The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-09-11

the mere act OF entering the itcms
ON paper. In n general way my wife
knows that We are In bad shape
and she isn't spending money for
anything which We can go without
She IN very economical and su
am l." "
''Do you ever wonder" asked the
friend, 'Just exactly how bad of
you are, right down to tn" dollar ''
Lord. ycs!' exclaimed the sales
man. II wake up In the middle
of the night and the thing fairly
gets me by the throat. Then ! be-
gin To plan about how III go after
my trade when daylight comes
Look here, old mani" replied his
friend, The hardest thing In the
world 10 fight are ghos,s-for the
man who believes In them can't
escape them, You're trying to
dodgc ghosts instead Of facing
tangible. material facts, It's los
ing game. You'll never win out that
way In the world. Your only hope
IN to take a lead pencil and "A sheet
Of paper and put down in black and
white every dollar that you owe, get
the total and then look 1t full in tn"
face. That liz the only way by
WIN Npu van IbHNi'i1 i'y Jbh'
ghosts.
I'm not offering this fine advice
from theory but from experience.
Tcmpcramcntally we arc as alike as
two peas. Until I faced the same
situation a few years ago which you
are facing to-day and Camo to a
showdown with IL. | didn't know
where | was At any more than you
hns fnnlinU fnNATlf xtith tho
same sort Of cowardly reasoning
with which you are drugging your
self right now. my nights were
haunted with the ghosts OF indcfi-
mite debts which | didn't dare face
| told myself that to know the worst
would take all the fight out OF me
and destroy my ability TO produce.
In other words. ] was stalking all
my chances to dig out OF the hole
on increasing my income. Curtailing
outgo seemed futile and Ineffective.
"Ot course ! praYiced some ccono-
mics: ! thought I was denying my
self most everything which did no,
minister directly to my earning
power. Then came n day when
really woke up and reached for my
lead pencil. 1t was the last day oi
"A certain month and l figured ou
to a dollar just how much I owed
The hardest part OF II was to breal
the news to my wife. for ! had beer
holding out all this sort of informa
tion from her and giving her rea
son to behave that things were go.
Ing well with us. However. ! found
that hadn't been fooling her at all
she knew that tho family ship wa,
drifting without ruder or compass
and that ] was not playing the part.
nership game with her on The
square"
A Monthly Showdown.
From that moment we settled
into the harness and began to cut
down expenses, a game In which she
could beat me to frazzle. But
the one thing which enabled me Ia
make real progress was the definite
monthly showdown. From that time
there was not n month In which
was not able to slice at least some
thing from the total OF my indebt =
edness. Another thing which helped
mighty was the surprising fact that
i was no longer facing ghosts.
Under the spell OF specific figures
they vanished into thin air. I knew
the worst and was ready to meet It.
Take II from me, got more up
lift and inspiration from facing my
financial situation lild4 grown-up
man than from all tho sermons I
ever heard. Going after my debts
and my expenses in a -fisted
way and with both eyes open was n
workout which did more to roducs
my mental and moral flabbineS-
than anything else I had ever expe.
rienccd. discovered that IL gave
glow OF satisfaction which ] had
never been able to get out OF tho
childish game Of playing ostrich and
thinking | was hid from my dcbta
and their consequences simply be-
cause ] had my head buried In the
sand. II you take my medicine and
do az I did you'll win out. Now go Ia
Il. Tackle the fight with the cour-
ago OF "A good sport"
That fight is still going on. To some
extent the advice OF this outspok en-
friond has been acted upon. There
has been n distinct improvement in
the mans salcsmanship. he is no,
only getting more business but get.
ting II on "A soundcr basis. The Gus.
toners TO whom he granted unbusi.
nesslikc concessions have discovered
that he isn't going into the business
OF buying their orders: that he vii
get their trade on sound basis ~
go without IT, that he is showing
something Of the backbone which
he displayed in his earlier years or
the territory. and something OF hi'
old-tim energy and application, too
He Is able TO banish the beaten
discouraged look from his face while
he H. talking with his customers, al
least which is "A decided gain.
But he IL still having hard time
with his slack, easy-going and eva
siye tendencies. A disposition Il
dodge disagreeable things Is no
easily overcome by a man Of SETTLED
habits II can be beaten-and In {
quick. decisive engagement, too
but 1t takes a profound conviction
OF it's necessity In order to do II. H.
will not be in "A position to score
real victory until he reaches an acut'
realization that he cannot hang thu
blame for his pathetic crisis on th'
period of deflation, on the genera
economic pressure for rcadjustment
on the collOpse OF the industria
boom in his city or on the drop o
farm prices and farm values; no
until he sees and admits that h'
must charge the major part of hi
! troubles TO his failure to face dis
agreeable things. to look ahead an;
ont hia parmept arporbinp IA hi