Morning journal and courier., 1886-04-30
Dry Rot i'm mauuTacturtng Conee


 To what may be attributed the decline and final disappearance as active competi- tors for trade of manufacturing houses once great and apparently as we'll situated to lead now as they ever were. This question has been asked us many times and in many ways. The answer may depend upon cir cumstances peculiar. to each case considered, but certain broad generalizations are sug- gested by the inquiry which may be found to contain food for thought. In our judg- ment, the trouble with declining houses is generally that which an engineer would be likely to experience in an attempt to main tain his steam pressure without fresh fuel when that in the dre-box is in great part consumed. The history of a successful man. ufacturing concern is usually about as fol lows: Whatever the conditions attending it's establishment, it is generally characterized by enterprise and energy of management. To realize the expectations which led to its organization, it must push vigorously for 2 leading place in the trade. Those who have put money in it have their capital at stake those who enter without capital must make their services valuable and acquire a comps-
 
 maximum efficiency. Success is always stim ulating, and the greater the measure of sue cess secured during the first few years of its life, the mora enterprising such a house is likely to be- The managers are u1 der Con stant tension. They must keep ahead at any cost, and they do it.
 Fifteen or twenty years later very differ ent set of conditions obtain. The men who conduct the business are older and naturally less energetic. Probably they have become conservative. Having made money they art no longer under the necessity of pushing fol every advantage offered. Their attention ii distracted by various interests which claim their time and thought. They have invest ments in various forms, and are likely to ba | directors of banks and financial companies Perhaps they have become interested in pol itics, and have assumed more or less impor 1 tant and honorable public responsibilities The social claims upon their time more imperative than they used to be. Perhaps their health is not robust it once was, and the temptation to winter in Europe or Florida or Cuba is irresistible. Meanwhile their business runs along very well. It still feels the impetus of the years of it's develop ment. It pays good dividends and seems to be well established and prosperous. But it no longer leads. Younger and more enter prising houses have pushed to the front, and are skimming the cream of the trade. It is evident that this cannot go on for many years without marked retrogression on the part of the house which is being left behind. Under these circumstances it is difficult for 8 man who has grown rich in She business to realize that he is no longer able ts adapt him. self to conditions which are always chang ing He is apt to exaggerate the value of his experience, forgetting that half of it repre- sents acquired habits, and that good part of the other half is knowledge which is worth comparatively little at the present time. He is rarely able to recognize the evidences of dry rot in his business which others see 80 clearly, and he attributes the gradual retro gression of his concern from a first te a sec- ond or third place to various external caus- es which have no more to do with it than the procession of equinoxes. The fact is, he and his associates have lost their grip They are able to follow, but not to lead. and in a very few years they are likely to find that very little remains of their once prosperous and lucrative business.
 The only remedy for this is the one of all others most difficult to apply, involving 8 confession which business mon are wiIIins to make. It is to bring into the business new blood-young men of intelligence and iudg. ment, who have the same incentive to energy and enterprise which inspired those who founded the business and made it great Sometimes this can be done by advsncing to positions of responsible management young