alled new business is built contains very little that is
new. The newest things in the ordinary industrial world contain
many old and well-known elements. The very use of a so-called
new method or machine as a center around which to build an
organization is in itself so old that it is a confirmed habit with
us to be lured on to investing in such things by the statement
that some new process or means is to be employed.

A really new thing that calls for wholly new ways and new means
for manufacture is almost inconceivable. The nearer we approach to
newness in the industrial world the thinner becomes the ice on
which we are moving. Therefore, let us know that when we advise
following habit lines in all moves in management of an existing
organization we imply that the same course should be taken in
establishing a new company or organization.

In both cases we should employ existing ways and means,
experienced men and well-tried implements. Both old and new should
be conducted along the usual line in conformity with the state of
the art, the habits of the workers, and other conditions
indigenous to the locality. Any scheme of going contrary to the
existing customs and usage must be entered into with full
knowledge of the great need of patience, force and courage to
offset the barrier of inertia.

Dissipation of Energies.

This tendency to dissipate energies by wandering into other fields
is not confined to the worker; it is a most common tendency of
business men. A manager of an industrial establishment has to
continually combat his tendency to divert the energies of the
organization along new lines. He knows from past experience how
dearly bought is each new method that is introduced into his
organization. He knows for example that it would make all of his
men tardy at the plant in the morning if at the hour of arising he
has issued a request for each man to dress by carefully thinking
out each move. He knows that the day's work would never be well
done if he asked each one to think before acting.

Even conversation comes under the law of habit. It must follow the
line that has been carefully thought out.

We all know that when a man talks on subjects with which he is not
familiar his words carry little weight.

The so-called spontaneous utterances that seem so full of life and
are apparently the product of flashed thought are either the
welling up of some subconscious ideas quickly reconstructed to fit
the