The Coolidge examiner., 1931-03-13

| # u E$ different t r m
II the run of job
| $ $8 seeking boys of
ElsA his time.
H. wasn't t
quite sixteen when he had to go to
work. His father lost his life at
sea and the lads earnings were
needed at home. He was husky for
his age. He had no trouble getting
a job as laborer in the plant of
the New Haven Wire company. He
was paid $4.65 a week for twelve
hours daily of back breaking work.
Such a life didn't fit in with the
! plans young Farrell had made
when he was attending grammar
school in New Haven, Conn. He
was born in that city in 1868, the
son of ship owner who skippered
his own craft. His father was in
comfortable circumstances. He
| counted on giving his son the bene-
ut of a college education.
But the elder Farrell met with
reverSeS and went down at sea with
his ship before he was able to get
his son started in life with the ad-
vdntageS of higher education.
The yOungster didn't brood over his
! changed circumstances. He went
out and got a job. With his sturdy
| body and good health he was able
to hold his end up with the grown
men with whom he worked Tired
as he was when he returned home
at night he studied and read good
books. He wasn't going to be
cheated of an education even if he
| did have to work as a day laborer.
He made such progress in his
work that he became q mechanic
when he was seventeen years old.
Here again he showed an ability
to work long, hard and intelligent
ly. BY the time he was nineteen
he was a foreman over 300 work
men and earning $50 a month.
AS a boy he had made several
voyages with his father These
| trips aroused his interest in geOg-
raphy. He pored over the maps
of far away places when he studied
at night after a hard day in the
mills. He would memOriZe his self
taught lessons and then draw the
maps from memory. filling in the
important cities, rivers, mountains
and seapOrts.
In this way he cultivated a men,
DRY that was 10 serve him in good
stead later in life. His associates
say that he never forgets an i'm
pOrtant matter that he once files
IN hfg. sy.Ixy IN, ~
career he was able to call off facts
and figures without having to refer
to books or statements.
The boy found it hard at first to
cultivate q good memory, but he
kept doggedly at his plan to re-
member the facts he thought he
might need. Soon the task came
easy to him.
He had been quite trader when
he was little fellow. He swapped
marbles, jack-knives and other
treasures of boyhood with his play
mates. He seldom got the worst
of deal. He had the instincts of
good salesman before he entered
the steel business as a lad of fif-
teen.
1t was natural enough that he
turn to salesmanship after he
learned the iron and steel industry
from the ground up. When his
chance came to sell steel products
he made a notable record. He
wasn't the l-fellOw-well-m type,
mixer and a back slapper. But
he knew his goods and he was
later to gain the title of Americas
greatest international salesman.
The future head of the United
States Steel corporation had
long and hard row to hoe before
he became a salesman and fulfill
the promise of his schoOlboy days
as smart trader. After nine
years work in New Haven he went
to Pittsburgh. He had made up
his mind to learn all there was to
know about the steel business. He
was convinced that Pittsburgh, the
seat of the industry, held an op-
portunity for him.
Future events proved the wisdom
of his change. He was soon as
sistant superintendent of a mill
after having worked in the white
hot heat of the blast furnaces and
tOiled, bare to the waist, in the
rolling plant. He was promoted to
the superintendency and later was
made general manager. He was
learning how to make steel and not
forgetting a thing he had learned
in the past.
His company finally put him in
charge of sales for the United
States with headquarters in New
York. He was so successful that
the steel corporation hired him and
sent him to Europe in charge of
sales. Here his knowledge of for
eign conditions, that had its begin
ming in his study of foreign geogra-
ply as boy, helped him to estab-
Iish a sales record.
That success brought the boy
who started as a laborer at S465
a week the presidency of the Steel
corporation, one of the worlds
greatest industrial positions.