Arizona republican., 1905-01-27
Why Men Fall In Business.

Tn an exhaustive statistical article on the business failures of the year 1904 in the United States Bradstreet's s furnishes some highly interesting in formation as to why men fail in busi- ness. The conclusions reached are not based on hastily formed assumptions, but are the result of painstaking in Nestigation, running through many years, by the Bradstreet commercial agency.
 It is pointed out that in the very beginning of this branch of statistical inquiry the fact was clearly developed that while ultimate responsibility for business success or failure has been and is traceable largely to the individ- ual himself, nevertheless the play of circumstances, environment and excep- tional conditions or occurrences, ren- der it unjust to assign full responsibil- ity for business success or failure to causes inherent in or part of the ven turer on the sea of commercial life. While confirming in a general way the statement that a man is "the architect of his own fortune" Bradstreet's re- searches brought out proof that the entire blame for his undoing did not rest with the individual himself. Those who have followed this line of inquiry, as revealed by the investigations, are, of course, familiar with the classihca- tions adopted; but for the benefit of the large and constantly growing class of business men and others who are yearly becoming interested therein, it might be stated that the causes of fail ure embarrassment have been classed under eleven separate and distinct heads, which ara in turn condensed into two general classifications. Un- der the first are found the causes tFaceabIe directly to those failing; un- der the other are grouped the causes over which the suspending trader fails to exercise absolute control:
 A.-Due to Faults of Those Failing.
 CD Incompetence Irrespective of other causes).
 @ Inexperience (without other in competence).
 C3) Lack of capital
 (D Unwise granting of credits.
 C5) Speculation (outside regular business).
 (6) Neglect of business (due to. doubtful habits).
 CD Personal extravaganza.
 (S) Fraudulent disposition of prop erty.
 R.-Not Due to Faults of Those Failing.
 (9) Specific conditions Cdisaster. etc).
 GO) Failure of others Cor apparent ly solvent debtors).
 CID Special or undue competition
 Eight of these causes of failure seem to proceed or depend upon the individ- ual himself, while those placed in the second classification are largely be- yond his control While the percent ages placed under these eleven causes naturally vary with the years, the con stancy of statistics seems to be Le3ti- fled to by the fact that about tnrce- fourths of all failures have their uri- gin in the individual himself, the re- maining fourth being attributed 10 out side or extraneOUs circumstances. Thus eight causes, embracing I'll per cent Of all failures, are credited to :he in diyiduaI himself for 1904, while three causes, embracing 22.9 per cent of the failures, were classed as beyonI 1is control. These percentages were not unlike those of 1905 when 77.9 per cent was attributed to the individual him. self and 22.1 to outside occurrences. Ir 1902 76 per cent and in 1901 76.7 per cent of the failures were assigned to