This, of course, doesn't refer to men whose word is as good as a section of land; it has reference to people with whom you have not had a thorough acquaintance. We all have friends, of course, whom we would be willing to trust to the ends of the earth and stand responsible for in their every act, but we do it for the sake of friendship, not for the sake of business. If sickness overtakes them, we are ready to stand by them and see them through, but in that event it ceases to be a strictly business proposition. It's never unbusinesslike to trust a friend if you know you won't need the money when it's due, and don't care when he pays, or how; you know he is just as anxious to pay as you are to have him, and you are in a position to stand by him until he is able to pay. Such actions are not unbusinesslike; they are most commendable, and every man has such a friend, or ought to have; but it would be unbusinesslike if had to borrow the money to lend to that friend. It is unbusinesslike to jeopardize another party for the sake of your friend; it can't be done safely. The fact that a man is said to be a Christian gentleman is not enough, in a business way, unless he is also you financially responsible. Being a Christian is a great deal. I don't want to be misunderstood. I don't mean to imply that being a Christian isn't the most important thing in the world. Christianity is the redeeming feature of mankind. Because of its power and the integrity of character which it gives a man, people assume to be Christians when they are not, in order that they may derive some benefit from the great reputation which Christianity has made. But that is only one more reason why a contract made with such a man, without financial responsibility, would be unbusinesslike. The man may be a splendid Christian in the truest sense of the term and be everything that a man of integrity should be, and yet be a poor business man. He might agree to do things in that contract that he could do if he were levelheaded enough; but failing to accomplish his purpose he is not able to comply with the contract, and, therefore, you, perhaps, lose your whole business because you made a contract which took your business out of your own control and placed you in such a position that you couldn't carry that contract into effect, unless the other man carried out his part; therefore, to make such a contract would be dishonest on your part. A good business man is often accused of being suspicious and mean, when in reality he is only businesslike and endeavoring to make such an arrangement as will enable him to compel the other party to do what the other party could easily compel him to do. HE CAN-BUT WILL HE? THE average man can make a success, but he doesn't-not one that is worth talking about. There are several reasons for this, the principal one being that he doesn't know that he can make a success. He hasn't discovered himself. He doesn't know that it doesn't take any more energy to do the thing for a lifetime than to do it just for now. He hasn't realized that it takes almost as much energy to be indifferent as to be positive. His ambition has not been aroused, and he is satisfied with indifference. The price of success is more than he thinks he can pay. I have often been asked by young men if I thought they could succeed, and I have invariably answered: "I know that you can, but I don't know that you will." If young men would buckle in and stay buckled in, such a question would become obsolete. They too often engage in an enterprise and are hopeful of great success without reckoning the price at which success comes, and when they encounter a few obstacles they change their minds. They say: "This thing isn't what it's represented to be; I'm going to try something else," and so multitudes go through life jumping from one thing to another. They don't like the business because they are not acquainted with it. They haven't studied it enough to know what is in it, or their moral stamina hasn't been developed to such an extent that they can face the music and overcome the difficulties one at a time. The road to success is not very long if you put your personality, your vim, and your whole life into every step of that road. If you go through the obstacles as you come to them, whether it is agreeable or disagreeable, you will find the distance only about a mile, but try to dodge them and it's a thousand. When once the start is made, doing the thing to a finish is the price of success, and after all, it is the easiest way. The more you give the more you have left. Talent begets talent. Industry and good judgment make the genius. There's no cut rate at success headquarters. Pay as you go and the price is small; try to work in on a sham and the price is so high that it puts a mortgage on |