The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-18

wise announced that no man over 40 years of age would be taken into their employ.
 What we want is men who do things, and they must be young" said they. Young men with ideas are the kind of men we want; it may not be humane, but it's business. Out with the old and slow, bring in the young pushing and aggressive. Business is business"
 The craze for the "boy wonder in business was at its height. Young men were in demand, and it seemed the younger the better. Instead of staid serious minded men of the early forties sitting in the chairs of depart ment managers, superintendents, even general managers positions. there were young, almost boyish, men, new to the work, new to the firm, but full of push, ideas, aggressiveness, and up-to-dateness.
 The personnel of the big offices of the country changed In a way to .startle the thoughtful observer. Where before the higher positions were almost exclusively held by men of mature age, the position became reversed. The old men in responsible places were superseded by the young. One by one the positions which were regarded as being consecrated to the occupancy of men of years of experi- e1lce and servitude were assaulted and captured by the newer, pushing gen eration. One by one the old timers in the of fees, the men who had been almost fixtures, as indispensable as the name of the firm itself were crowded out literally crowded out by the young men, and by the disposition of the powers that were to give the young man preference, no matter what was to be said in the older mans favor. Young men became the bosses; old l men had to be content to accept and hold positions as clerks, bookkeepers, or in any other minor capacity where their age was not looked upon as a direct handicap to the progress of | the firm.
 The boy wonder in business had arrived. The motto of the industrial world became: No business should be without him.
 The old man was all right in the days of gas light and steam power, reasoned tine men who control and determine what the personnel of the great pay rolls of the country should look like. But this Is the age of cleo tricity and wireless telegraphy; the age of dizzying speed, of flashing ef- fort. The old man now would be swept off his feet; 1t requires the young man, the kind of man who helps to make the age the marvel of hustle and hustle that it is, to keep up with the procession and prevent the firm from tagging behind
 Young men! The president of one of the greatest corporations of the country came into his power at 30; the general manager of food supply company, the influence and power of which is greater than the might of a lsecond class nation, was 33. That a
 man was a mere youth in age came to be nothing against him when he was considered as a possible candi- date for some responsible position Rather 1t was to his advantage. The only question asked in many houses was: Has he got the getup and go tc him; is he full of ideas and the steam to push them?
 If the answer was in the aff1rma- tive, then let him go and take his place at the top; put him in a position
 where he can hurt, or help the firm
 immeasurably, according to his ability
 and judgment or lack of them. Yes
 experience was all right. but you cant
 get that in big quantities in young
 men, and the thing to do is to get
 them young So out with the old
 men. bring in the young!
 But aren't these young fellows
 apt to fall down from mere lack ot ' experience and judgment?" asked thu
 more conservative of employers. Are
 they-are they quite safe ?"
 "The day for asking these ques
 tions is over," said the more frenzied
 What we need is quick results; 1
 takes young men to get 'em. Hence
 young men we must have"
 This was only few years ago, bu
 the craze for the boy wonder ha
 moderated to a sane, common de
 mand. The young man still is desira
 ble, is more frequently hired than tn
 old man, but there is no longer an,
 great hurry to rusn hta to the top O
 things over the head of men This SC niors and supefiors,
 For it has been discovered that tn
 seniors often are the supariors of tn younger men of firm. The troubl with the young man, with the bo, wonder, in position of great re sponsibllity, is, perhaps best char , acterized by railroad chief who trie' him-to his sorrow
 . He makes too many mistakes. No mere mechanical errors, but errors Q