The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-12-13

w ~ thhl lelter. lhey knew 1t he
c1uso there IRE some OF us who can"
not help pass our feeling of crouch"
to. every one we meet. AT any rate he
takes his letter home and says: sarah
look ~ that impudent letter! Didn't
tell you IT wouldn't do any good to
send that boy to collogeY' She read.
IT. Dear Father. / am broke; please
send me $50 at once. Your loving son
John, That is exactly the same let
ter ineeach case, the same words That
Is what ! mean by tact. 1t Is not so
much what you say as the way you
say IL.
You men who are writing letters to
travelling men and other people--those
hot words you dictate become cold
type when received a man gets ex
actly what you say and reads II that
way Let us he careful about the
letters we write; let us develop this
guilty of tact.
The next thing we ought to have is
Industry the man you always find on
the JOB, who does d good days work
Now, then, sincerity is quality we
ought to possess. Next to being honest
and able we ought to be sincere men.
Sincerity is that quality which not only
makes friends. but holds them. A man
cannot be insincere without injury to
himself. Whether you are talking to
one man or a thousand whether YOU
are talking to me or to customer
you are throwing thoughts to his
brain, you canot see them but thsN
are tangible. and you cannot throw
insineere thoughts to the brain and
thoughts. No moro than could throw
this glass to you and you catch
pitcher 1T is not changed or trans
formed: II comes to you in the way
feet this quality of sincerity If we are
to attain success. You Know men in
whom YOU absolutely believe, because
they are sincere. You say you like
man you can believe in because he
can sell the goods. 1nsncerity has
taken some orders, but 1t has never
held job.
Regarding suggestions.
We are willing to ask for and re-
ceive suggestions. The man who
ing on the street with the fool-killer
waiting just around the corner. None
of us know 1T ALL We might be UP
to date at o'clock, but unless we are
up to date right now we don't know
1T ALL have made It rule to be
willing to accept suggestions, and I
would as soon be stopped In the hal!
by the Janitor as by the general man
aSer because the chances are ten to
one that the janitor knows more about
than the general manager.
People say to me: DO you believe
in aeroplanes?" 1 tell them, Eyes, I do,
and ] think the day Is coming; when
tNtIJ bOuy Will. uOh lIlIlh Tie
aeroplane Will get the contract to-
day TO carry the mail but [ believe 1t
will some day. We should not ridicule
any new thing or any new thought; II
we do We cast aspcrsion upon our en-
tire civilization.
In addition to all of these things
mentioned a man l4ust have enthu-
siasm. Unless he has enthusiasm he Is
mere statue. Because enthusiasm is
the white heat that fuses all of these
Qualities affncive I
can best illustrate 1t by telling you
that If you will take piece of plain
blue grass and piece of sapphire. and
polish the glass until 1t has a sur
face as hard as the sapphire, then put
them both on piece of white paper
and look at them, you will find the
sapphire has thousand glittering lit
tie lights which you cannot get out of
Those little lights can be compared
with the enthusiasm that shines from
mans eyes, he cannot hide it:
don't object to going to ball game
and hearing some fellow root for the
home team-and l want to tell you
that we have a pretty rood home team
at Detroit, not because we have an
aggregation of star nlayers in the team
either, but l think the success of that
team is due more to the enthusiasm
to anything else. That Is enthu-
siasm; would not give a
cent for man without enthusiasm.
If man has no enthusiasm he Is no
good. If you ever get enough money
so you could do so you don't want to
retire.
The Use of slcdge Hammer.
Now, gentlemen, you who have to-
handle men; your time does not amount
to much. my time does not amount tc
who handle men succeed only in pro-
portion as we intelligently direct the
work that is, as we get Intelligent
work from the men under us That
give you a suggestion: Don't drive
tacks with sledge hammer; there are
enough people using tack hammers.
You carry sledge hammer and you
attend to important things only.
One thing has helped me in my bus
mess. / make 1t point to keep be-
fore me the ten most important things |
have to do. i have little pad on my
desk upon which are noted the most
important things; there might be seven
o. ten, or twelve. but the most Inn
portant are daily before me. If |
go to business man and say, What !
are the ten most important things you
have to do in your business?" and he
know how is he sure he is doing |
them. 1t Is a good thing to keep them
before you, and as things come up |
mark them. Every morning my stem
HAS Oh MY ueSh tue Ten most
important things which I must attend |
to. Suppose a farmer had an eighty |
acre cornfield. and he should say to |
hts helper "John, 1 want you to go |
and drive the pigs out of the corn
field" and If you have never done that |
you are not in a position to realize |
the task John had before him. He !
does not know how many pigs there |
are and so he goes all over the corn !
field to see whether they are all out !
But If the farmer had said, "John there |
are ten pigs in the cornfield, go and |
drive them out he would drive the |
ten pigs out, and he would no longer |
chase pigs that did not exist.
The last principle I shall mention Is
organization. It Is the keynote to all /
big successes. We must cooperate. |
We must get together and give each /
man his part in the business.
Big things are head of,us. Twenty |
years ago, If you had told a man that I
by this time he could telegraph to a |
ship which left port last Saturday he |
would have had q commission of |
lunacy appointed Now we do not be-
lieve some things can be accomplished, I
I will bet "a suit of clothes that with
In ten years aeroplanes will be carry
Ing mall across mountains and into
places where railroads do not go. The I
man who says to-day that a thing can
not be accomplished may have to take |
1t back within year.
Remember that Richmond will go
ahead just S fast as you Will let 1t |