The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-05-10
COMP ANY
HEAD ADVISES
YOUTH
Earl .. Babst Tells How He
Rose by Study Of Food
stuffs Business.
By EARL d. BABST,
Bank clerk, lawyer, economist, in
dustriaI leader, president -Ameri-

~ A1EAAe4A Os D1ADOAS
(Bank clerk, lawyer, economist. in
dustrial leader, president Ameri-
can Sugar Refining Company
Copyright. 1929, by Cosmopolitan
News Service.)
NEW YORK, May 10.-My spe-
cial interest in the important food
stuffs industry dates from the gear
1898, when, after few years prac-
tice of law, was requested to join
the legal defense Of the National
Biscuit Company in the custer suit
that had been brought against it by
the State of Ohio. As result of
this important suit, / was asked to
become general counsel of the Ma
tional Biscuit Company. After serv-
ing in that capacity for many years
was made first vice president.
In order to handle the intricate
problems Of general counsel, made
a thorough, first-hand study Of the
grocery business, study which
took me from coast to coast and
brought me into thousands OF gro
Gerry stores.
I was elected president OF the
American Sugar Refining Company
in 1915 and devoted my first eff.
forts to a thorough study of the
sugar business from the bottom up.
visited the producing fields in
Cuba and the refineries in Amer
lea. Then l checked UP the retail
and wholesale selling and handling
OF sugar. As result of this in
vestigation, we made radical
changes in our sales methods. We
discouraged the wasteful shipment
Of loose sugar in bags and instead
we encouraged distribution of sugar
in sealed cartons; first, to insure
full weight and, second, to obtain
sanitary handling. Package sugar
means a square deal for the house,
wife and the grocer under any and
all circumstances.
Ny visits to thousands OF grocery
stores over a twenty-year' period
have given me information not only
about food products but about re-
tail merchants. Grocers are as
honest a lot of people as are to be
found in the world. There is an
important reason for this. They
deal largely with women. Only an
honest man can stand that. Women
are the buyers for American homes
and their intuition soon tells them,
even If all other evidence is lack.
ing. whether they are getting a
square deal.
In my Judgment the most impor-
tant quality for a young man to
cultivate, il he wishes to succeed,
is that of doing his work well,
whatever it may be.
AS look back on my own life
and on the lives of other men whom
I have known intimately, real
ice that we have progressed by the
steady process Of stepping stones"
At any particular stone we cannot
tell to what one we shall move
next. But we can know that the
only way to insure that the next
step shall be to a higher plane
is to do well what we are at pres
ent engaged in, however intrinsi-
The young man who Sights his
portant, is pretty certain to fail
for one OF two reasons: Either
promotion will never seek him, or,
If it does, it will find him incapable
of performing well the duties that
have been assigned him.
The chief characteristic Of doing a
thing well is, / believe, thorough.
ness. To do thing thoroughly
is to do it exactly, and com.
pletely. Business, above the most
elementary forms, consists in max.
ing decisions, and decisions require
facts-exact facts and all the facts
One of the most difficult things
is to find men who provide accurate
material; men who. when they are
detailed to investigate a subject, ex.
plore every nook for information
and report exactly what they find.