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Page 12
The Book That Has Helped Me Most in Business
From the American Magazine by Permission
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Continued From Last Week
"A greater salesman than Paul sat one
<lay on the edge of a well in Samaria.
You know Who it is to Whom I refer.
"As He sat there, a woman came out
from the city with a heavy pitcher on
her head, for water. Between His peo
ple and hers there was a feud of cen
turies. They had no dealings with each
other. She must have hated the very
sight of Him; it was a crime, according
to the standards of His people, for Him
even to speak to her. Pretty difficult
situation for a salesman to find himself
in, don’t you think? Had He said to her.
even ‘Good afternoon,’ or ‘lt’s a pretty
hot day, isn’t it?’ she would have turned
from Him in scorn; she might even have
broken the pitcher about His ears.
"But sitting there. He spoke casually,
almost as though talking to Himself
“ ‘lf you knew who I am,’ He said
•quietly, ‘you would not need to come way
out here for water. I would give you
living water.’
"Amazed, interested in spite of herself,
she cried.’
“ 'What do you mean? Are you greater
than our father Abraham • who gave us
this well? Do you mean to say that you
know away to get us water in the city
without this long walk in the sun?'
to go on. you see. And
He did go on. And she ran back to the
city and brought out her friends and
relatives, and they compelled Him to re
main with them two days. He, a hated
Stranger, selling a gospel that they could
• not but regard with suspicion, won a
whole city full of prospects to Him by
His very first words.
"is there any salesman in the world
who would not lift his hat and stand
reverently in the presence of a master
ship like that?
"I read all this sales convention stuff
that you send in to my desk, Freddy; 5
like to see what you sales managers and
advertising managers are thinking and
writing about. And do you think that
there’s hardly a big new idea in the. whole
mass of your stuff that isn’t written
somewhere in this old one-volume busi
ness encyclopedia that I'm telling you
about?
"You talk to your men a great deal
about liealth. Moses, the wise old sales
manager, laid out a health program for
his people in the most minute .detail;
and, little by little, science is discovering
that every single paragraph has a good
solid scientific reason behind it. We have
found out that pork is harder to digest
than any other moat: he forbade pork al
together. He ■ established a system of
fast days that wo have disregarded, sup
posing them founded merely on religious
ritual. And now along comes science to
tell us that the ‘average man digs his
grave with his teeth’: that we would al 1
be a hundred times better if we ate less
and that, unquestionably, the fasts of
Moses contributed in on small degree to
the health of his people.
"He stood firm for one day of loafing
a week. And only a few months ago I
read how Dr. E. G. Martin of Leland
.Stanford Univercity, making tests on a
group of students by. means of an elec
trical machine, proved thats a man’s
nervous resiliency grows less and less
through the week, and absolutely re
quires Sunday’s rest to recuperate. So
it goes. W.e come trumpeting along with
some big new scientific discovery calcul
ated to increase human efficiency. And.
behold, we turn back to old Moses and i
discover that we are somewhere between
three and five thounsand years late.
“One of the most foolish-sounding sen
tences in the world is -in the New Testa
ment and reads something Jike this: ‘lf
any man would be first among you let
him be your servant.' Sounds perfectly
absurd, doesn’t it? Beautiful in senti
ment of course; but impractical, vision
ary, good only for unselfish dreamers.
So the world thought fpr many years:
but pick up any trade-paper to-day and
see what the world thinks. Pick up a
magazine and look at the advertisements;
half of them are nothing in the world but
that verse in different words.*
“ ‘We are the greatest automobile
manufacturers,* says one, and then goes
on to explain why: ‘Because we will get
our backs dirty crawing under your car
more times than any other manufacturer.
We give better service: we are the ser
vants of all therefore we are first of all.’
“ ‘Come to my hotel,’ advertises an
other. ’lt is the leading hotel.’ Why?
'Because you can’t possibly insult us en
ough. There is' nothing so menial, so
. slavish that we won’t gladly do it for
you. We are more* humble servants
than any other hotel men, therefore We
are the greatest of all.’
"Service — service— service— it’s the
keynote of modern business, the open
seasame of present-day success. -And ev
ery man who discovers it and applies it
to his own business supposes he has found
a new thing in the world, never suspect
ing that this old Book has been holding
out the secret to him, waiting for the
world to take it for over nineteen hun
dred years.
"There is one single little gem in the
very heart of this Book that I turn to
more often than any other writing. It’s
called the Book of Ecclesiastes. Fred
erick the Great used to read it constantly.
He said that every monarch should know
it by heart: it was the ‘book of kings’
he said. It was written by .one of the
most successful men who ever lived, a
man whose success was so groat that he
had too much of everything. Too much
money; too much power; too many wives.
To have his wish fulfilled instantly he
had but to raise his hand. He was a wise
man too, was Solomon; reputed by some
to have been the wisest who ever lived.
"And, having plenty of time and all the
money necessary to pursue the search, he
set out to discover what is most worth
while in life. Believe me, Freddy, there
is a man’s-size search.
"Let me give you a couple of quota
tions from that wise old chap's story as
he tells it himself
"What profit has man of all his labor
wherein he laboreth under the sun? One
generation goeth, and another genera
tion cometh; but the" earth abideth for
ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun
goeth down, and hasteth to its place
where it ariseth. . . All the rivers run
into the sea, yet the sea is not full: unto
the place whither the rivers go, thither
they go again. All things are full of
weariness; man cannot utter it the eye.
is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear
filled with hearing. That which hath
been is that which shall be done; and
there is no new thing under the sun.
"Monotony, routine, the doinig of the
TRENCH AND CAMP
same thing over and over again—what’s
the answer to it all? What does it get a
man, in -the end? Show me a man who
has never asked himself that question.
“Perhaps pleasure is the answer, said
Solomon.
“I said in my heart, Go to now, I will
prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy
pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
"Maybe work is the thing, thea, said
the old fellow. He built great buildings
and threw himself into the business of
administering his kingdom, hoping to
find satisfaction.
"Then I looked on all the works that
my hands had wrought, and on the labor
that I had labored to do: and, behold, all
was vanity and vexation of spirit, and
there was no profit under the dun.
“One thing remained to be tried. If
neither pleasure nor work is the answer
to life’s riddle, then wisdom must be.
Let a man withdraw himself from the
struggle and give himself to study. Let
him try to become the wisest man of his
generation. Solomon tried it—and suc
ceeded. With what result?
“I preceived that this also is vexation
of spirit. For in much widsom is much
grief: and he that increaseth knowledge
increaseth sorrow.
"Pretty hopeless picture, isn’t it? Aiyi
believe me, thousands or successful men
have painted it for themselves. Pleasure
has ceased to amuse them; they have
gained : uccess and fame and wealth only
■to find that ail they have striven for is
nothing but ashes in their hands, once
they have attained it. More great men
are sick at heart than you and I ever
suspect, Freddy. More men who seem to
have everything that life can give are
still unsatisfied, unhappy, yearning for,
sdhiething that wilL seem to give reason
and purpose to it all—reaching out after
they know not what.
"Solomon went through ail that. He
found the answer; it’s printed in the last
chapter of his book.
"Remember now thy Creator in the
days of thy youth, while the evil days
come not, nor the years draw nigh, when
thou shalt say, 1 have no pleasure in
them.
“To feel and know that there is a
Great Companion back of the universe,
working with you, loving you. trying
with all His might to prosper every
righteous enterprise, and to aid every
righteous effort; to know that He never
dies, and that, you, being a part of Him,
will never die either; to go cheerfully,
trustingly through life, doing what simple
kindness you can to those about you.
building a worthy, success, scorning dis
honest advantage, and kind—that is the
answer as that wise old fellow found it.
And, believe me, Freddy, of all the suc
cessful men I know, those who have hit
upon the same answer are the happiest.
There is something in their lives that
other men do not have—a - -tee and
tranquillity and quiet content which the
richest men in the world look covetously
upon, and would give anything in the
world to possess.
Solomon solved the great human pro
blem. And the tragedy of business and
life is that so many men attain the suc
cess that they suppose will bring them
happiness, and find —as he found in his
earlier days—that what they have gained
does not satisfy. It’s worth something
to a man to know old Solomon, and to
have tried out the various stages of his
search and come with him to the happy
answer. I know it, Freddy; I’ve tried it
and it works.
"All of us men who are successful a‘
the selling game ought to have a de
gree conferred on us by Yale, or som
other college, H. N. D., Doctor of Hums'
Nature. For that’s all we are, student
of what people want and of how to con
vince them that they really want i
enough to pay the price. If we win, it’;
because we know men; if we lose our
sale, it’s because we have lost the key
to cur prospect’s disposition and make
up. And the Bible. Freddy, Is the great
est encyclopedia of human nature in the
world.
"Any man who wants to know how r
crowd will act can learn all about it by
studying the gang that Moses led around
in the wilderness. Tremendously gra/.efu’
to him for getting them out of slavery—
grateful, yes, for about five minutes. Nr
sooner were their feet a little wet in thr
wilderness, and their backs bitten a little
by the mosquitoes, than they began te
criticize Moses and wish they hadn’t
come. People haven't changed one sin
gle bit since those days. Moses found
he couldn’t keep them sold for twenty
four hours a* a time: all the sales work
had to be done over and over again
constantly. . We’ve discovered the same
thing; that’s why our advertising runs
all the year round, in season and out.
“There's no glossing over of human na
ture in this old Book: Samson and David
who let women best them, are set down
in all the harshness of the original col
ors. Noah’s, son, who got drunk: Adam's
boy, who killed his brother: Peter, whe
promise' his Master by all that is holv
that he would stick to the finish, and
within six hours had denied Him thrice
the disciples, who hadn’t vision enough
to see what He was really attempting
and were continually quarreling among
themselves and having to be straight
ened out. Thomas—the original mar
from Missouri—the disciple who would
not believe in his Lord's resurrectior
until he had actually placed his finger
in the marks left by the nails that had
fastened Him to the cross, is a perfect
type of the fellow you have to deal wit!?
every day in your life, the chap who has
to be shown.
"It’s a great one-volume guide to the
mental curves and inshoots of your pros
pects, Freddy—worth-while from that
standpoint alone.
“But, more than that, it’s the greatest
course in direct, forceful English in the
world. If you want to learn to write a
better sales letter: if you think that a
good English style would help you in get
ting out your advertising, I commend you
to it. Take the great masters of force
ful English right. down the line —Addi-
son, Steele, Burke, Franklin, Webster,
Lincoln —Biblical quotations drin from
them like dew from the trees. Franklin
taught himself to write by hard per
sonal application; the marks of the Bible
are everywhere apparent in his style.
Even if I didn’t believe a word that is
written inside these covers I would still
give my boy the best kind of a Biblical
education; it would mean money in his
pocket, Freddy; he would live to bless
me’ for it. As a drill in simple, direct,
powerful Anglo-Saxon, the kind of lan
guage that we use in advertising and in
modern business, there never has been.
and.never will be, a book to equal this.
"It’s a course in salesmanship; it s an
encyclopedia of human nature; it s a
text-book in business. English; out U.S
something more important than all tnese
put together, Freddy. I don’t know any
better way of expressing it than to say
that it’s the supreme developer of vision.
"One., of the truest bits of business
philosophy ever penned is inside its cov
ers: ‘Where there is no vision, the people
pe “lf^y 0U w in look around you and apply
that sentence to some of the businesses
you know, it will be like turning a pow
erful searchlight Jnto their vitals. Ma
chinery they have, and men, and organi
zation, everything, apparently; but still
they do not progress—everything but a
big long-distance vision of where they
are going, and why.
"No business or business man gets very
far in the world without a vision of that
kind. A man has to feel that what he
is doing is important, Freddy; that it
really counts in the world; that his life
is not a mere matter of getting up, and
eating and dictating some letters, and
going to bed tired. If he can see the
universe as a great workshop, presided
over and inspired by a Master Workman,
who stands at his side, helping, encour
aging, giving eternal significance to his
every thought and action; if he believes
that the little good be is able to do in
life is fitted in as a part of aneverlast
ing scheme of things; if he can believe
believe that, Freddy, there comes into
his soul a peace and a satisfaction that
transforms every business day. The aver
age age at which Americans die is around
forty-seven; and American men die
younger than American wqmen. Do you
know what that means. Freddy? It
means several things, but one thing in
particular—Worry.
"Men fret themselves to death. TheJ
don’t know what they are after, and
that worries them. Or they do know,
and think they are going to fail to get
i., and lie worried. Or they succeed
in getting it, arc: find after all, the game
wasn’t worth the candle, and they lose
all desire to gc in with life.
"I don’t beiievc you have ever seen me
worried. Serious —yes. Overworked, at
times, j erl ays: but really downright
worried, never. And the reason, Freddy, i
is right here down inside myself. I do
the. very be.-.t 1 can every day; if I make
mistakes it isn't because I haven’t tried.
And, having done my best, I leave the
results tak-r eate of themselves.
“Listen t.i this -
"For the Lord God is a sun and
shield, the Lord will give grace and
glory, r.o good tiling will be withhold
from them that walk uprightly.
“And this:
“Trust in the Lord; and do good:
so shalt thou dwell in the land, and
veri.y then shalt be fed.
"Why, Freddy, those are the two great
est promissor” notes in the world. I
them !■ / ed away in my safe de
posit box along with my other securi
ties, and 'there is more satisfaction to
me tn them—more real security—than in
all the rest ] u’t together. They are sign
ed by Almighty God himself. And once
you can bring yourself to believe in them
they so" - ' pretty much all the worries
that <1 S men into early graves. ‘No
good t1...-g will he withhold from them
that walk uprightly.’ ‘Verily thou shalt
be fed.’ You can’t realize the comfort
that's in them, until you’ve tried them
out. .lust to know that all you have to
do is to do your best, and that the rest
is going to be taken care of. To know
that so long as you're living clean and
Soldiers
Attention!
We carry a complete stock of
the following materials:
Rubber Roofing,
Sheathing Paper,
Great Majestic Ranges,
Perfection Oil Heaters,
Heating Stoves,
Stove Piping, all sizes,
Stove Pipe Dampers,
Galvanized Iron Sheets.
Let us serve you.
You will find our prices low
and deliveries prompt.
We make daily deliveries to
Camp Hancock.
Phone 100
1009 Broad St.
FLOWERS
FOR ALL OCCASIONS
We Deliver by the FLORAL TELEGRAPH
DELIVERY to any part of the civil
ized World
STULB NURSERY
AS USUAL
Feb. 20.
trying to build strong and true you’re
working side by side with the greatest
Power in the universe, a Power that can
not finally fail—it’s a transforming dis
covery.
“It gives life a purpose and a meaning,
and an absolutely sure foundation that
nothing can wash away.”
“GET YOUR CHECK”
Details of New Numbering
System.
Extracts from orders issued give sub
stantially as follows the details of the
system as worked out by The Adjutant-
General and approved by the Chief of
Staff:
"In order to insure prompt and accu
rate identification the department has
adopted system of numbering enlisted
men of army only, which system provides
for but one series of numbers, without
alphabetical prefix, for all enlisted men in,
or who may enter, army regardless of or
ganization, arm, corps, or department.
Numbering begins with one and continues
consecutive without limit.
"Consecutive numbers will not be given
men of same surname.
"The number assigned a soldier will be
come a part of his official designation,
will never be changed, and will never be
assigned to another soldier. It will ba
entered on identification tags and will be
entered plainly on all individual records
of soldier, and will be used in connection
with soldier’s name in rolls, reports, and
returns in which his name appears.
"As some time will elapse before records
of soldiers on file in the Wart Department
are properly numbered, all casualty re
ports, until further orders, should con
tinue to include full name, grade, and or*
ganization, as well as number after num
bers have been assigned.
"Blocks of numbers will be allotted by
The Adjutant General of the army to the
Commanding General, American Expedi
tionary Forces, to department command
ers. and to commanding generals of di
visional camps, ports of embarkation, and
recruit depots.
"Assignment of numbers to enlisted
men of army generally will be made as of
February 28, 1918, and effort will be made
to number in United States on*that date
all enlisted men then in service in United
States. Effort will be made to number
in United States all enlisted men enter
ing service in United States on and after
March 1, 1918.
“To men in service at time of muster
on that date numbers will be assigned by
their immediate commanding officers or
by officers under whose immediate juris
diction they are serving. To men subse
quently entering service numbers will be
assigned by recruiting or other proper
officers at time of enlistment in, or other
wise entering, the service.
The Augusta
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