CHAPTER IV.
IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS TRAINING.
SONS OF INDEPENDENT GENTLEMEN MAKE VERY BAD CLERKS.—THEY BECOME
UNPOPULAR WITH THE OTHER BOYS, AND MUST EVENTUALLY GO.—NIGHT DANCING
AND LATE SUPPERS DON’T CONTRIBUTE TO BUSINESS SUCCESS.—GIVE MERIT
ITS TRUE REWARD.—KEEPING WORTHLESS PRETENSE IN ITS TRUE
POSITION.—RUNNING PUBLIC OFFICES ON BUSINESS PRINCIPLES.—A PIECE OF
GRATUITOUS ADVICE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION.—A COLLEGE COURSE NOT IN
GENERAL CALCULATED TO MAKE A GOOD BUSINESS MAN.—THE QUESTION OF
ADAPTABILITY IMPORTANT.—CHILDREN SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED IN THE
OCCUPATION FOR WHICH THEY SHOW A PREFERENCE.—THOUGHTS ON THE ARMY
AND NAVY.
I have usually found that the sons of independent gentlemen, who have
great expectations, make very poor clerks and don’t develope into Good
Wall Street men.
Their expectations seem to dwarf the ability that might develope under
the more favorable auspices of being obliged to paddle their own canoe.
Like the light under a bushel, referred to in the Good Book, their
brilliant qualities are obscured and circumscribed by the paternal
protection in prospect. They have not a sufficient incentive to work,
because they know that all they require for their natural wants will
fall easily into their laps. The motives, therefore, which usually
develope the greatest mental qualities are absent and the qualities
themselves lie dormant, and frequently decay like poppy seeds in their
seed vessels, without being productive of the fruits which are the
result of industrial habits and the desire for acquisition. Such young
men, instead of being a help to an office into which they happen to be
thrust, often through friendship and favoritism, are a great hindrance
and a stumbling block in the path to promotion of other young men.
After many ineffectual attempts to reform and remodel them, they have
generally to be discarded, as the drone bees are ejected from the rest
of the industrious hive. And they usually become as unpopular with the
other boys as the drone does with his comrades who make the honey and
will not suffer the idle fellow to feast on the fruits of their labor.
Young men who have nothing but their own resources to depend upon will
be found far more meritorious than this higher class. There are some
eminent exceptions, but it takes a large amount of good sense to
counteract the conceit instilled by the idea of financial independence
by birth.
The latter are more liable to youthful and enervating excesses, as they
have the means to indulge in nocturnal amusements that are not conducive
either to clear brains or active habits during the day.
Night dancing and late suppers, with some of their social concomitants,
when habitually indulged, don’t contribute to business success. I know
how this is myself, and therefore speak feelingly; but I don’t lay
myself open to the charge of egotism when I say that I have never
permitted the habit to get the better of me.
I am not setting myself up as a censor of other men’s habits, nor
attempting to utter mere moral or religious cant. I am simply discussing
the question from a scientific and physical standpoint, and I say that
these habits don’t contribute to business success, but, on the contrary,
form one of the greatest hindrances to it. They make any man, no matter
how strong he may be, physically unfit for ordinary business. These
“recreations” up town, however attractive and delightful they may be,
don’t fit a young man for business down town. The line must be drawn
somewhere. Let us draw it, say, at Fourteenth street.
There has been much said and written about Civil Service Reform by
various authorities from President Cleveland down to Dorman B. Eaton and
the Custom House officials. The great rule to follow is to give merit
its true reward This draws out the best efforts of the recipient, where
real merit is found, and keeps the drones beyond the pale of
competition. It develops the qualities that are worthy of being
encouraged, and keeps worthless pretense in its true position. This is
the role I have adhered to in my office, and it works like a charm. My
office, though not quite so large as the Custom House or Post Office of
New York city, I think affords a fair test of what could be done on the
largest possible scale.
If public office is a public trust, and we have the high authority of
President Cleveland and of the New York _Tribune_ for saying so, I think
it can be administered on the same business principles that have
contributed to the success of some of the largest and most successful
firms in the world; and among these, I think I can say without egotism,
as the matter is capable of demonstration, that the house of which I
have the honor to be the head, stands second to none in the attributes
to which I have referred.
The reader may say, “This is a puff for his own house.” Well, even so.
If it is, it is true, and will bear the strictest investigation. So I
don’t see why I should feign any false modesty about the assertion. It
would be sheer affectation to do so.
Collegiate education is a great question for debate among literary men,
journalists and business men, as to its utility in forming the character
of youth for business life. As the college curriculum and training stand
at present, the ordinary course is not in general calculated to make a
good business man. It is erroneously regarded by some people as a kind
of substitute for business training in the earlier years of a young
man’s life. There could be no greater mistake in the beginning of a
business career. It is in many instances not only a hindrance, but
absolutely fatal to success. To put a young man in an office fresh from
college, on a level with one of the same age who has been training in
business methods since he left the common school, is demoralizing to
both.
I wish to have it distinctly understood that in the foregoing remarks I
have not made any attempt to cast the slightest reflection on the
personal attributes and abilities of any young man in any line of life
or status of society, and I make this statement perfectly independent of
the mere social incident as to whether the young man in question may
part his hair in the middle or assume other dudish airs. That is his
business, and I have no right to trench on the sacred precincts of his
individuality, nor do I mean to do so. As a rule I stick to my own
business. I simply intend to imply that when a dude happens to come into
my office, where I think he will find the most æsthetic appointments in
the way of furniture and the business arrangements, if he should, upon
thus entering into my employment, come to the sudden conclusion that
this æstheticism of office furnishing implied any plea for idleness or
assumption of airs on his part, he would very soon experience a rude
awakening from his charmed lethargy of conceit, and if he were not
prepared to undertake in a calm and appreciative tone of mind the first
lessons of business industry, I would politely bid him an affectionate
adieu, and on parting tell him very kindly that though his great natural
gifts might be thoroughly adapted to shine in another sphere of life, he
was both by nature and education totally unfitted to play the most
humble part in a business career, such as that of which my firm affords
a fair and most successful example.
The same remarks will apply to any other young man who does not
appreciate his vocation, and try to know himself as old Seneca taught.
I don’t insidiously single out the dude for an odious comparison. The
remark will apply just as appropriately to the young man who is better
fitted for a blacksmith or a farmer, or perhaps a preacher, than a
business man or a financier.
“All blacksmiths,” says the Rev. Robert Collyer, “can’t become
preachers, and it would be bad for the world if they did.” There is a
good deal of philosophy in the remark of this popular preacher, and
quite to the point on the subject which I am now attempting to handle.
In fact, there is nothing in this world would grieve me more than the
prospect of being obliged to reflect in future years on the fact that I
had been instrumental in keeping a young man’s “nose to the
grind-stone,” so to speak, in my office, where he would make a very poor
employee without the chance of attaining average success, while in a
career for which nature and education had fitted him, he might not only
be happy and successful, but make his mark as a star of the first
magnitude.
When viewed in this light, the question of adaptability becomes a
serious affair, for young men starting in life, and for their parents,
who often sacrifice a great deal of their worldly comforts and peace of
mind to launch their fond offspring.
The best thing for parents to do, then, as a general rule, is to
encourage their children in that occupation or avocation for which they
show a decided preference. Whatever young men do voluntarily, as a rule,
they do well. This is especially illustrated in the lives of youths who
exhibit an inclination for a military pursuit, which offers the least
inducement to human avarice, and attracts the mind through the more
sentimental motives of patriotism and the love of glory. But in our
present civilization there are national feelings that must be inculcated
and encouraged.
I entertained at my Newport residence, during the past Summer, the
officers of the 23d Brooklyn regiment of the National Guard of the State
of New York, because I felt it a matter of duty to do so, as well as a
privilege to do my part in contributing to the encouragement of the
young men who have taken it upon themselves voluntarily to be members of
that militia company.
These young men visit Newport at very great cost to each one, as they
themselves have to contribute to the expenses attending the trip, and
their presence in Newport in going through, regularly each day, their
drills and parades with as much precision and correctness as though they
all had been graduates of West Point, all well equipped and well attired
in plain but most becoming military apparel, made a most interesting
scene to witness, contributing not a little to the amusement and
gratification of the residents of that famous watering place. They are
becoming disciplined to be soldiers. They are mostly young men of good
families, of profitable occupation, many in business for themselves and
others trustworthy clerks in the employ of others, with good salaries;
consequently they make a great sacrifice to themselves in the time that
they thus bestow upon such excursions as well as ordinarily in the
drills which they have to go through, when at home, once or twice each
week, frequently oftener. What is the incentive in this personal
sacrifice on their part?
The answer is, the spirit of patriotism, and that really is what it
means, for in the event of a foreign invasion or internal disturbances,
their services are pledged to the State and to the Government. They are
therefore liable to receive at a moment’s notice a call from any quarter
to go to the front with their lives in their hands, leaving their
families, their wives, their children, their old parents, their
business, leaving all and requiring a farewell at their departure, as
the dangers they may have to encounter are threatening in character and,
not unlikely, may prevent their ever returning alive.
Taking this view of the subject, therefore, these young men should be
encouraged by all who have the means and power at their hand, and to the
full extent of their ability. Whenever they go on missions of State
defense, it is only just and fair that they should be received as
soldiers, and accorded the honors which soldiers merit. They are
entitled to it to a greater extent than the regular soldiers of the
United States standing army. These men do not make one-half the
sacrifice that the young militia do, nor do they make any better
soldiers on the battle-field.
These militia soldiers, when they go to the front, leave behind them
enough, in the way of properly, good homes and families, to make them
more enthusiastic to fight for victory, than the regular army, so that
they may return to their own domestic circles with the laurels that
victory gives.
In thin country we do not desire standing armies, for we do not wish the
expense entailed upon the Government to sustain them, but we do want the
young men encouraged to do military duty and be prepared for action when
it comes. The only money, therefore, that the Government need expend to
protect our continent is a good militia force in each of the various
States, to be well disciplined. In that case our country will be
prepared to meet foreign foes.
I am also opposed to a large standing naval force, not only on account
of the expense, but also because our country is less likely to get into
trouble with other nations, providing we have no ships to send into
their waters. Naval officers are often very impetuous and chivalrous and
sometimes fancy they have grievances to repel, which are largely
imaginary, and with them it is a word and a blow.
With a thoroughly equipped and largely efficient naval force, we might
thus not unlikely be driven into a conflict without cause or reason with
some friendly power. Our country is happily located far in the distance
from the quarrelling nations of Europe, and our being so removed is our
protection. It is not desirable to be brought in closer contact by
sending our naval vessels into their waters, to be under their fire. The
policy of this nation is peace and good will to all mankind. What gain
would it be to America to have a conflict with England, even though we
should conquer in the end, or France, or Germany, or Russia? We couldn’t
tow any of these countries to ours, nor could we hold on to our conquest
as a permanent possession; neither should we desire to do so, as we have
territory enough in the 38 States which comprise the United States of
America, already, without desiring to annex that of any of our far-off
neighbors.
And if an emergency should arise in what has been called the last resort
of kings, namely, the necessity of going to war, it would be found that
the importance of this training in the special business of war could
then be appreciated at its true value.
The importance of business training, that is, training for the special
occupation in which a man’s energies are to be developed, is always made
apparent when those energies are put to the test of competition, or are
called upon to put forth an extraordinary effort. If a man has not got
the special training, whether in the army or in civil life, he is never
reliable in an emergency, but is like that weak and vacillating friend
which old Solomon compared to a broken ankle.
I say, therefore, to the young man of the rising generation, while you
don’t relax any effort to procure all the education that your time and
means will afford, above all things, don’t neglect the paramount
importance of business training.
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