Dollars and Sense Part 19

The dude employe stands in his own light. He wears a higher priced tie than the boss; he is immaculately neat; he looks like a fashion plate, but at the same time his tailor bill is not paid, he is owing money right and left. He spends his evenings in the cafes, and at odd moments during the day he dodges out to look over the racing form and smoke a cigaret. This dude employe sits up late at night. He spends his salary, and more too, in the gay life. He is tired next morning when he comes down.

The dude employe who wears a high collar is not the one that knuckles down to hard work. Perspiration and high collars do not go well together. The dude employe does not like perspiration, so he sees to it that he does not exert himself enough to perspire.

Employes should remember that very truthful axiom: "The employe who never does more than he is paid for is never paid for more than he does."

The employe should remember that the boss takes large chances in hiring help, for there is not one employe out of ten that is a good investment. The employes should remember that it is necessary for the boss to make a good margin of profit on each employe, else he could not maintain his business.

Every employe who studies how much he can do is a help to an employer.

Every employe who sees how little he can do is a hold-back to the inst.i.tution.

Employes should remember that prosperity goes in cycles, that it is but three generations from shirt sleeve to shirt sleeve.

Over ninety per cent. of the bosses today started in and worked their way up from the ground. The young man who inherits a partnership in his father's business really has a handicap on him, and is not as likely to succeed as an employe who starts in at the bottom of the ladder.

Employes should remember that responsibilities only come to those whose shoulders are broad enough to bear them, and when additional responsibility comes to an employe that employe should look upon the responsibility as a distinct advantage to him, for it gives him an opportunity to show the stuff he is made of.

Laxity

When young men start in business their thoughts are all prospective.

They look forward to the time when they will attain success. They work hard. They put enthusiasm and long hours into their business. As years pa.s.s they attain success and cash in this world's goods. They buy beautiful homes and surround themselves with luxury. They indulge in high living. They have country places. They take things easy. They sit back in their chairs and imagine their business will go on forever because they are so well established.

The hard worker is ent.i.tled to slacken up a little as success comes to him, but the moment his energies commence to wane, he should see to it that he gets the right sort of young material in the inst.i.tution to keep up the enthusiasm and hard work which he himself has had.

In the very nature of things it is impossible for a man to keep up his youthful pace in his mature age, for, as we have frequently observed, you can't go fast far.

One of the princ.i.p.al elements in Marshall Field's success was that he got enthusiastic, hard workers around him. The moment he saw signs of laxity in any of these individuals, he let them out and got new material.

Laxity means loss of power, and with loss of power the machine does not do as good work.

Laxity in business is a waste.

Enthusiasm

In these days of keen compet.i.tion and wonderful activity it is necessary for the business man to have enthusiasm. If he lacks in this, his business will be at a stand-still, while his enthusiastic compet.i.tor goes forward.

Enthusiasm should not be carried to an extreme any more than any other good thing should be carried to an extreme, but at that it is better to be over-enthusiastic than not enthusiastic enough. No one can be truly enthusiastic who does not believe in his business. Enthusiasm is a form of advertising. It shows the people you deal with that there is something going on and that you believe in your own medicine.

Catching Up

Nearly every one in this business world seems to be engaged in the occupation of "catching up." Nearly everyone is a little behind in the matter of finances.

As soon as one gets across the stream and is on dry land and has his bills all paid, then he takes on new responsibilities and goes deeper in debt.

It is a very hard game, this catching up. The game of existence is very easy to play when you are caught up.

We have tramped through the forests of the great West, and we have invariably found that the pace-makers or leaders are the least tired at night, while the followers or those who are behind trying to catch up, are the ones who are most fatigued.

Some people are habitually behind "with their hauling," as the Missourians say. No matter how their salaries may increase they are proportionately behind with their hauling all the time. When an employe gets $50.00 a month he is owing $75.00, he is working hard at the catching-up game all the time. He figures that if he only got $75.00 a month, he could apply the $25.00 extra and could catch up in three months. The theory is all right but the practice is not, for when this individual gets $75.00 a month, instead of applying that $25.00 extra to catching up, he finds that he wants better neckties and better underwear, and makes greater expenditures all along the line, so instead of wiping out that $75.00 debt he had when earning $50.00 a month, he finds himself $150.00 in debt on his $75.00 salary.

This catching up has a bad influence. It worries the individual; he does not do his best work.

When you have all your bills paid and a surplus of $500 in the bank, your head is higher, your chest is broader, your backbone stiffer, and you have a confidence that helps you take on greater responsibilities.

To be in debt is to be under obligations to your friends, and it kills off those strong qualities which you naturally possess but which warp when you are catching up. The man who is catching up cringes instead of standing erect, he is suppliant instead of dominant. He is disturbed by little things, and in the meantime the catching up process is tearing down his nervous system.

Get caught up with your hauling. Whatever your income is, save a percentage of it. Do not mistake us in thinking that we are preaching the old sermon of the savings bank, which is, save your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves, for our friend Grizzly Pete of Frozen Dog, Idaho, says: "Save your pennies, the dollars will be blown in by your heirs."

No man gets rich through mere saving, but it is the training the man gets in saving the pennies that gives him a good idea of values of things and shows him the importance of having a reserve.

If the boss is extravagant in little things, the employe multiplies the extravagance.

If you are always catching up while you are an employe you will always be catching up while you are boss. If you are always saving and putting by a reserve while you are an employe, you will be doing the same thing when you are a boss. The principle is the same. It is merely a question of figures.

Do not take on financial responsibilities until you see your way clear to meet the responsibilities, and in addition to meeting them, see to it that you have made an allowance for good measure.

Catching up calls for double effort and double work.

Anger

In proportion as a man is wise, he controls his anger.

Centuries ago the following truth was written: "Whom the G.o.ds would destroy they first make angry," and in the same era there was also given us another truth: "A soft answer turneth away wrath."

A man's judgment gets twisted, his ground becomes insecure and his point of vantage weakens when he becomes angry.

The man who keeps calm when the other fellow gets angry has infinitely the best of the matter.

Let the other fellow fret and stew and get red in the face, but you keep calm and you will win the fight every time.

Control yourself, change the subject, and absent yourself when anger shows.

Cultivate poise, refrain from lowering yourself to the methods of the ignorant, which is anger. By keeping your temper when your adversary gets angry you thereby show your superiority, and your adversary instinctively feels you are a bigger man than he is.