The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-02-10
says UNCLE CAV

Give 'the old man. his due. You're
young, heaven bless you. and youth
was ever feverishly champing at the
bits of discipline. You know lot of
things about the business that the head
of the house doesn't seem to have dis
covered. You have a thousand good
qualities that he doesn't appreciate
Scores of your perfectly good ideas are
going to waste because he won't recog-
nize their merits You're wasting your
time in a minor position when you
should be running the works. The 'old
man. is a fossil. a heartless, uEseeing
uninspirad, dead and gone to seed old
relic, who doesn't know anything but
to go on running the business in the
good old money-making way, admitting
an innovation only after a struggle and
then with misgivings. He's a doubter
and a dasher of hopes. He's a monster
and few other things. and you're very
much underestimate and altogether
abused
The "old man" has been travelling
this road for a matter of forty years.
Time was when he had his youthful
ideas and rebelled against house dis
cipline- Time was when he. too, knew
more than the veteran head of the
house. But hard times came and panic
swept the land, and another "old man.
stuck to his desk and kept the wheels
turning in the good old way, while
other mushroom houses closed their
doors and turned their employees into
the street. And the panic searched the
methods of the young and untried men
and found them wanting. 1t searched
the methods of that other soId man"
and found them essentially sound.
And that other "old man" -veathered
the storm and kept the business to
hand down to your "old man." and
your "old man. learned as you will
learn, that while youth will be served
rxrff1 he cy1,s&
And when good times came again a
great understanding was his He knew
he had something to learn and he learn
it. just as you will learn from the ''old
man. who is your present 'soppressor''
Let us not paint the sfold man. a
hero. He isn't. He is simply the man
who has made good while a thousand
like you have entered his employ. fallen
by the wayside and been left behind by
him because he was too busy with big
things they could not learn to stop to
pick up the stragglers. He is no w''d-
eyed dreamer, nor is he given to many
experiments. He knows the rules Of
the game and he is solid He isn't in
business for charity's sake. He Is do
ing his work, and he is reaping his re-
ward in monev and the satisfaction
the work brings Iim-which after all is
the biggest consideration. He can't
listen to your Whfns and vagaries be-
cause he can't take his eyes off the
learned your lesson, he'll lean on you.
Perhaps you'H never know until you
get to be an 'sold man. just how much
he wants to lean on somebody who can
be trusted not to trip him when he isn't
looking.
Give the 'toId man. his due. He has
been through the mill and he knows a
thing or two. He understands you bet
ter than you understand yourself, and
he is willing to let go the minute you
U ~ trH rN J. I<-r,- -
burden He's watching and waiting for
that time to come
Don't worry about him The thing
you need to fear is that you won't be
ready when the emergency arises and
another who understands the "oId
man. better wifi step into the Mace
that might have been yours.-(Conv
right, 1912, by W e. wi1liams)