The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-04-03


FEAR oF MAKING MISTAKES
The fear OF making mistakes keeps
many q young man down. OF course
errors In business are costly anditis bet
ter not TO make them. But, at the same
time, I would not give q snap Of the dne
ger for ayoung man who never makes
mistakes. But there are mistakes and
mistakes; come easy 20 be overlooked,
and others it is better not to blink at
in an employee. A mistake Of judg
ment is possible with as all; the best
Of as are not above a wrong decision.
And q young man who holds back for
fear of making mistakes loses the first
point Of ouccess.
A COLLEGE EDUCATION.
I know there are thousands Of
young men who feel themselves incom.
petent for q business career because Of
q lack Of early edu 2ationr. And here
might come in the oft mooted qIes-
ton Of the exact value of a college
education TO the young man in bust
ness. But far ADLER pens than mine
have treated of this. I will simply
say this: a young man need not feel
that the lack OF a college education
will stand In any respect whatever
in the way of his C in the bust
ness world. No college on earth eve
made q business man. The knowledge
acquired IN college has fitted thou
sands Of men for professional success,
bat is has also unified other thousands
for q practical business career. A col
lege training is never wasted, although
/ have seen sgain and again five thou
sad dollar educations spent ON five.
hundred dollar men. Where a young
man can bring a college education to
the requirements Of q practical bust
ness knowledge it is an advantage.
But before our American college, be
come an absolute factor in the bust
ness capacities Of men, their methods
Of study and learning Will have to be
radically changed. I have had asso-
ciated with me both kinds of young
men, collegiate and non collegiate,
and must confess that the ones who
had a better knowledge of the prac-
ticaI part OF life have been those who
never saw the inside of q college and
whose feet never stood upon q campus
College-0red men and men who neve
had college advantages have succeeded
in about equal ratios. Hundreds of
men occupying the most important
commercial positions in the great cities
derived their only education from con
tact with that greatest COLLEGE, Of all,
the business world. Far be it from me
to ~depreciate the value of q college edu
cation. I believe in its advantages too
firmly. But no young man need feel
hampered because of the lack Of it. If
business Qualities are in him they will
come 30 the surface. It is not the col
lege education; it is the young man.
Without its possession al great and
successes have been made as
with it. Men are not accepted in the
business world upon their collegiate
diplomas, nor on the knowledge these
imply. They are taken for what they
are, for what they know, for what hey
can do.
HONESTY THE FOUNDATION AND CAP
STONE OF sTCOEss
Whatever else he may strive to be,
%hn ~ w-h~ - ~nv--G ,G@-~ |
all, be absolutely honest. What the
business world needs to day is not men
Of brillisncy or Of supreme %cleverneEs,
but men Of common honesty and
homely integrity. From plain com.
mon honorable principles a young man
can never swelve. A temporary sue.
cess ia often possible on what are not
exactly dishonest, but shady" lines.
Slch success, however, is only tem-
porary, with q certainty of permanent
loss. The surest business successes-
yes, the only successes worth the
m~akiDR-sre built upon honest foun-
dations. There can be no blinking" al
the truth or at honesty, no half way
compromise. There is but one way to
be successful, and that is to be abso-
lutely honest; aud there ia but one
way of being honest. Honesty is not
only the foundation, but the capstone
as well, OF business success.
Let him remember that O young
mans strongest recommendation 10 his