Arizona republican., 1906-03-04
By Nath'I c. Fowler, Jr

Author of "Thc Bo.--How to Help Him Succeed" Building Business Dollars and Sense" "Fowlers Cy- cIopedia of Publicity and Printing" Practical Publicity "GumPtion,' etc Copyright 1906, Nath1 c. Fowler. Jr. He who makes something with his hands. or @v ,mploS ing tnc hands of others. no matter what that something is, ls a manufacturer But the manu- ufacturer. commercially considered, is one who employs labor for the making of commodities ont of raw or crude material, or from material in more ad- vanced stages. producing a more or less finished product
 The successful managing manufact- urer. or working head of a concern, Is a business man. who. in conjunction with his knowledge of business and his trade training. understands the prac tice. if not the detail, of manufactur- ing.
 The manufacturer is pre-eminently a compOsitite man, possessing a dual ability that of business management and the mastery of mechanics or a di rect familiarity with the process of manufacturing.
 Occasionally one sees evidence that mechanical proficiency is not, or does not seem to be. an essential require ment for success. There are some sue cessful manufacturers who are appar- enty devoid of mechanical capacity and who do not appear to be able to comprehend anything of a mechanical nature. These naen, although at the heads of manufacturing businesses, are not true manufacturers. They are business giants, long range manipula tors, with the exceptional power of making up their deficiencies by proxy. by enga ging those who understand what they do not or what they cannot comprehend. They are too much tn ? exception to be the occasion for gen. eral consideration.
 The manufacturer is distinct from the merchant, or purely business man. in that he both makes and sells The exclusively mercantile or business man sells without making Technically con sidered. the farmer is a manufacturer, because he is a producer; but in a mercantile sense, the farmers busi- ness, profession, or trade. as yOu choose to title it. is distinctly different from that of the commercial manu- facturer. who makes something. but does not raise something out of the earth itself
 The successful merchant must know how 10 buy and how to sell. to buy at a price sufficietIy below the selling point to produce profit. The manu- facturer goes further than this. He must know how to buy material; and, second, make something from the ma terial; and third, sell the finished pro- ductiOn at a profitable price above all costs.
 The successful manufacturer, then. is more than a business man, for he combines with his buying and selling knowledge of the methods of prOduc- tion. Like the business man, he must be proficient in organization and able in management; otherwise he cannot prOftably handles his employees upon whom he is dependent. True, a large manufacturer is not, and should not be, his own superintendent or foreman, nor does he work at the bench; but if he is a pronounced success. he prob ably has either come up from the shop Or has otherwise mastered every ma teriaI detail of manufacturing, He knows how to properly handle his wOrkmen, because he can do the work mems work himself.
 The great manufacturer understands in a general way. at least. every de partment of his business, and often is q frst-class skilled workman. It is now the rule more than the exception. fol the manufacturer to refuse positions of responsibility to those who do not understand mechanical art and are un- familiar with factory detail
 If the manufacturers son enters the trade, he often begins at the bottom a; q common workman, and works III step by step, receiving few privileges beyond those granted to the rank ant file in the factory. This is as it should be.
 One of the great laws of success making prohibits one from telling others to do what he cannot do him. self; and this principle broadly inter. preted seems to be fundamentally ana commercially acceptable.
 Large manufacturers are usually wealthy, and many of our richest mei are manufacturers.
 Manufacturing is one of the best anC safest of businesses, although the man ufacturer occasionally takes heav, risks, which cannot be avoided. Not withstanding the fact that a manufac turer can earn 9 fortune in a year and lose it in the next, manufacturinj is one of the most stable of commer ciaI institutions. and is recognized a
 
 merce
 If the boy hopes some day to be manufacturer, he should begin b. learning manufacturing. He shoul start at the bottom of the ladder am master every round as he climbs up ward, always moving cautiously an carefully, and not attempting to forg ahead by jumps. Unless he begins a the bottom and works at the bencI or machine. he will not be properl equipped to master management.
 An important part of a manufactur CTS work is not only the directorshi of the making of finished product from raw material, but the handling c his employees, one of the most diff cult problems and which tries tn nerve of our strongest and best equip ped men. Unless the manufacture has actually worked with the men. un less he knows from experience the de tails of manufacture he is at 2 dis