Dollars and Sense Part 24

As a matter of fact the whole theme of the story was simple obedience.

There are thousands of inst.i.tutions in this country who have employes who will carry the message to Garcia.

Richard Harding Davis, you remember, was dining with friends in London.

The discussion was along the lines of obedience and the like.

On a wager he called a messenger boy, gave him a letter addressed to his fiancee in Chicago, told the messenger boy to deliver the letter to the lady and bring back an answer. That fifteen year old boy carried the message to Garcia, or in other words to Mr. Davis' sweetheart.

The Colonel of a regiment has under him about twelve hundred men.

Directly under him are his majors, and then come the captains, lieutenants, sergeants, corporals and privates. The first rule in the army is obedience of orders without question.

If obedience were subject to question on the part of the subordinates, the colonel could win no battles.

When your superior gives an order, the thing to do is to carry it out.

If the order is wrong you will not be to blame, but your superior will suffer.

There are times, of course, when an order is given that is manifestly impracticable and initiative on the part of the employe might save trouble.

On the other hand, an executive would be greatly handicapped if his orders were subject to interpretation and a.n.a.lysis by his subordinates.

The executive may give an order and in the giving have in his own mind the relation of this order to some other order he has given in an entirely different department and upon the proper execution of all the orders given through the various departments depends the ultimate success of his plan.

The thing for the employe to do is to obey orders willingly, quickly and to the letter.

The employe is not blamed when he does his duty.

It is a source of great satisfaction to the boss to know he has dependable employes and that when he gives an order the thing is done so far as further effort on his part is concerned.

Pay Day

We have all tried all sorts of plans regarding pay day, but the plan most satisfactory to all concerned is to pay each Tuesday or each Monday for the previous week. If the nature of your business is such that Monday is an unusually busy day, then Tuesday should be your pay day.

Monday is usually called blue Monday, because the employes blot out some of the suns.h.i.+ne on Sunday by thinking of the hard week's work ahead of them. Much of the blueness is driven away, however, if in looking forward they know that Monday or Tuesday they will get their pay checks.

The old fas.h.i.+oned habit of paying off Sat.u.r.day nights is a bad one, especially if most of the employes are men.

Many men are weak and it is difficult for them to pa.s.s a lot of saloons on Sat.u.r.day night without the money in their pockets burning a hole.

The Sat.u.r.day pay day may mean that a percentage of your employes will not show up on Monday morning. Many men will go on a spree on Sat.u.r.day night on the theory that they can rest up on Sunday, who would not think of going on a spree on Monday night or Tuesday night, for it would interfere with the work next day.

The writer does not know of a single concern that has adopted this Monday or Tuesday pay day plan and practiced it for a reasonable time without finding it works admirably. Try it in your business and you will not go back to the Sat.u.r.day pay day.

Saving

We will not indulge in the proverbs handed out by the savings bank in the matter of saving. We are not pessimistic when we say that no man ever became wealthy through the savings bank plan of putting away a certain amount each week. We will say, however, that there is no better training for the employe than this one thing of saving. Saving a part of your weekly income and putting it away, if carried on for a number of years becomes a habit and it means that you will keep your expenses within your income. It is the saving habit that makes the benefit, for later on when you are in business the habit stands you in good stead and teaches you the value of having a reserve.

By all means, put away a certain amount each week. If it is not a dollar, put away fifty cents. If that is too much, put away half of it, or even ten cents a week.

Have some amount as a fixed charge in your operations and put this amount in the savings bank. Later on your balance will grow and you will have much satisfaction in watching its development to better proportions.

Habitual saving makes you careful in the things you do. It teaches you the relations.h.i.+p between princ.i.p.al and interest. It shows you that when you buy something useless and pay ten dollars for it that it is costing you interest each year to maintain it.

The man who does not save is pretty sure to live beyond his means and some day trouble or affliction will come and he will be out of a job and then he appreciates the difference between the b.u.t.terfly and the bee.

When you haven't anything to fall back upon, the world is a mighty blue place. When you have money in the bank it is a mighty good place to live in.

Waiting For Success

It takes a good poker-player to know when to lay down his hand.

It's a wise business-man who knows when to quit a forlorn hope.

It's all right to build up a business. It is all wrong to play a losing game in business for a succession of years in the hopes of ultimate success.

As years go by the business man is establis.h.i.+ng matters on a firmer and more solid foundation. Sales generally increase; the volume of the business gradually grows greater. This fact is responsible for many business men continuing their business at a loss, lured on by the hope of final success. It's all right to build a reputation and to be patient, but when the odds are against you and by all the changes you make and all the brains and ingenuity you put into your business, you cannot turn it into a profitable basis, then get out of that business and start something new.

It's all right to build, provided that as you go along you are making a living profit, but dogged determination to play a losing game year after year is not to a man's credit.

Every man has some particular channel in which his talents will fit and produce good results. If your business goes along year after year at a loss, it is evident that your talents are not in the right channel.

The great thing in business is that it shall respond quickly and show signs of life right away. If it does not, then the business is wrong.

The sh.o.r.es of the great ocean of business are strewn with wrecks which have been dashed to pieces on the rocks sailing for that false beacon light, "keep everlastingly at it brings success."

This saying is true, providing you are making expenses and some profit as you go along, but to keep everlastingly at it when your business shows a loss means failure.

The thing that lures many on is the increased sales. Meanwhile, the expenses are increasing proportionately, and if these two lines are always parallel, there is no hope of your making a success. Better quit before you get too deep in the hole and have a lot of "dead horses" to pay for.

It's all right to have ambition, tenacity and patience in business and to look forward to the far future as crowning success of your efforts, but it's all wrong unless you are paying expenses and making a living while doing these things.

Our Sons

The n.o.blest and most important work we have to do is the training and teaching of the coming generation.