New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-01-05
Copyright. 1890: By rhe Ne'o- YORK Tribune.


copvrfqht: 1880: By The Neo York Tribune.
Why do men succeed in business, and why do
men fail, with the equal advantage of being
born Door? He would needs be wise man VINO
could satisfactorily answer this question Inc
longer one lives and the greater the opportunity
TO study the problems that surround us, the more
difficult does il appear to he to solve questions
npparentIy so simple as this. In this country
of abundant opportunity, the chance OF SUCCESS
for a business man would seem TO ne so great
that failure is almost ineXcusabIe Net inc
percentage OF failures to that OF success III d
series of years is always surprisingly large anu
Il is q most natural and interesting subject OF
inquiry why it should he so. The ORDINARY
e<ytjmate of what real business is would make IL
70 appear to consist almost solely IN supply lh7
each others wants. The vast aggregation Oh
people in the civilized world would seem 10 DO
either producing, handling, buying selling pay
inc distributing. or in some other sense employed
in the supplying OF some want IN the human
family. each thus employed being at the same
time the recipient of hike service from his icnow
beings.
The sapacitv would seem 10 be of an ordinary
character that would enable one TO buy cheap
on the one hand and to sell dear on the other'
and 10 have between these two essential operations
of trade a m lrgin sufficient TO yield llVlng ana
an eventual competence. Now, when II is realized
that the world is as old IL is, and When Ile
sciences of the rocks and the stars have reached
a point so marvellous and so accurate, as TO tell
long ages and vast distances TO precise polh''
is il not singular, in this age OF hgures, thau ue
srt has not been discovered by which the wants
of the human family could be measured why
should disaster and loss and failure be constantly
met with in this attempt TO supply these wants
Why should not the sources OF supply be so per
fectly understood or regulated 80 precisely 10
suit the demand that the excess would never
be created by which profit would be destroyed, or
loss incurred 1t would seem as if a period
had arrived in the education of the human race
when the class to whom had been committed by
the law of natural selection, the duty of trans
ferring merchandise and money from one hand TO
another would so thoroughly fathom all the
possibilities that profit would be certain and
failure impossible.
Bit such is not the case The vast commerce
of the world seems to be an utterly unregulated
quantity. Competition Is the most potent force
of the hour Whether it is trading mu>lrat
skins for food in a remote settlement, or obtain
ing on credit years supply for "A farmers fam
tly from the country store; whether 1t Is the
millions of annual sales in lobblng house IN
New-York or Chicago, or the building of thousand
m lrOdQ:
from foreign lands of cargOeS for the supply Of
known wants. or the baseeSs operations in options
or futures in purely speculative markets-all these
operations little or big, in direct competition,
bne with another, without organization, without
accuracy Of knowledge. and without certainty Of
profit in the long run. True. distinctive transac-
lions are consummated with knowledge of prices
oftentimes with an accurate acquaintance with the
extent of The supply and the probability of de-
nand and if there nothing 10 consider but
the act of buying at one price and selling al
another the business of the trader would not be so
complex as TO involve disaster and loss. Yet
simple as exchange and barter seems to be, the
laws which regulate it, the circumstances which
surround it, and the difficulties which stand IN
the way Of universal success, make the really
successful business rare as the great scholar,
the astute statesman or the most ingenious IN
Sentor.
BUSINESS THESE DAYS Is WAR.
It is true that the growth of wealth. so marked
on this continent, finds It's cXcmplliication IN
The growth of individual fortunes. But il by no
means follows that this rapidly Of accumulation
is the result of individual shrewdncss, the dis
play of a higher form Of business Sagacity than
ordinarily prevails Some men are born under
conditions that highly favor fortune; some seem
almost to be born lucky. Not a few Of the great
fortunes Of the day have come to their po>sc>sors
in spite Of themselves; some are the result Of
direct violation OF the presumed correct laws Of
commerce, while others have followed from the
irresistible development in the resources Of the
country: Others from the invention Of a useful
device, and still others from policy Of the Gov
eminent which enforces system Of taxation by
which, at the expense OF many, a great advantage
is conferred upon few. 1t viii thus be seen
that 10 define why men succeed in business is in
certain sense 10 define the circumstances il which
their lot is cast, and the favorable or adverse
conditions that surround them. The task 10 set
forth the reasons for success in individual cases
IS all the more difficult when II is often discovered
that the rich men OF many localities are not the
able men that the industrious, frugal, and cncr-
getic men are not always the most blessed with
this worlds goods; but that the least likely the
least enterprising. the least tar-seeng, are APP
parently the most successful. This circumstance,
that it is often the stupidest that is the richest,
adds interest 10 the constant inquiryWhat are the
elements Of success?
Perhaps it will always be found that some
great principle underes all successful careers,
whether SUCCESS be achieved by real ability or
btumblcd into by stupidity. Some may say, ana
with truth, that the man who keeps near TO thn
Shore has his affairs well in hand, seldom owes
much, never embarks into an enterprise without
counting It's cost--that he who observes these
Simple rules lays broad the foundations OF sue
cess. But when the youth looks abroad and SIN
giles ont the great fortunes that impress the world,
h. will find that these have been created by
policy widely different from this narrow one.
He probably thinks that if he can discover the
key by which the door was opened for the happy
posscss0rs of these vast accumuatlOns he, TOO,
may follow in their steps. But he will find that
each age, nay, almost each generation, furnishes
conditions and maNims peculiar TO itself with
the introduction Of such forces as steam, machln-
cry and electricity, the laws which prevailed
fifty years ago no longer avail. This is APPLY