself forced to the extremity of getting a place somewhere else back in the ranks from which he had temporarily risen.

Selling

Time was when the best salesman was the one who could tell the biggest lies, drink the most whiskey and show his customers the liveliest time.

Today the best salesman is distinguished by the following attributes: Truth, trustworthiness, together with a fine knowledge of the goods he is selling.

The man who sells goods must be prepared to hear from nearly every man that his price is too high. If the buyers would always tell the truth, then the salesman who sold the most goods would simply be the one who actually sold at the lowest price.

Price does not mean anything. Price is high or low only when quality is taken into consideration.

The man who sells merchandise, or advertising, for instance, must be thoroughly acquainted himself with the thing he sells. He must be reliable, he must give good measure, he must keep his word.

We hear a good deal about the live-wire, rapid-fire salesman, who goes out on his initial trip and comes back with a bagful of orders. It must be remembered that ever and always there is the law of compensation to take into consideration. The salesman who bags a lot of orders on the first trip does not get so many the second time. He has colored his picture too highly on the first trip. He has made too many side promises, too many mis-statements, and the customer finds out he cannot be believed, and this smooth article of a salesman is not as welcome in the buyer's office the second trip.

On the other hand and in strict accordance with the law of compensation, the salesman who tells the truth, who moves quickly, who does what he agrees to and knows what he is talking about, who talks convincingly and attends strictly to business will eventually succeed.

The great house of Marshall Field & Co. of Chicago have operated along the line of fairness, good treatment and willingness to right a wrong and correct a mistake quickly. Marshall Field had horse sense when he inaugurated his business.

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 age, for you can't go fast far.

Those wonder workers change frequently. They flit from house to house. They work because they need the money to have a good time with, and as soon as they get the money they proceed to have a good time until their little pile runs out, and then they get another job. Business men know this wonder worker well. Go into any wholesale house and you will find them. They are living in the past and relating their conquests. They never speak of the present but always of the past. They have done things they can't do again. The good salesman is doing things now better than he has done in the past.

The permanently successful salesman does not cut much of a figure in the matter of dress. He is not as handsome as the wonder worker. In fact, he may be physically uncouth, but he has a heart under his rough exterior. The customers he mingles with have confidence in him. They know he will do what he promises, 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 own, sends salesmen on the road, and his house does a good business because his policy permeates the institution, and the customers have confidence in the house because he is at the head of it, and they are familiar with his methods and practice.

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 quotes. The wonder worker tries to make each customer believe that he is buying at the lowest price. The common sense salesman does not resort to such tactics.

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 does.

In the matter of selling there is no one thing that ultimately proves so successful as the one price plan. By that we mean the same price to all who purchase the same quantity or the same amount in a given time.

The more elastic and variable your prices, the more ingenuity required to keep these cut prices from getting into the hands of your customers. This matter of cutting prices causes no end of worry. In proportion as you indulge in cutting prices, so in proportion you will receive an increased number of cut price offers.

Let it be known that your prices are subject to reduction at the hands of a smooth buyer, and the news will travel fast.

Let it be known that you don't cut prices, and that news will gain currency in the trade, and you will not have cut prices offered you.

There is something in the matter of selling beyond dollars and cents, and that is dollars and sense.

Remember this, when you sell goods you are also selling reputation. If your goods are bad your reputation will be bad too. You can't have a good reputation and sell bad goods and make a permanent success.

Remember, every sale you make is an advertisement.

Remember, you can take advantage of the buyer once or twice, but if you want to hold his trade you must be fair with him.

Smooth tactics that bring in present money react and lose trade for you later on.

Vacations

Every man owes it to himself and to his family to take a vacation each year.

Vacate means to get out or away from, and if you take your so called vacation by a trip to another city and spend your time in the whirl of industry, you are not helping yourself, you are not taking a vacation. 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 rule.

The real vacation you get is when you take yourself away from the business marts of trade, and go to a place where you can get your feet on good old mother earth. Go where fences are unknown, where there are no "keep off the grass" signs, climb the hills, walk through the forests, fill your lungs with good ozone, say to yourself "all these beautiful things are mine."

Nature has arranged it so that the poorest man in the world can get the most priceless things as easily as the multi-millionaire. The four most precious things in the world are good air, good food, good water and good health. Money cannot buy any one of these things. The man with millions cannot get any better air, or more nourishing food, or purer water, or better health than can the poor man.

The man who goes to the big woods for his vacation, who lives out of doors, who gets near to nature, is putting by a reserve in his constitution and brain that he will draw upon for the remainder of the year. Such vacations will clear the cobwebs from your brain. It will give you ability to do greater things, and make you see the beautiful side of life.

A man should not depend wholly on his two or three weeks in the woods, however. He should take a little vacation every day. He should arrange to get some benefit for his brain and body in each twenty-four hours. He should take a few moments each day and devote it to mental and physical relaxation. And, above all, he can get a good vacation every twenty-four hours if he sleeps properly.

Our good friend Grizzly Pete, of Frozen Dog, understands the real vacation when he says.

Mighty pleasin' sport, you bet, sittin' on a rock;
Beats a store or office an' workin' by a clock.
Clears away the cobwebs from your weary brain;
Gives you inspiration; makes you a man again.

There ain't no medicine I know for the appetite
Like a summer mornin', waitin' fer a bite.
Lazy summer days are here--ain't you kind o' wishin'
That you had your old clothes on, an' was settin here a-fishin'?

Health

There is no misfortune, no real hard luck except sickness and poor health.

If you find your health is becoming impaired, change your methods and vocation. Change before it is too late. A stitch in time saves nine times nine in matters of health.

Get plenty of exercise, good air, good water, sleep with your windows open in winter as well as summer, walk over two miles every day. Avoid worry. Do good deeds. Help others. Eliminate evil thoughts and deterrent influences.

If your health is impaired, forsake dollars if necessary and make health your first concern.

Dollars are worth having, but sense is infinitely better to be possessed of.

If your health will not permit you to get dollars and cents, then make it your object to get health and sense.

Rockefeller would give his millions if he could have the health of nearly any of the thousand of employes who work for him. A good stomach is rather to be chosen than great riches.

Patience

Supposin' fish don't bite at first,
What are you goin' to do?
Throw down your pole, chuck out your bait,
An' say your fishin's through?
You bet you ain't; you're goin' to fish,
An' fish, an' fish, an' wait
Until you've ketched a basketful
Or used up all your bait.

Suppose success don't come at first,
What are you goin' to do?
Throw up the sponge and kick yourself?
An' growl, an' fret, an' stew?
You bet you ain't; you're goin' to fish,
An' bait, an' bait agin,
Until success will bite your hook,
For grit is sure to win.

Patient effort and hard work each day, properly directed, will surely bring success.

Failure comes to those who grow weary in the struggle, and to those who overwork themselves and overtax their abilities.

Such persons hope that by large sacrifices of sleep and happiness, and by extra application and hard work, they will build for themselves fortune, that they may be happy at some future time. They make a great mistake in this respect.

Divide your energies so that each individual day is successful, no matter how much the success may be.

It is the men who are doing little things today who will be picked out to do great things tomorrow.

And while you are making a little success each day, be sure that your heart sings while your hands work.

Men who can do things are discovered. They need not push themselves to the front. Good men are scarce, and the great successful business men of today are the ones who know how to do the work that they are hiring employes to do. Talent in this direction will surely attract the attention of your superiors.