The Washington herald., 1915-08-22
SUBSTITUTE FOR GENIUS.
BY ORIsON SWEET MARDEN.

The story of suspender buttons is ar
| old one in the great European war. Il
! has been told and retold, and indicates
! forcefully the German characteristic o.
thoroughness and attention tc detail.
Every pair of the millions of trousers
furnished to the German troops has q
double set of suspender buttons sewn on
Thus If button pulls out. the soldier
merely bitches his ''galluses'' to the aux
iliary button.
The necessity of thoroughness as a
success factor has been emphasized in
this war as il probably never was empha-
sized before in the history of the world
The accuracy and painstaking thorough
ness of Germany, coupled with her pre-
paredness, have enabled the Kaiser, SO
far to stand off the combined forces of
the allies. England, France, Russia, all
of them lack that thoroughness of or
sanization which enables the German
army to move and work like a well-reg-
ulated machine.
A number of our factories have been
forced to close since the war began be-
cause American chemical concerns have
not been able to produce certain dyes.
previously obtained from Germany.
Why? Is it because they cannot COM
mand the resources that enabled Ger
mans to produce them? No. II is because
Americans lack the patience; the regard
for minute details. the painstaking ac-
curaey and scientific methods of the
Germans.
All science all business is based on
thoroughness and accuracy. A slight
error. a single mistake in a mathemati-
cal problem will make the correct an
swer impossible. The slightest blunder
in a chemical experiment will destroy
the result
Business is a science. Right living is a
science Carelessness blunders. super
ficiality lack of system. slovenly meth
DDS. disorderliness. all look toward fall
ure No business, no life can be very
successful without accuracy, thorough
ness. attention to detail.
I was much impressed with the posi-
bilities of the habit of painstaking, of
doing everything to a finish. when visit
ing Luther Burbank. the marvellous hor-
ticulturaP wizard, at his home I'm Santa
Rosa, Cal In producing his princess
berry. a cross between blackberry and
a Siberian raspberry. he destroyed with
his own hands 10000 hybridised seedlings
before he obtained one that would breed
to suit him.
Most of my plants" he said. ARE
raised for the brush pile" Scarcely one
plant out OF ten. thousand which he
They are produced for the purpose of ex-
pertinent. He has collected more than
fifteen hundred varieties of the cactus
In different parts OF the world and spent
ZEN years experimenting with and culti- !
rating this plant, to get rid of its
spines, so that it could be utilized as a
food for animals. and thus to reclaim the |
worlds great deserts.
He told me that in producing his fat
nous white blackberry, he examined
u 600 blackberry bushes to select berries ]
which in ripening did not become pure |
black. He wanted to prodIce q bush on
which the green changed to complete |
white when ripe.
Through patience and q genius for |
Mr.. Burbank has made more
changes. developed more improvements.
and new varieties. in fruits and flowers.
han were ever before produced IN the
history Of horticulture.
Some authors who have written books
hat will live. have thrown, away many
lines - much matsrtal e they use1 IL