Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1920-01-01

Il, worthless by the average person.
He simply does not recognize them;
on. ii he does, he hasn't the nerve or
energy TO back them up. To the
average man, u weekly salary, with
the boss doing all the worrying, looks
like Il much better bet.
Meyer Gerson is different. If he
weren't he would be getting about
twenty dollars a week us Il clerk. lie
owns a cigar store 1t Broadway and
Forty-scventh Street, New York,
which is about as large rs IN ordinary
pool table. Nevertheless, its owner
claims that he does more business III
his special line than any other store
of its kind in that nci-hborhood.
One day last fall GcrSon rot an idea
Just a plain business idea. 1t looked
good to him, and the more he thought
OF it the more eager he became to
try it. Friends tried to talk him out
OF it.
..You'rie crazy, Mcycr.' one friend
said. you've been very lucky here;
but il you 90 after that idea you'll
lose every cent you have
Gerson smiled at his friends pre-
d~iction, and continued with his idea.
There was nothing wonderful to
it, he declares. "Iou see, IL OF
my competitors had operated Tor
wears n store at the corner Of Forty
second Street and Sixth Avenue.
One day the landlord decided he
could get more money by making
three stores out of the one. The
tenant objected to having his space
cut down and to being asked to pay
more rent in addition; but the land
lord wouldn't make any concessions,
So the tenant finally moved out.
1.-THE landlord then asked SIN
thousand dollars a year for the small
corner store, which wasn't much
larger than a bookkeeper's desk.
Yet, in spite of the limited space, l
figured that l could make it pay.
1t was at this stage that my friends
laughed at me and predicted financial
suicide.
..Other dealers told me that | was
going out of my mind. They said that
with the existing competition and the
high cost of stuff no independent
dealer could afford to pay more than
three thousand five hundred dollars a
year in rent. When the manutac-
turers and .iobbcrs heard that l was
after the store they threatened to
cut down my credit to practically
nothing. 1t was lucky for me that
was doing a good enough business to
pay cash for most OF my stuff; Tor
when | actually leased the new store
the manufacturers and iobbers lived
up to their threat.
II opened the little place in De
cember. At the end Of the first day
my cash register showed that | had
taken in a few cents over $3Il. Even
then my friends thought it was just
n 'hash,' produced by the novelty
But | thought differently; and the
best proof that | was right was that
every days business turned me in {;
good profit.
"When l had been there less than
three months the landlord said that
the former tenant wanted to get back
into the little store, and wanted tc
know if | would sell out. | told hin
I'd sell, provided l was paid Tor my
trouble. l gave him my figure ant
a week later he returned to say tina
my terms would be met.
II moved out Immediately, taking
. with me my entire stock OF fixtures
after having made about eighteei
thousand on the lead. Now. friends
drop into my store to tell me what
clever fellow | am! But | don't Sc
ANYTHING clever about the thing. l
was just a good idea, and l wen
after it. Hundreds Of other dealer
knew that the store was on tn
market, but none had the nerve t
take a chance with it,
The average person wouldn't nav
touched that cigar store with u tel'
graph pole. He thinks that unles
he can invent some mechanical con
~trivance he stands no chance Of earn
ing a comfortable income or accumr
lating q fortune. He doesn't reallz
that a good idea is an abstract inver
tion--an invention of service o
progress. And the man who keep
on the alert is bound sooner or late
to run across a good idea.
1t may come to him from an ur
expected source. A cabinet-makel
for instance, doesn't have to desig
a new style or invent some tool J
order to advance himself. lie Is JUS
AZ ant to run into some idea that ha
absolutely nothing to do with n
trade. As a concrete illustrate
note the following:
4 certain mar worked in a turn
ture factory, where his salaray WI