Evening star., 1924-08-17

T ADMIT at the outset that know
nothing direct, personal, or I'M
mediate about business. I have
never been in 1t. If were told
tomorrow to go out and make
hundred thousand dollars I should
scarcely know how to do It.
II anybody showed me man on
the streets and told me to sell him
a municipal 6 per cent bond shouldn't
know how to approach him: or how
to hold his interest; or how to make him
forget his troubles: or how to clinch
him; or strike him to earth at the final
moment.
AS to borrowing money-which Is
one Of the great essentials of busi-
as got across the steps of the bank
1 should be afraid they would throw
me out 1 know, of course, from
reading about it that this is mere
Stiffness. All you have to do is to
invite the president out to lunch and tell
him that you want half million dol
lars to float a big proposition. The
president, so 1 gather. will be simply
wild to lend you the money.
sation which 1 overhear at my club
from men who float things. But
couldn't do 1t myself; there's an art
in it; to borrow money, big money,
you have to wear your clothes IN a
certain way. walk In q certain way.
and have about you an air OF solem-
nifty and majesty-something like the
atmosphere Of Gothic cathedral
Small men like me and you, my
dear reader. especially you, can't do
1t. We feel mean about it; and when
we get the money, even il 1t is only
ten dollars, we give ourselves away
at once by wanting to hustle OF with
it too fast The really big man In
this kind OF thing can borrow half
million, button it UP in his chest.
and then draw on his gloves and talk
| easily about the League Of Nations
and the prospect Of rain. / admit
I couldn't do it. II ever got that
half a million dollars I'd beat 1t out
Of the bank like a cat going over
a fence.
So, as 1 say, I make no pretensions
| to knowledge of business. but l have
a huge admiration for it, especially
for big business. for the men at the
| top. They say that the whole rail-
way business Of this continent centers
really in four men; and they say, too,
| that the whole money power of New
| York is really held by six men; the
entire forecast of this country are
practically owned by three men; the
| whole of South America, though it
doesn't knO" II, Is COntFOlieQ Dy less
than five men; and the Atlantic Ocean
| is now to all intents and purposes in
the hands Of a little international
group Of not more than seven and
less than eight.
Think what it would mean to be
one of those eight, or one of that
four, or even one or two of that
| three! There must be tremendous
| fascination about ito be in this
| kind of really big business; to sit at
a desk and feel ones great brain
| slowly revolving on its axis; to know
that ones capacious mind was ma
| jestically turning round and round,
| and to observe ones ponderous intel
| lect moving irresistibly up and down.
X +
WE cannot wonder, when we reflect
w on this, that all the world nova
| days is drawn by the fascination Of
| business. 1t is not the money that
people want: l will acQuit humanity
| Of that. Few people care for money
| for it's own sake: it is the thought
| of what can be done with the money.
"Oh, If only had a million dollars!"
| heard a woman say the other day on
the platform of social service meet
| ing. And 1 could guess just what she
meant-that she would quit work and
| 20 to the South Sea Islands and play