The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-22
Helping
theBoy
Succeed.
THE MANUFACTURER.
What He Is-Facts About Him-How
Best to Become One.
BY NATHANIEL C.. FOWLER JR,

Best to Become One.
BY NATHANIEL c. FOWLER JR.
Copyright, 1903, by Nathaniel c. Fow-
Ter Jr)
He who makes something with his
own hands or by employing the hands
or others, no matter what that some
thing may be, is a manufacturer; but
manufacturers, commercially speaking,
are those who employ labor to make
commodities from the raw material, or
from material in more advanced stages,
producing a more or less finished prod
uct
The successful managing manufac-
turer, or working head of the concern,
is, and has to be, a business man; and
almost invariably he unders lands the
practice, If not the detail, of manufac-
turing. He must be, to an extent, a
composite man, possessing a dual abil-
ity, that of business management and
master of mechanics.
Occasionally one sees evidence that
mechanical proficiency is not, or does
not seem to be, a necessary require
ment; there are some successful man.
ufacturers who may be devoid of me-
chan1cal capacity; these men are bust
ness giants, long-range manipulators.
with an exceptional power of making
up their deficiencies by proxy, by en-
gag1ng those who understand what
they do not or cannot understand; but
these men are exceptions, and should
not be considered by the boy ready to
take up his life's calling.
The manufacturer is distinct from
the merchant or purely business man
in that he both makes and sells, while
the exclusively mercantile or business
man sells without making.
Technically considered, the farmer is
manufacturer, because he is a pro-
Queer, but In a mercantile sense his
business or profession is entirely dis
tinct from that of the commercial
manufacturer.
The successful merchant must know
how to buy and how to sell, to buy at
a price sufficiently below the selling
point to produce a profit, selling ex-
penses considered.
The manufacturer goes further than
this. He must first know how to buy
material; second, make something
from that material; and, third, sell the
product at a profitable price above AL
costs.
The successful manufacturer must
be more than business man and more
or less of a mechanic. He must be
proficient in organization and strong in
management that he may profitably
handle his employees.
True, the large manufacturer is not
his own superintendent Or foreman.
nor does he work at the bench; but If
he be a pronounced success, he proba-
bly, has either worked up from the shop
or has otherwise mastered every ma
terial part the manufacturing, and
knows how toshandle his workmen
partly because he knows how to do
the work himself.
The great manufacturer understands,
In a general way, at least, every de-
partment of his business, and often is
fifst-class practical workman him
self.
1t is now the rule, more than the ex-
ception, for the manufacturer to re-
fuse positions of responsibility to those
who do not understand mechanical art;
and II the manufacturers sons enter
the trade, they begin at the bottom a.
common Workmen, work up step bv
step, receiving few privileges beyond
those granted to the rank and file in
the factory.
This is as it should be.
One of the great laws of success
making prohibits one from telling 9TH
ers TO do what he cannot do himself.
and this rule, broadly interpreted.
seems to be fundamental and acceDta-
BILE.
Large manufacturers are USUALLY
wealthy, and many Of our richest men
are manufacturers, but the manufac-
y .,
quently these risks cannot be avoided.
Many a manufacturer earns a fortune
one year and loses 1t the next, but.
with all its risk, manufacturing is one
of the most stable of businesses. and
one OF the foundation stones of COM
merce.
Manufacturing is a necessity. and
the making of necessities is almost in
Var1ably safer business than the nro-@
ductlOn Of anything else.
10 become manufactures, the bow
shouid learn manufacturing. He
should begin at the bottom of the lad
der, master every round as he climbs
up, always move cautiously and care
Iuliy and never attempt to get ahead
by jumps.
A common school education is abso-
Iutely necessary; a technical education
Of the greatest value.
me graduate of an institute OF tech
hoiosy or mechanical school has far the
greater opportunity of ultimate success
The rev extra years at school are not
wasted. They are often the most profit
able years of all. True, the bow must
start three or four years behind others
OF his age who enter the factory from
me me common school, but at the end of a
EDUCATED man will surely outstrip the
others all things being equal
Eoucatlon does not make the manu-
actual experience of trade or business
gives the best grade of manufacturer. or
OF anything else, and the few great sue
cesses, who did not begin at the bottom
VINO did not receive early educational
training. offer no proof to the Contrary
L would not advise any boy to attemnt
TO learn manufacturing who has not a
mechanical bent, who is not handy with
MS hands, who has not creative mind
who does not know how to produce
something or to improve upon some
thing: II he has mechanical capacftv.
he will succeed in the ranks; and If. be-
sides this. he possesses business sagacity
and the power of handling men he viii
rise from the ranks and in time become
a superintendent, a managing mead or
the owner Of the business
l cannot too forcibly impress upon the
boy and his parents the tremendous adj
vantage of a liberal education This
education Will do one or two things:
First, 1t will show that the boy has 10
talent in the mechanical direction and If
Is worth good deal to know what one
can't do: and second, if he has the abiI-
fty, 1t will equip him to eventually occ11nv
commanding positions.
The boy may succeed without This edu-
cation, but with it the chances are double
for his rapid advancement
The graduate of a htgn-class technical
school seldom remains at the bottom He
is almost always found, a least. hallway
between the top and the bottom; very
often near the top or. ut the top
The next article of this series will he
entitled 1.-THE Teacher" and viii give
facts of V9lnn ia al INI7o