Part 38

Several years ago, our friend Elbert Hubbard wrote a little sermonette entitled "Carrying the Message to Garcia." The story was simply this: President McKinley called an orderly and gave him a letter and said: "Deliver this letter to General Garcia."

The employe did not stand around and ask a lot of fool questions about the trains and things. He put on his hat and duster and he delivered the letter to Garcia. These facts were stretched out in many words and made a little booklet. That booklet reached the sale of more than a million copies.

It seemed to make a hit with business men throughout the country. A certain railroad bought and gave a copy to every employe. Business men followed the example. The great sale of the book and the wide-spread interest it created would seem to indicate that carrying the message to Garcia was an unusual thing and so remarkable that it attracted attention.

As a matter of fact the whole theme of the story was simple obedience.

There are thousands of institutions in this country who have employes who will carry the message to Garcia.

Richard Harding Davis, you remember, was dining with friends in London. The discussion was along the lines of obedience and the like.

On a wager he called a messenger boy, gave him a letter addressed to his fiancee in Chicago, told the messenger boy to deliver the letter to the lady and bring back an answer. That fifteen year old boy carried the message to Garcia, or in other words to Mr. Davis' sweetheart.

The Colonel of a regiment has under him about twelve hundred men. Directly under him are his majors, and then come the captains, lieutenants, sergeants, corporals and privates. The first rule in the army is obedience of orders without question.

If obedience were subject to question on the part of the subordinates, the colonel could win no battles.

When your superior gives an order, the thing to do is to carry it out. If the order is wrong you will not be to blame, but your superior will suffer.

There are times, of course, when an order is given that is manifestly impracticable and initiative on the part of the employe might save trouble.

On the other hand, an executive would be greatly handicapped if his orders were subject to interpretation and analysis by his subordinates.

The executive may give an order and in the giving have in his own mind the relation of this order to some other order he has given in an entirely different department and upon the proper execution of all the orders given through the various departments depends the ultimate success of his plan.

The thing for the employe to do is to obey orders willingly, quickly and to the letter.

The employe is not blamed when he does his duty.

It is a source of great satisfaction to the boss to know he has dependable employes and that when he gives an order the thing is done so far as further effort on his part is concerned.

Pay Day

We have all tried all sorts of plans regarding pay day, but the plan most satisfactory to all concerned is to pay each Tuesday or each Monday for the previous week. If the nature of your business is such that Monday is an unusually busy day, then Tuesday should be your pay day.

Monday is usually called blue Monday, because the employes blot out some of the sunshine on Sunday by thinking of the hard week's work ahead of them. Much of the blueness is driven away, however, if in looking forward they know that Monday or Tuesday they will get their pay checks.

The old fashioned habit of paying off Saturday nights is a bad one, especially if most of the employes are men.

Many men are weak and it is difficult for them to pass a lot of saloons on Saturday night without the money in their pockets burning a hole.

The Saturday pay day may mean that a percentage of your employes will not show up on Monday morning. Many men will go on a spree on Saturday night on the theory that they can rest up on Sunday, who would not think of going on a spree on Monday night or Tuesday night, for it would interfere with the work next day.

The writer does not know of a single concern that has adopted this Monday or Tuesday pay day plan and practiced it for a reasonable time without finding it works admirably. Try it in your business and you will not go back to the Saturday pay day.

Saving

We will not indulge in the proverbs handed out by the savings bank in the matter of saving. We are not pessimistic when we say that no man ever became wealthy through the savings bank plan of putting away a certain amount each week. We will say, however, that there is no better training for the employe than this one thing of saving. Saving a part of your weekly income and putting it away, if carried on for a number of years becomes a habit and it means that you will keep your expenses within your income. It is the saving habit that makes the benefit, for later on when you are in business the habit stands you in good stead and teaches you the value of having a reserve.

By all means, put away a certain amount each week. If it is not a dollar, put away fifty cents. If that is too much, put away half of it, or even ten cents a week.

Have some amount as a fixed charge in your operations and put this amount in the savings bank. Later on your balance will grow and you will have much satisfaction in watching its development to better proportions.

Habitual saving makes you careful in the things you do. It teaches you the relationship between principal and interest. It shows you that when you buy something useless and pay ten dollars for it that it is costing you interest each year to maintain it.