The San Francisco call., 1905-08-07
BUSINESS MEN
SUPERSTITIOUS
! INETY- NINE men out of hun
u dred get mad, or scoff loudly. if


n INETY-NINE men out of hun
M dred get mad, or scoff loudly. if
they are accused of being supersti-
tious--yet just as surely ninety
min out of every 100 are superstitieus-
ard | suspect the other fellow says Har-
vey Coates in the Chicago Tribune
1t is remarkable how little supersti-
tiolH, little tricks which men believe
bring them luck or good fortune, per-
meate the business world. 1t is my bust
ness to call upon business n1en-not heads
of departments, but the heads of firms
{themselyes-and | have, during the last
four or five years, since the matter was
called to my attention by an obServant
man in whom / did not discover some
little trick or some superstitieus belief in
some ordinary or extraorIinary fetish.
| confess that this has almost destroyed
my belief that the dried up buckeye
which l carry in my left hand trousers
pocket will cure Srheumatsn-or ward it
eff-and know it has in my case, for
have carried that buckeye for twcHty-siX
years and never felt a twinse of rheuina-
tisnl.
LUCKY cRoss ON CONTRACT.
One Of my best customers, head of a
big department store. never will sign
contract Until after he has placed small
cross of ink down in the lower left-hand
corner. learned this one day when he
signed a contract for some work-and |
started toward the elevator congratlilat-
ing myself on closing big deal. While
was waiting at the elevator he came
rushing from hts office:
Hey. come back" he called. l went
hack,
-We'll have to make out new con-
| tract, he explained.
whats the trouble?" l asked anx-
| iousiy.
Il forgot to put my lucky. cross on that
before l signed it, he responded seri-
ousiy.
I'm sorry to delay you. But it might
be bad luck tp break the habit.
Another friend of mine, a wholesaler in
the clothing line. well known in the whole
sale district. insists that two crossed red
| threads be sewed into the right arm of
erery'coat he sends out of his establish
ment wondered at tina, for long
time, and finally asked about It. lie told
me that oricewhen he was threatened
with ruin, q gypsy fortune teller told
him that II he sewed two red silk
threads in cross shape into the right arm
of each garment they would seli-and he
vows that from the minute he tried II he
began to pick UP business.
.'Of course. l. don't believe in IT,. he
said But, still. what's the use of taxi
ing any chances? And, besides, It's coed
mark"
WEARS MIsMATED SHOES.
One of my friends In the Board of
Trade district-rone OF the biggest trad
ers In the wheat pit-never undertakes
an important deal until he puts on shoes
that are not mates. ] have seen him go
into the pit with one natent-leather shoe
81, far II1Ck NJ
day that he made his first big stroke
that established his fortune he happened
to be wearing fnsmated shoes. There is
another friend of mine who believes that
ne cannot do anything successfully un-
less he wears a red necktie. and | have
another one who never wears nat tnat
hts him. He insists on buying hats size
too large and then putting In felt hllers-
Just for luck.
There is a mar in Chicago-who en-
ploys hundreds of men and Is rated Il
milIionaire-who never sees 4 white
horse without splitting over the little
/ finger of his right hand TO ward off bad
/ luck Another man. a merchant prince
| he is called always carries bit of soft
! brown sandstone in his pocket. He
| lives up my way on the north shore. He
usually comes downtown betweenrS s and
! 9 O'clock i'm the morning-1nd seldom
leave before 1880. I was surprised one
morning to meet Him at "a late train
and inquired the reason.
Il had to come back and get my
stone" he sa lid.
IT'S my luck stone" he explained.
Il have carried 1t ever since l was
boy and it brings me luck every time.
I have an important deal on to-day and
I came away and forgot il, leaving it in
| the pocket of another pair of trousers"
ONLY FAT sTENoGRAPHERS.
Most of these things. when | come
| to trace them back, | find are the re-
suits of early experiences in business.
There is n big corporation president
| will not have any stenographer in his
office who is not fat. He doesn't want
plump ones, he wants girls who would
make advertisements for fat producing
! medicines. No matter how old, or ugly,
! or incompetent stenographer may be.
! IL she is-fat>-she can get a-job there.
and II is all the result of the fact that
fat stenographer gave him valuable
| business hint early in his career.
[ know seven men who use rabbits
| feet two who smear the caui OF a coon
| on the edge of their desk biotters, and
three who turn up their left treuser
| leg before admitting an important busi-
ness caller
But one. OF the aueerest fancies is
| that of n big corporation lawyer with
! whom l have business dealings He
| will not attempt TO write brief or n
petition ar anything important unloss,
| at some time during the writing. he
! plucks a hair from his head puts it in
/ the ink and makes blot oh, the paper.
I saw him do it twice and inquired the
i cause He confessed, rather shame
I facedly, that one time when he was a
struggling: young lawyer his pen
caught in hair and blotted the paper,