Fergus County Democrat., 1906-01-23


if for any reason he should be long IN
the position the more serious indlsposi-
ton to try to live the spirit down oe-
veloos.
AT one time, not SO many years ago.
young man or woman leaving
place of employment anywhere asheo
for a letter Of recommendation 10
Whom it may concern He got this
for the reason that he was expected
to produce the paper as moral ana
business clearance from the place OF
his employment If the person was
going to certain city where his old
employer was known the employer
might offer a letter Of personal intro
duction to another employer there
Perhaps in the beginning these let
ters of introduction were servlceable
in double sense. For some good rea-
son an employe was leaving and the
former employer, having friendship
for another in the distant place, wish
ed to bring employe and employer to-
gether for their mutual benefit. But
like many another logical and good
thing, these letters became perverted.
Employers, finding an employe wholly
incapable, yet without the stamina to
refuse the requested letter of recon-
| mendation to some one else, turned
him out under false pretenses Today
the stereotyped letter recommending a
| person to a place may be taken as
| half confessed weakness on the part
of the person presenting it.
In the worlds work under present
| conditions mans time is bought just
as iron, or steel, or sugar is bought.
The best quality of brain or Drawn for
| the least money rules the employer OF
men, as it rules the consumer of COM
modities. A man would not luy steel
out of sympathy for manufacturer
who had blindly overstocKad with it.
Why should he buy an employees time
else? Why should he pay more for
the time Of a man Just because the
man had more time than he knew
what to do with?
1t is the weakling everywhere who
is being crowded to the wall Once it
might have been thought that the es-
tablshment Of civilized law and order
had done away with the cruel law of
the surviving fittest But it is net so.
The man weakling may be longer dy-
ing now than he might have been 1000
years ago, but he dies just as surely
as ever he did. The poorhouse, the
asylum, the homes of many orders are
panaceas which stay the final dissolu-
ton, but they are inadequate and al
ways will be. The waakling may find
his grudging place in some asylum
but his chances in the field of busi-
ness are fewer year after year.
When a personal sympathy has been
factor in making place for the weak.
, ling in the business world it has been
demonstrated as a certainty that the
person leans upon the fact. Weak.
< ling that he is in the beginning, he i.
weaker because of his support, and h,
' may be expected to become weaker tt
, the end. Personally he begins to show
r marks of his patronage. He is a fig
: ure marked among his capable fel
S lows and as such he becomes obnox
. lous to the eye of the employer VIII,
h may have been misled into holdin,
+ him UP.
g AS emphasizing the widespread dis
: tinction between sympathy and mod
u ern business it is observable that tn
p charities of the successful are directe,
: toward sociological conditions rathe
e than toward Individual needs. The es
S tablishment which may not have room
It for one weakling at $500 a year ma
n give it's $4,000 year to charities an
II feel satisfied. The weaklings in tn
d place at sympathetic" salaries easil
n might have absorbed this sum and tn
world been none the better or wiser.
W Out of this necessity for business t
r draw the line at sympathy it has com
1T about that outside personal influences
" unless of strong political nature, al
J. detrimental to the young man seekin
IN his place in the world. His letter {
recommendation must be in his fec
he and his bearing. These readings,
ID they appear to the employer, must
1T based in character an indiv;du;
er worth. With a knowledge of his worl
1t or for mental capacity for quickl
grasping the conditions of his worl
the young man carries his worth wit
him and may not hide it from the ma
Y of the world schooled in bushes
~ needs. But when the employer come