The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-01
BUSINESS ABILITY IS NOT
 A QUESTION OF SEX. 5 So SayC Lucia F.. Blount BuCinecr Woman.

men with my first deposit. It Is the first step that costs and I found everything easier than I had supposed. Soon I be- gan to wish to make investments and took some of my own earnings and put them into real estate.'' +
 Mrs. Blount found her real estate n- vestment was solid" Oh, yes; so solid that 1t took her fourteen years to get rid of it. and then she could only do so by trading the land for gas and electric stock.
 T find that real estate Is the easiest thing to buy and the hardest to sell of anything on the market she says. "One must always be able to hold ones breath until the property is in demand, and one sometimes gets black in the face for lack of a breath. There are people who make great. deal of money in cal estate, but its not my metier
 From one experience 1 had in the be- ginning of my business career I learned two very important lessons. The first was an item of legal information, the second was that we never really incor- porate any bit of knowledge until We learn 1t by experience. had loaned some land. At that time I was not really at tending to all the details myself One day my husband sat reading the list of delinquent taxpayers. He exclaimed sud denly: Hello! Blank hasn't paid his taxes. Well how does that affect me? I asked He laughed. If he doesn't pay his taxes, the property is sold. The taxes are the first lien, and you come in sec ond. began to wake up. What can do? I said. You must pay the tax which did. I might have been told what the law was dozen times and it would have made very little impression on me- but one case of my own fixed 1t in my mind forever. It showed me the import ance of every human being not an idiot looking after his or her own business"
 quote Mrs. Blount's words at some length, because they are words of gold for other women. She says further:
 Tt Is wonderful help for woman to have a father or a husband to go to for advice and guidance. but there comes a time when the lessons must be put into practice entirely Independent of relative or friend"
 Mrs. Blount lays down this as a fixed principle: Business ability is not a question of sex She has proved its truth bravely. For half a year at a time she has more than once had full charge or her husbands financial interests. which are large and diversified, and each ume she discharged the trust loyally She has made investments of her own and been as successful as the shrewdest man. She owns at present considerable mining stock. Do you know how she bought it? She went in person to Mexico three times to investigate certain mines ana satlsfy herself in regard to them Then she took stock in them and advised other women to do the same
 Tn one or those companies Mrs. Blount herself Is directer. She desires women especially to acquaint themselves with commercial affairs and to prove their tit ness to be intrusted with the mana cement of such affairs. She wants them to he come presidents and directors of corpor- ations. She says:
 There is no joy equal to using to the full every talent the Master has given l was both surprised and amused to see how easy most business transactions are when once you know how. In Arizona women are managing mines of their own which they have discovered and exploited In the Western States the prejudice against women as directors and officers in companies is very slight, if it exists at all. Money talks. Every woman who earns and saves her first Sl 900 and in- vests it .judiciously. not tlmldly, and re- lies on her own Judgment. not whining when she loses or blaming some man for her unfortunate ventures will by just SO much advance the cause of her sex Nv personal experience is that men are the finest kinds of comrades and friends. 7"
 Elizabeth Lee.