Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-06-08
BUSINESS FAILURES.
Advice to Young Men Starting Out r


Advice to Young Men Starting Out For
Them elves.
A large number of men who ''go into
business for themselves" meet with
failure. Ain ost every business man
who is not employed in salaried posi-
ton is obliged to borrow money in or
der to carry on his business. His own
capital would in nearly every case be
too small for reasonable profit
If he is to deal in merchandise, for
instance, he expects to buy his goods
with borrowed money, and to sell them
at price so much higher as to pay back
what he borrowed and leave enough
over to give himself an income.
But should he be disappointed In his
expectations of profit, or should he fail
to find customers, he may not be able
to pay back the borrowed money. In
that case, he must ''fail," and cease to
do business until the bankruptcy law
protects him, or until he can make
private arrangements with his cred
itors
Failure in business is the greatest
dread of young men starting out for
| themselves 1t will be interesting,
therefore, to glance over some of the
| statistics of business failures recently
collected by the great mercantile agen-
cies, and see if they give any hint how
failures may be avoided.
In the year 1891, considerably more
than million men were in business
for themselves throughout the United
States
OF this number, more than twelve
thousand failed in business, and COM
parison with other recent years shows
the number to be not far from the an
nual average.
Only about one per cent, therefore,
of the men now in business for them
| selves, are likely to become bankrupt
before the year is over The proper
| ton of failures in the number who be-
| gin business in any one year, however,
| is much larger.
Most of the million men already in
business have experience, and have
| gained some degree of success. The
proportion of failures among them
every year rs extremely small; it is the
younger and untried men among whom
| bankruptcy is most extensive. No one
has right to start in business rashly
on his own account, and assume that
the chances of success are hundred to
one in his favor.
But on the other hand, if a young
man is sure of himself and understands
the business in which he is to try his
fortune, he need not be discouraged by
these figures. Careful estimates have
been made of the causes of business
failure in this country, and the results
| teach some useful lessons.
| More than one-half of the business
failures in the year were due to insult
ficient prepar alton, or insufficient
means to accomplish what was under
taken. A great many of them were
found by the Investigators TO have been
due to absolute Incompetence and un-
fitness for the business chosen.
But more still of the unsuccessful
merchants failed because they under
took too much; tried to do business on
a large scale all at once, and rather
than do safe business for small profit,
took large risks where wealth would
perhaps have come had their plans sue
ceeded, but where bankruptcy was
certain if they did not.
1t is important to observe exactly
what this means. These are results
gathered from thousands of different
quarters, and they all agree in one
point. Personal unfitness for the bust
ness chosen, and ambition to make
money too rashly and too fast, are the
occasion of more business failures than
fin ancial panics, excessive competition,
unlucky business relations, and all
other causes combined.
The lessons of these plain statistics
to the young man starting out in
business for himself are:. If he wishes
to win permanent success, let him first
be sure that he is fitted and properly
trained for the business which he is
undertaking, and second, let him be
willing to move slowly, and trust that
greater success will come with time
and experience. youths Companion.