The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1910-07-29
THE NORFOLK wEEKLL NEWS JOURNAL FRIDAY JULY % 1910

eyes. two ears nose and n mouth,
and considering their height. they
weigh about the same. What Is the
| difference in men? Power. ability
Some people may have that developed
more than others, but ! say ninetenths
! yes, ninety.nine one.nundredtns-.
could develop ability. Some remind
me very much of the parable OF the
| talents. We have one talent and We
wrap ii up in a napkin we have that
one only and we have never added
/ anything to it. 1t is like man who
applies for a job, and his letter OF
recommendation says. This man is
thoroughly honest" If he has no 9TH
er quality but honesty he does not de-
serve much credit for staying that
way. 1t is what we develop that al.
ways counts.
Three Kinds Of Men.
find just three kinds of men in this
world: The kind you tell once to do
thing, and you can bet your life 1t
| Is done. The second class you have to
tell four or five or a dozen times to
do it, because they do not think.
The third class is the great class of
men who have made this country what
| it is-men with initiative-men who
do things, who do things before you
have chance to tell them what to
do | do not say this for any star
spangled banner" effect, but | thank
God that was born and reared in a
country where poverty is no barrier
to success, but where it can often be
proven to mathematical certainty
that it is help. Just in proportion
as we teach young men how to do
things, if nothing more than to shine
| their own shoes-something that is of
value to themselves as we'll as to the
others-will they make "A success in
| life. There are some who grow up
to be - years of age, and the only
two things they know are how to roll
a cigarette and how to deXterOusly
mix a drink. We want men to do
things, and what this country is to be
twenty-five years from now depends
on what we teach the young men
when they are young. Most men do
not want their boys to go through the
things they did, and that is where
they make the greatest mistake.
! They call it skill in the surgeon;
we would call it initiative in the bust
ness man. The surgeon gets you on
the table and operates for appendicitis
and finds you haven't got it, as they
sometimes do; he cannot let you lie
on the table, and say, wait, | will
read up in the books and see what
he has" He has to act quickly, he
has to finish his job, whether it is
his finish or your finish. They call
that skill-if he gets through all right.
In our case we would call it initiative.
We must do things quickly, we must
have initiative, and that is the great
est quality a man can possess. |
would rather have a man in my EN-
ploy who would do six out of ten
things right and never did anything
things right and never did naything
else. There is nothing wrong in max
ing a mistake; the only wrong is in
making the same one twice.
Thorough knowledge Of Business.
Next to that | think man ought to
have thorough knowledge of his
business. | was at a convention in
Berlin, Germany. of 200 salesman.
They did not understand anything
said and | did not understand any
thing they said, and so got along all
right. There was a man there who
had carried off the banner for four
successive years, and as we We're dis
tributing the prizes | said to him, Mr.
Hoffman, will you tell the men why
you have been leader for four years
in succession?" He could not have
given a better answer than he gave
He said, Gentlemen, ] defy anybody
in Germany to ask a question about
my business that | cannot answer
That was the secret of his success
he knew his business.
Tact.
Another quality we need is tact
, Tact. What is tact? That ability
although it is rare-that enables one
man to deal with other men of differ
ent temperaments in the right way
and get along with them all. Some
people mistake tact for Jolly" Tact
, is not so much what a man says but
, how he says it. A man in Detroit sent
, his son to Harvard college. In De
cember the boy wrote home, and this
was the letter: Dear Father: | an
! broke; please send me $50 at once
Your loving son, John" Everybody
that man came in contact with that
day knew he got that letter. They
, knew it because there are some of us
1 who cannot help but pass our feeling
: of Crouch" to everyone We meet. A
' any rate he takes his letter home, anC
: says, Sarah, look at that impuden
/, letter! Didn't l tell you it wouldn'
g do any good to send that boy to col
lege?" She reads it: DEAR Father
| am broke; PLEASE send me $50 a
! once. Your LOVING son, John" Tha
S is exactly the same letter in eacl
/, case, the same words. That is wha
| mean by tact. 1t is not so mucl
e what you say as the way you say 1t
b One brilliant example in this countr!
S was Robert G. Ingersoll, because i
s. some men had said some things In
S gersoll said they would have beer
l. Kissed from the American PLATFORM
n 1t was not altogether what he said
= but the way he said it, and those o
e you who heard him know that is al
true. You men who are writing let
2, tiers to travelling men and other pee
d ple-those hot words you dictate be
l. come cold type when received. A maj
gets exactly what you say and read
o it that way. Let us be careful abou
It the letters we write; let us develo
e this quality of tact.