Arizona republican., 1908-04-05
TOOLS OF BUSINESS NEEDS OF COMBINATIONS
Vast Modern Combinations Due as
 Much to Mechanical Aids in Time . Saving as to Superior Ability.

New York March 27.-fSpecial Cor respCndence of The Repuolican)-In the discussion of the growth of enor- nous business combinations and the absorption of many small concerns in- to a few enormously large ones in cer- tain lines Of industry. one factor that is Cften overlooked is the purely me chanical one. The reason why busi- ness is done on a big scale today is largely because men have the neces- sary tools with which to do it. It Is d noteworthy and instructive fact. too, that nearly all the more important of these mechanical aids to business. which by multiplying the amount that man can accomplish. make it possi
 ble fur single individual to direct the affairs Of a vast concern. have been invented, or at least have been brought into practical use. within the past gen eration. This is the period during which enormous corporations. con- trolling industries extending through out the country and, in so--e cases, throughout the world. have come into being. and the relation between the two facts. instead of being merely fan ciful. is far more intimate than is inn agined even by those who make the greatest use of these devices
 The tools of big business include in the aggregate vast number of highly specialized inventions and devices
 Even to enumerate all Of them would be tedious matter. for they differ greatly in different lines of industry. There are a few. however. that are practically in universal use and that may be said to have made possible big business as it is conducted today Among these may be included the tel egraph. the telephone the typewriter, the camera and the blue print and the various systems of filing and record ing information by which it is possible to learn all the facts in relation to given transaction at practically a mo- ments notice All of these are tre- mendous time-savers and all, with the exception of the telegraph. have been brought into commercial use within the past quarter-century or Since many of the men now, at the head of vast en- terprises first entered business. To appreciate what they mean to the ac- tive business or professional man, it is only necessary to consider how they have added to his power of accom- plishment so that he is able to trans act in eight or ten hours an amount of business that his grandfather would have considered ample for a weeks time.
 There are but two means of doing business. One is the verbal. by actual conversation between the parties con cerned; the other is by recorded com munications, letters or telegrams Roughly, it may be estimated that they play about equal parts in the handling of modern affairs. The head of the old-time business of wide con nections spent fully one-half his time in conducting his col lrespondence. la boriOusly writing out answers to his more important letters and giving his clerks lengthy instructions as to those of routine nature Today the presi- dent of big trust figures on handling all his voluminous correspondence in an hour or an hour and a half. When he steps into his office in the morning he finds great pile of letters on his desk, opened and arranged in order. with explanatory notes by his secre- tary. He goes through them swiftly. dictating the answers as rapidly as he can talk to stenographers. who spend the rest of the day in transcribing them. The head of the firm does not trouble himself further about his mail except to sign a few of the more i'm portant. The others are left to the useful secretary. who reads, corrects and signs them. Some men prefer to dictate to the recording tube of phonograph, which in turn repeats the letter to the typewriter, but in all cases the stenOgrapher and the type writing machine figures in enabling the man of many affairs to accom- plish whole days work. or possibly more than that, in the first hour of the business day. A million typewriters a year are required to supply the busi- ness mans insistent demand for the saving of time.
 If the trust executive is at the head Of business with branches in various parts of the country, his next step may be to inform himself as to the exact state of affairs in the various parts of