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diff --git a/8581.txt b/8581.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8cfdad8 --- /dev/null +++ b/8581.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1771 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Art of Money Getting, by P. T. Barnum + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Art of Money Getting + or, Golden Rules for Making Money + +Author: P. T. Barnum + +Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8581] +Posting Date: July 30, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF MONEY GETTING *** + + + + +Produced by Wayne N. Keyser in honor of his Parents, Clifton +B. and Esther N. Keyser + + + + + + +THE ART OF MONEY GETTING + +or + +GOLDEN RULES FOR MAKING MONEY + + +By P.T. Barnum + + + +In the United States, where we have more land than people, it is not +at all difficult for persons in good health to make money. In this +comparatively new field there are so many avenues of success open, so +many vocations which are not crowded, that any person of either sex who +is willing, at least for the time being, to engage in any respectable +occupation that offers, may find lucrative employment. + +Those who really desire to attain an independence, have only to set +their minds upon it, and adopt the proper means, as they do in regard to +any other object which they wish to accomplish, and the thing is easily +done. But however easy it may be found to make money, I have no doubt +many of my hearers will agree it is the most difficult thing in the +world to keep it. The road to wealth is, as Dr. Franklin truly says, +"as plain as the road to the mill." It consists simply in expending less +than we earn; that seems to be a very simple problem. Mr. Micawber, +one of those happy creations of the genial Dickens, puts the case in a +strong light when he says that to have annual income of twenty pounds +per annum, and spend twenty pounds and sixpence, is to be the most +miserable of men; whereas, to have an income of only twenty pounds, and +spend but nineteen pounds and sixpence is to be the happiest of mortals. +Many of my readers may say, "we understand this: this is economy, and we +know economy is wealth; we know we can't eat our cake and keep it also." +Yet I beg to say that perhaps more cases of failure arise from mistakes +on this point than almost any other. The fact is, many people think they +understand economy when they really do not. + +True economy is misapprehended, and people go through life without +properly comprehending what that principle is. One says, "I have an +income of so much, and here is my neighbor who has the same; yet every +year he gets something ahead and I fall short; why is it? I know all +about economy." He thinks he does, but he does not. There are men who +think that economy consists in saving cheese-parings and candle-ends, +in cutting off two pence from the laundress' bill and doing all sorts of +little, mean, dirty things. Economy is not meanness. The misfortune is, +also, that this class of persons let their economy apply in only one +direction. They fancy they are so wonderfully economical in saving a +half-penny where they ought to spend twopence, that they think they can +afford to squander in other directions. A few years ago, before kerosene +oil was discovered or thought of, one might stop overnight at almost any +farmer's house in the agricultural districts and get a very good supper, +but after supper he might attempt to read in the sitting-room, and +would find it impossible with the inefficient light of one candle. The +hostess, seeing his dilemma, would say: "It is rather difficult to read +here evenings; the proverb says 'you must have a ship at sea in order +to be able to burn two candles at once;' we never have an extra candle +except on extra occasions." These extra occasions occur, perhaps, twice +a year. In this way the good woman saves five, six, or ten dollars in +that time: but the information which might be derived from having the +extra light would, of course, far outweigh a ton of candles. + +But the trouble does not end here. Feeling that she is so economical +in tallow candies, she thinks she can afford to go frequently to the +village and spend twenty or thirty dollars for ribbons and furbelows, +many of which are not necessary. This false connote may frequently +be seen in men of business, and in those instances it often runs to +writing-paper. You find good businessmen who save all the old envelopes +and scraps, and would not tear a new sheet of paper, if they could avoid +it, for the world. This is all very well; they may in this way save five +or ten dollars a year, but being so economical (only in note paper), +they think they can afford to waste time; to have expensive parties, +and to drive their carriages. This is an illustration of Dr. Franklin's +"saving at the spigot and wasting at the bung-hole;" "penny wise and +pound foolish." Punch in speaking of this "one idea" class of people +says "they are like the man who bought a penny herring for his family's +dinner and then hired a coach and four to take it home." I never knew a +man to succeed by practising this kind of economy. + +True economy consists in always making the income exceed the out-go. +Wear the old clothes a little longer if necessary; dispense with the new +pair of gloves; mend the old dress: live on plainer food if need be; so +that, under all circumstances, unless some unforeseen accident occurs, +there will be a margin in favor of the income. A penny here, and a +dollar there, placed at interest, goes on accumulating, and in this way +the desired result is attained. It requires some training, perhaps, to +accomplish this economy, but when once used to it, you will find there +is more satisfaction in rational saving than in irrational spending. +Here is a recipe which I recommend: I have found it to work an excellent +cure for extravagance, and especially for mistaken economy: When you +find that you have no surplus at the end of the year, and yet have a +good income, I advise you to take a few sheets of paper and form them +into a book and mark down every item of expenditure. Post it every day +or week in two columns, one headed "necessaries" or even "comforts", and +the other headed "luxuries," and you will find that the latter column +will be double, treble, and frequently ten times greater than the +former. The real comforts of life cost but a small portion of what most +of us can earn. Dr. Franklin says "it is the eyes of others and not +our own eyes which ruin us. If all the world were blind except myself I +should not care for fine clothes or furniture." It is the fear of what +Mrs. Grundy may say that keeps the noses of many worthy families to the +grindstone. In America many persons like to repeat "we are all free and +equal," but it is a great mistake in more senses than one. + +That we are born "free and equal" is a glorious truth in one sense, yet +we are not all born equally rich, and we never shall be. One may say; +"there is a man who has an income of fifty thousand dollars per annum, +while I have but one thousand dollars; I knew that fellow when he was +poor like myself; now he is rich and thinks he is better than I am; I +will show him that I am as good as he is; I will go and buy a horse and +buggy; no, I cannot do that, but I will go and hire one and ride this +afternoon on the same road that he does, and thus prove to him that I am +as good as he is." + +My friend, you need not take that trouble; you can easily prove that you +are "as good as he is;" you have only to behave as well as he does; but +you cannot make anybody believe that you are rich as he is. Besides, if +you put on these "airs," add waste your time and spend your money, your +poor wife will be obliged to scrub her fingers off at home, and buy her +tea two ounces at a time, and everything else in proportion, in order +that you may keep up "appearances," and, after all, deceive nobody. On +the other hand, Mrs. Smith may say that her next-door neighbor +married Johnson for his money, and "everybody says so." She has a nice +one-thousand dollar camel's hair shawl, and she will make Smith get her +an imitation one, and she will sit in a pew right next to her neighbor +in church, in order to prove that she is her equal. + +My good woman, you will not get ahead in the world, if your vanity and +envy thus take the lead. In this country, where we believe the majority +ought to rule, we ignore that principle in regard to fashion, and let +a handful of people, calling themselves the aristocracy, run up a false +standard of perfection, and in endeavoring to rise to that standard, we +constantly keep ourselves poor; all the time digging away for the sake +of outside appearances. How much wiser to be a "law unto ourselves" and +say, "we will regulate our out-go by our income, and lay up something +for a rainy day." People ought to be as sensible on the subject of +money-getting as on any other subject. Like causes produces like +effects. You cannot accumulate a fortune by taking the road that leads +to poverty. It needs no prophet to tell us that those who live fully up +to their means, without any thought of a reverse in this life, can never +attain a pecuniary independence. + +Men and women accustomed to gratify every whim and caprice, will find it +hard, at first, to cut down their various unnecessary expenses, and will +feel it a great self-denial to live in a smaller house than they have +been accustomed to, with less expensive furniture, less company, less +costly clothing, fewer servants, a less number of balls, parties, +theater-goings, carriage-ridings, pleasure excursions, cigar-smokings, +liquor-drinkings, and other extravagances; but, after all, if they will +try the plan of laying by a "nest-egg," or, in other words, a small +sum of money, at interest or judiciously invested in land, they will be +surprised at the pleasure to be derived from constantly adding to their +little "pile," as well as from all the economical habits which are +engendered by this course. + +The old suit of clothes, and the old bonnet and dress, will answer for +another season; the Croton or spring water taste better than champagne; +a cold bath and a brisk walk will prove more exhilarating than a ride +in the finest coach; a social chat, an evening's reading in the family +circle, or an hour's play of "hunt the slipper" and "blind man's buff" +will be far more pleasant than a fifty or five hundred dollar party, +when the reflection on the difference in cost is indulged in by those +who begin to know the pleasures of saving. Thousands of men are kept +poor, and tens of thousands are made so after they have acquired quite +sufficient to support them well through life, in consequence of laying +their plans of living on too broad a platform. Some families expend +twenty thousand dollars per annum, and some much more, and would +scarcely know how to live on less, while others secure more solid +enjoyment frequently on a twentieth part of that amount. Prosperity is +a more severe ordeal than adversity, especially sudden prosperity. +"Easy come, easy go," is an old and true proverb. A spirit of pride and +vanity, when permitted to have full sway, is the undying canker-worm +which gnaws the very vitals of a man's worldly possessions, let them be +small or great, hundreds, or millions. Many persons, as they begin +to prosper, immediately expand their ideas and commence expending for +luxuries, until in a short time their expenses swallow up their +income, and they become ruined in their ridiculous attempts to keep up +appearances, and make a "sensation." + +I know a gentleman of fortune who says, that when he first began to +prosper, his wife would have a new and elegant sofa. "That sofa," he +says, "cost me thirty thousand dollars!" When the sofa reached the +house, it was found necessary to get chairs to match; then side-boards, +carpets and tables "to correspond" with them, and so on through the +entire stock of furniture; when at last it was found that the house +itself was quite too small and old-fashioned for the furniture, and a +new one was built to correspond with the new purchases; "thus," added my +friend, "summing up an outlay of thirty thousand dollars, caused by that +single sofa, and saddling on me, in the shape of servants, equipage, and +the necessary expenses attendant upon keeping up a fine 'establishment,' +a yearly outlay of eleven thousand dollars, and a tight pinch at that: +whereas, ten years ago, we lived with much more real comfort, because +with much less care, on as many hundreds. The truth is," he continued, +"that sofa would have brought me to inevitable bankruptcy, had not a +most unexampled title to prosperity kept me above it, and had I not +checked the natural desire to 'cut a dash'." + +The foundation of success in life is good health: that is the substratum +fortune; it is also the basis of happiness. A person cannot accumulate a +fortune very well when he is sick. He has no ambition; no incentive; no +force. Of course, there are those who have bad health and cannot help +it: you cannot expect that such persons can accumulate wealth, but there +are a great many in poor health who need not be so. + +If, then, sound health is the foundation of success and happiness in +life, how important it is that we should study the laws of health, which +is but another expression for the laws of nature! The nearer we keep to +the laws of nature, the nearer we are to good health, and yet how many +persons there are who pay no attention to natural laws, but absolutely +transgress them, even against their own natural inclination. We ought +to know that the "sin of ignorance" is never winked at in regard to the +violation of nature's laws; their infraction always brings the penalty. +A child may thrust its finger into the flames without knowing it will +burn, and so suffers, repentance, even, will not stop the smart. Many of +our ancestors knew very little about the principle of ventilation. They +did not know much about oxygen, whatever other "gin" they might have +been acquainted with; and consequently they built their houses with +little seven-by-nine feet bedrooms, and these good old pious Puritans +would lock themselves up in one of these cells, say their prayers and +go to bed. In the morning they would devoutly return thanks for the +"preservation of their lives," during the night, and nobody had better +reason to be thankful. Probably some big crack in the window, or in the +door, let in a little fresh air, and thus saved them. + +Many persons knowingly violate the laws of nature against their better +impulses, for the sake of fashion. For instance, there is one thing +that nothing living except a vile worm ever naturally loved, and that +is tobacco; yet how many persons there are who deliberately train an +unnatural appetite, and overcome this implanted aversion for tobacco, +to such a degree that they get to love it. They have got hold of a +poisonous, filthy weed, or rather that takes a firm hold of them. Here +are married men who run about spitting tobacco juice on the carpet and +floors, and sometimes even upon their wives besides. They do not kick +their wives out of doors like drunken men, but their wives, I have +no doubt, often wish they were outside of the house. Another perilous +feature is that this artificial appetite, like jealousy, "grows by what +it feeds on;" when you love that which is unnatural, a stronger appetite +is created for the hurtful thing than the natural desire for what is +harmless. There is an old proverb which says that "habit is second +nature," but an artificial habit is stronger than nature. Take for +instance, an old tobacco-chewer; his love for the "quid" is stronger +than his love for any particular kind of food. He can give up roast beef +easier than give up the weed. + +Young lads regret that they are not men; they would like to go to bed +boys and wake up men; and to accomplish this they copy the bad habits of +their seniors. Little Tommy and Johnny see their fathers or uncles smoke +a pipe, and they say, "If I could only do that, I would be a man too; +uncle John has gone out and left his pipe of tobacco, let us try it." +They take a match and light it, and then puff away. "We will learn to +smoke; do you like it Johnny?" That lad dolefully replies: "Not very +much; it tastes bitter;" by and by he grows pale, but he persists and he +soon offers up a sacrifice on the altar of fashion; but the boys stick +to it and persevere until at last they conquer their natural appetites +and become the victims of acquired tastes. + +I speak "by the book," for I have noticed its effects on myself, having +gone so far as to smoke ten or fifteen cigars a day; although I have not +used the weed during the last fourteen years, and never shall again. +The more a man smokes, the more he craves smoking; the last cigar smoked +simply excites the desire for another, and so on incessantly. + +Take the tobacco-chewer. In the morning, when he gets up, he puts a quid +in his mouth and keeps it there all day, never taking it out except to +exchange it for a fresh one, or when he is going to eat; oh! yes, at +intervals during the day and evening, many a chewer takes out the quid +and holds it in his hand long enough to take a drink, and then pop it +goes back again. This simply proves that the appetite for rum is even +stronger than that for tobacco. When the tobacco-chewer goes to your +country seat and you show him your grapery and fruit house, and the +beauties of your garden, when you offer him some fresh, ripe fruit, and +say, "My friend, I have got here the most delicious apples, and pears, +and peaches, and apricots; I have imported them from Spain, France and +Italy--just see those luscious grapes; there is nothing more delicious +nor more healthy than ripe fruit, so help yourself; I want to see you +delight yourself with these things;" he will roll the dear quid under +his tongue and answer, "No, I thank you, I have got tobacco in my +mouth." His palate has become narcotized by the noxious weed, and he has +lost, in a great measure, the delicate and enviable taste for fruits. +This shows what expensive, useless and injurious habits men will get +into. I speak from experience. I have smoked until I trembled like an +aspen leaf, the blood rushed to my head, and I had a palpitation of the +heart which I thought was heart disease, till I was almost killed +with fright. When I consulted my physician, he said "break off tobacco +using." I was not only injuring my health and spending a great deal of +money, but I was setting a bad example. I obeyed his counsel. No young +man in the world ever looked so beautiful, as he thought he did, behind +a fifteen cent cigar or a meerschaum! + +These remarks apply with tenfold force to the use of intoxicating +drinks. To make money, requires a clear brain. A man has got to see that +two and two make four; he must lay all his plans with reflection and +forethought, and closely examine all the details and the ins and outs +of business. As no man can succeed in business unless he has a brain to +enable him to lay his plans, and reason to guide him in their execution, +so, no matter how bountifully a man may be blessed with intelligence, if +the brain is muddled, and his judgment warped by intoxicating drinks, it +is impossible for him to carry on business successfully. How many good +opportunities have passed, never to return, while a man was sipping a +"social glass," with his friend! How many foolish bargains have been +made under the influence of the "nervine," which temporarily makes its +victim think he is rich. How many important chances have been put off +until to-morrow, and then forever, because the wine cup has thrown the +system into a state of lassitude, neutralizing the energies so +essential to success in business. Verily, "wine is a mocker." The use of +intoxicating drinks as a beverage, is as much an infatuation, as is the +smoking of opium by the Chinese, and the former is quite as destructive +to the success of the business man as the latter. It is an unmitigated +evil, utterly indefensible in the light of philosophy; religion or good +sense. It is the parent of nearly every other evil in our country. + + + + +DON'T MISTAKE YOUR VOCATION + +The safest plan, and the one most sure of success for the young man +starting in life, is to select the vocation which is most congenial +to his tastes. Parents and guardians are often quite too negligent in +regard to this. It very common for a father to say, for example: "I have +five boys. I will make Billy a clergyman; John a lawyer; Tom a doctor, +and Dick a farmer." He then goes into town and looks about to see +what he will do with Sammy. He returns home and says "Sammy, I see +watch-making is a nice genteel business; I think I will make you a +goldsmith." He does this, regardless of Sam's natural inclinations, or +genius. + +We are all, no doubt, born for a wise purpose. There is as much +diversity in our brains as in our countenances. Some are born natural +mechanics, while some have great aversion to machinery. Let a dozen boys +of ten years get together, and you will soon observe two or three are +"whittling" out some ingenious device; working with locks or complicated +machinery. When they were but five years old, their father could find +no toy to please them like a puzzle. They are natural mechanics; but +the other eight or nine boys have different aptitudes. I belong to +the latter class; I never had the slightest love for mechanism; on the +contrary, I have a sort of abhorrence for complicated machinery. I never +had ingenuity enough to whittle a cider tap so it would not leak. +I never could make a pen that I could write with, or understand the +principle of a steam engine. If a man was to take such a boy as I +was, and attempt to make a watchmaker of him, the boy might, after an +apprenticeship of five or seven years, be able to take apart and put +together a watch; but all through life he would be working up hill and +seizing every excuse for leaving his work and idling away his time. +Watchmaking is repulsive to him. + +Unless a man enters upon the vocation intended for him by nature, and +best suited to his peculiar genius, he cannot succeed. I am glad to +believe that the majority of persons do find their right vocation. Yet +we see many who have mistaken their calling, from the blacksmith up (or +down) to the clergyman. You will see, for instance, that extraordinary +linguist the "learned blacksmith," who ought to have been a teacher of +languages; and you may have seen lawyers, doctors and clergymen who were +better fitted by nature for the anvil or the lapstone. + + + + +SELECT THE RIGHT LOCATION + +After securing the right vocation, you must be careful to select the +proper location. You may have been cut out for a hotel keeper, and +they say it requires a genius to "know how to keep a hotel." You might +conduct a hotel like clock-work, and provide satisfactorily for five +hundred guests every day; yet, if you should locate your house in a +small village where there is no railroad communication or public travel, +the location would be your ruin. It is equally important that you do not +commence business where there are already enough to meet all demands in +the same occupation. I remember a case which illustrates this subject. +When I was in London in 1858, I was passing down Holborn with an English +friend and came to the "penny shows." They had immense cartoons outside, +portraying the wonderful curiosities to be seen "all for a penny." Being +a little in the "show line" myself, I said "let us go in here." We +soon found ourselves in the presence of the illustrious showman, and he +proved to be the sharpest man in that line I had ever met. He told +us some extraordinary stories in reference to his bearded ladies, his +Albinos, and his Armadillos, which we could hardly believe, but thought +it "better to believe it than look after the proof'." He finally begged +to call our attention to some wax statuary, and showed us a lot of the +dirtiest and filthiest wax figures imaginable. They looked as if they +had not seen water since the Deluge. + +"What is there so wonderful about your statuary?" I asked. + +"I beg you not to speak so satirically," he replied, "Sir, these are +not Madam Tussaud's wax figures, all covered with gilt and tinsel and +imitation diamonds, and copied from engravings and photographs. Mine, +sir, were taken from life. Whenever you look upon one of those figures, +you may consider that you are looking upon the living individual." + +Glancing casually at them, I saw one labeled "Henry VIII," and feeling a +little curious upon seeing that it looked like Calvin Edson, the living +skeleton, I said: "Do you call that 'Henry the Eighth?'" He replied, +"Certainly; sir; it was taken from life at Hampton Court, by special +order of his majesty; on such a day." + +He would have given the hour of the day if I had resisted; I said, +"Everybody knows that 'Henry VIII.' was a great stout old king, and that +figure is lean and lank; what do you say to that?" + +"Why," he replied, "you would be lean and lank yourself if you sat there +as long as he has." + +There was no resisting such arguments. I said to my English friend, "Let +us go out; do not tell him who I am; I show the white feather; he beats +me." + +He followed us to the door, and seeing the rabble in the street, he +called out, "ladies and gentlemen, I beg to draw your attention to the +respectable character of my visitors," pointing to us as we walked away. +I called upon him a couple of days afterwards; told him who I was, and +said: + +"My friend, you are an excellent showman, but you have selected a bad +location." + +He replied, "This is true, sir; I feel that all my talents are thrown +away; but what can I do?" + +"You can go to America," I replied. "You can give full play to your +faculties over there; you will find plenty of elbowroom in America; I +will engage you for two years; after that you will be able to go on your +own account." + +He accepted my offer and remained two years in my New York Museum. He +then went to New Orleans and carried on a traveling show business during +the summer. To-day he is worth sixty thousand dollars, simply because +he selected the right vocation and also secured the proper location. The +old proverb says, "Three removes are as bad as a fire," but when a man +is in the fire, it matters but little how soon or how often he removes. + + + + +AVOID DEBT + +Young men starting in life should avoid running into debt. There is +scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt. It is a slavish +position to get in, yet we find many a young man, hardly out of his +"teens," running in debt. He meets a chum and says, "Look at this: I +have got trusted for a new suit of clothes." He seems to look upon the +clothes as so much given to him; well, it frequently is so, but, if he +succeeds in paying and then gets trusted again, he is adopting a habit +which will keep him in poverty through life. Debt robs a man of his +self-respect, and makes him almost despise himself. Grunting and +groaning and working for what he has eaten up or worn out, and now when +he is called upon to pay up, he has nothing to show for his money; +this is properly termed "working for a dead horse." I do not speak of +merchants buying and selling on credit, or of those who buy on credit +in order to turn the purchase to a profit. The old Quaker said to his +farmer son, "John, never get trusted; but if thee gets trusted for +anything, let it be for 'manure,' because that will help thee pay it +back again." + +Mr. Beecher advised young men to get in debt if they could to a small +amount in the purchase of land, in the country districts. "If a young +man," he says, "will only get in debt for some land and then get +married, these two things will keep him straight, or nothing will." This +may be safe to a limited extent, but getting in debt for what you eat +and drink and wear is to be avoided. Some families have a foolish habit +of getting credit at "the stores," and thus frequently purchase many +things which might have been dispensed with. + +It is all very well to say; "I have got trusted for sixty days, and if I +don't have the money the creditor will think nothing about it." There +is no class of people in the world, who have such good memories as +creditors. When the sixty days run out, you will have to pay. If you +do not pay, you will break your promise, and probably resort to a +falsehood. You may make some excuse or get in debt elsewhere to pay it, +but that only involves you the deeper. + +A good-looking, lazy young fellow, was the apprentice boy, Horatio. His +employer said, "Horatio, did you ever see a snail?" "I--think--I--have," +he drawled out. "You must have met him then, for I am sure you never +overtook one," said the "boss." Your creditor will meet you or overtake +you and say, "Now, my young friend, you agreed to pay me; you have not +done it, you must give me your note." You give the note on interest and +it commences working against you; "it is a dead horse." The creditor +goes to bed at night and wakes up in the morning better off than when he +retired to bed, because his interest has increased during the night, but +you grow poorer while you are sleeping, for the interest is accumulating +against you. + +Money is in some respects like fire; it is a very excellent servant +but a terrible master. When you have it mastering you; when interest +is constantly piling up against you, it will keep you down in the worst +kind of slavery. But let money work for you, and you have the most +devoted servant in the world. It is no "eye-servant." There is nothing +animate or inanimate that will work so faithfully as money when placed +at interest, well secured. It works night and day, and in wet or dry +weather. + +I was born in the blue-law State of Connecticut, where the old Puritans +had laws so rigid that it was said, "they fined a man for kissing his +wife on Sunday." Yet these rich old Puritans would have thousands of +dollars at interest, and on Saturday night would be worth a certain +amount; on Sunday they would go to church and perform all the duties of +a Christian. On waking up on Monday morning, they would find themselves +considerably richer than the Saturday night previous, simply because +their money placed at interest had worked faithfully for them all day +Sunday, according to law! + +Do not let it work against you; if you do there is no chance for success +in life so far as money is concerned. John Randolph, the eccentric +Virginian, once exclaimed in Congress, "Mr. Speaker, I have discovered +the philosopher's stone: pay as you go." This is, indeed, nearer to the +philosopher's stone than any alchemist has ever yet arrived. + + + + +PERSEVERE + +When a man is in the right path, he must persevere. I speak of this +because there are some persons who are "born tired;" naturally lazy and +possessing no self-reliance and no perseverance. But they can cultivate +these qualities, as Davy Crockett said: + +"This thing remember, when I am dead: Be sure you are right, then go +ahead." + +It is this go-aheaditiveness, this determination not to let the +"horrors" or the "blues" take possession of you, so as to make you +relax your energies in the struggle for independence, which you must +cultivate. + +How many have almost reached the goal of their ambition, but, losing +faith in themselves, have relaxed their energies, and the golden prize +has been lost forever. + +It is, no doubt, often true, as Shakespeare says: + +"There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads +on to fortune." + +If you hesitate, some bolder hand will stretch out before you and get +the prize. Remember the proverb of Solomon: "He becometh poor that +dealeth with a slack hand; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich." + +Perseverance is sometimes but another word for self-reliance. Many +persons naturally look on the dark side of life, and borrow trouble. +They are born so. Then they ask for advice, and they will be governed +by one wind and blown by another, and cannot rely upon themselves. Until +you can get so that you can rely upon yourself, you need not expect to +succeed. + +I have known men, personally, who have met with pecuniary reverses, +and absolutely committed suicide, because they thought they could never +overcome their misfortune. But I have known others who have met more +serious financial difficulties, and have bridged them over by simple +perseverance, aided by a firm belief that they were doing justly, and +that Providence would "overcome evil with good." You will see this +illustrated in any sphere of life. + +Take two generals; both understand military tactics, both educated at +West Point, if you please, both equally gifted; yet one, having this +principle of perseverance, and the other lacking it, the former will +succeed in his profession, while the latter will fail. One may hear the +cry, "the enemy are coming, and they have got cannon." + +"Got cannon?" says the hesitating general. + +"Yes." + +"Then halt every man." + +He wants time to reflect; his hesitation is his ruin; the enemy passes +unmolested, or overwhelms him; while on the other hand, the general of +pluck, perseverance and self-reliance, goes into battle with a will, +and, amid the clash of arms, the booming of cannon, the shrieks of the +wounded, and the moans of the dying, you will see this man persevering, +going on, cutting and slashing his way through with unwavering +determination, inspiring his soldiers to deeds of fortitude, valor, and +triumph. + + + + +WHATEVER YOU DO, DO IT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT + +Work at it, if necessary, early and late, in season and out of season, +not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that +which can be done just as well now. The old proverb is full of truth and +meaning, "Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well." Many +a man acquires a fortune by doing his business thoroughly, while his +neighbor remains poor for life, because he only half does it. Ambition, +energy, industry, perseverance, are indispensable requisites for success +in business. + +Fortune always favors the brave, and never helps a man who does not help +himself. It won't do to spend your time like Mr. Micawber, in waiting +for something to "turn up." To such men one of two things usually "turns +up:" the poorhouse or the jail; for idleness breeds bad habits, and +clothes a man in rags. The poor spendthrift vagabond says to a rich man: + +"I have discovered there is enough money in the world for all of us, +if it was equally divided; this must be done, and we shall all be happy +together." + +"But," was the response, "if everybody was like you, it would be spent +in two months, and what would you do then?" + +"Oh! divide again; keep dividing, of course!" + +I was recently reading in a London paper an account of a like +philosophic pauper who was kicked out of a cheap boarding-house because +he could not pay his bill, but he had a roll of papers sticking out +of his coat pocket, which, upon examination, proved to be his plan for +paying off the national debt of England without the aid of a penny. +People have got to do as Cromwell said: "not only trust in Providence, +but keep the powder dry." Do your part of the work, or you cannot +succeed. Mahomet, one night, while encamping in the desert, overheard +one of his fatigued followers remark: "I will loose my camel, and trust +it to God!" "No, no, not so," said the prophet, "tie thy camel, and +trust it to God!" Do all you can for yourselves, and then trust to +Providence, or luck, or whatever you please to call it, for the rest. + +DEPEND UPON YOUR OWN PERSONAL EXERTIONS. + +The eye of the employer is often worth more than the hands of a dozen +employees. In the nature of things, an agent cannot be so faithful to +his employer as to himself. Many who are employers will call to mind +instances where the best employees have overlooked important points +which could not have escaped their own observation as a proprietor. No +man has a right to expect to succeed in life unless he understands his +business, and nobody can understand his business thoroughly unless +he learns it by personal application and experience. A man may be a +manufacturer: he has got to learn the many details of his business +personally; he will learn something every day, and he will find he will +make mistakes nearly every day. And these very mistakes are helps to +him in the way of experiences if he but heeds them. He will be like +the Yankee tin-peddler, who, having been cheated as to quality in +the purchase of his merchandise, said: "All right, there's a little +information to be gained every day; I will never be cheated in that way +again." Thus a man buys his experience, and it is the best kind if not +purchased at too dear a rate. + +I hold that every man should, like Cuvier, the French naturalist, +thoroughly know his business. So proficient was he in the study of +natural history, that you might bring to him the bone, or even a section +of a bone of an animal which he had never seen described, and, reasoning +from analogy, he would be able to draw a picture of the object from +which the bone had been taken. On one occasion his students attempted to +deceive him. They rolled one of their number in a cow skin and put him +under the professor's table as a new specimen. When the philosopher +came into the room, some of the students asked him what animal it was. +Suddenly the animal said "I am the devil and I am going to eat you." It +was but natural that Cuvier should desire to classify this creature, and +examining it intently, he said: + +"Divided hoof; graminivorous! It cannot be done." + +He knew that an animal with a split hoof must live upon grass and grain, +or other kind of vegetation, and would not be inclined to eat flesh, +dead or alive, so he considered himself perfectly safe. The possession +of a perfect knowledge of your business is an absolute necessity in +order to insure success. + +Among the maxims of the elder Rothschild was one, all apparent paradox: +"Be cautious and bold." This seems to be a contradiction in terms, but +it is not, and there is great wisdom in the maxim. It is, in fact, a +condensed statement of what I have already said. It is to say; "you must +exercise your caution in laying your plans, but be bold in carrying +them out." A man who is all caution, will never dare to take hold and be +successful; and a man who is all boldness, is merely reckless, and +must eventually fail. A man may go on "'change" and make fifty, or +one hundred thousand dollars in speculating in stocks, at a single +operation. But if he has simple boldness without caution, it is mere +chance, and what he gains to-day he will lose to-morrow. You must have +both the caution and the boldness, to insure success. + +The Rothschilds have another maxim: "Never have anything to do with an +unlucky man or place." That is to say, never have anything to do with a +man or place which never succeeds, because, although a man may appear to +be honest and intelligent, yet if he tries this or that thing and always +fails, it is on account of some fault or infirmity that you may not be +able to discover but nevertheless which must exist. + +There is no such thing in the world as luck. There never was a man who +could go out in the morning and find a purse full of gold in the street +to-day, and another to-morrow, and so on, day after day: He may do so +once in his life; but so far as mere luck is concerned, he is as liable +to lose it as to find it. "Like causes produce like effects." If a man +adopts the proper methods to be successful, "luck" will not prevent him. +If he does not succeed, there are reasons for it, although, perhaps, he +may not be able to see them. + + + + +USE THE BEST TOOLS + +Men in engaging employees should be careful to get the best. Understand, +you cannot have too good tools to work with, and there is no tool you +should be so particular about as living tools. If you get a good one, +it is better to keep him, than keep changing. He learns something every +day; and you are benefited by the experience he acquires. He is worth +more to you this year than last, and he is the last man to part with, +provided his habits are good, and he continues faithful. If, as he +gets more valuable, he demands an exorbitant increase of salary; on the +supposition that you can't do without him, let him go. Whenever I have +such an employee, I always discharge him; first, to convince him that +his place may be supplied, and second, because he is good for nothing if +he thinks he is invaluable and cannot be spared. + +But I would keep him, if possible, in order to profit from the result +of his experience. An important element in an employee is the brain. You +can see bills up, "Hands Wanted," but "hands" are not worth a great deal +without "heads." Mr. Beecher illustrates this, in this wise: + +An employee offers his services by saving, "I have a pair of hands +and one of my fingers thinks." "That is very good," says the employer. +Another man comes along, and says "he has two fingers that think." "Ah! +that is better." But a third calls in and says that "all his fingers and +thumbs think." That is better still. Finally another steps in and says, +"I have a brain that thinks; I think all over; I am a thinking as +well as a working man!" "You are the man I want," says the delighted +employer. + +Those men who have brains and experience are therefore the most valuable +and not to be readily parted with; it is better for them, as well as +yourself, to keep them, at reasonable advances in their salaries from +time to time. + + + + +DON'T GET ABOVE YOUR BUSINESS + +Young men after they get through their business training, or +apprenticeship, instead of pursuing their avocation and rising in their +business, will often lie about doing nothing. They say; "I have learned +my business, but I am not going to be a hireling; what is the object of +learning my trade or profession, unless I establish myself?'" + +"Have you capital to start with?" + +"No, but I am going to have it." + +"How are you going to get it?" + +"I will tell you confidentially; I have a wealthy old aunt, and she will +die pretty soon; but if she does not, I expect to find some rich old man +who will lend me a few thousands to give me a start. If I only get the +money to start with I will do well." + +There is no greater mistake than when a young man believes he will +succeed with borrowed money. Why? Because every man's experience +coincides with that of Mr. Astor, who said, "it was more difficult for +him to accumulate his first thousand dollars, than all the succeeding +millions that made up his colossal fortune." Money is good for nothing +unless you know the value of it by experience. Give a boy twenty +thousand dollars and put him in business, and the chances are that he +will lose every dollar of it before he is a year older. Like buying a +ticket in the lottery; and drawing a prize, it is "easy come, easy go." +He does not know the value of it; nothing is worth anything, unless +it costs effort. Without self-denial and economy; patience and +perseverance, and commencing with capital which you have not earned, you +are not sure to succeed in accumulating. Young men, instead of "waiting +for dead men's shoes," should be up and doing, for there is no class of +persons who are so unaccommodating in regard to dying as these rich old +people, and it is fortunate for the expectant heirs that it is so. Nine +out of ten of the rich men of our country to-day, started out in life +as poor boys, with determined wills, industry, perseverance, economy and +good habits. They went on gradually, made their own money and saved it; +and this is the best way to acquire a fortune. Stephen Girard started +life as a poor cabin boy, and died worth nine million dollars. A.T. +Stewart was a poor Irish boy; and he paid taxes on a million and a half +dollars of income, per year. John Jacob Astor was a poor farmer boy, +and died worth twenty millions. Cornelius Vanderbilt began life rowing a +boat from Staten Island to New York; he presented our government with +a steamship worth a million of dollars, and died worth fifty million. +"There is no royal road to learning," says the proverb, and I may say it +is equally true, "there is no royal road to wealth." But I think there +is a royal road to both. The road to learning is a royal one; the road +that enables the student to expand his intellect and add every day to +his stock of knowledge, until, in the pleasant process of intellectual +growth, he is able to solve the most profound problems, to count the +stars, to analyze every atom of the globe, and to measure the firmament +this is a regal highway, and it is the only road worth traveling. + +So in regard to wealth. Go on in confidence, study the rules, and above +all things, study human nature; for "the proper study of mankind is +man," and you will find that while expanding the intellect and +the muscles, your enlarged experience will enable you every day to +accumulate more and more principal, which will increase itself by +interest and otherwise, until you arrive at a state of independence. You +will find, as a general thing, that the poor boys get rich and the rich +boys get poor. For instance, a rich man at his decease, leaves a large +estate to his family. His eldest sons, who have helped him earn his +fortune, know by experience the value of money; and they take their +inheritance and add to it. The separate portions of the young children +are placed at interest, and the little fellows are patted on the head, +and told a dozen times a day, "you are rich; you will never have to +work, you can always have whatever you wish, for you were born with a +golden spoon in your mouth." The young heir soon finds out what that +means; he has the finest dresses and playthings; he is crammed with +sugar candies and almost "killed with kindness," and he passes from +school to school, petted and flattered. He becomes arrogant and +self-conceited, abuses his teachers, and carries everything with a high +hand. He knows nothing of the real value of money, having never earned +any; but he knows all about the "golden spoon" business. At college, he +invites his poor fellow-students to his room, where he "wines and dines" +them. He is cajoled and caressed, and called a glorious good follow, +because he is so lavish of his money. He gives his game suppers, drives +his fast horses, invites his chums to fetes and parties, determined +to have lots of "good times." He spends the night in frolics and +debauchery, and leads off his companions with the familiar song, "we +won't go home till morning." He gets them to join him in pulling down +signs, taking gates from their hinges and throwing them into back yards +and horse-ponds. If the police arrest them, he knocks them down, is +taken to the lockup, and joyfully foots the bills. + +"Ah! my boys," he cries, "what is the use of being rich, if you can't +enjoy yourself?" + +He might more truly say, "if you can't make a fool of yourself;" but +he is "fast," hates slow things, and doesn't "see it." Young men loaded +down with other people's money are almost sure to lose all they inherit, +and they acquire all sorts of bad habits which, in the majority of +cases, ruin them in health, purse and character. In this country, one +generation follows another, and the poor of to-day are rich in the +next generation, or the third. Their experience leads them on, and they +become rich, and they leave vast riches to their young children. These +children, having been reared in luxury, are inexperienced and get poor; +and after long experience another generation comes on and gathers up +riches again in turn. And thus "history repeats itself," and happy is he +who by listening to the experience of others avoids the rocks and shoals +on which so many have been wrecked. + +"In England, the business makes the man." If a man in that country is +a mechanic or working-man, he is not recognized as a gentleman. On +the occasion of my first appearance before Queen Victoria, the Duke of +Wellington asked me what sphere in life General Tom Thumb's parents were +in. + +"His father is a carpenter," I replied. + +"Oh! I had heard he was a gentleman," was the response of His Grace. + +In this Republican country, the man makes the business. No matter +whether he is a blacksmith, a shoemaker, a farmer, banker or lawyer, +so long as his business is legitimate, he may be a gentleman. So any +"legitimate" business is a double blessing it helps the man engaged in +it, and also helps others. The Farmer supports his own family, but he +also benefits the merchant or mechanic who needs the products of his +farm. The tailor not only makes a living by his trade, but he also +benefits the farmer, the clergyman and others who cannot make their own +clothing. But all these classes often may be gentlemen. + +The great ambition should be to excel all others engaged in the same +occupation. + +The college-student who was about graduating, said to an old lawyer: + +"I have not yet decided which profession I will follow. Is your +profession full?" + +"The basement is much crowded, but there is plenty of room up-stairs," +was the witty and truthful reply. + +No profession, trade, or calling, is overcrowded in the upper story. +Wherever you find the most honest and intelligent merchant or banker, +or the best lawyer, the best doctor, the best clergyman, the best +shoemaker, carpenter, or anything else, that man is most sought for, +and has always enough to do. As a nation, Americans are too +superficial--they are striving to get rich quickly, and do not generally +do their business as substantially and thoroughly as they should, but +whoever excels all others in his own line, if his habits are good and +his integrity undoubted, cannot fail to secure abundant patronage, +and the wealth that naturally follows. Let your motto then always be +"Excelsior," for by living up to it there is no such word as fail. + + + + +LEARN SOMETHING USEFUL + +Every man should make his son or daughter learn some useful trade or +profession, so that in these days of changing fortunes of being rich +to-day and poor tomorrow they may have something tangible to fall back +upon. This provision might save many persons from misery, who by some +unexpected turn of fortune have lost all their means. + + + + +LET HOPE PREDOMINATE, BUT BE NOT TOO VISIONARY + +Many persons are always kept poor, because they are too visionary. Every +project looks to them like certain success, and therefore they keep +changing from one business to another, always in hot water, always +"under the harrow." The plan of "counting the chickens before they are +hatched" is an error of ancient date, but it does not seem to improve by +age. + + + + +DO NOT SCATTER YOUR POWERS + +Engage in one kind of business only, and stick to it faithfully until +you succeed, or until your experience shows that you should abandon it. +A constant hammering on one nail will generally drive it home at last, +so that it can be clinched. When a man's undivided attention is centered +on one object, his mind will constantly be suggesting improvements +of value, which would escape him if his brain was occupied by a dozen +different subjects at once. Many a fortune has slipped through a man's +fingers because he was engaged in too many occupations at a time. There +is good sense in the old caution against having too many irons in the +fire at once. + + + + +BE SYSTEMATIC + +Men should be systematic in their business. A person who does business +by rule, having a time and place for everything, doing his work +promptly, will accomplish twice as much and with half the trouble of him +who does it carelessly and slipshod. By introducing system into all your +transactions, doing one thing at a time, always meeting appointments +with punctuality, you find leisure for pastime and recreation; whereas +the man who only half does one thing, and then turns to something else, +and half does that, will have his business at loose ends, and will never +know when his day's work is done, for it never will be done. Of course, +there is a limit to all these rules. We must try to preserve the happy +medium, for there is such a thing as being too systematic. There are men +and women, for instance, who put away things so carefully that they can +never find them again. It is too much like the "red tape" formality at +Washington, and Mr. Dickens' "Circumlocution Office,"--all theory and no +result. + +When the "Astor House" was first started in New York city, it was +undoubtedly the best hotel in the country. The proprietors had learned +a good deal in Europe regarding hotels, and the landlords were proud +of the rigid system which pervaded every department of their great +establishment. When twelve o'clock at night had arrived, and there were +a number of guests around, one of the proprietors would say, "Touch that +bell, John;" and in two minutes sixty servants, with a water-bucket +in each hand, would present themselves in the hall. "This," said the +landlord, addressing his guests, "is our fire-bell; it will show you we +are quite safe here; we do everything systematically." This was before +the Croton water was introduced into the city. But they sometimes +carried their system too far. On one occasion, when the hotel was +thronged with guests, one of the waiters was suddenly indisposed, and +although there were fifty waiters in the hotel, the landlord thought he +must have his full complement, or his "system" would be interfered with. +Just before dinner-time, he rushed down stairs and said, "There must be +another waiter, I am one waiter short, what can I do?" He happened to +see "Boots," the Irishman. "Pat," said he, "wash your hands and face; +take that white apron and come into the dining-room in five minutes." +Presently Pat appeared as required, and the proprietor said: "Now Pat, +you must stand behind these two chairs, and wait on the gentlemen who +will occupy them; did you ever act as a waiter?" + +"I know all about it, sure, but I never did it." + +Like the Irish pilot, on one occasion when the captain, thinking he was +considerably out of his course, asked, "Are you certain you understand +what you are doing?" + +Pat replied, "Sure and I knows every rock in the channel." + +That moment, "bang" thumped the vessel against a rock. + +"Ah! be-jabers, and that is one of 'em," continued the pilot. But +to return to the dining-room. "Pat," said the landlord, "here we do +everything systematically. You must first give the gentlemen each a +plate of soup, and when they finish that, ask them what they will have +next." + +Pat replied, "Ah! an' I understand parfectly the vartues of shystem." + +Very soon in came the guests. The plates of soup were placed before +them. One of Pat's two gentlemen ate his soup; the other did not care +for it. He said: "Waiter, take this plate away and bring me some +fish." Pat looked at the untasted plate of soup, and remembering the +instructions of the landlord in regard to "system," replied: "Not till +ye have ate yer supe!" + +Of course that was carrying "system" entirely too far. + + + + +READ THE NEWSPAPERS + +Always take a trustworthy newspaper, and thus keep thoroughly posted in +regard to the transactions of the world. He who is without a newspaper +is cut off from his species. In these days of telegraphs and steam, many +important inventions and improvements in every branch of trade are being +made, and he who don't consult the newspapers will soon find himself and +his business left out in the cold. + + + + +BEWARE OF "OUTSIDE OPERATIONS" + +We sometimes see men who have obtained fortunes, suddenly become poor. +In many cases, this arises from intemperance, and often from gaming, and +other bad habits. Frequently it occurs because a man has been engaged in +"outside operations," of some sort. When he gets rich in his legitimate +business, he is told of a grand speculation where he can make a score of +thousands. He is constantly flattered by his friends, who tell him that +he is born lucky, that everything he touches turns into gold. Now if +he forgets that his economical habits, his rectitude of conduct and a +personal attention to a business which he understood, caused his success +in life, he will listen to the siren voices. He says: + +"I will put in twenty thousand dollars. I have been lucky, and my good +luck will soon bring me back sixty thousand dollars." + +A few days elapse and it is discovered he must put in ten thousand +dollars more: soon after he is told "it is all right," but certain +matters not foreseen, require an advance of twenty thousand dollars +more, which will bring him a rich harvest; but before the time comes +around to realize, the bubble bursts, he loses all he is possessed +of, and then he learns what he ought to have known at the first, that +however successful a man may be in his own business, if he turns from +that and engages ill a business which he don't understand, he is like +Samson when shorn of his locks his strength has departed, and he becomes +like other men. + +If a man has plenty of money, he ought to invest something in everything +that appears to promise success, and that will probably benefit mankind; +but let the sums thus invested be moderate in amount, and never let a +man foolishly jeopardize a fortune that he has earned in a legitimate +way, by investing it in things in which he has had no experience. + + + + +DON'T INDORSE WITHOUT SECURITY + +I hold that no man ought ever to indorse a note or become security, for +any man, be it his father or brother, to a greater extent than he can +afford to lose and care nothing about, without taking good security. +Here is a man that is worth twenty thousand dollars; he is doing a +thriving manufacturing or mercantile trade; you are retired and living +on your money; he comes to you and says: + +"You are aware that I am worth twenty thousand dollars, and don't owe +a dollar; if I had five thousand dollars in cash, I could purchase a +particular lot of goods and double my money in a couple of months; will +you indorse my note for that amount?" + +You reflect that he is worth twenty thousand dollars, and you incur no +risk by endorsing his note; you like to accommodate him, and you lend +your name without taking the precaution of getting security. Shortly +after, he shows you the note with your endorsement canceled, and tells +you, probably truly, "that he made the profit that he expected by +the operation," you reflect that you have done a good action, and the +thought makes you feel happy. By and by, the same thing occurs again and +you do it again; you have already fixed the impression in your mind that +it is perfectly safe to indorse his notes without security. + +But the trouble is, this man is getting money too easily. He has only to +take your note to the bank, get it discounted and take the cash. He +gets money for the time being without effort; without inconvenience to +himself. Now mark the result. He sees a chance for speculation outside +of his business. A temporary investment of only $10,000 is required. It +is sure to come back before a note at the bank would be due. He places a +note for that amount before you. You sign it almost mechanically. Being +firmly convinced that your friend is responsible and trustworthy; you +indorse his notes as a "matter of course." + +Unfortunately the speculation does not come to a head quite so soon as +was expected, and another $10,000 note must be discounted to take up the +last one when due. Before this note matures the speculation has proved +an utter failure and all the money is lost. Does the loser tell his +friend, the endorser, that he has lost half of his fortune? Not at all. +He don't even mention that he has speculated at all. But he has got +excited; the spirit of speculation has seized him; he sees others making +large sums in this way (we seldom hear of the losers), and, like other +speculators, he "looks for his money where he loses it." He tries again. +endorsing notes has become chronic with you, and at every loss he gets +your signature for whatever amount he wants. Finally you discover +your friend has lost all of his property and all of yours. You are +overwhelmed with astonishment and grief, and you say "it is a hard +thing; my friend here has ruined me," but, you should add, "I have also +ruined him." If you had said in the first place, "I will accommodate +you, but I never indorse without taking ample security," he could not +have gone beyond the length of his tether, and he would never have been +tempted away from his legitimate business. It is a very dangerous +thing, therefore, at any time, to let people get possession of money +too easily; it tempts them to hazardous speculations, if nothing more. +Solomon truly said "he that hateth suretiship is sure." + +So with the young man starting in business; let him understand the value +of money by earning it. When he does understand its value, then grease +the wheels a little in helping him to start business, but remember, men +who get money with too great facility cannot usually succeed. You must +get the first dollars by hard knocks, and at some sacrifice, in order to +appreciate the value of those dollars. + + + + +ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS + +We all depend, more or less, upon the public for our support. We +all trade with the public--lawyers, doctors, shoemakers, artists, +blacksmiths, showmen, opera stagers, railroad presidents, and college +professors. Those who deal with the public must be careful that their +goods are valuable; that they are genuine, and will give satisfaction. +When you get an article which you know is going to please your +customers, and that when they have tried it, they will feel they have +got their money's worth, then let the fact be known that you have got +it. Be careful to advertise it in some shape or other because it is +evident that if a man has ever so good an article for sale, and nobody +knows it, it will bring him no return. In a country like this, where +nearly everybody reads, and where newspapers are issued and circulated +in editions of five thousand to two hundred thousand, it would be very +unwise if this channel was not taken advantage of to reach the public in +advertising. A newspaper goes into the family, and is read by wife and +children, as well as the head of the home; hence hundreds and thousands +of people may read your advertisement, while you are attending to your +routine business. Many, perhaps, read it while you are asleep. The whole +philosophy of life is, first "sow," then "reap." That is the way the +farmer does; he plants his potatoes and corn, and sows his grain, and +then goes about something else, and the time comes when he reaps. But +he never reaps first and sows afterwards. This principle applies to all +kinds of business, and to nothing more eminently than to advertising. If +a man has a genuine article, there is no way in which he can reap more +advantageously than by "sowing" to the public in this way. He must, +of course, have a really good article, and one which will please his +customers; anything spurious will not succeed permanently because the +public is wiser than many imagine. Men and women are selfish, and we all +prefer purchasing where we can get the most for our money and we try to +find out where we can most surely do so. + +You may advertise a spurious article, and induce many people to call and +buy it once, but they will denounce you as an impostor and swindler, and +your business will gradually die out and leave you poor. This is right. +Few people can safely depend upon chance custom. You all need to have +your customers return and purchase again. A man said to me, "I have +tried advertising and did not succeed; yet I have a good article." + +I replied, "My friend, there may be exceptions to a general rule. But +how do you advertise?" + +"I put it in a weekly newspaper three times, and paid a dollar and a +half for it." I replied: "Sir, advertising is like learning--'a little +is a dangerous thing!'" + +A French writer says that "The reader of a newspaper does not see the +first mention of an ordinary advertisement; the second insertion he +sees, but does not read; the third insertion he reads; the fourth +insertion, he looks at the price; the fifth insertion, he speaks of +it to his wife; the sixth insertion, he is ready to purchase, and the +seventh insertion, he purchases." Your object in advertising is to make +the public understand what you have got to sell, and if you have not the +pluck to keep advertising, until you have imparted that information, all +the money you have spent is lost. You are like the fellow who told the +gentleman if he would give him ten cents it would save him a dollar. +"How can I help you so much with so small a sum?" asked the gentleman +in surprise. "I started out this morning (hiccuped the fellow) with +the full determination to get drunk, and I have spent my only dollar +to accomplish the object, and it has not quite done it. Ten cents worth +more of whiskey would just do it, and in this manner I should save the +dollar already expended." + +So a man who advertises at all must keep it up until the public know who +and what he is, and what his business is, or else the money invested in +advertising is lost. + +Some men have a peculiar genius for writing a striking advertisement, +one that will arrest the attention of the reader at first sight. This +fact, of course, gives the advertiser a great advantage. Sometimes a +man makes himself popular by an unique sign or a curious display in his +window, recently I observed a swing sign extending over the sidewalk in +front of a store, on which was the inscription in plain letters, + + + + +"DON'T READ THE OTHER SIDE" + +Of course I did, and so did everybody else, and I learned that the man +had made all independence by first attracting the public to his business +in that way and then using his customers well afterwards. + +Genin, the hatter, bought the first Jenny Lind ticket at auction for +two hundred and twenty-five dollars, because he knew it would be a good +advertisement for him. "Who is the bidder?" said the auctioneer, as he +knocked down that ticket at Castle Garden. "Genin, the hatter," was the +response. Here were thousands of people from the Fifth avenue, and from +distant cities in the highest stations in life. "Who is 'Genin,' the +hatter?" they exclaimed. They had never heard of him before. The next +morning the newspapers and telegraph had circulated the facts from Maine +to Texas, and from five to ten millions off people had read that the +tickets sold at auction For Jenny Lind's first concert amounted to +about twenty thousand dollars, and that a single ticket was sold at two +hundred and twenty-five dollars, to "Genin, the hatter." Men throughout +the country involuntarily took off their hats to see if they had a +"Genin" hat on their heads. At a town in Iowa it was found that in the +crowd around the post office, there was one man who had a "Genin" hat, +and he showed it in triumph, although it was worn out and not worth two +cents. "Why," one man exclaimed, "you have a real 'Genin' hat; what a +lucky fellow you are." Another man said, "Hang on to that hat, it will +be a valuable heir-loom in your family." Still another man in the crowd +who seemed to envy the possessor of this good fortune, said, "Come, give +us all a chance; put it up at auction!" He did so, and it was sold as a +keepsake for nine dollars and fifty cents! What was the consequence +to Mr. Genin? He sold ten thousand extra hats per annum, the first six +years. Nine-tenths of the purchasers bought of him, probably, out of +curiosity, and many of them, finding that he gave them an equivalent +for their money, became his regular customers. This novel advertisement +first struck their attention, and then, as he made a good article, they +came again. + +Now I don't say that everybody should advertise as Mr. Genin did. But I +say if a man has got goods for sale, and he don't advertise them in some +way, the chances are that some day the sheriff will do it for him. Nor +do I say that everybody must advertise in a newspaper, or indeed use +"printers' ink" at all. On the contrary, although that article is +indispensable in the majority of cases, yet doctors and clergymen, and +sometimes lawyers and some others, can more effectually reach the public +in some other manner. But it is obvious, they must be known in some way, +else how could they be supported? + + + + +BE POLITE AND KIND TO YOUR CUSTOMERS + +Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business. +Large stores, gilt signs, flaming advertisements, will all prove +unavailing if you or your employees treat your patrons abruptly. The +truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be +the patronage bestowed upon him. "Like begets like." The man who gives +the greatest amount of goods of a corresponding quality for the least +sum (still reserving for himself a profit) will generally succeed best +in the long run. This brings us to the golden rule, "As ye would that +men should do to you, do ye also to them" and they will do better by +you than if you always treated them as if you wanted to get the most +you could out of them for the least return. Men who drive sharp bargains +with their customers, acting as if they never expected to see them +again, will not be mistaken. They will never see them again as +customers. People don't like to pay and get kicked also. + +One of the ushers in my Museum once told me he intended to whip a man +who was in the lecture-room as soon as he came out. + +"What for?" I inquired. + +"Because he said I was no gentleman," replied the usher. + +"Never mind," I replied, "he pays for that, and you will not convince +him you are a gentleman by whipping him. I cannot afford to lose a +customer. If you whip him, he will never visit the Museum again, and he +will induce friends to go with him to other places of amusement instead +of this, and thus you see, I should be a serious loser." + +"But he insulted me," muttered the usher. + +"Exactly," I replied, "and if he owned the Museum, and you had paid him +for the privilege of visiting it, and he had then insulted you, there +might be some reason in your resenting it, but in this instance he is +the man who pays, while we receive, and you must, therefore, put up with +his bad manners." + +My usher laughingly remarked, that this was undoubtedly the true policy; +but he added that he should not object to an increase of salary if he +was expected to be abused in order to promote my interest. + + + + +BE CHARITABLE + +Of course men should be charitable, because it is a duty and a pleasure. +But even as a matter of policy, if you possess no higher incentive, you +will find that the liberal man will command patronage, while the sordid, +uncharitable miser will be avoided. + +Solomon says: "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is +that withholdeth more than meet, but it tendeth to poverty." Of course +the only true charity is that which is from the heart. + +The best kind of charity is to help those who are willing to help +themselves. Promiscuous almsgiving, without inquiring into the +worthiness of the applicant, is bad in every sense. But to search out +and quietly assist those who are struggling for themselves, is the kind +that "scattereth and yet increaseth." But don't fall into the idea that +some persons practice, of giving a prayer instead of a potato, and +a benediction instead of bread, to the hungry. It is easier to make +Christians with full stomachs than empty. + + + + +DON'T BLAB + +Some men have a foolish habit of telling their business secrets. If they +make money they like to tell their neighbors how it was done. Nothing +is gained by this, and ofttimes much is lost. Say nothing about your +profits, your hopes, your expectations, your intentions. And this +should apply to letters as well as to conversation. Goethe makes +Mephistophilles say: "Never write a letter nor destroy one." Business +men must write letters, but they should be careful what they put in +them. If you are losing money, be specially cautious and not tell of it, +or you will lose your reputation. + + + + +PRESERVE YOUR INTEGRITY + +It is more precious than diamonds or rubies. The old miser said to +his sons: "Get money; get it honestly if you can, but get money:" This +advice was not only atrociously wicked, but it was the very essence of +stupidity: It was as much as to say, "if you find it difficult to obtain +money honestly, you can easily get it dishonestly. Get it in that way." +Poor fool! Not to know that the most difficult thing in life is to make +money dishonestly! Not to know that our prisons are full of men who +attempted to follow this advice; not to understand that no man can +be dishonest, without soon being found out, and that when his lack +of principle is discovered, nearly every avenue to success is closed +against him forever. The public very properly shun all whose integrity +is doubted. No matter how polite and pleasant and accommodating a man +may be, none of us dare to deal with him if we suspect "false weights +and measures." Strict honesty, not only lies at the foundation of +all success in life (financially), but in every other respect. +Uncompromising integrity of character is invaluable. It secures to its +possessor a peace and joy which cannot be attained without it--which no +amount of money, or houses and lands can purchase. A man who is known +to be strictly honest, may be ever so poor, but he has the purses of +all the community at his disposal--for all know that if he promises to +return what he borrows, he will never disappoint them. As a mere matter +of selfishness, therefore, if a man had no higher motive for being +honest, all will find that the maxim of Dr. Franklin can never fail to +be true, that "honesty is the best policy." + +To get rich, is not always equivalent to being successful. "There are +many rich poor men," while there are many others, honest and devout men +and women, who have never possessed so much money as some rich persons +squander in a week, but who are nevertheless really richer and happier +than any man can ever be while he is a transgressor of the higher laws +of his being. + +The inordinate love of money, no doubt, may be and is "the root of all +evil," but money itself, when properly used, is not only a "handy thing +to have in the house," but affords the gratification of blessing our +race by enabling its possessor to enlarge the scope of human happiness +and human influence. The desire for wealth is nearly universal, and none +can say it is not laudable, provided the possessor of it accepts its +responsibilities, and uses it as a friend to humanity. + +The history of money-getting, which is commerce, is a history of +civilization, and wherever trade has flourished most, there, too, have +art and science produced the noblest fruits. In fact, as a general +thing, money-getters are the benefactors of our race. To them, in a +great measure, are we indebted for our institutions of learning and of +art, our academies, colleges and churches. It is no argument against the +desire for, or the possession of wealth, to say that there are sometimes +misers who hoard money only for the sake of hoarding and who have no +higher aspiration than to grasp everything which comes within their +reach. As we have sometimes hypocrites in religion, and demagogues in +politics, so there are occasionally misers among money-getters. These, +however, are only exceptions to the general rule. But when, in this +country, we find such a nuisance and stumbling block as a miser, +we remember with gratitude that in America we have no laws of +primogeniture, and that in the due course of nature the time will come +when the hoarded dust will be scattered for the benefit of mankind. +To all men and women, therefore, do I conscientiously say, make money +honestly, and not otherwise, for Shakespeare has truly said, "He that +wants money, means, and content, is without three good friends." + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Art of Money Getting, by P. T. Barnum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF MONEY GETTING *** + +***** This file should be named 8581.txt or 8581.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/5/8/8581/ + +Produced by Wayne N. Keyser in honor of his Parents, Clifton +B. and Esther N. 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