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FINANCE, BUSINESS 
 
 AND 
 
 THE BUSINESS 
 of LIFE 
 
 Written by 
 
 Business and Financial Editor 
 
 of the 
 
 New York American 
 
 e,v. 
 3>3 
 
Copyright, 191S 
 B. C. FORBES 
 
 All rights reserved, including the translation into 
 foreign languages. 
 
To 
 
 A. F. 
 
 and 
 
 A. S. F. 
 
A FULL INDEX 
 
 IS GIVEN AT THE END 
 
 OF THE BOOK 
 
A Humble Contribution 
 
 Towards Making 
 
 Finance Cleaner 
 
 Business More Humane 
 
 Work More Inspiring 
 
 and 
 
 Life More Worth While. 
 
 Commonsense Talks 
 
 on 
 
 The Earning of Money 
 
 The Saving of Money 
 
 The Spending of Money 
 
 The Investment of Money; 
 
 Also 
 
 Candid Comments 
 
 on 
 
 The Men Who Have Done 
 
 Most of Each — 
 
 Our Multi-Millionaires, Giants and Pigmies. 
 
 Reflections 
 
 on 
 
 Success That Is Real 
 
 and 
 
 Satisfaction That Lasts — 
 
 Happiness — 
 
 The Dividend Yielded 
 
 By 
 
 The Business of Life. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 These articles have been written amid the hurly-burly 
 of a busy newspaper office — and doubtless show it. 
 
 The responsibility — or blame — for their reproduction 
 lies upon readers in different parts of the country, including 
 numbers of ambitious young men, who have expressed a 
 desire to possess them in book form. 
 
 Mr. Hearst has kindly given me permission to issue this 
 volume. I desire to thank him not only for this courtesy, 
 but for the privilege, during the last four years, of daily 
 addressing, with untrammeled freedom, the largest family 
 of newspaper readers in the country. 
 
 That the articles have not been wholly useless has been 
 generously testified by both employers and employees, as 
 a few letters here reproduced show. 
 
 When the New York American's Business and Financial 
 Department was organized, in January, 1912, a definite, 
 straight course of action was mapped out and has not 
 knowingly been departed from. The opening article said : 
 
 "The need for placing before the American public trust- 
 worthy information and sane views on business matters 
 has become urgent, for not only are we rapidly developing 
 into a commercial nation, but the great problems of to-day 
 and to-morrow, financial, industrial, political, are destined 
 to be settled, not by the capitalists who a few years ago 
 exercised undue sway in shaping the country's affairs, nor 
 by the oligarchy of politicians who lamentably failed to 
 execute the will of the electorate, but by the People, the 
 ordinary citizens — the mechanics, the clerks, the weavers, 
 the farmers, the spinners, the salesmen, the ironworkers, 
 the miners, the railwaymen and other toilers among our 
 ninety-million population. 
 
 vii 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 "Commerce to-day is the supreme consideration of pro- 
 gressive governments. In olden times the likes and dis- 
 likes of ambitious rulers instigated wars ; now swords are 
 drawn only on behalf of business. If, unhappily, Germany 
 and Britain should ever declare war it will not be because 
 of royal jealousies, but because of Germany's economic 
 necessity for more land to till and more markets to serve. 
 "A wider knowledge of industrial and mercantile affairs 
 is becoming an essential equipment of the intelligent citi- 
 zen. Financiers, corporation managers, the controllers of 
 railroads, influential manufacturers and princely merchants 
 are no longer left to conveniently pass laws agreeable to 
 their own interests. The public has announced that hence- 
 forth it means to govern. 
 
 "It is not only in our own country that the reins of gov- 
 ernment have passed from gloved hands to bare, scarred 
 fists. The autocrat everywhere is being unhorsed. Dem- 
 ocracy is mounting the saddle. 
 
 "At home we have witnessed within the brief period 
 of five years the utter rout of the intrenched coterie of poli- 
 ticians who constituted the "Old Guard," a narrow, selfish 
 ring whose dominance of all Federal legislation was a 
 travesty of the form of government laid down by the Con- 
 stitution; and we have seen, also, the partial subjugation 
 of the scheming cliques of capitalists whose motives were 
 so little magnanimous and whose vision was so perverted 
 that they, misreading the evolution of mankind, sought to 
 carry 'The-Public-Be-Damned' policy across the threshold 
 of the enlightened twentieth century. Fortunately, they 
 now see the light; the motto of the ably-conducted com- 
 pany now is 'The-Public-Be-Pleased.' 
 
 "Abroad, the fundamental truth that 'A man's a man 
 for a' that' has penetrated the souls of even the most 
 downtrodden races. Everywhere the unjust yoke is being 
 thrown off. 
 
 "The poor, blind Muscovite serf, unable to see ahead, 
 yet conscious of a better birthright, has risen against the 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 tyrannies of the Czar and his corrupt satellites, and the 
 foundation of a popularly elected Parliament is in course 
 of being laid. 
 
 "In Great Britain a revolution not less awe-inspiring 
 has been and still is in progress. 
 
 "The dethronement of King Manuel and the successful 
 establishment of a republic in Portugal, the simmering 
 revolution in Spain, the destruction of the grasping, old 
 regime in Turkey, the determined fight for franchise reform 
 throughout the German Empire and the spread of Social- 
 Democracy there, the prospective granting of home rule 
 for Ireland, the constantly increasing degree of self-gov- 
 ernment extended by the Crown to all British colonies, the 
 broadening of the voters' roll in India so as to include a 
 much larger number of natives, the defeat of the iron- 
 handed Diaz, of Mexico, and the selection of the revolution 
 leader as his successor in the Presidency; the frequent 
 assassinations of tyrannical or autocratic Presidents of 
 South American republics, and, most significant of all, the 
 sudden sweeping away of the Manchu dynasty in China and 
 the declaration of a republic, are all events symptomatic 
 of the universal onmarch toward the freedom and equality 
 of the individual, the conquest of injustice and special 
 privilege, either by kings, purse-potentates or political 
 bosses. 
 
 "The increased power which the People have — rightly 
 — taken into their own hands entails necessity for a corre- 
 sponding increase in knowledge, for new responsibilities 
 call for more wisdom and the exercise of keener ability. 
 Trade being the keystone of all modern systems of govern- 
 ment, the average citizen, having successfully asserted his 
 claim to sovereignty in all questions of national adminis- 
 tration, must needs know something of the matters with 
 which he has to deal. 
 
 "The keener the interest investors and the public in 
 general manifest in corporate affairs, the better will be the 
 management of American industries. 
 
X PREFACE 
 
 "We are the most progressive nation of our age and 
 destined to go forward to still greater achievements. To 
 greatness should be wedded wisdom, sobriety, truth, tol- 
 eration. 
 
 "It is the intention that this forum for the discussion 
 of large affairs shall fight for the attainment of these basic 
 virtues." 
 
 Here are some of the letters that the carrying out of 
 that policy have brought forth: 
 
 UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION, 
 New York 
 Chairman's Office 
 
 Dear Mr. Forbes : 
 
 I read with great interest your daily editorial column 
 in the New York American. Your treatment of the sub- 
 jects discussed is able, fair and timely and is having a good 
 and widespread influence. I congratulate you. 
 
 With kind regards, I am. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 State of New York 
 DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
 
 JAMES M. LYNCH 
 Commissioner 
 
 Mr. B. C. Forbes, 
 Business Editor, New York American, 
 New York City. 
 Sir: The business page of the New York American 
 has come frequently to my attention, and I desire to say 
 that, in its treatment of the relations between capital and 
 labor, and the discussion of matters in which both the em- 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 ployer and the wage earner are interested, I consider it has 
 been fair and broad minded. Such a page, properly con- 
 ducted, will, I am sure, work great good, and will be a 
 strong factor in aiding to bring about the country wide 
 industrial peace that we are all anxious to see come. 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 f ' j5t>u>«-ay*»'^ 
 
 Commissioner. 
 
 THE NATIONAL CITY BANK 
 
 of New York 
 Office of 
 
 The President New York 
 
 Dear Mr. Forbes: 
 
 I am going to write you a letter, not so much of com- 
 mendation as of caution. I am just back from a seven- 
 thousand-mile trip and have seen something of the in- 
 fluence which your business column is exerting on the 
 minds of the American people. A great many people seem 
 to have had the same experience that I had with your 
 column, first reading it only by chance, and then finding 
 in time that it was really necessary to read it, and read it 
 regularly. 
 
 I might say much in commendation of what you have 
 written in it, but what I want to say more than that is that 
 a great responsibility goes with the power to speak to 
 such an audience, a responsibility for conservatism, for 
 sound judgment, for absolute truth-telling. My long per- 
 
xu 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 sonal friendship with you leads me to believe that a recog- 
 nition of that responsibility is inherent in you, but I want 
 to emphasize the need of it because I have recently been 
 noting the breadth of your field. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY, 
 Office of the President 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Dear Mr. Forbes : 
 
 It is with pleasure that I write to express to you the 
 satisfaction I have felt at the manner in which you have 
 conducted your columns in the New York American. 
 
 Railroad managers can have but one proper desire in 
 reference to the press — that is, that the press shall deal 
 with subjects such as railroad policy, finance, and regula- 
 tion, without prejudice and with a very careful regard for 
 the facts. They can in this way perform a distinctive 
 national service. The course you have pursued in the con- 
 duct of your page gives evidence of your desire to deal 
 with these important questions in their true perspective, 
 and I wish this sense of responsibility extended to all our 
 newspaper columns. 
 
 Permit me to add my best wishes. 
 
 Yours very truly. 
 
PREFACE xiii 
 
 THE BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY, 
 
 Baltimore, Md. 
 Daniel Willard, 
 President. 
 
 Dear Mr. Forbes: 
 
 It gives me much pleasure to say in reply to your let- 
 ter of this date, that I have read constantly the business 
 page of the New York American since you have had charge 
 of that department. Your treatment of the various mat- 
 ters discussed has, to my mind, been fair, intelligent and 
 constructive, and I think it is very fortunate that a page 
 so conducted should reach each day the great number who 
 read the American. I am sure the work you are doing 
 must be accomplishmg much good. 
 Very sincerely yours. 
 
 CONTINENTAL AND COMMERCIAL NATIONAL 
 
 BANK 
 of Chicago. 
 
 Chicago 
 
 Dear Mr. Forbes : 
 
 For some time I have been aware of the widespread 
 interest manifested in your articles on business and finance 
 appearing in the New York American. Through this 
 medium you have an unusual opportunity to create sound 
 sentiment and to aid in disseminating knowledge that will 
 benefit the entire country. I believe there is now a desire 
 upon the part of the public to study impartially those difiS- 
 culties with which the merchant, manufacturer, railroad 
 man, banker, farmer and laborer have to contend. This is 
 both gratifying and encouraging, for we are all at one tim? 
 
xiv PREFACE 
 
 or another confronted with perplexing questions, and our 
 ability to properly settle them is measured by the accuracy 
 of our information. You are in a position to give the right 
 kind of information to a public that wants it. 
 
 Truth avoids trouble ; misinformation and misconcep- 
 tions breed it. It is my judgment that misconceptions 
 have found lodgment in the minds of a great many people 
 lately, leading them to assume a too pessimistic attitude, 
 and I, therefore, hope you will continue preaching a con- 
 servatively optimistic doctrine. We all know there has 
 been some slowing down in business, and that we are in a 
 period of re-adjustment. Nothing else was to have been 
 expected after so many years of operation under high ten- 
 sion, but doleful predictions will not help the situation. 
 We may not expect a boom, but with a profitable year for 
 the agriculturist behind us ; with the possibility of any real 
 money stringency eliminated ; with tariff and currency leg- 
 islation out of the way, with the promise of a policy of 
 rationalism instead of sensationalism in dealing with cor- 
 porations; and with a brighter outlook for increased rail- 
 road rates, faith in our ability to work out our problems, 
 and in the ultimate prosperity of our great country is 
 justified. 
 
 Yours very truly. 
 
 President. 
 
 24 PINE STREET, 
 New York. 
 
 My Dear Mr. Forbes : 
 
 I read your financial articles in the New York Ameri- 
 can quite regularly, and I know that a great many bankers 
 
PREFACE XV 
 
 and business men are now reading them daily. They all 
 appreciate that you are well posted, and have and express 
 your own independent opinions. 
 
 You are also, in these articles, making a serious effort 
 to show to the representatives of both "labor" and "capital" 
 where they are liable to make mistakes in dealing with 
 each other. In this way the American has become a useful 
 agency to bridge over existing differences, and you thereby 
 are rendering a real public service. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 JUlS^'ff-' 
 
A ROBUST AMERICAN'S PRAYER. 
 
 Give us an understanding heart. Then shall we realize 
 the needs and the aspirations of our brother mortals. 
 
 Give us the will and the zeal and the strength to en- 
 courage and succor. Save us from indifference and in- 
 dolence. 
 
 Give us faith in our sincerity and worthiness of pur- 
 pose so we may never doubt that the seeds we sow shall 
 blossom into fruit. 
 
 Let nothing daunt or discourage us. 
 
 May our aim be less to win gratitude than to further 
 the good and the happiness of our fellow beings. 
 
 Teach us to forget unworthy self-interest in unselfish 
 service so we may truly learn that he who would lose his 
 life shall save it and that he who would save his life shall 
 lose it. 
 
 Grant us a realizing sense of the greater blessedness 
 of giving than of getting, of helping than of being helped. 
 
 Open our eyes to the unnumbered opportunities lying 
 at hand for unspectacular daily service and give us the 
 secret satisfaction which comes from not letting the right 
 hand know what the left hand is doing for others. 
 
 Reveal to us the emptiness and the hoUowness of pub- 
 lic applause that does not ring true echo in our inner con- 
 sciousness. 
 
 May we never be tempted to forget that there can be 
 no real success apart from service, that success is but ser- 
 vice visualized. 
 
18 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Give us sense to build up sound bodies, fit homes for 
 sound minds, so that our will to do may have at its com- 
 mand the means to do. 
 
 Enable us to decorate the mansion house of our mind 
 with the memory of kindly thoughts and worthy deeds, of 
 aims fulfilled and unselfish ambitions realized. 
 
 Let not past failures discourage from future effort; 
 help us rather to let the dead past bury its dead, be- 
 queathing to us only irresistible incentive to bring forth 
 fruits worthy of repentance. 
 
 Preserve us from all cowardice, save the cowardice 
 that would check us from attempting to promote our own 
 interest at the expense of another's , since all such attempts 
 turn to wormwood and gall in the end. 
 
 Sustain us in our daily toil. Implant in us the right 
 spirit, then shall hardships and disappointments fail to 
 swerve us from our purpose and our determination to 
 prove victors. 
 
 Prosper our undertakings if they make for the welfare 
 of the world, but thwart them if their influence upon man- 
 kind be hurtful, that we may thereby be induced to take 
 our bearings afresh and alter our course. 
 
 And so, laboring on humbly and earnestly, with 
 strength and determination, sustained by consciousness of 
 the worthiness and the unselfishness of our efiforts, may 
 we be so guided that we shall in some small measure foster 
 the brotherhood of man and thus contribute to ushering in 
 the Kingdom of Heaven on earth for the enjoyment of our 
 children and our children's children and the children of the 
 whole human race. 
 
 If the transactions of America's speculating million- 
 aires, showing just how they made their money, could be 
 published, what a rush there would be for sub-cellars. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 19 
 
 WHO AM I? WHAT AM I?— THE ONE ROAD 
 TO HEALTH, WEALTH, HAPPINESS AND 
 PROGRESS. 
 
 I am the foundation of all business. 
 I am the fount of all prosperity. 
 I am the parent, most times, of genius. 
 I am the salt that gives life its savor. 
 I am the sole support of the poor. 
 The rich who try to do without me deteriorate, lan- 
 guish and fill premature graves. 
 
 I am the primeval curse, yet a blessing without which 
 no healthy man or woman can be happy. 
 
 Nations that woo me ardently rise; nations that neg- 
 lect me die. 
 
 I have made the United States what it is to-day. I 
 have built her matchless industries, opened up her rich 
 minerals, laid her incomparable railways, reared her cities, 
 built her skyscrapers. 
 
 I have laid the foundation of every fortune in America, 
 from Rockefeller's down. 
 
 I alone have raised men up from the ranks and main- 
 tained them in positions of eminence. 
 
 I am the friend and guide of every worthy youth. If 
 he values me, no prize or place is beyond his reach. If he 
 slights me, he can have no enviable end. 
 
20 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 I am the sole ladder that leads to the Land of Success. 
 
 Sometimes men curse me, seeing in me an arch enemy, 
 but without me life turns bitter and meaningless and goal- 
 less. 
 
 I must be loved before I can bestow my greatest bless- 
 ings and achieve my greatest ends. Loved, I make life 
 sweet and purposeful and fruitful. 
 
 Fools hate me ; wise men love me. 
 
 The giants who nil the presidential chairs of our rail- 
 road systems, our great industrial organizations, our co- 
 lossal mercantile establishments and our institutions of 
 learning, almost without exception, owe their places to me. 
 
 I can do more to advance a youth than can the richest 
 of parents. 
 
 I am the support of the millions; indirectly, the sup- 
 port of all. 
 
 I am the creator of all capital. 
 
 Wealth is but me stored up. 
 
 I am represented in every loaf of bread that comes 
 from the oven, in every train that crosses the continent, in 
 every ship that steams the ocean, in every newspaper that 
 leaps from the press. 
 
 I am sometimes overdone — voluntarily by the am- 
 bitious, involuntarily by the oppressed and by thou- 
 sands of the very young. 
 
 But in moderation I am the very oxygen of the able- 
 bodied. Some, sure of my constancy, look upon me as 
 loathsome, but a little taste of my absence quickly brings 
 them to their senses. 
 
 My followers among the masses are becoming more 
 and more powerful every year. They are beginning to 
 dominate governments, to overthrow anachronistic dyn- 
 asties. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 21 
 
 I am the mother of democracy. 
 
 All progress springs from me. 
 
 The man who is bad friends with me can never get 
 very far — and stay there. 
 
 The man who is good friends with me. who is not 
 afraid of me, can go — who can tell how far ? 
 
 • • • 
 Who am I? 
 
 What am I ? 
 
 • • • 
 
 I AM WORK. 
 
 Some of our multi-millionaires, I learn, are to recast 
 their lives. They are to devote themselves to making a 
 name rather than to making extra millions. Numerous and 
 princely as have been the benefactions of American million- 
 aires in the past, they will be eclipsed in the future. Not 
 a few men of inordinate wealth have seen a new light. 
 The intentions of certain of our foremost men of wealth 
 are admirable, and their good works will gain for them a 
 due measure of gratitude. But may the suggestion be 
 made, not so much, perhaps, to them as to those who are 
 still immersed in million-making, that, instead of striving 
 to become a Croesus regardless of ways and means, a little 
 more be done for those whose toil goes to the producing of 
 the millions? Fortunes made from sweatshops, from body- 
 wrecking, soul-killing seven-day-a-week labor, from specu- 
 lation made possible by misleading the public, from "cor- 
 ners" of the necessaries of life, from the looting of corpora- 
 tions — fortunes made by such methods were better not 
 made. Giving them away does not undo the harm done 
 during their making. 
 
22 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 YOU. 
 
 Your success depends upon you. 
 
 Your happiness depends upon you. 
 
 You have to steer your own course. 
 
 You have to shape your own fortune. 
 
 You have to educate yourself. 
 
 You have to do your own thinking. 
 
 You have to live with your own conscience. 
 
 Your mind is yours and can be used only by you. 
 
 You come into the world alone. 
 
 You go to the grave alone. 
 
 You are alone with your inner thoughts during the 
 journey between. 
 
 You must make your own decisions. 
 
 You must abide by the consequences of your acts. 
 
 "I cannot make you well unless you make yourself 
 well," an eminent doctor recently told a patient in my 
 hearing. 
 
 You alone can regulate your habits and make or un- 
 make your health. 
 
 You alone can assimilate things mental and things 
 material. 
 
 Said a Brooklyn preacher, offering his parishioners 
 communion one Sunday: "I cannot give you the blessings 
 and the benefits of this holy feast. You must appropriate 
 them for yourselves. The banquet is spread ; help yourself 
 freely. »" 
 
 "You may be invited to a feast where the table is laden 
 with the choicest foods, but unless you partake of the 
 foods, unless you appropriate and assimilate them, they 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 23 
 
 can do you no good. So it is with this holy feast. You 
 must appropriate its blessings. I cannot infuse them into 
 you." 
 
 You have to do your own assimilation all through life. 
 
 You may be taught by a teacher, but you have to im- 
 bibe the knowledge. He cannot transfuse it into your 
 brain. 
 
 You alone can control your mind cells and your brain 
 cells. 
 
 You may have spread before you the wisdom of the 
 ages, but unless you assimilate it you derive no benefit 
 from it ; no one can force it into your cranium. 
 
 You alone can move your own legs. 
 
 You alone can use your own arms. 
 
 You alone can utilize your own hands. 
 
 You alone can control your own muscles. 
 
 You must stand on your own feet, physically and met- 
 aphorically. 
 
 You must take your own steps. 
 
 Your parents cannot enter into your skin, take con- 
 trol of your mental and physical machinery, and make 
 something of you. 
 
 You cannot fight your son's battles; that he must do 
 for himself. 
 
 You have to be captain of your own destiny. 
 
 You have to see through your own eyes. 
 
 You have to use your own ears. 
 
 You have to master your own faculties. 
 
 You have to solve your own problems. 
 
 You have to form your own ideals. 
 
24 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 You have to create your own ideas. 
 
 You must choose your own speech. 
 
 You must govern your own tongue. 
 
 Your real life is your thoughts. 
 
 Your thoughts are of your own making. 
 
 Your character is your own handiwork. 
 
 You alone can select the materials that go into it. 
 
 You alone can reject what is not fit to go into it. 
 
 You are the creator of your own personality. 
 
 You can be disgraced by no man's hand but your own. 
 
 You can be elevated and sustained by no man save 
 yourself. 
 
 You have to write your own record. 
 
 You have to build your own monument — or dig youT 
 own pit. 
 
 You have to be you. 
 
 You are you. 
 
 My deep belief is that the war will act as a scourge ; 
 that it will so flay the hearts and the souls of the European 
 nations that their eyes will be opened to the folly of it all 
 — the murderous animosities, the cross-purposes, ambi- 
 tions and the eternal increasing of arguments that ruin 
 the solvency and crush the very life of each competing 
 country. Civilization has been plunged into the crucible 
 It will come forth recast in better mold. Humanity w^ill be 
 more homogeneous. The distance between those at the 
 top and those at the bottom will be lessened. There will 
 be fewer unconscionable pinnacles and fewer cruel depths. 
 There will be a leveling down of despots and a leveling up 
 of the downtrodden. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 25 
 
 WHAT A DIME A DAY SAVED WILL DO— PUT 
 
 YOUR CHILD THROUGH COLLEGE, FOR 
 
 EXAMPLE— INTEREST ON THE DIMES 
 
 EXCEEDS DIME-A-DAY AFTER 
 
 FIFTEEN YEARS. 
 
 The Scots — who know something about thrift ! — have 
 an adage : "Mony littles mak' a muckle." 
 
 In American phrase: take care of the cents and the 
 dollars will take care of themselves. 
 
 How much, think you, would you have in twenty 
 years did you save a dime a day and allow 5 per cent, in- 
 terest to accumulate on it? 
 
 Over $1,200! 
 
 The little dime, the smallest of all our coins, can work 
 wonders if tucked away, one each day. 
 
 A dime a day will insure a lad of fifteen for $2,100, a 
 youth of twenty-one for $1,860 and a man of thirty-five for 
 $1,300, a life insurance actuary computed for this article. 
 This premium would carry the usual participating privi- 
 leges, including a refund for the reduction of future pre- 
 miums or an increase in the amount of insurance. 
 
 A dime a day, with 5 per cent, interest compounded 
 annually, would, at the end of five years, buy two "baby 
 bonds" of the highest grade which would yield at least $10 
 interest every year. 
 
 A dime a day, on the same terms, if saved for your boy 
 or girl from birth, would give you over $500 to send the 
 child to boarding school when eleven years old: or over 
 
26 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 $1,000 to start it at college at eighteen. At twenty-one the 
 child's bank book would show $1,300 to its credit. 
 
 To illustrate vividly how "money makes money," the 
 following table of our dime a day saved is v/orth present- 
 ing: 
 
 How a Dime a Day Saved and Invested Grows. 
 
 Interest 
 
 End of at Sfo. 
 
 1st year $36.50 
 
 2nd " 74.82 $ 1.82 
 
 3rd " 115.06 3.74 
 
 4th " 157.31 5.75 
 
 5th '= 201.67 7,86 
 
 6th " 248.25 10.08 
 
 7th " 297.16 12.41 
 
 8th " 348.51 14.85 
 
 9th " 402.43 17.42 
 
 10th " 459.05 20.12 
 
 11th " 518.50 22.95 
 
 12th " 580.92 25.92 
 
 13th " 646.46 29.04 
 
 14th " 715.28 32.32 
 
 15th " 787.54 35.76 
 
 16th '■ 863.42 39.38 
 
 17th " 943.09 43.17 
 
 18th " 1,026.74 47.15 
 
 19th " 1,114.58 51.34 
 
 20th " 1,206.81 55.73 
 
 21st " 1,305.65 60.34 
 
 A dime a day would build up a serviceable library. 
 
 A dime a day would pay for a week's vacation in sum- 
 mer. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 27 
 
 A dime a day would buy a 25c gift for 146 poor chil- 
 dren at Christmas. 
 
 A dime a day would pay your fare, second class, to 
 Europe and back in three years. 
 
 A dime a day would start you on the road to building 
 a house through a savings and loan association. 
 
 A dime a day would buy you in three years a share of 
 Pennsylvania Railroad stock, paying 6 per cent, a year, or 
 a share of United States Steel preferred stock paying 7 per 
 cent, a year. 
 
 A dime a day, at 5 per cent, interest, would bring you 
 $20 a year interest in ten years, $40 a year in sixteen years 
 and $60 a year in twenty-one years. 
 
 A dime a day could be saved by many men through 
 smoking one cigar less a day. 
 
 A dime a day could be saved by many people through 
 substituting a "movie" show for the theatre once a fort- 
 night or so. 
 
 A dime a day could be saved by lots of us in carfares — 
 and the walk would do us good. 
 
 A dime a day could be saved — oh! in any one of a 
 number of ways if we only set our mind to it. 
 
 I know of one lady who buys many little gifts at 
 Christmas from the pennies she and other members of her 
 household toss into a handy box during the year. 
 
 Once cultivate the habit of saving a dime a day, and 
 ere long you will want to make it two dimes a day, and 
 two dimes a day would double the totals in the table 
 already given. 
 
 If everybody in the United States saved a dime a day 
 the total would be $10,000,000 a day or $3,650,000,000 in one 
 year, which is more than all the money in circulation in 
 this country! ' 
 
 Why not start to do your share ? 
 Save a dime a day to keep the wolf away. 
 
28 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 ENTHUSIASM FOUNDATION OF ALL SUCCESS— 
 
 BEHIND EVERY FAMOUS FIRM AND 
 
 CORPORATION HAS BEEN SOME 
 
 ENTHUSIASTIC WORKER 
 
 —NOTABLE LIVING 
 
 ENTHUSIASTS 
 
 All success is based on enthusiasm. Every great human 
 achievement has been generated by enthusiasm. 
 
 Behind every famous firm and corporation has been some 
 enthusiastic worker. 
 
 Ahnost every immortal has been fired with unquenchable 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 Intelligent, well-directed, sustained, worthy enthusiasm 
 sooner or later wins recognition. 
 
 Indifference never attains anything but failure. 
 
 "Our president has us all worked up to such a pitch of 
 enthusiasm — that's why we are going ahead at such a rate," 
 said an employee of an important enterprise whose progress 
 is arousing national and even international interest and ad- 
 miration. 
 
 This president has succeeded in infusing into many hun- 
 dreds of workers the spirit of enthusiasm which animates him- 
 self. Emanations of his own vitality and personality have 
 permeated his whole staff of employees. 
 
 Who is the most enthusiastic worker in America to-day? 
 
 The greatest American of all, Edison. 
 
 Who are other notable living enthusiasts? 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 29 
 
 What about Henry Ford? What about Luther Burbank? 
 What about Orville Wright? What about young Hays Ham- 
 mond? What about Theodore Roosevelt? What about John 
 Wanamaker? What about John D. Rockefeller (in his 
 younger days)? What about James J. Hill? What about 
 Charles M.Schwab? What about Colonel Goethals? What 
 about Dr. Carrel? 
 
 What about our most famous educators ? 
 
 Have these men scorned enthusiasm? Have they been 
 lukewarm in their work ? Have they been lazy ? 
 
 And if we look to the greatest figures adorning the pages 
 of the past, what do we find ? It is the glow of their enthus- 
 iasm that still shines forth. 
 
 What did Lincoln accomplish until the fires of enthusiasm 
 began to burn within him? He amounted to nothing until a 
 constiming desire to serve humanity seized possession of him. 
 
 Washington lived an uneventful life until the oc- 
 casion and the outlet for patriotic enthusiasm arose. 
 
 Socrates, Aristotle, Demosthenes and other imperish- 
 able ancients, were they not irrepressible enthusiasts? 
 
 And Columbus — did ever more enthusiastic being 
 breathe ? 
 
 All through the ages the most worthy characters have 
 been those who were dynamically enthusiastic over some 
 definite aim and end. 
 
 War and conquest used to be the most common outlet 
 for enthusiasm, but though half the human race is involved 
 in war to-day, we can see that the world is turning away 
 from such a horrible, anachronistic form of activity and 
 achievement. 
 
 In our own land a generation and less ago enthusiasm 
 usually ran to money-making. 
 
 To-day enthusiasm more often runs to human service, 
 to creating and building up useful enterprises, to bettering 
 and extending the country's commerce, to improving the lot 
 
30 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 of the rank and file, to raising the national standard of edu- 
 cation. 
 
 Complaint is sometimes heard that the youth of Amer- 
 ica are more enthusiastic over sport and over pleasure than 
 over work. 
 
 This charge is brought oftenest against the oflfspring of 
 the well-to-do. 
 
 And the record would seem to substantiate the charge 
 against the latter, for a great preponderance of the big po- 
 sitions in the United States to-day are held by the sons of 
 poor parents, as was illustrated in a recent article which has 
 since inspired other articles along similar lines. 
 
 There is a class which deprecates enthusiasm as being 
 not quite dignified or decorous. 
 
 Dignity ! Fudge ! 
 The young man who is afraid to manifest enthusiasm lest 
 his dignity suiifer is not likely to have much dignity to lose 
 by and by. 
 
 Enthusiasm is the steam which makes the engine go. 
 
 It is, if you like the simile bettei;, an electric dynamo, 
 capable of generating currents of infinte power and poten- 
 tiality. 
 
 "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might." That is the Sacred Book's way of exhorting mor- 
 tals to be enthusiastic. 
 
 Enthusiasm is the propelling force necessary for climb- 
 ing the ladder of success. 
 
 The descent to failure is greased with the slime of in- 
 difference. 
 
 We pride ourselves on being a business nation. Very 
 well, let us run the nation on business lines. A national 
 budget, such as every other civilized country compiles, will 
 bring us nearer a business basis. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 31 
 
 DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY OPENING WIDER FOR 
 
 AMERICANS— WE ARE EMERGING FROM 
 
 INSULARISM TO INTERNATIONALISM 
 
 —SOME PLUMS PLUCKED. 
 
 The door of opportunity is opening wider for Ameri- 
 cans. 
 
 We are emerging from insularism to internationalism. 
 
 We are to-day as never before a world power — a world 
 power politically, a world power financially, a world power 
 agriculturally, a world power industrially, a world power 
 intellectually. 
 
 Our energies, our activities and our ambitions have 
 burst the confines of our shores. 
 
 And how inspiring are the opportunities that our new 
 internationalism lay at the feet of our young and our 
 mature men of enterprise and ability and application ! 
 
 The whole world, instead of our own land, has become 
 the stage for the exercise and exhibition of American talent. 
 
 Thornton, a brilliant officer of the Long Island Rail- 
 road, has been called to manage one of England's greatest 
 railroad systems, and has already won the encomiums of 
 the whole British nation. 
 
 Goodnow, the scholar, was requisitioned by the infant 
 Republic of China to teach her how to walk in straight gov- 
 ernmental paths, and his success, both here and there, has 
 won for him the presidency of the far-famed Johns Hopkins 
 University. 
 
 Carrel, the medical wizard of the Rockefeller Institute, 
 has gone to the seat of war in Europe and has performed 
 
32 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 medical miracles, receiving in return a wealth of experience 
 that will later be available for our own people. 
 
 The strongest banking corporation in the Far East 
 came to New York for a man to conduct its world-wide ram- 
 ifications. 
 
 America's invasion of foreign banking fields, just begun, 
 has given several score brainy young American bankers op- 
 portunities for international experience which never would 
 have come to them under our old, anachronistic currency 
 system. 
 
 At this moment a small army of aggressive American 
 salesmen and other business representatives are penetrating 
 into unexplored commercial fields stretching from Cape 
 Horn and the Cape of Good Hope in the south to the rich, 
 undeveloped slopes of awakening Siberia and the northern 
 boundaries of China. 
 
 Our Department of Commerce has sent picked men to 
 investigate potential markets for American wares in every 
 quarter of the globe. 
 
 The door of opportunity is to-day wider open to the 
 poor and the plodding than to the rich and luxury-loving. 
 
 Brains, not birth, count. 
 
 Perseverance, not "pull," wins. 
 
 Industry, not influence, earns the prizes of the modern 
 financial, commercial and railroad world. 
 
 The head of the greatest industrial enterprise in the 
 world, the United States Steel Corporation, started humbly ; 
 the head of the greatest bank in the United States at one 
 time wore overalls; the president of the greatest railroad 
 system in this or any other land rose from the lowest ranks : 
 the president of the greatest trust company in the country 
 is an ex-farm boy ; the greatest automobile business in the 
 world was founded and developed by a youth who was as 
 poor as a church mouse ; so, too, was the greatest oil enter- 
 prise the world has ever known — and so it goes all along the 
 line. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 33 
 
 Ornaments everywhere are being brushed aside, no 
 matter how many millions they may have in the bank. 
 
 The fittest, not the richest, now make the most enviable 
 marks. 
 
 Pampered sons of plutocrats may shine for a time in 
 "society," but not in the world of affairs and of service un- 
 less they rip off their coats and get to work early and stay 
 late. 
 
 To be born with a golden spoon in the mouth is more 
 of a handicap than a help in attaining worth-while success 
 in this age. 
 
 The Goddess of Success smiles more often upon the 
 humble hard-worker than upon the high-born dilettante. 
 
 Opportunity plays no favorites. 
 
 The prizes are open to all. 
 
 And never before were the prizes so big or so numerous. 
 
 The whole world has been opened up to the youth and 
 the geniuses of America. 
 
 America now thinks and acts internationally. 
 
 Hence opportunity's door has been opened wide as the 
 world. 
 
 The passports are not hid in mystery; they arc zeal, 
 study, sincerity, honesty, industry, courage, faith, ambition, 
 deservedness. 
 
 These are within reach of all. 
 
 The deep-down desire to stand well with our fellows, 
 this laudable hunger to win the public's "well done, good 
 and faithful servant," is inherent in every normal human 
 soul. We may flout it when we are young or even in our 
 prime, but when we begin to cast up our life's reckoning 
 we cannot ignore it. We then realize that this is one of 
 the things that count, one of the things really worth while, 
 this esteem arid good will of our brother mortals, and the 
 knowledge that we have sincerely tried to earn it. 
 
34 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 BIG— BIGGEST— BUSINESS NECESSARY FOR PRO- 
 GRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS BIG 
 COUNTRY— CORPORATIONS SIMPLY 
 ONE FORM OF CO-OPERATION. 
 
 America is a big country. It has won its way by doing 
 big things in a big way. To still forge ahead, it must do 
 bigger things in a bigger way. 
 
 The Wilson administration has tried to stay this fore- 
 ordained process, business men declare. 
 
 Savages do not know enough to organize. Each goes 
 his own way. Co-operation in supplying wants is unknown. 
 Consequently they get no for'arder. 
 
 But the United States cannot go back to the happy-go- 
 lucky individualism of the savage. And no administration 
 can turn the hands of the economic clock backward. 
 
 Bigness is too often confounded with badness. 
 
 Littleness is not necessarily a virtue. 
 
 Will any sane man argue that America could hold her 
 own in the world's market places were every large business 
 concern to be split into small units? In the hurly-burly of 
 foreign competition the giant is apt to overcome the pygmy, 
 the powerful to defeat the weak. The $10,000 organization 
 stands slight chance of conquering a new continent if a 
 $100,000,000 combination is in the field. 
 
 Corporations represent co-operation. And surely co- 
 operation is not in itself a crime. Is not virtually every 
 great movement a species of co-operation? 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 35 
 
 Government is nothing but one form of co-operation ; it 
 is the biggest of all combinations. 
 
 Educational systems are the embodiment of co-opera- 
 tion. 
 
 Religion is propagated by co-operation and counsels it. 
 
 Without co-operation we would have had no trans- 
 continental railroads. An individual can run a stage coach, 
 but cannot build or operate a railroad. 
 
 Steamship services are established and maintained 
 through co-operation. But an individual can row a small 
 ferryboat. 
 
 When nails were made by hand an individual could set 
 up as a nail-maker. But the twentieth century iron foun- 
 dry or steel mill calls for co-operation. 
 
 Machinery invariably involves co-operation both for 
 its manufacture and its operation. And machinery is only 
 in its infancy. 
 
 Industry has graduated from the rudimentary one- 
 man stage. It now necessitates grand-scale action. It de- 
 mands more capital than one purse can supply. It needs 
 the pooling of many purses and the co-operation of many 
 pairs of hands. 
 
 Our Government's whole conception — misconception — 
 of economic laws must be changed. And the sooner it is 
 changed the sooner will idle men find work and hungry 
 men food. 
 
 In a nutshell, Big Business must be regulated. It 
 cannot be abolished. 
 
 To seek to tear apart every large enterprise is the 
 quintessence of folly. 
 
 But to effectively regulate every enterprise in the 
 public interest were the height of statesmanship. 
 
 That ought to be the goal of our Government just as it 
 has always been the goal of the German Government, ad- 
 
36 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 mittedly among the most advanced and the most success- 
 ful industrially in the world. 
 
 The thing can be done. Most of our business leaders 
 are willing to aid in bringing it about. If the politicians 
 would study fundamentals more and their own aggrandize- 
 ment less the task could be carried out peacefully and ex- 
 peditiously. 
 
 Were America to prohibit bigness in business her for- 
 eign competitors would quickly pass her in the race for 
 markets. Co-operation is essential to twentieth-century 
 industrial success. And the puny co-operation of to-day will 
 doubtless look Lilliputian to our descendants of the twenty- 
 first century. 
 
 When co-operation is abused the door for successful 
 competition opens. Under proper governmental regula- 
 tion abuses can be summarily dealt with. In future the 
 alternative of Government ownership will enter more 
 prominently into consideration whenever any dominating 
 clique of men or trusts persist in flouting the public will 
 and convenience. Really big men already realize this. 
 
 Only little people, only little politicians are obsessed 
 with the notion that what the nation needs is Little Busi- 
 ness. Brains that think big understand full well that 
 America needs Big Business — Bigger Business than we 
 have yet conceived. 
 
 The power of the ballot, of manhood suffrage, is only 
 beginning to be felt. Organization, combination, govern- 
 ment heretofore have been dominated too often by the 
 privileged and capitalistic few ; hereafter, thanks to educa- 
 tion, to enlightenment, to civilization, to religion, the 
 MANY are to act more in concert and hold sway. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 37 
 
 PATRIOTISM OR BROTHERHOOD?— IS PATRIOT- 
 ISM, LOVE OF COUNTRY, TO GIVE PLACE 
 TO LOVE OF ALL MANKIND?— PA- 
 TRIOTISM HAS LIMITATIONS, 
 HUMANITY HAS NONE. 
 
 Is the world ripening for a new and broader patriot- 
 ism, for brotherhood, for the love of all mankind rather 
 than the people of one nation ? 
 
 Love of country is admirable. 
 
 Love of mankind is still more admirable. 
 
 Will the Old World be re-cast in the narrow mould of 
 patriotism or in the broad mould of brotherhood? 
 
 Can a peace founded on patriotism last ? 
 
 Or must permanent peace seek humanity as its basis? 
 
 Patriotism, in a sense, is selfish. It implies loyalty to 
 one corner of the earth. 
 
 The spirit of brotherliness and humanity embraces all 
 corners of the earth and all peoples. 
 
 General Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, wished 
 one Christmas to flash an appropriate message to every 
 branch of his world-wide organization. The expense 
 threatened to be great, for each cabled word counted 
 heavily. Finally, an inspiration came to him. Here is the 
 message he sent: 
 
 "OTHERS." 
 
38 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Not another word, not another syllable. Just "Oth- 
 ers," nothing more. 
 
 Yet what a wealth of meaning did that little word con- 
 vey ! 
 
 Must this same word be the keynote of the most mo- 
 mentous peace conference the world has ever known? 
 
 Must the mediators keep ever in mind the existence, 
 the interests and the welfare of others, of all parties repre- 
 sented and even the nations not directly represented? 
 
 We are bursting the bounds of insularism and mere 
 nationalism. 
 
 Commerce is now international, finance is international, 
 insurance is international, education is international, music 
 is international, art is international, the drama is interna- 
 tional, travel is international, the Church is international, 
 science is international, chemistry is international, many 
 corporations are international and more societies and asso- 
 ciations are becoming international in scope every year. 
 
 Artificial barriers of all kinds are being swept away, 
 even as the barriers between the different States now com- 
 prising this great and glorious Commonwealth were swept 
 away by our forefathers. 
 
 That a "Parliament of the World" is coming no man 
 of foresight, imagination and faith can doubt. 
 
 It may or may not be preceded by "The United States 
 of Europe." 
 
 The deathknell of autocracy is even now reverberating 
 throughout the whole earth. 
 
 Men and women of full stature, mentally and physi- 
 cally, no longer care to bow down before others of the 
 same clay no matter by what imposing title they may be 
 called or by what pomp and ceremony they may surround 
 themselves. 
 
 The tide of democracy rolls on irresistibly. 
 
 Man's equality is coming to be recognized and asserted. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 39 
 
 Rule by force, rule by fear, rule by superstition, one 
 and all are passing into the limbo of things outgrown. 
 
 Narrowness and bigotry, the parents of hate and strife, 
 are dying. 
 
 With education comes understanding that humanity 
 is bigger and broader than any one sect, any one creed, 
 any one nation, any one race. 
 
 Unless the peace and the partition of Europe can be 
 attained on the basis of man's universal brotherhood 
 rather than on the old strife-breeding basis of selfish, self- 
 centered interests, the settlement is not likely to last, for 
 "nothing is ever settled until it is settled right." 
 
 Kings and czars and emperors have tried these many 
 years and centuries to rule mankind — and have failed mis- 
 erably to preserve peace. 
 
 Has the time come for the people to insist upon ruling 
 themselves? 
 
 Will the re-making of the peace of Europe be entrusted 
 to the very hands which broke it with so little regard for 
 the well-being and the lives of those under their arbitrary 
 dominion ? 
 
 It is worthy of notice that the Socialists of one waning 
 country are not at enmity with their brethren in opposing 
 trenches. Though "enemies" on the battlefield, they are 
 friends and brothers at heart. 
 
 And I verily believe the same spirit animates the 
 heart of almost every civilian now murdering his fellow- 
 mortals. 
 
 Will the recoil from all the horrors of war bring with 
 it revolt against the governmental systems which brought 
 on the war, revolt against the disastrous, fatal jeal- 
 ousies, hatreds and jangling ambitions of rulers? 
 
 Will the people assert themselves? 
 
40 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Will they demand a peace that pays regard to the 
 general well-being rather than the grasping schemes of an- 
 achronistic overlords? 
 
 Will they seek the brotherhood of man rather than 
 quarrel over the narrower questions of the old brand of 
 patriotism which has proved so provocative of bloodshed? 
 
 Patriotism, the love of one country, has limits; hu- 
 manity, the love of all mankind, has none. 
 
 Are we big enough and ripe enough for the latter? 
 
 No human being should be asked to work 365 days a 
 year. A six-day working week was ordained by high au- 
 thority at the dawn of civilization : "Six days shalt thou la- 
 bor and do ALL thy work." To toil day after day, week 
 after week and month after month with never a respite is 
 slavery, and ought to be forbidden. There is room for 
 another Lincoln in this country to lead millions of down- 
 trodden toilers to freedom, to release the shackles that 
 bind them to incessant toil. 
 
 Punch, the most famous of all witty periodicals, in 
 reply to the question : "Is life worth living?" once replied : 
 "It all depends upon the liver." Substitute "motive" for 
 the last word, and I think you have the basically true an- 
 swer. There is room these days for playing the game 
 unflinchingly, for doing a full day's work with a will un- 
 daunted, for plodding on unaflfrighted, for maintaining 
 through fair weather or foul the bearing of a man, not a 
 coward. Having so done, we need not fret over the falling 
 of the curtain. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 41 
 
 ARE TOO MANY OF US SNOBS? AMERICANS 
 
 WHO INSIST ON "IMPORTED" LABELS 
 
 NOT REAL PATRIOTS— "MADE IN 
 
 AMERICA" A SOUND SLOGAN. 
 
 Are many of us snobs? 
 
 Do we have a detestable brand of pride? 
 
 Are we too often un-American? 
 
 This letter, received from an important mid-West- 
 ern concern, inspires these questions: 
 
 " We have read your many articles relating to 'Made in 
 America' merchandise. 
 
 "For years we have furnished stores with American 
 caps with English labels. 
 
 "Recently we had an American die made, but the buy- 
 ers will not allow us to use it, as they insist their customers 
 want English labels even though the merchandise is made 
 in America. 
 
 "Our case is probably only one of many." 
 
 It is. 
 
 I personally know of a New York wholesale clothing 
 concern which had a large assortment of London, Paris 
 and other foreign labels — "all kinds to suit customers," as 
 they said. Suits made in New York were labeled exactly 
 as buyers desired. 
 
 Isn't that discreditable? 
 
 Yes, but it is not more discreditable to the fakirs than 
 it is to you or me or anyone else who spurns American- 
 made goods solely because they are American-made. 
 
 As for insisting upon an English or a French tab on an 
 
42 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 American article— well, that is snobbishness run to seed. 
 
 Let us all call a halt. 
 
 Let us all come to our senses. 
 
 Let us all throw off our silly subservience to "im- 
 ported" goods. 
 
 Let us all proclaim ourselves true-blue Americans. 
 
 Let none of us be ashamed to spend American-won dol- 
 lars in America. 
 
 Let us be ashamed, rather, to give preference to things 
 not made in American workshops by American hands. 
 
 We need all the work we can supply for our own people. 
 
 We cannot do our duty better to our country than by 
 buying all the American-made goods we can afford. 
 
 The American who deliberately rejects an article sim- 
 ply because it has not a foreign tab on it is not a real- 
 patriot. 
 
 He is a pinchbeck American. 
 
 He is a cheap snob, a lightweight in head and heart. 
 
 The out-and-out American will give preference every 
 time to things made by his fellow taxpayers, his fellow 
 countrymen and countrywomen. 
 
 I was the first writer to raise the "Made in America" 
 slogan immediately upon the outbreak of the European 
 war. 
 
 This patriotic movement has since been taken up by 
 thinking people in many walks of life. 
 
 What are You doing to help it? 
 
 What are You doing to provide work for the starving 
 workless? 
 
 Are You one of the snobs who induce American manu- 
 facturers to misbrand their honest wares with a dishonest 
 label? 
 
 The tempter is worse than the thief. The consumer 
 who demands a false tab is worse than the merchant who 
 capitulates to his request. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 43 
 
 It is time we draw away from the old idea that Ameri- 
 can establishments could not produce goods equal to those 
 made abroad. 
 
 In many lines the American-made article is not only 
 equal but superior to that manufactured abroad and sold 
 here at the same or even a higher price, for the cost of trans- 
 portation, insurance and duty has to be added to the for- 
 eign article. 
 
 We are not a nation of shoddy makers. 
 
 We have the best machinery science and money can 
 supply. 
 
 We have plants not surpassed by any in Europe. 
 
 And we have the highest grade of workers in most 
 industries. 
 
 And we have more experience than we ever had be- 
 fore. 
 
 True, France, England, Ireland, Germany, Switzer- 
 land, Japan, China and other nations, can each provide cer- 
 tain things more efficiently and economically than we can, 
 and it is not regrettable that this is so, for international 
 trade entails buying as well as selling. 
 
 But what we need at this particular juncture is an 
 aroused patriotism which will compel Americans to buy 
 American goods to provide American workers with employ- 
 ment and American business concerns with profits. 
 
 We are overmuch in debt to foreigners, as we learned 
 to our cost when the war broke out. 
 
 THE POWER OMNIPOTENT. 
 
 I am becoming the power omnipotent. Kings and em- 
 perors, once my masters, are to become my puppets. 
 
 I make and unmake presidents and governments. 
 
 I can destroy dynasties and monarchies and set up re- 
 publics in their stead. 
 
44 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 I have not yet quite tamed the God of War, but even 
 Mars wrill shortly be brought under my sway. 
 
 I am more powerful than law; I make law. 
 
 Plutocrats and monopolies and trusts long flouted me ; 
 but I now hold their welfare in the hollow of my hand. 
 
 The most powerful of railroads have ceased to rebel 
 against my rule. 
 
 Those who feared me and fought me now seek to woo 
 me. 
 
 Dreaded by malefactors, I am the friend of real bene- 
 factors. 
 
 Secrecy in high places, whether governmental or finan- 
 cial, I abhor and am surely conquering. 
 
 I have set my face against the plundering of the pub- 
 lic. 
 
 Legislators are learning to cease plotting nefariously 
 and to do my bidding honestly and openly. 
 
 The rich have already found it vain to thwart me. 
 
 And labor has of late learned something of my 
 strength and my dominion. 
 
 The interest of capital and labor alike are subservient 
 to mine and must submit to be regulated accordingly. 
 
 I am the creator of prosperity. 
 
 I likewise can decree depression. 
 
 Confidence and nervousness both come from my loins. 
 
 When dishonesty and rapacity mount the saddle I rebel 
 and unhorse them regardless of the cost or the disturbing 
 consequences. 
 
 Big Business used to mistreat and misunderstand mc, 
 and the politicians became my servants in demanding anH 
 obtaining for me justice. 
 
 To-day it is the politicians who are out of harmony with 
 me, my temper and my aspirations. 
 
 But I shall in due time assert myself and compel them 
 also to do my bidding. 
 
 I am becoming tired of hurtful, amateurish legislation. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 45 
 
 I care less for the creation of a sparkling epigram than 
 for the creation of a job for one honest worker. 
 
 A. full dinner pail for the nation is more to my liking 
 than a surfeit of finely-rounded periods and perorations. 
 
 Talkers have had their day : I now decree that doers be 
 accorded the centre of the stage. 
 
 Theories and theorems may tickle the palate and fas- 
 cinate for a time, but they do not satisfy empty stomachs. 
 
 In the United States I am rapidly coming into my own. 
 
 In Europe my sceptre is not yet all-powerful; but 
 when the present madness is overpast I shall assert myself 
 and bring even the proudest of rulers and chancellors into 
 subjection to my will. 
 
 The hour for dethroning autocracy and tyranny has 
 almost struck. 
 
 Those who are marked for my vengeance already feel 
 their power slipping from their hands and the ground creak- 
 ing under their feet. 
 
 They see my triumphant approach and know their doom 
 is sealed. 
 
 I am the father of democracy and democracies, the 
 slayer of tyrannical monarchs and monarchies. 
 
 Against me no inhuman human power can forever 
 prevail. 
 
 The oppressed are my special care. 
 
 The girdle I forge is soon to encompass the whole earth. 
 
 Who, what am I? 
 
 I am called by different names, all of one meaning. 
 
 THE WILL OF THE PUBLIC. 
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 
 
 PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 
 
 If thrift is to be stimulated — and America needs a 
 spirit of thrift very, very badly— the fruits of thrift, sav- 
 ings, must be protected from financial burglars. 
 
46 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 THE PARTIAL PAYMENT PLAN AS CONDUCTED 
 
 UNDER NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE 
 
 RULES AND SUPERVISION. 
 
 Stone upon stone built the ancient pyramids and our 
 modern skyscrapers. The fortunes of Rockefeller and 
 Carnegie were founded by systematic saving of dollar 
 after dollar. 
 
 The average American requires a little encouragement 
 to start and maintain a plan for saving money. 
 
 The "Partial Payment Plan" for buying securities pro- 
 vides this very necessary incentive to regular, methodical, 
 intelligent garnering and investing of savable funds. 
 
 Before describing the plan and touching upon its ad- 
 vantages to small investors, I must first give these plain 
 warnings : 
 
 1 — No person of slender means should ever SPECU- 
 LATE, either on ordinary margins or on any installment 
 plan. 
 
 2— Never deal with any one of UNKNOWN REPU- 
 TATION or doubtful financial standing. The services of 
 the very best brokers and bankers cost no more than those 
 of the shyster. 
 
 3— Don't listen to tales of "SURE THING" short-cuts 
 to wealth, of alluring "investments" that will be marked up 
 in price on a certain date and will pay fabulous dividends. 
 
 4 — Confine your purchases to SEASONED, TESTED 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 47 
 
 AND TRIED STOCKS or the BONDS of STRONG 
 COMPANIES. 
 
 5— INVESTIGATE before you invest. 
 
 6— Never OVER-REACH. Don't let your enthusiasm 
 drown your discretion and judgment. 
 
 7 — The best time to INVEST in high-grade issues is 
 when securities, as a whole, are selling at LOW LEVELS 
 and more people want to sell than to buy. 
 
 The system of selling securities to wage-earners and 
 others of limited means on the installment plan is destined 
 to become so important and so widespread a factor in our 
 financial and social order that the need for the straight- 
 forward advice given above will constantly become greater. 
 
 To my mind the Partial Payment Plan, as sanctioned 
 by the New York Stock Exchange, is, next to outright pur- 
 chase, the best system ever devised for making careful in- 
 vestments. It induces systematic thrift; it enables you 
 to invest while you save and save while you invest; the 
 clement of risk is negligible to those seeking trustworthy 
 investments, and the income derivable is better than af- 
 forded by savings banks or other dependable financial insti- 
 tutions. 
 
 Let me describe it, as conducted by the founders, John 
 Muir & Co. : 
 
 Only securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange 
 are handled, and, as an additional safeguard, orders for 
 extra-hazardous issues are not accepted. 
 
 Purchases may run from one share of stock or one 
 $100-bond to any amount. 
 
 An initial deposit and regular monthly payments are 
 required. 
 
 The terms are : 
 
48 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 INITIAL DEPOSITS. 
 
 On stocks selling 
 
 below 30 $10 a share 
 
 from 30 to 50 15 " " 
 
 50 "100 20 " " 
 
 100 " 150 30 " " 
 
 150 " 200 50 " " 
 
 above 200 Special terms 
 
 On bonds of 
 
 $ 100 denomination $ 10 a bond 
 
 500 " 75 " " 
 
 1000 " 150 " " 
 
 MONTHLY PAYMENTS. 
 
 Per Month 
 
 On each share below $30 $3 
 
 Between $30 and $200 $5 
 
 On each $100 bond $5 
 
 On each $500 bond $25 
 
 On each $1,000 bond $50 
 
 Full payment can be completed at any time. 
 
 Selling is allowed at any time. 
 
 All dividends and interest payments are credited to 
 customers. 
 
 The interest rate charged on unpaid balances is 6 per 
 cent — except on the rare occasions when money in Wall 
 Street goes above that figure. On most securities the in- 
 come received more than offsets the interest charged on un- 
 paid balances. 
 
 Failure to pay installments results in the securities 
 being transferred to the regular margin basis, in which case 
 they may be ordered sold by the customer, or will be carried 
 until the market price goes within two or three dollars of 
 the exhaustion of your margin, or protection. 
 
 The minimum commission charged is $1.25 per trans- 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 49 
 
 action ; for more than ten shares the rate is that fixed by 
 the Stock Exchange — one-eighth of 1 per cent, for buying, 
 and the same amount for selling. 
 
 As originally conducted, no call could be made under 
 any circumstances for payment of an installment before the 
 regular due date, but the Stock Exchange ruled that this 
 did not afford sufficient protection to its members should 
 serious financial squalls arise, and the stipulation is now 
 made that, should the amount paid in prove insufficient to 
 offset a decline in the securities purchased, a call must be 
 made for a special payment to properly protect the account. 
 
 The plan has worked admirably. The firm has never 
 had a loss on a Partial Payment account, nor has any 
 client ever been forced to sell out at a loss. 
 
 Of the national and individual advantages of saving 
 money and the social and political value of multiplying the 
 number of small investors in this country I have written 
 oftener than once. The Partial Payment Plan, as conducted 
 under the vigilant supervision of the New York Stock Ex- 
 change, should pave the way toward a higher and better 
 social and economic order. 
 
 (P. S. — The plan successfully withstood the unpar- 
 alleled test applied by the European war.) 
 
 I know a man whose union limits him to a certain 
 amount of work daily. He is supposed to work seven-and- 
 a-half hours, but he invariably does the prescribed amount 
 in six hours, and for the next hour-and-a-half he sits in 
 complete idleness, unhappy with himself, an eyesore to 
 his employer and a demoralizing inlfluence upon others 
 working in the same establishment (under a different 
 union). This restricting of work is one of the weakest links 
 in the trade union chain. 
 
so FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 HOW TO SAVE AND INVEST MONEY— SYSTE- 
 MATIC ACCUMULATION IS ENCOURAGED 
 BY PARTIAL PAYMENT PLAN FOR 
 BUYING GOOD SECURITIES. 
 
 One great problem most of us have to wrestle with is 
 how to save money. 
 
 Some of us don't get into grips with it until pretty late. 
 
 It is so much easier to acquire the habit of spending 
 foolishly than of saving sensibly. 
 
 Yet we all admit — if we take time to think of it — that 
 debt spells unhappiness. 
 
 Extravagance breeds all sorts of troubles, mental and 
 material. 
 
 Thrift begets many virtues, including the ability to help 
 others. 
 
 Americans are the worst spendthrifts on earth. 
 
 Rather they were. 
 
 A new era of economy has dawned. 
 
 It is a striking fact that since hard times overtook the 
 country saving has notably increased — the deposits in New 
 York State savings banks gained $30,000,000 in 1914 despite 
 the acute and prolonged depression. 
 
 The world-wide upheaval makes it vastly more im- 
 portant than ever before that Americans save and invest. 
 
 There is a tide which, taken at its flood, leads on to for- 
 tune. 
 
 That tide has reached America. 
 
 America has been presented with an opportunity to 
 capture foreign markets and to become the world's banker. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 51 
 
 She must also, however, be prepared to buy back a; 
 goodly part of the $4,000,000,000 securities she has sold 
 abroad during her development. 
 
 All this v,rill take money — more money than John D. 
 Rockefeller or Andrew Carnegie could supply. In the Em- 
 pire State alone the savings of the poor ($1,770,000,000) 
 exceed the combined fortunes of these two richest men in 
 the world. ! 
 
 It will take your savings and mine, the savings of all 
 who can live on less than they earn. 
 
 Americans, as I say, are now disposed to live more so- 
 berly and sensibly. 
 
 The thrift habit, however, needs all the stimulus it can 
 be given. 
 
 To be really successful, saving must be done syste- 
 matically, methodically, intelligently. 
 
 I know of no better method of encouraging syste- 
 matic and enlightened thrift, nor any more effective means 
 of taking advantage of the financial opportunities now of- 
 fered, than discriminating investment in sound bonds and 
 stocks under what is called the Partial Payment Plan as 
 conducted under the vigilant supervision of the New York 
 Stock Exchange. 
 
 Under this plan the risks incidental to "buying on mar- 
 gin" are virtually eliminated. Only a small sum is neces- 
 sary to make an initial investment, and as a few dollars 
 have to be paid regularly each month until the purchase has 
 been completed, the investor is constantly prodded into 
 saving instead of squandering these monthly instalments. 
 
 Briefly, a first deposit of $20 per share and $10 per 
 $100 bond is required, with a subsequent regular monthly 
 payment of $5 per share or per bond until the investment is 
 fully paid. 
 
52 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 I made an exhaustive investigation of this method of 
 saving and investing money and give a description of it on 
 another page of this volume. 
 
 Since then the Partial Payment Plan has been tested 
 and tried by the financial storms created by the vsrorld vsrar 
 — and has come through them absolutely unscathed. Not 
 one investor lost a penny by being "sold out." 
 
 Life insurance and industrial insurance have worked 
 vifonders in inducing civilized people to save money. 
 
 This method of investing in securities and making sys- 
 tematic payments on account should develop into an equally 
 epochal movement. 
 
 It has already been adopted by half-a-dozen New York 
 Stock Exchange firms of high repute and is making notable 
 headway, safeguarded as it is by the stringent regulations of 
 that institution. 
 
 New foreign markets cannot be developed unless we 
 can extend financial assistance, and European selling of 
 American securities cannot be coped with unless there arc 
 American buyers. 
 
 Is the small investor to prove the savior of his country 
 at this turning-point in our national history, just as the 
 small investor saved France at the most critical period in 
 that nation's history? 
 
 In thus helping the country he will be helping himself 
 infinitely more, for the fruits of rational saving are in- 
 creased self-respect, a larger measure of usefulness to so- 
 ciety, and peace of mind which the spendthrift can never 
 know. 
 
 HUMANITY FIRST. 
 
 Humanity is being drawn together. The awful cleav- 
 ages of to-day are making unity to-morrow. 
 
 The world is learning to put humanity first, not any one 
 sect or section of it. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 53 
 
 The unit is being enlarged in every sphere of human 
 activity. 
 
 First we had the individual as the unit; then the 
 family ; then groups of families or clans ; then communities, 
 villages, towns, cities, nations. 
 
 The unit in industry and commerce used to be the in- 
 dividual or family; then came the firm, the company, the 
 corporation, the "trust" v^ith its hundreds of millions — even 
 a billion — capital. 
 
 The unit in finance at one time, also, was the individual 
 banker; today every civilized country has financial institu- 
 tions commanding vast pooled resources and employing 
 hundreds of workers — one national bank in the United 
 States has now over six hundred employees. 
 
 In education the unit is no longer the one-man or one- 
 woman school. 
 
 On the sea the unit has grown from the row boat and 
 little sailing ship to steamships of thousands of horsepower. 
 
 The puny weekly newspaper has developed into our 
 amazing morning and evening journals of many editions 
 ev^ry round of the clock. 
 
 In travel the unit is no longer the ox-cart or the stage 
 coach, but palatial trains capable of going sixty or seventy 
 miles an hour. 
 
 From the candle and the crude lamps of our fore- 
 fathers we have passed to gas and electricity supplied to 
 whole cities from huge central plants. 
 
 The letter carried by hand or horse or coach, once the 
 sole means of communication, has been followed by the 
 telegraph, the telephone, the aeroplane, and the all-en- 
 circling wireless. 
 
 Civilized, educated people no longer think provincially. 
 We are learning to think internationally. 
 
 We are learning to consider the world as a whole, as 
 one unit. 
 
54 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 To-morrow we will regard the human race, in all its 
 branches and all its colors, as one. 
 
 We cannot afford to stop until we have learned to view 
 and to treat mankind as one family. 
 
 The United States has done much, by its own history, 
 to inculcate the principle of brotherhood, of a large family 
 composed of many heterogeneous elements yet moulding 
 and moulded into one. 
 
 Even this terrible war, with all its unspeakable, unprec- 
 edented horrors, is bringing out as never before mankind's 
 inherent, underlying sense of brotherhood and humanity. 
 
 The proneness of the men in opposing trenches to frat- 
 ernize has been a feature of this war as it has never bee^ 
 a feature of any other war. 
 
 Recent events which have shocked the world have 
 evoked among non-participants striking demonstrations of 
 this growing feeling of humanity. 
 
 "Humanity first !" is the insistent cry and demand of 
 every unbiased member of the human family. 
 
 In the past there has been too much splitting into fac- 
 tions. 
 
 We have too seldom regarded ourselves just as plain 
 human beings, citizens of the world, and too often regarded 
 ourselves first as Americans, or as Britons, or Germans, or 
 Frenchmen, or as Jews or Gentiles, or as Catholics or Pro- 
 testants, or as Republicans or Democrats, or Monarchists 
 or Socialists, or as capitalists or laborers, or as unionists 
 or non-unionists. 
 
 All these things have their place, but they are second- 
 ary, subsidiary. 
 
 First, last and always, we are plain human beings. 
 
 Let our motto, therefore, be, "Humanity First." 
 
 Death has been teaching us of late to revise our views 
 of life. 
 
 Men's minds have been stirred to their roots. 
 
 We are doing some basic thinking. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 55 
 
 We are pondering the be-all and the end-all of things. 
 
 And above our petty jealousies and prejudices there 
 rise higher and nobler thoughts and considerations. 
 
 We weigh life's values afresh. 
 
 Things that seemed important become unimportant; 
 others held lightly become of serious moment. 
 
 Do the public know that both abroad and at home 
 there has been a strong, widespread growth of religious 
 fervor? 
 
 Do they know that some of America's most prominent 
 men of affairs have lately completely changed their atti- 
 tude toward things temporal and things eternal? 
 
 The recent horrors heaped on horrors, the innumerable 
 sudden deaths by sea and land, have stirred serious emo- 
 tions and evoked deep contemplation. 
 
 As was writ of old : 
 
 When virtuous sorrow clouds the face and tears bedim the 
 
 eye, 
 The soul is led to solemn thought and wafted to the sky. 
 The wise in heart revisit oft grief's dark, sequestered cell, 
 The thoughtless still with levity and mirth delight to dwell. 
 
 Out of it all will come good, the universal adoption of 
 the motto: 
 
 "HUMANITY FIRST." 
 
 It is not yet very fashionable to voluntarily raise the 
 wages of workers in factories, in mills, in foundries, in stores, 
 in offices. There is need for greater practical sympathy — 
 for sympathy expressed in dollars and cents — for poorly 
 paid workers. The expenditure of $100,000 in increasing 
 the pay of $5 and $10 a week employees is not so fash- 
 ionable as the expenditure of a similar sum for pictures. 
 Is it too much to hope that the next wave of philanthropy 
 will sweep in that direction? 
 
56 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 YOUR JOB IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT, BIG OR LIT- 
 TLE— "WE SHALL REAP IF WE FAINT 
 NOT "—A PLAIN TALK TO WORKERS. 
 
 Your job is what you make it, big or little. 
 
 The employee who thinks his or her position altogether 
 too small for his or her ability is not likely to go far. The 
 right stamp of worker can raise the importance of any po- 
 sition; the wrong stamp will lower any position. 
 
 No job, no situation, no position, no office can make 
 a man great. It is not his station that makes a man ; it is 
 the man that makes his station. 
 
 Napoleon was not great because he was dictator of 
 Europe. He was great — in his own unique way — because 
 he made his job great. 
 
 The "Czar of all the Russias" is theoretically one of 
 the mightiest figures in the world, yet the present Czar is 
 a nincompoop, great only in his craven fear and his blind 
 fight against the onward march of democracy. Even his 
 exalted office cannot make of him a man of note. 
 
 The pulpit filled by Henry Ward Beecher was not 
 especially great, but he made it so. The role of itinerant 
 preacher was rather looked down upon when Wesley set 
 out upon his mission, and General Booth was for years 
 derided before he so carved his place that kings and gov- 
 ernments delighted to do him honor. 
 
 The position of medical doctor in a small town is not 
 usually regarded as of extraordinary note, yet the Doctors 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 57 
 
 Mayo, of Rochester, Minn., are perhaps the most famous 
 in the world — far more is heard of them in Europe than at 
 home. 
 
 Lincoln was not made great by being President of the 
 United States, but he so filled the office that he raised it 
 higher than it had been since Washington. 
 
 I know a man who was doorkeeper for a large estab- 
 lishment. The job was accounted of little moment until 
 he was assigned to it. But he devised a system for check- 
 ing everything that went in and out of the place, he rooted 
 out petty thefts by employees and made the post of door- 
 man so important that the salary was raised to three figures 
 a week. He had in him the makings of a helper worth 
 having, and the obscurity of his job could not keep him 
 down. 
 
 Backboneless employees are too ready to attribute the 
 success of others to "luck." Luck is usually the fruit of in- 
 telligent application. The man who is intent upon making 
 the most of his opportunities is too busy to bother about 
 luck. He cares more for work, for thinking and planning 
 how he can make himself worth more to his employer and 
 worth more in his own self-respect. The rewards an em- 
 ployer can give weigh but lightly compared with those that 
 spring from consciousness of work well done. The man 
 or woman who humbly but deeply realizes that he or she has 
 labored with the utmost faithfulness to attain a worthy end 
 can never be a real failure. Pressing on toward "the mark 
 for the prize," not the prize itself, is the thing. 
 
 "We shall reap if we faint not." We are all too prone 
 to faint, to give up prematurely, to lose faith in others, and, 
 what is fatal, lose faith in ourselves. 'Tis not in mortal 
 to command success, but to DESERVE it is possible for all. 
 
 Measured thus, any job can be made great. It is the 
 spirit behind the job that counts — the attitude of the one 
 who fills it. I have known an office boy who was immeas- 
 
58 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 urably greater and nobler than his employer and more to 
 be envied. The office boy lived to serve; the employer 
 forced his workers to sweat blood that he might wax richer 
 and richer by hook or by crook. Life's "failures" do not all 
 wear rags; some of the most pitiable of them can write 
 their names to seven-figured checks. The "successes" are 
 not all recognizable on sight. 
 
 Not his job makes a man little or big; it is himself, 
 his spirit, his character. If these be right, then his job will 
 sooner or later reflect the fact. He will not be forever 
 kept down when his merits entitle him to be raised up. 
 The wait may be long. But it will not be heartbreaking. 
 His inner consciousness of faithful effort will buoy him up. 
 And even should reward seem never to come, he will not 
 turn sour. Hope will spring eternal. He will faint not, 
 hut toil on and in his toil rejoice, confident that the bal- 
 ances must one day be fairly adjusted. Scorning self-pity, 
 he will put stanchions to his heart and pray : 
 
 Oh, for a faith that will not shrink 
 
 When pressed by many a foe, 
 That will not tremble on the brink 
 Of poverty or woe; 
 
 A faith that shines more bright and clear 
 When tempests rage without, 
 
 That when in danger knows no fear, 
 In darkness knows no doubt. 
 
 Lord, give me such a faith as this, 
 And then, whate'er may come, 
 
 I taste e'en now the hallowed bliss 
 Of an eternal home. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 59 
 
 SOME HOMELY FACTS ON HOW YOU AND I 
 
 HAVE SENT UP THE COST OF LIVING AND 
 
 HOW TO REMEDY MATTERS. 
 
 Some very estimable friends have asked me to write 
 on the high cost of living. 
 
 Instead of presenting mountains of statistics or dilat- 
 ing upon such abstruse (but not irrelevant) matters as the 
 influence of the increased production of gold, I vs'ill merely 
 jot down a few homely points that spring to mind. 
 
 First, let us stop saying "they" this and "they" that 
 when to be sincere and truthful we should say "we." Don't 
 put all the blame on other people when we ourselves are part 
 and parcel of the "they." 
 
 Are we — ^you and I — altogether guiltless of forcing 
 prices higher? Suppose we glance backward to what are 
 (not altogether fittingly) referred to as the good old days 
 when food and clothing did not cost a king's ransom. 
 
 How many hours a day did we or our fathers then work ? 
 How many luxuries did we indulge in ? How many theatres 
 were there in New York and Brooklyn? How many of us 
 sped off to Europe of a Summer to spend hundreds of 
 thousands of dollars ? How much of our food was delivered 
 at our doors in artistically ornamented packages? How 
 many new suits of clothes did we think it necessary to 
 buy every year? How much was then paid for the adorn- 
 ment of our womenfolk? Were country homes for the 
 Summer-time then counted indispensable? Did we have the 
 equivalents of these latter-day moving picture shows which 
 
60 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 now do a crowded business in every third block':* Were 
 there Coney Islands, pleasure sails, railroad jaunts on the 
 same scale as now? Were our young men so afraid to 
 soil their hands or shed their coats as those of to-day ? Did 
 our young women look upon housework as undignified 
 drudgery? Were grand opera, private theatrical entertain- 
 ments (by professionals), limousine and other automobiles 
 so essential for the well-to-do? 
 
 If each one swept his own door the city would be 
 clean, you know. How about starting right at home — with 
 ourselves — to bring down prices? 
 
 Meat, you will recollect, soared unreasonably not long 
 ago, and everybody blamed everybody and everything else 
 for being responsible. But when the people curtailed pur- 
 chases, prices flopped. The absent treatment could be 
 extended to other directions with, probably, telling re- 
 sults. The butter ring should prove vulnerable. The stiff 
 prices demanded for different kinds of clothing might come 
 down a little if only cheaper grades were bought. Is it so 
 very necessary for all of us — and our wives and daughters — 
 to have the very latest cut, crazy or sane? Must we rush 
 headlong after "the fashion" in dress, in amusements, in 
 travel, etc.? 
 
 Would an application of the brake do us any serious 
 harm? Would we be very much unhappier if we omitted 
 some of our theatre-going, some of our convivial "parties," 
 some of our holiday jaunting — those of us, I mean, who 
 complain of present-day conditions? 
 
 Or how about carrying home packages from the depart- 
 ment store and grocery store and enabling the proprietors 
 to dispense with a wagon or two? They could then afford 
 to sell cheaper, could they not? And suppose, instead of 
 selecting a small quantity of something in ever so nice 
 a package, a larger quantity were bought from bulk at a 
 lower figure? 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 61 
 
 "What's on this table cost as much as would have 
 fed our family for several days when we were young," re- 
 marked a friend at dinner the other night. True, but on 
 that table were quite a few things that never did appear a 
 generation ago. 
 
 Speaking broadly, the very material reduction in the 
 hours of labor all over the world must be regarded as a 
 prime factor in sending prices up, despite the remarkable 
 growth in machinery. In certain foreign countries the ru- 
 ral population has decreased, thus diminishing the quan- 
 tity of commodities wrung from the soil, while in the 
 United States it has been abundantly demonstrated that 
 the increase of farmers and farming has not kept pace with 
 the increase in our total population. Better education has 
 raised tastes all around. There are too many ten-dollar-a- 
 week young gentlemen on high stools, and too few youths 
 guiding plows, winning real wealth and real prosperity from 
 Mother Earth. The motto, "as little work as possible" 
 should be amended to read "as much." 
 
 Let me suggest in conclusion that "the good old days" 
 were not quite as ideal as memory now imagines. And to 
 correct the faults of to-day, let us begin at home. 
 
 The inferior must, in time, give way to the superior. 
 The universal trend today is toward large units. The finger 
 of destiny would seem to point to the ultimate domination 
 of minor, backward nations by the larger, stronger ones, 
 just as in the economic world the current runs strongly 
 toward the obliteration of puny units by more powerful 
 ones. Mexico has not demonstrated her ability to govern 
 herself in accordance with twentieth century standards, and 
 while we may grievously lament need for interfering with 
 the affairs of any independent nation, yet there are inex- 
 orable laws that transcend all political considerations. 
 
62 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 A KITCHEN IN EVERY LIFE, AS EXPLAINED TO 
 
 A GRUMBLING WAITER— EXPERIENCES 
 
 AMONG MANY PEOPLES AND UNDER 
 
 DIFFERENT CLIMES — EVERY 
 
 HOUSE HAS BACK DOOR. 
 
 Said a waiter to me the other evening — ^he is a friend 
 of some intimacy, for those of us who work all hours of the 
 night can't always eat at home: "You don't know what 
 waiting is, sir. This place is like a theatre. You only see 
 the stage. Everything here in the dining room looks 
 bright and cheerful. And we — the waiters — smile while we 
 serve you, just like actors. But you should have a look 
 into the kitchen! Oey-oey! What a difference! There's 
 no smiling there. There we are treated like dogs. That's 
 behind the stage — in the makeup rooms. I tell you, sir, it is 
 very different. Nothing pleasant there. You don't know, 
 sir, that side of a waiter's life." 
 
 He obviously expected an outpouring of sympathy. On 
 earlier occasions he had hinted that he envied me my job — 
 I didn't have to go to the kitchen and scramble to be served. 
 So I had a plain little talk with him. 
 
 There is a kitchen in every house if the people are to 
 be fed. Coal has to be put in the furnace if the people are 
 to be kept warm. Floors and stairs, and walls, and windows 
 have to be cleaned if dirtiness is to be avoided. Linen has 
 to be washed if cleanliness be sought. If the front is to 
 look attractive, hands have to be soiled at the back of the 
 house. Beauty, comfort, elegance don't spring into ex- 
 istence; they represent toil and moil. The artist's fingers 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 63 
 
 were not always spotless as he painted his famous picture. 
 The prima donna's notes did not always come pouring 
 from her lips without eflfort. The savant did not gain his 
 wisdom amid applause. 
 
 My dear waiter, few mortals escape the kitchen. A 
 wealthy society damsel, only the other day, complained that 
 "society" was nearly all kitchen— smiles and pleasantries 
 had to be supplied when hearts were sick and souls were in 
 anguish. 
 
 It has been my fortune to touch life at many points. I 
 have spent a decade in the back woods among people who 
 constantly rubbed elbows with poverty. I have lived their 
 life, tasted their joys and experienced their sorrows. I 
 know what it is to leave bed before sunrise, labor in the 
 fields, the stable and the barn, eat the simplest of fare and 
 sleep on something less soft than feathers. That side of 
 life has its kitchen. Then I have lived on the border-line 
 of savagery and civilization, mingled with human beings 
 little more enlightened than the wild beasts which were 
 their neighbors, and learned something of that phase of 
 existence on this planet. Even the least civilized have 
 their kitchen. 
 
 Then, to change the scene, I have lived for months at 
 perhaps the best known hotel in the world, a resort of the 
 idle and the ultra-rich. One incident I'll never forget. It 
 was after the opera. The wealthy ones were strolling into 
 the brilliantly-lit supper room. One couple, slightly past 
 middle age, and wearing many evidences of wealth, saunt- 
 ered in. The wife, with the most bored expression and' 
 deportment, sat down on a capacious chair in the parlor. 
 The husband, palpably unhappy, looked at her a second and 
 then said: "My dear, just tell me what you would like to 
 happen — anything — and I'll see that it happens." For re- 
 ply she moved her head ill-temperedly, shrugged her shoul- 
 ders, and said, drowsily, "Oh, nothing; I'm bored." 
 
64 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Was there no kitchen in that life? 
 
 Yes, there are kitchens everywhere — and well it is so. 
 My waiter friend must not imagine he and his colleagues 
 have a monopoly of them. If he could see some of us about 
 1 o'clock every morning, after the rush and rattle and 
 splash of preparing newspaper pages for the printing ma- 
 chines, he might be less envious, for he would see hands 
 as begrimed as a blacksmith's and faces not suggestive of 
 beauty parlors. Yet there is more satisfaction and as much 
 fun in dirty fingers in honest, well-intentioned work as in 
 soiling them pleasure-riding in an automobile. 
 
 Self-pity never got a man anywhere except into his 
 grave. The way to get out of the kitchen as much as pos- 
 sible is to do the very best while in the kitchen. Waiters 
 are not the only people who have troubles. Every heart 
 knoweth only its own bitterness. The people who sit in 
 the dining room have their own species of difficulty. 
 
 So, instead of grouching, put a stout heart to a stifl^ 
 hill and go ahead. Happiness is a state of mind, not a con- 
 dition of pocketbook. 
 
 Labor will find, as capital has found, that with what 
 measure it metes, so it will be meted unto. Fellow-workers : 
 Don't aspire to the exercise of tyrannical power. Don't 
 seek to become a privileged class. Don't demand one law 
 for employers and another for the employed. Don't uphold 
 wrong bcause committed by one of your — our — number. 
 Don't try to palm off less than a full day's work for a full 
 day's pay — and then grumble because the cost of every- 
 thing goes up. Don't insist upon rigid governmental regu- 
 lation of capital and expect to escape similar regulation of 
 labor by-and-by. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 65 
 
 MEN WHO HAVE CLIMBED FROM THE BOTTOM 
 TO THE TOP OF THE RAILROAD LADDER— 
 SEVENTEEN OF TWENTY BIG- 
 GEST PRESIDENCIES WON 
 IN LAST TEN YEARS. 
 
 Fruit is plentiful at the top of the tree. 
 
 Hard climbing is necessary to reach it. 
 
 I have been conducting a little investigation into the 
 number of big plums in the railroad and industrial world 
 virhich have been won during recent years. The facts will 
 astonish you. 
 
 I took a list of twenty of the largest railroad systems 
 in the United States and dug up how many of them are 
 now presided over by men who have risen within the last 
 ten years. 
 
 Would you believe that, of the twenty roads, only three 
 have the same presidents in 1915 as they had in 1905? 
 
 No fewer than seventeen of the twenty important rail- 
 road presidencies have been gained by climbing within the 
 last ten years! 
 
 Twenty of our biggest industrial corporations were 
 similarly checked up, and in fifteen cases the president has 
 won his spurs since 1905, only five of the present occu- 
 pants having held office in that year ! 
 
 Delving a little deeper, it develops that in almost every 
 instance the brainy stalwarts now managing the nation's 
 most powerful business organizations began at the very 
 bottom and worked their way up step by step, without aid 
 
66 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 or influence, without favoritism or the lever of wealth, but 
 by unremitting application, unflagging zeal, intelligent 
 study and foresight, well-directed ambition and adherence 
 to right standards in dealing both with their fellow em- 
 ployees and their employers. 
 
 Let me present the record covering the railroads : 
 
 How Railroad Presidents Change. 
 
 Road Pres. in 1905 Pres. in 1915 
 
 Atchison E. P. Ripley E. P. Ripley 
 
 Bait. & Ohio O. G. Murray Daniel Willard 
 
 C. M. & St. Paul... Roswell Miller A. J. Earling 
 
 Chi. & Northwest . . Marvin Hughitt . . . W. A. Gardner 
 
 Erie F. D. Underwood.. F. D. Underwood 
 
 Gt. Northern J. J. Hill L. W. Hill 
 
 Illinois Central Stuy-vesant Fish C. H. Markham 
 
 Lehigh Vallev E. B. Thomas E. B. Thomas 
 
 Louisv. & Nash .... J. W. Thomas M. H. Smith 
 
 Missouri Pac Geo. T. Gould B. F. Bush 
 
 N. Y. Central W. H. Newman .... A. H. Smith 
 
 New- Haven C. S. Mellen Howard Elliott 
 
 Mo. Pacific Howard Elliott J. M. Hannaford 
 
 Pennsylvania A. J. Cassatt Samuel Rea 
 
 Reading Geo. F. Baer E. T. Stotesbury 
 
 Rock Island B. L. Winchell H. U. Mudge 
 
 So. Pacific E. H. Harriman . . . Wm. Sproule 
 
 So. Railvray Samuel Spencer . . . Fairfax Harrison 
 
 Union Pacific E. H. Harriman... A. M. Mohler 
 
 Wabash Jos. Ramsey, Jr Ed. F. Kearney 
 
 Wealth, you will notice, is no longer a passport to high 
 place. 
 
 In former days the \'^anderbilts, the Goulds, the Hunt 
 ingtons and other multi-millionaires sat in the presidential 
 chairs of our greatest railroads. 
 
 To-day's list contains neither a Vanderbilt nor a Gould, 
 neither a Huntington nor a Harriman. Only one son of 
 an illustrious railroad father figures in the compilation, 
 namely, Louis W. Hill, president of the Great Northern, 
 the chief monument created by the veteran James J. Hill, 
 upbuilder of the Northwest. 
 
 Edward T. Stotesbury, recently elected to succeed 
 George F. Baer as head of Reading, is the only other 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 67 
 
 conspicuously rich man in the list and about the only one 
 not a product of the ranks. 
 
 Most of the twenty now in power started humbler 
 than the majority of those who will read these lines. 
 
 Ripley, the giant who pilots the Atchison with notable 
 success, began obscurely as a clerk. 
 
 Underwood, who is evolving the Erie from a joke to 
 a railroad, used to wrestle with a brake. 
 
 Willard, of the B. & O., chosen representative of the 
 Eastern group of railroads when difficult missions have 
 to be undertaken, at one time sweated and blinked in front 
 of a ravenous engine fire, which he had to feed with wood. 
 
 Elliott, savior of the New Haven, is an ex-rodman. 
 
 Markham, of the Illinois Central, began no higher than 
 a section laborer, and has filled every grade of office. 
 
 Bush, who is slaving night and day to put Missouri 
 Pacific on its feet, did not have to work quite so hard when 
 he received his railroad baptism as a rodman. 
 
 Rea, of the Pennsylvania, is a product of the engineer- 
 ing department, where he started at the bottom. 
 
 Earling, the capable president of the St. Paul, first 
 handled telegraph keys before handling a vast railroad 
 system. 
 
 Smith, of the Central ; Hannaford, of the Northern 
 Pacific ; Mohler, of U. P. ; Sproule, of Southern Pacific ; 
 Gardner, of the Northwestern ; Thomas, of the Lehigh 
 \'alley ; Mudge, of Rock Island, etc., have forged their 
 way up from the lowest rungs of the ladder. 
 
 Prizes there are for those who qualify for them. 
 
 It is not enough nowadays to be loyal to friends. The 
 financier who would aspire to greatness must be loyal to 
 the public. A fat purse, filled by questionable methods, 
 will not carry him very far. 
 
68 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 ONLY CASTE IN AMERICA IS NOT BLOOD, BUT 
 BRAINS — HOW PRESIDENTS OF OUR 
 LEADING INDUSTRIAL ENTER- 
 PRISES WON THEIR SPURS. 
 
 The only caste recognized in America is not blood, 
 but brains. 
 
 The prizes in this country are open to all. 
 
 Most of them have been won by boys who began at the 
 bottom, unhandicapped by inherited wealth — and unaided 
 by superior educational advantages in many cases. 
 
 In another article I have shown that nearly all our rail- 
 road presidents started from scratch, and that of the twenty 
 largest systems seventeen have to-day different heads from 
 what they had ten years ago. 
 
 Big $50,000 jobs are constantly becoming vacant. 
 
 I find that of twenty of America's leading industrial 
 corporations only five have the same presidents as they had 
 in 1905. 
 
 In other words, fifteen of these coveted positions, with 
 their princely salaries, have been won by new men within 
 the last ten years. 
 
 The outlet for ability is never closed. 
 
 The ladder is never overcrowded at the top. 
 
 There is an unlimited demand for men capable of earn- 
 ing $50,000 or $100,000 a year. 
 
 There is little demand for $500-a-year clerks or other 
 clean-collared gentlemen satisfied with such a salary. 
 
 "It is hard to secure a $50,000 man," remarked a finan- 
 cier, "because a man worth that to a company can usually 
 earn more in business for himself." 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 69 
 
 Yet $50,000, $75,000 and $100,000 men must constantly 
 be found to manage the nation's great railroad, financial 
 and industrial enterprises. 
 
 Look at this table and see how many of the presi- 
 dencies of twenty of our leading industrial organizations 
 have had to be filled within the last ten years : 
 How Presidents of America's Twenty Leading Industrial 
 
 Corporations Have Changed. 
 
 Name of Co. Pres. in 1905 Pres. in 1915 
 
 Amal. Copper H. H. Rogers J.D.Ryan 
 
 Am. Beet Sugar H. T. Oxnard H. R. Duval 
 
 American Can Wm. T. Graham ... F. S. Wheeler 
 
 Am. Car & F'dry. ... W. K. Bixby F. H. Eaton 
 
 Am. Smelt. & Ref.. Ed. W. Nash Dan. Guggenheim 
 
 Am. Sugar Ref H. O. Havemeyer.. Earl D. Babst 
 
 Am. Tel. & Tel Fred'k P. Fish Theo. N. Vail 
 
 American Tobacco. James B. Duke P. S. Hill 
 
 American Woolen . . Frederick Ayer Wm. M. Wood 
 
 Bethlehem Steel.... C.M.Schwab C.M.Schwab 
 
 Central Leather E. C. Hoyt E. C. Hoyt 
 
 General Electric .. C. A. Coffin E. W. Rice, Jr. 
 
 Int. Harvester C. H. McCormick.. C. H. McCormick 
 
 National Lead L. A. Cole W. W. Lawrence 
 
 Pr. Steel Car F. N. Hoffstot F. N. Hoffstot 
 
 Tennessee Copper.. J. P. Channing Jas. Phillips, Jr. 
 
 U. S. Rubber Sam'l P. Colt Sam'l P. Colt 
 
 U. S. Steel Corp Wm. E. Corey Jas. A. Farrell 
 
 Western Un. Tel... Robt. C._ dowry... Newc'b Carlton 
 
 West'house Elec ... G. Westinghouse . . . Edwin M. Herr 
 
 Very few of these stalwarts owe their place to wealth 
 or influence. 
 
 A romance of grit, sweat, perseverance — and success — 
 could be written about almost every one of them. 
 
 One of my ambitions is to write a book telling the 
 world what manner of men have made the United States 
 what it is to-day. The truth, if it could be intimately pre- 
 sented, would be more fascinating than any mere fiction. 
 
 The greatest industrial corporation in the world. 
 United States Steel, never had a president who was not 
 bom poor. James A. Farrell, the present able holder of 
 the office, began work when quite a young lad in a steel 
 wire mill in New Haven, and has risen step by step through 
 
70 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 sheer application guided by clear, broad vision. Mr. Far- 
 rcll's field is the world, and he is as much at home in Rus- 
 sia, the Orient or South America as he is in New York or 
 San Francisco, having canvassed the earth in search ot new 
 markets for American steel products and skilled American 
 labor. 
 
 John D. Ryan, the first name on the list of 1915 presi- 
 dents, was "discovered" in a Western mining camp when 
 a stripling, his manly bearing, his energy and his ability to 
 handle men having commended him to the capitalist who 
 subsequently placed him in a position which called foi 
 courage and tact as well as executive ability. To-day Mr. 
 Ryan has few rivals in the copper mining business. 
 
 Charles M. Schwab, as most people know, did farm 
 chores before becoming driver of a coach and before attract- 
 ing Carnegie's attention. To-day he is the most conspicu- 
 ous and hardest-working manufacturer of steel — and arma- 
 ments — in the country. 
 
 Theodore N. Vail, the wizard of the commercial exploi- 
 tation of the telephone, has had a life more eventful than 
 most characters in modern fiction. 
 
 And so it goes through the list. 
 
 Success has not been a matter of pure luck with these 
 industrial giants. 
 
 It has been mainly a matter of, first, work; second, 
 work; third, work — with, of course, a plentiful mixture of 
 brains, foresight and imagination. 
 
 The things that these men have done, big as they look 
 now, will be Lilliputian when compared with the achieve- 
 ments destined to be wrought by some of the obscure lads 
 now toiling faithfully at bench, at forge, at loom, at desk 
 or at evening school. 
 
 The world has important work to be done — more im- 
 portant than any yet accomplished. 
 
 Which of you young lads are to do it? 
 
 Please remember that genius is most times the fruit 
 of hard work — well-directed and long-visioned. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 71 
 
 "THE SPIRIT OF OUR ORGANIZATION IS ITS 
 
 BEST ASSET"— A PATHETIC H. H. ROGERS 
 
 STORY OF THE DAY BEFORE HE DIED. 
 
 The president of a world-famous organization was say- 
 ing good-bye to an employee about to start for an import- 
 ant post in South America, where pioneer financial work 
 is being done to extend America's foreign trade. Here is 
 what he said: 
 
 "I hope you have been long enough with us to imbibe 
 the spirit of our organization and to learn what we are 
 striving to do. The spirit of our organization is the most 
 important and valuable thing about it, our best asset. Go 
 forth animated by it. Keep our aim always in view, and 
 success, I have no doubt, will go with you. Good-bye, good 
 health and good luck." 
 
 That employee, I'll wager, set out full of determination 
 to become a credit to the concern, unswervingly resolved 
 to overcome every diiificulty, consumed by a desire to live 
 up to the spirit of his organization and to worthily extend 
 its ramifications and promote its prosperity. 
 
 Years ago I wrote several articles on the importance 
 of sentiment in business. I was laughed at by many mem- 
 bers of the old school of capitalists. Most of them have 
 since changed their ideas — that is, those who did not die 
 too soon to see the light. 
 
 And right here let me relate a pertinent incident never 
 before published concerning the late H. H. Rogers, for a 
 generation a dominating force in the Standard Oil Com- 
 pany. 
 
72 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 It occurred the day before Mr. Rogers died. 
 
 Mr. Rogers, it may be necessary to explain, was a 
 stanch advocate of the old-school methods of treating 
 labor and the public — it was no concern of the public's how 
 a corporation chose to conduct its business; its business 
 was its affair, and how it should act was for it, and it alone 
 to decide. 
 
 On the afternoon preceding his death, which occurred 
 with tragic suddenness on May 19, 1909, Mr. Rogers was 
 talking with a very intimate friend, the head of a large 
 corporation whose policies, thanks to this friend, had been 
 cast in a different mold — full publicity, considerate treat- 
 ment alike of employees, competitors and customers, with 
 no defiance of law or public sentiment. 
 
 "I have come to the conclusion," said Mr. Rogers, 
 "that you have been right and I have been wrong. I only 
 wish our people (meaning Standard Oil) had taken the 
 same course." 
 
 Apparently Mr. Rogers had been doing some serious 
 thinking, some deep reflecting, for he had a feeling that 
 all was not well with his health. He seemed to have had a 
 premonition that death was about to call him from his ac- 
 tivities. 
 
 After a pause, he said on bidding his friend good-bye : 
 
 "I don't feel well." 
 
 His friend expressed the hope he would be all right 
 in a day or two. 
 
 "No, I don't feel at all right," he declared in a sad, 
 very solemn tone. 
 
 The next day Mr. Rogers was dead. 
 
 The "spirit" of the Oil Trust, especially in its attitude 
 toward the public and toward competitors, was wrong, as 
 Mr. Rogers all too late realized. Happily, more modern 
 counsels have since prevailed, and to-day the Rockefeller 
 organization is alive at least to the necessity for fuller pub- 
 licity. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 73 
 
 A transformation is occurring in the habits and poli- 
 cies of great corporations. Everywhere a better esprit de 
 corps is aimed at. Sentiment is being revived. Workers 
 are being made to feel that they are not bits of machinery, 
 to be treated as such, but members of one big team, all of 
 whom must pull one way if they and their concern are to 
 succeed. 
 
 Scores of companies — industrial, traction, mercantile, 
 railroad, financial, express, etc. — are now issuing weekly 
 or monthly publications devoted to their employees and to 
 inspire them with zeal, enthusiasm and ambition for their 
 own progress and the progress of their organization. 
 
 In these days when a billion people are embroiled in 
 war and when our own Government is beset with thorny 
 diplomatic difficulties, the cultivation of domestic indus- 
 trial peace and loyalty is not unimportant. 
 
 A visitor was vigorously arguing with a banker, before 
 the Currency Law was passed, that bankers should not have 
 much to say either in framing it or administering it. "The 
 President and Congress are quite right ; the bankers should 
 not be allowed to have a finger in the currency reform pie," 
 he concluded very emphatically. Then he hurriedly re- 
 marked that he must get home at once, as his fifteen-year- 
 old son was seriously ill. "Have you called in your chauf- 
 feur to prescribe for him?" his friend asked. "My chauffeur?" 
 "Yes; why not?" "What does he know about treating 
 sickness?" "Nothing, but I thought from what you said 
 about forbidding experts to handle currency reform that 
 you would also forbid any doctor to treat your son." 
 "Umph 1" 
 
74 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 JAMES J. HILL, KING OF RAILROAD BUILDERS, 
 AND ONE OF AMERICA'S GREATEST MEN- 
 SOMETHING ABOUT HIS WORK, HIS AIMS 
 AND HIS VAST KNOWLEDGE — A 
 GLIMPSE OF HIS IDEAL HOME LIFE 
 
 "I do not expect to have a pocket in my shroud. 
 
 "I have more money than I ever expected to have and 
 more than I'll ever need. Money's only use is the power 
 it gives to do things." 
 
 Thus spoke James J. Hill, the king of railroad builders, 
 and, in the judgment of many, the greatest man in America. 
 
 "I got more satisfaction from this incident than I ever 
 got from the mere possession of money," Mr. Hill con- 
 tinued : 
 
 "I was walking up Broadway, in New York, several 
 years ago when I met an elderly couple, well but modestly 
 dressed, apparently a farmer and his wife from the coun- 
 try. As I approached they looked at me closely and spoke 
 to each other. The man stopped me. 
 
 "'Are you Mr. Hill of the Great Northern?' he 
 asked. 
 
 " 'Yes,' I replied. 
 
 " Well, mother and I thought it must be you, judging 
 from the pictures we have seen. I want to tell you that 
 we have saved a little money and have invested it in Great 
 Northern stock. We have read about you. We have 
 watched what you are doing. We have faith in you and 
 feel safe in putting our money into your care. We feel 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 75 
 
 under great obligation to you for giving us the chance to 
 invest our money.' 
 
 "Such testimony as that is more gratifying than all the 
 money I have ever earned." 
 
 Mr. Hill did not make these statements to me nor did 
 he relate them with any idea of having them published. He 
 is a modest man. They were made in course of inti- 
 mate conversation with one of his proteges, now head of 
 a great railroad system. 
 
 Mr. Hill has the clearest memory, the widest general 
 knowledge and the sharpest intelligence of any man I ever 
 met. 
 
 Years ago I was preparing a comparison of the three 
 Pacific Coast groups — the Hill roads, the Harriman lines 
 and Atchison. Mr. Hill was very busy when I called to 
 talk matters over with him, and was inclined not to go into 
 the subject. 
 
 "Mr. Harriman says he has done — " I began, and went 
 on to relate some of the "wizard's" wonderful achieve- 
 ments. 
 
 "Yes — yes," mused Mr, Hill, indecisively. Then he sat 
 bolt upright, pushed a button, beckoned me to pull my 
 chair up to his desk, and declared : "But Ed. is not the only 
 person who has ever done things." 
 
 His secretary brought bundles of statistics and records, 
 and for two hours the "Grand Old Man of the Northwest" 
 had my head swimming with per mile costs, increasing 
 train loads, the growth in engine power, the elimination of 
 curves, reduction of empty hauls, standardization of equip- 
 ment, the systematizing of records and more economy and 
 efficiency schemes than Mr. Brandeis ever conceived. 
 
 Mr. Hill was really the first great student of railway 
 economics, the first to grasp the value of low grades, more 
 powerful engines, cars of greater capacity, and full train 
 loads. He was and is the first and foremost railroad sci- 
 entist of any land. 
 
7e FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 His guiding ambition was not to hog "all the traffic 
 will bear," but to haul the greatest possible volume oi 
 freight at lower rates than any other road and still earn 
 a satisfactory profit for his companies and for the thousands 
 of people of modest means who, like the farmer and his wife, 
 had placed their savings in his charge. 
 
 James J. Hill was the first American financier to in- 
 spire European confidence in American railroad securities 
 and at home. Mr. Hill used to go from place to place in 
 Wall Street and dispose of small lots of Great Northern 
 securities when there was no market value for anything 
 else. 
 
 No man ever gave stockholders a squarer deal. Those 
 who threw in their lot with Hill and stuck to him never had 
 reason to regret it. It is an established fact that Mr. Hill 
 never tried to "milk" investors by means of stock market 
 flim-flamming. He never speculates. His name is never men- 
 tioned as operating even in the stocks of his own roads. He 
 once declared he had not noticed the Stock Exchange quota- 
 tion for Great Northern and Northern Pacific for two months. 
 His one famous stock market exploit was in 1901, when 
 Harriman tried to buy up control of Northern Pacific. Mr. 
 Hill, with the aid of J. P. Morgan, outflanked Harriman — 
 a rare treat, for "Ed." was an astute one. 
 
 When Northern Pacific was soaring towards $1,000 a 
 share Morgan asked Hill how selling by his own followers 
 could be prevented. 
 
 "They will stand by me without hitching," said Mr. 
 Hill. And they did. 
 
 Every now and again during his career Mr. Hill has 
 extracted a "melon" from some mysterious pocket and pro- 
 ceeded to donate slices to his followers — his distribution 
 in 1906 of 1,500,000 Great Northern Ore certificates, worth 
 at one time $130,000,000, was his crowning gift. 
 
 Let me put on record here that Mr. Hill has never 
 drawn one dollar in salary or commission, or for personal 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 77 
 
 expenses, from any of the roads he has controlled. His 
 wealth — and it is abundant — has come solely from his re- 
 turns, on a parity v/jth every other investor, as a holder of 
 the road's securities and the increase in the value of his 
 investment resulting from the development of business and 
 growth of population. 
 
 And how "Jim" Hill has slaved and sweated to build up, 
 fructify and draw a population to his beloved Northwest ! 
 
 Many a mile of surveying has he done on the back of a 
 donkey. 
 
 For fifteen years, to 1893, he built and equipped one 
 mile of railroad every working day! Can any nation pro- 
 duce a man with such a record? 
 
 His vast transportation system was not thrown together 
 at haphazard and then left to sink or swim, prosper or de- 
 cay. He built on solid ground, from the bottom up. He 
 created traffic. He did not disdain to conduct a settler to a 
 farm and then make arrangements for supplying him with 
 a horse or, it might be, a cow, or even a pig. Nothing 
 that helped to make food grow where only weeds and waste 
 and trees luxuriated before was too small for James J. Hill 
 to bother with. 
 
 He has brought into existence more sheaves of wheat 
 and stalks of com than any man who has ever walked this 
 earth. He has sought to feed humanity. 
 
 He not only reared a network of railroads, but called 
 a vast continent into civilized existence, populating it with 
 poor but honest men and women, and providing them with 
 the means of becoming comfortably rich. 
 
 "A Farm Revolution That Began in a Greenhouse" is 
 the title of an article which tells how Mr. Hill has devoted 
 his private greenhouses at his home in St. Paul to agricultu- 
 ral experiments which are enabling farmers to multiply 
 their grain yields with profitable results to themselves and 
 for the benefit of the whole population. 
 
78 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Mr. Hill sees straight to the bottom of things. He 
 hates veneer and sham. He weighs life's values. He re- 
 alizes that the world's benefactor is he who contributes 
 to the happiness of its inhabitants. 
 
 He has done his own thinking. His knowledge is the 
 wonder of all who enjoy his intimate friendship. He forgets 
 nothing, not even the most obscure details. 
 
 He is as far as he could be from being a human rail- 
 road machine. His sympathies, his knowledge, his reading, 
 his culture are well-nigh universal. 
 
 He astonished me once, after a serious business talk, 
 by suddenly switching on to the subject of Scottish litera- 
 ture and song, of which, being of Scottish lineage, he is very 
 fond. 
 
 Daniel Willard, now president of the Baltimore & Ohio 
 Railroad, and one of Mr. Hill's favorite "boys," said to me 
 the other day: "I never discussed any subject with Mr. 
 Hill but what he knew more about it than I did. One day. 
 in Chicago, we were passing a violin shop, and as I thought 
 I knew more about violins and the history of violin-making 
 than any other non-railroad subject, I slyly made a remark 
 about violins, really with the intention of impressing upon 
 Mr. Hill that here was one topic I could do the talking on. 
 But imagine my surprise when Mr. Hill began to expatiate 
 on violins and their makers — Stradivarius, Stainer, Amati 
 and all the rest — as if he had spent his life in studying' 
 them !" 
 
 Mr. Hill is a singer, though not a rival of Caruso. He 
 likes the old French-Canadian, Scottish and Irish songs and 
 ballads. 
 
 The home life of the Hills is exquisitely beautiful. May 
 I lift the domestic veil for one moment and reveal a true 
 picture of Mrs. Hill with her own hands carefully packing 
 her husband's grip every time he leaves home, and to this 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 79 
 
 day, notwithstanding all the wealth that has come to her, 
 jealously insisting upon (personally exercising the homely 
 privilege of darning his socks. 
 
 Their riches have not bred vanity. 
 
 The disposition of Mr. Hill's fortune may reveal that, 
 like another empire builder, Cecil Rhodes, he has a proper 
 appreciation of the value of education. On this subject Mr. 
 Hill commands silence. 
 
 Instead of the palmiest days for farmers being over in 
 America, they are about to dawn. The fallacy that the 
 quickest and best results can be obtained by working virgin 
 soil to death without giving it an ounce of fertilizer will 
 quickly be exploded. The best farmers already realize the 
 value of dealing liberally with their land, of crop rotation, 
 of seed selection, of rearing better-grade stock, of scientific- 
 ally determining the purposes for which each field is best 
 suited, etc., etc. The possibilities and opportunities are in- 
 spiring. Our yield per acre can be doubled without great 
 trouble and with much profit. 
 
 Railroad and other large corporations are not adjuncts 
 of any group of bankers. They are not the personal prop- 
 erty of the officials. The directors do not own them — direc- 
 tors are the servants, or should be the servants, of stock- 
 holders. Are not the real owners of America's railroads the 
 thousands upon thousands of small investors, virtually the 
 public, entitled to know what is being done with their 
 money ? Is it right that two or three gentlemen, sitting as 
 a railway finance committee or an executive committee, 
 should make financial deals with themselves or with bankers 
 closely allied with a railroad, and deny the owners of the 
 money all information on the subject? To ask the question 
 is to answer it. 
 
80 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 "GIE'S HAIRT"— A RICH MAN WHO FINDS A 
 LONGING TO MINGLE IN A HEART-TO- 
 HEART WAY WITH THE PEOPLE- 
 STERILITY OF MERE 
 MONEYMAKING. 
 
 One of America's richest men said to me last week: 
 
 "I would like to get to know the people — the real peo- 
 ple, I mean, not the artificial, narrow, prejudiced kind you 
 meet in the financial district. 
 
 "I would be glad of an opportunity to meet and talk 
 to a gathering of natural people — workmen and the like — 
 but I care not a straw for addressing bankers' conventions 
 or dinners attended by men of my own class. So far I have 
 not known how to begin. I have not seen the right oppor- 
 tunity." 
 
 I assured him that it was worth while to know the 
 masses and to have them know you and discuss their prob- 
 lems with you in a heart-to-heart, unaffected, unrestrained 
 way. 
 
 He replied: 
 
 "I realize it. Do you know, I often attend operatic and 
 other musical affairs and sit in the cheapest seats, where I 
 talk with the real lovers of music, of art. At first they 
 fought shy of me, but now they are willing to meet me on com- 
 mon ground and talk to me." 
 
 "More interesting than mere money-making, isn't it?" 
 I ventured. 
 
 "Oh! Money-making in itself and for itself soon loses 
 ipterest, it gives a rich man — who is a man — precious little 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 81 
 
 satisfaction. The sense of power, the opportunity to do big 
 things, to achieve notable — and strictly, honorable — suc- 
 cess, those things appeal to one and spur one on to greater 
 achievement. 
 
 "But I am realizing more and more that to get ac- 
 quainted with the people, to have them know you for what 
 you are, rather than for what you possess, to be in intimate 
 touch with them, to be in sympathy with them and to have 
 their confidence, is more worth while, more worth accom- 
 plishing. 
 
 "I hope to do something along that line by-and-by." 
 
 Now, I happen to know this man, to know him fairly 
 well. And I can assure you he was talking with unalloyed 
 sincerity. At bottom of every word he expressed I could 
 discern a deep, earnest desire, a longing even, to serve 
 humanity. 
 
 Russell, the famous editor of The Scotsman, Scotland's 
 greatest highbrow newspaper, once stooped to rebuke pub- 
 licly the editor of a small paper for not being punctilious 
 about his grammar in writing editorials that, because of 
 their ringing sincerity, their inherent kindliness, helpfulness 
 and broad charity, were attracting national attention. The 
 reply of the people's editor was : "Damn grammar. Gie's 
 hairt." ("Give us heart.") 
 
 That is what we need — heart. We need heart in busi- 
 ness. We need heart in legislation. We need heart in 
 finance. We need heart in labor. We need heart in every 
 walk of life. 
 
 And for my part I believe we are going to get it — more, 
 that we are already getting it. 
 
 The multi-millionaire I have quoted does not stand 
 alone. He is not the only one of his class who yearns to 
 live a wider, fuller, richer, less selfish life ; not the only one 
 who hears and feels the call of humanity, nor the only on? 
 who is ready to respond. 
 
82 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 The sterility of catch-as-catch-can money-making, the 
 barrenness of hoarded cash, its powerlessness to satisfy the 
 soul — an awakening to this realization is working a mighty 
 transformation among men whom the world looks upon 
 as little better than machines for coining dollars. A sense 
 of brotherhood IS developing in unexpected places. Not 
 a few rich men are learning that "heart" counts — that, in- 
 deed, it cannot be ignored, that it will not be smothered, 
 will not be snuffed out. A consciousness of human need, 
 of their own responsibility, is beginning to burn within 
 them. There is a tendency to consider the aim, the end of 
 life, to ask what it all amounts to, and to lean a little more 
 toward the things that count. 
 
 As John Wanamaker recently told of Jay Gould when 
 financial disaster confronted him : "All that I have left is 
 what I have given away," was the soliloquy of the railroad 
 financier. 
 
 And as was most aptly put by a writer the other day, 
 the new spirit breathes this sentiment : 
 
 Shall we give thanks because our hearth is warm 
 While others, half-clad, breast the Winter storm? 
 Shall we give thanks because, our battles won, 
 We fold our hands and say our work is done ? 
 Shall we give thanks that fortune has been kind 
 To us, while grief has wrecked some other minds? 
 There! That is "heart." 
 
 And the man or woman who has heart can adorn the 
 mansion-house of his memory with treasures richer than 
 those of Golconda, with images more beautiful than the 
 paintings and the statuary of the ancients. In the garden 
 of the soul can be planted flowers fairer than the lily and 
 fruits sweeter than the pomegranite. 
 
 These, the priceless things of life, happily are as ac- 
 cessible to the poor as to the rich. They are without money 
 and without price. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 83 
 
 GASOLINE MONEY DIRECTORS, MEN WHO SELL 
 THEIR NAMES, RESPONSIBLE FOR IN- 
 EFFICIENCY AND WORSE— BOSTON 
 FINANCIER'S WARNING AND 
 SUGGESTION. 
 
 To sell one's name is not a creditable piece of business. 
 
 In Europe many titled noblemen "sell" their names and 
 titles for exhibit on directorates — lights to attract moths. 
 
 In this country the evil is not unknown. Men of emi- 
 nence consent to become directors of companies whose af- 
 fairs they know nothing of and never mean to learn. 
 
 Directors who do not direct have been one of the curses 
 of American large-scale business, as revelations during the 
 last few years have shown. 
 
 The trend, however, is towards eradication of this 
 weakness in our economic system. 
 
 Once the law forbidding interlocking directorates 
 comes into force, one man will not be allowed to sit on 
 forty or fifty boards, as we see now. 
 
 The new measure will make for the democratization 
 of industry, since hundreds of directorships now held by 
 big capitalists will have to be distributed among younger 
 men, among junior partners, among executive officers, 
 among able and ambitious aspirants for power. 
 
 The law, however, will by no means put the system of 
 directing American corporations upon a sound, progressive, 
 peace-producing basis. 
 
 "Dummies" will be resorted to in many cases in order 
 to retain control in few hands. 
 
84 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 We need in this country boards of directors more truly 
 representative of the actual ownership of companies, more 
 truly representative of the employees of companies and more 
 truly representative of the public. 
 
 At least one worker should be elected by employees to 
 the board of every large corporation whose stock is held by 
 the public. 
 
 Small investors, also, should be given representation 
 in keeping with their combined security ownership, for to- 
 day the backbone of our great railroad and industrial corpo- 
 rations is not a few wealthy men, but the thousands upon 
 thousands of citizens of modest means who have saved 
 money and invested it. 
 
 If the United States is to produce a nation of investors 
 — as we must if we are to gain financial word-leadership — 
 it is imperative that boards of directors be so constituted as 
 to adequately represent the interests and inspire the com- 
 plete confidence of investors of moderate substance. 
 
 My own opinion, repeatedly expressed, is that directors 
 should be compensated for their services, for real services, 
 and that merely ornamental directors must be dropped. 
 
 This perennially important subject was called afresh 
 to my attention by a Boston financier, William F. Fitz- 
 gerald, head of perhaps the most progressive stock ex- 
 change house in New England. Mr. Fitzgerald was one of 
 the few New Englanders who not only counseled but prac- 
 tised confidence in 1914 when things were at their worst. 
 He urged corporations with which he was identified to pre- 
 pare for enormous business this year; to-day these plants 
 are running night and day at handsome profits, thanks in 
 some instances to foresight in laying in huge supplies of 
 raw materials when prices were abnormally low. 
 
 Said Mr. Fitzgerald: 
 
 "The printed remarks of Mr. Van Hall at the meeting 
 of the Rock Island stockholders that directors should be 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 85 
 
 men who receive compensation enough to give some time to 
 the management of the corporation in which they are di- 
 rectors is a point of vital importance and one that should 
 receive consideration from every investor. 
 
 "The financial world possesses a large number of men 
 of big names who are willing to loan the use of these names 
 for $10 or $20 a month, and whose only interest in the cor- 
 poration is the gasoline money which they collect. 
 
 "The abolition of interlocking directorates is a step in 
 the right direction, but it does not go far enough. Stock- 
 holders should be willing to compensate the men who give 
 time to the management of their affairs, the men who ac- 
 cept a directorship should be willing to guide the affairs of 
 the corporation with which they are connected. 
 
 "The loose methods of the average corporation in the 
 United States from the standpoint of directorship not only 
 generate unfair business methods, but tend to create inef- 
 ficiency. There is no incentive for employees to do their 
 full share because of the 'don't give a rap' policy of the 
 average director, and the man whose only interest in the 
 affairs of the corporation is the fee that he gets is a positive 
 detriment to the whole community. 
 
 "In the place of fees gratuities should be given directors 
 in proportion to the net earnings of their corporations, and 
 responsibilities should be demanded of those who accept 
 such positions." 
 
 Mr. Fitzgerald's suggestion that directors be compelled 
 to accept a much greater responsibility, and that they be 
 remunerated in proportion to net earnings is worthy of 
 consideration. 
 
 American corporations are now owned by the many. 
 
 Why should they be autocratically controlled by the 
 few? 
 
 The public first. 
 
86' FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 AMERICA'S GREATEST ECONOMIC NEED IS AN 
 
 ERA OF SENSIBLE THRIFT— POVERTY 
 
 AND DEBT THE CHILDREN 
 
 OF EXTRAVAGANCE. 
 
 Americans are spendthrifts. Their eagerness to MAKE 
 money is exceeded only by their mania for SPENDING it. 
 
 Now, a dollar saved is not a dollar gained. It is more. 
 
 Queer arithmetic? No. The spirit, the sentiment, the 
 inspiration that prompts the saving of the dollar is of infi- 
 nite value. It means that a thinking cap has been worn, 
 that stock-taking has been carried out, and that right con- 
 clusions have been reached. 
 
 Of all material blessings, the United States has most 
 need to pray for the dawn of an era of thrift. Acute poverty 
 is a thousand-sided curse. The mortal enmeshed in the 
 coils of debt cannot face the world with stout heart and 
 unflinching eye. He can only look down, not up. 
 
 Extravagance and its children, poverty and debt, sap 
 the life of a people. 
 
 That nation whose savings have been invested in the 
 industries and properties of another land holds the sword 
 over the head of its debtor. 
 
 America sends abroad every week perhaps two million 
 dollars in dividends and interest, half of which, through 
 prudence, could have been kept at home and used for the 
 upbuilding of our own wealth. But, fired with the confi- 
 dence, the enthusiasm, the strength and the recklessness 
 of youth, Americans have spent their money lavishly, ex- 
 travagantly, thoughtlessly, with never a care for to-morrow. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 87 
 
 The need for tightening rein becomes pressing. If we 
 are to attain the highest possible place among nations, we 
 must stop squandering our resources and our strength and 
 must husband both. Internationally, as individually, the 
 borrower is at the mercy of the lender. The nation, like 
 the individual, that cannot pay one hundred cents on the 
 dollar is doomed to lose caste. 
 
 To talk thrift in a land so rich as America is to incur 
 ridicule. Can we not boast of the wealthiest people on 
 earth? Is our country not overflowing with all that goes 
 to make up fortunes? Are we not advancing at a rate his- 
 tory has never before known ? Are we not the most envied 
 of peoples? True, all true. But even the most sumptuous 
 of fortunes may be dissipated, the greatest strength de- 
 stroyed, the brightest of prospects blighted by long-con- 
 tinued imprudence. 
 
 Speaking only from the financial point of view — leav- 
 ing out the wider and deeper considerations, political and 
 ethical — there is special need at this juncture for thrift on 
 the part of Americans. 
 
 How much capital, think you, have our great railroad, 
 traction, industrial, mining, and mercantile corporations 
 sought to borrow each year from the public? Not one thou- 
 sand millions, but some two thousand millions ! Try to 
 grasp the figure— $2,000,000,000. 
 
 From every man, woman and child in the United States 
 our corporations have been applying for capital at the rate 
 of $20 a year. Forty cents each week they want from every 
 adult and child under the Stars and Stripes. 
 
 American companies have been borrowing two dollars 
 for every one dollar asked by British concerns. They have, to 
 put the position differently, floated as many new securities 
 as Great Britain and France combined. 
 
 If our national progress is not to be unduly retarded, 
 this staggering sum must now be supplied almost wholly at 
 
88 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 home, for war-racked Europe will be a borrower rather than 
 a lender for years to come. 
 
 Now, this money must first be saved before it can be 
 supplied. Capital does not mysteriously spring into ex- 
 istence. It has to be made. If nobody practises economy, 
 if everybody spends every cent he makes, whence can come 
 new capital for exploiting our resources, for enriching the 
 country with railroads, for building factories, digging ca- 
 nals, opening mines? Unless you have some money to in- 
 vest, is it not plain that you cannot make investments? 
 
 The thrifty investors are the salt of a nation. America 
 has crying need for a million more of them. If we are to 
 lead the world, we must rear investors — savers of money. 
 
 Red blood need not run riot simply to demonstrate that 
 it is red. 
 
 No private firm, no matter how respectable, no store, 
 however prosperous, no steamship agent or other individual 
 or company should be allowed to run a bank of deposit) 
 more especially a bank for the deposit of savings, without 
 being under the strict supervision of the State Banking De- 
 partment. Unregulated, do-as-we-please banking should 
 not be permitted in any shape or form. 
 
 Don't buy rubbish just because the price is in cents 
 rather than dollars. To buy "cheap" shares is usually to 
 buy dear ones. The best grades of stocks are the ones ordi- 
 nary investors should patronize. Leave alluring "prospects" 
 and fancy new inventions to gamblers. Do not embark 
 upon uncharted seas. Buy securities which have a pedi- 
 gree and which have a clean record. Favor corporations 
 that practise publicity. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 89 
 
 FROM FARM BOY TO PRESIDENT OF GREATEST 
 TRUST COMPANY IN WORLD— CHARLES 
 H. SABIN SAYS, "WORK IS HAPPI- 
 NESS," BUT "BEWARE OF 
 SWELL-HEADEDNESS." 
 
 From farm boy to president of the greatest trust com- 
 jiany in the world, with a salary of probably a thousand 
 dollars a week. 
 
 That is the record attained by Charles H. Sabin, the 
 new president of the Guaranty Trust Company, of New 
 York. 
 
 And his climb from the milk stool to the presidency of 
 an institution which did a foreign exchange business alone 
 in 1914 of four billion dollars— $4,000,000,000— has taken 
 him only twenty-eight years! 
 
 Such a career is worthy of comment in these days of 
 discontent and of grumbling that the young man without 
 "influence" or "pull" cannot rise fast or far. 
 
 We have now the spectacle of the greatest national 
 bank in America and the greatest trust company in the 
 whole world each presided over by ex-farmboys. Mr. Sa- 
 bin's spectacular success is on a par with that of Frank 
 A. Vanderlip, head of the National City Bank of New 
 York. 
 
 The truth is that five of every six really big executive 
 positions in the United States are now filled by men who 
 started in humble circumstances and had to make their 
 own way and create their own influence. 
 
90 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Glance over the country's roll of railroad presidents; 
 you will find, almost without exception, that the heads of 
 our leading systems began at the bottom and forged ahead 
 through sheer ability and unremitting application of body 
 and brain. 
 
 Our principal industrial corporations are no longer cap- 
 tained by figureheads, the scions of wealthy families, but 
 by men who started at scratch and had to run their race 
 unaided by riches or powerful friends. 
 
 So with the majority of our important financial institu- 
 tions. Directors may be plutocratic nobodies, but the ac- 
 tive management must be placed in the hands of hard 
 workers, who have been through the winnowing mill of 
 practical experience. 
 
 The struggle for success in every line of business is so 
 keen to-day that responsible positions must be awarded to 
 men of solid merit, of indefatigable energy, of unbounded 
 enthusiasm, of unflinching courage and possessing infinite 
 faith in the worthiness of their life's work. 
 
 There are more $50,000-a-year jobs than there are $50,- 
 000-a-year men available to fill them. 
 
 To discharge the duties of most positions paying $50,- 
 000 to $100,000 a year calls for the expenditure of so much 
 vitality that few mortals can stand the strain without break- 
 ing down, wholly or partially, every now and again. 
 
 I have said that the institution of which Mr. Sabin 
 has become president did $4,000,000,000 of foreign exchange 
 business in 1914. Well, the head of the exchange depart- 
 ment, Max May, is about the hardest working man I've 
 ever known in all my peregrinations. I can't understand 
 how he stands it and have repeatedly told him so. 
 
 The turnover of the Guaranty's trust department in 
 1914 was $2,000,000,000. Think of that ! 
 
 No wonder President Alexander J. Hemphill proposed 
 that he become chairman of the board and that Mr. Sabin 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 91 
 
 be elevated to the presidency to share the constantly multi- 
 plying duties. 
 
 And the duties of this and other progressive executives 
 in our strong financial institutions are destined to increase 
 inordinately under the new conditions created by the Euro- 
 pean industrial and financial upheaval. Unparalleled oppor- 
 tunities are opening up. They will be seized by those who 
 know how to reach out for them. 
 
 If the United States is to become, as is hoped, the finan- 
 cial centre of the world, men of the Sabin stamp must be 
 given scope to exercise their abilities and to turn their 
 foresight into action. 
 
 Mr. Sabin has come to the forefront within the last 
 five years. He is one of a group of youngish men who have 
 made financial history — not, of course, without at the same 
 time making mistakes; but experience should rectify this. 
 He ranks with such stalwarts as Henry P. Davison, of Mor- 
 gan & Co. ; President Wiggin, of the Chase National Bank ; 
 President Vanderlip, of the National City Bank; President 
 Woodward, of the Hanover National Bank; Governor 
 Strong, of the Federal Reserve Bank; George B. Reynolds 
 and the Forgans, of Chicago, and Gaston, of Boston. 
 
 How has he done it? 
 
 What have been his guiding maxims? 
 
 Wherein lies the secret of his phenomenal success? 
 
 Mr. Sabin, when tackled at his desk, refused to "pose," 
 as he put it, for an interview. 
 
 "No, no !" He put up his hands as if to repel the very 
 idea. 
 
 "I never pose for interviews, and as for presuming to 
 tell people how to succeed — that would strike me as being 
 a Joke. 
 
 "Why, I'm no more than any of those scores of clerks 
 in these cages. They are all just as good as I am, and 
 as necessary for the running of the institution. We are 
 simply a big team here and we do teamwork. 
 
92 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 "It is all a case of organization, organization, organiza- 
 tion. After you have got your organization right every- 
 thing can go right. 
 
 "A one-man organization is not the best thing; it is 
 about the worst thing. Neither Mr. Hemphill nor I have 
 ever tried to make this a one-man concern. Why, we all 
 just work together. The officers all meet every morning 
 and we have a perfectly frank exchange of ideas. Then 
 all our clerks know that they can come to me or any other 
 officer and talk with the utmost freedom, consistent always 
 of course with discipline, which you must have when hand- 
 ling large forces of men." 
 
 Mr. Sabin, let me interject, has built up first one finan- 
 cial institution and then another with dazzling rapidity. 
 He immediately infused life and vigor and vim into every 
 organization he took hold of. Since he joined the Guaranty 
 Irust, in 1910, its deposits have increased from $120,000,000 
 lo over $200,000,000 when he moved up to its presidency; 
 its foreign exchange department has become by far the 
 most important in the United States, its turnover last year 
 having approximated four thousand million dollars ($4,000,- 
 000,000) ; its trust department handled some two thousand 
 millions ($2,000,000,000) of securities, while its total busi- 
 ness this year (1915) is expected to approach the two hun- 
 dred and thirty thousand millions ($230,000,000,000) turn- 
 over of the Deutsche Bank of Berlin, which does the great- 
 est business of any bank in the world that makes public 
 reports. 
 
 Well, think of the responsibility of being president of 
 the institution which does that amount of business in one 
 J ear ! 
 
 I suggested to Mr. Sabin that the job was rather a big 
 one. 
 
 Here again his modesty prevented him from enlarging 
 on this phase of his position. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 93 
 
 "Why, work is fun, the best fun of all. I think we 
 were put into this world with the idea that we should find 
 all the joy and happiness we could in it. Work is happiness. 
 
 "But" — he broke off suddenly, as if catching himself 
 about to grant an interview — "you must never take yourself 
 too seriously. You mustn't begin to imagine you're some- 
 body — that's fatal. You must never forget to have a sense 
 of humor. For, aren't we all pretty much the same — here 
 for a few years to work and enjoy our life and then go? 
 Why should anybody be tempted to become swell-headed ?" 
 
 ''You are a great believer in hard work?" I remarked. 
 
 "Work shouldn't be hard. I have always gone in for 
 plenty of work, but then I like it. I find something to do 
 until six or seven in the evening most days." 
 
 And the public picture bankers as closing their roll- 
 top desks punctually at 3 o'clock every afternoon ! 
 
 "Then you would say plenty of work and proper or- 
 ganization are the main things that make for success ?" 
 
 "And a sense of humor, so that you don't take yourself 
 too seriously," broke in Mr. Sabin. 
 
 Were I to sum up the reasons for Mr. Sabin's phenome- 
 nal rise in so short a period — he left the farm at eighteen and 
 is now only forty-six — I would say : 
 
 Plenty of work and joy in doing it. 
 
 Thorough organization, giving each man responsibili- 
 ties and allowing him scope to discharge them. 
 
 And non-swell-headedness ! 
 
 Enable a man or woman to save a few hundred dollars 
 and let the money be invested in securities and see what a 
 sobering effect it will have upon sentiments previously 
 revolutionary. One hundred dollars saved by thrift is more 
 conducive to worthy manhood than the prospect of a thou- 
 gand dollars from a ijatjopa.! pension fund, 
 
94 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 LOOKING AT LIFE FROM SEVEN HUNDRED 
 FEET ABOVE IT— REFLECTIONS AND 
 CONSOLATIONS— A POETIC FAIL- 
 URE AND HIS CREED. 
 
 I am at the top of the Woolworth Building, 700 feet 
 above the seething mass of midgets on the narrow streets 
 below. 
 
 How small, how impotent, how vain do they and their 
 hurried, feverish comings and goings appear! 
 
 What an object lesson for the proud to come up hither 
 and behold how feeble and futile all look from this altitude. 
 On descending how could they fail to lose their strut and 
 swagger and puffed-up vanity, little creeping ants that they 
 are, hastening to and fro for an instant on earth's stage 
 and then going hence. 
 
 Let Scrooge come up here and see if it does not soften 
 his heart, see if it does not bring home to him the useles.s- 
 ness and folly of his browbeating and blood-sweating and 
 heart-breaking for the sake of gathering that which he may 
 never spend and that which he assuredly shall never be 
 able to spend in the purchase of happiness or soul-satis- 
 faction. 
 
 Let the sweatshop taskmaster take his bearings afresh 
 from this height and see if he does not return to his inferno 
 a little less harsh, a little less fiendishly greedy, a little 
 more considerate of his fellow-beings. 
 
 To those of us who have crawled and sprawled in the 
 very depths of hell by reason of our ' wrongdoing, the ex- 
 periencei here gives us pause, and we set foot on earth 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 95 
 
 again with a little more determination to do good instead 
 of evil in so far as our frail flesh, our wordly ambitions and 
 our unworthy appetites will permit. 
 
 If things have, been going wrong with you, if the fates 
 seem to have conspired to thwart you and make you miser- 
 able, if cherished dreams have turned to nightmares — then 
 come up here and look down upon the littleness of every- 
 thing below, for then will you reflect that your troubles 
 are but for a moment, that man may crush your clay but 
 cannot mar or scar your spirit, which, up here, mingling 
 with the very heavens, its native element, becomes the 
 thing all-important, the thing that will last, the thing that 
 will count to-day and to-morrow and all the to-morrows that 
 will come and go after proud, imperious, on-rushing New 
 York shall have mingled with the rocks on which it now 
 rears its proud head. 
 
 Come up here, seven hundred feet nearer the blue sky, 
 and your distorted perspective will be corrected, the be-all 
 and the end-all of the terrestrial ball will take on a new 
 form and meaning. 
 
 If you are proud, it will make you feel humble. 
 
 If humble, encouraged. 
 
 If distressed, consoled. 
 
 On Sunday I sat on a bench in City Hall Park, under 
 shadow of the great building, the highest in the world. A 
 down-at-the-heels, half-drunk, gray-haired mortal presently 
 sat down beside me. My mind was still pondering the 
 thoughts the visit skywards had begotten. 
 
 "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands 
 mourn" he began by way of introduction. 
 
 I showed signs of neighborliness. 
 
 "The world changes as you grow older," he went on, 
 half to himself, half to me. "It makes you different. Oh ! 
 I was as good a gentleman as the best of them when I left 
 Ireland — may the good Lord bless the dear little country," 
 this doffing his battered hat. "But it was the drink that did 
 
96 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 it, damn it. I'm a bit drunk now. The poets know more 
 than we do; they are inspired. They see things you and 
 me can't see. Thomas Moore, the Irish poet — ah! That 
 was a poet for you. And Burns — he had no education, a 
 ploughman he was. 
 
 'Oh, ever thus, from childhood's hour 
 
 I've seen my fondest hopes decay; 
 I never loved a tree or flower 
 
 But 'twas the first to fade away. 
 I never nurs'd a dear gazelle. 
 
 To glad me with its soft black eye. 
 But when it came to know me well 
 
 And love me, it was sure to die." 
 
 "That's me. The world changes you. It makes you 
 hard. But — glory be to God" — hat again off — "I never 
 wronged any man. I had more money in my pocket than 
 sense in my head when I landed here in June, 187 — , and 
 I stood drinks all round in a saloon. The bums followed 
 me and took my roll and left me with a broken jaw. 
 
 "I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curl'd 
 Above the green elms, that a cottage was near; 
 
 And I said, 'If there's peace to be found in the world, 
 A heart that was humble might hope for it here.' " 
 
 "Forgive me, son, won't you, for going on like this? 
 But you seemed willing to listen to a broken-down old man 
 whose sensibilities are dulled with the drink. May the 
 Lord have mercy on you and keep you from becoming like 
 me. 
 
 Then it was time for me to go to work. 
 
 Somehow, since then the scene from the high tower and 
 the ramblings of the old man have mingled in my mind. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 97 
 
 A LIST OF SIMPLE RULES FOR TELLING WHEN 
 
 TO AVOID SECURITIES OFFERED YOU— 
 
 FOLLOW THESE RULES AND YOU 
 
 WILL NOT BE CAPTURED BY 
 
 FAKIRS— SOME DON'TS. 
 
 Beware of Any "Security" Which — 
 
 Is represented as certain to bring you a fortune; 
 Is offered you as a special privilege; 
 Is to be marked up to a certain price on a given date ; 
 Must be bought in a hurry, without delay for investi- 
 gation ; 
 
 Has no responsible interests associated with it ; 
 Is only in the promotion stage — that is, merely an 
 undeveloped "prospect" ; 
 
 Is based on some alleged property in a distant part of 
 the country, and of which you have no means of gathering 
 information — except from the sellers of the stock or bond ; 
 
 Is not dealt in on any important stock exchange, or 
 readily marketable in case you want to sell; 
 
 Is offered you by some one posing as an enemy of 
 "the capitalists" ; by some one anxious to let you share with 
 him the joy and profit of exploiting a property or enter- 
 prise which, when filched from its rightful owners and with 
 a little money from you and a few others, will reap a golden 
 harvest ; 
 
 Is dependent upon some new invention — capital for 
 the vending of really valuable inventions is not usually 
 sought from small investors by unknown agents; 
 
98 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Is to finance some wireless telegraph or telephone de- 
 vice that will, according to those asking you for your money, 
 drive all the existing companies out of business ; 
 
 Is secured by unimproved land (in some remote 
 region) that is to become in time the site of a city, which 
 will cause the holdings to yield fabulous sums when cut 
 up into tiny lots; 
 
 Has as its strongest inducement that it is "non-assess- 
 able," for this is no guarantee of anything and is often 
 used as a hook for unwary fish; 
 
 Is selling at a few cents a share — a low quotation does 
 not mean that a stock must be cheap, and anything selling 
 in cents is not likely to be an investment, but a sheer gam- 
 ble in which the promoter spins the wheel and stops it at 
 any point he desires; 
 
 Is repeatedly drawn to your urgent attention by letters 
 and circulars impressing upon you that by not buying now 
 you are letting rich profits slip through your fingers; 
 
 Is bunched with other offerings by the seller and the 
 lot "marked down" to a price below the total of the indi- 
 vidual quotations — trustworthy securities are never sold 
 that way, and you can stamp such a scheme as an unmiti- 
 gated fraud ; 
 
 Is — this is important — a mining stock or bond in course 
 of flotation — such are not investments; they are gambling 
 chips, or, to be more correct, often are loaded dice, which 
 the insiders can play any way they like, and rob you of 
 your hard-earned dollars. 
 
 Never buy a security without first learning of its stand- 
 ing from some one or some publication you can trust. 
 
 Investigate before investing. Staple securities do not 
 disappear from the market overnight. High-grade invest- 
 ment issues, such as are suitable for the majority of small 
 investors, do not jump up and down in price day by day. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 99 
 
 Don't expect a much better income from your invested 
 capital than such people as John D. Rockefeller, Andrew 
 Carnegie, Mrs. E. H. Harriman, Mrs. Russell Sage, and 
 such institutions as insurance companies demand. The}' 
 are careful investors. You cannot afford to be less so. 
 
 It used to be the fashion for all sorts of business asso- 
 ciations to hold gay dinners. To-day, conventions — serious, 
 matter-of-fact, down-to-brass-tacks conventions — are the 
 rule. Instead of conviviality, business men prefer sober, 
 thoughtful discussions, helpful addresses and mutual com- 
 paring of experiences with the single aim of improving their 
 methods and their product. In almost every branch of 
 industry there are scores of keen minds at work day-in, day- 
 out, seeking to increase efficiency, to discover labor-saving 
 devices, to invent new processes, all with the object of ren- 
 dering better service at less cost. In railroading, in engineer- 
 ing, in mining and metallurgy, in electricity, in many lines 
 of manufacture, in grand-scale production, the United States 
 has led the world. 
 
 Labor's "Independence Day" is coming, though not 
 quite the kind of day now demanded by certain labor leaders. 
 Labor has already enjoyed one form of independence. It 
 has even occasionally turned its liberty into license, its 
 power into arrogance. In common with certain capitalists, 
 it has not always played fair with the people at large, the 
 third party in every serious dispute. Just as the people are 
 clipping the wings of High Finance, of Big Business, of 
 Political Bosses, so will it bring labor back to earth should 
 labor seek to soar too high. Labor's independence, I be- 
 lieve, will come mainly through obtaining a direct share in 
 the profits it helps to create. 
 
100 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 WHO HAVE MADE THIS COUNTRY GREAT? 
 
 POLITICIANS? MUCKRAKERS? DEMAGOGUES? 
 
 NO! THE NATION'S REAL LEADERS 
 
 HAVE BEEN HER MEN OF 
 
 AFFAIRS, THE DOERS, 
 
 NOT THE TALKERS. 
 
 No country can thrive on the bitter fruits of class 
 hatred, distrust, suspicion, recrimination, internecine strife. 
 These things breed disaster, disaster breeds misery, and 
 misery breeds bloodshed. 
 
 The United States is in danger of perpetrating in- 
 dustrial suicide. 
 
 It has indulged in an orgy of civil v^^ar against pros- 
 perity. 
 
 Class has been inflamed against class, the worker 
 against his employer, the Government against business. 
 
 As for the banker, he has been branded a knave — yea, 
 a leper, to be avoided and ostracized. 
 
 Along comes Congress with an amazing "anti-trust" 
 measure (the "Five Brothers") which treats the banker as a 
 felon, as a schemer, a wrecker, a cannibal, to be shut out 
 of the counsels of commerce and industry. 
 
 Few people who have read my articles will ac- 
 cuse me of being blind to the faults of "Big Business," 
 of our financiers, of men of large affairs. There has been 
 no hesitation in criticising where criticism was palpably 
 deserved. I might go further and say that not a few of 
 our prominent capitalists have admitted to me that the 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 101 
 
 criticisms were justified and that the effect upon them had 
 been something more than nil. 
 
 "We were on the wrong track several years ago, but 
 we have since been scrupulously careful to get right and 
 keep right," is the admission and defense capital now makes 
 — and, I believe, with much truth. 
 
 The time has now arrived, I am convinced, to call a 
 halt on indiscriminate attacks upon the business men of 
 America. 
 
 Who have made this country what it is? 
 
 Who have raised it to where it is? 
 
 Politicians ? 
 
 Muckrakers ? 
 
 Demagogues ? 
 
 No, not these gentlemen. 
 
 America stands where she does — I speak of material 
 things — mainly because of the genius, the energy, the dar- 
 ing and the ambition of her men of business and invention; 
 the industry, sobriety, skill and ambition of her workers ; 
 the vast richness of her agricultural and mineral resources, 
 and the freedom for initiation, co-operation, organization 
 and combination which heretofore have blessed this virgin, 
 king-free land. 
 
 In the upbuilding of this nation our now despised 
 bankers have played an important and necessary part. 
 
 How could our great railroad systems, the wonder and 
 the envy of the world, have been built without the aid of 
 the banker, acting as the representative of the thousands 
 upon thousands of citizens and oversea investors who had 
 managed to live within their income and save a surplus? 
 Whence would have come the staggering sums necessary 
 therefor had not the banker undertaken the task of collect- 
 ing and supplying them? Without co-operation and combi- 
 nation, the badges of civilization, the construction of these 
 mighty engines of progress would have been impossible. 
 It was the banker and the financier and the capitalist and 
 
102 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 the man of affairs who first visioned these colossal enter- 
 prises and then transformed their visions into realities, into 
 roadbeds and bridges and terminals and tunnels, piercing 
 mountains, spanning chasms, crossing lakes, felling path- 
 ways in forests and jungles and defying the terrors of the 
 desert. 
 
 We are apt to forget these things, I fear. Or is it that 
 we prefer not to remember them? 
 
 "Why do you not quit?" I asked a harassed millionaire. 
 "You have money enough to live on, I'm sure." "Because 
 I can't — couldn't, no matter how anxious, I might be to get 
 out of it all," he replied very emphatically. "Thousands of 
 people have invested their money in properties through my 
 recommendation, and how could I desert them when trouble 
 arises? That WOULD be cowardly. No. You simply have 
 to stick. You must stand by your friends and your clients, 
 and protect their interests. You cannot run away. You 
 have to stand up and fight. The 'sports' are not all on the 
 field of play." 
 
 I have delved into real estate "bonds." Nine-tenths 
 of them are to be avoided. Many of them are not bonds at 
 all, but mere I. O. U.'s with no security worth considering 
 behind them. And few of them can be quickly sold byj 
 holders. There are legitimate real estate bonds — one Chi- 
 cago concern, for example, has done an extensive and honor- 
 able business in them for many years with profitable results 
 to buyers. But the average investor should not touch a 
 "real estate bond" without first consulting some capable, 
 non-interested authority. INVESTIGATE BEFORE IN- 
 VESTING. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 103 
 
 HEART-TO-HEART TALK WITH WOODROW 
 WILSON— AN EARLY CONFAB RECALLED. 
 
 I happened to meet Woodrow Wilson one day while 
 he was alone. It was during his campaign for the presi-- 
 dency. Taking advantage of an old friendship, I ventured 
 to intrude upon his solitude, and we enjoyed a long talk. 
 
 When I had last talked with Woodrow Wilson, some 
 four years earlier, we dwelt at length upon the incipient 
 rise in the tide of democracy abroad and at home, upon the 
 troubles that were besetting capitalistic combinations and 
 upon the attitude of our financiers toward the assertive 
 voice of public opinion. At that early date the conclusion 
 reached was that great, fundamental changes were pend- 
 ing. How important a part Mr. Wilson was destined to 
 take in moulding American sentiment neither he nor I 
 could have foreseen. I then felt, however, that his grasp 
 of public affairs was more that of the statesman than the 
 pedagogue, and that it was a pity he had not accepted a 
 Cabinet office under his staunch friend, Grover Cleveland. 
 
 Mr. Wilson was keenly interested to learn just how 
 the financial giants were lined up politically. I was able 
 to tell him that not a few hide-bound Republicans in "Wall 
 Street" had broken away from the party and were throw- 
 ing in their allegiance with the Democrats. I mentioned 
 the names of several very influential financiers who were 
 favoring Wilson, but of whose support he was entirely una- 
 ware. Quite truthfully, too, I described how early opposi- 
 tion or indifference had given way to loyalty in many 
 quarters. 
 
 We discussed the triumphant uprising of the common 
 people in almost every land and interpreted it as an encour- 
 aging portent of Democratic victory in November, a phase 
 of the situation which Mr. Wilson emphasized in the very 
 next speech he delivered. 
 
104 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 THE WORKMAN OF YESTERDAY IS THE CAPI- 
 TALIST OF TO-DAY— A ROLL-CALL OF AMER- 
 ICA'S FOREMOST MEN OF AFFAIRS AND A 
 PEEP AT THEIR HUMBLE ORIGIN. 
 
 In America the workman of yesterday is the capitalist 
 of to-day. And the workman of to-day will be the capitalist 
 of to-morrow. Have no doubts on that score. How often 
 do we hear: "The workman nowadays hasn't a chance." 
 Hasn't he? 
 
 Let's see, now, just who is who and who was who. 
 
 Who are these terrible capitalists, anyway ? Where did 
 they come from? Were they born that way or did they 
 make themselves? Were they once upon a time ordinary 
 workers like the rest of us? Did they start at scratch? 
 
 Let's begin with the (reputedly) richest man on earth. 
 Was John D. Rockefeller born with a golden spoon in his 
 mouth ? Was his brother William, also enormously wealthy ? 
 No, John D. was as poor as a church mouse and borrowed 
 a modest sum on which to start business on his own ac- 
 count. 
 
 How about the next in line, Andrew Carnegie? Did 
 he not begin in an engine-room at a dollar or so a week and 
 have to slave like a grown-up to eke out a slender existence 
 for his mother? No silver spoon there — not even a steel 
 one, only a horn one. 
 
 The greatest industry in the United States is railroad- 
 ing. The first railroad giant in this country was Commo- 
 dore Vanderbilt. He, as all the world knows, was not reared 
 on any lap of luxury. The greatest living railroad man in 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 105 
 
 America is James J. Hill. He had neither purse nor influ- 
 ence when he set out to fulfill the injunction decreed upon 
 fallen Adam, but he has worked like a Trojan ever since 
 transforming wildernesses into fruitful farms and making 
 two blades of grass grow where only weeds and waste 
 luxuriated before, and thus earning for himself the title, 
 "The Grand Old Man of the Northwest." And was not 
 Edward H. Harriman the son of a poor, underpaid min- 
 ister, and did he not do his own capital-making? 
 
 Call the roll of other great railroad men, dead and 
 alive, and you will find that almost every one of them began 
 at the very bottom. What of such notable railroad presi- 
 dents as Underwood, of the Erie; Howard Elliott, of the 
 New Haven ; Ripley, of Atchison ; Willard, of Baltimore & 
 Ohio ; Earling, of St. Paul ; Rea, of the Pennsylvania ; Bush, 
 of Missouri Pacific; Kruttschnitt, of Southern Pacific; 
 Trumbull, of Chesapeake & Ohio; Truesdale, of Lacka- 
 wanna, and a score of others? Not one of them was born 
 great or had greatness thrust upon him. They have won 
 it by the sweat of their brows and brains. 
 
 Not one of our steel magnates was born rich. Gary, 
 the head of the Steel Corporation, was a none too opulent 
 Illinois lawyer, and President Farrell won his spurs as a 
 steel salesman. Schwab, ''the greatest steel man of them 
 all," according to Carnegie, was once as poor as he now is 
 rich — he is the largest stockholder and the dominator of the 
 Bethlehem Steel Corporation, whose phenomenal rise in 
 market value has been the principal speculative incident 
 of the war. 
 
 Theodore N. Vail, the genius who has amazed Christen- 
 dom by his building up of the most wonderful telephone 
 system in the world, a system beside which all others are 
 Lilliputian, has had to start from scratch — not once, but 
 oftener. No switchboard operator has been kept as busy 
 as he. 
 
106 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Was not Edison as scant of cash at the outset as the 
 proverbial inventor? John Mackay was not burdened with 
 a load of inherited riches. Neither was Hammond, of type- 
 writer fame; nor Henry Ford, the automobile wizard, 
 whose personal profits in one year were in the neighborhood 
 of ten million dollars before he began sharing them lavishly 
 with his employees. James B. Duke, the tobacco king^ 
 made his own gigantic fortune. George B. Cortelyou, head 
 of the Consolidated Gas Company of New York, is an ex- 
 stenographer. The president of the largest national bank 
 in the United States, Frank A. Vanderlip, was once a finan- 
 cial news reporter, and was something even lower before 
 he got that job. 
 
 Henry P. Davison, the active head of the greatest 
 banking firm in America, J. P. Morgan & Co., used to work 
 on a farm during school vacations. He began to earn his 
 own living about the age gilded youths are leaving the 
 nursery. 
 
 Turning to merchant princes, did not John Wana- 
 maker start as an errand-boy in a book store? Horace B. 
 Claflin, founder of one of the biggest wholesale dry goods 
 firms in the country, began very humbly. Macy, Straus, 
 Bloomingdale, Gimbel and other names will spring to mind. 
 
 No, the race to-day is not to the born-rich. Inherited 
 wealth cannot keep a brainless son at the head of any huge 
 enterprise. Brains, not a bursting bankroll, form the all- 
 necessary qualification. Pampered sons of multi-million- 
 aires are more often ornaments than useful cogs in the in- 
 dustrial wheel. There is no room in the feverish struggle 
 for interfering figureheads. 
 
 The winner is the industrious, intelligent worker. He 
 is the capitalist of to-morrow just as he is the head of almost 
 every industry to-day. There is lots of room at the top. 
 And the pathway is clear for all. There are more big jobs 
 awaiting really big men today than there are big men await- 
 ing jobs. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 107 
 
 AN A B C OF AMERICA'S RAILROADS— HOW 
 MANY MEN THEY EMPLOY, THE WAGE BILL 
 PAID, ETC.— HOW THE RAILROAD 
 DOLLAR IS SPENT. 
 
 How many employees have the railways of the United 
 States? 
 
 1,848,883. 
 
 Allowing five persons to a family, what would be the 
 total directly dependent upon the railroads for their living? 
 
 9,244,415. 
 
 What is the minimum number of workers dependent 
 for employment mainly upon orders from railroads — em- 
 ployees of locomotive companies, car manufacturers, etc.? 
 
 More than 1,000,000. 
 
 Multiplied by five-to-a-family, this means? 
 
 Upwards of 5,000,000. 
 
 Making the grand total of persons supported by the 
 railways, what? 
 
 Approximately 15,000,000, or one in every seven of the 
 country's total population. 
 
 How much do the railroads pay to their 1,848,883 em- 
 ployees in a year? 
 
 $1,390,025,286. 
 
 How many cents of each dollar the railroads spend do 
 these employees receive in wages? 
 
 Fully 44 cents of each dollar. 
 
 How many cents of each dollar received are paid for 
 materials and supplies for all purposes? 
 
 About 25 cents. 
 
108 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Does labor get any considerable share of this? 
 
 The bulk of it goes into the pay envelopes of those who 
 produced or manufactured these materials and supplies. 
 
 What were the gross earnings of our railroads during 
 the year ended June 30, 1914? 
 
 $3,098,487,696. 
 
 How much was retained as net earnings after paying 
 operating expenses and taxes? 
 
 $716,688,210. 
 
 Who are the greatest taxpayers in the whole country ? 
 
 The railroads. 
 
 How much did they pay last fiscal year? 
 
 $142,191,880. 
 
 Are their tax levies increasing? 
 
 The increase this year over last was $12,610,402, or at 
 the rate of a million dollars more every month. 
 
 How do tax payments compare with dividend pay- 
 ments ? 
 
 Exact comparisons for 1914 are not available, but in 
 1913, 4.14 per cent, was paid in taxes and 4.92 per cent< 
 was devoted to dividends and surplus combined. Condi- 
 ditions are much poorer now. 
 
 The statement was recently made by anti-railroad peo- 
 ple that "as the receipts of the railways are $3,000,000,000 
 and as there are 20,000,000 families in the United States, the 
 average expenditure per family for railway transportation 
 is $150, or one-fourth of its income." Is this so? 
 
 The person who indulged in that arithmetic forgot to 
 add that $2,000,000,000, or $100 for each family in the 
 country, is paid back by the railroads in wages and ma- 
 terials alone, to say nothing of taxes. In other respects the 
 statement conveys misleading notions. 
 
 How do railway freight rates in the United States com- 
 pare with those of other countries? 
 
 American freight rates are the lowest in the world. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 109 
 
 How do the railroads spend each dollar they receive? 
 What are the exact details? 
 
 The railway dollar is spent thus, in cents and fractions 
 of cents: 
 
 Labor $44.05 
 
 Coal and oil 8.64 
 
 Material, supplies 9.80 
 
 Miscellaneous expenses 4.66 
 
 Taxes 4.14 
 
 Loss and damages > . . . . 2.26 
 
 Betterments, etc 4.57 
 
 Interest on funded debt 13.04 
 
 Rents of leased roads 3.92 
 
 Dividends and surplus 4.92 
 
 Total $100.00 
 
 Who are the owners of the railroads? Whose capital 
 has built them and maintained them? How many stock- 
 holders and bondholders are there? How many security 
 holders are women? Are savings banks, insurance com- 
 panies, hospitals, colleges and many philanthropic institu- 
 tions largely dependent upon dividends and interest from 
 railway investments for their income and support? Who 
 suflFer when railroads are wrecked by mismanagement? 
 
 That opens up another phase of the railways — DEF, 
 so to speak — and calls for a whole chapter for itself. 
 
 Don't by any exclusion law deny to a healthy, honest 
 immigrant laborer the right to take part in building up this 
 young country simply because he has spent his boyhood in 
 the field or the workshops and not in the schoolroom. It is 
 un-American. It is not humane. And it is not good busi- 
 ness. 
 
no FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 THE REAL OWNERS OF AMERICA'S RAILROADS 
 
 —WE ALL HAVE A DIRECT INTEREST 
 
 IN THEIR SOLVENCY— MANY 
 
 WOMEN STOCKHOLDERS. 
 
 Who Are the Real Owners of America's Railroads? 
 
 The railroads of the United States are not owned by 
 the Rockefellers, the Morgans, the Bakers, the Stillmans, 
 the Schiffs, the Carnegies, the Goulds, the Speyers, the 
 Vanderbilts, the Hills, the Harrimans. 
 
 When the Government, the Interstate Commerce Com- 
 mission, State Public Service Commissions, State Legis- 
 latures or the public injure the railroads they hurt these 
 multi-millionaires much less than they hurt YOU. 
 
 YOU are probably part owner of the country's railroad 
 system. 
 
 You may be drawing profits from railroading without 
 knowing it. 
 
 Or you may be deriving other benefits from railroad 
 securities through channels you never suspected. 
 
 Let us first deal with the direct owners of railroad 
 securities. 
 
 What have the railroads of the United States cost to 
 create ? 
 
 About $20,000,000,000— the Interstate Commerce Com- 
 mission's figure brought up to June, 1906, was $14,570,421,- 
 478. 
 
 Who have supplied this vast amount of capital? 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 111 
 
 Millions of home and foreign investors, millions of citi- 
 zens who have paid premiums to insurance companies, 
 millions of depositors in savings banks, millions of persons 
 having accounts in banks, trust companies and other insti- 
 tutions. 
 
 How many stockholders are there in American rail- 
 roads to-day? 
 
 Complete ofHcial returns are nowhere obtainable, but 
 for many years I have compiled figures supplied me by 
 the principal railroads. Last year seventy-six roads (in- 
 cluding Canadian roads), with a stock capitalization of 
 $5,489,952,616, reported 477,458 stockholders. On this 
 basis a grand total of 750,000 stockholders (exclusive en- 
 tirely of bondholders) would seem to be a reasonable esti- 
 mate. 
 
 Is the average number of shares owned very large? 
 
 No; the average is 115 shares. 
 
 Are many persons of modest means holders of railroad 
 shares? 
 
 Yes, and the number is constantly increasing. The Penn- 
 sylvania Railroad alone has 20,000 stockholders owning less 
 than ten shares each. All the directors and employees com- 
 bined own less than one-twentieth of the company's stock. 
 
 Are nearly all stockholders men? 
 
 No — emphatically no. The Pennsylvania has nearly 
 45,000 women stockholders, almost half the New Haven's 
 22,500 stockholders are women, and other large companies 
 carry thousands of women on their lists of stockholders. A 
 substantial percentage of these women are widows, depend- 
 ent upon the income for their own and their children's 
 living. 
 
 How many stockholders are there in our leading rail- 
 roads ? 
 
 Here are the latest official figures, supplied me by the 
 head of each company less than a year ago ; 
 
112 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Number of 
 Name of Road Stockholders 
 
 Pennsylvania R. R 90,000 
 
 Canadian Pacific 53,000 
 
 Atchison 38,000 
 
 Union Pacific 27,000 
 
 New York Central 23,000 
 
 Southern Pacific 23,000 
 
 New Haven 22,500 
 
 Great Northern 19,000 
 
 St. Paul 17,000 
 
 Baltimore & Ohio 15,000 
 
 Illinois Central 11,000 
 
 Southern Railway 11,000 
 
 Chicago & Northwestern 10,000 
 
 Chicago & Great Western 10,000 
 
 How many bondholders are there in American rail- 
 roads ? 
 
 The total has never been ascertained, but information 
 may be obtained before long through the income Tax 
 Bureau. 
 
 Are there more bonds than stocks outstanding? 
 
 About the same— in round figures, $10,000,000,000 of 
 each. 
 
 Are the bonds also widely distributed? 
 
 Yes, and becoming more so every year. 
 
 Who are the largest owners of railroad bonds? 
 
 Insurance companies hold upward of $1,500,000,000, sav- 
 ings banks have nearly $1,000,000,000, universities and col- 
 leges are heavily endowed with bonds, hospitals derive a 
 substantial share of their income from these investments, 
 estates left in trust for the benefit of widows, minors, etc. 
 are largely invested in bonds. 
 
 How many insurance policy-holders are there in this 
 country ? 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 113 
 
 Approximately 30,000,000, each of whom is concerned 
 in having the solvency of our railroads maintained. 
 
 And how many savings bank depositors? 
 
 More than 10,000,000, all dependent to some extent for 
 their interest payments on the profits earned by the rail- 
 roads. If the railroads do not earn interest on their bonds 
 they cannot pay interest on them, and savings banks cannot 
 pay you interest if they do not earn it. 
 
 Then, roughly speaking, we are all either part owners of 
 our railroads or affected in some way by the .good or ill 
 fortune of the railroads? 
 
 Yes, that is the only conclusion that can be drawn from 
 the facts and figures here presented. 
 
 One sober heavyweight financier said this: "It is de- 
 plorable that not in one instance has a prominent man been 
 sent to jail for wrecking a railroad. You can't blame the 
 public for feeling indignant. The losses that have been 
 incurred by bondholders and stockholders through the ac- 
 tions of directors and other insiders have been appalling. 
 Yet no one has been made to suffer." 
 
 The intricacies, the difficulties, the delays and the di- 
 plomacy incidental to the successful founding of American 
 banking institutions in South America are almost beyond 
 the layman's grasp. The problem is less one of money than 
 men and management. Knowledge not only of banking at 
 home, but of both banking and commercial practises in 
 each South American territory is essential. Then, too, first- 
 hand acquaintance with local firms and with credits is es- 
 sential in the case of those placed in charge of the new 
 foreign branches. However, that the American dollar will 
 ere long rival the English pound sterling as an interna- 
 tional banking instrument is not doubted. 
 
114 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 "NOT YOUR POSITION BUT YOUR DISPOSITION 
 
 TOWARDS YOUR POSITION THAT 
 
 COUNTS"— WORK WHAT WE MAKE 
 
 IT, A PAIN OR A PLEASURE. 
 
 Let's talk to-day about work, since all success is based 
 upon work. 
 
 Isn't all happiness, too, based upon work of one kind 
 or another? 
 
 Life without work would be as food without salt. 
 
 Work — effort, service — gives life its savor. 
 
 Without work, without exertion, pleasures could not 
 be enjoyed. 
 
 A consciousness of usefulness in the world is necessary 
 for peace and satisfaction of mind, for happiness. 
 
 ''It's not your position, but your disposition towards 
 your position that counts," said an old lady to one of my 
 young associates who was explaining — perhaps complain- 
 ing — that he had not yet won an important job. 
 
 To thoroughly relish work, there must be more than a 
 purely selfish motive; there must be at either the front or 
 the back of the mind an inspiration based on unselfishness, 
 a deire to succeed for the pleasure or benefit it will mean for 
 someone else — wife, children, parents, sweetheart, or other 
 Interested party. Or the impelling and propelling inward 
 force may be a longing to achieve something for the com- 
 mon good, for mankind, or for the nation, state, county, 
 city or village. 
 
 Few of the world's conspicuously successful men have 
 been animated solely by greed of gold. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 115 
 
 And it is a salutary reflection that no man's memory has 
 been cherished by posterity or even lived in history merely 
 because oi enormous wealth. 
 
 Achievement, not money-gathering, counts. 
 
 Those who have achieved most are those who worked 
 most — the few exceptions among geniuses scarcely count, 
 for in most instances genius has been the flower of hard 
 work. 
 
 Few of the world's great ones have worked less than 
 the average factory worker or miner or mechanic or shop 
 clerk or laborer or farm "hand" works to-day. 
 
 A hundred Americans die of over-eating for one who 
 dies of overwork. 
 
 Sweatshops are disappearing. Slave-driving is on the 
 wane. Twelve-hour days, once common, are now uncom- 
 mon. 
 
 Many, many jobs are still disheartening. Many work- 
 ers are without encouragement, without hope of advance- 
 ment, without opportunity to provide for old age. 
 
 To too many life consists merely of toiling and sleep- 
 ing, with none too much to eat and with little leisure for 
 recreation. 
 
 My appeal to such is to strive heroically to find some 
 source of comfort, some inspiration, some thought that 
 they are not doing it all and suffering all for their own 
 sakes, but that every stroke of work is done to gain some 
 worthy end— to earn bread for another, it may be, to con- 
 tribute to the family support, to preserve self-respect, to be 
 independent of "charity," or other object worth while. 
 
 Humanity is becoming less deaf to the sufferings of the 
 downtrodden. The conscience of mankind is awakening. 
 Parents whose hearts bleed for the slavery and the misery 
 imposed upon their helpless children may take heart from 
 the thought that such things will not be tolerated very much 
 longer, that justice is slowly but surely approaching and 
 that better days will shortly dawn. 
 
116 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 For those of us who are grown up and healthy, there 
 is one thing infinitely worse than too much work. 
 
 That is, no work at all. 
 
 A pleasure-satiated Vanderbilt recently declared that 
 he was disgusted with everything — himself, no doubt, in- 
 cluded. 
 
 By bringing to it a right spirit every kind of honest, 
 non-degrading work can be made the vehicle of exhilarating 
 effort. 
 
 "What do you want me to do?" asked one of England's 
 most famous men as he voluntarily presented himself at a 
 Government department when the war broke out. 
 
 "If it is to sweep a crossing, give me a broom." 
 
 He was consumed by the right spirit, the spirit of ser- 
 vice. 
 
 I know of no line of work in which it is not possible to 
 rise — a hundred instances of poor, uninfluential lads who 
 started at the bottom and climbed to the top through per- 
 severance and pluck and hard work will rise to your mind. 
 
 A youth who aspired to succeed in the newspaper busi- 
 ness relates how, as he sat in a dinky branch-line train which 
 was taking him to the new scene of his labors, he vowed to 
 himself that he would never consider any effort too great 
 which might add one line to the news space allotted him in 
 the paper. In a few months he put the little town on the 
 map. To-day he is receiving more salary than the Governor 
 of New York State, and what he writes commands respect 
 and attention. 
 
 The other day I noticed a truck driver polishing the 
 brass of his horses' harness and talking to the animals as if 
 they were his pals. I am fairly sure that truck driver is 
 not at enmity with his job or disgruntled with himself and 
 the world in general. 
 
 One common trouble, especially among younger peo- 
 ple, is that they fancy themselves too big for their jobs. 
 When they get work worth doing, then they will show what 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 117 
 
 they can do. Such people seldom get the kind of work they 
 think they are fitted for, since they usually are not fitted 
 for it, else they would throw their whole heart and soul into 
 the work allotted them and thus win promotion. 
 
 Work is what we make it, a pain or a pleasure. 
 
 And as most of our waking hours are spent at work, 
 it is the part of wisdom to get on friendly terms with it. 
 
 As much fun can be got out of stitching a seam, typing 
 a letter, wrapping up parcels or tilling a field as in manag- 
 ing a railroad or running a bank. 
 
 "It's not your position, but your disposition towards 
 your position that counts," as the old lady sagely ex- 
 pressed it. 
 
 The New York Stock Exchange is, in reality, the cen- 
 tral market of the country, the concentration of all other 
 markets, the court of final resort in appraising the value 
 of everything. 
 
 As a result of the exposure of the New Haven mis- 
 management and worse: 1 — You will hereafter get a 
 fairer deal from financiers. 2 — Directors will be more care- 
 ful to really direct. 3 — Illegal monopolies will not be so 
 blithely attempted. 4 — Railroad corruption of politicians 
 will become less rife. 5 — Railroad presidents will not be 
 allowed to misuse funds as they please without being called 
 upon for explanations. 6 — More publicity will be demanded. 
 7 — A system of independent auditing of corporation ac- 
 counts will be insisted upon and doubtless prescribed by 
 law. 8 — Supervision of new security issues will be made 
 rigid. 9 — Expenditures by railroads for outside purposes — 
 that is, non-railroad purposes — will be either forbidden or 
 subject to governmental sanction. 
 
118 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 THE RICH, LIKE THE REST OF US, HAVE TO 
 
 JUMP AT THE RING OF THE BELL, NO 
 
 ONE BEING WITHOUT SOME 
 
 SORT OF BOSS. 
 
 Did you ever feel that if only you were in some one 
 else's shoes you could do as you liked, that you would have 
 to submit to no bossing, that you would be entirely "free?" 
 
 Have you ever envied the millionaires, whom you sup- 
 posed to be masters of all they surveyed? Or, to put it dif- 
 ferently, did you not when a child fancy that all power 
 resided in your parents, that they were supreme, untram- 
 meled, absolutely free-will agents? And then did not the 
 teacher also become an autocrat, a being to be envied? 
 Later it was learned that these had to submit to certain 
 restraints, but there were the rich who beyond question 
 had to bow the neck to nobody. And are there not some 
 among us who still imagine that there are thousands of the 
 financially elect who have no masters? 
 
 The truth is that no one but a cipher — least of all the 
 big people — can boast of immunity from overlordship of 
 some form. We are all, from the least to the greatest, serv- 
 ants. Not one of us is a master ungoverned, unchecked, 
 answerable to nobody. 
 
 Long ago I preserved a newspaper cutting with the cap- 
 tion, "The Endless Chain of Authority." I have repeatedly 
 meant to write on the subject, for if employees could only 
 realize that their employers are no more free than them- 
 selves they would harbor fewer feelings of dissatisfaction 
 over the scheme of things and less uncharitableness toward 
 those "higher up." Then, the other day I read an article 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 119 
 
 which expressed the right sentiment so forcefully that I 
 could not refrain from pondering over it. Here is an extract : 
 "There is one thing that servants do not seem to appre- 
 ciate, namely, that while they must jump at the ring of the 
 bell, all of us must jump at the rings of our bells. We 
 all have some others pressing the button for us, no matter 
 how comfortable and luxurious our environment may seem." 
 That statement comes from whom, think you? From 
 an acknowledged leader of New York's fashionable society, 
 from a director of the Four Hundred, from Mrs. Stuyve- 
 sant Fish (recently deceased). 
 
 Fancy a lady occupying such a station frankly admit- 
 ting that she had to jump at the ring of the bell, just as the 
 humblest of her maids must do ! 
 
 How many house servants, how many shop girls, how 
 many telephone operators, how many married women in 
 poorer circumstances ever conceived that even the greatest 
 of society leaders had to jump at the ring of a bell ? 
 
 Yet it is eternally true. And not one whit more true of 
 plutocratic ladies than of equally plutocratic men. 
 
 The bell of public opinion is to-day making the Morgan- 
 Rockefeller- Vanderbilt class jump. Nor are the strongest 
 of our corporations immune. The railroads have had to 
 jump pretty lively, and certain gigantic industrial combina- 
 tions are also being put through their paces. 
 
 You are as much J. P. Morgan's boss as he is yours. 
 "In theory only," you may reply. Well, it is your own 
 fault if you are not so in practice also, for you are respon- 
 sible for law-making and no capitalist can defy a law which 
 the mass of the people insist upon being obeyed. 
 
 If, through your laziness and your neglect of civic du- 
 ties, matters have gone awry, then do not seek to lay the 
 blame on another's shoulders. 
 
 Happily, the people are coming to realize their" rights. 
 But let them not forget their responsibilities. And— this is 
 the point I would seek to emphasize — do not act on the as- 
 
120 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 sumption that the capitalists, the directors and presidents 
 of railroads, the managers of industrial corporations live 
 in a world different from your own, that they have no 
 bells to bother them, that for them life is one long, sweet 
 song. More, if they do not answer the bell satisfactorily 
 they cannot hold their jobs. If they do not faithfully serve 
 the public, they are elbowed aside sooner or later. In 
 these latter days it is sooner rather than later. 
 
 Millions filched illicitly from the public do not yield 
 satisfying dividends. If the bell rung by conscience be not 
 answered, no walls of gold are thick enough to keep out the 
 sound. So that those who "get away with it" need not be 
 envied by the rest of us. 
 
 Some who are given to growling and whining, to fool- 
 ishly thinking the man higher up has no boss, may find 
 comfort in this description, by a railroad president, of the 
 endless chain of authority: 
 
 ''When I was a brakeman I thought that when I got to 
 be conductor I certainly would have something to say. 
 But when I became a conductor I discovered that the tram- 
 master had the say. So I aspired to be a trainmaster. In 
 that position I found the superintendent blocking my self- 
 assumed authority. As a superintendent, I was answerable 
 to the general manager. By the time I arrived in the latter 
 position I surely believed that my sway would only be lim- 
 ited by my desire, but there was the president as my su- 
 preme boss. In good time I became the head of the road, 
 and then it was the board of directors that passed upon 
 my actions. About the only thing left was to become a di- 
 rector. Now I am on the board of several corporations and 
 the powers still higher up often play the tunes to which 
 directors dance." 
 
 Have you forgotten the fable of what happened when 
 the Lord, moved by ceaseless complaining, summoned all 
 the people and told them to throw their troubles on one 
 heap? Each one was told to pick out the lightest he could 
 find. And, to the last man, every one selected his own ! 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 121 
 
 SCARCITY OF $50,000-A-YEAR MEN EVEN FOR 
 
 HONORABLE JOBS AND THE CHARGE FOR 
 
 DOING QUESTIONABLE THINGS 
 
 IS GOING UP RAPIDLY. 
 
 New York, and indeed the United States, is suffering 
 from a dearth of $50,000-a-year men. 
 
 That statement was made to me by a financier who 
 was looking for the right man to take charge of a very pow- 
 erful trust company. This financier has made not less than 
 a million dollars annually for the last dozen years — and 
 probably twice that amount. He was bewailing the scarcity 
 of really big, brainy men available for hire. 
 
 "The man who can earn a salary of $50,000, $75,000 or 
 $100,000 for someone else," he explained, "is almost certain 
 to enter business upon his own account. If he is conspicu- 
 ously brilliant he does not care to spend his life in the ser- 
 vice of others who reap the reward of his skill and industry. 
 That is the principal reason $50,000 and $100,000 men are 
 difficult to find for engagement." 
 
 In this instance the vacant post was one of honor and 
 influence. 
 
 Corporations that may want $50,000 men to be respon- 
 sible for questionable practices will have a much harder 
 task to secure them in future than they have had in the 
 past. Financial and business immorality and illegality 
 have gone up in price. 
 
 An employer wanted to engage an applicant for a po- 
 sition. The youth looked likely. His replies to questions 
 concerning himself and his experience were satisfactory. 
 
122 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 "You will, of course, do what you are told?" he was 
 
 asked. 
 
 "Certainly," he replied. 
 
 "I will have to depend upon you a good deal. For ex- 
 ample, if I'm busy and do not want to be disturbed you will 
 tell callers that I'm out?" 
 
 The youth seemed surprised and disappointed. 
 
 "If," continued the employer, "it is necessary, in the 
 course of business, to present things in a certain light you 
 will do it?" 
 
 "You mean will I tell lies for you?" 
 
 "Well, if you put it that way, yes." 
 
 "All right, I'll lie for you," said the young man deci- 
 sively. 
 
 ''Good. Now, how much salary do you want?" 
 
 "Ten thousand dollars a day." 
 
 "Ten thousand dollars a day — are you mad ?" exclaimed 
 the employer. 
 
 "No, but I would be if I accepted your proposal. When 
 I say ten thousand dollars a day I mean that you could not 
 pay me enough money to become a liar. If you want me 
 to do honest work, I'll be glad to start at a dollar a day." 
 
 And — so the story goes — he was engaged. 
 
 I happen to know of a case in real life very different 
 from the incident just related. The father of a young family 
 was thrown out of employment. He had been imprudent to 
 the extent that, although earning between $40 and $50 
 weekly, he had made no systematic attempt to save any- 
 thing. Starvation stared him and his family at close range. 
 He could not afford to pick and choose as to what he would 
 turn his hand to. In desperation he accepted a $15-a-wcek 
 job. 
 
 Very quickly he learned that it was part of his duty 
 to "cook" accounts in order to defraud certain parties. He 
 succumbed — temporarily, as he told his conscience. The 
 cheating called for subtle skill, as one blunder might easily 
 
^ THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 123 
 
 have landed more than one person in jail. Time passed and 
 still he remained at his post. The dishonesty galled him — 
 but there were a wife and children to feed, clothe and shel- 
 ter. His whole life became poisoned. Yet, when last I 
 heard, he was still wallowing along in misery, worse off 
 than a slave. 
 
 How many unfortunates are occupying a similar hell? 
 
 The country's railroads cannot be "swatted" without in- 
 jury to the nation. The railroads are not parasites. They 
 are not aliens, they are not things apart from the common 
 interest. They are an integral and infinitely important part 
 of our whole social, financial and industrial life. The term 
 "railroads" does not imply a number of capitalistic entities, 
 but embraces the solvency and welfare of the nation's sav- 
 ings banks, insurance companies, hospitals, trustee funds, 
 national and State banks, trust companies and perhaps four 
 million individual bondholders and stockholders, including a 
 very large percentage of women and children — all this in 
 addition to some two million employees whose well-being 
 is interwoven with that of their employers. 
 
 President Wilson has learned since the world was 
 plunged into turmoil that America's men of affairs are not 
 a pack of knaves or fools ; he has discovered that patriotism 
 is not a monopoly of the politicians, that ability is not 
 confined to copy-book theorists, that in crises the politicans 
 are glad to turn to the very men they so glibly and wan- 
 tonly harassed and attacked. The public, and particularly 
 workers, have come to realize that, if employment is to be 
 plentiful and remunerative, employers must be given fair 
 play. 
 
124 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 HOW TO RAISE THE UNITED STATES TO 
 FIRST RANK AMONG FINANCIAL NATIONS 
 —OUR BILLION - DOLLAR ANNUAL 
 "INVISIBLE" PAYMENTS TO EU- 
 ROPE—EMERGING FROM 
 BONDAGE. 
 
 America hereafter will be less in bondage to Europe. 
 
 How much American money, do you think, goes to 
 Europe every year apart altogether from payments for Eu- 
 rope's share of our almost $2,000,000,000 merchandise im- 
 ports ? 
 
 We donate one billion dollars annually to Europe in 
 the form of expenditures by our tourists and by Americans 
 (mostly wealthy ones) living abroad, freights paid to for- 
 eign steamship companies, interest and dividend payments 
 to oversea holders of our securities, premiums to European 
 insurance companies and the remittances made by foreign 
 laborers and others living here. 
 
 This annual drain of one thousand millions has been 
 and will be greatly modified by the war. 
 
 Our two-billion-dollar bill for foreign merchandise also 
 promises to be reduced substantially by the loyal and wide- 
 spread response to the "Made in America" slogan. 
 
 Americans latterly had become sort of hypnotized by 
 Europe and things European. 
 
 The summer exodus of Americans across the Atlantic 
 had become a senseless craze. Every Tom, Dick and Harry 
 and his female counterpart must needs "go to Europe." It 
 was the fashionable thing to do, don't you know, no matter 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 125 
 
 how little enjoyment might be got out of the trip or how 
 much too much it cost. 
 
 Our tourists took some $225,000,000 good American 
 money with them. 
 
 They will take less for some time to come. 
 
 Multi-millionaires none too popular at home had also 
 contracted the habit of taking up residence abroad and 
 trying to buy their way into European society. 
 
 These gentry dissipated at least $100,000,000 American 
 money every year. 
 
 A goodly part of this will now be kept for home use, for 
 it is found that the land of the Stars and Stripes is the 
 safest and most congenial place for real Americans after all. 
 
 The tribute of $150,000,000 paid annually by Ameri- 
 cans to British, German, French and other European steam- 
 ship lines will also be cut down if our Government and our 
 business interests co-operate intelligently and aggressively 
 to replace the American flag on the high seas — from which 
 it should never have been driven and would never have 
 been driven had statesmanship instead of stupidity ruled 
 at Washington. 
 
 Foreign investors have sold large amounts of their 
 American securities. Very well, the less they own the 
 smaller the sum we will have to remit quarterly and semi- 
 annually in dividends and interest, a charge that has cost 
 us upward of $100,000,000 annually. 
 
 Remittances by foreigners are authoritatively com- 
 puted at $300,000,000 a year. The awful sacrifice of life 
 ordered by European monarchs will drive multiplied 
 thousands of workers to this democracy and will cause 
 them to settle here, with their whole families, permanently 
 instead of, as too often in the past, temporarily. Fewer 
 dollars will thus go abroad. 
 
 Some time ago I made a serious effort to collect first- 
 hand statistics covering our "invisible" payments to Europe, 
 but largely owing to the shortsighted unwillingness of 
 
126 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 New York bankers to co-operate, it was found impossible 
 to compile a detailed trustworthy international balance 
 sheet. The estimates then made by the country's two lead- 
 ing authorities on foreign exchange, John E. Gardin, of the 
 National City Bank, and Max May, of the Guaranty Trust 
 Company, along with an independent estimate of my own, 
 may be here reproduced : 
 
 John E. Gardin Max May B. C. Forbes 
 
 Spent by tourists $500,000,000 $200,000,000 $225,000,000 
 
 Spent by American resi- 
 dents abroad 400,000,000 100,000,000 100,000,000 
 
 Interest and dividends on 
 
 securities held abroad... 500,000,000 50,000,000 100,000,000 
 Freights to foreign steam- 
 ship companies 300,000,000 150,000,000 150,000,000 
 
 Remittances by foreigners. 300,000,000 150,000,000 300,000,000 
 
 Insurance and miscellaneous 25,000,000 
 
 Sent to Canada 50,000,000 
 
 Totals $2,000,000,000 $650,000,000 $950,000,000 
 
 Let us keep a large part of that money for our own 
 people ! 
 
 Let us fill American pay envelopes in preference to the 
 coffers of foreign steamships, foreign hotelkeepers, foreign 
 railroads and foreign horse-show promoters ! 
 
 Let us Americanize America! 
 
 Let us, also, cut our $2,000,000,000 imports — many of 
 them luxuries — in half by demanding ''Made in America" 
 products, and promoting by reasonable laws and otherwise, 
 the proper development of American industries. 
 
 Let us, too, by furnishing our own ships, by extending 
 our own banking facilities in South America and the East, 
 by encouraging our manufacturers, etc., strive to double 
 our $2,500,000,000 normal annual exports. Our exports for 
 the first eight months of 1915 were $2,232,758,886, or no 
 less than $1,081,974,690 in excess of our imports, due of 
 course to the war. 
 
 The "Made in America," "See America First" move- 
 ments go to the very roots of our economic foundations. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 127 
 
 They are not mere shibboleths. If patriotically supported 
 they would raise this nation to an incomparable place 
 among the peoples of the earth, 
 
 For some time before the war we were on the wrong 
 track. 
 
 Our imports were soaring to unparalleled heights with- 
 out any corresponding expansion in our exports. 
 
 In seven months our export balance dwindled $250,- 
 000,000 below the figure for the previous year. 
 
 Is it not time to arouse Americans to mend their ways, 
 to throw off the "Go to Europe," " 'Imported' Label" mania, 
 to provide the nation with the means of carrying its wares 
 to hungry foreign markets, to reasonably safeguard our 
 business enterprises and their employees from dependence 
 upon the resources of alien countries? Yes, it is time to 
 sound the tocsin, "Wake up, America !" 
 
 This country might fittingly paraphrase Nelson's fa- 
 mous exhortation to his men, thus : 
 
 "America expects every man this day to do his duty." 
 
 The business men of America are not dilettanti. They 
 are not idlers. They are not half-hearted. They give the 
 best that is in them to their tasks. They spend more hours 
 studying their problems than the workman would care to 
 spend at his bench. Latterly, they are trying to see things 
 from every angle rather than solely from their own. They 
 are seeking to become broader-gauge, more tolerant of 
 criticism, less autocratic. The duties of citizenship are be- 
 ginning to be more fully recognized. Narrowness, clannish- 
 ness, exclusiveness used to be besetting sins of capitalistic 
 sets, of corporation owners and other large employers of 
 labor. But employers, individual and corporate, are at last 
 awakening to the fact that, to be in the highest sense and 
 degree successful, they must cultivate statesmanship, cath- 
 olicity of spirit, toleration, compassion, humanity. 
 
128 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 "MODERN LIFE IS VERY COMPLEX," THEY SAY 
 
 —IT IS NOT COMPLEX UNLESS YOU GET 
 
 OFF THE STRAIGHT PATH— WEB 
 
 NOT TANGLED UNTIL WE 
 
 BEGIN TO DECEIVE, 
 
 Life has become very "complex," we are often told. 
 
 Life is not complex. 
 
 Life is complex only when we depart from the chalk 
 line. 
 
 The man of fixed, ingrained principles, who has mapped 
 out a straight course, and has the courage and self-control 
 to adhere to it under every circumstance, does not find life 
 complex. 
 
 Complexities beset us the moment we deviate, but not 
 until then. 
 
 We can be as busy as bees, we may have to get up 
 early and stay up late, with telephonic interruptions during 
 sleeping hours ; we may be daily confronted with problems 
 and difficulties; things may persist in going wrong instead 
 of working out right and we may even have our faith irv 
 human nature sorely tried, if not shaken. But so long as 
 we do our level best, so long as we leave nothing to reproach 
 ourselves over, so long as we have a deep and abiding con- 
 sciousness that we have done our utmost and done it hon- 
 estly and with a right motive, then we will not find life 
 complex. 
 
 It may be harassing, it may at times be disheartening ; 
 we may sometimes feel tempted to throw up the sponge, 
 asking, "What's the use?" But if there be no inward con- 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 129 
 
 demning voice, we quickly take fresh courage and fight on 
 doggedly, unrelentingly, enthusiastically, determined to 
 succeed if effort will win success, but resigned to outward 
 defeat if it should be so decreed. 
 
 Things are so ordained that, in the end, we reap if we 
 faint not — and deserve to reap, of course. 
 
 The guide-posts of life are plainly marked. It is not 
 hard to discern the straight path. And as long as we keep 
 inside the rails the journey is not perilous or complex. 
 
 But let us stray, let us get away from the guide-posts, 
 let us forsake and forget them, and lo! life verily becomes 
 complex and worse. 
 
 Complexities are all of our own making. 
 The web is not tangled until we begin to deceive ! 
 How to obviate the need for deceiving is our "prob- 
 lem" — and some of us, unhappily, have not been brilliantly 
 successful in solving it. 
 
 How complexities multiply, how one wrong step leads 
 to — almost forces — another was borne in upon me as I 
 listened at Washington to witness after witness in the 
 amazing New Haven tragedy. 
 
 Certain financiers, drunk with financial success, insane 
 over their own power, insensible to law, conceived the Na- 
 poleonic notion of creating a transportation empire of mo- 
 nopoly throughout New England. They foolishly imagined 
 they could trample the law underfoot as easily as the^ 
 could crush any competitor who dared to oppose their 
 imperious will. The willing, obedient Mellen was engaged 
 to execute the scheme. And to accomplish unlawful ends 
 he had to use unlawful means. His overlords knew this, 
 though they affected to pretend that they didn't. From their 
 illegal decree of monopoly flowed a stream of deception, and 
 jugglery, and bribery, and corruption, and robbery, and 
 finally, disaster — the natural, logical, inevitable outcome. 
 And, as always, the innocent suffered for the sins of the 
 guilty. 
 
130 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 What a sorrowful bargain these millionaire monopo- 
 lists struck ! 
 
 Some of them had the effrontery to claim that, had 
 they been left alone to continue their policy of corruption 
 and debauchery, all would have come right in the end! 
 And they said this with an injured air, as if they had a 
 grudge against Providence for not suspending in their case 
 the operation of the eternal laws of justice and honesty. 
 They evidently felt they had a right to expect in this one 
 instance that the fiat would read, not ''Out of evil shall 
 come evil," but "Out of evil shall come good." But alas! 
 the eternal verities would not take a nap to please them. 
 
 The New Haven wreckers found life complex enough, 
 that is certain. 
 
 Most of us breed human complexities of one kind or 
 another, but those begotten by lawless greed, by lust for 
 illegal power, by callousness to the rights of others are 
 the excrudescence of acquired appetites, and are peculiarly 
 offensive and hard to excuse. 
 
 A nation's economic salvation does not lie in the amount 
 of money its rich inhabitants can squander recklessly. A 
 nation's economic salvation lies in the amount of money its 
 inhabitants can save and invest in useful enterprises after 
 providing themselves with all the necessaries and all the 
 reasonable comforts of lite. The exercise of rational thrift 
 by all will not cut down useful employment, but will provide 
 the sinews for industrial, agricultural and commercial ex- 
 pansion, giving more and more employment and leading to 
 a reduction in the cost of living to a level entailing less hard- 
 ship upon the poor than has been their lot, unfortunately, 
 during the riot of extravagance we have been passing 
 through. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 131 
 
 ADVERSITY— ITS CHASTENING MAY NOT BE 
 
 SWEET BUT CAN PROVE WHOLESOME— 
 
 THE FRUITS OF ADVERSITY AND 
 
 PROSPERITY COMPARED. 
 
 Let's have a little talk about adversity. The subject 
 is much in men's — and women's — minds at present. With 
 most people it has gone beyond the mind and into the 
 pocket. That is, it is a stern reality, not an airy theory. 
 
 Everybody deplores adversity, whose other name is 
 depression. Some people have made its practical acquaint- 
 ance lately for the first time. And, of course, they don't like 
 it. They are not consoled by being reminded that "Whom 
 the Lord loveth. He chasteneth." 
 
 Yet was the sage who sang "Sweet are the uses of, 
 adversity," so unmitigated a fool after all? I think not. 
 
 Some of us have known — have lived with — adversity, 
 and have also experienced prosperity. Each has its com- 
 pensations, each its drawbacks. 
 
 Let us consider some of the "uses" of adversity. May- 
 hap it will serve in some slight degree to cheer up a sad' 
 soul here and there. 
 
 Prosperity breeds arrogance. 
 
 Adversity breeds humility. 
 
 Prosperity begets indifference to others' needs and 
 tribulations. 
 
 Adversity begets solicitude for others in misfortune. 
 
 Prosperity is apt to bring hardness of heart. 
 
 Adversity fosters charitableness. 
 
132 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 The man whose barns are full to overflowing, who has 
 laid up enough to permit him and his family to "eat, drink 
 and be merry" without counting the cost, is in danger of 
 forgetting his dependence, is in danger of imagining that 
 it is no longer necessary for him to pray: "Give us this 
 day our daily bread." He feels he is self-sufficient, that he 
 and his are safe and amply provided for, that others can 
 worry along as they like, he is all right. 
 
 A blast of adversity forces him to take his bearings 
 afresh. He becomes less sure of his own strength and all- 
 sufficiency. His haughtiness softens. He begins to feel 
 that after all he was not so secure as he had fondly imag- 
 ined. He finds himself asking how other people are circum- 
 stanced. He begins to realize life is not such a bed of roses 
 as he had come to think, that there is room for work and 
 need for work. He wonders why he could have been so 
 callous to the sufferings and hardships of others. In shorty 
 he gets down to Mother Earth and becomes a human being 
 instead of a narrow-hearted snob. 
 
 Riches often insidiously spoil the finer sensibilities. 
 
 Riches also tend to blunt effort, to take the keen edge 
 off worthy ambition, to deaden aspiration and check the 
 attainment of ideals. 
 
 It is axiomatic that the poor are the most charitable 
 of all, that they help one another more than any other 
 class, often at real self-sacrifice. 
 
 May I retell an actual experience of a friend? Ac- 
 costed in City Hall Park by a young man who asked for 
 alms, my friend replied offhand that he was down and out 
 himself and hadn't a nickel. Half an hour later he was 
 returning when up came the young man, tapped him on the 
 shoulder and said: "Say, pal, I got a dime from a gent. 
 Here's half of it." 
 
 Can you imagine the average prosperous citizen hav- 
 ing that spirit in his heart? 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 133 
 
 When a man has or is making plenty of money he fears 
 and hates changes. He wants things to go on as they are 
 — he is doing well, and isn't the world all right as it is? 
 Why turn anything upside down ? Shouldn't everybody be 
 satisfied with their lot? Isn't he? 
 
 Such men develop into reactionaries. They fan revo- 
 lution. 
 
 Wealth — or even a competency — often engenders a 
 brand of independence that borders on insolence. This is a 
 cruel handicap to a wealthy young man. He is impatient 
 of discipline. He resents even wholesome restraint. He is 
 .npt to fancy himself a Mr. Know-it-all — which is fatal. 
 
 The man who is compelled to live more or less from 
 hand to mouth, yet is conscious that he is putting into the 
 world at least as much as he is getting out of it, is not afraid 
 of a readjustment of conditions. Nor is he indifferent to the 
 .•itate of others — or oblivious to the wholesomeness of pray- 
 ing to be vouchsafed daily bread. His head is not apt to 
 get lost in the clouds, nor his heart to become encased in 
 steel. 
 
 To strive for a competency in every reasonable and 
 honorable way is a duty rather than a crime, and to be rich 
 need not necessarily be a reproach or a disgrace — far from 
 it. Indeed, the men or family who have a "nest-egg" can be 
 better citizens as a rule than their imprudent neighbors. 
 Thrift inspires self-respect and dignity and poise and' 
 manliness. 
 
 But if Fate decree a spell of adversity, especially in 
 the case of those who have known nothing but prosperity, 
 there can be extracted from it fruits and virtues worth in 
 the final analysis more than gold permitted to harden the 
 heart and chloroform noble sensibilities. 
 
 The "uses" of adversity may not taste sweet. But they 
 can be made wholesome. 
 
 Drones do not live long. 
 
134 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 WHAT A RIP VAN WINKLE WORKMAN WOULD 
 
 FIND ON REAWAKENING — WORKING 
 
 CLASSES TO-DAY LIVING LIKE 
 
 PRINCES— SOME OF THE 
 
 CHANGES ENUMERATED. 
 
 Picture in your mind a Rip Van Winkle woikman 
 opening his eyes on the world of to-day after a sleep of a 
 quarter of a century or more. What would he behold? 
 What changes would strike him? Would he be able lo 
 believe his eyes? 
 
 When he fell asleep he and his class were slaving 
 from early morning to darkness every day, with no thought 
 of half-holidays or fortnight vacations. They lived in 
 houses that were, outwardly, hovels and enriched with no 
 bath-rooms, no hot-and-cold water systems, no hygienic 
 contrivances. The world beyond a few miles from their 
 doorsteps was an unopened book; travel for sight-seeing 
 was unknown. Places of amusement were few and far be- 
 tween, and the ordinary worker seldom had either the 
 time or the money to patronize them. The one problem 
 about clothes was how to find enough to cover nakedness 
 and keep warm in Winter. Education was well-nigh be- 
 yond the reach of the poor. 
 
 Our Rip Van Winkle workman would stare in bewil- 
 derment at modern sights and conditions and listen with 
 incredulity to the tales he would be told. 
 
 He would see workers living in comfortable, even pre- 
 tentious homes, adorned with appliances and conveniences 
 such as only the wealthy aspired to when he fell asleep; 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 135 
 
 He would see them wearing clothing that a millionaire 
 might have envied in his day, had there been millionaires 
 then. He would see public schools at every turn and every 
 child from five to thirteen or more attending daily, with 
 no tasks (save in rare cases) beyond their lessons. On all 
 sides "movies" would meet his gaze, drawing their hundreds 
 and their thousands of amusement-seekers nightly. Of 
 sights and wonders beyond his home — and even beyond 
 the seas — he would hear fairy-like tales from people who 
 had seen them with their own eyes. 
 
 Most of all would the changed lot of the worker, the 
 transformation in conditions of toil, impress him. 
 
 Instead of a twelve and fourteen hours' day he would 
 hear of eight or nine hours' days, of demands that these 
 hours be further reduced, and that every hour over eight be 
 paid for at a special high rate. 
 
 His head would buzz with descriptions of ingenious 
 plans designed to better the life of his fellows. He would 
 be told of old age pensions, of profit-sharing plans, of sick 
 benefits, of workmen's compensation laws, of minimum 
 wage scales voluntarily granted, of co-operative, cost-price 
 stores for corporation employees, of recreation halls, dining 
 rooms and libraries attached to large factories and work- 
 shops, of free hospitals, of weekly half-holidays and regu- 
 lar Summer vacations, of extra pay for every hour of over- 
 time, of occasional bonuses at Christmas and princely gifts 
 from retiring or deceased employers, of trades unions ready 
 at any moment to throw down the gauntlet to an over- 
 reaching firm or corporation, of laws providing for sanitary 
 work-places and safety devices at danger-spots, of techni- 
 cal classes and schools organized by leading corporations 
 for the instruction of ambitious youths and of innumerable 
 instances of humble lads having risen to the topmost places 
 of industry and railroading, displacing the ornamental sons 
 of gifted fathers, with birth no longer a guarantee of high 
 position in the world of business. 
 
136 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Emancipation is not complete. There are still many 
 wrongs to be righted, many cruelties to be banished, many 
 dark places to be lighted. The curse of child labor still 
 blots our escutcheon. Starvation wages are still paid by 
 many employers and a few big corporations. Long hours 
 are still worked in various factories and stores by women in 
 the making, sapping the strengfth and womanhood of the 
 mothers of our men of to-morrow. Seven-day weeks are 
 not yet entirely unknown. There are no unions to stand up 
 for fair play in many poorly paid lines of work. Sweat- 
 shops still blur the picture of modern industry. 
 
 "Get, get, get !" still drowns the cry "Give, give, give !" 
 But there is more giving every year. Selfishness has not 
 been eradicated from employers any more than from em- 
 ployees, but there are more men of means seeking to serve 
 mankind to-day than ever before, more of them applying 
 the square-deal principle among their workers, more of 
 them influenced by a spirit of righteousness and not wholly 
 by a spirit of rapacity. 
 
 "How much is he worth?" The time is coming when 
 that question will not be answered in dollars. It is becom- 
 ing harder for a semi-billionaire to dispose of his millions 
 than it was to accumulate them. The people do not greatly 
 enjoy being fed with the crumbs from the table of Dives. 
 They are beginning to inquire more closely into how the 
 surfeit came to Dives's table. Did the oversupply get there 
 honestly? Was bread taken from other mouths? Did 
 Dives help others in their pilgrimage through life, or did 
 Dives hinder their progress? Was he worth anything to 
 mankind? Did he serve? Or was he worse than worthless 
 to all save self? 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 137 
 
 "ALL PROGRESS IS FORCED BY THE MOB," 
 
 CLAIMS A SOCIALIST— IS THIS NEARER 
 
 THE TRUTH THAN IT OUGHT TO 
 
 BE?— A WORD TO LAGGARD 
 
 EMPLOYERS. 
 
 ''All progress is forced by the mob." 
 
 That was the statement snarled at me by a workman, 
 a socialist. 
 
 "The rich never budge until they are forced to," he 
 added. "Universities don't advocate reforms until the peo- 
 ple have clamored for them and are far on the road to 
 getting them." 
 
 These blunt assertions are worth thinking over by the 
 capitalistic classes in America, especially by those who are 
 striving might and main to stem the tide of progress toward 
 applied democracy. The "mob" finally wins when it is right. 
 The more it is crushed, the longer it is unfairly treatedj, 
 the more radical its revenge — recall the French Revolution, 
 the overthrow of various dynasties in modern times, the pre- 
 war social revolution in Britain. 
 
 Reactionaries in this country should not shut their 
 eyes to the handwriting on the wall. The farther the scale 
 of justice is depressed on one side the greater its rebound. 
 
 Among those who specially need to consider their ways 
 and readjust their attitude are : 
 
 Employers who pay starvation wages. 
 
 Owners of sweatshops. 
 Manufacturers who exploit child labor. 
 
138 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Corporations who, through monopoly, patents or other 
 means, rob the public. 
 
 Financiers who rake in millions from railroads and 
 other corporations which they control. 
 
 Directors who use their office to cheat other security 
 holders through speculation in the shares of their compa- 
 nies. 
 
 Railroads which have been exploited for the pockets 
 of a few insiders instead of being run for the service of the 
 public. 
 
 Corporations which adhere to secrecy — no doubt for 
 very potent reasons. 
 
 Politicians who aspire to ride above the wishes of the 
 "common people" and who fear what they term "mob 
 rule." 
 
 Judges and legislators of the stripe that fatten their 
 bankrolls by liberal remittances from Standard Oil and 
 other corruptionists. 
 
 Promoters who foist questionable and worthless securi- 
 ties on the public. 
 
 The Coal Barons, who still do as they please. 
 
 The "mob" are bent upon reforms touching all these. 
 
 Many responsible financiers are beginning to see 
 straight. Others are still blind. Recent events have opened 
 a few eyes. The once-arrogant house of Morgan & Co. has 
 been brought to its knees over the New Haven scandal. 
 The once-overbearing Standard Oil clique has been brought 
 to its senses. The latest wreckers of railroads have had an 
 uncomfortable time. Politicians of the "stand-pat" kind 
 have been put to rout. Corporation managers who used to 
 trample upon their workmen and upon the public have 
 learned a lesson, although many of them are still obdurate. 
 
 The vote of John D. Rockefeller, George F. Baker, or 
 J. P. Morgan counts for no more than the vote of the humb- 
 lest worker. And there are more workmen than there are 
 Rockefellers, Morgans, Bakers and Schiffs. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 139 
 
 Give the "mob" a square deal. Grant them reasonable 
 concessions VOLUNTARILY. Do not wait until they 
 FORCE fair play, for when they do they are apt to take 
 revenge for what they were unjustly deprived of. 
 
 Is it not time for employers to take stock of the kind 
 of voters they are making of their men? 
 
 "The men who sweat to do the world's work don't get 
 enough out of it. The overhead charge is terrific. It can't 
 last." These terse statements were made to me, not by a 
 laborer, but by the wealthy head of a banking firm, a thinker. 
 That phrase "overhead charge" startles. Does it not con- 
 jure up visions of a mass of struggling workers and a whole 
 galaxy of well-dressed, high-collared, opulent gentlemen, 
 enjoying the fruit of the workers' industry, living in fine 
 houses, sporting every luxury and their women folk reveling 
 in vain extravagances? I have no panacea for the world's 
 ills. But I do believe the "overhead charge" can and must 
 be reduced. I do believe the gap between employers and 
 employed must be lessened. Labor must be given an in- 
 terest in the welfare of capital — as certain large American 
 corporations have realized and have acted accordingly. 
 That is but one of many steps demanded by enlightened 
 progress. 
 
 The surest way for capital to hasten the arrival of So- 
 cialism is for capital to abuse its powers. Among the most 
 effective promulgators of Socialism in this country are the 
 Coal Barons. Not long ago a small State tax was levied 
 upon coal, the aim being to draw for public purposes a neg- 
 ligible part of the enormous profits made by the Anthracite 
 Trust. The Coal Barons, instead of paying up, coolly shifted 
 the burden to consumers, who now pay the tax several 
 times over. 
 
140 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 SOME CORPORATION HEADS ANXIOUS TO 
 
 RESTORE WHEN-ROMANS-WERE-LIKE 
 
 BROTHERS DAYS. 
 
 Then none was for a party; 
 
 Then all were for the State; 
 Then the great man helped the poor, 
 
 And the poor man loved the great ; 
 Then lands were fairly portioned ; 
 
 Then spoils were fairly sold; 
 The Romans were like brothers 
 
 In the brave days of old. 
 
 Are we returning to the piping times of which Macau - 
 lay thus eloquently sang? 
 
 Is not this a queer question to ask at this moment, 
 when the world is full of din and clatter, wars and revolu- 
 tions, recriminations and denunciations, class-versus-mass 
 hatreds and talk of transplanted French revolutions? 
 
 I will let two of our best-known corporation managers 
 reply. One is the present, the other the ex-head of the 
 world's only billion-dollar industrial combination. Listen 
 first to Judge Gary : 
 
 "Unless the men of highest influence in this country 
 take the lead in a movement to better humanity generally, 
 there will be at some time changes, good or bad, made by 
 the mob." 
 
 Now hear Charles M. Schwab on the willingness of 
 capitalists to bring about a better state of affairs : 
 
 "There is not a business corporation in the country 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 141 
 
 that will not willingly lend its aid to bring about such 
 regulation as may be necessary to correct any evils." 
 
 Would such submissive, altruistic utterances have come 
 from these men or others in their class before the financial 
 reformation began? 
 
 The inspiring truth is that our capitalists — the best 
 of them — are groping their way back to popular favor. 
 Some of them — those who do not think deeply — are angry, 
 not with themselves for having misread the times and for 
 having done things they had no business to do, but with 
 those whom they are pleased to dub "demagogues," a term 
 not of ignoble lineage. 
 
 More than one financier has frankly confessed to me 
 that things used to be done in a too high-handed manner, 
 that thorough reform had become urgent, and that, all 
 things considered, it was well the housecleaning began 
 when it did. These men had brains enough to realize that 
 the "demagogue" was less to blame than those guilty of the 
 unwise practises. 
 
 Happily, there is now a wholesome anxiety on the part 
 of straying capitalists to return to set things right. 
 
 It is becoming difficult to live and move twenty-four 
 hours in any American city without breaking one or a dozen 
 unenforced laws. Americans have more contempt for laws 
 than any nation on earth. Our lawmakers rush through 
 crazy bills to appease passing whims and outbursts. The 
 excitement subsides, the laws become a dead letter, and 
 nobody troubles any more about the matter. The moral 
 efifect of passing every year thousands of statutes and let- 
 ting half of them be trampled upon with impunity is b^id, 
 since respect for law is vitiated. 
 
142 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 MY BARBER AND I DISCUSS OLD WAYS AND 
 
 NEW AND DOWN GOES HIS COST 
 
 OF LIVING. 
 
 My veteran barber and I are intimate friends. His 
 philosophy of life and mine agree at most points. There 
 has been a drawing together of our ideas as a fruit of our 
 intercourse. I am glad to have this opportunity to ac- 
 knowledge how much I have learned from him. He has 
 taught me a great deal, has given me much insight into 
 the sphere he represents. And I would fain hope that his 
 sympathies have been broadened rather than narrowed by 
 our free interchange of opinions. We both, I think, have 
 become more tolerant, more catholic, more "understand- 
 ing." We have learned to try and put ourselves in the 
 other fellow's place. 
 
 It may not be uninteresting or useless to outline one of 
 our discussions on that subject so near to the heart and 
 the pocket of most of us — the cost of living. 
 
 John began by laying the blame on the trusts. 
 
 Through abusing cold storage facilities, he claimed, 
 the rapacious monopolists could play ducks and drakes 
 with the people. He could cite statistics showing what a 
 vast quantity of such victuals as eggs, butter, meat and 
 poultry were kept from the market until prices were forced 
 to cruel heights. These things in the old days, he argued, 
 would have come on the market in a natural way, and the 
 cost would have been less. 
 
 He also sighed for a return to the more primitive 
 method of selling farm produce — for the days when the 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 143 
 
 farmer drove his wagons to the city market places and 
 gave consumers a chance to get supplies at first-hand prices. 
 
 "There's too many middlemen now, and not enough 
 peddlers," he complained. 
 
 The schoolmaster who taught me the "three Rs" was 
 tolerably lenient, but there was one "excuse" which never 
 failed to bring out the leather strap — in those days there 
 was less heard of auto-suggestion and other genteel, kid- 
 gloved, subtle ways of handling healthy young boys. If, 
 when asked if we had committed certain mischief, we 
 pleaded, "So-and-so did it too," an ominous movement oc- 
 curred. He had nothing but contempt for the youngster 
 who tried to lay the blame on some one else. Remember- 
 ing this, I asked my barber-philosopher if he could not 
 find any reason nearer home for the general rise in prices. 
 
 The razor stopped a moment. "Well, come to think 
 of it, things have changed a bit," he admitted. 
 
 "Yes," he resumed, reminiscently, "when I was mar- 
 ried — thirty-three years ago, as you know, things were dif- 
 ferent. We were content to begin with two rooms — ^and 
 I'm blowed if my wife and I weren't happier than thej 
 young couples to-day who couldn't think of having less than 
 four or five rooms. And the missus used to dress in calico. 
 Ah! and I tell you she looked neater and prettie.r in a 
 nice, clean calico frock than your young things nowadays 
 look with their freakish hobble skirts, their silks and 
 such nonsense." 
 
 It was good to hear him speak thus admiringly of his 
 early days of wedlock. 
 
 "We could buy boiling beef for six or seven cents a 
 pound and fine steak for fifteen cents. And vegetables 
 we could get right at the market. 
 
 "We used to make all our own pickles and our own 
 catsup — and I tell you they were worth eating." 
 
 "Do you make these things now?" I interrupted. 
 
 "No, we use Heinz or ^lue Label. But" — a sort of 
 
144 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 afterthought— "I'm blessed if I don't buy tomatoes this 
 year when they get cheap and have our own stuff again." 
 
 "What did your home-made pickles and catsup cost 
 you?" 
 
 He did some figuring. "About three or four cents a 
 bottle." 
 
 "And what do you pay now?" 
 
 "Twelve or fifteen cents for the same amount. Jim- 
 miny, that's a difference, isn't it?" he added with great 
 emphasis, as if the calculation had brought a revelation 
 to him. 
 
 That night one householder went home prepared to 
 contribute his little share of rectifying the high cost of 
 living. 
 
 All debts are debts of honor and should be honored. 
 In these davs of unthinking extravagance too many debts 
 are light-heartedly incurred and not paid. The phrase 
 "falling into debt" is apt. The descent is easy enough, but 
 the climb back is usually painful. Not to pay a debt is 
 akin to stealing. You keep what belongs to another. And 
 by so acting you may force your victim to become a de- 
 linquent. The line between "Mine" and "Thine" is at the 
 moment badly blurred. 
 
 Directors are servants of security holders, not their 
 masters. They are selected by stockholders TO SERVE 
 them, not to deceive them. Too many directors forget this. 
 Too many of them forget their responsibilities in their 
 anxiety to turn their conferred powers into cash for their 
 own bank accounts. Guilt must be brought home to indi- 
 viduals, not to corporations. Some person is responsible 
 for every act committed. Guilt is always personal. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 145 
 
 "IT CAN'T BE DONE," THE FAVORITE ASSER- 
 TION OF REACTIONARY EMPLOYERS, 
 NOW BEING EXPLODED— THE 
 RIGHT THING CAN BE 
 DONE. 
 
 "It can't be done" is the favorite argument of many 
 employers when urged to treat their employees more lib- 
 erally in the way of wages or hours or rest-days or condi- 
 tions of service. And they flatter themselves that their 
 obiter dictum — their say-so — settles it, leaves no room for 
 argument, closes the case finally and irrevocably. 
 
 Skinflint employers are going to learn a few things 
 before the world is very much older. They are goJng to 
 learn that few things ''can't be done" when the public makes 
 up its mind they ought to be done. Not many things that 
 are right and just are impossible. 
 
 The eight-hour day, you remember, was socialistic, an- 
 archistic and absurd when first advocated. Nothing could 
 be more impossible, all but a few far-seeing, broad-gauged, 
 large-hearted, humane employers argued. Well, the eight- 
 hour day was ushered in without any tremendous upheaval 
 in the industries concerned. 
 
 "It can't be done" was once the pet reply to pleas for 
 the abolition of seven-day work in the steel industry. To- 
 day not five per cent, of the United States Steel Corpora- 
 tion's employees work seven days a week. 
 
 Sunday labor in certain industries used to be consid- 
 eied absolutely unavoidable. To-day it has been radically 
 reduced, almost eliminated in most directions. 
 
146 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 The railroads at first vowed that rebating simply 
 could not be stopped. To-day they are infinitely grateful 
 that the law stepped in and abolished it. 
 
 Political parties could not be held together, it was 
 urged, without bosses. To-day the bosses are being driven 
 out to the advantage of all. 
 
 "Can't" is an overworked word. It is too often the 
 refuge of the unfit, the lazy and the coward. Sometimes it 
 expresses a fact ; more often it is an unconvincing excuse. 
 
 "What is here written is for the edification and exhorta- 
 tion of certain corporations and other large employers 
 who glibly declare that sorely-needed reforms for the bene- 
 fit of their workers "can't be done." These employers are 
 leady to admit that they would like to do certain things, 
 that justice is on the side of the reforms and that they hope 
 at some distant date conditions — especially among their 
 competitors — will so change that it will be possible to mix 
 a little more humanity with their money-making. 
 
 They would like to let their workers off one day every 
 week. But "it can't be done." 
 
 They would like to pay all their helpers a living wage. 
 But "it can't be done." 
 
 They would like to better working conditions. But 
 again, "it can't be done." 
 
 Gentlemen, it can be done. And it will be done. 
 
 Any man who can't pay his workers a living wage has 
 no right to own a business. If he cannot supply the brains 
 necessary so to manage a concern that it can pay decent 
 wages, then stop him from being an employer and let him 
 become an employee. If capital cannot be handled in one 
 industry so as to afford reasonable wages, then let it seek 
 other employment. Not only is it an economic sin to con- 
 tinue the use of capital in an unprofitable business, in one 
 that does not pay for the things necessary for the suste- 
 nance of the workers engaged in it, but it is a crime against 
 humanity, a crime against society, a crime against the 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 147 
 
 State. For if an employee receives less wages than is abso- 
 lutely needful to maintain life, then others — the butcher, the 
 baker, the dry goods merchant, the landlord, etc., etc. — 
 have to make up the difference, since men and women can- 
 not allow themselves to starve to death. 
 
 The employer who persists in replying "It can't be 
 done" to requests for reasonable treatment of workers 
 writes himself down incompetent, unfit to enjoy the ser- 
 vices of others. Capital and labor are not sufficient to 
 insure business success; management is the third and 
 indispensable requisite. And any employer who cannot 
 supply it intelligently enough to enable him to deal fairly 
 and decently with workers has no claim to be allowed to 
 lemain an employer. That inexorable law which decrees 
 the survival of the fittest marks such an one for destruction, 
 as he ought to be marked. 
 
 The conclusion of the whole matter is this : Able-bodied, 
 willing, adult workers must be given a reasonable wage, 
 humane hours and tolerable working conditions by every 
 employer who hopes to retain the privilege of remaining 
 an employer. His inability to manage capital intelligently 
 enough to bring profits sufficient to enable him to treat em- 
 ployees reasonably, writes him down a failure as an em- 
 ployer. And the eternal laws of justice cannot be set aside 
 to keep a failure propped up in a high place. 
 
 The Interstate Commission should have jurisdiction 
 over receiverships. Men who run a road to ruin should not 
 be left in charge when the crash comes. Investors are en- 
 titled to protection. Why should the Commission be given 
 control of solvent roads and have not one word to say after 
 disaster comes, when investors are in urgent need of pro- 
 tection, when intelligent, expert supervision is more than 
 ever necessary? 
 
148 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 DO YOU FEEL DISCOURAGED? IF SO, IT IS A 
 REFLECTION UPON YOURSELF— THE IN- 
 WARD "WELL DONE" IS THE 
 REAL SUCCESS. 
 
 "I feel discouraged." 
 
 So said a young man to me recently. 
 
 I offered congratulations the other day to a member of 
 a firm that has scored three notable financial achievements 
 within a month ; achievements which have meant profits, I 
 should think, well over $1,000,000. And what, think you, 
 was his reply? 
 
 Here it is : 
 
 "Yes, we have been very fortunate. But we must not 
 become too exultant, for things do not always go one way. 
 We must accept successes as we would failures — philo- 
 sophically. It is never wise to become too much puffed 
 up when things go right, or to become too depressed when 
 things don't go just right." 
 
 That wise observation, made by one of America's ablest 
 men, I commend to my young friend. 
 
 It may be timely for others also, as many people have 
 had to fight adversity during the last twelve months, and 
 some are not yet at the top of the hill — the 2,000,000 unem- 
 ployed in this country must lie heavily on every thinking 
 citizen's mind. 
 
 To offer words of encouragement to any healthy human 
 being out of work and suffering the pangs of starvation 
 were something of a mockery. Philosophy cannot fill an 
 empty stomach. The man who is hungry has little taste 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 149 
 
 for logic. The man in dire need of bread cannot be ex- 
 pected to thank anyone for wind. Therefore, what I have 
 to say is not intended for the unemployed and the hungry 
 and the homeless. 
 
 My young friend was not one of these. He has a job — a 
 good job for his age. He has his health. He has an educa 
 tion. He is an American. He has a home. He has friends. 
 He has character. He has opportunity. He has energy. He 
 has ambition. Success is not out of his reach. 
 
 For one so circumstanced to surrender to discourage- 
 ment and despair is weak. It is cowardly. It is a reflec- 
 tion upon his mental makeup. 
 
 No man or woman conscious of having done his or her 
 best, of having zealously grasped every opportunity, of 
 having been faithful to himself or herself, can become 
 wholly discouraged or give way to abject despair. If there 
 be an inward "well done," the world cannot inject a sense of 
 failure. 
 
 The only human being who can disgrace you is your- 
 self. 
 
 The world cannot fill you with despair if you are 
 buoyed up by knowledge of your own rectitude, by con- 
 sciousness that you DESERVED to succeed. For if you 
 have kept the faith, if you have played fair with yourself and 
 with your fellowmen, if you have done your part manfully, 
 consistently, steadfastly, then you have succeeded. You 
 are not a failure. You are more of a success than many a 
 millionaire. Your state of mind is more enviable than his 
 "Happiness is from within, not from without" — that's trite, 
 but it is true, eternally true. 
 
 The young man conditioned as my friend is, instead of 
 whining about being "discouraged," should have faith that 
 in time he can move mountains. 
 
 He should be fired with enthusiasm. He should rise 
 stronger in determination after every temporary defeat. 
 
150 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Often, of course, he will have to bite his lip, to clench 
 his fist, to draw inspiration from his sense of worthiness. 
 
 Never must he carry his head too high when fortune 
 smiles upon him. If he soars to the clouds he must expect 
 to fall again to Mother Earth. With his pride must he 
 blend humility, then the world cannot wound it. His foun- 
 dations are beyond the reach of outward storms. 
 
 There is much in the world to pain and distress the 
 heart of man. On all sides are suffering, disease, crime, 
 cruelty and death. There are strife and backbiting and 
 envy and jealousy and hatred. There is much loneliness; 
 there is much lovelessness ; there is much anguish of mind 
 and soul. But if we know that we are doing all in our 
 power to alleviate and remedy these matters we shall not 
 feel overcome or overpowered ; we shall not give way to 
 despair. We will fight on. 
 
 Hanging on the wall of a certain house I remember 
 seeing an ornamental brass plate picturing the lolling, 
 care-free members of the "Don't Worry Club" and in- 
 scribed: "This is God's world, boys, not ours." Without 
 irreverence, I would recommend that reflection to those 
 tempted to throw up the sponge. 
 
 To those who have youth and health and character 
 and faith on their side there should be no such words as 
 discouragement and despair. 
 
 Keep always in mind the story of Robert the Bruce 
 and the spider. It triumphed in the end. 
 
 Arbitrators should arbitrate. Too often they seek only 
 to reach a compromise, to "split the difference" regardless 
 of the merits of the case. This is a convenient peace-at- 
 any-price makeshift. But it is not always justice. It is a 
 policy provocative of strike threats. It is an invitation to 
 workers, "Ask and ye shall receive." It does not make for 
 permanent peace, but intermittent disturbance. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 151 
 
 PAUL M. WARBURG AS MAN, BANKER AND FED- 
 ERAL RESERVE BOARD MEMBER — A 
 CHARACTER SKETCH UNACCOM- 
 PANIED BY A PHOTO- 
 GRAPH—WHY. 
 
 (Written the Day Mr. Warburg was Named by President 
 Wilson as a Member of the Federal Reserve Board.) 
 
 Paul M. Warburg has never had his picture taken. 
 
 That, if you know human nature, will give you the 
 key to the character, or at least the characteristics, of New 
 York's member of the Federal Reserve Board. 
 
 He is probably the ablest and most erudite interna- 
 tional banker in America. Also, he is the most modest. 
 
 A newspaper wanted his photograph not long ago. He 
 wrote in reply: "I have never yet had my picture in the' 
 newspapers and am rather proud of this record. Therefore 
 you will pardon me for not breaking it now." That record 
 still stands — although now that he has become a high pub- 
 lic official Mr. Warburg will no doubt feel compelled to 
 capitulate. 
 
 What manner of man is Paul Warburg? 
 
 Let me try my 'prentice hand at a physical descrip- 
 tion : About five feet eight in height and neither stout nor 
 lean — 145 pounds, say. Very black, well-groomed hair, 
 plenty of forehead, dark and exceptionally keen eyes, heavy 
 black moustache and a chin that was not short-weighted 
 or short-measured — withal a good-looking man of serious 
 and impressive mien, yet given to smiling and causing 
 
152 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 smiles, always immaculately dressed, often sporting a bou- 
 tonniere from his own gardens. 
 
 Mentally? A giant. It was Paul M. Warburg who 
 formed the very first framework of a new banking system 
 for the United States. Before ever the Aldrich bill took 
 shape — mainly, but not wholly, be it whispered, under Mr. 
 Warburg's guidance and inspiration — Mr. Warburg drafted 
 3 comprehensive banking measure which found much favor 
 with experts, but which was really too scientific for the 
 average politician. It was commonly remarked in financial 
 circles later on that what was good in the Aldrich bill was 
 Warburg's, and what was bad in it was Aldrich's and his 
 colleagues' ! 
 
 Read this proviso from Mr. Warburg's original plan 
 and see how pertinent it is in connection with his selection 
 by President Wilson as a member of the Federal Reserve 
 Board : 
 
 "No measure would be acceptable which vests the 
 powers of a central bank in political officers alone, as is the 
 case under our present system. That power, clearly de- 
 fined, ought to be vested in political officers and business 
 men combined, in a way that would render impossible any 
 political or financial abuse." 
 
 Mr. Warburg was a scholar before he was a banker — 
 and he is still a student. He comes of banking stock, his 
 family having been famous bankers in Germany ever since 
 the end of the eighteenth century. Born in Hamburg in 
 1868, he went to school and college there, then got an in- 
 sight into the rudiments of business, later enjoying valu- 
 able practical banking experience in England and France, 
 and rounding off his international training with a trip 
 round the world. That qualified him to join his father s 
 banking house of M. M. Warburg & Co., of Hamburg, with 
 whose affairs he still keeps in close touch by occasional 
 visits of considerable duration — and much hard work. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 153 
 
 He came to America twenty years ago and, marrying 
 a daughter of Solomon Loeb, founder of Kuhn, Loeb & 
 Co., was admitted to that firm, since become second to none 
 in power and wealth in this country and having tre- 
 mendously influential connections abroad. 
 
 As an authority on central banking and on interna- 
 tional finance Mr. Warburg is without a peer in America. 
 Eight years ago he wrote a treatise on "Defects and Needs 
 of Our Currency System," and ever since has been relied 
 upon by Washington leaders for expert counsel. 
 
 Mr. Warburg championed a central bank but that was 
 adjudged by Washington politically impossible. In com- 
 mon with other bankers, he would have preferred fewer 
 than twelve district reserve banks — not more than four, if 
 possible, and certainly not more than eight, the, minimum 
 provided by the Owen-Glass law. I question, however, 
 whether Mr. Warburg or any other members of the new 
 board will attempt to upset the work already done by the 
 Organization Committee. The aim will be to build up on 
 the foundation as laid, to proceed cautiously at first to 
 avoid overstraining the machinery before it gets into full 
 working order and to ask Congress to make such amend- 
 ments as actual experience dictates. 
 
 Mr. Warburg has all along cautioned the business world 
 not to expect too much from the new system at the start. 
 
 Financial leaders breathed a sigh of relief when they 
 learned that Mr. Warburg was to sit on the Federal Re- 
 serve Board, for his presence will be a guarantee that sanity, 
 skill and common-sense will govern the administration of 
 the nation's untried currency system, freighted as it is with 
 such vast possibilities for good and evil to the destinies of 
 the Republic. 
 
 The honest man willing to work along decent lines will 
 in future be less handicapped. 
 
154 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 A THANKSGIVING DAY HOMILY— REFLECTIONS 
 ON PROGRESS, MATERIAL AND OTHER, 
 MADE BY THIS COUNTRY DUR- 
 ING RECENT YEARS. 
 
 (Thanksgiving Day, 1914.) 
 
 The United States has much to feel thankful for to-day. 
 As a nation we stand on a higher plane than we did last 
 Thanksgiving. Are the following statements not true? 
 
 We have become more broad-minded, less self-centred. 
 
 We have become more charitable, less selfish. 
 
 We have been taught the inter-dependence of the na- 
 tions of the earth. 
 
 We are to-day more sensible of the innate and ever- 
 lasting brotherhood of man. 
 
 We have learned tolerance and forbearance at home. 
 
 We have imbibed "a new spirit," to use President Wil- 
 son's phrase. 
 
 We see labor less disposed to cut the throat of capital. 
 
 We see the politicians less eager to attack and harass 
 employers. 
 
 We see employers more solicitous of their employees 
 than ever before. 
 
 We see co-operation taking the place of coercion and 
 cross-purposes. 
 
 We behold democracy about to triumph in King-ridden 
 Europe. 
 
 We can foresee the abolition of Czars and Kaisers and 
 Emperors and Kings. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 155 
 
 We can foresee the end of autocracy and the ascendancy 
 of the people. 
 
 We can hope that the lethal evil of militarism, of the 
 doctrine that "might is right," is to be swept from the face 
 of the earth. 
 
 We, with every other nation, have felt the chastening 
 effect of the untold suffering in Europe. 
 
 We have forsaken the alluring but slippery paths of 
 extravagance. 
 
 We have learned the wisdom of prudent economy and 
 frugality. 
 
 We have also learned, perhaps, the moral underlying 
 the abolition of alcohol in Russia and its rigid suppression 
 in France. 
 
 In things material, how greatly have we been blessed 
 in comparison with our sister nations abroad, although our 
 rejoicing on this score is tempered with sadness. 
 
 Our fields and our mines are producing wealth at the 
 rate of one billion dollars every month. 
 
 Our Western agricultural population were never more 
 prosperous than they are to-day, and the South is already 
 recovering from the affliction visited upon it by the war. 
 
 Our mercantile and commercial brethren have been 
 provided with a new and efficacious instrument of credit. 
 
 The word "panic," we are assured on high authority, 
 has been erased from our financial lexicon. 
 
 Our financial machinery, upset by the outbreak of the 
 war, is again being put into running order. 
 
 The foreign trade tide is now flowing in our favor. 
 
 We are now laying sound plans for the invasion and 
 capture of new foreign markets. 
 
 It can be said with truth to-day, as was said in this 
 column when the exchanges everywhere were closed : 
 
 "Our position financially is sound. 
 
 "Our position industrially is sound. 
 
 "Our position agriculturally is sound. 
 
156 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 "Our position socially is sound. 
 
 "Our position politically is becoming sounder." 
 
 We have enjoyed the infinite blessing of peace. 
 
 We have been able to extend a helping hand to the 
 stricken peoples of Europe. 
 
 We have had our sympathies for the poor and the 
 homeless among our midst quickened and spurred into 
 beneficient action. 
 
 Our power for good in hastening and moulding an 
 equitable and lasting peace no man can measure. 
 
 To us will Europe's bled and bleached nations turn 
 for counsel and mediation when their thoughts turn to 
 peace. 
 
 Let us pray we may rise to the measure of our oppor- 
 tunity, that we may so influence the coming deliberations 
 that a way will be opened for the ushering in of a new 
 order in Europe, an order founded not on anachronistic 
 autocracy and tyranny, but on democracy, on man's equal- 
 ity and fraternity. 
 
 And so from the ashes of ruined Europe may there arise 
 a regenerated spirit, a united brotherhood uncorrupted by 
 the jealousies and envies and unholy ambitions of effete 
 rulers. 
 
 The United States has imbibed something of that spirit 
 these latter days. 
 
 We have become more humane, more considerate, more 
 ready to work for the common good. 
 
 Is it not fitting and seemly for us to celebrate Thanks- 
 giving Day soberly yet fervently? 
 
 As for rich loafers, few of us, I hope, are foolish enough 
 to envy them. They are of all men the most miserable. 
 They cannot know the infinite, incomparable joy of creat- 
 ing something, of work well done. Without toil there can 
 be no blissful relaxation or recreation. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 157 
 
 YOUNG FINANCIERS TO ENTER THE SADDLE— 
 
 THE OLD SCHOOL PASSES— VETERANS FIND 
 
 MONEY-MAKING IS NOT THE WHOLE OF 
 
 LIFE— INSPIRING OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 FOR YOUNGER GENERATION. 
 
 Young men are to enter the saddle. 
 
 Veteran financial gladiators are to throw off their 
 armor. 
 
 The law prohibiting "interlocking directorates," which 
 takes effect in 1916, is hastening this epochal movement. 
 The next year or two will see tremendous changes. 
 
 Already the biggest men are loosening their financial 
 shackles. 
 
 George F. Baker, director in half-a-hundred corpora- 
 tions, has already begun to ease his burdens. He is weary 
 of it all. 
 
 Judge Gary began to retire from various boards two 
 years ago, and will confine his attention by-and-by solely 
 to the Steel Corporation, of which he is the head. 
 
 Frank A. Vanderlip, though a comparatively young 
 man, has begun to withdraw from the important railroads 
 of which he is a director and executive committee member. 
 
 Jacob H. Schiff, head of Kuhn, Loeb & Co., several 
 years ago took similar action, and is no longer a director 
 in a score of non-banking corporations. Recently, the 
 youngest — and a very able — member of the firm, Mr. Han- 
 auer, was elected to an important directorship, an incident 
 illustrative of what will become the general trend within the 
 tiext eighteen months. 
 
158 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 The Morgan people pulled in their horns recently and 
 will have to do more in the same direction before long. 
 
 James Stillman years ago threw off the directorship 
 3'oke — and is infinitely glad he did. Since he chose to live 
 at semi-leisure he has learned, he declares, the real joy of 
 living. 
 
 James J. Hill boldly announced several years ago that 
 he was to step down, but fate has been against him. He is 
 still a live, active wire, up to his ears in business — although, 
 let me confide, he is quietly working on a gigantic educa- 
 tional scheme which he regards as very well worth doing 
 and which he hopes to bequeath as a monument to his 
 memory. 
 
 Poor Harriman worked himself to death. He used up 
 so much vitality to keep his mind going at express speed 
 that his body rebelled, and he died of starvation. 
 
 The financial giants of to-day are beginning to feel that 
 Andy Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller were wise old owls 
 to pull up stakes when they did and woo health and happi- 
 ness rather than dollars. 
 
 What a vista of opportunity is opening up for the 
 j'ounger generation ! The old fellows are no longer to sit 
 on every big board and dominate everything. Even if 
 some of them would, the new law will not allow them to 
 do so. 
 
 But my knowledge and information justify me in say- 
 ing that most of them look forward to curtailing their ac- 
 tivities with genuine pleasure. Many of them have sons 
 who heretofore have been kept in the background. These 
 sons will now be given a chance to win their financial spurs. 
 I know one multi-millionaire — one whose name appears 
 in the foregoing list — who would willingly give half his 
 fortune aijd obliterate himself entirely to aid his son in 
 making a big name for himself. Unfortunately, the son has 
 not the right personality to become a real leader, notwith- 
 standing that he possesses full-weight brains. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 159 
 
 Smart junior partners and level-headed business men 
 who may not command banking millions will be more in 
 demand as directors of railroads and industrial corpora- 
 tions. Directors in future will really direct. They will not 
 be mere figureheads. They will not be content to take the 
 say-so of executive officers and let it go at that. The New 
 Haven directors of the old regime discovered that their 
 position carried responsibilities which they evidently did 
 not take seriously. 
 
 The new currency system, by decentralizing the 
 "Money Power," will hasten and facilitate the ushering in 
 of the new order. Honors will go around more. Also 
 responsibilities. 
 
 In the United States there is no scarcity of brainy 
 young men in every sphere of life, especially in business. 
 With the semi-retirement of the Old Guard, the younger 
 generation will have greater room for promotion and 
 achievement. 
 
 And let it be remarked that the New School is obsessed 
 by none of the public-be-damned notions of the Vanderbilt- 
 Morgan stripe of financiers. They realize that the public 
 rule, that democracy, not autocracy, is in the saddle. 
 
 The evolution will be good for all of us. 
 
 Railroad wage disputes do not concern merely those 
 taking part, the managers and the men. There are others 
 intimately interested. There are: Stockholders, Bond- 
 holders, Noteholders, and the Public. To-day the number of 
 railway security holders is as large as the number of rail- 
 way employees — not far from 2,000,000. Heretofore the se- 
 curity holders have remained quiescent. They have no 
 organization. They cannot speak through a megaphone, 
 as the men do by means of their unions. Why not an asso- 
 ciation of American Security Holders? 
 
160 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 STANDARD OIL TURNS OVER A NEW LEAF— OLD 
 
 POLICY OF SECRECY TO BE DISCARDED— 
 
 YOUNG ROCKEFELLER'S IDEAS CHANGE— 
 
 HIS REPUTATION RISES. 
 
 Standard Oil is to change its whole attitude towards 
 the public and towards investors in its many enterprises. 
 
 Secrecy is to give place to publicity — real publicity. 
 
 Holders of securities in companies run by the Rocke- 
 fellers are not to be kept in the dark much longer. Reports 
 will be issued and other legitimate information given out. 
 
 The old policy of keeping the people in the dark and 
 refusing to answer thoroughly proper questions concern- 
 ing the affairs of companies whose securities have been 
 issued to the public has been condemned unmitigatedly by 
 the writer. The secrecy practised left too much room for 
 profitable operations by insiders. And since the splitting 
 of the parent Oil company into over thirty parts, the gyra- 
 tions of more than one subsidiary stock have caused people 
 to talk, to say the least. All that is to be changed. 
 
 John D. Rockefeller, senior, and John D. Rockefeller, 
 junior, are joint authors of the new policy. 
 
 The man selected to carry it out is Ivy L. Lee, for years 
 right-hand man of the Pennsylvania Railroad's president 
 in preserving the right kind of relations between the road 
 and its employees and also the public. 
 
 Appointed by the elder Mr. Rockefeller on January 1, 
 1915, one of his cabinet of three— Mr. Rockefeller, the 
 younger, and Starr J. Murphy are the other two — Mr. Lee 
 has already been made a director of several corporations 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 161 
 
 and will by and by become Mr. Rockefeller's direct repre- 
 sentative in others. 
 
 Mr. Lee's duty will be to establish a policy of full pub- 
 licity — and, incidentally, to see to it that the corporations 
 do nothing that full publicity would hurt. 
 
 Here is John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s, profession of pub- 
 licity faith: 
 
 "It has been the policy of most large corporations and 
 individuals to maintain silence with reference to their affairs. 
 1 think the public feeling has been growing of late years 
 that that attitude toward the public was unwise, and that 
 the public is entitled to know about large concerns, whether 
 private or public. 
 
 "The importance of that policy has been growing, and 
 we have felt for some time that we should adopt the modern 
 policy of greater publicity." 
 
 One of the first fruits of the reformation was this : 
 
 The Colorado Fuel Company directors — whose tragic 
 experiences with the miners have been much in the lime- 
 light — held a meeting at No. 26 Broadway at which Presi- 
 dent Welborn submitted a statement concerning plans he 
 had drawn up for improving the housing and social facili- 
 ties of the miners. It was approved. 
 
 "Why not tell the public exactly what you have told 
 us?" came the suggestion in the board room. 
 
 No sooner said than done. The reporters were called 
 in and copies of President Welborn's statement were 
 handed out for publication. 
 
 Fancy a statement prepared solely for No. 26 Broad- 
 way directors having been distributed to the newspapers in 
 the old days ! 
 
 The truth is the more the Rockefellers have to do with 
 the public direct the more they like their experiences. 
 
 To be understood is pleasanter than to be misunder- 
 .stood, they find. 
 
162 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 To be appreciated is more comforting than to be exe- 
 crated, they confess. 
 
 They have also made this discovery: 
 
 It is not only necessary to do the right thing, but to do 
 it in the right vfay. 
 
 And the right way is the publicity way — the open and 
 above-board way. 
 
 Of course, it will take time to infuse the new principle 
 into all the enterprises identified with the Rockefellers. 
 
 Quarterly reports from all the subsidiary oil com- 
 panies need not to be looked for just yet. 
 
 But the fiat for fuller publicity has gone forth. 
 
 And if progress be not made. Ivy Lee will not be "mak- 
 ing good," for it is his special business to insure that fair 
 and square treatment be meted out to the public and to; 
 investors. 
 
 Down in the financial district, Young Rockefeller's 
 leputation has soared immeasurably since the day he first 
 took the witness stand before the Industrial Relations 
 Commission. He astonished many of the hide-bound reac- 
 tionaries that still exist there. His candor, his level-head- 
 edness, his sincerity, his breadth of sympathy and insight 
 into human nature were a revelation to them. 
 
 And his recent democratic fraternising with Colorado 
 miners, their wives and children has added to his rising 
 reputation as a man and a statesman. 
 
 The new policy of the greatest aggregation of capital 
 ever known in this or any other country marks an epoch 
 in human history. 
 
 Can less powerful interests afford to lag behind? 
 
 Stocks were falling. A customer rushed up to his 
 veteran broker and wailed that everything was going wrong. 
 "If everything was going right," replied the broker, "stocks 
 could not be bought at these prices." 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 163 
 
 HARD TIMES DRIVE OUT THE DRONES AND THE 
 DROSS— LAW OF SURVIVAL OF FITTEST 
 WORKS FOR BENEFIT OF THE INDUS- 
 TRIOUS AND THE AMBITIOUS. 
 
 Adversity often uncovers merit. 
 
 When depression draws the pruning knife from its 
 sheath weak branches are cut off but the strongest are 
 retained. 
 
 Many a worthy worker has won his spurs during try- 
 mg, troublous times, when special initiative and talent were 
 demanded to overcome difficulties. 
 
 Any ordinary tree can stand up when no storm rages, 
 but when hurricanes blow the unsound or shallow-rooted 
 ones topple over. 
 
 So it is often with employees — and with employers. 
 
 The ambitious soldier hails war as an opportunity to 
 demonstrate his prowess. The worthless fireside soldier 
 hates to be dragged from his easy-going routine life. 
 
 Emergencies test men's metal. 
 
 When industry undergoes severe trials, weak concerns 
 go to the wall — and their better equipped competitors win 
 more trade. When distrust overtakes the banking world 
 and credit strings are tightened, the standing of a borrower, 
 his reputation and his ability become all-important; only 
 the most trustworthy are favored with loans, the weaklings 
 perish. 
 
 The winds of financial adversity winnow the wheat 
 from the chaff in the industrial, commercial and mercan- 
 tile worlds. 
 
164 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 And when Economy Committees, Efficiency Commis- 
 sions and Curtailment Boards are called into being by hard 
 times a similar process occurs among labor. These bodies 
 address themselves to the task of subjecting each employee 
 to the acid test. They sit as a court, and each man's record 
 is considered and passed upon. How much work does he 
 do? How well does he do it? How much is he paid? 
 Could he be dispensed with without crippling the organi- 
 zation? Could his duties be merged with those of one or 
 two others and the payroll thus reduced? Or is he a man 
 worth retaining, worth being promoted to the place of a 
 less efficient superior drawing more pay? 
 
 When such probes come the fittest stand a chance of 
 advancement ; the lazy, the incompetent, the fellow having 
 a "snap" is liable to be dropped. 
 
 Those who most fear changes are persons conscious 
 that they are not earning their money or filling their place 
 as well as it could be filled by someone else. The fellow 
 who knows he is giving two dollars' worth of service for 
 one dollar's remuneration welcomes an investigation of 
 what is what, for one fault of the modern big-scale method 
 of doing business is that a young man's real worth is apt 
 for a time to remain hidden. The right kind of worker 
 has nothing to fear, nothing to hide. His record will stand 
 scrutiny. He feels that the revealing of the facts to the 
 boss may win him the advancement he deserves. 
 
 You may have noticed occasional references in the 
 financial columns to "weak spots" being uncovered in the 
 stock market. This happens when prices decline sharply. 
 It means usually that certain speculators have gone beyond 
 the bounds of prudence in incurring risks and that they 
 have been obliged to part with stocks bought on margin. 
 They had acted recklessly, placing themselves at the mercy 
 of other trades. And in Wall Street mercy is not a plentiful 
 everyday commodity ! Here the weak get short shrift from 
 the strong. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 165 
 
 But these financial reports often add that "the elimina- 
 tion of the weak spots leave the market on a sounder, 
 healthier basis." 
 
 The same thing is true in other spheres. The corpora- 
 tion or firm which has been through the fires of depression 
 ?.nd has had the dross purged from it is in a better position 
 than before to hold its own in the battle for business and 
 profits. It is more efficient, more alert, more aggressive, 
 since each man has learned anew the necessity for exerting 
 himself to hold his job and to win out, both for himself and 
 his concern. 
 
 The transformation in this country's express com- 
 panies since the inauguration of the new parcels post sys- 
 tem is the most notable illustration in American industry of 
 the beneficient results of competition that tests what a man 
 or an organization is made of. 
 
 I've been trying for months to reason out whether 
 America is to produce in the future many more Rockefellers 
 and Carnegies and Harrimans, men of stupendous fortunes 
 made in a few years — Harriman rolled up some $70,000,000 
 in about a dozen years, or at the rate of half a million every 
 month during the last ten years of his life. My belief is that 
 we will haye, in the next generation, fewer mushroom multi- 
 millionaires, fewer men with colossal fortunes made in Wall 
 Street or other spectacular deals. But business of every 
 kind will be done on a much larger scale by and by, and 
 though the margin of profit may be- comparatively small, 
 the aggregate probably in many, many instances will 
 make multi-millionaires of not a few. 
 
 America's corn crop is not only the most valuable one 
 raised in this country, but is worth more than any single 
 crop of any other country on the face of the earth. 
 
166 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 "WHAT IS THERE IN IT FOR— THE OTHER 
 PARTY?" THE NEW MOTTO THAT COR- 
 PORATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS ARE 
 BEGINNING TO FIND PRACTICAL 
 AND PROFITABLE. 
 
 "What is there in it for — the other party?" 
 
 That is the new version. 
 
 Far-sighted, broad-gauge people have discarded the old 
 formula: "What is there in it for me?" 
 
 Human nature has not been suddenly regenerated. Un- 
 selfishness has not routed selfishness. 
 
 The new version is being adopted because it pays. 
 
 The most successful business enterprise to-day is the 
 one that strives first, last and all the time to give its cus- 
 tomers full value for their money, to give satisfaction, to 
 please patrons. To succeed permanently, a firm or corpo- 
 ration musk ask itself squarely : ''What is there in it for 
 those who deal with us?" If the concern knows that it is 
 cheating, that its existence depends upon perpetual deceit, 
 then it is conscious that sooner or later it will reap what it 
 sows. 
 
 Many employees constantly growl about their lot. They 
 ask themselves : "What is there in it for me?" And, truly 
 enough, oftentimes there is very little — shamefully little. 
 
 But let the dissatisfied employee, by way of change, ask 
 what there is in his services for the employer, and let him 
 concentrate upon putting all he can into it for the filler of 
 his pay envelope. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 167 
 
 The outcome will be all right, even though justice may 
 creep along with leaden feet. 
 
 This daily " What-is-there-in-it-for-me ?" carping keeps 
 many a man down who would rise were he to adopt the 
 more modern and more enlightened motto. The fellow, 
 be he office-boy or proprietor, whose sole concern is to pull 
 in as much as possible and give out as little service as 
 possible, will not go far and stay there. 
 
 It is decreed among the eternal verities that it is better 
 to give than to receive, and the largest successes, no matter 
 in what field, can be attained only by fulfilling that spirit. 
 
 This may sound preachy, but it is the alpha of everyday, 
 workaday wisdom. 
 
 To get full measure you must give full measure plus. 
 
 The worker who is afraid to do too much for his boss is 
 likely to find the boss careful not to do too much for him. 
 The man who is willing to do a little extra — all the extra 
 he can — is apt to find a little — perhaps a lot — extra coming 
 his way one fine day. For this is in accord with the or- 
 dained scheme of things. 
 
 Have you ever read any of John Wanamaker's personal 
 talks on modern storekeeping? They embody not only the 
 best sentiments, but. the best sense to be found in the daily 
 output of printers' ink. To the unthinking they may at 
 first seem fantastic, too goody-goody, too altruistic. But a 
 little study will reveal that they contain the essence of 
 wisdom, that they lay down the only rules by which lasting 
 success can be achieved. 
 
 Shoddy and sharp practises get a man nowhere worth 
 reaching. Neither does shirking work. 
 
 There are so many "isms" and "ologies," so many sects 
 and doctrines, so many panaceas flooding the world to-day 
 that the old homely virtues are in danger of being buried. 
 Be we employees or employers we will still find that the only 
 sure road to success and to happiness lies along the path of 
 
168 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 honest, persistent, well-directed hard work and useful ser- 
 
 vice. 
 
 If we tread that road and success still keeps out of our 
 reach, then we will have the consolation that at least we 
 tried, and that if we did not attain success, we have done 
 more — we've deserved it. 
 
 It is the mark, not the prize, that counts in the end. 
 
 If to our self-addressed query : "What is there in it for 
 the other party?" we can conscientiously return a satisfac- 
 tory answer, sooner or later we are likely to have littlb 
 occasion to worry over "What is there in it for me?" That 
 will take care of itself. 
 
 Discontent, ferments, class clashes have invariably at- 
 tended great forward movements. Reforms are not born of 
 complacency, of meek resignation, of sodden dourness. 
 They are the fruit of well-directed strife, struggle and 
 achievement, of confidence in the justice of a cause, of ir- 
 repressible determination to assert manhood, of faith in 
 that eternal justice which suffuses the scheme of things. 
 Only the dead are still, it has been remarked. The Ameri- 
 can people, on this reasoning, are alive. 
 
 No banking system can create wealth or manufacture 
 prosperity. No banking system can lessen the need for 
 individual and national frugality, industry, energy, zeal and 
 persistency. There is no royal road to prosperity. All that 
 America's new currency system can do is to remove several 
 obstacles that have strewn the path of commerce in the past 
 and lend every legitimate assistance in the way of credit to 
 those merchants, importers, exporters, manufacturers, 
 farmers and others who are worthy of being helped. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 169 
 
 LABOR SHOULD HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE ON 
 EVERY CORPORATION DIRECTORATE- 
 OUTLINE OF PLAN FOR RECASTING 
 AND DEMOCRATIZING BOARDS. 
 
 If thrift is to thrive in America, we must create better 
 safeguards for the fruits of thrift — savings. 
 
 If our great business organizations are to be properly 
 directed, we must PAY our ablest men to do it. 
 
 If we are not to turn a deaf, futile ear to the irresistible 
 demand for a larger measure of democracy in running the 
 nation's industries, we must, while there is yet time, take 
 steps to put things on a more satisfying basis. 
 
 America needs paid directors of corporations. This 
 vital reform must soon be taken up and adopted. 
 
 Until this is accomplished, investors will not have the 
 protection they are entitled to enjoy ; unscrupulous bankers, 
 financiers and other scheming gentlemen will continue to 
 amass ill-gotten fortunes; and American investments, 
 which ought to be the most attractive in the world, will 
 remain under more suspicion than those of any other civil- 
 ized country. 
 
 Expect nothing for nothing. What you want, pay for. 
 
 Why should you imagine men of wealth and influence, 
 men whose time is worth to them many dollars per hour, 
 will act as directors of a score or more of corporations with- 
 out remuneration? Directors at present are given only a 
 "tip" — usually $10 or $20 in gold — for each meeting they 
 attend For their services between meetings, for all the 
 
170 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 thought and study and planning they contribute, they are 
 not supposed to receive one cent. 
 
 Now, knowing what you do about human nature and 
 about business ethics, do you really believe men of the 
 Morgan, Rockefeller, Baker stamp are altruistic enough 
 to work hard year after year for nothing, for the sake of 
 others, for the benefit of small investors? Don't you think 
 these financiers and others of their class are likely to see 
 to it that they are compensated for all they do for corpora- 
 tions? Why should they work for nothing? What right 
 have we to ask them to do so? Are the rich not as much 
 entitled to payment for their services as those less opulent? 
 Is not every laborer worthy of his hire ? 
 
 Directors nowadays ostensibly are not paid. But most 
 of them, you may have noticed, wax wealthy. Stockholders 
 having refused to grant them salary, they often proceed to 
 enrich themselves by other means. 
 
 Unless there is "something in it for me" mighty few 
 able men choose to join a directorate. They are not in 
 business for amusement, for the joy of slaving gratuitiously 
 for others. It is all a matter of cold business with them. 
 
 The yardstick of business is the dollar. 
 
 If a proposition promises to measure up well, it is 
 accepted. If there is "nothing in it for me," it is rejected. 
 
 Under our present methods of managing our great 
 business organizations the fullest results cannot be achieved. 
 Our existing system of directorates is all wrong. It must 
 be changed. Until better safeguards against "inside" dou- 
 ble-dealing have been provided, millions of people who 
 have money available for investment in American securi- 
 ties will fight shy of them. 
 
 Our boards of directors of huge corporations must be 
 recast. They must be differently constituted. Their per- 
 sonnel must be changed. 
 
 At present, as you know, a few bankers and their allies 
 usually dominate each big concern. One railroad or indus- 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 171 
 
 trial company is termed a "Morgan property," another a 
 "Kuhn-Loeb company," another a "Phelps-Dodge concern," 
 another a "Moore-Reid road," and so on. Some inside in- 
 terest is the whole thing, so to speak. The public, inferen- 
 tially, is left out in the cold. 
 
 I believe we are approaching the day when our direc- 
 torates of corporations doing an interstate business, on 
 capital provided by the public through stock and bond 
 issues, must, and should be constituted along some such 
 lines as the following: 
 
 One representative of the Federal Government. 
 
 One representative of the employees. 
 
 One representative of a nation-wide association of se- 
 curity holders, preferably a trained expert in the business 
 handled. 
 
 The company's president and perhaps one other high 
 official, both reporting fully and frequently to the whole 
 board. 
 
 A very limited number (say three) of bankers, finan- 
 ciers or others having a large financial interest in the com- 
 pany. 
 
 All directors to be paid generously for their services, 
 said services to be real, not nominal. 
 
 And the directors INDIVIDUALLY held responsible 
 for all illegal acts of the corporation — although the vigi- 
 lance of a Government representative should greatly mini- 
 mize the temptation to commit wrongdoing. 
 
 Frequent — at least quarterly — reports to stockholders 
 to be called for by law. 
 
 Would this not tend to secure more efficient manage- 
 ment, better results for investors, complete publicity, ample 
 consideration for employees, a cessation of illegal conduct, 
 and, as a corollary, more satisfactory and lasting conditions 
 for capital, for labor, for the public and for the Republic? 
 
172 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 HOW MUCH DO YOU EARN, NOT MONEY, BUT 
 HAPPINESS FOR OTHERS AND YOURSELF? 
 THE DOLLAR AS A NATIONAL YARD- 
 STICK FALLING FROM FAVOR. 
 
 How much do you earn? 
 
 The answer to that question is usually given in dollars. 
 But I don't mean how much money, as money of itself is 
 dross, inert, useless. Money is only a means to an end — 
 happiness, health, service, etc. 
 
 How much happiness do you earn — for others and 
 yourself? How much enjoyment does your job yield you 
 — and yield others ? How much service do you put into the 
 world and what dividends do you draw for it? 
 
 Do you make your life worth while for yourself and 
 others ? 
 
 How many men I know who are earning dollars a- 
 plenty, but who are really earning little of what counts, 
 They are so overwhelmingly engrossed in business that 
 they get nothing from their dollars. Their life pays neither 
 them nor anyone else dividends of the right kind. The Jug- 
 gernaut of dollar-making has crushed out of them every 
 capacity for genuine enjoyment, every grace, every unself- 
 ish sentiment and instinct. 
 
 I asked a triple-expansion, busiest of the busy financiers 
 what possible pleasure he got out of his life. He is on the 
 summery side of fifty, has been signally "successful," is 
 known all over America and not unknown abroad. He 
 replied : 
 
 "I hope to be able to quit in a few years. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 173 
 
 "There is nothing in this sort of life." He waved his 
 hand across his desk, littered with letters, statements, sta- 
 tistics, and pointed toward the small army of secretaries 
 and under-secretaries he keeps busy. 
 
 "The game is not worth the candle — after you have 
 'got there' and have all the money you can need." 
 
 Do you remember — I often do — that telephone wire 
 that was trailed after Edward H. Harriman, through the 
 Californian woods, whither he went in search of rest not 
 long before he died? And do you recall that pathetic pic- 
 ture of the buzzing-buzzing telephone above his pillow as 
 he lay on his deathbed sinking toward the end? And do 
 you recollect how he pleaded, almost like a child, with the 
 photographers not to print pictures they snapped of him as 
 he collapsed on the pier when he returned from his futile 
 trip to Europe? 
 
 It was all so ghastly, so inhuman. And, irony of irony, 
 when he passed away, not a ripple spread over the financial 
 seal Everything was as if he had never been. The un- 
 happy man literally starved himself to death, did not give 
 his body or mind a chance to live. 
 
 The more one sees of grand-scale money-making the 
 less respect one has for those who let it devour them. 
 
 How impotent is it all! How barren! How unsatis- 
 fying ! 
 
 The dollar has been the yardstick of American life here- 
 tofore. Is it to be discarded? Is it being discarded even 
 now? Has it been found wanting by those who cherished 
 it most? Is there a turning away from sordid, sterile dol- 
 lar-making-at-any-price? Are some of our millionaires and 
 multi-millionaires trying to rise to more worth-while 
 things? Are they disposed to pull their feet out of the 
 lucre-trough and devote some of their time and talents to 
 living? 
 
 It may be that I have a streak of the idealist, a dreamer, 
 a seer of visions. But I certainly believe that in the highest 
 
174 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 financial circles — among men of multiplied millions — there 
 is now traceable symptons of regeneration, of turning 
 away from the mad chase after Mammon, of a realization 
 that it availeth a man nothing if he gains millions and loses 
 all that life possesses. 
 
 Measured by life's real standards, by the things that 
 count, many of our up-to-the-neck, twenty-four-hours-a-day 
 slaves to business, earn precious little in a year. 
 
 They earn money, of course, but have neither time nor 
 talent nor inclination to use this instrument to gain for' 
 them the valuable things of life — health, culture, happiness, 
 unselfishness, leisure, friendships, helpfulness, service, char- 
 ity, contentment, tranquillity, joy. 
 
 Their ambition — unregulated, uncurbed — o'erleaps it- 
 self. At the end they are poor indeed ; pitiable. 
 
 How neglected is the whole science of life! The chief 
 care of most of us is to keep our minds so distracted that 
 we shall have no time to think of it. 
 
 But, as I have said, there are incipient signs of a return 
 to sanity by those who have learned from bitter experience 
 the nothingness of inordinate dollar-getting. 
 
 Peace of mind is worth more than any amount of ill- 
 gotten gold. That is trite, but its truth is being demon- 
 strated afresh every hour. I want to remark, for the conso- 
 lation of those of us who are not rich and have no mania to 
 become rich through dishonesty, that those High Finan- 
 ciers who have indulged in shady transactions are an un- 
 happy lot. 
 
 Any business arrangement that is not profitable to 
 the other fellow will in the end prove unprofitable to you. 
 The bargain that yields mutual satisfaction is the only one 
 that is apt to be repeated permanently. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 175 
 
 SUCCESSFUL MILLIONAIRES WORK AT HIGH 
 
 PRESSURE: MORGAN, HILL, HARRIMAN, 
 
 STILLMAN, VANDERLIP, DAVISON— HOW 
 
 STILLMAN WAS THAWED OUT 
 
 BY A NEW CLERK. 
 
 Our successful millionaires work at high pressure. The 
 unsuccessful ones — of which, strange as it may sound, there 
 are not a few — spend most of their time chasing that will o' 
 the wisp. Pleasure. Naturally, they wane while the busy 
 ones wax. 
 
 The original J. P. Morgan was one of the most dynamic 
 workers I have ever seen. I have watched him go through 
 a mass of correspondence with a secretary, giving out or- 
 ders, outlining replies, etc.. and all the time receiving a 
 string of visitors ranging from beggars for worthy pur- 
 poses to capitalists scarcely less prominent than himself. 
 Only one Morgan partner ever worked harder than the head 
 of the house, and he, the faithful Coster, dropped dead from 
 strain. Robert Bacon had a short spell of terrible responsi- 
 bility and activity, but he had sense enough to step out 
 before it was too late. Some of Henry P. Davison's friends 
 are a trifle anxious lest he, too, in his zeal for achievement, 
 overstep the boundaries set by Nature. 
 
 The vaulting ambitions of Harriman landed him pre- 
 maturely in his grave. His death was the loudest warn- 
 ing ever given those of his class. 
 
 James J. Hill could rival his old friend Morgan in de- 
 vouring work. But he believes in taking holidays. Jim 
 Hill's Canadian fishing trips are now famous. He hopes to 
 
176 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 see more of fish and less of figures in future. No giant of 
 finance ever strove so hard to throw off harness as "J. J." 
 has striven — thus far almost in vain. His is the penalty of 
 titanic accomplishment ; he cannot, as his one-time rival, 
 "Ed." Harriman phrased it, find a younger man whom his 
 mantle will fit. Mr. Hill's heart is more in the farm and in 
 the schoolroom than in the maelstrom of finance. In the 
 last letter I had from him (March, 1915) he stated, quite 
 solemnly, that he had retired two years ago! 
 
 James Speyer goes about his duties more noiselessly 
 than any other leading international banker. And the ways 
 and spirit of the chief permeate the whole establishment of 
 Speyer & Co. Everything runs smoothly and harmoni- 
 ously. 
 
 Frank Vanderlip slaves like a Trojan. The president 
 of the country's biggest national bank can keep two or 
 three secretaries busy. More people, it has often appeared 
 to me, want an audience with him than with any other* 
 banker in New York. And, somehow, he contrives to see 
 most of them. I asked him once how he managed to find 
 time to do any real work, seeing he was constantly inter- 
 rupted. "The thinking," he replied, "has to be done away 
 from here — at home." At Scarborough and at Sleepy Hol- 
 low the atmosphere is very different from that in the midst 
 of the Wall Street district. 
 
 James Stillman, the founder of the City Bank as it 
 stands to-day, used to work equally hard, but he has stepped 
 aside, leaving all but the most vital duties to "the finest 
 corps of bankers in the city," as he described them to me 
 several years ago. 
 
 And here I am tempted to tell a story of Stillman, as 
 he has sometimes been represented as a cold, hard-hearted 
 being, aloof in manner and lacking in camaraderie al- 
 though his gifts to employees, including one of $100,000, 
 should have done something to dispel that idea. President 
 Vanderlip had brought to the city (from Washington 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 177 
 
 think) an assistant secretary, a sociable, cordial sort of 
 chap, who sought to make everybody feel at home in the 
 bank. He did not know Mr. Stillman. 
 
 Every morning a visitor passed through the secretary's 
 office and entered the president's sanctum. The new as- 
 sistant greeted him with an affable "good morning." The 
 first day there was no response. The second ditto. The 
 third also ditto. But still the undaunted secretary offered 
 the same greeting. 
 
 Finally, he merely looked at the visitor and said 
 nothing. 
 
 The visitor was about to open the president's door 
 when suddenly he stopped, then deliberately turned back, 
 walked to the secretary's desk and very affably said "good 
 morning." 
 
 ''I thought I would get you yet !" replied the triumph- 
 ant secretary. 
 
 The next instant he received a fierce nudge from a 
 clerk. 
 
 "That's Mr. Stillman !" he was informed. 
 
 And Mr. Stillman must straightaway have told Mr. 
 Vanderlip the joke, for loud laughter could be heard in the 
 president's office a few minutes later. 
 
 "I have lived a long time, and on looking back I find 
 that no legislation has proved so damaging as the talk that 
 preceded it," remarked a veteran financier who has been 
 conspicuously successful. 
 
 Did you notice what kind of securities John Jacob Astor 
 instructed the trustees of his estate to buy? Mining stuff? 
 Glittering gold or copper stocks ? New industrial offerings 
 oozing with water? No. High-grade railroad securities 
 were his choice. 
 
178 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 A RETIRED BUSINESS MAN SINKS A PLUMMET 
 INTO HIS SOUL AND HAS QUESTIONINGS- 
 HOW WILL PRESENT DOINGS LOOK 
 IN THE TWILIGHT OF LIFE? 
 
 "How do you like being retired?" I asked the veteran 
 ex-comptroller of an important railroad system who laid 
 down his business burdens a year or more ago. 
 
 "Fine — it gives one time to think," he replied. 
 
 "Then you enjoy it?" 
 
 His answer may cause some men to stop in their fever- 
 ish daily struggling long enough to let down a plummet 
 into their souls and take their bearings. 
 
 "Well— it— it " 
 
 There was an uneasy pause, a moment of doubt and 
 hesitation. Would he lay bare the secret that was pressing 
 on his mind? Or would he pass the question ofif with an 
 evasive remark? 
 
 He decided to tell. 
 
 "It's like this: Our rule was to take as much as we 
 could get — all we could get off with — in every case. If we 
 could get more than our share for handling a shipment we 
 took it. We didn't bother about the other road or the other 
 fellow that might get the short end of the stick. We re- 
 garded that as their lookout. We thought our look-out-for- 
 number-one methods all right. 
 
 "But since I have had lots of leisure to think things 
 over, when I look back upon our policy, I have been won- 
 dering a lot — well — well — I've been wondering whether it was 
 just — well — whether it was just right, you know." 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 179 
 
 I could see that the old man's conscience was troubling 
 him. What appeared to be fair enough when he was in the 
 thick of the business fray, now, in the quiet of the eventide 
 of his life, raised disturbing questionings. 
 
 As the gray-headed old man, now passed the allotted 
 span of three-score years and ten, stood in front of me, 
 there flashed into my mind another case that always struck 
 me as a beacon of warning to others who might be tempted 
 to tread a similar path. 
 
 A young man, humble of origin, but consumed with 
 ambition, seized opportunities to ingratiate himself with a 
 set of saloon-rail, scheming, grafting politicians and fran- 
 chise-mongers. He had a fair dowry of brains, and mod- 
 erate education. At first he carried a fair cargo of con- 
 science, but in order to do the bidding of his elders he began 
 to jettison it. As he threw overboard his honesty he was 
 able to add to his riches. In return for many years' ser- 
 vices his confreres, to feed his ambition, "elevated" him 
 to the bench. 
 
 Then he found time for mental stock-taking. Here was 
 he, a rank grafter, the creature of despicable politicians, a 
 dispenser of law, the holder of the scale of justice. His 
 conscience smote him. He changed entirely. He first be- 
 came severe, morose and "religious," then a tyrant toward 
 his own and other people. None carried a higher head 
 or observed the outward forms of religion more rigidly. 
 
 But all the while the memory of his early misdeeds 
 gnawed at the very vitals of his soul. And it is so gnaw- 
 ing at this moment. 
 
 Do these two cases— real, not imaginary ones— carry 
 a lesson that it might be worth while pondering? When 
 we are young, when we are pushing and struggling and 
 elbowing to get our feet on the ladder, when our god is 
 the dollar, when ambition drives us forward, when "fame" 
 sings siren songs in our ears, and when all our hours are 
 crowded with duties or pleasures, are we not apt to drown 
 
180 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 the still small voice of conscience, to so crowd our days and 
 nights with distractions that we have not one hour for 
 serious reflection, scarce a moment to ask ourselves whither 
 we are going and the whyfor of it all ? 
 
 Then one day the mad race ends. Nature cries "Halt !" 
 We are called to give an accounting. We seek to put it 
 off. We would fain flee from ourselves. We rebel against 
 letting memory dwell upon the record. We refuse to an- 
 swer the inner questionings : "Whither?" "Why?" "What 
 shall the end be?" "What OUGHT the reward to be?" 
 
 Is this too sentimental slush for a business column? 
 Shall I be accused of encroaching upon the Salvation 
 Army's preserves? Maybe. 
 
 But I have lived long enough to stand sneers and scorn 
 from the thoughtless. I have seen enough done in the name 
 of "business" and known enough of too-late regrets, of 
 soul-torture in the twilight of life, to stay my pen if by 
 using it I may happily lead even but a few men neck-deep 
 in the struggle for existence to stop and plumb their souls 
 NOW, to pause and ask themselves what it shall profit them 
 though they gain as much as Croesus if they thereby lose that 
 peace of mind without which all else is worse than dross. 
 
 It is a sound business proposal. 
 
 The greatest industry in the United States is — what? 
 Iron and steel making? Weaving textiles and manufac- 
 turing clothing? Railroading? No. Investing our own and 
 foreign money. This, the most important, is the least stud- 
 ied and worst managed business in the country. 
 
 In financial circles there is an axiom : "The crowd is 
 always wrong." The time to purchase stocks and bonds is 
 when nobody wants to buy and everybody is anxious to 
 sell. Prices then are low. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 181 
 
 ACHIEVEMENT, SUCCESS, FAME, NOT WON BY 
 
 EIGHT-HOUR-DAY GRUMBLERS— A ROLL 
 
 CALL OF NOTABLES, LIVING AND 
 
 DEAD, WHO WORKED HARD. 
 
 The world's toilers have to work so hard that they 
 have no opportunity to rise, a Socialist friend complained 
 to me the other day. I questioned his statement. 
 
 And since then further thought strengthens the con- 
 viction that neither hard, monotonous work nor poverty is 
 a barrier to the highest success — financial, scientific, politi- 
 cal, industrial or artistic. 
 
 Genius is often a short way of spelling hard work. 
 Poverty, obscurity, struggle and ambition have formed the 
 foundation for most careers of transcendent achievement. 
 Few marks have been made in the world's history by eight- 
 hour-day men. 
 
 Let us take a rapid glance over the records to see if. 
 hard work has prevented men from rising. Suppose we 
 start at home. 
 
 John Jacob Astor, the first multi-millionaire America 
 produced, worked fully as hard as my Socialist friend. 
 Commodore Vanderbilt did not disdain to bend his back 
 to his ferryboat oars in all kinds of weather when laying 
 the basis of his fortune. Benjamin Franklin was the most 
 industrious and frugal Philadelphian of his time — he spent 
 more than eight hours a day in his printing shop. 
 
 A. T. Stewart worked in his humble store all day and 
 then trotted around with his customers' purchases after 
 closing time; he was really the progenitor of the elaborate 
 
182 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 motor-vehicle delivery systems of the twentieth century. 
 John D. Rockefeller was by no means a loafer. Andrew 
 Carnegie, in his early life, slaved quite as laboriously as any 
 steel worker of the present day, yet he contrived to improve 
 his intellect when off duty. Edward H. Harriman and 
 James J. Hill both began at the bottom and toiled in season 
 and out of season to create their railroad empires. 
 
 Not one of these men was born with a silver spoon in 
 his mouth. 
 
 Edison works fourteen to eighteen hours a day. 
 In politics, who has been more indefatigable than 
 Roosevelt? His energy has been almost superhuman, and 
 no matter how his political views may be regarded, the 
 scope of his learning has commanded the respect of all na- 
 tions. Lincoln may not have been over-industrious when 
 a youth, but he made good use of his time later. A rail- 
 splitter's opportunities are not normally any better than 
 those of a barber, the trade my Socialist complainer pliess. 
 Andrew Johnson was a tailor, and President Grant a tanner. 
 His autobiography was produced during the agonies of 
 suffering, mental and physical, so determined was he to 
 provide for the wants of his family. President Wilson did 
 not gather his wonderful store of knowledge by confining 
 his exertions to eight hours a day. 
 
 Abroad, the examples of gigantic attainment against 
 seemingly impossible odds are so bewilderingly numerous 
 that one does not know where to begin in citing examples. 
 Napoleon was probably the hardest worker who ever 
 lived ; his familiarity with every important phase of national 
 government was a revelation to other wise men who crossed 
 his path. Newton was as poor as a kirk mouse. It was 
 blind Milton who wrote "Paradise Lost," and "The Pil- 
 grim's Progress" was composed in prison by the quondam 
 tinker, John Bunyan. Sir Walter Scott, when he found 
 himself bankrupt, labored day and night to extricate him- 
 self from his disgrace, and succeeded marvelously. Richard 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 183 
 
 Arkwright, the founder of cotton manufacturing, was the 
 youngest of thirteen children, all very poor, and, like my 
 friend, Richard began life as a barber. So did Turner, the 
 landscape painter. Titian spent seven years of daily toil 
 on one of his masterpieces. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds had but one maxim for success: 
 ''Work, work, work." 
 
 Not so many years ago a railway porter at a small 
 station near where I lived won nation-wide fame as an 
 astronomer, while Thomas Edwards, the famous naturalist, 
 spent long days at his trade, that of shoemaker. Hugh 
 Miller was a quarryman. Dickens had no rosebed at the 
 start. Martin Luther was a miner's son. Robert Louis 
 Stevenson sent forth much of his delightful writings from 
 the sickbed. 
 
 Sir Thomas Lipton slept under his counter when he 
 opened his first small store in Glasgow. Lord Northcliff, 
 the King of English publishers and now the owner of the 
 London "Times," arrived in London from Ireland without 
 a five-pound note in his pocket and has attended to busi- 
 ness for more hours a day than any of his thousands of 
 subordinates. Burns was a ploughman, and if he was not a 
 conspicuous success as a farmer he spent much "overtime" 
 in study. Ben Jonson was a mason, Michael Faraday a 
 bookbinder, Copernicus the son of a Polish baker, Canova 
 a stonecutter 
 
 Is the average worker of to-day more handicapped than 
 were these men? Of course, from the Socialist point of 
 view, some, if not most, of them were pitiable failures. But, 
 in the final analysis, "success" is not killed by eight hours' 
 work a day. 
 
 Is not rigid training necessary for the making of strong 
 athletes? Hard work is not fatal to real success. Vouloir 
 c'est pouvoir. 
 
184 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 EMPLOYERS, TO BE SUCCESSFUL, MUST BE DIP- 
 LOMATS AND STUDENTS OF HUMAN NA- 
 TURE—WHAT THE EXPRESS COMPANY 
 PRESIDENT TOLD THE DRIVER. 
 
 An employer in these days of labor unrest must be a 
 diplomat, a student of human nature, a man able to blend 
 toleration with discipline. Hundreds of strikes, petty and 
 serious, are caused, not through unsatisfactory wages, but 
 by arrogant bossing by heads of departments, superintend- 
 ents and foremen, who, puffed up by the possession of a 
 little transient authority, treat workers as if they were made 
 of some inferior kind of material. 
 
 Corporations, firms and individual employers should 
 pay more attention to the careful selection of overseers of 
 every rank. It is not enough that a man is an expert ; if he 
 is to be placed in charge of many workers he must have 
 tact, he must be humane, he must know the minds, the 
 hearts, the habits and the ambitions of those serving under 
 him. He must be able to inspire loyalty. He must not 
 carry his head too high. He must avoid superciliousness. 
 He must even occasionally close his eyes to little incidents 
 not strictly on the working schedule. 
 
 To be in the highest degree successful nowadays an 
 employer or corporation manager must win the co-opera- 
 tion of others. The slave-driver, the heartless taskmaster 
 cannot last. Sooner or later he will reap what he sows. 
 
 In too many establishments systems of fines for all 
 sorts of trivial mistakes are still in vogue. They should be 
 abolished. Numbers of corporations have seen the light in 
 this direction. A policy of kindness has proved more profi- 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 185 
 
 table than one of harshness. To encourage has been found 
 better than to coerce. For example: Childs restaurants 
 used to fine their waiters and waitresses for every dish they 
 broke. A whole day's wages was sometimes lost in a mo- 
 ment — especially as highly polished floors, when wet, were 
 responsible for many slips. This system has been aban- 
 doned, with, I understand, gratifying results. 
 
 Really big men seldom are tyrannical to their em- 
 ployees. But, unfortunately, the rank and file do not come 
 in contact with the heads of establishments, but with 
 minor aids, many of whom are sadly unfitted by lack of 
 education, by breeding and by temperament to inspire fealty, 
 enthusiasm, success. They are not broad-gauged enough 
 to discern how to obtain the best results from those under 
 them. They are too bent upon impressing others with 
 their own importance. They like to hear themselves bawl 
 out orders. They enjoy seeing underlings quake. It feeds 
 their vanity. 
 
 Have you noticed how much attention our wisest cor- 
 porations are now devoting to cultivating harmonious rela- 
 tions with their employees? It pays. 
 
 Let me relate a recent incident. 
 
 The president of one of our largest express companies, 
 a disciple of the new movement to inspire the loyalty of 
 employees, visited a branch ofifice. 
 
 The telephone rang and he answered it. 
 
 "Any more orders for me to-day?' asked one of the 
 company's drivers. 
 
 "No," replied the president. 
 
 "Thank heaven !" exclaimed the driver, not knowing: 
 he was talking to the president. 
 
 The president sent for the man and had a heart-to-heart 
 talk with him, telling him that if there were few orders 
 to fill the company might have to pay him off, that drivers 
 were the company's salesmen and that on their attitude 
 
186 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 toward the public and toward their employers the success 
 of the business depended. No scolding was indulged in. 
 "My job depends upon you," the president told him. "Won't 
 you help me to keep it?" 
 
 This appeal went home. 
 
 Late in the afternoon the telephone rang. The agent 
 replied. 
 "If you can send a wagon at once I know where you 
 
 can get a big shipment before the wagon gets It, • 
 
 excitedly shouted the selfsame driver. 
 
 The agent, who had not known of the interview with 
 the president, could not believe his ears. 
 
 The wagon was sent and the consignment secured. 
 
 "Did you say anything to ■ ?" asked the agent of 
 
 the president. 
 
 "Yes, I had a little chat with him. Why?" 
 
 "Here he has started out scouting for new business — 
 a thing unheard of before. What did you say to him — 
 threaten to discharge him?" 
 
 This little human-interest incident — and it is not myth- 
 ical, I beg you believe — is full of meaning for bosses and 
 sub-bosses blinded by pride and arrogance. 
 
 Only the weak, the vain, the blind are tyrannical. 
 Big men rule by milder means. 
 
 When anything is done to hurt bonds and stocks— the 
 foundation for large-scale business— every man, woman and 
 child is affected. We have money enough, we have brains 
 enough, we have workers enough, we have resources 
 enough, we have opportunities enough to forge ahead with 
 a vigor and sureness of step that other nations have envied 
 in the past and should have even greater occasion to envy 
 again. All we need is common-sense statesmanship. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 187 
 
 ONE EMPLOYER, TOUCHED BY PLEA FOR BET- 
 TER TREATMENT OF WORKERS, VOLUN- 
 TARILY RAISES WAGES — AN- 
 OTHER AWAKENED. 
 
 Happily, there are some oases along the hard high- 
 way of life. I have just found one and hope to announce 
 another later. 
 
 A few weeks ago I wrote about the minimum wage 
 principle and put in a word for the poorest paid workers 
 — my sympathies are more with the man or woman getting 
 from $5 to $10 than with those getting upward of five times 
 as much. 
 
 From a grateful mortal whose handwriting suggests 
 hard toil, I have received a letter thanking me for the ar- 
 ticle because the writer's employer had read it and increased 
 his workers' pay. The correspondent adds that the increase 
 means much to the families receiving it. 
 
 That is gratifying, deeply gratifying. 
 
 It is worth more to the recipients than the mere dollars, 
 important as they are, and worth more to the employer 
 than any drain it can make upon his bank account. This 
 voluntary raise of pay, given solely because of a sense of 
 fairness, will heighten the poor workers' regard for man- 
 kind, will soften harsh judgments of what certain gentle- 
 men are fond of calling ''the exploiters of labor," and will 
 work something of a moral regeneration in the sphere con- 
 cerned. The effect, I venture to predict, will be such that 
 the employer will have no cause to regret his action. Even 
 on the dollar and cents basis, the return will doubtless be 
 
188 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 satisfactory. And if I know anything of human nature, 
 the change in the atmosphere of that factory will enrich the 
 whole life of its owner. 
 
 That is oasis number 1. 
 
 I was invited to address the Braid Manufacturers' As- 
 sociation of the United States at their annual banquet. The 
 president had remarked : "The original object of this asso- 
 ciation was self-preservation — by that I mean the preserva- 
 tion of our industry, on such a basis that we could manu- 
 facture our products and pay the American scale of wages 
 and sell them in this country in competition with goods 
 manufactured under the European scale of wages." 
 
 Taking "self-preservation" as the theme, I endeavored 
 to make clear that self-preservation means not only the 
 protection of self, but others, especially, in the case of these 
 manufacturers, their workers. I sought to show that if an 
 employer did not pay adults enough to live on, some one — 
 the grocer, the butcher, the landlord, the baker, the clothier 
 — had to make up the deficiency, and that, therefore, the 
 employer was robbing, not alone his workers, but society, 
 that is, all of us. And this robbery, I added, would not 
 forever go unpunished — "chickens have a habit of coming 
 home to roost." 
 
 After the dinner was over the second largest braid 
 manufacturer in the country, an elderly gentleman, came 
 to me and with manifest sincerity and not a little emotion, 
 said: "Something you said has gone to my heart. I am 
 not going to make any promises to-night, but when I see 
 you again I think I will be able to tell you that something 
 interesting has happened to my work people." 
 
 John D. Rockefeller — wise old man — once calmed ex- 
 cited juniors by remarking that the Government could not 
 legislate one gallon of oil out of existence. The worst 
 calamities are the ones that never happen, you know. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 189 
 
 YOUR WORK IS SO MUCH MORE DIFFICULT 
 THAN.THE OTHER FELLOW'S AND CALLS 
 FOR SO MUCH MORE THINKING- 
 IT DOESN'T— A BALE OF 
 WOOL AS AN ENCY- 
 CLOPEDIA. 
 
 "If I had only worked as hard in any other line I would 
 have done better. This business is the most difficult in 
 the world to make a success of. You have no idea how 
 many things there are to learn. I tell you, it keeps a fel- 
 low guessing. Wish I had gone into some other business. 
 Look what So-and-So has done, and he has no oversupply 
 cf brains." 
 
 How often have you heard a tale of that tenor? Per- 
 haps you feel that way yourself? If so, don't! Had you 
 tread another road you probably would have been no far- 
 ther forward. 
 
 This grouchy way of looking at things arises from the 
 fact that you know your own troubles, but do not know 
 other people's. You see only the visible results of their 
 labors. You cannot even dimly guess all the thinking, 
 planning, plodding and praying that went to the making of 
 these results. Jones doesn't look as if he spent hours pond- 
 ering how to build up his business, increase his circle of 
 helpful friends, or invest his money. He seems to have a 
 pretty easy, carefree, comfortable life, whereas you — why, 
 the world can never realize how much serious thinking you 
 do, how many angles you view your afifairs from, how zeal- 
 
190 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 ously you keep at it week in, week out, daytime and night- 
 time. Jones's lines have fallen in pleasant places, yours in 
 stony. 
 
 All this is a species of self-pity. It is a sort of apolo- 
 getic explanation of why you have not accomplished more. 
 It is also something else — buncombe. 
 
 You know so little about any calling save your own 
 that you have no conception of the difiSculties incidental 
 to them. A highly educated man who has held important 
 positions in the fruit trade wrote me recently — in reference 
 to something I said about founding a university chair for 
 teaching the management of men — that he had proved 
 something of a genius at handling men engaged in the 
 fruit business, yet when he left that sphere and offered to 
 become a foreman or superintendent in a shoe factory the 
 owner did not consider him the ideal party for the job. 
 My friend assured him that in two days he could pick up 
 this new line of work ! 
 
 One shoe does not look so very different from another, 
 does it? They all have soles, most of them have heels, 
 toes form part of every pair — it's as simple as A B C. Well, 
 I never dreamed of the amount of art and ingenuity that go 
 to the manufacturing and the selling of shoes until I became 
 a close griend of a man in the business. To me it was a 
 revelation. The little devices used in suiting a balky custo- 
 mer alone were enough to dumbfound a layman. 
 
 I was not long in concluding that I had not enough 
 gray matter to qualify for the shoe trade. 
 
 Once it was my lot to associate with wool men. There 
 isn't much romance in a bale of dirty wool, is there? No? 
 There can be. I have often seen an expert handed a few 
 strands of wool with the request to tell where it came from. 
 Usually he could reply after one glance. Sometimes he 
 needed a powerful magnifying glass. And the things he 
 saw in the innocent looking wool ! 
 
 "I've found it !" he would say triumphantly. "It comes 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 191 
 
 from . I see a bit of thorn that grows only on the 
 
 mountains," naming some wild region I'd never even 
 
 heard of. 
 
 He could tell from the "feel" of wool whether the sheep 
 had been well fed or starved. He could tell whether the 
 season in the country whence the wool came had been rainy 
 or dry. In short, a wisp of wool was a kind of encyclopedia 
 to him. To you or to me a bale of wool would be a bale of 
 wool and nothing more. It would tell us nothing. 
 
 I always felt like raising my hat to that wool broker. 
 
 And so it goes in every branch of business and, I might 
 add, in sport. The person who thinks ''there's nothing in 
 golf" is he who has never lain awake 'o nights wondering 
 if that approach would have been more successful had a 
 lofter been used. Whist is the easiest game in the world to 
 the player of one evening's experience. 
 
 No. You are not a genius misplanted. You would 
 probably have done worse in any other sphere. The other 
 fellow's job is not as easy as you, in your ignorance, think. 
 There is more in a tuft of wool or a pair of shoes than you 
 or I can dream. 
 
 The employer who lives at the expense of other men 
 and women and children, who fattens off their life-blood, is 
 worse than a robber. He is a murderer. To habitually pa}' 
 employees less than they can possibly exist upon is, indeed, 
 to be guilty of cannibalism. 
 
 In America we used to worship success, no matter 
 how attained. To-day we are apt to condemn success, no 
 matter how attained. And our second state is as dangerous 
 as our first. The recent political-bred tendency to exalt 
 littleness and condemn bigness is an excrudescence of puny 
 minds and stunted courage. 
 
192 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 THE UNITED STATES THE MOST ENVIED NA- 
 TION IN THE WORLD TO-DAY— HOW THIS 
 NATION STOOD WHEN WAR 
 OVERTOOK EUROPE. 
 
 (A word of reassurance uttered the day the New York 
 Stock Exchange closed its doors, July 31, 1914.) 
 
 We are the envied nation of the world today. 
 
 On us Providence is showering blessings withdrawn 
 from every other important land. 
 
 We alone of large, industrial nations are basking in 
 peace and the promise of peace to come. 
 
 Let not the closing of our Stock Exchange, our Cotton 
 Exchange, our Produce Exchanges excite even a ripple of 
 alarm. This action safeguards our stability by protecting 
 us from the acute efifects of the demoralization that war 
 has inflicted upon Europe. 
 
 Our position financially is sound. 
 
 Our position industrially is sound. 
 
 Our position agriculturally is sound. 
 
 Our position socially is sound. 
 
 Our position politically is becoming sounder. 
 
 War in Europe cannot bankrupt America. Rather will 
 it increase the market for our products, raise the financial 
 status of the country to unmeasured heights among the 
 nations of the world, impart an impetus to our aborning 
 mercantile marine and quicken the whole energy and con- 
 science of our people. 
 
 Come war, come peace, the population of the earth must 
 be clothed. Come war, come peace, Europe must buy 
 America's cotton. Cotton, unlike stock, is not a piece of 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 193 
 
 paper. Cotton is an article solid, indispensable the world 
 over, helped by war rather than depreciated by it. Armies 
 in the field consume enormous quantities of cotton goods, 
 since cotton forms the cheapest as well as the most service- 
 able class of clothing. 
 
 So with other American commodities. 
 
 "But we will not be able to ship anything !" exclaims the 
 alarmist. 
 
 Won't we ? Have no fear on that score. 
 
 BRITAIN MUST IMPORT WHEAT OR STARVE. 
 SHE AND HER ALLIES WILL SEE TO IT THAT A 
 LANE IS KEPT OPEN ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 
 THIS WILL BE NECESSARY TO HER VERY EXIST- 
 ENCE. AMERICA WILL NOT BE CUT OFF FROM 
 COMMERCE V/ITH EUROPE. AND SOUTH AMERI- 
 CAN MARKETS WILL BE OURS WITHOUT ASKING 
 THEM. 
 
 Not one dollar's worth of American merchandise should 
 be senselessly sacrificed. 
 
 Remember, we have one hundred millions of our own 
 people to be clothed, one hundred millions of mouths to be 
 filled, one hundred million pairs of feet to be shod. 
 
 Our railway trains will not stop running. Our mines 
 will not stop producing. 
 
 And Nature will not turn her back upon us ! Our fields 
 are blossoming arid will bring forth fruitage worth beyond 
 ten billions of dollars— more than any war in history has 
 ever yet cost. 
 
 Read what Sir George Paish, among the most eminent 
 of England's economists and well known to readers of this 
 paper, has to say of America's enviable position in the event 
 of a general European war : 
 
 "A great war in Europe will enable the United States 
 to sell its crops at prices which will give a much greater 
 income than if there was no war. Almost every industry 
 will derive more or less advantage. . . . Should the Ameri- 
 
194 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 can people take advantage of the golden opportunity af- 
 forded them by the outbreak of war, it will mean not dimin- 
 ished but increased prosperity for the United States." 
 
 Thrice happy America! 
 
 NO NATION'S FINANCES WERE EVER 
 STRONGER THAN OURS ARE TO-DAY. AND 
 THOSE WHO ADMINISTER THEM WILL WORK 
 IN CONCERT TO SEE THAT EVERY MAN, WO- 
 MAN AND CHILD IN THE UNION IS FAITHFULLY 
 SERVED. 
 
 A timid correspondent writes in effect: "Should I 
 take my money out of the bank?" NO! That is the best 
 place in the world for it. KEEP IT THERE. 
 
 The closing of the Stock Exchange will effectively 
 check the wholesale exportation of gold and prevent excit- 
 able individuals from presenting others with excellent se- 
 curities at giving-away prices. To shut the Exchange was 
 a wise act. New York had already demonstrated its tre- 
 mendous strength and resistive powers, but to have "held 
 the bag" for further insensate foreign liquidation of securi- 
 ties, FORCING US TO PAY OUT UNPRECEDENTED 
 QUANTITIES OF GOLD, would have been foolhardy and 
 would, moreover, have invited incalculable trouble here and 
 elsewhere throughout the country. 
 
 The closing of the Stock Exchange transformed Wall 
 Street from a Dante's inferno to a place of peace and calm. 
 
 Our bankers are co-operating with the Administration 
 to supply an abundance of money wherever it is needed. 
 
 It was promptly arranged that the Aldrich-Vreeland 
 measure will be at once amended so as to eliminate the 
 necessity for depositing 40 per cent, of Government bonds 
 preliminary to taking out extra currency. By this means, 
 $5CK),000,000 additional currency can be released — a sum far 
 in excess of any requirement that ought to arise. 
 
 Our banks are laden with hard cash, and the Treasury 
 is fortified with much gold. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 195 
 
 Looking across the Atlantic and contrasting the hideous 
 conditions stalking there with the bounteous conditions 
 blessing this richly-favored land, let us preserve cool heads 
 and thankful hearts. 
 
 The way to meet trouble is to face it, as President Vail 
 of the American Telephone Company tells his subordinates. 
 
 It is almost as easy to put a rich wrongdoer through the 
 eye of a needle as through a prison door. This ought not to 
 be. If America is to last as a Republic of orderly govern- 
 ment such a condition must be changed. Every rich law- 
 breaker saved from punishment by means of his money 
 becomes doubly the enemy of the Republic. He breeds a 
 spirit of lawlessness, of revolution, of anarchy and he fosters 
 contempt for our established institutions. 
 
 An untrumpeted increase in the wages of poor human 
 beings struggling to exist on a few dollars a week were 
 worth more when the final balance comes to be struck than 
 any cold monument of marble, any gorgeous tomb or any 
 public library. I once asked one of America's foremost 
 financiers what he considered the acme of business success. 
 His reply came promptly: "To establish and place on a 
 sound, permanent basis a business affording employment 
 to a large number of fellow beings at wages enabling them 
 to live in comfort and happiness." 
 
 Some day I hope to write a column headed : "And after 
 that, what?" Aren't some of us given to looking no farther 
 than the tip of the nose? Aren't we so engrossed in the 
 daily routine, so taken up with pressing tasks, that we leave 
 ourselves little time and less inclination to take a good long 
 think ahead? 
 
196 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 THE STUFF THAT SUCCESSFUL BANKERS ARE 
 
 MADE OF — MANY NOW MAKE THEIR 
 
 MARK IN BUSINESS BEFORE BECOMING 
 
 BANKERS— THE STUTTERER'S 
 
 ILLUMINATING EXPERIENCE 
 
 A banker friend handed me this advertisement, with 
 the remark that I should write an article about it : 
 
 BE A BANKER — Splendid opportunities; pleasant 
 work, short hours, all holidays off, yearly vacation with 
 pay, good salary ; learn at home ; diploma in six months ; 
 catalogue free. Apply . 
 
 Isn't that alluring? 
 
 Could a more pleasing prospect be opened up to any 
 ambitious youth? 
 
 And notice, you can "learn at home." 
 
 In six months, too, you get a diploma — and probably 
 an awakening once you try to use it. 
 
 No ; banking isn't learned quite as easily as that. Nor 
 is the profession exactly as painted. 
 
 The promise to make a banker of any one in six months 
 — by the absent treatment!' — reminds one of the gullible 
 fellow, a chronic stammerer, who paid a goodly sum to be 
 cured, by mail. The "come-on" advertisement guaranteed 
 he would be taught so perfectly that in three months he 
 could rattle off "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pep- 
 per" without stuttering once. 
 
 A friend who had expressed doubts as to the possible 
 efificacy of the treatment, on meeting him months later, said : 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 197 
 
 "Hello, how's Peter Piper getting on? Can you fire it 
 right off now?" 
 
 "Ye-ye-yes, I-I-I ca-ca-can say Peter Piper picked a 
 peck of pickled pepper ; where is the peck of pickled pepper 
 Peter Piper picked — " all without a pause. 
 
 "Great ! Congratulations, old boy," shouted his friend, 
 shaking him vigorously by the hand. 
 
 "Ta-ta-ta-ta thanks," he gulped. "I-I-I ca-ca-can say 
 th-th-that all right, bu-bu-but it is-is-isn't a th-th-thing y-y- 
 you ca-ca-can wo-wo-work into a co-co-co-conversation very 
 of-of-often !" 
 
 "Peter Piper" was the sole phrase he had mastered ! 
 
 And the diploma is the sole thing the aspiring mail- 
 taught banker is likely to win by his misguided efforts. 
 
 Few professions are to-day more overcrowded than the 
 lower rungs of the banking business. It is such a genteel 
 "profession," you know, for light-brained sons of bank di- 
 rectors and important depositors. 
 
 "Our son is a Wall Street banker" sounds fine. 
 
 But that same son's duty may consist of turning the 
 handle of a counting machine, running errands, attending 
 a telephone or announcing names of callers ! 
 
 Some of these $8-a-week "bankers" are rolled up to their 
 offices in $8,000 automobiles of a morning. The chauffeur 
 is paid more than the swaggering young bloods are ever 
 likely to earn by their own efforts. 
 
 Banking is not an easily learned profession. 
 
 In its higher reaches it calls for the very best brains in 
 the whole world. 
 
 There are no higher salaried men in America — or in 
 Europe, for that matter — than the heads of our principal 
 banks and trust companies. Annual salaries of $50,000 to 
 $100,000 are by no means unknown. Moreover, eminent 
 bankers have excellent opportunities for making money in 
 other directions. Few of them are not rich. 
 
 But to get to the top those men have had, as a rule, to 
 
198 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 work like galley slaves. And their daily round is not ex- 
 actly as portrayed in the advertisement ! 
 
 Bankers are not men who have failed in other spheres. 
 
 The truth is that a majority of America's financiers and 
 bankers are men who first made their mark — and made it 
 very conspicuously — in some branch of business. 
 
 The wholesale dry good's business used to be the popu- 
 lar route to the banking field in New York. 
 
 To-day, many of the ablest bank officers have been se- 
 lected from business firms and corporations in the West and 
 South, after having won their commercial spurs. 
 
 True, many, many prominent bankers started as bank 
 clerks or office boys. But they didn't rise far in six months ! 
 
 As for "financiers" — men of mark in Wall Street, in the 
 stock market or allied spheres — hardly any began as bank 
 clerks. They first made a pronounced success in their own 
 line and then graduated to the realm of finance. 
 
 The shiftless youth attracted to banking by promises 
 of "pleasant work, short hours and all holidays off," is never 
 likely to graduate from a highstool to a presidential chair. 
 
 These are not the "attractions" a worth-while youth 
 sets his heart upon in choosing a profession. 
 
 Taxes sap industry. They eat up wealth. They des- 
 troy capital that otherwise would be available for repro- 
 ductive purposes. Carried far enough, they kill a nation. 
 They are an insidious form of poison. They weaken the 
 nation's lifeblood. The public should set their faces 
 against every increase in them. To transfer the burden to 
 the rich helps little. Only those who have spare capital 
 can supply the sinews of industry and enterprise. Cripple 
 capital, and employment is diminished. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 199 
 
 WHAT IS "LABOR?" WHO ARE "LABORERS?" 
 
 WHAT IS WEALTH? MOST OF OUR GREAT 
 
 MEN HAVE BEEN THE HARDEST OF 
 
 TOILERS— CAPITAL IS 
 
 STORED-UP LABOR 
 
 "Labor creates all wealth. Labor is entitled to all it 
 creates." 
 
 You are hearing that sentiment with increasing fre- 
 quency. Let's discuss it. 
 
 What is "labor?" 
 
 Who are "laborers" and who are not? 
 
 What is wealth ? 
 
 Wealth is stored up, unspent, undissipated labor. 
 
 Revolutionary orators are fond of declaiming to man- 
 ual toilers: "You create everything, you workers." 
 
 "Labor" does not consist solely of those who work with 
 their hands. 
 
 I work more to-day than when I pulled turnips, fed 
 cattle and did other farm labor. I am as much a part of 
 "labor" as I was then, in choose to save, to store up 
 some of the reward for my work and to use it when I am 
 old, instead of spending my work-fruits as I go along, I 
 become a "capitalist." But am I not entitled to reap benefit 
 from my self-denial, from my husbandry of my labor — my 
 wages ? 
 
 It is mischievous to create the impression that "labor" 
 comprises only those who work with their coats off or who 
 earn a daily, weekly or monthly wage. 
 
200 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Mr. Hearst works harder than any of the thousands of 
 men in his employ. He is the real director of every one of 
 his score of publications. He not only keeps tabs on 
 them all, but originates, inspires and guides their tremen- 
 dous activities. Is he not entitled to be classed as a part of 
 "labor?" 
 
 I spent Saturday evening with a business man. He 
 once worked for a salary, but, being able, ambitious and 
 a saver, he started on his own account. He has built up a 
 large, successful organization, of which he is the main- 
 spring, the life. He took home with him a staggering mass 
 of correspondence, replies to which he will have dictated 
 into a dictaphone before he returns (carrying the records) to 
 his office on Monday morning. He slaves early and late to 
 promote the growth of his business. Is he not a laborer, a 
 mighty industrious laborer? 
 
 The more I dig into the origin of conspicuously suc- 
 cessful concerns the more fully am I convinced that invari- 
 ably some one at one stage worked with titanic energy, 
 with superior intelligence and with undaunted persever- 
 ance to lay solid foundations. Few men of eminence in 
 any line have climbed the ladder without working very, 
 very hard. Run your mind over the nation's most conspicu- 
 ous figures and you will be impressed by the fact that they 
 did not confine their labors to eight hours a day. 
 
 Rockefeller, Roosevelt, Carnegie, Edison, Westing- 
 house, Ford, Wanamaker, Harriman, Vanderbilt, Gary, 
 Pulitzer — all these won their place by labor, labor, labor. 
 
 I cannot here enter into an abstruse discussion of 
 whether manual laborers receive an equitable proportion of 
 the earnings of industry. In many instances employers 
 undeniably arrogate to themselves an unfair share. Among 
 the lower reaches of employment there is shameful under- 
 paying, and to my mind this problem ere long will have to 
 be tackled and remedied. It is disgraceful that any human 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 201 
 
 being should live in flagrant luxury and pile up an inordi- 
 nate bank account off starvation wages and sweatshop 
 methods. 
 
 But the point I want to emphasize to-day is that "labor" 
 embraces all those who work and is not confined to so-called 
 "working men." 
 
 Therefore, when an incendiary proclaims that "labor 
 creates all wealth," ask him what he means by labor. Also 
 ask him what wealth is. 
 
 We are all laborers, those of us who contribute to the 
 world's work. We all aspire, to the best of our ability, to 
 become capitalists, to store up for future use or for the use 
 of our families or friends some of the fruits of our indus- 
 try. And it has been ordained that the more we can all save 
 — the more capital we can gather and devote to industry — 
 the better it will be for humanity, since an abundance of 
 "cheap" money tends to stimulate production and increase 
 and cheapen life's necessaries. 
 
 As to what percentage of huge fortunes should be taken 
 by the State when their owners die, that is another ques- 
 tion, not to be treated at the end of an article already too 
 long. 
 
 The truest sportsmen and sportswomen of all are those 
 humble folks who plod on day after day and year after year 
 fighting the battle of life against heart-breaking odds, 
 against ill-health, against poverty or near-poverty, against 
 burdens not of their own making, with no annual European 
 trips to revive their health, no long vacations to cheer their 
 spirits, few amusements to brighten the eternal cloud, few 
 friends able or disposed to lend a helping hand, and no one 
 in whom to confide or with whom to exchange the freight 
 of the heart and the mind. 
 
202 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 AMERICANS TURNING FROM BEING A NATION 
 OF SPECULATORS TO A NATION OF IN- 
 VESTORS—CORPORATIONS SHOULD 
 HAVE DIVIDEND GUARANTEE 
 FUNDS TO PROTECT 
 SMALL INVESTORS. 
 
 Americans have been a nation of speculators. 
 
 But Americans are now inclined to become a nation 
 of investors. 
 
 The spirit of speculation is characteristic of new, im- 
 mature, reckless countries. 
 
 The spirit of investment takes possession of a nation 
 as it becomes more settled, more mature and less reckless. 
 
 America is throwing ofif its economic swaddling 
 clothes. It is growing up, financially and industrially. 
 
 Speculation has hurt more Americans per thousand 
 than perhaps any other people on earth. But they have had 
 their venturesome ardor cooled ; most of them now want to 
 invest. 
 
 They now want to become investors, to draw regular 
 dividends or interest on their savings. 
 
 This fundamental movement must be encouraged. 
 
 Much of the agitation and unsettlement of the last eight 
 years has had its origin in the disappointed hopes of specu- 
 lators, persons who fancied they could by entering "Wall 
 Street" get something for nothing. 
 
 Much of it, also, has sprung from discreditable treat- 
 ment of legitimate investors — or, rather, people who had 
 every reason to believe they were investors, but who found 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 203 
 
 themselves, by the actions of insiders, turned into specula- 
 tors. That is, investments have too often degenerated into 
 speculations. 
 
 Anything that can be done to make investment safer, 
 to protect investors, ought to be done. The United States 
 cannot rise to first rank among the financial nations of the 
 world until its inhabitants have learned the value and the 
 necessity of investment. 
 
 How can American investment stocks be made more 
 attractive ? 
 
 How can risk be reduced? 
 
 How can outside investors be placed less at the mercy 
 of dominating insiders? 
 
 Many reforms, including quarterly industrial reports, 
 and other forms of improved publicity are necessary; but 
 one very important step, and one only, is put forward here, to 
 wit: 
 
 The creation of dividend reserve funds to tide pay- 
 ments over lean periods. 
 
 Numbers of companies have unwarrantedly begun divi- 
 dend payments and then, after the shares had been grossly 
 inflated in quoted value, suddenly stopped payments, thus 
 enabling directors and others to flim-flam the public shame- 
 lessly. 
 
 Under the present system of declaring or withholding 
 dividends without rhyme or reason, unscrupulous direc- 
 tors can play with loaded dice against the public. 
 
 You may buy a 5 per cent, stock and justifiedly believe 
 that you are buying an investment, but within a month the 
 insiders may, quite unexpectedly, announce that not another 
 dollar will be distributed. 
 
 This heads-I-win, tails-you-lose evil could be greatly 
 modified if a dividend reserve fund were established before 
 dividend payments were begun — say, enough to insure a 
 continuance of the full rate during twelve or eighteen 
 months of poor earnings. No company should inaugurate 
 
204 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 dividends until certain of being able to maintain them for a 
 reasonable period. 
 
 So much for corporations starting to make distribu- 
 tions to stockholders. 
 
 Established dividend paying companies would im- 
 measurably strengthen their appeal to conservative invest- 
 ors if, when times are good, they systematically set aside 
 moderate amounts for the specific purpose of stabilizing 
 their dividend rates. 
 
 Instead of straining themselves to show an enormous 
 "surplus" of more or less doubtful tangible worth at a pinch, 
 corporations would enhance their credit more and inspire 
 greater confidence among investors were a much smaller 
 amount of hard cash conserved and ear-marked to standard- 
 ize their dividends. 
 
 Such an arrangement would insure stockholders against 
 unexpected stoppage of their income over night. If busi- 
 ness continued unremunerative for more than a year or 
 eighteen months — which it seldom does, speaking broadly, 
 in this country — then small stockholders would have the 
 same ample opportunity as insiders to sell their holdings 
 and invest in something more promising. 
 
 Just how much should be set apart to safeguard divi- 
 dends is a question to be determined by circumstances. 
 
 For example, the Pennsylvania Railroad, with its sixty- 
 year unbroken dividend record and comparative stability 
 of earnings, would not need so large a reserve as, say, the 
 United States Steel Corporation, with its wide and sudden 
 fluctuations in profits. 
 
 The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company would require 
 a smaller dividend reserve than Amalgamated Copper or 
 the American Agricultural Chemical Company, the reason- 
 ing being that a seasoned traction company's earnings are 
 less liable to sensational fluctuations than those of mining 
 or fertilizer concerns. 
 
 The problem of how to obtain capital is more pressing 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 205 
 
 to-day than the problem of how to obtain labor — and may 
 remain more pressing for some time to come. Well-man- 
 aged corporations have been praiseworthy careful to set 
 aside generous sums for the benefit of employees — old age- 
 pensions, insurance funds, sick benefits and welfare funds. 
 
 Is it not time to consider doing something for the ex- 
 press benefit of stockholders? 
 
 Capital must be attracted as well as labor. 
 
 Are you or I to hand over our capital, saved by sensible 
 frugality, to a corporation unless substantial inducements 
 are held out to us? 
 
 Heretofore American stocks have partaken too much 
 of the nature of speculations. 
 
 If they are to attract those of us who are small invest- 
 ors they must hereafter be elevated to the rank of invest- 
 ments, or at least semi-investments. 
 
 The demand is not for gambling chips. It is for strict 
 investments and for semi-investments, offering some guar- 
 antee of stability. 
 
 Directors, what are you going to do to meet the new 
 and more healthy conditions? 
 
 Let the head of each corporation invite every man and 
 woman in his employ to communicate DIRECTLY by 
 speech or letter, whenever real occasion arises. Complaints, 
 ideas for improving methods, suggestions of any kind — all* 
 should be insured of FIRST HAND, personal perusal with- 
 out going through the hands of any subordinate whatsoever. 
 Most workers have faith in the man at the very top, "the 
 big boss." But oftentimes they have genuine cause for 
 feeling less confident of receiving as square a deal from 
 understudies. 
 
 The United States means to win important victories — 
 First — On the sea ; Second — In international banking ; Third 
 — In foreign trade. 
 
206 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 A TALK WITH THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF 
 
 THE WORLD'S GREATEST INDUSTRIAL 
 
 ARMY, JUDGE GARY— POLITICIANS 
 
 HAVE TOO LITTLE AT 
 
 STAKE IN OUTCOME 
 
 OF THEIR ACTS. 
 
 I had a long, enlightening, heart-to-heart talk one day 
 with Elbert H. Gary, commander-in-chief of the greatest 
 industrial army in the world; perhaps the hardest, and cer- 
 tainly one of the best-filled positions in America. 
 
 Judge Gary is democratic rather than autocratic. He 
 has always favored a vigorous campaign against the over- 
 working and underpaying of employees, against all danger- 
 ous phases of work and in favor of enabling workers to 
 become personally interested in the annual profits. 
 
 With a frankness that startled his political inquisitors 
 at Washington some time ago, Judge Gary declared he had 
 not the slightest objection to having the Government regu- 
 late industry even to the length of limiting prices in cer- 
 tain cases and under certain conditions. He is not bigoted, 
 as you will thus see. 
 
 Before quoting what Judge Gary said to me, I should 
 explain that our talk was strictly confidential, and that not 
 one word of it was meant for publication. I was so im- 
 pressed, however, with some of the Judge's statements that 
 I succeeded in persuading him to allow me to print them. 
 He said, for example : 
 
 "The gravest menace to this country is that the poli- 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 207 
 
 ticians who rule affairs to-day have so little at stake in the 
 outcome of their acts. 
 
 "They are little affected if they turn prosperity into 
 depression. 
 
 "Few of them have large bodies of employees depend- 
 ent upon them for regular work at living wages. If they 
 had, they would count the cost of action, they would feel 
 a heavier weight of responsibility. 
 
 "After all, a nation is dependent upon its business ac- 
 tivities and success. Unless you can fill a man's stomach it 
 is useless to talk to him about non-material things. 
 
 "You cannot build on an empty stomach. This applies 
 to both nation and man. 
 
 "During my vacation I had time to think things over, 
 to study the general trend. As you know, I have felt un- 
 easy for the last two years. I could see many dangerous 
 elements in our social and political life. 
 
 "But I have changed my views somewhat. I now feel 
 more optimistic — more like my old self. I believe the pub- 
 lic are beginning to see things in the right light. They are 
 less ready to be stampeded by demagogues. They are 
 getting tired of corporation-baitings, of senseless attacks 
 upon capital. 
 
 "They are beginning to realize that their own welfare 
 is bound up with the welfare of general business more than 
 with the seditious demagogues. 
 
 "The great majority of the people have stopped listen- 
 ing to revolutionary proposals. They don't want to turn 
 our institutions upside down. We have, I hope, passed the 
 outburst of hysteria that at one time threatened to prove 
 frightfully disastrous. 
 
 "What has all the political clamor against our company 
 amounted to? What have all the investigations revealed? 
 Has anything underhand — anything whatever — been dis- 
 covered ? 
 
 "This corporation early in its history laid down these 
 
208 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 maxims: 'We are very big. The only "way we can succeed 
 is by being absolutely fair and above-board — fair to our 
 men, fair to competitors, fair to consumers and frank with 
 the public' 
 
 "We have tried honestly and conscientiously to live up 
 to that standard. And have you heard, in all the noise 
 raised against us by the politicians, one word of condemna- 
 tion by any competitor, customer or employee? Have they 
 complained of unjust methods? Have they not testified 
 that we have conducted our business on fair and reasonable 
 lines? 
 
 "We may not be entitled to praise for this, but we cer- 
 tainly do not deserve censure." 
 
 (The lower court arrived at this same conclusion in 
 deciding against the Government in its suit for dissolution 
 of the corporation.) 
 
 For several years before his death, J. P. Morgan was 
 obsessed by a mania for buying things, for monopoly. Lat- 
 terly it became so pronounced in respect to art objects that 
 his associates were genuinely alarmed. Next to heaven, Mr. 
 Morgan believed most in the New Haven Railroad. Of all 
 earthly things it was his chief joy and pride. He made of 
 it his own child. And, as a special mark of affection, he 
 lavished upon it his peculiar mania — nothing was too big 
 or too dear for it to buy. He set his heart upon making 
 New Haven the greatest, the most complete transportation 
 monoply history had ever known. Steam railroads, electric 
 railroads, traction systems, trolleys, steamship lines, wharfs, 
 piers — everything and anything that fitted into his monoply 
 scheme was acquired, no matter how exorbitant the price. 
 That all this was in violation of the law did not bother Mr. 
 Morgan. His eye was on one goal and he would let nothing 
 stay his progress toward it. But Fate intervened. The 
 New Haven began to totter. Then Mr. Morgan died. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 209 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF BEING OUT OF WORK PRE- 
 SENTED BY ONE WHO HAS GONE THROUGH 
 IT— A WORD TO DESTRUCTIVE LEGIS- 
 LATORS. 
 
 A big, strong, honest fellow, in the prime of life, has 
 been tramping over New York and Brooklyn for two 
 months looking for work. He has a wife and family, has 
 always lived in a modest but comfortable enough way, and 
 had saved a few dollars. He lost his last job through no 
 fault of his own. Day after day he set out in a vain search 
 for employment. Night after night he returned home with 
 the same sad tale. As the days lengthened into weeks and 
 the weeks into months he became disheartened. 
 
 A friend told me of his plight a week or two ago. Never 
 until now have I realized how hard it is for a man willing 
 and able to work to find a job — any kind of a job — in this 
 growing, progressive country. Each place to which he was 
 recommended had the same story to tell — "we're not tak- 
 ing on any men at present, but we may have an opening 
 later." Cold comfort for a man fretting to do his share of 
 the world's work in order to fill the mouths of those de- 
 pendent upon him. 
 
 Did YOU ever stop to think what it means to be unable 
 to find work at any wages? I know of nothing calculated 
 to drive a robust, energetic man to despair half so swiftly. 
 Fortunately, our worst misfortunes often turn out blessings 
 in disguise in that they soften our hearts and broaden our 
 sympathies — I have been through the mill, through it, too, 
 under circumstances slightly more trying than ordinary, in 
 
210 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 a half-civilized, war-ridden, plague-stricken land, teeming 
 with refugees from the sphere of hostilities, many starving 
 and all depressed. And alone, without one friend or even 
 acquaintance. 
 
 The man out of work feels that the world is getting 
 along very well without him. He is useless, superfluous, 
 needed by no one, a nuisance. Nobody wants to hear his 
 tale of woe. Everybody seems so busy with his own affairs, 
 so preoccupied, so self-centred — and so selfish. Until 
 thrown idle he had imagined he could hold his own in the 
 battle of life, that he was as capable as the next fellow, 
 that his services were worth hiring. He may even have 
 imagined that his departure from his place of employment 
 would leave a little gap not readily filled. 
 
 To be an outcast in the labor market first challenges 
 and then often kills pride, confidence, self-respect. To be 
 wanted by no one, shunned by all ; to have door after door 
 slammed in one's face ; to be refused even the opportunity 
 of speaking to the foreman or other responsible party so as 
 to plead one's case — all this is what Sherman called war, 
 and in capital letters, too. 
 
 If I ever turn philanthropist on a large scale I'll form 
 an employment bureau to be run on humane lines, for noth- 
 ing is more worth doing than to give a willing man a chance 
 to earn an honest living. Those who have never known 
 the bitterness of "polishing pavements," those who have 
 never had to put themselves in the out-of-work's place, 
 those who have never been made to feel how useless and 
 unwanted a piece of machinery they may become in the 
 eyes of the world, cannot even dimly realize how bottom- 
 less the slough of despair can prove. When turned down 
 day after day, week after week, usually with sca,nt cere- 
 mony, and oftentimes with cruel brutality, human nature 
 begins to look a miserable, despicable affair and the world 
 a heartless tragedy. The hours — the long, idle hours — drag 
 painfully. They bring nothing but deeper and still deeper 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 211 
 
 brooding — oh, yes, they never stop bringing thoughts, dull, 
 black, bitter, galling thoughts that thump upon one an- 
 other, turning a fellow's head into a foundry and a furnace. 
 
 Gloomy, harrowing stufif, all this, isn't it? Well, it is 
 not written to plunge any out-o'-work deeper into the mire 
 of distress. 
 
 It is written because there is grave danger that the 
 experience of my friend may become the experience of many 
 thousands of Americans unless those upon whom the task 
 of government has fallen proceed to discharge their duties 
 with a full sense of the responsibility attaching to their 
 acts. To throw able-bodied men out of work by the hun- 
 dreds of thousands is not the best way to solve the na- 
 tion's problems. A few hundred thousand hungry men 
 were an unthinkable menace to the peace and stability of 
 the Republic. 
 
 It should be unnecessary to say more. 
 
 Spectacular heroisms of the battlefield, the promptings 
 of an instant, stir us to patriotism and applause. But the 
 heroism that counts, the heroism that IS heroism, is the kind 
 the world learns not of, the faithful discharge of dull, mo- 
 notonous, nerve-racking and body-racking daily tasks, year- 
 in, year-out, prompted oftentimes by unselfishness and self- 
 denial, by love for others, with no prospect of reward or of 
 relief until the frame shall give way and Father Time 
 gather it in with his sickle. 
 
 Wall Street brokers used to delight in getting a flock 
 of "lambs" into the stock market at the wrong time and 
 then fleecing them. The guiding maxim among Stock Ex- 
 change members to-day is: "You cannot keep your cus- 
 tomers unless you help them to make money." Or, "You 
 lose a losing customer." 
 
212 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF JOHN ARBUCKLE, COFFEE 
 KING, PHILANTHROPIST, ENEMY OF MO- 
 NOPOLISTS AND FRIEND OF 
 THE POOR 
 
 Were all millionaires John Arbuckles, there would be 
 fewer Socialists. 
 
 He fought the tyrannical rich and fought for the de- 
 serving poor. He knew both classes and his heart was with 
 the latter. He was not a sentimentalist — the rugged heather 
 and the thorny thistles of his native hills tend to rear men 
 of sterner stuff. He believed in helping those anxious to 
 help themselves. Not one of his many-sided philanthro- 
 pies fostered pauperism. He was a practical dreamer, if a 
 paradox be permitted. 
 
 It was my good fortune to spend a week or two for a 
 number of recent Summers under the same roof as the Cof- 
 fee King, at Lake Mohonk Mountain House. 
 
 The title "King," by the way, seems utterly at vari- 
 ance with the man. His whole life was the essence of 
 simplicity. Dressed in a well-worn cutaway black coat 
 and wrinkled trousers, wearing shoes not always perfect, 
 and hair and beard ditto, he spent day after day, when off 
 duty, climbing the rocks and hills of Mohonk, nearby his 
 novel New Paltz establishment, the Mary and John Ar- 
 buckle farm. He always carried the long, rough stick of a 
 mountaineer, and no one meeting him would have sus- 
 pected he could write his name to a check far up in the 
 millions. 
 
 He reminded me of "John Halifax, Gentleman." 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 213 
 
 His farm was typical of the man. Batch after batch 
 of poor lads from the city were brought there for a fort- 
 night's change. But they were not permitted to be idle. 
 They were set to work. Old folks, also, were given the 
 benefits of a country home. Unfortunately, the elaborate 
 building he was having erected to meet the growth of his 
 scheme was burned down not long ago. He took a per- 
 sonal interest in his visitors and moved among them in the most 
 democratic manner. 
 
 His activities on behalf of the non-opulent were not 
 confined to land. New York well remembers his floating 
 hotels for workers. It may not be uninteresting to relate 
 that his marine project was suggested to him by the bene- 
 fit he derived from a voyage when recovering from fever. 
 "There is a stimulus," he once said, "about the ocean that 
 )'^ou can't get anywhere else. It helps your strength and it 
 softens your disposition. You're picking up some of the 
 milk of human kindness every day you are afloat, and the 
 men you meet there are big and strong — and most of them 
 are honest." 
 
 He enjoyed bringing monopolists to their senses. He 
 was the only opponent who ever outfought the Sugar Trust, 
 and he burst up the towboat monopoly. Havemeyer's bul- 
 lying could not cow the rugged Scot. It was the head of 
 the Trust that sought a truce. 
 
 "He came to me," Arbuckle explained, "and said : 
 'Arbuckle, I want to buy 51 per cent, of the stock of your 
 refinery.' I replied : 'You'll never get it as long as I live.' 
 And to-day I have the finest sugar refining plant in the 
 world." 
 
 The unpretentious millionaire had no high opinion of 
 those in his own class financially. Surrounded every- 
 where with simplicity — his office at No. 71 Water Street 
 was severely in keeping with his tastes — he denounced 
 those plutocrats who worshipped the frills and fantasies of 
 "society." He declared not very long ago : 
 
214 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 "I want, if I can, to help young men who are working 
 their way through college, as one of these young men when 
 he has finished his college education will be more good 
 in the world than the sons of a dozen millionaires. What 
 consummate fools the majority of our millionaires are! 
 They have developed, both mentally and physically, by 
 work, and now they don't want the wind to blow on their 
 sons. * * * Money honestly earned is a hundred times 
 better than money inherited. I would rather spend my 
 money helping those young men who are struggling for an 
 education than to erect a 'John Smith' watch tower or a 
 'Billy Jones' bronze gate, or any other silly tombstone in 
 the grounds of our great universities. 
 
 It is of his heart rather than of his head that I have 
 written. We have lots of men carrying the cleverest of 
 heads but not enough in high places possessed of the Ar- 
 buckle kind of heart. To be a wonder worker with mate- 
 rials, to be a great upbuilder of industry, to create a busi- 
 ness giving work and living wages to thousands of em- 
 ployees is no mean achievement, yet methinks some of those 
 who have done all this would, when the final analysis is 
 made, prefer to have devoted a little less of their talent to 
 materials and more to mankind. 
 
 The citizen whose brains and energy are devoted to 
 providing honorable, well-paid employment to fellow mor- 
 tals deserves well of his country. He deserves to rank 
 higher than the windy, self-seeking politician who creates 
 little but discontent and animosities, and who lives off the 
 wealth produced by the employer and his co-workers. The 
 people are tired of destruction, of senseless tearing down, 
 and are eager to build up and forge ahead. The decent 
 business man is to come into his own, and the ranting poli- 
 tician is to be dethroned. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 215 
 
 AMERICAN EMPLOYERS, WHAT KIND OF MEN, 
 WHAT KIND OF VOTERS, ARE YOU TURN- 
 ING OUT? A NATION'S CHIEF ASSET 
 IS NOT WEALTH, BUT HER 
 CITIZENS. 
 
 American employers, what kind of MEN, what kind of 
 VOTERS, are you turning out? 
 
 That question is not often discussed by financial or busi- 
 ness leaders, by Chambers of Commerce or Boards of Trade, 
 by railroad or industrial or mercantile conventions. 
 
 Yet is it not as important even as tariff legislation, for- 
 eign trade or any of the other serious problems now engag- 
 ing business men's minds? 
 
 America is proud of her manufactures, proud of her ag- 
 ricultural achievements, proud of her great railroad sys- 
 tems. All these are vital to the country's well-being. 
 
 But a nation's greatest asset is her citizens. On her citi- 
 zens depends everything else. They are at once the foun- 
 dation and superstructure, the Alpha and Omega of her ex- 
 istence. 
 
 Said one of our foremost bankers to me the other day : 
 
 "Don't forget that there is to be a change in the method 
 of electing our Senators. 
 
 "They are to be chosen by the people. 
 
 "They are already acting with this in mind. 
 
 "It means that the Senate will become less conservative, 
 that it will be less of a bulwark than heretofore against rad- 
 icalism. 
 
216 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 "We must not overlook this fact in analyzing the finan- 
 cial and business future." 
 
 Had you thought of that? 
 
 Does it not mean that the people — the ordinary, every- 
 day voters — are moving nearer the throttle of the engine 
 of government, that they are brushing aside privileged 
 classes, that they are routing the "Old Guard" who have 
 rendered long and zealous service on behalf of their 
 masters ? 
 
 Don't you begin to see, therefore, why it is of greater 
 moment than at any previous time in America's history to 
 consider the question : What kind of voters are our corpora- 
 tions and other employers turning out? 
 
 Let us here leave out of account entirely the moral as- 
 pects of the subject and discuss it strictly as a business 
 proposition. 
 
 The factory worker, the clerk, the mechanic, the day la- 
 borer, the railway man, the miner, the wagon driver, the 
 salesman, the printer, the navvy, the moulder — all are vot- 
 ers. And we have just noted that the voters are leaping 
 into the saddle, that they are asserting their right to govern 
 the country without the obstruction of old-school politi- 
 cians placed and kept in power by capitalistic interests. 
 Government by the people for the people is to become a 
 reality, not merely a theory. 
 
 Well, then, what kind of a government are our capitalists, 
 our corporations, our manufacturers, our mine owners, our 
 railroads moulding? 
 
 Are some of them pickling a rod to be applied by-and-by 
 to their own stripped backs? 
 
 Or are most employers grasping the fundamentals of the 
 situation ? 
 
 My own view, based on many heart-to-heart talks with 
 financiers, corporation managers and large employers, is 
 that a majority of the most influential of them are alive to 
 the necessity of treating employees fairly, of paying decent 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 217 
 
 wages, of granting reasonable hours, and, above all, of win- 
 ning the loyalty and co-operation of their workers by mani- 
 festing genuine interest in their welfare, by treating them 
 as fellow beings instead of as soulless, money-producing 
 machines to be worked to the limit and scrapped when im- 
 paired. 
 
 But only a start has been made in this direction. There 
 is much leeway to make up. 
 
 The new income tax, the new tariff law, the new cur- 
 rency system, all in principle mark progress in the right di- 
 rection. So do employers' liability laws and pure food laws. 
 So do corporate pension schemes, profit-sharing plans and 
 sales of stock on advantageous terms to employees. 
 
 Beyond all this, however, and transcending these meas- 
 ures in importance, lies the need for restoring the personal 
 element, the human bond between employers and employees. 
 Sentiment was driven from commerce by corporations, the 
 bloodless, non-human machines devised by High Finance 
 to carry on Big Business. 
 
 How to forge anew this bond, how to bring into harmony 
 the interests of employees and employers, how to displace 
 hostility by a spirit of mutuality and co-operation, how to 
 reconcile the ambitions of labor with the just rewards of 
 capital — this is the one problem that overshadows all others 
 and the speedy solution of which becomes more and more 
 urgent as the ordinary voter climbs toward the seat of gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Mr. Employer, what kind of voters are YOU turning out? 
 
 The worker who advances is not the one who is afraid 
 to do too much; it is the one whose conscience will not 
 permit him to do too little, the one whose driving desire is 
 to give the best that is in him, even though the boss may 
 seem cruelly unappreciative and though it does look like 
 casting bread upon unreturning waters. 
 
218 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 SUCCESS, HERETOFORE SPELT $UCCE$$, COMING 
 
 TO BE SPELT SERVICE— NOT WHAT A MAN 
 
 MAKES FOR HIS OWN POCKET, BUT 
 
 WHAT HE CONTRIBUTES TO HIS 
 
 FELLOW MEN. 
 
 Success used to be spelt $UCCE$$ — dollars. 
 
 Success is now coming to be spelt SERVICE. 
 
 The "successful" man, especially in America and other 
 new countries, has been reckoned he who has made most 
 FOR HIMSELF. 
 
 To-day we place higher the man who does most FOR 
 OTHERS. 
 
 No figure in history ever won enduring, worth-while fame 
 simply because of the size of his purse. 
 
 The public now scrutinize HOW a man has filled his 
 purse not less closely than how he strives to empty it. Even 
 though honestly filled, if he merely keeps it full to over- 
 flowing, and does nothing for the benefit of those from 
 whom he gathered it, no high niche will be reserved for him 
 among the world's benefactors. 
 
 For those who have fattened on a defenseless public, who 
 have wrung the life-blood and crushed the ambition out of 
 their employees, who have ruthlessly and unnecessarily 
 ruined competitors, who have not hesitated to subvert the 
 law and to practise corruption, the free-born, self-respect- 
 ing American citizen has nothing but contempt. 
 
 All life is a seeking after success. 
 
 Yet success may sometimes consist in failure to achieve 
 ambitions. (That sounds Chestertonian, but it is true.) 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 219 
 
 I have recently mentioned the names of several million- 
 aires whom I regard, and whom others are beginning to re- 
 gard, as pitiable failures. They have dollars a-plenty, but 
 decent men want nothing to do with them— and, much to 
 their astonishment, they are waking to the discomfiting 
 fact. 
 
 On the other hand, the man who is running the elevator 
 a few paces from where this is being written is, to my mind, 
 really successful. He lives a tranquil, happy domestic life ; 
 he radiates good cheer ; he is the picture of health (scaling 
 upward of 200 pounds); he never spends a penny in sa- 
 loons ; he is liked by all ; the street urchins of the imme- 
 diate neighborhood number him among their most consid- 
 erate friends; he does his work conscientiously and even 
 enthusiastically ; he makes the best of everything, and he 
 never once grouches. He is the kind of worker it is good 
 to have around. And 1 doubt not his philosophic content- 
 ment with his present lot will win him a better — though if it 
 doesn't he will not whine. 
 
 The trouble with most of us is that we want to succeed in 
 too great a hurry. "Learn to labor" we accept as just, but 
 the "AND TO WAIT" galls. 
 
 Then our conceptions of what constitutes success are apt 
 to be asquint. 
 
 When we are young — and some of us never get over it — 
 we are apt to think that applause, conspicuousness and 
 fame constitute success. These things don't. They are 
 only the trappings, the trimmings of success. Success it- 
 self is the work, the achievement that evokes these manifes- 
 tations. Not the prize, but that which enters into the win- 
 ning of it is what constitutes success. And the man or 
 woman who values the applause more than the effort nec- 
 essary to elicit it is not apt to be deafened — at least not for 
 any length of time. 
 
 Concentrate on your work and the applause will take care 
 of itself. 
 
220 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 If Colonel Goethals had concerned himself more with 
 gaining fame and promotion and riches than with digging 
 dirt out of the canal and keeping it out, he would not stand 
 to-day where he does. And I'm inclined to believe he ranks 
 fame far below the actual construction of the canal. The 
 man deserving of fame is not puffed up by it. 
 
 The new yardstick of success may not appeal so strongly 
 as the old to many, especially young men. They may see 
 something more attractive in $UCCE$$ than in SERVICE. 
 But the Dollar by itself cannot satisfy. 
 
 More, in order to gain and retain dollars under the in- 
 coming era it will be found necessary to render service, 
 genuine, helpful service to the world, whether that service 
 consists of sweeping streets or organizing an international 
 corporation or running a railroad. 
 
 The big man of the future is to be the one who DOES 
 MOST FOR MANKIND, not the one who takes most 
 FROM mankind. 
 
 Let that simple truth sink into the minds and the souls 
 of the rising generation, and all will be well with them and 
 with the world. 
 
 Success, be it never forgotten, is more a state of mind| 
 than state of pocket. Hence, it is within reach of all, though 
 it may cost incessant self-denial, self-control, self-immola- 
 tion, and unending endeavor. 
 
 You cannot find a short cut to climb a ladder, can you? 
 The only safe way is to move up one step at a time. By 
 watching your movements intently, by using your head, 
 your hands and your feet intelligently, you have every 
 chance of reaching the top without disaster. 
 
 To "put it over" someone is not clever. It is a pin- 
 headed shortsightedness — if you want to keep out of the 
 bankruptcy court. The keynote of modern commerce is 
 SERVICE. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 221 
 
 FINANCIERS AND BUSINESS HEADS, FALSELY 
 ACCUSED BY GOVERNMENT AND OTHER 
 OFFICIALS, NOW TO HIT BACK— "DIG- 
 NITY" THAT WAS DANGEROUS. 
 
 There's a lot of human nature in human nature, only most 
 people won't let it out. 
 
 The late King Edward — "Teddy," as the London popu- 
 lace always hailed him — was a member of one club where 
 he insisted upon being treated as a man, not as a King. He 
 received no special honors or salutations. He mixed with 
 the others like a good fellow — and enjoyed it. That was the 
 only place where he could throw off his kingly mask and 
 indulge in unaffected democracy. And he loved the hu- 
 manizing experience. On all other occasions he was a stick- 
 ler for dignity, as his tailor, waxing rich and becoming a 
 trifle familiar, learned to his chagrin one evening when, at a 
 levee at the palace, he remarked to the King: "Rather a 
 mixed company to-night. Your Majesty." "I'm sorry my 
 guests cannot ALL be tailors," was the biting rebuke ! 
 
 President Wilson did well to doff his mask the other day 
 and let the public have a glimpse of the man under it. What 
 was revealed was the real Wilson. From personal ac- 
 quaintance, I can state that he could have gone even fur- 
 ther in describing his democratic leanings. He hates the 
 icy isolation of the Presidency. Its forms and its ceremo- 
 nies gall him. He grins and bears it all for appearance's 
 sake. But, though "Mr. President," he is none the less 
 Woodrow Wilson, fond of comradeship, hateful of salaam- 
 ing and above all, a lover of humor and wit and repartee. 
 
222 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 The big men of America, the men who have been leaders 
 in finance, in industry, in transportation, in commerce, have 
 too often made the mistake of wearing iron masks, of re- 
 fraining from revealing their true selves to the public. They 
 have thrown up ramparts of what they called "dignity" 
 and hidden behind them — cold, silent, unsociable. The pub- 
 lic could but picture them as proud, haughty, supercilious. 
 
 In my own little way I have never missed an opportunity 
 to impress upon these men the necessity for coming off their 
 perch and mixing with their fellow men on terms of 
 equality. 
 
 If I may be permitted to tell tales out of school, the pol- 
 icy recently inaugurated by certain financiers and men of 
 affairs in regard to answering unjust attacks made upon 
 them by Government officials and others was in large meas- 
 ure inspired by me. Whenever I would call on any party 
 who had been mercilessly flayed by Washington or other 
 officials to ask if any statement or explanation was to be 
 given out the answer invariably was "No." Often there 
 was the addendum: "It would not be dignified for us to 
 enter into any discussion on the subject." 
 
 "But don't you realize that silence will be interpreted as 
 guilt?" I suggested. 
 
 "Not by those who know the facts." 
 
 "But if the public get only one side — and that side not 
 yours — are they not entitled to believe the other side is tell- 
 ing the truth," was the line of argument I pursued. 
 
 Secretary McAdoo hastily charged New York banks with 
 having conspired to depress the market value of Govern- 
 ment bonds. Instead of saying nothing in rebuttal, the 
 banks forcefully denied the allegation. And, of course, Sec- 
 retary McAdoo could not find an ounce of evidence in sup- 
 port of his grave reflection upon the banks for the excellent 
 reason that the banks were not guilty. Yet no apology was 
 ever forthcoming. 
 
 Tllig National City Bank's reply to Treasury accusations. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 223 
 
 Speyer & Co.'s reply to official allegations concerning their 
 'Frisco dealings, J. P. Morgan & Co.'s letter detailing their 
 New Haven financing profits, and President Samuel Rea's 
 denial of aspersions cast upon the Pennsylvania Railroad's 
 finances are all part and parcel of the new policy. No man 
 and no company is big enough to allow unjust charges, from 
 high sources, to go unchallenged. 
 
 The public mind ought not to be poisoned against busi- 
 ness men by falsehoods clothed with the official cloak of 
 respectability. 
 
 The man or company without brains enough, organiza- 
 tion enough and capital enough to run a business at a rea- 
 sonable profit without starving employees has no right to 
 remain in the field. The place of the man who cannot pay 
 living wages is not among employers, but among employees. 
 
 The world tends to become a unit. When the people 
 of one country evolve a law that works well, other nations 
 are apt to adopt it. It is worth noting that legislation, not 
 infrequently, creeps across the Atlantic nowadays. 
 
 The manufacturer who has to enlarge his plant, and 
 keeps on enlarging it, is not the quack, not the faker, not the 
 seller of worthless, adulterated, disappointment-breeding 
 stuff; it is the one who turns out goods that gives satis- 
 faction. 
 
 Destroy a nation's commerce and you destroy that 
 nation. Hurt business and you hurt labor. Shackle enter- 
 prise and retrogression follows. Is it the duty of the United 
 States Government to help the country or to hurt it ? 
 
 Washington cannot create capital by opening currency 
 flood-gates. Capital can come into being only through the 
 people spending less than they earn — that is, by saving. 
 
224 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 BE GOOD FRIENDS WITH YOUR WORK— THE 
 MERRY HEART GOES ALL THE DAY— 
 "MONEY NEVER MADE ANY MAN 
 RICH, ONLY HIS MIND." 
 
 Are you good friends with your work? 
 
 Since we spend most of our waking hours at our daily 
 tasks, is it not very important that we should be happy in 
 the doing of them? The man or woman who has no heart 
 for his or her employment cannot realize the full joy of 
 living. 
 
 There is only one thing worse than having disagreeable 
 work, and that is having no work at all. The person who 
 has no work can have no recreation, no relaxation. The vil- 
 lage blacksmith is more to be envied than the idler who 
 may have millions. The squire who walked to get a stom- 
 ach for his meat was less happy than the sturdy son of the 
 soil who rejoined : "And I walk to get meat for my stom- 
 ach." 
 
 The man who brings a right attitude to his job is rich all 
 day long, for, as a sage remarked, "Money never made any 
 man rich, but his mind." 
 
 Some people spend more energy in grumbling than in 
 trying to get on. 
 
 To be done well, a task must be done with a will, with 
 relish, with enthusiasm. The best workers are those whose 
 hearts are in their work. Those who are wisely ambitious 
 seldom grumble. A motto which has been framed and hung 
 on many walls reads : "AH things come to those who hustle 
 while they wait." The malcontent usually waits without 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 225 
 
 hustling. He wants the moon without having to soar to 
 get it. He sits with folded hands instead of speeding forth 
 with busy feet and nimble fingers. 
 
 Contentment can be cultivated. And it is a plant worth 
 cultivating. It can at least be said of Christian Science that 
 it has turned many sour people sweet. The harder a man's 
 toil the greater his need for bringing cheerfulness to it — 
 the merry heart goes all the day. 
 
 Employers will promote a cheerful worker sooner than a 
 discontented one. The foreman who believes in his work, 
 who takes pride in it, who goes at it wholeheartedly infusft.s 
 something of his own spirit into those serving under him. 
 Why should a servant who is constantly complaining, who 
 is eternally railing against his boss, who finds his employ- 
 ment a bore, be placed in command of other servants ? His 
 example would bring on a strike rather than promote 
 success. 
 
 Of course, many jobs are near relatives of drudgery. It 
 is hard to sing at them. But, if nothing else can be reached, 
 what's the use of making the worst of it? Why not make 
 the best of it? "What cannot be cured must be endured." 
 Most men toil and slave not solely for their own sakes; 
 they sow that others — wife, mother, family — may reap. 
 When tackled in this spirit, when performed from unself- 
 ish motives, few tasks cannot be made at least tolerable. No 
 man liveth to himself — unless he be a fool, for to try it in- 
 vites inward failure even though it may bring outward 
 "success." 
 
 Some of these platitudes are prompted by an incident 
 that occurred on an elevated railroad platform in the early 
 hours of the morning, when newspaper men were waiting 
 for their trains. A veteran is on duty to hoist the proper 
 signals, call out the destination of trains and answer the 
 countless questions of passengers. Of late a second man 
 has been on the platform. He does not yet know what the 
 public have a right to expect of him. On this particular 
 
226 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 morning he was guilty of such incivility that the veteran 
 began to give him some homely, sound advice. Instead of 
 accepting it in good part, he replied jauntily that there were 
 plenty of jobs in New York. 
 
 "Don't throw away dirty water until you get clean," 
 chided the veteran. "There are ten thousand people in New 
 York this night looking for work — I see some of them hang- 
 ing round a gate I pass every morning." 
 
 The trouble with the uncivil platform man, it struck me, 
 was that he brought a wrong attitude, a wrong state of 
 mind to his work. The company pays him to give its pa- 
 trons civil answers, but apparently he felt too big for his 
 job. And he sought to vent his spleen upon the company's 
 customers. 
 
 Be a little more patient, a little more cheerful, my friend. 
 You will get farther and the way will be all the smoother 
 for yourself and for others. 
 
 Whenever standard securities yield more than the 
 normal interest rate on money, they can be bought with 
 every prospect of proving profitable. 
 
 One thousand dollars invested at 5 per cent, now will 
 grow into $2,000 in less than fourteen years, while at 6 
 per cent, your money doubles itself in about ten years. 
 
 Without a supply or capital, enterprise stagnates. With- 
 out fresh enterprise, idleness multiplies. Unemployment is 
 dynamite. 
 
 What an admirable character an admixture of Ameri- 
 can generosity and French frugality would produce ! 
 
 Every dollar good stocks lose in price makes them 
 more, not less, attractive to investors. Don't forget that. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 227 
 
 THRIFT SPELLS HAPPINESS: DEBT UNHAPPI- 
 
 NESS— HALF THIS NATION'S TROUBLES 
 
 DUE TO INDIVIDUAL, CORPORATE, 
 
 MUNICIPAL AND FEDERAL 
 
 EXTRAVAGANCE. 
 
 The man who has a dollar is better than the man who 
 has not a dollar. 
 
 We all want to be well off. 
 
 How to provide for our necessities and the necessities of 
 those dependent upon us, is the biggest everyday problem 
 most of us have to solve. 
 
 Americans have not yet learned, as a rule, how to save 
 money. 
 
 Thoughtless extravagance is a national sin. 
 
 That old-fashioned virtue, THRIFT, is rarely practised. 
 
 The common motto is : "Let us eat, drink and be merry 
 to-day ; to-morrow can take care of itself." 
 
 But to-morrow will not take care of itself unless we take 
 care of to-day. 
 
 The spendthrift is NOT a happy person. He has to flee 
 from his own thoughts. He dare not let his mind dwell on 
 whither he is going. Yet try as he will, the spectre of the 
 future persists in rising up to frighten him. The "good 
 time" of the moment, he knows in his heart, cannot last. 
 The wine of life every now and then has an unpleasant' 
 taste. 
 
 Mankind is eternally searching for happiness, for peace 
 and joy of mind, for satisfaction that has lasting qualities. 
 
228 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Thriftlessness and genuine happiness cannot reside in the 
 same human dwelling. 
 
 Thrift begets comfort, satisfaction, tranquility, happi- 
 ness. 
 
 More, thrift makes for manhood. It raises a man's self- 
 respect to have saved part of his earnings. Poverty is a 
 depressing, haunting, vitiating companion, especially pov- 
 erty that could have been avoided by the exercise of pru- 
 dence, temperance and common sense. 
 
 The man who does not keep his head above water is in 
 an unenviable plight. 
 
 Debt breeds cowardice. 
 
 Yet half the people who are in debt could have made ends 
 meet by intelligent frugality. 
 
 Pride is oftentimes the parent of extravagance. Men and 
 women shrink from appearing less "prosperous" than their 
 neighbors. Not only will they spend for their backs what 
 ought to have gone into their stomachs, but they will too 
 readily make somebody else foot the bill — they will buy 
 what they cannot pay for, thus ROBBING somebody else. 
 
 Unpaid and not-to-be-paid debts are a form of thieving. 
 To take goods from a tradesman and not pay for them is 
 stealing, just plain stealing. The thought may not be pleas- 
 ant for the spendthrift, but the truth of it cannot be blinked 
 or denied. 
 
 A thousand woes, individual and national, flow from reck- 
 less, unwise expenditures. 
 
 Half the troubles this country has labored under during 
 recent years have sprung from extravagance — individual, 
 corporate, municipal. State, Federal. The nation has been 
 running riot. 
 
 Chastening influences latterly have been at work, how- 
 ever. The need for sobriety, for economy, for frugality, 
 for thrift is coming to be realized. 
 
 A wave of intelligent, systematic, persistent, rational 
 THRIFT would do more to reduce the cost of living and 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 229 
 
 advance the material and moral interests of the United 
 States than all the laws Congress is capable of devising in 
 a decade. 
 
 One of America's most prominent and most likeable men, 
 who has drunk freely from the cup of success, sent me the 
 following thought-breeding letter in response to Christmas 
 greetings : 
 
 "Dear Forbes — I am most appreciative of your Christmas 
 greeting. 
 
 "The New Year will be here in a few hours, and I hope it 
 brings you a serene year. Isn't that better than wishing it may 
 be prosperous? 
 
 "Prosperity, as you and I have often had the opportunity 
 to observe, by no means always brings peace. 
 
 "I've been reading your writings regularly. You speak 
 to a tremendously big audience, and I believe you speak in a 
 way that helps many to see more correctly. 
 
 "We are going to have added need here at home to see 
 straight, both politically and economically." 
 
 "Re-read that phrase: "Prosperity by no means always 
 brings peace." That is tragically true. And yet I make bold 
 to predict that in the future prosperity will bring peace and 
 happiness more often than it has brought them in the past. 
 Why? For this main reason: Prosperity on a large scale — 
 on the million-dollar scale — was attained too often in the past 
 by methods and means not above criticism. Quickly won mil- 
 lions were not unseldom a trifle tainted — at least tainted when 
 examined in modern light. Fewer millions are to be made that 
 way hereafter. 
 
 Let every employer digest this truth : If he will not act 
 justly voluntarily, he will be COMPELLED to be just before 
 the world is very much older. The graver the sin now, the 
 worse the punishment bye and bye. 
 
230 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 DRIVE YOUR BUSINESS OR YOU WILL BE DRIV- 
 EN OUT OF BUSINESS— LADDER OF SUC- 
 CESS HAS TO BE CLIMBED: IT IS 
 NOT A MOVING STAIRWAY. 
 
 If you don't drive your business you will be driven out 
 of business. 
 
 The man who stands still is passed by the procession. 
 
 The ladder of success has to be climbed ; it is not a mov- 
 ing stairway that you can simply step on to and wait, with 
 idle feet and folded hands, until you are carried to the top. 
 
 Great changes are pending in the world's business cur- 
 rents. 
 
 There will be unprecedented opportunities in many lines. 
 
 Some men and firms will become rich. Others will be left 
 stranded. 
 
 The prize is to be for the alert, for the enterprising, for 
 the far-sighted, for the energetic, for those quick to adapt 
 themselves and their organizations to new and changing 
 conditions. 
 
 Dry rot kills more concerns than any other half dozen 
 causes. 
 
 In Wall Street the mortality has been heaviest during 
 recent years among houses that once were numbered among 
 the most elect, but whose partners, having become rich 
 and lazy, let things drift and drift until shutters had to be 
 hoisted. 
 
 They had ceased to drive their business. 
 
 On the other hand, quite a few young firms, composed of 
 clean-cut, ambitious, pushing partners, possessing weightier 
 brains than bank accounts, have forged to the front. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 231 
 
 Hard work has won. Indifference has lost. 
 
 The greatest "hustlers," you must have noticed, have lit- 
 tle time for whining over "hard times" or any other spe- 
 cies of misfortune. They are too busy going after business 
 to squander hours or moments in idle, purposeless, harmful 
 wailing. 
 
 The idler is ever the worst complainer — and usually with 
 reason — for he who works not is apt to find abundant occa- 
 sion for feeling ill at ease with himself and with the world. 
 
 I have been led to make these somewhat commonplace 
 observations by receipt of the following stirring communi- 
 cation from an able, progressive Stock Exchange broker, 
 who states he received the inspiration for his contribution 
 from my article on "I Am Work," which has been repro- 
 duced in various publications and in leaflet form. 
 
 "Is your business dull? 
 
 "Are you complaining of the dullness ? 
 
 "Are you doing anything except complain? 
 
 "Are you doing anything to increase your business ? 
 
 "Are you really working? 
 
 "Do you get down to business at 10 o'clock or at 9 
 o'clock ? 
 
 "Do you leave business at 3 o'clock or 5 o'clock? 
 
 "Do you spend the time between in bewailing the loss of 
 old customers or in planning to get them back and new 
 customers besides? 
 
 "Are you so accustomed to have business volunteered 
 that you don't know how to solicit it ? 
 
 "As a specialist in investments would you recommend 
 the securities of any company whose management showed 
 as little initiative as you do in your own business ? 
 
 "Are you spending any money to increase your business ? 
 
 "Would you recommend the securities of any company 
 whose management was as unwilling to spend money in 
 developments as you are ? 
 
232 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 "Are you afraid of publicity, or do you recognize it as the 
 most valuable ally of a legitimate business? 
 
 "Is your particular business legitimate? Are you a 
 croupier or are you being paid for performing a useful, con- 
 structive function? 
 
 "Are you as broad-minded in regard to business ques- 
 tions as you ask the politicians to be?" 
 
 It is not for me to attempt to answer each question for 
 you. It is for you to do so. Do it, and if you do not find 
 your determination strengthened, your ambition fired and 
 your energy quickened, then I know nothing of human na- 
 ture, the only subject I feel I know anything about. 
 
 Fewer gigantic fortunes in future will be made over- 
 night in illegitimate Wall Street exploits. The public would 
 not tolerate to-day what it helplessly submitted to twenty and 
 thirty years ago. The more picturesque heroes of those un- 
 scrupulous days have practically all run their swift course and 
 returned to their kindred dust. Those who remain are no 
 longer looked up to, but down upon. And, of all men, they 
 are the most miserable. The new age will bring with it a new 
 and better brand of prosperity. It will contain fewer bitter 
 dregs. It will be less mixed with dishonesty and chicanery. 
 It will be less muddy. It will be made under the fierce light 
 of publicity, not in dark sub-cellars. And it will be more 
 likely to bring blessings which neither $50,000,000 nor $500,- 
 000,000 of ill-won money can buy. Prosperity is worth while. 
 It is worth fighting for with every ounce of strength we pos- 
 sess, for without at least a moderate measure of it we are not, 
 as a rule, able to do much for others. But it has to be twenty- 
 four carat prosperity, not the fraudulent pinch-back variety. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 233 
 
 HOW "PUBLIC OPINION" CAN BE ASCERTAINED 
 
 —THE DUTY OF A WRITER TO GUIDE AS 
 
 WELL AS RECORD PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 
 
 How can a newspaper claim to voice "Public Opinion?" 
 How can it ascertain what "Public Opinion" is? What con- 
 stitutes "Public Opinion?" Does this column represent 
 "Public Opinion" or only my own ? 
 
 These are the straightforward questions asked in the fol- 
 lowing letter, and an effort to make reply thereto will be 
 made: 
 
 "Some time ago there arose a question between a friend 
 of mine and myself as to what constitutes the much vaunted 
 'Public Opinion,' as frequently exemplified in your col- 
 umn, and of the dire calamity that awaits the transgressor 
 thereof. 
 
 "Do you claim to represent 'Public Opinion' in your col- 
 umn, or just your own ; if not your own, in what manner do 
 you get what 'Public Opinion' is? 
 
 "What I principally wish to know is, how and why any 
 newspaper can claim to represent 'Public Opinion' con- 
 scientiously ?" 
 
 I have just asked an editor of a quarter of a century's ex- 
 perience how this newspaper can ascertain public opinion, 
 and here is his reply: "A newspaper's circulation is an 
 excellent barometer of public opinion. A paper depends 
 wholly for its success upon its ability to represent public 
 opinion. Any paper that feels out of touch with the pulse 
 and the mind of the people gradually sinks in circulation 
 and in influence. The public want the truth and they want 
 
234 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 correct views. Unless a paper serves up its news properly 
 and fairly, and unless it champions what is just, its readers 
 express their disapprobation by dropping it and buying 
 some other paper that better fulfills these functions and bet- 
 ter represents them. 
 
 "The so-called popular papers are popular because they 
 interpret the minds of the great body of the people better 
 than any others." 
 
 That would seem to cover the general question of how 
 newspapers can tell when they are accurately representing 
 public opinion. 
 
 To write about this column and its relation to public 
 opinion is a somewhat delicate task. Do I give merely my 
 own views ? Yes. Can I speak for public opinion, can I tell 
 what public opinion is ? No — and yes. If it were my busi- 
 ness to design buildings I would spare no effort to supply 
 the kind of buildings wanted — and the kind the people 
 ought to want. My duty, as I construe it, is not merely 
 to voice public opinion, but within my own sphere to mould 
 it; not to slavishly follow any freaky outbreak of senti- 
 ment or hysteria on financial and business problems, but to 
 aid in directing opinion along sane, sensible, sober lines; 
 not to blindly swear by one class and swear at another, but 
 to approve the good deeds of one as readily as the other; 
 comment upon the doings of capital and labor with equal 
 impartiality as occasion arises. 
 
 The first study of an editor is human nature. If he can- 
 not, with some degree of success, read the human mind; 
 if he cannot get into tune with the heartbeats of humanity ; 
 if he cannot gauge what effect certain happenings will have 
 upon different classes of his fellow men, then he cannot fill 
 any large or influential space in the scheme of things. More- 
 over, there are laws governing finance and economics as 
 irrevocable, as ironclad, as certain in their workings and ef- 
 fects as the law of gravitation. There is a wonderful, an 
 awe-inspiring law of justice governing the destinies of men's 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 235 
 
 doings. Certain acts can lead to only one end sooner or 
 later. The scales cannot be forever perverted. Given cer- 
 tain causes, certain effects must follow inevitably, unavoid- 
 ably. 
 
 Therefore, it ought to be possible for one who studies 
 these things, one who lives and moves among all ranks of 
 people, one who cultivates men's confidences, one whose 
 business is to watch events and diagnose their effect, 
 one who is rightly in tune with the trend of hu- 
 man progress — it ought to be possible for such an one to 
 tell when certain actions will be followed by "dire calamity" 
 to the perpetrators. 
 
 This column is less concerned in saying only pleasing 
 things than in telling the truth. If it never contained a 
 sentiment disagreeable to a single soul, then it would be 
 absolutely worthless. For a teetotaler to lecture only to 
 teetotalers were a fruitless labor. Happily, I am left in no 
 doubt as to the faculty of this column to arouse antagonis- 
 tic views, for the mail promptly brings reproval when toes 
 are trampled upon. However, one must faithfully follow the 
 light as he sees it, with malice toward none, with charity 
 for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see 
 the right." 
 
 I want my freedom, I want it so fervently that I refuse 
 with abhorrence to deny it to any law-abiding fellow-mortal. 
 If, therefore, any brother cannot see eye to eye with me on the 
 advantages of joining a labor union, if he prefers to remain 
 what he calls "independent," I may consider it my duty to 
 argue with him, to persuade him, to cajole him ; but I can claim 
 no right to molest him, to rob him of his freedom of choice, to 
 subject him to lawless maltreatment. I want to win him over 
 by fair means. But I must not shoot him if he prefers to act 
 according to his own ideas rather than mine. He may be 
 crassly mistaken. Yet freedom is HIS birthright no less than 
 mine. 
 
236 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 WANTED: MANAGEMENT OF MEN COURSE IN 
 
 OUR UNIVERSITIES— HOW GARY, VAIL, 
 
 HILL, FORD, WESTINGHOUSE 
 
 HAVE INSPIRED THEIR 
 
 HUGE FORCES. 
 
 Will some American university introduce a course on the 
 Management of Men? Modern business conditions demand it. 
 
 The qualities necessary to handle men successfully cannot 
 be instilled into students, it may be objected. They could not, 
 it is true, be drilled into every scholar, but they could be taught 
 to those having special aptitude for this tremendously im- 
 portant work. 
 
 The need for serious efifort in this direction is becoming 
 more pressing every year, for, as the corporate method of con- 
 ducting business grows, men must be found capable of inspir- 
 ing, not merely cold respect, but enthusiasm, loyalty, affection 
 even. 
 
 This Republic needs men who can put souls into corpora- 
 tions. Souls cannot be bludgeoned into corporations by pol- 
 iticians. 
 
 The gulf which exists between Capital and Labor can be 
 bridged only by the proper treatment of men, by a just under- 
 standing of mutual relations, by the inspiration of reciprocal 
 sympathy and appreciation. 
 
 "Business is business." Yes, but business is not the whole 
 of life. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, was supplanted 
 by a more humane system. We need that humane system in 
 business not merely for sickly sentimental reasons, not in a 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 237 
 
 spirit of condescension on the part of capital, not solely be- 
 cause it would be ethical. We need it to insure success. 
 
 Certain employers believe in treating men as machines, as 
 so many productive units to be utilized to the best possible 
 advantage of the employers, regardless of the effect of this 
 treatment upon the men. Such an attitude reflects stunted in- 
 tellect. It reveals abject failure to grasp the essentials of real 
 success in carrying on the work of the world. Moreover, 
 what does such a policy bring in return? The majority of 
 those serving such masters repay them in kind. They do not 
 one stroke more than absolutely necessary. They feel that 
 their employers are trying to "get the best of them," and they 
 beat them at their own game. 
 
 The greatest organization America has known during the 
 last generation is the Pennsylvania Railroad. Ask a dozen 
 of its seasoned employees how they regard their employers. 
 The road is with them a fetich, almost a religion. 
 
 I make bold to assert that E. H. Gary, present head of 
 the most gigantic industrial enterprise the world has ever 
 known, will indorse what has been here said, even though 
 in its earlier days the United States Steel Corporation 
 unquestionably was something of a slave-driver. The 
 inside of a huge steel mill in full blast is as near a repre- 
 sentation of Hades as I ever want to see, and even under 
 the most considerate management steel making can be no 
 picnic. Yet, though much still remains to be done to better 
 conditions, there has been a wholesome change of heart 
 on the part of tjiose at the helm. The tendency, the deter- 
 mination is to deserve the loyalty of employees. 
 
 Ask Theodore N. Vail, the wizard of the telephone world, 
 the builder of an organization without parallel in history, 
 what he thinks about how men should be handled. The re- 
 doubtable Harriman, fierce as a tiger in financial fights with 
 rivals, inspired devotion among his men. James J. Hill is not 
 execrated by his army of employees, for he is broad-gauge 
 
238 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 enough to realize that decent treatment can accomplish more 
 than hounding. 
 
 The three greatest banking houses in this country are the 
 antithesis of slave-drivers ; they give their men good meas- 
 ure, so to speak. George Westinghouse went perhaps too far 
 for the interest of his own pocket in extending generosity, yet 
 he raised an international business organization that shall re- 
 main an enviable monument to his name when all the skin- 
 flints of the present day will be forgotten if they have been 
 forgiven. 
 
 Henry Ford has also the happy knack of inspiring enthu- 
 siasm. 
 
 Something more than the contents of a pay envelope is 
 necessary to fire a man to do the best that is in him. That 
 "something more" is what a Management of Men course 
 would teach and disseminate. It is at once a quality of the 
 heart and the head. Only men of catholicity of sympathy, 
 possessing genuine insight into human nature, its weak- 
 nesses and its aspirations, men enthused with the joy of 
 living and of striving, their motives founded and grounded 
 on the eternal verities and seeing clearly the raison de'etre 
 of things, can hope, under the stress and moil of modern 
 conditions, to rise to true statesmanship in the direction of 
 colossal aggregations of capital and the management of the 
 tens of thousands of men needful for the fructifying of that 
 capital. 
 
 Will not some university endow a Chair for the teaching 
 of this new but sorely needed science? 
 
 You can now buy $10 bonds. New York City has taken 
 the lead in bringing the highest grade of security within reach 
 of the most modest purse. The results that will flow from this 
 innovation cannot be fully grasped. It should, and probably 
 will, mean that Americans, like the French, will become a na- 
 tion of thrifty investors. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 239 
 
 SELECTION OF AMERICAN TO MANAGE GREAT 
 ENGLISH RAILROAD INSPIRATION FOR 
 OUR YOUNG MEN— INTERNATION- 
 ALISM KEYNOTE OF 
 TWENTIETH CENTURY. 
 
 The whole world, not any one country, is the field open to 
 the business man of to-day. Capital and men now migrate 
 freely from one part of the globe to another. 
 
 Internationalism is the keynote of the twentieth century. 
 It has been clearly sounded in education, in art, in music, in 
 finance, in commerce and in labor. 
 
 The selection of an American railroad officer to take charge 
 of one of Britain's great railroad systems is the latest illus- 
 tration of this development. 
 
 What an inspiration it is for the ambitious, studious, brainy 
 American youth! His horizon to-day is bounded only by 
 ether. 
 
 In these days of grumbling, of dissatisfaction with condi- 
 tions, of complaint over lack of opportunity, should not this 
 incident fill young men with enthusiasm, with fresh hope, with 
 redoubled determination to DESERVE success? Does it not 
 beget confidence that merit will conquer ? Does it not empha- 
 size that the door of opportunity is wider open than ever be- 
 fore? 
 
 It is as true to-day as it was yesterday and will be to-mor- 
 row and many to-morrows thereafter that a good workman 
 must ever and always pass a poor workman. 
 
 The world will still beat a track to the door of the ablest 
 
240 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 man in his line, even if that line be only the making of mouse 
 traps. 
 
 Mr. Thornton, of the Long Island Railroad, who has gone 
 to England to manage the Great Eastern Railroad, will find 
 the same problems confronting him there as beset railroad 
 managers here. Mounting expenses, repeated labor upris- 
 ings for higher wages, endangered dividends, increasing 
 governmental regulation, public hostility and a growing 
 demand for public ownership of all transportation com- 
 panies — these matters are all as acute, as harassing to rail- 
 road managers, as far from final settlement in Britain as 
 they are in America. So, too, are the more mechanical 
 questions of terminal facilities and electrification — the lat- 
 ter a gigantic problem of the not distant future. 
 
 Serious study of railroad conditions abroad and at home 
 compels the conclusion that the tendency is toward nationali- 
 zation. It may be, as one authority declared several years 
 ago, that the people will move to the very brink of govern- 
 ment ownership and then recoil with horror from the pros- 
 pect. So far the movement is unmistakably gaining momen- 
 tum. 
 
 The British Government has appointed a Royal Commis- 
 sion to conduct an exhaustive inquiry into the whole railroad 
 situation, and this is regarded as the first step toward acqui- 
 sition of the railroads by the Government. 
 
 Have you noticed how often a popular movement in Europe, 
 particularly in Great Britain, crosses the Atlantic and is taken 
 up in this country ? Legislative, economic, financial, social and 
 labor innovations there are very apt to be adopted here. 
 
 Were I to venture a prophecy, I would say that, if the Brit- 
 ish Royal Commission's report paves the way for Government 
 ownership, a similar programme will be taken up in the United 
 States. I would go even further and hazard the forecast that 
 public ownership of railroads is inevitable in every country. 
 (Please note that I am not discussing the desirability or un- 
 desirability of such a development, only its inevitability.) 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 241 
 
 No country can afford to build a Chinese wall around its 
 edges. Reciprocity, co-operation, internationalization are driv- 
 ing from the world exclusion, isolation and insularism. 
 
 To keep out foreign brains were more foolish than to keep 
 out foreign trade. 
 
 Britain apparently needs to learn that simple fact. Her 
 outcry against the employment of an American to manage one 
 of her railroad systems is puerile, short-sighted and in pecul- 
 iarly bad taste; for how would brainy Britons (English, 
 Scots and also Irish) fare were every other land to refuse 
 them opportunities for achievement? 
 
 What nation has sent so many men oversea to make their 
 mark? What people has won so many rewards in foreign 
 climes ? Visit any country you will, north, south, east or west, 
 and there you will find Britons filling positions of comfort and 
 ample compensation. 
 
 Why, then, should Britain, of all countries, raise a national 
 protest simply because in one instance the tables are turned 
 and an American receives an important appointment within 
 its shores ? The behavior of the English has brought the blush 
 of shame to those who best know how much that tiny country 
 is indebted to this and other lands for lucrative openings for 
 her sons. 
 
 The incident has sharpened the point of the charge that "the 
 English are insular." 
 
 Britain believes in free trade in merchandise, but evi- 
 dently not in men. "You may send us goods, but not the 
 flower of your citizens" is her amazing wail. 
 
 If H. W. Thornton can accomplish as much for British rail- 
 roading as his intimates are confident he shall, then the British 
 Parliament, instead of ringing with denunciation of him, 
 should ring with his praises. That there is room for improve- 
 ment in British railroad conditions everyone — especially the 
 average Englishman — readily grants. If an American cousin 
 can bring even a moderate measure of relief, if he can remove 
 only a few causes for complaint, if he can do something to 
 
242 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 establish less combustible relations between the roads and their 
 employees, then his engagement will have been a blessing 
 worth a hundred times the salary paid him. 
 
 Infusion of a little new blood into British railroading should 
 prove helpful. It cannot easily prove hurtful. 
 
 Would America stand where she does to-day had there been 
 no influx of oversea brains and brawn? Let Britain emulate 
 the United States in according a welcome to any and every 
 healthy, law-abiding human being that knocks at her gate. 
 Narrow-mindedness ill becomes Britons in this respect. Their 
 bad-tempered growl over Mr. Thornton's appointment could 
 not have been louder had he been a Chinese mandarin instead 
 of a man of the same color, race, habits and religion as them- 
 selves. 
 
 My belief is that within three years the very newspapers 
 which began by lashing themselves into a frenzy over Mr. 
 Thornton's selection will be unable to find words strong 
 enough to commend his work. He is no ordinary, mediocre 
 mechanical railroader. To conspicuous technical skill he adds 
 that rare quality, statesmanship — ability to lead and inspire 
 men, to smooth over difficulties, to untie knots, to instil 
 loyalty among co-workers and create confidence among 
 customers, the public. 
 
 [P. S. — This is exactly what has happened within one 
 year of his appointment.] 
 
 The investor buys for income. The speculator buys for 
 fluctuations in quotations. The investor seeks to avoid risk. 
 The speculator "takes a chance." The investor in a safe bond 
 is not hurt by temporary declines in the market price; his 
 income is sure as long as the bond runs, and he can get full 
 face value for it when it matures. The speculator's profits 
 are not limited. He buys for possibilities and changes. In- 
 vestment, not speculation, should be practised by all persons 
 of ordinary means. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 243 
 
 CONSIDER WELL WHERE YOU WANT TO END 
 
 AND THEN MAKE CIRCUMSTANCES BEND 
 
 TO YOUR WILL— NEED FOR 
 
 INWARD SUCCOR. 
 
 I was tempted to sneer. Then I felt ashamed af myself. 
 
 Riding along a deserted suburban road about midnight, I 
 saw a lone youth, clad in scanty togs, running swiftly, sys- 
 tematically, doggedly, on and on with never a pause, missing 
 not one of his well-regulated steps, looking neither to right nor 
 left, but rushing straight ahead, all seriousness and determi- 
 nation. 
 
 "You foolish boy," I remarked to myself; "what a useless 
 thing to be doing." 
 
 Then a light suddenly flashed across my mind. 
 
 He had some definite purpose in view. He was exerting 
 himself to attain some fixed goal. This night's obscure, lonely 
 practice run was but a stepping stone towards a coveted end. 
 
 Then and there I felt rebuked. And often since then the 
 spectacle has sort of haunted me — that panting, deadly-in- 
 earnest stripling racing along a lonely road mile after mile 
 with nobody to applaud, nobody to urge him on, nobody 
 taking the slightest notice of his tense effort. 
 
 That youth, I fear, was wiser than most of us. All his 
 striving was directed towards some well-defined achievement. 
 He was not acting without rhyme or reason. He had mapped 
 out a course and was sticking to it. He knew what he wanted 
 to attain, where he wanted to end. And he was straining- 
 every nerve to accomplish his purpose. 
 
 How many of us, I wonder, are as wise as he? 
 
244 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 How many of us have set before ourselves a definite, wor- 
 thy goal toward which we are steadfastly pressing ? 
 
 How many of us have considered the end from the begin- 
 ning? 
 
 Is every effort YOU put forth part of a large life scheme? 
 
 Does every brick you lay contribute to the building of a 
 structure whose plans you keep constantly in your mind's eye ? 
 
 Does every stroke you swim take you nearer a harbor you 
 have set out to reach? 
 
 Or have you ceased to build castles in the air? 
 
 Do you no longer swim, only drift? 
 
 Are you a ship without a rudder, tossed and tossing aim- 
 lessly, seeking to reach no port, waiting only to be cast on 
 the rocks. 
 
 Thank heaven, the material for building air castles has not 
 gone up in price ! And the man or woman — especially the 
 young man or woman — who has lost the ambition and the 
 energy to build one is in pitiable state indeed. 
 
 Consider the end from the beginning. 
 
 That, it seems to me, sums up the whole thing. 
 
 In these days of rush and hurry and hustle, of strife and dis- 
 cord and discontent, of frenzied getting and spending, it is 
 perhaps hard to find time, and still harder to muster up the 
 inclination to stop and "consider the end from the beginning." 
 Each day brings its own crowded duties and distractions. 
 Competition crushes almost to death. 
 
 But it is when things go hardest, when life becomes most 
 trying that there is greatest need for having a fixed goal, for 
 having an air castle that the outside world cannot wreck. 
 
 When few comforts come from without, it is all the more 
 necessary to have a fount to draw from within. 
 
 And the man or woman who has a star toward which to 
 press cannot be thrown off the course, no matter how the 
 world may try, no matter how far things may seem to go 
 wrong. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 245 
 
 That undaunted runner, away out on that unpeopled road 
 in the deepness of the night, was pressing on with fixed pur- 
 pose. Every step, every gasp, every heartbeat, brought him 
 nearer his goal. He was as a captain steering toward a de- 
 sired harbor. 
 
 The workman who is forbidden by his union to do more 
 than a given amount of work, if he be of greater than the 
 average skill and zeal, cannot be either happy or healthy. Such 
 pernicious interference with his liberty poisons his mind and 
 stunts his bodily vigor. The whole pohcy of doing as little 
 as possible instead of doing as much as possible within reason 
 is wrong — wrong economically, wrong morally, wrong physi- 
 cally. Yet there are advocates of this false doctrine who com- 
 plain loudly of the high cost of living. The two things are 
 interwoven. If production be kept down and the demands of 
 consumers increase with the growth in population, is it not 
 evident that the wider bidding for supplies must force prices 
 up? If only half a cake is baked, a whole cake cannot be eaten. 
 But the buyer with most money will see to it that he gets a 
 share of the cake regardless of whether the less unfortunate 
 gets a bite or goes hungry. Artificial, man-imposed barriers 
 to efficiency and to production should be removed. The world's 
 work must be done if the population is to be properly fed, 
 clothed, housed, transported, entertained, healed, educated. 
 If work be shirked, then these and other necessary matters 
 cannot be adequately attended to. If only an ounce of eflfort 
 be put forth by one hand, a pound of comfort cannot be pulled 
 in with the other. A few may do so, temporarily, but the game 
 cannot be played by the human family as a whole. 
 
 John D. Rockefeller once said: "Next to knowing all 
 about your own business, the best thing is to know all about the 
 other fellow's." Information means money. 
 
246 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 WILL THE WORLD HAVE ONE GREAT GOLD 
 
 HOUSE BY AND BY? THE ECONOMIC WASTE 
 
 INVOLVED IN CONSTANTLY SHIPPING 
 
 GOLD TO AND FRO. 
 
 Is the world by and by to have one great Gold House ? 
 
 And is this Gold House, containing wealth exceeding that 
 of the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds and the Camegies com- 
 bined, to be built in the United States ? 
 
 A fantastic idea? 
 
 Not wholly. 
 
 The constant shipment and cross-shipment of tons of gold 
 from one country to another and from year's end to another 
 represents economic waste, and in these modern, scientific 
 days waste is accounted a crime. 
 
 Instead of using gold from hand to hand we Americans 
 have stacked a billion of the metal in the National Treasury 
 and use paper "certificates" representing the metal. 
 
 Will this principle be extended to the gold reserve of the 
 world as a whole? 
 
 Will one great central gold reservoir be established by 
 the nations jointly, so that when any country needs to draw 
 on it, instead of the gold being shipped, certificates will be 
 sent, except in the comparatively few cases where the metal 
 itself would have to be remitted? 
 
 Internationalism is making sure and certain progress in 
 matters financial. 
 
 The world is to-day one great financial market. 
 
 Isolation is past. 
 
 The first steps toward concentrating gold reserves at 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 247 
 
 points distant from where they are owned have already been 
 taken. 
 
 Great Britain, through the Bank of England, has estab- 
 lished Gold Houses at Ottawa, at Johannesburg, South Africa 
 and in Australia. The metal stored there is counted part and 
 parcel of the Bank of England's gold reserve, exactly as if the 
 gold were locked up in the bank's vaults. 
 
 Argentina has set up a Gold House in London, and the 
 precious metal held there is as much a part of Argentina's 
 gold reserve as if it were carried in the Argentine Bank. 
 
 The Indian Government for years has carried part of its 
 gold reserve in London. 
 
 Our own Treasury Department before now has allowed 
 our national banks to count as part of their reserve gold thou- 
 sands of miles distant — ^that is, metal on the high seas bound 
 for our shores. 
 
 Why not eliminate much of the costly and cumbersome 
 shipping of gold first from one country to another, then back 
 again, then to some other far-off point, keeping it journeying 
 to and fro, losing in value by abrasion every mile and incur- 
 ring heavy insurance and freight expenses? 
 
 On several occasions the Bank of France has sent gold 
 to the Bank of England and vice versa without the original 
 packages being even opened during their temporary stay. 
 
 Or, to come nearer home, let me cite how constantly 
 gold is being shipped from this country at the moment other 
 consigfnments are being received — often to and from the 
 same foreign centre. 
 
 For the seven months ended February 1 of this year we 
 exported $139,000,000 and imported during the same period 
 $34,000,000. During the corresponding period a year ago we 
 imported $46,000,000 and also exported $35,000,000, while the 
 year before that we brought in $47,000,000 and sent out $31,- 
 000,000, a continuous criss-cross movement, you will note. 
 
 Why not an international storehouse for gold, contributed 
 to by every civilized country and managed by a board of rep- 
 
248 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 resentatives commanding the absolute confidence of the bank- 
 ing world? 
 
 This Gold House could be the world's clearing house for 
 the yellow metal. 
 
 Certificates representing the gold deposited could be used 
 in place of the metal in all ordinary cases. 
 
 And, since the United States is outside the European area 
 and consequently free from political contretemps there, what 
 better place for the location of the world's Gold House could 
 be found than Washington? 
 
 Such a project seemed wholly visionary not many years 
 ago, but it is now coming into the realm of possibility, and 
 may become a reality once war-ruined Europe, chastened and 
 purged of suicidal jealousies, comes to its proper senses. 
 
 It would be but an extension to its logical goal of the 
 check system which enlightened nations have found so con- 
 venient and useful. 
 
 The crowd was surging, pushing, squeezing, elbowing, 
 struggling to enter a subway car. One unfortunate was 
 jostled against a hulking, middle-aged, well-dressed man, who 
 retaliated by bumping him roughly and ill-naturedly with the 
 right shoulder. Once inside, the giant, who had found a seat, 
 noticed that the poor fellow (left standing) was lame, one leg 
 being shorter than the other. The six-footer, colored with 
 shame, rose from his seat, persuaded the maimed one to sit 
 down, and in very subdued tones offered a thousand apologies 
 for the roughness and bad temper he had displayed. Would 
 it not be well if all those of us who are strong, if all those in 
 positions of power, if all entrusted with authority over fellow- 
 beings, could view mankind as frail and weak and maimed? 
 Are we not all frail? Are we not all weak? Are we not all 
 afflicted? Do we not all carry burdens? Do we not need 
 consideration ? 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 249 
 
 THE MAN WHO IS BIGGER THAN HIS JOB KEEPS 
 
 COOL— TO CONTROL OTHERS, CONTROL 
 
 YOURSELF— GOOD TEMPER A 
 
 BUSINESS ASSET. 
 
 The man who is bigger than his job keeps cool. 
 
 Confident that he is equal to any emergency, he does not 
 lose his head. He refuses to become rattled, to fly oflf in a 
 temper, to stamp and holler and swear. 
 
 The man who would control others must be able to con- 
 trol himself. 
 
 To command men a man must command respect — and it 
 is difficult to respect any person continually giving way to 
 exhibitions of weakness. 
 
 The man who feels that his job is larger than he can 
 swing is naturally nervous and irritable. He is conscious that 
 he may be landed in a hole at any moment. And so he frets 
 and fumes and keeps others on tenterhooks, ready to blame 
 them for his own shortcomings. 
 
 Fancy Napoleon losing his head at the height of a battle ! 
 What would the effect have been upon his officers and sol- 
 diers? 
 
 In the Boer war a commander was hurriedly inspecting 
 his men before advancing to battle. He noticed one Irish 
 private trembling violently. "What's the matter with you ?" 
 he demanded. "What are you shaking for?" "I — I — I'm 
 shaking to get at thim!" was the reply, more witty than 
 true. 'i ■ 
 
 Nervousness and cantankerousness on the part of a boss 
 when confronted with difficulties is a species of fear — fear lest 
 
250 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 he fail to overcome them. It is a confession of lack of con- 
 fidence. 
 
 One weakness of our corporate industrial system is that so 
 many tmder-oi!icials habitually lose their temper and hound 
 the men. Conscious of their own littleness, they hope by 
 bluffing and blustering and bellowing to give themselves an air 
 of importance. No really capable, self-respecting workman 
 would continue to serve under such a petty tyrant, with the 
 consequence that the best men quit and leave the nincompoop 
 in charge of only second-grade employees. 
 
 The wise employer weeds out such blusterers, for, instead 
 of oiling the place's machinery, they throw gravel into it. 
 
 I was impressed by an address recently delivered by one 
 of Britain's most famous soldiers, Sir Ian Hamilton, to the 
 officers of his command. Here is an extract: 
 
 "Officers, you must exact the men's respect. First, by 
 being better up in your subject than the men you instruct. This 
 is intellectual superiority. Secondly, by being ready to un- 
 dergo greater physical discomforts and dangers. In the Nile 
 River campaign the officer was always first out of the boat 
 and up to the middle in water when need arose. Thirdly, by 
 bearing constantly in mind that the obedience paid you by the 
 rank and file is not due to you personally, but in your capacity 
 as a servant of the State and a humble vehicle of its wishes. 
 The soldier who salutes and obeys you is very likely a better 
 man than yourself, but he must remember, and you especially 
 must remember, that in issuing a command you are for the 
 nonce the mouthpiece of the State, conveying, not your own 
 wishes, but what you conceive to be the supreme will of the 
 people, to others temporarily placed at your disposal by the 
 government. Each is equally the servant of the public. And 
 to some the public has entrusted the function of command, to 
 others that of obedience. Stick to this principle and you will 
 ever exact loyal obedience. Depart from it, and no one can 
 say to what misfortune your lack of understanding may 
 lead." 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 251 
 
 That rings true. 
 
 Let me give a five-line item recently printed : 
 
 "John J. Thomas, who has just been retired by the 
 Southern Railway, ran a locomotive for fifty years. Dur- 
 ing that period he never received a demerit and was never 
 suspended." 
 
 I don't know John J. Thomas, but I'm willing to wager 
 that he was not given to flying in a rage every day of his 
 life, swearing at his foreman and generally conducting him- 
 self as a blatant boor. I raise my hat to you, Mr. Thomas. 
 Such as you are among the flowers of civilization. May 
 you live long to enjoy the leisure you so honorably earned. 
 I'd rather have your record than all the millions of the New 
 Haven Railroad wreckers. 
 
 There is something admirable, something inspiring, 
 something soul-stirring about a man who displays coolness 
 and courage under supremely trying circumstances. He is 
 as a rock, strong, firm, unshakable, not as a reed, tossed to 
 and fro by the wind after the manner of your fretful, 
 jumpy bosslet. 
 
 A good temper is not only a business asset. It is the 
 secret of health. The longer you live the more you will 
 learn that a disordered temper breeds a disordered body. 
 
 Were workmen less subjected to bullyragging, to the 
 abuse of some excitable cipher, the relations between em- 
 ployers and employees, between capital and labor, would 
 be less unpleasant than they are to-day. 
 
 And remember, gentlemen, that on right relations be- 
 tween capital and labor rests the stability of the Republic. 
 
 Colossal machines constructed by supermen cannot be held 
 together very long after their builders pass away, for super- 
 men cannot transmit their genius to their heirs or successors. 
 When a Napoleon or a Cromwell goes, the power he centralized 
 is decentralized. 
 
252 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 AMERICANS NEED REPOSE— BE-ALL AND END- 
 ALL OF LIFE NOT TO GET RICH BUT TO 
 ENRICH THE WORLD— IN OVERCROWD- 
 ING OUR LIFE WE MAY FORGET 
 HOW TO LIVE 
 
 What is the secular quality America most sorely needs? 
 
 Is it not REPOSE? 
 
 "I feel I would rather work than do anything else," was 
 the admission a past-middle-aged, aggressive, transcend- 
 ently able man made to me the other day when I felicitated 
 him upon leaving for his first real vacation in years. In his 
 case there were very special reasons for speaking thus at this 
 time. Yet the sentence cut deep into my mind. 
 
 Are we not prone as a race to give ourselves over wholly 
 and exclusively to business and to busyness? 
 
 A consuming, overmastering love for work is admirable 
 in a youth or young man doggedly climbing the ladder. In 
 the forenoon of life, business rightly claims almost a mo-' 
 nopoly of a man's time, talents and ambitions. Work is the 
 only lever that can rise a youth up from the overcrowded 
 dead level. Without it — without a full supply of it — the 
 nettle that is in a man cannot be properly tested and temp- 
 ered. The idle youth's existence is saltless. 
 
 But when the eventide approaches, when the upper rungs 
 of the ladder have been reached, when the future has been 
 amply provided for, is it not well to take time to cultivate the 
 finer things of life, its graces, its social and artistic riches, its 
 domestic wellsprings of happiness, its leisure and repose? 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 253 
 
 Are we not given to misunderstanding money and the 
 place it fills in the scheme of things? 
 
 Do we not sometimes forget that money itself is a mere 
 metal, less useful than iron, and that it is to be regarded al- 
 ways and everywhere simply and solely as a means to an end, 
 as a bridge leading to somewhere worth reaching? 
 
 What availeth it if we become so engrossed in the pursuit 
 of business or of money for its own sake, after we have 
 earned a cempetency, if this pursuit unfits us for the enjoy- 
 ments of the real, deep, satisfying things of life, if it blinds 
 our eyes, warps our souls and numbs our better senses and 
 sensibilities ? 
 
 If work — business — consumes our every thought and dries 
 up in us the milk of human kindness, do we not tend to sink 
 to the level of machines? Do we not become alienated from 
 the human brotherhood? 
 
 In our feverish anxiety to overcrowd our life, are we not 
 apt to forget how to live? 
 
 In our frantic haste to make and to spend dollars, do we 
 unfit ourselves to spend our life? 
 
 Rush and hustle and bustle have their place, but must 
 be kept in their place if we are to sufifuse our lives with kind- 
 liness, sympathy, charity, tolerance, affection, understanding. 
 
 The be-all and end-all of life is not to get rich, but to 
 enrich the world. 
 
 The millionaire who has not learned that simple truth is 
 to be pitied, not envied. 
 
 What is here set down is not out of harmony with a sin- 
 gle sentence ever used in extolling thrift or industry or ambi- 
 tion. These, rightly pursued, lead to a fuller, richer, better 
 life, to wider opportunities of helpfulness, to applied unself- 
 ishness, and to mental peace and purpose. 
 
 Had we throughout the nation more poise and repose, 
 more well-filled leisure, more calm thinking, more quiet home 
 life, more tranquility, there would be less pressure for the 
 services of our sanitariums, our asylums for the insane, our 
 
254 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 bankruptcy courts, our divorce courts and our criminal 
 courts. 
 
 It is lamentable that so many of us have no time, so 
 crowded is our life, to leam the art of living. 
 
 In our clamor for the husks and wrappings and trappings 
 of life, we overlook the substance of life, life itself. 
 
 Must I apologize for occasionally touching upon such 
 subjects? 
 
 Must I explain that business forms a part of life, and 
 that the whole is greater than any of its parts? 
 
 After the war I believe that we will see an absolutely 
 precedented rush of war-ruined Europeans to our shores. 
 Millions of continental families have already been torn from 
 their moorings, and how many more will be rendered home- 
 less and penniless before the appalling struggle ends, who can 
 guess? Not only so, but life in the stricken lands will be 
 harder than ever. Staggering national burdens will have to 
 be carried, money will be scarce, bitter memories will abound. 
 To millions the New World, with its waxing prosperity, its 
 broad stretches of undeveloped land, its high wages, its light 
 taxes, its excellent elementary schools, its freedom from con- 
 scription, its emancipation from autocrats, its genuine democ- 
 racy, must appeal irresistibly. How do we propose to deal 
 with this prospective host? Shall we maintain our traditional 
 hospitality for the oppressed of the earth? Or must we, in 
 self-defense and for the sake of the immigrants themselves, 
 effectively regulate the influx in order to guard against un- 
 pleasant social and economic complications? I will not pre- 
 sume to offer a cut-and-dried solution satisfactory to all. But 
 the whole nation should apply its thought to the subject now, 
 so that a reasonable, rational, far-sighted policy may be evolved 
 and embodied into law before the floodgates are opened. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 255 
 
 HOW NEW POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS ENCOUR- 
 AGE THRIFT AND BRING A TASTE OF 
 THE JOYS OF INVESTMENT. 
 
 The river of gold that, like a mountain torrent, pours 
 from the United States and spreads over Continental Europe, 
 has been diminished by the establishment of postal savings 
 banks in this country. 
 
 This keeping of American money for American use is 
 gratifying, yet it is not the most valuable product of the new 
 system. Postal savings banks have stimulated thrift. 
 
 No one conversant with the working of Government sav- 
 ings banks abroad could have fought against the inauguration 
 of postal banks here. Thousands of people are so constituted 
 that they do not care to intrust any private institution with 
 their savings ; they must have the Government seal of safety. 
 In the United States ignorant immigrants have so often been 
 shamefully swindled out of money handed over to "banks" 
 and "bankers" that a widespread prejudice — not unjustly — 
 has been created against privately-managed institutions. These 
 people cannot distinguish between a third-rate "bank" owned 
 by their own countrymen, and a respectable State savings 
 bank. But they do know that they can safely deal with the 
 United States Government. 
 
 An impetus to investment in high-grade securities should 
 be one fruit of the new system. The depositor is given oppor- 
 tunity to purchase a Government bond. Once a person unfa- 
 miliar with even the rudiments of finance experiences the 
 joy of receiving interest he or she is likely to become en- 
 amored of the sensation. 
 
256 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 "This is the first time I ever got something for nothing," 
 I have heard a brand new investor declare rapturously. 
 
 Ownership of one baby bond whets the appetite for more. 
 
 From ownership of Government bonds yielding a very low 
 return to the purchase of issues affording a much better in- 
 come is an easy and natural step. Once create a liking for in- 
 vestment and the effect is often marvelous. 
 
 Education usually expands with the increase in hold- 
 ings. The person without a dollar is unlikely to be keenly 
 interested in how to invest a dollar to the best advantage, 
 whereas the owner of a $100 or a $1,000 bond is apt to be- 
 come interested in the science of investment. Just as the 
 mind grows on what it is fed, so the buyer of one bond, as 
 he enjoys the sensation of regularly receiving checks, can- 
 not well fail to develop a fondness for such things. As he 
 gains more knowledge he discovers that instead of a 2j^ 
 per cent, yield he may without sacrificing safety obtain 
 4 or even 5 per cent. He may become more venturesome 
 and enter the realm of stocks, where the dividends may 
 reach 6 per cent, per annum. 
 
 Who can ever forget the receipt of the first interest pay- 
 ment or the first dividend check? The harder the effort to 
 scrape together the purchase money, the keener the pleasure 
 afforded. Millionaires may laugh at such little things, but to 
 impecunious mortals the investment of the first $1,000 brings 
 joys the satiated ones wot not of. 
 
 Oaks spring from acorns. The postal bank deposits be- 
 gan very, very modestly, but they are destined to multiply rap- 
 idly. The new institutions have won back to banking chan- 
 nels multitudes of small sums that were carefully hoarded 
 and therefore unproductive ; they have initiated hundreds of 
 poor people into the joys of investment ; they have pre- 
 vented millions of dollars from leaving the country and 
 from thus being lost to the development of American re- 
 sources, and they have inculcated a spirit of thrift among 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 257 
 
 many who formerly had little thought of becoming bank 
 depositors. 
 
 The United States has need for every dollar that can be 
 saved. Development on a scale never yet essayed is impera- 
 tive. It cannot be accomplished without money. The greater 
 the sum supplied by our own people — the less dependent we 
 are upon foreign investors— the better for the nation. Under 
 the new world conditions created by the war the need for cap- 
 ital will grow rather than lessen, hence the urgency of quick- 
 ening in every legitimate way the habit of saving. 
 
 America and Americans have a mania for law-making. 
 Ponder these facts and figures : Congress and State legisla- 
 tures pass annually five times as many laws as all the other leg- 
 islatures in the world combined. In one year the laws enacted 
 in this country filled 43,400 pages. Over 150,000 points were 
 dealt with. In five years over 62,600 laws were passed here, 
 and during the same period fully 65,000 decisions having the 
 force of statutory law were rendered by courts of last resort. 
 We have 4,000 National and State lawmakers. Furthermore, 
 there has been of late years a craze for appointing "commis- 
 sions," "investigating committees," "special investigators," etc., 
 etc., of every conceivable character and scope — National, State, 
 municipal. "Regulatory bodies," too, have sprung up like 
 mushrooms. The output of laws has increased ten-fold faster 
 than the output of any staple commodity. The increase in the 
 number of people feeding from the public trough during the 
 last decade has been truly alarming. As a consequence, taxes 
 have gone up frightfully — railroad taxes, for example, in- 
 creased two-thirds in nine years. Governments exist for the 
 benefit of the governed. Have the public received value for 
 the multiplied millions taken from their pockets by our army 
 of lawmakers and their appointees ? I think not. 
 
258 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 EVERY DOLLAR YOU SAVE AND BANK OR IN- 
 VEST HELPS SOME MORTAL TO GET 
 WORK— THINK THAT OVER, AND 
 THEN ACT. 
 
 Did you ever realize that every dollar you save and de- 
 posit in a bank or invest helps some one to get or keep a job? 
 
 This one thought is so important, and its possible influ- 
 ence for deep-rooted good so great, that I place it in a para- 
 graph by itself. Were every American to give it a niche in 
 his mind, I am optimist enough to believe that incalculable re- 
 sults would flow from it — results that, like a river turned into 
 irrigated channels, would fructify, enrich and ennoble the na- 
 tion in a thousand directions. 
 
 To save money is a high form of patriotism. 
 
 Some of us are so constituted that only selfish motives 
 can spur us on. The "what-is-there-in-it-f or-me ?" spirit alone 
 animates some. Others can do better when prompted by un- 
 selfish considerations. How many men never gave one thought 
 to the proverbial rainy day until other lives than their own be- 
 came dependent upon their exertions? How often do those 
 seeking work say — quite truly — that they would not care so 
 much if they had only themselves to provide for, "but there 
 are my wife and kiddies." In a million ways human beings 
 are moved by unselfish, altruistic motives-soften though an- 
 other aim may be suspected by others. 
 
 I remember reading some time ago a report of a conven- 
 tion of the salesmen and agents of a huge industrial organiza- 
 tion, which covered the United States — if memory does not 
 play me false, it was the Ingersoll Watch Company. Toward 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 259 
 
 the end of the proceedings the employees were asked what 
 address or what sight or what fact had helped them most 
 during their visit. 
 
 And what, think you, was it? 
 
 A new wrinkle in salesmanship? A fuller knowledge of 
 the concern's operations? The camaraderie that rubbing 
 shoulders and shaking hands with their fellow workers begot ? 
 
 No, not that. 
 
 The realization that every time they made a sale they gave 
 work to somebody. 
 
 Now, let us transplant this same inspiration to the field 
 of saving. Every dollar you bank or invest provides work for 
 somebody. 
 
 May not a thorough grasp of this fact arouse those 
 incapable of being moved to economize by purely selfish 
 arguments? The moment you deposit money in the sav- 
 ings bank — the best place, by the way, for small sums — 
 you become an employer. You attain a new dignity. You 
 become a factor in the economic life of the country. You 
 help to make the wheels of progress revolve. You are no 
 longer a nonentity. You are somebody. You are an 
 investor. Your income, moreover, is not confined to the 
 labor of your hands or your head. Your money is working 
 for you. 
 
 The investor who grows rich is the one who buys when 
 quotations are low and sells when quotations are high, who 
 puts out his money when clouds are visible to every eye and 
 pulls it in when the sky is clear as noonday and the world is 
 full of unfiltered optimism. The lower a safe stock or bond 
 goes, the more attractive it becomes to the discerning investor ; 
 the higher a "war order" stock goes, the more dangerous does 
 it become. The best stocks are the best ones to buy. 
 
260 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR PRESENTS THAT 
 MAKE MONEY— THE ADVANTAGE OF 
 "BABY" BONDS AND DIVIDEND-PAY- 
 ING STOCKS AS GIFTS— HOW ONE 
 FATHER PROVIDED FOR THE 
 HIGHER EDUCATION OF 
 HIS SONS. 
 
 Don't you wish they devised Christmas and New Year 
 presents that would make money instead of cost money and 
 prove more or less useless? 
 
 Wouldn't it be fine to discover some sort of gift that 
 would earn money every day of the year for the party re- 
 ceiving it? 
 
 Wouldn't such a souvenir, such a token of friendship, 
 be worth while ? 
 
 Wouldn't it constantly keep the giver in mind of 
 the recipient as it silently, smoothly, persistently, garnered 
 money and laid it in the lap of its grateful owner ? 
 
 If a gift possessing such qualities and abilities could 
 be invented, Christmas and New Year giving could become 
 a genuine, lasting blessing. 
 
 Well, is there such a gift obtainable at a cost not be- 
 yond the pocket of moderate size? 
 
 Can there be found a present that, while costing less 
 than a king's ransom, will from the moment it is bestowed, 
 begin without aught of trouble or attention to earn money 
 daily, weekly, monthly, yearly for its possessor, a gift that, 
 if simply deposited in a suitable place, will in time double 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 261 
 
 and triple its original cost without one ounce of effort on 
 the part of its owner? 
 
 There ARE such Christmas and New Year gifts. 
 
 What are they? 
 
 Baby bonds costing about $100 each. 
 
 Also, half-size, or $500, bonds and the full-grown va- 
 riety worth $1,000. 
 
 Then, too, there are stocks, stocks of thoroughly sound 
 railroads, public utility corporations, industrial companies 
 and the like. 
 
 Just think how sensible it would be to buy your wife, 
 your children, cherished relatives or valued friends in mod- 
 est circimistances a trustworthy interest-bearing bond or 
 dividend-paying stock in place of some more or less useless 
 flumgummery. 
 
 A good bond or stock would not have to be constantly 
 dusted. It would take up no needed air space, would not 
 be in the way, would not become dilapidated; it would not 
 wear out in a year or two. 
 
 No, it could simply be placed in a bank or trust com- 
 pany and allowed to lie there accumulating interest or divi- 
 dends, on which newly earned sums the institution would 
 allow you more interest, so that each year your bank roll 
 would grow thicker and thicker, faster and faster, after 
 the manner of a rolled snowball. 
 
 Suppose you were to buy one one-hundred-dollar bond 
 for your baby or other young child and let the interest ac- 
 cumulate. By the time the child finished the primary school 
 the one hundred dollars would have grown into two hun- 
 dred dollars. 
 
 Or if you could, by strict economy, repeat the one hun- 
 dred dollar bond gift every Christmas, think what a nice 
 sum would be lying in the bank ready to put your son or 
 daughter through college or to give them a comfortable 
 start in life. 
 
262 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 I know a man receiving only a fairly good salary, who, 
 realizing the immeasurable benefits of a thorough educa- 
 tion, has carefully exercised frugality in order to save 
 enough to give his sons a college course, and his method 
 has been to purchase, after the fullest investigation as to 
 safety, etc., an attractive bond or stock for each one just as 
 often as he could scrape together the necessary funds. 
 
 And let me tell you that this man's happiness is envi- 
 able. He carries with him a sense of duty well done. He 
 knows in his heart that he has practised every reasonable 
 self-denial for the sake of those whom he has brought into 
 the world. 
 
 "I thought it all out long ago," he told me the other 
 day when he came to ask me about the merits of certain 
 securities. "I saw that if I did not begin to save right then 
 and keep on adding a little every month, I would not in all 
 probability be able to provide a college education for my 
 boys. So I hit upon the plan of investing in the best securi- 
 ties on their behalf. 
 
 "Money makes money, you know. After a few years 
 I found that I was not the only worker for the family. 
 
 "My children's investments were working splendidly, 
 making more money every year, of course, as I let the in- 
 terest accumulate in the bank until there was enough to 
 make it worth while to take out to help pay for another 
 bond or stock. 
 
 "To-day I feel very comfortable. 
 
 "The oldest boy," he added, "is about to graduate from 
 high school, and there is now enough lying to his credit in 
 the bank to put him through one of the best universities in 
 the country." 
 
 Perhaps you will say that YOUR savings are so small 
 that it would not be worth bothering about buying a bond 
 or a stock. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 263 
 
 DESPISE NOT SMALL THINGS. "BABY" BONDS 
 GROW UP IF LEFT UNDISTURBED. THEY MUL- 
 TIPLY. 
 
 The important thing is to begin investing. The mo- 
 ment you buy a security you become a capitalist — just as 
 surely a capitalist as John D. Rockefeller or Andrew Carne- 
 gie. 
 
 You harness your money. You put your money to 
 -work. You not only help yourself, but you thus provide 
 the means for developing your country's scarcely scratched 
 resources. 
 
 And let me tell you that the United States needs to-day, 
 more almost than any other material blessing, an army of 
 frugal men and women who will contribute their savings 
 to enable more railroads to be built, more land to be culti- 
 vated, more machinery to be provided, more merchandise 
 to be produced, more textiles to be manufactured, more 
 ships to be built, more parks to be opened in and around 
 cities, more facilities to be created for the health and 
 comfort of the poor everywhere. 
 
 Saving — yes, SAVING — is the foundation on which all 
 such progress is based. Unless some people consume less 
 than they earn there can be no surplus, no new capital for 
 any purpose whatsoever. 
 
 The citizen who saves is a patriot. 
 
 The citizen who sinks into debt through extravagant, 
 riotous living is a curse to his country. 
 
 Are you not a little more inclined now that you see 
 things in this light to exert yourself to begin saving? 
 
 Don't you realize that by so doing you will better per- 
 form your duty to your beloved country? 
 
 If you can't be moved to economy by any selfish con- 
 sideration, will you not respond to the larger appeal of 
 patriotism ? 
 
 I have never known a poor person regret having laid 
 aside money to tide over a rainy day. 
 
264 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 I have heard many of them bemoan, with an- 
 guish of soul, their carelessness, their heedlessness, their 
 recklessness, their thriftlessness, after it was all too late. 
 
 Haven't you? 
 
 So often through life have I seen the misery poverty 
 breeds that I would to heaven I could now speak with the 
 tongue of a prophet that my words might be heeded by 
 thousands ere it be too late. 
 
 Americans are lamentably behind other nationalities 
 in laying aside nest eggs in savings banks. 
 
 Only one person in every hundred of our population 
 has a deposit in a savings bank. In Switzerland one of 
 every two of the inhabitants is a saving depositor, while in 
 France, Holland, Germany and England, one in every three 
 (in round figures) has a savings account. 
 
 I wonder, too, how many of the American depositors 
 are aliens ? Would you guess one-half ? I think you would 
 be well within the mark. 
 
 That would leave only one American citizen in every 
 200 a "saver." Isn't that disgraceful? 
 
 We are the most extravagant nation on the face of the 
 earth. Most of us indulge in luxuries unknown to nine- 
 tenths of the people in other countries. Even those of us 
 who are of the "working class" go in for more costly and 
 more numerous pleasures, clothes, eatables, vacations, etc., 
 than the corresponding classes of any European land. 
 
 Do we not love ostentation overmuch? Are we not 
 too prone to ape those better circumstanced than ourselves ? 
 Is not envy one of our flagrant national characteristics and 
 curses ? Are not our shop girls, our telephone girls and our 
 stenographers obsessed by the notion that they must im- 
 mediately copy the clothes of the Vanderbilts, the Goulds, 
 the Astors and other plutocratic families? And do not our 
 ten-dollar-a-week clerks and many of our artisans over- 
 reach themselves in a silly pride-born desire to cut the dash 
 of a millionaire? 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 265 
 
 Such foolishness not only costs money, but it squanders 
 time. It leaves too little leisure for mental repose or for 
 mental exertion, too little opportunity for self-culture, too 
 little time for learning the art of living, which, after all, is 
 the end we all have in view. 
 
 SAVE! SAVE! SAVE! 
 
 Most of the real work of arranging and floating the $500,- 
 000,000 Anglo-French loan was done, not by J. P. Morgan, 
 although he was extremely active, but by men whose names 
 have figured less prominently in the negotiations, including 
 one who was not once mentioned in the newspapers, Charles 
 V. Rich, a young vice-president of the National City Bank. 
 Those best able to judge declare that this quiet, unpretentious, 
 unspectacular, youthful banker ranks among the six ablest men 
 in the financial world. Although still only in the thirties, he 
 has been for several years in charge of the bank's bond depart- 
 ment, and, under the tutelage of President Vanderlip, has had 
 no little share in developing it into what it is to-day — the great- 
 est bond department in the country. Mr. Rich, I think, was 
 once a newsboy — and is not ashamed of his lowly start. He 
 is a thinker as well as a banker. Success in his case has not 
 turned democracy into autocracy. Doubtless his ability to 
 stand success has had something to do with his winning of it. 
 His views are broad and tolerant, especially on labor ; he is an 
 ardent believer in corporate publicity, and he has no mistaken 
 plutocratic notions as to the power of public sentiment. 
 
 You cannot permanently take out of the works, or out of 
 the world, more than you put into it. Men have tried it in all 
 ages, but accounts were squared eventually. It still remains 
 true that man must earn his daily bread by the sweat of his 
 brow. Drones, remember, do not live long. 
 
266 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 HUMAN BEINGS DYNAMOS, PLUS— WE INHALE 
 
 BEFORE WE EXUDE— THE IMPORTANCE 
 
 OF SEEKING THE RIGHT KIND OF 
 
 NOURISHMENT, INVISIBLE 
 
 AND VISIBLE. 
 
 Human beings are dynamos — plus. 
 
 We inhale raw mental material from millions of 
 sources, put it through an inward process and send out the 
 resulting product. 
 
 We are the sum of all that has gone before, the sum 
 of every inherited and acquired impression, the sum of 
 every infinitesimal and infinite experience, the sum of 
 others' lives as well as our own. 
 
 We grow on what we feed. 
 
 The unseen forces that play about us and through us 
 mold us. Every thought sent out by mankind becomes an 
 influence. Thoughts are things, though at this stage of 
 human knowledge they are invisible. 
 
 To become strong, to become powerful, to become un- 
 daunted, to become unafraid, to become confident, to be- 
 come influential on a wide scale, we must seek to draw our 
 inspiration, our nourishment, our succor from the right 
 sources. We are as wireless instruments whose tuning is 
 our chief concern. To draw from the ether messages — ma- 
 terial — that will best sustain us, we must so tune our instru- 
 ments that they will catch and record such messages, such 
 material. We can give nothing that we have not first im- 
 bibed in some form or other. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 267 
 
 In this tuning of ourselves lies the source of all happi- 
 ness. 
 
 Silly to talk about "unseen influences" and "invisible 
 forces ?" 
 
 Let's see. 
 
 Have you never noted that the moment certain persons 
 approach you your mind immediately moves in a different 
 groove? They exude some special, distinctive influence. 
 
 Visit a hospital, and the very air is charged with a 
 chastening spirit which you unconsciously inhale. Walk 
 into a church — even an empty one — and your wireless ap- 
 paratus will record certain messages. Walk into a saloon 
 and note the difference in the movements of your mind- 
 cells. 
 
 You are a worker. In one shop the atmosphere is in- 
 spiring because the men are loyal and enthusiastic. You 
 catch the prevailing spirit of the place. Work in another 
 shop where the bosses are grouchy and unreasonable, and 
 the men are sour and rebellious. You can scarce throw off 
 the ugly, depressing influence of the place. Let a new boss 
 take command, a man who understands human nature, a 
 man who is inherently fair and sympathetic, a man who will 
 listen to grievances and honestly seek to remedy the cause, 
 a man who is bubbling over with exuberance, with deter- 
 mination to do the right thing by both the employers and the 
 employees, and, presto! see how the whole air, the whole 
 environment of the place and the whole attitude of the 
 workers will change. One man's aura, one man's influence, 
 the mental force sent out by this one man can transform a 
 place of gloom and drudgery into a place of enthusiasm and 
 broadening opportunity. 
 
 Or, take homes. Some are suffused with peace, tran- 
 quillity, affection. They stir your "better nature." They 
 slay every thought of meanness, of cruelty, of discord. You 
 breathe in them the very elixir of life. Others — well, need 
 they be described? 
 
268 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 Now, to get down to brass tacks, what I want to em- 
 phasize is that to rise a man must choose as far as lies iii 
 his power to seek and to develop the right kind of mental 
 nourishment. 
 
 Think! Think! And again think! 
 
 No man ever got very far — and stayed there — who did 
 not spend a vast amount of brain-sweat, who did not think 
 things out for himself, who did not try to map out his own 
 course, to steer his own ship. 
 
 Those of us who believe in a God, who believe in eter- 
 nity, who can see law and justice ever at work against 
 forces of evil, can derive sustenance from communion with 
 the infinite. We can found our life on a rock. We can 
 grasp what is meant by "one day is as a thousand years and 
 a thousand years as one day." By acquiring the true per- 
 spective of things, deep thought, calm reflection and silent 
 contemplation, though accompanied oftentimes with back- 
 sliding and failure, yet serve to inspire with a courage, a 
 fortitude, a faith and a determination that the puny acts of 
 man cannot destroy. Big things can then become little, 
 and little things big. 
 
 Perhaps I have been led to write thus at this time by 
 the tragic end of a friend whose boast was that he was an 
 atheist. Misfortune overtook him, and, having no rock on 
 which to lean, he destroyed himself like a coward, leaving a 
 wife and children to battle the world unaided — an awful 
 commentary upon his creed. 
 
 All this is not unrelated to the biggest business of all 
 — the business of life. 
 
 Beware of sinecures, of "soft snaps," to use the phrase 
 of the day. They are going out of fashion in every field. Hold- 
 ers of them may well tremble. They do not fit into modern 
 conditions. They are superfluous, useless; and when a man 
 or a thing reaches that stage, his passing is but a little way off. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 269 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE IS TO LIVE— DO 
 
 AMERICANS, IN THEIR FEVERISH WINNING 
 
 AND SPENDING, TAKE TIME TO 
 
 CULTIVATE THEIR HEARTS AND 
 
 THEIR HEARTHS? 
 
 The philosophy of life is to live. 
 
 Do Americans live? Do they get the most possible out 
 of life. 
 
 What is the good of our feverish getting and spending, 
 our slaving and enslaving labors and plotting and planning, 
 our mad chase after pleasures and distractions if with it 
 all we haven't learned how to live, how to be genuinely 
 happy, how to order our days and our hours that we may 
 have time for reflection, time for quiet, time for bestowing 
 a thought on others and to cultivate the art of unselfish 
 kindness ? 
 
 I had lunch the other day with a man who, to my mind, 
 is committing gradual suicide. He sleeps only about five 
 hours, rises every morning at half-past four, devotes hours 
 to studying the kaleidoscopic financial and commercial 
 daily changes throughout the world in order the better to 
 handle his intricate and delicate banking operations; gets 
 early to his office and performs more work — and brainier 
 work — than any other three men in his nerve-wrecking pro- 
 fession. True, he stands at the very top of the tree. He 
 has reached in his line heights never before attained by any 
 man in this country, and reached them by incessant appli- 
 cation, by inordinate industry, by the exercise of painstak- 
 ing foresight. 
 
270 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 And yet I make bold to say that he has not learned the 
 art of living. He hasn't time to live. 
 
 "Why don't you take a vacation?" I remonstrated. 
 
 "It's not easy for me to get away." 
 
 "But you can't hope to stand it for long." 
 
 "Oh ! I'll take a rest some time." 
 
 "Take it before you have to — when you are able to 
 enjoy it," I advised. 
 
 But he won't, I fear. 
 
 [Just as this book is ready to print the announcement 
 of this banker's breakdown is published.] 
 
 The end of work, of effort, of plodding and sweating 
 is to live and to help others to live, is it not? What profit- 
 eth it a man or a woman to sacrifice living to gain riches 
 that satisfy not, or fame that is as a soap bubble? 
 
 Americans are the greatest workers on the face of the 
 earth. They pride themselves on it — and, in a measure, 
 justly so. 
 
 But if their mad chase after success renders them unfit 
 for congenial social companionship, if it unfits them for 
 tranquil domestic life, if it deadens their sympathies, if it 
 makes callous their heart, if it dries up in them the milk of 
 human kindness — if, in short, it unfits them to be ideal 
 fathers and mothers and sons and daughters, robs them of 
 grace and graciousness and leaves them neither time nor 
 inclination for the higher and less harsh things of life, then 
 the mad chase is all wrong. It yields less than it costs. 
 Any "success" it brings is too dear, not worth while. 
 
 Battling in the marts and striving for place and power 
 are admirable and necessary — within bounds. America has 
 achieved more, materially, in one century than any other 
 nation in history. Our triumphs in trade, in engineering, in 
 invention, in transportation, in manufacture, have been the 
 envy and the wonder of the world. We have raised the 
 dignity of labor. We have taught effete aristocrats of 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 271 
 
 Europe that industry is no disgrace, that honest work and 
 money-making soil not the best of hands. 
 
 And yet — well, are we in danger of overdoing it? Are 
 we in danger of neglecting to live? Are we in danger of 
 putting first things that should come second? Are we 
 making our triumphs administer to us, making them and the 
 striving after them servants to us, or are we becoming their 
 slaves? Are we allowing them to cramp and shackle and 
 wizen us? 
 
 Are we inclined to worship the distractions of life 
 rather than the ideals of life? 
 
 Is all well with our domestic life? 
 
 A nation whose homes are not happy is not a truly 
 successful nation, even though its barns and its banks be 
 filled to overflowing. 
 
 Would our "leaders" not do well to devote a little less 
 attention to filling their purses and impoverishing their 
 souls and a little more time to filling their hearts and. 
 their homes with themselves and with happiness? 
 
 Many of America's great fortunes have been made in 
 large part from manipulating the stock market — that is, from 
 clever and often unscrupulous schemes for sending up and 
 sending down prices of securities to unjustified levels to enable 
 the riggers to scoop in millions of dollars. In the "good old 
 days," which were really bad old days, it was considered part 
 of the game of speculation to fool the public at every turn, 
 grossly to deceive them as to values of stocks, to entice them 
 into the market, and then to "fleece" them, to use the common 
 and expressive phrase. If more money could be made by 
 throwing a road into bankruptcy than by running it profit- 
 ably, the road went into bankruptcy with scant ceremony. 
 Happily, we are advancing a little bit. 
 
272 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 SHIPS ARE TRADE-GETTERS — THE UNITED 
 
 STATES NEEDS VIGOROUS MERCHANT 
 
 MARINE — NATION WITHOUT SHIPS 
 
 LIKE SOLDIER WITHOUT LEGS 
 
 Ships and national greatness go together. 
 
 Cast your eye along the scroll of history and you will 
 see this truth writ in red letters. As in the past, so to-day. 
 The strongest commercial nation on earth is "The Mistress 
 of the Seas," Great Britain. And glance at Germany's phe- 
 nomenal pre-war development on sea — a fit precursor, or at 
 least accompaniment, of her progress on land. Then there 
 is Japan, of mushroom-like growth. And, by way of con- 
 trast, picture the proud, invincible Spanish galleons of yes- 
 teryear, when Spain waxed great, and the decrepit Spanish 
 fleet of to-day. 
 
 If the United States is to fill the measure of her possi- 
 bilities, she must become powerful by sea as well as land. 
 
 A navy without a merchant marine is as a steamer 
 without coal in her bunkers — it can't go far. 
 
 But let us speak here of the economic, the industrial, 
 the financical advantages of a strong, vigorous, enterprising 
 fleet of merchant ships. 
 
 The United States has reached that stage in her com- 
 mercial development when SHE MUST HAVE SHIPS. 
 
 Without pushful, characteristically daring marine mis- 
 sionaries, America cannot hope to capture her needful 
 share of the world's markets. And we have reached a 
 critical point in our commercial history: WE MUST 
 HAVE FOREIGN MARKETS. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 273 
 
 We are not and should not try to be self-sufficient, self- 
 containing. We need oversea customers. And oversea 
 peoples need us. 
 
 Ships are trade-getters. Ships are a nation's best sales- 
 men. The flag and what is under it — the nation's men, the 
 nation's language, the nation's shipbuilding — they are the 
 most compelling, pulsating advertisements, advertisements 
 that strike home, that go squarely in front of the prospect- 
 ive customer's eye. 
 
 Ships and oversea banking development also go hand- 
 in-hand. 
 
 Without her unparalleled army of steamships, Britain 
 could not long remain the world's banker, the banker to 
 whom all nations, and more especially the United States, 
 have paid tribute in almost every trade transaction with 
 a foreign buyer, be he in South America or the Orient. 
 
 Give America ships, and once we have proper American 
 banking representation abroad, we can set up as a success- 
 ful rival to London in the vitally important field of banking. 
 Isn't it humiliating, isn't it preposterous, that a purchase of 
 beef in Argentina for consumption in the United States 
 cannot be paid for without calling in the assistance of Lon- 
 don — and handing over, of course, a substantial commis- 
 sion? 
 
 If we carried 95 per cent, of our own foreign trade, 
 instead of 5 per cent., such things would not be. 
 
 Remember, every dollar we pay to a foreign steamship 
 company is A DOLLAR GRATUITOUSLY GIVEN A 
 RIVAL NATION TO STRENGTHEN IT IN ITS 
 FIGHT AGAINST US IN FOREIGN MARTS. 
 
 We need more international trade. We need more in- 
 ternational banking. We need a source of recruits, a second 
 line of defense, for our navy. We need our own marine 
 connections with our own railroads. We need the industry 
 of shipbuilding. We need the means to back up our words 
 now that we have become a World Power. 
 
274 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 And without ships we are impotent. 
 
 Let us no longer be insular but imperial in trade. Let 
 our transportation activities no longer stop at the termini 
 of our railroads, but let us have our own ships to there take 
 up our own goods and carry them to our own customers all 
 over the globe. We are too big to ape the villagers who 
 sought to make a living by taking in one another's washing. 
 We must expand. We must reach up. We must remove 
 the shackles that bind us to inland transportation only. 
 
 We have the brains to build ships. We have master 
 minds to organize and direct steamship companies. We 
 have trade to give them an inspiring start — four and a 
 quarter billions ($4,250,000,000) was the total of our oversea 
 merchandise dealings in one year. 
 
 In the fight for foreign markets the nation without 
 ships is as a soldier without legs. 
 
 A multi-millionaire, known from end to end of America, 
 recently said to me : "I envy you your job." He referred to 
 the opportunities it afforded for getting close to the people. 
 Well, the experience certainly is humanizing. The more you 
 learn of what's what, the nearer you get to the heart and 
 heartaches of the multitude, the greater becomes your con- 
 tempt for pride, for arrogance, for haughty indifference to the 
 weal or woe of the ninety-artd-nine. A millionaire can become 
 a sorry specimen of humanity in your eyes — or he may become 
 a nobleman. And let me here remark that few of our middle- 
 aged "magnates" are callous, wholly self-centred, selfish beings. 
 The poorest varieties are mostly among the old-school auto- 
 crats and among the young bloods, sons of dollars, who have 
 not yet learned that the world was not made for their special 
 pleasure. There is hope for the latter, and the former are 
 passing. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 275 
 
 HUMAN BEING'S CAPACITY FOR HAPPINESS NOT 
 REGULATED BY SIZE OF HIS BANK AC- 
 COUNT—A BLACKSMITH AND A CAR- 
 NEGIE MILLIONAIRE CONTRASTED. 
 
 A human being's capacity for happiness is not regulated 
 by the size of his bank account. 
 
 One of the most cultured — really cultured — men I know 
 is a country blacksmith. 
 
 One of the poorest specimens of humanity I ever met is 
 a Carnegie millionaire. This incident will picture him to you : 
 He was in a restaurant with a number of cronies and pulled 
 out a huge roll of $100, $500 and $1,000 bills when the check 
 was presented. As he tossed a bill to the waiter he noticed 
 one different from the others sticking out; it was a $10 bill. 
 
 "What the do you want among decent money?" he 
 
 fumed, and, snatching it, pitched it on the floor and ground it 
 under his heel. 
 
 At one time, when this same boor was an obscure clerk 
 in a store, a $10 bill would have looked very attractive to him. 
 His pocketbook had grown, but not his mentality. 
 
 Could you conjure up a more despicable exhibition? 
 
 And still some people wonder why Socialism is increas- 
 ing and why the people manifest so little respect for many of 
 our millionaires! 
 
 That Pittsburgh plutocrat's capacity for happiness is 
 about as big as the cavity in a hen's tooth. 
 
 Now, my blacksmith friend is not versed in book learn- 
 ing. He probably never heard of Aristotle or Socrates. And 
 I know his knowledge of history is slender. His spelling would 
 
276 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 not cover him with honors in a competition, and he seldom can 
 muster enough courage to write a letter — "I'd sooner shoe a 
 dozen horses than write ten lines," he told me when I wanted 
 him to correspond with me. 
 
 How, then, is he cultured, knowing nothing of books? 
 
 His culture is home-grown, a native product. It has been 
 drawn from the soil, the brook, the trees, animals, birds and 
 human nature. 
 
 For example, every refractory young horse is sent to him 
 by farmers and others to be tamed. He can transform a 
 vicious, impossible, nervous animal into a docile, dependable 
 one in a few weeks. His power lies in UNDERSTAND- 
 ING the horse, its ways and its mind. He can explain WHY 
 an animal acts as it does. He can see things, as it were, 
 through the animal's eyes and can divine the effect upon it of 
 any and every happening. He never blames the horse for 
 anything; he can always supply a reason why it does a 
 thing. 
 
 And so with other living things that come under his 
 ken. I went angling with him one day. Until then I did 
 not know that trout had half the "gumption" he attributed 
 to them — and proved they possessed. Although he had 
 never read a line of old Izaak Walton, he could dilate upon 
 worms and how to use them with all the skill of the "Com- 
 pleat Angler." 
 
 He could apply his home-brewn knowledge to every cir- 
 cumstance. Let me relate one incident. A funeral was being 
 held one very windy day, and everybody was having difficulty 
 in keeping his tall hat on — everybody save the driver of the 
 hearse. He sat serene, though more exposed to the wind than 
 any of them. The men began to observe the phenomenon. 
 What could be the reason for the driver's immunity from 
 trouble with his headgear? Nobody could hazard a guess un- 
 til the blacksmith was appealed to. Recalling to mind his 
 process for "ringing cart wheels" — putting on the iron rim 
 at white heat and then causing it to shrink by pouring on 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 277 
 
 cold water and thus wedging the spokes tightly, he replied : 
 ■'Maybe he heated her (the hat) before he put her on." 
 And there was logic in the statement. 
 
 One of America's most prominent bankers said to me the 
 other day : "There's not much satisfaction in this" — waving 
 a handful of checks. "Do you know, I mean to quit soon. 
 What is there in it for me? I scarcely know my own chil- 
 dren — I have lovely ones. There are other things in life 
 
 more worth while than checks and straightening out other 
 people's business troubles. The people will no doubt talk 
 when I retire, and will probably hunt all sorts of reasons ex- 
 cept the right one, which I am now telling you. I have got 
 there. I don't need to be a slave to business any longer. Don't 
 you think I am wise to get ready to draw out soon ?" 
 
 Americans, I think, are beginning to appraise life's values 
 more sensibly. More praiseworthy movements are exercising 
 earnest thought at this moment than ever before. 
 
 Is not this a symptom of culture? And is it not a higher 
 quality than the insatiable, relentless, often lawless money- 
 making that too long has been America's god? 
 
 It has been my fortune to learn something of the unrecorded 
 philanthropies of a number of our richest citizens. Far more 
 is done by them than the public wots of. Indeed, I sometimes 
 wonder if the All-Wise Dispenser did not, after all, know 
 what He was doing when He made these men stewards over 
 many things. 
 
 If the United States hopes to enjoy industrial peace, cor- 
 porations and business men will not study how LITTLE they 
 MUST do for labor, but how MUCH they CAN do. One of 
 the most momentous problems confronting business is that of 
 labor unrest — rather, the ambitions, the aspirations and the 
 power of labor. The aim must be to more and more democra- 
 tize and humanize industry. 
 
278 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 UNITED STATES NEEDS ALIEN BRAWN MORE 
 
 THAN ALIEN BRAINS— A "LITERACY" TEST 
 
 UNWISE ECONOMICALLY AND NOT 
 
 WORTHY OF OUR TRADITIONS. 
 
 Too many of us nowadays want to earn our living with- 
 out sweating, without bending our backs, without soiling our 
 precious fingers. Education has bred an aversion to manual 
 labor. 
 
 And yet Congress seeks to shut the nation's gates in the 
 face of the very class best fitted, and anxious, to perform bod- 
 ily toil. 
 
 We need the men our legislators want to keep from our 
 shores. We could well spare some of those they plan to 
 admit. 
 
 A "literacy" test for strong, stalwart, hard-working im- 
 migrants is not only rankly un-American, not only repugnant 
 to the spirit which gave birth to the Republic, but is short- 
 sighted, unnecessary and poor business. 
 
 The sturdy alien who may never have enjoyed educa- 
 tional opportunities and who may be unable to sign his name 
 is less likely to become a dangerous, undesirable citizen than 
 some of your smart Alecks up to all sorts of clever tricks, 
 from making counterfeit money to running private banks. 
 
 The United States is more in need of farm laborers than 
 soft-fingered clerks, more in need of navvies than small store- 
 keepers, more in need of alien brawn than ready-made alien 
 brains. 
 
 How many native-born Americans care to do chores? 
 How many of them want to dig sewers, excavate subways, 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 279 
 
 prepare roadbeds, lay railroad tracks, sweep streets, shine 
 shoes, unload boats, or forsake cities to till the soil? Arc 
 those born under the Stars and Stripes given to hewing wood 
 and drawing water ? Do they not prefer more "genteel" occu- 
 pations ? 
 
 Somebody must do the rough work of the world. Some- 
 body must serve in the basement. Everybody can't sit in the 
 front parlor. The kitchen must be staffed. 
 
 On economic grounds alone — not to heed higher consid- 
 erations — it would be a fatal mistake to stop the immigration 
 of healthy, non-criminal aliens simply because they could 
 not go through a reading test. Raise the standard of exami- 
 nation for citizenship if you choose; throw every reasonable 
 safeguard around the ballot. But don't dry up the stream of 
 raw, unskilled labor, men accustomed to strenuous toil, men 
 fired with ambition to better their lot, men ready to accept 
 rude tasks which the native American would scorn to touch. 
 
 If this great, undeveloped land is to prosper it needs 
 muscle as well as mentality, it needs unskilled laborers as well 
 as becoUared gentlemen, it needs sons of the soil, it needs 
 mine workers, it needs diggers, it needs scavengers. 
 
 And do not forget that your unlettered immigrant of to- 
 day may become your merchant prince, your industrial mag- 
 nate, your social betterment leader of to-morrow. 
 
 As for the offspring of uneducated aliens, have you ever 
 studied the prize lists of our schools and colleges? Have 
 you ever taken the trouble to analyze the columns of 
 names ? 
 
 The "literacy" barrier would keep from our shores 
 members of races who have produced more riches in science, 
 in music, in literature, in painting, in sculpture and every 
 other form of art than America is likely to boast for some 
 time to come. Who knows but that from some unlearned 
 alien may spring up in this land an admixture of the 
 romance and idealism of the Old World and the irrepres- 
 sible enterprise and practical-mindedness of the New World, 
 
280 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 which shall reach new heights in science, in art, in poetry, 
 in literature? 
 
 Leaving aside such considerations, let it be repeated that 
 America cannot afford to reject honest, hard-working immi- 
 grants simply because fate has denied them the blessings of 
 education. If it be true that labor unions are behind the pro- 
 posed legislation, the leaders of these organizations should 
 be far-sighted enough to realize that without an adequate sup- 
 ply of unskilled labor the demand for skilled labor must be 
 restricted. Unskilled labor forms the base for industry; 
 skilled labor is part of the superstructure. Narrow the base, 
 and the superstructure cannot expand. 
 
 What is even more necessary than money in carrying on 
 the world's trade? Credit. Stop credit, and the whole com- 
 mercial structure would collapse. Credit is a species of trust, 
 of faith in another's integrity. Credit is also a commodity. It 
 is the greatest banking and financial commodity in the world. 
 All business men and business organizations require credit. 
 The fundamental purpose of a bank is to supply credit. Obvi- 
 ously, it is, therefore, trite to state that our banks should be 
 qualified in every possible respect to fulfill this vital function. 
 Under the Federal Reserve act, as it now reads, our 8,000 na- 
 tional banks are handicapped needlessly in this respect. They 
 may "accept" commercial paper drawn against exports and im- 
 ports, but not against America's home trade or any part of it ! 
 
 The absurdity of such discrimination against American- 
 made merchandise is becoming so apparent that little doubt 
 now exists that the Federal Reserve Board will shortly recom- 
 mend a simple change in the law to remedy the anomaly. Why 
 national banks should be forbidden to extend to American mer- 
 chants and manufacturers the same facilities as are allowed 
 importers and exporters must puzzle the layman — as, indeed, it 
 puzzles most experts on banking. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 281 
 
 "WALL STREET MILLIONAIRES" NOT A PACK OF 
 
 FOOLS OR KNAVES— BRAINS A NECESSITY— 
 
 AND VIRTUES NOT UNKNOWN 
 
 AMONG THEM 
 
 "What sort of men are your Wall Street million- 
 aires?" I was asked the other day. 
 
 "How long is a railroad journey?" I felt like replying, 
 but didn't. Instead, I merely said : "Very much like other 
 people." 
 
 "But aren't they horribly uncouth? I always thought 
 they were terribly uncultured — and worse." 
 
 "Not at all," I replied in defense of a much-maligned 
 class. "Some of them are among the finest men in Amer- 
 ica. 
 
 "You surely do not mean that ? Do they really possess 
 a full measure of the virtues?" 
 
 I assured the questioner that, taking them as a class, 
 they did. 
 
 "Wall Street millionaires" are not all a pack of wolves 
 seeking whom they may devour. 
 
 The term "Wall Street" is more elastic than a rubber 
 band. It embraces anything — in the popular imagination — 
 from the get-rich-thievishly fraternity, who never see Wall 
 Street, to the strongest of our financiers and banking insti- 
 tutions. "Wall Street millionaires" include alike the spec- 
 tacular speculators who have made fortunes in sheer gam- 
 bling and the most conservative of our bankers and local 
 capitalists. 
 
282 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 How many men have made — and retained — millions 
 SOLELY through stock speculation. Not many. 
 
 Men like John W. Gates — a typical Wall Street mil- 
 lionaire of the fiction writer's brand — had to be more than 
 gamblers and had to do more than buy and sell stocks in 
 order to get where they did. Before he blew into Wall 
 Street Gates had earned the reputation of being the best 
 salesman in the United States. He knew how to make nails 
 and pull wire — the genuine article — better than any expert 
 in the business. And having made supplies he knew how 
 to sell them. He was thus no nonentity, no brainless 
 cipher. But his famous offer to "bet you a million" was 
 remembered, while his real achievements in the field of 
 industry were quickly forgotten — if they were ever known 
 — by the public. 
 
 Not one "Wall Street millionaire" of the most criti- 
 cised pattern will be found devoid of special ability in some 
 direction or other. The self-made ones who stay million- 
 aires are not fools. Few of them are knaves, either. 
 
 The trouble is that the crazy exploits of the few be- 
 smirch the reputation of the many. And of course when a 
 Wall Street plutocrat runs amuck it makes a spicy front- 
 page story. 
 
 In one hour at a Monte Carlo table Charles M. Schwab 
 earned more unpleasant notoriety than years of amazing 
 achievement in steel making could combat. It drove him, 
 in a sense, from the presidency of the greatest industrial 
 organization in the world, the billion-dollar Steel Corpora- 
 tion. Since then he has done bigger things than any other 
 steel worker in the United States, but nine people in ten 
 would, on hearing Schwab's name mentioned, recall the 
 Monte Carlo incident and let the rest pass. 
 
 I have never met a more generous, a larger-hearted set 
 than "Wall Street millionaires." Even the worst of them 
 have the redeeming virtues of generosity and charity. They 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 283 
 
 practise these virtues, too, on a scale the public can not 
 imagine. 
 
 On the other hand, there are a few black sheep in the 
 "Wall Street millionaire" fold. The most rapid-fire 
 swearer and blasphemer I have ever encountered is one of 
 our very prominent traction magnates. And his vocabulary 
 betrays him as being what he really is. Then others ad- 
 mittedly could not write Greek poetry nor rival Caesar or 
 Cicero as Latin writers. 
 
 But that is their misfortune rather than their fault. 
 Quite a few of them do their best to make up for what they 
 missed. They try hard to develop a taste for and an appre- 
 ciation of art and music. They spend lavishly in encourag- 
 ing and cultivating the refinements of life. They may know 
 more about Reading than about Rembrandts, but when 
 they get away from the one they do often try to become ac- 
 quainted with the other. 
 
 Then there is another and more numerous class of 
 "Wall Street millionaires." Men of the Morgan, Speyer, 
 Seligman, Kahn, Barton Hepburn calibre need no apologist 
 on the score of culture. Not a few of the finest intellects in 
 the country find their sphere of activity in "Wall Street." 
 
 Mixing the good with the bad, the resulting composite 
 "Wall Street millionaire" is not such a worthless, disrepu- 
 table, dishonest character as is too often misrepresented. 
 
 Co-operative stores are being founded in an unostenta- 
 tious way in New York. The spirit of thrift, which at last 
 is gaining some ground in this country, is calculated to stimu- 
 late the movement. 
 
 The small investor of to-day, if wisely guided, will be a 
 larger investor to-morrow, since money makes money. 
 
284 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 DOES MODERN EDUCATION TEACH US HOW TO 
 
 DO THINGS RATHER THAN HOW TO THINK? 
 
 THE PERSONAL ELEMENT AS OIL FOR 
 
 THE MACHINERY OF BUSINESS. 
 
 Throughout this country there is a growing tendency 
 to act first and then think. We have too much action and 
 not enough thinking. We pass a hundred laws, for example, 
 where five would suffice. No other nation scribbles on its 
 statute books such a conglomeration of nonsense as our 
 legislators indulge in every year. 
 
 We are too restless, too feverish, too prone to chase 
 after will-o'-the-wisp panaceas. We are becoming enamored 
 of turmoil, of social strife, of backbiting. 
 
 There are manifold wrongs to be righted, it is true. 
 We do well to rise up in wrath against certain practices in 
 both high and low places. Yet the symptoms of restless- 
 ness prevalent to-day suggest underlying godlessness, or, 
 perhaps, I should call it mental poise. 
 
 Our educational institutions teach how to do things 
 rather than how to think. And when one considers that; 
 progress should, and no doubt will, mean less need for all- 
 day work and more time for thought and reflection, is it not 
 infinitely important that thinking be cultivated? Have not 
 many of us lost the habit of communing with ourselves? 
 Some have even ceased to be able to converse. We must 
 have constant distraction — business, it may be, or pleasure. 
 We must have an eternal round of theatres, cabarets, mov- 
 ing pictures, vaudeville, automobiling, boating trips hither 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 285 
 
 and thither, "thrillers" of the Coney Island pattern, etc., 
 etc., etc. 
 
 We have little opportunity to get acquainted with our- 
 selves. 
 
 Family life, the quiet home circle, tranquil pursuits 
 are a-dying. 
 
 The storm and strife of business, of money-making, 
 appear to be growing more tense and desperate every day. 
 We have all but killed sentiment in the hurly-burly of latter- 
 day competition. 
 
 We have not masters and men, but corporations and 
 "hands." The head of a department told me how an em- 
 ployee came to him and expressed regret at leaving after 
 fifteen years' service, but the executive was nonplussed, for 
 he was not aware that he had ever set eyes on the employee 
 until that moment! 
 
 "Inefficiency" is supposed to be a foe to all sentiment in 
 business. My humble opinion is that without a modicum of 
 sentiment between the employee and the employer or su- 
 perior you cannot have the fullest measure of efficiency. 
 There must be something more than the mere performance 
 of a task under strict surveillance. There must be some 
 sense of loyalty, a spirit of camaraderie, the right esprit de 
 corps. You cannot get the best results by a policy of heart- 
 lessness, by treating men as machines, by ignoring the hu- 
 man side of them. They are of the same flesh and blood 
 as their overseers and employers. They have like hopes and 
 ambitions. They have family ties, domestic troubles and 
 joys exactly as their "superiors" have. 
 
 I was privileged to attend an annual outing of one of 
 our great banks, an institution employing a force of over 
 600. Its president had them all, along with almost as many 
 of their families and friends, at his beautiful home as his 
 guests for the afternoon and evening. Such a gracious act 
 makes more for loyalty and honesty and industry and ser- 
 
286 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 vice than all the "efficiency" maxims propounded in the 
 last half-dozen years. 
 
 The personal element cannot be crushed and killed with 
 impunity. A little break in the year's round, such as that 
 I mention, serves as a reminder that life has its pleasant 
 as w^ell as its serious side ; that there is a time to laugh as 
 well as work ; that the chief officer is not above associating 
 with the humblest clerk, that all are human, that there are 
 other bonds than salary contracts. 
 
 There is need for taking the rough edge ofif life. There 
 is need for sentiment and sympathy and fuller understand- 
 ing, room for a helping hand, for a little encouragement. 
 Things cannot always go well. Life is not one grand, sweet 
 song. 
 
 As Robert Louis Stevenson says: 
 
 My bonny man, the warld, it's true, 
 Was made for neither me nor you ; 
 It's just a place to wrastle through. 
 
 As Job confessed o't ; 
 And aye the best that we'll can do 
 
 Is mak the best o't. 
 
 What you would like's a palace ha', 
 Or Sunday parlor dink an' braw 
 Wi' a' things ordered in a raw 
 
 By denty leddies. 
 Weel, than, ye cannae hae't that's a' 
 That to be said is. 
 
 The new chapter that is being opened in American finance, 
 national and international, will afford innumerable opportuni- 
 ties for the blossoming of budding financial geniuses. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 287 
 
 CAN YOU BE HONEST AND STAY IN BUSINESS? 
 
 YOU CANNOT BE DISHONEST AND STAY IN 
 
 BUSINESS— ACCOUNTANCY IN ITS INFANCY. 
 
 The man who will steal for you will steal FROM you. 
 
 The employee who will obey your instructions to be 
 crooked will turn a crook toward you. 
 
 The employer who asks an employee to do wrong 
 places himself in that employee's power. 
 
 Guilt hereafter is to be brought home to INDIVID- 
 UALS, not to firms or corporations. 
 
 The official who tells men to break a law will not, by 
 and by, be able to have his company shoulder the responsi- 
 bility. The law will fasten upon the official who trans- 
 mitted the order. If the official can prove that he acted 
 under orders from "higher up," then the individuals "higher 
 up" will have to toe the line. 
 
 "You cannot be honest and stay in business nowadays" 
 is an oft-repeated statement. 
 
 "You cannot be DISHONEST and stay in business" 
 is the real truth. 
 
 This article is inspired by an incident of which I have 
 personal knowledge. Here it is: 
 
 A large concern had as accountant and semi-confi- 
 dential man a friend of mine who was straight. Business 
 became bad. Surpluses were gradually turning into deficits. 
 Heavy bank loans were necessary. To induce the banks to 
 hand over the thousands wanted, a good financial showing 
 had to be made — a true record would have killed negotia- 
 tions. The heads of the concern decided to pad their ac- 
 
288 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 counts, to distort facts and figures, to lug in as assets utterly- 
 worthless debts, etc., etc. The accountant refused to be a 
 party to the deception. The money obtained under false 
 pretenses kept the company on its feet for a while, but the 
 inevitable happened — the crash came. From the wreckage 
 another firm was formed, but the honest accountant's ser- 
 vices were dispensed with. His code was not elastic enough 
 to suit their purposes. 
 
 "I am out of work," he told me, "but I can at least face 
 my wife and play with my children. I'll get another job, all 
 right. And next time honesty may not be a drawback." 
 
 The truth is that a shocking amount of misrepresenta- 
 tion is indulged in by business concerns of doubtful stand- 
 ing. And deception is also the rule with many corporations, 
 some of magnitude. The Havemeyers and the Morses are 
 not all dead. 
 
 But the path of the business crook is not to be pleasant 
 by and by. Honesty will prove the best policy in practice 
 as well as in theory. 
 
 Anent this, one profession in America is only in its 
 swaddling clothes. I refer to accountancy. 
 
 The charge will be resented, yet it is absolutely true, 
 that American accountants subscribe time and again to 
 statements which are designed to mislead the public. Often 
 the consequences are costly. The accountants guilty of 
 such things are either dishonest or incompetent. And they 
 ought to suffer in either case. 
 
 Every company and Corporation whose securities have 
 been sold to the public ought to be compelled by law to 
 have their books audited annually by certified public ac- 
 countants. And should subsequent developments reveal 
 that crookedness was O. K.'d, the accountants should be 
 haled to court and given opportunity to exculpate them- 
 selves or receive exemplary punishment. 
 
 I believe that our accountants could tell more about 
 underhand business practices than any other set of men in 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 289 
 
 America. Sometimes, let it be said to their credit, they 
 refuse to indorse statements which they cannot in consci- 
 ence approve. But many a padded and crooked balance 
 sheet has borne the signature of supposedly reputable ac- 
 countants. 
 
 The whole standard of honesty is to be raised. True, 
 you cannot make men honest by law — but you can make dis- 
 honesty so dangerous that most men will shrink from risk- 
 ing it. 
 
 "Although young repuWics seldom act wisely, I believe the 
 United States is about to occupy a much more important and 
 impressive place in the sun," said a thinking international 
 banker to me recently. "It will depend upon our own people, 
 their actions and their attitude, whether America shall occupy 
 first place and retain it permanently. This world upheaval, if 
 it had to come, could not have come at a more opportune time 
 for the United States. We had passed through a ten years' 
 war between politics and business, and President Wilson had 
 just declared peace. This anti-business war had effectively 
 checked over-expansion such as we had in 1910. It had brought 
 business down to solid ground. It had driven inflation out of 
 securities. It had sobered labor. It had taught the people the 
 value of economy and of saving money. The war found us 
 in possession, for the first time, of a banking and credit sys- 
 tem which enabled us not only to handle our own financial and 
 commercial affairs, but to engage in international activities on 
 proper terms, without handicap. The war found us fortified 
 by a series of good harvests. Then the people were ready to 
 stop attacking corporations. The Governmental regulatory 
 bodies were ready to change their attitude toward the railroads. 
 Everything, in short, was in position to withstand the shock of 
 the European war as it had never been before." 
 
290 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 SAVE AND GIVE, TWO IMPORTANT RULES FOR 
 PLAYING THE GAME OF LIFE SUCCESS- 
 FULLY—THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, 
 THE BUSINESS OF MANKIND. 
 
 Save. 
 
 And give. 
 
 A friend of mine not heavily freighted with worldly 
 merchandise was crossing City Hall Park one day, and, on 
 being asked for alms by a young fellow, replied : "I haven't 
 a cent myself." Half an hour later he was returning by the 
 same path when the beggar stopped him. "Say, pal," he 
 began in friendly tone, "I've got a dime. Here's half." 
 And he oiifered a nickel. 
 
 That incident sank into my mind. The beggar's kind- 
 ness rang true. It was unsolicited, it was spontaneous, it 
 meant genuine sacrifice. He volunteered to divide his pos- 
 sessions evenly with a total stranger, solely because he 
 believed the stranger was worse off than himself. I would 
 like to meet that beggar. I would like to be taken into his 
 confidence. I would like to learn his philosophy of life. 
 I'm sure he must be, in his own way, a philosopher. A 
 man who comes forward to give up half of his last ten-cent 
 piece to an unknown mortal is not barren of the stuff that 
 makes life worth living. 
 
 Giving is as essential to lasting happiness as saving. 
 But the majority of ordinary beings cannot give much un- 
 less they first save. And saving, as a rule, is a species of 
 self-denial. 
 
 "Why don't you talk about financial and business mat- 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 291 
 
 ters every day?" I am sometimes asked. Here I am talking 
 — without shame, too — about happiness and its parents. 
 
 Well, what is the aim and end of business? Is it not 
 happiness? Is that not what we are all pursuing, what we 
 are all striving to obtain? No sane human being willingly 
 does anything which is not calculated to yield some form 
 of happiness — either to himself or some one else. 
 
 The pursuit of happiness — is not that business, very 
 serious, day-in, day-out business, the business, in short, of 
 life? 
 
 If this be granted, then surely no apology is needed for 
 discussing things that yield big dividends in the way of 
 happiness. 
 
 Save. There is inspiration, there is joy, there is a thrill 
 of elation, there is consciousness of victory in saving. It 
 raises a man's self-respect. It increases his courage. It 
 makes him more of a man, less of a sycophant. It fits him 
 to be a better husband and father. And it should tend to 
 make him a better worker, for his mind will not be harassed 
 by the ever-present gnawing of poverty and the nightmare 
 of coming destitution. 
 
 Have you ever met any one who regretted having been 
 prudently economical? I speak not of the multi-millionaire 
 class, not of 5 per cent., but of the other 95 per cent, of our 
 population. 
 
 The cynic is fond of quoting ironically: "It is more 
 blessed to give than to receive," and of adding that he has 
 no ambitions to enter the blessed class. Of all breathing 
 things the cynic is the most miserable, the most pitiable, the 
 least enviable. The people he laughs at, the people he jeers 
 at, the people at whom he shoots his cheap, little darts are 
 a thousand times better off than he, though his supercilious- 
 ness, his self-worship, his impenetrable conceit prevent him 
 from seeing things as they are. Cynicism is a deadly form 
 of moral astigmatism. 
 
 It is more blessed to give than to receive. If you doubt 
 
292 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 it, experiment. Of course, your giving must be done in the 
 right spirit and with the right motive. Don't give away 
 a dollar and then sit down to watch the mercury rise in the 
 thermometer that registers the fluctuations in your happi- 
 ness. That would not be giving. That would be a none too 
 praiseworthy variety of barter. It would savor overmuch 
 of the cynic's definition of "gratitude" — "a lively sense of. 
 favors to come." Giving prompted by selfishness is not 
 the kind that pays dividends. Your bread has to be cast 
 upon the waters. Its return is not your concern — should 
 not enter your mind. 
 
 "A'thing comes hame to roost," writes a Scottish sage 
 in a letter referring to some Christmas giving. Translated, 
 that means that everything comes home to roost. Can that 
 be gainsaid? 
 
 Always, however, be a "spug." If ye give to those who 
 give to you, what reward have ye ? 
 
 The investing of one's savings is a serious business. Im- 
 prudence may bring penury where prudence would have 
 brought a competency and comfort. Many an individual will 
 spend more time and take more advice in buying a few dol- 
 lars' worth of clothing or renting a house than in investing 
 the savings of a lifetime. It is often considered smart to spend 
 thousands of dollars on a stock simply because someone heard 
 someone else say it was "sure to rise," whereas not a tithe of 
 the sum would be used for any other purpose without infinite 
 deliberation and consultation. The pity of it is that wisdom 
 usually comes too late. The very best financial advice costs 
 nothing but a two-cent stamp. Much-maligned Wall Street 
 is full of honesty. Any member of the New York Stock Ex- 
 change advertising for commission customers can be depended 
 upon to give sound advice to prospective investors. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 293 
 
 AMERICA IS LAWYER-RIDDEN — TOO MANY 
 
 LEGAL GENTLEMEN AND NOT ENOUGH 
 
 BUSINESS MEN AND OTHERS IN 
 
 CONGRESS— 35,000 LAWS IN 
 
 ONE SESSION! 
 
 America is lawyer-ridden. 
 
 The be-all and end-all, the Alpha and Omega of govern- 
 ment is not to grind out laws by the thousand, but to foster 
 the happiness and welfare of the governed. 
 
 It is an old and accepted maxim that that country is 
 best governed which is least governed. 
 
 In a republic — in a democracy — laws should be as few 
 and simple as possible, not as many and as intricate as legal 
 ingenuity can contrive. 
 
 Think of 35,000 — thirty-five thousand — laws being 
 passed during one session ! 
 
 I have looked up the records, and I find that lawyers 
 have constituted from 65 to 70 per cent, of our Congressmen 
 during quite a number of years. 
 
 Take the Fiftieth Congress : It was composed of 263 
 lawyers, 69 business men, 27 agricultural people and 42 
 others. In other words, of every 100 members 65 were legal 
 gentlemen, 17 men of business, 7 agriculturists and 11 
 followers of various other tasks or professions. 
 
 In the fifty-sixth session no fewer than 299 members 
 were lawyers — 68 out of every 100— while agriculture could 
 claim only 5 and business 20. 
 
 The business of government should be placed more in 
 the hands of business men, men of practical experience in 
 
294 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 the actual aifairs rather than the theories of life. We are 
 a business nation, a people of achievement in the workshop, 
 in the field, in the factory, in the counting house, in the labor- 
 atory. Why not entrust our Government to graduates of 
 these stern schools rather than to students of legal terms? 
 "A Business Government for a Business Nation" prom- 
 ises to become a popular slogan. 
 
 Let us be honest, however. Let us admit that business 
 men are partly, if not chiefly, to blame for their sparse rep- 
 resentation in the halls of our solons. Men of large affairs 
 have too often in the past looked down upon politics. They 
 have regarded politics as a game to be played, not honestly, 
 honorably and above-board, but by stealth, by subterfuge, 
 by corruption. Unfortunately, too many politicians did play 
 dishonestly, did pay more attention to their own purses 
 than to principles, and did drag law-making into the mire. 
 But — also unfortunately — men of big business were by no 
 means blameless, for not infrequently they were parties to 
 bribery, to underhandedness, to crooked dealings. They 
 used politicians as pawns. They sought favors and were 
 willing to pay for them. "Yellow dogs" abounded in the 
 subcellars of legislatures — fed from high sources oftentimes. 
 Happily, the kennels have been thinned to some extent. 
 It is no longer considered proper to feed Yellow Dogs. 
 The railroads have stopped it. Standard Oil, having been 
 "dissolved," may not find occasion to spend so much for 
 legal — or illegal — services. Yellow Dogs, it has been dem- 
 onstrated, are apt to be pulled from the darkness of their 
 subterranean kennels and exposed to the limelight. 
 
 Politics is becoming more respectable. This being so, 
 may we not hope that hereafter business, agriculture, edu- 
 cation and other lines of activity will contribute a larger 
 quota of legislators? 
 
 Lawyers have not proved a success at law-making. The 
 laws of the United States form the most jumbled-up, com- 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 295 
 
 plicated, contradictory, impracticable, senseless mess to be 
 found in any nation on earth. 
 
 Instead of 70 lawyers in every 100 legislators, let us 
 strive to have 70 non-lawyers, men drawn from the soil, 
 from the mill, from the store, from the factory, from the 
 bank, from the mine, from the railroad, from the playhouse, 
 from the school, from the publishing house, from the church 
 — from, in short, every sphere of our many-sided national 
 life. 
 
 And instead of 35,000 laws per session, give us nearer 
 fifty, or five. 
 
 The future of American railroads is exercising grave con- 
 sideration and discussion among responsible financial and busi- 
 ness men. To-day enough railroad mileage to circle the earth 
 is under bankruptcy, with securities totalling about $2,000,000,- 
 000 affected. The average price of our railroad shares has 
 fallen below that of industrial issues for the first time in the 
 country's history. Roads that have maintained their solvency 
 have done so in most cases by drastically cutting down the 
 amount usually spent upon keeping their properties in condition. 
 Wages are constantly rising, and so are taxes. Thus, though 
 the number of railway employees was reduced from 1,815,239 
 in 1913 to 1,695,483 last year, the amount paid out in wages 
 showed no corresponding reduction, the 1914 total having been 
 $1,373,422,472, against $1,373,830,589 in 1913. Expressed dif- 
 ferently, less than 44 per cent, of gross revenue was consumed 
 by wages in 1913, whereas over 45 per cent, was required 
 in 1914. Capital is to-day so difficult to raise for railroad pur- 
 poses that conscientious bankers are advising their investor 
 clients to avoid the securities of companies confronted with 
 new financing. These are facts, not theories. They are un- 
 pleasant, but ignoring them will not remedy them. 
 
296 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 HARD WORK THE ELIXIR OF LIFE, A YOUNG 
 
 MAN FOUND AFTER HAVING REGARDED 
 
 IT AS A PLAGUE— A MORGAN STORY. 
 
 "I am beginning to enjoy my work," said a young man 
 to me the other day. He was astonished that he felt that 
 way. It was a new sensation, one he did not know that could 
 exist. 
 
 His case — I happen to be familiar with the facts — is 
 worth discussing. 
 
 This young man is to-day doing twice as much real, hard 
 work as he used to do. But there has been a change in the 
 handling of him. Until recently his superiors gave him no 
 encouragement. They took little interest in his efiforts. 
 Worse still, his labors were sometimes contorted in a way 
 that made him feel the reverse of proud over the finished 
 article. He drifted along doing what he was ordered to do, 
 but without a spark of enthusiasm. Not infrequently he 
 was told to do senseless things, his seniors being but poorly 
 acquainted with his special line of work. So his duties' 
 were not congenial. Work was a bore, a plague, something 
 to be borne with patient resignation. 
 
 Then came a change. 
 
 Some one thoroughly familiar with his particular sphere 
 was placed in charge of him. Silly instructions ceased. He 
 was encouraged to be energetic, to cultivate originality in 
 ideas and action. His labors were intelligently supervised, 
 and no questionable uses were ever made of them. 
 
 He began to manifest powers of which he had not 
 imagined himself capable. He was given scope, told to 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 297 
 
 make suggestions, stimulated to branch out and was given 
 a moderate increase in salary. 
 
 To-day he is doing twice as much work as formerly and 
 voluntarily spending longer hours in accomplishing it. Yet 
 he discovers that there is a joy in striving, in planning, plod- 
 ding and "slaving," that he had never known before. 
 
 Life for him has become Opportunity. The world for 
 him is now a broad field for faithful service. Work, once 
 a plague, is to-day the very elixir of life. Naturally, this 
 young man cannot but succeed. 
 
 I wonder if it is possible for a workman bound down to 
 a certain limit of production to develop this glorious sen- 
 sation? I have known a bricklayer whose hardest task 
 was to not exceed the number of bricks he was supposed 
 to lay. Had he gone ahead as he felt inclined he would 
 have broken the "rules" of his craft and incurred the ire of 
 his fellows. The modern policy of restricting legitimate 
 energy is not only economically unsound, but it is injurious 
 to morals. It stamps out all real joy of service. 
 
 What pleasure can a robust man take in doing less than 
 he is perfectly capable of accomplishing without stress or 
 strain? A full day's pay for less than a full day's work is 
 not conducive to permanent happiness. Freedom to work 
 ought to be every man's birthright. To cripple the develop- 
 ment of a man's powers is wicked. 
 
 The world's work has to be done. The human race can- 
 not be fed and clothed and housed and amused and trans- 
 ported without toil. Machinery is doing much to lighten 
 the burden, and electricity is destined to do a great deal 
 more. New forces will also doubtless be discovered to con- 
 serve bodily exertion. But at this stage of mankind's prog- 
 ress a full measure of work cannot be avoided by any 
 large section without incurring dire complications. 
 
 Has the present high cost cff living, think you, no con- 
 nection with the too widespread doctrine of curtailing men's 
 efforts and output? On reflection you will probably come 
 
298 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 to see that it has. If production be curtailed and consump- 
 tion increased through growth in population and extrava- 
 gance, the keener demand must inevitably intensify bid- 
 ding for supplies. 
 
 Is this not self-evident? 
 
 A friend once asked the late J. P. Morgan why he did 
 not retire. 
 
 "When did your father retire?" he replied. 
 
 He was told. 
 
 "And when did he die?" 
 
 "Oh, in the following year." 
 
 "If he had kept on working he would have been alive 
 still," snapped Mr. Morgan. 
 
 I do not know one conspicuously successful man who 
 was afraid of work when he was young and strong. Do you ? 
 
 The young man who finds that hard work is interest- 
 ing is on the right track. 
 
 A sage was once invited to the home of a man famous for 
 his wealth. He went. Asked afterward how he enjoyed his 
 experience, he said he was disappointed. "When I accept the 
 hospitality of one famous in any direction," he said, in effect, 
 "I expect to get pleasure from the thing for which my host 
 is famous. If I dine with a man of literary fame, I enjoy 
 hearing him discourse on literary subjects. If I go for an 
 evening to the home of a famous singer, I expect to be re- 
 galed by a song. If I visit a philosopher, I enjoy listening to 
 him discourse on the profound problems of life. If I am the 
 guest of a brilliant soldier or an intrepid sailor, I like to have 
 him recount his battles. Naturally, when I was invited to din- 
 ner by a Croesus, I expected him to act the part — I expected 
 to find a thousand-dollar bill on my plate. But I didn't. He 
 was not distinguished for anything but his money, and, as he 
 gave me none of that, why should I spend any of life's precious 
 hours with him ?" 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 299 
 
 WEAKEST LINK IN OUR SOCIAL - ECONOMIC 
 
 CHAIN IS THE SUBMERGED TENTH, THE 
 
 UNDERPAID. UNORGANIZED SECTION 
 
 OF OUR WORKERS— A WORD 
 
 TO EMPLOYERS. 
 
 Mr. Employer, is it policy to trample on the weak 
 simply because they are weak? 
 
 You are careful enough not to tread on the toes of the 
 strong, aren't you? 
 
 Why not mix a little humanity with your expediency 
 in dealing with your different classes of employees? 
 
 "We are not conducting a philanthropic institution — 
 business is business," do you retort? 
 
 True, the old reasoning was that business was a form 
 of war, and that war was what Sherman called it. Ergo, 
 anything and everything was permissible. 
 
 But we have advanced beyond that stage in mankind's 
 progress toward civilization and the brotherhood of the 
 human species. 
 
 Even in war certain rules are laid down and honored. 
 
 Can business afford to lag behind? 
 
 Is it not time corporations of all kinds and also indi- 
 vidual employers learned that it is bad business to be unfair, 
 to be cruel, to be inhuman to fellow mortals simply because 
 they deem themselves defenseless? 
 
 Or, to be more specific: 
 
 Why do many railroads, traction companies, industrial 
 corporations, manufacturers, mill owners, mine owners, 
 mercantile establishments, financial firms and institutions 
 
300 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 and other interests draw a sharp line between their unor- 
 ganized and organized employees? Why do they shame- 
 fully underpay and often overwork the former when they 
 dare not inflict similar treatment upon union workers? 
 
 That such conditions exist will not be denied, I take it. 
 
 Mr. Employer, if you are guilty of such conduct you 
 are on the wrong track. It is not only wrong morally, but 
 it is shortsighted economically, and, if persisted in, will 
 wreck the whole present economic system. 
 
 I don't want to preach humanity ; I want merely to rub 
 in a little common sense, or horsesense, or economic sense, 
 call it which you will. 
 
 The weak link in our social-economic chain is the sub- 
 merged tenth, the half-starved, underpaid, slave-driven, un- 
 organized section of our working people. 
 
 The poverty, the distress and the suffering of our 
 poorly-paid workers, who number millions, supply agitators 
 of every stripe, from the conscientious walking delegate to 
 the scatter-brained anarchist, with dynamite. 
 
 Were every worker in the country treated with the 
 same consideration as employers are compelled to extend 
 to members of powerful unions the revolutionaries would 
 lose their occupation. 
 
 "Nothing is ever settled until it is settled right." To 
 treat one worker as a human being and another worker as a 
 slave simply because he has no strong organization behind 
 him is not right. Therefore, this question will remain un- 
 settled and unsettling until it is settled right. 
 
 The inhuman treatment of millions of unorganized 
 workers, men, women and children, is one of the most 
 deadly cankers now eating at the roots of this republic. 
 
 "Vested interests" — capital — should, without delay, 
 open its eyes to this fundamental fact. If "social justice" 
 be denied under the present economic system, then some 
 other system will inevitably take its place. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 301 
 
 WHY DO WE WORSHIP MONEY, YET DAMN 
 
 THOSE WHO HAVE IT? OTHER LANDS LESS 
 
 BITTER AGAINST THEIR BUSINESS LEADERS. 
 
 Why is it that we worship money yet damn those who 
 have it? 
 
 We want to get riches, but we despise the rich, do 
 we not? 
 
 How do you account for this? 
 
 Is the too-prevalent hostility to capitalists born of 
 envy? Does our own failure to win coveted wealth em- 
 bitter us against those who have succeeded? 
 
 Is there not danger of carrying anti-capital feeling too 
 far? 
 
 In other lands rich people are not execrated. Govern- 
 ments, politicians, newspapers and labor leaders do not 
 constantly criticise and harass them. A steady stream of 
 abuse is not poured upon their heads. 
 
 Will the explanation be offered that that is because the 
 rich people of other nations made their money more hon- 
 estly than ours? Such an assertion would not be flattering 
 to our laws or our business ethics. 
 
 Nobody will accuse me of toadying to the rich or of 
 having been behindhand in urging reforms calculated to 
 bring corporations and capitalists under reasonable control 
 and to punish individual wrongdoers instead of corpora- 
 tions. 
 
 May I venture, therefore, to ask these questions and 
 invite consideration of them : 
 
 Has the time not arrived to ponder well whether we 
 
302 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 may not injure the country and its whole industrial struc- 
 ture if we do not modify our anti-capital attitude and seek 
 reforms to insure future welldoing rather than revenge for 
 past deeds which, in the light of current advanced ideas, 
 now appear misdeeds? 
 
 Is it not time to reflect that men who have honestly 
 provided employment for large bodies of workers are worth 
 much to a country? 
 
 Should we not temper our hostility to the rich if their 
 riches are the sole objection we have to them ? 
 
 A young country needs capital and — under our present 
 order of things — needs capitalists. We also need corpora- 
 tions. We need big corporations. 
 
 To foster ill-will toward men who have made their 
 mark in commerce of any description — provided they made 
 it by fair means — is wrong. The eiifect upon the mind of 
 able, ambitious youths is poisonous. It tends to restrain 
 enterprise. It engenders class-versus-mass bitterness. It is 
 not fair play. 
 
 Seeing we are anxious to make money ourselves, why 
 bear senseless malice toward those who are where we want 
 to be? Our attitude toward plutocrats is one I cannot 
 analyze — at least, not with results creditable to ourselves. 
 
 Speculation should be left to those who can afford to 
 incur risks and to lose money, to those who have special op- 
 portunities for gathering and analyzing basic information, to 
 those whose regular duties do not call for much time or 
 thought — for speculation is insidious ; it excites, it enervates, 
 it distracts attention from other matters, it often unbalances 
 judgment, it sometimes develops into a mania and ends in dis- 
 aster. "There are two classes of people who should not specu- 
 late," said a wise man; "those who can afford it, and those 
 who can't." 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 303 
 
 THE CRIME OF SEVEN-DAY LABOR AND ONE 
 TRAGEDY RESULTING THEREFROM — 
 WORKERS NOT THE PROPERTY OF 
 EMPLOYERS, TO BE CONSIDERED 
 LESS THAN HORSES— A PRO- 
 TEST AND A PLEA. 
 
 It was bound to happen. No other upshot could have 
 been expected. And yet, now that it has happened, I 
 can scarce refrain from dipping my pen in gall. 
 
 Here is the story — alas, sternly true, not hypothetical, 
 not imaginative, for I know the victim well and esteem 
 him: 
 
 Sentenced by his employers to work year-in, year-out, 
 365 days a year, he stood up against it for more than a 
 decade. Year after year, in frost and rain, in sleet and' 
 heat, he toiled on daily-day, rising every morning at 2 
 o'clock and not returning home until nightfall, plodding 
 along arduously and faithfully. But even human flesh and 
 blood have limitations. Something had to give way. No 
 mortal possessed of the frailties, the appetites and the as- 
 pirations common to human kind could lead such a life 
 of slavery without failing or falling. There simply HAD 
 to be some color infused into such a drab, depressing, dis- 
 heartening existence. And so it came about, after seven- 
 teen years of all-too-faithful service, that he looked on the 
 wine cup and from it sought the consolation that his lot 
 denied him. 
 
 He has just been cast aside, thrown on the street, like 
 a piece of faulty machinery — his work, of course, includ- 
 
304 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 ing the collection of money, having been done unsatisfac- 
 torily since the strain drove him to tippling. 
 
 At his home are a wife and young children. 
 
 Who drove that man to the borders of hell? 
 
 On whose shoulders rests the guilt? 
 
 By whom was his sentence to slavery and its inevitable 
 result imposed? 
 
 From whom is society entitled to demand amends? 
 
 Do employers — individual or corporate — imagine that 
 they OWN men, that they can use them as slaves or chat- 
 tels? Are they blind to the fact that citizens belong to 
 the State, and that when they maltreat citizens they commit 
 a crime not alone against the individuals but against the 
 Commonwealth ? 
 
 By what right, divine or human, does a corporation 
 misuse citizens so? 
 
 Was not slavery abolished in this great land once and 
 for all? 
 
 Where is another Lincoln to stop such diabolical prac- 
 tices as here outlined, with their pitiful consequences? 
 
 Is it not a national disgrace that rich, powerful cor- 
 porations, headed, as this one is headed, by pleasure-seek- 
 ing multi-millionaires, should be allowed BY LAW to work 
 citizens of this republic seven days a week year after year ? 
 
 Where is our public conscience? 
 
 What account have our lawmakers to give of their 
 stewardships when such conditions are sanctioned by them ? 
 
 Is it not enough to make the blood boil? 
 
 Can we wonder if Socialism spreads over the land 
 like a prairie fire? 
 
 Seven-day labor is a disgrace to any country. It is 
 doubly a disgrace to this "Land of the Free and the Home 
 of the Brave." 
 
 God knows I have tried in my humble way, by speech 
 and by pen, to preach a more humane doctrine. It has 
 been up-hill work. So many employers are so smugly 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 305 
 
 content, so passive to cruelty to their workers that they 
 would not tolerate to their horses, that nothing short of a 
 revolution apparently is able to arouse them to a sense of 
 their responsibility— AND THEIR DANGER. 
 
 Here is a letter I received from the Labor Commis- 
 sioner of the State of New York. 
 
 Dear Sir — I have read with much interest your letter 
 of March 18, with inclosures, regarding the day of rest law. 
 
 I am in favor of the extension of this law so as to 
 include in its benefits employees in other than mercantile 
 establishments and factories. Where the complaint you 
 forward indicates violations of the existing law prompt 
 action will be taken by this department for its enforcement. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 JAMES M. LYNCH, 
 
 Commissioner. 
 
 Every politician who elects to vote against a law Com- 
 pelling employers to- release men one day in seven ought to 
 be branded for political annihilation. "Six days shalt thou 
 labor." That is the commandment, clear, unequivocal. 
 The guilty are not the poor, ill-paid unfortunates who break 
 it, but those who command them to break it. 
 
 I know a hundred — a thousand — "economic" and 
 "practical" excuses can be trotted out by employers for 
 flouting this commandment. But a million reasons cannot 
 turn wrong into right. And who will dare stand up in the 
 open and contend before the world that it is RIGHT to sen- 
 tence human beings, fellow-mortals, made of the same flesh 
 and blood as themselves, to toil on day by day, week by 
 week, month by month, year by year, with never a respite, 
 never a rest, never an opportunity for recreation? 
 
 The whole thing is iniquitous. 
 
 If any employer — individual or corporation — is too dull 
 of conscience to realize the inhumanity of seven-day labor, 
 it is the bounden duty of the State to prod him — and prod 
 him unceremoniously — into a quickened state of mind. 
 
306 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 SENTIMENT IN BUSINESS IS GOOD BUSINESS, 
 AS CORPORATIONS AND OTHER LARGE 
 EMPLOYERS ARE LEARNING— AN 
 EVOLUTION OF IMPORT- 
 ANCE TO THE REPUB- 
 LIC'S STABILITY. 
 
 Sentiment in business is good business. 
 
 The largest corporations, employing thousands of men, 
 need it most of all. Without right sentiment between em- 
 ployers and employed no great enterprise can last. 
 
 Now, go ahead and tear these statements to pieces, rule- 
 of-thumb economic critics, multiplication-table statisticians, 
 machine-like efficiency experts, and employers who hold aloof 
 from your workmen. You can prove by cold, bloodless logic 
 that business is business, that the taskmaster must not be 
 swerved by sentiment, that men — and women — are but produc- 
 tive machines which must be "speeded up" to produce the last 
 cent's worth of toil. Sentiment is puerile, effeminate, flabby 
 stuff, is it not? It is all very well for the nursery, for the 
 church and the home circle, but in the mad rush for wealth it 
 must expect to be trampled and crushed. 
 
 One fatal weakness of the corporate form of doing busi- 
 ness has been the almost complete annihilation of sentiment 
 between those at the head and those below. But the most en- 
 lightened corporations have determined to cure this evil. 
 
 To restore a right esprit de corps between wage payers 
 and wage earners is among the biggest problems facing Amer- 
 ica. It is not merely an industrial or economic problem ; it lies 
 at the very foundation of our social and political structure. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 307 
 
 How much of the rampant discontent of recent years has 
 sprung from the coldness and heartlessness existing between 
 employees and those employing them? Half the swellings 
 of dissatisfaction have come from a lack of sympathy be- 
 tween the modern capitalistic combination and its workers. 
 The old bond of affection that often existed between an em- 
 ployer and his servants was snapped when the trusts thrust 
 individually owned businesses aside. The new masters too 
 often made no effort to foster a spirit of understanding, 
 sympathy, loyalty and confidence. The relationship be- 
 came one of cold dollars and cents. The personal equation 
 vanished. The trust's sole concern (in far too many cases) 
 was to make money — even at the cost of unmaking men, of 
 turning them into mannikins or machines. 
 
 The hand of the servant was thus turned against his mas- 
 ter. Discontent, bad blood, agitation flourished like weeds. 
 Upheavals threatened to shake the foundations of the Repub- 
 lic. A readjustment of conditions became imperative. 
 
 This readjustment is now under way. It consists 
 largely of the restoration of sentiment and consideration 
 in business. 
 
 Did you notice that President Mellen, of the New 
 Haven, when pressed almost to the wall, before his dismis- 
 sal, announced that he would begin holding regular audi- 
 ences with his men, hearing their complaints, learning their 
 point of view and getting acquainted ? 
 
 And have not the newspapers been filled with descriptions 
 of new pension schemes for workers, sick benefits, workmen's 
 compensation measures, cost-price stores for employees and 
 their families, profit-sharing plans, stock offerings and special 
 bonuses thereon to workers, the voluntary granting of a mini- 
 mum wage scale, improved hygienic conditions in factories 
 and other workshops, the establishment of recreation halls, 
 lunch rooms and a hundred other benefits? All these are in 
 reality threads designed to bind together employed and em- 
 
308 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 ployer, to restore the bonds of affection that formerly meant 
 so much for industrial peace. 
 
 What measure of the Pennsylvania Railroad's unexam- 
 pled success, for example, has been due to the cordial rela- 
 tions that have been constantly fostered between officers and 
 men? 
 
 Sentiment in business, it has been learned — though in most 
 instances learned unconsciously — is good business. Tremen- 
 dous forces are at work along these lines even though the large 
 significance of events has not yet been grasped by the av- 
 erage mind intent upon its own immediate concerns. 
 
 I have noticed, however, that the least industrious work- 
 ers are oftentimes the loudest grumblers. Bad workmen, says 
 the proverb, quarrel with their tools. The one who strives 
 least to better his condition is usually the one who prates most 
 about his right to better conditions. 
 
 Wisdom, brilliancy, wit, music, can be part of a man, in 
 him. They can give him charm, they can give him character, 
 they can raise him above his fellows. But money — money is 
 on the outside. It is not an inward quality. It is detached. It 
 does not enter into the man's make-up. Not long ago I was 
 introduced to a multi-millionaire. I did not catch his name 
 at the time. I talked with him, heard him talk and noted 
 how he spent a social evening. I remarked to an intimate 
 friend that I had not met a more objectionable person in years. 
 
 "Why," he said, "that's , one of the men Carnegie made 
 
 a millionaire over-night, but could not make him a gentleman." 
 My friend could not have expressed the truth more aptly. 
 The millions had not penetrated beyond the fellow's pockets — 
 except that they had served to inspire him with confidence in 
 his ill-bred behavior. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 309 
 
 SUCCESS AND HOW A MAN EARNING $25 AT- 
 TAINED IT IN BRIMFUL MEASURE WITH- 
 OUT BECOMING DOLLAR-RICH. 
 
 One of the most successful men I have ever known earns 
 the equivalent of $25 a week. 
 
 He is not famous outside his own little town. He has 
 never done a spectacular thing in his life. His name has never 
 been in a metropolitan newspaper. He has contributed nothing 
 new to science, to art, to literature, to religion or to any "ology" 
 or "ism." His bank account, I dare say, is not far up in the 
 thousands. Measured by the dollar yardstick, his career has 
 been a failure. 
 
 Why, then, do I describe this obscure, unwealthy man as 
 successful beyond his fellows? 
 
 Before answering, permit a digression. I used to talk 
 weekly to a wideawake lot of youths on general, everyday, 
 human subjects. What, do you think, interested them most? 
 Not morals, not sports, not goody-goody matters, not adven- 
 ture, not travel. Nearly every time the topic was left to them 
 to choose they replied: "Tell us how the richest men in this 
 country made their money to begin with." Sometimes they 
 wanted to hear of intimate incidents which young lads en- 
 countered in business — the ones who "got on." The test of 
 success, as understood and applied by this class of youths, 
 was, of course, money. 
 
 Once they asked: "Who is the most successful person 
 you know?" I replied: "A man earning less than $25 a 
 week." They could not believe I was in earnest. So I had 
 to explain. 
 
310 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 This successful man's character was so genuinely, so con- 
 sistently good, so far above reproach, that he had an elevating 
 influence upon his fellow-citizens. He reared a family of seven 
 sons and daughters, each one of whom followed in his foot- 
 steps. He was an ardent advocate of temperance and prac- 
 tised it in every form. He was an enthusiastic worker for his 
 church. He labored humbly but ardently for civic righteous- 
 ness and happiness. His townsmen became so deeply im- 
 pressed with his qualities as a man that — at first against his 
 will — they called him to an honorary seat on the municipal 
 board of government. Here his work proved so valuable that 
 higher civic honors were bestowed, and had it not been for the 
 fact that his daily labors prevented, he would have been elected 
 to the highest office in the city, the equivalent of Mayor. 
 
 But it was his purely domestic life that most impressed 
 me — I had peculiar opportunity to know and study it. 
 
 Not long ago a Western lady, the newspapers told us, 
 sought and obtained a divorce because her husband was fault- 
 less — never stayed out too late, never got drunk, never swore 
 at her, gave her everything she wanted and always treated her 
 with the greatest kindness. She simply could not "stand" him, 
 he was so exasperatingly good. This same lady would cer- 
 tainly have divorced the man of whom I speak. He was like 
 that — plus! Yet in thirty years of married life there had 
 never been a family quarrel. Nor did his children hate him 
 — he was the best of chums they had. I knew him almost 
 as well as they did, and my feelings toward him were the 
 same as those who insisted upon honoring him with public 
 office. 
 
 And he was supremely happy. 
 
 I succeeded in convincing the youths that this man's life 
 was a success. Only, these lads were not old enough to be 
 cynical, not old enough to sneer at homely virtues ; but young 
 enough, despite their inherited ideas of the almightiness of 
 the dollar, to recognize that there are some other things 
 worth while, after all. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 311 
 
 YOU AND I, NOT THE COMPANIES, FOOT THE 
 
 BILL WHEN RAILWAYMEN, COAL MINERS 
 
 OR OTHER WORKERS DEMAND AND 
 
 GET AN INCREASE IN WAGES. 
 
 We all work for reward. 
 
 The multi-millionaire often despises money, but covets 
 power. Others aspire to social recognition. Most of us strive 
 to gain material recompense for our services, for the greater 
 the reward the more "comfortable" we can make life for our- 
 selves and those associated with us. The multi-millionaire may 
 be as unselfish as the minister who earns a thousand dollars a 
 year and apparently gives away twice that sum. 
 
 Altruism and poverty are not necessarily twin brothers. 
 Neither are plutocracy and grasping greed. 
 
 Is it not just as uncalled for to condemn a man to-day 
 because he is rich as it was to worship him years ago ? 
 
 But this little excursion does not bring us to the particular 
 point to be discussed. This is the rise in wages that has been 
 going on here, there and everywhere. We are so constituted — 
 fortunately — that when we hear of workers demanding more 
 pay our sympathies involuntarily go out to them. "By all 
 means give them an increase" we either mentally or orally re- 
 mark. The sentiment is laudable. It is most humane. It 
 does credit to our hearts. But what of our heads? Do the 
 public realize that they must pay every extra dollar granted 
 the textile workers, the miners, the railway engineers and 
 every other set of workers? 
 
 When the question of advancing wages arises the query 
 each one of us should put to ourselves is not "Should the em- 
 
312 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 ployers grant the increase ?" It is "Should we grant the increase 
 asked ?" For we — you and I and every other user of the things 
 needful for this life — have in the long run to settle the wage 
 sheet. 
 
 I am not arguing against advances — that is not the matter 
 imder consideration. I simply want to have the bearings of 
 the whole problem properly understood. The burden is not 
 merely one for the employer to bear. YOU must bear your 
 share. Are YOU prepared to pay the additional charge that 
 will be made for your clothing, your foodstuffs, your fuel, 
 building materials, etc., etc. ? If so, then you can with good 
 grace advocate the granting of the concessions that are be- 
 ing asked by so many workers in various lines. But do 
 not act on the assumption that the fight is solely between 
 the employer and the employee. YOU are the employer. 
 The services rendered, the things made or mined or trans- 
 ported are not for the use of the individuals or companies 
 paying out the wages ; they are for your use and you do the 
 paying. 
 
 Have you ever been in a restaurant with some one who 
 took a delight in wasting such things as hadn't to be paid for 
 directly? Remonstrance would bring the retort that it didn't 
 matter, as no charge could be made. No? Who stands the 
 needless, wicked loss? The proprietor? Not for an instant! 
 The cost is written into your bill, and not only into your bill, 
 but into the bill of every other patron. The stuff wasted has 
 to be paid for by somebody, hasn't it? 
 
 Each one of us is part and parcel of that great machine, 
 the world, and though we cannot perhaps trace our connection 
 with most of the economic happenings, these happenings do 
 react upon the condition of each one of us. The "free" bread 
 and butter wasted in the restaurant enter into economic 
 calculations. 
 
 So, when we read that this and the next class of labor 
 wants more pay, let us ask whether we ought to grant it. If, 
 after realizing clearly our relation to the matter, we still favor 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 313 
 
 the side of generosity, all right. Only remember we cannot 
 "soak" the bosses without "soaking" ourselves. 
 
 All this is very elementary, of course, but it may not be 
 untimely. 
 
 A boy came to see me the other day in the hope that I 
 might find a job for him. "What kind of work would you like 
 best?" I asked. "I'll take anything," he replied. "Yes; but 
 suppose you had your choice, what line would you choose?" 
 He gazed blankly. "I don't know," he finally drawled. "Surely 
 you have some idea of the kind of job you would pick if you 
 had your choice?" I asked, encouragingly. "No; I never 
 thought about it at all," he confessed. Yet he was about six- 
 teen years old, and had been trying for months to find a place. 
 A second boy, whose family had suffered a sudden misfortune, 
 came on a similar mission. He had been looking forward to 
 a full education, but had been compelled to drop school and 
 seek employment in order to contribute to the family purse. 
 He was just over fifteen. "Have you had time to think about 
 what you would like to do ?" I asked him. "Yes, sir ; I want to 
 get into a shipping office," was the immediate response. 
 "Why?" I asked. "Because I like ships, and have learned as 
 much as I could about them." He did not tell me, but I found 
 that this lad could tell at a glance as they steamed through the 
 Narrows almost every ship entering New York harbor. He 
 could distinguish the ships of each line, knew their regular 
 saihng days, was familiar with the routes covered by each 
 company, and was full of enthusiasm over the romance, not so 
 much of the sea, as of the foreign trade. Two positions were 
 offered him immediately, and he promptly began work in an 
 importing house, where his knowledge and his ambition can 
 be turned to good account. The other lad promised to return, 
 but failed to keep his word. Now, which of these youths is 
 likely to make his mark? Which are you training your boy 
 to resemble? 
 
314 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 HE SAVED HUMAN LIFE— GEORGE WESTING- 
 HOUSE GREAT AS AN INVENTOR BUT 
 GREATER AS A MAN AND A HU- 
 MANITARIAN. 
 
 He saved human life. 
 
 One of Nature's noblemen has left this world. 
 
 Great though George Westinghouse was as an inventor, he 
 was greater as a man. A giant in stature, his character was 
 still more impressive. 
 
 Some men are too trustful, too guileless to hold their own 
 against less scrupulous mortals. That was my thought when 
 Westinghouse talked with me frankly one day when financial 
 burdens were pressing heavily upon him after the upheaval of 
 1907, and when others were trying to wrest from his hands 
 the gigantic enterprise his genius had built up. His suc- 
 cessor as head of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufac- 
 turing Company had spent much time demonstrating to me, 
 by facts and figures, how inevitable it was to instal new 
 control of the property. And yet — well, it was tragic, for 
 George Westinghouse was bigger than all his opponents 
 lumped into one. His name will live long after they have 
 sunk into oblivion. 
 
 Westinghouse breathed honesty. And therefore he in- 
 spired loyalty. His ability to inspire men was not less notable 
 than his ability to harness air and electricity. Never once in all 
 his long career did he have trouble among his thousands 
 upon thousands of workers. His own example of industry, 
 his innate sense of justice, his broad sympathies, his in- 
 herent democracy begot loyalty, affection even, among his 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 315 
 
 co-workers all down the scale. He said once what many a 
 large-scale employer unhappily cannot say to-day: 
 
 "I have been able, in the management of industrial con- 
 cerns, by giving careful consideration to the feelings and rights 
 of my fellow-men for over forty years, peacefully to conduct 
 large operations without disputes or strife, and my interests 
 have been generously repaid by a like consideration shown by 
 my employees." 
 
 Westinghouse could supply that subtle "something" which 
 the modern corporation, with all its capital, so far has failed 
 to evolve for creating the esprit de corps, the camaraderie, 
 the loyalty so necessary to harmony and success in hand- 
 ling many men and conducting huge enterprises. And this 
 must be counted not the least notworthy of Westinghouse's 
 achievements. 
 
 Westinghouse put achievement before dollars. He set out 
 to invent, not to get rich. The wealth that came to him be- 
 cause of his ceaseless energy wedded to inventive genius was 
 with him an incident, rather than the goal of life. He was too 
 big a man to worship the golden calf when there were so many 
 new worlds of knowledge to explore and conquer. Hence, 
 when reverses overtook his enterprises, scattered over the civ- 
 ilized world, he was not crushed, he did not turn sour. In- 
 stead, he applied himself with redoubled determination to pro- 
 duce something of real worth to mankind. 
 
 The average American, I fear, does not know the place 
 Westinghouse won in the world — won by dint of brain-sweat 
 through long hours of toil day by day, brain-sweat and grit and 
 faith and confidence and an imagination that, though having 
 wings, never soared too far above the actualities of earth. Read 
 this tribute paid him a few years ago by Lord Kelvin, perhaps 
 the greatest scientist of his day : 
 
 "George Westinghouse is one of the great contributors 
 to human advancement. The railway, as we know it to- 
 day, would have been impossible without his work, and 
 
316 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 the electrical development we know to-day would have 
 long halted without his daring and resourcefulness. He 
 IS a great engineer and a great man." 
 
 What Marconi has done to save the lives of those who 
 travel by sea, Westinghouse before the era of electricity did 
 to save the lives of those traveling by rail. While yet a lad his 
 bent toward invention became marked and after the interrup- 
 tion of the Civil War — when he served first on land and then 
 on sea — ^he returned to his calling, patenting his epochal air 
 brake before he was twenty-two years of age. 
 
 The need for it was forcibly brought home to him by a 
 collision between two freight trains while he was on a jour- 
 ney from Schenectady to Troy, in 1866. He conceived the 
 idea that, if a brake could have been applied to all the 
 wheels of the trains, the accident could have been averted. 
 Let him tell what happened next: 
 
 "I came across an account of the tunnelling of Mount 
 Cenis by machinery driven by compressed air conveyed through 
 3,000 feet of pipes. This account of the use of compressed air 
 instantly indicated that brake apparatus of the kind contem- 
 plated for operation by steam could be operated by means of 
 compressed air upon any length of train." 
 
 Westinghouse learned how to stop trains, but not how to 
 stop his own incessant labors. Like Edison, he was a dy- 
 namo in breeches. Air, steam, gas, electricity all were 
 directed by him into uses for the incalculable benefit of 
 mankind. He harnessed Niagara, he tamed natural gas 
 and made it do service to man, he rendered travel by rail 
 safe at high speed, he shortened ocean voyages by cutting 
 down the time consumed by them. In a word, he length- 
 ened human life and made it safer. 
 
 And, not of less moment in the final summing up of things, 
 he left the rest of us an example worthy of emulation. 
 
 J. P. Morgan is not a second J. J. Morgan. But he is not 
 a cipher. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 317 
 
 MONEY IS TO LIFE WHAT SALT IS TO FOOD: A 
 
 LITTLE IS VERY NECESSARY, A LOT IS 
 
 NOT — DO MILLIONAIRES OR 
 
 WORKMEN SMILE OFTENER? 
 
 Money is to life what salt is to food ; a little is very neces- 
 sary, but a lot is not — spoils things, in fact. 
 
 "Millionaires seldom smile," Andrew Carnegie once re- 
 marked. That is the truth. 
 
 Take a thousand millionaires and a thousand workmen. 
 Which group, think you, can sleep the better and eat the bet- 
 ter ? Which enjoy the better health ? Which have the greater 
 capacity for recreation? Which have the quieter mind? 
 Which have the more peaceable home life? Which have 
 more true friends for their own sake? Which have the 
 more tranquil, satisfying lives? 
 
 MiUionaires are of two classes, broadly speaking; those 
 who are slaves to business and those who are slaves to pleas- 
 ure. Neither is to be greatly envied. The exceptions — and 
 there are quite a number, of course — observe moderation in all 
 things. They do not live to themselves. They accept their 
 wealth as an instrument to be used for the betterment of hu- 
 manity. They look upon themselves as stewards. They spend 
 a rational amount of time and thought on giving as well as on 
 getting, in distributing as well as accumulating. They both 
 work and play. They are, in short, worthy citizens. 
 
 But the extra-rich slave of business is to be pitied almost 
 as much as the slave to pleasure. He works harder than any 
 of his workmen. Neither his body nor his brain get sufficient 
 rest. He wears out his health and his life prematurely and dies 
 
318 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 rich in dollars but poor in everything else. America has pro- 
 duced more of these men than all other nations combined. The 
 firm of J. P. Morgan & Co. has killed more than one partner — 
 Coster fell down exhausted, literally worked to death. Edward 
 H. Harriman died from overwork, from starvation of his vital- 
 ity. John D. Rockefeller almost killed himself before he saw 
 the light. Other Standard Oil magnates committed slow sui- 
 cide by an overdose of duties. 
 
 I know several millionaires to-day who also are commit- 
 ting suicide by overwork. 
 
 Of the millionaires who are pleasure-mad little need be 
 said. They are contemptible. They are enemies of the Re- 
 public. They are subversive of our institutions. They are 
 worse than parasites. They win little genuine happiness for 
 themselves and stir up unhappiness, envy, malice, hatred and 
 anarchism in others. 
 
 The truth is that few multi-millionaires are to be en- 
 vied. Skeletons are more numerous in Fifth avenue and 
 Newport closets than in places of less pomp. 
 
 There is such a thing as being deplorably rich. 
 
 There is also such a thing as being deplorably poor. 
 You remember the formula which (Americanized) reads : 
 Income, $10; expenditures, $9.50 — balance, happiness. In- 
 come, $10; expenditures, $10.50 — balance, misery. The prob- 
 lem of many thousands — ^yes, several millions — in this land of 
 plenty is to escape this adverse balance, to escape the misery 
 of debt. Those who cannot, by any amount of prudence, fru- 
 gality and labor, make ends meet cannot, of course, attain real 
 happiness. The problem of aiding the great body of the un- 
 derpaid, however, is to be taken up in earnest and something 
 tangible can and will be accomplished. 
 
 Those of us, however, who can keep our heads comfort- 
 ably above water, who can save moderately by being reason- 
 ably thrifty and who are not haunted by the spectre of poverty 
 in old age, need not envy the excessively rich or even the or- 
 dinary millionaire. We can derive satisfaction from sources 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 319 
 
 that they know not of. Our strivings and our self-sacrifices 
 pay us big dividends in happiness. Gifts or services that en- 
 tail no self-denial bring few such dividends. 
 
 Let me tell those whose lot never brings them in contact 
 with the abnormally rich that the latter are pretty ordinary sort 
 of chaps as a rule, not a whit less free from worry than the 
 rest of us. There is no glamor about them. They occupy no 
 pedestals. 
 
 I know of a soldier who was on duty at the stateroom 
 door of the King and Queen of England during their last visit 
 to India. He could hear the Queen nagging her royal hus- 
 band in very everyday language, and finally the King retorted : 
 
 "For sake, woman, hold your tongue 1" And the soldier 
 
 instantly felt brother to the King. 
 
 If we only knew the inner life of our multi-millionaires 
 we would not make the mistake of envying them. We would 
 learn that an overdose of money is apt to be poisonous. 
 
 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad directors recently held 
 a meeting, not, as usual, in New York, but in Baltimore. This 
 typifies the new spirit in finance. It reflects the growing 
 tendency of the country's leading financiers to look beyond 
 New York and go beyond New York. It illustrates the in- 
 creasing desire of financiers to get nearer the public, to rub 
 shoulders more with those whom the enterprises they control 
 serve. It is a symptom of the movement toward decentraliza- 
 tion of power. It is a recognition of the fact, too often over- 
 looked in the past, that New York is neither the whole nor the 
 axis of the United States. It signifies, in short, that our finan- 
 ciers are broadening their gauge, that they are striving to de- 
 velop qualities of statesmanship, that they are seeking to meas- 
 ure up to their responsibilities. Other boards of directors of 
 properties located elsewhere will, no doubt, realize the pru- 
 dence of periodically meeting outside of New York at centres 
 served by their companies. 
 
320 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 UNITED STATES, SATIATED WITH RIOTOUS 
 LIVING, ENTERING PERIOD OF REFOR- 
 MATION—MANY PRAISEWORTHY 
 MOVEMENTS NOW IN 
 PROGRESS. 
 
 I believe that the United States, satiated with riotous liv- 
 ing, is entering a reformation — ^moral, financial, industrial, mer- 
 cantile, social. 
 
 "Money-worship, extravagance, vulgar ostentation, volup- 
 tuousness, immorality in high places have never been more 
 rampant than they are to-day," you may assert. 
 
 "Than they were yesterday," I would say, for I can see 
 several signs of reform — some signs very distinct and a few 
 much less distinct, even vague, shadowy and intangible as yet. 
 
 Money-worship has cooled. The dollar has proved that it 
 is not "almighty." As an idol, it has been found wanting. It 
 has turned out to have feet of clay. The High Priests of 
 Finance began to realize this about seven years ago. Until 
 then they believed the $ was an irresistible charm, a key to all 
 power, a lever that could move men and women, the whole 
 earth, even. Possession of the charm was the thing, no mat- 
 ter by what means possession might be attained. They have 
 since learned the cold truth. The people, instead of falling 
 down before cunning, scheming High Priests of Finance, have 
 thrown them out of the temple and spat upon them. 
 
 The experience has been chastening. The American Fin- 
 ancier of to-day is a very dififerent being from the American 
 Financier of ten years ago. He has lost much of his arrogance. 
 He has learned that the $ has limitations when wielded with- 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 321 
 
 out regard for others. He has learned that, after all, he, too, 
 has a master. The Lilliputians have shown themselves more 
 than a match for obstreperous giants. To-day the wise giants 
 are bending to the will of the Lilliputians. 
 
 Have you not noticed a transformation, a reformation, 
 in the attitude, in the whole life of our leaders in finance, in 
 industry, in railroading, in commerce ? Politics, the mirror of 
 social conditions; reflects the change. 
 
 Big Business is cleaner to-day than at any time since Big 
 Business had its birth. And this higher moral tone is per- 
 colating through every strata of activity. 
 
 Never in any other country were there so many earnest 
 movements afoot for the betterment and uplift of humanity — 
 the laborer, the artisan, the farmer, the factory worker, the 
 sweatshop slave, the tenement mother, the child laborer, the 
 unfortunate, the sick, the consumptive, the school boy and 
 school girl, the college student, the teacher, the scientist. The 
 purses of the wealthy are being opened wider than any nation 
 has ever before known. There is very vieing among the ultra- 
 rich in the boundlessness of their giving. 
 
 A spirit of thrift is manifesting itself among the American 
 people. And thrift is poor food for wantonness. 
 
 The recent epidemic of sensuous dances and immodest 
 dressing will probably mark the climax of the period of that 
 riotousness of which the people have had a surfeit. 
 
 So small an incident as the deliberate slowing down of 
 our world-famous express trains is, to my mind, significant of 
 the new movement toward sobriety and reason. 
 
 Business men are planning to enter the political arena, not 
 as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as business men, and, if 
 possible, to gain the balance of power between the two parties. 
 
322 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 MILLIONAIRES AND MONEYMAKING— ONE, NO- 
 TABLY SUCCESSFUL, DESCRIBES THE 
 THINGS THAT ARE REALLY WORTH 
 WHILE— ACHIEVEMENT, NOT 
 MONEY, YIELDS HAPPINESS 
 
 "What are the things really worth while doing?" I asked 
 one of America's best-known financiers as he closed his desk 
 after a day of turbulent, nerve-wrecking toil. "Suppose you 
 had finished your race and, 'after life's fitful fever,' were look- 
 ing back, what would give you most satisfaction?" 
 
 He buried his head in his hands for several minutes. 
 
 "You mean what constitutes a genuinely successful man ?" 
 he at last asked. "What aflfords the deepest satisfaction ?" 
 
 I replied, "Yes," and he returned to thoughtland. 
 
 This man, though only fifty years old, has been conspicu- 
 ously successful as a banker, as an active director of railroads, 
 as an industrial upbuilder, as a manager of men and as a stu- 
 dent of public affairs. He started from scratch, having neither 
 money nor influence, while his education was won after the 
 day's work. He has not retired — far from it. He is still in the 
 thick of the fray, planning and toiling and achieving, rising 
 higher and higher, though in his special field he is at the top- 
 most rung. 
 
 His definition of what's worth while is therefore of in- 
 terest. 
 
 "A man can leave no better monument than an or- 
 ganization, an establishment, conducted on honorable lines 
 and giving employment to hundreds or thousands of his 
 fellow-men at wages which enable them to live happitly. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 323 
 
 To create such a business, to build it up, stone upon stone, 
 to invest it with all the elements of stability so that it will 
 endure— that is worth doing. To supply men with reason- 
 ably profitable employment, to give them the means of 
 rearing families in decency and comfort — that is something 
 one can look back upon without regret. 
 
 "Or, take railroad building. To supply a country in need 
 of transportation with a good railroad, and then have the pleas- 
 ure of watching the people prosper as a result of your 
 efforts — that is one of the grandest achievements I know. 
 You can thus add to the sum total of human happiness. 
 You cause two blades of grass to grow where only one grew 
 before. You aid the development of the country along 
 legitimate lines. You build. You raise a monument more 
 enviable than one of marble, useless, unproductive. 
 
 "Any work well done, anything worthy into which you 
 throw yourself gives satisfaction of the right kind. In olden 
 days a man would make a goblet of exquisite beauty and he 
 would love it. To-day there can be just as much romance in 
 planning and erecting, say, an electric power station which 
 sends out its wonderful miracle-working current to turn the 
 world's wheels. The smooth operation of the plant, its infinite 
 capabilities, the beautiful symmetry of its machinery, its use- 
 fulness — ^all these can appeal to a man's soul. The man who 
 builds such a plant has created something, and there is no joy 
 equalling that of creation." 
 
 "What part does money-making play in a multi-million- 
 aire's life ?" I asked. 
 
 "At first it is important— it is necessary. You naturally 
 want a home for your family and enough money to insure that 
 you will not be turned out of it. After that you need money 
 to play the game, so to speak. You want, of course, to get into 
 the blue-chip class. 
 
 "Then, when you have made all you can possibly need for 
 the ordinary demands of life, money-making becomes a mere 
 matter of bookkeeping. You cannot eat it. You cannot drink 
 
324 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 it. You cannot wear it. You cannot carry it about with you. 
 You watch whether you are gaining or losing as the state of 
 your bank account tells you whether you are utilizing your 
 energies intelligently or whether you are going backward. 
 
 "But money is only an incidental. It is your work that 
 counts. Your plans absorb your attention. Achievement, not 
 money, yields satisfaction. 
 
 "And let me add that a tremendous change has taken place 
 in the consciences of our so-called successful men. Twelve 
 years ago things were done that would not be dreamt of to- 
 day. Mind you, these things were not then regarded as wrong ; 
 it was simply that Httle regard was paid to the ethics or the 
 influence of certain acts. The evolution — or regeneration, if 
 you want to call it that — has not been brought about by fear. 
 No, not by fear. There has been an impressive awakening 
 of conscience — yes, that is the only way I can describe it. 
 It is especially — very especially — marked in the case of the 
 younger generation of our men of affairs. They are more 
 punctilious concerning the collateral effects of their actions. 
 The rights and the interests of other people are more zeal- 
 ously regarded and respected. 
 
 "In short, a sharper line is now drawn between the things 
 that are worth while and the things that mean only money." 
 
 The governing classes of to-morrow, both in republics 
 and monarchies, are to be the working people, not rich para- 
 sites, not effeminate descendants of once worthy families, not 
 men notable only for their aristocratic or plutocratic births. 
 I am no revolutionist. I am no socialist. I am no anarchist. 
 I wish to spread no noisy alarm. But I do wish to impress 
 upon the "upper" the necessity for treating the "lower" classes 
 with scrupulous justice, with consideration, with what at this 
 day may appear generosity. To perpetrate tyrannies, to prac- 
 tise cruelty, overbearance, arrogance, were to lay up a sorry 
 score to be wiped out bye and bye. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 325 
 
 BUSINESS TO-DAY IS KING— GREATNESS OF NA- 
 TIONS FOUNDED ON COMMERCE— EVO- 
 LUTION IN ATTITUDE OF ENGLISH 
 ARISTOCRACY TOWARDS TRADE 
 —A CONTRACT WITH 
 AMERICA. 
 
 "Business is cleaner in America than in England — I mean 
 your standard of ethics is higher than ours." 
 
 That statement, which will not be well received over in 
 self-satisfied England, was made to me by D. A. Thomas, the 
 Welsh "Coal King," who before the war had big plans for rail- 
 road building in Canada and coal-mining developments in the 
 South, and who was chosen by the British Government to su- 
 pervise the supplying of munitions of war from this country. 
 Mr. Thomas for many years was a power in the House of 
 Commons and may again enter Westminster — next time in the 
 House of Lords, rumor has declared. His business experi- 
 ence has covered a generation, so that he can speak of busi- 
 ness ethics with authority. During the last great coal dispute 
 in England Mr. Thomas was selected by the mine owners to 
 represent them in their negotiations with the men and with the 
 Government representatives who took a hand. 
 
 The brainiest men in Britain are now turning to com- 
 merce, which was wont to be despised not so many years 
 ago. 
 
 "In this country your biggest, ablest men are to be found 
 in business," said Mr. Thomas. "When I left the university 
 I was the only graduate that entered business — ^business, you 
 know, was not considered a fit career for a gilded youth who 
 
326 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 had filled his head with book learning. All our Oxford and 
 Cambridge dons took to the professions or played with poli- 
 tics. To enter 'trade' was infra dig — oh ! yes, very much so. 
 
 "The Englishmen one then met in business regarded it as 
 a bore, as something to be submitted to only through force of 
 circumstances and to be dropped as soon as financial consider- 
 ations permitted. An apology was offered for being engaged 
 in plebeian commercial money-making. 
 
 "To-day things are changing. The old traditions and 
 prejudices are dying. Business is coming to be accounted re- 
 spectable ! Quite a niunber of varsity men are now taking up 
 business instead of the professions as their life work. 
 
 "With you, it is so different — it has always been so dif- 
 ferent. Business is the sphere your giants choose. Shining 
 success in business is what is most sought after. Instead of be- 
 ing looked down upon, business is looked up to. The leaders 
 in your nation have been the men who made the greatest 
 mark in some business or financial field. In short, in 
 America business is King." 
 
 Arnold Bennett well observed recently: "American ro- 
 mance is in the large office buildings and the marts of trade; 
 it is the romance of great achievements in commerce, in indus- 
 trial leadership. And it is a wonderful romance! The child 
 of the world's nations is leading them !" 
 
 Under modern conditions business MUST be King. If it 
 isn't, the nation languishes and dies. 
 
 Place and power in the world's comity of nations rest, in 
 the final analysis, upon solvency, upon dollars and cents, 
 upon pounds, shillings, and pence, upon francs and cen- 
 times, upon marks and pfennigs, and upon roubles and 
 copecks. Without the fruit of business — money — a nation 
 cannot equip itself for the rough-and-tumble struggle for 
 existence. Without commerce a nation cannot provide for 
 the healthy growth of its population. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 327 
 
 True, man nor nation can live by business alone, but busi- 
 ness to-day is a necessary foundation for any inspiring super- 
 structure. 
 
 The nation that wins leadership in business puts itself in 
 the way of one day winning leadership in the arts and graces 
 of life, to say nothing of world politics. 
 
 Leisure, culture, study, research, all follow in the train 
 of wisely-acquired wealth. 
 
 Big men are attracted by big propositions. Among the 
 ancients learning came first — and the great intellects became 
 sages and teachers. Later the sword held sway — and the great 
 ones became soldiers and sailors. In more modem times the 
 professions and politics attracted the best brains of Europe. 
 To-day trade and commerce, with their hand-maidens, rail- 
 roading and engineering, draw to them the flower of mankind. 
 
 Amid the bombardment of vituperation to which Amer- 
 ican business has been subjected by those whom it has fed, it 
 is refreshing to be assured, by a capable foreign authority, that 
 its morals are superior to those of Britain, the greatest com- 
 mercial nation on earth. 
 
 Will our Washington statesmen please take note and gov- 
 ern their conduct accordingly? Are they not in danger of 
 burning down the whole structure to snuff out a comparatively 
 few rodents? Did not President Wilson himself admit that 
 90 per cent of our business men are honest ? 
 
 Why, then, proceed as if they were all packs of thieves and 
 robbers ? 
 
 Justice must be blind to the hardness or softness of a 
 man's hands, as well as to the leanness or fatness of his pocket- 
 book. 
 
328 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 WILL THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 
 BACK UP BUSINESS IN GREATEST DRAMA 
 OF THE AGE, "THE FIGHT FOR FINAN- 
 CIAL AND TRADE SUPREMACY?" 
 NEED FOR VIRILE 
 ATTITUDE. 
 
 What role is the United States Government to play in 
 the greatest financial and commercial drama of the ages, 
 "The Fight for Financial and Trade Supremacy?" 
 
 Are the brainy American men and aggressive Ameri- 
 can corporations and financial institutions now preparing 
 to raise this nation to a place of dominating power in the 
 world's marts to receive the loyal, manly support of the 
 Government in every legitimate enterprise in foreign fields? 
 
 Or is the Administration to vacillate weakly to follow 
 no well-defined, truly American course, to refuse to stand 
 behind its own citizens and insist upon the satisfaction of 
 their rights should foreign governments or their people 
 fail to live up to solemn obligations? 
 
 Commerce rules the material world. 
 
 That nation whose commerce dominates the earth must 
 inevitably become the most powerful. 
 
 The amazing strength which Germany has displayed 
 could not have been possible had Germany been a tenth- 
 rate, unprogressive nation commercially. 
 
 And is it not trite to repeat that Great Britain's place 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 329 
 
 under the sun has been won by her unparalleled commer- 
 cial ramifications? 
 
 British business interests abroad have been unflinch- 
 ingly safeguarded by the British Government. 
 
 The German Government has been not only helpful to 
 German business organizations, but has actively co- 
 operated w^ith them in extending their spheres both at home 
 and abroad. 
 
 What is to be the attitude of the United States Gov- 
 ernment at this turning point in our history? 
 
 It is a question of direct concern to every citizen. 
 
 It is of peculiar concern to the hundreds of thousands 
 of able-bodied men writhing in all the mental and physical 
 agonies of enforced idleness. 
 
 If the United States aspires to become the strongest 
 financial nation in the whole world, if we are to rise to 
 the dazzling, unexampled opportunities spread before us, 
 we must not only be prepared to trade with countries now 
 opened up to us; we must be prepared to extend financial 
 aid to them. 
 
 Every foreign loan made on proper terms means an 
 increase in the demand for our products from the unde- 
 veloped borrowing nation. 
 
 Several South American countries are in urgent need 
 of financial succor. 
 
 The United States would benefit itself immeasurably 
 were it to step into the breach caused by the European 
 cataclysm and supply the necessary capital. 
 
 I am in a position to state that leading American in- 
 ternational bankers would willingly enter into permanent 
 financial relations with South American Governments were 
 assurances received from our Government that such trans- 
 
330 FINANCE, BUSINESS AND 
 
 actions, if submitted to and approved by it, would be de- 
 fended should the borrowing Government attempt to vio- 
 late its obligations. 
 
 This has been dubbed "Dollar Diplomacy." 
 
 Very well ; all modern diplomacy has its mainspring in 
 dollars. 
 
 Dollars make and unmake nations. 
 
 No bankrupt nation can long retain a place of respect 
 among the Powers. 
 
 Now, as never before, is the time for wise "Dollar 
 Diplomacy." 
 
 Now, as never before, is the time to raise the United 
 States to first place among the peoples of the earth. 
 
 Now, as never before, can we seize opportunities to win 
 the friendship of Latin-America by coming to their aid on 
 just terms in their hour of need. 
 
 But can our custodians of your savings and mine, can 
 our domestic and international bankers be expected to enter 
 into agreements with other governments unless our own 
 Government stands prepared to see that justice is done 
 should legitimate compacts be wantonly broken? 
 
 Is our Government to protect our interests should oc- 
 casion arise? 
 
 Or is it to be weak-kneed, wobbly and ineffective? 
 
 Not until this momentous question has been satisfac- 
 torily answered can we hope to see the United States rise 
 to the full measure of its glorious opportunities. 
 
 Do not hug illusions on this score. We will need — 
 need most urgently — new markets for our products once 
 the artificial war demands cease and the impoverished na- 
 tions of Europe turn all their energies, with unprecedented 
 vigor and earnestness, to recapturing their old foreign mar- 
 kets and conquering new ones. 
 
THE BUSINESS OF LIFE 331 
 
 When that hour comes it will be well for us if we have 
 striven by every means in our power to bind these markets 
 to us by ties of friendship and finance. 
 
 Generosity is a higher virtue than justice. Generosity is 
 justice plus. Justice begets no gratitude; generosity does. 
 Justice exacts an eye for an eye, a life for a life. Generosity 
 gives more than it asks in return. The more I ponder the 
 relations between capital and labor, the more firmly convinced 
 I become that employers, especially corporations, have 
 practised too little generosity. Too often — criminally too 
 often — corporations have failed to raise wages, shorten 
 hours and improve working conditions voluntarily. They 
 have waited until compelled to do so, though conscious 
 all the time that the workers' demands were reasonable 
 and would be granted by any impartial body of arbitrators. 
 Concessions granted employees under compulsion after threats 
 or strikes, fail to create good feeling. Instead, the workers — 
 rightly — feel that they have received nothing more than they 
 were entitled to. They also— rightly— feel that their employ- 
 ers were trying to rob them of their just deserts. A 5 per 
 cent, voluntary increase in wages is worth more than a 10 per 
 cent, increase won after a bitter fight. It is unjust to hold 
 back deserved increases until they can be won by force. More, 
 it is unwise. It is undiplomatic. It is shortsighted. It is poor 
 business. Yet how many companies ever raise wages vol- 
 untarily ? 
 
INDEX 333 
 
 INDEX 
 
 (And Cross-Index) 
 
 A 
 
 Pages 
 
 A B C of America's Railroads 107 
 
 About YOU 22 
 
 Achievement, Not Money, Yields Happiness 322 
 
 Adversity, Its Uses 131, 163 
 
 Air Brake: Its Inventor 314 
 
 Air Castles 243 
 
 All Life a Seeking After Success 218 
 
 Americans Becoming Investors 202 
 
 Americans Who Are Snobs 41 
 
 America's Output of Voters 215 
 
 An Out-of-Work— A Word to Washington 209 
 
 Arbitration ISO 
 
 Arbuckle, John, A Man of Men 212 
 
 A Rejuvenation in Sentiment 306 
 
 A Robust American's Prayer 17 
 
 Association of Security Holders 159 
 
 Astors 177, 181 
 
 B 
 
 "Baby Bonds" as Christmas Gifts 260 
 
 Baker, George F 1S7 
 
 Ballot's Power 36 
 
 Banking as a Profession 196 
 
 Banking Difficulties in S. A 113 
 
 Barber on High Cost of Living 142 
 
 "Be Friends with Your Work" 224 
 
 "Big Business" a Necessity 34 
 
 Boards of Directors, How to Re-cast 169 
 
 Brains 32, 68, lOo, US, a>\ 
 
 Brotherhood ..'■ 37, 52, 80 
 
 T^iicli RP O/ 
 
 Business Men's Status in America 100, 127, 214, 293, 301 
 
 Business Men to Hit Back • • • 221 
 
 "Business To-day Is King" 325, 328 
 
334 INDEX 
 
 C 
 
 Page 
 
 "Can't Be Done"— A Word to Employers 14S 
 
 Capital, How Created 88 
 
 Capital's New Attitude 140 
 
 Carnegie, Andrew I'M, 182 
 
 Changes 133, 163 
 
 Coal Barons 139 
 
 Confidence and Success 148 
 
 Conventions Displace Dinners 99 
 
 Co-operation Universal .- ■ 34, 52 
 
 Cortelyou, George B 106 
 
 D 
 
 Damning of Millionaires Overdone 301 
 
 Davison, Henry P 106, 175 
 
 Debt, Breeder of Unhappiness 86, 227 
 
 Debt, "Falling" Into 144 
 
 Democratization of Industry 83, 169 
 
 Dime a Day Saved Can Do Much 25 
 
 Directors' Duties 83, 157, 169 
 
 Discontent, Its Uses 168 
 
 Dishonesty and Business 287 
 
 Discouraged Are You? 148 
 
 "Disposition, Not Position, Counts" 114 
 
 Dividend Reserve Funds Urged 202 
 
 "Dollar Diplomacy" Needed Now 328 
 
 $UCCE$$ or Service? 218 
 
 "Don'ts" for Investors 97, 226 
 
 "Drive Your Business or Be Driven Out" 230 
 
 E 
 
 Earling, A. J 67 
 
 Economy's Fruits , 86 
 
 Edison, Thomas A 28 
 
 Editor's Duty 233 
 
 Elliott, Howard 67 
 
 Employees' Publications 73 
 
 Employers, Some Advice to 137, 145, 184, 187, 215, 224, 236, 
 
 249, 299, 306 
 
 Enthusiasm, Foundation of All Success 28, 200, 243, 296 
 
 Envy 118, 301 
 
 Express Company President and a Driver 185 
 
 Experts, An Incident 73 
 
 Extravagance a National Curse 86, 227, 260, 320 
 
INDEX 335 
 
 F 
 
 Page 
 
 Farmers Best Days Coining 79 
 
 Farrell, James A 69 
 
 Federal Reserve Board 151 
 
 Fifty-Thousand-Dollar Men Scarce 121 
 
 Fitzgerald, William F '. 83 
 
 Ford, Henry ..... .106, 238 
 
 Foreign Remittances 124 
 
 G 
 
 Gary, Elbert H lOS, 140, 157, 206, 237 
 
 Gasoline Money Directors 83 
 
 Gates, John W 282 
 
 Genius and Work 70, 181 
 
 Giving 290 
 
 "Gold House" for the Whole World 246 
 
 Government's Duty In Fight for Foreign Trade 328 
 
 H 
 
 Happiness and Work 19, 114, 172, 218, 224, 266, 317 
 
 Hard Times, Their Benefits 163 
 
 Harriman, Edward H 175, 182 
 
 Harriman-Hill Rivalry 75 
 
 Hearst, W. R 200 
 
 Heart Needed 80 
 
 Heroism 211 
 
 High Cost of Living 59, 142, 297 
 
 Hill, James J., Sketch of His Career 74 
 
 Hill, James J 175, 182, 237 
 
 Honesty — Is It Possible in Business? 287 
 
 How One Man Saved 262 
 
 How to Read Public Opinion 233 
 
 Human Beings Dynamos — Plus 266 
 
 "Humanity First" 52 
 
 Huntingtons 66 
 
 I 
 
 I Am the Power Omnipotent 43 
 
 I Am Work 19 
 
 Immigration 109, 278 
 
 "Imported" Label F;etich 41 
 
 Industrial Corporation Heads 68 
 
 Internationalism 37, 52, 223, 239, 246 
 
 Investors— Some "Don'ts" for 97 
 
 Invisible Payments to Europe 124 
 
336 INDEX 
 
 K 
 
 Page 
 
 Kahn, Otto H 283 
 
 Kitchens in All Lives 62 
 
 Labor and Railroads 107 
 
 Labor on Directorates 169 
 
 Labor — Some "Don'ts" for 64 
 
 "Labor," What Is It? 199 
 
 Labor's "Independence Day" 99 
 
 Laws Overmany ,.... 141 
 
 Lawyer-Ridden America 293 
 
 Lee, Ivy L 160 
 
 Life and Leisure 252, 269 
 
 Life— Is It Complex? 128, 27S 
 
 Life of Workers Yesterday and To-day 134 
 
 Life Viewed from 700 Feet in the Air 94 
 
 "Literacy" Test Unwise 278 
 
 Living Wages and Those Who Don't Pay Them 146 
 
 Looking Back — Railroad Man's Qualms 178 
 
 Looking for Work 209 
 
 Loyalty 67, 71, 184, 236, 314 
 
 "Luck" 56 
 
 M 
 
 "Made in America'' 41, 124 
 
 "Management of Men" Classes Urged 236 
 
 Markham, C. H 67 
 
 May, Max 90 
 
 McAdoo, Secretary 222 
 
 Merchant Marine 272 
 
 Millionaire Fools 214, 218, 275 
 
 Millionaires in Future 21, 165 
 
 Millionaires of Wall Street 281 
 
 Millionaires' Troubles 102, 118, 174, 301, 317 
 
 Mining Stocks 98 
 
 Mobs' Share in Progress 137 
 
 Money and Happiness 172, 224, 275, 290, 309, 322 
 
 "Money Is to Life What Salt Is to Food" 317 
 
 Money-making — A Rich Man's View 80, 172, 322 
 
 Morgan, J. P 175, 208, 298 
 
 Muckrakers 101 
 
 N 
 
 New Haven Railroad 117, 129, 208 
 
 Newspapers and Public Sentiment 233 
 
INDEX 337 
 
 Page 
 
 Opportunity's Door Opening Wider 31 230 239 
 
 Utners _ 27 
 
 Owners of U. S. Railroads .................!.! 110 
 
 Partial Payment Plan Endorsed 46, 50 
 
 Patriotism or Brotherhood ? .' 37 
 
 Peace of Mind 174 
 
 People, The — A Millionaire's Longing 80 
 
 Philosopher 275 
 
 "Philosophy of Life Is to Live" 269 
 
 Postal Savings Banks 255 
 
 Poverty 63, 86 
 
 Power Omnipotent 43 
 
 Prayer of a Robust American 17 
 
 Prizes Open to All in U. S 68 
 
 Progress Forced by the Mob ? 137 
 
 Prosperity versus Adversity 131 
 
 Public Opinion ^l, 118, 233 
 
 Publicity 160, 287 
 
 Purpose 243 
 
 R 
 
 Railroad Borrowing 87 
 
 Railroad Man's Doubts 178 
 
 Railroad Presidents Who Have Climbed 65, 239 
 
 Railroad Receiverships and I. C. C 147 
 
 Railroads of America, A B C of 107 
 
 Real Estate "Bonds" 102 
 
 Rea, Samuel 67 
 
 Reformation In U. S. Coming? 320 
 
 Regulation 34, 88, 206, 293 
 
 Repose, America's Prime Need 252, 284 
 
 Reynolds, George B 91 
 
 Rich Man's Longings 80 
 
 Rich Men's Sons 66 
 
 Ripley, E. P 67 
 
 Rockefellers 29, 104, 158, 160, 188 
 
 Rogers, H. H., A Pathetic Story 71 
 
 Roosevelt, Theodore 182 
 
 Ryan, John D 70 
 
338 INDEX 
 
 Page 
 
 Sabin, Charles H., Sketch of His Rise 89 
 
 "Save and Give" 290 
 
 Saving 25, 46, 50, 86, 130, 202, 223, 227, 255, 260 
 
 Saving Gives Others Employment 258 
 
 Schiff, Jacob H 157 
 
 Schvirab, Charles M 29, 70, 105, 140, 282 
 
 Securities, How to Tell Bad Ones 97 
 
 Self-Control in Managing Men 249 
 
 Self-Pity 64, 189 
 
 Sentiment in Business 71, 236, 284, 306 
 
 Seven-Day Work 40, 303 
 
 Ships, Ally of National Greatness 272 
 
 Speculation or Investment ? 202 
 
 Speyer, James 176, 283 
 
 Standard Oil's New Publicity Policy 160 
 
 Stillman, James 158, 176 
 
 Stock Exchange 117, 192, 211 
 
 Stockholders, Number in Railroads 110-113 
 
 Stotesbury, E. T 66 
 
 Submerged Tenth, Our Weakest Link 299 
 
 Success and Work 31, 114, 148, 175, 181, 189, 218, 230 
 
 Success Now Spelled "Service" 218, 309, 322 
 
 Successful Bankers 89, 104, 175, 181, 196 
 
 Successful Captains of Industry 68, 104, 175, 181, 212, 314 
 
 Successful on $25 a Week 309 
 
 Successful Railroad Men 65, 104, 175, 181,239 
 
 Success— What Is It? 322 
 
 Swell-Headedness 89, 116 
 
 Taxes Sap Industry 198 
 
 Thanksgiving Day Reflections 154 
 
 Thomas, D. A., On International Ethics 325 
 
 Thornton, Railroad Migrator; The Lesson 31, 239 
 
 Thoughtlessness 284 
 
 Thrift 25, 46, 50, 86, 227, 255, 258, 260, 290 
 
 Tourists' Expenditures 124 
 
 Troubles— A Story 120 
 
 U 
 
 Underwood, F. D 67 
 
 U. S. Entering Period of Reformation? 320 
 
 U. S. Progress 34, 154, 192 
 
 U. S. Steel Corporation's Policy 206 
 
 Unselfishness 166 
 
INDEX 339 
 
 Page 
 
 Vail, Theodore N 70, 105, 237 
 
 Vanderbilts 66, 104, 116 
 
 Vanderlip, Frank A 106, 157, 176 
 
 Voters, Chief Product of Corporations 215 
 
 W 
 
 Wage Increases — What They Mean 311 
 
 Waiters and Kitchens , 63 
 
 "Wall Street Millionaires" 281 
 
 Wanamaker, John 29, 106, 167 
 
 War 24, 37 
 
 Warburg, Paul M 151 
 
 Wealth and "Labor" 199 
 
 Westinghouse, George — His Life 238, 314 
 
 What a Dime a Day Saved Will Do 25 
 
 'What's He Worth?" 136 
 
 "What's in It for— the Other Fellow?" 166 
 
 Willard, Daniel 67, 78 
 
 Wilson, Woodrow, and Business Men 123 
 
 Wilson, Woodrow, A Talk with 103, 221 
 
 Work and Genius 70, 181 
 
 Work and Success. .. .19, 28, 70, 114, 166, 175, 181, 189, 196, 
 
 217, 266, 296 
 
 Workers Not Machines 72, 215, 236, 299, 303, 306 
 
 Workers' Share of Production 139, 187, 195, 199, 299 
 
 "Work Is Fun" 93 
 
 Work, the Elixir of Life 296 
 
 Workman of Yesterday Capitalist of To-day 104 
 
 Workmen's Conditions Then and Now 134, 307 
 
 YOU 22 
 
 YOU Pay When Wages Are Raised 311 
 
 Young Financiers Enter the Saddle 157 
 
 "Your Job What You Make It" 56 
 
 Y'our Relation to the Railroads **'^' Ua 
 
 Your Savings Give Work 258 
 
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