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Analyzing Character

Katherine M. H. Blackford and Arthur Newcomb

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Title: Analyzing Character

Author: Katherine M. H. Blackford and Arthur Newcomb

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ANALYZING CHARACTER

The New Science of Judging Men; Misfits in Business, the Home

and Social Life

KATHERINE M. H. BLACKFORD, M.D.

AND

ARTHUR NEWCOMB

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1922

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION 1

PART ONE--ANALYZING CHARACTER IN VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

CHAP.

I--CAUSES OF MISFITS 17

II--ELEMENTS OF FITNESS 39

III--CLASSES OF MISFITS 73

IV--THE PHYSICALLY FRAIL 111

V--THE FAT MAN 137

VI--THE MAN OF BONE AND MUSCLE 157

VII--SLAVES OF MACHINERY 169

VIII--THE IMPRACTICAL MAN 191

IX--HUNGRY FOR FAME 223

X--WASTE OF TALENT IN THE PROFESSIONS 241

XI--WOMEN'S WORK 261

XII--SPECIAL FORMS OF UNFITNESS 267

PART TWO--ANALYZING CHARACTER IN SELECTION OF EMPLOYEES

I--THE COST OF UNSCIENTIFIC SELECTION 291

II--THE SELECTION OF EXECUTIVES 303

III--THE REMEDY 331

IV--RESULTS OF SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT 345

V--IDEAL EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS 359

PART THREE--ANALYZING CHARACTER IN PERSUASION

I--THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSUASION 367

II--SECURING FAVORABLE ATTENTION 383

III--AROUSING INTEREST AND CREATING DESIRE 391

IV--INDUCING DECISION AND ACTION 401

V--EFFICIENT AND SATISFACTORY SERVICE 413

PART FOUR--PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS

I--THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS 429

II--HOW TO LEARN AND APPLY THE SCIENCE OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS 443

III--USES OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS 453

APPENDIX

REQUIREMENTS OF THE PRINCIPAL VOCATIONS 465

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ILLUSTRATIONS

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1. Jacob A Riis 53

2. Dr. Booker T. Washington 54

3. James H. Collins 55

4. H.G. Wells 56

5. Henry Ford 57

6. Hugo de Vries 58

7. Dr. Henry Van Dyke 59

8. Dr. Beverly T. Galloway 60

9. Richard Mansfield 125

10. Hon. A.L. Cutting (front) 126

11. Hon. A.L. Cutting (profile) 127

12. Chief Justice Melville Fuller 128

13. Frank A. Vanderlip 129

14. Hon. Joseph P. Folk 130

15. Hon. Nelson W. Aldrich 131

16. Well-Developed Base of Brain 132

17. Beaumont, Aviator 149

18. Lincoln Beachey 150

19. Col. George W. Goethals 151

20. Field Marshal von Hindenberg 152

21. Rear Admiral Frank E. Beatty 153

22. William Lloyd Garrison 154

23. Samuel Rea 155

24. Lon Wescott Beck 156

25. "Sydney Williams" (front) 197

26. "Sydney Williams" (profile) 198

27. Prof. Adolph von Menzel 199

28. Edgar Allan Poe 200

29. Samuel Taylor Coleridge 201

30. Thomas De Quincy 202

31. O. Henry at 30 203

32. Edwin Reynolds 204

33. John Masefield 229

34. Edward De Reszke 230

35. Puccini, Composer 231

36. John S. Sargent, R.A. 232

37. Pietro Mascagni 233

38. Richard Burton 234

39. Mendelssohn, Composer 235

40. Massenet, Composer 236

41. Hon. Elihu Root (Front) 253

42. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher 254

43. Rufus Isaacs, Baron Reading 255

44. Hon. Elihu Root (Profile) 256

45. Harland B. Howe 257

46. Justice Horace H. Lurton 258

47. Prof. William H. Burr 259

48. Hon. John Wesley Gaines 260

49. Hon. Joseph Walker 277

50. Hon. Lon V. Stephens 278

51. Hon. Oscar Underwood 279

52. Hon. Victor Murdock 280

53. Robert C. Ogden 281

54. Prof. P.G. Holden 282

55. W. Nelson Edelsten 283

56. Dr. Beverly T. Galloway (Profile) 284

57. Conical Hands 317

58. Hands of Mrs. Flora E. Durand 317

59. Hands of Financier and Administrator 318

60. Hands of Engineer and Expert Mechanic 318

61. Long Fingers 318

62. Narrow Head 319

63. Sir Henry Fowler 320

64. Reginald D. Barry 321

65. Large Dome Above Temples 322

66. Dr. V. Stefansson 323

67. Square Head 324

68. Round Head 324

PREFACE

This work is a treatise upon the fascinating and valuable art of analyzing

human character. It makes no attempt to teach, as such, the technical

principles upon which this art is based. It is, rather, an attempt to

familiarize the reader with the most important of these by the inductive

method--by means of incidents and descriptions from our records and from

the biographies of well-known men. Some effort has been made, also, to

give the reader the benefit of the authors' experience and observation in

vocational counsel, employment, and salesmanship.

In the preparation of this work, we have drawn copiously from our records

of individuals and firms. It should be borne in mind by the reader that,

for obvious reasons--except in one or two cases--the details of these

narratives have been so altered as to disguise the personalities and

enterprises involved, the essentials being maintained true to the record.

New York City, January 3, 1916. THE AUTHORS.

INTRODUCTION

"There is one name," says Elbert Hubbard, "that stands out in history like

a beacon light after all these twenty-five hundred years have passed, just

because the man had the sublime genius of discovering ability. That man is

Pericles. Pericles made Athens and to-day the very dust of the street of

Athens is being sifted and searched for relics and remnants of the things

made by people who were captained by men of ability who were discovered by

Pericles."

The remark of Andrew Carnegie that he won his success because he had the

knack of picking the right men has become a classic in current speech.

Augustus Caesar built up and extended the power of the Roman Empire

because he knew men. The careers of Charlemagne, Napoleon, Disraeli,

Washington, Lincoln, and all the empire builders and empire saviours hold

their places in history because these men knew how to recognize, how to

select, and how to develop to the highest degree the abilities of their

co-workers. The great editors, Greeley, Dana, James Gordon Bennett,

McClure, Gilder and Curtis, attained their high station in the world of

letters largely because of their ability to unearth men of genius. Morgan,

Rockefeller, Theodore N. Vail, James J. Hill, and other builders of

industrial and commercial empires laid strong their foundations by almost

infallible wisdom in the selection of lieutenants. Even in the world of

sports the names of Connie Mack, McGraw, Chance, Moran, Carrigan and

Stallings shine chiefly because of their keen judgment of human nature.

If the glory that was Greece shone forth because Pericles kindled its

flame, then Pericles in any time and amongst any people would probably

have ushered in a Golden Age. Had Carnegie lived in any other day and

sought his industrial giants, he would no doubt have found them. If a

supreme judge of latent talent and inspirer of high achievement can thus

always find material ready to his hand, it follows that humanity is rich

in undiscovered genius--that, in the race, there are, unguessed and

undeveloped, possibilities for a millennium of Golden Ages. Psychologists

tell us that only a very small percentage of the real ability and energy

of the average man is ever developed or used.

"Poor man!" says a reviewer, speaking of a contemporary, "he never

discovered his discoverer." The man who waits for his Pericles usually

waits in vain. There has been only one Pericles in all history. Great

geniuses in the discovery, development, and management of men are rare.

Most men never meet them. And yet every man can discover his discoverer.

Self-knowledge is the first step to self-development. Through an

understanding of his own aptitudes and talents one may find fullest

expression for the highest possibilities of his intellect and spirit. A

man who thus knows himself needs no other discoverer. The key to

self-knowledge is intelligent, scientific self-study.

In the year 1792, Mahmoud Effendi, a Turkish archer, hit a mark with an

arrow at 482 yards. His bow, arrows, thumb-ring and groove are still on

exhibition in London as proof of the feat. His prowess lay in his native

gift, trained by years of practice, to guess the power of his bow, the

weight and balance of his arrow, and the range and direction of his

target; also, the sweep of the wind. This he gained by observations

repeated until the information gathered from them amounted to almost exact

knowledge. Thousands of gunners to-day hit a mark miles away, with a

16-inch gun, not because they are good guessers, but because, by means of

science, they determine accurately all of the factors entering into the

flight of their projectiles. Pericles judged men by a shrewd guess--the

kind of guess called intuition. But such intuition is only a native gift

of keen observation, backed by good judgment, and trained by shrewd study

of large numbers of men until it becomes instinctively accurate.

In modern times we are learning not to depend upon mere guesses--no matter

how shrewd. Mahmoud Effendi could not pass on to others the art he had

acquired. But the science of gunnery can be taught to any man of average

intelligence and natural aptitudes. Pericles left posterity not one hint

about how to judge men--how to recognize ability. Humanity needs a

scientific method of judging men, so that any man of intelligence can

discover genius--or just native ability--in himself and others.

As the result of our ignorance, great possibilities lie undeveloped in

nearly all men. Self-expression is smothered in uncongenial toil. Parents

and teachers, groping in the dark, have long been training natural-born

artists to become mechanics, natural-born business men to become

musicians, and boys and girls with great aptitudes for agriculture and

horticulture to become college professors, lawyers, and doctors. Splendid

human talent, amounting in some cases to positive genius, is worse than

wasted as a result.

In our experience, covering years of careful investigation and the

examination of many thousands of individuals, we have seen so much of the

tragedy of the misfit that it seems at times almost universal. The records

of one thousand persons taken at random from our files show that 763, or

76.3 per cent, felt that they were in the wrong vocations. Of these 414

were thirty-five years old or older. Most of these, when questioned as to

why they had entered upon vocations for which they had so little natural

aptitude, stated that they had either drifted along lines of least

resistance or had been badly advised by parents, teachers, or employers.

We knew a wealthy father, deaf to all pleas from his children, who spent

thousands of dollars upon what he thought was a musical education for his

daughter, including several years in Europe. The young lady could not

become a musician. The aptitude for music was not in her. But she was

unusually talented in mathematics and appreciation of financial values,

and could have made a marked success had she been permitted to gratify her

constantly reiterated desire for a commercial career. This same father,

with the same obstinacy, insisted that his son go into business. The young

man was so passionately determined to make a career of music that he was

a complete failure in business and finally embezzled several thousand

dollars from his employer in the hope of making his escape to Europe and

securing a musical education. Here were two human lives of marked talent

as completely ruined and wasted as a well-intentioned but ignorant and

obstinate parent could accomplish that end.

A few years ago a young man was brought to us by his friends for advice.

He had been educated for the law and then inherited from his father a

considerable sum of money. Having no taste for the law and a repugnance

for anything like office work, he had never even attempted to begin

practice. Having nothing to do, he was becoming more and more dissipated,

and when we saw him first had lost confidence in himself and was utterly

discouraged. "I am useless in the world," he told us. "There is nothing I

can do." At our suggestion, he was finally encouraged to purchase land and

begin the scientific study and practice of horticulture. The last time we

saw him he was erect, ruddy, hard-muscled, and capable looking. Best of

all, his old, petulant, dissatisfied expression was gone. In its place was

the light of worthy achievement, success, and happiness. He told us there

were no finer fruit trees anywhere than his. Such incidents as this are

not rare--indeed, they are commonplace. We could recount them from our

records in great number. But every observant reader can supply many from

his own experience.

Thousands of young men and women are encouraged, every year, to enroll in

schools where they will spend time and money preparing themselves for

professions already overcrowded and for which a large majority of them

have no natural aptitudes. A prominent physician tells us that of the

forty-eight who were graduated from medical school with him, he considers

only three safe to consult upon medical subjects. Indeed, so great is the

need and so increasingly serious is it becoming, as our industrial and

commercial life grows more complex and the demand for conservation and

efficiency more exacting, that progressive men and women in our

universities and schools and elsewhere have undertaken a study of the

vocational problem and are earnestly working toward a solution of it in

vocational bureaus, vocational schools, and other ways, all together

comprising the vocational movement.

Roger W. Babson, in his book, "The Future of the Working Classes: Economic

Facts for Employers and Wage Earners," says: "The crowning work of an

economic educational system will be vocational guidance. One of the

greatest handicaps to all classes to-day is that 90 per cent of the people

have entered their present employment blindly and by chance, irrespective

of their fitness or opportunities. Of course, the law of supply and demand

is continually correcting these errors, but this readjusting causes most

of the world's disappointments and losses. Some day the schools of the

nation will be organized into a great reporting bureau on employment

opportunities and trade conditions, directing the youths of the nation--so

far as their qualifications warrant--into lines of work which then offer

the greatest opportunity. Only by such a system will each worker receive

the greatest income possible for himself, and also the greatest benefits

possible from the labors of all, thus continually increasing production

and yet avoiding overproduction in any single line." That the main

features of the system suggested by Mr. Babson are being made the basis of

the vocational movement is one of the most hopeful signs of the times.

Dr. George W. Jacoby, the neurologist, says: "It is scarcely too much to

say that the entire future happiness of a child depends upon the

successful bringing out of its capabilities. For upon that rests the

choice of its life work. A mistake in this choice destroys all the real

joy of living--it almost means a lost life."

Consider the stone wall against which the misfit batters his head:

He uses only his second rate, his third rate, or even less effective

mental and physical equipment. He is thus handicapped at the start in the

race against those using their best. He is like an athlete with weak legs,

but powerful arms and shoulders, trying to win a foot race instead of a

hand-over-hand rope-climbing contest.

Worse than his ineptitude, however, is the waste and atrophy of his best

powers through disuse. Thus the early settlers of the Coachela Valley

fought hunger and thirst while rivers of water ran away a few feet below

the surface of the richly fertile soil.

No wonder, then, that the misfit hates his work. And yet, his hate for it

is the real tragedy of his life.

Industry, like health, is normal. All healthy children, even men, are

active. Activity means growth and development. Inactivity means decay and

death. The man who has no useful work to do sometimes expresses himself in

wrong-doing and crime, for he has to do something industriously to live.

Even our so-called "idle rich" and leisure classes are strenuously active

in their attempts to amuse themselves.

When, therefore, a man hates his work, when he is dissatisfied and

discontented in it, when his work arouses him to destructive thoughts and

feelings, rather than constructive, there is something wrong, something

abnormal, and the abnormality is his attempt to do work for which he is

unfitted by natural aptitudes or by training.

The man who is trying to do work for which he is unfitted feels repressed,

baffled and defeated. He may not even guess his unfitness, but he does

feel its manifold effect. He lacks interest in his work and, therefore,

that most vital factor in personal efficiency--incentive. He cannot throw

himself into his work with a whole heart.

When Thomas A. Edison is bent upon realizing one of his ideas, his

absorption in his work exemplifies Emerson's dictum: "Nothing great was

ever accomplished without enthusiasm. The way of life is wonderful--it is

by abandonment." He shuts himself away from all interruption in his

laboratory; he works for hours oblivious of everything but his idea. Even

the demands of his body for food and sleep do not rise above the threshold

of consciousness.

Edison himself says that great achievement is a result, not of genius,

but of this kind of concentration in work--and, until the mediocre man has

worked as has Edison, he cannot prove the contrary. Mr. Edison has results

to prove the value of his way of working. Even our most expert

statisticians and mathematicians would find it difficult to calculate,

accurately, the amount of material wealth this one worker has added to

humanity's store. Of the unseen but higher values in culture, in

knowledge, in the spread of civilization, and in greater joy of living for

millions of people, there are even greater riches. Other men of the past

and present, in every phase of activity, have demonstrated that such an

utter abandonment to one's tasks is the keynote of efficiency and

achievement. But such abandonment is impossible to the man who is doing

work into which he cannot throw his best and greatest powers--which claims

only his poorest and weakest.

This man's very failure to achieve increases his unrest and unhappiness.

Walter Dill Scott, the psychologist, in his excellent book, "Increasing

Human Efficiency in Business," gives loyalty and concentration as two of

the important factors in human efficiency. But loyalty pre-supposes the

giving of a man's best. Concentration demands interest and enthusiasm.

These are products of a love of the work to be done.

The man employed at work for which he is unfit, therefore, finds it not a

means of self-expression, but a slow form of self-destruction. All this

wretchedness of spirit reacts directly upon the efficiency of the worker.

"A successful day is likely to be a restful one," says Professor

Scott,--"an unsuccessful day an exhausting one. The man who is greatly

interested in his work and who finds delight in overcoming the

difficulties of his calling is not likely to become so tired as the man

for whom the work is a burden.

"Victory in intercollegiate athletic events depends on will power and

physical endurance. This is particularly apparent in football. Frequently

it is not the team with the greater muscular development or speed of foot

that wins the victory, but the one with the more grit and perseverance. At

the conclusion of a game players are often unable to walk from the field

and need to be carried. Occasionally the winning team has actually worked

the harder and received the more serious injuries. Regardless of this

fact, it is usually true that the victorious team leaves the field less

jaded than the conquered team. Furthermore, the winners will report next

day refreshed and ready for further training, while the losers may require

several days to overcome the shock and exhaustion of their defeat.

"Recently I had a very hard contest at tennis. Some hours after the game I

was still too tired to do effective work. I wondered why, until I

remembered that I had been thoroughly beaten, and that, too, by an

opponent whom I felt I outclassed. I had been in the habit of playing even

harder contests and ordinarily with no discomfort--especially when

successful in winning the match.

"What I have found so apparent in physical exertion is equally true in

intellectual labor. Writing or research work which progresses

satisfactorily leaves me relatively fresh; unsuccessful efforts bring

their aftermath of weariness.

"_Intellectual work which is pleasant is stimulating and does not fag one,

while intellectual work which is uninteresting or displeasing is

depressing and exhausting_....

"To restore muscular and nerve cells is a very delicate process. So

wonderful is the human organism, however, that the process is carried on

perfectly without our consciousness or volition except under abnormal

conditions.

"Food and air are the first essentials of this restoration. In-directly

the perfect working of all the bodily organs contributes to the

process--especially deepened breathing, heightened pulse, and increase of

bodily volume due to the expansion of the blood vessels running just

beneath the skin.

"Here pleasure enters. Its effect on the expenditure of energy is to make

muscle and brain cells more available for consumption, and particularly to

hasten the process of restoration or recuperation.

"The deepened breathing supplies more air for the oxidation of body

wastes. The heightened pulse carries nourishment more rapidly to the

depleted tissues and relieves the tissues more rapidly from the poisonous

wastes produced by work. The body, the machine, runs more smoothly, and

few stops for repairs are made necessary.

"In addition to these specific functions, _pleasure hastens all the bodily

processes which are of advantage to the organism_. The hastening may be so

great that recuperation keeps pace with the consumption consequent on

efficient labor, with the result that there is little or no exhaustion.

This is, in physiological terms, the reason why a person can do more when

he 'enjoys' his work or play, and can continue his efforts for a longer

period without fatigue. The man who enjoys his work requires less time for

recreation and exercise, for his enjoyment recharges the storage battery

of energy."

But the misfit can take none of this pleasure in his work. He is unhappy

because he cannot do his best; he is wretched because he feels that he is

being defeated in the contest of life; he is miserable because he hates

the things he has to do; he can take no satisfaction in his work because

he feels that it is poorly done; and, finally, all of his joylessness

reacts upon him, decreasing his efficiency and making him a more pitiable

failure.

So this is the vicious circle:

Misfit;

Inefficient;

Unhappy;

More inefficient.

Rather is it a descending spiral, leading down to poverty, disease, crime

and death.

Now, consider the man who has found _his_ work. To him the glorious

abandonment which is the way to achievement is possible. Such a man does

not merely exist--he lives, and lives grandly. His work gives him joy,

both in its doing and in its results. It calls out and develops his

highest and best talents. He therefore grows in power, in wisdom, in

health, in efficiency, and in success. All his life runs in an ascending

spiral. No task appalls him. No difficulty daunts him. He may work

hard--terribly hard. He may tunnel through mountains of drudgery. He will

shun the easy ways and leave the soft jobs to weaker men. But through it

all there will be a song in his heart.

Work to such a man is as natural an expression as hunger, or love, or

pleasure, or laughter. He returns to it with zest and eagerness. Such a

man's work flows out from his soul. It is an expression of the divine in

him.

The almost universal cry for leisure is due to the almost universal

unfitness of men and women for their tasks. The wise man knows that there

is no happiness in leisure. The only happiness is self-expression in

useful work. And so we come again to the problem of fitting the man to his

work. Every man is a bundle of possibilities. Every man has a right to

usefulness, prosperity and happiness. These are possible only through

knowledge of self, knowledge of others, knowledge of work, and the ability

to make the right combination of self and others and work.

Man has learned much about the material universe. Nearly everything has

been analyzed and classified. Man weighs, measures, tests, and in others

ways scrupulously determines the fitness of every bit of material that

goes into a machine before it is built. There are scientific ways of

selecting cattle, horses, and even hogs for particular purposes.

Purchasing departments of great commercial and industrial institutions

maintain laboratories for the determination, with mathematical exactitude,

of the qualifications and fitness to requirements of all kinds of

materials, tools and equipment. And yet, when it comes to the choice of

his own life work, the guidance of his children in their vocations, or the

selection of employees and co-workers, the average man decides the entire

matter by almost any other consideration than scientifically determined

fitness. He takes counsel with personal prejudices, with customs and

traditions, with pride, or with fear--or he leaves the decision to mere

guess-work, or even chance.

It is time, therefore, that man should learn about himself and others,

and especially about those things which are vital to even a moderate

enjoyment of the good things of life.

Two diametrically opposite states of mind have been responsible for this

lack of careful study of the aptitudes, characteristics, and

qualifications of man and the ways of determining them in advance of

actual performance. The first of these has been characterized by loose

thinking, unscientific methods, arbitrary and complicated systems--- such

as palmistry, astrology, physiognomy, phrenology, and others of the same

ilk. In these systems, some truth, patiently learned by sincere and able

workers, has been befogged and contaminated by hasty conclusions of the

incompetent and clever lies of charlatans. Thus the whole subject has

fallen into disrepute with intelligent people. Ever since the earliest

days of recorded history there have been attempts at character reading.

Many different avenues of approach to the subject have been opened; some

by sincere and earnest men of scientific minds and scholarly attainments;

some by sincere and earnest but unscientific laymen; and some by

mountebanks and charlatans. As the result of all this study, research and

empiricism, a great mass of alleged facts about physical characteristics

has been accumulated. When we began our research seventeen years ago, we

found a very considerable library covering every phase of character

interpretation, both scientific and unscientific. A great deal has been

added since that time. 'Much of this literature is pseudo-scientific, and

some of it is pure quackery.

The second state of mind is a reaction from the first. Some men of science

are timid about accepting or stating anything in regard to character

analysis. They demand more than conclusive proof; what they insist upon is

mathematical accuracy. Until a man can be analyzed in such a way as to

leave nothing to common sense or good judgment, they hesitate to

acknowledge that he can be analyzed at all. But in the very nature of the

case, the science of character analysis cannot be a science in the same

sense in which chemistry and mathematics are sciences. So far our studies

and experiences do not lead us to expect that it ever can become absolute

and exact. Human nature is complicated by too many variables and obscured

by too much that is elusive and intangible. We cannot put a man on the

scales and determine that he has so many milligrams of common sense, or

apply the micrometer to him and say that he has so many millimetres of

financial ability. Human traits and human values are relative and can be

determined and stated only relatively. We shall, therefore, waste both

time and human values if we wait until our knowledge is mathematically

exact before we make it useful to ourselves and to others.

The sciences of medicine, agriculture, chemistry and physics are not yet

exact. They are in a state of development. We have, however, the good

sense to apply them so far as we know them, and to accept new discoveries,

new methods, and new ways of applying them, as they come to us. And so, in

the study of ourselves, let us throw aside traditions; let us forget the

mountebanks and charlatans of the past; let us not wait for the final work

of the mathematician; but, with plain common sense, let us apply such

knowledge as we have at hand. This knowledge should be the result of

careful observation, of a careful and prolonged study of all that science

has discovered in regard to man, his origin, his development, his history,

his body, and his mind. Every conclusion reached should be verified, not

in hundreds, but in thousands of cases, before it is finally accepted.

The perfection of such a science requires the united efforts of many

investigators, experimenters, and practical workers, such as teachers,

employers, social workers, parents, and men and women everywhere, each in

his own way and in the solution of his own problems. Were a uniform method

adopted and made a part of the vocational work of our social settlements,

our public schools, our colleges and universities, and other institutions,

also by private individuals in selecting their own vocations; were uniform

records to be made and every subject analyzed followed up, and his career

studied, we should, in one generation, have data from which any

intelligent, analytical mind could formulate a science of human analysis

very nearly approaching exactitude.

As a result of the application of such a uniform method, the principles of

human analysis would rapidly become a matter of common knowledge and could

be taught in our schools just as we to-day teach the principles of

chemical, botanical, or zoological analysis. In the industries, the

scientific selection, assignment and management of men have yielded

increases in efficiency from one hundred to one thousand per cent. The

majority of people that were dealt with were mature, with more or less

fixity of character and habits. Many of them were handicapped by iron-clad

limitations and restrictions in their affairs and in their environments.

What results may be possible when these methods, improved and developed by

a wider use, are applied to young people, with their plastic minds and

wonderful latent possibilities, we cannot even venture to forecast.

While we are accustomed to thinking of unfitness for our tasks as the one

form of maladjustment due to our ignorance of human nature in general and

individual traits in particular, there are other forms which, in their own

way, cause much trouble and the remedying of which leads to desirable

results. These are many and varied, but may be grouped, perhaps, most

conveniently under two or three general headings.

First, there is the relationship between employers and employees. The

disturbances and inharmony which mark this relationship, and have marked

it throughout human history, are due as much, perhaps, to misunderstanding

of human nature as to any one other cause. When employers select men

unfitted for their tasks, assign them to work in environments where they

are handicapped from the start, and associate them together and with

executives in combinations which are inherently inharmonious, it is

inevitable that trouble should follow.

The larger aspects of the employment problem are treated in the second

part of this book. Inasmuch, however, as the subject has been more fully

discussed in another volume,[1] no attempt is made to go into details.

Adjustment to environment means very largely the ability successfully to

associate with, cooperate with, and secure one's way among one's fellow

men. In order to be successful in life, we must first live on terms of

mutual cooperation with our parents; second, secure the best instruction

possible from our teachers; third, make social progress; fourth, secure

gainful employment, either from one employer, as in the case of the

laborer and the executive, or from several, as in the cases of

professional men. Having secured employment, our progress depends upon our

ability to attain promotion, to increase our business or our practice, to

add to our patrons. Salesmen must sell more, and more advantageously.

Attorneys must convince judges and juries, as well as obtain desired

testimony from witnesses. Preachers and other public speakers of all

classes must entertain, interest, arouse, and convince their audiences.

Writers must each appeal successfully to his particular public as well as

to his publisher. Engineers must establish and sustain successful

relationship with clients, employers, and employees.

In the third part of this book, therefore, we deal more or less at length

with the psychological processes of persuasion and their application in

various forms and to the varied personalities of those whom we wish to

persuade.

Finally, in the fourth part, we devote three chapters to a consideration

of the Science of Character Analysis by the Observational Method, the

principles of which underlie all of the observations and suggestions

appearing in the first three parts.

In presenting the material in this volume, our aim has been not to

propound a theory, but merely to make practical, for the use of our

readers, so far as possible, the results of our own experiences in this

field.

[Footnote 1: The Job, The Man, The Boss, by Katherine M.H. Blackford,

M.D., and Arthur Newcomb.]

PART ONE

ANALYZING CHARACTER IN VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

Analyzing Character

CHAPTER I

CAUSES OF MISFITS

"Blessed is the man who has found his work."--Carlyle.

Only the rarest kind of soul has a clear call to his vocation. Still rarer

is he who, knowing his work, can create circumstances which will permit

him to do it. Of the thousands of young people who have sought us for

counsel, only a very small percentage have had even a vague idea of what

they are fitted to do, or even what they wished to do. Strange to say,

this lack of definite knowledge as to vocation holds true of those who

have just graduated from college or university. Many a college graduate

has said to us: "Why, I shall teach for a few years until I have fully

made up my mind just what I wish to do. Then I shall take my post-graduate

course in preparation for my life work." Even so late a decision as this

often proves unsatisfactory.

IGNORANCE AND PURPOSELESSNESS

The causes for uncertainty as to work are many and varied. And yet all the

many causes can be traced to two fundamental deficiencies in human nature

which are but poorly supplied in our traditional systems of training and

education. The first of these is, of course, ignorance--ignorance of self,

ignorance of work, ignorance on the part of parents, teachers, and other

advisors; ignorance on the part of employers. As a race, we do not know

human nature; we do not know how to determine, in advance of actual,

painful and costly experience, the aptitudes of any individual. We blunder

a good deal even in trying to learn from experience. We do not know work;

we do not know its requirements, its conditions, its opportunities, its

emoluments. And so, in our ignorance, we go astray; we lead others astray.

We neglect important and vital factors in human success and happiness

because we do not know how important and how vital they are. Our ignorance

of their importance is due to our ignorance of human nature and of work.

A second cause for our uncertainty lies in the almost universal human

habit of purposelessness. Drifting, not steering, is the way of nearly all

lives. It is hard mental work to plan, to consider, to study, to analyze;

in short, to think. Someone has said that the average man would rather lie

down and die than to take the trouble really to think. It is easier to

await the knock of opportunity than to study her ways and then go out and

capture her. She treads paths which may be known. She has a schedule which

may be learned. She may thus be met as certainly as by appointment. Those

who await her knock at the door may be far from where she passes.

We in America, especially, place altogether too high a value on our

ingeniousness, our resourcefulness. We therefore put off the evil day. We

say to ourselves: "There is plenty of time. I'll manage somehow or other

when the time comes for action." We are rather proud of our ability to

meet emergencies. So we do not plan and take precautions, that emergencies

may not arise. It is too easy to drift through school and college, taking

the traditional, conventional studies that others take, following the

lines of least resistance, electing "snap courses," going with the crowd.

It is too easy to take the attitude: "First I will get my education and

develop myself, and then I will know better what I am fitted to do for a

life work." And so we drift, driven by the winds of circumstance, tossed

about by the waves of tradition and custom. Eventually, most men find they

must be satisfied with "any port in a storm." Sailors who select a port

because they are driven to it have scarcely one chance in a thousand of

dropping anchor in the right one.

In our ignorance, we do not know how fatal to success and happiness is

this lack of purpose. We fail to impress it upon our youth. And, when one

demands chart and compass, we cannot supply them. No wonder belief in

luck, fate, stars, or a meddling, unreasonable Providence is almost

universal!

Ignorance and lack of definite purpose, the two prime causes of misfits,

have many different ways of bungling people into the wrong job and keeping

them there.

IMMATURE JUDGMENT

The first of these is immaturity of judgment on the part of young people.

There is a popular fallacy that the thing which a young man or a young

woman wants most to do must be the thing for which he or she is

preeminently fitted. "Let him follow his bent," say some advisors, "and he

will find his niche." This does not happen often. The average young man is

immature. His tastes are not formed. He is undeveloped. His very best

talents may have never been discovered by himself or others. It is well

known to those who study children that a boy's earliest ambitions are to

do something he thinks spectacular and romantic. Boys long to be cab

drivers, locomotive engineers, policemen, cowboys, soldiers and aviators.

A little nephew of ours said he wanted to be a ditch-digger. Asked why, he

said: "So I can wear dirty clothes, smoke a pipe, and spit tobacco juice

in the street." The little fellow is really endowed with an inheritance of

great natural refinement and a splendid intellect. As he grows older, his

ideals will change and he will discover there is much to ditch-digging

besides wearing dirty clothes, smoking a pipe, and expectorating on the

public highways. He will also learn that there are things in life far more

desirable than these glorious privileges. Of course, these are mere boyish

exuberances, and most people do not take them seriously. On the other

hand, they illustrate the unwisdom of trusting to the unguided preferences

of a youthful mind. The average young man of twenty is only a little more

mature than a boy of ten. He still lacks experience and balance.

Those of us who have passed the two-score mark well know how tastes

change, judgments grow more mature, ideas develop, and experience softens,

ripens or hardens sentiment as the years go by. It is unquestionably true

that if children were given full opportunity to develop their tastes and

to express themselves in various ways and then given freedom of choice of

their vocations, they would choose more wisely than they do under

ignorant, prejudiced, or mistaken judgments of parent or teacher. Yet the

tragedy of thousands of lives shows how unscientific it is to leave the

choice of vocation to the unguided instincts of an immature mind.

INFLUENCE OF ASSOCIATION

Boys and girls often choose their careers because some popular friend or

associate exerts an undue influence upon them. George is going to be a

doctor. Therefore Joseph decides he, too, will be a doctor. Mary looks

forward to being a teacher. Mary is the very intimate chum of Josephine.

Then Josephine decides, also, that she is going to be a teacher. We knew

one earnest and popular young man in college who persuaded about three

dozen of his associates to join him in preparation for the foreign mission

field. In one class in college a fad caused several young men to lose good

opportunities because they decided to take up the practice of medicine. In

one high school class, several young men became railroad employees because

the most popular of their number yearned to drive a locomotive. And this

enterprising youth, with parental guidance and assistance, became a

lawyer.

POOR JUDGMENT OF PARENTS

Parental bad judgment is one of the most frequent causes of misfits. Even

when parents are sincere and try to be wise, choice of a child's life work

is very difficult for them. In the first place, they either underestimate

or overestimate their children. What parent, worthy of the high privilege,

can be absolutely impartial in judging the talents of his child? Arthur

Brisbane says that Nature makes every baby look like a genius in his

mother's eyes, so that she will gladly sacrifice her life, if necessary,

for her child. It may be a wise provision, but it does not tend to make

parents reliable guides to vocations for their offspring.

Then, many parents do not know work. They do not understand the demands of

the different professions. Their point of view is narrowed by their own

experiences, which have been, perhaps too harsh, perhaps too easy. Many

parents have a narrow, selfish, rather jealous feeling that their children

cannot be any more intelligent than they are. "The old farm was good

enough for me; it is good enough for my son"; "the old business was good

enough for me; it is good enough for my son." This is the attitude. This

is why many parents either refuse their children the advantages of an

education and insist upon their going to work at an early age, or compel

them to take a hated schooling.

On the other hand, there are parents who consider their children

prodigies, geniuses, intended to occupy some great and magnificent

position in the world. Most frequently they hold their judgment entirely

apart from any real talents on the part of the child. Few human woes are

more bitter than the disappointment and heartache of both parent and son

when a young man who might have been a successful and happy farmer or

merchant fails utterly as an artist or writer.

Parents often persuade their children to enter vocations upon the

flimsiest possible pretexts. Almost every child takes a pencil and tries

to draw, yet there are many parents who spend thousands of dollars in

trying to make great artists of children who have only the most mediocre

artistic ability. Mere purposeless drawing of faces and figures is an

entirely different thing from the drudgery necessary to become a great

artist. The mere writing of little essays and compositions is quite a

different thing from the long, hard training necessary to become a writer

of any acceptability. Merely because a child finds it easier to dawdle

away the hours with a pencil or a brush than to go into the harvest field

or into the kitchen is not a good reason for supposing that this

preference is an indication of either talent or genius.

A parent's judgment of the requirements of a profession is oftentimes

most amusingly erroneous. We remember a father who told us that he was

quite certain that his son was born to be a ruler of men. When we asked

why, he told us in all seriousness that from early childhood his boy's

blood boiled with indignation against people who had committed indignities

upon kings and princes. Of course, in one sense of the word, this parent

was insane, and yet his bad judgment was scarcely more ridiculous than

that of many other parents. We have met parents who seemed to think that

success in the practice of law depended wholly upon the ability to make

speeches. We have seen other parents who thought that success in banking

depended upon the ability to count money and hold on to it. Even

intelligent people have the false idea that an architect needs only to be

a good draughtsman. The number of people who imagine that success in

business is won by shrewdness and sharp practice is very large.

PARENTAL PREJUDICES

Parents are often influenced by the most irrelevant of prejudices in

counseling their children as to vocation. A man who has had an unfortunate

experience with a lawyer is very likely to oppose strenuously any move on

the part of his son to study and practice law. Many practical men have

intense prejudices against art, music, literature, and other such

professions for their sons. The number of parents who are prejudiced

against a college education is legion. On the other hand, there are a

goodly number of men who are prejudiced against any vocation for their

sons which does not involve a college education.

Many parents who have worked hard and toiled unremittingly at any

particular profession oftentimes feel that they want their children to do

something easier, something requiring less drudgery, and so bitterly

oppose their following in their fathers' footsteps. On the other hand,

many fathers are domineering in their determination that their sons shall

follow the same vocation in which they made their success.

Parents are often prejudiced in favor of vocations followed by dear

friends or by men whom they greatly admire. A successful lawyer, preacher,

engineer, or business man will influence the choice of vocations for the

children of many of his admiring friends and acquaintances.

Multitudes of parents have foolish prejudices against any kind of work

which soils the hands or clothing--even against the dinner-pail. On the

other hand, hard-fisted parents may have prejudices against any vocation

which keeps the hands soft and white, and the clothing clean and fine.

Thus, in many ways do the prejudices of parents, based upon ignorance,

work tragedy in the lives of children. Either through a sense of duty and

loyalty or because they have not sufficient solid masonry in their

backbones, children follow the wishes of their parents and many all but

ruin their lives as a result.

"THE LEARNED PROFESSIONS"

One of the most disastrous prejudices upon the part of parents is that in

favor of what are called "the learned professions." To make a lawyer, a

physician, or a minister of one's son is held to be the highest ambition

on the part of large numbers of otherwise intelligent fathers and mothers.

The result of this kind of prejudice on the part of so many parents is

that the so-called learned professions are over-crowded--and overcrowded

with men and women unfitted for their tasks, both by natural inheritance

and by education and training. There follows mediocre Work, poor service,

low pay, poverty, disease, and misery.

FAMILY TRADITIONS

There are traditions in some families which carry their curse along with

them down through the generations. There are families of preachers,

families of soldiers, families of lawyers, families of physicians,

families of teachers. Many a young man who would have otherwise been a

success in the world has toiled along at a poor, dying rate, trying to

live up to the family tradition and make a success of himself as a

teacher, or lawyer, when he ought to have been a mechanic, an actor, or a

banker.

Another form of parental prejudice is a father's desire to have his son

become a success in the vocation which he himself longed to enter, but

could not. "My father is a successful business man," said a young man to

us not long ago. "When he was a young man he wanted to enter law school

and practice law, but because of lack of funds and because he had to

support his widowed mother's family, he did not have the opportunity. All

his life he has regretted that he was unable to realize his ambition. From

my earliest years he has talked to me about becoming a great lawyer; he

spent thousands of dollars in sending me through high school, college and

law school; he has given me years of post-graduate work in law. I have now

been trying to practice law for two years and have made a complete failure

of it. Yet, so intense is his desire that I shall realize his ambition,

that he is willing to finance me, in the hope that, eventually, I may be

able to succeed in the practice of law. And yet I hate it. I hate it so

that it seems to me I cannot drive myself ever to enter a law office for

another day."

POOR JUDGMENT OF TEACHERS

When bad judgment and prejudice of parents do not interfere with a child's

development and his selection of a vocation, he is often turned into wrong

channels by the bad judgment of his teacher or teachers. It is natural for

many teachers to try to influence their favorite pupils to enter the

teaching profession in the same special branch to which the teachers

themselves are attached. We once knew a professor of Latin who was an

enthusiast on the subject. As the result of his influence, many of his

students became teachers of Latin. Teachers, like parents, also frequently

fail to see the indications of aptitude where it is very great.

Like parents, teachers also are oftentimes ignorant of the requirements of

work. They are frequently narrow in their training and experience, and

therefore do not understand much about practical life, practical work,

and practical requirements. Many teachers, even college professors, seem

to be obsessed with the idea that a student who learns a subject easily

will be successful in making a practical application of it. Not long ago a

student in engineering in one of our most prominent universities came to

us for consultation. He told us that his professors all agreed that he was

well fitted to succeed as an engineer. He, however, had no liking for the

profession and did not believe that he would either enjoy it or be

successful in it. Our observations confirmed his opinions. It turned out

that his instructors thought him qualified for engineering merely from the

fact that he learned easily the theoretical principles underlying the

practice.

ECONOMIC NECESSITY

Perhaps one of the most potent causes of misfits in vocation is economic

necessity. The time comes in the life of most boys when they must earn

their own living or, perhaps, help support the parental family. In such a

case, a search is made for a job. Local conditions, friendship,

associations, chance vacancies--almost any consideration but that of

personal fitness governs in the choice of the job. Once a boy is in a

vocation, he is more than likely to remain in it--or, because of

unfitness, to drift aimlessly into another, for which he is even less

adapted. An entertaining writer in the "Saturday Evening Post" has shown

how the boy who accidentally enters upon his career as a day laborer soon

finds it impossible to graduate into the ranks of skilled labor. He

remains not only a day laborer, but an occasional laborer, his periods of

work interspersed with longer and longer periods of unemployment.

Unemployment means bad food, unwholesome sanitary conditions and, worst of

all, bad mental and moral states. These are followed by disease,

incompetency, inefficiency, weakness, and, in time, the man becomes one of

the unemployed and unemployable wrecks of humanity. Crime then becomes

practically the only avenue of escape from starvation or pauperism.

Thousands of young men taking a job, no matter how they may dislike the

work, feel compelled to remain in it because it is their one hope of

income. The longer they remain in it the harder it is for them to make a

change. Sad, indeed, is the case of the boy or girl who is compelled, in

order to make a living or to help support father, mother, brothers and

sisters, to drop into the first vacancy which offers itself.

RESTLESSNESS

The restlessness of many a boy and girl results in his or her choice of an

utterly wrong vocation. Boys whose parents would be glad to see them

through college or technical school cannot wait to begin their careers.

Impatient and restless, they undertake the work which will yield quick

results rather than develop their real talents or seek opportunities for

advancement of which they are by nature capable. Over and over again those

who come to us for consultation say: "Father would have been willing to

have put me through school, but I couldn't wait; I simply had to get out

and have my own way. I have never ceased to regret it. Now I have to work

hard with my hands; with a proper education, and in my right job, I could

have used my head." The reader has doubtless heard many such stories from

friends and acquaintances. The world is full of misfits who failed of

their great opportunity because they were too restless, too impatient, to

make proper preparations for their life work. This restlessness,

unfortunately, is a characteristic of many of the most energetic, most

capable, and most intelligent young people, to whom an education would be

worth much, to whom proper training and preparation would bring unusual

self-development. It is, therefore, of the highest importance that the

young man or young woman and his or her parents or guardian should be

especially cautious when there is this feeling of intense eagerness to

begin work.

VERSATILITY

Perhaps one of the most difficult causes of misfits to overcome is

versatility. He who can do many things well seems always to have great

difficulty in fixing upon any one thing and doing that supremely well. The

versatile man is usually fond of variety, changeable, fickle; he loves to

have many irons in the fire; he likes to turn from one kind of work to

another. It is his great failing that he seldom sticks at any one thing

long enough to make a marked success of it. Because of his great

versatility, too, he is often a serious problem, even for those who can

study his case scientifically. It is difficult to give him counsel and it

is even more difficult for him to give heed to that counsel when it has

been given. The one hope of the exceedingly versatile individual is to

find for himself some vocation which has within it an opportunity for the

exercise of many different kinds of talents, and for turning quickly from

one kind of work to another. Routine, monotony, detail work, and work

which is confining in its character and presents a continual sameness of

environment, should be avoided by this type of individual.

MEDIOCRITY AND UNGUESSED TALENTS

The inability to do any one thing particularly well is, in its way, as

serious a handicap in the selection of a vocation as great versatility.

One who can do nothing well finds it just as hard to decide upon a

vocation as one who can do everything well. Perhaps the large majority of

those who come to us for consultation do so because they feel that they

have no particular talent. Oftentimes this is the case. But frequently

there are undeniable talents which have simply never been discovered and

never developed. Even in the case of those with no particular talent,

there is always some combination of aptitudes, characteristics,

disposition, and other circumstances which makes one particular vocation

far more desirable than any other. It is most important that the

individual with only a moderate inheritance of intelligence and ability

should learn to invest his little in the most profitable manner possible.

Those who escape wrong choice of vocation on account of their own bad

judgment and errors in selection; who are not turned aside into the wrong

path by the bad judgment, prejudices, and other errors of parents; who

escape from the clutches of sincere and well-meaning, but unwise,

teachers; who are not thrown into the nearest possible vacancies by

economic necessity; who do not fall short of their full opportunities

because of restlessness; who do not have their problems complicated by too

great versatility or too little ability, still have many a rock and shoal

to avoid.

BLUNDERS OF EMPLOYERS

One very frequent cause of misfits in vocation is the bad judgment of

employers. This bad judgment, like that of parents and teachers, arises

from ignorance--ignorance of human nature, of the particular individual,

and, strange to say, of the requirements of the work to be done. Whole

volumes could be written on the bad judgment of employers in selecting,

assigning, and handling their employees. This, however, is not the place

for them. Neither is this the place for the discussion of the remedies to

be applied.

Even after the young man has entered a vocation and found that he does not

fit in it, there is plenty of opportunity for him to make a change if he

is made of the right stuff and can secure the right kind of counsel and

guidance. But this "IF" is a tremendously big one.

Many causes--both inside and outside of himself--tend to prevent the

average man from changing from a vocation for which he is not fit to one

in which he is fit. Perhaps a brief consideration of some of these factors

in the problem may be of assistance to you.

SOCIAL AMBITION

One reason for continuing in the wrong vocation is social ambition.

Rightly or wrongly--probably wrongly--there are certain vocations which

entitle one to social recognition. There are others which seem, at least,

to make it difficult for one to secure social recognition. Social

ambition, therefore, causes many a man to cling desperately to the

outskirts of some profession for which he is unfitted, in the everlasting

hope of making a success of it and thus winning the social recognition

which is his supreme desire.

Poor, short-sighted, and even blind, victims of their own folly!

They do not see that any work which is human service is honorable. They

miss the big truth that the man who delivers better goods or renders

better service than other men is not only entitled to profit, but also

has, by divine right, unassailable social standing.

LAZINESS

One of the most potent causes of failure is laziness. And the worst form

of the malady is mental laziness. Once a man is in any line of work, he

simply remains there by following the lines of least resistance. It

requires, in the first place, hard mental effort to decide upon a new line

of work. It requires analysis of work, analysis of one's self, of

conditions, and of environment, in order to make an intelligent and worthy

change. Not only this, but an advantageous change in vocation usually

involves additional study, additional training, hard, grinding work in

preparation for the new task. And it is altogether too easy for the lazy

man to drift along, mediocre and obscure, in some vocation for which he is

poorly fitted than to go through the grueling, hard work of preparing

himself for one in which he will find an opportunity for the use and

development of his highest and best talents.

LACK OF OPPORTUNITY

Many men do not change their vocations, when they find that they are

misfits, because of lack of opportunity. There may be no real chance for

them in the locality where they live and conditions may make it almost

impossible for them to leave. Of course, the strong, courageous soul can

_make_ its own opportunities. Theoretically, perhaps, everyone can create

circumstances. But, in real life, there are comparatively few strong,

courageous souls--few who can mould conditions to their will. Probably,

however, the average man could do much more than he does to improve his

opportunities were it not for inertia, lack of self-confidence, and lack

of courage, all of which he could overcome if he would.

It is oftentimes the case that the man who desires to make a change feels

that the only work which would appeal to him is in a profession or trade

already overcrowded. This may be true in the locality where he lives, but

there is always room for every competent man in any truly useful kind of

work. For the man who is well qualified, by natural aptitudes and

training, no profession is overcrowded.

LACK OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Many men of intelligence, who, perhaps, know what their calling should be,

are compelled to continue in work which is uncongenial and for which they

are poorly fitted because of their lack of education and training.

Hundreds of men and women come to us, only to find that they have started

in the wrong work and have remained in it so long that a change to their

true vocation is practically impossible. They have assumed

responsibilities which they cannot shirk. The education and training

needed would take too long and would cost too much. Yet many have toiled

away at night and in odd moments on correspondence courses or in night

schools, and have thus, finally, won their way to their rightful places in

the work of the world. But at what a cost!

It is of the highest importance that every individual should learn as

early as possible in life what career he is best fitted to undertake.

Every year spent in mistaken preparation or uncongenial employment makes

proper training more expensive and more difficult. There are many arts

which, perhaps, cannot be learned properly after one has reached maturity.

It is said that no one has ever become a great violinist who did not begin

his study of the instrument before the age of twelve. However that may be,

psychologists and anatomists agree in informing us that the brain of a

human being is exceedingly plastic in childhood, and that it gradually

grows more and more impervious to impressions and changes as the

individual matures. Sad, indeed, is the case, therefore, of the individual

who waits to learn what his vocational fitness is until he is fully mature

and is, perhaps, loaded up with the cares and responsibilities of a

family, and cannot take either the time or the money to secure an

education which his natural aptitude and his opportunities demand.

DEFICIENT SELF-CONFIDENCE

Many men remain in uncongenial occupations because they lack confidence in

themselves. This is distressingly common. Everywhere we find men and women

occupying humble positions, doing some obscure work, perhaps actually

frittering away their time upon trifles and mere details, doing something

which does not require accuracy, care, responsibility, or talent, merely

for fear they may not be able to succeed in a career for which they are

eminently fitted.

On one occasion a young man of the most undoubted dramatic talent and

oratorical ability sought us for counsel. "I have always felt," he said,

"a strong inner urge, sometimes almost irresistible, to go upon the

platform or the stage. But, because I have lacked confidence in myself, I

have always, at the last moment, drawn back. The result is that to-day I

am dissatisfied and unhappy in the work I am doing. I do it poorly. I long

constantly for an opportunity to express myself in public. Years are going

by, I have not developed my talent as I should, and I am beginning to feel

that my case is hopeless." This lack of self-confidence is more common by

far than many people would imagine. Arthur Frederick Sheldon has said:

"Most men accomplish too little because they attempt too little." Our

observations incline us to believe that this is the truth. Taking humanity

as a whole, far more men fail because they try to do too little than

because they try to do too much. Humanity is a great mine of undiscovered

and undeveloped talents. It follows that we fall far short of our best

because we do not expect and demand enough of ourselves.

CONSERVATISM

A man came to us for consultation in regard to his vocation. Just why he

had come, it afterward turned out, it was hard to see. Perhaps he only

wanted to settle matters in his own mind without taking definite action

upon them. He was engaged in mercantile business, a business left to him

by his father. He hated it. After a careful analysis, we informed him that

he had undoubted scientific talents, and that, with training, he could

make a name for himself in research and discovery. He was overjoyed at

this information, but he manifested no disposition to change his vocation.

He said: "Much as I dislike the mercantile business, I hate to change. A

change will mean selling out, upsetting my whole mode of life and

activity, removing into a different community, beginning a new life in

many of its phases. I cannot look forward to such a complete revolution

with any degree of pleasure, so I guess I will have to keep along in the

old store, much as I would like to devote the rest of my life to

test-tubes, crucibles, and scales."

There are many such men. Change is more hateful to them than unloved work.

They fall into grooves and ruts. They would rather continue in their

well-worn ways than to go through the mental anguish of breaking old ties,

remaking methods of life and work, moving away from friends and relatives,

and otherwise changing environment, conditions, and employment.

LACK OF COURAGE

Many men have self-confidence and yet lack courage. That may seem to be a

paradoxical statement, but if the reader will study carefully some of the

men he knows, he will understand that this is the truth. Men may have

plenty of confidence in themselves, but they may lack the courage to face

difficulties, to overcome obstacles, to meet hard conditions, to pass

through disagreeable experiences. Such are the men who lack the

initiative, the push, the aggressiveness, to do as well as they know how,

to do as much as they can, to undertake the high achievement for which

they have the ability. The cases of such men would be hopeless were it not

for the fact that some powerful incentive, like an emergency or necessity,

some tremendous enthusiasm, some strong determination, some deep

conviction, urges them on to the expression of the fulness of their

powers. Lacking even any of these, it is possible for the man who lacks

courage to develop it.

Courage is developed by doing courageous acts. The man who feels that he

lacks courage, who knows that he needs to forget his fears and his

anxieties, has half won his battle. Knowing his deficiencies, he can by

the very power of his will compel himself to courageous words and acts,

thus increasing and developing his courage and, as a result, his

efficiency.

LACK OF AMBITION

Finally, people do not undertake work in their proper vocations because of

a lack of ambition. This is, indeed, a fundamental deficiency. Perhaps it

underlies many of those we have already described. Certain it is that we

usually obtain what we most earnestly and ardently desire. Someone has

said that when a man knows definitely and in detail just exactly what he

desires, he is halfway toward attainment. Now, a man does not know

definitely and in detail what he wants unless he wants it so intensely

that it is always in his mind; he thinks about it, dreams of it, and

paints mental pictures of himself enjoying it; perhaps spends hours in

working out the detail of it. When a man has an ambition which drives him

on to this kind of mental exercise, he usually has one which overcomes his

inertia, burns out his laziness, triumphs over his lack of confidence in

himself, urges him out of grooves and ruts, and enables him to overcome

deficiencies in education and training, is an incentive to him for the

creating of opportunities where none exist, gives him courage for

anything, and kindles ever afresh his enthusiasm and determination. There

is no obstacle so great that it will not dissolve and vanish away into

thin air in the heat of such an overwhelming desire and ambition as this.

We need to remind ourselves, however, that even the most ardent ambition

goes astray unless it is guided by accurate knowledge. Many a man has

attacked his problem with great courage and high ambition, only to meet

defeat because, through lack of knowledge, he has chosen a career for

which he was unfitted.

These, then, are some of the reasons people go into and remain in

vocations where they do not fit. They are the reasons, also, why so many

men are failures or near-failures. Any man is a failure in just the degree

in which he falls short of developing and using his best and highest

talents and powers.

William James, the psychologist, has said that most men use only a very

small percentage of their real abilities. Harrington Emerson, efficiency

engineer, says that the average man is only twenty-five per cent efficient

and that his inefficiency is due to unfitness for the work he is trying to

do. Students of economics say that only ten per cent of all men are truly

successful. In this chapter we have presented many of the reasons for the

misfit and failure. Some of them are chargeable to parents, teachers, and

employers. But the most serious belong rightfully at the door of the

individual himself. "The fault, dear Brutus," says Cassius, "is not in our

stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings."

It is highly desirable that parents, teachers, and other guides and

advisors of the young should fully inform themselves about human nature

and about work. They ought to rid their minds of prejudice and thus free

themselves from unwise tradition and useless conventionality. Above all,

they need to arouse themselves to the vital importance of ideals--of a

clear, definite purpose, based upon accurate knowledge and sound

judgment--in other words, upon common sense. This is the vocational

problem.

FACTORS OF THE VOCATIONAL PROBLEM

The vocational problem consists, first, of the need of accurate vocational

analysis; second, of the need of wise vocational counsel; third, of the

need of adequate vocational training; fourth, of the need of correct

vocational placement.

It is obvious that the vocational problem cannot be adequately solved by

dealing with pupils or clients in groups or classes. It is a definite,

specific, and individual problem. Group study is interesting and

instructive, but, alone, does not give sufficient knowledge of individual

peculiarities and aptitudes. It is obvious from the foregoing analysis of

the vocational problem that it is practically identical at all points with

the problem of scientific employment. Just as the highest efficiency of

the employment department depends upon accurate analysis of the job and of

the man, so the highest usefulness of the vocational bureau or vocational

counsellor depends upon complete and exact knowledge of the requirements

in different lines of endeavor, and the ability to analyze human nature

accurately. It is obvious that wise counsel cannot be given, adequate

training cannot be prescribed, and correct placement is impossible until

these analyses have been properly made.

The child or adult of unusual ability, with well-marked inclinations and

strong in the fundamentals of character, is never difficult to analyze,

counsel, train, or place. If given an opportunity to gain knowledge, and

freedom in the exercise of choice, he will almost surely gravitate into

his natural line of work. He is not the real problem of the vocational

expert. But the vast majority of children are average, or even mediocre.

They show little inclination toward any study or any work. They have

weaknesses of character that will inevitably handicap them, no matter what

vocation they enter. They are the real problem. There is another class,

almost equally distressing. They are the people who are brilliant, who

learn easily, and who are so adaptable that they can turn their hands to

almost anything. They are usually so unstable in temperament that it is

difficult for them to persist in any one kind of endeavor long enough to

score a success.

METHODS OF ANALYSIS IN USE

The need, in dealing with these problems, for some more reliable guide

than the young person's inclinations and preferences has deeply impressed

itself upon those engaged in vocational study and vocational work. They

are earnestly seeking to find some better way. To this end, we have the

questionaire, by which is brought out between the lines, as it were, the

particular aptitudes and disposition of the subject. And this method is

not without its advantages. We have also psychological tests. These are of

fascinating interest and have yielded some valuable results. Some

vocational workers use the psychological tests and some do not. Even those

who are most enthusiastic for them admit that they are complicated, that

they require expensive apparatus and specially trained examiners, and that

even the best results obtainable cover a very narrow field in the

character and aptitudes of the subject.

UNIFORM METHOD NEEDED

The present need is for some uniform, readily applicable, inexpensive, and

comprehensive method of analysis. The advantages of such a method are

immediately apparent. First, its uniformity would permit the making of

records for comparison, covering a very wide range of subjects,

environment, and vocations. Second, even the simplest classifications,

which are readily learned and easily applied by the inexpert, would yield

tangible and measurable results and would be far better than the present

unstandardized and wholly unscientific methods. Third, were such a uniform

method adopted and made a part of the vocational work of our institutions;

were uniform records to be made and wisely used, we should soon have a

body of useful knowledge on this subject. Fourth, as the result of the

application of such a uniform method, text books and charts could be

prepared which would form the basis of popular education in vocational

guidance.

But this book will find its way into the hands of many whose own

vocational problems cry out for solution. Such need first to know

themselves, to know their aptitudes and talents, whether developed or

undeveloped. They need to study vocations--to know everything about the

kinds of work they might do, from their requirements to their

possibilities twenty, thirty, or forty years in the future. Finally, they

need the courage, self-confidence, industry, progressiveness, and ambition

to throw off the shackles of circumstance and, in the light of scientific

truth, to press forward to the achievement, success, fulness of life, and

happiness possible through development and use of all their powers.

CHAPTER II

ELEMENTS OF FITNESS

In our study are two small pieces of clear white marble. Each of them is

decorated with a beautifully designed little flower in natural color. This

flower is depicted by the skillful inlaying of semi-precious stones. These

marbles came from Agra, India. They are samples of the handiwork which

makes the Taj Mahal one of the most beautiful structures in the world. In

the fitting of this inlay work the stones--some of them almost as hard as

diamonds--are cut and polished to nearly mathematical accuracy of size and

shape. But the more carefully and exactly these are made, the more badly

they fit and the worse failure is the whole design, unless the spaces

intended for them in the marble are likewise cut and prepared with nicety

and accuracy. In the selecting of a life work, similarly, the same care

must be taken in learning accurately the requirements of work--the exact

size and shape, as it were, of each vocation--as is spent upon learning

the exact qualifications of each individual. Both require common sense and

intelligent judgment.

We measure a man's height in centimeters or inches. Pounds and ounces or

grams and centigrams offer us exact standards of measuring his weight. But

there are no absolute standards for measuring the man himself, and

probably there never can be. Human values, therefore, can be standardized

only relatively. By the study of large groups we can, however, ascertain

approximately the average or normal. In this way, physical standards have

been set up as to pulse rate, temperature, respiration, etc. Chemical

analysis determines norms of blood composition, and microscopic

investigation determines the average number of blood corpuscles per cubic

centimeter. The Binet-Simon mental tests are based upon certain

approximate averages of intelligence and mental development established

in the same way. The Muensterberg associated-word test of intelligence and

other psychological experiments are among the efforts made to establish

such standards. These are valuable as far as they go and probably yield

all the information that their originators claim for them, which,

unfortunately, is not a great deal. By time and motion studies, we are

enabled to set up standards of efficiency that work out well in practice.

All these, however, still leave us in the dark as to the man himself--his

honesty, his loyalty, his highest and best values.

ELEMENTS OF THE VOCATIONAL PROBLEM

But, granted for the moment that we could devise and successfully apply

exact and accurate standards of measurement for human beings, our work

would be only partially done. Any mechanic knows that it is a sad waste of

time and pains to standardize tenons, with micrometer and emery paper, to

a thousandth of an inch, so long as the mortises are left unstandardized.

A valuable man makes an unusual record on the staff of some employer.

Other employers immediately begin to lay plans to entice him away.

Transferred to another organization, he may prove mediocre, or even

undesirable, in his services. Hiring "stars" away from other employers has

proved disastrous so many times that the practice is no longer common.

Many a flourishing and fruitful tree has been transplanted, only to wither

and die--a tragedy involving the tree itself and both orchards. Measured

by every known standard, a man thus enticed away may be close to 100 per

cent efficient, but the man is only one ingredient in the compound from

which results are expected. To know and to rate his aptitudes, abilities,

personality, and possibilities is of the highest importance, but these

cannot be rated except in relation to his work and to his environment.

These are the other two ingredients in the compound. It is quite obvious

that all standards for judging men--and for self-analysis--must vary with

relation to the work they are to do and the environment in which they are

placed.

The important factors of any vocation may be classified very broadly

under three heads, namely, nature, position, and requirements. Chart I

gives a classification of work, with a few suggestive subdivisions, under

each of these three general heads. The meanings of the subdivisions listed

under "Nature" and "Position" are clear.

CHART I

/Physical

|Mental

|Combination of Physical and Mental

|Professional

/Nature..........|Commercial

| |Industrial

| |Fine

| |Coarse

| |Light

| \Heavy, etc.

Work....| /Executive

|Position........|Subordinate

| \Staff

| /Physical

| |Moral

| |Intellectual

\Requirements....|Emotional

|Volitional

|Aptitudes

|Experience

\Training, etc.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Work has its physical requirements as to size, build, strength, endurance,

freedom from tendencies to disease, agility, and inherent capacity for

manual and digital skill. It may also have certain requirements as to

eyesight, hearing, reaction time, muscular co-ordination, sense of touch,

and even, in some particular places, sense of smell and sense of taste.

Moral requirements may vary from those of a hired gunman to those of a

Y.M.C.A. secretary or a bank cashier.

INTELLECTUAL REQUIREMENTS

Intellectual requirements and requirements in aptitudes, experience, and

training vary, of course, with every kind of work, and almost with every

particular job. One most valuable division of people intellectually is as

to capacity of intellect. Some people have fine intellects, capable of

great accomplishments in the way of education and training. They are

particularly fitted for intellectual work; they have mental grasp; they

comprehend; they reason; they have good judgment; they learn easily; they

remember well. In every way their intellects are active, energetic,

capable. Other people have only moderate intellectual capacity. They

express themselves best in physical activity or in the direct, man-to-man

handling of others. Their few intellectual activities may be exceedingly

keen and accurate--or slow, dull, and vague. People with small

intellectual capacity sometimes have remarkable vigor and clearness of

mind in some one direction--such as finance, promotion, commerce; judgment

of people, horses, cattle, or other living beings; mechanics, invention,

music, art, poetry, or some other narrow specialty. Some intellects, in

other words, are simply incompetent--others, merely narrow.

People can also be divided, intellectually, into two other classes, the

theoretical and the practical. The man with a theoretical intellect is

thoughtful, meditative, reflective. His mind works slowly; it is

interested in philosophy, in theories, in abstractions, and is capable of

dealing with them. On the other hand, it is not particularly well

qualified for observing practical things, and for making a practical

application of the theories it learns so easily and in which it takes so

great an interest. This is the intellect of the philosopher, the dreamer,

the educator, the preacher, the writer, the reformer, the poet. This is

particularly the intellect of reason, of logic, of ideas and ideals.

Whether found amongst the world's leaders or in the lowliest walks of

life, its function is always that of dealing with theory, finding out

reasons, putting together logical arguments, teaching others and dealing

with abstractions. Oftentimes this type of intellect is so impractical

that its possessor never possesses anything else. Literature abounds in

the tragic tales of philosophers, poets, reformers, and dreamers who

starved beautifully and nobly. Every-day life sees thousands more

blundering along, either cursing their luck or wondering why Providence

withholds its material gifts from people so deserving as they.

Over against this is the practical, matter-of-fact, analytical

intellect--the intellect which demands facts and demands them quickly; the

intellect which is quick in its operations, impatient, keen, penetrating,

intolerant of mere theories and abstractions, not particularly strong in

reason and logic, but exceedingly keen and discriminating in regard to the

facts. This is the intellect which deals with things, with the material

universe, with laws and principles, based upon accurately determined

facts. This is the intellect of the preeminently practical man.

Some intellects are particularly fine in critical powers; some have

splendid financial ability; some are artistic and musical; some have

almost miraculous instinct in mechanical affairs; some are scientific;

others are mechanical; still others are inventive. There are many

intellects, of course, which combine two or more of these qualities, as,

for instance, an intellect blessed with both financial and organizing

ability. This is the intellect of the captain of industry, of the

multi-millionaire. Then there is the intellect which combines financial,

inventive, and organizing ability. This is the intellect of Edison, of

Westinghouse, of Curtis, of the Wright brothers, of Marconi, and of Cyrus

McCormick. Herbert Spencer was blessed with an intellect capable of both

philosophic and scientific thought, both theoretical and practical.

Spencer had also great organizing ability, but he devoted it to the

organizing of a system of philosophy based upon his scientific researches.

EMOTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Emotional requirements are many and varied; even more numerous and of

greater variety than intellectual requirements, perhaps. Some vocations

require great courage, others not; some require a great deal of sympathy;

others demand a certain hardness and control of the sympathies. There are

vocations which require a keen sense of justice; others in which the

presence or absence of a sense of justice is not essential. And so, there

must be taken into consideration requirements for honor, for love, for

loyalty, for dependableness, for enthusiasm, for unselfishness, for

caution, for prudence, for religion, for faith, for hope, for optimism,

for cheerfulness, for contentment, for earnestness, and for reverence.

THE COMPLEXITY OF HONESTY

Honesty is laid down by all authorities on employment as absolutely

essential to success in any vocation, but there are many kinds of honesty

and many standards of honesty. As a matter of fact, each man has his own

standard of honesty. After all, it is, perhaps, not so much a question of

what a man's standards are as how well he lives up to them. We recall,

especially, the cases of two men associated together in business. One man

set his standards high. Intellectually, he knew the value of ethics in

conduct. He truly wished to make practical in his dealings the high

principles he admired. But his cupidity was strong and his will and

courage were weak, so he oftentimes argued himself, by specious casuistry,

into words and acts which were untruthful and dishonest. Oftentimes,

indeed, they came dangerously near to actual crimes against the laws of

the State. The other man had rather limited standards of honesty. His

motto was, "Let the buyer beware!" If those with whom he dealt were as

strong and intelligent as he, and he was clever enough to take advantage

of them, he regarded the spoils as rightfully his. It was all in the game.

"I don't squeal when they catch me napping," he said, "and why should I

look out for their interests?" But he never took advantage of the weak,

the ignorant, the inexperienced, or the too credulous. His word was as

good as gold. His principles were few and intensely practical, and he

would willingly lose thousands of dollars rather than violate one of

them.

Honesty is a complex virtue. It means, fundamentally, just and honorable

intentions. But it involves, also, knowledge of what is right, a keen and

discriminating sense of justice, a true sense of values, courage and

will-power to carry out honest intentions, and, finally, sufficient

earning power to meet all righteous obligations. Dishonest acts result far

more often from ignorance, warped sense of justice, inability to

appreciate values, cowardice, weak will, or incompetence, than from wrong

intent. Whether or not any individual is endowed with the necessary

honesty for success in any particular vocation is, therefore, a problem

which can be settled only by careful analysis of all its requirements. Law

and banking both require a high _degree_ of honesty, but the _kinds_ are

different.

THE HIGH QUALITY OF COURAGE

Next to honesty, perhaps, courage is most important. The individual who

lacks courage shows no initiative; he has no ability to fight his own

battles, to stand by his guns, to assert and maintain his convictions and

his rights. He is, therefore, always a misfit in any vocation where he is

required to take the initiative, to step out and assume responsibilities,

to guide and direct the work of others, to meet others in, competition, to

discipline others, to defend himself against the attack of others, to

defend the rights of those depending upon him as employees, or

stockholders, or partners. He may be excellently qualified as a research

worker, an experimenter, an administrator of affairs, a teacher, a writer,

a lecturer, an artist, or in almost any kind of work where initiative,

aggressiveness, and fighting ability are not prime essentials.

PRUDENCE

Almost as important in its bearing upon vocational fitness as honesty and

courage is prudence. This is the quality which causes men to bear

responsibility faithfully; it is that which makes effective in them a

sense of duty. It is the emotional quality which leads men to take

precautions, to provide against the future. It is that which prevents them

from recklessness in expenditure or speculation, from carelessness, from

irresponsibility. It is an absolutely essential quality wherever

dependability is required; where one is expected to assume and to carry

responsibility, to see that things are done accurately that necessities

are provided, that emergencies are prevented.

On the other hand, there are many vocations in which too great prudence,

too great caution, is a handicap instead of an advantage. The man who is

too cautious, who bears responsibility too heavily, is not fitted for

positions and vocations which involve a certain amount of personal danger.

He is also likely to be too conservative to enter upon vocations in which

a considerable element of speculation is involved. He is not disposed to

take chances; he is too apprehensive and too much given to anxiety to be

involved in any vocation where there is uncertainty as to outcome. Many

vocations also require a fine blending of prudence with a willingness to

take chances and a certain degree of recklessness.

THE ELEMENTS OF ENVIRONMENT

Such is any kind of work in which the results are not tangible and

immediately and constantly measurable. In our practice we meet many who

grow impatient, apprehensive, and even discouraged when knowledge of

success of their efforts is deferred--or is even problematical. These

people would far rather work in a subordinate position at a small salary,

_certain_ to be paid every pay day, than to make twice as much money on a

commission basis but not be certain just how much they would be paid on

pay day. Thus it is clear that a salesman on a commission basis must have

a dash of recklessness in him, and yet, if he is selling high priced goods

and wishes to build a permanent business, must be careful and prudent in

handling his trade.

The essential elements of environment and their subdivisions are shown in

Chart 2. A brief discussion of some of these may clarify the subject.

CHART 2

|Policy of House

| |Moral

| |Physical

|Standards.............< Commercial

| |Artistic

| |Etc.

| |In Place of Business

|Physical Surroundings.< In Locality

| |In Home

| |Personal Preference

|Management............<

| |Personality

| |Personal Preference

Environment...< Superior Executive....< Personality

| |Methods

| |In Business

|Associates............< In Locality

| |Socially

| |Hours of Labor

| |Periods of Rest

| |Temperature

| |Compensation

|Working Conditions....< Opportunities

| |Underground

| |Elevation

| |Danger

| |Etc.

POLICY AND STANDARDS

For a man faithfully and loyally to live up to and represent the policy of

the house is obviously necessary. But oftentimes it takes rather definite

characteristics to do this.

Every business institution has, or should have, its moral, commercial,

financial, artistic, and other standards with reference to personnel,

according to the character of the business and other important

considerations. And the man who contemplates work with any firm will

examine himself to see whether he can harmonize happily with these

standards. In like manner, every profession and art has its traditional

standards and ethics, which should be considered.

PHYSICAL SURROUNDINGS

In selecting his vocation, the wise man ascertains his fitness for its

physical surroundings. Some men cannot work permanently indoors,

underground, in a high altitude, in a hot or cold climate, in a damp or a

dry climate, in high or low artificial temperature, in the midst of noise

or dust or chemical fumes, or by artificial light, or in a locality where

certain social advantages do not exist or where satisfactory homes cannot

be rented or purchased. Some men are not fitted for city life; others are

not fitted for country life. All these and other facts should be taken

into consideration with reference to surroundings.

MANAGEMENT AND SUPERIORS

The management of every place has its personal preferences, not based on

efficiency. We once knew a manager who was so distressed by impediments of

speech that he could not endure persons with these peculiarities in his

organization, although their manner of speech had nothing to do with the

quality of their work. Every manager has some more or less marked

idiosyncrasies, and these must be known and studied by prospective

employees. The personality of the management and its effect upon the

worker under its direction and leadership are other important factors. The

manager who is a keen, positive driver will get good results with a

certain type of people in his organization, but only with a certain type.

The efficiency of every man in the organization is also conditioned very

largely upon the personal preferences, personality, and methods of his

immediate superior--his foreman, gang-boss, or chief. Certain types of men

harmonize and work well together. Other types are antagonistic and

discordant. By their very nature they cannot work in the harmony which is

essential to efficiency. In making choice of work, the man with good

judgment scrutinizes all these important elements.

ASSOCIATES AND SOCIAL ADVANTAGES

Every vocation has its social environment. There are fellow employees, or

professional associates, inevitable in the work itself; also the

particular class of society fixed by locality, income, or the standing of

the vocation.

This chart may seem, at first sight, to be complex. It must necessarily be

so, since it is arranged to cover all professions and trades and all

industrial and commercial positions, from the presidency of a corporation,

general managership of a railroad, sales management of a factory, or

cashiership of a bank, as well as less exalted jobs, down to those

requiring little, if anything, more than brute strength. Obviously, not

all of these facts need to be considered by every aspirant, but only those

which have a bearing upon his particular case. The tendency, however, is

to neglect important factors rather than to waste time over those which

are unimportant.

PERSONAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROBLEM

Having determined, in the manner indicated, the standards of work and of

the environment, the man is ready to examine himself to determine where he

fits. There are six headings under which he may classify the various items

of information needed in fitting himself to work and environment. These

are health, character, intelligence, disposition to industry, natural

aptitudes, and experience, as shown in Chart 3. This chart does not, of

course, present a complete and detailed list, but it is suggestive.[2] It

would not be true to say that any one of these is absolutely more

important than the other. They are all important. Their relative

importance may be determined by the vocation to be considered.

[Footnote 2: See more detailed lists in appendix.]

HEALTH

Consider the question of health. We include all a man's physical

attributes under health. The classification is somewhat arbitrary, but it

will be understood. A man must consider himself as to his size, as to his

strength, as to his endurance, as to his condition of body (which shows

habits), as to his predisposition to health, as to disease, as to his

moral health, as to his sobriety, as to his sanity, etc.

CHART 3

|Size

|Endurance

|Condition of Body In other words, what

Health........< Predispositions his physical value is for

|Morality a given work in a

|Sobriety given environment

|Sanity

|Etc.

|Honesty

|Truthfulness

|Loyalty

|Discretion and Prudence

Character.....< Enthusiasm

|Courage

|Steadfastness

|Dependability

|Etc., etc

|Ability to Learn

|Ability to Understand and Follow Instructions

|Judgment

|Memory

|Observation

Intelligence..< |Speaking

|Expression...<

| |Writing

|Imagination

|Reason

|Etc., etc.

|Energy

|Love of Work

Disposition to Industry < Willingness

|Perseverance

|Decision

|Etc., etc.

|Financial

|Commercial

|Mechanical

|Artistic

|Judicial

|Executive

|Selling

|Advertising

|Agriculture

Natural Aptitudes.......< Medical

|Educational

|Legal

|Engineering

|Floricultural

|Horticultural

|Stock Breeding

|Speed

|Accuracy

|Patience

|Attention to Detail

|Education

Experience..............< Training

|Previous Record

Without at least fair physical fitness for his work and for his

environment, no man can do efficient work in any position.

CHARACTER

The second element is character. A man may rate well in all the six

fundamentals with the exception of one, honesty, and he is not worth heat

and light and floor space, to say nothing of wages. Dishonest men do not

do honest work. The man who is deficient in honesty, in truthfulness, in

loyalty, is not really fit for any kind of work in a world where men are

interdependent--where the law of compensation is rigidly enforced. We

have chosen just a few qualities under the head of character: honesty,

truthfulness, loyalty, discretion, prudence, enthusiasm, courage,

steadfastness, and dependability. We might go on and on, adding

initiative, justice, kindness, good nature, courtesy, punctuality, etc.

INTELLIGENCE

The third criterion is intelligence. Intelligence, of course, relates to

mental ability--ability to learn and to understand and follow

instructions. Employers are slowly reaching the conclusion that

unintelligent labor is the most expensive kind of labor. The man who is

unintelligent cannot be taught. Employers cannot give him instructions and

feel absolutely sure that he understands them, or, even if he understands

them, that he will carry them out properly. Among the qualities which are

included under intelligence are judgment and memory, the powers of

observation, expression in speaking or in writing, imagination, reasoning

power, and all other qualities which are purely intellectual. Most

unintelligent people are merely mentally asleep. They need to awaken, to

be on the alert, really to take the trouble to think. Many people have

capacity for thought who do not use it.

INDUSTRY

The fourth element is disposition to industry. Some wag once said: "All

men are lazy, but some are lazier than others." It might sound better to

say that all men are industrious, but some men are more industrious than

others. There is such a quality of body and mind as the quality of

predisposition to action and industry. Industry is very largely dependent

upon energy. Energy depends upon oxygen. If one sits in a room that is

stuffy and not well ventilated, one soon becomes stupid, sleepy, and not

particularly acute mentally. In other words, he is partly starved for

oxygen. Now, let him go out into the open air and breathe plenty of oxygen

into his lungs. In a little while he raises his chest and brings up the

crown of his head and takes the positive physical attitude. He is more

energetic. He is eager for activity--for work. Some people are naturally

deficient in depth, activity, and quality of lung power. They do not

breathe in or use much oxygen, so they are lacking in energy. Such people

are not predisposed to industry. Love of work--love of the game that

causes a man to be interested in every phase of his work--is not, however,

wholly dependent upon energy. It is something in the very heart and fiber

of the man. Willingness to work, perseverance in work, and decision come

under disposition to industry.

[Illustration: _Photo by F. Gutekunst, Phila_.

FIG. 1. Jacob A. Riis, Journalist, Author and Philanthropist. A man of

unusual intellectual power, observation, reason, memory, logic, and

analysis, with high ideals, great love for humanity, especially the weak

and helpless; good powers of expression, sense of humor, courage, and

determination. Note large development of upper part of head; fairly well

developed brows; high dome over temples; height and width of forehead,

especially across center; full lips; well developed nose; strong chin; and

alert, poised, kindly expression.]

[Illustration: _Copyright by Underwood & Underwood. New York_.

FIG. 2. Dr. Booker T. Washington. Very ambitious, practical,

energetic, self-reliant, persistent, determined, capable of rule. Note

high head; high, sloping forehead, prominent at the brows; large nose,

high in the bridge; and long, straight upper lip.]

[Illustration: FIG. 3. James H. Collins, Author. A splendid example of

intellectual type with good bone and muscle. Has excellent balance of

mechanical and commercial understanding, keen judgment of men, practical

sense, and fine determination, with sentiment, sympathy, friendliness, and

faith. Note high, medium-wide head, especially high in center above

temples and wide and full through center of forehead; prominence of brows;

width between eyes; full, cleanly modeled lips; strong nose and chin; and

keen, pleasant, friendly, spirited expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 4. H.G. Wells, Novelist and Economist. A man of

physically frail type, with natural mechanical leanings. Inventive,

creative, industrious, humanitarian. Because of his mechanical ability, he

uses his creativeness for constructing novels dealing with mechanical

invention. Because of his humanitarian instincts, he writes of social and

economic world problems. Note large upper portion of head, especially from

center of forehead to sides of head; also prominence of brows; large nose,

and long head.]

[Illustration: _Copyright American Press Association_.

FIG. 5. Mr. Henry Ford, Automobile Manufacturer and Philanthropist. Mr.

Ford is of the physically frail type, with a goodly admixture of the bony

and muscular element. His natural mechanical bent, therefore, took the

intellectual form of invention and organization. His sentiment,

responsiveness, sympathy, and idealism are shown by high, rather narrow

head, fine texture, height of head just above temples, and gentle, kindly,

genial expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 6. Hugo de Vries, Botanist. An example of physically

frail type. Very careful, accurate, painstaking, and patient in mental

work. Also very thoughtful, mild in disposition, but determined and

persistent. Note large development of upper part of head; long, narrow

face; long nose; narrowness of head just above ears; slight squareness of

chin, and serious, thoughtful expression.]

[Illustration: _Copyright by B.F. McMann_

FIG. 7. Dr. Henry Van Dyke, United States Minister to Holland,

Author, Scholar, and Poet. A good example of physically frail type, with

slight tendency to bone and muscle. Refined, intellectual, sensitive,

responsive, optimistic, but well-balanced, poised, and keenly

discriminating. Dr. Van Dyke shows his tendency to physical activity in

his love for the out-of-doors. Note large development of upper portion of

head; slight squareness of jaw; height of head above temples, especially

in center; fine texture; excellent balance of features, and calm, poised,

thoughtful, but kindly expression.]

[Illustration: _Photo by American Press Association_.

FIG. 8. Dr. Beverly T. Galloway, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture.

Physically frail, but mentally very active. Said to be one of the greatest

living authorities on plant culture. Slight squareness of build indicates

tendency to interest in out-of-door matters, which, on account of large

development of mental qualities, he expresses in an intellectual way.]

NATURAL APTITUDE

The fifth criterion is natural aptitude. Everyone has observed that some

people are naturally commercial. We have seen a boy take a penny to

school, buy a slate pencil or a lead pencil with that penny, and trade

that for an old pocket knife, the knife for something else, and keep on

swapping until he had a gun, a set of chess, a bag of marbles, and several

other important boys' acquisitions, all from that one penny. Another boy

takes penny after penny to school and he never has anything to show for it

You know such boys--and grown people, too. Every individual has some such

aptitudes--either latent or developed, either mediocre or marked--and his

aptitudes fit him better for some one vocation than for any other.

EXPERIENCE

The sixth point to be considered is experience. One might be fitted for a

vocation with all of the five points that we have enumerated, and yet not

have either the education or the training for it. What shall he do?

Theoretically and ideally, every individual should be carefully and

thoroughly trained, from his earliest childhood, for the vocation for

which he is physically, mentally, and morally fitted. But this seldom

happens--and can happen but seldom so long as parents and teachers remain

ignorant of human nature and of work. A hard problem, then, confronts the

young man or young woman past school days and not trained for the right

calling. He or she must decide whether to compromise upon work as nearly

right as possible or to make the necessary sacrifices to obtain education,

training, and experience. There is much evidence in favor of choosing

either horn of the dilemma. A most successful manufacturer called upon us

recently. We told him that, with proper training, he would have been even

more successful and far better satisfied in the legal profession. "I know

you are right," he said. "I have always regretted that circumstances

prevented my taking a law course as a young man. However, I have an

extensive law library, do practically all the legal work for my firm, and

am often consulted on obscure legal points relative to the manufacturing

business by lawyers of some renown."

Abraham Lincoln, the farmhand and flatboatman, began the study of grammar

at twenty-two and of law still later. Elihu Burritt, "The Learned

Blacksmith," who lectured in both England and America, taught himself

languages and sciences while working eleven hours a day at the forge.

We enjoy the acquaintance of a woman physician of considerable prominence

who did not enter medical college until she was more than fifty years of

age. Henry George was a printer who studied economics after he was

twenty-seven years old. Frederick Douglass was a slave until he was

twenty-one, yet secured a liberal education, so that he became a noted

speaker and writer. The following from "Up from Slavery,"[3] by the late

Booker T. Washington, shows what can be done by even a poor black boy,

without money or influence, to win an education:

[Footnote 3: Doubleday, Page & Company, Garden City, New York.]

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON'S STORY

I determined when quite a small child that, if I accomplished nothing else

in life, I would in some way get enough education to enable me to read

common books and newspapers. Soon after we got settled in some manner in

our new cabin in West Virginia, I induced my mother to get hold of a book

for me. How or where she got it I do not know, but in some way she

procured an old copy of 'Webster's Blue-back Spelling-book,' which

contained the alphabet, followed by such meaningless words as 'ab,' 'ba,'

'ca,' and 'da.' I began at once to devour this book, and I think that it

was the first one I ever had in my hands. I had learned from somebody that

the way to begin to read was to learn the alphabet, so I tried in all the

ways I could think of to learn it--all, of course, without a teacher, for

I could find no one to teach me. At that time there was not a single

member of my race anywhere near us who could read, and I was too timid to

approach any of the white people. In some way, within a few weeks, I

mastered the greater portion of the alphabet. In all my efforts to learn

to read my mother shared fully my ambition and sympathized with me and

aided me in every way that she could. Though she was totally ignorant so

far as mere book knowledge was concerned, she had high ambitions for her

children, and a large fund of good hard common sense, which seemed to

enable her to meet and master every situation. If I have done anything in

life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my

mother.

The opening of the school in the Kanawha Valley brought to me one of the

keenest disappointments that I ever experienced. I had been working in a

salt-furnace for several months, and my stepfather had discovered that I

had a financial value, and so, when the school opened, he decided that he

could not spare me from my work. This decision seemed to cloud my every

ambition. The disappointment was made all the more severe by reason of the

fact that my place of work was where I could see the happy children

passing to and from school morning and afternoon. Despite this

disappointment, however, I determined that I would learn something anyway.

I applied myself with greater earnestness than ever to the mastering of

what was in the blue-back speller.

My mother sympathized with me in my disappointment and sought to comfort

me in all the ways she could and to help me find a way to learn. After a

while I succeeded in making arrangements with the teacher to give me some

lessons at night, after the day's work was done. These night lessons were

so welcome that I think I learned more at night than the other children

did during the day. My own experiences in the night-school gave me faith

in the night-school idea, with which, in after years, I had to do both at

Hampton and Tuskegee. But my boyish heart was still set upon going to

day-school and I let no opportunity slip to push my case. Finally I won,

and was permitted to go to the school in the day for a few months, with

the understanding that I was to rise early in the morning and work in the

furnace till nine o'clock, and return immediately after school closed in

the afternoon for at least two hours more of work.

The schoolhouse was some distance from the furnace, and as I had to work

till nine o'clock, and the school opened at nine, I found myself in a

difficulty. School would always be begun before I reached it, and

sometimes my class had recited. To get around this difficulty I yielded to

a temptation for which most people, I suppose, will condemn me; but since

it is a fact, I might as well state it. I have great faith in the power

and influence of facts. It is seldom that anything is permanently gained

by holding back a fact. There was a large clock in a little office in the

furnace. This clock, of course, all the hundred or more workmen depended

upon to regulate their hours of beginning and ending the day's work. I got

the idea that the way for me to reach school on time was to move the hands

from half-past eight up to the nine o'clock mark. This I found myself

doing morning after morning, till the furnace 'boss' discovered that

something was wrong, and locked the clock in a case. I did not mean to

inconvenience anybody. I simply meant to reach that schoolhouse on time.

When, however, I found myself at the school for the first time, I also

found myself confronted with two other difficulties. In the first place, I

found that all of the other children wore hats or caps on their heads, and

I had neither hat nor cap. In fact, I do not remember that, up to the time

of going to school, I had ever worn any kind of covering upon my head, nor

do I recall that either I or anybody else had even thought anything about

the need of covering for my head. But, of course, when I saw how all the

other boys were dressed, I began to feel quite uncomfortable. As usual, I

put the case before my mother, and she explained to me that she had no

money with which to buy a 'store hat,' which was a rather new institution

at that time among the members of my race and was considered quite the

thing for young and old to own, but that she would find a way to help me

out of the difficulty. She accordingly got two pieces of 'homespun'

(jeans) and sewed them together, and I was soon the proud possessor of my

first cap.

My second difficulty was with regard to my name, or rather, a name. From

the time when I could remember anything I had been called simply 'Booker.'

Before going to school it had never occurred to me that it was needful or

appropriate to have an additional name. When I heard the school roll

called, I noticed that all of the children had at least two names, and

some of them indulged in what seemed to me the extravagance of having

three. I was in deep perplexity, because I knew the teacher would demand

of me at least two names, and I had only one. By the time the occasion

came for the enrolling of my name, an idea occurred to me which I thought

would make me equal to the situation; and so, when the teacher asked me

what my full name was, I calmly told him 'Booker Washington,' as if I had

been called by that name all my life; and by that name I have since been

known. Later in my life I found that my mother had given me the name of

'Booker Taliaferro' soon after I was born, but in some way that part of my

name seemed to disappear and for a long while was forgotten, but as soon

as I found out about it I revived it, and made my full name, 'Booker

Taliaferro Washington.' I think there are not many men in our country who

have had the privilege of naming themselves in the way that I have.

The time that I was permitted to attend school during the day was short,

and my attendance was irregular. It was not long before I had to stop

attending day-school altogether, and devote all of my time again to work.

I resorted to the night-school again. In fact, the greater part of the

education I secured in my boyhood was gathered through the night-school

after my day's work was done. I had difficulty often in securing a

satisfactory teacher. Sometimes, after I had secured someone to teach me

at night, I would find, much to my disappointment, that the teacher knew

but little more than I did. Often I would have to walk several miles at

night in order to recite my night-school lessons. There was never a time

in my youth, no matter how dark and discouraging the days might be, when

one resolve did not continually remain with me, and that was a

determination to secure an education at any cost....

After I had worked in the salt-furnace for some time, work was secured for

me in a coal mine, which was operated mainly for the purpose of securing

fuel for the salt-furnace.

In those days, and later, as a young man, I used to try to picture in my

imagination the feelings and ambitions of a white boy with absolutely no

limit placed upon his aspirations and activities. I used to envy the white

boy who had no obstacle placed in the way of his becoming a Congressman,

Governor, Bishop, or President by reason of the accident of his birth or

race. I used to picture the way that I would act under such circumstances;

how I would begin at the bottom and keep rising until I reached the

highest round of success.

One day, while at work in the coal mine, I happened to overhear two miners

talking about a great school for colored people somewhere in Virginia.

This was the first time that I had ever heard anything about any kind of

school or college that was more pretentious than the little colored school

in our town.

In the darkness of the mine I noiselessly crept as close as I could to the

two men talking. I heard one tell the other that not only was the school

established for the members of my race, but that opportunities were

provided by which poor but worthy students could work out all or a part of

the cost of board, and at the same time be taught some trade or industry.

As they went on describing the school, it seemed to me that it must be

the greatest place on earth, and not even Heaven presented more

attractions for me at that time than did the Hampton Normal and

Agricultural Institute of Virginia, about which these men were talking. I

resolved at once to go to that school, although I had no idea where it

was, or how many miles away, or how I was going to reach it; I remembered

only that I was on fire constantly with one ambition, and that was to go

to Hampton. This thought was with me day and night.

In the fall of 1872, I determined to make an effort to get there,

although, as I have stated, I had no definite idea of the direction in

which Hampton was, or of what it would cost to go there. I do not think

that anyone thoroughly sympathized with me in my ambition to go to

Hampton, unless it was my mother, and she was troubled with a grave fear

that I was starting out on a wild-goose chase. At any rate, I got only a

half-hearted consent from her that I might start. The small amount of

money that I had earned had been consumed by my step-father and the

remainder of the family, with the exception of a very few dollars, and so

I had very little with which to buy clothes and pay my traveling expenses.

Finally, the great day came and I started for Hampton. I had only a small,

cheap satchel that contained what few articles of clothing I could get. My

mother, at the time, was rather weak and broken in health. I hardly

expected to see her again, and thus our parting was all the more sad. She,

however, was very brave through it all. At that time there were no through

trains connecting that part of West Virginia with eastern Virginia. Trains

ran only a portion of the way, and the remainder of the distance was

traveled by stage-coaches.

The distance from Malden to Hampton is about five hundred miles. I had not

been away from home many hours before it began to grow painfully evident

that I did not have enough money to pay my fare to Hampton.

By walking, begging rides, both in wagons and in the cars, in some way,

after a number of days, I reached the city of Richmond, Virginia, about

eighty-two miles from Hampton. When I reached there, tired, hungry, and

dirty, it was late in the night. I had never been in a large city before,

and this rather added to my misery. When I reached Richmond I was

completely out of money. I had not a single acquaintance in the place,

and, being unused to city ways, I did not know where to go. I applied at

several places for lodging, but they all wanted money, and that was what I

did not have. Knowing nothing else better to do, I walked the streets. In

doing this I passed by many food-stands, where fried chicken and half-moon

apple pies were piled high and made to present a most tempting appearance.

At that time it seemed to me that I would have promised all that I

expected to possess in the future to have gotten hold of one of those

chicken legs or one of those pies. But I could not get either of these,

nor anything else to eat.

I must have walked the streets till after midnight. At last I became so

exhausted that I could walk no longer. I was tired; I was hungry; I was

everything but discouraged. Just about the time when I reached extreme

physical exhaustion, I came upon a portion of a street where the board

sidewalk was considerably elevated. I waited for a few minutes, till I was

sure that no passers-by could see me, and then crept under the sidewalk

and lay for the night upon the ground, with my satchel of clothing for a

pillow. Nearly all night I could hear the tramp of feet above my head. The

next morning I found myself somewhat refreshed, but I was extremely

hungry, because it had been a long time since I had had sufficient food.

As soon as it became light enough for me to see my surroundings I noticed

that I was near a large ship, and that this ship seemed to be unloading a

cargo of pig iron. I went at once to the vessel and asked the captain to

permit me to help unload the vessel in order to get money for food. The

captain, a white man, who seemed to be kind-hearted, consented. I worked

long enough to earn money for my breakfast, and it seems to me, as I

remember it now, to have been about the best breakfast that I have ever

eaten.

"My work pleased the captain so well that he told me if I desired, I

could continue working for a small amount per day. This I was very glad to

do. I continued working on this vessel for a number of days. After buying

food with the small wages I received there was not much left to add to the

amount I must get to pay my way to Hampton. In order to economize in every

way possible, so as to be sure to reach Hampton in a reasonable time, I

continued to sleep under the same sidewalk that gave me shelter the first

night I was in Richmond.

"When I had saved what I considered enough money with which to reach

Hampton, I thanked the captain of the vessel for his kindness and started

again. Without any unusual occurrence I reached Hampton, with a surplus of

exactly fifty cents with which to begin my education. To me it had been a

long, eventful journey, but the first sight of the large, three-story,

brick school building seemed to have rewarded me for all that I had

undergone in order to reach the place.

"It seemed to me to be the largest and most beautiful building I had ever

seen. The sight of it seemed to give me new life. I felt that a new kind

of existence had now begun--that life would now have a new meaning. I felt

that I had reached the promised land, and I resolved to let no obstacle

prevent me from putting forth the highest effort to fit myself to

accomplish the most good in the world.

"As soon as possible after reaching the grounds of the Hampton Institute,

I presented myself before the head teacher for assignment to a class.

Having been so long without proper food, a bath, and change of clothing, I

did not, of course, make a very favorable impression upon her, and I could

see at once that there were doubts in her mind about the wisdom of

admitting me as a student. I felt that I could hardly blame her if she got

the idea that I was a worthless loafer or tramp. For some time she did not

refuse to admit me; neither did she decide in my favor, and I continued to

linger about her, and to impress her in all the ways I could with my

worthiness. In the meantime, I saw her admitting other students, and that

added greatly to my discomfort, for I felt, deep down in my heart, that I

could do as well as they, if I could only get a chance to show her what

was in me.

"After some hours had passed, the head teacher said to me: 'The adjoining

recitation room needs sweeping. Take the broom and sweep it,'

"It occurred to me at once that here was my chance. Never did I receive an

order with more delight. I knew that I could sweep, for Mrs. Ruffner had

thoroughly taught me how to do that when I lived with her.

"_I_ swept the recitation room three times. Then I got a dusting cloth and

I dusted it four times. All the woodwork around the walls, every bench,

table, and desk, I went over four times with my dusting cloth. Besides,

every piece of furniture had been moved and every closet and corner of the

room had been thoroughly cleaned. I had the feeling that, in a large

measure, my future depended upon the impression I made upon the teacher in

the cleaning of that room. When I was through, I reported to the head

teacher. She was a Yankee woman, who knew just where to look for dirt. She

went into the room and inspected the floor and closets; then she took her

handkerchief and rubbed it on the woodwork, about the walls, and over the

table and benches. When she was unable to find one bit of dirt on the

floor, or a particle of dust on any of the furniture, she quietly

remarked: 'I guess you will do to enter this institution.'

"I was one of the happiest souls on earth. The sweeping of that room was

my college examination, and never did any youth pass an examination for

entrance into Harvard or Yale that gave him more genuine satisfaction. I

have passed several examinations since then, but I have always felt that

this was the best one I ever passed."

If Lincoln, Burritt, Booker T. Washington, and thousands of others, with

all their handicaps, could secure needed education for their life work,

why should any man remain in an uncongenial calling? There is danger that

we may give our boys and girls too much help; that life be made too easy

for them; that their moral backbones may grow flabby by reason of too

much support. Normal young people do not need aid and support. They need

guidance and direction--and the majority of them, either the sharp spur of

necessity or the relentless urge of an ambition which will not be denied.

Almost without exception we have found that the only difference between

genius or millionaire and dunce or tramp is a willingness to pay the

price.

THE PRICE OF SUCCESS

From an unknown author comes the all-important question to every seeker

for success:

"You want success. Are you willing to pay the price for it?

"How much discouragement can you stand?

"How much bruising can you take?

"How long can you hang on in the face of obstacles?

"Have you the grit to try to do what others have failed to do?

"Have you the nerve to attempt things that the average man would never

dream of tackling?

"Have you the persistence to keep on trying after repeated failures?

"Can you cut out luxuries? Can you do without things that others consider

necessities?

"Can you go up against skepticism, ridicule, friendly advice to quit,

without flinching?

"Can you keep your mind steadily on the single object you are pursuing,

resisting all temptations to divide your attention?

"Have you the patience to plan all the work you attempt; the energy to

wade through masses of detail; the accuracy to overlook no point, however

small, in planning or executing?

"Are you strong on the finish as well as quick at the start?

"Success is sold in the open market. You can buy it--I can buy it--any man

can buy it who is willing to pay the price for it."

CHAPTER III

CLASSES OF MISFITS

To the casual observer, humanity seems to be divided into countless

different kinds of people. In fact, it is often said that of all the

millions of people on the earth, no two are just alike. Some writers on

vocational guidance, indeed, express discouragement. They see humanity in

such infinite variety that it is impossible ever to classify types.

Therefore, they mourn, the vocational expert cannot judge of aptitudes

except by trial in various kinds of work until, finally, real native

talents appear in actual accomplishment. The anthropologist, however,

easily divides mankind by means of several broad classifications, A few

distinct variations, easily recognizable by the anthropological expert,

put every one of the billion and one-half people on the face of the earth

in his particular class.

In the same way, to the casual observer, it no doubt seems that the number

and kind of misfits is so great that any attempt to analyze them and

classify them must meet with failure. Those, however, who have studied the

problem and have met and talked with thousands of those struggling against

the handicap of unloved and difficult work, find a few classes which

include nearly all of them. Just as there are two fundamental reasons why

men and women select wrong vocations, and a few common variations upon

these two reasons, so there are just a few general ways in which people

select the wrong vocations. An examination of some of these will be

illuminating to the reader.

THE PHYSICALLY FRAIL

In the beginning of the life of the race all men hunted, fished, fought,

danced, sang, and loafed. These were the only manly vocations. There were

no clerks, no doctors, and, perhaps, no priests. In some races and under

some conditions to-day, all of the men are hunters and fishers, or

shepherds and stock-raisers, or all the men till the field. Some years

ago, in our country, practically all the male population worked at the

trade of agriculture, there being only a few preachers, doctors, lawyers,

merchants, and clerks.

In the nations of Europe to-day people are born to certain professions or

born to a certain narrow circle of vocations; some people are born to

manual labor, and, having once performed manual labor, are thereby firmly

fixed in the class of those who earn their living by their hands; others

are born in a class above that, and will suffer almost any privation

rather than earn their living by manual labor. In the United States this

same feeling is becoming more and more prevalent. Our physical work is

nearly all of it done by those who came to us from across the sea, and

native-born Americans seek vocations in some other sphere.

The common school is everywhere, and education is compulsory. The high

school is also to be found in all parts of the country. There are also

business colleges, technical schools, academies, universities, colleges,

professional schools, correspondence schools, and other educational

institutions of every possible kind. These are patronized by the

native-born population as well as by many of those who come to us from

foreign lands. The result is that, of the first great class which we shall

treat, there are comparatively few in relation to the whole population.

Even though this is true, there are all too many.

The first class of misfits is composed of those who are too frail for

physical labor and who are not well enough educated to take their places

amongst clerical or professional workers. These unfortunates do not like

hard, manual work; they cannot do it well; they are outclassed in it. They

do not hold any position long; they are frequently unemployed; and they

are often compelled to live by their wits. As a general rule, those in

this class are well equipped intellectually by nature, and would have

responded splendidly to educative efforts if they had been given an

opportunity. People of this class lack physical courage. They shrink from

hardship and will do almost anything to escape physical suffering. It is

this lack of courage, as well as their inability to make a decent living

out of their hands and muscles, that leads them, in so many cases, to

unlawful means.

As a general rule, people of this type have considerable natural

refinement, and refinement is always expensive. They are the kind of

people of whom it is often said that they have "champagne tastes and beer

incomes." It is difficult for them to finance themselves, with any degree

of frugality or economy, upon the small and precarious income they earn at

manual labor. This is the class of people who sometimes become

counterfeiters, sneak thieves, pickpockets, forgers, gamblers, stool

pigeons, second-story workers, and petty criminals along other lines which

do not require physical courage, strength, and force. Of course, the great

majority of these misfits do not enter upon a life of crime. They are,

however, poor, often in need, sometimes pauperized, and, as a general

rule, their lives are short and miserable. There are those, also, whose

cases are not so extreme. Unfitness for manual labor results merely in

bare living, a life of comparative poverty, and general lack of success.

THE FAT MAN

Another class of those who are physically unfit for hard, manual labor are

those who are too stout. The fat man is, by nature, fitted to sit in a

large, luxurious chair and direct the work of others. He is too heavy on

his feet for physical work, as a general rule, and is also too much

disinclined to physical effort. It is a well-known fact that, almost

without exception, fat men are physically lazy. The natural work,

therefore, of the stout man is executive work, banking, finance,

merchandising, handling of food products, and the arbitration of

differences between his fellow men. Fat men are natural bankers,

financiers, lawyers, judges, politicians, managers, bakers, butchers,

grocers, restaurant owners, preachers, and orators. If, however, the man

of this type does not secure sufficient education and training to enable

him to undertake one of these professions, but grows up with no other ways

to satisfy his wants than by the exercise of his muscles, he is greatly

handicapped in the race for success. It is not usual, however, to find a

man of this type amongst the ranks of the poor. Most of them are fairly

well supplied with means, and usually have plenty to eat, plenty to wear,

and a good place to sleep.

In order to obtain the things he desires, the man who has no aptitude for

physical labor on account of his great bulk sometimes turns his attention

to crime. This type of man may be a gambler, a grafting politician, a

confidence man, a promoter of wild-cat stocks or bonds, the man who sits

behind the scenes and directs a band of criminals or, perhaps, a whole

community of them, or in some other way preys upon the gullibility of the

public.

Naturally, there are fat men, also, who are honest and high-principled in

their intentions and who still have not fitted themselves for their true

vocation in life. Such men, like those who are physically frail and

honest, drag through a miserable existence, never fully realizing their

possibilities, or expressing themselves; never finding an outlet for their

real talents; never making the success of life which they might have made

with sufficient training and in their true vocations.

THE MAN OF BONE AND MUSCLE

Just as there were, doubtless, thousands of men too frail or too corpulent

for physical work who were compelled to do it in the days when practically

all men were either farmers or carpenters and builders, so to-day there

are thousands of men far too active for clerical work who are compelled to

do it because certain circles in society have a prejudice against manual

labor. There is a type of man whose bony and muscular system predominates

in his organization. This type of man loves the out-of-doors; freedom is

to him a physical and moral necessity. He hates, and even grows irritable

under, restraint. He demands physical activity; his muscles call for

exercise; his whole physical being is keen for life in the open, with

plenty of activity. Yet this type of man, by thousands, is sentenced to

spend his life behind the counter or chained to a desk. He is as unhappy

there, and almost as badly placed, as if he were, indeed, in prison. Look

around the parks, the roads, the athletic fields, the lakes and streams,

the woods, and all out-of-door places in this country and you will find

this man taking a brief rest from his prison cell, engaged in strenuous

forms of muscular activity--tennis, golf, baseball, football, lacrosse,

cross-country running, boating, swimming, yachting, motoring, horseback

riding, hunting, fishing, exploring, mountain climbing, ranching--in many

ways seeking to find an outlet for his stored-up physical energy.

WORK FOR THE ACTIVE MAN

There is plenty of room for the mental capacity, the executive ability,

and the splendid organizing genius of this type of man in outdoor work.

Our great forests and fields are not producing twenty-five per cent of the

amount of wealth that they should produce, under even such scientific

methods as are known at present. But these are only the beginning. There

is an opportunity for those with both mental and physical aptitudes to

undertake the solution of the problem. The resources of the universe are

infinite. There is no parsimony in Nature. There is plenty and to spare

for all.

Recently there has been a great deal said about the fact that all of the

land on the surface of the earth has now been occupied by mankind; that

hereafter, food products will become higher and higher in price; that each

of us will have to be satisfied with a little less wealth than formerly;

that rents will be higher; that the price of land will steadily

increase--that, already, there is not enough of the bare necessities of

life to go around. This is cited as the cause of pauperism and given as an

excuse for war. May not this attitude be mistaken? We have not yet

scratched the surface of the possibilities. These out-of-door men are

fitted by nature to take the scientific truths discovered by those better

fitted to sit indoors, and make practical application of them to the

problems of increasing the wealth of the race. If a boy in Alabama can

grow 232 bushels of corn on one acre of ground, then farmers all over the

country can grow at least 100 bushels of corn on an acre which now yields

an average of 25 to 30 bushels. By scientific methods, Eugene Grubb has

grown a thousand bushels of potatoes upon an acre of Wyoming land. A

considerable addition will be made to the wealth of the race when a

thousand other Eugene Grubbs arise and increase the productivity of

thousands of other acres of potatoes.

THE BORN LEADER OF MEN

In his excellent little book, "The Art of Handling Men,"[4] Mr. James H.

Collins says:

Broadly speaking, the personal equation is that Something in a man that

makes him effective in managing other men.

It is the difference between the fellow who lets a political club, a

military company or a factory force go all to pieces, and some other

fellow who can put the pieces together again, or rather, draw them

together instantly. For the man who reorganizes without this Something is

like the chap who cleans his own clock--he usually has a few pieces of the

organization left over because they wouldn't fit in anywhere. The personal

equation is magnetic. It comes along and acts, and every part falls into

place, and the organization is capable of performing a lot of new

functions.

Not one person in five hundred possesses the faculty. Those who don't,

like to comfort themselves with the assurance that it is a gift which

Providence forgot to hand out to them. Innumerable stories grow up around

the man who does possess it. One glance from his eagle eye, people say,

and he reads you through. One word, and he enforces instant obedience.

Thus the personal equation is glorified and mystified. But men who really

have this valuable Something seldom make much mystery about it. They

insist it is largely a matter of common sense, which everyone ought to

have at their disposal.

[Footnote 4: Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia.]

The personal equation has an interesting way of raising moral issues.

One morning in August, 1863, a young clergyman was called out of bed in a

hotel at Lawrence, Kansas. The man who called him was one of Quantrell's

guerrillas, and he wanted him to hurry downstairs, and be shot. All over

the border town that morning people were being murdered. A band of raiders

had ridden in early to perpetrate the Lawrence massacre.

The guerrilla who called the clergyman was impatient. The latter, when

fully awake, was horrified by what he saw going on through his window. As

he came downstairs the guerrilla demanded his watch and money, and then

wanted to know if he was an abolitionist. The clergyman was trembling. But

he decided that if he was to die then and there, it would not be with a

lie on his lips. So he said, yes, he was, and followed up the admission

with a remark that immediately turned the whole affair into another

channel.

He and the guerrilla sat down on the porch, while people were being killed

through the town, and had a long talk. It lasted until the raiders were

ready to leave. When the clergyman's guerrilla mounted to join his

confederates he was strictly on the defensive. He handed back the New

Englander's valuables and apologized for disturbing him, and asked to be

thought well of.

That clergyman lived many years after the Lawrence massacre. What did he

say to the guerrilla? What was there in his personality that led the

latter to sit down and talk? What did they talk about?

'Are you a Yankee abolitionist?' the guerrilla had asked.

'Yes--I am,' was the reply, 'and you know very well that you ought to be

ashamed of what you're doing.'

This drew the matter directly to a moral issue. It brought the guerrilla

up roundly. The clergyman was only a stripling beside this seasoned border

ruffian. But he threw a burden of moral proof on to the raider, and in a

moment the latter was trying to demonstrate that he might be a better

fellow than circumstances would seem to indicate.

After waking this New Englander to kill him on account of his politics, he

spent twenty minutes on the witness stand trying to prove an alibi. He

went into his personal history at length. He explained matters from the

time when he had been a tough little kid who wouldn't say his prayers, and

became quite sentimental in recalling how one thing had led to another,

and that to something worse, and so on, until--well, here he was, and a

mighty bad business to be in, pardner. His last request, in riding away,

was: 'Now, pardner, don't think too hard of me, will you?'

The personal equation is eternally throwing the burden of proof on the

people it controls, and forever raising moral issues. The man who has it

may operate by no definite plan, just as this clergyman had none for

saving his own life. But he will be a confidence man of the most subtle

character. His capacity for expecting things of those under him will be

tremendous. Subordinates may never have demanded much of themselves. But

for him they will accomplish wonders, just because he expects them to.

Three men were placed at the foreman's desk of a growing factory. Each had

technical knowledge enough to run a plant three times the size. But all

failed. The first was an autocrat, who tried to boss from a pedestal, and

the men didn't like him. The next was a politician, whom the men liked

thoroughly--which was his shortcoming, for he tried to run the place as

they thought it should be run. As for the third, he tried to run it on

nerves, to do everything himself, to be everywhere at once. He didn't

fail, really--he snapped like a fiddle-string. By that time working

tension was relaxed and production wabbling on the down-peak. Nobody knew

who was in charge, or what would happen.

Then along came a fourth candidate, with an abnormally developed bump of

expectation. He knew how to approve and encourage. Sometimes he said

pleasantly: 'I knew you could do that, Bill,' Again, he put it

ironically: 'I didn't think you had it in you.' But his strong point was

expectation. With apparent recklessness he gave out work two sizes too

large for everybody. If a subordinate was a No. 7 man he handed him a No.

9 job as a matter of course, and usually the latter grew up to it. The

politician had tried this same scheme, but introduced it backward. Taking

a No. 7 man into a corner, he told him impressively that he was a No. 9

and promoted him on the spot, and warned him to say nothing about it to

anybody else. Then the man tried to swell to fit the office instead of

growing to fit the work. But this fourth candidate made everybody see that

doing No. 9 was more creditable than just being it. So everybody became

interested in the work, and nothing else.

There was another suggestive point. Taking charge after three foremen had

failed, the factory was naturally full of nasty cliques, each with its

unhealthy private interest. The new man broke up these cliques by

introducing a new interest so big that it swallowed all the little

interests, like Aaron's rod. That interest was to turn out work of such

quality and in such quantities that the factory could get contracts in

competition with an older rival, and provide steady employment.

That this faculty for putting people under obligation is more the man than

a method, however, is shown in one of Daudet's delightful little sketches,

the story of a head clerk in a French Government bureau who, on getting a

fine promotion, wrote home to his father describing his new chief's homely

appearance with light-hearted raillery. Next morning on his desk lay his

own letter, initialed by his chief. It had been intercepted by the secret

service. The chief allowed him to suffer in apprehension one day, and then

told him that his indiscretion should rest between themselves. 'Try to

make me forget it,' he said, and the incident hung like a dagger over the

clerk's head.

Some time after, the latter caught one of his own subordinates stealing

from the cash box, and repeated his superior's tactics, even to the

formula, 'Try to make me forget it.' With tears in his eyes the

subordinate thanked him for his clemency--and a few days later, rifled the

safe and fled! The moral of which seems to be that, if the clerk had been

enough of a judge of men to use his chief's method effectively, he would

never have fallen into the asininity of writing such a letter.

"Those who complain that it is impossible to win the confidence of

subordinates might observe the extremely simple fashion in which the man

with this Something does the trick--by giving people his own confidence

first.

"He has the knack, not only of interesting others, but of keeping up his

own interest; in fact, he is often so absorbed in his existence, his work,

and the people around him that he is not aware that there is such a malady

as lack of interest.

"He has a heartiness and vitality and geniality quite characteristic, or a

misanthropy that is hearty, vital, and optimistic--geniality inside out.

The milk of human kindness sometimes comes in a dry form."

THE MAN OF SUPREME ABILITY

In his valuable treatise on "The Twelve Principles of Efficiency,"[5] Mr.

Harrington Emerson says:

Industrial plants remind me of automobiles. The plants themselves may be

more or less good, but on what kind of roads are they running? The

philosophy of efficiency is for an industrial plant--for any enterprise,

activity, or undertaking--what a network of good roads is for automobiles.

Undoubtedly, even on poor roads, automobiles may make some progress, but

the worse the road, the more elementary must be the means of locomotion.

[Footnote 5: The Engineering Magazine Company, New York.]

Railroads, high-roads, by-roads, bridle-paths, footpaths, mountain climbs!

The unlettered mountaineer of all countries is the best man for the last,

and it takes the best kind of trained climbing expert to emulate him; but

as the road is improved shoes are exchanged for horses, horses for

bicycles, a change from one kind of muscular effort to another; bicycles

for automobiles, automobiles for railroad trains, both these latter using

incarnate energy instead of muscular or incarnate energy. The all-round

skill of the mountaineer becomes the subdivided, specialized skill of many

different men, who are supplemented with increasingly complex equipment.

The philosophy of efficiency is to be used to build roads along which any

organization can travel with the least friction and the greatest

advantage, and the more ramified and involved the business, the more is

the philosophy needed.

However, no highly complex automobile, even with the best network of

roads, can make any great progress unless in the hands of a skilled

directing intelligence; no highly complex human enterprise, though it uses

all the principles of efficiency, can make any great progress unless

guided by a skilled intelligence.

On personality, on the wisdom of the individual, whether locomotive

engineer or von Moltke, whether the manager of a plant employing ten men

or Judge Gary, chairman of the board of the gigantic Steel Corporation,

will depend the ultimate value of all that creative physical or

philosophical ability has brought together.

Recently there was submitted to me in the office of one of Chicago's

greatest businesses the draft of its organization. No man can pass on the

merits of the details of a complicated organization without long and

intimate acquaintance with its workings. Seeing the plan of the Chicago

plant, pressed for a suggestion, I said: 'Your chart is upside down; the

president belongs at the bottom, sustaining and carrying, through his

organization, all the operations of the plant. Because he is in supreme

authority he has the responsibility of making available for everyone, down

to the tool, all the wisdom in the universe in order that each may fulfil

perfectly its special duty and task.'

Whether on the grounds of Long Branch, on the desert trail, in a section,

department, division, or plant of a great manufacturing concern or

railroad; whether on the deck of a battleship or on a battlefield, what is

wanted is a leader who can swing and manage what has been entrusted to

him.

It has become the fashion in history to decry the strong-man theory, to

turn for understanding to evolution, to explain the strong man as the

inevitable accident of the moment. There is evolution; there comes, at

last, opportunity, but only rarely does the strong man arise; hence we

have England, not Norway or Sweden or Holland; hence we have Prussia, not

Saxony; Germany, not Russia; Italy, not Portugal; France, not Spain;

Japan, not Siam or Korea.

In 1536 was born in Japan an undersized, monkey-faced boy of good but poor

parentage, who, at the age of thirteen, resolved to make himself the chief

power in the distracted kingdom. For 200 years the militant barons had

warred against each other, each trying to grab, annex, and hold what he

could.

The boy, Hideyoshi, deliberately visited the different courts, picked out

the baron he thought most endowed with suitable character, succeeded with

great difficulty in entering his service in the humblest position, and

then steadily and inevitably rose, firstly because he could read human

character and always knew almost as soon as they did themselves what his

and his lord's enemies were plotting, and secondly, because he was always

prepared in advance for any undertaking and skilled in carrying out. Thus,

when scarcely more than a child, he reduced the cost of firewood used in

the palace to less than one-half; a little later he rebuilt the castle

walls in three days, a task estimated as requiring sixty days; again,

single-handed, he secured provinces that armies had failed to conquer.

By gifts of tact, of insight, of diligence, of readiness, that each one of

us thinks he possesses, that any one of Nippon's 30,000,000 inhabitants

might have possessed and exercised, Hideyoshi rose, step by step, until he

directed and guided the whole country, his general, Iyeyasu, becoming the

first of the Tokugawa dynasty, which lasted from 1603 to 1867, with

headquarters at Yeddo (Tokyo).

Temuchin, Jenghis Khan, born in a tent in 1162, son of a petty Mongolian

chieftain, succeeded his father when only thirteen years old. Many of the

tribes immediately rebelled, but Temuchin held his own in battle and in

counsel against open enemies and insidious traitors, until his empire

extended from the China Sea to the frontier of Poland--an empire larger

than modern Russia, the largest the world has ever seen.

The man of supreme ability is the one who has supernal ideals, who

recognizes and uses those underlying principles without which human effort

is futile, its results ephemeral. The man of supreme ability is the one

who can create and control an organization founded on and using principles

to attain and maintain ideals, who then is able to assemble for the use of

his organization the incidentals of land, of men and money (Labor and

Capital), of buildings and equipment, of methods and devices. All these

incidentals make for volume, for quantity, for man's work instead of

woman's work, but they do not make for the spirit, nor for the quality,

nor for the excellence of work.

THE ELEMENTS OF EXECUTIVE ABILITY

We have quoted thus at length from Mr. Collins and Mr. Emerson to show the

inbornness, so to speak, of real executive ability. The art of handling

men depends upon certain inherent aptitudes plus a certain amount of the

right kind of training. A very large class of executives lacks the

aptitude; a still larger class lacks the right kind of training. It is

possible, of course, to give training to those who have the aptitude. It

is impossible to give training which will make efficient executives of

those who are deficient in the natural aptitudes. The result of all this

is that we have a very large class of misfits; men who, for some reason or

other, have been promoted into executive positions and who do not have the

proper qualifications. These men suffer; those under them suffer; those

who employ them suffer.

Some men are too active themselves ever to be good directors of the

activities of other men. They cannot sit back quietly and direct others.

They demand expression in action. They are, therefore, always thrusting

aside their subordinates and doing the thing themselves, because they lack

the ability to teach others to do the work and to do it correctly. When

such men are compelled to wait for others to accomplish things, they grow

irritable, impatient, and lose control of themselves and, therefore, of

the situation. They are not ideal executives and do not, as a general

rule, rise to very high executive positions. They ought not to attempt to

do executive work.

There are others who are too easy-going to command men. They permit their

men to get too close to them, and they feel too sympathetic toward them.

They are likely, also, to be partial, not to demand or exact enough, and,

therefore, their departments are always behind, never quite coming up to

quota.

TWO TYPES OF EXECUTIVES

There are two distinct types of executives. There is the impatient,

driving, quick, keen, positive, irritable type. This man can get good

results from a certain type of worker, but he only irritates, frightens,

and drives to sullen resistance other types. The other is the mild,

kindly, persuasive, patient, enduring, persistent, determined type of

executive, who wins his success by attracting to himself the intense

loyalty and devotion of his men. Both types are successful, but they are

successful with different kinds of men. The employer who selects

executives, therefore, needs to bear this in mind, and to select the right

type of men to work under his various lieutenants. On the other hand, men

who take executive positions should see that they secure for themselves

the type of workers from whom they can secure results. This will not be

easy, because, as a general rule, an executive tends to surround himself

with men of his own type, which is usually a mistake. Men, in selecting

positions, should also bear this truth in mind. They should know the kind

of executive under whom they can do their best work, and, if at all

possible, work under this kind of superior officer.

SLAVES TO MACHINERY

In an earlier chapter of this book we referred to the type of boy or girl

who is too restless to study, to continue in school; who is eager to

begin his life work; who therefore leaves school at an early age and takes

up some work for which he is then fitted, but which, in after life, he

finds to be uncongenial and unprofitable. As a general rule, such

individuals are ambitious--oftentimes exceedingly ambitious. They find, as

they grow older, however, that they have not sufficient education and

training to enable them to realize their ambitions. Thousands upon

thousands of these condemn themselves to mere unskilled manual labor.

It is not to be wondered at that these boys and girls leave school,

because in school they are compelled to sit quietly and to try to learn

things in which they are not interested out of dry, unprofitable books.

Such pupils need to spend a great part of their time out-of-doors. They

can be thus taught far more easily, will take a greater interest in their

studies, and can gain both knowledge and skill which will be more valuable

to them in the world of work. They also need to be taught indoors manual

training, domestic science, printing, laundry work, scientific

horticulture, scientific agriculture, dairying, and many other such

branches. The recently projected vocational schools, continuation schools,

half-time schools, and other such contrivances for giving the boy or the

girl an opportunity to learn a useful trade while he is mastering the

three R's, are a very important and valuable step in the right direction;

With an opportunity thus to find expression for his mechanical ability and

his great activity, the boy will be encouraged to remain longer in school.

Those who have left school at an early age on account of restlessness

should take very seriously to heart the fates of tens of thousands of men

and women before them who have done the same thing and who have made a

failure of their lives, because they did not have sufficient education and

training with which to realize their aspirations.

THE IMPRACTICAL

It has been frequently remarked that this is a commercial age. Our great

captains of industry, our multi-millionaires, have, most of them, made

their fortunes in commerce. This is an age, perhaps--especially in the

United States--which rather makes a hero of the business man. For this

reason there are many who are ambitious for commercial success. Every year

thousands upon thousands of young men and women leave school in order to

enter business. By a very natural psychological paradox, there seems to be

a fascination about commerce and finance for many young people who have

little aptitude for these vocations. Many people, feeling their

deficiencies, yearn to convince themselves and others that they are not

deficient. It is only another phase of the fatality with which a Venus

longs to be a Diana and a Minerva a Psyche. Thousands enter business who

have no commercial or financial ability. They cannot know the

requirements; they cannot understand the fundamental principles of

business. Commercially they are babes in the woods. Therefore they go down

to bankruptcy and insolvency, to their great detriment and to the injury

of many thousands of others.

These young people are too impractical for business. They may have a

theoretical understanding of it, and an intellectual desire to succeed.

But, as a result of their impractical type of mind, they neglect details,

they overlook important precautions, they are, oftentimes, too credulous,

too easily influenced. They usually make poor financiers; they do not make

collections well; they are incautious in extending credit and in

maintaining their own credit; often they are inefficient and wasteful in

management; they do not take proper account of all the costs in fixing

prices; they enter into foolish contracts; make promises which they are

unable to keep, and oftentimes, as a result of too great optimism,

undertake far more than is commercially feasible.

HUNGRY FOR FAME

The same strange quirk in human nature which takes the impractical into

the marts, takes many ambitious but inherently unfit into art and

literature. The stage-struck girl who has not one scintilla of dramatic

ability is so common as to be a joke--to all but herself and her friends.

Every editor is wearied with his never-ending task of extinguishing lights

which glow brightly with ambition but have no gleam of the divine fire.

Teachers of art and music, both in this country and abroad, are threatened

with insanity because of the hordes of young men and women who come to

them with money in their hands, demanding to be made into famous artists

and musicians, not having been born with genius. Some of these

unfortunates spend years of time and thousands of dollars in money

attempting to fit themselves for careers, only to end in utter failure.

Some, even after they have made a comparative failure of their education,

eke out a tortured existence, hoping against hope for the golden crown of

fame and fortune.

In sober truth the fatal lack in most of these disappointed seekers is not

that they have no talent, but that they are too lazy mentally to make a

real success of the natural aptitudes they have. They lack "the infinite

capacity for taking pains." They are deluded by the idea that success

depends upon inspiration--that there is no perspiration. Yet every great

writer, every great musician, every great actor, every great author, knows

that there is no fame, there is no possibility of success, except through

the most prolonged and painstaking drudgery.

"LIFE IS BRIEF--ART IS LONG"

Perhaps no actor of modern times had greater dramatic talents inborn than

Richard Mansfield, yet here is the story of how Richard Mansfield[6]

worked, toiled, starved and suffered in achieving success in his art:

His friends crowded St. George's Hall for his first appearance. It was

observed, as he uttered the few lines of the Beadle, that he was

excessively nervous. When, later in the evening, he sat down at the piano

and struck a preliminary chord, he fainted dead away.

[Footnote 6: From "Richard Mansfield," by Paul Wilstach. Charles

Scribner's Sons, New York.]

Mr. Reed relieved him of his position at once. In discharging him, he

said: 'You are the most nervous man I have ever seen,' It was not all

nervousness, however. Mansfield had not eaten for three days. He had

fainted from hunger.

"Mansfield was now on evil days, indeed. He moved into obscure quarters

and fought the hard fight. It was years before he would speak of these

experiences. In fact, he rarely ruminated on the past in the confidences

of either conversation or correspondence. Memory troubled him little and

by the universal quotation it withheld its pleasures. He dwelt in the

present, with his eyes and hopes on the future. It was always the future

with him. No pleasure or attainment brought complete satisfaction. He

looked to the past only in relation to the future; for experience, for

example, for what to avoid.

"Once, when at the meridian of his fame, he was asked to lecture before

the faculty and students of the University of Chicago. For his subject he

chose, 'On Going on the Stage.' That he might exploit to those before him

the reality of the actor's struggle, he lifted for the first time a corner

of that veil of mystery which hung between his public and his past, and

told of these early London days:

"For years I went home to my little room, if, fortunately, I had one,' he

said, 'and perhaps a tallow dip was stuck in the neck of a bottle, and I

was fortunate if I had something to cook for myself over a fire, if I had

a fire. That was my life. When night came I wandered about the streets of

London, and if I had a penny I invested it in a baked potato from the

baked-potato man on the corner. I would put these hot potatoes in my

pockets, and after I had warmed my hands, I would swallow the potato. That

is the truth.'

"At length, his wardrobe became so reduced that attendance at any but the

most informal entertainments became out of the question, and finally he

had to give up these. Soon he was inking the seams of his coat, and

wandered about shunning friends, for fear they would learn to what a

condition he was reduced.

"'Often,' he admitted, 'I stayed in bed and slept because when I was

awake I was hungry. Footsore, I would gaze into the windows of

restaurants, bakeries, and fruit shops, thinking the food displayed in

them the most tempting and beautiful sight in the world. There were times

when I literally dined on sights and smells,'

"He did every species of dramatic and musical hack work in drawing rooms,

in clubs, and in special performances in theatres. Sometimes he got into

an obscure provincial company, but he said that his very cleverness was a

kind of curse, since the harder he worked and the better the audiences

liked him, the quicker he was discharged. The established favorites of

these little companies always struck when a newcomer made a hit.

"Richard Barker was the stage manager and Mansfield could never please

him. After trying again and again, he once cried: 'Please, Barker, do let

me alone. I shall be all right. I have acted the part.' 'Not you,'

declared Barker. 'Act? You act, man? You will never act as long as you

live!'

"The recollection of the rebuffs, poverty, starvation, inability to find

sympathy, because, possibly, of the pride which repelled it, the

ill-fortune which snatched the extended opportunity just as he was about

to grasp it, the jealousy of established favorites of the encroaching

popularity of newcomers, the hardships of provincial travel and life in a

part of the country and at a time when the play-actor was still regarded

as a kind of vagabond and was paid as such, the severity of the discipline

he encountered from the despots over him--all painted pictures on his

memory and fed a fire under the furnace of his nature which tempered the

steel in his composition to inflexibility. The stern rod of discipline was

held over him every moment and often fell with unforgetable severity. He

was trained by autocrats in a school of experience more autocratic than

anything known to the younger actors of this generation.

"When the part of Chevrial was given to him, Mansfield was fascinated with

his opportunity, but he kept his counsel. He applied every resource of his

ability to the composition of his performance of the decrepit old rake.

He sought specialists on the infirmities of roues; he studied specimens in

clubs, on the avenue, and in hospitals; and in the privacy of his own room

he practiced make-ups for the part every spare moment. The rehearsals

themselves were sufficiently uneventful. He gave evidence of a careful,

workmanlike performance, but promise of nothing more.

"While he was working out the part Mansfield scarcely ate or slept. He had

a habit of dining with a group of young Bohemians at a table d'hote in

Sixth Avenue. The means of none of them made regularity at these

forty-cent banquets possible, so his absence was meaningless. One evening,

however, he dropped into his accustomed chair, but tasted nothing.

"'What's the matter, Mansfield?' asked one of the others.

"To-morrow night I shall be famous,' he said. 'Come and see the play,'

"His friends were accustomed to lofty talk from him. His prophecy was

answered with a light laugh and it had passed out of their memories as

they drifted into the night. This was one of those intuitions to which he

often confessed, and it told him that the years of apprenticeship were

behind him and the artist in him was on the eve of acknowledgment.

"On the night of January 11, 1883, the theatre was radiant with an

expectant audience--half convinced in advance by the record of the Union

Square's past, but by the same token exacting to a merciless degree--to

see their old friends in the first performance in America of 'A Parisian

Romance.'

"Mansfield made his entrance as the Baron Chevrial within a few moments

after the rise of the curtain. It was effected in an unconcerned silence

on the part of the audience.

"There were, on the other hand, the deserved receptions of old favorites

by old friends, as Miss Jewett, Miss Vernon, Miss Carey, Mr. DeBelleville,

Mr. Parselle and Mr. Whiting came upon the scene.

"When Chevrial, finding himself alone with Tirandel and Laubaniere,

exposed his amusingly cynical views of life and society, some attention

was paid to a remarkable portrait of a polished, but coarse, gay, though

aging, voluptuary. The scene was short and he was soon off, though not

without a little impudent touch, in passing the maid in the doorway, that

did not slip unnoticed. The dramatic disclosures which followed brought

the act to a close with applause that augured well. Henri, Marcelle, and

Mme. De Targy were called forward enthusiastically.

"The second act revealed the Baron's chambers. With the exception of two

minutes, he was on the stage until the curtain fell. The Baron's effort,

so precisely detailed, to reach and raise the dumb-bells from the floor;

the inveterate libertine's interview with shrewd Rosa, the danseuse, who

took the tips he expected would impoverish her and thus put her in his

power, for the purpose of playing them the other way: the biting

deliberation of his interview with his good Baroness and Henri, who comes

to ruin himself to save his family's honor--all held the audience with a

new sensation. As he pushed his palsied arms into his coat and pulled

himself fairly off his feeble feet in his effort to button it, turned up

to his door humming like a preying bumble-bee, faced slowly about again,

his piercing little pink eyes darting with anticipation, and off the

trembling old lips droned the telling speech: 'I wonder how his pretty

little wife will bear poverty. H'm! We shall see'--the curtain fell to

applause which was for the newcomer alone. He had interested the audience

and was talked about between the acts.

"Mr. Palmer rushed back to his dressing-room and found him studiously

adding new touches to his make-up for the next act. 'Young man,' exclaimed

the manager, 'do you know you're making a hit?' 'That's what I'm paid

for,' replied Mansfield, without lowering the rabbit's foot.

"The third act was largely Marcelle's. The Baron was on for an episodic

interval, but succeeded, in that he did not destroy the impression already

created.

"The fourth act revealed a magnificent banquet hall with a huge table

laden with crystal, silver, snowy linens, flowers, and lights. At the top

of a short stairway at the back was a gallery and an arched window through

which one looked up the green aisle of the Champs-Elysee to the Arc de

Triomphe, dimly visible in the moonlight. The Baron entered for one last

glance over the preparations for his _petit souper_ for Rosa and her

sister of the ballet at the Opera.

"The effectiveness of his entrance was helped by his appearance behind a

colonnade, and there he stood, only half revealed, swaying unsteadily

while his palsied hand adjusted his monocle to survey the scene. There was

a flutter of applause from the audience but, appreciatively, it quickly

hushed itself. He dragged himself forward. The cosmetic could not hide the

growing pallor of the parchment drawn over the old reprobate's skull. He

crept around the table and, with a marvellous piece of 'business' by which

he held his wobbly legs while he slowly swung a chair under him,

collapsed. The picture was terrible, but fascinating. People who would,

could not turn their heads. His valet was quick with water and held the

glass in place on the salver while he directed it to the groping arm. The

crystal clinked on Chevrial's teeth as he sucked the water.

"Presently he found his legs again and tottered up to the staircase. The

picture of the black, shrivelled little man dragging his lifeless legs up

to the gallery step by step was never forgotten by anyone who saw it. At

the top he turned and said in ominous tones: 'I do not wish to be

disturbed in the morning. I shall need a long sleep'; and dragged himself

out of sight. He had been on the stage five minutes and had said scarcely

fifty words. The picture and the effect were unmistakable. The audience

capitulated. There was a roar of applause which lasted several minutes.

"The whispered discussion of this scene was such that scarcely any

attention was paid to the stage until the Baron returned. Almost

immediately afterward the ballet girls pirouetted into the hall in a

flutter of gauze, and the places at the tables were filled. No one

listened to the lines; all eyes in the house were focussed on the

withered, shrunken, flaccid little old Baron, who sat at Rosa's right,

ignored by everyone about him as they gorged on his food and drank his

wines.

"Soon he drew himself up on his feet and, raising his glass, said: 'Here's

to the god from whom our pleasures come. Here's to Plutus and a million!"

"The gay throng about the table echoed the toast: To Plutus and a

million!' and Chevrial continued:

"'While I am up I will give a second toast: 'Here's to Rosa! The most

splendid incarnation that I know!'

"Placing the glass to her lips for a first sip, the lecherous old pagan's

own lips sought the spot, sipped, and he sank back into his chair.

"What else went on till he rose again no one knew or minded. No eye in the

house could wander from the haggard, evil, smiling, but sinister, old

face. Presently he was up once more and, with his raised goblet brimming

with champagne, he offered a third toast:

"'Here's to material Nature, the prolific mother of all we know, see, or

hear. Here's to the matter that sparkles in our glasses, and runs through

our veins as a river of youth; here's to the matter that our eyes caress

as they dwell on the bloom of those young cheeks. Here's to the matter

that--here's to--here's--the matter--the matter that--here's--'

"The attack had seized him. Terrible and unforgetable was the picture of

the dissolution. The lips twitched, the eyes rolled white, the raised hand

trembled, the wine sputtered like the broken syllables which the shattered

memory would not send and the swollen tongue suddenly could not utter. For

one moment of writhing agony he held the trembling glass aloft; then his

arm dropped with a swiftness that shattered the crystal. Instinctively he

groped up to the stairs for light and air. He reeled as if every step

would be his last. Rosa helped him up to the window, but recoiled from him

with a shriek. Again his hand flew up, but there was neither glass, wine,

nor words. He rolled helplessly and fell to the floor, dead. The curtain

fell.

"It was probably the most realistically detailed figure of refined moral

and physical depravity, searched to its inevitable end, the stage has ever

seen. For a moment after the curtain fell there was a hush of awe and

surprise. Then the audience found itself and called Mansfield to the

footlights a dozen times. But neither then nor thereafter would he appear

until he had removed the wig and make-up of the dead Baron. There was no

occasion to change his clothes; he wore the conventional evening suit. The

effect of shrivelled undersizedness was purely a muscular effect of the

actor. The contrast between the figure that fell at the head of the stairs

and the athletic young gentleman who acknowledged the applause was no

anti-climax.

"Mansfield had come into his own. The superb art of his performance had

dwarfed all about it; the play was killed, but he was from that moment a

figure to be reckoned with in the history of the theatre."

It is said that when Paderewsky played before Queen Victoria, she said to

him: "Mr. Paderewsky, you are a genius." "Ah, your Majesty," he replied,

"perhaps. But before I was a genius, I was a drudge." And this is true. It

is said that Paderewsky spent hours every day, even after achieving his

fame, practising the scale, improving his technique, and keeping himself

in prime condition.

Study the life and achievement of any great man of genius. His genius has

consisted principally in his wonderful capacity to labor for perfection in

the most minute detail. And yet most ambitious misfits are unwilling to

work hard. Their products always show lack of finish due to slipshod

methods, unwillingness to spend time, to take pains to bring what they do

up to a standard of beautiful perfection, so far as perfection is humanly

possible. Those who are mentally lazy do not belong in an artistic

vocation. There are probably many things that they can do and do well in

some less spectacular lines, some calling that does not require such

mental effort.

MISFITS IN THE PROFESSIONS

In the traditional educational system the common school is not

particularly adapted to prepare its pupils for life, but rather to prepare

them for either a high school or a preparatory school. Passing on to the

high school, the same condition prevails. The whole question in every high

school and every preparatory school is whether the training will accredit

one to certain colleges and universities. So the traditional high school

graduate is not prepared for life; he is prepared for college or the

university. He goes on to the university. There he finds that he is being

prepared chiefly for four or five learned professions--the law, the

ministry, medicine, engineering, and teaching. In the beginning, the

university was supposed to train a man, not for work, but for leisure. The

very word scholar means a man of leisure. People were trained, therefore,

not for usefulness, but for show; not to earn their living in the world,

but rather, their living having been provided for them by a thoughtful

government or a kind-hearted parent, to present evidences of the fact. One

of the chief of such evidences was the ability to go to a college or

university and to take the time to learn a great deal of useless knowledge

about dead languages, philosophies, and dry-as-dust sciences. While this

is not true to so great an extent to-day, there is still much of the old

tradition clinging about colleges and universities, and we are training

men and women, not for commercial or industrial or agricultural lines, but

rather, for the learned professions.

THE "WHITE COLLAR MAN"

In England and other European countries no man is held to be a gentleman

who has ever earned his living by the work of his hands. No one is

accredited with standing as an amateur athlete who has ever "lost caste"

in this way. While this caste feeling is not so strong in America as it is

abroad, it still has a considerable influence upon parents and their

children in the selection of a vocation. While one does not lose caste by

doing manual labor, temporarily or as a makeshift, he suffers socially, in

certain circles, who chooses deliberately a vocation which requires him to

wear soiled clothing, to carry a plebeian dinner-pail, and to work hard

with his hands. Because of this, many bricklayers, carpenters,

blacksmiths, shoemakers, plasterers, plumbers, and other workers,

ambitious socially for their sons, instead of teaching them trades in

which they might excel and in which there might be an unrestricted future

for them, train them for clerical and office work. Having felt the social

handicap themselves, these men and their wives determine that their

children shall belong to the class which wears good clothes, has soft,

white hands, and eats luncheon at a cafeteria--or from a paper parcel

which can be respectably hidden in an inside coat pocket. And so there are

armies of "white collar men" who would be healthier, wealthier, more

useful, and happier if they wore overalls and jumpers.

The "typical" bank clerk is a good illustration. Pallid from long hours

indoors, stooped from his concentration upon interminable columns of

figures, dissatisfied, discontented, moving along painfully in a narrow

groove, out of which there seems to be no way, underpaid, he is one of the

tragedies of our commercial and financial age. While the section-hand may

become a section boss, a roadmaster, a division superintendent, a general

superintendent, a general manager, and, finally, the president of a

railroad; while the stock boy becomes, eventually, a salesman, then a

sales manager, and, finally, the head of the corporation; while

apprentices to carpenters, bricklayers, and plumbers may become

journeymen, and then contractors, and, finally, owners of big buildings;

while the farmhand may become a farm owner, then a landlord, and, finally,

perhaps, the president of a bank; while a workman in a factory handling a

wheelbarrow may afterward become the president of the greatest corporation

in the world, the clerk, toiling over his papers and his books, is almost

inevitably sentenced to a lifetime of similar toil, with small

opportunities for advancement before him.

There are men fitted by inheritance and training for clerical work and

what lies beyond and above it. They are so constituted that they have the

ability to take advantage of opportunities, to forge to the front from

such a beginning, and to rise to commanding positions. But this is not

true of the men who have aptitudes which would make them successful in

active work with their hands, and afterward with hand and brain. These men

of inherent activity and skill of hand, men whose bones and muscles were

made for work, whose whole nature calls for the out-of-doors, are doomed

to stagnate, grow discontented, and finally lose hope, if compelled by

pride or bad judgment to undertake the "white collar man's" job.

SOCIAL VALUE OF THE "WHITE COLLAR MAN"

Regarding the social deficiency of this class of worker Martha Brensley

Bruere and Robert W. Bruere, in their excellent book, "Increasing Home

Efficiency," have the following to say:

"The output of their domestic factory so far is two sons able to earn

living salaries, who are useful to the community undoubtedly, but as easy

to replace if damaged as any other standard products that come a dozen to

the box. They themselves didn't like the upper reaches of the artisan

class where they had spent their lives, so they boosted their sons till

they could make a living by the sweat of their brains instead of the sweat

of their brows. Society can use the Shaw boys, but is it profitable to

produce them at the price? The money that made these boys into a clerk and

a stenographer cost twenty years of their parents' brain and muscle. Mrs.

Shaw has bred the habit of saving into her own bones till now, when she

might shift the flatiron, the cook stove and the sewing machine from her

shoulders, she can't let go the $10 a month her 'help' eats and wastes

long enough to straighten up her spine. These two boys and a daughter

still in the making have cost their father and mother twenty years, which

Mr. Shaw sums up by saying:

"'So, you see, the final result of making up your mind to do a thing,

including the great trouble of bringing up a family, is just getting down

to the ground and grinding.'

"Isn't it just possible that society has lost as much in the parents as it

has gained in the children? Couldn't we have got the same product some

cheaper way? Or a better product by more efficient home management?"

WOMEN'S WORK

Perhaps the saddest of all the misfits are to be found amongst women, or

it may be that their cases seem to us to be saddest because there are so

many of them. Under the old-time regime there was but one vocation open to

women--that of wife and mother. Regardless of aptitudes, physical strength

or weakness, personal likes or dislikes, all women were expected to marry

and bear children, and to qualify successfully for a vocation which

combined the duties of nursemaid, waitress, laundress, seamstress, baker,

cook, governess, purchasing agent, dietitian, accountant, and

confectioner. In the early days of this country, in addition to these

duties, women were also called upon to be butchers, sausage-makers,

tailors, spinners, weavers, shoemakers, candle-makers, cheese-makers,

soap-makers, dyers, gardeners, florists, shepherds, bee-keepers,

poultry-keepers, brewers, picklers, bottlers, butter-makers, mil-liners,

dressmakers, hatters, and first-aid physicians, surgeons and nurses. In

more modern times, women have entered nearly all vocations. But even yet

there is much prejudice against the woman who "descends" out of her

traditional "sphere." The woman who is not a wife, mother, and

house-keeper--or a domestic parasite, housekeeping by proxy--loses caste

among the patricians. Many men and, on their behalf, their mothers and

sisters, shudder at the sordid thought of marrying a girl who has been so

base as to "work for her living." And so stenographers, clerks,

accountants, saleswomen, factory workers, telephone operators, and all

other women in the business world are about 99 per cent temporary workers.

Even in executive positions and in the professions, most women look upon

wages and salaries as favoring breezes, necessary until they drop anchor

in the haven of matrimony. And even those who most sincerely proclaim

themselves wedded to their careers, in many instances, exercise their

ancient privilege, change their minds, and give up all else for husband

and home.

Every normal woman was intended by nature to marry. It is right that she

should marry. She does not truly and fully live unless she does marry. She

misses deep and true joy who is not happily married--and usually feels

cheated. But the same may be said of every normal man. The difference is

that, according to tradition, marriage is woman's career, while man may

choose a life work according to his aptitudes. Because of prejudice,

however, it is rarely that the happily married woman makes a business or

professional career. Husbands, except those who do so through necessity or

those who are unafraid of convention, do not permit their wives to work

outside of the home. Because of false pride, many men say: "I am the

bread-winner. If I cannot support my wife as she should be supported, then

I do not wish to marry." And so thousands of women sigh away their lives

at work they hate while a hungry, sad world suffers for what they would

love to do.

The waste of these misfits is threefold: First, the women lose the

opportunity for service, profit, and enjoyment which should be theirs.

Second, the world loses the excellent services which they might render.

Third, oftentimes these women are very poor housekeepers. They simply have

not the aptitudes. Their husbands and their families suffer.

WOMEN WITHOUT HOMES

Another very large class of misfits, and, perhaps, even more to be pitied

than any other, is composed of the women who are compelled to earn a

living in the business world, in the professional world, or elsewhere,

whose true place is in the home. Many of these are unmarried, either

because the right man has not presented himself, or because there are not

enough really desirable men in the community to go around. Others are

widows. Still others are women who have been deserted by their mates. Some

of them are compelled to support their parents, brothers, and sisters, or

even their husbands.

If traditional methods and courses of education miss the needs of many of

our young men, what shall we say of conventional education for girls?

Well, to tell the truth, we do not know what to say. Educational experts,

reformers, philosophers, investigators, and editors have spoken and

written volumes on the subject. Women upon whom the different kinds of

educational formulae have been tried have also written about it. Some of

them have told tragic stories. There has been, and is, much controversy.

Some say one thing--some another--but what shall common sense say? After

all, education is rather a simple problem--in its essentials. It means

development--development of inborn talents. And education ought especially

to develop the natural aptitude of most of our girls for efficiency in

home-making and child-rearing. Most young women enter upon the vocation of

wifehood and motherhood practically without any training for these duties.

It is as unscientific to expect all women to be successful wives and

mothers as it would be to expect all men to be successful farmers. It is

as tragic to expect an untrained girl to be a successful wife and mother

as it would be to expect an untrained boy to be a successful physician and

surgeon.

EXECUTIVES AND DETAIL WORKERS

A very broad division of misfits is into those who are fitted to do detail

work, trying to do executive work, and those who are natural-born

executives compelled to do detail work. This is a very common cause of

unfitness.

Some men love detail and can do it well. They naturally see the little

things. Their minds are readily occupied with accuracy in what seem to

others to be trifles, but which, taken together, make perfection. They are

careful; they are dependable; they can be relied upon. Such people,

however, do not have a ready grasp for large affairs. They cannot see

things in their broader aspect. They are not qualified by nature to

outline plans in general for other people to work out in detail. They are

the men upon whom the world must depend for the careful working out of the

little things so essential if the larger plans are to go through

successfully.

On the other hand, there are some people who have no patience with

details. They do not like them. They cannot attend to them. If depended

upon for exactitude and accuracy, they are broken reeds. They forget

detail.

There are many executives holding important positions and making a sad

failure of them because they are, by natural aptitudes, excellent detail

men but poor planners and executives. The following story illustrates,

perhaps, as well as anything we could present, the qualities of these

overworked, busy, busy executives who have no right to be executives, but

ought to be carrying out the plans of someone else:

HOW SOCRATIC HELPED BRAINERD BUILD BUSINESS

People sometimes bring their business troubles to a friend whom we shall

call Socratic. And Socratic helps them out for a consideration. His time

is valuable and he bought his wisdom at a high price.

Some months ago a pompous fellow dropped in. We recognized him as

Brainerd, one of the leading business men of a small city. His story was

this: He had built up a big enterprise during the pioneer boom days of

easy money and negligible competition. Now, when margins were closer, the

pace hotter, and a half dozen keen fellows were scrambling for their

shares of a trade he had formerly controlled jointly with one other

conservative house, he found sales falling off and his profits dwindling

to a minus quantity.

Socratic heard him through; then said: "I'll look your business over, tell

you the troubles, and show you how to remedy them for one hundred

dollars."

"Oh, I couldn't afford to pay that much, the way business is now,"

Brainerd objected.

"How much, then, do you figure it would be worth to you to have your sales

and profits climb back to high-water mark?"

"Oh, that would be worth thousands of dollars, of course. But can you

guarantee me any such results?"

KEEPING THE APPOINTMENT

"Well, if you carefully study over what I tell you, and faithfully follow

my advice, and the results are not satisfactory, you need pay me nothing.

Is that agreeable?"

"Sure! If you can show me how to bring my profits back to normal, I'll

gladly pay you two hundred."

"It's a go!" said Socratic. "Have the contract drawn up ready to sign when

I call to begin my examination. When shall that be?"

"Well, let's see. I'm so all-fired busy it's hard to find time for

anything. Say early next week sometime."

"All right. What day?"

"Oh, Tuesday or Wednesday."

"Tuesday will be satisfactory. What hour?"

"Well, some time in the forenoon, I guess."

"Ten o'clock be all right?"

"Yes, ten o'clock will do."

"Very well, I'll be there at ten sharp."

Tuesday morning, at ten sharp, Socratic stood by Brainerd's desk. Brainerd

was working away like a busy little high-pressure hoisting-engine. He

looked up with a bright smile.

"Oh, it's you, is it? Sorry, but I can't do anything for you to-day. I'm

awfully up against it for time. Can't you drop in a little later in the

week?"

"What day?" Socratic asked.

"Oh, Thursday or Friday," a little impatiently.

"Thursday is all right. What hour? Ten o'clock do?"

"Yes, yes, that will do," sighed the busy, busy business man, his nose

deep in his work.

Socratic turned on his heel and walked out.

THE HEAD CLERK'S SALARY

Thursday morning he was again beside Brainerd's desk. It was easy to see

that this little buzz-fly was a mile up in the air. Hi$ coat was off, his

cuffs turned back, his collar unbuttoned, his hair mussed, and he had a

streak of soot across his nose. He hardly looked up. Just kept chugging

away like a motor-cycle going up-grade at fifty miles an hour.

Oh, but he was the busy man!

"Sorry to disappoint you again, Socratic," he jerked out, "but I haven't

got time to breathe. You'll have to come in again."

"Making stacks of money with all this strenuous activity, I suppose?"

asked Socratic.

"Oh, no! It keeps me on the jump like a toad under a harrow to pay

expenses."

"Call that a profitable way to spend time and nervous energy so

prodigally?"

"It may not be--I suppose it isn't, but I can't help it."

"Your head clerk draws pretty good pay, doesn't he?" asked Socratic.

"Why, yes," answered Brainerd, staring.

"Probably has a bigger income to handle, personally, than you have?"

"Oh, I guess so" You'll have to excuse me, Socratic. I'm too busy to talk

to-day."

"Queer, but your head clerk and cashier seem to have plenty of time for

conversation. They have been scrapping for fifteen minutes about chances

of the Pirates and the Cubs. You feel happy to pay people big salaries for

talking baseball?"

"No; of course not; but how can I help it? A man can't hire reliable help

for love or money in this town, and I haven't got time to watch all of

'em."

"How would it do to have the bookkeeper check up those sales-slips you are

tearing your hair over, instead of manicuring her pretty paddies and

tucking in her scolding locks?"

"Well, she was doing something else when I began. Excuse me a minute."

SOME FOOL EXCUSES

And Brainerd dashed away to the front of the store to wait on a nicely

dressed lady who had just come in. When he returned he said: "I'll tell

you, Mr. Socratic, I've been thinking over the matter of our contract, and

I don't believe I'm prepared to go into that thing at present. Times are

so hard and I am so rushed for time, and you would probably recommend a

lot of things I couldn't afford, and likely couldn't work in with my

present system. I guess I'll have to let it go for the present. It would

be a good thing, no doubt, but I guess I'll have to do the best I can

without it. Some time later, perhaps, I'll take it up with you. Why, I

don't even get time to read the papers, and I certainly wouldn't have time

to go into that examination with you."

"I've completed my examination," remarked Socratic.

"Why, how's that?" gasped Brainerd. "When did you do it?"

"The day you were in my office. What I have seen and heard on my two

visits here only confirms the diagnosis of your case I made then. But the

real purpose of the two calls was to endeavor to make you see your

troubles as I see them."

"I don't know what you mean, sir," said Brainerd, piqued by the

unmistakable trend of Socratic's remarks.

"I rather think you do, but I'll take no chances. Your business is

desperately ill, isn't it?"

"Yes, I guess it is," reluctantly.

"Then it needs a heroic remedy, doesn't it?"

"Possibly."

"And that remedy must be applied to the source of the trouble. Not so?"

"Yes."

And that source is none other than Mr. James H. Brainerd. No, don't blow

up with a loud report. Listen to me. You are really too good a business

man to go to the wall for the want of a little teachableness. You have

foresight, initiative, energy, and perseverance. These are

success-qualities of a high order. But you have fallen into some very

costly bad habits.

Let me give you the names of six old-fashioned virtues that you are going

to start right in to cultivate. When you have developed them, your profits

will take care of themselves.

THE REMEDY

The first is Order. You waste seventy-five per cent of your time and

nervous energy because you let your work push you instead of planning your

work and then pushing your plan.

The second is Punctuality. You lose time, money, friends, temper, and

will-power because you are vague and careless about making appointments

and slipshod about keeping them.

The third is Courtesy. This has its source in consideration for others

and is closely allied to tact. When you ask me to come and help you, and

then tell me you are sorry you can do nothing for me, or sorry to

disappoint me, that's patronizing. When you ignore a caller and go to

reading papers on your desk, that's rudeness. And you can't afford them in

your business.

The fourth is Economy. Your time is worth more to this business than that

of all the help put together. And when you spend it doing what a

ten-dollar-a-week girl could do just as well, it is sinful extravagance.

It wastes not only your time, but hers. Worst of all, it undermines your

self-respect and her respect for you.

The fifth is Honesty. When you rush away to wait on some customer

yourself because that customer has connived with you for some special cut

rates, you may not intend it, but you are dishonest. Business must be done

at a profit and all those who share in the privileges of buying from this

store should share proportionately in paying you your profit. If anyone

doesn't pay his share, the others have to make up for it Give everybody a

square, equal deal. That will build confidence and increase trade. And

then you can leave your salespeople to wait on all customers, giving you

more time for real management--generalship.

The sixth is Courage. It's easy enough to see obstacles, to make excuses,

to procrastinate. When a hard task has to be done, you will find it no

help to begin to catalog the difficulties. Just fear not, and do it.

Now, you are going to cultivate these virtues, Brainerd, because you see

that I am right and because, after all, you are a man of good judgment and

reason.

"Never mind the contract. When you think my advice has proved its value,

send me what you think it is worth."

And he walked out, leaving Brainerd purple in the face with a number of

varied emotions, chief among which were outraged dignity and warm

gratitude.

While you and we know many Brainerds, there are men capable of handling

large affairs who, through lack of training, lack of opportunity, or a

choice of a wrong vocation, are sentenced to sit, year after year, working

away in an inefficient, fumbling manner, with a mass of details which they

hate and which they are not fitted to take care of properly. Such people

are often conscientious; they have a great desire to do their work

thoroughly and well, and the fact that they so frequently neglect little

details, forget things that they ought to do, overlook necessary

precautions, and otherwise fail to perform their duties, is a matter not

only of supreme regret and humiliation to them, but of great distress to

those who depend upon them.

CAREFULNESS AND RECKLESSNESS

Carefulness and prudence are natural aptitudes. The careless man is not

wilfully careless. He is careless because he has not the aptitudes which

make a man careful. The imprudent man is not wilfully imprudent, but

because he does not have the inherent qualifications for prudence, the

taking of precautions, the wise and careful scrutinizing of all the

elements entering into success. For some work men are required who have

the natural aptitudes of carefulness and prudence. The great tragedy is

that this kind of work is often entrusted to men who are so constituted

that it is very easy for them to take chances. The person who is naturally

optimistic and hopeful and always looks on the bright side cheerfully

expects whatever he does to "come out all right," as he expresses it. He

therefore neglects to take sufficient precautions; he does not exercise

care as he should; he takes unnecessary and unwise risks. The result is

that oftentimes his optimism turns out to be very poorly justified. When

things do go wrong on account of their carelessness, such people may feel

distressed about it for a time, but they soon recover. They hope for

"better luck next time." They expect, by their ingenuity and

resourcefulness, to more than make up for the troubles which have come as

the result of their carelessness. On the other hand, those who are

naturally careful and dependable do not have much hope of things coming

out right without eternal vigilance and foresight. They are inherently

somewhat apprehensive. They take precautions, are on their guard, and

leave no stone unturned whose turning may insure success.

But there are certain classes of work which require a willingness to take

chances. Such enterprises are speculative. In order to be happy in them,

one must have a certain amount of optimism and hopefulness. He must accept

temporary failure without discouragement. The heart to look on the bright

side of every cloud must be born in one. He must believe always that the

future will bring more desirable results. The careless person delights in

this kind of work. The element of chance in it appeals to his sporting

blood. The danger gives him needed excitement and thrill. The anxious,

apprehensive person has no place in such enterprises. Their uncertainties

are a drain upon his nervous system. He worries. He makes himself ill with

his anxieties and apprehensions. He is unhappy. When disaster does happen,

he takes it seriously, feels discouraged, thinks his efforts have been of

no avail, can see nothing in the future but black ruin, and otherwise

destroys not only his joy in his work, but his efficiency and usefulness

in it.

In actual practice we find both prudent and reckless misfits. Such people

are unhappy, inefficient, and usually unsuccessful. It is strange that men

do not understand, before undertaking a vocation, so elemental and

fundamental a thing as the question of carelessness and carefulness. Yet,

somehow or other, they do not. We find thousands of men worrying, anxious,

distrait, because of the uncertainties of their businesses and the chances

they have to take. We find other thousands of men blundering, careless,

optimistic, always hopeful for better things in the future, and yet

attempting to succeed in a business which requires care, infinite pains

and precautions. Thoughtless, impulsive, frivolous people are always

trying to do work requiring careful, plodding, painstaking, methodical

ways; while thoughtful, philosophic, and deliberate people oftentimes find

themselves distressed, bewildered, and inefficient in the hurly-burly of

some swift-moving vocation.

SOME OTHER MISFITS

Mild, easy-going, timid, self-conscious men we frequently find in

vocations which require aggressiveness, courage, fighting ability,

self-confidence, and a considerable amount of hard-headed brutality. On

the other hand, we sometimes find the fighting man in a profession which

is considered to be quiet and peaceable.

Similarly, we have often seen lawyers, whose profession requires of them a

good deal of combativeness, shrewdness, a certain degree of skepticism,

and a large amount of hard-headed determination to win, no matter what the

cost, handicapped by extreme sensitiveness, sympathy, generosity,

non-resistance, credulity, humility, and self-consciousness. Physically,

they were wonderfully capable of success as lawyers. Intellectually, they,

perhaps, were even better fitted for the profession than many of their

brothers in the legal fraternity. But, emotionally, they were absolutely

unfit for the competition, the contest, the necessity for combat and

severity in the practice of law.

Contrawise, we have often seen hard-headed, shrewd, skeptical, grasping,

unprincipled, aggressive, fighting men in professions where they did not

belong; in professions requiring sympathy, credulity, kindness, tact,

generosity, unselfishness, and other such qualities. We have not, in this

chapter, outlined all of the different classes of misfits. That would be

impossible. We have, however, referred to the most common of them.

Probably nine-tenths of all the misfits which have come under our

observation could be classified under one or more of the heads we have

outlined in the foregoing chapter.

CHAPTER IV

THE PHYSICALLY FRAIL

Some years ago there came into our offices in Boston a young man

twenty-six years of age. He was about medium height, with keen,

intelligent face, fine skin, fine hair, delicately modeled features,

refined looking hands, and small, well-shaped feet.

He was inexpensively, but neatly, dressed, and, while somewhat diffident,

was courteous, affable, and respectful in demeanor. After a little

conversation with him, we asked him if he would be willing to appear

before one of our classes and permit the students to try to analyze him,

decide what his aptitudes were, and for what profession he was best

fitted. An evening or two later he appeared and we placed him before the

class. After some little examination of his appearance, this is the

judgment passed upon him by those present:

"Fairly observant; capable of learning well through his powers of

observation; good intellect, of the thoughtful, meditative type; a fair

degree of constructive ability; in disposition, optimistic, cheerful;

inclined to take chances; sympathetic, generous, sensitive, kindly, well

disposed, and agreeable; rather lacking in self-confidence and, therefore,

somewhat diffident, but courteous and friendly in contact with others;

responsive and, therefore, easily influenced by his associates, and

affected by his environment. Lacking in sense of justice and property

sense. A man of natural refinement and refined tastes; fond of beauty,

elegance and luxury. Energetic and alert mentally, but rather disinclined

to physical effort. Somewhat deficient in aggressiveness, but endowed with

an excellent constructive imagination, and so great mental energy that he

would be able to take the initiative in an intellectual way, especially in

the formation of plans and in the devising of means and ways. Fond of

change, variety; loves excitement; likes social life, and somewhat

deficient in constancy, conservatism, prudence, and responsibility. Keen,

alert, somewhat impatient and restless. Well fitted by nature for

intellectual work of any kind; with training would have done well as

teacher, writer, private secretary or high-class clerical worker, but

expression indicates that, through lack of training, he has failed in

physical work and has fallen into evil ways."

After this analysis had been carefully made, we excused the young man and

explained that thirteen of his twenty-six years had been spent in jail. He

had been left an orphan early in life and secured so little education that

he was almost entirely illiterate.

THE EASY DESCENT TO CRIME

As soon as he was old enough, he was set to work at the only thing he

could do, namely, manual labor. He was small and slight for his age, and

the services he was able to render were not worth much. He, therefore,

received very small pay. Because of his physical disabilities, he was

behind the other boys in his gang and suffered frequently from the

tongue-lashings of an unsympathetic foreman. His pay was not commensurate

with his tastes. He constantly felt the desire for finer, better, cleaner

things than he was able to earn. The work was hard for him; he suffered

much from the punishment inflicted upon his tender hands, from muscular

soreness and from weariness. As the days rolled on, he grew weaker, rather

than stronger, and became weary earlier in the day. Finally, the time came

when he felt that he could endure the taunts of his foreman no longer, and

he was about to give up when the foreman, exasperated with his

inefficiency, his clumsiness, and his weakness, discharged him.

Having been discharged, it was difficult for him to find another place to

work. At this critical stage, being out of money, and having fallen in

with idlers--and worse--he was influenced to use his keen intellect and

ability in plans and schemes, to commit a small crime, which yielded him

$10 or $15. Being a novice in crime, not naturally a criminal, he did not

protect himself from discovery and punishment, and, as a result, was sent

to a reformatory. After a short term in the reformatory, his behavior was

so good that he was released. After his release, a kind-hearted person,

who had observed him and liked his appearance, secured another position

for him. This also was at manual labor. At first he entered upon his new

work with a determination to succeed, to live down the stain upon his

character caused by his previous speculation, and, therefore, to live an

honorable and successful life.

STRUGGLING AGAINST ODDS

He worked hard and did his best, but the best he could do was not good

enough. He possessed no manual skill, he had no strength, and little by

little he again became physically tired out, mentally discouraged and

sore, and, having once committed a crime, found it easy to seek his former

associates and drop again into the old ways. An opportunity presented

itself to rob a companion's pocket of a few dollars, and he did so. Again

he was sent to the reformatory, this time for a longer term. Then, until

he came to our office, his career was a repetition of what has already

been related. A few months or a year or two in a reformatory, a jail, or a

penitentiary, a month or two trying to rehabilitate himself in some form

of manual labor, and, then, inefficiency, incompetency, lack of skill,

lack of strength, and discharge, to be followed by another attempt to add

to his resources by some petty crime.

For several years following this first interview with Mr. L. we followed

him, and did our best to assist him to enter upon some vocation for which

he was better fitted. Again and again we and other friends of his helped

him to secure work, but always it was the old story. His mind was so

active, so intelligent, so eager for expression, that the drudgery, the

monotony, the routine, the small pay, and the consequent lack of the many

elegances and luxuries he so strongly desired were too much for him. His

crimes were never serious, and never those requiring great courage. He

never stole any very large sums. For this reason much of his time was

spent in the work house or in jail, rather than in the penitentiary. In

addition to petty thieving, he had acquired some little ability as a

confidence man, and was capable of ensnaring small sums from credulous or

sympathetic people on various pretexts. The last time we heard of him he

had called upon a friend of ours, professed his complete and permanent

reform, wept over his former failures, and promised faithfully--and with

the greatest possible fervency and apparent sincerity--to do better in the

future. He said that he had an opportunity to make a trip on a whaling

vessel and he thought this opportunity would be the best thing in the world

for him, as it would take him away from his old, evil associates and give

him an opportunity to save money and make good in a new life. He wished

our friend to give him $4 to buy a ticket to New Bedford. Our friend gave

him the money and also a postal card, on which he had written his own

address. "Now, L.," he said, "I believe you, and I want you to show me

that you are playing square with me. When you get your new position and

are about to sail, I want you to write me about it on this postal card,

and mail it to me so that I will know that you are carrying out your

promises."

THE OLD, OLD STORY

L. promised faithfully, and said, "I want to write a letter to my mother,

and tell her where I am going. I wish you would let me have an envelope

and a stamp." Our friend obliged him with the necessaries, and L. left the

office beaming with gratitude and profuse in his promises to return the

loan as soon as he came back from his trip on the whaling vessel. A few

days later my friend received a postal card, dated at New Bedford,

Massachusetts. In one corner of the postal card was the notation,

"Received at the post office at New Bedford in an envelope, with a letter,

requesting that it be mailed here. (Signed) Postmaster."

Here was a man so well-intentioned by nature, of such a kindly,

sympathetic, generous disposition, so intelligent, so naturally capable

mentally that, with proper training and properly placed in a vocation in

which he could have used his talents, he would doubtless have become an

excellent asset to society.

This case is typical of many others. They have natural aptitudes which fit

them to become useful, but their talents have never been trained, their

aptitudes have never been given an opportunity to develop. They have no

inherent tendencies toward crime. In fact, there is no "criminal" type.

Most--but not all--criminals fall into their evil ways simply because they

have never been taught how to direct their mental and physical energies in

a way which will give them pleasure, as well as profit.

DESCRIPTION OF THIS TYPE

The physically frail individual of this type is frail because the brain

and nervous system are so highly developed that they require a great deal

of his vitality and endurance to nourish them and to sustain their

activities. The result is that mental powers grow and thrive at the

expense of physical.

Such people have large heads in proportion to their bodies. Their heads

also are inclined to be very much larger above the ears and in the

neighborhood of the forehead and temples than at the jaw and at the nape

of the neck. This gives their heads a rather top-heavy effect--like a pear

with the small end down--and their faces a triangular shape. Their jaws

are usually fine and slender, and their chins not particularly broad and

strong.

Such people have very fine hair and fine skin. Their nerves are sensitive

and close to the surface. Their entire build of body is delicate and

slender. Their hands and feet also are usually delicately and slenderly

fashioned; their shoulders are narrow and oftentimes sloping. It is folly

to talk of building up rugged, muscular and bony systems by means of

strenuous exercise in people thus endowed. Much, of course, can be done

to strengthen and harden the muscles, but they are frail physically, by

nature, and can never be anything else.

VOCATIONS FOR THE PHYSICALLY FRAIL

People with this type of organization are not inclined to be skillful with

their fingers. They do not care for physical work of any kind; they do not

take an interest in it and, therefore, cannot do it well. Properly

trained, men and women of this type take their place in the professions.

They are teachers, preachers, lawyers, educators, reformers, inventors,

authors, and artists. Among those of mediocre abilities we find clerks,

secretaries, accountants, salesmen, window trimmers, decorators,

advertisers, and others working along similar mental lines. When such

people are not trained and educated, they are misfits always, because they

do not have opportunities to use to their fullest extent the natural

intellectual talents with which they have been endowed.

THE MENTALLY MECHANICAL

There is a type of boy who is oftentimes thrown into the wrong vocation in

life, owing to a lack of appreciation of his true abilities on the part of

parents or teachers. This boy has a large head and small body, and is

intensely interested in machinery. He probably learns to handle tools,

after a fashion, at a very early age; spends his spare time in machine

shops; is intensely interested in locomotives and steamships, and

otherwise manifests a passion for machinery and mechanics. Oftentimes, on

account of this, he is very early apprenticed to a mechanic or is given a

job in some place where he will have an opportunity to build, operate or

repair machinery.

Some years ago we visited in a family in which there was a boy of this

type. At that time his chief interest was in locomotives. He had a toy

locomotive and took the greatest delight in operating it. Whenever he went

near a railroad station he improved every opportunity to examine carefully

the parts of a locomotive and, if possible, to induce the engineer to

take him up into the cab and show him the levers, valves and other parts

to be seen there. As soon as he was old enough, he begged his father to be

permitted to go to work in a railroad shop. Fortunately, however, his

father was too intelligent and too sensible to be misled by mere surface

indications. The boy was encouraged to finish his education. Being a

bright, capable youngster, he learned readily and rapidly. By means of

proper educational methods, giving him plenty of opportunity for the

exercise of his mechanical activities, he was induced to remain in school

until he secured an excellent college education. As he grew older his

interest in machinery did not wane. He found, however, that it was

becoming almost wholly intellectual. He lost all desire to handle, build,

operate or repair machinery. When, in later life, he became the owner of

an automobile, he was more than willing to leave all of the details of its

care to his chauffeur and mechanician.

As he cultivated his mental powers, he became more and more interested in

the use of his constructive aptitudes in the formation of ideas. He liked

to put ideas together; to work out the mechanics of expression in writing.

Instead of building machinery, he loved to build plots. Instead of

operating machinery, his abilities turned in the direction of working out

the technique of literary expression. Instead of repairing machinery he

loved rather to revise and rewrite his stories and plays. In other words,

the constructive talent, which he had shown as a child in material

mechanics, turned in the direction of mental and intellectual construction

as he grew older.

COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTIVENESS

There are many boys who exhibit in their early years a great love of

machinery, and it is usually considered a kindness to them to prepare them

for either mechanics or engineering. In mechanical lines, they are

misfits, because they are frail and insufficient physically. In

engineering lines they are more at home, because the engineer works

principally with his brains. But very often they would still be more at

home in the realms of literature or oratory.

In a similar way boys often manifest great interest in machinery in their

youth, and afterward, if given the right opportunities, show their

constructive ability in the organization of business enterprises and the

successful devising of plans and schemes for pushing these enterprises to

success.

Sometimes those of this type of organization devote themselves rather to

invention and improvement than to the direct physical handling of

machinery. The following brief story of the struggles of Elias Howe[7]

should be an inspiration to every individual who fights physical frailty;

also, a lesson to him as to the way in which he should express his

mechanical ability:

[Footnote 7: From "Great Fortunes," by James D. McCabe. Published by

George Maclean.]

INTELLECTUAL TRIUMPH OF A FRAIL MAN

"Elias Howe was born in the town of Spencer, Massachusetts, in 1819. He

was one of eight children, and it was no small undertaking on the part of

his father to provide a maintenance for such a household. Mr. Howe, Sr.,

was a farmer and miller, and, as was the custom at that time in the

country towns of New England, carried on in his family some of those minor

branches of industry suited to the capacity of children, with which New

England abounds. When Elias was six years old, he was set, with his

brothers and sisters, to sticking wire teeth through the leather straps

used for making cotton cards. When he became old enough, he assisted his

father in his saw-mill and grist-mill, and during the winter months picked

up a meager education at the district school. He has said that it was the

rude and imperfect mills of his father that first turned his attention to

machinery. He was not fitted for hard work, however, as he was frail in

constitution and incapable of bearing much fatigue. Moreover, he inherited

a species of lameness which proved a great obstacle to any undertaking on

his part, and gave him no little trouble all through life. At the age of

eleven he went to live out on the farm of a neighbor, but the labor

proving too severe for him he returned home and resumed his place in his

father's mills, where he remained until he was sixteen years old.

"At the age of twenty-one he married. This was a rash step for him, as his

health was very delicate, and his earnings were but nine dollars per week.

Three children were born to him in quick succession, and he found it no

easy task to provide food, shelter and clothing for his little family. The

light heartedness for which he had formerly been noted entirely deserted

him, and he became sad and melancholy. His health did not improve, and it

was with difficulty that he could perform his daily task. His strength was

so slight that he would frequently return from his day's work too

exhausted to eat. He could only go to bed, and in his agony he wished 'to

lie in bed forever and ever,' Still he worked faithfully and

conscientiously, for his wife and children were very dear to him; but he

did so with a hopelessness which only those who have tasted the depths of

poverty can understand.

"About this time he heard it said that the great necessity of the age was

a machine for doing sewing. The immense amount of fatigue incurred and the

delay in hand sewing were obvious, and it was conceded by all who thought

of the matter at all that the man who could invent a machine which would

remove these difficulties would make a fortune. Howe's poverty inclined

him to listen to these remarks with great interest. No man needed money

more than he, and he was confident that his mechanical skill was of an

order which made him as competent as any one else to achieve the task

proposed. He set to work to accomplish it, and, as he knew well the

dangers which surround an inventor, kept his own counsel. At his daily

labor, in all his waking hours, and even in his dreams, he brooded over

this invention. He spent many a wakeful night in these meditations, and

his health was far from being benefitted by this severe mental

application. Success is not easily won in any great undertaking, and Elias

Howe found that he had entered upon a task which required the greatest

patience, perseverance, energy and hopefulness. He watched his wife as

she sewed, and his first effort was to devise a machine which should do

what she was doing. He made a needle pointed at both ends, with the eye in

the middle, that should work up and down through the cloth, and carry the

thread through at each thrust, but his elaboration of this conception

would not work satisfactorily. It was not until 1844, fully a year after

he began the attempt to invent the machine, that he came to the conclusion

that the movement of a machine need not of necessity be an imitation of

the performance by hand. It was plain to him that there must be another

stitch by the aid of a shuttle and a curved needle with the eye near the

point. This was the triumph of his skill. He had now invented a perfect

sewing machine, and had discovered the essential principles of every

subsequent modification of his conception. Satisfied that he had at length

solved the problem, he constructed a rough model of his machine of wood

and wire, in October, 1844, and operated it to his perfect satisfaction.

"It has been stated by Professor Renwick and other scientists that Elias

Howe 'carried the invention of the sewing machine further on toward its

complete and final utility than any other inventor has ever brought a

first-rate invention at the first trial.' ...

"Having patented his machine, Howe endeavored to bring it into use. He was

full of hope, and had no doubt that it would be adopted at once by those

who were so much interested in the saving of labor. He first offered it to

the tailors of Boston; but they, while admitting its usefulness, told him

it would never be adopted by their trade, as it would ruin them.

Considering the number of machines now used by the tailoring interests

throughout the world, this assertion seems ridiculous. Other efforts were

equally unsuccessful. Every one admitted and praised the ingenuity of the

machine, but no one would invest a dollar in it. Fisher (Howe's partner)

became disgusted and withdrew from his partnership, and Howe and his

family moved back to his father's house. Thoroughly disheartened, he

abandoned his machine. He then obtained a place as engineer on a

railroad, and drove a locomotive until his health entirely broke down....

"In 1850 Howe removed to New York, and began in a small way to manufacture

machines to order. He was in partnership with a Mr. Bliss, but for several

years the business was so unimportant that upon the death of his partner,

in 1855, he was enabled to buy out that gentleman's interest, and thus

became the sole proprietor of his patent. Soon after this his business

began to increase, and continued until his own proper profits, and the

royalty which the courts compelled other manufacturers to pay him for the

use of his invention, grew from $300 to $200,000 per annum. In 1867, when

the extension of his patent expired, it is stated that he had earned a

total of two millions of dollars by it."

STARVED BY HIS HANDS, ENRICHED BY HIS HEAD

Robert Burns was a failure as plowman and farmer. Rousseau was a failure

at every kind of physical work. Henry George nearly starved himself and

his family to death trying to make a living as a journeyman printer. The

following extract from the autobiography of Jacob Riis[8]--another

excellent example of this type of organization--shows how useless it was

for him to attempt to make his living at physical labor:

[Footnote 8: From "The Making of an American," by Jacob A. Riis. Macmillan

& Company, New York.]

A missionary in Castle Garden was getting up a gang of men for the Brady's

Bend Iron Works on the Allegheny River, and I went along. We started a

full score, with tickets paid, but only two of us reached the Bend. The

rest calmly deserted in Pittsburgh and went their own way....

The iron works company mined its own coal. Such as it was, it cropped out

of the hills right and left in narrow veins, sometimes too shallow to

work, seldom affording more space to the digger than barely enough to

permit him to stand upright. You did not go down through a shaft, but

straight in through the side of a hill to the bowels of the mountain,

following a track on which a little donkey drew the coal to the mouth of

the mine and sent it down the incline to run up and down a hill a mile or

more by its own gravity before it reached the place of unloading. Through

one of these we marched in, Adler and I, one summer morning with new

pickaxes on our shoulders and nasty little oil lamps fixed in our hats to

light us through the darkness where every second we stumbled over chunks

of slate rock, or into pools of water that oozed through from above. An

old miner, whose way lay past the fork in the tunnel where our lead began,

showed us how to use our picks and the timbers to brace the slate that

roofed over the vein, and left us to ourselves in a chamber perhaps ten

feet wide and the height of a man.

We were to be paid by the ton, I forget how much, but it was very little,

and we lost no time in getting to work. We had to dig away the coal at the

floor with our picks, lying on our knees to do it, and afterward drive

wedges under the roof to loosen the mass. It was hard work, and, entirely

inexperienced as we were, we made but little headway.

When toward evening we quit work, after narrowly escaping being killed by

a large stone that fell from the roof in consequence of our neglect to

brace it up properly, our united efforts had resulted in barely filling

two of the little carts, and we had earned, if I recollect aright,

something like sixty cents each. The fall of the roof robbed us of all

desire to try mining again....

Up the railroad track I went, and at night hired out to a truck farmer,

with the freedom of his hay-mow for my sleeping quarters. But when I had

hoed cucumbers three days in a scorching sun, till my back ached as if it

were going to break, and the farmer guessed he would call it square for

three shillings, I went farther. A man is not necessarily a

philanthropist, it seems, because he tills the soil. I did not hire out

again. I did odd jobs to earn my meals, and slept in the fields at

night....

The city was full of idle men. My last hope, a promise of employment in a

human-hair factory, failed, and, homeless and penniless, I joined the

great army of tramps, wandering about the streets in the daytime with the

one aim of somehow stilling the hunger that gnawed at my vitals, and

fighting at night with vagrant curs or outcasts as miserable as myself for

the protection of some sheltering ash-bin or doorway. I was too proud in

all my misery to beg. I do not believe I ever did.

There was until last winter a doorway in Chatham Square, that of the old

Barnum clothing store, which I could never pass without recalling those

nights of hopeless misery with the policeman's periodic 'Get up there!

move on!' reinforced by a prod of his club or the toe of his boot. I slept

there, or tried to when crowded out of the tenements in the Bend by their

utter nastiness. Cold and wet weather had set in, and a linen duster was

all that covered my back. There was a woolen blanket in my trunk which I

had from home--the one, my mother had told me, in which I was wrapped when

I was born; but the trunk was in the 'hotel' as security for money I owed

for board, and I asked for it in vain. I was now too shabby to get work,

even if there had been any to get. I had letters still to friends of my

family in New York who might have helped me, but hunger and want had not

conquered my pride. I would come to them, if at all, as their equal, and,

lest I fall into temptation, I destroyed the letters. So, having burned my

bridges behind me, I was finally and utterly alone in the city, with the

winter approaching and every shivering night in the streets reminding me

that a time was rapidly coming when such a life as I led could no longer

be endured.

Not in a thousand years would I be likely to forget the night when it

came. It had rained all day, a cold October storm, and night found me,

with the chill downpour unabated, down by the North River, soaked through

and through, with no chance for a supper, forlorn and discouraged. I sat

on the bulwark, listening to the falling rain and the swish of the dark

tide, and thinking of home. How far it seemed, and how impassable the

gulf now between the 'castle,' with its refined ways, between her, in her

dainty girlhood, and me sitting there, numbed with the cold that was

slowly stealing away my senses with my courage. There was warmth and cheer

where she was. Here an overpowering sense of desolation came upon me. I

hitched a little nearer to the edge. What if----? Would they miss me much

or long at home if no word came from me? Perhaps they might never hear.

What was the use of keeping it up any longer, with, God help us,

everything against, and nothing to back, a lonely lad?...

It was not only breakfast we lacked. The day before we had had only a

crust together. Two days without food is not good preparation for a day's

canvassing. We did the best we could. Bob stood by and wagged his tail

persuasively while I did the talking; but luck was dead against us, and

'Hard Times' stuck to us for all we tried. Evening came and found us down

by the Cooper Institute, with never a cent. Faint with hunger, I sat down

on the steps under the illuminated clock, while Bob stretched himself at

my feet. He had beguiled the cook in one of the last houses we called at,

and his stomach was filled. From the corner I had looked on enviously. For

me there was no supper, as there had been no dinner and no breakfast.

To-morrow there was another day of starvation. How long was this to last?

Was it any use to keep up a struggle so hopeless? From this very spot I

had gone, hungry and wrathful, three years before when the dining

Frenchmen for whom I wanted to fight thrust me forth from their company.

Three wasted years! Then I had one cent in my pocket, I remembered. To-day

I had not even so much. I was bankrupt in hope and purpose. Nothing had

gone right; and worse, I did not care. I drummed moodily upon my book.

Wasted! Yes, that was right. My life was wasted, utterly wasted.

A voice hailed me by name, and Bob sat up, looking attentively at me for

his cue as to the treatment of the owner of it. I recognized in him the

principal of the telegraph school where I had gone until my money gave

out. He seemed suddenly struck by something.

[Illustration: Photo by Marceau, N.Y.

FIG. 9. Richard Mansfield, Actor-Manager. A fine, balanced combination of

artistic talent, creative power, and capacity for great emotion, with good

judgment, financial sense, great energy, great determination,

uncompromising devotion to ideals, fine powers of expression, and

executive ability of the driving, compelling, rigid type. Note high head,

domed above temples and wide across center of forehead; large nose; long,

straight upper lip; firm mouth; prominent chin; long line from point of

chin to crown of head; intense expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 10. Hon. A.I. Cutting (same as FIG. 11).

Intellectual, idealistic, yet practical; mild, but very shrewd and

persistent; good-natured, friendly, social, sympathetic, kindly, yet with

good commercial and financial judgment. Observe height of head, with dome

above temples; moderate width of head; pleasant, but firm-set, mouth; fine

texture and fine chiseling of features; strong, prominent chin, and

genial, kindly, friendly expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 11. Hon. A.L. Cutting. Ambitious, aspiring, hopeful,

cheerful, friendly, social. A good public speaker. Excellent planner,

prudent, far-sighted, and deliberate in speech and action. Note high head,

both at crown and above temples, long behind ears; high forehead;

well-formed eyes and nose, and prominent chin.]

[Illustration: FIG. 12. The late Melville Fuller, Chief Justice of

the Supreme Court of the United States. Unusually keen analytical powers,

unaffected by sentiment or irrelevant considerations. Great ability to get

down to essentials. Note fullness of brows and of upper corners of

forehead; keen, penetrating eyes, and long nose with depressed tip.]

[Illustration: FIG. 13. Frank A. Vanderlip, President of National

City Bank, of New York. A man of both financial and political acumen--also

humanitarian. Note high, domed head; width across center and lower part of

forehead; inclination to stoutness; large, well-formed features; long

lines of face.]

[Illustration: _Copyright American Press Association_.

FIG. 14. Hon. Joseph W. Folk, of Missouri. A keen politician, shrewd

lawyer, and hard fighter. Note height and width of head; large, prominent

nose; square, firm jaw; long upper lip; dogged set of mouth; unflinching

eyes, and inclination to stoutness.]

[Illustration: FIG. 15. The late Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, of Rhode

Island. Keen, practical observation, financial judgment, diplomacy,

shrewdness, energy, intellect, industry, courage, determination, and

command. Note well-developed brows; height and width of forehead,

especially across center; long, well-developed nose; straight, firm mouth;

broad, square, prominent chin; long ears; long line from point of chin to

crown of head, and keen, shrewd, alert, penetrating expression of eye.]

[Illustration: FIG. 16. Showing large, well-developed base of brain,

usually an indication of a tendency to stoutness. Note fullness of back of

head at nape of neck.]

"'Why, what are you doing here?' he asked. I told him Bob and I were just

resting after a day of canvassing.

"'Books!' he snorted. 'I guess that won't make you rich. Now, how would

like to be a reporter, if you have got nothing better to do? The manager

of a news agency downtown asked me to-day to find him a bright young

fellow whom he could break in. It isn't much--$10 a week to start with.

But it is better than peddling books, I know,'

"He poked over the book in my hand and read the title. 'Hard Times,' he

said, with a little laugh. 'I guess so. What do you say? I think you will

do. Better come along and let me give you a note to him now.'

"As in a dream. I walked across the street with him to his office and got

the letter which was to make me, half starved and homeless, rich as

Croesus, it seemed to me.

"When the sun rose I washed my face and hands in a dog's drinking trough,

pulled my clothes into such shape as I could, and went with Bob to his new

home. The parting over, I walked down to 23 Park Row and delivered my

letter to the desk editor in the New York News Association up on the top

floor.

"He looked me over a little doubtfully, but evidently impressed with the

early hours I kept told me that I might try. He waved me to a desk,

bidding me wait until he had made out his morning book of assignments; and

with such scant ceremony was I finally introduced to Newspaper Row, that

had been to me like an enchanted land. After twenty-seven years of hard

work in it, during which I have been behind the scenes of most of the

plays that go to make up the sum of the life of the metropolis, it

exercises the old spell over me yet. If my sympathies need quickening, my

point of view adjusting, I have only to go down to Park Row at eventide,

when the crowds are hurrying homeward and the City Hall clock is lighted,

particularly when the snow lies on the grass in the park, and stand

watching them awhile, to find all things coming right. It is Bob who

stands by and watches with me then, as on that night."

TALENT IN THE BUD AND BLOSSOM

The big important lesson underlying all of these concrete examples is that

the individual of this type never ought to attempt to do any kind of work

in which success depends upon physical effort. Whatever talents he may

have will express themselves always best in an intellectual way. It may be

art, it may be music, it may be machinery, it may be business, it may be

mining or agriculture, it may be any one of many other active pursuits

which have also a purely intellectual side. In his early youth his mind

naturally turns to the more material manifestation of his talent. But,

with proper training and given the proper opportunities, he will always

gravitate surely to the mental and intellectual phases of his bent. The

boy who is interested in machinery may become an inventor or he may become

a playwright or an author. The boy who is interested in plants and flowers

may become a botanist or a naturalist, or, perhaps, even a poet. The boy

who is deeply interested in battles and fighting may be far better adapted

to the profession of historian than to the trade of soldier. The boy who

likes to build houses and factories in his play, and seems to be deeply

interested in the construction of edifices, may not be fitted to become a

contractor or a draughtsman. If he is of this intellectual type, he is far

more likely to become an architect, or, perhaps, to idealize his talents

even further and devote himself to literature on the subject of

architecture, home planning, and home decoration. The boy of this type,

who in his youth seems to take a particular interest in horses, cattle,

dogs, and other animals, may not necessarily be best qualified for a stock

breeder or a dairyman. Possibly he should become a veterinarian or even a

physician and surgeon. Or his bent may be in the direction of science, so

that he makes a name as a naturalist.

The first and most important thing for people of this type, and for

parents having children of this type, is to get it firmly fixed in their

minds, once for all, that they are not fitted for hard physical work. The

next important thing, of course, is to secure a broad and complete

education along general lines. If there is any striking and particular

talent along any one line, such an education is more than likely to bring

it out and to cause it to seek further development. In case there is no

such distinct predilection manifested, further and more minute study of

the individual will have to be made in order to determine just what kind

of intellectual work will give him the best opportunities for success and

happiness. Even in the want of such a careful analysis, it is,

nevertheless, true that an individual of this type, who has no marked

inclination toward any one form of mental activity, is always far better

placed, far happier, and far more successful if trained to do any kind of

intellectual work than if left untrained and compelled to try to earn his

own living by the use of his bones and muscles.

CHAPTER V

THE FAT MAN

When we were children and went to the circus, our favorite performer in

the sawdust ring was always the clown, and our favorite clown was the fat

one. In fact, we do not remember ever having seen a clown who was not a

fat man.

Alas! how many were the tribulations of our rotund friend! How he was

buffeted, and paddled, and slapped! How often he tumbled and fell! How

maliciously inanimate objects flew up and hit him in the face! How

constantly his best efforts went for naught, how invariably he was

misunderstood! How great was the glee with which everybody persecuted him

and knocked him about the ring! And yet, notwithstanding all his troubles,

did he win from us a sympathetic sigh or even the fraction of a tear,

except tears of laughter? All his troubles seemed funny to us.

Millions are still laughing at the comic tribulations of dear old John

Bunny, although he has gone beyond the power of things to trouble him. We

have laughed and are still laughing at Thomas Wise. From the days of

Falstaff down to those of the "movies," we have enjoyed laughing at the

plights of a fat man on the stage.

FAT MEN RULE THE WORLD

In real life it is much the same. Every fat man knows that only by unusual

patience, good nature, and friendly tolerance can he live with his

fellows. He is the butt of all jokes; he must smile at a constant patter

of pleasantries about his unusual size. He hears the same old stupid japes

over and over and over again. If he weren't the prince of good fellows and

the best-natured man in the world, it would fare ill for those who torment

him.

As a matter of fact, it may be better for the rest of us than for the fat

man that he is good natured, easy going, genial, fond of a good laugh;

because fat men rule the world. Perhaps that is why it is so funny to us

to see them in trouble. It is one of the foibles of humanity always to

find pleasure in the mishaps of its rulers and superiors. The pranks of

the schoolboy are intended to cause perplexity and distress to his

teacher. This is true of the college youth in his playfulness. The same

human trait manifests itself in a thousand other ways.

The fat man was born to rule. He enjoys the good things of life. He is

fond of luxuries. He has a keenly developed sense of taste, and a nice

discrimination of flavor. He likes to wear good clothing. He likes soft,

upholstered chairs, comfortable beds, a goodly shelter. Like old King Cole

(always pictured in our nursery books with a Garguntian girth), he enjoys

"his pipe and his bowl and his fiddlers three." He is fond of a good joke,

and laughs more heartily than any one else at it. In fact, enjoyment and

pleasure may be said to be the keynote of the typical fat man's

personality. But he is too heavy for physical activity. His feet are too

small for the weight of his body. He does not care for strenuous physical

exercise. It is not his idea of a good time to follow a golf ball all over

a twenty-acre field. He does it only because he thus hopes to reduce his

flesh and enable himself to become once more the romantic figure he was in

his youth. For, while the fat man may be a master of comedy, and while he

may be a ruler of the people, he is not romantic. The big fellows do not

well sustain romantic roles, except in grand opera, where nearly

everything but the music is illusion and elusive. Our novelists all tell

us that as soon as a man's girth begins to increase, he looks ridiculous

in a fine frenzy. J.M. Barrie makes a very keen point of this in his story

of Tommy and Grizel. It was the increasing size of his waist band that

drove poor Tommy to such extreme measures as to cause his final downfall

and death. His one great aim in life was to be romantic, and when the lady

of his desires giggled about his increasing size it was too much.

Scientific research, philosophy, and the more strenuous and concentrated

forms of mental activity seem to require a certain degree of asceticism in

order to be wholly efficient. We are told that the person who feeds too

well causes his mind to grow rather ponderous in its movements. He is

inclined to fall asleep if he remains quiet and practices severe mental

concentration for too long a time.

HE PLANS WORK FOR OTHERS

If, therefore, the fat man cannot work at physical labor, if he is not

fitted for romance, if he is incapacitated by his love of the good things

of life for severe mental labor, what can he do to fill his purse, supply

his table, clothe his portly person, and surround himself with the

elegancies and luxuries which are so dear to his heart?

Evidently the fat man found out long ago that the eager, active, restless,

energetic, muscular, raw-boned soldier and workman was far more interested

in the exercise of his muscles and in outdoor activity than he was in

securing niceties and luxuries. He also learned that the thinker, the

philosopher, the scientific experimenter, and all who took delight in

mental effort were more deeply interested in their studies, in their

research, in their philosophies, and in their religions than they were in

money, food, clothing, and shelter. So he set about it, with his jovial

personality, his persuasiveness, and keen sense of values, to organize the

thinkers and philosophers under his direction, so that he could take and

use for himself the product of their mental labors. He was perfectly

willing to agree to feed and take care of them, to clothe and shelter

them, in return for what they could give him. They didn't eat much. They

didn't care much for fine clothing. They were perfectly satisfied in very

plain and rather ascetic surroundings. They were, therefore, a rather

inexpensive lot of people for him to keep.

Taking the plans, schemes, inventions, and discoveries from those who

thought them out, the fat man carried them to the muscular fellows, who

were just spoiling for a fight or for some opportunity to exercise their

physical powers. These he organized into armies--to fight, to till the

soil, and to build and manufacture. These armies carried out the ideas the

fat man got for them from the lean and hungry thinkers. They gloried in

hardship. They rather enjoyed roughing it, and took delight in privation.

Therefore, they also were a comparatively easy burden on the hands of the

fat man; who was thus enabled to sit upon a golden throne, in a

comfortable palace, surrounded by all the beauties and luxuries gathered

from the four winds, and enjoy himself while directing the work of both

the intellectual giant and the physical giant.

THE SLENDER SCHOLAR AND THE RUGGED SOLDIER

Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Spencer, Emerson, and Bergson were

philosophers, and were all lean and slender men. Lord Kelvin, Lister,

Darwin, Curie, Francis Bacon, Michelson, Loeb, Burbank, and most of our

other scientists are also of the thin, lean type. Shakespeare, Longfellow,

Holmes, Ruskin, Tindall, Huxley, and a long list of other intellectual and

spiritual writers were men who never put on much flesh. James Watt, Robert

Fulton, Elias Howe, Eli Whitney, S.F.B. Morse, Marconi, Alexander Graham

Bell, the Wright Brothers, and nearly all of our other great inventors

have also been men whose habit was slender. Alexander, Napoleon,

Washington, Grant, Kitchener, and most of our other great soldiers, while

robust, are of the raw-boned, muscular type. They do not belong in the

list of the fat men. The same is true of our great railroad builders, of

Stanley, Peary, Livingston, and other explorers, of De Palma, Oldfield,

Anderson, Cooper, Resta, and our other automobile racing kings. You look

in vain among the aviators for a huge, rotund figure. Spend a week in New

York City looking over subway workers, structural iron workers, guards,

brakemen, motormen, carpenters, bricklayers, truckmen, stevedores, and

boatmen. Go out into the country, look over the farm hands, the gardeners,

the woodsmen, and all who work with their hands in the midst of nature,

and in all the list you will find very few, if any, fat men. Fat men are,

therefore, doing neither the actual intellectual nor the actual physical

work of the world.

THE FAT MAN'S MODERN THRONE

Study butchers, bakers, chefs, provision merchants, and others who deal in

food products. Among them you will find a good many corpulent figures.

They are interested in good things to eat. They know how to handle them.

They know how to purchase them, and they know how to sell them. They are

able to tickle the palate of the lean and hungry scholar, of the robust

and active soldier or worker, and, especially, of men as epicurean as

themselves. They are, therefore, successful in the handling of food

products. Go a little further--study foremen, superintendents, managers,

and presidents of corporations. In many a large upholstered chair, which

represents, in our modern life, the golden throne of the olden days, you

will find a fat man. Here, as of old, they are taking the ideas of the

thinkers and the muscular powers of the workers, and combining the two to

make profit for themselves. At the same time, they are finding for the

thinker a market for his ideas that he himself could never find. Unless

the fat man fed him, the lean man would become so lean that he would

finally die of starvation. The big fellow is also finding a market for the

muscular power, energy, and skill of the worker; a market which the

worker, by himself, could never find.

THE FAT MAN'S VALUABLE SERVICE

Recently we made a study of a large corporation. Amongst other things, we

found it required ten thousand dollars capital to provide the building,

machinery, help, tools, advertising, selling, and other necessities of

that business for every employee on the payroll. It also required unusual

organizing ability and unusual selling ability to gather together the

means for manufacturing the product and getting it into the hands of the

consumer. It also required considerable genius to collect the money for

the product and apply it to the needs of the workers in the form of

payroll. These services of the fat man are often forgotten by those who

work under his direction.

In order that huge industries may be built up and employment secured for

hundreds of thousands of men, large bodies of capital must be gathered

together. This is a work for financiers. Go down into Wall Street, in New

York; La Salle Street, in Chicago; State Street, in Boston, and look over

the financiers there. A considerable number of them are fat men. Because

thinkers and workers cannot appreciate financial value, many of them

complain loudly because the fat man sits in an easy chair and reaps the

profits from their efforts. They restlessly agitate for an economic system

which will yield them all the profits from their ideas and labor. They

want to eliminate the capitalist--to condemn the fat man to a choice

between scholarship or working as they work and starvation. They know

human aptitudes so vaguely that they want to turn the corpulent into farm

hands or philosophers and the great mass of lean and bony into financial

rulers.

There is a prevalent notion among the unthinking that capital takes about

four-fifths of the products of labor's hands and keeps it. A committee of

the American Civic Federation, after three years of careful investigation

in industries employing an aggregate of ten million workers, found that

this idea is based upon the assumption that capital gets and keeps all the

gross income from production except what is paid to labor. It leaves out

of account the cost of raw materials, the upkeep of buildings and

machinery, and miscellaneous expenses. When these are subtracted from

gross income, the committee found, labor receives two-thirds of the

remainder in wages and salaries, capital one-third for interest, upkeep of

capital, and profit.

FINANCIER AND JUDGE

With some exceptions, neither the deep thinker nor the hard physical

worker is capable of handling finances. They are lacking in financial

acumen, due, no doubt, to the fact that the thinker is interested chiefly

in the object of his thought, the worker chiefly in the exercise of his

powerful muscles. Neither of them is sufficiently eager for the good

things of life to have a true and unerring sense of financial values. The

lean man is nervous. He is inclined to be irritable; he probably lacks

patience. Therefore, he is not well qualified to judge impartially. The

active, energetic, restless man is not contented to sit quietly for hours

at a time and listen to the troubles of other people. He must get away, be

out of doors, have something to do to exercise those splendid muscles of

his. Therefore, it is left to the fat man to sit upon the bench, to listen

to tiresome details of the woe of those who have had trouble with one

another. Because he is neither nervous nor irritable; because his mind is

at rest; because he is well fed and well clothed and has no need to be

anxious, he can take time to be impartial and to judge righteous judgment

between his fellowmen. And so you will find fat men on the bench, in

politics, in the halls of legislature, on the police force, and in other

places where they have an opportunity to use their judicial ability.

HOW MISFITS HAPPEN

So unerring is the fat man's judgment of values, as a general rule, that

it is not at all likely that he would ever find himself a misfit were it

not for the fact that many men are lean and slender or muscular and robust

up to the age of 30 or 40, and after that put on flesh rapidly. These men,

therefore, are often deceived in regard to themselves. In the slenderness

of youth, they feel active and are active. In short, they have the

qualities, in these early periods of their life, which we should expect in

men of similar build. They are, therefore, too likely to enter upon

vocations for which they will find themselves unfitted as the years go by

and they put on more flesh. It often happens that men of this class

graduate from the ranks of thinkers or workers into the ranks of managers,

financiers, bankers, and judges, as they put on flesh and become better

and better adapted for that particular kind of work. The only trouble is

that sometimes they are not well enough trained--they do not have

sufficient education for the higher positions. In these cases they remain

misfits. Oftentimes they succeed in getting into positions of

comparatively mediocre executive nature, when they could assume and make a

success of very much higher positions if they had a true knowledge of

their vocations.

A FAT MAN'S SUCCESS

The story of Hon. Alfred L. Cutting, of Weston, Massachusetts, perhaps

illustrates as well as any other in our records the aptitudes and

vocational possibilities of this type. Mr. Cutting comes of good old New

England stock, his ancestors on both sides having settled in Massachusetts

comparatively early in the seventeenth century. His father and his

grandfather before him were merchants, and young Alfred began working in

the parental general store as soon as he had finished school.

As a youth, Mr. Cutting was quite distinctly of the bony and muscular

type, being very active, fond of rowing and fishing, a great lover of

nature and of long tramps through the beautiful hills of eastern

Massachusetts. As he entered manhood, however, he began to put on more

flesh and to take less interest in strenuous outdoor sports. At the same

time, he began to take a hand, in a quiet, modest way, in the town

politics of Weston. While still a comparatively young man, he was elected

a member of the board of selectmen of this town and has held this position

with singular acceptability to his fellow-citizens almost continuously

ever since.

For a number of years, Mr. Cutting was associated with his father and

brother in the general store, but, as time went on, he became ambitious to

enlarge his activities. He, therefore, assisted in the organization of the

New England branch of the Sheldon School, of Chicago, and was its manager

for a number of years. When he first undertook this work, Mr. Cutting had

never made a public speech in his life, and, while he was interested in

politics and ambitious for success along this line, he felt greatly

handicapped by what he considered to be his inability to face an audience

acceptably. It was at about this time that we first formed the

acquaintance of Mr. Cutting and, upon consultation, informed him of his

natural aptitudes and talents. He immediately began a careful study of

public speaking, supplementing this study with actual practice both in

politics and in his capacity as manager of the Sheldon School. In 1908 and

1909 he was a member of the House of Representatives for the State of

Massachusetts, gaining credit for himself as a member of important

committees and rendering to his own constituency unusually faithful and

efficient service.

SUCCESS IN EXECUTIVE CAPACITY

As manager for the Sheldon School, Mr. Cutting selected and trained a

number of salesmen and assistants in the leadership of whom he did

excellent work, he himself delivering lectures before boards of trade,

chambers of commerce, trade conventions, and other such bodies in all

parts of New England. He has since, however, given up this particular line

of work to devote himself to politics, to his civic duties, and to the

management of his growing mercantile business. He is, at present, chairman

of the board of selectmen for the town of Weston, an office which he has

held with distinction for five years. He is also a member of the executive

committee of the Republican Club of Massachusetts. In 1913 he was the

Republican candidate for representative in Congress for the thirteenth

district, at the special election held during that year to fill the

vacancy caused by the promotion of the Hon. John W. Weeks to the United

States Senate. This was the year when the Progressive vote was very large

and the Republican candidate for governor in Massachusetts was thousands

of votes behind the Progressive. Notwithstanding this unusual political

situation, Mr. Cutting, though not elected, led his Progressive opponent

by more than 3,000 votes, and, by his splendid leadership, helped lay the

foundation for the Republican victory in the same district the following

year. At this writing, Mr. Cutting has just won a notable victory at the

polls, having been elected a member of the board of county commissioners

for Middlesex County by a very large plurality. He carried every district

in the county except two, and in nearly every district he ran far ahead of

his ticket.

POLITICAL PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES

Mr. Cutting's ability, however, is by no means fully indicated by the

offices which he has held. He has never been an office seeker, but has

preferred rather to work as a political leader. His great interest in

politics arises, first, from his ardent desire for excellence and

efficiency in the public service. Under his leadership, the town of Weston

has built and maintains more miles of excellent roads, at less cost to the

tax payer, than any other town of its area in the State. Its schools and

other public institutions are similarly efficient and conducted with a

similar degree of economy. Second, Mr. Cutting enjoys politics because he

loves the game. Like all true sportsmen, he plays to win, but is neither

chagrined or cast down if he loses. He is always able to rejoice with the

victor if beaten in a fair fight.

FINANCIAL ACUMEN

Mr. Cutting is one of the organizers of the Metropolitan Bank of Boston,

and a prominent member of its board of directors, thus indicating his

growing interest in financial matters.

The portraits of Mr. Cutting, shown on pages 126 and 127, are well worthy

of study. In them are evident his cheerfulness, his geniality, his

shrewdness, his friendliness, and his honesty of purpose. These are shown

largely in the expression, but also in the full, found development of his

head just above the temples, in his long back head, and in the general

squareness of the head. This squareness, especially in the back, indicates

also his prudence, his tendency to take precautions and, through

foresight, to forestall disaster. The narrowness of the head, just above

the ears, indicates mildness of disposition and an ability to secure his

ends by tact, diplomacy, and intellectual mastery rather than by open

combat and belligerency. The fulness of the eyes indicates Mr. Cutting's

command of language, and the broad, square chin his determination and

deliberation; the long line from the point of the chin to the crown of the

head, his love of authority and his ability to lead and to rule.

INDICATIONS OF APPROACHING STOUTNESS

The man of slender build who has indications clearly marked and easily

recognizable of approaching stoutness should prepare himself for

executive, financial, judicial, or merchandising work. He should study

law, economics, finance, banking, politics, political economy, public

speaking and other such branches. If he has the ability to write, he

should prepare himself to write on financial or political subjects. Many

of our most noted political writers are fat men. Such writers as Alfred G.

Lewis, Samuel G. Blythe, and others are good examples of this type.

Indications of approaching stoutness are not difficult to detect. Heredity

has a powerful influence. The young man who resembles his father in facial

appearance and coloring, will probably grow stout if his father is a fat

man. When the face inclines to be round, the cheeks rather full, and the

lips full, there is a fair probability that the individual will take on

flesh. A concave form of face is also another good indication. The concave

face is shown in Figure 31. It will be seen that it is prominent at the

point of the chin, and not so prominent at the mouth, and prominent at the

top of the forehead, near the hair line, and not so prominent at the

brows. The nose, also, is inclined to be sway backed. Another indication

which should have a bearing in the choice of a vocation is the thickness

of the neck, especially, at the back, and a fulness of the back head, at

the base of the brain. Such fulness is shown in Figure 16.

Wideness of the head, in comparison with length and height, is also

another indication that the individual may put on flesh as he grows

older. The man or woman who has a majority of these indications will do

well to prepare himself or herself for a position of command.

The world is a richer, pleasanter, better fed, better clothed, and happier

place because of its fat men. It is true, they enjoy the good things of

life themselves, but, as a general rule, they also like to see others

enjoy them, and well deserve the rich rewards they reap. We are glad that

so few of them are ever poor and hungry.

[Illustration: FIG. 17. Beaumont, Aviator. His square jaw, strong

chin, large nose, large ear, convex profile, and alert, keen expression

all indicate activity, energy, love of motion, desire for speed, and

physical courage.]

[Illustration: Photo by Paul Thompson. N.

FIG. 18. The late Lincoln Beachy, Aviator. A man of consummate physical

courage and coolness. Note long lines of face and unusually long,

prominent chin.]

[Illustration: _Copyright by Harris & Ewing_.

FIG. 19. Col. George W. Goethals, Builder of the Panama Canal and Governor

of Canal Zone. Of the intellectual but bony and muscular type. Short,

stocky, enduring, and resistant. Finer and kindlier than FIG. 20 or FIG.

21, as shown by texture and expression, but firm, dogged, and just. A

natural-born executive for construction or mechanical work. Note firm

mouth and chin, with slight droop at corners, showing determination and

self-control.]

[Illustration: _Copyright American Press Association_.

FIG. 20. Field Marshal von Hindenberg, of the German Army. A splendid

example of the bony, muscular type. Unusually determined, persistent,

enduring, and resistant. Prudent, far-sighted, dogged, unsentimental,

capable of enduring great hardship. Note short, stocky build; big, square

chin and jaw; long, square head; relentless expression of mouth and eyes;

coarse texture, and big, heavy-tipped nose. A great executive, especially

as a relentless driver and rigid disciplinarian.]

[Illustration: _Copyright American Press Association_.

FIG. 21. Rear Admiral Frank E. Beatty, of the American Navy. A fine

example of the bony and muscular type. Rugged and enduring, keen, alert,

and resourceful. Finer and kindlier than von Hindenberg, but not quite so

fine, intellectual and kindly as Goethals. Just and determined as an

executive, of which he is an excellent type. Note finer texture and more

genial expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 22. William Lloyd Garrison, the Great Abolitionist. A

man of the bony and muscular type, with the passion of his type for

freedom. A man of high ideals, great courage, determination, and

perseverance. Note large, well-formed features; forehead prominent at

brows; long upper lip, and high, spirited expression. Such a man cannot be

overlooked.]

[Illustration: _Photo by Pach, N.Y._

FIG. 23. Samuel Rea, Railroad Builder and Executive. Very alert, keen,

practical, matter-of-fact, hard-headed; a good observer, a quick thinker.

Very decisive, determined, and persistent. Understands construction,

mechanics, and operation. Note well-developed brows; moderately low,

square forehead; height of crown; width of head; large, well-formed nose,

mouth, chin, jaw, and ears, and keen, but calm, self-possessed

expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 24. Lon Wescott Beck, the Sign Poster of Death

Valley. An out-of-doors man. Loves grandeur of scenery, wide spaces. Note

long, square, prominent chin; long lines of face; width between eyes, and

width at top of head.]

CHAPTER VI

THE MAN OF BONE AND MUSCLE

Consider the record of the man of action.

He built the pyramids and temples of Egypt, raised up the monuments and

artistic triumphs of Greece, fared forth across the plains of Arabia and

the deserts of Africa on horses and camels before the dawn of history. He

wore the coat of mail of the Roman legion; he penetrated through the

northernmost forest of Europe; he pioneered in barbarous England.

Thousands of years ago he built ships and sailed them, and, finally, drove

them across the sea. Thus he found two new continents. In America, he cut

down forests, built roads, established industry, fought battles for

freedom, invented and built steamships, telephones, telegraphs, cotton

gins, aeroplanes, railroads, submarines thousands of electric light and

power stations, and millions of shops and factories. He explored darkest

Africa; found both the North and the South Poles. This man drives his

steamships at thirty knots an hour, his locomotives at 70 miles an hour,

his automobiles at 100, and his aeroplanes at 120. He is setting higher

and yet higher records for running, leaping, swimming, rowing, throwing

weights, and driving horses. He has organized great athletic contests,

baseball leagues, tennis associations, golf clubs, and other organizations

for the promotion of physical activity. The man of bone and muscle has

climbed to the peaks of all the mountains of the world; has dug down into

the depths of the earth after her treasures of gold and silver and the

baser metals, precious stones, and other products of the mines. This man

tills the fields, manufactures all fabricated products, and carries goods

to the ends of the earth. This active type mans navies, fills the ranks of

armies, erects great buildings, and cut through the backbone of a

continent.

ACTIVITY AND SPEED

This man loves motion. He is not satisfied with slow, languid motion, but

demands speed, greater and ever greater speed. And so his horses, his

locomotives, the machines in his factory, his automobiles, his aeroplanes,

his motor-cycles, his farm implements, his ocean liners, his motor boats,

are being constantly studied, constantly improved, and constantly raised

to higher and higher performances in speed of production, speed of

transportation, speed of accomplishment.

This man not only demands speed, but he demands space. The man who can

travel at a hundred miles an hour needs many hundred miles in which to

travel. This is why nearly all of his activities are in the big

out-of-doors; this is why he is constantly exploring and pioneering in

order to extend his boundaries. He has a craving for more space in which

to breathe, more scope of action.

This ardent and irrepressible desire for physical freedom, for physical

liberty of action, also leads to the desire for political and economical

freedom. All of our great liberators, from Moses down to Lincoln, have

been men of this active, muscular, bony, type. Because they desire freedom

for themselves, they want freedom for everyone else. They often go to

extremes and strive to secure freedom for those who have no use for it,

who do not care for it after it is won for them, and who only abuse it

when they should enjoy its blessings.

THE MAN OF MUSCLE GROWS A BRAIN

In the early days of the race, the man of this type had little

intelligence. He was supposed to be, principally, bone and muscle with no

brain. He did the physical work which was assigned to him and other men

did the thinking, the planning, and the directing. But, as the race has

increased in intelligence, the man of bone and muscle has developed a

brain. Manual skill, educators tell us, is one of the best of all means

for gaining knowledge and increasing intelligence. So now the muscular man

can think, now he can plan, now, especially, does he manifest his

thinking, planning and constructive ability along lines for increasing

speed, getting more out of machinery, buildings, inventions, manufacture,

agriculture, horticulture, transportation. In all these lines the man of

action is also a man of thought. This is well; this is an improvement, and

our active, hustling, pioneer type of man is happier, more efficient, more

prosperous in his intelligent state than he was in his purely physical

state. But here, also, he gets into trouble. So long as his mental

activity is accompanied by considerable physical activity, his health is

good, he is satisfied, he enjoys his work and he is successful in it. But

the time comes when the work to be done by brain becomes so important that

many men of this type give up physical activity entirely and devote all of

their time to mental work.

THE ACTIVE MAN'S DILEMMA

Strange that we have not learned that any faculty possessed must be

exercised or the possessor surely falls into evil ways. Strange that we

have not seen that the man who explores the unknown world in mighty

pioneering work, who frees it from oppression, who carries on its

tremendous physical and industrial development, could never be satisfied

if imprisoned within the four walls of an office. Thus hampered and

confined, unless he finds expression for his speed mania, he grows

irritable, ill, nervous, depressed. He troops, by the thousand, into the

consulting rooms of the physician and surgeon. And always and always is

the same prescription given: "You must get away from your work; you must

get out into the open; you must get plenty of outdoor exercise."

Exercise, exercise, exercise, has become the slogan. Magazines are devoted

to it. Whole libraries of books are published showing the relationship

between exercise and health. Sanitariums multiply whose principal means of

cure are located in the gymnasium, in the garden, in the woods, at the

wood pile, and on the farm. Fortunes have been made in the manufacture of

the equipment for exercise: Indian clubs, dumb bells, and whole shiploads

of so-called sporting goods, the object of all of which is to enable the

active man to get some relief from the ache of his muscles or nerves due

to lack of exercise.

EXERCISE FOR EXERCISE'S SAKE DULL

But the man of muscle is, as we have said, frequently a man of brains. He

has common sense; he has a desire for accomplishment and achievement. To

such a man, the mere pulling of cords, or the swinging about of his arms

and legs, the bending of his back, just for the sake of exercise, seems a

trifle stupid.

Very few men of this type ever keep up exercise for exercise's sake for

any very long period of time. They read in some magazine about the

benefits of exercise. Perhaps, on account of some trouble, they go to

their physicians, and exercise is prescribed. So, with a great show of

resolution and not a little feeling of martyrdom, they buy a pair of

Indian clubs, or wall exercisers, or a weight machine, or, perhaps, merely

buy a book of "exercises without apparatus," and make up their minds to

take their exercises regularly every morning. At first they attack the

task with great enthusiasm--but it is still a task. Perhaps marked

improvement is shown. They feel much better. They push out their chests

and tell their friends how they get up, take a cold bath every morning,

and then take ten or fifteen or twenty minutes of rapid calisthenics. In a

righteous glow, they relate how it shakes them up and makes their blood

course through their veins; how they breathe deeply; how the process

clears out their heads; and how much better they feel They wind up: "You

ought to do it, too, old man; it would make you young again."

By and by, however, to stand gazing blankly at the wall of a bathroom, or

out of the window of a bed-chamber, and put your arms up five times and

then straight forward five times, then repeat five times, etc., etc.,

grows dull. You lose interest You hate the task--you revolt. Even if, by

power of will, you keep it up, you do so under protest. It is a physical

truth that that which is disagreeable is also physically harmful. In order

to be wholesomely nourishing, food must taste good. The same is true in

regard to exercise. There is no very great benefit in exercise which is

drudgery.

WHEN GAMES PALL

To take the "task" element out of exercise, many kinds of games have been

invented--some indoor, some outdoor, some for men of little activity, some

of great strenuousness and even danger. But it requires a particular type

of man or woman to take interest in a game, to play it well and

profitably, as a form of exercise. To enter into a game whole-heartedly,

one must have a keen zest for combat. The man who plays purely for the

sport, and not to win, doesn't win. And the man who doesn't win, loses

interest. Not all men, not even all active men, have this desire to win.

To them a game soon becomes dull--nearly as dull as any other form of

exercise. They do not see that they are any further ahead in anything

worth while simply because they have knocked a golf ball about more

skilfully--or luckily--than some other fellow, or pulled a little stronger

oar than their opponents. There are plenty of men to whom it is

humiliating to be beaten, who are not good losers, and because they are

not good losers they are not very often winners. Such men do not really

enjoy games at all, and, as a general rule, do not play them with

enthusiasm and persistence.

For those, then, who do not enjoy calisthenics of any kind, who take very

little interest in games and contests, there remain, for exercise,

gardening, farming, carpentry, forestry, hunting, fishing, mountain

climbing, and other such forms of physical activity. All of these,

however, require considerable leisure, and some financial investment. They

are out of the reach of many of those in lower clerkships and other such

employment. These men, by the thousands, work in offices which are,

perhaps, not as well ventilated as they should be, under artificial light.

They travel to and from their work in crowded street cars and subways, and

live in little dark, narrow flats and apartments, with one window opening

out on sunlight and fresh air, and all other windows opening on courts

and so-called light and air-shafts. Golf, tennis, baseball, rowing, etc.,

are good forms of exercise for these men--but few of them care for games.

Gardening, forestry, carpenter work, mountain climbing, hunting, or

fishing are out of the question in a city flat. So the majority jump up in

the morning, hurry on their clothes, snatch a bite of breakfast, run for a

car, get to work, burrow in the warrens of industry until lunch time, rush

out, snatch a sandwich and a cup of coffee at some lunch counter, and back

to work again until dinner time. Another dive into the bowels of the earth

in the subway, home to the little flat, dinner at seven o'clock or even

later, and then the short evening. This little time from eight o'clock

until ten at night is practically the only time the worker has for

himself, except for holidays and his annual two weeks' vacation. How shall

he get sufficient physical exercise during that time to satisfy all his

needs? If he is so constituted that he enjoys such things, he may go to a

gymnasium or to a bowling alley, but he is just as likely to go to a pool

room or to a dance hall. Of course, it is far better for him to play pool

or to dance than to sit quietly at home, as many do.

SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM

This whole question is a serious one. Even those who have the time, the

means, the opportunity, and the inclination find themselves confronted

with problems. Even with all of their opportunities, most of them do not

get enough outdoor physical activity. And so they fret, they fume, they

beat their wings against the bars, they are unhappy, dissatisfied, and

therefore, oftentimes inefficient and unsuccessful. Even when they are

successful, they have fallen far below what they might have accomplished

had they been engaged in some vocation which would have given them not

only physical activity out of doors, but _some intense vital interest_ in

the _result_ of that activity. In other words, their vocation should

supply them with the necessary physical exercise as part of the day's

work. They should see themselves advancing, making money, achieving

something worth while, creating something beautiful or useful, making a

career for themselves, instead of merely playing or exercising for the

sake of exercise. Then they would be happier. Then they would be better

satisfied with their lot. They would be more efficient and far more

successful.

Current literature abounds in true stories of those who have gone forward

to the land and have found help, happiness, and success in the cultivation

of the soil. This one has redeemed an abandoned farm in New England. That

one has taken a small ten-acre farm in southern California. Another has

carved out health, happiness, and a fair degree of fortune for himself on

the plains of Washington or Idaho, or among the hills of Oregon. Old

southern plantations have been rehabilitated at the same time with their

new owners or tenants.

ONE MAN'S "WAY OUT"

Near Gardiner, Maine, is a little forty-five acre poultry and fruit farm

which pays its happy owner $3,800 a year clear of all expense. Seven years

ago this farm was abandoned by its former owners, who could not make it

pay. Five years ago it was purchased by its present owner for a song--and

only a half-line of the song was sung at the time. He was a clerk who had

lived the little-flat-dark-office-and-subway life until tuberculosis had

removed him from his job and threatened his life. Farm work--on his own

farm--proved to be a game at which he could play with zest and success.

The stakes were a life and a living--and he has won. We--and you, too, no

doubt--could multiply narratives from observation and experience, to say

nothing of reading.

A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY

All these experiences and the reports of them are both a part of and a

stimulus to the "back to the land movement." This movement has its

mainspring in two plain economic facts, namely: first, clerical and other

indoor vocations have become overcrowded; second, while crops grow bigger

year by year, the number of mouths to feed multiplies even faster, and

unless more land is tilled and all land cultivated more intensively, we

shall eat less and less, as a race, and pay more and more for what we eat.

Here is opportunity for the men of bone and muscle--opportunity for

health, prosperity, usefulness to humanity, enjoyment and happiness. Other

opportunities lie in the conservation of our forests and the planting and

development of new timber lands; in the building up of new industries for

manufacturing our raw materials; in restoring the American flag to the

seas of the world; in extending our foreign trade; in opening and

operating inland waterways; in irrigating or draining our millions of

square miles of land now lying idle; in the development of Alaska, and the

harnessing of our great mines of "white coal"--water-power.

Our foreign trade requires men of this type to travel in all parts of the

world as commercial ambassadors, diligently collecting, compiling, and

sending back to the United States information necessary in manufacturing

goods for foreign consumption; also information regarding credits, prices,

shipping, packing--in short, complete and detailed knowledge about

commerce with foreign lands, how to secure it and how to hold it.

The world's greatest opportunities to-day, perhaps, lie within the grasp

of the men of this active type. Instead of pioneering in exploration, as

in former years, they are needed to pioneer in production. From the

earliest history of the race, these restless men have been faring westward

and ever westward, adding to the wealth and resources of humanity by

opening up new lands. But the crest of the westward moving tide has now

circumnavigated the globe, and the Far West meets the Far East on the

Pacific Ocean. Here and there are comparatively small, neglected tracts of

land still to be developed, but there are no longer great new empires, as

in former days. The great welling sources of human life have not ceased to

flow, even though the final boundaries of its spread have been reached.

Population will continue to grow and its demands upon the resources of the

earth to increase. The man who discovers a way to make a hundred bushels

of wheat grow on an acre of land where only twenty-five bushels grew

before is as great a benefactor of the race as the discoverer of a

continent. The invention of the electric light, the telephone, the

automobile, the trolley car, and the aeroplane have added as much to the

products and power of the race as the pioneering of thousands of square

miles of fertile hills and plains. The man who can find a cheap and easy

way to capture and hold nitrogen from the air will add more to the wealth

of the race than all the discoverers of all the gold mines.

America needs to find efficient and profitable methods for manufacturing

her own raw materials. Up to the present time, our exports have been coal,

petroleum, steel rails, wheat, corn, oats, lumber, and other products

which carry out of the country the riches of our soil. We have been

exporting raw materials to foreign lands, where they have been refined and

fabricated by brain and hand and returned to us at some five hundred to a

thousand times the price we received for them. With the increase of

population, we need to capitalize more and more the intelligence and skill

of our people, and less and less the virgin resources of our lands. Ore

beds, coal measures, copper, lead, gold and silver mines, forests, oil

wells, and the fertility of our soils can all become exhausted. But the

skill of our hands and the power of our intellects grow and increase and

yield larger and larger returns the more they are called upon to produce.

The man of bone and muscle--the restless, active, pioneering, constructing

man--would do well to consider these things before determining upon his

vocation, and especially before entering upon any kind of non-productive

work. The world has need of his particular talents and he should find his

greatest happiness and greatest success in the exercise of them in

response to that need.

We have seen so many men of this active type so badly placed that

individual examples seem almost too commonplace for citation. Yet, a few

may be instructive and encouraging.

William Carleton's remarkable story, entitled "Rediscovering America,"

is, in fact, the story of a man who was a middle-aged failure in a

clerical position, and who afterward made a remarkable success of his life

by taking up contracting and building. James Cook, a misfit as a grocer,

afterward became famous as a naval officer and explorer. Henry M. Stanley,

office boy to a cotton broker and merchant, afterward won immortal fame as

a newspaper correspondent and explorer. What would have become of Theodore

Roosevelt had he followed the usual line of occupation of a man in his

position and entered a law office instead of becoming a rancher? We might

add other experiences of similar importance from the biographies of other

great men.

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVE TYPE

The active type of man is, of course, easily recognized. He has broad,

square shoulders, and is well muscled. He is either of the wiry, elastic,

exceedingly energetic type, with muscles like steel springs and sinews

like steel wire--very agile, very skillful, very quick, and somewhat jerky

in his movements--or he is tall, raw-boned, strong, enduring, graceful,

easy in his movements rather than quick, and yet with considerable manual

skill. Or he may be of the short, stocky type, with broad shoulders, short

neck, short arms, short legs, with big, round muscles and an immense

capacity for endurance. The railroads of the early days, in this country,

were built by Irishmen. They were either the large, raw-boned type or the

quick, agile, wiry type. The railroads, subways, and other construction

work of to-day are built mostly by Italians, Hungarians, Greeks, and

others from the south of Europe. These men are of short, stocky, sturdy,

and enduring build. As a general rule, they are far better fitted for this

class of work than the tall or medium-sized, large-boned or wiry type. As

an evidence of this, take notice of the fact that the Irishmen who built

the railroads in the sixties own and manage them to-day.

These active men usually have square faces. That is to say, there is a

good development of the outer corners of the lower jaw, which gives to the

face a square appearance. Oftentimes their cheek bones are both high and

wide. As a general rule, they have large aquiline or Roman noses. When

they are of the enduring type and capable of long-sustained muscular

activity, they have prominent chins. Their hands are square. Their feet

are large. If they have mechanical and constructive ability, as most of

them have, their foreheads are comparatively high and wide just above the

temple. Professional baseball players, professional dancers, middle-weight

and light-weight prize-fighters, most aviators, automobile racers, and

athletes belong to the wiry, springy, medium-sized type of this particular

class of men. U.S. Grant, Robert E. Peary, Henry M. Stanley, Ty Cobb and

Ralph DePalma belong to this type. Abraham Lincoln, W.E. Gladstone, Joseph

G. Cannon, William G. McAdoo, Woodrow Wilson, and other men of this build

belong to the raw-boned type. Napoleon Bonaparte, with his tremendous

activities on only four hours' sleep a day, is a good example of the

short, stocky type. While men of these types may make brilliant successes

in purely mental vocations, as the result of the development of their

intellects, and may keep themselves in a fair degree of health and

strength by games, exercise, mountain climbing, farming, or some such

avocation, they are, nevertheless, never quite so well satisfied as when

they have something to do which not only gives them opportunity for the

use of their intellects, but also involves a certain degree of physical

activity as a part of their regular work.

CHAPTER VII

SLAVES OF MACHINERY

To multitudes of men and women the lure of levers, cranks, wheels and

pinions is as seductive, as insidious, as heavenly in its promises, and as

hellish in its performances, as the opium habit. The craving for opium,

however, is an acquired taste, while the passion for machinery is born in

thousands. We have seen children, while yet in their baby-cabs, fascinated

by automobiles, sewing machines, and even little mechanical toys. We knew

a boy on a farm who built a fairly workable miniature threshing machine

with his own hands before he was old enough to speak the name of it in

anything but baby-talk. We have seen boys work in the broiling sun day

after day hoeing potatoes, pulling weeds, gathering crops, and doing other

hard jobs for small pay, carefully saving every penny to buy a toy steam

engine.

Parents usually look upon these evidences of mechanical ability with

pleasure. They regard them as sure indications of the vocation of the

child and oftentimes do everything in their power to encourage him in

these lines. They little realize, however, the supreme danger which

attaches to this very manifestation. Nor have they looked far enough ahead

to see what is, in so many cases, the lamentable result.

THE RESTLESS "MACHINE CRAZY" BOY

The boy of this type hates to sit quietly on a hard bench in a school and

study books. Some of the boys who went to school with us had imitation

levers and valve-handles fastened about their desks in an ingenious way,

and instead of studying, pretended that they were locomotive engineers.

With a careful eye upon the teacher, who was his semaphore, such a boy

would work the reverse lever, open and close the throttle, apply and

disengage the brakes, test the lubrication, and otherwise go through the

motions of running a locomotive with great seriousness and huge enjoyment.

These boys usually have considerable trouble with their teachers. They do

not like grammar, frequently do not care for geography and history. They

flounder dolefully in these studies and are in a state of more or less

continual rebellion and disgrace. Because of their intense activity and

restlessness, they irritate the teacher. She wants quiet in the

school-room. Their surreptitious playing, rapping and tapping on desks,

and other evidences of dammed-up energy and desire for more freedom and

more scope of action, interferes with the desired sanctity of silence.

Outside of school hours and during the long vacation, the fatal

fascination of machinery draws these young people to factories, railroad

yards, machine shops, and other places where they may indulge their fancy

and craving for mechanical motion. The boy who hangs around a machine shop

or railroad yard is always pressed into voluntary and delighted service by

those who work there. In a small town in Wisconsin we once knew a boy who

worked willingly and at the hardest kind of labor in a railroad yard for

years, voluntarily and without a cent of pay. In time he was entrusted

with a small responsibility and given a small salary. Even if the boy does

not begin in this way, the result is substantially the same. He may take

the bit in his teeth, leave school and go to work at some trade which will

give at least temporary satisfaction for his mechanical craving, or he

may, through economic necessity, be forced out of school and naturally

gravitate into a machine shop or factory. Oftentimes a few dollars a week

is a very welcome addition to the family income. To the boy himself,

three, four, five or six dollars a week seems like a fortune. Neither the

parents nor the boy look ahead. Neither of them sees that when the little

salary has increased to fifteen, sixteen, eighteen or twenty-five dollars

a week, the boy will have reached the zenith of his possibilities. There

will then be no further advancement, unless, during his apprenticeship and

journeymanship, or previously to them, he has secured mental training

which will enable him to go higher, hold more responsible positions and

earn larger pay.

"MAN OR MACHINE--WHICH?"

In former days, the boy who left school and took up employment in a

factory learned a trade. He became a shoe-maker, or a harness-maker, or a

wheelwright, or a gun-maker. To-day, however, the work on all of these

articles has been so subdivided that the boy perhaps becomes stranded in

front of a machine which does nothing but punch out the covers for tin

cans, or cut pieces of leather for the heels of shoes, or some other finer

operation in manufacture. Once he has mastered the comparatively simple

method of operating his particular machine, the boy is likely to remain

there for all time. His employer--perhaps short-sighted--has no desire to

advance him, because this would mean breaking in another boy to handle his

machine. Also, it would mean paying more money.

Al Priddy, in his illuminating book, "Man or Machine--Which?"[9] thus

describes the case of the slave to the machine:

[Footnote 9: The Pilgrim Press, Boston.]

"The workingman has been taught that his chief asset is skill. It has been

his stocks, his bonds, the pride of his life. Poor as to purse and

impoverished in his household; his cupboard bare, his last penny spent on

a bread crust, he is not humbled; no, he merely stretches out his ten

fingers and two callous palms, exactly as a proud king extends his

diamond-tipped sceptre, to show you that which upholds him in his

birthright. 'My skill is my portion given to the world,' he says. 'I shall

not want. See, I am without a penny. I touch this bar of steel, and it

becomes a scissors blade. My skill did it. I take this stick of oak and it

becomes a chair rung. My skill is the grandest magic on earth, the common

magic of every day. By it I live and because of it I hold my head royal

high.'

"But the machine now attacks and displaces this skill. The cunning of

trained fingers is transferred to cranks, cogs and belts. The trade

secrets are objectified in mechanical form; able to mix the product,

compound the chemicals, or make the notch at the right place.

"Besides this loss of skill, the workman loses, in the grind of the

machine, his sense of the value of his work. Next to his pride of skill

the workman has always been proud to be the connoisseur: stand back near

the light with his product on his upraised hand, showing to all passers-by

what he has done. Perhaps it was a red morocco slipper for a dancer, or a

pearl button to go on the cloak of a little child, or maybe it was a

horseshoe to go on the mayor's carriage horse. On a day a party of

visitors would come to the little shop and the owner would pick up a

hand-forged hammer and say, 'See what John made!' But, in our modern

industry, no one man ever completes a task. Each task is subdivided into

twenty, forty, a hundred or more portions, and a workingman is given just

one to work on, day by day, year after year, for a working generation.

"After the time has come when the workman can find no distinct esthetic

pleasure in his work, his loyalty to his employers suffers a shock.

"Then, when this indifference or disloyalty is full grown, the employer

has full on him acute and formidable labor diseases. The man who should

stand at his shoulder faces him, instead, with a hostile poise. The mill

full of people over whom he holds power, upon whom he depends for his

success, and who, in turn, depend upon his initiative and capital for

their bread and butter, is turned into an armed camp of plotting enemies,

who, while they work, grumble, and who, while they receive their wages,

scheme for the overthrow of the entire concern! His mills, instead of

being shelters for his brothers and sisters, are nests of scratching

eagles--ready to rend and claw!

"It is further given out that the machine robs man of his industrial

initiative; that the complicated and specialized machine decreases his

mental alertness. In addition to his skill and his appreciation of his

product, the workman has ever prized the appeal his labor has made to his

individual intelligence. His work has brought thinking power with it. His

day's task has included the excitement of invention and adventure. In the

heat and burden of the week has come that thrilling moment when his mind

has discovered the fact that a variation in method means a simplification

of his task. Or, in the monotonous on-going of his labor, he has suddenly

realized that by sheer brain power he has accomplished a third more work

than his neighbor. He has counted such results compliments to his

initiative, to his thinking power. They have brought a reward three times

more satisfying than a mere increase in wage, for, in his eyes, they have

been substantial testimonies to the freedom of his mind, something which

every reasonable person puts higher than any king's ransom. But the coming

of the machine deadens the workman's inclination toward inventive

adventure.

"So the multitude of men and women stand before the cunning machinery of

industry, in the pose of helplessness before a mechanical finality. They

cannot help feeling that in so far as their special task is involved, the

machine has said the last word. The challenge dies out of their work. The

brain that has ever been on the quiver of adventurous expectancy relaxes

its tension, and the workman moodily or indifferently lets his machine do

its perfect work, while his undisciplined, unchallenged thoughts wander

freely over external, social, or domestic concerns. It may give an

indolent, unambitious, selfish type of employee a certain amount of

satisfaction to know that the machine frees his mind of initiative, but to

the considerate workman it is a day of tragedy when his brain power

receives no challenge from his work, and that day has dawned in the minds

of millions of men who throng our industries.

"So, then, when this machine-robber, without heart or conscience, makes of

little repute the workman's most shining glory--skill; steals rudely from

him the esthetic pleasure in his product, and leaves him mentally crippled

before his work, how little force has that honored appeal, 'The dignity of

labor'! Talk as we will, in this machine-ridden time, the 'dignity of

labor' is but a skeleton of its former robust self. Take away the king's

throne, the courtier's carpet, the royal prerogative, and then speak about

'The Divine Right'! All that 'dignity of labor' can mean in these days is

simply that it is more dignified for a man to earn a wage than it is to be

a doorway loafer. The workingman's throne--skill--has gone. His

prerogative--skill--has been taken away. The items that have formerly

given dignity to labor have been largely displaced, so far as we have

adventured, by the machine, and the future holds out no other hope than

this, that machines shall more and more increase. There is little

'dignity' in a task that a man does which may be equally well done by his

fourteen-year-old boy or girl. There is little 'dignity' in a task which

less and less depends upon independent knowledge."

But must these workers remain always slaves of machine? Is there no escape

for them? Is there no "underground railroad" by which they may win their

way to freedom?

Here is what Al Priddy has to say about it:

"The most convincing way in which man may master the machine is when he

invents a new and better one, or improves an old one. This is the real

triumph of mind over matter, of skill over machinery.

"With all its arrogance among us, machinery is always final in itself;

incapable of change; incapable of progression or retrogression. Till the

clouds fade from the sky, or the earth cracks, a machine will remain the

same from the day of its creation until the day of its last whirl--unless

man says the word to change it. Once started on its mission, there is

nothing in the world can change the motion and purpose of a machine save

man's mind. So, then, whatever relation man might have toward a machine,

this stands sure: he will ever be able to stand before it and say: 'I am

thy master. I can change thee, make thee better or worse. I made thee. I

can unmake thee. If thou dost accomplish such mighty works, more honor to

the mind which conceived thee!"

"But it is suddenly discovered by an industrial diagnosis that the

machine has never been properly operated, even by the most skilled

operators. It has been proved that 'there is more science in the most

"unskilled" task than the man who performs it is capable of

understanding.' This dictum of Mr. Taylor, a practical experimenter, has

been dramatically proved in many directions. In the task of the sand

shoveler, or the iron lifter, for instance, it was proved that by

scientifically undertaking such work, fifty selected men, properly

drilled, scientifically rested, intelligently manoeuvred, could accomplish

a third more than one hundred ill selected and improperly managed men, in

less time and under a larger salary. It is suddenly found that, contrary

to theory, a machine, to be economically operated, leaves open man's

chance for skill and does not rob him of it."

Perhaps a few cases taken from our records will indicate how men of this

kind are able to come up from slavery and take successful places in their

true vocations.

FROM BOILER-ROOM TO CHIEF ENGINEER'S OFFICE

G---- manifested very early indications of the lure of machinery for him.

While yet in his cradle, he would play contentedly for hours with a little

pulley or other mechanical trifle. Before he was able to walk, he could

drive nails with a hammer sturdily and with more precision than many

adults. This also was one of his favorite amusements, and it was necessary

to keep him provided with lumber, lest he fill the furniture with nails.

As he grew older he became more and more interested in machinery and

mechanical things. He took to pieces the family clock and put it together

again. He nearly always had the sewing machine partly dismantled, but

could always put it together again, and it usually ran better after he had

finished his work. He built water-wheels, wind-mills, and other mechanical

toys. When he was about fourteen years old he built a steam engine. He

used a bicycle pump for the cylinder and pieces of an old sewing machine,

a discarded wringer, some brass wires, and other odds and ends for the

rest of the parts. So perfect mechanically was this product that when

steam was turned on it ran smoothly, and with very little noise, at the

rate of three thousand revolutions a minute. In this engine he employed a

form of valve motion which he had never seen, and which had never been

used before. While not particularly efficient, and therefore not a

valuable invention, it at least showed his ability to adapt means to ends

mechanically.

After G---- began earning money for himself by mechanical and electrical

work, he would go without luxuries, food and clothing, tramping to the

shop almost barefoot one entire winter, for the sake of buying tools and

equipment to carry on his mechanical experiments. It is not surprising,

therefore, that he left school at an early age to engage in actual work in

railroad shops. He afterward secured a position as a locomotive fireman.

Circumstances arose which made it necessary for him to give up

railroading. He secured a position as fireman on a stationary engine.

A HARD FIGHT FOR AN EDUCATION

It was while he was engaged in this kind of work that the suggestion was

made to him that he ought not to try to go through life with only the

rudiments of an education. It was pointed out that, while he had undoubted

mechanical and inventive ability, he would have small opportunity to use

it unless he also had the necessary technical and scientific knowledge to

go with it. At first his interest in mechanics was so intense and his

interest in school in general so comparatively slight, that he did not

look with very much favor upon the suggestion. However, as time went on

and he saw more and more of the results of such action as he was

contemplating, he became more and more interested in completing his

education. He therefore entered a good preparatory school and, with some

little assistance from relatives, worked his way through by doing

electrical and mechanical work about the little college town. In this kind

of work he soon became well known and was in constant requisition.

Occasionally his ingenuity and resourcefulness enabled him to do

successfully work which had puzzled and baffled even those who were

called experts. Having finished his preparatory course, he began a course

in mechanical and electrical engineering in one of the best known of our

universities. About this time practically all assistance from relatives

had been withdrawn, owing to changed circumstances, and he was left almost

entirely dependent upon his own efforts. The story of his struggles would

fill a volume. Oftentimes he was almost entirely without food. There was

one month during which he was unable to collect money due him for work

done. Because he was a poor university student he had no credit. So he

lived the entire month on $1.25. He thus explains how it was done:

LIVING A MONTH ON $1.25

"After visiting all of my clients trying to collect money, I came to the

conclusion that it would be useless to expect anything to come in to me

for at least thirty days. At this time I had $1.25 in my pocket. My room I

had paid for in advance by doing a piece of work for my landlord. I also

had about a cord of good oak wood which I had sawed and split and piled in

the hallway under the stairs. I had a little sheet-iron stove which I used

for both heating and cooking. I sat down and carefully figured out how I

could make my $1.25 feed me until I could collect the money due.

Twenty-five cents purchased three quarts of strained honey from a

bee-keeper friend of mine. The dollar I invested in hominy. Every morning,

when I first got up and built the fire, I put on a double boiler with as

much hominy as would cook in it. While it was cooking I sat down and

studied hard on my calculus. By the time I had got a pretty good hold of

the pot-hooks and the bird-tracks in the calculus lesson, the hominy would

be ready to eat. Hominy and honey is not a bad breakfast. While perhaps

you would like some variety, it is also fairly edible for lunch. If you

are very, very hungry, as a growing boy ought to be, and have been hard at

work putting up bell wires and arranging batteries, doubtless you would

rather eat hominy and honey for dinner than go without. The next morning

the combination doesn't taste quite so good, and by lunch time you are

beginning to wonder whether hominy and honey will satisfy all your

cravings. In the evening, however, you are quite sure that, in the absence

of anything else, you will have to have some hominy and honey in order to

keep yourself alive. By the end of the first week you feel that you can

never even hear the word hominy again without nausea and that you wish

never to look a bee in the face. By the end of the second week you have

become indifferent to the whole matter and simply take your hominy and

honey as a matter of course, trying to think nothing about it and

interesting yourself as much as possible in calculus, generator design,

strength of materials, and other things that an engineering student has to

study.

"The month finally passed. I felt as if I had eaten my way out of a

mountain of hominy and waded through a sea of honey. Collections began

coming in a little and I went and bought a beefsteak. You may have eaten

some palatable viands. I have myself partaken of meals that cost as much

as I made in a whole week's work in my school days. But let me assure you

that no one ever had a meal that tasted better than the beefsteak and

fried potatoes which finally broke the hominy and honey regime."

After this our young friend hired a little larger room, laid in a few

cheap dishes and cooking utensils and took two or three of his fellow

students to board. He did the marketing and the cooking and made them help

him wash the dishes. Two were engineering students and the third was a

student in the college of agriculture, all working their way through

college. A few cents saved was a memorable event in their lives. Our young

engineer furnished table board at $1.25 a week, and out of the $3.75 a

week paid him by his boarders was able to buy all of his own food as well

as theirs, and pay his room rent.

THE HARD FIGHT JUSTIFIED

After many troubles of this kind, G---- finished his engineering course

and secured a position in one of the largest corporations in the United

States at a salary of fifty dollars a month. At the time when he went to

work for the big corporation there were probably three or four hundred

other graduate engineers added to the staff. So keen was his mind along

mechanical and engineering lines, and so great were his natural aptitudes,

that within a few months his wages had been increased to $60 a month and

he had been given far more responsible work. Almost as soon as he took up

work with the corporation, he began making improvements in methods,

inventing machinery and other devices, and thinking out ways and means for

saving labor and making short cuts. Within a few weeks after his joining

the force he had invented a bit of apparatus which could be carried in the

coat pocket, and which took the place of a clumsy contrivance which

required a horse and wagon to carry it. In this way he saved the company

the price of horses, wagons, drivers, etc., on a great many operations.

From the very first the young man rose very much more rapidly than any of

the others who had entered the employ of the company at the time he did.

Soon he was occupying an executive position and directing the activities

of scores of men. To-day, only nine years after his leaving school, he

occupies one of the most important positions in the engineering department

of this great corporation, and while he does not have the title, performs

nearly all the duties of chief engineer.

The point of all this story is that this young man, while he had plenty of

mechanical ability and enjoyed machinery, was not fit to be a locomotive

fireman or stationary engine fireman. He had, in addition to his

mechanical sense and great skill in the use of his hands, a very keen,

wide-awake, energetic, ambitious, accurate intellectual equipment, which

did not find any adequate use in his work as a mechanic or fireman. Nor

could he ever have found expression for it unless he had taken the

initiative as a result of wise counsel and secured for himself the

necessary education and training. With all his ingenuity, he would always

have been more or less a slave to the machine to be operated unless he

had trained his mind to make him the master of thousands of machines and

of men.

FROM TURRET LATHE TO TREASURY

About eight years ago, while we were in St. Paul, Minnesota, a young

mechanic, J.F., came to us for consultation. He was about twenty years

old, and expressed himself as being dissatisfied with his work.

"I don't know just what is the matter with me," he said. "I have loved to

play with mechanical things. I was always building machinery and, when I

had an opportunity, hanging around machine shops and watching the men

work. On account of these things my father was very sure that I had

mechanical ability, and when I was fifteen years old took me out of school

and apprenticed me in a machine shop. This shop was partly devoted to the

manufacture of heavy machinery and partly to repairs of all kinds of

machinery and tools. I have now been at work in this shop for five years.

I am a journeyman mechanic and making good wages, and yet, somehow or

other, I feel that I am in the wrong place. I wish you could tell me what

is the matter with me."

After examining the young man and the data submitted, we made the

following report:

ANALYSIS OF AN EMBRYO FINANCIER

"While you have undoubted mechanical ability, this is a minor part of your

intellectual equipment. You are also qualified for commercial pursuits.

You have a good sense of values. You understand the value of a dollar even

now and you have natural aptitudes which, with proper training and

experience, will make you an excellent financier. You also have executive

ability. You like people and you like to deal with them. You like to

handle them, and because you enjoy handling people and negotiating with

them, you are successful in doing so. While you are fairly active

physically, you are very much more active mentally. Your work, therefore,

should be mental work, with a fair amount of light physical activity

mingled with it, instead of purely physical work. You ought to hold an

executive position and ought to have charge of thee finances of some

concern which is engaged in the building and selling of machinery. You

have worked, up to the present time, with heavy, coarse, crude machinery.

But you are of fine texture, refined type, and naturally have a desire to

work with that which is fine, delicate and beautiful--something into which

you can put some of your natural refinement and artistic ability. You are

still young. You have learned a trade at which you can earn fairly good

wages. You ought, therefore, to prepare yourself in some way for business.

Work during the summer, and then during the winter resume your studies,

preparing yourself for an executive position in connection with

manufacturing and selling fine machinery. Study accounting, banking,

finance, salesmanship, advertising, mechanical engineering and designing.

At the earliest possible moment give up your work in a machine shop where

heavy machinery is manufactured and begin to get some actual experience in

the manufacture of something finer and more artistic; for example, the

automobile."

A few years later, in Boston, a young man came to us, well dressed, happy,

and prosperous. He said he wished to consult us. After a few minutes' talk

with him, we said: "We have given you advice somewhere before. This is not

the first time you have consulted us." He smiled, and said: "Yes. I

consulted you in St. Paul, some years ago. At that time you advised me to

secure an executive position in the automobile business. This advice

struck me at the time as being wise, and satisfied my own desires and

ambitions. I lost no time in following your directions and was soon

engaged as a mechanic in an automobile factory. I attended night-school at

first, but finally made arrangements to spend half my time in school and

the other half in the factory, learning every part of the business. At the

present time I am the vice-president and treasurer of the ---- Motor

Company, and one of the designers of the ---- Motor Car. We are doing an

excellent business and making money. Whereas I was certainly misfit in my

old job, I am well and happily placed since I have learned my true

vocation."

EVOLUTION OF AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER

D.B., of Chicago, was a young man admirably endowed with mechanical

ability. From his earliest years he was especially interested in matters

electrical. His father told us that he always had dry-cell and other

batteries around the house. He used to try to make magnetos out of

horseshoe magnets, and at one time attempted to build a dynamo. When he

was sixteen years of age, having finished grammar school and having had

one or two years of high school training, young B. became so ambitious to

get into electrical work that his father, thinking that he was intended

for exactly this vocation, consented to his leaving high school and taking

a position as assistant to the linemen of a telephone company. He worked

at this a year or two, and finally became a full-fledged lineman. He did

well as a lineman and after a year or so attracted the attention of an

electric light and power company, who enticed him away from the telephone

company and gave him charge of poles and wires in a residential district.

Here his unusual ingenuity and quickness soon became so manifest that he

was taken off the outside and placed in charge of a gang of men wiring

houses and installing electric fixtures. This was a pretty good job for a

young fellow and paid good wages; at least, the wages seemed quite large

to young B. at the time. By this time, however, he was twenty-one and

decided to marry. He needed more money.

GETTING HIS BEARINGS

He had a long talk with a very kind and wise advisor, who finally said to

him: "See here, B., you have abilities that ought to be put to use at

something better than stringing wires and hanging bells."

"Why, I am a foreman now," said B.

"Yes, I know you are a foreman, but who plans all the work you do?"

"Why, the Super."

"Yes, the Super hands the plans down to you, but who plans the work for

him?"

"Why, the Chief."

"Now, look here; the Chief comes to his office at ten o'clock in the

morning. He uses his head until noon. He leaves at noon, and perhaps he

doesn't come back until two or three o'clock. He uses his head then until

five or, sometimes, until four; then he goes off to play golf. But as the

result of those few hours' use of the Chief's head, the Superintendent,

and you six or eight foremen, and all the two hundred men under your

direction work a whole day or a week, or even a month, as you know. You

are merely carrying out in a mechanical, routine kind of a way the

thoughts and ideas that another man thinks. Now, you have the ability to

think for yourself."

"I could think for myself," said he, "but I can't do all the figuring that

is necessary in order to decide just what size wire should go here, and

what kind of equipment should go there, and all the different things.

That's beyond me."

"Yes, it is beyond you now, but it doesn't need to be beyond you. You have

the mental ability to learn to use those formulae just as well as the

Chief does. The thing necessary is for you to learn how to do it, to get

needful education. Now, you are young, and you're strong, and you've got

lots of time before you. If you want to make more money, the way to do it

is to learn to use your head and save weeks, months of time, as well as

the labor of your hands."

"If I went off to college or university for two or three years, I don't

think Bessie would wait for me," said he. "She wants to get married. I

want to, too, and I think we ought to do it."

AN EDUCATION BY CORRESPONDENCE

"Well," said his counselor, "you don't need to go off to school. You can

take electrical engineering in a correspondence course, even after you are

married. You're making good wages now as a foreman. Your hours of work are

only eight a day, and you have plenty of time in the evenings and on

holidays and other times to study this subject. Besides, you will probably

make better progress studying it while you work at the trade than you

would in school and withdrawn from the practical applications of the

principles that you are learning."

The result of all this was that D.B. did take a correspondence course in

electrical engineering. It was pretty tough work. He had not studied for

years. One of the first things he had to learn was how to study; how to

concentrate; how to learn the things he had to know without tremendous

waste of energy. After a little while he learned how to study. Then he

progressed, a little at a time, with the intricate and complicated

mathematics of the profession he had determined to make his own. Again and

again he was puzzled, perplexed, and almost defeated. But his young wife

encouraged him, and when things got so bad that he thought he would have

to give it all up, he would go and talk with his counselor, who would

inspire him with new ambition, so that he would go to work again. So,

month after month, year after year, he struggled away with his

correspondence course in electrical engineering. Little by little, he got

hold of the technical knowledge necessary for professional engineering

work.

A VICTORY FOR THE CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL GRADUATE

At first he was greatly handicapped by the prejudice of some of his

superiors against correspondence school courses, which were very much

newer at that time than they are now and regarded as much more of an

experiment. His superiors were graduates of universities and looked down

with contempt upon any merely "practical" man who tried to qualify as an

engineer by studying at home at night and without the personal oversight

of authorities in a university. But D.B. was dogged in his persistence.

Missing no opportunities to improve and advance himself, he was,

nevertheless, respectful and diplomatic. And he repeatedly demonstrated

his grasp of the subject. Eventually he was promoted to the position of

superintendent of the electric light and power company. There was only

one man then between him and the desired goal, namely, the chief engineer.

At the time B. became superintendent the chief engineer was a young

university graduate, and was perhaps a little too egotistical and dogmatic

on account of his degree and honors. Soon after B. took charge as

superintendent, the company decided to build a new central power station.

The design was left to the young chief engineer, and the practical work of

carrying it out to our friend. When, finally, the design was complete and

passed on to D.B. for execution, he felt that it was defective in several

ways. He spent several nights of hard study on it and became convinced

that he was right. He therefore took the whole matter to his superior and

tried to explain to him how the design was defective.

"I made that plan, and it is right," said the chief engineer. "Your

business isn't to criticize the plan, but to go ahead and carry it out.

Now, I don't care to hear any more about it."

"But," said B., "if we carry out this plan the way it stands, it will mean

the investment on the part of the company of something like $35,000 which

will be practically dead loss. I can't conscientiously go to work and

carry out this plan as it stands. I am sure if you will go over it again

carefully, pay attention to my suggestions, and consult the proper

authorities, you will find that I am right."

"That's what comes of studying a correspondence course," said the chief.

"You get a little smattering of knowledge into your head. Part of it is

worth while, and part of it is purely theoretical and useless, and because

you have had some practical experience, you imagine you know it all. Now,

you have lots yet to learn, B., and I am willing to help you, but I want

to tell you that that plan and those specifications are technically

correct, and all you need to do is to go ahead and carry them out. I'll

take the responsibility."

"Very well," said B., "if you want those plans and specifications carried

out as they are, you can get someone else to do it. I would rather resign

than to superintend this job which I know to be technically wrong."

His resignation had to be passed upon by the general manager, who, before

accepting it, sent for him.

"What's the trouble, B.?" said he. "I thought you were getting along fine.

We like your work, and we thought you liked the company. Why do you want

to leave?"

"I don't like to say anything about it, Mr. Jones," said B., "but the

plans passed on to me to carry out in the construction of that new

power-house down in Elm Street are technically wrong. They mean an

expenditure of $35,000 along certain lines which will be pretty nearly a

dead loss. When you come to try to use your equipment there, you will find

that it all has to be taken out and replaced by the proper materials.

"Suppose you get the plans, B., and show them to me, and explain just what

you mean," said the general manager, who was also a professional engineer

of many years' successful experience.

So B. produced the plans and explained his proposition.

"Why, of course you are right," said the general manager. "I'm surprised

that Mr. F. should have thought for a moment that he could use that type."

The result was that B. was reinstated and the chief engineer reprimanded.

Stung by his reprimand and angered because the correspondence school

graduate had bested him, the chief engineer resigned. His resignation was

accepted and B. became chief engineer of the company. Later, he was

promoted to the position of chief engineer of an even larger corporation,

and, finally, occupied an executive position as managing engineer for a

municipal light and power plant in one of the large cities of the country.

THE GENESIS OF AN INVENTOR

Some years ago we spent a few months in a very comfortable and homelike

hotel in one of the largest cities in the Middle West. Down in a nook of

the basement of this hotel was a private electric light plant. In charge

of the plant was an old Scotch engineer delightful for his wise sayings

and quaint philosophy. The fireman, a young man named T., was rather a

puzzle to us. He had all the marks of unusual mechanical ability, and yet

he seemed to take only the slightest interest in his work, and was

constantly being reproved by his chief for laziness, irresponsibility, and

neglect of duty. "What's the use?" he asked us, after we gained his

confidence, and had asked him why he did not take greater interest in his

work. "What's the use? After years of experience shoveling coal into a

firebox and monkeying around these old grease pots, I suppose I might get

an engineer's certificate. Then what would I be? Why, just like old Mack

there--$75 to $100 a month, sitting around a hot, close basement twelve

hours a day or, perhaps, twelve hours at night, nothing to look forward

to, no further advancement, no more pay, and, finally, T.B. would carry me

off because of the lack of fresh air, sunshine and outdoor exercise. No,

thank you!"

"Well, then, why don't you do something else?"

"I don't know what to do. I like mechanics, and some job of this kind is

the only thing I know how to do or would care to do. Yet, I don't care for

this. I must confess that I am puzzled as to what in the world I was made

for, anyhow."

"What you need is to give your time and attention to the intellectual side

of engineering rather than the purely mechanical and physical. You are of

the intellectual type, and you are as badly placed trying to do mere

mechanical work as if you were an eagle trying to cross the country on

foot."

"I believe you are right in that. I am going to get an education."

AMBITION, INDUSTRY, AND PERSISTENCE

He began at once with correspondence courses in mechanical and electrical

engineering. Twelve hours a day he shoveled coal in his basement

boiler-room. Some four to eight hours a day he studied in his little room

up under the roof. It takes an immense amount of courage, persistence, and

perseverance to complete a correspondence course in engineering, as anyone

who has tried it well knows. There is lacking any inspiration from the

personality and skill of a teacher. There is no spur to endeavor from

association with other students doing the same kind of work and striving

for the same degree. There are no glee clubs, athletic games,

fraternities, prizes, scholarships, and other aids to the imagination and

ambition, such as are found in a university. It is all hard, lonely work.

But what the student learns, he knows. And, somehow, he gains a great

knack for the practical use of his knowledge. Night after night T. toiled

away, until he had finished his course and secured his certificate of

graduation.

By this time T.'s ambition began to assume a definite form. He was

determined that he should have the honor and the emoluments which would

come to him as a result of solving one of the toughest problems in

engineering--one which had puzzled both technical and practical men for

many years. He therefore saved up a few dollars and, packing his little

belongings, departed to complete his education in one of the most famous

technical engineering schools of the country. Tuition was high. Board cost

a good deal of money. Books were distressingly expensive. Tools, machine

shop fees, and other incidentals ate into the little store he had brought

with him, and inside of two months it was gone. He hunted around and

finally secured a job running an engine. This meant twelve hours in the

engine room every night. In addition, he did what other students

considered a full day's work attending lectures and carrying on his

studies in the laboratories and classroom. He went almost without

necessary food and clothing in order to buy books, tools, and other

equipment. But he was young, he was strong, and, above all, he was happy

in his mental picture of the great object of his ambition. In due time he

had taken his degree, having specialized on all subjects bearing upon the

solution of his great problem.

PATIENT TOIL HIS GENIUS

Coming back from the university after having finished his course, T. found

a position as engineer in an electric light and power plant. Then he began

saving up money to purchase the necessary equipment for a laboratory of

his own. Finally, he had a little building and was one of the proudest

young men we ever saw. Little by little, he added to his apparatus the

things he needed. Several nights a week, after his hard day's work in the

engine room, he toiled, trying to solve the problem upon which he had

fixed his mind. About this time he married, and he and his wife moved into

a narrow little flat. Years passed, children came into the little flat,

and still he worked at his problem. Again and again, and still again, he

failed. Yet, each time he failed, he told us he was coming closer to the

solution. At last came the day, after many heart-breaking experiences,

when the problem, while not fully solved, had at least revealed a solution

which was commercially valuable.

His years of self-denial and toil seemed to be about to end in success.

But he found that he had only begun another long period of discouraging

and almost desperate work. It was a struggle to scrape together the

necessary funds for securing a patent. If he was to complete and perfect

his invention, he must have more capital. So, with his model, he made the

rounds of manufacturers of engines, manufacturers who used engines,

railroads, steamboat companies, electric light and power companies; in

fact, everywhere he thought he might get some encouragement and financial

assistance. His little family was living on short rations. He himself had

not eaten as he ought for years. One after another, the men in authority

said: "Yes, your proposition looks good, but I don't think it can ever be

made practical. Some of the brightest men in the engineering profession

have spent years trying to solve that problem, and have not found the

answer to it. I do not believe that it will ever be found. You seem to

have come near it, but yet you have not found it, and we cannot see our

way clear to put any money into it."

REAPING HIS REWARD

T. argued, pleaded, and demanded an opportunity for a demonstration, but

all in vain. Then, one day, a lawyer, who had been consulted by T., said:

"I have no money to invest in anything myself, but I'll tell you frankly

and honestly, it looks good to me. Now, I happen to be on very good terms

with Mr. J. over at the T. & B. Company. He has been interested in this

problem for years and has worked along toward its solution. He understands

every phase of it, and I believe he will do something with your device.

Unless I am mistaken, he will be interested in it, and will give you an

opportunity to demonstrate it. If your demonstration works out as well as

you think it will, he has the authority to put you in a position where you

can go ahead and perfect it if it is perfectible. I will give you a letter

of introduction to him." And thus began T.'s prosperity. He now lives in a

beautiful home on a wide boulevard. His invention, still short of

perfection, but highly valuable, is coming slowly into use, and would

probably be in very widespread use were it not for the fact that he is

constantly working on it, perfecting it, improving it, and hoping finally

to have a complete solution to the problem.

CHAPTER VIII

THE IMPRACTICAL MAN

"My life is a failure," wrote Sydney Williams to us, "and I do not know

why."

In middle life my grandfather Williams moved his family across the Potomac

River from Virginia in order to study to enter the ministry. He is said to

have freed some slaves at that time, so he must have been a 'planter,' He

became a Congregational minister. My grandfather Jacobs was a carpenter;

but, as I knew him, and for some years before my birth, he was a helpless

invalid from paralysis on one side.

My father graduated from college and then became a minister. He preached

for many years, then he took up work with a religious publishing house,

finally having charge of the work at St. Paul. He was there, I believe,

when he was elected president of a small school for girls. He assumed his

new duties in June and I was born the following November. (I am the

youngest of eleven children, of whom there are now three boys and five

girls still living, three boys having died while still babies before my

birth.)

Until I was nearly twelve years old we lived at the girls' school, which

father succeeded in greatly enlarging. Mother taught me to read a little

and write a little. She and others read to me a great deal. I had no

playmates except my nephews and nieces, to whom I was continually being

pointed out as a 'model.' Out of the sight of the grown-ups, I was not

always such a model as they could have wished; yet I did feel a certain

amount of responsibility that was oppressive and repressive. When nearly

eleven, I was sent to the public school, where I was soon promoted with

two others. The next year father and mother moved into a larger town, so

that I had a few months of real home life before my father's death in

April, 1893.

Then my mother, her mother, and I went to Wisconsin to live with a

married sister of mine whose husband was the Presbyterian minister there.

I entered the fourth grade of the public school that fall; but, by the end

of the school year, I had completed the fifth grade.

My mother died in May, 1896. I continued to live with my sister. Finished

the seventh grade that June, but entered preparatory school that fall. In

November, 1897, my brother-in-law moved to Iowa, and I made the mistake of

deciding to go with him. While living in Wisconsin, I had become

acquainted with a fine lot of boys. One of them organized a small military

company; I was elected quarter-master and, later, lieutenant. I now know

that that was because we were considered 'rich,' Also in Wisconsin I

overcame some of my extreme bashfulness in regard to girls, derived from

babyhood experiences. In fact, one reason I decided to leave Wisconsin was

the fear that the friendship with one girl might become too serious; I was

beginning to shun responsibility.

ATTAINMENTS IN SCHOLARSHIP

In Iowa I entered the high school and completed the tenth grade the next

June (1898). My elder brother was my official guardian and he wanted me to

make a change. As a result, in September, 1898, I had my first experience

of being away alone by entering a famous academy. There I earned the

reputation of being a 'grind,' and graduated second in my class in June,

1901. While there I went out for football, and made the third team and

even played once on the second. My poor eyesight hindered me somewhat, but

still more the fact that I was not eager to fall down on the ball on the

hard ground when it did not seem to me necessary. I was quite ready to get

hurt, if there was any reason for it. That, too, was a mistake on my part.

That September I entered Harvard University. My father had left some

insurance, and mother left some of it to me for a college education. She

expected, as did my sisters and brothers, that I would become a minister.

By the end of my Freshman year I had decided that I could not do so, but

from that time I was unable to decide what I did want to do or could do.

Consequently I did not get the good out of a college education that I

might have. Moreover, though I stood fairly well in most of my classes, I

did not always understand the subjects as well as the professors thought I

did. As soon as it became possible to elect subjects, I dropped Latin,

Greek, and German, and specialized in history, economics, etc. I graduated

'Cum Laude,' But that was really a failure, considering what I might have

done.

But I did well enough to receive recommendation for a $500 fellowship that

enabled me to return for another year. I did work which caused me to be

recommended for an A.M. degree. But I felt that I had so little in

comparison with others, that I was actually ashamed to receive it.

Socially, however, that extra year was a very delightful one for me.

During two summers as an undergraduate, I worked at Nantasket Beach

selling tickets in the bathing pavilion for $50 a month, besides room and

board. I made good, much to the surprise of the superintendent.

HUNTING A JOB

So then I was finally through college in June, 1906. It is almost

incredible how very childlike I still was, so far as my attitude toward

the world was concerned. I had high ideals, and I wanted to get into

business, but where or how I did not know. Moreover, my money was gone. A

student gave me a note with which I intended to get his previous summer's

job as a starter on an electric car line owned by a railway company. The

position was abolished, however, so I became a conductor on a suburban

line. Unfortunately, my motorman was a high-strung, nervous Irishman, who

made me so nervous that I often could not give the signals properly, and

who made life generally unpleasant for me. He professed a liking for me

and did prevent one or two serious accidents. At the same time, he said I

was the first 'square' conductor he had ever worked with, and, no doubt,

he missed his 'extra,' After three weeks of him, and of the general

public's idea that I must, of course, be knocking down fares, I resigned.

However, the superintendent offered me a job as 'inspector' of registers

on the main line, a job that he was just creating. When the rush was over

after Labor Day, I was again out of a job. I might have secured a

clerkship with the railway company, but I was foolish enough not to try.

A few weeks later found me established in the district office of a

correspondence school not very far from New York City as a representative.

At first I gave good promise of success, but I lost my enthusiasm and

belief in the school and became ashamed to be numbered as one of its

workers because of the character of most of the local field force at that

time and before my time. The reputation of the school in that place was

not very good. Also I was not successful in collecting the monthly

payments from those who had hard luck stories or had been lied to by the

man who had enrolled them. By the end of two months I was ready to quit,

but my immediate superior begged me to stay, in order to keep him from

having to break in a new man just then. At the end of about four months I

did resign to save being kicked out. Mind you, I was to blame, all right;

for I had given up a real continuous effort beyond the merest routine and

the attempt to collect the monthly payments. While I was there I did write

a few contracts, among them a cash one amounting to $80. But, toward the

end, my lack of success was due to my utter disgust with myself for being

so blamed poor and for shirking.

AN ATTEMPT IN ORANGE CULTURE

Going back to a brother in New York, I tried to land a job, but, of

course, in such a state of mind, I could not. Then I went to my older

brother in Cincinnati, where he was, and is, the pastor of a large church.

Unfortunately, he did not take me by the back of the neck and kick me into

some kind of work, any kind. At last, in March, 1908, he helped me to come

out West. I landed in Los Angeles, and indirectly through a friend of his

I secured a job on an orange ranch in the San Gabriel Valley, which I held

until the end of the season. Once more I was happy and contented. It was

certainly a pleasure to work.

That fall, or rather winter (1908), I secured a place near San Diego,

where I had shelter and food during the winters and small wages during the

active seasons in return for doing the chores and other work.

I had become possessed with a desire for an orange grove, and refused to

consider how much it would take to develop one. I was finally able to

secure a small tract of unimproved land. But I found that the task of

clearing it would be too great for me because of the great trees, so for

this and other reasons I snatched at a chance to file on a homestead in

the Imperial Valley. This was in May, 1910. Later that summer I was able

to sell my piece of land near San Diego at a profit, so that in September

I went over to get settled on my homestead. I employed a fellow to help me

make a wagon trail for a mile or more and to build my cabin for me. I

moved in the first of November. Early in 1912 I decided it would be

impossible to irrigate enough land there to make a living at that time.

Also the difficulties of living alone so far out in the desert were

greater than I had anticipated. With the help of a friend, I was able to

make final proof in July and pay the government for the 160 acres, instead

of having to continue to live on it. I did stay, however, until the

general election in 1912.

AT WORK IN A SURVEYING CREW

Then I went to Los Angeles to get something to do. The town was full of

people seeking work, as usual, most of whom could present better records

than I could. To be sure, my friends and even my old correspondence school

boss gave me splendid recommendations, but I felt my lack of business

training and feared that 999 out of any 1,000 employers would not take a

chance with me on such a record as I had. Consequently I did not try very

hard. For a while I was with a real estate firm trying to secure

applications for a mortgage. The commission was $25, but, naturally, that

did not go far toward expenses. It was not long before I was in a bad

mental condition again through worrying, self-condemnation, and

uncertainty. It would not have been difficult to prove that I was

'insane.'

Finally an acquaintance of mine, a prominent lawyer, took up my case. He

has a good personal and business friend who is the general manager of a

large oil company with headquarters here in Bakersfield. When first

appealed to, this gentleman refused point blank, because he had a bad

opinion of college graduates in general (I really don't blame him or other

business men); but the lawyer used his influence to the utmost with the

result that I came up here in March, 1913, and was sent up into the oil

fields. I was put under the civil engineer, and for two months I was sort

of 'inspector' and 'force account' man in connection with the building of

a supply railroad, but I gradually worked into the regular surveying crew,

first as substitute rear chainman, and then as the regular one. Before

long I was head chainman. I could have remained a chainman with the same

crew to this time, but I left a little over a year ago, as there once more

seemed a chance to earn a place in the country.

ANOTHER ATTEMPT AT ORANGE CULTURE

A young fellow, now located near Bakersfield, whom I had known in San

Diego, told me great tales that I was too anxious to believe, and finally

made some fine promises to help me get a piece of what he said was his

land and to bring it to a productive state. But when I reached his place,

in February, he was not ready, willing or able to carry out his promises.

He kept me hanging on, however, and as I had used up my savings in a

month's attendance at the short course of the State agricultural college

and in bringing my goods from Bakersfield, I was compelled to get work

from him as one of his orchard gang. I helped to set out several hundred

trees and berry plants, and later knew what it meant to hoe for ten hours

a day. I left him the latter part of July in order to work out a scheme I

had thought of.

[Illustration: FIG. 25. "Sydney Williams." For analysis see pages 206 to

210. Here is a fine, capable intellect, good sense of humor, optimism,

cheerfulness, great refinement, and excellent critical powers in art and

literature. But there is a deficiency of practicability. Note smallness

and flatness of brows, narrowness of head just above the ears, fineness of

features and height of head in center, above temples.]

[Illustration: FIG. 26. "Sydney Williams." Note flatness of brows;

smallness and fineness of features; fineness of texture; height of

forehead and crown.]

[Illustration: FIG. 27. Prof. Adolf von Menzel, Sociologist. A man of

great intellect, especially interested in theoretical and statistical

studies of people, in the mass, but not greatly interested in practical,

material affairs. Note immense dome of forehead and head, with flatness at

brows.]

[Illustration: FIG. 28. Edgar Allan Poe, Poet. Impractical, deficient in

financial sense, but keenly alive to a world of fancy, ideals, dreams,

imagery, beauty, mysticism and tragedy. Note high forehead, wide above,

flat at brows and concave at sides; small nose and mouth, deep-set, gloomy

eyes; dark complexion; and lack of symmetry and balance in head and

features.]

[Illustration: FIG. 29. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Author. Highly

intellectual, sentimental, impractical, sensitive, emotional. A man of

high ideals and beautiful thoughts, and creative power. Note high,

dome-shaped head; flat, high brows, fine, delicate features; weak mouth,

and general softness of contour and expression.]

[Illustration: _Copyright by Harper & Brothers, N. Y_.

FIG. 30. Thomas De Quincy, Author. A man of fine, discriminating, logical

intellect along purely mental lines, but impractical in material affairs.

Note high, prominent forehead, with flat, poorly-developed brows, weak

nose and mouth and narrow head.]

[Illustration: FIG. 31. O. Henry, at the age of thirty. Impractical,

lacking in desire for money and financial judgment. Creative, humorous, a

lover of human nature, mild, rather easy-going, idealistic, constant. Note

high forehead, flat at brows, full at sides along top, concave nose, full

lips, prominent chin.]

[Illustration: FIG. 32. Edwin Reynolds, of Wisconsin. Of the practical,

matter-of-fact, literal type of intellect. Interested in facts, keenly

observant, quick in thought, alert and positive in his mental activities.

Note high, sloping forehead, very prominent at the brows, large nose, high

in the bridge and well-developed.]

"The first part of September I moved back to Bakersfield. I tried out my

scheme by mail on two of the most prominent men in the country (one of the

times when I had plenty of nerve). It did not work and the time did not

seem auspicious for trying it on a greater number, especially as I did not

have money enough to do it properly.

"While still working for the orchard man, I began to do some work in

getting subscriptions for the Curtis publications. I did get a few. Later,

about the middle of October, I went to Los Angeles, where I had a booth at

an exhibition for three weeks in the interest of a publishing house. But

it did not pay expenses, and I was deeper in debt than ever. I landed in

Bakersfield nearly 'broke.' Thanks to the kindness of the people where I

roomed and boarded, I was able to pull through until I obtained a loan

last week, secured by a mortgage on my homestead.

"I was entirely unable to force myself to do any real canvassing while I

was absolutely in need of each commission, but, now that I once more have

a bank account, I hope to make myself keep at it until I can feel

moderately successful. That is the one job I have fallen down on over and

over (I have not even mentioned many of the attempts), and I believe I

could be a real salesman if I could only get over my fear of approaching

people on any proposition of immediate profit to me."

Here we have in detail the old, old story. How often have you heard of the

man who graduated with high honors at the head of his class and was unable

to make a living afterward? How many men of highest scholarship have you

met who could not make a living for themselves and their families? Not

long ago we were offered the services of a man who had degrees from

several universities in America and Europe, who was master of several

languages, and who was glad to offer to do a little translating at

twenty-five cents an hour.

AN ANALYSIS OF SYDNEY WILLIAMS

What handicaps these men? They have good intellects, or they would be

unable to win high honors in colleges and universities. It is fitting that

they should educate themselves highly, since they are so capable of

attainment in scholarship. Surely, they ought to do some intellectual work

of some kind, because they are not fitted for manual labor. Where do they

belong? What is their particular type? What opportunities are there for

their unquestioned talents?

Here is what we wrote to Sydney Williams:

"From photographs and data submitted, I should judge your type of

organization, character and aptitudes to be as follows:

"You have inherited only a fairly good physical constitution. You will

always need to take care of yourself, but there is absolutely no reason

why you should worry in regard to your health.

"Under stress and strain your nervous system may give you trouble, and

there may be some tendency to digestive disturbances, but if you will

practice moderation, live on a well-balanced and sensibly selected diet,

and keep yourself from extremes of every kind you will probably maintain

very fair health and strength for many years.

"Intellectually you have a good, active mind of the theoretical type. Your

mind is quick to grasp theories, ideals, abstractions, and such intangible

and purely mental concepts. Your imagination is active, and is inclined to

run away with plans, schemes, and inventions, with speculations and with

visions of future prospects. However, your plans and inventions are liable

to be purely along mental and intellectual lines, rather than practical.

"You do not observe well. You are a little too careless in regard to your

facts. You therefore have a tendency to go ahead with your theories and

your plans upon insufficient data or upon data which are not accurate

because they have not been properly verified.

"This deficiency in observation also handicaps you, because you do not

see things in their right relation, and your judgment is, therefore,

liable to be erratic and unsound.

"You should compel yourself to get the facts. You should suspend judgment

until you have made sure that all of the premises from which you argue to

your conclusions are sound and accurate. Take nothing for granted. Compel

yourself to stick to the facts. Not only ask yourself the question, 'Will

it work?' but make sure that the affirmative answer is absolutely accurate

before you go ahead.

"Many of your characteristics are those of immaturity, notwithstanding

your years, your education, and your experience. You still retain many

youthful tendencies. You are inclined to be impulsive. You are very

responsive emotionally, and when your emotions are aroused you are prone

to decide important matters without reference to facts, reason, and logic.

Another very youthful characteristic in you is your tendency to be

headstrong, wilful, stubborn, and opinionated. When you have arrived at

one of your swift conclusions you find it very difficult to take advice.

Even when you do listen to what others say, you do not listen well. Your

mind jumps ahead to conclusions that are erroneous and which were never in

the mind of the person giving you the advice.

"As you can readily see, it is this inability to get competent counsel

from others, coupled with your own lack of observation and lack of

deliberation, that leads you into so many situations that turn out to be

undesirable. Here, again, you need to go more slowly, to act more

according to your knowledge and less according to impulse, to make sure

that you understand what other people say, especially when seeking for

advice. As a result of your rather emotional character, you are liable to

go to extremes and do erratic things, to be over-zealous for a short

period; also, at times, to be high tempered, although your temper quickly

evaporates. In all of these things you will see the need for cultivation

of more self-control, more poise, more calmness, more maturity of thought,

speech, and action.

"You are very idealistic. Your standards are high. You naturally expect

much. It is your hope always, when making a change, that you will get into

something which will more nearly approach perfection than the thing you

are leaving.

"But you are also critical. Indeed, you are inclined to be hypercritical,

to find too much fault, to see too many flaws and failures. For this

reason, nothing ever measures up to your ideals--you are always being

disappointed.

"You need to cultivate far more courage. By this I mean the courage which

hangs on, which meets obstacles, which overcomes difficulties, which

persists through disagreeable situations. Your impulsiveness leads you

into plenty of things, but you are so hypercritical, and you become so

easily discouraged when eventualities do not measure up to your ideals,

that you fail to finish that which you start.

"Naturally, of course, if you were to be more deliberate and more careful

in forming your judgments, you would find things more nearly ideal after

you got into them. Then, if you would stick to them, you could make a much

greater success of them.

"Your intention to be honest, is, no doubt, above reproach. However, your

conduct or the results may at times be equivalent to dishonesty, being so

regarded by others. This, of course, is the result of your immaturity,

your impulsiveness, and your tendency not to see things through.

"You are very keenly sensitive. With your great love of beauty and

refinement, anything which is coarse, crude, and ugly in your environment

is very depressing to you. You also find it difficult to associate happily

with those who are coarse and crude by nature. Unquestionably, such people

frequently hurt you cruelly when they have no intention of doing so. It

would be well if you would learn to accept other people for what they are

worth, rather than being so critical of them and so easily hurt. Praise

and blame are usually meant impersonally and should be so received. In

other words, people praise or blame the deed and not the doer.

"Your appreciation of financial and commercial values and methods is

deficient. This is due to many different things, but principally to your

lack of observation, your inability to see things in their right

relations, and your limited sense of values. For these reasons you are not

and cannot become vitally interested in financial and commercial affairs.

If your wants were supplied, and you had something interesting to do,

money would receive practically no consideration from you. For your own

sake, you ought to attach more importance to monetary considerations,

cultivate a greater sense of values, develop more practical commercial

sense. On the other hand, however, you should not attempt any vocation in

which a high development of these qualities is necessary.

"In practical affairs, you show a tendency not to learn by experience.

This is because of deficiency in your observation of facts. You do not

really understand the essential facts of the experiences through which you

pass, and, therefore, they do not impress or teach you.

"In your choice of a vocation you should make up your mind once for all

that, on account of the qualities I have described, you are not commercial

or financial, and, therefore, you do not belong in the industrial or

commercial world. Your talents are educational, dramatic, professional,

literary. You are decidedly of the mental type. Your world is a mental

world, an intellectual world. Ideas, ideals, and theories are the things

with which you can deal most successfully.

"Owing to your distaste for detail, and the difficulty you have in

applying yourself to a task until it is finished, and also on account of

your very keen and sensitive critical faculties, you are probably better

fitted for success as a critic than as a producer.

"A position in a house publishing books and magazines, where your duty

would be to read, analyze, and criticise manuscripts, would offer you far

better opportunities than anything you have yet attempted.

"You could probably do well in a mail-order house as correspondent.

"You also have some dramatic ability which, if developed and trained,

might make you a success, either on the stage or in the pulpit. In this

connection, I merely call your attention, in passing, to the

opportunities in the motion picture drama. Here is where dramatic ability

is everything and the heavier demands upon the actor in the ordinary

drama, especially in the way of physical development, voice, etc., do not

enter.

"Another line which might possibly interest you would be that of a

salesman in an art or music store, where customers come to you, or in a

book store. You probably would do better selling to women than to men.

"Whatever you do, you should work under direction, under the direction of

some one whose judgment, wisdom, honesty, and high principles you respect.

Under wise leadership you have your very best opportunities for success.

In attempting to be your own manager and to go your own way, you suffer

from the serious handicaps to which I have already referred.

"In selecting from among the vocations I have enumerated the one that is

best for you, you will, of course, be guided very largely by

opportunities. At this distance I do not know just which is your best

opportunity, and, therefore, cannot counsel you definitely to undertake

any one of these vocations in preference to the others. If the opportunity

is at hand, perhaps the position of literary or dramatic critic with a

publishing house would be most congenial for you and offer you the best

future. If not, then one of the others. You might even undertake a

position as salesman in a book store or an art store while preparing or

waiting for an opening in one of the other lines suggested.

"Whatever you undertake, however, compel yourself, in spite of obstacles,

in spite of your very natural criticisms of the situation, to stick to it

until you make a success of it.

"As you grow older, if you will patiently and conscientiously cultivate

more deliberation, more practical sense, more self-control, and more

poise, you will become more mature in judgment and gradually overcome to a

greater and greater degree the handicaps which have so far interfered with

your progress and the best and highest expression of your personality."

HANDICAPS OF THIS TYPE

To make a long story short, Sydney Williams and men of his type have

unusual intellectual powers of analysis, criticism, memory, abstraction,

and philosophy. They can master hypotheses, higher mathematics, and Hebrew

irregular verbs, but they are babes in all practical affairs. They have

some such conception of the plain facts of human nature, ordinary

financial values, and efficient methods of commerce as a man with color

blindness has of the art of Corot. Like the children they are, these

people seldom suspect their deficiencies. Oftentimes they are ambitious to

make a success in a commercial way. They try salesmanship, or, if they

have a little capital, they may embark in some ambitious business project

on their own account. They even go into farming or agriculture or poultry

raising, or some kind of fancy fruit producing, with all of the optimism

and cheerfulness and confidence in their ability that Sydney Williams felt

for his orange growing. When they fail, it is more often through their own

incompetence than because some one comes along who is mean enough to take

candy from a baby. They usually dissipate their assets by impracticable

schemes before the unscrupulous can take them. The only hope for such men

is to learn their limitations; to learn that, even though they may be

ambitious for commercial success, they are utterly unqualified for it;

that, although they may wish to do something in the way of production or

selling, they have neither talent, courage, secretiveness, persistence,

nor other qualities necessary for a success in these lines. They are too

credulous. They are too impractical. They are too lacking in fighting

qualities, and, therefore, too easily imposed upon. They are usually lazy

physically and find disagreeable situations hard, so that they are out of

place in the rough-and-tumble, strenuous, hurly-burly of business,

manufacturing, or ordinary professional life.

Perhaps a few stories would indicate what these men can do, do well, and

what they can be happy and satisfied in doing. There is a real need for

them in the world.

A CAREER IN MUSIC

George R. came to us late one evening in a little town in Illinois. He was

nervous, weak, and diffident.

"I am now," he said, "a salesman in a dry goods store. But I have only

held the job three months and do not expect that I will be permitted to

remain more than a week or so longer. I have been warned several times by

the floor-walker that my errors will cost me my position. God knows, I do

my best to succeed in the work, but it is like all the other positions

I've held. Somehow or other I don't seem to be able to give satisfaction.

While I am on my guard and as alert as I know how to be against one of the

things I've been told not to do, I am just as sure as sunshine to go and

do some other thing which is against the rules. If I don't do something

against the rules, then I forget to do something I was told to do. If I

don't forget to do something I've been told to do, then I am quite likely

to make some outlandish mistake that no one ever thought of framing a rule

to fit. The result of it all is that in about another week or, at the

most, two, I'll be out of employment again. I have tried driving a

delivery wagon. I've tried grocery stores. I've tried doing collections. I

began once as clerk in a bank. Immediately after leaving college, I

started in as newspaper reporter. I've been a newsboy on railroad trains.

I sold candies and peanuts in a fair ground. I have been night clerk in a

hotel. I've been steward on a steamboat. I've been a shipping clerk in a

publishing house, and I have been fired from every job I have ever had.

True enough, I've hated them all, but, nevertheless; I have tried to do my

best in them. Why I cannot succeed with any of them, I don't know, and yet

I have a feeling that somehow, somewhere, sometime, I will find something

to do that I will love, and that I can do well."

"Music," we said, "unquestionably music."

"Do you think I could?" he said wistfully. "Music has been my passion all

my life long. It has been my one joy, my one solace in all my wanderings

and all my failures. But I have always been afraid I would fail also in

that, and, if I should, it would break my heart sure. But if you think I

have the talent, then I shall give my whole time, my whole thought, my

whole energy to music hereafter."

It was rather late in life for this young man to begin a musical career.

While he had always been fond of music, he had been sent to college for a

classical course by parents to whom a classical course meant everything

that was desirable in an education. He had learned to play the piano, the

violin, the guitar, the mandolin, and some other instruments, without

education, because of his natural musical talent. He played them all as he

had opportunity, for his own amusement, but, because of his ambition for

commercial success, had never thought of music as a career. We wish we

might tell you that this young man was now one of the foremost composers

or conductors of his time. It would make an excellent story. Such,

however, is not the case.

He devoted himself to securing a thorough musical education, supporting

himself and paying his expenses in the mean-while by playing in churches,

musicales, motion picture shows, and other places. He also received a few

dollars nearly every week for playing the violin for dances and other

functions in a semi-professional orchestra. Truly this was not "art for

art's sake." Any critical musician could probably tell you that such use

of his musical talent forever shut off any hopes of his becoming a true

artist. On the other hand, it did fill his stomach and clothe him while he

was securing a sufficient musical education to enable him to make a very

fair living as teacher on various musical instruments and as a performer

at popular concerts, recitals, etc. Best of all, he was happy in his work,

felt himself growing in success and, while there were probably heights

which he never could scale and to which he may have turned his longing

eyes, he doubtless got a considerable amount of satisfaction out of the

fact that he was no longer being kicked around from pillar to post in the

commercial world.

VOCATIONS FOR THE IMPRACTICAL

Herbert Spencer felt that he was a complete and utter failure as a civil

engineer, but he made a magnificent success as a scientist, essayist, and

philosopher.

The number of great authors, scientists, philosophers, poets, actors,

preachers, teachers, lecturers, and musicians who were ludicrously

impractical is legion. Literature abounds in stories of their

idiosyncrasies. These people deal with abstractions, ideas, with theories,

and with emotions. They may be very successful in the spinning of

theories, in the working out of clever ideas, and in their appeal to the

emotions of their fellow-men. They may write poetry which is the product

of genius; they may devise profound philosophy. This is their realm. Here

is where they are supreme, and it is in this kind of work they find an

expression for all of their talent.

Right here there is need for careful distinction. There is a great

difference between the impractical man who has energy, courage, and

persistence, and the impractical man who is lazy and cowardly. No matter

what a man's natural talent may be, it takes hard work to be successful in

such callings as art, music, the pulpit, the stage, the platform, and the

pen. Inspiration may seem to have a great deal to do with success. But

even in the writing of a poem inspiration is probably only about five per

cent.; hard work constitutes the other ninety-five per cent. It is one

thing to have vague, beautiful dreams, to be an admirer of beauty, to

enjoy thrills in contemplation of beautiful thoughts or beautiful

pictures. It is quite another thing to have the energy, the courage, and

the dogged persistence necessary to create that which is beautiful.

NO EASY ROAD TO SUCCESS

We offer no golden key which unlocks the doors to success. Much as we

regret to disappoint many aspiring young men and women, we must be

truthful and admit that there is no magic way in which some wonderful,

unguessed talent can be discovered within them and made to blossom forth

in a night, as it were. Many people of this type come to us for

consultation, evidently with the delectable delusion that we can point out

to them some quick and easy way to fame and fortune. Again we must make

emphatic by repetition the hard, uncompromising truth that laziness,

cowardice, weakness, and vacilation are incompatible with true success. No

matter what a man's other aptitudes may be, no matter how great his talent

or his opportunities, we can suggest absolutely no vocation in which he

can be successful unless he has the will to overcome these deficiencies in

his character.

Many a man is deluded into the fond supposition that he is not successful

because he does not fit into the vocation where he finds himself. The

truth is that he probably is in as desirable a vocation as could possibly

be found for him. The reason he is not successful is because he has failed

to develop the fundamental qualities of industry, courage, and

persistence.

HOW TO BECOME MORE PRACTICAL

When the impractical man learns his limitations he is all too likely to go

to extremes in depreciating his own business ability. Many such people are

seemingly proud of their deficiencies in business sense. "I am no business

man. You attend to it, I'll trust you," they say. While a lack of natural

business ability may not be a man's fault, it is nothing to be proud of.

You may not be born with keen, financial sense, but that is no reason why

you may not develop more and more of it and make yourself a better

business man. As a matter of fact, every man is in business--he has

something to sell which he wishes the rest of the world to buy from him.

He has himself, at least, to support, and more than likely he has others

dependent upon him. He has no right, therefore, to neglect business

affairs and to permit others to impose upon him and to steal from him and

from those dependent upon him the proper reward for his labor.

Even the youth who is poor in mathematics can learn something about

geometry, algebra, and trigonometry; even he who "has no head for

language" can learn to speak a foreign tongue and even to read Latin or

Greek. It is not easy for either one of them and perhaps the one can never

become a great mathematician nor the other a great linguist, but both can

learn something, both can improve their grasp of the difficult subject.

There are probably few readers of these pages who have not in their school

days overcome just such handicaps in some particular subject of study.

In a similar way those who are impractical and have little business sense

can improve in this respect and they ought to. Such people ought to study

practical affairs, ought to give their attention to financial matters. In

fact, one of the best ways to increase financial judgment is to form the

intimate acquaintance of some one who has a keen sense of financial

values. If such a person can be persuaded to talk about what he knows, the

impractical man will do well to take a keen interest in what he says, to

qualify himself to understand it, and, if possible, to get the point of

view from which a good business man approaches his problems and studies

his affairs. Actual practice is, of course, necessary for development, and

the impractical man ought to take an interest in his affairs and ought to

do his best to handle them. Naturally, he needs to seek competent counsel

in regard to them, but he should pay some attention to the counsel given,

try to learn something from it, watch results of every course of action

and in every possible way study to make himself more practical and less

theoretical and abstract in his attitude toward life in general and toward

business affairs in particular.

Not long ago we attended a meeting of two and three hundred of the most

prominent authors, poets, and playwrights in America. We were not at all

surprised to note that nearly every one of those who had made a financial

success of his art was a man of the practical, commercial type who had

developed his business sense along with his artistic or literary talent.

A PAUPER, HE DREAMED OF MILLIONS

Some years ago we formed the acquaintance of a delightful man who is so

typical of a certain class of the impractical that his story is

instructive. When we first formed the acquaintance of this gentleman he

was about thirty years of age, rather handsome in appearance, with great

blue eyes, very fine silky blonde hair, and a clear, pink, and white

complexion. His head, somewhat narrow just above the ears, indicated a

mild, easy-going, gentle disposition. The large, rounded dome just above

temples was typical of the irrepressible optimist. His forehead, very full

and bulging just below the hair line, showed him to be of the thoughtful,

meditative, drearily type, while flatness and narrowness at the brows told

as plainly as print of the utter impracticability of his roseate dreams.

True to his exquisite blonde coloring, this man was eager, buoyant,

irrepressible, impatient of monotony, routine, and detail--social and

friendly. True to his fine texture, he shrank from hardship, was

sensitive, refined, beauty loving and luxury loving. Because of his mild

disposition and optimism and also because of his love of approval, he was

suave, affable, courteous, agreeable. He made acquaintances easily and had

many of the elements of popularity.

Because he was ambitious to occupy a position of prominence and

distinction, because he wished to gratify his luxurious and elegant

tastes, and because in his irrepressible optimism it seemed so absurdly

easy to do, he was eager to make a large fortune. Lacking the

aggressiveness, energy, willingness to undergo hardship and to work hard

and long, patiently enduring the hours and days of drudgery over details

that could not be neglected, he dreamed of making millions by successful

speculation.

LOOKING FOR A SHORT CUT TO WEALTH

It is easy to see why a man of this type, with his futile dreams of easy

conquests in the field of finance, should have scorned the slow and

painful process of acquiring an education. Yet the tragedy of his life was

that his only hope of usefulness in the world was through the careful

cultivation and development of his really fine intellect. It is also easy

to see why such a man would lack the patience to learn a trade even if he

had had the manual skill to carry on any trade successfully--which he had

not. For the same reasons he would not take pains to qualify himself for

any occupation, although he might have made a fair success in retail

salesmanship perhaps, notwithstanding his far greater fitness for

educational, ministerial, or platform work. On the contrary, he roamed

about the country occupying himself at odd times with such bits of light

mental or physical work as came his way. Being without training and taking

no real interest in his work, he never retained any job long. Sometimes,

lured by the will-o'-the-wisp of some fancied opportunity to make a

million, he gave up his work. Sometimes he merely got tired of working and

quit. But most often he was discharged for his incompetence. It is

difficult indeed for any man to attend properly to the cent-a-piece

details of an ordinary job when he is dreaming of the easy thousands he is

going to make next week.

This charming gentleman was always out of funds. Although he carefully

tonsured the ends of his trouser legs, inked the cuffs of his coat,

blackened and polished his hose and even his own, fine, fair skin where it

showed through the holes of his shoes, and turned his collars and ties

again and again, he was nearly always shabby. On rare and ever rarer

occasions he would do some relative or friend the inestimable favor and

honor of accepting a small loan, "to be repaid in a few days, as soon as a

big deal I now have under way is consummated." These loans were his only

successes in the realm of practical finance. Inasmuch as the repayment of

them was contingent upon the closing of an ever-imminent, but never

consummated, "big deal," they cost him nothing for either principal or

interest. For a few weeks after the successful negotiation of one of these

loans, he would be resplendent, opulent, fastidious, even generous. All

too soon the last dollar would slip through his unheeding fingers. If

during a period of affluence he had succeeded in establishing a little

semblance of credit, he would maintain his regal style of living as long

as it lasted. Then he would come down to the hall bedroom or even the

ten-cent lodging house, the lunch wagon, and the pawn shop. But even at

the lowest ebb of his fortunes, he never seemed to lose his cheerfulness,

his good nature, his grand manners, and his easy, confident hope and

conviction about the huge sums that were to come into his possession

"within a few days."

A DILETTANTE IN REAL ESTATE

Do not imagine that this man's dreams of great and easy fortunes were mere

idle fancies--far from it. He was nearly always engaged in negotiations

for some big deal. One of his favorite pastimes was to hunt up large

holdings of real estate offered for sale, go to the owners, represent

himself as a real estate broker, and secure permission to put these

properties on his "list." This permission obtained, he would go about

trying to find buyers. But his ideas of real estate values, of the

adaptation of properties to purchasers, of the details of a real estate

transaction and of salesmanship were so vague and so impractical that if

he ever succeeded in selling a piece of real estate, we have not yet heard

of it. He lacked the practical sense necessary to inform himself upon such

important matters as taxes, assessments, insurance rates, trend of

population, direction and character of commercial expansion, bank

clearings, freight shipments, volume of retail and wholesale business,

projected municipal and public service improvements, crop reports, output

of manufacturies, and many other items which form the basis for

intelligent negotiation, in a real estate deal. He could talk only in

glittering generalities, and his suggestions were usually so impracticable

that he failed to secure the confidence of those who were in a position to

purchase properties so valuable as those he invariably hit upon for his

ambitious projects.

AN UNDESERVED BAD REPUTATION

Here, then, was a man of unusual intelligence and capacity along

theoretical, abstract, philosophical, and spiritual lines. His intentions

were good. He was kindly, sympathetic, generous to a fault, refined,

ambitious, high principled at heart and a thorough gentleman by birth,

training, and instinct. Yet, because of a lack of clear knowledge, his

life has been one of hardship, privation, disappointment, disillusionment,

galling poverty, and utter failure. He has been subjected to ridicule and

the even more blighting cruelty of good-natured, patronizing, contemptuous

tolerance. His reputation is that of a lazy, good-for-nothing,

disreputable dead beat and loafer. And yet, in a sense, nothing is further

from the truth. Notwithstanding his many disappointments, no one could

have been more sincere than he in believing that just around the corner

fortune awaited him.

DIAGNOSIS OF THE IMPRACTICAL MAN'S CASE

The fundamental difficulty with the impractical man is two fold. First,

his powers of observation are so deficient that it is difficult for him to

obtain facts. It is an axiom of conscious life that there is pleasure and

satisfaction in the use of well-developed powers and a disinclination to

use powers which are deficient in development. Because it is difficult for

the impractical man to obtain facts, he has little desire to obtain them.

He takes little interest in them, does not appreciate their value. He,

therefore, assumes his facts, takes them for granted or proceeds almost

wholly without them. Even when he does take the trouble to ascertain the

facts, he is inclined to be hasty and slipshod in his methods. He,

therefore does not obtain all of the necessary information bearing upon

his problem. He does not painstakingly verify his knowledge through

repeated observations, under all kinds of conditions. So he is frequently

mistaken and reasons to his conclusions upon supposed facts which are not

facts at all.

Second, the impractical man, as a general rule, has well-developed powers

of reason, logic, and imagination. His mind easily and unerringly leaps

from premises to conclusion and weaves long and beautiful chains of

reasoning, each link perfectly formed. The only trouble is that none of

the chains are attached to anything solid and substantial at either end.

With highly developed powers of imagination, it follows that the

impractical man loves to dream, to build castles in the air. When he

attempts to form a judgment or reach a conclusion, he may possibly begin

by attempting to ascertain the facts. But observation for him is a slow

and painful process. He does not enjoy it. He has no patience with it.

Mere facts restrict him. Practical reasoning is like walking painfully,

step by step, along a narrow, steep pathway, leading to a fixed

destination at which the traveler arrives whether he wills it or not. The

impractical man's form of reasoning, starting at the same place, soars

into the air, dips and sweeps in magnificent and inspiring curves and

finally sets him down at whatever destination seems most desirable to him.

His well-developed powers of imagination are usually more than willing to

supply the deficiencies in his powers of observation. In his own realm he

is a valuable member of society--often becomes rich and famous. But he is

a misfit in any vocation which deals wholly with concrete things.

DESCRIPTION OF THE IMPRACTICAL MAN

The impractical man is easily recognized. He may be blonde or brunette,

large or small, fine textured or coarse textured, energetic or lazy,

aggressive or mild, friendly or unfriendly, ambitious or unambitious,

honest or dishonest--but his mark is upon his forehead. If his brows are

flat or if his forehead immediately above and at the sides of his eyes is

undeveloped or only a little developed, his powers of observation are

deficient. He is not interested in facts and his judgment is based upon

hasty and mistaken premises. As a general rule, in such cases, the upper

part of the forehead is well developed. This is always the case if the man

is intelligent. If the forehead is both low and retreating and flat at the

brows, then the individual lacks both power of observation and reasoning

power, and is very deficient in intellect.

Figures 27 and 28 and 29 and 30 show some very common types of the

impractical man. Note the flatness of the brows in every case. Figures 32,

50, and 54 show the foreheads of practical men.

CHAPTER IX

HUNGRY FOR FAME

The born artist has a passion for creation. This is true whether his art

expresses itself through paints and brushes, through chisel and stone, on

the stage, through musical tones, through bricks and mortar, or through

the printed page. The born artist may or may not have, as companion to his

passion for creation, a hunger for fame, an ear which adores applause. Few

artists, however, have ever become famous who were not spurred on by an

eager desire for the plaudits of their fellows.

It is possible to have the passion for creation without the hunger for

fame. It is also possible to have a hunger for fame without the passion

for creation. In the "Light That Failed," Kipling tells of little Maisie,

who toiled and struggled, not to create beauty, but for success. Yet, poor

Dick, who loved her, was forced to admit that there was no special reason

why her work should be done at all.

Horace Annesley Vachell, in "Brothers," tells the story of Mark Samphire's

tragedy. "When, after three years of most gruelling, hard work as an art

student, he turned to his great master and asked: 'When you were here last

you said to a friend of mine that it was fortunate for me that I had

independent means. You are my master; you have seen everything I have

done. Pynsent knows my work, too, every line of it. I ask you both: Am I

wasting my time?'

"Neither answered.

"'No mediocre success will content me,' continued Mark. 'I ask you again:

Am I wasting my time?'

"'Yes,' said the master gruffly. He put on his hat and went out.

"'He's not infallible,' Pynsent muttered angrily.

"'Then you advise me to go on? No, you are too honest to do that. I shall

not go on, Pynsent; but I do not regret the last three years. They would

have been wasted, indeed, if they had blinded me to the truth concerning

my powers.'"

WHEN THE DIVINE FIRE IS NOT AFLAME

The art schools of Paris! History, fiction, reminiscence, your own

knowledge, perhaps your own experience, join in piling mountain-high the

tale of wasted years, blasted ambitions, broken hopes and shattered

ideals. Worse than this, perhaps, they tell of homes, galleries and shops

disfigured with mediocre work and criminally hideous daubs.

The music studios of Paris, Berlin, New York, and other large cities, the

schools of dramatic art, the theological seminaries, and the departments

of literature in our universities could add their sad testimony.

Theatrical managers, editors of magazines, publishers, art dealers, and

lyceum bureaus are besieged by armies of aspiring misfits.

Probably there is no more difficult and hazardous undertaking in all the

experience of the vocational counsellor than that presented by people of

this type. The mere fact that a young man has painted scores of pictures

which have been rejected has no bearing on the case. Artistic and literary

history is studded with the glorious names of those who struggled through

years of failure and rejection to final success. This is, in fact, true of

nearly all of the great artists and writers. True, the mere dictum of any

authority, however high, would have very little effect in turning the true

creative artist from his life work, but what a pity it would have been if

Richard Mansfield, Booth Tarkington, Mark Twain, and a host of others had

paid any attention to the advice of those who told them they never could

succeed! And yet, unless the vocational counsellor can encourage and urge

on those who have the divine spark, and turn back from their quest those

who have it not, he has failed in one of his most important tasks.

ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS IN ART

Let us, therefore, examine some of the elements of success in art. We have

seen that the born artist has a passion for creation. He _must_ draw, or

paint, or act, or sing, or write. That which is within him demands

expression and will not be denied. His love is for the work and not for

the reward or the applause. These are but incidental. His visions and

dreams are of ever greater achievements and not of an ever increasing

income or wider popularity. Work well done and the conscious approval of

his own mind are the sweetest nectar to his soul.

But this passion of creation is, perhaps, not enough in itself. "Art is a

jealous mistress." Even the passion for creation must wait upon slowly and

painfully acquired technique, and, in the case of painting, sculpture,

instrumental music, and some other forms of art, upon inherent capacity

and manual skill. Many an artist's soul is imprisoned in a clumsy body

which will not do its bidding.

"Art is long," and he who is unwilling or unable to keep alive the divine

spark through years of poverty had better turn back before he sets forth

upon the great adventure. Searching the portraits of the world's great

artists, living and dead, you will not find a lazy man amongst them.

AN ATTEMPT TO MIX INDOLENCE AND POETRY

During our school days we made the acquaintance of Larime Hutchinson, then

a lad of twenty, shy, self-conscious, pathetically credulous, and hobbled

by a prodigious ineptitude which made him a favorite butt for schoolboy

jokes and pranks. Larime was in great disfavor with the teachers because

he almost never had his lessons. He was also in disfavor with the college

treasurer because he did not pay his bills. Larime's father was a country

minister and could send him only a few dollars a month. The rest of his

financial necessities he was supposed to meet by sawing wood, mowing

lawns, attending furnaces, and other such odd jobs. But Larime never could

hold these jobs because he was too lazy to do them well. He was also in

high disfavor with his schoolmates, first, because of his timidity and

self-consciousness; second, because of the strange air of superiority

which, paradoxically enough, he managed to affect even in spite of these

handicaps. A little confidential consorting with this peculiar young man

soon revealed the fact that he yearned to be heralded with great acclaim

as "The Poet of the New World." Not only did he yearn; he confidently

expected it. Nay, more; he already was "The Poet of the New World," and

awaited only the day of his acknowledgment by those who, despite their

prejudices and envy, would eventually be compelled to accord him his true

position. To prove his claims, Larime read us some of his "poetry." It was

bad, very bad, and yet it was not quite bad enough to be good.

Such visions of glory as obscured Larime Hutchinson's sensible view of the

practical world are, perhaps, common enough in adolescence, and, as a

general rule, work no serious harm. There were, however, two fatal defects

of character in this case. The first was that Larime continued to dream

and to write what he thought was verse, when he ought to have been at work

plowing corn, for he had qualities which, with industry, would have made

him a successful farmer. Second, he was mentally too lazy for the drudgery

even the greatest poet must perform if he is to perfect his technique.

A MIND FOCUSSED ON DETAILS

The case of Marshall Mears, a young man who consulted us a few years ago

with reference to his ambition to become a journalist and author, well

illustrates a different phase of this same problem. This young man was of

the tall, raw-boned, vigorous, active, energetic, industrious type. There

was not a lazy bone in his body. In addition to his energy, he had unusual

powers of endurance, so that he could work fifteen, eighteen, or twenty

hours a day for weeks at a time without seeming to show any signs of

fatigue. He was ambitious for success as a writer. He was willing to work,

to work hard, to work long, to wait for recognition through years of

constant effort. He had secured a fairly good education and, in many ways,

seemed well fitted for the vocation he had chosen to pursue.

A careful examination, however, showed two fundamental deficiencies in

Marshall Mears which training could only partially overcome. First, his

was one of those narrow-gauge, single-track minds. He was incapable of any

breadth of vision. His mind was completely obsessed with details. He would

go to a lecture, or to a play, and invariably, instead of grasping the

main argument of the lecture, or the lesson of the play, he saw only a few

inconsequential details of action in the play, and remembered only stray

and somewhat irrelevant statements made by the lecturer. A novel or an

essay appealed to him in the same way. Present to him a business

proposition and his whole attention would be absorbed by some chance

remark. He was a devoted admirer of the late Elbert Hubbard and he had

longed for years to hear the great man lecture. Finally his opportunity

came and he was greatly elated, and not a little excited, as he looked

forward to what he believed to be one of the treats of a lifetime. When he

returned from the lecture, as we had feared, instead of being uplifted and

delighted, he was manifestly disappointed.

"Didn't you like the lecture?" we asked.

"I cannot understand," he complained, "why as intelligent a man as Hubbard

should split his infinitives."

Naturally, a man with a mind like this could not construct a plot or

outline an article. His writings, like his conversations, were long drawn

out, meandering and painfully tiresome recitations of trifling and, for

the most part, irrelevant detail.

We counselled him to lay aside his pen and take hold of plow handles

instead. He has since become a successful farmer, perfectly happy, working

out all the infinitude of minutiae in connection with the intensive

cultivation of small fruits.

LACK OF DISCRIMINATION A HANDICAP

Still another phase of this problem is presented by the case of N.J.F.

This man also wanted to be an editor and writer. He was a big,

fine-looking fellow, fairly well educated, had some ability in written

expression, and frequent good ideas. With his aptitudes, training, and

talents, it seemed, at first sight, that he certainly ought to be able to

succeed in an editorial capacity. Further examination showed, however, a

lamentable lack of discrimination, a deficient sense of the fitness of

things, and consequently, unreliable judgment. These deficiencies are

worse than handicaps to an editor. They are absolute disqualifications. An

editor's first duty is to discriminate, to sift, to winnow the few grains

of wheat out of the bushels of chaff that come to his mill. Editors must

have a very keen sense of the fitness of things. It is true that the

discriminating reader of newspapers and magazines may be tempted to feel

at times that this sense of the fitness of things is very rare in editors.

Unquestionably, it could be improved in many cases, and yet, on the whole,

it must be admitted that newspaper and magazine editors perform at least

one important function with a very fair degree of acceptability, namely,

they purvey material which is at least interesting to the particular class

of readers to whom they wish to appeal. If readers could be induced to

wade through for a week the masses of uninteresting material which is

submitted, they would doubtless have far greater respect for the

intelligence, criticism, peculiarities, and sense of fitness of things of

the editors.

But we digress. N.J.F. was incapable of sound judgment, not because he did

not know the facts, but because, instead of reasoning logically to his

conclusion, in accordance with the facts, he was entirely governed by his

rather erratic feelings. In other words, he could not reason well from

cause to effect; he did not understand people, and so could not sense what

would interest them, and his powers of criticism, such as he possessed,

were destructive rather than constructive.

Contrary to our advice, N.J.F. persisted in his editorial ambitions and in

time managed to persuade the owner of a certain publication to entrust him

with its editorial management. Almost immediately the periodical began to

lose subscribers. Down, down, down went its circulation until it almost

reached the vanishing point. Finally, it expired. The trouble was not that

its pages contained anything bad, harmful or illiterate, but simply that

there was page after page of dry, discursive, uninteresting, valueless

material. It was a pity, because, under a competent editor, the periodical

in question had occupied an important and useful place in the current

literature of the period, and also because, as a dealer in coal, lumber,

lime, and building materials, N.J. F. would have been a useful and

successful member of the community.

[Illustration: FIG. 33. John Masefield, Poet. Idealistic,

sentimental, dreamy, impractical, but intensely responsive to beauty,

rhythm and imagery. Has creative power. Note high, straight forehead, very

high head, fine texture, finely chiseled features, and dreamy, mystic

expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 34. Edward DeReszke, Opera Singer. Great

artistic and musical talent, with capacity for sentiment and emotion. Note

width of brows; dome of head over temples; fulness of eyes, curves of

nose, cheeks and lips, Also large physical frame, especially chest and

abdomen.]

[Illustration: _Copyright by A. Dupont, N.Y._

FIG. 35. Puccini. Composer. Has artistic talent and creative ability

together with, energy, ambition, persistence, courage, determination.

Rather mild in disposition. Not a particularly good business man. More

interested in music than in money. Note width of forehead at eyes and at

upper corners and its narrowness between; high nose; brunette color;

square, strong jaw and chin; straight, firm mouth, and calm, determined

expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 36. John S. Sargent, R.A., Portrait Painter.

Keen powers of observation, high ambition, great energy, fine

discrimination, excellent powers of expression, and social qualities. Note

unusual development of brows, height of head; fulness of forehead at

center; fulness of eyes, large, high nose, and fulness of backhead.]

[Illustration: _Photo by American Press Association._

FIG. 37. Pietro Mascagni. Composer. Musical, emotional sensuous,

impulsive, spasmodically energetic. Note width of forehead at brows, full

lips, dimpled chin, heavy cheeks, thick-lidded eyes, large nose, and

intense, ardent expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 38. Richard Burton. Author. Has fine,

sentimental, idealistic, artistic and literary talents, intellectual,

creative and inventive ability, together with energy, determination, and

ambition. Note height and width of forehead; fulness back of upper

corners; large, but finely chiseled features, and thoughtfully intense,

but calm, serious, poised expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 39. Mendelssohn, Composer. Very refined, sensitive,

responsive, emotional and delighted with appreciation and applause.

Creative, musical, capable of great industry and perseverance. Note width

of forehead at brows; large, glowing eyes; finely chiseled, regular

features; short upper lip; beautifully curved lips; high head, rounded

above temples. Compare this with Figure 20.]

[Illustration: FIG. 40. Massenet, Composer. Artistic ability, backed up

by ambition, energy, determination, courage, and persistence. Note width

of lower portion of forehead; large, well-formed nose; firm mouth, jaw and

chin; height and width of head; square hands and finger-tips. Also very

emotional and intense nature. Note round, dome-shaped head, smooth

fingers, and dreamy expression.]

THE INSANITY OF GENIUS

The greatest artists, musicians, writers, and thinkers are men of genius

and are, therefore, in a sense, abnormal. Lombroso, in his work, "The Man

of Genius," produces a great deal of interesting evidence showing the

similarity between the manifestations of genius and those of insanity.

Lombroso's conclusions have been more or less discredited, but later

investigations and practically all students agree that the true genius is

more or less an abnormality. In his case, some one or two faculties are

developed out of all reasonable proportion to the others. Naturally

enough, in such cases there is no need for a vocational counsellor. The

genius devotes himself to his music, or his painting, or his writing,

because there is nothing else he can do, nothing else in which he takes

any interest, and because the inner urge is so powerful as to be

irresistible.

But grossly deceived are those who imagine that the fire of genius burns

away any necessity for drudgery. On the other hand, genius seems to

consist very largely of a capacity for almost infinite drudgery. A

prominent engineer once said to us that all great inventions which become

commercially practicable are the joint product of a genius and a drudge,

or rather, of a genius and a corps of drudges. The genius, in a flash of

inspiration, conceives a new idea. Having conceived it, he can only sit

down and wait for a new inspiration, while the drudges take his idea, work

out its details, modify and conform it to conditions, and, finally,

harness it to the commercial wagon. This sounded well and has a great deal

of truth in it. Yet the most slavish drudge in the Edison laboratories and

factories is Edison himself. The hardest worker in all the Westinghouse

plant was Westinghouse. And who but the Wright brothers themselves made a

commercial success of the aeroplane? Sometimes, it is true, one man

conceives an idea which he is unable to work out and which must be made

practical by others, but more often than not he stumbles on the idea more

by accident than because he is looking for it. So the young man or the

young woman who has hopes of winning fame in the world of art, music, or

literature should assay himself or herself first of all for a willingness

to work, to work hard, and to work endlessly.

INDICATIONS OF ENERGY

Such energy is indicated by the large nose, high in the bridge, which

admits large quantities of oxygen into the lungs; by high cheek bones,

oftentimes by a head wide just above the ears, by square hands and

square-tipped fingers, by hard or elastic consistency of fibre.

Persistence and patience are indicated by brunette coloring and plodding

by a well-developed and rather prominent jaw and chin. Havelock Ellis and

other anthropologists have noted the fact that dark coloring is more

frequently found in artists and actors than light hair, eyes, and skin.

Artistic, musical, and literary ability are as various in their

indications as they are in their manifestations. One man is a painter,

another a sculptor, another an architect. One man paints flowers, another

landscapes, another portraits, another allegorical scenes, and still

another the rough, virile, vigorous, or even horrible and gruesome aspects

of life. One musician sings, another plays the violin, still another the

piano, and another the pipe organ. One conducts a grand opera, another

conducts a choir. One musician composes lyrics, another oratorios, another

ragtime, and still another symphonies. One man writes poetry, another

stories, another essays, another history, another philosophy, and still

another the hard, dry, mathematical facts of science. Obviously, it would

only confuse the reader were we to attempt to describe the physical

appearance of all these different classes.

INDICATIONS OF ARTISTIC TEMPERAMENT

In general, we may say that an appreciation of form, color, proportion,

size, and distance is indicated by well-developed brows, broad and full at

the outer angles, and by eyes set rather widely apart. But size, form,

color, and proportion are but the mediums through which the artist's soul

conveys its message. Whether or not one has the soul which can conceive a

worthy message is indicated by the expression of the eyes, an expression

which cannot be described but which, once seen and recognized, can never

afterward be mistaken.

Inherent capacity for music is indicated by a forehead wide at the brows.

Going over the portraits of all the famous composers and performers, you

will find that while they differ in most other particulars, they are all

alike in the proportionate width of the forehead at the brows. The kind

and quality of music one may create depends partially upon training and

partially upon the kind and quality of his soul, which, again, expresses

itself in the eyes.

Capacity for literature and expression is indicated by fulness of the eye,

by heighth and width of the forehead, and, perhaps, especially by the

development of the head and forehead at the sides just above the temples

and back of the hair line. Any portrait gallery of great authors will show

this development in nine out of ten (see figures).

The artistic, musical, or literary man with fine, silken hair, fine,

delicate skin, small and finely chiselled features, and a general

daintiness of build will express refinement, beauty, tender sentiments,

and sensitiveness in his work, while the man with coarse, bushy or wavy

hair, coarse, thick skin, large, rugged features, and a general ruggedness

and clumsiness of build, even when his size is small, will express vigor,

virility, ruggedness, and even gruesomeness and horror, in his work. There

may be in his productions a wild, virile type of beauty, as in the music

of Wagner and the sculpture of Rodin, but the keynote of his work is

elemental force.

The dilettante has conical hands, with small, tapering fingers; this is

the hand which is popularly supposed to accompany artistic temperament.

He loves art. He appreciates art. He may even win fame and fortune as a

competent critic of art, but he cannot create it. Your true artist has

square, competent hands, with blunt, square-tipped fingers. The hands

shown in figure 57 page 317 are those of a music lover who can neither

play nor sing. Those in figure 58 are the hands of a true artist on the

piano and pipe organ. The true producing artist nearly always has square

hands, with large thumbs set near the wrist, thus giving a wide reach

between tip of thumb and tip of forefinger, as shown in figure 58. Actors

and operatic singers sometimes have conical hands, with tapering fingers.

They express emotion and beauty with voice, gesture, and facial expression

rather than with their hands.

In the world of art and literature many are called but few are chosen. The

pathway to the heights is steep and rugged and there are many pitfalls.

There are many by-paths. Furthermore, it is cold and lonesome on the

mountain-top. Before anyone sets out on the perilous journey he should

read Jack London's "Martin Eden," Louis M. Alcott's autobiography, the

story of Holman Hunt, the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and the

biographies of others who have attained fame in these fields.

CHAPTER X

WASTE OF TALENT IN THE PROFESSIONS

In the old days the physician was often a priest. There was mystery,

magic, authority, and power in the profession. There were almost royal

privileges, prerogatives, robes, insignia, and emoluments.

Humanity sheds its superstitions slowly. Science and common sense have

smitten and shattered them for centuries, yet many fragments remain. And

so there is still a good deal of mysticism, magic, and awe connected with

both the art of healing and the priesthood. Hence, the lure of these

professions. Romantic and ambitious youth longs to enter into the holy of

holies, looks forward with trembling eagerness to the day when authority

shall clothe him like a garment, when his simple-hearted people, gathered

about him, will look up to him with adoration in eyes which say, "When you

speak, God speaks."

There are other appeals to aspiration in the professions. When the layman

seeks for social preferment, he must bring with him either the certificate

of gentle birth or the indorsement of his banker. The professional man has

a standing, however, far in excess of what he might command as the result

of his financial standing.

The profession of law, in like manner, has, in the minds of the common

people, always set a man apart from his fellows. About his profession,

too, there is the charm of mystery, the thought of thrilling flights of

oratory and high adventure in the courts of law, of opportunities for

great financial success, and for political preferment.

Of late years the profession of engineering has called to the youth of the

land with an almost irresistible voice. The development of steam and

gasoline engines, of the electric current, and of a welter of machinery

called for engineers. The specialization of engineering practice into

production, chemical, industrial, municipal, efficiency, mining,

construction, concrete, drainage, irrigation, landscape, and other phases,

has still further increased the demand. Some few engineers, by means of

keen financial ability in addition to extraordinary powers in the

engineering field, have made themselves names of international fame, as

well as great fortunes. All these things have fired the ambitions of our

youth, and the engineering schools are full.

OVER-CROWDING OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

Our colleges and universities, in their academic courses, do not fit their

students for business, neither do they fit them for any of the

professions. They are graduated "neither fish, nor fowl, nor good red

herring," so far as vocation goes. Being an educated man, in his own

estimation, the bearer of a college degree cannot go into business, he

cannot "go back" into manual labor. So he must go forward. There is no way

for him to go forward, so far as he knows, except to enter some technical

school and prepare himself for one of the "learned professions."

Go into the graduating class in any college or university, and ask the

young men what their plans for the future are. How many of them will reply

that they are going into business? How many of them that they are going

into agriculture? How many that they are going into manufacturing? Our

experience is a very small percentage. Many of them have not yet made up

their minds what they will do. The great majority of those who have made

up their minds are headed toward the law, medicine, the ministry, or

engineering. This is a great pity. Why should the teachers and counselors

of these young men encourage them in preparing themselves for professions

which are already over-crowded and which bid fair, within the next ten

years, to become still more seriously congested? Perhaps the professors do

not know these things. If so, a little common sense would suggest that it

is their business to find out. Nor would the truth be difficult to learn.

In "Increasing Home Efficiency," by Martha Brensley Bruere and Robert W.

Bruere, we read:

"We have pretty definitely grasped the idea that the labor market must be

organized, because it is for the social advantage that the trades should

be neither over-nor under-supplied with workers; but it seems to shock

people inexpressibly to think that the demand for ministers and teachers

and doctors should be put in the class with that for bricklayers and

plumbers. And yet the problem is quite as acute in the middle class as

among the wage-workers. Take the profession of medicine, for instance, a

calling of the social value of which there can be no question, and which

is largely recruited from the middle class. The introduction of the

Carnegie Foundation's Report on Medical Education says:

"'In a society constituted as are our Middle States, the interests of the

social order will he served best when the number of men entering a given

profession reaches and does not exceed a certain ratio.... For twenty-five

years past there has been an enormous over-production of medical

practitioners. This has been in absolute disregard of the public welfare.

Taking the United States as a whole, physicians are four or five times as

numerous in proportion to population as in older countries, like

Germany.... In a town of 2,000 people one will find in most of our States

from five to eight physicians, where two well-trained men could do the

work efficiently and make a competent livelihood. When, however, six or

eight physicians undertake to gain a living in a town which will support

only two, the whole plane of professional conduct is lowered in the

struggle which ensues, each man becomes intent upon his own practice,

public health and sanitation are neglected, and the ideals and standards

of the profession tend to demoralization.... It seems clear that as

nations advance in civilization they will be driven to ... limit the

number of those who enter (the professions) to some reasonable estimate of

the number who are actually needed,'

"And in the face of this there were, in 1910, 23,927 students in

preparation to further congest the profession of medicine! It's an

inexcusable waste, for, though there's much the statistician hasn't done,

there's little he can't do when he sets his mind to it. If he can

estimate the market for the output of a shoe factory, why not the market

for the output of a professional school? It ought to be possible to tell

how many crown fillings the people of Omaha will need in their teeth in

1920 and just how many dentists must be graduated from the dental schools

in time to do it."

PROBLEMS FOR LAWYERS AND PREACHERS

So much for the physician. While we have not at hand any exact statistics

in regard to lawyers, there is a pretty general feeling amongst all who

have studied the subject that the legal profession is even more

over-crowded than the medical. God alone knows all the wickednesses that

are perpetrated in this old world because there are too many lawyers for

proper and necessary legal work and so, many of them live just as close to

the dead line of professional ethics as is possible without actual

disbarment. And yet, with all their devices and vices, the average lawyer

is compelled to get along upon an income of less than $1,000 a year.

The ministry is, perhaps, even more over-crowded than either medicine or

law. There are several reasons for this. In the first place, there are

from four to a dozen churches in most places where one would render far

better service. These churches are, many of them, poorly supported, and,

therefore, inefficient. Yet each must have a pastor. Second, the fact that

a theological or pre-theological student can secure aid in pursuing his

education tempts many young men into the ministry. Recently a university

student called upon us. He told us he was working his way through the

university by supplying pulpits on Sunday. "But it's hard work," he

confessed, "particularly when one must enthusiastically proclaim things he

does not believe." This young man was, doubtless, an exception, but we

have seen many poorly equipped for the ministry, "studying theology

because they could not afford to take some other post-graduate work."

How greatly over-crowded this ancient and honorable profession has become

may be guessed by the fact that a fine, intelligent man may spend four

years in preparatory school, four years in college, and three years in a

theological seminary, may acquire twenty-five years of successful

experience, and still receive for his services only $500 a year. Moreover,

he is expected to contribute to the cause not only all his own time and

talent, but also the services of his wife and children. This, of course,

is pretty close to the minimum salary, but the great majority of

ecclesiastical salaries range very low--nor have they responded to the

increase in the cost of living.

After all, the question is not one of the over-crowding of a profession,

but of fitness for success in it. No matter how many may be seeking

careers in any profession, the great majority are mediocre or worse, and

the man with unusual aptitude and ability to work and work hard easily

outstrips his fellows and finds both fame and fortune. The trouble is that

the lure of the professions takes thousands of men into them who are

better fitted for business, for mechanics, for agriculture, and for other

vocations.

SUCCESSFUL, BUT NOT SATISFIED

Because they have the capacity to work hard, because they are

conscientious and because they have some ordinary intellect and common

sense, many men make a fair success in medicine, in the law, in the

ministry, as college professors, as engineers, or in some other

profession. All through their lives, however, they have the feeling that

they are not doing their best work, that they would be better off, better

satisfied, and happier if engaged in some other vocation. How well every

true man knows that it is not enough to have kept the wolf from the door,

it is not enough even to have piled up a little ahead. Every man of red

blood and backbone wants to do his best work, wants to do work that he

loves, work into which he can throw himself with heart and soul and with

all his mind and strength. Merely to muddle through with some

half-detested work, not making an utter failure of it, is no satisfaction

when the day's work is done. Not only the man himself, but all of us, lose

when he who might have been a great manufacturer and organizer of

industry fritters away his life and his talents as a "pretty good doctor"

or a "fair sort of lawyer."

Judge Elbert H. Gary was far from being a failure as a lawyer. Yet his

life might have been a failure in the law in comparison to what he has

accomplished and is accomplishing as the great head and organizer of the

largest steel business in the United States. Oliver Wendell Holmes was

successful as a physician and yet what would the world have lost if he had

devoted his entire time and attention to the practice of medicine! Glen

Buck once studied for the ministry. Imagine big, liberty-loving, outspoken

Glen Buck trying to speak the truth as God gave him to see the truth and

at the same time keep his artistic, literary, financial, and dramatic

talents confined within the limits of a pastor's activities. So it is that

some men are too meek and too small for the professions--others too

aggressive, too versatile, and too independent for the routine of

professional life. Still others have decided talents which qualify them

for unusual success in other vocations. If a man has unusual intellectual

attainment, he either does or does not acquire extensive education. If he

does not, the probabilities are that he will enter business; he will

become a merchant, a manufacturer, a promoter, a banker, or a railroad

man. In some one of the departments of industry, commerce, transportation,

or finance, he makes a place for himself by hard work, beginning at the

bottom. If, on the other hand, circumstances are such that he can secure

an education, then he passes by business, manufacturing, transportation,

finance; he must forsooth become a doctor, a lawyer, a preacher, an

editor, or an engineer. The question of vocation is thus, all too often,

decided by the incident of education and not according to natural

aptitudes.

INDICATIONS OF SUCCESS IN MEDICINE

The young man who is ambitious to enter upon a profession ought to study

himself carefully before beginning his preparation. He ought to know, not

guess, whether he is qualified for the highest form of success in his

chosen vocation. And there is no reason why he should not know. In the

appendix to this work we have outlined the leading characteristics

required for success in medicine. Some of these are absolutely

essential--others contributory. Among the essentials are health, a

scientific mind, pleasure in dealing with people in an intimate way,

ability to inspire confidence, and courage. Many a young man has taken

highest honors in medical school only to fail in practice because he could

not handle people successfully, or because he lacked the courage to face

the constant reiteration of complaints and suffering by his patients. Sick

people are selfish, peevish, whimsical, and babyish. It takes tact,

patience, understanding, and good nature to handle them successfully.

INDICATIONS FOR SUCCESS IN LAW

It takes a combination of fox and lion to make a successful lawyer. And

yet we are besieged with sheep and rabbits who are eager to enter law

school or who have passed through law school and are wondering why they do

not succeed in their profession.

There are at least two general types of lawyers, the court or trial lawyer

and the counselor. The first must be a true catechist, a convincing public

speaker, keen, alert, resourceful, self-confident, courageous, with a

considerable degree of poise and self-control. He may be either

aggressive, belligerent, and combative, or mild, persuasive, and

non-resistant, but shrewd, intelligent, resourceful. A timid, dreamy,

credulous man has no business in the law. A lawyer may love peace, but he

should be willing to fight for it.

Because legal ethics forbid a lawyer to advertise or solicit business

openly, it is necessary for him to secure a standing and clientele by

indirect methods. Best of these is making and keeping friends, by mingling

with all classes and conditions of people, by political activity, and in

other ways making one's self agreeable and useful in the community. Thus a

lawyer draws to himself the attention of the most desirable class of

people. In order to be successful in this, the lawyer must possess

qualities of sociability and friendship. A man who is not naturally social

or friendly is not well qualified for any profession. Unless he intends to

work with a partner who has these qualifications, and who will be the

business getter of the firm, he would better leave the law alone.

INDICATIONS OF JUDICIAL QUALITIES

The second class of lawyer, the counsellor, is more of the judicial type.

He is quite likely to be stout or to have the indications of approaching

stoutness. He should be calm, deliberate, cautious, prudent, capable of

handling details, a man with a splendid memory and with the capacity for

acquiring a great fund of knowledge about all kinds of things. He should

be able to take an interest in almost any kind of business or profession

and quickly master its fundamentals.

A MISFIT IN THE LAW

Men of the high-strung, nervous, timid, self-conscious, sentimental class

are sadly out of place in the law. While they may be abundantly well

equipped for success from an intellectual standpoint, physically and

emotionally they are utterly unfit for it. A young man once sought us for

counsel who had spent many years in colleges and universities acquiring

one of the finest legal educations possible in this country. Because of

his intellectual equipment, the study of the law was fascinating to him,

and both his parents and his professors in law school expected him to make

a brilliant success in practice. What was his intense disappointment, as

well as theirs, when he opened an office, to find that almost everything

connected with the practice of law was distasteful to him, so that he

found himself incapable of doing it successfully. For several years he had

made a desperate attempt to succeed and to learn to like his profession,

but every day only made him hate it more ardently. As a natural result he

did poorer and poorer work at it.

It was no wonder to us that this young man did not like the practice of

law. In the first place, he was fond of change and variety. His was not a

nature which could address itself to one task and concentrate upon that

hour after hour and day after day, such as carefully scrutinizing every

detail of a case and perfecting his preparation of it for presentation in

court. In the second place, his was an unusually sensitive, refined,

responsive, and sentimental disposition. So fine were his emotional

sensibilities that it was almost more than he could endure to hear--as he

was compelled to day after day--the seamy, inharmonious, sordid, and

criminal side of life. The recital and consideration of these things

depressed him, made him morbid and sapped his vitality and courage. For

the swift repartee, keen combat, and mutual incriminations of the court

room he was utterly unfitted. Any criticism was taken personally. He found

it impossible to let the jibes, criticisms, and heated words of his

opponents trickle off from him as easily as water does from a duck's back,

which is the proper legal mental attitude in regard to such things. He

told us that sharp, harsh, or bitter words entered his soul like barbed

iron and he was upset and unstrung for hours afterward. A man with such an

emotional nature as his and such an intellect is especially qualified for

literature, and we are glad to say that he is now making a very flattering

success in this particular field.

INDICATIONS FOR SUCCESS IN THE MINISTRY

Aside from spiritual qualifications, success in the ministry depends

chiefly upon two talents: First, ability to speak well in public; second,

social adaptability. The second is perhaps the more important. We have

heard many ministers who were only indifferent public speakers, but who

made a great success of their callings because of their social aptitudes,

their ability to meet and mingle with all kinds of people, their

cheerfulness, their optimism, their helpfulness, their tact and diplomacy.

A traveling evangelist may depend principally upon his power as a public

speaker, but the pastor of a church must depend far more upon his ability

to make and keep friends among the members of his congregation and in the

community.

The minister, of all the professional men, is most in need of ambition, a

desire to please others and to help others, spiritual quality,

humanitarianism, benevolence, faith, hope, veneration for the Deity, and

for the supernatural elements of religion. The day has gone by when the

solemn, joyless preacher can command a large congregation. People to-day

want a religion which is bright and cheerful, which offers a surcease from

the cares and sorrows of ordinary life. They want to be cheered,

encouraged, inspired, and uplifted, rather than depressed and made sad and

melancholy. Therefore, the successful preacher will not permit his intense

conviction of the seriousness, earnestness, and solemnity of his calling

interfere with his exhibiting always a bright, cheerful, and attractive

personality.

To be successful the pastor must take an interest in all the members of

his congregation; he must sympathize with them, mourn with them when they

mourn, rejoice with them when they rejoice, cheer them when they are

discouraged, counsel them when they are perplexed. Indeed, he must enter

into their lives fully and wholly, also tactfully and diplomatically.

Perhaps the most successful preachers of the day are medium or blond in

color. While those of dark complexion, dark eyes and dark hair, are more

inclined to be religious, more inclined to take life seriously, more

inclined to look forward and upward to the spiritual and the supernatural,

and are also more studious, more capable of deep research and profound

meditation, they do not, as a rule, have the social qualities, the

aggressiveness, the cheerfulness, and the adaptability of the lighter

complexioned people.

INDICATIONS FOR SUCCESS IN ENGINEERING

When engineering first became a profession there were only two classes of

engineers, the civil and the military. Engineers in those days were

chiefly concerned with the making of surveys and the construction of roads

and bridges. The steam engine had not yet been made a commercial

possibility, therefore there was almost no machinery in existence, and

such little as there was did not require a professional engineer for its

designing or operation. Nothing was known of electricity. Very little was

known of chemistry and almost nothing was known of industry as it has been

organized to-day. Since that time there has been an almost incredible

development along all of these lines. As the result we now have almost as

many kinds of engineers as there are classes of industry. There is the

civil engineer, the mining engineer, the construction, the irrigation, the

drainage, the sewage disposal, the gas production, the hydraulic, the

chemical, the electrical, the mechanical, the industrial, the efficiency,

the production, the illuminating, the automobile, the aeroplane, the

marine, the submarine, and who knows how many other kinds. Indeed, there

are also social engineers, merchandising engineers, advertising engineers,

and even religious engineers. Naturally, it requires a slightly different

kind of man to succeed in each one of the different branches of

engineering, and it would be too great a task for the reader to try to

wade through all of the qualifications here. It would also, no doubt, only

result in confusion and a lack of understanding of the real fundamentals.

Fundamentally the engineer should be medium in coloring. The extreme blond

is too changeable and usually not fond enough of detail to succeed in a

profession which requires so much concentration and accuracy. Practically

all successful engineers have the practical, scientific type of forehead.

By this we mean the forehead which is prominent at the brows and, while

high, slopes backward from the brows. Usually those succeed best in

engineering who are medium in texture. The fine-textured individual,

however, if he is qualified for engineering, will take up some of the

finer, higher grades of it and make fine and delicate material or

machinery, or will engage in some form of engineering which requires only

intellectual work. Practically all successful engineers are of the bony

and muscular type or some modification of this type. This is the type

which naturally takes interest in construction, in machinery, and in

material accomplishment and achievement. Engineering practice usually

requires painstaking accuracy and exactitude. Indeed, this is perhaps more

than any other one qualification fundamental for success in engineering.

THE PROFESSIONAL TYPE

This, then, is the composite photograph of the successful professional

man: He is more mental than physical; more scientific, philosophic,

humanitarian, and idealistic than commercial; more social and friendly

than exclusive and reserved; more ambitious for professional high standing

or achievement than for wealth or power. Unless the aspirant to

professional honors has some or all of these qualifications in a

considerable degree, he would better turn his attention to some other

vocation where there is not so much competition. Those who have some, but

not all, of these qualities would do well in other vocations, such as

literature, finance, commerce, or manufacture. Many physicians become

authors, inventors, or financiers; many lawyers become financiers or

manufacturers; many engineers become good advertising men, manufacturers,

or merchants. All such would have done better to begin in the vocation to

which they afterward turned.

A good rule for the young man or the young woman to follow is to make up

his or her mind to enter some other vocation rather than a profession

unless he or she is markedly well qualified to outdistance the crowd of

mediocre competitors and make an unusual success.

[Illustration: _Photo by Paul Thompson_.

FIG. 41. Front face view of ex-Senator Root. The width of head, large, but

well-formed and well-balanced features, firm mouth, chin and jaw, and

expression of alertness and confident strength all indicate the unusually

well qualified executive.]

[Illustration: _Copyright, by Rockland, New York_.

FIG. 42. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. A man of marked personality, shrewdness,

ambition, courage, determination, self-reliance, persistence, and energy.

Added to these were humanitarianism, reverence, optimism, kindliness,

humor, eloquence, and organizing ability. Note high, dome-like head;

prominent brows; fulness of the eyes and surrounding tissues; large, bony

nose; long upper lip; firm mouth; square jaw and prominent chin; large,

well-formed ears; short fingers, and shrewd, kindly expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 43. Rufus Isaacs, Baron Reading, Lord Chief Justice

of England. Keen, penetrating, alert, analytical, resolute, self-reliant,

courageous, persistent, non-sentimental, practical financial. Note

comparatively low, wide forehead, long upper lip, thin lips, square-set

jaw and chin, long, large nose, with somewhat depressed tip, large ears,

and flatness of the top of the head.]

[Illustration: _Copyright by Harris & Ewing, Washington, D. C_.

FIG. 44. Hon. Elihu Root, former United States Senator from New York.

Practical, energetic, ambitious, intellectual, with courage, critical

faculties, ambition, shrewdness, idealism, and a keen knowledge of human

nature in excellent balance. Note high, long head; high forehead,

prominent at brows, large, well-formed nose; prominent chin, general

splendid balance of head and face proportions, and calm, poised, but keen

and forceful expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 45. Harland B. Howe, Lawyer. Practical,

matter-of-fact, shrewd, non-sentimental, energetic, ambitious, determined,

and courageous. Note wide, high forehead; prominent at brows rather square

above; high head, large nose, short, thin upper lip, and square, prominent

jaw and chin.]

[Illustration: _Copyright by Harris & Ewing, Washington, D. C_.

FIG. 46. The late Justice Horace H. Lurton, of the United States Supreme

Court. Excellent example of judicial type. Practical, matter-of-fact,

comparatively unemotional, calm and poised. Note prominence at brows,

comparative flatness just above temples, strong jaw and chin, calm,

unwavering expression.]

[Illustration: _Photo by Pach_.

FIG. 47. Prof. William H. Burr, of Columbia University. Member of Isthmian

Canal Commission. A fine example of professional type. Great intellect,

energy, ambition, shrewdness, determination, and constancy, with

refinement, idealism, sympathy, and friendliness. Note high, full

forehead; large, long, but finely chiseled, nose; high head, narrow and

straight at sides; fine texture; friendly expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 48. Hon. John Wesley Gaines, Ex-Congressman from

Tennessee. A fine example of the dramatic orator and politician. Refined,

sensitive, responsive, courageous, ambitious, energetic, friendly. Note

high, long head, prominent nose, short upper lip, prominent chin, finely

chiseled features, and spirited expression.]

CHAPTER XI

WOMEN'S WORK

This chapter is not written for the purpose of adding one whisper to the

impassioned controversies at present raging over women's work. So far as

it is within our power, we shall refrain from taking sides with either

that army which contends that woman is in every way the equal of man and

should be permitted to engage in all of man's activities on an equal

footing with him, or with that other army which declares that woman's

place is the home and that every woman should be a wife, mother, and

housekeeper.

Doubtless there are many wholesome and needed reforms being agitated with

reference to women's work. Doubtless, also, there are many pernicious

changes being advocated by both the sincere but mistaken and the vicious

and designing. It is not the purpose of this chapter to discuss these

reforms or to favor or to oppose any of them. We shall, in this chapter,

discuss the problem of vocation for women under present conditions.

BROAD SCOPE OF WOMEN'S WORK

The present day finds women at work in practically every field of human

endeavor. There is no profession, business, trade, or calling which does

not count women amongst its successful representatives. Nor does the fact

that a woman has married, has a home and children, debar her from

achievement in any vocation outside the home which she may choose. Madam

Ernestine Schuman-Heinck, with her eight children; Elizabeth Cady Stanton,

with her ten children; Katherine Booth-Clibborn, with her ten children;

Ethel Barrymore, with her family; Mrs. Netscher, proprietor of the Boston

Store in Chicago, with her family; Mary Roberts Rhinehart, with her

children; Madam Louise Homer, with her little flock, and thousands of

others are examples of women who have been successful not only as

home-makers but also in art, literature, professional or commercial

vocations.

Since this is true, it follows that, theoretically at least, woman may

choose her profession in precisely the same way that man chooses his.

Practically, however, this is not true in most cases. Undoubtedly, a very

large majority of women have happily married, are sufficiently provided

for, and are happier, healthier, more useful, and better satisfied with

life in the home than anywhere else. Notwithstanding the fact that our

girls, almost without exception, enter upon the important vocation of

wifehood, motherhood and home-making with almost no proper training, their

aptitudes for the work are so great and their natural intuitions in regard

to it so true, that unquestionably, large numbers of them in the United

States are happy and satisfied and have no part and no interest in all the

hue and cry in regard to women's rights or women's work.

WOMEN NATURAL-BORN WIVES AND MOTHERS

The natural tendency of the majority of women for maternity and

home-making must be taken into consideration. Some boys play with weapons,

others with machinery, still others are interested in dogs and horses.

Some boys are natural traders, others love to hunt and fish, while you

will find an occasional lad curled up in a big chair in the library

absorbed in a book. But practically all girls play with dolls, which is a

sufficient evidence of the almost universality of the maternal instinct in

women. The pity is that our educational traditions, almost without

exception, are those handed down to us from schools and universities which

educated boys and men only. We are therefore educating our girls to be

merchants, lawyers, doctors, accountants, artists, musicians; in fact,

almost anything but mothers. Twenty years ago, this was universally true.

To-day, fortunately, the light has begun to break, and in many schools,

both public and private, we are beginning to teach our girls domestic

science, the care and feeding of infants, pre-natal culture, home

management, economic purchasing, and other such important subjects.

VOCATIONS FOR MOTHERS

Occasionally we find a girl who has no talent for housework or home

management. She is not particularly interested in it. She finds it

monotonous and distasteful. For these reasons she probably does not do it

well. On the other hand, she may have keen, reliable commercial instincts

and be well qualified for a business career, or she may be educational,

artistic, literary or professional in type. Such a woman has, of course,

no business trying to keep house. She may have a strong love nature and

ardent maternal desires. If so, there is no reason why she should not

marry and become the mother of children. If she does, however, she should

turn the management of the home over to someone else and seek

self-expression and compensation in the vocation for which she is best

fitted. This, of course, is no easy matter. Many men either have violent

or stubborn prejudices against any such arrangement. Whether or not she

can take her true place in the world depends upon the courage,

determination, tactfulness, and personal force of each individual woman.

WOMEN AS TEACHERS

There is one occupation for women which is thoroughly established,

entirely respectable, socially uplifting, and fully approved by even the

most conservative and fastidious. This is teaching. The result is that the

profession of teaching, for women, is overcrowded and becoming more

overcrowded. The work done is, on the whole, mediocre or worse, and, as a

result of these two conditions, the pay is pitifully small considering the

importance of the results.

Because women can become teachers without losing one notch of their social

standing in even the most hide-bound communities, thousands of women

become teachers who ought to be housewives. Thousands of others struggle

in the schoolroom, doing work they hate and despise, for a miserable

pittance, when they might be happy and successful in a store or an

office. We have met women teachers who ought to have been physicians;

others who ought to have been lawyers; others, many of them, who ought to

have been in business; and still others, thousands of them, who ought to

have been in their own homes. And, naturally enough, we have also met

women in the professions and in business and in their homes who ought to

have been teachers--but not nearly so many.

The true teacher has three fundamental qualifications. First, a love of

knowledge; second, a desire to impart knowledge, and third, a love of

young people. Added to these should be patience, firmness, tactfulness,

knowledge of human nature, facility in expression, reasoning power,

enthusiasm, and a personality which inspires confidence. Can any county

superintendent discover these qualities by means of the examination upon

which first, second and third-grade certificates are based? Have the

members of any average school board the discrimination necessary to

determine the presence or absence of these qualities in any candidate who

brings her certificate?

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

The business world suffers from the presence in the ranks of its workers

of thousands of hopelessly inefficient girls who have no aptitudes for

business, or even for the minor detailed processes of commercial activity.

They take no real interest in their work. They have no particular ambition

for advancement. Their one motive for condescending to grace the office

with their presence at all is to earn pin-money or, perhaps, to support

themselves in some fashion until they marry. It is true that some of these

girls might be taught to be reliable and efficient in their work if they

could be persuaded to take an interest in it, to look upon it as something

more potent and more important than a mere stop-gap. Many of them, no

doubt, could be trained to earn salaries which would pay them to continue

in business even after marriage.

WOMEN IN DOMESTIC SERVICE

Others of these girls are utterly unfitted for office work. Some of them

would succeed very well as teachers, some as artists, and others as

musicians. Like so many of their brothers, however, they have followed the

line of least resistance--regardless of their aptitudes. Most of these

girls belong in the home. They are quite justified in looking forward to

matrimony as their true career. How much better if they would only earn

the necessary pin-money in domestic service! From a monetary point of

view, thirty dollars a month, with board, room, laundry, and many other

necessities furnished, is a princely compensation compared with the five

or eight dollars a week received by most girls in an office. From an

economic point of view, the coming into our homes of thousands of

intelligent, fairly well educated, trained, and ambitious young women

would be a blessing and benefit. Socially, of course, the first young

women who adopted such a radical change in custom would be pariahs. They

would also, doubtless, suffer many hardships in the way of irregular

hours, small, dark, stuffy rooms, unreasonable mistresses, no adequate

place to entertain their friends, and other such injustices. But, with a

higher and more intelligent class of household servants, doubtless these

abuses would disappear.

We opened this chapter with the disavowal of any intention to advocate

reform. We make this one exception. We most earnestly hope that such a

reform may be consummated. At the same time, we have an uneasy suspicion

that we are sighing for the moon.

THE TRAGEDY OF BAD COOKING

The whole problem of household management is just now a very serious one.

When the maid is ignorant, untrained, and, as is so often the case, slack,

wasteful, and inefficient, the situation is, in all conscience, bad

enough. But when the mistress is only a little less ignorant than her

servant, is equally slack, and perhaps even more inefficient, the high

cost of living gets a terrific boost in that household, while comfort,

wholesomeness, and adequacy of living are correspondingly depressed. One

of the saddest elements in our consultation work is the stream of both men

and women who lack courage, aggressiveness, initiative, mental focus, and

personal efficiency generally because they are deficient in physical

stamina. Their whole life is, as it were, sub-normal. With inherent

qualifications for success, they are, nevertheless, threatened with

failure because, to use the language of the ring, "they lack the punch."

The trouble with nine out of ten of these unfortunates is that they are

under-nourished. Not because they do not get enough food, but because

their diet is not properly balanced, is served to them in incompatible

combinations, is badly prepared, poorly cooked, unpalatable, and

doubtless, in many cases, served in anything but an appetizing manner.

Napoleon is quoted as having said that an army fights with its stomach.

The man who goes out to do battle for commercial or professional success

from an ill-managed and inefficient kitchen and dining-room is as badly

off as the army with an inadequate commissary department. Yet, while the

commissary department of the modern army receives the most scientific and

careful supervision, many a man must leave his kitchen in the hands of a

wife who received her training in music, literature, modern languages, and

classics, or in a business college, and of a servant who received what

little training she has as a farm laborer in Europe.

There is no denying the truth that if housewives themselves were

scientifically trained, we should have a far higher average of training

and efficiency amongst domestic servants. One of the consequences of our

deplorable self-consciousness in the matter of sex is that we have been

too prudish frankly to train our girls to become successful wives and

mothers. The result is that, when it becomes necessary for them to earn

money before their marriage, instead of gaining experience in

housekeeping, cooking and purchasing, they have taken up the stage,

teaching, factory work, office work, and retail selling. As we have seen,

a great many of them are misfits in these callings. Good food is wasted,

good stomachs are impaired, and good brains and nerves deteriorate

because, as a general rule, only those who are too ignorant or too

inefficient for office work or factory work can be induced to take service

in our kitchens.

CHAPTER XII

SPECIAL FORMS OF UNFITNESS

Place a quinine tablet and a strychnine tablet of the same size on the

table before you. Can you, by looking at them, smelling of them, or

feeling of them, tell them apart? Would you know the difference instantly,

by their appearance, between bichloride of mercury tablets and soda

tablets? Down in the basement of a manufacturing chemist's huge building,

there is a girl placing tablets in boxes and bottles. They come to her in

huge bins. One tablet looks very much like another. Upon her faithful,

conscientious and unerring attention to every minute detail of her rather

routine and monotonous work may depend the fate of empires.

In an office on the main floor of this same building sits a man directing

the policy of the entire industry. Upon him rests the responsibility for

the success of the enterprise a year, five years, twenty years ahead. He

gives an order: "Purchase land. Build a factory for the making of carbolic

acid. Equip it with the necessary machinery and apparatus. Purchase in

advance the needed raw materials. Be ready to put the product on the

market by the first of September." The execution of that order involves

minute attention to thousands of details. Yet, if the man who gave it were

to consider many of them and render decision upon them, the business would

rapidly become a ship in a storm with no one at the helm.

The work of the girl in the basement, sorting tablets, may turn out to be

far more important in the world's history than the work of the man in the

front office, managing the business. It is just as important, therefore,

that she should be fitted for her vocation as that he should be fitted for

his.

GENERALS AND DETAIL WORKERS

Fortunately for carrying on the business of the world, there are many

people who love detail, take delight in handling it, find intense

satisfaction in seeing that the few little parts of the great machinery of

life under their care are always in the right place at the right time and

under the right conditions. Since there is such an incalculable mass of

these important trifles to be looked after, it is well that the majority

of people are better detail workers than formulators of policies and

leaders of great movements. Tragedy results when the man with the detail

worker's heart and brain attempts to wear the diadem of authority. He

breaks his back trying to carry burdens no human shoulders are broad

enough to bear. He is so bowed down by them that he sees only his mincing

footsteps and has no conception of the general direction in which he is

going. Nine times out of ten he travels wearily around in a little circle,

which grows smaller and smaller as his over-taxed strength grows less and

less.

When you put a man of larger mental grasp in charge of a wearying round of

monotonous details, you have mingled the elements out of which a cataclysm

sometimes comes. These are the men who, with the very best intentions in

the world, fail to appear with the horseshoe nail at the correct moment.

To be there, at that time, with the horseshoe nail is their duty. Nothing

greater than that is expected of them. Yet, because their minds grasp the

great movements of armies in battles and campaigns, they overlook the

horseshoe nail and, as the old poem says:

"For the want of the nail, the shoe was lost;

For the want of the shoe, the horse was lost;

For the want of the horse, the rider was lost;

For the want of the rider, the battle was lost;

For the want of the battle, the kingdom was lost--

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail!"

Perhaps the man who bore the title of rider ought to have been charged

with the duty of being there with that horseshoe nail, and the man who was

only a blacksmith's helper should have ridden the horse and saved the

battle and the kingdom.

INDICATIONS OF DETAIL AND NON-DETAIL APTITUDES

It ought not to be difficult for any man or woman to know whether or not

he or she is qualified for detail work. The man who enjoys detail and

takes pleasure in order, system, accuracy, and exactitude, down to the

last dot and hairline, ought to know that he is qualified for detail work

and has no business trying to carry on or manage affairs in which there is

a considerable element of risk as well as many variables. Strangely

enough, however, many of them do not know this, and over and over again we

find the detail man wearing himself into nervous prostration in the wrong

vocation.

On the other hand, the man who hates routine, grows restive under

monotony, is impatient with painstaking accuracy and minute details, ought

to know better than to make himself--or to allow himself to be

made--responsible for them. And yet, nearly every day someone is coming to

us with a complaint about the monotony of his job--how he hates its

routine and how often he gets himself into trouble because he neglects or

overlooks some little thing.

It ought to be easy enough to tell the difference between these two

classes of workers. If you are a brunette, with fairly prominent brows and

somewhat sloping forehead, a chin prominent at the lower point and

receding upward toward the mouth; if your head is high and square behind;

if your fingers are long and square-tipped; if your flesh is elastic or

hard in consistency, then you can trust yourself to take responsibility

for things in which seeming trifles may be of the highest importance. If,

on the other hand, you are blonde or red-haired; if your head is round and

dome-shaped just above the temples and round behind; if your nose is

prominent and your chin narrow and receding at the lower point; if your

flesh is elastic, with a tendency toward softness; if your fingers are

short and either square or tapering, then you had better prepare yourself

for some vocation where you can deal with large affairs, where you can

plan and organize and direct, and let other people work out the details.

COURAGE AND RECKLESSNESS

The story is told of two soldiers going into battle. Both pushed forward

swiftly and eagerly. They were rapidly nearing the danger zone. Already

men were falling around them. As they went on, one suddenly looked at the

other. "Why," he cried, "your face is white, your eyes are glazed, your

limbs are trembling. I believe you are afraid!"

"Great God, man! of course I am afraid," replied the other. "And if you

were one-half as afraid as I am, you would turn and run."

Here we have the discrimination between real courage and mere

foolhardiness or recklessness. There are some vocations which require

courage. There are others which require an element of recklessness. It

requires courage to drive the locomotive of a railroad train at a speed of

eighty miles an hour, but it also requires caution, prudence,

watchfulness, and even apprehension.

In a western factory men were wanted for an important job, one in which a

moment's carelessness in the handling of levers might cost a dozen fellow

workmen their lives. "Find me," said the superintendent, "the most careful

men you can get. I do not want anyone dumping damage suits on the

company." The employment department found the very careful men, but none

of them were satisfactory; they were all so careful that they made no

speed, and soon had to be relieved for this reason, and because the

constant nervous strain was too much for them. Here was a kind of work

requiring a certain cool, calm, deliberate recklessness. Men were found

with steady nerves, keen eyesight, quick reaction time, and smooth

co-ordination of muscular action, together with a moderate degree of

cautiousness. These men liked the work for the very tingle of the danger

in it. They swung their ponderous machines to their tasks with a sureness

of touch and a swiftness of operation which not only delighted the

superintendent, but inspired confidence in their fellow workers.

INDICATIONS OF COURAGE AND CAUTION

If you are brunette, with small, sway-back or snub nose, narrow, rounded

chin, and a tendency to disturbances of the circulation; if your head is

narrow at the sides and high and square behind, look for a vocation where

caution is a prime requisite, but do not get yourself into situations

where you will have to fight or where there is so much risk that your

natural apprehensiveness will cause you to worry and lie awake nights.

Contrary wise, if your chin is broad and prominent, your head is wide

above the ears, low and round behind, and rather short; especially if you

are a blonde, with a large nose, high in the bridge, and a big rounded

dome just above the temples, select for yourself a vocation where success

depends upon a cheerful willingness to take a chance. You may blunder into

a tight situation now and then, and you will occasionally make a bad guess

and lose thereby, but you will not be inclined to worry and you will

greatly enjoy the give and take of the fight by means of which you will

extricate yourself from undesirable situations.

QUICKNESS OR SLOWNESS OF THOUGHT AND ACTION

If you are of the thoughtful, philosophical type, instead of the keen,

alert, practical type, don't attempt to win success in any vocation

requiring quick thought and quick decision. You like to reason things out;

you want to know why before you go ahead. Your success lies in lines which

require slow, thoughtful, careful reasoning, mature deliberation, and an

ability to plod diligently through masses of facts and arguments.

If, on the other hand, you are of the observant, practical,

matter-of-fact, scientific type, your vocation should be one calling for

quick thought, quick decision, ability to get the facts and to deal with

them, keen observation, and one not requiring too great a nicety of mental

calculation.

If you have a small, round, retreating chin, beware of any vocation which

requires great deliberation in action, because you are very quick to act.

Your hands, once their task is learned, move very swiftly. You are

inclined to be impulsive. If your forehead is of the type which indicates

quick thinking and you have a large nose, high in the bridge, then you are

of the keenest, most alert, most energetic and dynamic type. No sooner do

you see a proposition than you decide. No sooner do you decide than you

act, and when you have acted, you want to see the results of that action

immediately. You are, therefore, unfitted for any vocation which requires

prolonged meditation, great deliberation in action, and a patient,

plodding willingness to wait for results.

If your chin is long, broad, and prominent at the point, your action will

always wait upon your thought. If your thought is quick, as indicated by

the sloping forehead, your action may follow very quickly, but never

impulsively. If, on the other hand, your forehead is one which indicates

reflection and slowness of thought, then you will be very deliberate,

postponing action in every case until you have carefully and painstakingly

thought the entire matter out. It is useless for anyone to try to rush you

to either decision or action, for you may have it in you to be quite

hopelessly stubborn.

THE SOCIAL QUALITIES

Some time ago a splendidly educated young man came to us for advice. "What

I want to know more than anything else," he said, "is why Hugo Schultz

always sells more goods than I do. I spent two years in high school, four

years in a special preparatory school and four years in college. I have

had eight years of fairly successful business experience. For two years I

have been a traveling salesman. When I first started out my sales amounted

to only about $5 a day, on an average. Within a year I had pushed them up

to $1,000 a day, on an average, and now sometimes I sell $3,000 or $4,000

worth a day. With the exception of Hugo Schultz, I sell more goods than

any other man representing our company. If I sell $52,000 worth in a

month, Schultz sells $65,000 worth-yet Schultz has never been beyond the

fourth grade in school. He is ten years younger than I am, has had

practically no business experience, and has only been on the road one

year."

Upon examination, we found that this young man was selling goods with a

splendidly trained intellect. He analyzed all the factors in his problem

carefully, even down to the peculiarities of every one of his customers.

He presented his goods with faultlessly worked out arguments and appeals

to the common sense and good judgment of his customers. He was, therefore,

more than usually successful. In answer to our inquiry, however, he said:

"No, I hate selling goods. The only reason I keep it up is because there

is good money in it--more money than I could make with the same amount of

effort in any other department of business. I do not like to approach

strangers. I have to lash myself into it every morning of my working life,

and it is very hard for me to be friendly with customers about whom I care

nothing personally."

"What about Peter Schultz?" we asked. "Is he a good mixer?"

"It is his whole stock in trade. Now that you have called my attention to

it, I can see clearly enough that he takes delight in meeting strangers.

Why, even when he is off duty, he finds his recreation running around into

crowds, meeting new people, getting acquainted with them, making friends

with them. I see it all now. He sells goods on the basis of friendship. He

appeals to people's feelings rather than their intellects, and most people

are ruled by their feelings. I know that."

At our suggestion, this intellectual young man gave up his business career

altogether and turned his attention to journalism, where he has been even

more successful than he was as a salesman. Needless to say, Hugo Schultz

is still breaking records on the road.

It is difficult for anyone who is not by nature friendly and social to

succeed in a vocation in which the principal work is meeting, dealing

with, handling, and persuading his fellow men. There is an old saying

"that kissing goes by favor," and doubtless it is true that other valuable

things go the same way. People naturally like to do business with their

friends, with those who are personally agreeable to them. It takes a long

time for the unsocial or the unfriendly man to make himself personally

agreeable to strangers, or, in fact, to very many people, whether

strangers or not.

If it is hard for the unsocial and unfriendly man to work among people, it

is distressing, dull and stupid for the man who is a good mixer and loves

his friends to work in solitude or where his entire attention is engrossed

in things and ideas instead of people.

INDICATIONS OF SOCIAL QUALITIES

Notwithstanding these very clear distinctions and the seeming ease with

which one ought to classify himself in this respect, we are constantly

besieged by those who have very deficient social natures and who are

ambitious to succeed as salesmen, preachers, lawyers, politicians, and

physicians.

There is plenty of work in the world which does not require one to be

particularly friendly, although, it must be admitted, friendliness is a

splendid asset in any calling. Scholarship, literary work, art, music,

engineering, mechanical work, agriculture in all its branches,

contracting, building, architecture, and many other vocations offer

opportunities for success to those who are only moderately equipped

socially.

If the unsocial and unfriendly are deceived in regard to themselves, no

less so are the social and the friendly. Again and again we find them in

occupations which take them out of the haunts of living men, where they

are so unhappy and dissatisfied that they sometimes become desperate. Why

a man who likes people and likes to be with them, and is successful in

dealing with them, should take himself off on a lonely ranch, twelve miles

from the nearest neighbor and twenty miles from a railroad, passes the

comprehension of all but those who, through experience, have learned the

picturesque contrariness of human nature.

It is easy to distinguish, at a glance, between the social fellow and the

natural-born hermit. Go to any political convention, or any convention of

successful salesmen, or to a ministers' meeting attended by successful

city preachers, or to any other gathering attended by men who have

succeeded in callings where the ability to mix successfully with their

fellow men is of paramount importance. Get a seat on the side lines, if

possible, and then study the backs of their heads.

THE HEADS OF POLITICIANS

We attended two great political conventions in 1912. There were more than

one thousand delegates at each convention. So certain were we of the type

of men successful enough politically to be chosen as delegates to a

national convention of their party, that we offered a prize of ten dollars

to the friends who accompanied us for every delegate they would point out

to us who did not have a round, full back-head, making his head appear

long directly backwards from the ears. Although our friends were skeptical

and planned in some detail as to what they would do with the money they

expected to win from us, we attended both conventions without a penny of

outlay for prizes. If you know any unfriendly, unsocial men, look at the

backs of their heads and see how short they are.

There are vocations for all who have the courage, the ambition, the

willingness to work, the persistence to keep ever-lastingly at it. Finding

one's true vocation in life means, not finding an easy way to success, but

finding an opportunity to work and work hard at something interesting,

something you can do well, and something in which your highest and best

talents will find an opportunity for their fullest expression.

Just as finding an unusual talent for music means years and years of the

most careful study and preparation, followed by incessant practice; just

as finding of a talent for the law means years of work in schools,

colleges and universities; so the finding of a talent for business,

mechanics, science, construction, or any other vocation involves years of

study, self-development, preparation, and practice, if you are to achieve

a worth-while success.

A HARD-LUCK STORY

The following incident illustrates plainly enough the mental attitude of

the average fellow--the reason why he has failed, and the remedy:

A man came into our office complaining of his luck.

He was on the gray and wrinkled side of the half-century mark, somewhat

bent, and slow of step.

This was the tune of his dirge:

"My life is a failure. I have never had a chance. My father was poor and

couldn't give me the advantages that other young men had. So I've had my

nose on the grindstone all my life long.

"See what I am to-day. While other men have made money and, at my age, are

well fixed, I am dependent on my little old Saturday night envelope to

keep me from starving. That wouldn't be so bad, but my employers are

beginning to hint that I'm not so lively as I was once and that a younger

man would fill the job better. It's only a question of time when I'll be a

leading member of the Down and Out Club. Then it'll be the Bay for mine."

Our friend, whom we call Mr. Socratic, butted into the conversation right

here.

"Pretty tough luck!" he said. "Know any men of your age that are doing

better?"

"Sure, lots of 'em."

"What's the reason?"

"Well, they have had better luck."

"How do you mean? Investments turned out better?"

"No; I never had anything to invest."

"How, then?"

"Well, they had advantages."

"What, for instance?"

"Education."

"Why didn't you get an education?"

"Couldn't afford it."

"Had some income, didn't you?"

[Illustration: FIG. 49. Hon. Joseph Walker, of Massachusetts. Has good

degree of balance between practical and ideal tendencies. Is shrewd,

ambitious, determined, persistent, courageous, intellectual, oratorical,

dramatic, forceful, social, and optimistic. Excellent planner and schemer.

Note high, wide forehead, prominent at brows; keen, shrewd and determined

expression; high, wide head; height of head just above temples; square jaw

and chin; firm mouth; short upper lip, and well-built, prominent nose.]

[Illustration: FIG. 50. Hon. Lon V. Stephens, former Governor of

Missouri, keenly observant, intensely practical, rather serious, ambitious

energetic, courageous, friendly, far-sighted. A public speaker of some

dramatic ability. Note great prominence of forehead at brows, depressed

corners of eyes and mouth and tip of nose, high, long head, medium-short

upper lip, and prominent chin.]

[Illustration: _Photo by Paul Thompson_.

FIG. 51. Hon Oscar Underwood, United States Senator from Alabama.

Practical, energetic, ambitious, courageous, determined, enduring. Note

resemblance in profile and head shape to Figs. 48, 50, and 52, also

politicians. A public speaker with considerable dramatic talent.]

[Illustration: _Copyright by Harris & Ewing, Washington, D.C._.

FIG. 52. Hon. Victor Murdock, Ex-Congressman, of Kansas. Practical, alert,

keen, ambitious, combative, courageous. Has considerable dramatic talent,

as shown by large nose, short upper lip and long, prominent chin. Compare

with Figs. 48, 50, and 51.]

[Illustration: FIG. 53. The late Robert C. Ogden, Merchant and

Philanthropist. A man of keen, practical, commercial judgment, high

ambition, great energy, strong determination, and strong sense of justice,

together with idealism, benevolence, optimism, and kindliness. Note large

development of brows; width of forehead across center; high head, domed

above temples; large, well-formed nose; long, straight upper lip;

straight, firm mouth, and poised, calm, kindly expression.]

[Illustration: FIG. 54. Prof. P.G. Holden, Agricultural Expert and

Teacher. A fine admixture of the physically frail and bony and muscular

type, hence his intellectual interest and ability in agriculture. Has

ambition, energy, and great social and friendly qualities. Note height and

length of head, development of brows, and size and contour of nose.]

[Illustration: FIG. 55. W. Nelson Edelsten, Insurance Special Agent.

Keen, observant, alert, ambitious, energetic, courageous, refined,

sensitive, emotional, enthusiastic, appreciative of approval, friendly.

Note prominence of brows, high head, large, well-formed nose, chin, and

ears, fine texture, high dome over temples, short upper lip, and alert,

high-strung, friendly expression.]

[Illustration: _Copyright by Harris & Ewing._

FIG. 56. Dr. Beverly T. Galloway, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture of

the United States. Same as FIG. 8. Note high crown large prominent nose;

very full backhead.]

"Yes, but only enough to live on."

"Had time to study, didn't you?"

"No--always had to work."

"What about your evenings? Have to work nights?"

"No."

"Had a pretty good time, didn't you?"

"Oh, yes."

"Out with the fellows and the girls about every night?"

"Yes."

"Wore good clothes, smoked good cigars, hired livery rigs, took in good

shows, lived pretty well, shook dice a little, risked a few dollars on the

ponies now and then?"

"Oh, yes; I was no tight-wad."

"You had to be a good fellow, eh?"

"Sure, I am only going through this world once, so I have had a good time

as I've gone along."

"You couldn't have put in two or three nights a week studying and still

have had a good time?"

"Oh, I might have, I s'pose, but I didn't have the money to buy books."

"How much do you figure you spent, on an average, on those nights you were

out with the boys?"

"Oh, I don't know; sometimes a dime for a cigar, sometimes three or four

dollars for theater tickets, supper, and the trimmings."

"Well, would it average two bits?"

"Yes, I guess so; all of that. Maybe more."

"If you had saved that for two nights a week, it would have counted up

about two and a quarter a month. Buy a pretty good book for that, couldn't

you?"

"S'pose so."

"And if you had been buying books and studying them, going to

night-school, or taking a correspondence course all these years, you would

have had an education by now, wouldn't you?"

"Well, I don't know. Some men are born to succeed. They have more brains

than others."

"Who, for instance?"

"Well, there's Edison."

"Yes; and while you were having a good time with the boys, wearing good

clothes, and enjoying the comforts of life, Edison was working and

studying, wearing shabby clothes and patched shoes, so that he might buy

books. What right have you to say that Edison has a better head,

naturally, than you until you have done what Edison did to develop his?"

"Well, if you put it that way--none, I guess."

"Then you might have been an Edison if you had sacrificed, worked, and

studied as Edison did?"

"Perhaps."

"Then where does the 'hard luck' come in? While you were having a good

time, Edison was having a hard time. Isn't that so?"

"Yes, and now Edison is on Easy Street and I am headed for the Bay. I see

your point, Mr. Socratic. I guess it isn't luck, after all. It's my fault.

But knowing that won't make it any easier for me when I get canned."

"What's the use crossing the bridge before you get to it? I read the other

day of a man who studied law, was admitted to the bar, and made money on

it, all after he was seventy years old."

"Think there's any chance for me? Can I learn anything at my age?"

"You learned something just now, didn't you?" asked Socratic.

"Yes, I guess I did."

"Well, if you can learn one thing, you can learn a hundred, can't you?"

"Guess so."

"Will you?"

"I sure will."

If you are a worker and not a shirker--if you are a lifter and not a

leaner--if you have done your best to succeed in your present vocation,

and are still dissatisfied, and feel that you could do better in some

other line of work, we hope that this book has been of some assistance to

you in determining your new line.

If, however, you have never attempted your best--if you have never worked

your hardest--if you have grown weary, and laid down your burden in the

face of difficulties and obstacles--if you have neglected your education,

your training, your preparation for success, then, before you make a

change, before you seek vocational counsel, do your best to make good

where you are. It may be the one vocation in which you can succeed.

PART TWO

ANALYZING CHARACTER IN SELECTION OF EMPLOYEES

CHAPTER I

THE COST OF UNSCIENTIFIC SELECTION

People used to thank God for their sickness and pain--at the same time

naively praying Him to take back His gift. This inconsistency was due to a

combination of ignorance and the good old human foible of blaming some one

else. Folks did not know then, as well as they do now, that they had the

stomachache because they were too fond of rich dainties. The cause of the

pain being mysterious, they went back to first principles and blamed (or

thanked) God for it. They believed that God afflicted them for their good

and His glory, but their belief was hardly practical enough to keep them

from praying Him not to do them too much good or Himself too much glory.

Bodily ills are no different from our other troubles. In case of doubt as

to their origin, it is far more convenient to blame some supernatural

source for them than to take the blame upon ourselves. In support of this,

take the attitude of employers toward strikes and lockouts, their most

outbreaking and violent troubles. These are named in all of our contracts

along with lightning, tornadoes, floods, and other "acts of God," if not

directly, at least by inference It is plain enough, at any rate, that

those who draw up the contract consider strikes and lockouts as wholly

outside of their control, as they do the elements. It is the same old

ignorance, the same desire to shift the blame.

WHO IS TO BLAME?

Modern business common sense counts strikes and lockouts among preventable

industrial diseases, just as the modern science of medicine classes

smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid fever, the plague, tuberculosis, and the

hookworm amongst preventable bodily diseases. The strike is a violent

eruption, according to those who have made the closest study of the

situation, resulting from long-continued abuses of bad management, bad

selection, bad assignment of duties, and other vicious or ignorant

practices. So a fever is a kind of physical house cleaning for the removal

of debris of months or even years of foolish living.

But persistent violation of the laws of health does not always lead to

acute disease. Seated in the office of a prominent and successful

physician in a Western city one day, we were discussing with him the true

nature of disease. "My patients," said he, "many of them are now lying on

beds of pain, burning with fever. They are called sick people. The folks

walking along the street out there are called well people. The terms are

inaccurate. Fever is the effort of nature to throw off poisons, poisons

which have been accumulating in the system for years as the result of

wrong ways of living. Many people suppose that fevers are caused by germs.

This is not true. No germ can harm or disturb a healthy body. It is only

when the body is depleted in vitality that its defenses come down and

germs find a ready soil in which to propagate. People who have fevers,

therefore, are only taking a violent manner of getting well, and, if

wisely treated and intelligently nursed, they do get well. As you know, it

is a very common experience for a person to feel far better after recovery

from a spell of sickness than he has for years previously. Now, nine out

of ten of the people going along the street who call themselves well are

not well. The majority of them are probably only 25 per cent, efficient

physically. They are loaded up with the debilitating consequences of their

own recklessness or ignorant manner of living."

A PROLIFIC CAUSE OF INEFFICIENCY

In the same way, there are latent illnesses and inefficiencies in many

commercial organizations which never reach the point of strikes and

lockouts. For some reason or other that lively germ, the walking delegate,

fails to get a foothold. Perhaps there would be a beneficial house

cleaning if he did. Discontent, dissatisfaction, unrest, and constant

changes in personnel load the body up with wastes, inefficiencies and

unnecessary expenses. Any employer who thinks at all, and who has any

basis for judgment as a result of observation, knows that what he desires

to purchase, when he pays wages, is not a prescribed number of days and

hours, is not a standard number of foot pounds of physical energy, but

rather human intelligence and human willingness and enthusiasm in the use

of that intelligence in his service. It is true that most employees do a

certain amount of physical work, but it is also true that the value of

that work depends entirely upon the amount of intelligence and good will

the employee puts into it. The employee who is doing work for which he is

not fitted and is unhappy and discontented is doubly inefficient. He is

inefficient because he is not well fitted for the work and could not do

his best even if he were perfectly satisfied and happy. And he is

inefficient because he is in a bad psychical state. With his mental

attitude, he could not do good work even if he were in the place for which

he was best fitted.

Efficiency experts maintain that the average employee in our industrial

and commercial institutions is only from twenty-five to thirty-five per

cent, efficient. Sixty-five to seventy-five per cent, loss in productive

power on the part of the forty million workers in this country constitutes

an almost incalculable sum.

Who is to blame for this loss? Are we not too intelligent, too well versed

in the laws of cause and effect and too courageous to try to blame the

Almighty for it or to lay it to the public schools or to hold the employee

accountable? As a matter of fact, no matter how we may try to shift the

blame, those of us who are executives know only too well that our board of

directors and stockholders hold us strictly responsible for results. What

they want is dividends, not excuses. They do not care to hear how hard it

is to find good men. They are not interested in the stories of employees

who are so ungrateful as to leave just when they have become most useful.

They will not permit you to shift any of the blame upon the shoulders of

the employee. They expect you to use methods in selecting and assigning

employees and handling them after they are selected that will yield the

largest possible permanent results.

HIGH COST OF HIRING AND FIRING

Employers who will take the trouble to study their records for some years

past, will, unless they are very exceptional, find that the average length

of service in their organization is much shorter than they would be

prepared to believe unless the actual figures were before them. We have

the word of its manager in regard to a certain foundry in the Middle West

that the average period of employment for any one man in that foundry is

only 30 days. We know a large steel mill employing 8,000 where the average

length of service per employee is a few days more than four months. These

figures were given to us by the employment manager of the mill. The head

of the employment department of a large electrical manufacturing company

stated to us that the average length of service per employee for his

organization was one year or a little less.

From "Current Affairs," Boston, we quote the following significant

editorial:

"Do employers realize the waste and extravagance and actual money loss due

to haphazard hiring and firing?

"Twelve typical factories were recently investigated as to their

employment records by Mr. M.W. Alexander. He chose the normal industrial

year of 1912. He chose representative factories, big and little, in

several States. The results of this inquiry were reported in an address

before the National Association of Manufacturers.

"Mr. Alexander found that this group of factories had 37,274 employees at

the beginning of 1912, and 43,971 at the end of the year--a net increase

of 6,697 workers. But the books showed that the factories had actually

hired 43,571 new hands, 35,874 having been dropped during the year Of

course, not all were fired. Some were absent because of sickness, some

died, some left voluntarily; but these were only a small proportion. And

the fact remains that in order to increase their working force by 6,697

these twelve industries had to break in 42,571 new employees and suffer

the consequent extra expense of instruction cost, reduced production, and

beginners' spoiled work. Making liberal discounts for the workers

unavoidably withdrawn, it is estimated that these twelve factories

suffered a definite money loss of more than $831,000 during the year on

account of reckless hiring and firing.

"The conclusion seems justified: 'The highest grade of judgment in the

hiring and discharging of employees is needed. The employment "clerk" of

to-day will have to be replaced by the employment "superintendent" of

to-morrow, not merely by changing the title and salary of the incumbent of

the office, but by placing in charge of this important branch of

management a man whose character, breadth of view, and capacity eminently

qualify him for the discharge of these duties.'"

It is probable that most executives and employers do not know because they

have not fully considered what this rapid ratio of change costs. This

cost, of course, varies over a very wide range, according to the kind of

work to be done and the class of employees. The sales manager of one

organization told us that it cost his concern $3,000 to find, employ,

train, and break-in to his work a new salesman. The employment manager of

one of the largest corporations in the world in-forms us that it costs him

$10,000 in actual money to replace the head of a department. The

employment manager of a large factory employing people whose wages ran

from $5 a week up, told us that the records of his department showed that

it cost $70 to get the name of a departing employee off the payroll and to

substitute thereon the name of a new permanent employee to take his place.

But these are only costs that can be computed. There are other costs

perhaps even greater, records of which never reach the accounting

department or the employment department. Let us tell you a story:

A COMMONPLACE STORY

Joe Lathrop, foreman of the finishing room, had a bad headache. It had

been along toward the cool, clear dawn of that very morning when, having

tearfully assured Mrs. Lathrop for the twentieth time that he had taken

but "one li'l' drink," he sobbed himself to sleep. His ears still range

disconcertingly with the stinging echoes of his wife's all-too-frank and

truthful portrayal of his character, disposition, parentage, and future

prospects. His heart was still swollen and painful with the many things he

would like to have said in reply had he not been deterred by valor's

better part. It was a relief to him, therefore, to take advantage of his

monarchical prerogatives in the finishing department and give vent to his

hot and acrid feelings.

With all his flaying irony and blundering invective, however, Joe Lathrop

never for a moment lost sight of the fact that there were some men upon

the finishing floor whom it was far better for him to let alone. With all

his truculence, he was too good a politician to lay his tongue to the man

tagged with an invisible, but none the less protective, tag of a man

higher up. And so Joe Lathrop let loose his vials of wrath upon those

whose continuance upon the payroll depended upon merit alone. One of these

was Robinson.

HATED FOR HIS EFFICIENCY

Robinson had been finishing piano frames upon this floor for twenty

months. He was a young married man, in good health, ambitious, faithful,

loyal, skilful, and efficient. He was a man who worked far more with his

brains than with his hands. He understood the principles of piano

construction, and was, therefore, no rule-of-thumb man. He had studied his

work and, as a result, had continually increased both its quantity and

quality Robinson was not self-assertive, perhaps a little taciturn, but

there was something about him which made people respect him. Over the

dinner pails at noon there had been many a conjecture on the part of

Robinson's fellow-workers that he was in line for promotion and that he

might be made assistant foreman at any time.

Joe Lathrop knew that Robinson's quiet efficiency and attention to

business had not escaped the superintendent's eye. He felt that the day

might come almost any time when, on account of his "just one li'l' drink,"

or its consequences, he might have to yield his scepter to the younger

man.

DISCHARGED WITHOUT CAUSE

Along about nine o'clock of this particular morning, Lathrop was

brow-beating one of the men for some fancied fault near the place where

Robinson was working. Seeing Robinson quietly doing his work, paying no

attention to the wrangle so near him, only further irritated the suffering

foreman.

"Robinson," he yelled. "You have been here long enough to know better than

this. What do you mean by standing there like a wooden post right beside

this man and letting him make such a botch of these frames?"

Robinson, of course, being a wise man, kept his own counsel, and went on

with his work. He could not acknowledge himself at fault when he was not

at fault. His manhood revolted. His business was to concentrate upon his

own work. Since he could not acknowledge the fault, he therefore said

nothing. This, of course, was just what Lathrop did not want.

"Speak up," he bawled, "explain yourself."

"I have my own work to attend to, Mr. Lathrop, as you know," he said

quietly.

"I'll have no back talk from you, you sulky dough-face," roared Lathrop.

"Get to hell out of here. Go to the office and get your time."

Robinson knew better than to protest. He even hesitated to go to the

superintendent, but finally decided to do so.

"It's a shame, Robinson," admitted the superintendent, "but Joe is an

awfully good man when he is right, as you know, and as long as we keep him

in our service we have to stand behind him in order to maintain

discipline." And so Robinson walked out with half a week's pay in his

pocket.

THE BEGINNING OF LOSSES

Let us estimate roughly what Joe Lathrop's "one li'l' drink" and his

suspicious jealousy cost the piano company.

Of course, his first cost was the loss of time in the finishing room

while Robinson's place stood empty. It is fair to suppose that the company

was making some profit on Robinson. It, therefore, lost the profit of

those two days. Besides this, the machinery and the equipment Robinson

operated stood still for two days eating up, in the meantime, interest on

investment, rental of floor space, depreciation, light, heat, and all

other overhead charges that it ought to have been making products to pay.

In addition to all the overhead charges, the machinery ought also to have

been making a profit for the piano company.

But there were other losses. Robinson's absence disorganized the shop

routine. There were delays, conflicts, piano parts piled up in one end of

the room while other departments clamored for finished frames at the other

end of the room. Then, at least one-half a day of Joe Lathrop's valuable

time went to waste while he was out trying to find some one to fill

Robinson's place. His first attempt was made at the gate of the factory,

where the sea of the unemployed threw up its flotsam and jetsam. But

finishing piano frames is rather a fine job and none of the willing and

eager applicants there could fill the bill. Joe then made the round of two

or three employment agencies who had helped him out in previous similar

emergencies. This time, however, they seemed to be without resource, so

far as he was concerned. Being in considerable perspiration and

desperation by this time, he was probably gladder than he ought to have

been to receive a summons to appear at the court of Terrence Mulvaney.

Terrence, who sat in judgment in the back room of his own beverage

emporium, the place where Lathrop secured his "li'l' drinks," had heard,

in the usual wireless way, that there was a finisher needed at the big

factory Lathrop still owed Terrence for a good many of his "li'l' drinks."

Furthermore, Terrence, by virtue of some mysterious underground

connection, pulled mysterious wires, so that an invitation from him was a

command. For these reasons, also, Joe Lathrop found it discreet in his own

eyes to engage on the spot Tim Murphy, a very dear friend of Mulvaney

and, according to Mulvaney's own impartial testimony, a very worthy and

deserving man.

BREAKING IN AN INCOMPETENT

Valuable hours and moments of the company's time were consumed in

initiating Tim Murphy into the employ of the company. There were certain

necessary processes in the paymaster's department, the accounting

department, the liability department, the tool room, and the medical

department.

Now, while Murphy had had some experience in finishing piano frames, he

was utterly unfamiliar with the make of piano produced in this factory.

Likewise, he was ignorant of the customs, rules, and individual methods

which obtained in the factory. This meant that his employers paid him good

wages for five or six weeks while he was finding his way around. It was

good money spent without adequate return in the way of service. In fact,

during these weeks, the company would probably have been better off

without Tim Murphy than with him, for he spoiled a good deal of his work,

took up a great deal of his foreman's time which ought to have been

applied in other directions, broke and ruined a number of valuable tools

and otherwise manifested those symptoms which so often mark the entrance

into an organization of a man propelled by pull rather than push.

The trouble in Tim Murphy's corner continued to halt and disorganize the

work in the department so that there were still further delays and losses

up and down the line. All this was bad enough, but by the end of five

weeks of Murphy's attachment to the payroll he had demonstrated that he

was not only incapable, indolent, careless, and unreliable, but that he

was a disorganizer, a gossip, and a trouble maker.

BAD EFFECT UPON OTHER EMPLOYEES

Finally the superintendent, who in some mysterious way had managed to

escape the entanglement of underground wires running from Terrence

Mulvaney's saloon, issued a direct, positive order to Foreman Lathrop, and

Murphy's place in that factory knew him no more. Nor was Murphy

astonished or disappointed. He had been expecting this very thing to

happen, and was prepared for it. So when he walked out, two skilful, but

easily influenced companions, walked out with him. Thus Joe Lathrop had,

added to one of his frequent early morning headaches, the serious trouble

of trying to find three men to fill yawning vacancies. The company was

faced with a new series of losses even greater than those which had

followed the discharge of Robinson. Furthermore, there was trouble and

disorganization among the men still remaining in the department. Every man

there had liked and respected the competent young worker, Robinson. They

all knew that he had been discharged largely because Joe Lathrop was

jealous and somewhat afraid of him, and because Joe had had a bad headache

and grouch. They resented the injustice. Their respect for their foreman

dropped several degrees. Their interest in their work slackened. "What is

the use," they thought, "to do our best when superior workmanship might

get us thrown out of here instead of promoted?"

And so Joe Lathrop's series of "li'l' drinks" finally resulted in

decreasing the efficiency of his department to such an extent that the

superintendent was obliged to discharge him. Then the superintendent was

in for it. He had to find a new man. He had to take the time and the

trouble to break the new man in, and the company had to share the losses

resulting from disorganization until the new foreman was installed.

This is not a fanciful story, but was told to us by a man who knew the

superintendent, Joe Lathrop, Robinson, Terrence Mulvaney, and Tim Murphy.

Nor is it an unusual story. Just such headaches, discharges, troubles, and

losses are occurring every day in the industrial and commercial

institutions of this country.

This story illustrates not only the high cost of constant change in

personnel, but also the high cost of leaving the important matter of

hiring and firing to foremen. Where this is done, discharges without

cause, the selection of incompetents, grafting on the payroll, inside and

outside politics, the indolent retention on the payroll of those who are

unfit, and many other abuses too numerous to mention, are bound to follow.

ONLY ONE LEGITIMATE REASON FOR HIRING

There is only one legitimate reason for putting any man or woman on the

payroll, namely, that he or she is well fitted to perform the tasks

assigned, will perform them contentedly and happily and, therefore, be a

valuable asset to the concern. But with foremen, superintendents, and

other minor executives selecting employees, for any reason and every

reason except the legitimate reason, it is small wonder that employees

grow discontented and leave, are demoralized and incompetent so that they

are discharged. For these reasons it is an unusual organization which does

not turn over its entire working force every year. The average of the

concerns we have investigated shows much more frequent turnover than this.

Under these circumstances, it should be easy to understand why our

efficiency engineers and scientific management experts find the average

organization only 25 per cent efficient. And this is not the only trouble

we make for ourselves as the result of unscientific selection in the rank

and file. In many cases we use no better judgment in the selection of even

our highest and most responsible executives. If it is true, as has been so

often stated, that a good general creates a good army and leads it to

victory, and a poor general demoralizes and leads to defeat the finest and

bravest army, then it is more disastrous for you to select one misfit

executive than a thousand misfits for your rank and file.

In our next chapter we shall attempt to show some of the troubles which

overtake a man who selects the wrong kind of executives.

CHAPTER II

THE SELECTION OF EXECUTIVES

The President and General Manager of a large manufacturing and sales

company, who, for the purpose of the present narrative, shall be called

Jessup, was making a trip from Chicago to New York on the Twentieth

Century Limited. In the smoking room of his car he met a gentleman whose

appearance and manner attracted him greatly. Acquaintanceship was a matter

of course, mutual admiration followed swift upon its heels, and friendship

soon began to crystallize in the association. As the train sped on through

the night, the Big Executive became more and more delighted with his

new-found acquaintance. The man agreed with him in many of his sentiments;

belonged to the same political party; was a member of the same fraternal

order; wore the same Greek letter society pin as his oldest son; and, what

was, perhaps, more important, entertained what seemed to him intelligent,

clean-cut, forceful, progressive ideas in regard to business.

As their talk proceeded, President Jessup found that the gentleman was a

Mr. Lynch, advertising manager of a firm manufacturing jewelry, located in

Providence, Rhode Island. He had been in this position for five years and

during that time had planned, assisted in designing, and sold to a

national market several profitable jewelry specialties. Lynch's graphic

story of how these advertising campaigns had been planned, executed, and

carried through to success fascinated the President of the western

concern. To his mind, his own enterprise, the manufacture and sale of

steam and hot-water heating plants, had long been in the doldrums. He

himself had spent many sleepless nights trying to plan some way of

extending its business; of opening up new markets; of creating a wide new

patronage; of manufacturing something which would bring in more profits

than their regular line, and finding a successful sale for it. It now

seemed to him that he had found just the man to assist him in carrying out

these vaguely formed plans, which as yet were little more than dreams. He

told Lynch something of his ideas and ideals, and, as the two men parted

for the night, he said:

"I have just a glimmering of an idea, Mr. Lynch, that we might be able to

make an arrangement whereby you would be greatly profited in increased

opportunities and bigger income, and perhaps we also would reap an

advantage in increased business. Think it over."

SELECTION BY PERSONAL PLEASURE

Long after he had retired, President Jessup pondered over the situation,

and the more he pondered, the more he became convinced that he had found

just the man he wanted. True, he had not had in mind, during any of his

midnight vigils, the taking on of any new help--his payroll was already

heavy enough. He had a good advertising manager and a good sales manager,

men who were competent to take care of the business of the concern. In

response to their efforts, patronage was growing, not rapidly and

spectacularly, yet steadily and substantially. Now, however, he saw an

opportunity to produce something which would be different enough from the

product of any of his competitors to warrant him in undertaking a national

advertising campaign. Up to the present he had had only a local business.

A few hundred miles from his factory in all directions could be found all

the heating plants which he had manufactured and sold. His dream was to

produce some special form of apparatus which would sell wherever there

were homes, stores, offices, churches, theaters, and schools to be warmed.

Mr. Lynch was just the man to study their business carefully, decide upon

some such product, help to design it, and plan and execute the national

advertising campaign which would develop a local into a national business.

Jessup dropped to sleep with his mind made up.

Next morning, as the train sped along between the Catskills and the

Hudson, the two men, over the breakfast table, began negotiations. Jessup

was surprised, and somewhat disappointed to find what a large salary his

new friend was drawing in Providence. He was still more surprised and

disappointed to find that Lynch's future prospects in the jewelry business

were so bright that it would take a considerably larger salary to entice

him away. The Westerner's mind, however, was made up and the future

profits he saw arising from a national business were so attractive that he

finally threw aside caution and offered Lynch twelve thousand five hundred

dollars a year and moving expenses to the western city where his factory

was located. This offer was finally accepted, the two men shook hands, and

arrangements were made for Lynch to report for duty in the West within

thirty days.

THE NEW MAN IN A QUANDARY

Now, President Jessup had no intention of dismissing his advertising

manager and his sales manager. Each knew the business from beginning to

end; each was thoroughly familiar with the trade already built up and

personally acquainted with many dealers who handled the products, and

could be depended upon not only to hold the present trade, but to increase

it. Therefore it seemed good judgment to retain these two men on the local

trade while turning Lynch loose upon the campaign for the securing of a

national market. So it was decided to retain both of the old men and to

give the newcomer the title of sales promotion manager. There were some

heart-burnings on the part of those already in the office when the new man

came in and took charge. It was not pleasant for men who had been with the

business for years and served it faithfully and helped to build it up, to

have a man placed over them who knew nothing about it and whose salary was

more than their two salaries combined. However, Lynch's personality was so

pleasant and he was so tactful and agreeable that this little feeling of

inharmony seemed soon to disappear. Presently all were working together in

the happiest possible way toward the inauguration of the new policy of the

concern.

As time went on, however, Lynch began to show signs of restlessness and

uneasiness. Being a man of keen, alert mind and quick intelligence, he had

quickly grasped the fundamentals of the heating business. He was soon able

to talk with the firm's designers and engineers in their own language. But

the more he studied boilers and radiators, the less interest he took in

them. He had sense enough to know that the only thing that would win in

the plan he had in mind was a radical change in design which would

increase the amount of heat delivered in proportion to the amount of fuel

burned, or the amount of heat delivered in proportion to the cost of fuel

burned, or would reduce the amount of supervision required, or would do

away with some of the long-standing sources of trouble and annoyance in

heating apparatus. Long and hard he thought and conjectured, and studied

statistics, and followed reports of experiments, but for the life of him

he could not take any interest in any such line of research. He hated the

gases, ashes, soot, smoke, and dirt generally. Huge rough castings of

steel and iron seemed gross and ugly to him, and the completed product

seemed coarse and unfinished. The only improvements he could think of were

improvements in beauty of line, in refinement of the design, in added

ornamentation, and other enhancements of the physical appearance of the

product. In these he took some interest, but he had the good sense to know

that no change of this kind would accomplish what they wished in the

matter of going after a national market.

THE HIGH-SALARIED ONE FAILS

For a while President Jessup waited patiently; then, as the big salary

checks came to him to be signed month after month, he began to grow

restless. No result had yet been announced and in his conferences with

Lynch, he could not determine that any hopeful progress was being made.

Finally, in desperation, he called his engineers and designers together.

For three weeks he worked with them night and day, studying, analyzing,

making records, and computing results. They took cat-naps on benches in

the laboratory while waiting for fires to burn a standard number of hours;

ate out of lunch-boxes; and finally, unshaven and covered with soot and

ashes, they triumphantly produced a fire-box and boiler which would burn

the cheapest kind of coal screenings satisfactorily, with but little

supervision and a high degree of efficiency. This was the best thing they

had ever done in the laboratory. This was the attainment which he had so

long desired. This, properly advertised and handled, certainly ought to

revolutionize the steam and hot-water heating business. But it was not one

of Lynch's brain-children. However, Lynch would now have an opportunity to

prove his value and return to the concern large profits for the amount

they had spent and would spend upon him. At any rate, he knew how to plan

and conduct an advertising and selling campaign.

Lynch, intensely relieved by the solving of this problem, the utility of

which he very readily saw, threw himself, heart and soul, into the

construction of the advertising campaign. As this work progressed, Jessup

began to have some misgivings. While the advertisements, circulars,

catalogues, and other literature were beautiful; while the English in them

was elegant, and the form of expression refined, somehow or other, they

seemed to lack the necessary punch or kick which Jessup knew they ought to

have. The two big things about the new product were, first, economy of

fuel; second, ease of operation and small demand for supervision. These

points were not brought out clearly enough. They did not grip. They did

not get home as they should. There was a good deal of talk in all the

advertising about the beauty of the new apparatus; about the refinement of

its finish; about its workmanship, and many other things which, to

Jessup's mind, detracted from the main issue. The one thing he wanted to

hammer into the minds of the readers of his advertising was the fact that

here was a heating apparatus for which fuel could be purchased in the

usual quantities and at half the regular price. What he wanted to do was

to make them actually see the dollars and cents saved, not only in fuel,

but also in the cost of operation. He wanted suburbanites to see the fact

that they could attend to their furnaces each morning before going to

town, and that the fires would not need any further attention until the

following morning; but, somehow or other, the advertising did not seem to

picture this clearly enough. The statements were made, yes; there was

plenty of evidence produced to show this; but it was done in a way which,

somehow or other, did not produce an intense conviction.

Jessup had secured from his board of directors an appropriation of fifty

thousand dollars for a national advertising campaign. Upon the result of

his first attempt would depend his securing a further appropriation for

such a campaign as he had planned and as he wanted to execute. This being

the case, he did not feel that he was justified in permitting Lynch's

advertising to go out as it was. The result was that, just before the time

came when copy must be sent to the magazines, newspapers, and street-car

advertising companies, Jessup called his old advertising manager into

conference and for a week they struggled together, revising the copy,

rewriting the selling argument, and placing emphasis in clear, strong,

unforgetable figures where it would do the most good.

WHY THE "GREAT FIND" WAS A DISAPPOINTMENT

The result of all this was that Lynch, seeing the writing on the wall,

tendered his resignation--which was all too gladly accepted. In offering

his resignation, however, Lynch had stipulated that he was to receive four

thousand dollars out of the six thousand five hundred still due him on his

year's contract. President Jessup's error in selecting an employee had

cost him ten thousand dollars in salary. Besides this was the still larger

sum in expenses, in wasted effort, and in the disorganization of his

entire factory and selling force as the result of the introduction of a

man who did not belong there.

His mistake was due to two fundamental errors. In the first place, the

facts that a man is personally agreeable, that he belongs to the same

political party, that he belongs to the same lodge or fraternity, that his

ideas and opinion on matters outside of business agree with his

employer's, are merely incidental and by no means adequate reasons for

employing him. Nor is the fact that he has made a good record, even an

extraordinary record, in some other line of business a good reason for

employing him. Perhaps, on the other hand, the fact that his record is

made in a totally different business is a good reason for not employing

him. It certainly was so in this case.

In the second place, President Jessup did not take into consideration the

natural aptitudes of his man, natural aptitudes which he might very easily

have determined with a moment's casual observation. Lynch was exceedingly

fine in texture; his hair, his skin, his features, his hands, and his feet

were all fine and delicate. He, therefore, loved beauty, refinement, small

articles, fine lines, elegant designs. These things appealed to him

strongly, and because of this he was able to make them appeal to others.

Anything which was heavy, rough, coarse, crude, uncouth, or ugly repelled

him. He could not take an interest in it except in the most theoretical

way. For this reason he could not interest others in it. He had an unusual

knack for selling things to people which would appeal to their love of the

beautiful and their desire for adornment; in short, to their vanity; but

he had no qualifications for selling to people on a purely commercial

basis, and especially selling something which was so matter-of-fact and

commonplace in its character as the saving of coal and the freedom from

necessity of frequent attention.

A WEAK MAN AND HIS TEMPTATION

In the winter of 1914-1915, the people of New York were shocked at the

downfall of a man who had held a very high social, church, and business

position. He had a wife and two or three beautiful children; he occupied a

very prominent place in church and Sunday-school; he was well connected

socially; he was a prominent member of one of the more popular secret

fraternal organizations; he had a good position at a large salary, and

enjoyed the complete confidence and respect of his employers and business

associates. Like a bolt out of a clear sky, therefore, came the revelation

that he had robbed his employers of more than a hundred thousand dollars.

This money he had lost in speculation.

It was the old, old story. He had begun speculating with his own reserve;

this was quickly wiped out. Then, in order to win back what he had lost,

he had begun to borrow, little by little from his employer. He would win

for a little while; then he would lose, and, as a result, would have to

borrow more in an attempt to make good his losses and repay what he had

borrowed.

This man's employers had to make good a loss of about one hundred and

twenty-two thousand dollars. In addition to this, they lost time, money,

service, energy, and physical well-being because of the upset in their

business and the bitter disappointment to them in the defalcation of their

trusted employee. They also spent money tracing him in his flight and

bringing him back to face trial and receive his penalty. More money was

spent trying to discover whether he had concealed any of the funds he had

stolen, so that they might be recovered. All of this might have been saved

and the man himself, perhaps, might have been protected from the fate

which overtook him, if, instead of judging him by his church record and

his pleasing personal appearance and manner, they had taken the trouble to

learn something about the external evidences of weaknesses which this man

possessed in such a marked degree.

WHY HE GAMBLED AND STOLE

If they had learned some very simple principles, they would have been able

to determine at a glance at his curly blond hair; by his secretively

veiled eyes; by his large, somewhat fleshy nose, not particularly high in

the bridge; by the weakness and looseness of his mouth, and the small and

retreating contour of his chin, and by other important indications, that

he was selfish by nature, grasping, extravagant, too hopeful, too

optimistic, too fond of money, too self-indulgent; that he lacked

conscientiousness; that he lacked caution; that he lacked foresight; that

he lacked any very keen sense of distinction between what was his and what

belonged to others; that he lacked firmness, decision, self-control,

will-power. Notwithstanding his lack of all these things, he had made a

success for himself, up to the time of his defalcation, by means of a

keen, penetrating intellect, excellent powers of expression, the ability

to make himself agreeable, ease in mingling with strangers, a natural

talent for piety and pious profession, and considerable financial and

commercial shrewdness.

A man of this type is nearly always a gambler if he has an opportunity;

but he ought to be placed in a position where there will be no temptation

to him to rob others to satisfy his gambling proclivities. He is one of

the last men in the world who ought to be placed in a position of

responsibility, trust, and confidence. For the protection of others and

for protection against himself, he ought to be under the most careful

supervision. His intellectual powers, his suavity, his ability to meet and

handle strangers, his commercial and financial shrewdness, ought all to be

given full scope by his employers, but any opportunity to handle money or

help himself to the funds of others should be carefully shut away from

him.

AN ENGINE WITHOUT A BALANCE WHEEL

Some years ago we had an opportunity to look into the affairs of a

mail-order house which had just failed for a large sum, so that its

creditors, in the final adjustment, received about eleven cents on a

dollar for their claims. The business had been established by a capitalist

of considerable wealth, who had made his money in an entirely different

line. For some years it was operated in a conservative way by a man who

had had years of experience in the mail-order business. The man was well

along in years and rather old-fashioned in his ideas. While his management

was safe and sane, it had not produced a very large return upon the

capital investment. For this reason, the owner determined to engage, as

advertising manager, a young man who had several years' successful

experience in advertising, but no first-hand knowledge of the mail-order

business. The young man did brilliant work. The business of the house

began to grow, dividends began to come in, and the owner was delighted.

But the new advertising manager and the old general manager did not get

along well together. The young man was progressive, optimistic, had ideas

of expansion and growth, while the old man was conservative, careful, and

somewhat out of date in his ideas as to business.

There could be no result of such a combination except the final

resignation of the old general manager. This was only too gladly accepted,

and the young man who had come in as advertising manager was placed in

full charge. Following his appointment there was a period of rapid

expansion. Many new lines were added; the concern rented two more floors

in the building where it was located, and eventually purchased ground and

built a fine new building. The payroll doubled, then trebled, then

quadrupled. All these things, of course, took more capital, and the owner

was compelled to add many thousands of dollars to his original investment,

first, for permanent improvement; then, from time to time, for working

capital. He was glad to do this, because the business was growing. There

seemed to be every prospect that in the near future there would be profits

far in excess of anything the owner had ever dreamed of under the old

management.

SUPERSTRUCTURE WITHOUT FOUNDATION

Then came a time when other ventures of the owner compelled the use of all

of his spare capital. He could no longer add to the funds invested in his

mail-order business. He called his new general manager in and said: "I

have put a great deal of money into this mail-order business. You have

your beautiful new building; you have a goodly amount of working capital;

you have expanded and added new lines; and I think the time has come when

you ought to be able not only to run along without any more investment on

my part, but very soon to show me a nice little profit. I assure you that

it will come in exceedingly handy in the new venture which I have

undertaken."

"Oh, certainly," the young man said, "there is no doubt that we shall soon

be paying you larger profits than any other enterprise you control, with

the new business we have secured and the splendid profits on all lines we

are now handling. There is no reason why we should need any more capital,

and I do not think it will be very long before we will have repaid you in

dividends for every penny of money you have recently put into the

business."

And so the owner turned his back on his mail-order business and gave his

time, thought, and energy to his other ventures. Reports, of course,

reached him regularly, but he had full confidence in the manager, and he

was very busy, so he paid but little attention to them.

THE INEVITABLE COLLAPSE

A little more than a year had passed when the capitalist was profoundly

astonished and dismayed to have one of his best business friends call upon

him and request: "Charlie, I wish you could do something for me on that

account. It's long past due and it's getting altogether too large for me

to carry as business is now."

"Why, what account is that? I didn't know I owed you a cent."

"Why, for that mail-order business of yours. They've been ordering goods

from me for over a year now, and what they have ordered during the last

six months has not been paid for. I knew that you were good, of course,

and so was perfectly willing to extend the credit. But you know, as a

businessman, that there is a limit to such things, and I think it has

about been reached. I hope you can take care of it immediately, as I can

very readily use the funds."

"Why, how much is this wretched account of mine, Will? I didn't know I

owed you a cent. It can't be very much."

"Well, it all depends upon what you call very much. It's something like

thirty-five thousand dollars."

"Thirty-five thousand dollars! Why, man, you must be dreaming," and the

capitalist turned to his telephone and called up the general manager of

his mail-order business.

"Why, yes," came back the cheerful, confident tone of the optimistic young

manager, "we do owe them around thirty-five thousand, I think. I supposed,

of course, you knew all about it. I've been sending my reports in every

week."

"But why haven't you paid it? Certainly your sales are big enough and your

income from them good enough for you to pay your bills."

"Well, I'll tell you; it is taking us just a little longer for us to get

on our feet than I had expected. Then, after your decision not to put any

more money into the business, I found it necessary, in order to round out

and complete our line, to add some new items which cost us quite a little.

But we are in good shape now and the sales are increasing. We shall soon

be able to take care of all of our outstanding obligations."

"How much are your outstanding obligations?" asked the capitalist, with a

sinking heart.

"Well, about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, I should say. But it

won't take us long to clean that up now that we've squared away."

"You'd better come right over here and bring your books with you. I want

to go into this thing."

WHY HE FAILED

It took only a few hours' investigation of the books to convince the

capitalist that his mail-order business was hopelessly insolvent. It took

expert accountants to find out why it was insolvent. The trouble was that

the young manager had proceeded with only the vaguest and roughest kind of

an estimate of cost, based, not upon facts, but mostly upon his own superb

guesswork. New business had been brought in by reducing prices. "Low

prices" had been one of the slogans of the young man's campaign, and he

had cut under all of his competitors. On the other hand, there had been

the slackest kind of management inside. Overhead expenses had mounted and

mounted. The young man had been altogether too easy and generous in fixing

salaries, granting promotions and increases, and in giving positions to

those who applied. He was really a splendid young fellow, with a

sympathetic heart and a generous hand, and it was very difficult for him

to turn away anyone who could tell an artistic hard-luck story. Expensive

equipment had been purchased which had far greater capacity than the needs

of the business required; therefore, many machines and other fixtures had

stood idle seventy-five per cent of the time, eating up money in interest

charges, depreciation, space, light, heat, and other expenses. In addition

to these out-and-out expenditures, there were dozens of little leaks in

all the departments of the business, all busily draining away not only

possible profits, but the working capital, and, finally, the limit of the

concern's credit.

As a result of this kind of management, the final accounting showed the

liabilities of the concern to be in the neighborhood of four hundred

thousand dollars and its assets only about forty-five thousand. No one

could be found to take the business, even as a gift, and assume its

obligations. The owner himself had his capital so tightly involved in

other ventures that he was unable to save this concern, and it was

therefore sold under the hammer. The creditors received their little

eleven cents on the dollar. The owner's capital investment was, of course,

a total and complete loss.

This man made his mistake in placing a business in which there is a

multitude of detail and a necessity for the closest possible scrutiny of

every cent of expenditure--a business which must be done upon the smallest

possible margin in order to be successful--in the hands of a man who could

look only outward and forward and upward. The young man was, indeed, a

splendid business getter. He was a natural-born advertiser, salesman, and

promoter. His personality was forceful, pleasing, and magnetic. In his

intentions and principles he was honest and highly honorable. He was keen,

positive, quick in thought, quick in action, progressive, eager, buoyant;

he had a splendid grasp of large affairs, principles, and generalities.

But he had no mind for details; he rather scorned them. He was perfectly

willing to leave the details to someone else, and even then did not care

to hear any more about them himself. He never ought to have been placed in

charge of a business involving such minute carefulness as the mail-order

business. He was dangerous in any position of responsibility without a

partner or an auditor and treasurer competent to look after the finances

and all of the details of the accounting and administration. This young

man's function was getting in the business, but he was not equipped by

nature or by training to take care of the business after it came into the

house or to administer the funds which came in with it. The capitalist

would have known, if he had exercised one-half the care in choosing a

general manager that he did in selecting a driving horse, that the young

man was unfitted for the work he was expected to do.

A COMMON TYPE

He would have known that anyone as blonde in coloring and as round-headed

as this young man was unfit for a position which required the minutest and

most careful scrutiny of every detail of administration. He would also

have noticed his wide-open, credulous, and generous eye; the narrowness of

his head just behind the ears, indicating his inclination to side-step

anything in the nature of a disagreeable contest or combat. The high dome

of his head just above the temple and the turned up tip of his nose, both

indicating extreme optimism; his very short fingers, indicating dislike of

detail and the inability to handle it; his rather soft-elastic consistency

of hand, showing inability to bear down hard and firm in cutting expenses

and holding down salaries.

This young man's type is very common. We meet it constantly in business,

and wherever we have met it, we have always found that, unless it was

associated with a man of dark complexion, hard consistency, keen, shrewd

eyes, the ability to fight and to stick, a sort of bull-dog tenacity, it

simply ran away in over-optimistic ventures, dissipated its earnings, and

ended in dismal failure.

[Illustration: FIG. 57. Conical hands, with conical finger tips. Indicate

refinement, responsiveness, sentiment, love of beauty in music and art,

and an emotional nature. This hand, however, is not very practical, and is

not the typical hand of the musical performer or creative artist. May be

the hand of an actor or singer.]

[Illustration: FIG. 58. Back and front view of hand of Mrs. Flora E.

Durand, of Libertyville, Illinois, Pianiste and Pipe Organist. Mrs. Durand

is a performer of unusual skill and artistic feeling. Note squareness of

entire hand and of finger tips.]

[Illustration: FIG. 59. Back and front view of hands of financier and

administrator. Very practical, matter-of-fact, and sensible; not

particularly fond of detail, but can compel himself to do it. Note square

hands and finger tips and moderately short fingers.]

[Illustration: FIG. 60. Front and back view of hands of a mechanical and

electrical engineer of some prominence. He is not only highly qualified,

intellectually, for engineering work, but is a mechanic of great

expertness and skill. All his work is beautifully finished and

marvellously accurate. Note long, square hands and fingers.]

[Illustration: FIG. 61. Long fingers, indicating a tendency to capacity

for details.]

[Illustration: FIG. 62. An example of narrow head, indicating mildness of

disposition--an inclination to win way and secure ends by intellect, tact,

and diplomacy, rather than by direct conflict.]

[Illustration: _Copyright Ernest H. Mills._

FIG. 63. Sir Henry Fowler. A splendid example of fine, enduring physical

balance with excellent intellectual equipment. Note large, long nose,

ears, and chin; long, straight upper lip; long, rather lean lines of

cheeks and face in general, flat-topped head; prominent brows, and square

jaw, These are all typical indications of calmness, practical judgment,

prudence, shrewdness, moderation, and, as a result, longevity.]

[Illustration: FIG. 64. Reginald D. Barry, Engineer and Scientific

Experimenter. Interested in mechanics and engineering in an almost purely

intellectual manner. Ambitious, determined, optimistic. Note especially

height and width of upper part of cranium, with slender lower face; also

rounded dome above temples, and width and fulness back of upper corners of

forehead.]

[Illustration: FIG. 65. Colbert E. Lyon. Note especially high dome of

head above temples, indicating optimism, faith, hope, sympathy, generosity

and humanitarian leanings. Note also fine texture, indicating love of

beauty, refinement, and responsiveness. Practical judgment, energy and

determination are shown by prominent brows; large, high nose; and strong

chin; fine powers of expression by prominent eyes.]

[Illustration: FIG. 66. Dr. V. Stefansson, Explorer. Of the active,

restless, eager, pioneering type, capable of enduring hardship. Note

square jaw, large nose, convex profile, blond color, high, wide

cheekbones, strong chin, and coarse texture.]

[Illustration: FIG. 67. High, square head, indicating conscientiousness,

prudence, carefulness, dependability, and constancy.]

[Illustration: FIG. 68. High, round head, indicating ambition, love of

adventure, and a certain degree of recklessness, carelessness, and

irresponsibility.]

ROOSEVELT AND TAFT CONTRASTED

When Mr. Roosevelt was about to end his term as President of the United

States in 1907, he and his more prudent advisors did not consider it good

political judgment for him to seek at that time nomination for what would

have been, in effect, a third term. He therefore began to cast about to

find a successor who would carry out his policies. As President, he had

inaugurated certain policies of administration which he regarded as being

of the highest possible importance to the country, and to the world at

large. We are not here discussing the common sense, wisdom, and

statesmanship of those policies. The fact to which we are calling

attention is that Mr. Roosevelt wished to use his influence as President

and as the leader of his party to have placed in nomination, as his

successor, a man upon whom he could rely to continue to administer the

office of President according to the policies he himself had inaugurated.

Mr. Taft had long been a member of Mr. Roosevelt's cabinet and had also

been a very close personal friend. As Governor of the Philippines, and as

Secretary of War, he had made a splendid record and was considered to be

one of the most loyal and able of the President's official family.

Accordingly, he was selected by Mr. Roosevelt as his successor. In his

campaign for election, and in his inaugural address, Mr. Taft repeatedly

gave assurance to the voters that it was his intention to carry out the

Roosevelt policies. There is practically no one, even those who disapprove

most heartily of Mr. Taft's record in the Presidency, who thinks that he

was anything but sincere and honest in making these promises to the

voters.

HOW IT WORKED OUT

Now, without discussing for a moment Mr. Taft's administration as

President from the standpoint of its true value to the country, or the

actual quality of his statesmanship, there is no question in the mind of

anyone that he signally failed to carry out the Roosevelt policies. In

fact, he became the titular leader of that faction of the Republican

party, before the end of his administration, most violently opposed to the

Roosevelt policies. He has subscribed to and preached a totally different

political doctrine from that of his former friend and chief ever since.

This course of action may have been right; it may have been wrong; it may

have been wise, or it may have been unwise. It may have been fully

justified, or it may not have been justified. These are not questions

which interest us here.

The point is that Mr. Roosevelt, in all good faith, and believing in the

wisdom of his choice, selected Mr. Taft to carry out his policies in the

government, and that Mr. Taft, no doubt with the best of intentions,

failed to carry out those policies. The result was a split in the

Republican party, the election of a Democratic President and Congress, and

other far-reaching consequences, the full meaning of which we have not yet

begun to see. They may be good; they may be unfortunate. That is not the

question at issue. The question is, could Mr. Roosevelt, if he had had a

scientific understanding of human nature, have foretold Mr. Taft's course

of action?

INDICATIONS OF DIFFERENCES IN CHARACTER, IDEAS, IDEALS, AND ACTIONS

The Roosevelt policies were aggressive and bold, cutting across

traditions, flinging down the gauntlet, and throwing defiance into the

faces of powerful political and business interests. They assumed for the

executive office at least all of the powers which, according to the

Constitution, belong to it, working in harmony with a group of men who had

interested themselves in a number of progressive--perhaps some might say

radical--reform measures. Furthermore, these policies were a perfectly

natural expression of Mr. Roosevelt's personality.

Do Mr. Taft's physical characteristics, as easily observable indicate

that he is of a character, temperament and aptitude to continue such

policies as these. A comparison of the two men should give us the answer.

Mr. Taft is very much lighter in color than Mr. Roosevelt. As a general

rule, the lighter blond coloring is an indication of mildness of

disposition, instead of the fierceness and eager determination to dominate

of the man who is as ruddy as Mr. Roosevelt.

Mr. Taft's forehead is very much more practical in type than Mr.

Roosevelt's. He is, therefore, far more interested in the practical

application of such principles as he has than in theories, hypotheses, and

reform.

Mr. Taft's nose, by its roundness and softness of contour, indicates

mildness, good nature, refinement, and delicacy of feeling, while Mr.

Roosevelt's is the large-tipped, bony-bridged nose of aggressiveness and

combativeness.

Mr. Taft's mouth is a good-natured, smiling, laughing, jovial mouth,

instead of the grim, hard, fighting mouth as shown in Mr. Roosevelt's

type.

Mr. Taft's chin is of the rounded and rather retreating type, an

indication that he is probably far better qualified by disposition to

follow a strong and aggressive leader than to take the aggressive,

dominating, fighting leadership himself.

Mr. Taft is a very much larger man than Mr. Roosevelt. This, while not

particularly important, is just one more indication of his good nature and

his dislike for a hard, grueling fight. It is an interesting fact that

almost all of the great fighters of the world have been little men.

Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Grant, Lord Roberts, Sheridan, Sherman,

Wilhelm II, and many others have been below medium in stature. Of the

others, Kitchener, Wellington, Frederick the Great, Washington, and von

Hindenberg have been men of not more than medium size. It is almost

unprecedented to find a fighter in a man of Mr. Taft's huge size.

In structure, Mr. Taft is essentially of the judicial type. This type is

always a defender of property, an upholder of the Constitution, a strong

advocate of making the best of things as they are, rather than plunging

into violent innovations, the results of which are unknown and may very

easily prove to be disastrous. On the other hand, Mr. Roosevelt is of

restless, active, pioneering structure--the bony, muscular type of man who

has always led reform movements and led in fighting for changes he thought

would add to the freedom of humanity.

Mr. Taft's texture is finer than that of Mr. Roosevelt. He is, therefore,

more interested in the refinements, the luxuries, and the delicacies of

life than is Mr. Roosevelt. He is also less vigorous, less virile, and

less insistent upon reform and the right of the people to rule. It is an

interesting fact that most of the great friends of the people, most of

those who are eager in demanding the rights of the proletariat, are men of

medium or coarse texture.

Mr. Taft is soft elastic in consistency of fiber, while Mr. Roosevelt is

hard elastic. This indicates more impressionability or amenability to

influence, more desire for finding an easy and pleasant way to accomplish

his end on the part of Mr. Taft than on the part of Mr. Roosevelt.

In Mr. Taft the vital element leads--in Mr. Roosevelt, the motive. The

vital element conduces to putting on of flesh, enjoys the good things of

life, loves an easy time, and naturally inclines to make the best of

things as they are. On the other hand, the motive element demands outdoor

activity, freedom, liberty of movement, and not only liberty for itself,

but liberty for everyone else.

Mr. Roosevelt's jaw is square and determined, which shows an inclination

to push things through regardless of obstacles; to pursue his ends no

matter what difficulties stand in the way. Mr. Taft's jaw is rather

rounded and not so prominent. This indicates less determination, less

perseverance, less persistence in pushing against obstacles and

difficulties.

Note the difference in width between Mr. Roosevelt's and Mr. Taft's head

just above the ears. Mr. Roosevelt is very wide-headed. This indicates

energy, aggressiveness, impatience, a certain amount of destructive

tendency. It is this which not only makes Mr. Roosevelt an aggressive,

eager, fighting, dominating politician and statesman, but also a mighty

hunter.

On the other hand, Mr. Taft's head is medium narrow just above the ears.

This indicates mildness, an inclination to use diplomacy rather than

force, and a tendency to take things as they are rather than to push ahead

aggressively and make radical changes.

Mr. Roosevelt's head is high in the crown. Mr. Taft's head is low in the

crown. A high crown indicates firmness, decision, love of power, love of

authority, a demand to rule, and great ambition. A low crown, on the other

hand, indicates amenability to authority, a willingness to compromise, and

a lack of domineering quality.

Compare the expression of the two men. Mr. Roosevelt's expression is

intense, vigorous, and almost belligerent. Mr. Taft's expression is mild,

calm, judicial, good-natured, and jovial.

By what stretch of the imagination could anyone suppose that a man of Mr.

Taft's character and aptitudes, as shown by the indications pointed out in

the foregoing, could even begin to carry out the policies of a man of Mr.

Roosevelt's character, as shown by the indications we have pointed out?

And yet, all of the political history of the United States since 1909 has

been completely changed as the result of Mr. Roosevelt's lack of knowledge

of the plain facts of the science of human nature. Indeed, the result of

Mr. Roosevelt's choice of a successor is found in Mexico, in Germany, in

England, in France, and, in fact, throughout the world.

IF NOT SCIENTIFICALLY, HOW?

Woodrow Wilson has been criticized, perhaps, as severely for his selection

of men for various posts in his administration as for any other cause, if

reports are to be believed. He has probably suffered far more from

unfortunate selection of lieutenants and of men for special tasks, and has

more deeply regretted his mistakes of this nature, than any other thing in

his administration up to the time that these lines are written.

The few examples we have given in this chapter of men who gave excellent

promise and then failed to live up to their expectations are typical. They

are occurring every day in every line of business and industry, as well as

in politics and government. We are told by some who have made a study of

this subject that the only way to find out what a man can do, what his

aptitudes are, what are his abilities, his capacities, his type, and what

his performances will be, is to put him in a place where he will have an

opportunity to show what there is in him. If this is the best that science

can do for us, we are, then, groping in darkness through a tangled maze of

pitfalls. We have nothing left but to go on using disastrous and

impracticable methods in the selection of men for commerce, for industry,

for financial responsibility, and for the highest positions of honor,

responsibility, and power in the gift of the people.

CHAPTER III

THE REMEDY

True, we can determine a man's fitness by giving him a trial. But, if he

is a failure, and we learn nothing by experience, the next incumbent may

be a hundred-fold worse. Furthermore, in many places, selection by trial

is an impossibility, as in marriage, in the presidency of a bank, or in a

general to lead a forlorn hope. There must be some better way.

Some years ago we were asked to make an investigation at a printing and

publishing house. Two years before this time the proprietor had ceased to

receive any profits from the enterprise and, at this particular time,

complained that for months he had been putting money into the business in

order to keep it going. He himself was not a practical printer and was not

in immediate management of the concern. His manager, however, was an able

man, a good printer, and was considered to be a good business man.

At the very outset of our investigation, we found that the foreman of the

composing-room purchased type, leads, and slugs, furniture, cases, and all

of the other materials used in his department. The foreman of the

press-room purchased paper, ink, rollers, twine, and other things. The

foreman of the shipping-room purchased packing-cases, wrapping paper,

twine, nails, hammers, marking ink, and other materials he used. The

foreman of the bindery purchased glue, cloth, leather, boards, paper, and

wire. The office manager purchased typewriter ribbons, carbon paper,

clips, paper fasteners, pins, mucilage, rulers, pens, and pencils. The

foreman of the electrotyping department purchased copper, acids, metal,

and tools. We were rather surprised to find that the coal and lubricating

oil for the engine room were purchased by the manager himself, but not at

all surprised to learn that he had never heard of such a quantity as a

British Thermal unit and that he had absolutely no records to show the

kind of coal most efficient under his boilers. A little further

investigation showed that each head of department had charge of the stores

of materials and supplies for his department and gave them out to

employees upon a mere verbal request. We were not long in discovering that

the foreman of the composing-room received "tokens of regard" from

salesmen; that the foreman of the press-room was regularly on the payroll

of several companies furnishing inks and rollers, and had a brother-in-law

running a little print shop around the corner and spending very little

money for ink, paper, and other such materials. Each head of a department

also had full power to "hire and fire," as he called it. The foreman of

the composing-room said to us, when we questioned him in regard to this

matter, "Why, if I didn't have the power to hire and fire I could not

maintain discipline in my department; rather than give that up, I would

resign my position."

As a result of this state of affairs, we found a brother of the foreman

occupying an easy position in the composing-room, a brother-in-law, two

nieces, two nephews, and a son occupying easy positions at good salaries

in the press-room and various other nephews and other semi-dependents

working away under foremen who were related to them in the various

departments. In the composing-room, also, we found, upon careful

investigation, that several of the employees were very heavily overpaid at

times and that they divided the surplus in their pay envelopes with the

foreman.

When we called these things to the attention of the manager, he was deeply

surprised and pained. "Why," he said, "every head of a department in this

printing and publishing house is a personal friend of mine. I have the

highest regard for them and have held their honor and uprightness so high

in my estimation that it has never occurred to me to investigate their

administration in their several departments. You know, of course, that

this is the usual procedure in the printing business. The foremen regard

these prerogatives as being especially theirs and would very deeply and

bitterly resent any attempt on the part of the management to take them

away." The manager was only partly right. It is true that these practices

have been followed in many printing and publishing houses; that they are

followed in some even to-day; but even in his time the most progressive

and successful had long ago abolished this inefficient and

dishonesty-breeding system.

SCIENTIFIC PURCHASING ENDS ABUSES

To-day in every well-managed printing office, as well as every other

industry, there is a purchasing department. Materials are purchased, not

through favors, or on account of bonus from the salesmen, but upon exact

specifications which are worked out in the laboratory. Materials are

accepted and paid for only after a laboratory analysis to ascertain their

true worth. Materials are kept in a stores department and are issued only

upon written requisitions. Requisitions are carefully checked up, records

kept to show that each department is using only its proper quota of

materials and supplies of all kinds.

While the purchasing of mere inanimate material, which after all is only

secondary in importance, has thus been reduced to science and art in

charge of specialists, the methods of selection, assignment, and handling

of employees in nearly all industrial and commercial institutions

continues to-day on the same old dishonest basis as that which we found in

the printing and publishing house described. Foremen, superintendents, and

heads of departments still guard jealously their prerogatives of hiring

and firing. So deeply rooted is this prejudice in the minds of the

industrial and commercial world, that many managers have said to us in

horror, "Why, we can't take away the power to hire and fire from our

foremen. They couldn't maintain discipline. They would not consent to

remain in their executive positions if they did not have this power of

life and death, as it were, over their employees."

Incidentally, we may say, that we have had almost no trouble in securing

the enthusiastic and loyal co-operation of foremen and superintendents

where employment departments have been installed.

SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT THE REMEDY

It is becoming increasingly clear to employers that, only by following the

example of the purchasing department, can industry and commerce cure the

evil which we have briefly described and exemplified in the two preceding

chapters. We find that employment, instead of being left to the tender

mercies of foremen, Tom, Dick, and Harry--who may or may not be good

judges of men, who may or may not be honest, who may or may not indulge in

nepotism, who may or may not pad the payroll; who may or may not be

unreasonable, tyrannical and otherwise inimical to the best interest of

the concern from whom they draw their living--selection of help is now

delegated to specialists and experts. Employment departments are now

established with more or less complete control over the selection and

assignment of men and women in the organization. In some of these

departments complete records are kept. Exact and painstaking care is used

in securing data, hunting up applicants, watching the actual performances

of those who are put to work, determining whether or not they live up to

their opportunities. In other employment departments this system is very

loose and the departments exist principally for the purpose of securing

applicants who are then turned over without recommendation to the foreman

who still has the power of employing and discharging.

The remedy for which we have been looking is to be found in an employment

department, organized with a carefully selected personnel, which will

perform the same careful, analytical research and record-keeping functions

as a scientific purchasing department. Perhaps, for the sake of clearness,

it would be well for us to describe rather in detail the work of such a

department.

ORGANIZATION

The organization of such a department depends entirely upon the number of

applicants and employees with which it must deal and the character of the

work to be done. Suppose, for example, we have a factory with two thousand

employees, seventy-five per cent of them skilled, fifteen per cent of them

unskilled, and ten per cent office employees. The work of such a

department could be very well carried on by one employment supervisor, one

assistant supervisor, one clerk and record-keeper, and part of the time of

one stenographer. The employment supervisor is a staff officer. His

position in the company is that of a member of the staff of the general

manager or president. His work should be subject to oversight by the

president or general manager alone, and he should not be answerable to any

other officer or member of the corporation. It is the function of the

employment supervisor to direct the work of his department, to conduct its

relations with all other departments of the business, to interview,

analyze, and recommend for employment all executives and employees of more

than ordinary importance; to hear and adjudicate all cases of complaint or

disagreement between executives or between executives and their employees

and also to review cases heard by his assistant in which there is any

degree of dissatisfaction with the settlement proposed.

It is the duty of the assistant employment supervisor to interview and

analyze, select, and recommend for employment all applicants for minor

positions in the factory and office. It is also his duty, under direction

of the supervisor, to number and carefully analyze every position in the

organization, determining its requirements, and, having made a careful

list of these requirements in a card index, to keep it in the files of the

department where it can be readily consulted. It is the duty of the clerk

and record-keeper to make out all reports, to record all reports sent from

heads of departments, to keep the files, to make out notifications to the

paymaster and to other officers as occasion requires, and in general to

keep the records and files of the department in a neat, orderly condition,

up to date every moment of the day, and so managed as to yield readily and

instantly any information desired.

It is the duty of the stenographer to attend to all correspondence of the

department, including dictation from the supervisor and the assistant

supervisor.

FUNCTIONS OF AN EMPLOYMENT DEPARTMENT

Briefly, it is the function of the employment department to secure,

interview, analyze, select, and recommend for employment men and women who

will pre-eminently fit into the various positions in the organization; by

competent counsel, upon request, to assist the line executives in the

management of employees, and, in all its activities, to act in the

capacity of expert in human nature, conducting all phases of relationship

between the corporation and its employees.

In detail, however, the functions of a well-organized and efficient

employment department are these:

ANALYSIS OF POSITIONS

1. Theoretically, the first function of an employment department is to

analyze carefully every position in the organization, listing its

requirements, noting the environment and other conditions which surround

it; in short, painting what will be to the members of the department a

clear and easily recognizable word-picture of the aptitudes and character

of the man or woman best fitted to fill that position. While this is the

theoretical first function of the department, in actual practice certain

conditions may arise which will make this inadvisable. But it ought to be

done as quickly as possible, and the records tabulated on cards in a

convenient way in a card file. These are the specifications for the human

material needed in each place. The method of making this analysis varies

under different circumstances.

ANALYSIS OF EXECUTIVES

2. The next step in the work of an employment department is the analysis

of all executives. Each executive is interviewed and carefully analyzed

for two purposes; first, to find whether he is indeed the right man in the

right place; second, to observe his characteristics, his peculiarities,

his personality, and to learn from him his preferences. All of these are

carefully listed, and, in selecting employees, care is taken to select

only those who will work harmoniously and happily with the executives

under whom they are placed.

ANALYSIS OF EMPLOYEES

3. Employees in the organization at the time of the installation of the

employment department are analyzed as opportunity offers. In this way the

supervisor determines whether or not they are well placed as they are, or

whether they have talent and abilities which would make them far more

valuable in some other part of the institution. The analysis of each

employee is made out either completely and in detail or in a general way,

according to his importance, his future possibilities, his probable length

of service with the institution, and other conditions. Clearly a great

deal more time would be spent and a great deal more careful analysis made

in the case of an important executive, than in the case of a day laborer

engaged as a member of a temporary shoveling gang.

These analyses, after having been written out, are filed in folders. Each

employee has a folder of his own, and in this are placed not only his

analysis, but a sheet for the keeping of his record and all letters and

papers referring to him.

SECURING OF APPLICANTS

4. Inasmuch as every live organization is always growing and, therefore,

taking on new employees, and inasmuch, also, as there is a state of flux

in every organization, vacancies occurring for one reason or another, it

is a function of the employment department to secure as many of the most

desirable applicants possible for all of the positions in the enterprise.

Some of these applicants come to the employment department in the natural

course of events, others come as the result of advertisements; still

others because the employment supervisor and his assistant take means to

ferret them out and send for them. Promising young men in schools and

colleges and in the employ, perhaps, of other organizations are kept under

careful observation. Data in regard to them is listed in the reserve file,

and their records, as they come in various ways to the employment

supervisor, are filed with them.

5. Applicants having been secured in these ways, the next step is

carefully to analyze them. Under ideal conditions this analysis is made by

observation, unknown to the applicant, during a pleasant interview. He may

be asked certain questions, not chiefly for the sake of bringing out

direct information, but for the sake of observing the effects of the

interrogations upon him.

In some large organizations, in the rush season, 100 new employees may be

added every day. In order to select this number, perhaps several hundred

applicants may be interviewed. Obviously, a detailed and thorough analysis

of each cannot be made. Under such conditions, however, the work is

usually of such a character that the most casual observation on the part

of a trained interviewer will reveal at once the fact that the applicant

either is or is not fitted for the work to be done.

As a result of the analyses made by the employment supervisor and his

staff, applicants are recommended to foremen who have made requisitions

for the filling of vacancies. Bear in mind, it is not the function of the

employment department arbitrarily to employ. When a desirable applicant

has been found, he is sent, with a recommendation, to the head of the

department which has made requisition for an employee. Then the foreman or

superintendent or the manager either rejects or accepts the applicant. In

case of rejection, the executive returns the applicant to the employment

department, stating his reason for his action.

When an applicant is accepted, the employment department notifies the

paymaster, also places a folder for a new employee in the file. It is

often highly desirable, also, before sending an employee to a foreman to

inform him fully and in detail as to the work he is expected to do, the

conditions under which he will be expected to work, the rate of pay he

will receive, the opportunities for advancement, and all other information

which may decide the applicant for or against accepting the position if it

is offered to him.

REPORTS AND RECORDS

6. The employment department organizes methods for receiving regular and

complete reports upon the performance and deportment of every employee in

the organization. These reports include punctuality, attendance,

efficiency, special ability, deportment, home environment, and habits,

companions, and other necessary and valuable information. Every employer

who has the good of his employees and their advancement at heart ought to

know these things. Reports are received from foremen and superintendents,

also from others who are especially assigned by the employment supervisor

to secure the information.

RECOMMENDATION FOR TRANSFER, PROMOTION AND INCREASE

7. As a result of these reports and of its own analysis, the employment

department recommends for transfer from one department to another, or for

promotion, or for increase of pay, such employees as merit these changes

in their positions and relationship with the company. In cases where

necessity seems to demand it, the employment department may also recommend

the discharge of an employee.

CONSULTATION ON RATES OF PAY

8. In co-operation with properly constituted authorities, and as the

result of careful, scientific study of the whole situation, the employment

department assists in establishing rates of pay commensurate with the work

done, with the conditions in the industry, and with their probable effect

upon the loyalty, happiness, and consequent efficiency of the employees.

SPECIAL INFORMATION TO MANAGEMENT

9. Upon request of the general manager or any other executive in the

organization, the employment supervisor may furnish complete information

as to any employee in the organization when that information is

legitimately required. Oftentimes, also, there will be a call made upon

the employment department for some one with special ability to undertake a

certain task. It may be that the employment department has had under its

observation for months or even years some man already in the employ of the

company who will exactly fill the new position or the vacancy just

created. Or it may be that, upon consultation of the records, the

employment department will find just the man it is looking for. In case

neither of these things happen, then the right man may be found listed and

described in the reserve file.

TRANSFER AND DISCHARGE

10. When a foreman or other executive can no longer use any man in his

employ, he does not discharge him, but sends him instead to the employment

department with a report and recommendation. Oftentimes the employment

supervisor or his assistant can adjust the matter and return the man to

his position, better fitted than ever to perform his task. It may be that

the executive and not the employee is at fault. On the other hand, it is

often the case that the employment department can take the man so returned

and place him in another department, where he will be happy and efficient.

It may be that the work that he has been doing is suited to him, but that

his executive is not the right kind of personality for him. Whatever the

employment department finds in regard to the man, action is taken in

accordance therewith. In case there is real cause for it, the employee is

paid off and dropped from the rolls of the company.

AID IN MANAGEMENT AND DISCIPLINE

11. Owing to his peculiar knowledge of human nature, it is often possible

for the employment supervisor or his assistant to aid executives in

discipline in their several departments. It has been our experience that

an efficient employment department is not in existence very long before

many executives begin to come in for consultation and to ask the

employment supervisor or his assistant what course to pursue in reference

to some particular man or some particular set of circumstances. This has

been found to be one of the most valuable functions of an employment

department.

SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

12. Also because of his expert knowledge of human nature, the employment

supervisor or his assistant is often called upon to adjudicate between

executives, between fellow-employees or between an executive and his

subordinate. Disputes and differences of opinion usually arise because

people fail to understand each other. The employment supervisor,

understanding both parties in the quarrel, is usually able to point out

some basis of amicable adjustment and the restoration of friendly

relationship.

EDUCATION OF EMPLOYEES

13. Employers are learning that the finest and most valuable assets in

their employees are not their bones and muscles; not their intelligence,

training, and experience when they enter the organization; but, rather,

the possibility of development of their intelligence, talents, and

aptitudes. Educators now almost entirely agree that the best and most

serviceable education possible is that afforded by work, provided the work

is intelligently directed and constantly used by those who direct it as an

educational force. Employers are also grasping the great possibilities for

them in this theory. Corporation schools, night schools, special classes,

and many other forms of education inside the walls of commercial and

industrial enterprises are being used to good advantage. In an ideal

economic system, every factory, every store, every shop, every place where

men and women are gathered together for employment should be, in the

higher sense of the word, a school for the development of the very best

human qualities.

Since this is true, who is better qualified by training, by education, and

by experience to conduct this education than the employment supervisor and

his assistants? If he is properly chosen for his work, he has a special

scientific knowledge of human nature; he knows not only the talents and

aptitudes of every member of the force, but also knows the best way for

developing and bringing out these talents and aptitudes. He knows for just

what vocation each one under his tutelage is suited. He knows just what

study and training each one ought to pursue in order to best fit himself

for that vocation.

WELFARE WORK

14. Because of its peculiar relationship to all the employees in the

organization, there is no department better fitted to undertake all of

that activity in connection with industrial life, which is known as

welfare work or social betterment, than that entrusted with employment.

ADAPTABILITY

The organization and plan of an employment department, as we have outlined

it, is, as we have said, for an institution employing two thousand men and

women. For larger organizations, of course, the employment supervisor must

have more assistants, there must be more clerks and stenographers,

according to the number of employees handled and the character of the work

to be done. There are some organizations in which there is very little

fluctuation in the personnel. In such cases a small employment department

is all that is necessary, even although a large number of employees may be

on the payroll. In other kinds of work there is a very large fluctuation,

under ordinary conditions, and in such cases it is necessary to have more

help in the employment department. In the case of small business, such as

retail stores, the employer himself is oftentimes the entire employment

department, except for such assistance as he may obtain from a clerk or

stenographer. In such a case, also, the records do not need to be so

complete and so voluminous, since the proprietor can carry a great deal in

regard to each one of his employees in his own mind. We know many

executives in large organizations, where employment departments have not

been established, who constitute, in themselves, employment departments

for their own little corner of the industry. They may have only five or

six employees under their care, but they handle them according to

scientific principles, analyzing them and their work with just as great

care as if there were hundreds of them.

The method, after all, is unimportant. It is the spirit of the work that

is all important. It does not matter whether you have a huge force of

clerks, assistants, interviewers, and stenographers, or whether you

yourself, in your little corner office with your three or four retail

clerks as a working force, constitute the whole organization. The spirit

of scientific analysis and the fitting of each man to his job in a common

sense, sane, practical way, instead of according to out-of-date methods,

is the important consideration in the remedy which we present.

CHAPTER IV

RESULTS OF SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT

In a lecture to the students of the New York Edison Company Commercial

School, on January 20, 1915, afterward also presented at the Third Annual

Convention of the National Association of Corporation Schools at

Worcester, Mass., on June 9, 1915, Herman Schneider, Dean of the College

of Engineering of the University of Cincinnati, in discussing "The Problem

of Selecting the Right Job," made the following statement:

"2. Physical Characteristics.

"This seems to be a development of the old idea of phrenology. It is

claimed in this system that physical characteristics indicate certain

abilities. For example, a directive, money-making executive will have a

certain shaped head and hand. A number of money-making executives were

picked at random and their physical characteristics charted. We do not

find that they conform at all to any law. Also, we found men who had

physical characteristics that ought to make them executives, but they were

anything but executives. A number of tests of this kind gave negative

results. We were forced to the conclusion that this system was not

reliable."

It is of exceeding great importance for us to know whether the conclusion

of Dean Schneider is to be accepted as final. He is a man of high

attainment and has done some most remarkable and highly commendable work

in connection with continuation schools in the city of Cincinnati. His

opinion and conclusion, therefore, are worthy of the most careful

consideration.

At first glance, Dean Schneider's method of investigation seems sound and

his statement, therefore, conclusive. He examined actual cases; he

collected evidence, and he found that physical characteristics were not a

reliable guide to aptitudes and character. It is well for us, however, to

remember in discussing problems of this kind, that every new scientific

discovery has always been rejected by many recognized authorities after

what they considered to be careful and convincing tests. Harvey nearly

died in trying to maintain his theory of the circulation of the blood;

Darwin's theory was insistently repudiated and rejected by many scientific

men of his day; Galilo, Columbus, Boillard, the discoverer of the

convolution of Broca, and Stevenson, the inventor of the steam locomotive

engine, failed to convince the recognized authorities of their times.

Gall, who localized the motor functions of the brain, a discovery

universally accepted by all brain physiologists today, was laughed out of

court by men of the highest scientific authority, who, by experiments,

"proved" that he was wrong. So great a mathematician and scientist as

Professor Simon Newcomb made the emphatic remark that the dream of flight

in a heavier-than-air machine was absurd and would never be realized. The

difficulty with all these conclusions lay in the fact that the

much-vaunted "proof" was negative in character. Nothing is easier--or more

fallacious, logically--than to "prove" that a thing is _not_ so. The

difficulty lies in proving that it _is_ so; therefore, logically sound.

According to logicians, conclusions based upon negative premises are

inherently unsound. In order to reach reliable conclusions, we must first

have _all_ of the essential facts in the case. We question seriously

whether this was possible in the course of such a brief investigation as

Dean Schneider made. Scientific selection of employees according to the

science of character analysis by the observational method was first

proposed in the summer of 1912, so that Dean Schneider has had only three

years, during which he was much occupied with other duties, in which to

make his observations. We only wish here to raise the question as to

whether, in that short time, he could obtain all of the facts necessary

for reaching a final conclusion. At any rate, other scientists have spent

at least fifteen or twenty years in the examination of the same facts

before reaching their conclusions.

The method employed as outlined in the paragraph quote does not seem to

fulfill all of the necessary requirements of a careful and complete

scientific investigation. Take, for example, the test of "directive

money-making executives." Would Dean Schneider, or any other engineer,

permit a layman, no matter how well qualified otherwise, to examine twenty

or thirty different pieces of engineering work for the purpose of

determining whether or not they "conform to any law." We acknowledge Dean

Schneider's ability as an engineer and as an educator, but until he has

submitted proof, we must question his ability and training as an observer

of physical characteristics as indicative of character and aptitudes.

Again, take the test of those who have "the characteristics that ought to

make them executives." We should like to know what these physical

characteristics were. We should also like to know what other physical

characteristics these men had. Perhaps there were some which interfered

seriously with their becoming successful as executives.

Still further, it would be illuminating to know whether the men so

examined had ever been properly trained for executive work; whether they

had had opportunities to become executives or whether some or all of them

may not have been misfits in whatever they were doing. Obviously, a sound,

scientific conclusion cannot be reached until all of the variables in the

problem have been adequately studied and brought under control. There is

no evidence in the paragraph that we have quoted that Dean Schneider had

done this.

But, after all, we shall proceed very little, if any, with our inquiry as

to the reliability of Dean Schneider's conclusions if we content ourselves

merely with criticizing his methods of research and reason. Even if we

could prove beyond a doubt that the methods used were unscientific and the

reasoning unsound, we could go no further toward establishing the contrary

of Dean Schneider's conclusion than he has in establishing the

unreliability of determining mental aptitudes and character by an

observation of physical characteristics. The main question is not, "Is

Dean Schneider right or wrong?" but rather, "Is an employment department,

conducted along the lines laid down in the preceding chapter, a

profitable investment, and, especially, is it possible to determine the

right job for any individual by observing his physical characteristics?"

BUT IT IS BEING DONE

Fortunately, this question is no longer academic. There is no need for the

bringing up of arguments, the stating of theories, the quoting of

authorities, or any such controversial methods. Employment departments

_have_ been established in a number of commercial and industrial

organizations, some very large--some small--and _are_ being conducted,

with some variations, according to the plan outlined in the preceding

chapter. The science of character analysis by the observational method

_is_ the basis of their work. In addition, this science is the basis of

employment work in several hundred other employment departments, large and

small, where the Blackford plan has not been adopted in its entirety. The

plan referred to was formulated in 1912. The fact that this method has

been in actual commercial use under widely varying conditions and in the

hands of many different individuals, for more than three years, is, on the

face of it, a reasonably fair presumption of its reliability. At any rate,

it is fully as convincing as Dean Schneider's purely negative "proof."

The question remains as to whether the commercial applications of this

method are successful; whether the results obtained are reliable; whether

the inefficiencies and losses, to which we have referred in previous

chapters, are appreciably remedied by its use.

SOME PRACTICAL RESULTS

In one of the first organizations where the Blackford Employment Plan was

installed there were employed about 2,500 men and women. At the time of

the adoption of this plan the various foremen and superintendents in the

plant were hiring about 6,600 new employees each year in order to maintain

their regular working force of 2,500. Within six months new employees were

being taken on at the rate of only 4,080 a year--and this notwithstanding

the fact that many changes were necessitated by sweeping reorganization

and adoption of new methods of manufacture in the industry.

Excellent results were obtained in reassignment of executives as the

result of a careful analysis of those holding positions when the

department was installed. One executive instantly recognized as being

clever, designing, and essentially dishonest was replaced by another of a

reliable, efficient type. Under the new executive, the department more

than doubled its output, at the same time cutting the payroll of the

department down to 43 per cent of its former size. Still another

executive, holding a position of highest trust and responsibility, was

reported upon adversely after analysis by the employment department. An

investigation made as the result of this report revealed serious

irregularities covering a long period of months. Another man properly

qualified for the position was selected by the department, and immediately

began to effect noticeable savings, as well as greatly increasing the

value of the department's work in the institution. Still another executive

selected by this department increased the output of one of the shops by

120 per cent, with a very slight increase in the payroll. In another

organization, careful records showed that among employees selected

according to this plan, 90 per cent were efficient, satisfactory, and

permanent; 8 per cent fairly satisfactory but not permanent; and 2 per

cent unsatisfactory and discharged.

AN UNUSUAL HARMONY OF JUDGMENT

But these results, while desirable, are not wholly convincing. It is easy

enough to explain them on the ground that any man or woman of common

sense, keen observation and good judgment, devoting all his or her

intelligence and time to employment problems, might have gained the same

results without using a method for determining aptitudes and character

from an observation of physical characteristics.

More specific and more convincing evidence may be found in a series of

incidents which occurred in connection with an employment department

established in a textile factory, employing twelve hundred men, located in

New England. The supervisor of this department is a young man who has been

a student and practitioner of this method in employment work since August,

1912. Previously to taking up this work, he had taken an engineer's degree

and had some experience as an executive, in a large factory.

In January, 1915, the supervisor analyzed carefully twenty executives then

at work in the plant, carefully wrote out the analyses and submitted them

to the management with recommendations for transfers and readjustments of

rather a sweeping nature. The management, wishing to make an experiment,

agreed to make the changes, provided we were also to analyze the

executives in question, submit our analyses in writing, and show agreement

as to the character and aptitudes of the men. We accordingly proceeded to

the factory, and there, without consultation with the supervisor or his

report, proceeded to analyze the twenty executives independently. It would

not be fair to the executives in question to publish all of these analyses

in full, but a comparison of the essential points in a few of them will be

instructive:

Supervisor says of No. 1: "Sociable, scheming, secretive; poor judge of

men; lacking seriously in executive ability; decidedly a 'one-man-job'

man; does not plan ahead; clannish, narrow-minded; very low intelligence

for a foreman. Any organization he builds will be close-mouthed,

unreliable, and selfish in structure. Because of the technical knowledge

of the business which he has gained, and which can be gained only by long

experience, he should do good work in experimental lines. Any change made,

however, should separate him completely from the regular productive

organization."

Dr. Blackford reports on No. 1: "He is, however, an undesirable man to be

in charge of others. He is far more destructive than constructive, more

disorganizing than organizing. He is ultra-conservative, non-progressive,

and is not disposed to take on any new methods unless he himself can get

the credit for their installation. In disposition he is stubborn and

obstinate. He is also reserved and suspicious. Being of the selfish type,

he will look after his own interests first in all things. No. 1 lacks

straightforwardness and frankness of disposition, so he will be tricky,

slippery, and do things in an underhanded way. He has very great dislike

of detail and will have a tendency to procrastinate if given an

opportunity, I believe he has passed the age limit of mental growth."

Supervisor thus summarizes No. 2: "A well-intentioned, honest and reliable

man, lacking absolutely in executive ability. Should have a job as

inspector or like, where he would have no one to look after but himself."

Dr. Blackford says of No. 2: "No. 2 is a simple-hearted man of very

ordinary ability. He is not systematic or orderly; is very susceptible to

criticism; exceedingly emotional, apprehensive, and watchful. No doubt men

will like him because he is easy with them. However, he will not be a

particularly good executive, because he cannot maintain discipline."

Supervisor thus analyzes No. 3: "Very clannish, lacking absolutely in

intelligence, executive ability, frankness; in fact, every attribute that

is necessary for a good foreman. Is wholly unfitted for an executive job

of any kind. Under very strict supervision, would make a fair workman."

Dr. Blackford reports on No. 3: "He is easily influenced; too undependable

and too lax in discipline to make a good executive. He has a keen sense of

right and wrong, but will take on the color of his surroundings. If led by

an undesirable man, he will be a poor asset, and only a fair one even

under good influence."

Supervisor, on No. 4: "An active, honest and frank man; a good boss for a

small gang of men. Limited somewhat by lack of education and medium

planning ability."

Dr. Blackford, on No. 4: "An energetic, active man of only fair

intelligence and capability. He is sympathetic and generous to those he

likes, but his strongest quality is a desire to rule. He will enjoy

enforcing laws, rules and regulations, and will do this with a degree of

energy and watchfulness which probably results in good work on part of

those under him. He is a fair executive. Under right influence, might

further develop."

Supervisor reports on No. 5: "A capable man, secretive and somewhat

clannish; is susceptible, however, to other influences and can be

developed. A little quick-tempered in handling help; expects too much at

the outset. This man must be removed from the influence of No. 1 or he

will make no progress."

Dr. Blackford, on No. 5: "A capable man, secretive in his work; careful,

conservative, and conservatively progressive. He is intelligent and

industrious. He is also ambitious, and has good artistic sense. He is the

type of man that takes pride in doing good work. He will prefer his work

to be perfect and finished rather than faulty. In disposition he is

usually mild, but has a very destructive temper when aroused; so he is

probably a little hot-headed with his workers. He is reserved and

secretive, but under encouragement will unfold whatever information he has

concerning the work. Perhaps his most negative point is a lack of courage

in his convictions, but with encouragement and proper support, he ought to

develop into a good executive."

Supervisor says, briefly, of No. 6: "A very loyal, honest and painstaking

employee; very sincere and absolutely reliable; lacking somewhat in

executive ability to handle a large gang. Very desirable."

Dr. Blackford says, more at length, of No. 6: "Industrious, energetic,

watchful, careful, dependable, and conscientious in her work. She is

sympathetic, but exacting with her workers. She has fair intelligence, is

teachable, and will give considerable thought to improving her work. She

is also a good critic and a good judge of values. If not given too large a

department or too great responsibility, she ought to be very valuable in

an executive position."

Supervisor, on No. 7: "An active, reliable man; a good gang-boss or

leader; very susceptible to further training."

Dr. Blackford, on No. 7: "Highest grade and finest-textured of any of the

foremen yet considered. He is also intelligent, honest, industrious; has

high principles; is careful in his work, and will take very great pride in

it. He is naturally artistic and ought to turn out very beautiful work. He

is clean morally and physically, thorough, and will always prefer a fine

quality of goods and workmanship to coarse quality. He is distinctly a

quality man. With training and opportunity he ought to develop into a fine

man for greater responsibility than he now carries."

ANALYSES FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

Perhaps, in some ways, an even more convincing evidence of the reliability

and practicability of the observational method may be found in the results

obtainable by analysis from photographs. A photograph is, in a sense, a

purely mechanical product. It is, in graphic form, a record of the

subject's physical characteristics, stripped of all of the atmosphere, so

to speak, of his personality. A photograph cannot talk, cannot act, cannot

reveal the man within by any subtle appeal to what are called the

intuitions. Photographs as the basis of analysis are used extensively in

employment and vocational work. These analyses are usually written out in

detail and stand, in black and white, undeniable records of the analyst's

observations and conclusions. The analysis of Sidney Williams appearing on

pages 206 to 210 is a sample of the definite and specific manner in which

these analyses are made. It has been impossible for us to trace and verify

in detail every one of these records. They are being made all the time,

and in one form or another, by many of those who are now using this

method. But we have traced several hundred of them for purposes of

verification and have found amongst them only three which have differed

with the facts in the case in any essential particular. In fact, some

analysts are far more reliable in making analyses from photographs than in

personal interviews. In dealing with the photograph they apply the

principles and laws of the science relentlessly and almost mathematically,

while, in a personal interview, they are irresistibly influenced by their

sympathies, their likes and their dislikes.

As a test, we have had some analyses made without even a photograph as a

guide, using simply standard charts of the essential physical

characteristics of the subjects. For this test five subjects were chosen,

all of them unknown to the analysts. Their physical characteristics were

charted by those acquainted with the method and five copies were made of

each chart.

In order to give the reader an idea of the nature of the data upon which

these analyses were made, we reproduce here, in ordinary language, the

information contained in the chart made out for Subject Number One:

Sex--Male.

Nationality--Scotch.

Occupation--Teacher.

Date of Birth--March 19, 1891.

Color--Eyes, medium; hair, skin and beard, slightly brunette.

Form--Forehead, eyes, mouth and chin, plane; nose, strongly convex.

Height--5 ft. 9 1/2 in.

Weight--145 lbs.

Build--Square-shouldered, bony and muscular; lacking somewhat in

adipose.

Consistency of Flesh--Hard-elastic.

Flexibility of Joints--Rigid-elastic.

Long trunk, short legs.

Nose section, of face predominates, chin a close second, mouth third.

High, wide, long, medium-square head.

Middle division of cranium predominates, top second, base third.

Crown section of cranium largest; front section, second; back section,

third; temporal, fourth.

Square forehead, medium wide, more prominent at the brows than above.

Expression somewhat grim.

Health good; body, clothes, hands and mouth clean and in good condition.

Hands square.

Fingers medium long, with square tips, well-rounded, sensitive

pads and short nails.

Thumbs long and set low on hand.

The information as to the other four subjects was similar in character.

One of these charts was then sent to Mr. G.C. B----, another to Mr.

C.F.R----, another to Miss E.W.R----, another to Mrs. A.W----, and the

fifth to Miss M.O.P----, students of this science--two of them having

studied it less than one year. Each analyst was asked to make his analysis

according to a definite plan, so that the results could be definitely

compared. These results are shown in the table on pages 356 and 357.

Herein is the true answer to the serious question with which we opened

this chapter. Whether or not reliable analyses can be made by the

observation of physical characteristics is no longer debatable.

Such analyses _are being made_.

[Transcribers Note: Key to Analyst list of Chart is as follows:

1-Practical or Impractical 2-Mild or Aggressive

3-Quick or Slow 4-Active or Inactive

5-Responsive or Indifferent 6-Variable or Constant

7-Energetic or Lazy 8-Dependable or Irresponsible

9-Speculative or Conservative 10-Ambitious or Unambitious

11-Social or Unsocial 12-Honest or Dishonest

13-Skillful or Awkward 14-General or Detail

15-Determined or Indecisive 16-Courageous or Fearful

17-Mechanical 18-Professional

19-Commercial 20-Artistic

Ticks replaced with / symbol]

ANALYSING CHARACTER

Subject Number One

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2

Analyst 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Vocation

First Second Third

Choice Choice Choice

G.C.B. I M S A R C E D C A U H S D I F / Clerical Sell.

C.F.R. I M S A I V E D C U U H A G I F / Clerical Research Sell.

A.W. I A S A R C E D C A U H S D I F / / Sec. Law Sell.

M.O.P. P M S A R C E D C A U H S D D F / / / Office Exec. Sec.

E.W.R. I M Q A R C E D C A U H A D I F / / Educ. Lit Sec.

Record I M S A R C E D C A U H S D I F / / Purch. Bank Sec.

Subject Number Two

G.C.B. I A Q A R C E D C A S H S D D C / Sell. Merch. Pol.

C.F.R. P A Q A I C E D C A U H S D D C / Ins. Ace. Stat.

A.W. P A S A R C L D C A U H S D D C / / Phys. Sell. Clerk

M.O.P. P A Q A R C E D S A S H S D D C / / Sell. Pol. Purch.

E.W.R. P A Q A R C E D C A S H A D D C / / Sell. Adm. Pol.

Record P A Q A R V E D S A S H S D D C / / / Adv. Sell. Jour.

Subject Number Three

G.C.B. I M Q A R C E D C A U H S G D C / Merch. Finan. Sell.

C.F.R. P A Q A R V E I S A S D S D D F / Comm. Prom. Adv.

A.W. P A Q A R V E D S A U H S G D C / / Org. Sell. Const.

M.O.P. P M Q I R C E D C C S H S D D C / / / Educ. Sell. Exec.

E.W.R. P A Q A R V E I S A U H S D D C / / / Jour. Adv. Sell.

Record P A Q A R V E D S A U H S D D F / / / Res. Eng. Sell.

Subject Number Four

G.C.B. I A Q A I C E D C A S H S G D C / Educ. Pers. Serv. Sell.

C.F.R. P A S A I C E D C A U H S D D C / / Eng. Educ. Research

A.W. P A S A R V E D C A U H S D D F / / Educ. Jour. Soc.Ser.

M.O.P. P M Q A R C E D C A S H S D D C / / Educ. Pol. Sell.

E.W.R. P A Q A E C E D C A U H S D D C / Eng. Agr. Mfr.

Record P M S A R C E D C A U H S D D F / / Agr. Educ. Eng.

Subject Number Five

G.C.B. I A Q A R V E D C A S H S D D C / Agr. Soc. Serv. Educ.

C.F.R. P A Q A R C E D S A S H S D D C / Exec. Sell. Educ.

A.W. P A Q A R V E D C A U H S D I C / / Mfr. Org. Sell.

M.O.P. P A Q A R C E D C A S H S D D C / Org. Exec. Res.

E.W.R. P A Q A R V E D S A S H S D D C / / Agr. Mfr. Pol.

Record P A Q A R V E D S A S H S D D C / / Agr. Org. Pol.

Explanation of abbreviations: Sell., selling; Sec., secretarial work;

Exec., executive position; Lit., literature; Purch., purchasing; Merch.,

merchandising; Pol., politics; Ins., insurance; Acc., accountant; Stat.,

statistics; Phys., physician; Adm., administration; Adv., advertising;

Jour., journalism; Finan., financial; Comm., commerce; Prom., promoting;

Org., organizing; Const., construction; Educ., educating; Eng.,

engineering; Pers. Serv., personal service; Soc.Serv., social service;

Agr., agriculture; Mfr., manufacturing.

NOTE--An analysis of the foregoing record shows 82-1/4% of agreement with

the record in regard to the subjects' characteristics. This part of the

work depends upon an application of principles. In checking the four

classifications, Mechanical, Professional, Commercial and Artistic, the

element of individual judgment of the analyst entered into the problem;

yet here we have an agreement with the record amounting to 65-1/2%.

Naturally, choice of exact vocation offers an unusually wide field to the

personal equation, especially when the analyst has no data, as in this

case, in regard to early environment, education, training, residence, and

opportunities. But, even in this case, the students are, in general, in

marked agreement with the records. It is impossible to state this

agreement in percentages, since each was given a first, second, and third

choice, and since some of the vocations suggested are very nearly those

indicated in the record, yet not exactly the same. A study of these three

columns, however, will impress the reader with the accuracy of the

analysts' judgments.

CHAPTER V

IDEAL EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS

The progress of civilization and enlightment is a good deal like that in

the old riddle of the man who had a fox, a goose, and a basket of corn to

carry across the river and could carry only one at a time. If you

remember, he carried the goose across first, leaving the fox with the

corn, since the fox could not eat the corn. Then he went back, leaving the

goose, and got the corn; then, when he returned for the fox, he took the

goose back with him and left it alone on the bank, while he carried the

fox across to keep company with the corn. Then he returned once more and

brought the goose over, completing the transfer.

So Civilization carries forward, for a time, one aspect of life. Then she

drops this and returns to bring up another. This, in turn, she drops again

and goes back once more, and when she goes back she is likely enough to

carry the first advance back with her. In the end, however, she finally

brings up all of the elements and factors in human life.

For the last fifty years we have made great progress in the invention of

machinery, the development of new industries, the organization of great

financial and industrial institutions, and the volume of production in

nearly all lines. But, in the meantime, in order to make this advance,

Civilization has been required to carry back, some hundred of years, the

relationship between employer and employed. Now let us hope she is ready

to go back and bring this important factor up to date.

ANCIENT AND MODERN EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS

In the old feudal days, the employee was a serf, bound to the soil of his

employer. He received a bare living and shared not at all in the gains of

the man whose chattel he was. In the days of transition between ancient

feudalism and modern industrialism, Civilization greatly improved the

relationship between employer and employee. The proprietor and all his men

worked side by side in the same shop, performing the same tasks. Each was

proud of his skill. Each took delight in his work. Each understood the

other. Oftentimes the employee lived under the same roof with his

employer, enjoyed the same recreations, and ate at the same table. The

skilful, competent, shrewd employer gathered around him the best men in

the trade. He profited greatly and his men shared in his prosperity. The

invention of machinery and the great enlargement of industrial units makes

such relationship between employer and employee impossible. Yet, when

employment conditions are improved to match the improvements in machinery

and production, we shall go back to the ancient shop for the fundamental

principles upon which the new and better relationship will be built.

MUTUAL INTERESTS OF EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE

Observe carefully what these fundamental principles are. First, men who

love their work and take pride in it; second, mutuality of interests in

that work; third, mutual understanding between employer and employee. By

this we mean an understanding by each of the other's point of view,

personality, ability, motives, intentions, ambitions, and desires. Already

Civilization is groping toward the establishment of a new relation upon

this basis. Scientific methods of employment are being adopted in more and

more of our industrial and commercial plants. These insure the fitness of

the employee for his work and, because of his fitness, his love for it and

pride in it. They also insure a better understanding between employer and

employee, whose relationship to each other is guided and controlled by a

sympathetic and expert corps of men and women especially selected and

trained for just such work. Profit sharing, the bonus system, the premium

system, study clubs and classes, and many other forms of giving an

adequate day's pay for a day's efficient work are all evidences of the

desire on the part of the employers and employees to mutualize their

interests.

It is true that to-day, perhaps, we have reached the very flood-tide of

organization of employees into labor unions and employers into

associations, and that these organizations are frequently antagonistic.

But these are only evidences of our blind groping toward the ideal. These

movements show that we are awake to our needs, that we appreciate the

intolerable nature of present conditions and that we have determined to

better them. It is inevitable, when such an awakening comes, that we shall

eventually learn by our mistakes and direct our effort toward the true

solution of our problem.

IDEAL CONDITIONS DIVERSE AS TO DETAIL

Just what would constitute the details of ideal employment conditions it

is impossible at this time to say. These will have to be worked out

painstakingly, carefully, and with a true appreciation of the fundamental

principles involved, by wise and competent employers and employees. It is

altogether likely that different conditions will be found to be ideal in

different industries and probably in different units of the same

industries. One man will maintain ideal conditions by the virtue of his

own magnetism and forceful personality, tying his men to himself with the

strong bonds of mutual admiration, mutual respect, mutual loyalty, and

mutual love. Another will create ideal conditions principally by the

magnificent exploits of his organization. It is human nature for a man to

like to belong to a winning team, to be proud of his connection with a

championship organization. Still, another institution may maintain ideal

employment conditions by the good judgment, efficiency, and sincere

motives with which it conducts its welfare work. Still another may

approach the ideal by means of profit sharing, bonuses, and other such

emoluments. We have seen and studied organizations in this country and in

Europe which very nearly approached the ideal for each of these reasons.

We have also seen some which took advantage of several or all of these.

THE EMPLOYER'S IDEAL

As time goes on, more effective methods of profit sharing will, no doubt,

be evolved, methods in which there is greater justice for both employer

and employee. New ideas will be developed in welfare work as the result of

scientific methods of employment. Employer and employee will learn to

understand each other better. The success of all of these methods of

organization, when they are adopted, will cause their spread throughout

the industrial world, and thus gradually, but surely, we shall approach

that ideal organization where every employee is looked upon as a bundle of

limitless latent possibilities; where training, education, and development

along lines of constructive thought and feeling are held to be of far more

importance than the invention of new machinery, the discovery of new

methods, or the opening of new markets. This is the reasonable mental

attitude. Some obscure employee, thus trained and educated, may invent

more wonder-working machinery, discover more efficient methods, and open

up wider and more profitable markets than any before dreamed. Even if no

such brilliant star arises, the increased efficiency, loyalty, and

enthusiasm of the whole mass of employees, lifted by its improved

relationships, will yield results far beyond any won by mechanical or

commercial exploitation.

THE EMPLOYEE'S IDEAL

The ideal for every employee, therefore, is that he should be employed in

that position which he is best fitted to fill, doing work which by natural

aptitudes, training, and experience he is best qualified to do, and

working under conditions of material environment--tools, rates of pay,

hours of labor, and periods of rest, superintendence and management,

future prospects, and education--which will develop and make useful to

himself and his employer his best and finest latent abilities and

capacities.

We have seen that the ideal for the organization is that each man in it

shall be so selected, assigned, managed, and educated, that he will

express for the organization his highest and best constructive thoughts

and feelings.

THE MUTUAL IDEAL--CO-OPERATION

There is one more step. That is, the mutual ideal. It is contained in the

other two--and the other two are essentially one. The mutual ideal is the

ideal of co-operation. There is no antagonism between these ideals. The

old fallacy that the boss must get just as much as possible out of the

workman and pay just as little as possible, and that the workman must do

just as little as he can and wring from the boss just as much pay as he

can for what he does, and that, therefore, their interests are

diametrically opposed, has been all but exploded. It was based upon

ignorance, upon prejudice, and upon privately interested

misrepresentation. The new scientific spirit, working side by side with

the new spirit of a broader and deeper humanity, has demonstrated, and is

demonstrating, the truth, that in no other union is there such great

strength as in the union of those who are working together, creating

wealth for themselves and serving humanity. This is the mutual,

co-operative ideal in employment.

PART THREE

ANALYZING CHARACTER IN PERSUASION

CHAPTER I

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSUASION

The first act of practically every human being is to cry. This cry,

unconscious though it may be, is an eager, insistent demand for attention,

an appeal to the minds and the feelings of others, an attempt to persuade

others to act. Life itself and all that makes life worth living depends

upon the effectiveness of that cry.

From the moment of birth, therefore, you are dependent upon your power to

persuade for the provision of all your necessities, the satisfaction of

all your desires, and the realization of all your ambitions. The human

race produces but few Robinson Crusoes, and even these must have their

Fridays. In infancy and early life we persuade our parents to supply our

necessities and grant us our privileges and luxuries. Most of us are wise

enough to appeal to the powerful sentiments of parental duty, parental

love, and parental pride, and, therefore, persuasion is not difficult. As

we grow older, we persuade our teachers that we understand our lessons. We

persuade our playmates to yield to us a share in their sports, and we

persuade our enemies in the boy and girl world to respect us and not to

persecute us. As we grow older, we persuade our husbands or our wives to

marry us. We persuade our children to grow up in the way they should. We

persuade our employers to give us an opportunity to work and to pay us

wages. We persuade our neighbors to yield us respect and social

privileges. We persuade our servants to render loyalty and efficient

service. We persuade dealers to sell us reliable goods at reasonable

prices. We persuade our friends to accept our hospitality, to join our

clubs, our lodges, and to come and live in our suburbs.

POWER TO PERSUADE ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS

If we enter some profession, we find ourselves constantly faced by the

need of persuading our clients and patients, witnesses, judges, juries,

opposing counsel and court officers, our congregations and executive

boards of our churches and schools, individual members of our parishes,

our partners and assistants, and, in fact, people above us, below us, and

all around us. The farmer must sell his produce, the manufacturer his

manufactured article, the railroad its transportation service, wholesale

and retail distributors their merchandise. Politics consists almost wholly

in persuasion. A congressman must persuade first his party leaders and

perhaps his competitor in the party; then the voters at the primaries;

then the voters at the election; then the speaker of the House; then the

members of his committee; then the President and many executives in the

administration; then, perhaps, the House itself in assembly; then, in

turn, his constituents and, perhaps, the entire nation.

Wealth cannot be gained, social position cannot be attained, honor conies

not, power is impossible, authority is not conferred, pleasure cannot be

purchased, a happy and harmonious human life cannot be realized, spiritual

peace cannot be found, and happiness is forever beyond our reach, except

through the power of persuasion. By persuasion in prayer, we attempt to

move the very mind and heart of God Himself.

TWO CANONS OF SUCCESS

So all-inclusive is this power that if you will think the matter out

clearly, you will see that the answer to the problem of every human being,

diverse as these problems are, the gratification of every human desire,

the realization of every human ambition, may be summed up in two brief

colloquial injunctions, namely: first, have the goods; second, to be able

to sell them. Neither one of these is complete without the other. No man

can permanently succeed in any truly desirable way unless he has something

tangible or intangible, spiritual, intellectual, or material which he can

offer to others as compensation for that which he wishes to receive. And

no matter how valuable any man's offering, it must lie unnoticed in the

world's markets unless he can sell it--in other words, persuade others to

exchange for it that which he desires. The thing he wants may be only an

opinion or a conviction, may be only of momentary value, or it may be gold

and silver coin.

The air-brake is probably one of the most valuable inventions ever applied

to the railroad industry, and yet George Westinghouse, its inventor, found

it impossible even to give it away to railroad presidents until he had

learned how to sell it. The telephone, perhaps the greatest convenience,

luxury, and time and money saver of modern times, would have remained a

scientific toy unless the most astute and vigorous methods of persuasion

had been used to insure its almost universal adoption and use. We have

seen that Elias Howe built the first sewing machine so well that its

fundamentals have never been improved upon, and yet, despite his most

strenuous efforts and the efforts of his friends and associates, it

remained a mere mechanical curiosity until he had learned how to persuade

others to use it.

MUTUALITY OF ALL HUMAN INTERESTS

A.F. Sheldon has said, "Salesmanship is not conquest, but co-operation."

Salesmanship is only the commercial name for persuasion, therefore Mr.

Sheldon has uttered a great truth. Human interests do not clash, however

much they may appear to. All human interests are mutual. John D.

Rockefeller did not amass a fortune by making others poor. On the

contrary, in the building up of his hundreds of millions, he increased the

wealth of others by billions. The theory that there is not enough wealth

to go around, and that if one man has a great deal of money others must

therefore have too little, is a vicious and dangerous fallacy. The

resources of the universe are infinite. The possibilities of humanity are

unlimited. The interests of all lie, fundamentally, in the greater and

greater development of the latent possibilities in all men and the more

and more efficient exploitation and conservation of the resources of the

universe. This is philosophic. It is a generalization. It is a statement

of facts so tremendous in their scope and so deep in their significance

that it is difficult to make a connection between them and the practical

details of every-day life.

PERSUASION REVEALS MUTUALITY OF INTERESTS

The very fact that human intercourse, in every aspect of its activity,

rests upon persuasion is an indication that all interests are mutual. The

persuader teaches the persuaded that their interest coincide. Take a

practical example: Salesmen have declared to us that life insurance

policies are the most difficult of all specialties to sell. Yet, in nine

cases out of ten, policyholders will agree that their benefits far exceed

those derived by the salesmen who persuade them to purchase. The life

insurance salesman is not attempting to hoodwink, hypnotize, cajole, or

browbeat his client in a case where their interests clash, but simply, by

skilful setting forth of facts and appeals to the feelings, to persuade

his client to act in his own interest.

We have seen in this chapter that all individuals who succeed depend upon

their power of persuasion. We have seen, also, that persuasion is not

necessarily an attempt to advance the interests of one at the expense of

another, but essentially a process by means of which two or more minds

reach the conclusion that their interests coincide. Since these two

propositions are true, it follows that we shall be justified in laying

tribute upon every means within our power to increase our effectiveness in

persuasion.

PERSUASION A MENTAL ACT DEPENDING UPON INDIVIDUAL MENTAL RESPONSE

Persuasion has been defined as the meeting of minds. This is an excellent

definition, chiefly because it localizes the activities involved. It

identifies our problem as a purely mental or psychical one. The reason why

any two people disagree as to any truth is because their minds have no

common ground upon which to meet. Either the minds do not possess all the

facts, have not reasoned in accordance with the facts so as to reach a

sound conclusion, or, having the facts and having reached the conclusion,

they are actuated by different motives. Or it may be a combination of both

of these conditions which prevents their meeting. Granting that it is to a

man's interest to buy a life insurance policy, the reason he and the

solicitor cannot get together on the proposition is either because he does

not know all of the facts involved or because the solicitor has not

appealed to motives strong enough to cause his prospective customer to

take action. To the insurance solicitor, the facts of the case may be so

clear and so easily grasped that he underestimates his prospective

client's opposition, and so does not present the facts in a convincing

manner or he himself may have such a confused idea of the factors in the

case that he cannot state them clearly. The prospective client may have a

remarkably quick, keen comprehension of the essential factors of any plan,

but may be unable to grasp details, while, on the other hand, the

solicitor, not knowing this, may present his proposition in such minute

detail as to confuse. Or the situation may be exactly reversed. The

client's mind may be very slow in action and demand the presentation of a

few essential facts with all of the reasons for them, or it may be very

quick in action and demand the presentation of many facts in rapid

succession, with no attempt to give reasons for them. It will thus be seen

that, even in getting down to a conclusive possession of facts, the

persuader and the persuaded may be greatly handicapped by

misunderstanding.

THE DIFFERENCE IN MOTIVES

When we proceed from fact to motive, we find even greater possibilities of

misunderstanding. To the solicitor the one all-powerful motive for the

purchase of a life insurance policy may lie in the fact that it is an

excellent investment. Unless, therefore, he understands psychology and his

client well enough to do otherwise, he may talk the investment feature and

appeal to the investment motive when dealing with a man who cares nothing

about the investment, but might respond readily and instantly if his

desire to provide for the future of his wife and children were appealed

to.

Success in persuading, therefore, depends upon two things: First,

knowledge in general as to how the human mind works; how it receives its

knowledge; how it proceeds from facts and motives to conclusions; what its

ambitions, desires, and other feelings are; how these may be aroused and,

finally, how they may provide the motive power and induce favorable

action. Second, knowledge as to how each individual human mind works; what

it's particular methods are in the obtaining of information, in reasoning

upon that information, and forming its conclusions; what its motives are

and how these motives finally induce decision and action.

The study of the first of these problems is a study of psychology. Because

knowledge in regard to it can be easily obtained in practically all of the

standard works of salesmanship, perhaps it is not necessary for us to go

into it more deeply here. Those who wish to pursue it further, may find an

exceedingly valuable discussion of it in "Influencing Men in Business," by

Walter Dill Scott; "The Art of Selling," by Arthur Frederick Sheldon, and

"The Science of Business Building," by Arthur Frederick Sheldon.

MANY DOMINATING MOTIVES

As we have already seen, one man gets his information very quickly,

another must get it slowly. One demands details, another cannot endure

them. But these are not the only differences. One man learns best through

his eyes, another through his ears, and still another by his sense of

touch. One man gets his facts most easily by reading about them, another

must see the actual production, while the third forms the most definite

and easily understandable mental picture of them as a result of hearing

them described. One man, in buying machinery, wants to examine carefully

every detail of its construction, another man wants only to see it in

action and examine its product, while still another man demands both.

There is the same diversity in motives. One man's strongest motive is

vanity; another's, ambition, love of power; still another's, love of

beauty. One man responds most readily to any appeal to his affections,

another to an appeal to his pride. So, amongst dominating motives in men,

we find also avarice, greed, parsimony, benevolence, progressiveness, love

of variety, love of the striking and unusual, love of pleasure, a love of

cleanliness, physical appetite, a desire for comfort, love of home, love

of family, love of friends, love of country, religion, philanthropy,

politics, and many others which will readily occur to the thinking reader.

DIFFICULTY OF DETERMINING MOTIVES

It will readily be seen that no study of psychology in the ordinary

acceptance of the term can give us any clue to these variations in

individuals. Yet successful persuasion depends upon as accurate a

knowledge as possible of these very differences among people. The

parsimonious salesman who takes it for granted that every one's motives

are the same as his own, and, therefore, talks to every prospect about the

money-saving possibilities of his commodity, will most certainly fail in

trying to persuade those to purchase who care nothing about saving a few

cents, but do care a great deal about the quality, style, and beauty of

the commodity. The attorney who makes his plea to the court on the basis

of technical justice in every case he pleads will lose many cases in those

courts where the presiding judge is rather impatient with technical

justice and may, perhaps, decide cases upon their merits or according to

his own sympathies. We once knew a learned, able, and conscientious judge

who, despite his many years' training in the law, was almost certain to

decide a case in favor of the litigant who made the strongest appeal to

his sympathies. The parent who knows nothing but the persuasive power of

corporal punishment, will have little success in disciplining a child

blessed with unusual fighting spirit, independence, and tenacity, just as

the parent who appeals only to a love of approval will fail in handling a

child who does not care what people think about him.

PERSUASION IN DISCIPLINE OF CHILDREN

We once knew a woman who lived near us who had two little boys. One of

them was sensitive, timid, affectionate, and idealistic. Being a healthy,

active boy, there was a great deal of mischief in him, and in her attempts

to discipline him the mother scolded, berated, and often cuffed and

slapped him, occasionally administering a whipping. It was plain that the

scoldings and whippings only made the boy more shy, more self-conscious,

and less confident of himself, which, in one sense, was the worst thing

that could have happened to him. The qualities he most needed were courage

and self-confidence. With his ideals, his responsiveness, and his

affection, he could have been handled easily and would have developed a

splendid intellect and a fine character normally and healthfully.

The other boy, although somewhat younger, was more than a match for his

older brother. He was practical, matter-of-fact, shrewd, courageous, too

self-confident if anything, always ready for a fight, aggressive and

wilful. The mother did not scold or whip this boy for the simple reason

that she could not. He was too active and too willing to fight. Being thus

deprived of the only means of discipline which seemed to her to be

effective, she permitted the boy principally to have his own way, her only

appeals being to his reason. Unfortunately, this is the very type of boy

who will not listen to reason. In this case, as in the first, she would

have been successful if she had appealed to the boy's affections, for he

had a very strong love nature and would have responded instantly.

It is plain enough to any thoughtful mind that it is not safe to judge of

other people's motives by their conversation. "Language," said Talleyrand,

"was invented for the purpose of concealing thought." Many people conceal

their real motives under a very alluring curtain of language. It seems to

be the most natural thing in the world for the thief and swindler to talk

with the greatest apparent earnestness and sincerity and honesty. Pious

talk very frequently is the haze in which an avaricious and greedy soul

hides itself. Bluff, bluster, and boasting are the sops which the coward

throws to his own vanity, while the quietest, sweetest, and gentlest

tones often sheath the fierce heart of the born fighter, as a velvet glove

is said to clothe a hand of steel.

HOW MOTIVES MAY BE KNOWN

Motives lie at the very foundation of being. They are deeply imbedded in

the very cells and fiber of the individual. They shape his thoughts, his

habits, and all of his actions. It is, therefore, impossible that they

should not show themselves to the practiced eye in every physical

characteristic, in the tones of the voice, in the handshake, in gestures,

in the walk, and in handwriting, in clothing, in the condition of the

body, and in the expression of the face. So the motives of man festoon his

personality with flaunting and infallible signs to be known and read by

all men who care to take the trouble to learn. Some of them are so plain

that there is scarcely any grown person so unobservant as not to have seen

them. Others are more elusive, but none the less legible to the practiced

eye.

The simpler motives, after they have held sway for years, are easily

discernible. Sensuality, arrogance, vanity, coldness, benevolence,

sympathy, and others are easily determined. But, in order to be successful

in persuasion, you need to be able to trace all of the feelings both

permanent and transitory.

THE MENTAL LAW OF SALE

There is a great practical truth in the mental law of sale now generally

accepted by business psychologists and by practical men in the business

world. This mental law of sale holds true in all kinds of persuasion

because it describes the process of the human mind as it proceeds, step by

step, from indifference or antagonism to favorable action. It is,

therefore, impossible to discuss intelligently the ways and means of

successful persuasion, except upon a basis of this law. Here is the law:

[10]"Favorable attention properly sustained changes into interest,

interest properly intensified changes into desire, desire properly

augmented ripens into decision and action."

[Footnote 10: From "The Science of Business Building," by A.F. Sheldon.]

FAVORABLE ATTENTION

Now, it is known to psychologists that certain sensations attract

favorable attention in a larger number of cases than others. For example,

in an appeal to the eye, rectangular shape in proportion of three to five,

that is to say, three units of measurement wide by five units of

measurement long is more likely to attract favorable attention than a

square. Similarly, any object in motion or having the illusion of motion,

is more likely to attract favorable attention than an object at rest.

Black letters upon a white background attract more favorable attention

than white letters upon a black background. Many such psychological

problems have been worked out. They are valuable, but they have no place

in this work, since our task here is not to deal with averages, but rather

with variations in individuals--how to discern them and how to deal with

them.

INTEREST

In a similar way, psychologists have determined that the average

individual more quickly becomes interested in that which he can understand

than in that which he cannot understand, in that which appeals to

something in his own experience than in that which has no such appeal, in

that which appeals to his tastes and his feelings than in that which

appeals to his judgment. These are rules applicable to the average, but

they are very general and are of little use to you unless you add to them

specific knowledge of every individual whom you wish to persuade.

DESIRE

Desire, as you will see by the terms of the law of sale, is merely

interest intensified. Desire is the main spring of action. It is the real

force of every motive. Contradictory as it may seem at first sight, people

always do what they want to do even when they act most reluctantly. Their

action is inspired by a desire to escape what they believe to be the

certain penalty of inaction or of contrary action. The boy who slowly

approaches his father to receive a promised whipping, does so because he

wants to. And he wants to because he knows he will be whipped so much

harder if he runs away. Desire is, therefore, the great citadel toward

which all of the campaign of the persuader must be directed. Given a

powerful enough desire, decision and action follow as a matter of course.

Psychologists have determined that imagination is the most powerful mental

stimulus to desire. Imagination presents to the mind, as it were, a more

or less vivid mental picture of the individual enjoying the gratification

of his desire--be it physical, intellectual, or spiritual. The longer this

picture remains in the mind, the more vivid it becomes, the more it crowds

all other thoughts and feelings from the mind, the more powerful and

irresistible becomes the desire. It is the task of the persuader,

therefore, to stimulate the imagination to the painting of such mental

pictures. This we well know, but what we wish to know further is what are

the most powerful desires in the particular human mind with which we are

dealing. Obviously, the automobile salesman who vividly pictures to the

timid person the thrills of speeding around curves would be as far wrong

as if he were picturing the sedate, quiet luxury of his car to a speed

maniac. What he wants to know and what we all want to know in substance is

how to tell, at a glance, which is the timid, sedate person and which the

speed maniac.

DECISION AND ACTION

Perhaps the most delicate and most difficult process among all the four

steps of persuasion is inducing decision and action. When one reflects

upon the multitudinous important decisions made and actions taken every

hour, it hardly seems possible that it can be so difficult to induce our

fellow-men to make the short step from hesitant desire to definite

decision. The truth is, of course, that in the making of almost any

important decision there is a stern conflict between conflicting desires.

Take, for example, a man buying an automobile. Under the skilful

persuasive power of the salesman, he has vividly pictured to himself

enjoying possession. But this is not his only mental picture. Perhaps he

has a picture of his old age, in which he might enjoy the income from the

money which would go into an automobile. There are also in his mind mental

pictures of half a dozen to a dozen or more other makes of automobiles. In

addition to these, there may be a mental picture of a motor boat, a little

cottage by the sea, a new set of furniture for his house, new fittings for

his store, an increased advertising appropriation, a new insurance policy,

a trip to California and return, and goodness only knows how many other

objects of desire. It is no wonder he hesitates and that he must be very

skilfully and deftly brought to the point of decision.

WAYS OF INDUCING DECISION AND ACTION

For this reason, experience has shown that many people, perhaps the

majority of people, can be induced to decide whether they will have red

rubber or gray rubber tires on an automobile they contemplate purchasing

far more easily than they can be induced to decide definitely that they

will purchase the car. Having decided upon the tires, however, they can be

asked to decide upon other minor points, including the terms upon which

they intend to pay for the car, and thus eventually go through the entire

process of purchasing the car without ever giving their delicate mental

mechanism the severe shock and strain of deciding to purchase it at all.

As a general rule, such people are surprised and delighted to find that

they have made the decision so easily and with so little pain and

distress.

But this method will not work with all people. There are some natures so

positive, so aggressive, so fond of taking the initiative, so determined

to make their own decisions without interference that the wise salesman or

persuader apparently permits them to have their own way, at the same time

skilfully guiding them in the way he wishes them to go by means of

indirect suggestion.

INDUCING A POSITIVE NATURE TO PERSUADE HIMSELF

The story is told of an old-time, domineering railroad official, formerly

an army colonel, a great lover of horses, who was intensely prejudiced

against the automobile. During the days when carriages were favorite

conveyances of the wealthy, this man kept a magnificent stable and boasted

that no driver ever passed him on the road. With the coming in of

automobiles, he became accustomed to seeing the gasoline-drinking machines

flash by. They came up behind him with a honk. They rushed by with a roar

and they disappeared in the distance in a cloud of dust. He saw the

chauffeurs gripping their steering wheels and glaring intensely along the

road.

"Humph!" he scorned, "those fellows work harder than an engineer for their

rattlety-bang speed. I had rather sit back and get some pleasure out of

riding, as I do behind my bays."

Then one morning he noticed a car slip by him slowly, noiselessly, easily,

and with so little evidence of effort that the old man felt that by urging

his horses to just a little faster pace he might have kept ahead. The next

morning, the same thing happened again. It was the same car, and this time

the old man tightened his reins a little and sent his horses speeding

ahead. At first he gained a little on the car, but eventually it pulled

slowly and easily away from him. The third morning, there was another

little brush of speed on the boulevard. By this time the old railroad man

had noticed how luxurious the car was, how smoothly it rolled, how deeply

upholstered were the seats, how lustrous and satiny the finish.

Finally, one morning, one of the old man's horses cast a shoe and the

courteous young driver of the automobile, coming along, kindly offered to

take the colonel on downtown. The offer was accepted, the team sent to a

horseshoer's in care of the coachman, and the colonel and his new friend

drove off still slowly, still quietly, and yet, one by one, they passed

other carriages on the road. Finally a trolley car was overtaken and left

behind.

"See," said the young man modestly, "just the pressure of a finger on the

throttle."

"Oh, do you call that a throttle?" asked the railroader. The word was a

familiar one to him, and being distinctly of the mechanical type, he was

easily interested in machinery. For the remainder of the journey the young

man talked quietly, but interestingly of the mechanism of the car,

emphasizing the need of skill, steadiness of eye, steadiness of hand,

coolness of nerve necessary to drive it. The colonel was deeply interested

and, just as the young man deposited him at his destination, he said, "It

is possible your horses may not be ready to come for you this evening. If

so, I should be delighted to call for you as I go out your way at about

the same time you go." The colonel graciously accepted the invitation and

at four o'clock of that same afternoon he was again seated along-side the

driver of the car. After they had drawn out of the congested streets onto

the wide boulevard, the young man again deftly turned the conversation to

the mechanism of the car and the skill necessary for driving it. This was

too much for the colonel.

"Pshaw! I do not believe it takes so much skill. With what I know about

it, I believe I could drive the car."

After some hesitation, the young man finally permitted the railroad

official to take the wheel. At first the colonel drove somewhat clumsily,

but this only increased his determination, and within an hour he was

sending the car along at a good clip. When finally they drove up to the

colonel's country home, the young man scarcely needed to invite his

passenger to accompany him to the city on the following morning. Before

the end of the week, the old man had purchased a magnificent high-powered

car. So skilfully did the young man handle his campaign that his customer

did not learn he was an automobile salesman until just a few hours before

the deal was consummated.

HANDLING THE INDECISIVE

If there are positive natures which must be permitted to feel that the

decision is all their own, there are weak, indecisive natures, also, who

are rather grateful than otherwise for having important decisions taken

off of their hands. For such people, a direct, positive suggestion is

perhaps the most powerful and effective means of securing decision and

action. One of the favorite methods of dealing with them is to press a

fountain pen into their fingers with the definitely worded command, "Sign

your name right here, please."

People are also brought to decide and act by being impressed with the fact

that delay may make it altogether too late or may possibly postpone part

of the advantage to be gained or may permit some one else to get ahead.

Decision oftentimes is also induced by a direct or indirect compliment to

the individual's decisiveness, positiveness, and ability to take action

when he sees that action is necessary. A very successful salesman often

used this method: "You say rightly that you want to think it over. That

shows that you are a wise man, because a man who acts without thinking is

foolish. On the other hand, the man who thinks without acting is a mere

dreamer, and I know you do not belong to that class. You have had the

evidence. You have weighed it. You have formed your conclusions, and now,

because you are a man of decision and action, you are ready to sign the

contract."

NEED FOR CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Here, again, the reader has already seen that we are dealing with

generalities. We have, as yet, no way of determining definitely and

quickly whether the individual with whom we are dealing will respond best

to that treatment which secures his decision upon minor points, or that

which permits him to make his own decision guided only by indirect

suggestions, or that which makes the decision for him, or that which

compliments him upon his decisiveness, or any one of many other methods of

closing. And so it is necessary to study humanity to learn to know just

what will gain favorable attention of each one individually, just which

one of a thousand possible motives to appeal to in order to arouse

interest, just what kind of a desire to stimulate in order to intensify

it to that point where it becomes irresistible, just what method of

closing to use in order to bring about decision and action.

In succeeding chapters of this part of the book, we shall give some

attention to these problems.

CHAPTER II

SECURING FAVORABLE ATTENTION

You would find it an interesting study in human nature to stand in front

of different shop windows and record the types of people whose favorable

attention is drawn by each. Select, for example, a book-store window, a

jewelry display, a window full of tools and instruments, an offering of

meats and groceries, and a traction engine. You will find a description of

various types in the first few chapters of this book. Suppose you took

fifty, one hundred, one hundred and fifty, two hundred observations before

each display and then analyzed the records to find the percentage of each

type whose favorable attention was called to each window.

Our own observations, taken in New York City, produced the following

results:

Phys. Bone & Imprac- Profes- Mechanical

Display Frail Fat Muscle tical sional Vain Total

Bookstore 30 10 12 15 20 6 7 100

Jewelry 15 20 3 12 19 35 6 100

Tools & 8 12 30 6 14 4 26 100

Instruments

Meats & 6 42 8 8 13 11 12 100

Groceries

Traction 8 16 31 9 7 3 26 100

Engine

THE PHYSICALLY FRAIL

These results show that the individual of the physically frail type, as

described in Chapter 2 of this book, is chiefly interested in books, in

beauty, ideas and ideals, elegance, and luxuries. His favorable attention

is caught by that which is beautiful. If the thing offered him has in it

or about it any elements of beauty, elegance, luxury, or idealism, this

should first be presented, even if the true value of the article lies in

its utility. In the same way, this individual will respond most quickly

with his favorable attention to that which is intellectual, educational,

literary, scientific, or philosophic, unless he is also of the strictly

financial type which is sometimes, though not often, true of the

physically frail. Then his attention may be readily secured by an apt

quotation from a price list.

Because the physically frail man does not like manual labor and cannot do

it well, his attention may be gained by any contrivance for saving labor,

making life easier physically, and substituting mental work for physical.

"Let the Gold Dust Twins Do Your Work" is a headline which no doubt

attracts the favorable attention of many of this class, who might utterly

ignore "Let the Gold Dust Twins Save You Money."

THE FAT MAN

The favorable attention of the fat man is very evidently gained most

readily by that which appeals to his physical senses and appetites. This

is because the keynote of his nature is enjoyment. He is always on the

alert for anything which may contribute to his enjoyment. He is not fond

of physical or mental work, but he is interested in food products,

labor-saving devices, comforts, luxuries, finances, politics,

merchandizing, and, in fact, everything which contributes to his enjoyment

either directly or indirectly through his ability to command the mental

and physical services of others.

He who would gain the favorable attention of a fat man, therefore, might

be most successful by beginning with inviting him to luncheon or dinner.

In the absence of this, he might begin conversation by a discreet question

or comment upon the political situation. The headline, "Let Me Show You

How To Make More Money" might appeal to the impractical man, but it is not

likely to gain the favorable attention of the fat man. The fat man's

natural feeling about a request of that kind is: "If you know how to make

more money, why don't you use that knowledge for yourself?" Financially,

his favorable attention is much more likely to be secured by asking him

whether he believes real estate prices are going to advance or railroad

stocks are going to decline or interest rates are going to hold firm.

Unless he is of the highly speculative type, he is more than likely to be

suspicious of any financial proposition which offers large returns at the

outset. He usually has a shrewd way of unearthing propositions which will

pay him large returns; but, as a general rule, he would rather unearth

them himself than to have some interested party come and offer them to

him.

THE MAN OF BONE AND MUSCLE

The favorable attention of the man of bone and muscle is always most

quickly gained by something that moves, some piece of mechanism, or,

perhaps, by an object suggestive of outdoor sports. Many a salesman has

secured the favorable attention and gained his way into the good graces of

a man of this type by talking to him about hunting, fishing, golf or

baseball. If you take the fat man to luncheon with you, take this man out

to play golf or tennis or have a motor ride.

A salesman of our acquaintance once determined to sell a full line of

school supplies to the superintendent of schools in a large western city.

The contract was a considerable one and meant a large commission to the

salesman. As he studied the situation, he learned that one of his

competitors had been furnishing all of the supplies for the schools in

this city for a number of years and that it was very difficult for the

salesmen from other business houses to get a hearing. The superintendent's

usual manner of rebuff was to say: "No, I do not care to look at your

line. We are being excellently served now, sir, and have no desire to make

a change."

This salesman proceeded to the office of the superintendent early in the

morning, before that official arrived, and was waiting in the ante-room

when his prospective customer came in. Observing the man quickly, as he

walked through the ante-room into his private office, the salesman noted

that he was tall, square-shouldered, with a square face and jaw, wide

forehead and a slow, elastic, graceful stride. In other words, he was

distinctly a man of the bony and muscular type. A few minutes later the

salesman was ushered into the superintendent's office. He carried with

him, instead of a huge sample case--this he left in the ante-room--an

ingenious little mechanical pencil sharpener. Stepping up to the

superintendent's desk, he set the machine down squarely in front of the

official and, without a word, picked up a pencil from the desk and

sharpened it.

"How much by the dozen?" asked the superintendent.

"Twenty-five dollars," replied the salesman.

"Send me five dozen," said the superintendent, drawing towards him a

requisition blank.

While the superintendent was writing the requisition, the salesman quietly

slipped out and brought in his sample case. When he returned, the

superintendent was sharpening a pencil for himself with much evident

enjoyment.

"What else have you?" said he, without looking up.

Of course that question opened up the salesman's sample case, and when he

left the office, he had at least broken down that ancient barrier and had

secured an order for considerably more than one-third of the year's

supplies.

In our story of the railroad man who was induced to buy an automobile

without even suspecting that his patronage was being solicited, observe

how skillfully the salesman drew his customer's attention to the

mechanical features of the machine. The colonel, being a railroad man,

was, of course, of this bony and muscular type.

THE IMPRACTICAL MAN

The impractical man lives in a world of dreams, theories, hypotheses, and

philosophies. His favorable attention is immediately attracted to an

ingenious idea. If he is of the fine-textured, delicate-featured type, he

will give his favorable attention readily to that which is artistic,

poetical, musical, dramatic, or literary. Financially, he is far more

likely to give attention to a proposition which promises immense returns

quickly than to one which is safe, solid and substantial, but promises

only small returns. His favorable attention cannot for long be sustained

by mere recitation of facts. He does not care much about facts and they

are likely to prove dry and uninteresting to him. Give him the theories;

show him the philosophy of the thing; appeal to his imagination, his sense

of beauty and his ideals, and he is ready to listen further.

THE PRACTICAL MAN

The practical man demands facts. Theories and abstractions worry him. Even

if you had his favorable attention and were to try to go too much into the

reasons for things, you would probably lose it. He is the kind of man who

wants to be shown, who demands that you place the actual object before

him, if possible, so that he can see it, taste it, smell it, feel of it.

His principal concern about any proposition is not, "Is it reasonable?" or

"Is it in accordance with theories?" but rather "Will it work?" "Is it

practical?" If you can show him the facts and can convince him by

demonstration, if possible, that the thing will work, you will secure his

very immediate attention.

THE VAIN

Those who are hungry for fame, who are eager for the limelight, whose ears

itch for the sound of applause, are, of course, quickly responsive to

flattery. If they are fine-textured and have delicate features, small

hands and feet, flattery must be of a refined and delicate nature. If, on

the other hand, they are of coarse texture, large, coarse features and big

hands and feet, they will, if their vanity be a ruling motive, eagerly

swallow the most atrocious and fulsome praises. Look for the extremely

short upper lip, for an excess of jewelry, a tendency to over-dress and

extreme foppish methods of arranging the hair. Where you find one or more

of these indications, you find the easiest road to favorable attention

through the appetite of the individual for praise. If he is of the

intellectual type, praise him for his smartness. If he is a fat man,

praise him for his popularity, his political astuteness, his financial

acumen, his artistic ordering of a dinner, for his impartiality. If he is

of the bony and muscular type, praise him for his mechanical ability, for

his strength, skill and agility, for his love of freedom and independence.

If he is of the literary and artistic type, praise him for his art. If he

shows a fondness for dress, flatter him on his personal appearance. Watch

any man of this type carefully and you will soon discover his pet vanity,

and when you have discovered it, you have found an easy road to the

citadel of his desires.

THE MATTER-OF-FACT

If an individual has a long, straight upper lip, a keenly practical,

matter-of-fact type of forehead, long, severe lines of countenance and a

high crown, do not attempt flattery. Such a person is instantly suspicious

of anyone who flatters him. He keeps his feelings well under control. He

has very decided opinions and convictions of his own and it is difficult

to induce him to act except in accordance with them. Such a person gives

his favorable attention to fact and, usually, only to facts germane to the

proposition in hand. He does not care much for comments upon these facts

and is quite likely to refuse to listen to all appeals to his emotions. He

has, however, as a general rule, considerable love of power. He likes to

dominate, to rule, not so much for material personal advantage as for the

sake of imposing his opinions and convictions upon others and the

satisfaction of feeling that the power is in his hands. Show him facts

that will convince him that your proposition will increase his power and

you appeal to one of his strongest motives.

THE SOCIAL AND FRIENDLY

There is a very large class of people who are distinctly friendly and

social in type. A leading characteristic of this type is, as we have

stated already, the full, round back-head. The best, easiest and quickest

way to gain the favorable attention of such people is to develop your

relations with them upon a friendly and social basis. Indeed, a capacity

for making friends and keeping them is one of the most valuable assets of

any human being, no matter what his ambitions and desires. As a general

rule, we can more easily persuade those who feel friendly toward us than

we can those who are indifferent. Observe the successful salesman and the

successful politician, those whose professional success depends upon the

power to persuade; they are nearly all of the social, friendly type.

THE VALUE OF FRIENDLINESS

For some men it comes natural to make friends with everyone with whom they

come in contact. Others make friends with few, but their friendships are

powerful and lasting. Still others are very social; they meet people

easily and are fairly successful in dealing with them; but they make few,

if any, intimate friends. Still others are neither social nor friendly.

They do not particularly care for people but rather enjoy solitude. No

matter which type a man may be, he will do well to cultivate true

friendliness. Our friends turn business to us. They give us important

information at the right time. They influence people in our favor. They

warn us of disasters. They come to our rescue in times of trouble and help

to protect us against our enemies. Finally, but perhaps most important of

all, they give us an opportunity to do all these things for them, and in

this service we find our highest and truest pleasure.

COMBINATION TYPES

We have suggested arbitrarily in this chapter a few of the types you will

meet and the best ways to gain the favorable attention of each. Naturally,

these types may overlap. For example, a man may be a fat man and also of

the exceedingly practical type. He is, therefore, approachable upon either

one of the two lines suggested or with something which appeals to both

elements in his nature at once. Plain, simple, easily recognized facts

about a sound financial proposition, for example, would combine the two

factors.

There are, of course, many other types and combination types. To treat

each one of them exhaustively would require, not a volume, but a library.

Yet there are certain fundamental principles by which all of them may be

known and in accordance with which each may be successfully persuaded. A

thorough scientific study of human nature will reveal them.

CHAPTER III

AROUSING INTEREST AND CREATING DESIRE

Before the days of business psychology, form letters for the purpose of

securing business from those addressed used to begin something like this:

"DEAR MR. BLANK:

"We beg to announce that we have on hand a very large

stock of bicycles, which we desire to close out as early as possible."

Consciously or unconsciously, the recipient of this letter would say to

himself: "What in thunder is that to me? I have no particular interest in

this fellow's stock of bicycles. I do not care whether his stock is large

or small, nor do I care whether he wants to sell it or not." And the form

letter would go into the waste basket. Nowadays, however, we have learned

better and our form letter would begin something like this:

"DEAR MR. BLANK:

"What would it be worth to you to have the freedom of movement, the

open air, the healthful exercise, and the enjoyment of the beauties

of nature which are all placed easily within your reach by the

possession of a bicycle?"

The recipient of this letter immediately pictures to himself time saved in

going to and from work, in running errands, in paying visits. He also has

visions of increased health--perhaps freedom from the headaches that have

been troubling him--pictures of long rides upon air-shod wheels over

smooth boulevards and through leafy lanes.

_Himself!_

Do you get it? The writer of that letter makes the reader think about

_himself_. He knows that the latter is more interested in himself than in

any other human being in the world and that he is more interested in human

beings than he is in anything else. This is the key to the arousing of

interest. Make the man think about himself in connection with what you

have to offer.

HOW PEOPLE THINK ABOUT THEMSELVES

But different people think about themselves in entirely different ways.

The glutton thinks of his stomach; the scholar of his knowledge; the

athlete of his prowess, and the seeker after power, of his ambitions.

Those who seek to persuade others by scientific means will learn to

determine in just what way each individual is most interested in himself.

Then his task will be to make every individual whom he seeks to persuade

think, as he best likes to think, of himself and, at the same time, in

close connection, think of the idea or the article or the proposition

offered.

INTERESTING THE INTELLECTUAL MAN

Suppose he were trying to persuade a man of the intellectual type to

purchase a life insurance policy. After having gained favorable attention,

his further argument might be along these lines: "Your greatest asset is

in your mental power. With your intellect you can accomplish what it would

take a hundred men a year to accomplish with their hands. In fact, with

your intellect you can accomplish what no number of men working throughout

eternity could accomplish by the mere toil of their hands. Intellectual

power depends upon the ability to concentrate and the freedom and health

of your intellectual faculties. Psychologists and physiologists both

agree, as you well know, that there is nothing which quite so quickly

upsets both your physical and your mental machinery as anxiety and worry.

With this policy in force, you are fortified--you are free to concentrate

upon your problems, your work, without anxiety as to the future of your

wife and children. Whatever happens to you, you know that they will be

provided for. Furthermore, if you should live twenty years from now, you

will receive ten thousand dollars in one lump sum. That is a provision

against the possible day when you may be weary and wish to rest, or it may

be just the endowment which you need in order to carry on your researches

and investigations and, perhaps, find the solution to some of the

intellectual problems on which you have so long been working."

INTERESTING THE FAT MAN

The fat man likes to think of himself enjoying the good things of life as

to body and mind, comfort, luxury, a jovial good time with congenial

friends, the exercise of executive, financial or political power, or all

three. His interest, therefore, is readily aroused if you talk to him

about himself in connection with these things. There are many cases, of

course, in which this must be done indirectly rather than directly. The

effort should be not always to talk directly about the man to himself, but

to make him think about himself. It is usually not permissible to talk to

the judge on the bench about himself, but it is always permissible to

paint the picture in such a way that the judge, if he is a fat man, will

almost inevitably think of himself in connection with the matters

presented.

For example, a lawyer friend of ours often appeared with cases before a

corpulent jurist. "If it is at all possible," he told us, "without

dragging the thing in too obviously by the ears, I always talk about food

in my summing up. If I want to get the sympathy of the judge, I try,

somehow or other, to make my client appear before the imagination as

suffering from want of nourishment. I can see that the judge always feels

those sufferings keenly himself. In one case, where I represented a woman

in a divorce case, I told, as graphically as I knew how, the excellence of

her cooking. I told about how her roast chicken and her pies tasted, and I

could actually see his Honor's mouth water. Of course, in addition to

that, I presented a good legal case. But I have always thought it was

those imaginary pies and roast chicken that got my client her decision."

INTERESTS OF THE ACTIVE MAN

The man of bone and muscle likes to think of himself in action. Muscular

exercise, out-of-doors freedom, skill, agility and strength--these are the

things in which he is interested. You can also interest him in thoughts

of himself using tools, building or operating machinery, traveling or,

perhaps, working in his garden or amongst his fruit trees. By an easy step

in analogy this man is also interested in politics and religion, freedom

and reform, and in mechanical principles and construction. Notice how the

letter cited at the opening of this chapter makes the man who receives it

think of himself in motion, think of himself as enjoying freedom, the

outdoor air, exercise, the beauties of nature. All of these things appeal

to the man of bone and muscle, who is, by all odds, the most likely

purchaser of a bicycle.

THE IMPRACTICAL MAN'S INTEREST

The impractical man usually likes to think of himself as an ideal being,

living in an ideal world, surrounded by ideal people, associated together

under ideal conditions. In other words, he is a day-dreamer, dreaming of

those things which delight him most, without thought as to their

foundation in fact, or the possibility of putting them into practice. It

is usually easy enough for the eloquent salesman who understands him to

persuade such a man. He responds to eloquence. Since he doesn't demand

facts, his mind is soon soaring off into realms of fancy upon the wings of

the speaker's words. But since interests are all mutual, you will, if you

are wise, use your knowledge of this man's impractical nature to help to

persuade him to do for himself that which is practicable. Such a man ought

to have life insurance, for example, and to have it so protected that he

can do nothing visionary and impracticable with it. Make him think of

himself, if you can, conferring ideal benefits upon his wife and family.

You could never interest him in the bare, trite facts in the case, but

when you have gained his interest, see to it that you sell him an entirely

practicable life insurance policy for a man of his type. There is never

any ultimate advantage gained by using your knowledge of human nature to

persuade people to do anything which is not, in the long run, the best

thing for them to do.

INTERESTING THE PRACTICAL MAN

The practical man likes to think of himself and others as doing things, as

saying things, accomplishing practical things, worth-while things. We

shall never forget the intensity with which one of the most practical

persons in our acquaintance says over and over again: "I like to see

things _done_" If your practical person is also of the financial type, he

likes to think of himself as doing things which will result in profit.

There is scarcely any proposition of any kind you may ever wish to present

to a practical financial person which cannot be presented in such a way as

to make that person think of himself as getting something done both

practical and profitable. If you can make him think of himself in this

way, you will have aroused his interest.

INTERESTS OF THE VAIN

Vain men and women, who live upon the praises, applause and approval of

others, like to think of themselves as being admired, courted, favored,

appreciated, and even flattered. Such a person once said to us: "I cannot

live without flattery. I want people to say nice things about me. I do not

care whether they mean them or not, if only they will say them to my

face." To interest such a person in himself is really a work of

supererogation--because he thinks of nothing else, and usually can talk of

nothing else. All you have to do to arouse his interest is to show him the

connection between his vanity and the proposition you have to offer, and

then heartily join in the applause.

GENERAL APPLICATIONS

In a similar way, the doting mother thinks about herself in connection

with her children. Make the devoted husband and father think about himself

in connection with his family. Make the social, friendly person think

about himself in connection with his acquaintances and friends. Make the

detail worker think of himself in connection with little intimate details.

Make the generalist think of himself in connection with large movements.

The interest a person may feel is not always concerned with that which is

immediately and directly connected with himself. Just at present, for

example, we are all more or less interested in the war in Europe. We read

about it. We discuss and argue about it. We follow its moves of armies and

diplomacies. In one sense this interest is impersonal. Yet,

psychologically, our interest depends entirely upon our own connection

with the results. Through our sympathies we place ourselves either with

"the oppressed Belgian people whose homes have been ravished" or with "the

great German nation fighting for its existence against an iron ring of

enemies who enviously conspired for her downfall." We are also interested

in the war because it affects our business, our finances, our means of

travel and communication, and a thousand and one other matters which

directly concern us. Even a casual observer might be interested in a war

between two colonies of ants; but unless the outcome in some way directly

concerned him, his interest would be purely intellectual and by no means

strong enough to use as a basis for successful persuasion.

UNSELFISHNESS OF SELF-INTEREST

Some may object that in treating the subject of interest, we have made

human beings appear far more selfish and self-seeking than they really

are. Such is not our intention. The most unselfish acts of heroism that

can be performed result from intense personal interest aroused through

sympathy, generosity, duty, patriotism, or love. When a person capable of

one of these heroic acts thinks of himself, he is likely to think of

himself as sympathizing with those who suffer, as being generous to those

who are in need, as performing his duty without fear of consequences, as

loving his native land, or as pouring out his very soul for the benefit of

those who are dear to him.

DESIRE

According to the law of sale, desire is interest intensified. Interest may

be purely intellectual. Desire is a feeling. Interest may not even suggest

speech or action to the interested person. Desire infallibly suggests

speech or action. The woman who stands before a magnificent window display

of the latest fashions in evening gowns may be deeply interested in them,

but if, perchance, she be a modest, retiring, home-keeping woman with no

social ambitions, she doesn't even think of purchasing one. In fact, the

chances are that she would not accept it as a gift. She would have no use

for it. As a result, her interest in the display begins to wane and soon

she passes on. How different is the case of the woman who loves

excitement, attends many evening functions, and is ambitious to outshine

her friends! She stops before the window. She also is interested. The

longer she stands before the window and the more interested she becomes,

the more certain is she to begin to think about purchasing one or more of

the gowns, or of having one or more made upon these models. If she stands

there long enough and her interest continues to increase, she will soon be

making definite plans for gaining possession. In other words, her desire

for an evening gown has been aroused.

MAKE THEM SEE THEMSELVES ENJOYING POSSESSION

Ask any successful clothing salesman or saleslady what is the best way to

arouse desire for a suit, a cloak or a gown. Almost without exception they

will answer: "Place the garment on the prospective customer and let him

see himself in a good mirror and in a good light." In this way the

individual actually sees himself enjoying possession. There is no stronger

stimulus to desire than this.

A young man of our acquaintance had a great contempt for spring and fall

overcoats, and had never purchased one. One day, after he had ordered a

suit from his tailor, the salesman said: "Mr. Jenkins, you ought to have a

spring overcoat to wear with that suit."

"A spring overcoat!" scoffed Jenkins. "I never wore a spring overcoat in

my life. When it is cold, I wear my winter overcoat. When it is too warm

for that, I am perfectly comfortable without an overcoat. Why should I

waste my money in a thing which is only ornamental? If I am going to

spend any more money on overcoats, I should rather put it into an extra

fine winter overcoat."

"Now, here is one of our very latest styles, Mr. Jenkins," went on the

salesman, ignoring the protest. "Just slip it on and see how it fits you."

The salesman held the garment invitingly, and, with a grudging warning to

the salesman that he was wasting his time, Jenkins slipped it on. The

salesman settled it upon his broad shoulders, smoothly folded back the

rich, heavy silk facing, and deftly swung a mirror into position.

"Fits as if it were made for you, Mr. Jenkins," he praised. "I tell you,

when you walk down the street in that overcoat in the bright, clear

sunlight of a spring morning, you look prosperous."

In relating the incident afterward, Jenkins said: "Why, the fellow had me,

absolutely. I could see myself walking down Michigan Avenue to business,

and the sun shining on the lake, and the little shoots of grass beginning

to show in Grant Park. I did feel prosperous. I felt so prosperous that,

then and there, I bought that overcoat, the first spring overcoat I ever

owned and just exactly one more spring overcoat than I had ever had any

intention of owning."

AROUSE THEIR FEELINGS ABOUT THEMSELVES

If interest, therefore, is aroused by making a person think about himself,

desire is created by making a person feel about himself and feel about

himself in such a way that the feeling impels him to favorable decision

and action. The object of the man or woman who would persuade according to

scientific principles is to stimulate, through intensified thought, the

strongest and most easily aroused feelings of the person to be persuaded.

As you have already seen, we have been hammering upon those feelings from

the very beginning. In securing favorable attention, we appeal to them. In

arousing interest, we do our best to make the person to be persuaded think

of himself in connection with these feelings; and now, in creating

desire, we simply are going a step further and by every possible means

intensifying the excitement of those feelings.

For example, in selling a garment to an exceedingly utilitarian and

economical person, we secure his favorable attention, perhaps, by the

remark: "Let me show you something that will look as well as the best and

wear like iron, at a moderate price." We arouse his interest by showing

him the hard, close, wear-resisting weave of cloth, the tenacity with

which it holds its shape, and, at the same time, its neatness,

attractiveness, finish, and superior workmanship. We create a desire for

the possession of the garment by inducing him to put it on, at the same

time remarking: "You can see for yourself that this garment is

conservative and suitable in style. While not the extreme of fashion, it

is not out-of-date nor out of harmony with the prevailing mode. A year

from now you will be able to wear it with exactly the same feeling that

you are well and neatly dressed, as you feel in wearing it to-day.

Furthermore, because it is a standard style and not a novelty, it sells at

far below the cost of fancy garments, notwithstanding its superior quality

and workmanship. You will be proud to wear this garment when those who

have paid twice as much for the more extreme styles have been compelled to

discard them and purchase new."

THE PERSUASIVE POWER OF SUGGESTION

In his excellent scientific work, "Influencing Men in Business," Walter

Dill Scott says:

"In persuading men, logical reasoning is practically never to be used

alone. After the arguments have been presented, skillful suggestions

should be used as a supplement. This supplement often changes threatened

defeat into success. The skillful pleader before a jury, the wise

politician, and the successful superintendent of men all alike are

compelled to resort to suggestion to supplement their arguments in their

attempts to influence men.

"If we should divide all customers into the two classes, professional

buyers and the general public, then, in appealing to this latter class,

special attention should be given to suggestion. In an advertisement

containing both a good suggestion and a good argument, the suggestion is

read often and the argument rarely. From infancy, we have been accustomed

to respond to suggestions so frequently that we follow this habit in

purchasing merchandise, even though we ought to make such purchases only

after due deliberation. Deliberation is a process of thought which is very

elaborate and very exhausting. The general purchaser--the housewife--does

not ordinarily rise to such an undertaking, but contents herself with a

process very closely approximating the working of pure suggestion. Even

though she begins to deliberate, the process is likely to be cut short by

the effect of a clever suggestion.

"The general public responds more readily to suggestions than to

arguments; hence, in dealing with this large group, it is usually wise to

construct the copy according to this habitual method of response of the

general public. Immediate action is more often secured by suggestion than

by arguments."

Since this is true, that person is most skillful in persuading who has

acquired the most skill in suggestion. He stimulates the imagination to

paint vivid and intensely-colored mental pictures of the gratification of

desire. Make desire strong enough, and, if you have correctly analyzed the

one to be persuaded, the rest follows.

CHAPTER IV

INDUCING DECISION AND ACTION

"I want it," said a gentleman to us, speaking of a piece of property in

which he was contemplating investment. "I want it so bad that I can't

think of much else. I lie awake nights dreaming of myself in possession of

it, and yet, somehow or other, I can't make up my mind to buy it. I have

the money and have had the money in the bank for weeks. There is nothing

else I want to do with that money half as much as I want to buy that

property, but it is an important move and, somehow or other, I just can't

make the plunge."

This gentleman's experience illustrates a psychological condition well

known to many of our readers, because they have been in substantially the

same situation--and well known to every salesman, because he has had to

meet and combat just such a situation many a time.

Desire having been created, our law of sale states that desire, properly

augmented, ripens into decision and action. This is true. And yet the

ripening process is sometimes so slow that the frost of fear or the rot of

regret spoils the fruit. It is popularly supposed to be true that if a

person really desires to do a thing strongly enough, and it is within the

bounds of possibility, he will do it. Nine times out of ten, or perhaps

ninety-nine times out of a hundred, this is the case; but there are times

when the will simply refuses to respond to desire.

A BALKY WILL

A lady who was of an exceedingly stubborn nature once said to us:

"Ordinarily, I consider myself to be quite amenable to persuasion and

suggestion. I like to live peaceably with others. Occasionally, however,

someone, and perhaps someone whom I love very dearly, says something or

does something that makes me stubborn. Then I absolutely balk. Commands,

demands, appeals, cajoleries, every means thinkable, are used, but the

more people attempt to influence my action, the more stubborn I become. If

then I am left alone to think it over for a few hours, very likely I shall

begin to think that it would be advisable, from every point of view, for

me to yield. My judgment is already convinced that to yield is the best

policy. My love for my friends, my desire for peace, my wish to be

accommodating and to have their approval all urge me to yield. I want to

yield. But, even then--how, I cannot explain--there is something inside

which absolutely forbids it. This is so strong that it feels stronger than

my judgment and all of my desires taken together. The only possible course

for me to pursue is to forget the entire matter for a few days, at the end

of which time, perhaps, the stubbornness has seemingly evaporated."

DECISION MAY WAIT UPON AN IRRELEVANT WORD

And so, merely augmenting desire oftentimes is not enough to bring about

decision and action, even in cases which are not so extreme as those which

we have just cited. The proposition may be of such a nature that it does

not admit of arousing desire to any very high pitch. In all such cases

what is needed is some special stimulus to the will. As every chemist

knows, sulphuric acid and alcohol, when mingled together in a glass

vessel, do not combine. They have an affinity for each other. All of the

necessary elements for active combination are present in that glass, and

yet they do not combine. But drop in a bit of platinum and instantly the

whole mass is boiling with energy let loose. In a similar way, oftentimes,

all the elements for decision and action are present in the mind, yet

nothing happens. But a word or a little act, seemingly insignificant in

itself, oftentimes breaks the spell, as it were, and decision and action

follow. In our first chapter of this part we described some of these

methods for ripening desire into decision and action. This chapter we

shall devote to a consideration of different classes of individuals and

the best methods of inducing in them favorable decision and action.

THE IMPULSIVE MAN

The impulsive individual must be rushed. His emotions are very responsive,

easily aroused, and, as, a rule, when aroused take a strong hold upon him.

It is the impulsive person's tendency always to act quickly and to act in

response to his strong feelings. The impulsive man discharges his feelings

with speed in action, and they rapidly evaporate. Therefore, desire, when

aroused, must be quickly ripened into decision and action or it soon

cools, and it is too late. As a general rule, the impulsive person is well

supplied with fears, and if he is given time to think the matter over his

lack of courage begins to assert itself. Fears of possible or impossible

disaster begin to take form until the feelings of fear and apprehension

entirely overshadow the desires which have been created.

Mark Twain's story of his attendance at a missionary meeting is typical.

After the speaker had been talking for half an hour, Mark was in such

hearty sympathy with him and the cause for which he plead that he decided

to put one dollar in the collection box when it came around--but the man

kept on talking. At the end of three-quarters of an hour, Mark decided he

would give only fifty cents. At the end of an hour, he decided that he

would give nothing, and when, at the end of an hour and a half, the

collection box finally did come around, Mark took out a dollar to pay

himself for his pains.

INDICATIONS OF IMPULSIVENESS

Here are some of the indications of impulsiveness: blonde coloring,

especially if accompanied by a florid skin; small, round, retreating chin;

small size; fineness of texture; elasticity of consistency; short head;

short, smooth fingers, with tapering tips; a keen, alert, intense

expression. The impulsive person's movements are also impulsive. He walks

with a quick step, sometimes almost jerky. His gestures are quick, and if

he is very impulsive, he always has the air of starting to do things

before he has properly considered what he is going to do.

THE DELIBERATE MAN

The deliberate individual is the opposite of the impulsive. His feelings

may be strong, but he has them well under control. He may think slowly or

he may think quickly, but he always acts with deliberation and always

after he has thought very carefully. Once he has determined to act, he may

act far more energetically, and certainly more persistently, than the

impulsive person. The thing to remember about him is that he is

constitutionally opposed to hasty decision and action. Even when his mind

is made up and his desires are strong, he is very likely to postpone

action until his resolution has had an opportunity to harden. Oftentimes

these deliberate people are, or seem to be, incorrigible procrastinators.

It is useless to try to rush them. Give them time to think and consider.

INDICATIONS OF DELIBERATION

These are some of the indications of deliberation: dark coloring, with an

inclination to pallor; a long, strong, prominent chin and well-developed

jaw; large size; medium or coarse texture; hard consistency; a long,

square head; long, knotty fingers, with square tips; slow, deliberate,

rhythmical movements; a calm, poised expression, and either an absence of

gesture or gesture of a slow, graceful character.

Looking around amongst your friends and acquaintances, you will readily

see that few, if any, have all of the characteristics of impulsiveness in

a marked degree, and an equally small number all of the characteristics of

deliberation in a marked degree. The majority of people probably have a

combination of these characteristics--some indications of impulsiveness

and some of deliberation. In such cases, the question is answered by a

preponderance of evidence.

OBSTINATE PEOPLE

Some people are remarkably obstinate. If given their own way, they are

agreeable and amiable, but when opposed, they are exceedingly difficult to

persuade. If such persons are of the positive type and like to feel that

they are doing the thing and that no one else is influencing or coercing

them, then they must be handled by an adroit suggestion similar in

principle to that described in the case of the automobile salesman on page

380. On the other hand, in case these obstinate people are somewhat

negative in character, without much initiative or aggressiveness but with

a very large degree of stubbornness, then care must be taken not to

antagonize them or to oppose them--always gently to lead them and never to

try to drive them.

Argument is probably the most useless waste of energy possible in

attempting persuasion. Your own experience teaches you that argument only

leaves each party to the controversy more strongly convinced than ever

that he is right. This is true no matter what the character of the arguers

be. It is especially and most emphatically true when either one or the

other, or both, who participate in the argument are of the obstinate type.

The obstinate person may be amenable to reason if reasons are stated

calmly, tactfully, and without arousing his opposition. His emotions of

love, sympathy, generosity, desire for power and authority may be

successfully appealed to and he may be gently led to a decision by way of

minor and seemingly insignificant points.

INDICATIONS OF OBSTINACY

These are the indications of obstinacy: dark coloring; a prominent chin; a

head high in the crown; hard consistency; a rigidity of the joints,

especially of the joints in the hands and fingers. Perhaps the most

important and most easily recognized indication of a domineering,

obstinate, determined will is the length of line from the point of the

chin to the crown of the head. When this line greatly exceeds in length

that from the nape of the neck to the hair line at the top of the

forehead, you have an individual who desires to rule and bitterly resents

any attempt on the part of others to rule him.

The indications of a positive, aggressive, dominating will are these:

blonde color; prominent chin; a large, bony nose, high in the bridge;

high forehead, prominent at the brows and retreating as it rises; medium

or small size; medium fine, medium or coarse texture; hard consistency,

rigid joints; a head wide just above and also behind the ears and high in

the crown; a keen, penetrating, intense expression of the eyes, and

positive, decided tones of voice, movements and gestures.

The individual who is negatively stubborn may have a small or sway-back

nose; may have a high forehead, flat at the brows and prominent above; may

have elastic or soft consistency; may have a head narrow above and behind

the ears. Obstinacy will be shown in the length of line from the point of

chin to the crown of head and in the rigidity of the joints of the hands

and fingers.

THE INDECISIVE

The gentleman mentioned at the opening of this chapter belongs to the

indecisive class. They are like those of whom we sing in the old hymn:

"But timorous mortals start and shrink

To cross that narrow sea

And linger, shivering, on the brink

And fear to launch away."

We have often watched boys in swimming. In every crowd there are always a

few of these timorous mortals who "shiver on the brink and fear to launch

away." As a general rule, some of their companions usually come up behind

them and give them a strong push, after which they are pleased and happy

enough in the water. We have seen boys who seemed to be waiting for

someone to push them in. No doubt they were. Certain it is that grown up

men and women who suffer in an agony of indecision usually like to have

someone take the matter out of their hands.

In the case of the gentleman to whom we have referred in the opening of

this chapter, the real estate agent one day walked into his office, laid a

contract down on the desk in front of him, and said, very impressively:

"This thing has got to be settled up to-day. Just sign your name right

there." And, with a feeling of intense relief and satisfaction, our friend

did sign his name "right there." To the best of our knowledge and belief,

he has been glad of it ever since.

HOW ONE SALESMAN OVERCAME INDECISION

We once knew a salesman of the positive, domineering type. He was selling

an educational work. Now, education is a thing everyone needs but few will

take the trouble and find the money to purchase unless they are very

strongly persuaded. Men who would readily spend fifty or seventy-five

dollars for a night's carousal will hesitate, and find objections, and

back and fill for weeks, or even for months, before they spend thirty or

forty dollars on a bit of education which they well know they ought to

have. Our friend, therefore, was met over and over again with the

temporizing excuse: "Well, I will have to think this matter over. I cannot

decide it to-day, but you come in and see me again." Almost without

exception, this excuse means that the man who makes it knows, deep down in

his heart, that he ought to make his decision--that he will profit by it

in many ways. He fully intends to make his decision some time, or else he

would not ask the salesman to come back and see him again. But he is a

little weak-kneed. He lacks something in decisiveness. Our friend treated

practically all of these indecisive prospects of his in the same way.

"I am sorry," he would say, "but I can't come back to see you again. My

time is limited. There are plenty of people who want to know about my

proposition and who are eager to take it. I must get around and see them.

I can't afford to go back on my track and spend time with people to whom I

have already explained the whole thing. You want this and you know you

want it. You intend to have it, or you would not ask me to come back and

see you again. There is no good reason why you should not have it now, and

you know there is not. Furthermore, if you do not take it now and I do not

come back to see you--and I won't--then you will never take it. That's

plain enough. You feel more like taking it right now, to-day, while I am

talking to you, than you will later, when you have forgotten half of what

I have said. If there is any question you want to ask about this, ask me

now and I will answer it. But there isn't any, because I have already

answered your questions. You are satisfied. Your mind is made up. There is

no reason for delay--just sign your name right there, please." And only

about four per cent of those to whom he talked that way refused to sign

when he told them to.

The indecisive person wants someone always to decide for him. If you are

trying to persuade such a person, then you must decide for him. Do it as

tactfully as you can. Sometimes these people want others to decide for

them and, at the same time, to make the situation look as if they had

decided for themselves. They realize their own indecisiveness. They are

ashamed of it, and they do not like to be reminded of it.

INDICATIONS OF INDECISION

These are the indications of indecisiveness: brunette coloring; moderately

square and prominent chin--sometimes a long, narrow chin; small, snub or

sway-back nose; high forehead, flat at the brows and prominent above; soft

consistency; great flexibility of the joints of hands and fingers; a head

narrow above and behind the ears and square in the back; a timid,

apprehensive expression; rather aimless movements and gestures, and a

small thumb, set high on the hand. Rare, indeed, is the person who has all

of these indications. So rare, in fact, that he is scarcely a normal being

if he has them all in a marked degree.

THE BALANCED TYPE

There are some people of an evenly balanced type. They are neither

violently impulsive nor ponderously deliberate. They are interested in

facts and pass their judgment upon them, but they are also interested in

theories and willing to listen to them. They are practical and

matter-of-fact, but they also have ideals. They have clean, powerful

emotions, fairly well controlled, and yet, when their judgment has been

satisfied, they are perfectly willing to act in response to their

feelings. They are neither easy, credulous and impulsive nor suspicious,

obstinate and procrastinating. The way to persuade them is first to

present the facts and show them the reasons why. Then, by suggestion and

word-painting, to stimulate their desire and give them an opportunity to

decide and act. Such people are medium in color, with forehead, nose,

mouth and chin inclining to the straight line; medium in size; medium in

build; fine or medium fine in texture; elastic in consistency; moderately

high, wide, long, square head; a pleasant but calm and sensible expression

of face and eyes; quiet, well-timed walk and gestures; well-modulated

voice.

THE EASY MARK

When the person to be persuaded is indecisive and also has large,

wide-open, credulous eyes; a hopeful, optimistic, turned-up nose, and a

large, round dome of a head just above the temples, he is the living image

of the champion easy mark. What he needs is not so much to be persuaded as

to be protected against himself. He, and the greedy, grasping, cunning but

short-sighted individual, who is always trying to get something for

nothing, constitute that very large class of people of whom it has been

said that there is one born every minute.

ADVANTAGE OF PERSUADER'S POSITION

In closing this chapter, we cannot forego the opportunity for a word of

counsel to you in your efforts to persuade others. Remember that if you do

your work well in securing favorable attention, arousing interest, and

creating desire, the person with whom you are dealing is like a man

standing on one foot, not quite knowing which way he will go. Even if he

is more or less obstinate and should be on both his feet, he is at least

standing still and considering which direction he will take. If this is

not true, then you have failed to create a desire, or, having created it,

have not augmented it until it is strong enough. But, granting that this

is true, do you not see what an advantage it gives you? The man who is

standing on one foot, undecided, is quickly pulled or pushed in the way

you want him to go if you yourself vigorously desire it. Even the man who

stands obstinately on both feet is at a disadvantage if he does not know

which way to go, and you very decidedly know which way you want him to go.

THE VALUE OF COURAGE

We have seen more sales skillfully brought up to the point of desire and

then lost through the indecision, the wavering, the fear, or the

hesitation of the salesman than for any other one cause. Of all of the

qualities and characteristics which contribute to success in the

persuasion of others, there is, perhaps, none more powerful than that

courage which gives calmness, surety of touch, decisiveness, and

unwavering, unhesitating action.

Some years ago we saw a huge mob surround a building in which a political

speaker was trying to talk upon an unpopular subject. The longer the mob

remained waiting for their victim to come out, the more violent and the

more abusive it became. There was an angry hum, sounding above the

occasional cries and shouts, which betokened trouble. Presently a large

man scrambled upon the pedestal of a statue in front of the building and

began to harangue the crowd. He argued with them, he pleaded with them, he

threatened them, he tried to cajole them. But through it all he could

scarcely make himself heard and the mob remained solidly packed about the

door. Then the police were brought and attempted to force a passageway for

the escape of the speaker, whose address inside the building was nearing a

close. But the police were powerless and some of them were badly hurt.

Then a quiet little man came down the steps of the building. He was

dressed in ordinary clothing and was unarmed. His open hands hung idly at

his side. He stood near the bottom step, where he could just look over the

heads of the crowd. He stood perfectly still, perfectly calm, and yet with

a look of such iron resolution on his countenance as we have seldom seen.

Those next him grew strangely quiet. Then the semi-circle of silence

spread until the entire mob stood as if holding its breath waiting to see

what this man would do.

"Make a passageway there," he said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice;

"there is a carriage coming through."

Instantly the crowd parted, a carriage was driven up to the steps, the

speaker came down and entered it, and it was driven rapidly away, followed

only by a few hisses and cat-calls.

When all is said and done, that is the spirit which secures the decision

and action of others.

CHAPTER V

EFFICIENT AND SATISFACTORY SERVICE

Marshall Nyall was an excellent workman. He was keen, quick of

comprehension, practical in his judgment, and unusually resourceful. He

was energetic, industrious, and skillful. Being blessed with considerable

idealism, he took pride and pleasure in putting a fine artistic finish on

everything he did. He studied his work in all its aspects and was alert in

finding ways of saving time, materials, energy, and money. He was,

therefore, personally efficient. As an employee of the Swift Motor

Company, he rose rapidly until he became superintendent. In that position

he made a good record. So valuable was he that the White Rapids Motor

Company coveted him and its president and general manager began to lay

plans to entice him away. Negotiations were begun and continued over a

period of weeks. Larger and larger grew the inducements offered by the

White Rapids Motor Company until, finally, Nyall's employers felt that

they could not afford to meet them any longer, and this highly efficient

man became works manager for the White Rapids Motor Company, at a very

greatly increased salary.

Now, the White Rapids Motor Company was larger and wealthier than the

Swift Motor Company. The position of works manager was a more important

and responsible position than that of superintendent. Nyall was

accordingly delighted and had high ambitions as to his career with his new

employers.

HOW THE TROUBLE STARTED

"You have a reputation," said the president and general manager to Nyall,

"for efficiency. Efficiency is what we want in the works here, and if you

can put these factories on as efficient a basis as you did the shops of

the Swift Motor Company, your future is assured."

"I can do that all right, Mr. Burton," Nyall replied confidently,

"provided I get the right kind of co-operation from the front office."

"Call on us for anything you want, Nyall," returned the president sharply.

He was a proud, positive man. He loved power. He had the ability to lead

and to rule, and he resented even the slightest imputation that any lack

of co-operation on his part might defeat his plans for efficient

management.

A few days later Nyall made some changes in the plan of routing the work

through the factories. These changes were rather radical and sweeping and

necessitated a considerable initial expense. Naturally, Burton was not

long in hearing about it. Instantly he summoned his works manager.

"Haven't you begun your work here in a rather drastic manner?" he

inquired. "Surely you have not studied this situation carefully enough in

a few days to justify you in making such sweeping changes in the system

which we have built up here after years of patient study and research. I

have given the routing of the work through the factories days and nights

of careful study, Nyall, during the years that we have been standardizing

it. I believe that it was just as nearly perfect as it can be just as we

had it."

"Your system was all wrong, and I can prove it to you," returned Nyall.

"Just wait a minute until I bring you in my charts."

RUBBING IT IN

Stepping into his office, he secured a number of charts and also several

sheets of tabulated figures. The charts were beautifully executed and in a

most admirable manner made graphically clear the sound reasoning upon

which Nyall had ordered the changes made. The tabulated figures proved

that his reasoning had been correct. He was positive, forceful, and

insistent in driving home his argument and in compelling his superior to

admit their force and cogency. When it was all admitted and Burton,

fighting to the last ditch, had been over-whelmed, Nyall's unconcealed air

of triumph was keenly and painfully exasperating to the defeated man.

This was only the first of the clashes between these two positive minds.

Ordinarily, perhaps, Burton would have preferred efficiency in the factory

to the triumph of his own opinions and ideas, much as it hurt him to be

found in error, But Nyall's disposition to wring the last drop of personal

triumph out of every victory was more than the good man could endure. With

his highly-strung nature, and goaded as he was by intense irritation, the

passion to prove Nyall in the wrong overrode all other considerations.

Thus he began to "cut off his nose to spite his face," as Nyall expressed

it--to conspire against Nyall's success.

If you have ever witnessed a fight for supremacy between two positive,

powerful, high-strung natures, with unusual resources of intellect and

capacity on both sides, we do not need to describe to you what happened in

the White Rapids Motor Company during the months that followed. Nyall

simply could not understand why Burton should jeopardize the success, and

even the solvency, of his enterprise by plotting against his own works

manager. To his friends he confided: "Honestly, I think the old man is

going crazy. The things he says and the things he does are not the product

of a sane, normal mind." Similarly, Burton could not understand, to save

his life, why Nyall should jeopardize the brilliant future which lay

before him "by bucking his president and general manager," as he put it.

"It is rule or ruin with him," he told his friends. "I never saw a more

stubborn man in my life. He is crazy to have his own way. He wants to take

the bit in his teeth, and if he were permitted to do it, he would run away

and smash himself and everything else."

BOTH BELLIGERENT AND STUBBORN

Why did not Nyall resign or, in default of his resignation, why did not

Burton discharge him? Such action was obvious for both men from a mere

common sense point of view, under the circumstances. The answer is that

both men were so obstinate and so set upon winning the fight upon which

they had entered, that neither of them would give up. It all ended when

the board of directors finally took a hand and removed Nyall in order to

save the institution from shipwreck.

Naturally enough, the word went out that Nyall could not stand prosperity;

that when placed in a position of authority and responsibility, he had

lost his head and had nearly wrecked the concern for which he worked. He

found that he could not go back to his old position with the Swift Motor

Company and that his reputation had suffered so seriously that he had to

be satisfied for a long time with a minor position in a rather obscure

concern.

THE KEY TO THE DIFFICULTY

Nyall was efficient--unusually efficient--but he did not give satisfaction

with the White Rapids Motor Company. Perhaps we do not need to point to

the moral of this tale. If Nyall had understood his superior and had

conducted himself accordingly, he might himself have been president and

general manager of the White Rapids Motor Company to-day. He would have

known that Burton was not a man to be brow-beaten, not a man to be defied,

not a man to be proven in the wrong. With a little tact and diplomacy, he

could have effected all of the changes he wished without even the

semblance of a clash with his chief. He might even have insisted upon the

first ones he advocated without serious trouble if he had done it in the

right way and if he had not permitted his feeling of personal triumph to

show itself so plainly.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

In the first place, if he had known Burton as he should, he would have

gone to him before making any changes and said: "Mr. Burton, I understand

that you have given a great deal of time and thought to the routing of

work through the factories; that you have personally directed the building

up of the present system. I usually begin my work by studying the routing,

but if you feel satisfied with this routing, as a result of your study;

and experience, I will devote my time to something else." Approached in

this way, Burton would unquestionably have directed the new works manager

to make a complete study of the routing system and to suggest any

possible improvements.

This story is typical of many others which we have observed more or less

in detail. Nyall was a great success in the Swift Motor Company because

the chief executive of that company was a little mild, good-natured,

easy-going fellow, who not only needed the spur and stimulus of a positive

nature like Nyall's, but was quite frankly delighted with it. If Nyall had

approached him with questions and suggestions and a spirit of constant

bowing to his authority, he would have been as exasperated in his own

quiet way as Burton was with the opposite treatment. His constant

injunction to his subordinates was: "Do not come to me with details. Use

your own judgment and initiative. Go ahead. Do it in your own way. I hold

you responsible only for results."

ALWAYS "SOME OTHER WAY"

In his "Message to Garcia," Elbert Hubbard has the following to say:

"You, reader, put this matter to a test:

"You are sitting now in your office--six clerks are within call. Summon

any one of them and make this request: 'Please look in the encyclopedia

and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio.'

"Will the clerk quietly say, 'Yes, sir,' and go do the task?

"On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask

one or more of the following questions:

"'Who was he?'

"'Which encyclopedia?'

"'Where is the encyclopedia?'

"'Was I hired for that?'

"'Don't you mean Bismarck?'

"'What's the matter with Charlie doing it?'

"'Is he dead?'

"'Is there any hurry?'

"'Shan't I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?'

"'What do you want to know for?'

"And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions,

and explained why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the

other clerks to help him try to find Garcia--and then come back and tell

you there is no such man. Of course, I may lose my bet, but, according to

the Law of Average, I will not."

Now, there are many executives so constituted that they are not only

willing, but glad, to explain the why and the wherefore of the orders they

give. When they give the order, they are oftentimes willing to listen to

suggestions, and oftentimes to adopt them. These are men of the

deliberate, calm, reflective, rather mild type, with only a moderate

development of the crown of the head which shows a love of authority.

Oftentimes, also, they are men of the erratic, impulsive type who realize

their impulsiveness and are rather glad than otherwise to be picked up by

queries and suggestions from their subordinates. But for the man of the

positive, incisive, decided, domineering type these questions and

suggestions, this attitude which proposes that something else ought to be

done, or that the thing ought to be done in "some other way," are

exasperating in the extreme. Since this is the usual type of man to be

found in industrial business, it is not strange that so many employees,

perhaps efficient enough otherwise, fail to give satisfaction. It is

because they seemingly cannot overcome their itch to do the thing "some

other way." There is the best of all psychological reasons why every

employee should read and take to heart Elbert Hubband's "Message to

Garcia."

Over and over again, young men and young women have come to us saying: "I

wish you would tell me why I cannot hold a position. I know I do the work

well enough, but, somehow or other, I seem to be unfortunate. I have

trouble with everyone I work for and cannot remain in any one position for

very long." In practically every case the trouble has been that the young

man or the young woman did not understand the simple principles of human

nature.

HOW TO TAKE DISCIPLINE

Many sensitive souls do not understand that a wide-headed man of the bony

and muscular type, with high, retreating forehead, prominent brows, large

nose, high in the bridge, prominent teeth and mouth, and somewhat

retreating chin, is intensely energetic, practical and impatient--that he

wants to see things done--that he demands results and cannot wait for

them. He is inclined to be nervous and irritable. When things go wrong, or

he thinks they go wrong, he says things, says them with brutal frankness

and considerable vigor. He may even use profanity and call names. He is

especially impatient with and exasperated by excuses, since his passion is

for results. An excuse to him is like a red rag flaunted in a bull's face.

His irritation is relieved by speech. Afterward he passes on and probably

forgets all about the incident. Certainly he does not hold it against the

employee personally.

If, in addition to his other characteristics, this man also has a high

crown, he is inclined to be domineering and exacting. Since his whole

intention in his sharp speeches is to stimulate his employees to greater

efficiency, and since the farthest thing from his thoughts or his

intentions is to hurt their personal feelings, there is probably nothing

that will so quickly and thoroughly arouse his resentment as any

expression, word or act of wounded pride on the part of his employee.

Most employees make the serious mistake of taking criticism or censure as

a personal matter. They should reflect that their employer has no interest

in hurting their feelings--that what he wants is efficient service,

profitable not only to himself but to the employee, and that, according to

his type and his knowledge, he is taking the best possible means to secure

it.

When an employee enters an organization, he becomes an integral part of a

complicated service-rendering and profit-making machine. If he has any

tender personal feelings, he should wrap them up carefully in an envelope

of indifference and lock them away safely in the strong box of ambition.

Then he is perfectly willing to let his employer call him a blockhead,

provided the result is increased efficiency and profit.

TOO MUCH DIGNITY

A young man of our acquaintance once went to work as assistant to the

manager of an insurance company. This young man was quiet, hard-working,

dependable, and efficient. With his self-effacing modesty and the

remarkable accuracy and care with which he attended to every detail of his

work, he would have made an ideal assistant to most employers. The manager

of this insurance company, however, was jovial, friendly, social, witty,

and companionable. At first he was delighted with his new assistant. As

time went on, however, the young man's solemnity, his taciturnity, and the

quiet, dignified way in which he permitted all attempts at sociability and

jocularity to pass over his head, as it were, unnoticed, began to get on

his employer's nerves.

"If I don't get that young man out of the office, I will either murder him

or commit suicide," he told us. "Efficient? Lord, yes! I never knew

anybody so damnably efficient. Dependable? He is so dependable that he is

uncanny. I would rather have a human being around who is willing to smoke

a cigar with me once in a while, to crack a joke, or at least to laugh at

my jokes. Just to break the monotony, I would be perfectly willing to have

him make a few mistakes, to forget something. I have lots of faults--too

many, I guess, to be comfortable around such a paragon of perfection as

that boy."

Now, the truth of the matter was, as we well knew, that this young man,

while serious-minded and efficient, had a keen sense of humor, appreciated

a good joke, and was at times very merry with his own companions. He had

in his mind, however, a certain ideal conduct for a business man. And to

the best of his ability, he lived up to this ideal, no matter what the

personality of his employer.

"FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT"

Many employees make the mistake of attempting familiarity with employers

whose dignity is largely developed and whose sociability and sense of

humor are only moderate or even deficient. The man whose head shows its

longest line from point of chin to crown, who has a long face with long,

vertical lines, whose lips are rather thin, whose forehead is rather

narrow and somewhat retreating, and whose back-head is only moderately

developed or even deficient, is not a man to slap on the back. He will

resent any familiarity or any jocular attempt to draw him down on a plane

of equality with his employees. If such a man is also fine-textured, he is

very sensitive and must be treated with deference and respect. If he has a

short upper lip, he is amenable to flattery, but the flattery must be

delicate and deferential.

Even when these characteristics are not extreme and the habitual attitude

of an employer is one of geniality, with a certain amount of jocularity,

employees should be on their guard, especially if the executive has a

square head behind. Such a man, like Cousin Egbert, in Harry Leon Wilson's

story, "Ruggles of Red Gap," "can be pushed just so far." It is dangerous

to try to push him any further. He has a very true and proper sense of

dignity and, while he is perfectly willing to be sociable and to live with

his employees upon terms of friendliness, he knows well how to check any

exuberance which tends to trench upon familiarity.

THE "NAPOLEONIC" EXECUTIVE

There is a type of employer who has a high, well-rounded, long head; his

head is also wide above the ears, but rather narrow back of the ears. He

is usually light in complexion, fine textured--a good combination of the

bony and muscular type and the fat man type. This man's eyes are the

neither round, wide-open eyes of simple credulity nor the long, narrow,

somewhat oblique slits of secretiveness, avarice, shrewdness and

suspicion. His face tends to roundness, curves and dimples, and his lips

are rather full. His head is especially high and dome-shaped just above

the temples and behind the hair line. His chin may be fairly well formed

or it may be narrow and retreating. If it is of the narrow and retreating

variety, then some of the characteristics are accentuated.

This man is a man of intense enthusiasm, great energy, a desire to

accomplish things and to be the head of whatever he undertakes. He is

eager, responsive, emotional, ambitious, and erratic. He is often

brilliant, nearly always resourceful, conceives large projects, attempts

big things, makes friends with important people, and often secures a very

enviable reputation, at least for a time. But this man has his faults. He

is emotional and enthusiastic. He throws himself intensely into the

accomplishment of one ambitious plan after another. He has not the

calmness of dispassionate judgment and the deliberateness necessary to be

a good judge of men. He lacks real courage and therefore attempts to cover

up his deficiency by bluff and bluster. Because of his poor judgment in

regard to human nature, he frequently selects employees on the impulse of

the moment, absolutely without reference to their fitness for the work he

wants them to do. The ruling emotion which prompts him in selection may be

any one of a dozen. We have seen men like this select important

lieutenants because of their personal attractiveness, because someone else

wanted them, because of similarity of tastes in matters wholly irrelevant,

because the fellows knew how to flatter, out of sympathy for their

families, and, in one pathetic case, because the young man thus chosen had

painstakingly read through an immense set of books supposed to be

representative of the world's best literature.

INJUSTICE TO EMPLOYEES

In many cases, enthusiasm and optimism on the part of such executives have

placed men in positions far beyond their capacity and loaded them with

responsibilities for which they had no aptitudes. Oftentimes such rapid

promotion and such sudden increase of income have utterly turned the head

of the victim, setting him back years in his normal development and his

pursuit of success.

Because the sudden infatuations of such executives are based upon emotion

and not judgment, they flicker out as quickly as the emotion evaporates.

Then ensues a period of suspicion, oftentimes wholly unjust. Because the

executive lacks real courage, every word and every act of the employee

makes him afraid that there is something sinister and dangerous behind it.

This is accentuated by the fact that, deep down in his own heart, the

executive knows that he does not understand men. When this condition of

affairs arises, both the executive and his employee are utterly miserable

unless the employee, being a man of judgment, and understanding the

situation in its essence, has the good sense either to bring the executive

willy-nilly to a complete readjustment of their relations or to resign.

Oftentimes, however, the employee has a larger salary than he ever

received before--he also feels certain that if he resigns, he cannot

secure so large a salary in any other place--and so he hangs on, hoping

against hope that the attitude of his superior will change. The executive,

on his part, feels that he ought to discharge the employee. He is not

satisfied with him. He is suspicious of him. He is afraid of him. He

realizes that he has used bad judgment in selecting him. But he lacks the

courage to discharge the man and oftentimes, for this reason, resorts to a

series of petty persecutions in an attempt to make him resign.

HOW TO STEER A DIFFICULT COURSE

The employee who is suddenly taken up, flattered, and offered an unusually

good position by a man of this type would do well to hesitate long before

accepting. If he does accept, he should take care that he does not attempt

anything beyond his powers and that he does not accept a larger salary

than he is able to earn. Once in his position, he should be modest,

efficient, and do his best to keep out of cliques and inside politics. At

the same time, he should take great care not to offend those who are

powerful. The employees of every "Napoleonic" executive are, by the very

nature of the organization, forced into politics. Tenure of office,

promotion, and increase in pay all depend, not upon real service--although

real service counts; not upon efficiency and merit--although these also

count; but primarily upon the whims and caprices of an employer of this

type. Every employee of any importance, therefore, does his best, first,

to keep his own relations to his employer on a frank, easy, confidential

basis; second, in so far as in him lies, to be at peace with all his

fellow employees. We have seen some of the most valuable men of their kind

we have ever met suddenly discharged without a word of explanation by

employers of this type. The trouble was that someone who could get a

hearing carried a bit of scandal, perhaps without the slightest foundation

in fact, to the ever-suspicious ears of the boss. The boss, because he

lacked the courage to admit that he had listened to such gossip, removed a

man who had served him satisfactorily for years without a word of warning,

and without a hearing.

Unless you understand human nature, and if you are at all responsive to

appreciation, there is probably no greater pleasure than to work for such

a man as we have described, so long as the sunshine of his favor falls

upon you. But, as a general rule, we find their employees anything but

happy. Almost without exception they feel that their tenure of office

hangs by the slenderest of threads and that it is necessary to regard all

of their fellow employees with suspicion. Some men enjoy working in this

fevered atmosphere. If you are one of them, there are excellent

opportunities for you in the employ of a man of this type. But you will do

well always to have a good safe place prepared in which to land if you

should suddenly be dropped.

THE BLUFFER

In all of your dealings with the man who lacks real courage, remember that

his blustering and show of bravery is only an assumption to cover up his

deficiencies and that if you yourself have the courage to face him and, in

the language of the street, "to call his bluff," he will quiet down and be

perfectly amenable to reason. But be sure to observe your man carefully

and accurately before trying to call his bluff.

SUCCESS AS AN EMPLOYEE

The ultimate success of every employee depends, first of all, upon his

selection of the kind of work for which he is pre-eminently fitted;

second, his selection, so far as possible, of the kind of employer and

superior executive under whom he can do his best work; third, upon his

study and mastery of every possible resource of knowledge and training

connected with the technical and practical aspects of his work; fourth,

upon his careful and scientific development of all of the best and most

valuable assets in his character; fifth, upon a thorough understanding and

application of the principles of personal efficiency; sixth, upon an

accurate knowledge of the character, disposition and personal

peculiarities of his employer or employers and superior executives;

seventh, upon an intelligent and diplomatic adjustment of his methods of

work, his personal appearance, his personal behavior, his relationship

with his fellow employees and with his employers, to the end of building

up and maintaining permanently the highest possible degree of confidence

in him and satisfaction with his service.

PART FOUR

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS

CHAPTER I

THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS

A few years ago we were content to guess, to follow tradition, and to

charge up to the caprices of fate or an all-wise Providence the failures

we experienced as a result of our ignorance. Then someone, less bound by

tradition than the average, discovered that exact knowledge was obtainable

about most subjects. Scientific research took the place of guess-work or

mere haphazard leaps in the dark. We began to observe, classify, measure,

weigh, test, and record, instead of guess. Thus science was born.

As far back as human records go men have made observations upon others,

have formed certain conclusions as a result of these observations, and

have recorded them. Some were accurate and valuable; others merely

ludicrous and misleading. Tens of thousands of men and women have

attempted to analyze human character, but most of them became lost in a

maze of apparent contradictions and gave up in despair, content to follow

impression and intuition. Though they became discouraged and abandoned the

field, each of these workers contributed something of value to the

subject, and to-day we have a science of character analysis exact enough

to add very greatly to our wisdom in dealing with humanity and its

problems.

LIMITATIONS OF THE SCIENCE

We do not wish you to misunderstand our claims for the science. Character

analysis is not a science in the mathematical sense. As we said in our

introduction, we cannot place a man on the scales and determine that he

has so many milligrams of industry, or apply measurements and prove that

he has so many centimeters of talent for salesmanship. Nor can we, using

the method of the chemist, apply the litmus to his stream of consciousness

and get his psychical reaction in a demonstrable way. We are glad we

cannot, else humanity might lose the fine arts of coquetry and conquest.

Perhaps we never shall be able to do these things, but that is small cause

for discouragement. What we do claim for the science of character analysis

is that it is classified knowledge based upon sound principles; that it is

as accurate as the science of medicine; that it can be imparted to others;

and, best of all, that anyone can test it for himself beyond any question

of doubt.

TESTS SHOW UNTRAINED JUDGMENT UNRELIABLE

"Oh, I'm a pretty good judge of men," people say to us. We have heard this

declaration thousands of times in the last seventeen years. Occasionally

it was, no doubt, true, but more often not, even when the statement was

made in the greatest sincerity. So we determined to test the ability of

the public to analyze men. The first test appeared in a number of

magazines, giving a profile and full-face view, showing the hands of a

young man. A few simple questions were asked concerning him, such as

these:

"Would you employ this man?

"If so, would you employ him as salesman, executive, cashier, clerk,

chemist, mechanic?

"Is he healthy, honest, industrious, aggressive?

"Would you choose him as a friend?"

Of 5,000 replies but 4.1 per cent were right or nearly right. Some of the

replies were astounding. One manager of a big business wrote: "This man

would be an exceptionally honest and trustworthy cashier or treasurer."

One sales manager replied: "I would like to have this man on my sales

force. He would make a hummer of a salesman, if I am any judge of men. His

hands are identical with my own," etc., etc. But the climax was reached

with this letter from a young lady: "He would be a devoted husband and

father. I would like him as a friend."

Our own analysis of this man, from photographs on a test, was as follows:

"We would not employ this man.

"He is not healthy.

"He is intelligent.

"He is not honest.

"He is not industrious.

"He is aggressive in a disagreeable way.

"We would not choose him as a friend.

"John Doe is a natural mechanic who has had very little training in that

line of work. Being exceedingly keen and intelligent, without right moral

principles, he has used his natural mechanical ability in illegitimate

lines."

Here is a brief sketch of John Doe, furnished by a gentleman who

befriended him and has followed his career for years:

"John is thirty-one years of age and has just been released from a term in

Sing Sing Prison. The crime for which he served sentence was burglary. He

made a skeleton key with which he gained access to a loft where were

stored valuable goods. He stole three thousand dollars worth of these from

his employer. He admits that he has committed other crimes of forgery and

theft. Perhaps the cleverest of these was forgery which was never

discovered. He is exceedingly friendly and makes friends easily. He is,

however, very erratic and irritable in disposition and often quarrelsome.

He is a fair example of a common type which has intelligence and skill but

has not learned to direct his activities along constructive lines."

A more complicated advertisement followed this first one, giving the

portraits of nine men, each successful in his chosen work because well

fitted for it by natural aptitude as well as by training. People were

asked to state the vocation of each. Out of 4,876 replies but three were

correct.

SOME FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS

Surely, when the untrained judgment of intelligent people goes so wide of

the mark, it is worth while to inquire whether or not science can come to

the rescue. Perhaps a brief examination of some well-established truths

about human beings will aid in finding an answer to our query.

The science of character analysis by the observational method is based

upon three very simple scientific truths:

First, man's body is the product of evolution through countless ages, and

is what it is to-day as the result of the combined effect upon it of

heredity and environment.

Second, man's mind is also the product of evolution through countless

ages, and is what it is to-day as the result of the effect upon it of the

same heredity and the same environment as have affected his body.

Third, man's body and man's mind profoundly affect each other in all of

their actions and reactions and have affected each other through all the

centuries of their simultaneous evolution.

EVOLUTION OF BLONDES AND BRUNETTES

Men's bodies differ from one another in many ways. A little scientific

investigation soon proves to us that these differences are the result of

differences in heredity and environment. Men's minds differ from one

another in countless ways. Scientific investigation also proves that these

mental differences, or differences in character, are also the result of

differences in heredity and environment.

For example, people whose ancestors, through countless ages, lived in the

bright sunlight and tropical luxuriance of the warmer climes, have dark

eyes, dark hair, and dark skin because nature found it necessary to supply

an abundance of pigmentation in order to protect the delicate tissues of

the body from injury by the actinic rays of the sun. The same soft

luxuriance of their environment has made these people slow, easy-going,

hateful of change, introspective, philosophical and religious. On the

other hand, people whose ancestors dwelt for centuries in the cold, dark,

cloudy and foggy climate of Northwestern Europe have less need for

pigmentation and are, therefore, flaxen-haired, blue-eyed and

white-skinned.

The hardships and rigors of this Northern climate made these people

aggressive, active, restless, fond of variety, and, because of their

fierce struggle for existence, exceedingly practical, matter-of-fact, and

material.

WHY NOSES DIFFER IN SIZE AND SHAPE

Another example illustrates this truth clearly: The type of human nose

evolved in warm, humid climates is low and flat, with large, short

passageways directly to the lungs. People living in such a climate have

little need for great energy and activity, since there is food in

abundance all around them. On the other hand, the type of nose evolved in

a cold, dry climate is high in the bridge, with thin nostrils, so that the

air may be both warmed and moistened before reaching the lungs. People

living in such a climate have great need for activity, both in order to

secure the means of subsistence and in order to keep themselves warm. Thus

we find that the low, flat nose is everywhere the nose of indolence and

passivity, while the large nose, high in the bridge, is everywhere an

indication of energy and aggressiveness.

WHY SOME HEADS ARE HARD, OTHERS SOFT

In brief, then, darkness of color is not the cause of deliberation and

conservatism, but both darkness of color and conservatism are results of

the same causes, namely, a heredity and environment which produce these

characteristics. Blonde coloring is not a cause of restless activity, but

both the color and the activity are the result of evolution in a cold,

dark, rigorous climate.

A striking example of the working out of the three truths which we have

given is seen in the consistency of the body. Hard hands, hard muscles,

and, in general, a dense, compact, unyielding consistency of fiber, are

both inherited and acquired as the result of hard physical labor and the

enduring of hardships. As is well known, those who spend their lives in

grinding toil in the midst of hard conditions care little for the finer

sentiments and sympathies of life. They have no time for them, no energy

left for them. By the very necessities of their lot they are compelled to

be hostile to change, free from all extravagance, and largely impervious

to new ideas. Therefore, wherever we find hardness of consistency we find

a tendency to narrowness, parsimony, conservatism, and lack of sympathy.

Looking at this fact from a little different angle, we see that, since the

body affects the mind and the mind the body so profoundly, the body of

hard fiber, being impervious to physical impressions, will yield but

slowly and meagerly to those molecular changes which naturally accompany

emotional response and intellectual receptivity.

These are but a few examples of the truths upon which the science of

character analysis by the observational method is based. Many others may

occur to you. Many others have been observed, traced and verified in our

work upon this science.

A BRIEF RECAPITULATION

Briefly recapitulating, we see that for every physical difference between

men there is a corresponding mental difference, because both the physical

differences and the mental differences are the result of the same heredity

and environment. We see, further, that these physical and mental

differences are not only results of the same environment affecting the

individual through his remote ancestry, but that they are tied together by

cause and effect in the individual as he stands to-day.

BASIS OF CLASSIFICATION

We have told you that the science of character analysis is classified

knowledge. It is clear to you by this time that the knowledge which lies

at the basis of this science is knowledge concerning physical and mental

differences and their correspondences. In this science, therefore, since

we are to observe physical differences and from them to determine

differences in intellect, in disposition, in natural talents, in character

in general, our first classification must deal with these physical

differences.

Men differ from one another in nine fundamental ways These ways are:

color, form, size, structure, texture, consistency, proportion,

expression, and condition. Let us consider each of them briefly.

COLOR

Color is, perhaps, the most striking variable. You instantly observe

whether a person is white or black, brown or yellow. Indeed, so striking

are these variations that they were formerly the basis upon which humanity

was divided into races.

We have already briefly touched upon the cause for pigmentation and the

indications of differences in color. For many years anthropologists were

at a loss to understand exactly why some men were black and others white.

About twenty years ago, however, Von Schmaedel propounded the theory that

pigmentation in the hair, eyes and skin was Nature's way of protecting the

tissues from injury by the actinic or ultra-violet rays of the sun, which

destroy protoplasm. Following the enunciation of Von Schmaedel's theory,

prolonged experimentation was made by many anthropologists, chief among

whom was our own late Major Charles E. Woodruff, of the U.S. Army. In

Major Woodruff's book, "The Effects of Tropical Light Upon White Men," are

to be found, set forth in a most fascinating way, evidences amounting

almost to proof of the correctness of Von Schmaedel's theory.

Since Major Woodruff's book appeared, many other anthropologists have

declared their acceptance of the theory, so that to-day we may assert with

confidence that the black man is black because of the excessive sunlight

of his environment, and that the white man is white because he and his

ancestors did not need protection from the sun. Mountain climbers cover

their faces and hands with a mixture of grease and lamp-black in order to

prevent sunburn. When in India we wore actinic underwear, dark glasses,

and solar topees to protect us from the excessive light.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BLONDES AND BRUNETTES

Now, in regard to differences in character between the dark races and the

white races, you have only to consider the languorous air of the tropics

and sub-tropics, the abundance of food, the small need for fuel, clothing

and shelter--in general, everything in the environment which tends to make

man indolent and to give him plenty of time for introspection, philosophy,

theology, and the occult.

The dweller in Northern climes has had to wrestle with rapid changes,

demands for food, clothing, shelter and fuel, relative scarcity of all

these and difficulty of securing them--in short, nearly every possible

element in his surroundings which would compel him to get out and hustle,

to take an active interest in material things, to be constantly on the

alert both mentally and physically--in a word, to master and conquer his

environment.

These are some of the differences between the dark and the white races. We

find the same differences in proportion between blondes and brunettes in

the white races.

HAVELOCK ELLIS ON BLONDES AND BRUNETTES

The noted anthropologist Havelock Ellis says, in regard to this:

"It is clear that a high index of pigmentation, or an excess of fairness,

prevails among the men of restless and ambitious temperament; the

sanguine, energetic men; the men who easily dominate their fellows and who

get on in life, and the men who recruit the aristocracy and who doubtless

largely form the plutocracy. It is significant that the group of low-class

men--artisans and peasants--and the men of religion, whose mission in life

it is to preach resignation to a higher will, are both notably of dark

complexion; while the men of action thus tend to be fair, men of thought,

it seems to me, show some tendency to be dark."

The practical application of this truth is seen in the fact that the white

races of the earth seem to have a genius for government, for conquest, for

exploration, and for progress; while the dark races of the earth seem to

have a genius for art, for literature, for religion, and for conservatism.

Not long ago we read the conclusions of several anthropologists on this

subject. One declared that the first men were undoubtedly brunette, and

that the blonde was an abnormality and rapidly becoming extinct. Another

was equally sure that the pure white blonde was a special creation but

little lower than the angels, and that all the dark races were so colored

by their sins. This is a matter upon which we hesitate to speculate. It

would, however, be of some interest to know the respective coloring of

these two investigators.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF LAW OF COLOR

Color has its commercial application. The active, restless, aggressive,

variety-loving blonde is found in large proportions amongst speculators,

promoters, organizers, advertising men, traveling salesmen; while the more

stable and constant brunette predominates amongst the plodders, the

planners, the scientists, the administrators, and the conservators. Even

the poets bring out the difference. They sing of the fickle, light-hearted

coquette with golden hair and azure eyes, and of the faithful, constant,

true, undying affection of the lady with soft, brown eyes.

FORM

The second variable--Form--refers to form of face and features as seen in

profile. The sharp face, with the long, pointed nose, prominent eyes,

retreating forehead, prominent teeth and retreating chin, is the extreme

convex form. The hammock-shaped face, with high, prominent forehead, flat

brows, deep-set eyes, small snubbed or sway-back nose, retreating teeth

and long, prominent chin, is the extreme concave in form of profile.

It would involve much dry, technical writing to explain in detail the

scientific reasons why the extreme convex in profile indicates extreme

energy, quickness, impatience, impulsiveness, keenness and alertness of

intellect, and great rapidity in action. The large nose, high in the

bridge, however, indicating, as you have already seen, great energy, is

one of the scientific reasons for this. In a similar way it would take me

too long to tell in detail why the extreme concave of profile indicates

just the opposite qualities.

It is a scientific fact that that which is sharp is penetrating and moves

quickly; that which is blunt is non-penetrating and of necessity moves

slowly. The needle darts through the cloth more quickly than the bodkin.

The greyhound is swifter than the bulldog. The stiletto does quicker work

than the bludgeon. This, of course, is only a symbolism which may make

vivid the truth that the convex man works more rapidly than the concave.

In commercial work, the man who is successful in positions requiring quick

decision and quick action has a convex profile, while the man whose duties

call for patience, deliberation, reflection, and the ability to plod

should have some modification of the concave form of profile.

SIZE

It is an old saying that large bodies move slowly. It would be more

scientifically correct to say that large bodies get under way slowly.

Difference in physical size between men is important in many ways. If, as

William James says, "the causes of emotion are indubitably physiological,"

then the smaller the physical bulk which must be affected in order to have

an intense emotion, the more quickly and easily is that intense emotion

aroused.

Other things being equal, the small man is more excitable and becomes

angry more easily than the large man. He also cools down more quickly.

When the huge bulk of the big man becomes thoroughly aroused, thoroughly

wrought up, it is time to get out of the way and stand from under.

STRUCTURE

Hall Caine, the novelist, has an immense head, a slender jaw, and a small,

fragile body. James J. Jeffries, the pugilist, has a comparatively small

head, a large jaw, and huge bones and muscles. Ex-President Taft has a

comparatively small head, round face, round body, round arms and legs.

These are differences in structure.

Hall Caine is of the mental type. He is by nature unfitted to be either a

pugilist, a hammer-thrower, an explorer, a banker, or a judge. He is,

however, pre-eminently fitted to dream dreams of truth and beauty, to

construct those dreams into stories and plays. James J. Jeffries is by

nature and physique fitted for the trade of boiler-maker, for the sport of

pugilism, and for physical and manual accomplishment in general.

Ex-President Taft is by nature and physique fitted to sit quietly in a big

chair and direct the work of others, to administer affairs, to sit upon

the bench and weigh impartially causes of dispute between his fellow men.

As you see, these three are our old friends, the physically frail, the man

of bone and muscle, and the fat man.

The assignment of vocation according to structure is but common sense. The

dreamer has too slender a body for manual labor and is both too nervous

and too impatient of confinement to sit in an easy chair or on the bench.

The big, corpulent man enjoys the good things of life. He is well

nourished and free from anxiety. He is, therefore, especially well fitted

to judge calmly, deliberately and impartially. The man of bone and muscle

is too busy with his physical activities for dreams and too impatient of

confinement to sit in an easy chair or on the bench.

TEXTURE

Men also differ from one another very markedly in texture. This is easily

observable in the texture of hair, skin, features, general body build,

hands and feet. According to Prof. Ernst Haeckel, the skin is the first

and oldest sense organ. Indeed, all the other sense organs and the nervous

system and brain which have evolved in the use of them, are simply

inturned and specialized skin cells. This being true, the texture of the

entire organism, and especially the brain and nervous system, is

accurately indicated by the texture of the skin and its appendages, the

hair and nails.

Even the most casual observer notes the differences between the man with

coarse hair, coarse skin, rugged features, large, loosely-built limbs,

hands and feet, and the man with fine skin, silky hair, delicate, regular

features, slender limbs, and finely moulded hands and feet. The individual

of fine texture is sensitive and naturally refined. He loves beauty. He

does his best work when he is creating something or handling something

which is fine and beautiful. The coarse-textured individual is strong,

vigorous, virile, and enduring. He can do hard, unpleasant work, can go

through hardships, and can remain cheerful even in the midst of grimy,

unpleasant and unlovely surroundings. For these reasons, fine-textured

people do their best work in such lines as art, literature, music,

jewelry, dry goods, millinery, and fine, delicate tools, machinery and

materials; while we must rely upon coarse-textured people to do the heavy,

hard, rough, pioneering and constructive work of the world. Even in art

and literature coarse-textured people produce that which is either

vigorous and virile or gruesome and horrible.

Because of their refined sensibilities, fine-textured people usually

sympathize with the classes, the aristocracy; the coarse-textured people

with the masses. It is a remarkable fact that practically all of our great

liberators, radicals and revolutionists have been and are men of coarse

texture. There is a great scientific truth underlying the saying amongst

the people that certain ideas or books are "too fine-haired" for them.

PROPORTION

One of the most important of all the nine fundamental variables is

proportion. This refers to proportion of one part of the body to another,

of one part of the head to another. Each part of the body and of the head

has its own particular function. Nature is orderly and systematic in all

her work. She does not, therefore, try to digest food with the feet or

pump blood with the hands. She does not try to use our stomachs as means

of locomotion. Neither does she try to make us think with the backs of our

heads.

No one needs to be told that the long, slender, wiry legs of the deer were

made for swiftness, or that the huge, square, powerful jaw of the bulldog

was made to shut down with a vise-like grip that death itself can scarcely

relax. These are crude examples of proportion. In our study and research

we have learned to associate many fine gradations of differences in

proportion with their corresponding differences in mental aptitudes and

character.

EXPRESSION

Everything about a man indicates his character. Color, form, size,

structure, texture, consistency, and proportion indicate almost entirely

the man's inherent qualities. It is important for us to determine,

however, in sizing up men, what they have done with their natural

qualifications. This we do by observing Expression and Condition.

The cruder, simpler emotions are so frankly expressed that even a child or

an animal can tell instantly whether a man is happy or loving, grieved or

angry. These emotions show themselves in the voice, in the eyes, in the

expression of the mouth, in the very way the man stands or sits or walks,

in his gestures--in fact, in everything he does. In the same way, all of

the finer and more elusive thoughts and emotions express themselves in

everything a man says or does. Even when he does his best to mask his

feelings, he finds that, while he is controlling his eyes and his voice,

his posture, gestures, and even handwriting are giving him away. No living

man can give attention to all of the modes of expression at once, and the

trained observer quickly learns to discriminate between those which are

assumed for the purpose of deception and those which are perfectly

natural.

Transient emotions have transient expression, but the prevailing modes of

thought and feeling leave their unmistakable impress just as surely as

does a prevailing wind mould the form of all the trees growing in its

path. The man who is sly, furtive, secretive, and fundamentally dishonest

need not deceive you with his carefully manufactured expression of

open-eyed frankness and honesty. If you have ever been "taken in" by a

confidence man or a swindler, you either gave very slight attention to

his expression or, what is more likely, suspected him but hoped to "beat

him at his own game."

CONDITION

Discriminating employers long ago learned to observe carefully the

condition of every applicant. It is now a pretty well accepted fact that

the accountant who neglects his finger nails will probably also neglect

his entries; that the clerk who is slovenly about his clothes will also be

slovenly about his desk and his papers; that the man who cannot be relied

upon to keep his shoes shined and his collar clean is a very weak and

broken reed upon which to lean for anything requiring accuracy and

dependability.

HOW THE SCIENCE IS VERIFIED

We have presented to you, in a brief way, the fundamental principles of

the science of character analysis and the nine fundamental variables in

man to which those principles apply. Are we not justified in saying that a

body of knowledge which has been so classified and organized that the main

fundamental facts of it can be presented in a few pages, is, indeed, a

science? Add to this the fact that every conclusion is not only based upon

these fundamental scientific principles, but has been carefully verified

by investigation and observation in not only hundreds but thousands of

cases, and has been used daily for years under the trying conditions of

actual commercial practice, and this science has passed out of the merely

experimental stage.

CHAPTER II

HOW TO LEARN AND APPLY THE SCIENCE OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS

There are two ways to learn any science.

The first is to begin by collecting all possible facts, recording them and

verifying them under all possible conditions, until they are as thoroughly

established as any facts can be in our imperfect human understanding. The

collection of facts in this way requires the most painstaking research,

oftentimes including many thousands of observations. When all the facts

have been thus collected and verified, they are classified. Then they are

carefully analyzed and an effort is made to find some of the laws which

underlie them. Perhaps, instead of a definite law, all that can be at

first advanced is a hypothesis or theory. This hypothesis or theory having

been formulated, many thousands of observations are taken in an effort to

establish it as a definite law or a principle. Oftentimes whole new realms

have to be explored before this can be determined. Sometimes, after a

theory is advanced, perhaps seems to be approaching complete

establishment, some fact or set of facts is discovered which compels the

setting aside of all old theories and the formulation of a new one. When a

theory has been definitely established as a law, other laws are sought in

the same way until, finally, there are enough laws established to form the

basis of a general principle. Then more laws and more principles are added

in the same way until, finally, the body of knowledge has become

sufficiently accurate, sufficiently definite and sufficiently organized

and classified to be called a science.

HOW SCIENCE SLOWLY EVOLVES

This is the way in which all of the sciences known to man were first

learned; that is to say, they were learned by their formulators coincident

with the process of their formulation. This is a slow and laborious

process of learning. Few, if any, sciences have ever been thus mastered by

any one individual. Indeed, the certain establishment of a very few facts,

or, perhaps, only one important fact, the formulation of a theory, or the

final statement of a law is usually the limit of the contribution of any

one person to any science.

No science is independent. The science of physics, for example, could

never have reached its present-day state of development if it had not laid

heavy tribute upon the sciences of mathematics, astronomy, chemistry,

geography, mechanics, optics, and others. In a similar way, the science of

character analysis has derived many of its facts, laws, and even

principles, from the sciences of physics, chemistry, biology,

anthropology, ethnology, geography, geology, anatomy, physiology,

histology, embryology, psychology, and others. Since this is true, it is

obvious that the work of collecting, verifying, classifying, analyzing,

and organizing the facts upon which the science of character analysis is

based has been going on from the very dawn of civilization. Many

investigators, students and scholars, in many branches of knowledge, have

labored, added their little mite to the sum total, and passed on. The net

result of all their work, all their thousands of years of research,

investigation, study and thought, can now be gathered together and

presented in so simple a form that it can be learned by anyone of

intelligence in a few months. It took humanity untold thousands of years

to learn the scientific truth that the earth is an oblate spheroid. Many

men gave their lives to establish the truth. As a result, to-day every

schoolboy learns and understands the fact within a very few days after his

first opening of a text book on geography. Thousands of scholars have been

working on the science of physics from the dawn of human intelligence down

to the present date. Now a high school student learns all of its

essentials and fundamentals in a short term of fourteen weeks.

A SHORT CUT TO KNOWLEDGE

The second method of learning a science, therefore, is to take advantage

of all that has been done and, instead of beginning with facts and working

up to principles, begin with principles and work down to a practical

application amongst facts.

There are many ways of learning principles. One may memorize them from

books, or have them set forth and explained by an instructor or lecturer,

or stumble upon them in general reading, or work out a series of carefully

prescribed experiments in a laboratory, leading up to an enunciation of

the principles or, through its intelligent application in the world of

work, establish it in one's consciousness.

The student who learns his laws and principles out of books may have a

very clear and definite understanding of them. He may be able to add to

them or to teach them. But he has little skill in their practical

application as compared with the student who learns them in a laboratory.

Furthermore, the laboratory student is at a disadvantage, probably, as

compared with the man who makes intelligent application of the laws and

principles to his daily work. So well recognized by educators is this

truth that no attempt is made in our colleges and universities and, for

the most part, even in our high schools, to teach sciences involving

observation, logical reasoning and sound judgment purely out of books.

Medicine, surgery, agriculture, horticulture, mechanics and other such

sciences are now taught almost entirely by a combination of text books and

actual practice. This rule also applies to the science of character

analysis.

LEARN THE PRINCIPLES

The first step in the mastery and practical use of the science of

character analysis is to learn the principles and the laws which underlie

them. These principles and laws are comparatively few in number and

comparatively simple. They are all classified under and grouped around the

nine fundamental variables, a list of which was given in the preceding

chapter.

The best way to learn a principle is not to memorize it, but to

understand it. Learn, if possible, the reason for its existence, at least

in a general way; the laws which underlie it, and the facts upon which it

is based. The student who memorizes the words, "all bodies attract one

another directly in proportion to their mass and inversely in proportion

to the square of the distance between them," knows little or nothing about

the law of gravitation, while the student who understands just what those

words mean, whether he is able to repeat them correctly or not, does know

the law of gravitation, and, if necessary, can probably apply it. The boy

who learns that any object weighs less on a mountain-top than at the sea

level learns an interesting and perhaps valuable fact. The man who learns

that the law involved in this fact is the law of gravitation has learned

something which he may be able to apply in a thousand ways. The man who,

in the future, may learn _why_ the law of gravitation operates as it does,

may open untapped reservoirs of power for himself, for all humanity, and

for all future generations. Therefore, in learning a principle, learn not

only to understand it, but, if possible, _why_.

DEMONSTRATE AND VERIFY

Having gained as complete as possible an understanding of the laws and

principles of the science of character analysis, the next step is to

demonstrate to your own satisfaction that they are sound. This process

will also enable you to understand them even more definitely and

specifically than before.

When you learn, for example, that a blonde is more volatile, more fond of

change and variety, more inclined to pioneering and government, than the

brunette, you have learned an important law. When you study carefully the

history of the evolution of the blonde and brunette races, you know why

the law is as it is. But when you have gone out and observed several

hundred blondes and several hundred brunettes and have seen them manifest

dispositions, aptitudes and characteristics in accordance with the law,

you have not only demonstrated the law to your own satisfaction, but you

understand it even better than before. Furthermore, you are far better

able than ever to determine the characteristics of the people you meet, as

indicated by their color.

ANALYZE YOURSELF

There are many good reasons why the very first application of the

knowledge of the principles and laws of character analysis should be to

yourself. While, in one sense, you know your own thoughts and feelings and

innermost desires and ambitions better than anyone else does, in another

and very important sense, your friends and relatives probably understand

you far better than you understand yourself. If you need any demonstration

of this truth, look for it amongst your relatives and friends. You may

have a relative, for example, who is very modest, retiring and diffident,

who lacks self-confidence, who imagines that he is unattractive,

unintelligent, and below the average in ability. You and all the rest of

his friends, on the other hand, know that he has genuine talent, that he

has an unusually attractive personality once his self-consciousness has

been laid aside, that he is intelligent and far above the average in

ability. Contrariwise, you may know someone who vastly over-estimates

himself, whose own opinion of himself is at least fifty per cent higher

than that of his relatives and immediate acquaintances. If other people,

therefore, do not understand themselves, is it not at least probable that

you do not understand yourself? So universal is this lack of self-under

standing that the poet expressed a real human longing when he said:

"Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us

To see oursels as others see us!

It wad frae mony a blunder free us

And foolish notion:

What airs in dress and gait wad lea'e us

And even devotion!"

Careful analysis of yourself, however, with your own intimate knowledge of

the depths of your being will do more than give you an understanding of

your own character. It will give you a better understanding of some, at

least, of the laws and principles of character analysis. For this reason,

it will also give you a far more intimate understanding of others.

COMPARE INDICATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS

When you have learned what certain physical characteristics indicate,

practise observing these indications amongst the people whom you know

well. Try your skill at making the connection between the indication and

the characteristics which, according to the science, it indicates. For

example, go over in your mind all of the blondes you know and trace in

their dispositions and characters, as you know them, the evidences of

volatility, love of variety, eagerness, exuberance, positiveness, and

other such characteristics. Take careful note as to how these qualities

manifest themselves; observe differences in degrees of blondness, and

corresponding differences in the degrees in which the characteristics

indicated show themselves. Observe, also, how the various characteristics

manifest themselves in combination. For example, note the difference

between a blonde with a big nose and a blonde with a small nose.

ANALYZE, CHECK UP AND VERIFY

When you have analyzed yourself and your relatives, friends and

acquaintances, you will be ready to begin on the analysis of people

previously unknown to you. You will find them everywhere--in street-cars,

in stores, on the streets, in churches and theaters, on athletic fields,

in offices, in factories, in schools and in colleges. When you have

analyzed them as carefully as you can and, if possible, have written down

a brief outline of your analysis of them, check up and verify; find out

how far you have been right. If, in any case, you find that you have been

mistaken, find out why--study the case further. You have already

demonstrated and verified your principles; therefore, either you have made

an error in your observation or you have reasoned illogically in drawing

your conclusions. Find out which it is and correct your analyses--then

verify them.

This is a practice which, if you are at all interested in human nature,

you will find intensely fascinating. It is one which you can pursue for

years and not find it monotonous. Not a day will pass, if you are diligent

in this practice, in which you will not learn something new, something

interesting, something valuable. Those who have studied and practised this

science for many years are, almost without exception, the ones who are

most eager and enthusiastic about making these observations, analyses and

verifications.

STUDY TYPES

Perhaps one of the most interesting and valuable forms of exercise in the

practical application of this science is the study of types and their

variations. Anyone who has observed humanity knows that, while no two

persons are exactly alike, practically all human beings can be classified

satisfactorily into comparatively a few general types. We have considered

some of these types at length in earlier chapters of this book. It is by a

study and comparison of people belonging to these general types, the

careful noting of resemblances and differences, that the science of

character analysis becomes almost as easy as the reading of a book. If you

see a man for the first time who resembles in many important particulars

of appearance some man you know well, study him to see whether he will not

manifest in much the same way the same characteristics as your friend.

This kind of observation, intelligently made, is the basis of accuracy and

swiftness in making analyses.

KEEP ACCURATE AND ADEQUATE RECORDS

The human mind is an excellent storehouse of knowledge, but it should not

be over-burdened. One of the first principles of efficiency as enunciated

by Mr. Harrington Emerson is: "If you would find the best, easiest and

quickest ways to the desirable things of life, keep and use immediate,

reliable, adequate, and permanent records."

The complete record of an analysis should show the name, address, sex,

exact age, height, weight, and all other essential physical

characteristics of the person analyzed, classified under the head of the

nine fundamental variables. It should show your conclusions as to his

ability, disposition, aptitudes and character in general. It should also

show the result of any further observations for the purpose of verifying

your conclusions, and should be so kept that, if, at any time in the

future, the individual should speak or act in any way which is either a

striking verification of the analysis or in striking disparity with it,

these incidents may be recorded and their relationship to what has gone

before on the record studied.

Such records as these are valuable in many ways. When you have collected a

large number of them, they become the basis of statistics, averages, and

other interesting and important collections of facts.

STICK TO THE PRINCIPLES

It has been our universal experience amongst practitioners of this science

that those who adhere most closely and most faithfully to its principles

are most successful. There is always a strong inclination, especially on

the part of those who are just beginning and those who are unusually

emotional and sympathetic, to make exceptions. It is very difficult for

some people of exceedingly sympathetic and responsive natures to analyze

correctly. The personality of the individual being analyzed appeals to

them either favorably or unfavorably. Perhaps his words make a strong

impression upon them. All these things cloud the analyst's judgment and,

instead of applying the principles rigidly, he falls back upon the old,

unreliable method of analyzing by means of his "intuitions."

The laws and principles of the science of character analysis are based

upon scientific truths regarding the development, evolution, history,

anatomy and psychology of the human race. They have been verified by

hundreds of thousands of careful observations. They have stood the test of

years of practical use in the business world. They are now being

successfully applied in commerce, in industry, in education, and in the

professions, by thousands of people. They can be relied upon, therefore,

to give you an intimate knowledge of the ability, disposition, aptitudes,

and character in general of every human being who comes under your careful

observation.

CHAPTER III

USES OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS

The old-time farmer planted his potatoes "in the dark of the moon." He

probably took good care not to plant them on Friday, never planted a field

of thirteen rows, and would have been horrified at putting them into the

ground on the same day when he has spilled salt or broken a mirror. By

taking all of this superstitious care to insure a good crop, he probably

counted himself lucky if he got 100 bushels to the acre. Eugene Grubb, out

in Wyoming, by throwing superstition to the four winds and depending,

instead, upon exact scientific knowledge, leaves luck out of the question

and knows that he will net 1,000 bushels to the acre.

One thousand years ago or more, our educational methods stiffened and set

in the rigid moulds of tradition. For nine hundred years civilization and

progress stood still. Then here and there men began to break the moulds

with hammers of scientific knowledge. Education, instead of blindly

following traditional forms, began to shape itself more and more to exact

knowledge of the child nature and its needs--very slowly, cautiously and

tentatively at first, but, as knowledge grew, with more and more boldness

and freedom. This is one of the reasons why the last one hundred years has

seen greater progress toward our dominion over the earth than all of the

thousand years before it.

For more than four thousand years--perhaps more than five thousand--men

have been constructing buildings with bricks. Brick-laying was a trade, a

skilled occupation, almost a profession, but its methods were based upon

traditions handed down from father to son, from journeyman to apprentice,

unbroken throughout that entire four-thousand-year period.

Then a bricklayer and his wife defied the heavens to fall, threw aside

traditions and began to apply exact knowledge to brick-laying. As a

result, they learned how to lay bricks three times as rapidly as the best

workman had ever been able to before--and with less fatigue.

SCIENCE TAKES THE PLACE OF GUESSWORK

Fifty years ago, the merchant and the manufacturer guessed at their costs

and fixed their prices with shrewd estimates as to their probable profits.

They also guessed as to which departments of their business paid the most

profit, how much and what kind of material they should buy, where the best

markets were to be found, what would be the best location for their stores

and factories, and many other important factors of profitable enterprise.

Some of these old worthies were good guessers. They built up fairly large

business institutions and made some very comfortable fortunes.

The business men of to-day--who are, indeed, of to-day and not a relic of

yesterday and the day before yesterday--have an exact and detailed

knowledge of their costs, determine prices scientifically, know definitely

where are the best markets and what are the best locations for their

factories, forecast with a reasonable degree of accuracy their need for

materials, determine in a laboratory just which materials will best supply

their needs, and in many other ways walk upon solid highways of exact

information rather than upon the quaking bog of guesswork. Partly because

of this, they have built up a multitude of institutions, each of them far

larger than the largest of the olden days and have made fortunes which

make the big accumulations of other days seem like mere pocket money. In

making these fortunes for themselves, they have enabled millions not only

to enjoy far larger incomes than people of their class and situation ever

received before, but to enjoy conveniences and luxuries beyond even the

dreams of the rich men and kings of olden days.

RANDOM METHODS YIELD TO SCIENTIFIC

In the old-time factories the various departments of work, machinery and

equipment in each of the departments were arranged almost at random. Even

a few years ago we sometimes saw factories in which the materials worked

upon were moved upstairs, then downstairs, then back upstairs, hither and

yon, until a diagram of their wanderings looked like a tangle of yarn.

Even in offices, desks were placed at random and letters, orders,

memoranda, and other documents and papers were moved about with all of the

orderliness and method of a school-girl playing "pussy wants a corner."

Modern scientific management, horrified at the waste of time and energy,

makes accurate knowledge take the place of this random, helter-skelter,

hit-or-miss basis of action and multiplies profits.

If the old-time farmer rotated his crops at all, he did it at random. He

was, therefore, a little more likely than not, perhaps, to put a crop into

a field which had been exhausted of the very elements that crop most

needed. By this method and by other superstitious, guesswork, traditional,

random, and neglectful methods, he struggled along on an average of about

twenty bushels of corn to the acre, proudly defying anybody to teach him

anything about farming out of books, or any white-collared dude from an

agricultural college to show him anything about raising corn. Hadn't he

been raising corn for nigh on forty years? How could there, then, be

anything more for him to learn about its production?

But a little twelve-year-old boy down in what had always been supposed to

be the poor corn lands of Alabama, by the painstaking application of a

little simple knowledge, produced 232 and a fraction bushels of corn on

one acre of land. Other boys in all parts of the South and of the corn

belt began producing from 100 to 200 bushels of corn to the acre in the

same way.

SCIENCE TAKES THE PLACE OF SUPERSTITION

Because man has lacked accurate knowledge about the world around him, he

has been the credulous victim of countless generations of swindlers,

fakers, fortune-tellers, mountebanks, and others experienced in chicanery.

Speculators used to consult clairvoyants, crystal gazers, astrologists

and card-readers for a forecast of business conditions. To-day, through

accurate knowledge based upon statistics relative to fundamental factors

in the business situation, they forecast the future with remarkable

accuracy.

The practice of medicine was once a combination of superstition,

incantation, ignorance and chicanery. In those days people were swept into

eternity by the millions on account of plague, cholera, and other

pestilences. To-day medical practice is based upon knowledge, and people

who are willing to order their lives in accordance with that knowledge not

only recover from their illnesses, but are scarcely ever ill. The ignorant

man pays $1.00 for a small bottle of colored alcohol and water which some

mountebank has convinced him is a panacea for all ills. In his blindness

he hopes to drink health out of that bottle. The man who knows eats

moderately, drinks moderately--if at all--smokes moderately--if at

all--does work for which he is fitted and in which he can be happy,

secures recreation and exercise according to his own particular needs, and

almost never thinks of medicine. Should he need treatment, however, he

goes to a man who has scientific knowledge of diagnosis and materia

medica. The first man, in all likelihood, goes to an early grave,

"stricken down by the hand of a mysterious Providence." The second man

lives to a ripe old age and enjoys life more at eighty than he did at

eight or eighteen.

Fifty years ago, mothers relied upon tradition and maternal instinct in

the care of their babies. More than one-half of all the babies born died

before they were five years old. The wise mother of to-day knows what she

is doing, and, as a result, infant mortality amongst the babies in her

hands becomes an almost negligible quantity.

NEGLECT YIELDS TO SCIENCE

Because we did not know how to take care of them, we neglected our forests

until they became well nigh extinct. To-day, by means of the science of

forestry, we are slowly winning back the priceless heritage we almost

threw away. Because of our ignorance, we neglected the by-products of our

fields, our mines, and our industries, and no one can compute the fortunes

we lost. Through scientific knowledge, we have begun to utilize these

by-products. Some of the greatest of modern industries, and the fortunes

which have grown out of them, are the result.

Selling and advertising used to be done partly by tradition and partly by

instinct, so called. To-day, while they have, perhaps, not been reduced to

exact sciences, they are based more and more upon exact knowledge, so that

merchandizing has become less and less a gamble and more and more a

satisfaction.

Since, through scientific knowledge, man has wrought such miracles in

agriculture, construction, education, commerce, industry, finance,

medicine, war, mining, and practically all of his other activities, it is

time he applied the same scientific methods to that without which all

these wonderful things would never have been executed, namely, his mind

and soul.

SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE OF SELF

In Part One of this book we have attempted to show the benefits which

follow upon self-knowledge as to vocation. But this is only one phase,

after all, of your life and activity. Obedience to the injunction, "know

thyself," will help, also, to solve many of the hard problems you meet in

education, social life, religion, morality, and family relations. The man

who, through character analysis, has a scientific knowledge of himself,

has therein a valuable guide to self-development and self-improvement. He

knows which qualities to cultivate and which to restrain. He knows what

situations and associations to avoid so that his frailties and weaknesses

will handicap him as little as possible.

SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IN EMPLOYMENT

In Part Two we have shown briefly the application of knowledge of human

nature to the selection, assignment and management of employees. In

common with so many other important matters, this has been left in the

past very largely to superstitious traditions, guesswork, random,

hit-or-miss methods, chicanery, and so-called intuition. Now, for the sake

of his profits, and also for the sake of the fellow human beings with whom

he deals, the wise employer is seeking for and, in many cases, using exact

knowledge.

SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IN PERSUASION

In Part Three we have referred to the use of character analysis in

persuasion. Without this knowledge, it is the most natural thing in the

world for the man who seeks to persuade others to present to them the

arguments and suggestions which would appeal to him. Long ago some wise

man said: "If you would persuade another, put yourself in his place; look

at the matter through his eyes." 'Twas easier said than done. You cannot

put yourself in another's place or see things from his point of view

unless you know him accurately, which is possible only through the science

of character analysis. We have often found people who have lived together

for a lifetime who neither knew nor understood each other.

SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IN SOCIAL RELATIONS

Man's fundamental needs are food, drink, clothing, shelter, work,

companionship, and rest. If one of man's fundamental needs is

companionship, then he needs to know how to be successful socially. Most

people deeply feel this need. One of the most frequent questions we are

called upon to answer is: "How can I be a greater social success?" Social

success depends upon personal attractiveness in the broadest sense of that

term and upon a desire to make the most of that attractiveness. Many

people have great social ambitions but, for some reason or other, are so

unattractive that they are social failures. There are others who have

pleasant personalities but who, because of other interests, neglect their

social opportunities.

Personal attractiveness depends, first, upon the development of those

elements which are pleasing to others, such as intelligence, judgment,

reason, memory, sympathy, kindliness, courtesy, tactfulness, refinement, a

sense of humor, decision, adaptability, self-confidence, proper personal

pride, dignity, and perhaps others; second, upon a knowledge of each

individual with whom one comes in contact, so that one knows best how to

gain that person's favorable attention, to arouse his interest, and to

give him pleasure.

Many people are shy, diffident, self-conscious, and painfully embarassed

in the presence of strangers. They feel these deficiencies keenly. They

long, perhaps with an intensity which the naturally self-possessed person

will never know, for that social ease which they so greatly admire. Their

self-consciousness, diffidence and timidity in the presence of others is

very largely the result, first, of a lack of knowledge of themselves and

how to make the most of their own good qualities socially; second, of a

lack of knowledge of other people. It is a human trait deeply ingrained

and going back to the very beginning of life to be afraid of that which we

do not understand. Courage, self-confidence, and self-possession always

come with complete understanding. Therefore, these timid, bashful ones may

find, and many of them have found, greater social ease through a knowledge

of themselves and of others, gained through a study of character analysis.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE

We shall probably not be disputed when we state that, aside from religion,

at least, the most momentous problem in the life of every man and woman is

that of love and marriage.

Says Edward Carpenter: "That there should exist one other person in the

world toward whom all openness of interchange should establish itself,

from whom there should be no concealment; whose body should be as dear to

one, in every part, as one's own; with whom there should be no sense of

Mine or Thine, in property or possession; into whose mind one's thoughts

should naturally flow, as it were, to know themselves and to receive a new

illumination; and between whom and one's self there should be a

spontaneous rebound of sympathy in all the joys and sorrows and

experiences of life; such is, perhaps, one of the dearest wishes of the

soul. For such a union Love must lay the foundation, but patience and

gentle consideration and self-control must work unremittingly to perfect

the structure. At length, each lover comes to know the complexion of the

other's mind; the wants, bodily and mental; the needs; the regrets; the

satisfactions of the other, almost as his or her own--and without

prejudice in favor of self rather than in favor of the other; above all,

both parties come to know, in course of time, and after, perhaps, some

doubts and trials, that the great want, the great need, which holds them

together is not going to fade away into thin air, but is going to become

stronger and more indefeasible as the years go on. There falls a sweet, an

irresistible trust over their relation to each other, which consecrates,

as it were, the double life, making both feel that nothing can now divide;

and robbing each of all desire to remain when death has, indeed (or at

least in outer semblance) removed the other.

"So perfect and gracious a union--even if not always realized--is still, I

say, the bona fide desire of most of those who have ever thought about

such matters."

A HEAVEN ON EARTH

In such a union as the author quoted has here described men and women find

life's deepest and truest joys and satisfactions. In it there is solace

for every sorrow, balm for every wound, renewal of life for every

weariness, comfort for every affliction, a multiplication of every joy, a

doubling of every triumph, encouragement for every fond ambition, and an

inspiration for every struggle. Those who are thus mated and married have

found a true heaven on earth. But such a mating and such a marriage is

not, as many fondly suppose, based solely upon the incident of "falling in

love." If we have no other advice to give the young man or the young woman

than that which has so often been given, "let your heart decide," we

have, indeed, little to offer.

MARRIAGE A PRACTICAL PARTNERSHIP

The marriage relationship is not wholly, or even chiefly, a romantic and

ethereal social union far above and unaffected by material and practical

considerations. While this spiritual union is an essential part of every

true marriage, it cannot exist unless there is also a true union upon

intellectual and physical planes. Marriage is, in one sense, a business

partnership. In another sense, it is an intellectual companionship, and in

still another sense, it is a friendly, social relationship.

A man and a woman are, therefore, mated in the true sense of the word, not

alone by a mysterious and intangible spiritual identity, but by mutual

beliefs, mutual ideas and ideals, mutual or harmonious tastes, mutual

physical attractiveness, and mutual respect and admiration each for the

other's talents, disposition, aptitudes, and character in general. One of

the reasons why there are so many unhappy marriages is because a blind

instinct, which may be purely physical or purely intellectual or purely

psychical, which may be a mere passing fancy, which oftentimes is based

upon the flimsiest and shallowest possible knowledge of each other's

characteristics, is mistaken for love. Many marriages, of course, are

consummated without even the existence of an imagined love--marriages for

convenience, marriages because of pique, marriages arranged by parents or

others. When such a marriage is a happy one, it is, indeed, by virtue of

great good fortune, a happy accident.

KNOWLEDGE THE BASIS OF CHOICE

Since a true marriage, therefore, must encircle with its golden band and

harmonize all of the psychical, intellectual and physical qualities,

activities and interests of two people, it follows that it must be based

upon knowledge as well as intuition. He who would choose a mate must,

first of all, understand himself, so that he may know what qualities will

be most agreeable to him. This may seem unnecessary, but, unfortunately,

it is not. Any man who will compare his youthful tastes and judgment in

regard to women with his mature inclinations will see the truth.

Second, he ought to know before he reaches the point of falling in love,

the disposition and character of those to whom his fancy turns. When

propinquity and mere physical attraction have aroused the emotions of a

young couple, the ardor of their excitement so obscures observation and

judgment that any careful analysis of each other's characteristics is

impossible. Even if such an analysis were possible, one could not be

intelligently made by a mere observation of behavior and conversation,

even under the most advantageous circumstances. As a general rule, young

people associate together in their "company clothes and company manners."

Every possible endeavor is made to show forth that which is considered to

be most desirable and to conceal, so far as possible, that which may be

undesirable. Even traits and tendencies which do manifest themselves do so

under disguise, as it were, and their full seriousness is not recognized.

In fact, many a young man and young woman have found the very

characteristics which appeared most charming in a lover or sweetheart the

ugly rock upon which marital happiness was wrecked.

"CHARMS" WHICH PROVE DEADLY

For example, many girls admire rather fast young men. But few wives find

happiness with drunken, gambling, unfaithful husbands. Many young women

experience a delightful thrill of interest in the young man who is

inclined to be somewhat authoritative. But few wives submit with pleasure

to the exactions of a domineering husband. Some young women find a gay,

careless irresponsibility charming in a lover but bitterly resent having

to shoulder all the burdens of financing and maintaining a home.

In a similar way, some men admire dimpled, pouting girls, but they

cordially detest whimpering, whining wives. Most men are flattered by an

air of helpless dependence in a sweetheart, but they soon grow tired of a

wife who cannot think and act for herself and who is, perhaps, an

imaginary or real invalid.

These characteristics in both men and women may be mere affectations and

mannerisms, assumed for the purpose of imagined allurement and charm. Or

they may be bedded deep in the character. Only a scientific knowledge of

human nature will reveal the truth.

KNOWLEDGE IN MARITAL RELATIONS

No matter how truly mated a man and woman may be, life-long happiness in

the marriage relation depends upon mutual understanding. Many a noble ship

of matrimony has been wrecked hopelessly upon the jagged rocks of

misunderstanding. Character analysis opens the eyes, reveals tendencies

and motives and offers true knowledge as a guide to the making of one's

self truly lovable, and the finding and bringing out in the other of

lovable qualities.

An intelligent woman of thirty once said to us: "I could never get along

with my father. As soon as I began to have a mind of my own, he and I

clashed, notwithstanding the fact that I loved him and he idolized me.

After I had married and left home, my love for him frequently drew me back

under his roof for a visit. But before I had been there a week we had

somehow managed to have a bitter quarrel and separated in anger. After I

learned to apply the principles of character analysis, I returned home on

a visit and the first thing I did was to analyze father. For the first

time in my life I understood him. Since that time we have never clashed,

and my visits with him are a great joy to me as well as to him."

We have in our files a sheaf of letters from both men and women telling of

the regaining of a lost paradise through mutual knowledge and mutual

understanding.

THE SCIENCE OF CHARACTER ANALYSIS NOT A CURE-ALL

We do not offer the science of character analysis as a panacea. We have

already emphasized the fact that mere knowledge of one's true vocation is

not enough for an unqualified success in it. We do not believe that

character analysis alone will solve the age-long problem of capital and

labor, nor do we hold forth the promise that a scientific knowledge of

human nature will enable every individual who obtains it to be uniformly

successful in selling, advertising, public speaking legal practice, and

other forms of persuasion. The serious and intricate puzzles of social

life will find no golden key which unlocks them all in the science of

character analysis. The supreme problems of love, marriage, marital

relations, divorce, and family life are far beyond the limited scope of

character analysis for their complete solution. Human life; human

efficiency; human mental, moral, and physical development; human

civilization in all of its aspects, are a matter of slow evolution, with

many a slip backward. He is either self-deceived or a charlatan who claims

to have found that which will enable the race to arrive at perfection in a

single bound.

On the other hand, just so far as even one spark of true knowledge is a

light on the way, to the degree in which one little adjustment helps men

to harmonize with nature and her eternal forces, and in the measure in

which one solid step adds to the causeway which man is building out of the

mire of ignorance to the heights of wisdom--in so much is the science of

character analysis an aid to man and his striving toward perfection and

happiness.

THE END

APPENDIX

REQUIREMENTS OF THE PRINCIPAL VOCATIONS

NOTE.--In the following lists the principal physical, intellectual,

emotional and volitional qualifications needful for success in a number of

representative vocations are given. The list of vocations is general, not

detailed, and is by no means exhaustive. The qualifications suggested are

also somewhat general in their nature. The list, therefore, is a valuable

guide to the general vocation for which an individual may be fitted, but

should be supplemented with much more detailed and specific analysis in

order to determine his exact place in that vocation. We have used the

words "Activity" and "Inactivity" in listing physical requirements. These

refer to the man of bone and muscle, in the first case; to the physically

frail or the fat man, in the second.

ADVERTISING

Good Health

PHYSICAL Exuberant Vitality

Energy

Originality

Practical Judgment

Keen Observation

Appreciation of Form, Color, and Proportion

Resourcefulness

Mental Industry

INTELLECTUAL Foresight

Knowledge of Human Nature

Constructive Ability

Command of Language

Analytical Powers

Critical Faculties

Method, Orderliness

Sense of Humor

Optimism

Ambition

Sympathy

Friendliness

EMOTIONAL Courage

Love of Beauty

Honesty

Enthusiasm

Ideals

Decision

Initiative

VOLITIONAL Persistence

Thoroughness

Aggressiveness

Self-control

AGRICULTURE

Health

Energy

Endurance

PHYSICAL Skill

Strength

Activity

Medium or Medium Fine Texture

Elastic Consistency

Keen Observation

Practical Judgment

Analytical Ability

Accuracy

Foresight

INTELLECTUAL Method, Order, System

Constructive Ability

Mechanical Ability

Imitativeness

Memory

Mastery of Detail

Honesty--Prudence

Love of Nature

EMOTIONAL Love of Beauty, Optimism

Obedience

Dependableness

Teachableness

Industry, Perseverance

VOLITIONAL Thoroughness, Patience

Carefulness

ARCHITECTURE

Health

PHYSICAL Skill

Inactivity

Fine Texture

Keen Observation

Appreciation of Form, Color, Proportion, Line Distance

Constructive Ability

Mathematics

Memory

INTELLECTUAL Concentration, Language

Accuracy

Originality

System, Order, Plan, Method

Resourcefulness

Artistic Sense

Honesty

Love of Beauty

Enthusiasm, Friendliness

EMOTIONAL Courage

Ambition

Dependability

Prudence

Decision

Initiative

Persistence

VOLITIONAL Thoroughness

Carefulness

Patience

Executive Ability

ART

Health

PHYSICAL Skill

Nerve Control

Endurance

Keen Observation

Fine Appreciation of Form, Color, Proportion

Memory

Originality

INTELLECTUAL Concentration

Constructive Ability

Mental Industry

Mastery of Detail

Artistic Sense

Honesty

Love of Truth

EMOTIONAL Love of Beauty

Enthusiasm

Responsiveness

Courage

Industry

VOLITIONAL Perseverance

Capacity for Taking Pains

Patience

ATHLETICS

Health

Nerve Control

Vitality

PHYSICAL Endurance

Strength, Energy

Skill

Activity, Agility

Speed

Keen Observation, Quick Thought

Appreciation of Weight, Size, Distance, Location

Practical Judgment

INTELLECTUAL Foresight

Accuracy

Knowledge of Human Nature

Language

Honesty

Optimism

Ambition, Love of Applause

EMOTIONAL Enthusiasm

Loyalty, Obedience

Self Confidence

Poise

Self Control

Industry

Decision

Initiative

VOLITIONAL Aggressiveness

Co-operation

Perseverance

Patience

Carefulness

AUTHORSHIP

Health

PHYSICAL Endurance

Vigor

Alertness

Keen Observation, Philosophy

Reason, Judgment

Criticism, Memory

Language, Analysis

INTELLECTUAL Knowledge of Human Nature

Knowledge of Life

Originality, Constructiveness

Sense of Humor

Teachableness

Artistic Sense

Honesty

Optimism

Love of Truth

Enthusiasm

Strong Convictions

Impartiality

EMOTIONAL Love of Beauty

Courage (Not Easily Discouraged)

Ideals

Earnestness

Loyalty

Poise

Calmness

Industry, Perseverance

VOLITIONAL Accuracy, Patience

Capacity for Drudgery

CLERICAL WORK

Health

PHYSICAL Endurance

Inactivity

Medium Fine to Fine Texture

Keen Observation, Alertness, Quickness

Practical Judgment

Memory

Accuracy

INTELLECTUAL Imitativeness

Mastery of Detail

Concentration

System, Order, Method

Teachableness

Honesty

Prudence

EMOTIONAL Loyalty

Obedience

Dependableness

Contentment

Industry

Initiative

Thoroughness

VOLITIONAL Patience

Carefulness

Tactfulness

Economy

Punctuality

CONSTRUCTION

Health

Strength

PHYSICAL Activity

Energy

Skill

Endurance

Keen Observation, Alertness

Practical Judgment

Appreciation of Weight, Size, Distance

Constructive Ability

INTELLECTUAL Mathematics, Mechanical Sense

Knowledge of Human Nature

Memory, Accuracy

System, Order, Method, Plan

Imitativeness

Honesty

Courage

EMOTIONAL Prudence

Dependableness

Enthusiasm

Industry

Initiative

Resourcefulness

Persistence

VOLITIONAL Thoroughness

Aggressiveness

Patience

Carefulness

Executive Ability

Economy

EDUCATION

Health

PHYSICAL Good Appearance

Endurance

Inactivity

Fair to Keen Observation, Reason

Memory, Accuracy

Language, Knowledge of Human Nature

INTELLECTUAL Logic, Analysis

Criticism, Sense of Humor

Concentration

Order, System, Plan

Honesty

Truthfulness

Love of Children, Sympathy

EMOTIONAL Justice, Loyalty, Friendliness

Enthusiasm, Courage

Faith, Ideals

Contentment

Earnestness

Industry

Perseverance

Thoroughness

Patience

VOLITIONAL Tactfulness

Executive Ability

Self Control

Patience

Punctuality

ENGINEERING

Health

PHYSICAL Skill

Endurance

Activity

Keen Observation, Alertness

Originality, Resourcefulness

Constructive Ability

Concentration, Mathematics

INTELLECTUAL Mechanics, Practicality

Foresight, Analysis, Criticism, Exactitude

Mastery of Detail

Language, Accuracy

Order, System, Method, Plan

Inventiveness

Honesty

Enthusiasm

EMOTIONAL Courage

Calmness

Dependableness

Impartiality

Industry, Tactfulness

Initiative, Executive Ability

Thoroughness

VOLITIONAL Perseverance, Ambition

Aggressiveness, Economy

Carefulness

Patience

EXPLORATION

Health

Strength

PHYSICAL Vitality, Coarse Texture

Endurance

Activity

Skill

Keen Observation, Alertness, Quickness

Memory, Practicality

INTELLECTUAL Originality, Resourcefulness

Foresight, Knowledge of Human Nature

Accuracy

Honesty

Love of Nature

Courage

Friendliness

Prudence

EMOTIONAL Enthusiasm

Optimism

Obedience

Dependableness

Justice

Ambition

Industry

Initiative

Decision

VOLITIONAL Thoroughness

Patience

Carefulness

Tactfulness

Executive

Ability

FINANCIAL

Health

PHYSICAL Vitality

Endurance

Inactivity

Keen Observation, Alertness

Sound Practical Judgment

Financial Sense

Mathematics

INTELLECTUAL Memory, Accuracy

Foresight, Knowledge of Human Nature

Imitativeness

Order, System, Method, Plan

Organizing Ability

Honesty

Dependableness

Conservatism

Prudence

EMOTIONAL Constancy

Justice

Courage

Faith

Industry

Executive Ability

Initiative

Thoroughness

VOLITIONAL Patience

Carefulness

Tactfulness

Ambition

Economy

FISHING and HUNTING

Health

Endurance

Nerve Control

PHYSICAL Vitality

Skill

Strength

Activity

Keen Observation, Alertness, Quickness

INTELLECTUAL Practicality, Memory

Appreciation of Weight, Size and Distance

Accuracy, Resourcefulness

Courage

Love of Nature

EMOTIONAL Enthusiasm

Prudence

Love of Conquest

Decision, Initiative

VOLITIONAL Thoroughness, Patience

Self-control, Carefulness

FORESTRY

Health

Strength

PHYSICAL Endurance

Activity

Skill

Keen

Observation, Alertness, Quickness

Analysis, Criticism

INTELLECTUAL Concentration, Memory

Practicality, Accuracy

Initiativeness, Order, System, Method, Plan

Teachableness, Constructive Ability

Honesty

Love of Nature

Love of Beauty

EMOTIONAL Loyalty, Obedience

Dependableness

Enthusiasm, Love of Solitude

Optimism, Faith

Courage, Prudence

Industry

Decision

Initiative

Patience

VOLITIONAL Perseverance

Self-control

Carefulness

Executive Ability

Economy

HOTEL AND RESTAURANT

Health

PHYSICAL Vitality

Good Appearance

Inactivity

Keen Observation, Alertness

Keen Sense of Taste

Appreciation of Color, Form, Proportion, etc.

Practicality, Knowledge of Human Nature

INTELLECTUAL Financial Judgment

System, Order, Method, Plan

Cleanliness, Neatness

Memory, Language

Originality, Constructive Ability

Honesty

Prudence

Friendliness

Obedience

EMOTIONAL Optimism

Desire to Please

Cheerfulness

Sympathy

Justice

Courage

Industry

Tactfulness

Executive Ability

Economy

VOLITIONAL Initiative

Efficiency

Carefulness

Thoroughness

Patience

Self-control

INVENTION

Health

PHYSICAL Endurance

Skill

Keen

Observation, Alertness

Constructive Ability, Accuracy

INTELLECTUAL Originality, Resourcefulness

Concentration, Foresight

Practical Judgment Inventiveness

Honesty

Optimism

EMOTIONAL Courage

Enthusiasm

Faith

Ideals

Industry

Perseverance

Initiative

Thoroughness

VOLITIONAL Patience

Carefulness

Self-control

Ambition

Economy

JOURNALISM

Health

PHYSICAL Exuberant Vitality

Endurance

Activity

Keen Observation, Alertness

Knowledge of Human Nature

Memory, Language

INTELLECTUAL Sense of Humor

Concentration, Judgment

Foresight, Accuracy

Originality, Constructive Ability

Honesty

Courage

Sympathy

Love of Beauty

EMOTIONAL Enthusiasm

Self-Confidence

Friendliness

Love of People

Interest in People

Industry

Initiative

Decision

VOLITIONAL Aggressiveness

Tactfulness

Diplomacy

Ambition

LAW

Health

Vitality

PHYSICAL Endurance

Good Appearance

Observation, Alertness

Concentration, Practicality

Reason, Logic, Language

Memory, Foresight

INTELLECTUAL Knowledge of Human Nature

Accuracy, Originality

Resourcefulness

Sense of Humor

Order, System, Method, Plan

Honesty, Courage

Fighting Ability, Love of Conquest

Justice

EMOTIONAL Enthusiasm, Loyalty

Dependableness, Prudence

Optimism, Friendliness

Impartiality

Industry, Initiative

Persistence, Thoroughness

VOLITIONAL Carefulness, Patience

Tactfulness, Diplomacy

Ambition

MANUFACTURING

Health

Endurance

PHYSICAL Vitality

Activity

Skill

Keen Observation, Alertness

Practicality, Judgment

Mechanical Sense

Financial Judgment

INTELLECTUAL Foresight, Knowledge of Human Nature

Accuracy, Originality

Order, System, Method, Plan

Constructive Ability

Efficiency

Honesty, Courage

Justice, Loyalty, Co-operation

Prudence

Conservatism

EMOTIONAL Constancy

Love of Achievement

Dependableness

Optimism

Faith, Friendliness

Industry

Tactfulness

Initiative

Executive Ability

VOLITIONAL Thoroughness

Self-control

Patience

Ambition

Carefulness

Economy

MECHANICS

Health

Endurance

PHYSICAL Vitality

Activity

Skill

Keen Observation, Alertness

Practicality, Judgment

Mechanical Sense

Financial Judgment

INTELLECTUAL Foresight, Knowledge of Human Nature

Accuracy, Originality

Order, System, Method, Plan

Constructive Ability

Efficiency

Honesty, Courage

Justice, Loyalty, Co-operation

Prudence

Conservatism

EMOTIONAL Constancy

Love of Achievement

Dependableness

Optimism

Faith, Friendliness

Industry

Tactfulness

Initiative

Executive

Ability

VOLITIONAL Thoroughness

Self-control

Patience

Ambition

Carefulness

Economy

MEDICINE

Health

Endurance

Vitality

PHYSICAL Strength

Activity

Skill

Good Appearance

Keen Observation, Alertness

Criticism, Practicality, Accuracy

Common Sense

INTELLECTUAL Knowledge of Human Nature

Analysis, Logic, Language

Memory, Intuition

Imitativeness, Sense of Humor

Resourcefulness

Honesty, Courage, Sympathy

Love of People, Love of Helping

Liking for Human Bodies

EMOTIONAL Loyalty, Dependableness

Constancy, Optimism

Cheerfulness, Faith

Secretiveness, Prudence

Industry, Initiative Aggressiveness

VOLITIONAL Patience, Carefulness

Tactfulness, Diplomacy, Self-control

Calmness, Economy

MERCHANDISE

Health, Inactivity

Vitality

PHYSICAL Good Appearance

Endurance

Commercial Sense

Knowledge of Human Nature

Appreciation of Color, Form, Size

Proportion and Taste

INTELLECTUAL Memory, Practicality, Judgment

Financial Sense, Language

Foresight, Originality

Order, System, Method, Plan

Sense of Humor

Efficiency

Honesty, Justice, Kindness

Desire to Please, Friendliness

EMOTIONAL Prudence, Optimism, Cheerfulness

Enthusiasm, Self-confidence

Calmness in Emergencies, Service

Industry

Patience

Decision

Self-control

Persistence

VOLITIONAL Thoroughness

Aggressiveness

Tactfulness

Executive Ability

Ambition

Economy

MINING

Health

Strength

Energy

PHYSICAL Activity

Endurance

Skill

Coarse Texture

Keen Observation, Alertness

INTELLECTUAL Accuracy, Mathematics

Analysis, Practicality

Honesty

Courage

EMOTIONAL Prudence

Dependableness

Optimism

Industry

Decision

Initiative

VOLITIONAL Perseverance

Patience

Carefulness

Self-control

MINISTRY

Health

PHYSICAL Endurance

Vitality

Good Appearance

Thoughtfulness

Language

INTELLECTUAL Knowledge of Human Nature

Logic, Reason

Memory

Sense of Humor

Honesty, Love of Truth

Love of Humanity, Friendliness

Optimism, Cheerfulness

EMOTIONAL Hope, Faith, Courage

Contentment, Unselfishness, Sympathy

Loyalty, Enthusiasm

Earnestness

Initiative

Perseverance

VOLITIONAL Patience

Tactfulness

Self-control

Economy

MUSIC

Health

Endurance

PHYSICAL Good Appearance

Vitality

Skill

Sense of Rhythm

Sense of Tune

Knowledge of Human Nature

INTELLECTUAL Mathematics

Language

Accuracy

Originality

Love, Sympathy

Love of Beauty

Enthusiasm

EMOTIONAL Responsiveness

Courage

Ambition

Love of Applause

Industry

Perseverance

VOLITIONAL Patience

Tactfulness

Ambition

PERSONAL SERVICE

Health

PHYSICAL Neatness

Good Appearance

Endurance, Activity

Observation, Alertness

Knowledge of Human

Nature Memory, Practicality

INTELLECTUAL Foresight, Accuracy

Imitativeness

Order, System, Method, Plan

Judgment, Teachableness

Honesty, Respectfulness

Courtesy, Loyalty

EMOTIONAL Obedience, Dependableness

Prudence, Faith

Contentment, Friendliness

Desire to Please, Constancy

Industry

Patience

Perseverance

VOLITIONAL Carefulness

Self-control

Tactfulness

Economy

Punctuality

PHILOSOPHY

Health

PHYSICAL Vitality

Inactivity

Good Appearance

Reason, Logic, Analysis

Meditation, Reflection

Knowledge of Human Nature

INTELLECTUAL Memory, Originality

Order

Constructive Ability

Language

Sense of Humor

Honesty

Truthfulness

EMOTIONAL Love of Humanity

Calmness

Impartiality

Industry

VOLITIONAL Patience

Perseverance

Self-control

PLATFORM

Health

Vitality

Endurance

PHYSICAL Energy

Good Appearance

Good Voice

Good Enunciation

Memory, Logic

Language

Knowledge of Human Nature

INTELLECTUAL Foresight, Originality

Dramatic Sense

Constructive Ability

Sense of Humor

Honesty, Truthfulness

Courage, Enthusiasm

Friendliness, Love of People

EMOTIONAL Self-possession, Self-confidence

Enthusiasm, Sympathy

Faith, Optimism

Love of Applause

Ideals, Earnestness

Industry, Aggressiveness

VOLITIONAL Initiative, Diplomacy

Tact, Courtesy, Ambition

Patience, Self-control

POLITICS

Health

PHYSICAL Vitality

Endurance

Good Appearance

Keen Observation

Practical Judgment

Knowledge of Human Nature

INTELLECTUAL Memory of Names and Faces

Foresight

Constructive Ability

Sense of Humor

Language, Commercial Sense

Faithfulness to Promises

Courage, Justice

Loyalty, Obedience

EMOTIONAL Enthusiasm, Prudence

Love of Power, Faith

Optimism, Secretiveness

Love of Applause, Love of People

Friendliness

Industry, Aggressiveness

VOLITIONAL Initiative, Executive Ability

Ambition, Patience

Carefulness, Diplomacy, Courtesy, Tact

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Health

Endurance

PHYSICAL Keen Eyesight

Good Hearing

Inactivity

Keen Observation, Criticism

Analysis, Memory

INTELLECTUAL Judgment, Accuracy, Concentration

Order, System, Method, Plan

Originality

Honesty, Truthfulness

Love of Nature, Curiosity

EMOTIONAL Dependableness, Constancy

Prudence, Contentment

Earnestness

Calmness, Impartiality

Industry

Patience

Perseverance

VOLITIONAL Initiative

Carefulness

Perseverance

Economy

SELLING

Health

Vitality

Endurance

PHYSICAL Good Appearance

Neatness

Good Voice

Good Enunciation

Abundant Energy

Keen Observation

Practical Judgment

Knowledge of Human Nature

Memory, Logic

INTELLECTUAL Language

Commercial Sense

Foresight, Originality

Order, System, Method, Plan

Constructive Ability Sense of Humor

Honesty, Truthfulness

Courage, Self-confidence

Love of People, Desire to Please

EMOTIONAL Sympathy, Loyalty

Justice, Dependableness

Enthusiasm, Faith Optimism, Cheerfulness

Ideals, Earnestness

Decision, Action, Industry

VOLITIONAL Perseverance, Aggressiveness

Patience, Self-control, Carefulness

Diplomacy, Tact, Courtesy, Ambition

SOCIAL SERVICE

Health

Vitality

PHYSICAL Endurance

Activity

Good Appearance

Knowledge of Human Nature

Language, Practical Judgment

INTELLECTUAL Order, System, Method, Plan

Memory

Sense of Humor

Organizing Ability

Love of Humanity

Friendliness

Honesty, Truthfulness

EMOTIONAL Sympathy, Justice

Loyalty, Courage

Faith, Optimism, Ideals

Contentment, Earnestness

Industry, Initiative

Persistence, Patience

VOLITIONAL Self-control, Diplomacy

Courtesy, Tact

Executive Ability

Economy

SURGERY

Health, Medium Fine Texture

Endurance

PHYSICAL Skill

Activity

Good Appearance

Keen Observation, Alertness

Practicality, Judgment

Memory, Concentration

Appreciation of Form, Distance, Location

INTELLECTUAL Foresight, Accuracy

Imitativeness

Order, System, Method, Plan

Constructive Ability

Knowledge of Human Nature

Resourcefulness

Honesty, Courage

Love of Humanity

Love of Healing

EMOTIONAL Prudence, Dependableness

Constancy, Self-confidence

Optimism, Cheerfulness

Faith, Hope, Friendliness

Calmness

Industry, Decision

VOLITIONAL Thoroughness, Carefulness

Tactfulness, Self-control

Economy

STAGE

Health

Endurance

Vitality, Energy

Good Appearance

PHYSICAL Good Voice

Good Enunciation

Gracefulness

Charm

Activity

Keen Observation, Alertness

Memory, Language

Concentration

INTELLECTUAL Judgment, Foresight

Knowledge of Human Nature

Dramatic Sense

Originality, Imitativeness

Sense of Humor

Responsiveness, Courage

Sympathy, Love of Humanity

Self-confidence, Love of Applause

EMOTIONAL Enthusiasm, Faith

Optimism, Cheerfulness

Ideals, Earnestness

Love of Travel and Excitement

Friendliness

Industry, Perseverance

Initiative, Thoroughness

VOLITIONAL Patience, Carefulness

Mastery of Detail, Diplomacy

Ambition

STATISTICS

Health

PHYSICAL Endurance

Inactivity

Keen Observation, Memory

Criticism, Analysis

Mathematics

INTELLECTUAL Concentration

Accuracy

Order, System, Method, Plan

Practicality

Honesty, Truthfulness

Curiosity, Dependableness

EMOTIONAL Constancy, Prudence

Contentment

Earnestness

Industry, Perseverance

VOLITIONAL Patience, Carefulness

Self-control

Economy

THEOLOGY

Health

PHYSICAL Vitality

Good Appearance

Inactivity

Thoughtfulness

Meditation, Memory

INTELLECTUAL Language

Knowledge of Human Nature

Imitativeness

Constructive Ability

Honesty, Truthfulness

Justice, Loyalty

EMOTIONAL Love of Humanity

Love of Study

Religion, Faith

Ideals, Contentment

Industry

VOLITIONAL Perseverance

Patience

Economy

TRANSPORTATION

Health

Endurance

Vitality

Activity

PHYSICAL Energy

Good Eyesight

Good Hearing

Skill

Quickness

Agility

Keen Observation, Practicality

Alertness, Judgment

Memory, Foresight

Financial Sense

INTELLECTUAL Accuracy, Originality

Order, System, Method, Plan

Constructive Ability

Knowledge of Human Nature

Teachableness, Organizing Ability

Honesty, Courage

Love of Travel, Desire to Please

EMOTIONAL Loyalty, Obedience

Dependableness

Prudence, Optimism

Industry, Persistence

VOLITIONAL Initiative, Executive

Ability Discipline, Ambition

Economy, Punctuality

The Job, the Man, the Boss

Katherine M.H. Blackford, M.D.

and

Arthur Newcomb

The book is _scientific_, because it is organized knowledge based upon

verified facts.

It is _practical_, because it has grown out of fifteen years' experience

in advising young men and young women in the choice of their vocations;

counseling employers in choosing, placing, handling and training employees;

investigating industrial and commercial institutions for the purpose of

professional advice upon efficiency in general and increasing the

efficiency of employees in particular; in the installation, operation, and

supervision of employment departments under the _Blackford Employment

Plan_.

It is _definite_, because it recounts in detail the operation of this

Plan, reproducing all forms and blanks used.

It is _clear_, because the story is simply told and illustrated with many

reproductions of photographs.

ARE YOU AN EMPLOYER?

You will find here, fully explained, the scientific basis of

employment--the fundamental principles upon which an efficient working

force is organized. These are not mere theories but are the same

principles upon which all successful employers and managers have built.

Here is a _plan_, too, fully tested in practice, and now in use by many

firms.

Every phase of the relationship between employer and employee is treated

from the standpoint of sound theory and successful practice. These include

_analysing_ the _job_ and the _man_, _choosing executives_, the _art_ of

_handling men_, and _educating employees_.

ARE YOU AN EMPLOYEE?

You want a reliable basis for the analysis of your job, yourself, and your

boss.

You want to know whether you are the man for your job--and, if not, why

not--and what is the remedy.

You want to know why you don't get along with your boss--if you don't--and

what is the _right kind of boss for you._

ARE YOU IN DOUBT ABOUT YOUR VOCATION?

You will find here much that will be helpful to you in solving the

problem.

ARE YOU A PARENT, A TEACHER, A SOCIAL WORKER?

This book analyzes clearly the _Vocational Problem_, and suggests a

practical and effective solution.

ARE YOU A STUDENT OF HUMAN NATURE?

The Job, The Man, The Boss contains _much new material_, the result of

recent research and experimentation, NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED. This throws

light upon some of the most important phases of the science of character

analysis.

"A timely book is this volume of the Newcombs. It has been waited for by

students of management, who have recognized the need of all possible help

in placing the right man in the right job. . . . It is so rich in

suggestion that mere reading, let alone study of the book, is highly

profitable and not without its conviction that the authors have more than

an academic knowledge of the selection and placing of men in work and that

gradually we shall be evolving a science in analyzing 'human capabilities

so far as anything exact is possible in this realm."--Iron Age, July 2,

1914.

There is something--perhaps many things--of vital importance to you in

this book.

Price, bound in cloth, postpaid, $1.75.

Blackford Publishers Inc. 50 East 42 St. New York

_The Science of_ _Character Analysis_ _By the Observational Method_

KATHERINE M.H. BLACKFORD, M.D.

* * * * *

A complete course of 22 lessons.

Illustrated with hundreds of halftones from photographs.

Accompanied by charts.

Thousands of students and graduates testify to practical and monetary

benefits from use of knowledge and skill in analyzing character resulting

from study of this course.

The material in this course, together with Dr. Blackford's educational

service, is sufficient to make the student an expert judge of character.

Whether or not he becomes expert depends upon his natural ability and the

diligence with which he studies and practices. Certain it is that the

course will give any faithful student at least a better knowledge of his

fellow men.

Write for complete information.

* * * * *

Blackford Publishers Inc 50 East 42nd St. New York

[Illustration: Character Craft-The Character Analysis Game]

_The NEW Character Analysis Game_

Character Craft, prepared under the direction of Dr. Katherine M.H.

Blackford, consists of countless sections of heads, eyes, noses, mouths,

chins, etc., from which you can build anybody's picture, and by referring

to the keybook you'll see what characteristics accompany such features.

A character analysis party is a fascinating entertainment--the game is

helpful to students and constructive for children. Study and practice will

enable anybody to understand the characteristics of people they meet, and

form accurate impressions of their personalities.

Sections made of coated 8-ply bristol; packed in attractive, well-built

box, six 18 x 12 inches, with handsome cover lithographed in 8 colors.

Sent direct, charges prepaid, upon receipt of price, $2.00.

Blackford Publishers Inc. 50 East 42nd St. New York

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANALYZING CHARACTER***

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