Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-11-12
WHY BUSINESS MEN FAIL.

Let me 6 i've your readers, says CORES
pOndent OF the United States Economist,
the benefit of the replies l have received
from the leading men of our country to
the question, 'What, in your observation,
have been the chief causes of the numer.
Gus failures in life of business and pro
fessional menu
'GovernorSt. John answers: 'Idlencss
intemperance." Alexander H. Stephens
and truth" Hon. Darwin II. jams an
swers: incorrect views of the great end
and aim of life. Men are not contentcd
to live plain lives of integrity and up
rightness. They want to go ahead too
fast, and are led into temptation" Presi-
dent Bartlett, of Dartmouth College,
names as causes of failure: LACK of
principle, of fixed purpose, of persever-
ance.' President Eliot, of Harvard re.
plies: stupidity, laziness, rashness and
dishonesty" DR.. II. NJ. Dexter, of the
Congregati0nalist, answers: Il. Want of
thoroughness of preparation. 2. Want
OF tiXedness of purpose. g. Want of faith
IN the inevitable triumph Of right and
truth Anthony Comstock's answers
are: ,Unholy living and dishonest prac-
yond ones means" Mr. H. E. Simmons.
of the American Tract Society, replies:
Fast living, mental, spiritual, and
bodily; lack of attention to the details of
business. General O. Howard answers
in substance: Breaking the divine laws
of the body by vice, those of the mind by
overWork and idleness, and those of the
heart by making an idol Of self" Pro
.fcssor Homer B. Sprague, of Boston, an
swcrs: Il. III health. 2 Mistake in the
choice of employment. 3. Lack of per-
sistent and protracted effort. 4. A low
ideal, making success to consist in per-
sonal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, rather than in the
training and development of true and
noble character" DR.. Lyman Abbott
answers: The combined spirit of lazi.
ness and self-conceit that makes a man
unwilling to do anything unless he can
Tenney, of Brooklyn, replies: "Outside
of intemperance, failure to grasp and
! hold scattering too much, want of in
tegrity and promptness, unwillingness to
achieve success by earning it in the old
fashioned way" The attorney general
of peighboring state replies: Giving
beyond income, and specializing with
borrowed funds; unwillingncss to begin
at the foot of the ladder and work up
Young men want to be masters at the
start, and assume to know before they
have learned. And another reason in
the same line: Desiring the success that
another has, without being willing to
work as that man does. Giving money
making a first place and right-doing a
second place."
Judge Tourgee, author of "a Fools
Erraud." considers the frequent cause Of
business collapse to be: Trying to carry
too big a load" AS to others he says:
Il don't know about a professional man 8
failing, If he works, keeps sober, and
sleeps at home. Lawyers, ministers and
doctors live On the sins of the people,
and of course, grow fat under reasonable
exertion. unless the competition is too
great. 1t requires real genius to fail in
either of these walks of life." Hon.
Joseph Medill. ex-mayor of Chicago, an
swers: Liquor drinking, gambling,
reckless speculation, dishonesty, tricky
conduct, cheating, idleness, Sinking hard
work, frivolous reading, lack of man
prove opportunities.
Among the causes of failure given by
my correspondents many may he CLASH
, fed under the general fault Of wavering
such as 'wavering purpose" mon stick
E to-it-iveness, failure to grasp and hold,
l scattering too much" trying to do too
!, many things, rather than stick to the ont
1 thing one knows most about" A yount
: man spends seven years in grocery
: store, and when he has just learned tn
business he concludes to go into dr.
d goods. By failing to choose that first b
has thrown away seven years experience
s Probably, after learning the dry good
y business, he will conclude to become
;; matchmaker, and at last becomes lack
IL at-all-trades," good at none. A promi
s nent merchant says: ttNearly all failure
in legitimate business come from no
serving an apprenticeship TO it," that is
n from leaving business one knows fo
Y another which he does not understand.
n Another cause of failure is the dispt
u sition to escape hard work, and get ric
If in desiring the success anothe
man has, without being willing to wor
v as that man does, and begin, as he did, {
@ the foot of the ladder" How many VIII
d were in haste to get rich, to reap witho,
" patient industry in sowing, have learne
e the truth of the old proverb: THE MOI
a haste, the worse speed!
ID Avoid the harsh, irritating, gripiu
le compounds so often sold as purging med
le cines, and correct the irregularities
st the bowels by the use of Ayers Cathart
II Pills, which are mild and gentle, "