Evening star., 1926-11-09
MEN AND MONEY
BY NJ. S. Rukeyses
tCopyright. 1e26.)

Henry Bruere, third vice president
of the Metropolitan Life Insurance
| Co.. recently told me that business
success, In his opinion, Is coming to
be more dependent on method and
| less on personality.
In the pioneer days Of American
business it was true that a business
institution was merely the shadow Of
a man.
With better understanding OF late
of the science of management. profit
able enterprises continue for the most
, part to flourish after the big person
ality withdraws. Running a large
corporation Is no longer one-man
Job. but a cooperative effort.
Even those exceptional enterprises,
which are identified in the public
mind with the personality Of single
leader continue to progress after the
founder retires.
The observation can be supported
by the citation of cases in a variety
Of activities.
Field and Wanamaker.
During their lifetimes Marshall
Field and John Wanamaker were not
only the outstanding merchant princes
of the period, but saturated their en-
terprises with their own personalities
to an unusual extent. And yet with
their passing their establishments
continued to grow and move forward.
incidentally. David May. heao OF
chain of department stores, 1S emer8'
ing as the leading national figure In
his field--a successor to the line es'
tablished by Field and Wanamaker.
In the field Of private banking.
which depends to a singular extent
on personality, the firm Of J. p. Nor
gan & Co. has grown larger and more
profitable than during the lifetime OF
the late J. Pierpont Morgan, VINO az
the time was looked upon as the soie
reason for the primacy OF the Dank.
ing house in Wall street. In the neld
OF national banking the National CITY
Bank Of New York, the largest In the
country, seemed to owe It's capacNy
for leadership to the sagacity and
force of character Of the late James
Stillman. but since his passing the
bank has forged increasingly to the
fore.
For decades. moreover. the name OF
John D. Rockefeller. ST.. was consio'
cred anonymous with that of Stan.
dard Oil. And yet. despite the fact
that for more than 20 years Mr.. ROCK
efeller has retired from active man
arement. the Standard Oil units have
fiourished and expanded.
schwab Big Figure.
In the steel industry no corporation
has seemed SO dependent on q single
individual as the Bethlehem Steel Cor
poration has been on Charles M
Schwab. 1t is no longer g. secret. now
ever. that Mr., Schwab has for several
years gradually been relieving him.
self Of the executivea3pad and turning
over the actual responsibility for run
ming the company to Eugene G. Grace,
the president. Mr. Schwab~es now in
semi.retirement, but he is. gill avail
able for advice when difisbult prob
lens arise.
The point Is that business today Is
carried on on too large a scale to be
dependent on a single 1ndivlouaA.
Wise leaders train a stan to relieve
them and to carry on when they step
out. The direction Of large business
units is based on definite technique
which others can and do learn. But
behind methods there are men capable
Of using Judgment and of adapting
general principles to the particular
needs of special cases. 1t would be a
mistake to assume that big business
is being run by a set OF hard ana 1aat
rules. However, there is a trend IN
the direction Of form ulating standards
for management which is perhaps
less arbitrary than in the past.
Business is relying less than in the
past on the lunches and guesswork
of men in the saddle. Business Is lean
ing more on research, and business de-
cisions are being made to an increas-
kA4 Anfc 0f a
data, The movement in this direction
was enormously quickened by the
leadership exerted by Herbert Hoover.
Secretary Of Commerce. Mr.. Hoover
not only greatly enlarged the fact
gathering facilities of his own depart
ment. but encouraged individual bus1-
ness enterprises and trade aSsocia-
tions to improve their technique for
finding out the basic facts concerning
the economic situations The effect OF
increasing the body Of current knowl-
edge concerning conditions has been
to stabilize conditions-to fiatteD the
curve of the business cycle, mitigat-
ing booms and depressions.
Element of Surmise Large. "
OF course. there has been little more
than a trend in this direction. The
element of surmise in making bust-
ness decisions is still large. and nee
esarily so, as buiness planning 10
largely for the future, which Is still
partially unknowable. Forecasting as
a science is progressing. but the bat
ting average of the ablest forecast
ing agencies is scarcely as good as
the weather mans.
But, from the human standpoint.
we find the group more important in
the financial and industrial world than
the Individual. Wall Street looks to
no single Individual for leadership to-
day in the sense that 1t sought gutd-
ance eearly in the century from the
late j. Pierpont Morgan.
Management itself has not become
less important. but 1t has become more
diffused and less dependent on any in
dividual However. wisely managed
corporations know the tremendous
money. making value OF their key men
and give expression to this recogni-
tion in a variety Of ways. For exam
Pile the practice OF carrying life In
surance, with the corporation as bene-
f1ciary. on important executives has
become general Moreover. there Is
a tendency to reward executives with
H.