The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-31

THH INSTRUMENTATION OF ED
WARD BOX The Autobiography OF a
Dutch Boy Fifty Years After. Charles
Scribner's Sons.
Mr.. Edward W. Box, the acute and
industrious man who edited the
Ladies' Home Journal for thirty years
and has onry just dropped tho reins
and stepped down from that triumphal
chariot, has written out the story of
his life under the title THE Ameri-
canization of Edward Box" (Scrib-
ner's), and labels It "the autobiography
Of Dutch boy fifty years after"
In his predatory "explanation," Mr..
Box says his principal reason for writ
ing the book was to rehearse the de-
tails OF how such a boy" as he was
poor and set down suddenly In Amer
lea, unable to make himself understood
or even to know what persons were
saying, whose education was extremely
limited-"how such a boy, with every
disadvantage to overcome, was able,
apparently, to make good" for, says
Mr.. Box, ut must be confessed he
achieved"
Since this uncommonly interesting
and edifying book begins with that
suggestion, it may be fair to begin a
notice of it by saying that what he
calls every disadvantage" was exactly
the spring and spur needed to
strengthen the boys head and hands
In encountering the world and making
y, i- IN, H. l.
question. 1t Is not likely that SO
shre~d a. man as Mr.. Box has no,
realized this fact. yet it may be true
that as he looks back through fifty
years and recalls the difficulties Of his
progress, his interest In that subject
has clouded his perception of what he
might and might not have done if,
through easier circumstances, he had
not been obliged to "hit the line hard"
from the very beginning, and thus
formed habits which have borne fruit
an hundredfold when opportunity
broadened as the years went by.
1t seems as though the Dutch boy"
(as he calls him) never sighted an OPP
portunity, never missed a single trick
If he did he has not mentioned It
here. That, Of course. Is perfectly nat
ural; 1t will be remembered that in the
history of Tan Bailey, as Mr. Aldrich
told 1t, we read that his back yard held
various broken wheels and mysterious
worked; these were his mistakes, and
Of them he never spoke" The instinct
to put ones best foot forward Is more
valuable than It's possessor always
realizes, and that instinct seems to
have moved the subject of this auto
biography from the start. You may
call 1t keeping your eye on the ball,
never losing sight of the main chance,
the midas touch" or whatever you
like; by whatever name the fact is the
same, and possibly it is best expressed
by saying that man usually sue
ceeds In getting what he wants most,
provided he has any provident sense,
any foresight, at all.
After Mr.. Box had scrabbled through
his earlier years of employment, work
ing like mailer" every evening on his
own business OF autograph collecting
or syndicate writing or whatever II
was-he always had two or three irons
in the fire-and had fairly got upon
his feet as a salaried young man al
ways looking for a chance to earn a
little more than he was then getting, he
took breath and looked about him. And
his observations gave him clear sight
of things which most of his fellows did
not share. In one of his chapters he
remarks, sagely:
Edward Box certainly was pos
sessed of the idea, as are so many
young men entering business, that the
path which led to success was over
filed with n jostling. busting, painting
crowd, each eager to reach the goal.
After he had hecn I'm the world of af-
fairs he wondered where those strug-
Cling masses were. those eager COM
petitors. Then he gradually
discovered they did not exist. :.
1t was not long before Box discovered
that the possession OF sheer merit was
the only real factor that actually
counted. That business was
so constructed and conducted that
else could act as current coin.
He looked at the top and was
to see how few had reached
It's heights. For every young
man earnest, eager to serve, willing to
40 moro than he was paid for, he found
ten trying to solve the problem of how