for the handling of affairs always makes for advancement. In business this is the day of system. The business man who trusts to chance and circumstance finds his way beset with those obstacles which have been the reefs that have gathered many business wrecks upon their crests.

He must have loyal, competent organization in his business. And, in building for the future, he must have recourse to that foresight which builds sufficiently broad. and strong to meet the growing demands of ensuing years. His organization must be built on those lines. What the crew is to the ocean-going steamship, organization is to business.

He must know men and know how to bring out the best that is in them. In attaining this result personality is indispensable. That creation of an atmosphere of personal relationship between employer and employees develops the individualism of the latter and inspires in them that personal power which, more than anything else, perhaps, brings loyalty of organization and earnestness of effort. This same personal power one of the most important, success-building factors in business to-daydeveloped in an organization attracts and holds customers. It is just as important an element in the selling end as in the producing end of business. Developed in a spirit of genuine interest in men, it serves to lift business activity to a plane higher than that where every action and every result is measured utterly and solely by dollars and cents. In any event, it must be regarded as one of the most powerful instruments in business building.

Surely business acquires a deeper meaning when it is made to include such a preparation, such mental discipline and study of humanity. But it is necessary, for only he who enters the field fully panoplied and thoroughly equipped, can contend with those difficulties which usually

must be encountered in the struggle for progress and

success.

In concluding, I can thus sum up what business has meant to me:

It has meant an effort to prove as far as possible worthy in a field which has been one of the major powers in the development of the life of the world. It has been the motive inspiring constant endeavor to attain success broad, comprehensive success. It has meant the inspiration of effort to achieve, aside from making profit as a proof of business ability. It has meant the effort to build up an industry and an institution which, I hope, will be perpetuated for many generations to come.

It has meant satisfaction attained by contributing to the upbuilding and prosperity of my community. It has meant the constant effort to give true value, for the consumer looks for that value and it should be given him — honest methods win in business as in everything else. It has meant, further, the healthful, pleasurable occupation of my time and the employment of every effort to produce the utmost of accomplishment from the powers which may have been granted to me.

ANALYSIS AS AN AID TO BUSINESS 1

SA

BY JOHN H. HANAN

NALYSIS in business distinguishes the real business man from the speculator. To the keen, analytical mind in business there is scarcely such a thing as chance, for this art of reading the future by analysis removes the elements of uncertainty in any enterprise.

In whatever undertaking a business man embarks, he may either plunge, as the pure speculator does, or he may move deliberately, with a practical certainty of what awaits him. The tyro in business is ruled by impetuosity; the conservative and calculating man in business governs all his acts with an intelligent regard for cause and effect. Sometimes we hear it said that Smith, for instance, has a veritable second-sight, and that whatever he undertakes turns into gold as if by magic. If we study Smith, however, we shall find that his magic is only logic and knowledge of human nature.

The business speculator leaps in the dark, the real business man never. The speculator may, perhaps, alight on his feet, but there are nine chances in ten that he will come down flat. The man who makes business a science studies out his moves as if he were playing a game of chess. Business, after all, is nothing less than a science. It is a gamble to many men because they choose to make it such.

Why are so many big mistakes made in business? Because the average business is too much a haphazard thing.

1 By courtesy of "System," Copyright, 1908.

Forty years ago I was impressed with the value of analysis in business, and that hour was the beginning of whatever success I have had. My father had a small shoe factory in New York and sent me out on the road for him.

The first town I visited was Detroit. Equipped with my sample case, I set forth to conquer the city. I was full of enthusiasm. I knew we were making good shoes, and I did not see why there should be any difficulty in building up a trade in the West. I had n't done any particular analyzing on the subject, but in a general way it looked good.

Business men often go into enterprises simply because they look good on the face.

The first shoe merchant I visited in Detroit took some of the enthusiasm out of me. A vivid recollection of him lingers in my memory.

"I have come to sell you a consignment of Hanan's shoes," I said to him, displaying my samples.

"Hanan?" he asked. "Who is Hanan? "

"The manufacturer of the best shoes on the market," I answered, taken aback.

"I never heard of him," he retorted. "I am buying the XXXX brand of shoe, and I don't care to experiment with Hanan's or any other unknown brand."

Now, the XXXX brand was inferior to my own, and I knew it very well; but since the dealer had never heard of Hanan there was little hope of convincing him. I went away without effecting a sale.

The next call I made was a repetition of the first, and so it went, all day. When night came I was thoroughly discouraged. Nobody in Detroit had heard of Hanan, and nobody wanted Hanan's shoes. That evening I went to my room at the Russell House and sat down to think.

I then did my first analyzing of a business proposition. Why was it that Hanan's shoes would not sell in Detroit? I knew that we had better values to offer than XXXX, against whose competition I had made no headway. I was confident that we were making better shoes than any of the manufacturers who had possession of the Detroit field, and yet the dealers had only laughed at me.

I went over the whole proposition of business success. Mentally, I opened an account with "The Future of Hanan's Shoes." I weighed all the elements that were to add to or subtract from that future. I had in my mind a sort of ledger account — an account covering the future instead of the past. There were many debits and credits, if I may call them such, comprising every argument I could work out.

I took up a pair of sample shoes and looked them over. I was proud of them, and I knew perfectly well that the trouble did not lie in the shoes themselves, nor did it lie in lack of people to buy them. The market was there in the West; the problem was to get into that market and stay in it. When I struck a mental balance in my account with the future one thing stood out prominently. It was the value of a reputation. Analysis had reduced the problem to one factor: that business success comes from having a reputation.

This may seem a simple proposition to reason out, yet there are a lot of business establishments that have not done this bit of analysis.

However, I carried my analysis of the future further than this. Having decided that what my shoes needed was a reputation, I formulated a policy that very hour from which I have never allowed myself to depart to this day. Up to that time, our goods had borne no brand. There was nothing on them to indicate that they were