»* THE EFFICIENT AGE By HERBERT KAUFMAN THE EFFICIENT AGE DO SOMETHING ! BE SOMETHING ! THE CLOCK THAT HAD NO HANDS THE EFFICIENT AGE By HERBERT KAUFMAN HODDER AND STOUGHTON LONDON MCMXIV Copyright, 1908 By Chicago Tribune Copyright 1910, 1911, and 1912 By Herbert Kaufman Copyright, 191 i By Currier Publishing Company Copyright, 1912 By The Press Publishing Company Copyright, 1913 By George H. Doran Company All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian K . CONTENTS PAGE The Dreamers . . . . i The Poison Ivy in the Laurel Wreath . 7 The Spendthrift . . . . • 13 Repair or Repent . . . . 19 About Kings, Shepherds, and Merchants . 25 Lines to a Young Man . . . . 31 Fast Horses and Poor Men's Barns . -37 V 1026591 vi Contents PAGE You Can't Learn Common Sense from Books . . . . . .43 Not Blue-Prints, but Standing Walls . 49 Don't Stop at the Start . . -55 You must Succeed Alone . . .61 The Men who Play the Game . 67 No Royal Road for the College Man . 73 Don't Mind the Gossips . . .83 All Men are not Born Equal . . 89 Dishonesty Doubles the Journey to Success. 95 If you Stand Still you don't Stand a Chance . . . . . IO i Contents vii PAGE Watch Out for the Man Behind . . 107 The Fixed Idea . . . . • 115 School Days and Fool Days . . .121 Don't Try to Under-pay . . .129 Don't Give a Rap About your Enemies . 135 "Commercial Honesty (?) " . . . 141 April and Other Fools .... 147 To My Son HERBERT THE DREAMERS THE DREAMERS THEY are the architects of greatness. Their vision lies within their souls. They never see the mirages of Fact, but peer beyond the veils and mists of doubt and pierce the walls of unborn Time. The World has accoladed them with jeer and sneer and jibe, for worlds are made of little men who take but never give ; who share but never spare ; who cheer a grudge and grudge a cheer. Wherefore, the paths of progress have been sobs of blood dropped from their broken hearts. Makers of empire, they have fought for bigger things than crowns, and higher seats than thrones. Fanfare and pageant and the right to rule or will to love are not the fires which wrought their resolutions into steel. The Efficient Age. The Dreamers Grief only streaks their hairs with silver, but has never greyed their hopes. They are the Argonauts, the seekers of the priceless fleece — the Truth. Through all the ages they have heard the voice of Destiny call to them from the un- known vasts. They dare uncharted seas, for they are the makers of the charts. With onlv cloth of courage at their masts and with no compass save their dreams, they sail away undaunted for the far, blind shores. Their brains have wrought all human miracles. In lace of stone their spires stab the Old World's skies and with their golden crosses kiss the sun. The belted wheel, the trail of steel, the churning screw, are shuttles in the loom on which they weave their magic tapestries. A flash out in the night leaps leagues of snarling seas and cries to shore for help, which, but for one man's dream, would never come. Their tunnels plough the river bed and chain island to the Motherland. The Dreamers Their wines of canvas beat the air and add the highways of the eagle to the human paths. A God-hewn voice swells from a disc of glue and wells out through a throat of brass, caught sweet and whole, to last be- yond the maker of the song, because a dreamer dreamt. What would you have of fancy or of fact if hands were all with which men had to build ? Your homes are set upon the land a dreamer found. The pictures on its walls are visions from a dreamer's soul. A dreamer's pain wails from your violin. They are the chosen few — the Blazers of the Way — who never wear Doubt's bandage on their eyes — who starve and chill and hurt, but hold to courage and to hope, because they know that there is always proof of truth for them who try — that only cowardice and lack of faith can keep the seeker from his chosen goal ; but if his heart be strong and if he dream enough and 6 The Dreamers dream it hard enough, he can attain, no matter where men failed before. Walls crumble and empires fall. The tidal wave sweeps from the sea and tears a fortress from its rocks. The rotting nations drop from off Time's bough, and only things the dreamers make live on. They are the Eternal Conquerors ; their vassals are the years. THE POISON IVY IN THE LAUREL WREATH THE POISON IVY IN THE LAUREL WREATH NOBODY ever pleased everybody. No one policy can satisfy all the world. Some one, somewhere, is certain to censure you for every decision. You can't earn universal applause. The most you can possibly hope for is more supporters than opponents. The higher you climb, the more enemies you leave behind. The more you win, the more competition you inspire. As influence shows, envy grows. There is no way to escape criticism except through obscurity. So long as men hold individual opinions, prominence will be assailed as well as acclaimed. We all have our ideas and our ideals. Even when we want to be fair, we can only 10 The Poison Ivy in estimate from our knowledge and only look from our personal viewpoints. We can't always see what you do, so you mustn't blame us if your eyes are stronger and your vision longer. If you're sincere and your duty's clear, STAND PAT AND FIGHT IT OUT. If your judgment is right, follow it long enough and you'll lead your judges. You're bound to meet with malice ; everv man bound for the top must. You're certain to create trouble ; difference of opinion always does. The more force you possess, the more rivals you dispossess. The more you are talked about, the more you will be lied about. Your worries will match your progress. Whenever you come out best, somebody else must come out worse, and one more hammer is added to the anvil-chorus. Whenever your success means another man's failure, you surely can't hope to have him hurrah and strew violets in your path. the Laurel Wreath 11 If you aren't more sensible than you are sensitive, you can't win. If your courage isn't thicker than your hide, keep out. If your vanity has sharper ears than your ambition, don't aspire. Without courage you may as well be without convictions. The wages of greatness are cares. If you can't hold your temper ; if threats disturb your poise ; if your own feelings outweigh your cause ; if hostility can thwart you, you're not built for important undertakings. Very few of us can estimate the true value of radical moves. We still retain the primal instinct which makes us fear what we don't comprehend. Part of your fight for us is our fight against you. In every generation, the majority has been conservative, and "conservatism" is half the time a euphemism for bigotry. The memory of History is bitter with in- 12 The Poison Ivy in the Laurel Wreath gratitude. Socrates' cup was filled with hemlock before it was filled with glory. Hate slew Caesar. The weeds of calumny even lined the path of Washington. The roses of fame still grow on thorny stems. Mankind will never unite in its estimate of a living man. There is always a leaf of poison ivy in the wreath of laurel. THE SPENDTHRIFT THE SPENDTHRIFT YOUR purse stands on the shelf. Tick- tock, tick-tock, how it leaks ! One by one the minutes fly. Hurry, spendthrift, check your losses ; you can't replace one squandered day. Invest your hours, invest your powers while you have a balance. Stop doubting. Ambition must have free play ; she can't strike with shackled arms. Opportunity is calling, the world is thinking in Titanic phrases, mighty adven- tures are under way, great expeditions are setting forth into the unknown. How much longer will you stand aside ? Where is your fighting blood, where your courage, where your pride ? Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock ; your 15 16 The Spendthrift chance is slipping by ! Make speed, or you'll be left behind. You're competent and healthy and sane ; you have all your limbs and faculties. What more do you want ? Everything that has been wrought on the face of this earth was accomplished with exactly the same outfit that Nature gave you. Use your gifts — don't give in. You are of the same breed as the men who now control your comings and goings, who dic- tate at what and when, where and how, you shall labour. Their success was not a birthright — it came out of effort, out of action, out of dauntless persistence. You're to blame for your failures. Weakness can't persist where it isn't acknowledged. You can will yourself into anything. The only actual cripples are cowards. Own up and put the blame where it be- longs — on your own head. The Spendthrift 17 You've welched, you've been a bad player in the Big Game, you've accepted knock-downs for knock-outs, you've ex- aggerated bruises into mortal wounds. You want the best things of life with- out giving the best of yourself in pay- ment ; you've haggled over the price of existence. Your present is uncertain because you've looked for certainties in the past. TAKE A RISK OR TAKE THE COUNT ! Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock ; the older you grow, the heavier your losses. Your purse is thinning. Act! You can't be checked if you mean to win. The Dark Ages are gone, and with them went all barriers. Five hundred years ago society, with its injustice and intolerance, might have held you under foot, but to-day you're king of your own domain, lord and master of your welfare. Have you no pride ? Have you no faith ? The Efficient Age. 3 18 The Spendthrift Look around you. Wherever your eye turns some man with no better start than yours, with no greater education and no sounder constitution, is shaming you be- cause he didn't quit — because he con- sidered himself equal to his opportuni- ties, and, despite every delay and dis- appointment, kept the fires of Hope flaring. Have you ever really thought? Have you ever really fought? Have you ever made one thorough attempt to do better? Have you once given yourself a fair, full show ? Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock — time is sweeping on ! REPAIR OR REPENT REPAIR OR REPENT YOU can't keep up without "upkeep." You're a machine — resentful of abuse and over-use. Your capacity in every direction is dis- tinctly limited. You're designed for defi- nite purposes, and you can't do more than you're built for. When you overspeed and overload, some- thing must give way ; when you're over- strained, something must snap. When you exceed your power, you'll smash, and repair parts aren't ready at hand. You're strung with delicate wires, you move on exquisitely poised joints. If you're not constantly overhauled and care- fully cleaned, if you're left exposed to the rust of neglect, your efficiency will decrease, 21 22 Repair or Repent your output will diminish, and you'll be thrown into society's waste-pile. Every human is both autocratic and auto- matic. He must manage himself and oper- ate, in a large measure, on his own initi- ative. The responsibility of maintenance rests upon the individual. Providence has neither sufficient time nor patience to retinker men who don't care enough to care for themselves. Every time you think, every time you move, you destroy matter. When you tear down, you must rebuild; when you dispense, you must store in due ratio. When you throw away a chance to rest, you have lost a chance to last. Sleep is your repair shop. You'll stand on your feet only in proportion to the time you lie in your bed. You can't get the best of Nature ; she demands respect for her laws. You can't escape the consequences of self- Repair or Repent 23 betrayal. Postponement of sentence simply compounds its severity. What's your condition ? Are you creaking and warped ? How many screws have worked loose ? From what sort of fuel do you derive your force ? How long has it been since you ex- perienced a thorough inspection ? Is your mental tool-chest up-to-date ? Take an inventory of your physical assets — you can't expect buyers to pur- chase dilapidated and obsolete service so long as greater speed and reliability are available. A second-handed man has no more worth than any other second-handed in- strument. We judge your ability to manage for us by observing how you conduct your per- sonal affairs. If you won't guard your own welfare, it's safe to assume that you'll be even more negligent of our interests. 24 Repair or Repent Before you complain of the value we place upon you, consider when you last added improvements to your brain or your body. If you have exhausted your fund of knowledge, if your skill has died from a flame into an ash, if your strength has petered out, if enthusiasm has dried in your veins — you must expect rejection to follow inspection. Put in fresh batteries, lubricate, rub off the rust, polish and bring your equipment up to date. If you're out of order, you're out of the running. ABOUT KINGS, SHEPHERDS AND MERCHANTS ABOUT KINGS, SHEPHERDS, AND MERCHANTS DON'T measure your neighbour by his coat. His tailor measured him for that, and probably built it with enough pads to hide his real measurements from sight. What's back of a man, not his front, gives him value to himself and the world. The grade of bone in his spine determines his grade. The destiny before him and not the ancestry behind him count most in the final reckoning. It's the maker of a great name, not the bearer of its tradition, who merits deference. The finest specimen of oak in town wasn't always polished. It wore a rough coat of bark all the time it was growing. 27 28 About Kings, Shepherds But while the bark hid the grain it was protecting it, keeping it sound, producing good, straight timber. Education and culture are simply var- nishes, sometimes applied over a stain. They do not indicate stability or endurance. Their value is only look-deep. They are put on merely for appearance' sake. There isn't a gill of imperial blood in the country, and if history is accurate, the quality of that isn't worth boasting about. Descendants are seldom replicas of their progenitors. Latter-day royalty is but a poor imitation of its founders. It used to take a stalwart, vigorous, and efficient man to start his family in the king business. The thrones of the world were reared by wide-shouldered, red-handed, deep-chested fighters, who wore armour plate and cal- louses before they changed to ermine and kid gauntlets. The illustrious dynasties began with herders and mariners who could scrap and Merchants 29 harder than their fellows, who could keep faith with their followers, who could hold their own against all comers in a hand-to- hand or brain-to-brain or axe-to-axe contest. We are waging a different sort of war nowadays — our battle-grounds are indus- trial. We combat in the name of Com- merce, but it takes the same breed of pluck and the same degree of valour and the same quality of daring to command the forces of business. One thousand years ago the foremost merchants and the leading manufacturers and the best tradesmen of our epoch would have demonstrated their fitness and their figfhtfulness as dominating chieftains of the mountain clans and courageous captains of the Crusaders. There was a time when trade was dis- dained by six feet of competent meat and gristle. A mightier work was waiting — the path- ways to civilization were clogged — progress was chafing for a thoroughfare — the uni- 30 Kings, Shepherds, and Merchants verse was a jungle of ignorance, flourishing with the weeds of bigotry and tangled with the creepers of superstition. Only a weakling fearful of his hide — only a cripple or a runt would have lowered himself to money-making while the chance to make history lay before him. The business man of the Twentieth Century isn't the sniveller and the cringer of legend. He is the son of the empire- makers — doing and daring as did his for- bears in the dim ages. He merely wields the weapon of his hour. He is child of a new epoch. He lives in the mightiest of all cycles. He recognizes no nobility except utility, and by that token the worker is peerless — the caste of labour is highest. LINES TO A YOUNG MAN LINES TO A YOUNG MAN YOU are simply a raw product. In your present crude state you possess little value to yourself or to the world. You're a piece of green timber, un- seasoned, unreliable, and uncertain until you have been " worked." You have not been weathered ; exposure to the storms and strifes of life is yet to come. If you are subjected to the strain of re- sponsibility now, you will probably warp. Only experience can qualify you for un- usual performances ; and until you acquire what we require, until you have suffered a few of the character-forming trials that make men steady and ready, you're a speculation. The Efficient Age. a 33 34 Lines to a Young Man What you will become is a matter of conjecture — the great lathe of circumstance is waiting to carve your career. What do you mean to be ? What reasons lead you to think that you can achieve what you believe ? Take time — consider. You are the de- signer, you must select the pattern for your future. The whole universe lies before you. In every trade, every pursuit, every business, there's a "spare room" for capability. A hasty start won't hasten success. Each time you change your mind and shift your occupation you must re-learn and re-earn. And you must lose the benefit of vitality, the ideas, and the hours that you have misapplied. Until you elect a definite course, accept ouidance. o Only when you have tested yourself, when you have made certain of the field which is most congenial and which best suits your nature and your resources, can you afford to make permanent plans. Lines to a Young Man 35 All straight roads lead straight to victory. The character of the labourer is far more important than the character of his occu- pation. No pursuit can offer you a better chance than you proffer yourself. Your personality, your genius, and ideals alone can dignify your calling. Humanity has found as many benefactors and leaders clanging at the forge, measuring at the counter, and ploughing in the fields as on the bench and at the operating table and in the counting-house. Failure cannot exist where zeal and purpose persist. The form which toil assumes cannot demean it. An unworthy king sullies his ermine, a competent artisan exalts his craft. If you are steadfast and respect your tools, if you care enough and dare enough, you'll make headway anywhere and at anything. A sound acorn will become a first-rate tree wherever it has a chance to take root. If there is a rotten streak in you, if 36 Lines to a Young Man privation can intimidate you, if desire has gained mastery over will, if the prospect of sweating and whetting can abate your enthusiasm — opportunity is wasted upon you. Quitters and quailers are misfits all the way from the stone heap to the throne. FAST HORSES AND POOR MEN'S BARNS FAST HORSES AND POOR MEN'S BARNS YOU can't hold a fast horse in a poor man's barn ; he'll find his right place when he strikes his real pace. You can't dam rising waters and you can't down rising men. Ability, by the law of gravity, seeks its proper level. No matter where a good man stands, the rest of humanity knows how he stands. Competition has the eye of Asmodeus. Your rival usually knows everything that goes on behind your walls ; he can't win his own game unless he watches yours. You can't becloud your stars ; ultimately they'll shine through obscurity and display their brilliance. The world's master tenor be^an his career in a village opera troupe. 39 40 Fast Horses and The "cracks " of the Big Leagues pitched their curves from country diamonds across metropolitan plates and batted home-runs over hamlet fences to cities a thousand miles away. The Mississippi began business in the blind heart of a mountain range, but man- aged to work its way clear through the continent. It isn't where a man starts but what a man starts that gives him status. No matter how thick the throng may be, the head of the giant towers above his inferiors. The less conspicuous his sur- roundings the more prominent he becomes. You can't conceal a bushel in a peck measure; it's bound to overflow its narrow confines. Superior force can't be restrained. A leader will forge to the front, no matter how much you may seek to hold him back. Pay the market price of a deserving worker or you'll pay double for a competent successor. Poor Mens Barns 41 When a valuable aid leaves your ranks and is lined up against you, you must not only give battle to his native wit, but com- bat as well with the training which you gave him. Only a bigoted, blinded ass believes that men will continue to work for him at less than they are worth . This is the day of national circulations, of single newspapers which spread over a dozen States. " Want " pages are market- places, bill-boards posted with offers to efficient help. Progressive commerce is constantly send- ing its messages throughout the whole con- tinent, prospecting in every out-of-the-way corner for rich minds. Your sole hold on any man's services is his confidence in your fairness. The moment he finds that you have taken advantage of his fidelity he throws off all bonds of loyalty. From that instant all his thoughts are centred on his own advancement. If he 42 Fast Horses and Poor Mens Barns can better himself, he will leave you in the lurch overnight, no matter how sorely you may require his services. If you don't give him a square deal he won't give you a fair field. YOU CAN'T LEARN COMMON SENSE FROM BOOKS YOU CANT LEARN COMMON SENSE FROM BOOKS KNOWLEDGE must be verified by practice. Mere information is a blade without a handle — it possesses no value until it can be employed. Countless volumes have explained how to paint pictures, but up to the present no man has produced a Salon prize-winner from just the details supplied by a printed text. Good lawyers are not made in the class- room ; they are only started there — their training must be completed in the court- room. THE BEST IDEA THAT EVER THROBBED IN A BRAIN IS A WASTE OF GREY MATTER UNTIL IT HAS SURVIVED THE TEST OF APPLICATION. One-half of education is assimilation, the other half is elimination. 45 46 You Cant Learn Common The world won't buy crude ore at the price of refined metal ; it won't give you employment at a wage based upon your possibilities, but solely on your production. Your value is limited before you have been smelted, and you must stand the cost both in time and in sacrifice of removing the slag from your ideas. The process, like any other vital opera- tion, is not so pleasant as necessary. Your conceit must be separated from your con- fidence, your impatience untangled from your determination, the yellow streak driven out of your veins. You may have a splendid intellect, but, like a chronometer, we cannot trust it be- fore regulation. We'll accept neither you nor a watch at face value until you stand the test of time. You must make good in the " University of Missouri," where many a man who'd flunk on an examination in minor Latin can instruct most highbrows with a string of decrees long- enough to tie into a bow-knot. Sense from Books 47 Old Man Ruggles, for instance, doesn't know the difference between the pons asinorum and Pond's Extract, but there isn't a problem in business for which he won't ultimately produce a correct solution. He'd look like a fool in a philology class, but in his own class the head of the average language course would grow asses' ears. Mr. Ruggles hasn't devoted much time to literature, yet a few of his compositions would do a mighty lot to increase the value of Dr. Eliot's five-foot shelf. To wit : — " Measure your work with a speedometer, not a clock ; I don't care how long you took, I want to know how far you went. " I pay for results, not explanations. If half the ideas wasted on excuses were properly applied, progress would be three centuries farther down the pike. "The man who climbs over your head was stronger than you — don't envy but imitate him. ' Good luck ' is just a lazy man's estimate of a fighter's success. " The man who loafs on his job soon 48 Common Sense from Books discovers that every day in the year is Friday the 13th. " When my enemies cease to cuss me, I'll start to worry. The yell of a competitor is the bell back of the bull's-eye — it only sounds when I hit where I aim. " It costs me just as much per hour when you worry and when you work — I make my profit out of the work. Worry, and you'll create a cause for it. "The man who remembers his last em- ployer's secrets has too good a memory to be entrusted with mine. " I judge men by the creases in their brains, not by the creases in their pants. Your tailor can't cut rungs for my ladder. " I don't believe in spiritualism, but if you try to bury a mistake, you'll find that I'm a good enough medium to materialize its ghost. "Ask more questions and I'll ask less. When you cease to come for advice, I'll begin to think that you need it." NOT BLUE-PRINTS, BUT STANDING WALLS 49 NOT BLUE-PRINTS, BUT STANDING WALLS THE man who is not stirred to top pitch must be set to tasks which fit his performance and not his capacity. No matter what his capabilities, they cannot be utilized to full advantage unless they are utilized at full energy. He's a billiard ball with a flat spot — he won't roll on unless he's shoved along - . He's in the way of somebody who insists upon marching forward, and so the man behind him is sure to push him aside. There's only one standard by which we measure — achievement. There's only one record we will accept — and that is the finished work. We no longer believe what men tell us about themselves. We look at their deeds. The Efficient Age. 51 52 Not Blue-Prints We don't want blue-prints, but the stand- ing walls. So long as there is another who will do, we won't take dreams from you. When we accept less than the utmost, you must accept less in return. Wear out, rather than rust out. Dare more. Speed up and keep up. Make a few mistakes rather than lessen the pace. Don't be afraid of an error ; we don't care for the " always-rights," the sterile brains, without initiative or creative force. They're cowards ; they play safe. They stick to beaten tracks and time-worn ruts. What has not been achieved and proven they neither attempt nor accept, because they are not certain in advance of its success. We can get nothing new out of them, and we already know the old things. We are willing to pay well for originality, but trite ideas and conventional methods are a glut in the market. We only discount a man's years when his years have discounted his ability. Age but Standing Walls 53 is neither a help nor a hindrance to a fair chance. We don't count how long a man spends at his task. We do not buy hours, but their fruit. The clock-watcher doesn't profit — he measures his labour by the minute, and his reward is measured just as exactly. We pay most for your thought when you are away from the desk and the shop, when you have a perspective and can find new aspects upon your duties and think out a better way of doing something that you did yesterday. Such effort is a private key to the directors' room. We merely pay wages for the duties which are planned for you. You are limited by no boundaries except those which you set — by the fences erected by incompetence and idleness and care- lessness. Work more than you are asked to, and you'll get more than you ask for. The 54 Not Blue-Prints, but Standing Walls scales must balance when honest weights press on the lever. There are too many people in the world who are willing to take full-hearted issue with the future, too many men who'll gladly play the game in the right way — we can't and we won't build a little hothouse to coax your growth. DON'T STOP AT THE START DON'T STOP AT THE START GET away from the big mob of little men and come on up. Nobody has yet managed to fill out the space between here and the stars. There's nothing but room overhead. Competition is intense only down below. The hardest struggle is the beginning. The outset of life is the biggest trial. The start takes more time than the race. Everything unusual had to be waited for. The man who built the Washington Monu- ment simply piled his stone higher than any one else ; he merely kept his head clear and his work straight. What is crooked falls. A straight line is always the shortest. Roundabout " short-cuts " simply make you turn back and start anew. Being honest is the greater part of 57 58 Dont Stop at the Start achievement. When you know that you're doing the best within you, you can't be downed. Self-respect is an eternal life- preserver — no matter how often circum- stance wrecks you, you're bound to float back to solid ground again. Success can't be inherited ; if you've been handed power or wealth and can't reproduce it of your own accord, you're worse off than the man who has to build both for himself. He can repeat his fortune because he has the tools of experience with which to re-create. All really big men carved their way with their own muscles and their own brains and their own determination. Mansions and palaces do not incubate producers. The masters of the world moulded their own destinies ; they grew great, step by step and year by year. They stayed great because each inch of their progress was a contest with somebody else, until, by sheer ability, they had defeated every opponent. Timber can only be seasoned out in the Don't Stop at the Start 59 open where the bad weather can get to work on it — it rots under a shed. The need and hunger and want of things seasoned three poor, ignorant boys into Lincoln, Field, and Edison. They became enduring through the opposition of men who already had what they wanted — they became forceful by trying and trying until the last trial was met. We don't want to help you, because assistance doesn't aid. Props merely prove inability to stand alone. We're kindest to you when we make you " make good " — when we force you past handicaps. Jumpers are developed by setting hurdles. We can't know that you're true-blue until you have stood some of the rains of life and demonstrated that your colours don't run. When we assist you least we befriend you most — we're teaching you self-develop- ment. It is kinder to kick you than to coddle you, because it gives you a chance 60 Dorit Stop at the Start to kick back, and every time your kicking is harder you gain additional belief in your own power. Don't stop because the start tires you — you'll soon get used to the strain. The cavalry recruit must stick in the saddle and ride until he doesn't mind the jolting. The oarsman must keep rowing until his blisters grow into callouses. Keeping on is the whole trick. The pace is secondary — it will develop as you pro- gress. Speed without lasting-power is wasted. It wasn't the fastest beginner that won the Olympian Marathon. Legs didn't pro- duce the victor — but grit. It was the man whose courage didn't wobble when his knees did — whose tenacity kept him going and held his chest back and his head high. It was the spirit of " I Will " that drove him to the end — nothing else really counted. YOU MUST SUCCEED ALONE YOU MUST SUCCEED ALONE YOU say that you deserve success — then prove it. We're sitting in the jury box waiting for the evidence — ready to be convinced — willing to grant you what you deserve, but neither anxious to help nor to hinder you. Present your facts — show results, but don't rest your case with words. Your personal opinion is of absolutely no moment ; it's bound to be biased. Try as you may, you will look at yourself through the glasses of self-interest — you will exaggerate your importance. We refuse to accept the measurement of your own scales ; they can't be honest Conceit and egotism are helping to weigh down your side. You're prone to mis- take the desire for the ability to accom- 63 64 You must Succeed Alone plish — inclination is apt to colour your judgment. We're cynical? Why not? Since the beeinninsr of civilization we have seen most men overreach themselves — the memory of the world is scarred, and each scar repre- sents an experience with shirkers who posed as workers — with weaklings who attempted beyond their strength. Most of mankind must serve — only a few can command. Unless we are impar- tial and remain judicial, we will have chaos. Men must adjust themselves to their proper relations to the rest of society. Progress is a matter of elimination. The only way that you can find your exact measurement is to jump into the sieve — it can't cheat. If you're big enough, you won't slip through the mesh, but if you're a " shrivel " you must be sifted out. Democracy has made of life an open srame— in a free field. There are no boundaries nor fences, except for those who You must Succeed Alone 65 deserve constraint and for those who have not the power to climb over the barriers which segregate servant from master, fol- lower from leader. The world wants its powerful sons — and the only way they can be found is to set them among their fellows and have them demonstrate their supremacy. No other test would be a true or fair one. Leaders are not discovered ; they prove themselves. Power is not bestowed — it is not a orivinor — but a grift. We've equalized opportunity. This is the most that society can do — it cannot equalize men. If you are lacking in courage and grit and mentality — if you are twisted or warped — if the vital impulse of attainment is not bred in your bones and surging in your blood, all the legislation and help between here and Mars can't more than hold you up. And we refuse to prop you, simply be- cause the other man can't have what belongs The Efficient Age. 6 66 You must Succeed Alone to him if we handicap him by giving you assistance and demand that he look out for himself. We don't care what your parents were — we only wish to know who and what you are — what you can do and how honestly you will do it. You can have anything if you are shrewd and tenacious and lasting enough to reach it, but you must attain alone. You must fight for your place, but you must fight fairly and under the rules. If you break them, we'll break you. THE MEN WHO PLAY THE GAME THE MEN WHO PLAY THE GAME THEY ask and they make no com- promise. They aim at the game and not at the fame. They struggle and toil and resist and persist ; they persevere till they make good, but they play accord- ing to fixed and set rules ; they take no trick by trickery. They refuse victory at the price of dis- honour. They prefer a just defeat to a smirched success. Obstacles are expected pawns in their course. They anticipate the "check- mates " of opposition as a legitimate per- centage to be reckoned with. They neither bear nor wear a price. They fight with steel and not with gold. Therefore, they neither proffer nor accept 69 70 The Men who Play the Game a bribe. They mark no cards. They choose to lose or win by virtue of clean hands. Their will is the most implacable, relent- less, and terrible force that springs from the souls of humans. They desire no quarter and they extend none. They strike with all their might, but, by the same token, they do not pine or whine when the heel of the victor is ground into their throats. They are content with hard conditions, and demand an equal fortitude in those who challenge them. Pity and sentimentality are foreign to their natures and to their methods ; but, if they do not soften at the cringing appeal of the weaker, neither do they exact more than their just allotment in settlement. They are Men of Iron, without a stain of rust upon their honour or their weapons. They are Makers of the Roads and Pilots of the Seas, guided only by their charted plans. They are the Builders in the Wilderness — the Outposts of Empires-to-be The Men who Play the Game 71 — the Watchers at the Dyke, the promoters and the defenders of progress. They find and they found the great wealths and the great sources of wealth. They are Players of the Game — the uni- versal Spartans — the alloys of society, square of jaw and nature and shoulder — fearing- conscience too much to fear menace or men. They stood in the Pass of Thermopylae and made three hundred spears deadlier than a million. They held the Alpine highways against the covetous Austrian hordes. They forgot arithmetic at Balaklava and trans- muted six hundred Sheffield sabres into magic falchions. They sped the triremes at Salamis. They lashed the sails of Drake and manned the cannon of Perry. They crawled across the Arctic ice — they cut their way through the tangles of mid- Africa. They have always yielded their lives rather than yield to irresolution. Few of their names are known and few of their 72 The Men who Play the Game graves are marked, but the glory of their courage is imperishable — a heritage for all to-morrows — a spark to heat the blood and fire the future generations with inspiration. They are of no sect and of no caste. They are born alike from the loin of peasant and of peer. Their fraternity is not of breed nor brain nor brawn, but of ambition. Duty is their mission and its fulfilment their ultimate hope. They heed no voice that urges the softer choice. They do not rest until they have stood the test. They wage for the ages and not for wages. NO ROYAL ROAD FOR THE COLLEGE MAN NO ROYAL ROAD FOR THE COLLEGE MAN WE are waiting for you to prove your- self. We don't care who you are — we want to know what you are. The fact that you have had five years of standard information poured into your head does not interest us. We are looking" to see how much of it you can take out and apply. So far you have merely received — what can you give us ? Your diploma does not signify that yours is a superior intellect — merely a trained one. It testifies that your brain has been fed with the best thoughts of the best thinkers, but it does not guaran tee that you have digested them. The very fact that your instruction has been from textbooks proves that you are 75 76 JVo Royal Road for merely posted on facts with which we are already acquainted. Your education is no more than a chest of tools — only through use does it possess value. We are ready to give you preference over untrained men because your brain should be flexible, logical, and virile ; but you are only a freshman in the college of life, and must make good before we accept you seri- ously. We assume that you are a gentle- man, but by the same token we shall hold you to a stiffer standard of decency than we expect from uncultivated men ; their transgressions can often be excused upon the score of ignorance, but you have been bred to appreciate the niceties. Your family connections are of no mo- ment. We have learned that every tree has its dead limbs and produces imperfect, as well as sound, fruitage. The better your stock, the more merciless we shall be in judging you, and the more we shall discount your willingness to get down to hard-pan. the College Man 77 We shall often be forced to hurt your pride, and we shall probably humble your spirit, because our estimate of your impor- tance will be founded upon your record, while your own is based upon the conceit which your senior year has given you. We shall begin by setting you at insig- nificant jobs, because it is expensive to take things for granted. If you are built of the right timber and your grain has been brought out by the polishing process of college life, you should be able to mount much more rapidly than men who have been less fortunate in opportunity ; but we'll believe in you only when you have forced us to. Your reception by your fellow-employees will be what you make it. They are likely to meet you with a chip upon their shoulders — ■ any conscious handicap makes others sensitive and aggressively defensive — they look forward to finding you a snob and are prepared to handle you accordingly. If you are wise, you will win their 78 JVo Royal Road for goodwill and respect by modesty and democracy. Even if you do know the dead languages, you are correspondingly ignorant on the live issues. We don't wish to hear " how they used to do things " — yesterday is Time's refuse. We turn over our cub reporters to Jimmy, the office boy. He doesn't know the differ- ence between the Hydrostatic Paradox and the Discourses of the Sophists ; but he's way up on the location of police-stations, and has learned to a nicety how many sides of the paper to use for "copy." He splits the rules of rhetoric in a manner that would prostrate the highbrow who taught you not to split your infinitives ; but take a good tip and don't cut his lectures, or you'll be shy some when the chief calls you up for quiz. You won't understand our ways at the start. You'll note that " Reddy ' Smith overlooks the creases in his pants, but he has the sort of creases in his brain that in- the College Man 79 crease the Old Man's balance over at The Tenth National. The Old Man is mightily indulgent on the subject of baggy trousers, but he's a gorilla when he sees a baggy system. Bill Williams will be coming around wearing an orange cravat and a lavender shirt with separate cuffs. "Bill "missed a course in matching haberdashery, but he can match any argument ever advanced by a rival salesman. His clothes are ready- made, but he tailors his selling talk to in- dividual measure. Just watch Jimmy and Reddy and Bill. They've learned the game. Your new field isn't so very different from the gridiron and the diamond. Avoid grand- stand plays — keep off the foul lines. Be careful not to overrun your base. Take your position and be where you belong when the ball is slammed your way. Don't be afraid to make a mistake. The man who hasn't courage enough to take a risk hasn't grit enough to succeed. But 80 No Royal Road for keep your percentage of errors in proper proportion to your successes. Don't start in with the idea of improving us ; you'll be able to detect many a flaw in your superior's phraseology, but then he doesn't get his weekly envelope for protect- ing the purity of the English language. Don't come to work with a large chest — the boys around the office are wonders at smashing that sort of baggage. Get into the right frat ; we have a Tap Day of our own, and we'll pass a Tau Phi every time for a Good Fellow. The " Push, Plug, and Plod " is the very proper set and the " Clock-Watchers " have no status. Bear in mind that you're joining a secret society, and cultivate a memory that is just as blank outside as it is active in the office. If any one tries to pump you on the firm's affairs, it is either officiousness (which is bad taste) or it's objective (which is bad intent). Make up your mind that you'll have to work like a Turk these first years. Don't the College Man 81 under-estimate the importance of the unim- portant tasks with which you begin. The boys who overlooked the Die, Der, and Das rule didn't miss it much until they got up into German Major. The position of bolt or nut or screw may at the moment seem too insignificant for your consideration, but more big machinery is smashed by loose screws than through broken fly-wheels, and more business deals are ruined by careless minor employees than through any other cause. Do what you do as well as all the man in you can do it — with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your honour, and all your brain. Build your foundations well, other- wise you are planning a magnificent failure for your superstructure. Take care of your " ten dollar ' job so well that the " ten thousand " post will be waiting to take care of you. The Efficient Age. DON'T MIND THE GOSSIPS DON'T MIND THE GOSSIPS A NOISE merely annoys. Even a thunderclap is harmless. Sound never yet produced a dent. Gossip is simply the outburst of envy and malice — like a Chinese firecracker : often a fizz and usually dangerous only to him who explodes it. Hissing snakes are seldom deadly. The cobra, the fer-de-lance, the copperhead and the moccasin do not advertise. Chattering birds are always harmless. The raven and the crow are arrant cowards ; the eagle swoops without an outcry. Menace does not wag a tongue. The cruelty of the calumniator lies in his words and not in his bite. Envy and malice are toothless curs ready to run at the first impulse. 85 86 Dont mind the Gossips Only strong men can check you or wreck you, and the strong do not stoop to meanness. They strike with clean weapons and not with the rusty sword of slander. \y.. Every falsehood that is hurled against your reputation is in your favour. It offers you a chance to prove the truth, to show yourself as you are, to demonstrate what you have done. Before the supreme tribunal of society only facts are weighed and counted. If you possess right and might you will always have the opportunity to stand forth in your true light. You know when and where you are wrong. You are the only living soul who truly comprehends your acts. You are the sole judge of your real char- acter. You cannot expect to find all men as well posted upon yourself. You cannot be sane and seem so to all persons. There are so many weaklings, half-wits, apes, sour-brains, meddlers, hot- heads, and hypocrites in the world that no JDont mind the Gossips 87 course of action can possibly appear fair and sound to everybody. You cannot make a move without tread- ing on at least one sore foot. You cannot have a cause which does not conflict with the ambitions of another. If you are so thin-skinned and sensitive that you can be halted by disbelief and turned back by ridicule, you may as well relinquish your ambitions, retire from the contest, and acknowledge at the very out- set that you are incapable of conquering your egotism. No man ever lived for an unusual hope and managed to escape from mud-slinging. It is the inevitable accompaniment of per- sonal progress. Power is hateful to those who cannot possess it. Only a few are able to struggle to the heights, but the arm that lacks the sinews to reach the goal is too puny to hurl a hurtful missile. Those who lack capability are the last to acknowledge its existence in their betters. 88 Don't mind the Gossips The dullard is the hardest to convince and least capable of measuring the forces which he cannot comprehend. If you are determined to rise, you must first learn to disregard non-essentials ; you must cease to fritter your valuable energy worrying about the opinions of people who do not count. You must employ your time and your thoughts for important and vital things. Julius Caesar, Oliver Cromwell, Napo- leon Bonaparte, Abraham Lincoln, and Ulysses Grant managed to get along fairly well in spite of their doubting contempo- raries. The head that rises highest must expect to become the target of fools. ALL MEN ARE NOT BORN EOUAL ALL MEN ARE NOT BORN EQUAL NATURE doesn't cast from moulds ; she's an artist. She never repeats herself ; she doesn't produce two things exactly alike ; her trees never bear the same number of leaves ; her plants never grow two pieces of fruit that exactly match. Being a very prolific and resourceful person, she puts a dab of individuality in everything she creates — especially Man. Opportunities are equal, but the ability to grasp them, the mentality to appreciate them, the strength to develop them, vary with the individual. Ambition is a good thing, but attainment is not its synonym. The world is filled with 22-calibre cartridges trying to explode in 30-30 rifles. 91 92 All Men are not Born Equal Plans for achievement must be matched with power to carry them through. Demos- thenes was one stutterer who became a great orator ; but most stutterers have their mouths full when they try to follow con- versation, much less to lead it. One-armed men occasionally develop into oarsmen, but the most of them can't even keep the boat in a straight line for the shore. It is a good rule not to attempt success in a field for which accident or Nature has unfitted you. There will always be superior intellects because superior progenitors sired them. Generations of careful breeding ought to eventuate in an improved strain. Futurity winners aren't found between the shafts of brick-carts. Any man is capable of getting out of himself what is in him, but he can't progress farther than his gifts will carry him. Accident will now and then combine cir- cumstances so as to place an individual higher than he deserves ; but, in the long All Men are not Born Equal 93 run, Merit and Merit alone will determine the outcome ; the law of survival is the one immutable law ; the strong must rise to their appointed and destined places ; the weak must serve those who prove their fitness to command. The greatest tragedies of an absolute democracy spring from the discontent spread by the sophistries of its demagogues ; the unhappiest phase of a civilization founded upon equality is the misconstruc- tion of "equality." It does not mean that any social order can overturn the order of nature ; democracy only casts down the walls of unearned privilege ; it kicks away the props of inherited prestige ; it allows each man to stand for what he is and to have what he can reach — to hold what his strength can master — and to lose what his own gifts cannot maintain. But no democ- racy will ever be conceived by man which will overthrow the basic laws of the universe — first among which is that of competition, which has prevailed since the cave-man 94 All Men are not Born Equal began to test his prowess and to measure it against that of his neighbour. There are big duties and little tasks, offices of direction and of obedience, and there must be big men and small men to perform them. An army must have its chief, its consult- ing aids, and its ranks. There must be cog-wheels as well as fly-wheels on every machine ; each watch must have its main- spring, each Government its supreme head. All that the doctrine of equal rights can hope to accomplish is that the man who is most deserving shall be placed where he should be Universities cannot upset this principle ; they can only multiply and spread in their scope until they develop more ot those who are most fitted to stand upon the heights. Until the last page of the last volume is written in the Book of Years, Merit alone will rule the earth. DISHONESTY DOUBLES THE JOURNEY TO SUCCESS DISHONESTY DOUBLES THE JOURNEY TO SUCCESS A MAN is never so strong as when he stands upright ; the farther he stoops the easier he can be knocked over. The end of a reputation depends very largely upon its beginning. An unsafe foundation continually threatens everything that rests upon it. A little more time spent in beginning life right will save years of after-effort in setting right a false start. Reputations must be built of sound timber or they can't last. If there's a flaw in a man's record, it's bound to show, and the more important he becomes the more cer- tain the disclosure. A faulty beam is never in such danger as when it is called upon to sustain a great weight. Sooner or later The Efficient Age g g7 98 Dishonesty Doubles the failure is sure to mark the man who marks his cards. Swimming against the tide requires more skill and endurance than swimming with it ; the man who isn't straight puts a terrific handicap upon himself. He must play tug- of-war single-handed against all society. The strength and resources that can success- fully hold out against the organized oppo- sition of public sentiment could accomplish tenfold as much with the co-operation and goodwill of everybody arrayed in his favour. Every now and then we hear Weakkneed Shallowbrain sophistically remark : " Don't tell me that honesty pays ; look at So-and- So ; see what he has accomplished ; and everybody knows how he made his money." But Shallowbrain doesn't pause to realize that if " So-and-So " had not paid the penalty and did not wear the livid brand of disrepute he would not be able to quote his record. Prison bars are by no means the ultimate punishment ; iron gratings are easier for Journey to Success 99 some men to endure than the grating con- tempt of their associates. Wealth shrinks in value when its posses- sor is despised and distrusted ; its purchas- ing power shrivels. Every dishonest dollar leaves a trail as plain as that of an anise-bag which eventu- ally leads up to the man who carries it. Fate is a creature of whims. In her sar- donic humour she frequently postpones her settlement day to increase its hardship ; she often lulls the cheat into a sense of security, and after permitting him to understand and aspire for the finer things of life, she drags him down to his earlier level and collects her debt with a frightfully compounded interest. An obscure man attracts less attention than a well-known figure ; the bigger the crowd around the pillory, the more shame- ful the emotions of him who stands in it. There's only one way that's right, and all the other ways are wrong. Success does not cut her rates ; her terms 100 Dishonesty Doubles the Journey are net ; she does business on the one-price system. All the noteworthy achievements in com- merce and in art were soundly conceived and accomplished through hard work and honourable effort. IF YOU STAND STILL YOU DON'T STAND A CHANCE IF YOU STAND STILL YOU DON'T STAND A CHANCE THE world changes its mind every hour. It alters its ideas every time advancement disproves a sophistry, corrects an error, or proclaims a discovery. You can never be sure that you're right because no one brain can keep pace with the work of all brains. Man can only be as accurate as the in- formation upon which he bases his conclu- sions, and that basis is always subject to revision. You can't have your work up to date if you don't keep your mind up to date. You may be the most brilliant member of your profession or trade, but your intelli- gence can't possibly be as broad as that of everybody else engaged in the same pursuit. 103 104 // You Stand Still You can never graduate from the school of Experience. Your viewpoint is only correct occasion- ally. Very few of your ideas are original. Whether you're self-made or university-bred, the observations of untold yesterdays have always guided you, and there's just as much to be learned from the future as from the past. The sponge that ceases to absorb quickly shrivels — the man who uses his tongue oftener than his ears soon squeezes his brain dry. When you're satisfied with your attain- ments you've started on the downgrade. Fear is the best guarantee of security — the walled cities outlived the unguarded towns. Complacency is the forerunner of defeat. All conquering nations were dragged at the chariot wheels of their enemies as soon as pride blinded them into false security. In this age of keen rivalry and limitless You Dont Stand a Chance 105 aspirations you won't stay ahead if you don't plan ahead. Thoroughfare is everywhere. The high- ways are not blocked by coronets and coats- of-arms — special classes no longer legislate for their kind. You can't remain where you are or retain what you have if somebody with greater ability determines to supplant you. Civilization, like the carpenter, has no pet tools — the moment you grow rusty you will be thrown aside for a brighter and sharper instrument of Progress. We have no sentiment — the Twentieth Century pays history's highest wage to its thinkers and its tinkers. But we close our books each twenty-four hours. You receive full credit and full remuneration and we take a quitclaim every day. So long as you satisfy we'll accede to your demands, but when we meet your better, we will put him in your place. We warrant you nothing because you can't guarantee anything. 106 Don't Stand Still We're always searching for faster men, for shrewder men, for men who can con- serve energy for us, for men who can in- crease output and minimize costs. The door is open ; you can't lock it against their coming, you can't keep them out if you can't keep at the top. You must constantly add new rungs to your ladder ; you must climb, there's always a height unattained. Invention and science, arts and letters, commerce and common sense, are cease- lessly equipping new-comers ; they're behind you, striving to excel your record. IF YOU STAND STILL YOU DON'T STAND A CHANCE. WATCH OUT FOR THE MAN BEHIND WATCH OUT FOR THE MAN BEHIND TO-DAY is yours, but to-morrow be- longs to The Man Behind. He's back there pushing and struggling and fiorhtinof on ; he's gritting his teeth and keeping in action, so he's in better shape than you. The exercise of effort is keeping him alert, thinning down his limbs, pasting his muscles tighter to the bone, twisting gristle into the meat. Look out for him ! You haven't worked at full vigour of late. There's an overcoat of fat growing around your intellect. If he ever catches up to you and it comes to a stern, hard contest, you won't last. Activity doesn't tire — it hardens, gives resisting power, develops the wind, teaches one to stay when the tussle becomes intense. 109 110 Watch Out for There's many a man in your office carrying the undeveloped seed of achievement in his make-up. He's fertilizing it with his am- bition, and some day results are going to grow out of it. See to it that you get the harvest. The time may come when you'll need loyalty as badly as the Texas bad man needed his " Colt." He left it at home on the piano, but the sheriff couldn't afford to overlook the chance of getting him at a disadvantage. Your competitors are always watching and waiting ; they're seeking an oppor- tunity to "get in." You have only to rely for survival upon the fidelity of the man behind. There are two sides to every ques- tion, and like the flapjack, the bottom gets on top in the turnover. Your staff only owe you that which you have bought. If you've taken advantage of circumstances in his hour of weakness, depend upon it, when somebody else offers him more money, no man in your employ will stick — he isn't the Man Behind 111 in your debt by one throb of consideration. Lack of appreciation is the incubator which has hatched thousands of employees into employers. Injustice has driven into independence half the successful men in America. Forests die out unless there is a constant growth of saplings ; they can only be per- petuated by the seeds which drop from the trees that are already matured. Don't forget that your young men are seed ; that they are your insurance against the future ; that you must look to them for the timber of to-morrow. Take care of them. You may not need them now, but as the years pass and your own powers fail, and you can no longer stand the gaff as to-day, the skill and knowledge and confidence which you breed into those surrounding you now will protect your past efforts and warrant the continuance of prosperity for your family. Hold on to your sound boys ; they're worth more to you than any one else, be- cause they are more valuable to every other 112 Watch Out for employer than you. When they go away they are like bees, covered with fructifying pollen. They fly off with the ability they gained from you and use it against you. When they enter another office, they handi- cap you by their withdrawal and strengthen your rivals with their knowledge of your secrets. When you replace them, you must pay as much for their successors, break them in, and afterwards give battle to the very strength that you allowed to desert your flag. Carnegie is giving away libraries because he was shrewd enough to make every poten- tial antagonist his partner. He drove his bargains when their strength was not at its fullest pitch and he put them under the yoke of mutual interest while their brains were freshest and could tone up his staling viewpoint — he made his own percentage smaller, but he magnified his total profits so tremendously that a part of twenty men's earnings far exceeded what his lone efforts would have brought, had he tried to hog- it all. the Man Behind 113 A small interest at an early enough moment creates a lifetime ally ; it buys you a man's play-time and night-time thoughts, all his plans and ambitions. It creates a burden-sharer who will lift cares, the shift- ing of which is worth far more than the cost. It gives you a sense of future security, un- known to the lone operator, who lives in the constant dread that he will be hardest pressed when he is least efficient. The Efficient Age. THE FIXED IDEA THE FIXED IDEA MAKE your chart before you start ; choose your destination before you buy your ticket. Don't wait until you reach the end of your journey and then decide where you're going. Many a man has dried up in a little wayside opportunity, merely because he lacked the courage to acknow- ledge to himself that his judgment had landed him in the wrong spot. You can't tell what you're best fitted to do until you've fought for a few things fit for fighting. Now and then rifles accident- ally hit bull's-eyes ; but remember that every championship record is the result of lots of practice and a good, steady aim. C. Columbus did finally stumble on to America, after much aimless wandering ; but don't forget that a great many of his 117 118 The Fixed Idea predecessors went down in the Atlantic gales because they set sail without a definite port before them. Don't rely on accident to start you ; acci- dent doesn't run on schedule and hasn't a habit of happening in the same spot twice. The Fixed Idea is the motive power that has driven most men to attainment ; more plodders than geniuses have reached emi- nence. The sailboat without a keel usually capsizes ; the man without a keel is unsafe. Persistence and doggedness oftenest bring results. Hard work is common coin in the realm of Success. The musician who aspires to become a maestro must look down to years of practice before he can look up to the hour of acclaim, and once he has received recognition he must keep practising just as hard to hold it. The gift of music and the love of harmony are only half ; it's " the fixed idea " which keeps his fingers on the keys, hour after hour, day after day, that brings him to his goal. The Fixed Idea 119 The master of railroads must strive just as earnestly and centralize his efforts just as intensely to-day as when he was grasping for control. You must make sure of what you want to do ; you must feel sure that you have the courage as well as the temperament to do it and then — do it ! One fair idea unhesitatingly followed out is better than a dozen excellent plans, none of which receive concentrated attention. Spurts don't count. The final score makes no mention of a splendid start if the finish proves that you were an "also ran." Only the steady last. Call to mind a dozen men who have made their mark — choose them from trade or profession — and you'll find that at least ten out of the twelve were men who hung fast to a "fixed idea," who held on despite setback and reverse, who endured self-denial and diffi- culties and won out because they didn't peter out. They believed in themselves ; they 120 The Fixed Idea thought that they could do a certain thing and counted what they believed far more than the concentrated opinion of everybody else. The world didn't take them seriously in the beginning, but they took themselves seriously, and in the end the world changed its mind. It always does change its mind when a man makes good. But the world's so old, and has had so much experience with the human race, that it puts every man down to a basis of zero and only acknowledges that he's above it when his gauge moves up to the mark that his own confidence has set and his own ability attained. SCHOOL DAYS AND FOOL DAYS SCHOOL DAYS AND FOOL DAYS WHEN your school days stop your fool days start. Learning regulates earning. You can't travel on yesterday's steamer or last year's information. When you exhaust your knowledge you've exhausted your usefulness. How can you hope to hold your place if you don't hold your pace ? The earth takes a fresh turn every twenty- four hours, so must you. If you stand still you're lagging behind. The power of an engine is measured by its supply of fuel, so is the force of the brain. You never know enough. Steady study is your only safeguard. 123 124 School Days and Fool Days There is always a better way of doing everything. Why, it has not been ten years since we found that bricks could be laid differ- ently than Pharaoh's masons built their walls. We cut stone with the same chisel and mallet and the same waste of effort as in the days of Rome, until one man figured it worth while to devise a quicker opera- tion. It's only a matter of a decade or so since surgeons took the trouble to wash their hands as well as their instruments. The most important changes in our welfare have resulted from a little bit of common- sense thinking. Millions of acres were devastated by storms before some farmer had gumption enough to plant a windrow. New tools are originated because good mechanics are dissatisfied with inadequate devices and alter them to fit their needs. We have just discovered that for unknown School Days and Fool Days 125 centuries deep ploughing has reduced the corn crops one-half, and that through all these ages we could, with a little obser- vation, have doubled the yield from our cultivated acreage. Every man who tramped through the desert that was the Imperial Valley under- stood why it was arid. It didn't require genius nor technical training to realize that a ditch dug from a mountain stream would transform the sands into eager and fertile fields. When your shaving-brush kept dropping to pieces, why didn't you capitalize the very obvious advantage of setting the bristles in rubber ? The safety razor, the steel fishing-rod, the reel, the Pullman berth, the demountable tire rim, bachelor buttons, the scarf-pin holder, the paper clip, sanitary drinking- cups, paper bottles, tin cans, the hook and eye, were all inventions within reach of the average intellect, but the average man didn't reach out for them — he was content to 126 School Days and Fool Days accept what he found when he came on earth. Think, man, think ! Originate. Make a pin, carve a propeller, simplify a wagon, mix mortar more regularly than the man next to you. Don't follow precedent. Precedent is something to be broken, not to be preserved. It's yesterday's high- water mark ; it's the best record of another period ; it's the sanest conclusion of a former day, but not necessarily the conclusion of the sanest day. If precedent had guided other generations, you'd still be a hairy half-ape, ignorant of fire, subsisting on herbs and roots and raw meat. Precedent is the enemy of progress. Precedent is a fetter upon originality and a shackle upon daring. Look 'round the shop, the field, the garden, the store, or the office where you work. How can you shorten time, increase output, or lighten effort ? School Days and Fool Days 127 Think, think, think ! Have faith in your own powers of observation. Try. Where you start to plan or what you start to do, mean little — it's the habit of progress that lands men at the top. DON'T TRY TO UNDER-PAY 10 DON'T TRY TO UNDER-PAY YOU won't fare far if you don't share fair. A leader must have followers, and others will not fight for you if they must fight with you. Inappreciation destroys organization. Even royalty cannot exist without loyalty. Empires are not built by kings alone. The throne of Napoleon was reared upon the batons of his marshals. Generosity carried him farther than selfishness. The crown of France was his reward for his rewards. Men will not serve well unless they are served well. There's but one standard which inspires absolute allegiance, which arouses the utmost energy and tenacity and zeal — the banner of self-interest, the one flag which is never waved in vain. Ability constantly seeks its best market- The Efficient Age. 131 132 Dont try to Under -pay place. The worker who is underpaid first becomes a shirker and eventually a deserter. An employer who does not divide his profits with those who helped to make them will not profit through his over-share. He cannot bind men to his service by blinding them to the value of their services. Competition is always waiting and watching to post his helpers upon the current price of merit. When men resign under the lash of in- gratitude, they consider the old books balanced when the old desk is closed and feel justified in using all their experience and training and information for the benefit of their next paymasters. The right man can't be kept out of his rights. You can't hold him from his proper place. You can merely drive him from your place. He won't do his best for you unless you prove to him that he is doing the best for himself. Shrewdness makes partners of all subordinates in whom there is the making of competitors. It was not so much the merchandising Dont try to Under-pay 133 skill of Marshall Field as his knowledge of human nature which established him as the most eminent storekeeper of his era. His genius never displayed itself so clearly as in that policy which led even the cash-boy to think that it lay entirely with himself to become part proprietor. He doubled the efficiency of his employees by doubling their ambition. He knew that his clerks would require little watching or coaching if they could be made to feel that only negligence and listlessness would hold them in minor positions. Old Sam Southo-ate celebrated his sixtieth O anniversary by putting four new names on the firm's stationery. " I'm indulging in a real birthday present," he said; "peace of mind. You boys know all the weak spots of this business, and I don't mean to have my rivals get hold of you and batter you to pieces in my old age. Oh, don't thank me ; I'm looking out for myself; I'm simply buying an insurance policy on my past efforts. If I died to-morrow my wife 134 Dont try to Under-pay wouldn't know how to run things, and for fear of bad management on her part I'm selecting you to make sure that the business won't be wrecked. It's cheaper to give you half than to have you grab everything a little later. Besides, the combined ideas and energy of you four men will more than double the value of the concern and increase my 50 per cent, equity beyond my present total holdings. So jump in and put your youth to work while I start to learn leisure." DON'T GIVE A RAP ABOUT YOUR ENEMIES DON'T GIVE A RAP ABOUT YOUR ENEMIES "\ 70U can't make a real success without 1 making real enemies. You can't hold a strong position without strong opposition. You won't seem right to any if you don't seem wrong to many. Viewpoints aren't uniform. Standards of morals and ethics, means of livelihood, sources of happiness and prosperity vary with individual habits of mind and life. Men aren't ants. Humans aren't born with standardized impulses and predestined ways of working. All minds, like all thumbprints, are original and unique. There are a thousand grades and types of 137 138 Dont Give a Rap proficiency and intellect — untold varia- tions of intelligence. There isn't a living soul with whom you entirely agree on every subject. Even if you tried, it's impossible for you to accept every issue and regard every situa- tion in the same light of reason as a fellow- creature. So how can you hope, even under the most favourable of auspices, to have every- body like you or like you? You must think for yourself ; you must respond to your own intuitions ; you must reason your own way ahead. Your career can only be guided by your personal observations and convictions. The greater your force of character, the more you'll force others to demonstrate their differing characteristics. If you're upright and just and sane and clean and capable, it isn't a matter with your own volition to gain the endorsement of warped and erratic and mean and crimi- nal and brutal men. • About your Enemies 139 You must take sides in society and even among your chosen associates ; you must stand prepared for constant disagree- ment. You must stub your advancing feet against jealousy and bigotry and rascality. And the more decidedly you progress, the more vehemently you'll conflict with those who dislike you. You can't attain without pain ; you can't secure your rights without hundreds of others believing that you have interfered with their rights. A useful life can't be entirely peaceful and care-free. You must do your duty as you see it. Every earnest man in every generation has paid the price of individuality. You can't dodge. The greater you are, the greater the pen- alty of your progress. The farther you go, the wider you range, the more you increase the points of contact with which you must reckon, and, therefore, you multiply your 140 Dorit Give a Rap About your Enemies battles against misconception and slander and envy and malice. You can't avoid or evade your allotted destiny ; you can only hold down your share of trouble by holding back. In every sphere men gibe and sneer ; even the peace of the ditch-digger is threatened by the unemployed labourer who covets his job. So long as you aspire, others will con- spire ; so long as you try, others will vie. You'll have hostility to face in every place and at every pace. Go straight on to your goal. So long as your conscience isn't ashamed to acknowledge you as a friend, don't you give a rap for your enemies. COMMERCIAL HONESTY (?)" "COMMERCIAL HONESTY (?) " COMMERCIAL Honesty" is much like " German silver " — the one is neither German nor silver, the other neither commercial nor honest. Integrity is too sure of itself to hem and haw and fiddle for a euphemism. When virtue starts to draw fine points, it loses its point. Phrases can't alter phases. Sophistries may temporarily obscure but they can't upset the truth. Trade is not a privileged profession. Buyers and sellers are entitled to no more moral latitude than any other classification of society. The earth over, a contract is a contract, a pledged word is a pledged word, and an agreement is an agreement, twenty-four 143 144 " Commercial Honesty (?)" hours of a day and three hundred and sixty-five days in a year. There is no such thing as approximate reliability ; a man either delivers according to specifications or falls short. No argument in support of double-dealing will hold water. Dishonesty under any cir- cumstances is culpable. No business can be upright while it leans to doubtful methods. No concern is in a sound state so long as its system is diseased with unhealthy practices. Elephantiasis is a malady common alike to commerce and humans — an abnormal enlargement which produces giants at the expense of their vitality and sanity. Growth from wrong causes is dangerous. Tricksters can't survive. Cunning is a counterfeit form of ability. It's no more an indication of astuteness to take an undue profit from a confiding purchaser than it's a sign of financial genius to give a blind man short change. "Commercial Honesty (?)" 145 The world's business must mainly be con- ducted on faith. Almost every transaction in every market proceeds on the belief of the buyer in the character of the seller. " Commercial honesty " is a play upon words — a lie. They who uphold it can't hold out against the competition of decency. Wherever a great institution has endured for any length of time the highest principles have characterized its creation. A sneakthief never grew to be a captain of success ; the course of crookedness is measured. Permanency must rest upon staunch foundations ; you can't build high or heavily upon a rotten beginning. Here and there a few men of remarkable attainments have dragged themselves toward the top despite the handicap of instability ; but without the hindrance of their record, in every instance, they could and would have fared farther and fairer. Where one shyster has succeeded a hun- The Efficient Age, I i 146 " Commercial Honesty (?) ' dred have broken their foolish necks trying to make haste by slippery ways. Every game has its rules. The cheat defeats himself, not his opponent. Fouls, renigs, and misplays must at some stage come to light. The count is inevitable and with it the accounting. Destiny and Justice, the Eternal Umpires, are always on the job. APRIL AND OTHER FOOLS APRIL AND OTHER FOOLS YOUR right to be a fool started and expired on the first of April. Be sure that you turned the calendar pad. Don't ask for an extension of privilege — the world has little time for asses ; it makes of them beasts of burden. The Smart Aleck who kicks at the hat always bangs a brick. The purse at his feet isn't worth while — it only holds a joke. Sanity never wastes its energy nor bothers with pick-ups. As Old Farmer Judd used to tell his boarders, " Get your peaches from the tree ; there's usually a worm in the windfall. Sound fruit don't drop to the ground ; you've got to climb after it or knock it down." The surest way to " get-poor-quick " is 149 150 April and other Fools to try to "get-rich-quick." The best goods are not sold at reduced prices. Nothing first-class can be found on Life's bargain counter. The rich man's day is no longer than the labourer's and no different ; it holds the same chances and the same privileges. Failure and success are measured by the same clock-tick. DETERMINATION UTILIZES TIME, NEGLECT BRUTALIZES IT. All the opportunity in America is out in the open. It's a public domain, take as much of it as you can, but you'll need your eyes to see it and your brain to realize it and your strength to hold it. You are the tool with which fortune is tilled. If you debase yourself and waste your vitality on folly, you can't complain because the fruit of your endeavour is the logical outcome of its seed ; if you cultivate weeds you can't pluck roses. "Class" and "mass' and "privileged few" and "downtrodden many' are the April and other Fools 151 expressions of failures. So long as immi- grants progress from Ellis Island to the Thousand Islands ; so long as farm boys be- come reaper kings ; so long as penniless Scotsmen, by sheer persistence, realize in steel their youthful dreams ; so long as brakemen follow the rails until they change their cabooses to private cars ; so long as cash-boys grow to merchant princes ; so long as stenographers start as " men of notes " and end as men of note — the history of this continent will give the lie to the excuses of the lazy, the whimpers of the coward, and the snarls of the demagogue. THERE ARE NO IMPOSSIBILITIES IN AMERICA. There are no bounds, no limits to any ambition, if it be clean and wholesome and fought for. But wisdom has always accomplished more than folly ; steadfastness justly finds the goal that unreliability misses. The less effort a man gives, the less he gets ; the lower he aims, the lower he strikes — he lands where he leaps. g^t (Srtsbam |Jms TJNWIN BBOTHEBS, LIMITED WOKINQ AND LONDON • "-.; "■ U'i . .i ' U o %« L 006 678 305 1 |ii|«,f,2 J l / 1 I" £RN REGIONAL "fr/M