The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-05-08


in the last issue of the Saturday
Evening Post. entitled. why Young
Men should Begin at he Bottom and
written by Charles A. Schieren. former
mayor of Brooklyn. y. Y. He relates
an instance where two young men
took up the large manufacturing bust
ness of their deceased father. without
previous training, and pushed it on tn
- decided success, and then gives the
following sound argument:
A College Training and Its High
Value.
"'rhc thing that undoubtedly helped
the young men in the case | mention
was the fact that they received d
thorough college training. know
that Mr. Carnegie and ether distin-
guiShcd men who have Deen self-mnde
have gone on record as against II col
lcsc training for a business man. MY
own experience does not bear out this
conclusion. ] believe that nothing so
well cruirs Il young man for Il sue
,esstul business career either as a
manufacturer or a merchant, or both.
as does Il complete college course. 1T.
in addition, he has had special pro-
fcssiona and technical training. so
much the better. The college graduate
lnses four or five years of actual eN-
poricnce. but he soon makes up for
this if he is made of the right metal.
"Of course. / am now speaking of
The right sort of young men. not the
dandy whose college training has
given him an exalted opinion of him
self. ! am speaking of the college
graduate who is willing to begin where
the ordinary apprentice began: who is
willing. if he is going into the leather
business. to scrape hides. and if he is
going into the counting room. to do
The work of an office boy. In one
veal such a young man will learn as
much about the business as the ordi-
nary boy, unequpped with college
education, will learn in three. He
comes to the business with Il disci-
plincd mind. and with a taste for re-
search and investigation which mean
everything in modern business. 1t is
not too much to say that the college
trained man is equipped with forces
that enable him inevitably to outstrip
those Of his competitors who have not
had his advantages.
Make a Sacrifice. if Necessary.
"reople who think otherwise are
misled. | believe. by taking as the
90 basis of their deduction the conditions
rs they We're and not as they are
l'nucr the old business methods. when
our system was as crude as cur ma
chin"ry. it made no particular differ
onrr whether or not a man had such
training as is required inAcOllege. 1t
was more question of industry.
Willingness to work long hours and to
dispense with ordinary social recrea-
tions. To-day. business is Il science,
and the scientifcally-eu equipped man is
the one who will succeed. A boy is
justified in making any sort of reason
able sacrifice to go through college. lie
will get Il foundation on which. if he
is The right kind. he is certain to
zeal Il substantial business success.
''Only recently | had in my own
business an illustration that bears out
ghls conclusion. In all our depart
meuts we try To be thoroughly mod
"rn and up-to-date. because we know
hat that is essential to contiued pros
pcrity and success. My greatest fear
is that ] shall become old-fashioned,
that | shall fail to keep pace with the
rapid advance of modern improve
'''iiNN. 'iIIti am lillpItSS-
ing upon my people the importance of
pointing out to me any indication that
! am slipping behind. Improvement IA
so rapid that machinery that is of the
highest type today may he antiurated
in six months. and it then becomes
the duty of Il progressive business man
10 throw ii ont and replace it with
the modern appliances. 1t is "A costly
frs,t ~,
new machinery soon pays for itself in
larger and better product. Hold
ing such views. it is conceivable that
our appliances are us modern as any.
The Lesson Taught by Young Man
ut was young man fresh from
college who taught us otherwise at
least in one particular He was en-
ploycd by MS in one of our main tan
neries. This institution was in charge
of IA man who was competent. bright
energetic and, SO far as any of us In
the trade knew, thoroughly up-to- date
The college graduate was nut to work
in the watts, scrapng hides'-and doing
other manual labor necessary to the
education of "A good tanner, He had
not been nj work many months when,
thanks to his training, he suggested
"n Improvement that saved many
thousands of dollars, We had on our
premises IA deep-well system that sup
nied the works with water pumped
from Il depth uf seven hundred feet.
The pump broke one day, as il had
don, before, and stopped the works.
The young man pointed out that an air
pump was much more reliable, much
more effective, much more economi-
cal His knowledge enabled him to
prove 10 uS his conclusions The air
pump WAS put in. Then he suggested
that the same system might be utilized
in other directions and do away with
hall dozen small steam pumps that
handled the tanning liquids; we could
make the one air pump do the work OF
all, he said, by an inexpensive system
Of piping. Such economies are inval-
uable To a manufacturing concern, and
we are all striving after them. He
also suggested the establishment of n
laboratory fur the treatment of the
spent bark-thaJ is, the bark that had
been used up, according to the tanning
standards that had always prevailed.
His course in chemistry enabled him To
make tests of this spent bark which
showed that the most improved pro-
cesses that had been employed up To
This time Still left large percentage
OF tannic acid, We erected labora-
tnry, according to his suggestions, and
now We save this percentage and use
up all the acid in the bark.
That young man has a career he
yond a peradventure lie has realized
IN the 9Nnpnsa Of bis 1nllaoa .,i,,oo