Forging Ahead in Business Part 4

In course of time the operations of the company made necessary the extension of its mining facilities, involving the erection of a concentrator and smelter at an expenditure of a little over $2,000,000.

These men were in charge of selecting and arranging for the sites and erection of the plants. The work had gone forward to a considerable extent when one of the executive officers of the company from the East came to inspect the properties and the progress of the new work. He was so disappointed at the lack of business judgment displayed in the selection of the sites, the drawing of contracts and other matters, that he dismissed the Chief Engineer on the spot, and curtailed the authority of the General Manager.

He stated that thereafter he would select men who had some business as well as technical training.

These men missed success because they lacked certain essential tools with which to build it. Equipped with an elaborate professional kit gathered through years of painstaking study, they still lacked that knowledge of business principles which was necessary to enable them to turn their technical knowledge into results.

Every one who holds, or expects ever to hold, a position of business responsibility should be familiar with the whole field of modern business.

The reasons for this are apparent to any one who has to do with the handling of large problems. It is necessary always to take into account _all_ the important factors in such problems. No matter how ably a marketing or an accounting difficulty may be met, the solution is worse than useless if it affects unfavorably any other phase of the business.

A business executive cannot afford to make many serious mistakes. To guard against mistakes, he must be fortified with an all-round knowledge of business practice--not merely a partial or one-sided knowledge.

The principles of Production, Marketing, Financing and Accounting are fundamental and apply to all lines of business. The man who says they do not apply because his business is "different" is simply exposing his failure to get down to rock bottom in his thinking. Every business has its points of difference, just as every man has an individuality of his own.

But we know that human nature, broadly speaking, is much the same in all.

In a like sense all business moves along similar lines. It all consists of producing, marketing, financing and accounting.

The broad principles of modern business science, therefore, govern all business. They are related to _your_ problems, no matter how "different"

your business may appear to be on the surface.

Chapter III

PUs.h.i.+NG BEYOND THE HALF-WAY MARK

There is always a danger of half-way success. A man may be at the head of an office, a department, a sales force, or a business, and yet be only a half-way success, if what he has so far accomplished be measured against his actual capacity. Most men, in fact, possess native ability sufficient to carry them forward into bigger positions than those they now occupy.

But to accomplish that result it is necessary to keep continually moving ahead.

Chief among the characteristics that carry men past the half-way mark on the road to success is eagerness to keep on learning more about business principles and business methods.

The late Marshall Field said:

"The man who puts ten thousand dollars additional capital into an established business is pretty certain of increased returns; and in the same way the man who puts additional capital into his brains--information, well directed thought and study of possibilities--will as surely--yes, more surely--get increased returns. There is no capital and no increase of capital safer and surer than that."

The ablest men in business are constant students. Many of the foremost business executives of the United States have for this reason welcomed an opportunity to enrol for the Modern Business Course and Service. This Course and Service brings to them in convenient, time-saving form, an explanation of working principles that have proved successful in every line of business.

The kind of men enrolled

Presidents of big corporations are often enrolled for the Modern Business Course and Service along with ambitious younger men in their employ. Among the 145,000 subscribers are such men as:

H. S. Kimball, President of the Remington Arms Corporation John J. Arnold, President of the Bankers' Union of Foreign Commerce and Finance E. R. Behrend, President of the Hammermill Paper Company H. C. Osborn, President, American Multigraph Sales Company Melville W. Mix, President of the Dodge Manufacturing Company William H. Ingersoll, Marketing Manager of Robt. H. Ingersoll and Brothers Charles E. Hires, President, Hires Root Beer Company P. W. Litchfield, Vice-President of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Ezra Hershey, Treasurer, Hershey Chocolate Company William A. Candler, Secretary, Coca-Cola Company George M. Verity, President, American Rolling Mill Company Charles E. Murnan, Vice-President, United Drug Company W. F. MacGlashan, President, The Beaver Board Companies H. D. Carter, General Manager, Regal Shoe Company Francis A. Countway, President of Lever Brothers Company (_Manufacturers of Lux and Lifebuoy Soap_) E. E. Amick, Vice-President, First National Bank of Kansas City Raymond W. Stevens, Vice-President, Illinois Life Insurance Company Roy W. Howard, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Scripps-McRae Newspapers Stephen B. Mambert, Vice-President, Thomas A. Edison Industries S. L. Avery, President, United States Gypsum Company --and scores of others equally prominent.

These men, and thousands of other Inst.i.tute subscribers, know that a study of the principles which have brought unusual success to other men increases their own capacity for further achievement.

Great business organizations

Officers, department heads and juniors of a large number of important companies are enrolled for the Modern Business Course and Service. The prime purpose of the Course and Service is to develop the business knowledge and judgment of each subscriber, and the heads of these companies realize that the increased efficiency on the part of individuals which results from this training carries with it greater efficiency and profits for their companies.

The tendency in large business organizations, unless the chief executives are unusually thoughtful and far-sighted, is to repress initiative and constructive thinking except on the part of the few men who direct the affairs. The Modern Business Course and Service counteracts this tendency. It encourages thought and initiative. It develops men. It stimulates the whole organization and makes possible more rapid expansion and larger earnings.

Among the progressive concerns in which a number of men have been making effective use of the Modern Business Course and Service are:

_Men enrolled_ American Radiator Company 65 American Telephone and Telegraph Company 139 Anaconda Copper Mining Company 75 Armour and Company 184 Bank of Montreal 84 Barrett Company 68 Bethlehem Steel Company 200 Burroughs Adding Machine Company 199 Canadian Bank of Commerce 143 Commonwealth Edison Company of Chicago 106 Cutler-Hammer Manufacturing Company 75 E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company 529 Eastman Kodak Company 61 Empire Gas and Fuel Company 144 Equitable Life a.s.surance Society 114 Fairbanks-Morse and Company 68 Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas 61 Firestone Tire and Rubber Company 164 Fisk Rubber Company 107 Ford Motor Company 353 General Electric Company 669 General Motors Corporation 802 B. F. Goodrich Company 256 Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company 439 International Harvester Company 122 Johns-Manville, Inc 123 Jones and Loughlin Steel Company 55 National Biscuit Company 64 National Cash Register Company 207 National City Bank of New York 210 Newport Mining Company 114 New York Central Railroad Company 107 New York Telephone Company 138 Otis Elevator Company 92 Pacific Commercial Company 106 Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company 105 Packard Motor Car Company 153 Pennsylvania Railroad Company 228 Proctor and Gamble Company 75 Public Service Corporation of New Jersey 68 Remington Typewriter Company 96 Sears, Roebuck and Company 84 Singer Manufacturing Company 58 Southern Pacific Railway Company 90 Standard Oil Company 954 The Steel Company of Canada 51 Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation 125 Studebaker Corporation 97 Swift and Company 127 Texas Company 221 Underwood Typewriter Company 77 United Fruit Company 78 United Shoe Machinery Company 95 United States Rubber Company 265 United States Steel Corporation 771 Western Electric Company 254 Western Union Telegraph Company 291 Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company 501 w.i.l.l.ys-Overland Company 191 Winchester Repeating Arms Company 211 F. W. Woolworth Company 81

Many of the men enrolled in these great companies are heads of their organizations; presidents and vice-presidents. Most of them are important officials and department heads; a few are men with smaller responsibilities.

The sound business reason which underlies the favorable action of so many great corporations is well expressed by President George M. Verity, of the American Rolling Mill Company, who says:

"When I learned that some fifty of our men had decided to take up the Modern Business Course and Service, the stock of this company rose several points in my estimation."

The following expressions regarding the value of the Course to men in big corporations are typical of many that we have received:

"We have been familiar with your Course of instruction ever since it was first offered, and regard it as an excellent one for men engaged in the investment security business. A large number of our men are taking the Course, and we have recommended it to many of our a.s.sociates."

SPENCER TRASK & COMPANY, _Investment Bankers, New York City._

"Realizing my lack of experience, I subscribed to your Course and found it of incalculable value. It gave me quickly the fundamentals of accounting, of which I had known nothing. It gave me a broad elementary insight into modern marketing methods. The volume on credits was also helpful. The Course saved me many expensive blunders.

"Briefly, for one starting in a business of his own I consider the Alexander Hamilton Inst.i.tute Course practically indispensable. In addition to its indirect value, I have been able to put a definite worth on this Course, to myself and the firm, of many thousands of dollars."

J. ROY ALLEN, _Treasurer, Mint Products Company, Inc., Mfrs. of "Life Savers."_

"The good that our people have received from the Alexander Hamilton Inst.i.tute Course has been phenomenal. It is not only the most instructive and valuable treatise on live subjects for men who are training for business careers, but it is the most concise, instructive and clearly presented form of education, to our minds, that has been presented for the benefit of executives."

CHARLES E. MURNAN, _Vice-President, United Drug Company, Boston._

"In my long business experience I have never subscribed to anything from which I have received greater value, in which I have taken greater interest, and from which I have received greater inspiration for my work. I do not believe anyone can take up the work without finding it not only effective, but of great value."

CHARLES E. HIRES, _President, Hires Root Beer Company, Philadelphia._

"My appreciation of the Alexander Hamilton Inst.i.tute Course is based not only upon the broad scope of its appeal and the close co-ordination of the subjects treated, but also from the benefit that I have personally derived from following the Course."

STEPHEN B. MAMBERT, _Vice-President and Financial Director, Thomas A. Edison Industries._

"It seems to me that your Modern Business Course affords an opportunity for the study of practical business methods and the acquisition of business knowledge which will be valuable to any man ambitious to succeed in business."

F. W. HILLS, _Comptroller, American Smelting and Refining Co., New York._

"We had two building sites in view. When it came to a final decision I applied the principles which were laid down in the Course; it became clear at once that the first site--which had originally seemed so attractive--was actually less desirable for our purposes.

"Knowing the fundamental principles, it was a simple matter to a.n.a.lyze the various requirements of this business step by step; as a result of this a.n.a.lysis we have a site even more suitable than the one originally contemplated; and we were able to buy it not merely on more favorable terms, but at an actual saving of more than $82,000."

GEORGE H. BORST, _President, Twentieth Century Storage Warehouse, Philadelphia._

"My experience with the Alexander Hamilton Inst.i.tute leaves me only with the regret that I did not make contact with it at an earlier time."