Chapter I: Foreword: The Law of Success 7

CHAPTER

I THE MODERN BUSINESS COURSE AND SERVICE 9

II THE DANGER OF SPECIALIZING TOO EARLY 30

III PUSHING BEYOND THE HALF-WAY MARK 35

IV A PERSONAL PROBLEM 43

V THE QUESTION BEFORE YOU 69

VI DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE OF THE COURSE 72

VII ADVISORY COUNCIL, LECTURERS AND STAFF 97

ADVERTISEMENTS 121

Organization of the Alexander Hamilton Institute

_Advisory Council_

Joseph French Johnson, D.C.S., LL.D.
Dean, New York University School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance
Frank A. Vanderlip, A.M., LL.D.
Financier
T. Coleman duPont, D.C.S.
Business Executive
John Hays Hammond, D.Sc., LL.D.
Consulting Engineer
Jeremiah W. Jenks, Ph.D., LL.D.
Research Professor of Government and Public Administration, New
York University

_Special Lecturers_

Erastus W. Bulkley, Member of the firm, Spencer Trask and Company
Herbert S. Collins, Vice-President, United Cigar Stores Company
Henry M. Edwards, Auditor, New York Edison Company
Harrington Emerson, Efficiency Engineer
Charles Ernest Forsdick, Controller, Union Oil Company
Orlando C. Harn, Chairman of Sales, National Lead Company
A. Barton Hepburn, Chairman, Advisory Board, Chase National Bank,
New York
Frederic H. Hurdman, Certified Public Accountant
Lawrence M. Jacobs, Vice-President, International Banking Corporation
Jackson Johnson, Chairman, International Shoe Company, St. Louis
Fowler Manning, Director of Sales, Diamond Match Company
Finley H. McAdow, Past President, National Association of Credit Men
General Charles Miller, Former Chairman of the Board, Galena-Signal
Oil Company
Melville W. Mix, President, Dodge Manufacturing Company
Emmett H. Naylor, Secretary-Treasurer, Writing Paper Manufacturers'
Association
Holbrook F. J. Porter, Consulting Engineer
Welding Ring, Exporter
Arthur W. Thompson, President, The Philadelphia Company of Pittsburgh
Frederick S. Todman, General Manager, Hirsch, Lillienthal & Company
John C. Traphagen, Treasurer, Mercantile Trust and Deposit Company
of New York
John Wanamaker, Merchant
Walter N. Whitney, Vice-President, Continental Grocery Stores, Inc.

_Authors, Collaborators and Staff Members_

Albert W. Atwood, A.B., The Stock and Produce Exchange
Bruce Barton, General Publicity
Dwight E. Beebe, B.L., Collections
Ralph Starr Butler, A.B., Marketing and Merchandising
Geoffrey S. Childs, B.C.S., Office Methods
Edwin J. Clapp, Ph.D., Transportation and Terminal Facilities
Raymond J. Comyns, B.C.S., Personal Salesmanship
Herbert F. deBower, LL.B., Business Promotion
Roland P. Falkner, Ph.D., Business Statistics
Major B. Foster, M.A., Banking Principles
Charles W. Gerstenberg, Ph.B., LL.B., Finance
Leo Greendlinger, M.C.S., C.P.A. (N. Y.), Financial and Business
Statements
J. Anton deHaas, Ph.D., Foreign Trade and Shipping
John Hays Hammond, Consulting Engineer
Edward R. Hardy, Ph.B., Fire Insurance
Warren F. Hickernell, Ph.D., Business Conditions
Solomon S. Huebner, Ph.D., Marine Insurance
Charles W. Hurd, Business Correspondence
Jeremiah W. Jenks, Ph.D., LL.D., Relation of Government to
Business
Joseph French Johnson, D.C.S., LL.D., Economic Problems;
Business Ethics
Walter S. Johnson, B.A., B.C.L., Commercial Law
Edward D. Jones, Ph.D., Investments
John G. Jones, Sales Management
Dexter S. Kimball, A.B., M.E., Cost Finding; Factory Management
Bernard Lichtenberg, M.C.S., Advertising Principles
Frank L. McVey, Ph.D., LL.D., Economics
John T. Madden, B.C.S., C.P.A. (N. Y.), Accounting Practice
Mac Martin, Advertising Campaigns
G. F. Michelbacher, M.S., Compensation and Liability Insurance
T. Vassar Morton, Litt.B., Credit Practice
Bruce D. Mudgett, Ph.D., Life Insurance
E. L. Stewart Patterson, Domestic and Foreign Exchange
Frederic E. Reeve, C.P.A., Accounting Principles
Jesse H. Riddle, M.A., Banking
Frederick C. Russell, B.C.S., Auditing
Bernard K. Sandwell, B.A., International Finance
William W. Swanson, Ph.D., Money and Banking
John B. Swinney, A.B., Merchandising
William H. Walker, LL.D., Corporation Finance

THE LAW OF SUCCESS

During the winter of 1883 a slim, studious young man was working as assistant foreman in a greasy little machine shop at Aurora, Illinois. He was saving money with a view to spending the next year at the State University, and he was devoting every minute of his spare time to thought and reading. He was not making much of a stir in the world, and only a few of his close friends ever gave a second thought to his ambitions or prospects.

One of these friends was a newspaper reporter, a recent Harvard graduate. He, too, was interested in study, especially of financial questions, and he found it a pleasure to guide the reading of the young foreman. Many an evening the two friends spent in the discussion of great economic and financial problems. Though both men had their ambitions and dreams, it did not occur to either one that he would ever play a big part in solving these problems.

A few years later the Harvard graduate became financial editor of the _Chicago Tribune_ and brought in the younger man as his assistant. During their years of newspaper work together they continued to study and think, and their knowledge of business principles and methods gradually broadened. They were fitting themselves almost without knowing it to step forward into positions of leadership.

Today, the former reporter is the head of a great university school of commerce; the assistant foreman became the president of the largest bank in the United States. One of these men is Joseph French Johnson, now Dean of the New York University School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance. The other is Frank A. Vanderlip, the great financier.

The life histories of most men who have succeeded in a large way are equally simple. They have looked ahead, they have planned, they have equipped themselves with all the business knowledge available, and success has followed. _Success must follow._ The law of success is as definite as the law of gravity. Here it is:

_Prepare in advance for opportunities._

It is not the dramatic moments of life that count. It is the quiet planning and reading of the man who is getting ready now for what is going to happen two, five or ten years from now.