24-March-2006
Martin Lindkvist reviews "Letters from a self made merchant to his son", by George Lorimar

I remembered when Lack mentioned the title a while back that I should read "Letters from a self made merchant to his son". Said and done, ordered it, and the sequel, "Old Gorgon Graham - more letters from a self made merchant to his son" through abebooks. This was in mid Jan, and they only arrived yesterday, but considering that they only cost me $4 in total and were the original from 1903 and 1904, it's ok anyway.

And what a treat! First of all, they are very very funny. Second, they give a lot of pointers about business life and life in general worth reading. Of course, most of it is just common sense, nevertheless, its often in things concerning common sense that one slips up so I think that they have a practical value too. To me, they seem like a good addition or alternative to many "succeed in business"- books. And why not give a set to your own son when he is just about to go to college?

Here are some tidbits:

"There is one excuse for every mistake, but only one. When a fellow makes the same mistake twice he's got to throw up both hands and own up to carelessness or cussedness. Of course, I knew that you would make a fool out of yourself pretty often when I sent you to college, and I haven't been disappointed. But I expected you to narrow down the number of combinations possible by making a different sort of fool of yourself every time."

"A dirty shirt may hide a pure heart but it seldom covers a clean skin. If you look as if you had slept in your clothes, most men will jump to the conclusion that you have, and you will never get to know them well enough to explain that your head is so full of noble thoughts that you haven't time to bother with the dandruff on your shoulders."

"I simply mention Lem in passing as an example of the fact that when you're through sizing up the other fellow, it's a good thing to step back from yourself and see how you look. Then add fifty per cent. to your estimate of your neighbor for virtues that you can't see, and deduct fifty per cent. from yourself for faults that you've missed in your inventory, and you'll have a pretty accurate result."

"A lot of young men start off in business with an idea that they must arm themselves with the same sort of weapons that their competitors carry. There's nothing in it. Fighting the devil with fire is all foolishness, because that't the one weapon with which he's more expert than any one else. I usually find that it's pretty good policy to oppose suspicion with candor, foxiness with openness, indifference with earnestness. When you deal squarely with a crooked man you scare him to death, because he thinks you're springing some new and extra-deep game on him."

"The boy who does does anything just because the other fellow do it ™s apt to scratch a poor man's back all his life. He's the chap that's buying wheat at ninety-seven cents the day before the market breaks."