STARTING AND MANAGING A PLANT.
There are a large number of capitalists embarking in the manufacture of street-paving brick, men who make a success of their undertakings by surrounding themselves with the best experience and knowledge obtainable. On this point Mr. Wm. H. Brush, of Buffalo, N. Y., says : "There is no business pursuit within the range of my limited experience or knowledge that calls more imperatively for a sys tem than does the ancient and honorable calling of a brick maker—a calling whose antiquity is beyond question, and of whose honor and respectability there is no need of defense. System bears the same relation to brick-making that a rudder does to a ship, and is as necessary. System is everything, from the clay bank of your yard to the first national bank of your native town. The old saying that Money makes the mare go' is true. We cannot in these days of 'spot cash' con duct a business without its aid. We must have some honest bona fide capital besides cheek,' and the more of the two com bined the better, in order to make a success of brick-making. Capital without force or energy to drive things along is well nigh useless. Experience, with its many costly lessons, aids your understanding." Mr. J. A. Reep says : "Above all things have a good, com petent and reliable man as superintendent or other manager of your works, a man with practical experience and business tact, one who can command the respect of both employer and em ployes. Get him, and then make his situation so agreeable that it will pay him to stay and you to keep him. You will
find enough men willing to serve in his stead, at lower wages ; but it will be better for you, if he has got things to running smooth, and seems to have but little to do, to bear in mind that if you change for a new and untried man, with no qualifi cations for the place, that you and the new man both will be kept very busy for a long time to come.
" How often is it the case that after a few months of close management and well-directed effort on the part of the man ager, some member of the new company, who is a novice in brick-making in all its details, is constrained to believe that the superintendent is an unnecessary adjunct to a brickyard, and that they in particular have no need of a man of that kind ! The hands they employ, apparently to them, do not need him, and can get along without him.
"The matter is talked over and worked up until, as a sort of trial to see how it will operate, the superintendent is dismissed, and his salary is saved. But at what cost to the company ! The ruin of one kiln of brick, which always quickly follows, would have paid the salary for one or more years to come. And then comes not only one kiln lost, but several follow in quick succession, or partially so. Trade is lost that is hard to regain. Confidence is hard to restore in the ability of the company to furnish their advertised goods promptly and of a decided good quality, and for a time ruin is imminent."