The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1906-06-28
Copyright. 1905. BY NathI C. Fowler, Jr.>

tempting to give the reader the facts
about leading trades, businesses, and
professions, and to handle these facts
without gloves. l do not propose to
deny that dishonesty, provided 1t
keeps within the law, often succeeds
financially, but it never made a sue
cessful man; for although he may
count his wealth by millions, he is
o worthy of the name of "a unless
he obtained honestly what he has.
The successful storekeeper develops
from the natural boy trader. This boy
instinctively puts a value upon every
thing he has, and when he gets some
thing which he does. not particularly
want, he looks around for an oDpor-
tunity to legitimately get rid Of it.
He Is continually trading, and is sat
isfed with a reasonable profit. He is
in the stores more or less, not as a
loafer, but as a watcher. He instinc-
lively appraises everything, that is,
he seems to have set a value of his
own on almost everything he sees.
While many a successful storekeeper
has not shown these characteristics
as a boy, the chances are that he ex-
pressed a distinct preference for
bookkeeping when finishing school
and ready for work. If a boy exhibits
trading instincts more than he shows
any other characteristics, opportunity
should be given him for their develop
ment. He sould be allowed to buy his
own clothes and other things, or to
have a voice in their purchase, long
before he Is out of his teens. Re-
sponsibility should be thrown upon
him. so that he may come in contact
with trading in general.
As to Education.
A common school education is abso-
lutely essential, and the boy should
graduate from a high school, is pos
sible. ,
A college education will do no harm.
Such a training is likely to do him
lasting good, but it can hardly be
considered necessary.
The storekeeper is not likely to be-
come a rich man, but he is reasonably
sure of a comfortable living, and
probably the average storekeeper is
better off than is the average mer-
chant or manufacturer, who, with all
his wealth, is living over a mine of
uncertainty. Bookkeeping is often
the stepping-stone to greater Things.
The s~torekeeper lives. a contented life
at the minimum Of worry.
Financial success is not so much a
question of income, as it Is the diff
ference between income and expendi-
ture. The storekeeper in a progressive
country center, earning a few thou
sand dollars a year, is often far bet
ter off, financially, than is the pro-
prietor Of a great city establishment.
A desire to do well, and to live COM
fortably, is to be encouraged; but this
struggle to reach beyond the line Of
comfort, and to be master Of more
wealth than anyone can intelligently
handle, is detrimental to the spirit Of
progress. The mans business should
not be his chief end in life. It should
simply be a means to an end. He must
work, and he must work to live, but
when he has realized a reasonably
permanent and comfortable income, it
Is time for him to be Of some service
to his community.
Good Citizen Valued.
The world never forgets the good
citizen. The world Immediately for
gets the man of money only. Go
| thrnruh n,r sEyyhn1o UYh0 H. ---s
ca" and other books Of men of mark,
and not one-tenth of one per cent. Of
those registered as worthy OF having
their names printed there are men
who are known for their money.
Bookkeeping should be encouraged.
We need more small stores and fewer
big ones. We need more men in BUSH
ness for themselves and masters of
themselves. We need fewer salaried
men and wage earners, and more men
who, although at the head Of their
business, do a part of the direct work
themselves.
do not believe there is any other
calling so good and so beneficial to
the people at large as plain, every
day, storekeeping, chiefly because it
gives broad opportunity to ordinary
men, and ordinary men are in the
vast majority. The calling Of the
storekeeper, then, is along the lines
OF progression, and I would advise
every boy. whether he be of the city
or Of the country, who does not have
a pronounced love and a recognizable
ability for som professional calling.
to seriously consider becoming a store
keeper and adding himself to the
ranks of common responsibility.
Successful Mans Opinion.
Mr.. Augustus Bacon, member Of the
firm Of w. & A. Bacon, of Boston, in
a letter to the author, says:
"The storekeeper as before him a
Ior0ar opd hroador fold thon 4,