The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-02-23
SECRET or SUCCESS
BRUCE BARTON, in I,csaic's.

On the wall OF his Office hangs a
picture of himself taken twenty-five
years ago In the overalls and jumpers
OF a shipping clerk / looked at Il
with interest, and then back at the
man al he is today, the president of
the largest concern of its kind in
America. in his comfortable Office, be-
hind his glass-topped desk. as bare
or papers as though he had never a
problem or a worry in the world.
There are million men in France
who have their eyes set on job like
Re r. "a X. =. ~.
lie down in their biliets At night they
are wondering what the world has
in store for them when they get back
over here And each one of them
dreams that some day he will be pres
ident Of something. and have nice
glass topped desk with no papers on
1t? How does q man 90 about Ii to
get job like yours? What's the
secret ?"
And he answered with q smile that
there is no secret It's largely q mat
ter of sticking to it, he said The
picture of the shipping clerk was his
own picture, but that was not the sig-
nificant thing about it. The signi-
ficant thing was that when he was q
shipping clerk he was in the employ
of the same company of which he is
now the president. In his quarter of
a century of work he has had only
one association; he has moved his
home only once and that was wlun
the business inquired his transfer
from branch office to the main
office. He has had no si.le lires: his
investments have been FIRST of all in
the stock of his own company. He
has put all the eggs into one basket
and never taken his eyes off them.
Moreover. the company has made
1t studied policy to encourage this
sort of thing: and to that fact its
officers ascrfbe, in largo degree, it's
growth and prosperity. Forty OF the
most important men in Ii have been
associated with it for ten years or
more; the average term of service of
the higher officials is nearer a quarter
OF century. In that period they
havc seen men come in for q little
time and drift out again to greener
fields: they have seen others for whom
the steady progress of the salary
route was too slow, who sought to
hurry the wheels n little by conduct
ing other businesses on the side. And
almost without exception the men
who have been content TO stick and
W ~oih haNS uiStAnCeC those VINO
sought tester progress by some other
path.
There are concerns that trade upon
mems hope" said the president.
Concerns that ara content 10 take
men in at small wages and use up
their youth, holding them with the
promise OF n future which they know
they cannot provide. That is the sort
or selfshness that defeats itself in
the long run. We are much more
concerned about n mans future than
we are about the immediate job which
we take him in to handle. His eyes
may be fixed on the present: but we
want to be sure before we hire him
that there Is an opportunity ahead
OF him which is big enough to hold
him. no matter how fast he may
grow"
There are hundreds OF companies
in the country that pursue the same
polcy of enlightened selfishness
building their own growth upon the
cumulative growth of the young men
who are constantly expanding inside
them. I believe that we who are con-
Quoting our volunteer employrn emit
cfhces In these reconstruction DAYS
can do no greater service than to
help men to find out such companies.
War savings stamps beget thrift.
Thrift begets success.