The Washington times., 1920-08-12
Vision in Business
Read the Financial Page, and Then Think What
1t Means.

Sandwched between an account Of credit mems con
vention and resume of the Washington Stock Exchange
the financial page of yesterdays washington Times
appeared the following paragraph:
Sales of the F. w. Woolworth 90. for July
broke all records for that month since the forma-
tion of the company and have been exceeded this
year only by May sales according to New York
experts Business last month increased about 80
per cent July, 1919
To the student of finance this paragraph means more
money student of humans it recalls the life story
Of Frank Woolworth who made millions Of dollars from
trading in nickel and dime merchandise.
It brings mind the early story of the who had
sufficient breadth of vision build immense commercial
institution wooworth started shoestring His bust
grew he looked far business road and
opportunity before arrived to knock at his door
The difference between the big business and the
shoestrng pedder the is that the big has
vision He sees what is invisible The little only
what is visible
Sometimes faith is used to describe the ability
to see the hngs seen but the word vision is better
implies facts and does not connote sort of self
hypnosm For what faith sometimes does not exist
Always the man who is king Others the man who
.'can,' hence the "caning" cunning king man. is
the man who sees while others grope.
The gentleman who conducts the banana stand on the
street sees the visible He all his right before him
He never lets go until he gets his fingers the
nickel.
He is SAFE He is too safe. No business, life,
hrives without danger Great profits great risks and
all that keeps it from calamity is-vison The man who
can see justified in risk the who cannot see
fails.
d. Armour the greatest merchant of his day. might
have been sitting at plain top desk in an empty room
Yet he doing business in Kamchatka, Australia, Cali
fornia Argentina and Africa He controlling thou
sands of workers. buying and selling the ends of the
earth sailing ships the They were not
visible in that Yet he them
The chewing gum magnate the soap king, the motor
manufacturer the boss of the oil trust the supply
calls together his eutenants and plans to spend million
dollars in advertising Nobody knows definitely whether he
will get cent in return. The results invisible But
he sees them Just the That's why his business is big
The maker of stoves woolen goods or flour has al
vision he gimpses the profits hidden in the law OF moral
returns his workers fairly he gives them sani
tary and agreeable conditions under which they work
he treats them like human beings
It all seems waste expense. The stupid money grabber
can see no The egotist and indus
trial tyrant drives his wopeople like slaves and squeezes
every dollar possible their wages The result is he
plagued with strikes and necency whereas the boss with
vision gets cooperation production prosperity and profits
and call themselves hard headed solid ivory They
the truth
The railroads of the country went to pieces because
their managers could year, but not ten years
The industry of the world is afflicted with unrest and
neciency because leaders have had the vision to
see the twin pillars of Jachn and Boaz that hold up
temple of Prosperty-those pillars Justice and Hu-
manity.
Unwise agitators who preach violence and hate have
not the vision to only thing that their liberty
power and happiness operation.
The boy who drinks whiskey is precisely the type
of mind the business who expects to get rich by