Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-07-08
BY Charlie. N. Duke


Z RE you a success or a failure 3,
your business, trade>or profession!
are o forging ahead or standing
-s'hl-"foating with the tide?" Or
worse yet. are you slipping back?
Bradstreet's makes the astounding
statement that the record for failures
curing the year 1918 shows that never
oelore has there been a higher per
entag Of personal liability. Eighty.
SIX per cent of all the failures re.
ported during the last year were
c'assed as due to the individual. while
only IA per cent were chareed. .,
u~aeous causes It is sufficient n
make the average man and won,., l.,
inc world Of work stop. lon. ana
take mental inventory ana
get Gown to brass tacks,
one result of the war has hoo.
reduce the proposition Of success ~
-iure IN individual life to the nor.
sonal equation. Just as orr .,n,;..
~ Inc world war were no ~stronrer
man the individual u1nit-the NAV 10
MN the u on the hrin. H.
aso mas the war developed the nalsa
run mat our national Industrial he.
IS no stronger than the man n 49,
forge or shops, the woman =, +h.-u
or Office. us "'Al
Never was there a time in tbo his.
eors OF america when individual fail.
ure could be charged to lack o, onno-
UNITY. Abe Lincoln and = bost -.
otners disproved that. There va.
, June however, until recently, when
JACK Of capital was the lead,na
cause OF inability to get going. Rn+
.nat time a passed. From 1890. whan
ta1iure statistics were first conn;,oa
ohell 1872 lac Of capital was . ,a.a
.ns cause Of failure. Then persona,
.ncompetency went to the front and
ne'o inc stage for two. years, In 1e1a
ana 1914 lack Of capital took tho 1e.a
again. only to be supplanted hv ~
competency in 1915. During tho n,h.,s
period of the war personal, ;n,sHN
n has been held responsib,a ~
the majority of business failures
In 1915 these two leaders, with IT,
experience added, accounted fo- sae
per cent Of failures. In 7a,e
creased to COS per e In 1917 ~.
figures were 74.2 per cent and IN ,o1e
1G.4 per cent. A'4e
Table of Faults
Coins still further into tha matte,
sne business statisticians f,r,,r. th.t
IN 1915 TAI per cent of the fai,,re.
were due 10 the shortcomings Of no
eisiness mar himself and 25.6 per cent
20 uncomfortable factors. In 1e16 +ha
proportions We're SIS per cent ner.
sc::a' and 1875 nonpersonal. Tn 1a17
tie failures chargeable to the indi.
ridual were IS per cent and only IL
Per cent to outside causes. In 1918
the total Of personal failures was az
Per cent as against II per cent MN.
personal.
How? Why? What's the trouble?
Those who make up these figures
tabulate the following faults grouped
as follows:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of other
LUIS
Observation-Disclosures other incom.
petence.
Lack Of capital.
Unwise credits.
Observation-Disclosures regular bust.
ness.
Neglect of business-Due to doubt.
full habits.
Personal extravaganza.
Fraudulent disposition of property.
The causes not due to the faults OF
the individual come under three main
Observation-Disclosures, war, floods, etc.;
failures of others--of apparently sol
vent debtors; competition. Tho Wall.
inefords" and "Blackie DAVIS" seem
to have been having hard Shedding Tor
some time. for the figures plainly show
that while frauds slightly increased IN
1917, the percentage Of business TALL
,,res in 1918 due to this cause were
lower than in any preceding year back
to 1890.
Speculation has been at a low figure
during the last four years. as have
unwise credits, neglect and extrava'
eance, And as for competition, the
tables show that only a trife more
than / per cent OF the failures in 1918
were due to competition, proving that
IN America the man or m has no
lack Of opportunity to deliver the
goods"
Here are the figures for the years
1917 and 1918, which speak for them
selves:
Failures due to Per cent Per cent
1nrompctency ...... 36.5 -36.6
ineyperience ...... 81 6.S
lack Of capital..... 1872 31.9
1.nwise credits. .... 1.3 IS
Failures Of others. 3 10
Extravaganza
Neglect ........... l.b 80
Speculation ...... q q
Fraud ............ 6.8 So
/, is held by man. Industrial ex.
sperts that the war was in an impor.
tair,t measure. responsible for the In.
crease In industrial incompetency
that developed during the period Of
the war, that the conditions growing
nut Of the war called for the intro
duction Of incompetency in many
flelds. The exigencies Of a state Of
unprcparedness. the taking Of many
.fhousands Of men out Of industrial
No and their mobilization IN huge
armies. virtually placed q premium or
LS.-ra&aurA fnS thaf t9,ny,.a MS <