THE MAN OF BUSINESS The Whistle By BENJAMIN FRANKLIN To Madame Brillon PASSY, November 10, 1779. I am charmed with your description of Paradise, and with your plan of living there; and I approve much of your conclusion that, in the mean time, we should draw all the good we can from this world. In my opinion, we might all draw more good from it than we do, and suffer less evil, if we would take care not to give too much for whistles. For to me it seems that most of the unhappy people we meet with are become so by neglect of that caution. You ask what I mean? You love stories, and will excuse my telling one of myself. When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holy day, filled my pockets with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children; and, being charmed with the sound of a whistle that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for one. I then came home and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers and sisters and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth; put me in mind of what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with vexation, and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure. This, however, was afterward of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, I said to myself, Don't give too much for the whistle; and I saved my money. As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who give too much for the whistle. When I saw one too ambitious to court favor, sacrificing his time in attendance on levees, his repose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends, to attain it, I have said to myself, This man gives too much for his whistle. When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly employing himself in political bustles, neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by that neglect, He pays, indeed, said I, too much for his whistle. If I knew a miser, who gave up every kind of comfortable living, all the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and the joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of accumulating wealth, poor man, said I, you pay too much for your whistle. When I met with a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable improvement of the mind or of his fortune to mere corporeal sensations, and ruining his health in their pursuit, Mistaken man, said I, you are providing pain for yourself instead of pleasure; you give too much for your whistle. If I see one fond of appearance, or fine clothes, fine houses, fine furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he contracts debts and ends his days in prison, Alas! say I, he has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle. When I see a beautiful, sweet-tempered girl married to an ill-natured brute of a husband, What a pity, say I, that she should pay so much for a whistle! In short, I conceive that great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value of things, and by their giving too much for their whistles. Yet I ought to have charity for these unhappy people, when I consider that, with all this wisdom of which I am boasting, there are certain things in the world so tempting, for example, the apples of King John, which, happily, are not to be bought; for if they were put to sale by auction, I might very easily be led to ruin myself in the purchase, and find that I had once more given too much for the whistle. Adieu, my dear friend, and believe me ever yours very sincerely and with unalterable affection. B. FRANKLIN. THE MAN OF BUSINESS The Business Man's Reading By FRANK ARTHUR VANDERLIP [Frank A. Vanderlip, banker, was born at Aurora, Ill., November 17, 1864. He began life on a farm, and from there went to work in a machine shop in Aurora. He was educated in the public schools and at the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago. From college he became a reporter on the "Chicago Tribune," and, later, edited its financial department. From 1894-97 he was part owner and associate editor of the "Chicago Economist," a weekly financial journal. On March 4, 1897, he became private secretary to Secretary Gage, and in June was appointed assistant secretary of the Treasury. He resigned in February 1901 to accept a position in the National City Bank of New York City.] I1 T is as important for the young business man to choose well in making his literary friendships as it is to use care in selecting his personal associates. Perhaps the first word of advice in any suggestions regarding a young business man's reading should be along the line of impressing upon him the desirability of making literary friends, but it should be hardly necessary to waste much time in emphasizing the value of welldirected reading in advancing any business career. One of the reasons why the young business man does not always readily see the value of much reading is that he is apt to be of a thoroughly practical bent, and not quick to appreciate the worth of things that are not immediately available as means of advancement. If a course of reading should be outlined with sound judgment for the average young man in the early years of his business life, he would be apt to ask wherein was the practical utility of the greater part of it. If he is a bank clerk, for instance, and is told to read political economy, it is not at all easy for him to see how such reading will make him a better bank clerk. It requires no political economy to total a column of figures correctly. In the bank clerk's whole experience he has never been called on for any academic knowledge of that character, and he sees that he probably never will be. To waste time over a lot of reading that has no practical application to the work in hand seems useless. The thing that the young business man should clearly understand is that a well-directed course of systematic reading will be of value not so much in helping him better to do the work he has in hand, as in preparing him to do much more important work. The young bank clerk whose duties are simple and routine may ask what good it will do him to know the history and provisions of the national banking law. It will do him very little good if he intends always to be a bank clerk; it may do him a great deal of good if he hopes to be a bank officer. One should not, then, search too closely for the evidence of a direct relation between a well-outlined course of reading and immediate advancement in his position. The relation is there, but the reader must have faith enough to do a great deal of hard, earnest work without expecting advances in salary to follow with the same regularity with which diplomas would be earned in school. PRACTICAL Value of TIME-HONORED BOOKS If any number of successful business men were asked what thing it is that the young business man most needs to help him on the road to business success, I believe the answer would be unanimous, and it would be-character. This is not an idle platitude. It is sound, practical judgment, and it will be the most strongly emphasized by the men who are the most experienced in affairs. The more I see of business life, the more clearly I comprehend the great practical value, quite apart from their ethical worth, of some of the well-worn and homely old maxims those maxims which many boys have thought may do well enough for copy book texts or as subjects for graduating essays, but to which they have attributed little practical impor |