The best way for a man to get this knowledge of his own business is to go "thru the mill" him self and perform all its tasks. That is one of the reasons why many of our most successful business men have attained their distinction; they began as poor boys and by means of their force, their brains, their character, worked up to the top, where they eas ily maintain their position because they know exactly what to expect from all their employes.
The son or nephew of a successful man is not to be congratulated if be is taken into the business and given a "soft" place. He misses a most important discipline and will never thoroly understand the busi ness. As in the case of the city man who turns gentle man farmer,—the chances are that he will prove a failure. It is not necessary to give illustrations. Every well-read American man can supply these by the hundred, both of poor boys who have climbed up, and of rich men's sons who have proved failures be cause they were allowed to skip the first grades in the "school of hard knocks." But a complete knowledge of one's own business is not enough. A man must knbw much more than the details of his own shop and organization. If he is a manufacturer be must be as familiar as possible with the methods of his competitors and with the quality of thb goods they produce. If his raw ma terial is wool, then he must be an encyclopedia of in formation with regard to it. He must know all about dve-stuffs and must be the first to take advantage of new discoveries. The machinery he uses must be his conStant care, for be will be undone if his competitors produce goods at a lower cost.
As his business grows, the chances for profit and loss will increase in the various departments, in the routing of goods over railroads, in the granting of credit to customers, in the purchase of raw material, in adver tising, in failure to forecast market changes, or in failure to make prompt readjustment to meet new con ditions. The successful manager of a great business cannot afford to rely wholly upon the heads of de partments. He needs able lieutenants and must often rely greatly upon them, but there will be critical times when they will be in doubt, and then be must be competent to make prompt decision.
To be really efficient in business a man must, be cause of his experience and Imowledge, be able in an emergency to take the place and do the work of any subordinate, and do it well.
4. Judgment.—.Not only must a business man have power of decision and an abundance of information relative to his business ; lie must also possess sound judgment. He may have queer ideas and theories
about religion, politics, social reforms, the Chinese, the North Pole, or the universe in general, but in mat ters of business he must be a man of eminent common sense. In his business he is seeking to render some sort of service to his fellow-men, and he must have the strictest regard for their tastes and opinions. There is an old saying "Business is business," which is often supposed to mean that in business, somehow, a man may be hard, cruel, unsympathetic, even tho in his home and social life Ile be a kindly, generous and charitable Christian. This popular interpretation is wrong. "Business is business" means that common sense, the cumulative judgment of many generations of business. men, has agreed upon certain correct rules of conduct in business which ought not.to be broken.
A judgment, as was explained in the Introduction to this volume, is the result of a reasoning process, either inductive or deductive. A man of good judg ment is one whose mind thinks clearly and is not in fluenced by prejudice, sympathy or personal wishes. Alen are prone to believe what they wish to believe. This natural inclination a man of good judgment will overcome. Too many men in business are controlled by hope rather-than by sound judgment; they easily let their judgment be convinced that the course of events is going to be as they desire, that the market for their goods will be steady and strong, that the prices of their raw materials will rise no higher, or that their losses are due to the evil practices of some competitor. The man of good judgment does not \ try to make excuses for himself. If he has blundered, Ile admits it and calmly looks for the reason why he made the mistake.
Good judgment is most valuable in the forecasting of the condition of a man's market, or of general busi ness conditions. Market conditions depend upon an almost infinite variety of circlunstances, yet, as is ex- . plained in the Modern Business Text on "Invest ment," there are certain circumstances such as money market conditions and the state of the iron and steel business, which are properly regarded as dominant in importance. Then there are the professional fore casters, who assume to speak with great authority about business conditions and prospects. The busi ness man of good judgment will get all the informa tion Ile can, and will give heed to the reasoning and opinions of others, but he will do his own thinking and form his own conclusions.