COAL - Clpdigital.org

As one is usually somewhat curious as to the
component parts of an article of food that has
been prepared to be partaken of—particularly, if
it be a strange dish—and as curiosity is by no
means solely an attribute of the gentler sex, I
will take you into my confidence by informing
you as to the ingredients used, with the assurance
that they have simply been stirred up together,
using a due and reasonable amount of
seasoning.
Ingredient No. 1, P-LiA-N, Plan. "Order is
heaven's first law." "Let all things," says the
sacred writer, "be done decently and in order."
It has been said of order that it is the sanity of
the mind, the health of the body, the peace of the
city, the security of the state. To this might
be added—and one of the prime factors in the
successful conduct of a business. Haphazard,
happy-go-lucky methods "don't go" in these strenuous
days, and a business man who is up-to-date
and down-to-business formulates and has constantly
before him a well defined plan as a basis
for his work. He thinks, acts, and succeeds. A
plan is necessary. How shall we P-L-A-N?
P.—PERSISTENTLY. L.—LIBERALLY. A.—
ALWAYS. N.—NOW. No farmer expects a crop
who has not sown the seed, and if he sows sparingly
he knows full well the character of the crop
that he will secure. The analogy holds good in
a business enterprise. Planning on a liberal
scale does not imply a reckless or indiscriminate
use of money; neither does a dealer want to go
to the other extreme, and be parsimonious.
People form opinions and pass judgment quite
largely from external appearances; hence the
necessity for a man of business having surroundings
that will attract favorable attention. Coal
dealers, when they call upon the wholesaler, expect
to be received in an office where neatness.
utility and comfort are some of the characteristics.
Indeed, they would be disappointed, yes, and surprised,
if the situation and conditions were otherwise.
We all know to what degree a satisfied and
contented mind influences a business transaction,
yet we frequently discover men in the coal trade
who apparently think that it is
A MEASURE or ECONOMY
not to spend a reasonable amount of money on
an office, its fittings and environments, to make
it attractive, instead of being what it sometimes
is, an eyesore.
Business pride and civic pride ought to unite
to influence a man to have the best possible place
that he can afford, for a headquarters in which
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 31
"A DISH OF COMMERCIAL P'S."
to meet the public whose patronage he seeks, and
whose friendship and good will he must have, if
From Address b.v D. L. Tuttle, Sales Agent at Buffalo, he is of to the succeed. In this connection, some may
Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co.
say that there is no friendship in business, but
no statement can hardly be farther from the
truth. Let a man who is genial and friendly,
arid who is constantly on the alert to make new
friends, have as a competitor a man of the opposite
disposition and type, and you know which of
the two men is bound to succeed, other things
being equal. Plan to keep your friendships in
repair—good repair—for it is indeed one of the
essentials to success in life that this should ho
done.
Plan to keep posted in trade conditions in all
sections, and on matters that affect these conditions—car
supply, delays in transportation from
different causes, shortage of coal, demand for
coal, etc., to the end tnat the dealer might not be
in the confused state of mind that the Irish
woman was who was being cross-questioned by a
lawyer, in a ease in court. The point under inquiry
was the relative positions of doors, windows,
etc., in a house in which a certain transaction
had occurred. "And now, my good woman,"
the lawyer said, "will you be good enough to tell
the court how the stairs run in your house?"
"How do the stairs run?" the witness replied.
"Shure, whin I am upstairs they do run down, and
whin I am downstairs av coorse they do run up."
If you want to know how the stairs run in the
coal trade, do not depend wholly upon reports
and articles which appear in the daily press and
magazines, from time to time, because either intentionally
or unintentionally they are sometimes
misleading. Interviews are frequently
USED Fou PARTISAN PURPOSES,
and different constructions put upon statements
from that intended by the person interviewed—
action taken by dealers for the general benefit
of the trade is misconstrued, in short, a seeming
feeling of antipathy is sometimes manifested
toward coal dealers that is entirely uncalled for.
There is absolutely nothing that the general public
purchases that is of as much utility, necessity
and comfort to so large a number of persons, at
such a minimum of expenditure, as coal. It is
of prime importance that the public should know
that the money put into coal is the best allround
investment the householder makes. How can
this be better done than by furnishing the newspapers
with items and articles for insertion from
the standard journals of the coal trade, giving
accurate and trustworthy information pertaining
to coal, the increased cost of production, the millions
of dollars expended in structures, devices and
appliances, in order to properly prepare the product
for the market;