man is accessible, and
greets you with a glad hand, and in the pleasant manner turns you over
to the proper department head, you go away from the office satisfied,
and you give this man a boost instead of a knock.

The late P. D. Armour was a good example of the point we are making, he
did not waste time in social visits during business hours, but anyone
who had business with the Armour Institution could get an interview
with Mr. Armour. It has often been remarked by business men that they
would rather have a turn-down from Mr. Armour than an order from some
of the other houses, for Mr. Armour always made one feel good.

No one can be independent. The larger one's business is the more the
proprietor is dependent on those around him.

It takes many months to build a sky scraper, yet a wrecking company can
tear a sky scraper to the ground in a few days, and so it is with a
man's reputation. It takes years to get good credit in the commercial
world, but if success spoils a man and makes him independent, he has
created enemies, and there is no telling where these enemies will get
in their work. It is like the worms eating through the bottom of a
ship. Some day the craft goes down because of the silent attacks made
in it, which were not visible from the surface.

Some day the independent man is surprised to have the bank call him in
and insist that he take up his loans. He is astonished; he does not
know why this sudden change has happened, but like as not some secret
enemy in the bank, or some secret competitor who has a friend in the
bank, has gotten in his work, and then this independent man finds out
how really dependent he is.

The safer a man is from attacks, the safer his business is from the
financial standpoint, and the more generous this man should be in his
consideration for others.

No man can afford to be independent. Men who have built up their
business slowly are not the ones whose heads are turned and who affect
this independent air. The independent man is nearly always the newly
rich or the suddenly successful business man, and the moment he sets
himself up as independent he is made the target for an army of enemies
who are waiting for a chance to injure him.

Short Letters

Most business men make much ado about nothing in the matter of
correspondence. They use a wilderness of words to express themselves.
They write at such length that the original meaning runs into so many
by-lanes that t