Chapter III
Reading edition
PUSHING BEYOND THE HALF-WAY MARK
There is always a danger of half-way success. A man may be at the head of an office, a department, a sales force, or a business, and yet be only a half-way success, if what he has so far accomplished be measured against his actual capacity. Most men, in fact, possess native ability sufficient to carry them forward into bigger positions than those they now occupy. But to accomplish that result it is necessary to keep continually moving ahead.
Chief among the characteristics that carry men past the half-way mark on the road to success is eagerness to keep on learning more about business principles and business methods.
The late Marshall Field said:
"The man who puts ten thousand dollars additional capital into an established business is pretty certain of increased returns; and in the same way the man who puts additional capital into his brains—information, well directed thought and study of possibilities—will as surely—yes, more surely—get increased returns. There is no capital and no increase of capital safer and surer than that."
The ablest men in business are constant students. Many of the foremost business executives of the United States have for this reason welcomed an opportunity to enrol for the Modern Business Course and Service. This Course and Service brings to them in convenient, time-saving form, an explanation of working principles that have proved successful in every line of business.
The kind of men enrolled
Presidents of big corporations are often enrolled for the Modern Business Course and Service along with ambitious younger men in their employ. Among the 145,000 subscribers are such men as:
H. S. Kimball, President of the Remington Arms Corporation
John J. Arnold, President of the Bankers' Union of Foreign Commerce and Finance
E. R. Behrend, President of the Hammermill Paper Company
H. C. Osborn, President, American Multigraph Sales Company
Melville W. Mix, President of the Dodge Manufacturing Company
William H. Ingersoll, Marketing Manager of Robt. H. Ingersoll and Brothers
Charles E. Hires, President, Hires Root Beer Company
P. W. Litchfield, Vice-President of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
Ezra Hershey, Treasurer, Hershey Chocolate Company
William A. Candler, Secretary, Coca-Cola Company
George M. Verity, President, American Rolling Mill Company
Charles E. Murnan, Vice-President, United Drug Company
W. F. MacGlashan, President, The Beaver Board Companies
H. D. Carter, General Manager, Regal Shoe Company
Francis A. Countway, President of Lever Brothers Company (Manufacturers of Lux and Lifebuoy Soap)
E. E. Amick, Vice-President, First National Bank of Kansas City
Raymond W. Stevens, Vice-President, Illinois Life Insurance Company
Roy W. Howard, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Scripps-McRae Newspapers
Stephen B. Mambert, Vice-President, Thomas A. Edison Industries
S. L. Avery, President, United States Gypsum Company
—and scores of others equally prominent.
These men, and thousands of other Institute subscribers, know that a study of the principles which have brought unusual success to other men increases their own capacity for further achievement.
Great business organizations
Officers, department heads and juniors of a large number of important companies are enrolled for the Modern Business Course and Service. The prime purpose of the Course and Service is to develop the business knowledge and judgment of each subscriber, and the heads of these companies realize that the increased efficiency on the part of individuals which results from this training carries with it greater efficiency and profits for their companies.
The tendency in large business organizations, unless the chief executives are unusually thoughtful and far-sighted, is to repress initiative and constructive thinking except on the part of the few men who direct the affairs. The Modern Business Course and Service counteracts this tendency. It encourages thought and initiative. It develops men. It stimulates the whole organization and makes possible more rapid expansion and larger earnings.
Among the progressive concerns in which a number of men have been making effective use of the Modern Business Course and Service are:
Men enrolled
American Radiator Company65
American Telephone and Telegraph Company139
Anaconda Copper Mining Company75
Armour and Company184
Bank of Montreal84
Barrett Company68
Bethlehem Steel Company200
Burroughs Adding Machine Company199
Canadian Bank of Commerce143
Commonwealth Edison Company of Chicago106
Cutler-Hammer Manufacturing Company75
E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company529
Eastman Kodak Company61
Empire Gas and Fuel Company144
Equitable Life Assurance Society114
Fairbanks-Morse and Company68
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas61
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company164
Fisk Rubber Company107
Ford Motor Company353
General Electric Company669
General Motors Corporation802
B. F. Goodrich Company256
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company439
International Harvester Company122
Johns-Manville, Inc123
Jones and Loughlin Steel Company55
National Biscuit Company64
National Cash Register Company207
National City Bank of New York210
Newport Mining Company114
New York Central Railroad Company107
New York Telephone Company138
Otis Elevator Company92
Pacific Commercial Company106
Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company105
Packard Motor Car Company153
Pennsylvania Railroad Company228
Proctor and Gamble Company75
Public Service Corporation of New Jersey68
Remington Typewriter Company96
Sears, Roebuck and Company84
Singer Manufacturing Company58
Southern Pacific Railway Company90
Standard Oil Company954
The Steel Company of Canada51
Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation125
Studebaker Corporation97
Swift and Company127
Texas Company221
Underwood Typewriter Company77
United Fruit Company78
United Shoe Machinery Company95
United States Rubber Company265
United States Steel Corporation771
Western Electric Company254
Western Union Telegraph Company291
Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company501
Willys-Overland Company191
Winchester Repeating Arms Company211
F. W. Woolworth Company81
Many of the men enrolled in these great companies are heads of their organizations; presidents and vice-presidents. Most of them are important officials and department heads; a few are men with smaller responsibilities.
The sound business reason which underlies the favorable action of so many great corporations is well expressed by President George M. Verity, of the American Rolling Mill Company, who says:
"When I learned that some fifty of our men had decided to take up the Modern Business Course and Service, the stock of this company rose several points in my estimation."
The following expressions regarding the value of the Course to men in big corporations are typical of many that we have received:
"We have been familiar with your Course of instruction ever since it was first offered, and regard it as an excellent one for men engaged in the investment security business. A large number of our men are taking the Course, and we have recommended it to many of our associates."
Spencer Trask & Company, Investment Bankers, New York City.
"Realizing my lack of experience, I subscribed to your Course and found it of incalculable value. It gave me quickly the fundamentals of accounting, of which I had known nothing. It gave me a broad elementary insight into modern marketing methods. The volume on credits was also helpful. The Course saved me many expensive blunders.
"Briefly, for one starting in a business of his own I consider the Alexander Hamilton Institute Course practically indispensable. In addition to its indirect value, I have been able to put a definite worth on this Course, to myself and the firm, of many thousands of dollars."
J. Roy Allen, Treasurer, Mint Products Company, Inc., Mfrs. of "Life Savers."
"The good that our people have received from the Alexander Hamilton Institute Course has been phenomenal. It is not only the most instructive and valuable treatise on live subjects for men who are training for business careers, but it is the most concise, instructive and clearly presented form of education, to our minds, that has been presented for the benefit of executives."
Charles E. Murnan, Vice-President, United Drug Company, Boston.
"In my long business experience I have never subscribed to anything from which I have received greater value, in which I have taken greater interest, and from which I have received greater inspiration for my work. I do not believe anyone can take up the work without finding it not only effective, but of great value."
Charles E. Hires, President, Hires Root Beer Company, Philadelphia.
"My appreciation of the Alexander Hamilton Institute Course is based not only upon the broad scope of its appeal and the close co-ordination of the subjects treated, but also from the benefit that I have personally derived from following the Course."
Stephen B. Mambert, Vice-President and Financial Director, Thomas A. Edison Industries.
"It seems to me that your Modern Business Course affords an opportunity for the study of practical business methods and the acquisition of business knowledge which will be valuable to any man ambitious to succeed in business."
F. W. Hills, Comptroller, American Smelting and Refining Co., New York.
"We had two building sites in view. When it came to a final decision I applied the principles which were laid down in the Course; it became clear at once that the first site—which had originally seemed so attractive—was actually less desirable for our purposes.
"Knowing the fundamental principles, it was a simple matter to analyze the various requirements of this business step by step; as a result of this analysis we have a site even more suitable than the one originally contemplated; and we were able to buy it not merely on more favorable terms, but at an actual saving of more than $82,000."
George H. Borst, President, Twentieth Century Storage Warehouse, Philadelphia.
"My experience with the Alexander Hamilton Institute leaves me only with the regret that I did not make contact with it at an earlier time."
Samuel G. McMeen, President, Columbus Railway and Light Company, Columbus.
"I have been looking for something of this kind for some time past and am more than pleased that this should be brought to my attention."
R. C. Norberg, General Sales Manager, Willard Storage Battery Company, Cleveland.
"The exceedingly interesting manner in which the subjects are treated was an agreeable surprise to me. I became so absorbed in the reading that I am reluctant to lay it down when bed-time or meal-time arrives."
V. J. Faeth, General Manager, Winterroth & Co., Piano Merchants, New York City.
The unqualified indorsements of these successful executives, and the fact that a large number of men in almost every nationally known organization are enrolled, prove conclusively that there is a great need for training in business fundamentals. Wherever the wheel of business turns—the need is great. It is a matter to be reckoned with by every man and concern in business.