1917 - some young people who have made good and why

8/3/2019 1917 - Some Young People Who Have Made Good and Why

1/22


2/22

II

-

iI

SOME YOUNG PEOPLE WHOHAVE MADE GOOD, AND WHY

By JOHN ROBERT GREGG

(A . i.Iot", , 1 odd ," " 10 t)," ,,"d,nlO o.G " D School, Chk.,." Jolr 19, 1917)

Mr. Holm has asked me to 8 ~ akto you about the qualities tha t arenecessary for success in life . Insteadof doing that, I am going to ten yousome .tories which I think will bringout dearly qualities that have fflabled a number of young ~ o p l etoachieve success, or at least to make agood start towards succe" early inlife.

I could, of course, tell you aboutgreat lca,lers of industry and . great.utcsmen and others who have risenfrom the very lowe.t r.nks to fameand fortune. There are any number

of these - eminent men and womenwith whose name. you 3 r t thoroughlyfamiliar.

But my ohservation has been tha tyouth is intereste,l in youth, and that

'..,


3/22

,j

Mr. S't't:m . ' C f ' ' ' ' I ; I I ~ 1/,, / , , , , . , ; d , , " "~ I- 'If/I( f)"y !lAId, ,,.,.JUli e 14. deN"f', ,,d /'''111 II", .]'y o ld m ~nind ee d . I sa id , "Oh! 110\\ ' old is h t"?"

"O h , he l l lLl st ht rhirty - five," shesa id . T1 H'1l sl1(' :uld ed, vc r)' ea nw stl y,

" Bu t Iw is well p rese rv ed ." (L :wghl( r .)3


4/22

So, to the boy or girl starti ng ou t inlife, even thirty-fi ve looks a long way ofLThat is wh y I am go ing to tell youa bo ut boys an d g irls almo st of yo ur ownage who have made a su ccess ful startand desc ribe to you the qualities t h a ~helped them to make th at suc cessfuls ta r t .

I am no t going to say much about thequalitie s themselv es , exce pt thi s: thatthe fundamental qualit y is integrity ofcharacter. Without integrity of char-acter eve ry thin g else goes for naught .Do yo u know that one of t he grea te storganizations in this countr y, th eNation:.l City Bank of New Yorkgrades its emplo yees for p romotion o ~~ h eba sis of fifty pe r cent for int eg rit yof cha racter. and fifty per ce nt forexperience and all other qualificationscombined? That is a very significantfa ct when you remember that theNat ional C ity Bank of New York ha sone of the greate st busines s orga nization s in th e world.

M y first story is about Mr. C harle s L.Sw em , the young man who holds th emost responsible st e nographi c positionin the world, that of st e nogr apher tothe Pr esident of th e United States. I

,

I

,,

do no t think th a t any of you willqu est ion the statem ent that that is the~ os t rtsponsiblt ste nographic positionI I I the wo rld when you reflect upon whatmust have passed through that yo ungman's no teboo k in th e last five years.

A ve ry great respo nsibility has rested

on that young man . A word from himwo uld have meant million s to ot her s;a word in c autiou sly spoken might h.avehad di sast rous co nse quences to thenation.

And now let me te ll yo u the s tory ofMr . Swem' s rise to hi s present position.It is a s tory full of what new sp aperpeople term "human intere st." Atfifteen yea rs of age, Swem was an officeboy in a mill in Ne w Jersey. He hadworked in the mill since he was thirteenor fourteen, and therefore hi s educational preparation was very meager,that of a commo n school education in amill town . At fifteen he was in a mill'at twenty yea rs of age, he was in theWhite Hou se as stenog rapher to thePr esident of th e United States, at th eoffici al sa lary of $2, 500 a year.

A won de rful rise , and a wo nderfulillustration of th e possibilities that arebefore ;m y boy or girl in thi s demo-

5

-


5/22

CHARLES l... SWEMOfficud Rflporlf!!r to Ihfl P"r t$Ultfll o f th t Unit td StatfIJ

Mr. SIIoflm TfIporltd all o f P"r t$Ul.tnt lJIi/son 'J a J d T t ~ t $on d divrmions a t tM p t a t Ptact ConJufllI.U.

,

,

I

I

nat ic country of ou r s. I sho uld l iketo emphasi"l.e that point - that in noother cou ntr y in the world is suchadvanc ement possi b le by sheer force of

.ment.

Swem went to th e night school in th eRide r-Moore & Stew ar t Business School,at Trenton, N. J., and I happ ened tovisit that schoo l while he was th ere.The pr incipal of the school, Mr . Gill,was an old friend of mine . He sa id,"Mr. Gregg, there is a bo y in sc hoo l inwhom 1 am greatl y interested. H e ha sbeen in our night sc hool about sixmonths, and he writes a hund red wordsa minute in shorthand and has donegood work in ty p ewr iting. I haveasked him to co me in dt lunch time tosee yo u. "

Th e bo y ca me, and 1 di ct a ted someletters to him . 1 found that he couldwr ite busine ss lette FS at over onehundr ed word s a minute, bu t I was n otmuch impre sse d with his shorth 'lIldnotes b ecause he wrote a very clum systyle. That was due to th e fact thathe had never been trained in p enman-ship. As a matter of fact, Mr . Swe mhas no spec ial ap t itude for shor thand ,at lea st so far as facility of executing

7


6/22

the form s is concerned, although, onaccount of his performan ces, th e generalimpression i s otherwise. Bu t he isgifted with a good brain, and, what ismore important, with wonderful tenacity of purpo se.

While I was not greatly impre ssedwi th hi s sho rthand work, I was favorably impr esse d by th e boy - a quiet,modest littl e chap in kni ckerbockers,who was not fresh, nor cut e, nor smart,just a natural, earnest-looking boy, witha good jaw. I thought, "That boy isworth while," and I said, "Charlie, ifyou want a position after you leaveschool, you can- have one in my office."

He came to my office a month or twolater. At first he had a good deal tolearn, bu t he was a willin g wo rker and

was always ready to take suggestions.That last th ing-a w illingn ess to take

suggestions - is a rarer quality than isgenerally believed. It often marks th edifferen ce between success and failurein life .

He h ad to learn words, for one thing,as his vocab ular y was very limited.Very often when I dictat ed an unusualword, I had to spell it out for him. Iremember once, after I had dictated a

8

IIf

I

magazine article, he sai d, "Me. Gregg,here i s a word in my notes that I can'tmake out. I t look s like 'hu-man-it-arian'- is there such a word?" I told himthere was such a word, "humanitarian,"and advised him to go to the dictio narywhe n he came across a n ew word,find ou t its meaning, pu t it down in an"A-B-C book," rev iew the list day byday, and afterwards tr y to use thesewords in speaking and in writing.

I thought that was good advice untilI found that he was using th e words onme (lau ght er) , an d that he preferredpolysyllables to monosyllables whenthey meant the same thing. That was aphase of hi s development. In th eprocess he acquired a remarkabl e voca bular y of words, by systema ti ca lly adding

wo rd s each da y in th e way I ha vedesc ribed. One eve ning, when I cameback:. to the office after office hours, Ifound him in my private office with aphonograph practicing on the wordsand phra ses t ha t had been u sed duringthe da y.

Soo n afterwards there came th e fifthan d final International Shorthand Spe edCo ntest for the famous Min e r Medal.I think most of you know the result.,


7/22

SAWME LA NN I NG TARR

M ~ .~ !'arr e ~ l a b l i s h e d


8/22

m ade by profe ss ion a l court report ers oflong ex peri ence .

While t hi s wa s going on , PresidentWil son- or Governor Wil son , as he thenwas - t elephoned to th e bu sine ss collegein Tr enton for som eone to report aspeec h he was going to m ake . Mr . Gillte lephon ed to m e in Ne w York, and I

sent Swem to report th e s pee ch. Iund ers t an d that G ove rn or Wil son wa sve ry mu ch surpri sed wh en h e sa w aboy sent t o report him , beca use , as y ou;.11 know, he i s naturall y ve ry pun ctiliousab o ut the accura cy o f the re port s of hi spubli c s pee ches . Bu t th e next morning,wh en h e received th e t ransc rip t , he wassurpri sed to Ilnd that , fo r th e Ilrst timein hi s life , he had b ee n r epo rt ed withab Jol1d t accu ra cy. And so, t o make a

lo ng st or y short, Swe m b ec ame theo ffi cial reporter of hi s c amp aign for th epr es id ency. and aft erwa rd s went withhim t o th e Whi te Hou se as hi s personals tenog rapher and official reporter.

No w , t he points I want t o make aboutMr. Swem are the se: In the Ilr s t place,he h ad a dellnite goal ; he wanted tobecome the be st shorthand writer in th ewo rld . In the sec ond pl ace. h e hadten ac it y of purpo se ; h e w ork ed ind efatig-

12

,

,

abl y to a ttain th a t goa l. In the thirdpl ace, he w as rea dy w hen the opportu n it y cam e. a nd th ro ugh being read y,he m ade goo d whe n t he o pp o rtunity didcome .

I t i s my bel ief that opportunit yalwa ys com es to t hose who are preparedfor it . I hea rd a man say once, "Mr.Swe m was lu cky." I want to imp ressupon yo u that all th e luck in the worldwould no t ha ve help ed Mr . Swem if hehad no t bee n able t o " make good ."

I f M r. S wem h ad no t made good int he night scho ol, h is teac hers would no thave brou ght hi s wo rk to the attentionof Mr . Gill; if h e had no t made good inmy office, I should nO t have sent him torepo rt Go ve rn o r Wil son; if he had no tmade good in r eportin g that first speechfo r Mr . Wi lson, he wo uld no t hav e be enintru sted wit h t he res pon sible wo rk ofreport ing th e s peec hes in ::I hard-foughtpre sid ential ca mpai gn ; and if he h adnot mad e goo d in repo rtin g the speechesin that campai gn, h e would no t hav erecei ve d th e app oi n tme nt at the WhiteHou se; and if he had n o t m ade good inthe Ilr st ye ar , he w ould not be in th eWh ite Hou se to- d ar

13

-


9/22

FRED H. GURTLERMr. Gurtler won th e Fifth Int em atiollal Shor tharuJSpee d u , r l l eH an d e ~ l a h l i 3 h e da new Icorld's re cord

II I thi.s amUSt .

14

,

I

,

,

So yu u sec it has uc(::n a case of' ' ' mak ing goo d " at eve ry point.

In rea d ing :m interview with a verysuccessf ul bu si ne ss man in one of themagazine s lat e ly. I noticed tha t h esai d his gu idin g prin ciple in life fr omth e ve ry be ginning had b ee n to per formevery piece of wor k in t ru sted to him ,howeve r unim porta nt it mi gh t seem, asthough it were th e mos t import ,mtthin g in th e world. He sa id he hadalways believed that j f he contin ued todo that so m etime some bod y wouldno tice it. T he caree r of M r. Sw em i sjust another illu st ration of how t ha tprin cipl e works if faithfull y foll owe d.

But , as I sa id at th e beginning, th efo undation of a ll success is in tegr ityof characte r. Ju st to ma ke tha t ele;lf,

le t me give yo u a n illu str at ion from th eex pe rience of M r . Swe m.

Wh en Mr , Wilson was n ominat edfor th e presidency, an d th e messageca me to my office_ t ha t he wa nt ed M r .Swem .I S his r eporter, Mr . Swcm didn ' twa n t to go . As I said a few minute sago, hi s ambit ion at that time was tobecome th e cham pio n shorthan d writerof th e wo rld, an d he did no t W:lIlt to bes id e t racke d fr o m t ha t a mbi t ion . A c ~

15


10/22

co mp ani ed by C ha rli e, I w ent d ow n t oSea Girt , th e Sli mmer ho me of t hegov e rno rs of Ne w J ersey, to see Mr.W ilson.

As Mr . Wi lso n is a wr it e r of sho r than d- he has w rit t en one of th e o ldsys tems fo r fo rt y y ea r s and is a s plend id w rit er o f it , roo - he und ersto odM r. Swem' s am b it ion . Bu t he said ,"Mr. G regg, I want him bec ause heis th e onl y o ne t h at eve r re po rt e d meaccu r:l.te ly , and it is of th e ut m os tim po rta n ce t h a t my s peec hes in th i sca mp aign b e reporte d acc ur at ely ." Isai d, "When does t he ca mpai gn start ?"I-Ie to ld m e, a nd I sa id, "I can let y ouh av e h im d ur ing th e cam pai gn, if y ouwill let me ha v e him b ac k a ft erw ard s."An d it wa s a r ra nged on t h at b as is.

Afte r t he c:lm paig n w as ove r , t hePr esid en t- elect sai d t o Mr. Swem o n ed ay , " I wa nt yo u a s my s t eno gr ap h erin t he W hi t e Ho use ." J us t th ink oft h a t ! J us t t h in k o f th is y ou n g man ,who fi ve y ears before wa s an o ffi ce boyin a mill , be in g off e re d th e pos iti on ofs te nographer to th e Pr esid ent of th eU ni t ed St at e s ! W h at wo ul d mo st bo y sha ve d one ? The y wou ld have th an ke dth e P res id ent an d accepte d t he po sit ion ,

16

j

,

f

wou ld t hey not ? Bu t Swem sa id , " Mr.W ilso n, 1 mus t see Mr. G regg a boutI "l a t .

Ca n YO ll imagine t he thought s o f th ePr es iden t o f t he U n it ed St a tes on bei ngre mind ed of hi s pr o mi se in th a t w ay ?Do n ' t Y O ll thi nk h e we nt b ack i n hi s

s tu d y w it h a qu ie t smil e ? D on ' t } o uthi n k he ha d a gre at er respec t fo r Mr.Swe m and a fee ling of greate r co n fide n cein hi m ? M r. W ilson sa id , "O h , T forgo t t h at . Go to New Yor k and ex pla int h at t o M r. Gregg - b ut t ell him I wa ntyo u. "

A nd so Mr. Swe m ca me t o see me a ndoA'e red to come b ac k an d wor k for m e .Of cou rse, I t o ld hi m th at he h ad go nefar bey ond m e ; b ut h is comin g to m ein t h a t wa y will alwa y s be a pl easa n tmemor y, I ju s t menti on i t here, howe ve r, as an illu s tr a ti on of chara cter. I tis one of th o se litt le t hi n gs t h a t cou ntin t h e S li m to t a l of thin gs th at ma ke fo rre a l s ucce ss in life,

I W b ~ n the Un ited Sta,e s en ' tHd I h~ Ir ( 31 . . a. Mr .S""em aske d Ih e P r" . idtn l ' " n lu ,", him 50 he cou ldI " inl " 'h e n ; a li " n l en ic e .u a f i ~ h 'i " 1 man. TtoeP r n i dc"1 ",,,,,l d " ", h u r " f It . Du ' ' ' ' 1 Ihe five ) ' c a ntbat S wem had h u n 110 cI" . el y assa date d w it h t b e P rH ;.d en t he bad ma d. bimse lf in.-alu ab le. H e w u d ou b ly.0 un d H the 51r" ",, of ,..ar,i", . co ndilions. S " 't m '.hm iJi,ri ly w ith ,b. ,...,.k of th e P re.i dt nl ' . offi ce an dhis , b ility 10 cel ie . e the P r . i d ~ n t of an ~ o .r ~ o n la mo u ~ tor wo. k, a nd nb " Ye aU h i. ab.oh "e r ~ h a b' I '! y ml de h"

17


11/22

e t, ,; ~~. In I h ( ; " . ~ " ' n . ~ n tmm.en.d)' "" " ',, , ' ~ l u a l , l ~thanI h ~ )' w oulo! ha , 'e b e~ n in t he r"h l in , line, I I ~ w ulemporarily WO" a,' e r t o Ih e I 'r ~ " ; d ~ "l ' s view bUI t hromanc e of ad , . nUl r. st ill a P J l ~ a l e d10 him and he neverlos! . , zh t of hi l ~ m b i t ; a n10 fly an d r.,III.

On Auzu.t I. 1918. he re.izned, cntered Il l ' UnitedState. Aviation &enite an d was . . . , ne d la Ihe aviationsohool at " ri ncclo" U niversity, late, r.ni s hin , up hi .fI}'in, ins t r uot 'o n at 1" " ' d :o , Cal i fo rn ia. In th e mcan l im e 'h e ar mist ic e had bee., .i,ne"

te n ce. S o far a s 1 kn ow that h; ld n eve rbee n done befor e in a public speed co ntest o n soli d m ;lt t er , or any other kindof m a tter. H e writes almost co pp e rplat e s horthand eve n at high spee d ; infact, in the laSt ca mpai g n h e ass ist edMr. Swe lll in repo rting Mr . Wi lso n' sspeec hes , and in rush times the y tran-sc ribed each oth e r' s notcs. Sh


12/22

Mr, S.t'em accampanie$ Pre sident Wilsan 011 hi5trips and i.< frequently caffed UfH'n /a reJX'rt

under ullu,ma/ caTidi/ioM,

hi s co llege c redits bee, lu se he was ca lledfor na tional se rv ice.

H e reported 1\1r. McA do o' s spee ch esin a ll pCln s of t he co untr y. M r .McA doohad neve r had such a repo rter, and sohe h as held on to hi m , an d 1 have a le t-t e r in my pock et from M r. S h affe r, inwhich he says, " I have h ad morc ex peri-ence in th e la st t wo mon th s th an mostpeo ple h ave in a l ifetime." Mr . Sh afferincl ose d with th e le t t e r a co py of an

20

iI

II

exec ut ive o rd e r, iss ued by Pr es id entW ilso n, sta ting, "M r. Shaff er has bee ntempora ri ly emp loye d in t he TreasuryDepartment in connection with theL iberty L oa n and hi s se rvice s haveproved so v, duabl e th:!t his perm an emappointm en t wi ll be grea tl y in th e in-

tere s t s of t he se rvice," \Vauldo ' t youlilce to have a tes tim onial li ke th atsign ed by the Pres id ent of the U ni tedSta t es r

Anothe r ro ung ma n who ha s ma d ea ve ry s uccess ful star t in life is Ro scoe

/Ifr, Swem. !cho is immediately ta the right of the Pr esident. i.. reportin& Ihe Jpuches delivered in cOllnectionleilh Ihe reuplion of the P r ~ i d e n ta t D o ~ e r ,E n ~ l a n d.

21


13/22

Kin ca id, who holds what: is to-dayprobabl y th e most interesting stenog ra ph ic position in th e world, next tothat of being stenograp her t o thePr esident.

H e is t he p rivate secreta ry to GenendPershing, COlllman d er of th e Ame ricanforces in France. I th ink IllOSt y oungmen here would like to hav e that posit ion l I n fa ct , just now mos t y oun gmen would prefer it to that held b y Mr .Swe m.

R oscoe Kincaid studi ed Gregg Shorthan d at Barn es Bu siness College, Den-ver. From there he we n t to work aspubli c stenogra pher in the GlenwoodSpring s Hote l. I-Ie had attended a goodsc ho ol; h e had been trained under goodte ache rs, and so, from th e Start, he didexce llent work. A grea t New Yorkfin an cier, Le igh Hunt, happened to sto pat th e hotel with his part y , and he dicta t ed some le t t e rs to Mr. Kincaid. Hewas so we ll pl ease d w ith his work th athe empl oye d the y oung ma n as hisprivate secretary.

For six ye ar s Kincaid tr a veled a ll o\erth e United S tates with hi m and over agood dea l o f Europe. When Mr. Huntreti r ed three years ago , Kin cai d wa s

2Z

pr e t t y well known in the financial distri ct of New York, t hrou gh his co nnection with Mr. Hunt, an d ] . P . M organand Compan y sec ur ed his ser vi ces.

La s t y ear the y se nt him o n a conti.dential mi ss ion to Fran ce in co nn ec ti onwith th e war, and he perform ed thatn)issi on with such tact and abilit y thathe w as recommended to Gen eral Pershing as the bes t ma n for th e po sit io nhe now occupie s.

Th i s is ju st ano lh er case of makinggoo d in small thing s as we ll as in lar ge 'things. Som e you ng men would no t seeany poss ibiliti es in th e routine work ofa st e nographer in a hotel. Opportunit ydo es not com e announced by a bra ssband! Opportunity ca me to K ine' lidsi mpl y becau se he did hi s routine wo rk

in such an efficie nt wa y th a t i t attr ac tedmore than ordinary attention . )-lisgrea ter opportuniti es came from thats imple th ing.

Speaking of Mr. Kin cai d b ei ng pr ivatesec ret ar y to Gen e r.1i P ersh ing r em in d sme of anoth e r w ri te r of our sys tem whois w ith Genera l P e rshing. Th e case oft he y oung ma n I r efe r to , Mr . John 1-1.Matter, illu strate s wh at determ inationand enthu sia sm will do .

23


14/22

JOSEPH M. SHAFFER

Mr. ShQj[u rIC/ed /U A5Iis/Qnt St!e,e/Qry an d Reporter10 .h. McAdoo until he rui&ned 11$ Diruto, Ge'l-eraf o f RQjlroods, an J repOrted QIl the St!cretQ,y'JLiberty LoQn Qddrt!&l;u li e is nQW p,i


15/22

th e War Department at Washington.His work there was so good that to-dayhe is chief clerk to General Pe r shing, incharge of t he funds of th e headquarte rsstaff, at a sa lar y of $"-50 a month - andhis age is twenty years!

From $7.00 a week to $2 SO a monthin eighteen months is "going som e/ ' asth e boys say. No such chance asSwem's!W hy, as a matter of fact, John H.Matter is earning more than Swem andis holding a position that at this timeis even more interesting than that ofSwcm.

I tell you success lies in th e persQ1t.Some young men and yo ung womenwi ll succeed under any circ um stances.

I often think that one of the importantfactor s of sliccess is d irectne ss of action.I mean by that th e elimination of unnecessary movements- the ability toge t right at th e jo b that is to be doneand do it in th e easiest, qu ic kest possibleway . Comparatively few yo ung peoplt:realize the importance of that. Thebig men in business are not th e noisymen; th e big men to-day work quickly,quietly, efficiently. They conserve their

,

energ ies.26

The pow er to do work quietly andc


16/22

EMIL A. TREFZGERMr. Tr ef:gcr won th e typ ewriting championship o fEngland three limes in succ ession and Wa.! award edth e permanent trophy. He is naw manager of tileUndelWood Typewriter Company at Baltimore. Md.

tion to me. I tapped him on t he should er, and h e s top ped and looked at me.I sa id, "What are yo u do ing?"

"Putting paper in, " he sa id, andwent on doing it . Tha t didn't give mean y info rmation , beca u se I cou ld seethat fo r myself, and T co uld also seethat he was taking it ou t again.(L aught er.)

1 tapped him again, and this t im e heloo ked at me from head to foot.

I sai d , "Wha t are you doing it fod"

28

He said, "T o get speed in doing i t , " -and he said it very slowly and emphatically. He evidently regarded meas a pes t. (Laughter.)

And he went right on putting thepaper in and taking it ou t again. Hesee med h yp notized on that job.

But he and I became friend s, and 1was able to help him afterwards. Twoye ar s later that bo y , Emil A . Trefzger,when he was bu t seventeen, was stenographer for a great firm of corporationlaw yers in thi s city at a sa lary of $1400a year. He had become an expert shorthand writer, and la t er he became aworld-known champion of ty pewriting.He went to England and won th e type-writing championship three years insuc cess ion. He is now an efficiency ex-

pert earning a very large salary.Th e point I want to make is thi s -

that at fifteen years of age, at the timeI thought he was "dippy," he hadlea rned one of the great secrets of success. He knew he had been losing timeputting paper in the machine and intaking it out, and so, whil e th e otherboys and girl s of th e Exhibit were ou tin t he Fair grounds having a good time,he was lI sin g hi s lunch hour to con cen-

29


17/22

H'l te on that one t hing lin til he co ulddo it automatic:.!ly.

He afterwards fo llowed that plan inhis sho rth ;md work, and in ~ . J lh is oth e rst u di es. And, of course, opportunityhamlllered o n his door. I t ;dways doe swith that k 'n d of worker.

Spea king of Mr. Trefz ge r remind s meof a little incident in con nection withhis career that is a very good ill ustr; l-tion of character under test. Threeor four yea rs frolll the time J firstsaw him he was in charge of ,m exhibitof ,. typew riter company at a teache rs'meeting in l3:dtimor e. A shorthand CO I l-te s t was to be he ld at th:lt meeting , andTrefzger came to me onc morning. H esaid, "Mr. Gregg, 1 have been ou t ofsh orthand work for somc time, bu t 1

would lik e to ente r this contest a nd seewhat I can do. Do YO ll Illind if I do it ?"","Ve il, Emil," I said, "rou are out ofpracti ce, bu t if yo u \V;lIlt to tr y it , byall means do so."

He went over to the news sta nd of thehotel and bought a newspape r and wentup to h is room. H e took th e fi rststraig ht matte r that he saw, wh ich hap-pened to be an ed ito r ial, a nd he wroteit about twent y t im e s - ju st to get his

3D

hand goi ng at ,I speedy gail, as it wcrt:.li e we m in th e co n test, and in the earlyp;ut of the dictation ma ner the re we resome mistakes in th e re ad ing, and th eyneed ed Illo re matte r fo r di c t at ion. Thechai rm an , M r. B eale, sai d, " I-I as any-body a newsp aped" One of th e teach-ers h anded up a p aper. Ju s t a s Mr.

Beale was about to s tart dictating, l\1Jr.Tr e fzge r said, " Let me see th'lt, Mr.Beale ." Mr. Beale h ande d th e paperto him and, aft er g lan cing at it, Trefzgerhanded it back, ;md said quietly, " Iwrote that ar t icle severa l times this. ,.1lI0rnmg.

Every body was sitting quiet, as youarc here, bu t at that there cam e abur st of ;Ippl ause. Th e au di ence realizedwhat that boy ha d d o ne. In my opinionthat ;Ict alone was worth more than athousand cham pion ships. And Mr.Tre fzger h;ls gone on to success.

Now 1 w;mt to say something aboutgi rls who have succeeded. I t is moredifficu lt to give ill ustra t ions of gi rl s w hoh;. vc succeeded in bu si ness life beca usethe very qua li t ies th at make for s uccessin busine ss attract th e attention a ndap pr ec iati on of the worth w hile m en w hoare loo king for life partners. (L aughte r. )

3J


18/22

ROSCOE KINCAIDMr. Kiocaid, after a brilliallt career a$ $ecrttary aruJ$Iellographer 10 big financial men, 1114.1" ulectl! d toaccompany G e ~ r a lP er$ hing to France in Ihe capacity

of privat e $tere lary .

Perhaps that is the be st kind of success,when you come to think of it .

After I sent Mr . Swe m down toSea Girt to do the work for Mr . Wilson,I made a trip to Chicago to attend toso me business here, and a few daysafterward I was astonished to get aletter from Swem saying that he wasgoing back to the New York office. Iwas appa lled at th e thought that I hadmade an agreement with Mr . Wilsonthat meant so much to the boy's future,and boylike he was light-hearted ly

32

throwing it away. I wired him to stick;bu t when I got back to New York, therewas Swe m in my office .

I think that was th e first time I wasreally annoyed with Charlie. I calledhim in to my office and said, "Why didyo u leave?" "Well," he said, "theypu t me to answering about ten thou sa ndletters and telegrams congratulating Mr .Wil son on hi s nomination, and there wasno shorth and practice ' in that. " "Didyou leave Mr . Wi lson in th e lu rch whenI had promi se d him your se rvices? " Iasked. "Oh, no. I sent Miss Tarrdown."

Now, Mi ss Tarr was one of mystenographers, and he had just takenher and se nt her down there withoutasking m y permi ss ion. I said, "What

did you do that fa d " H e said, "W e ll ,you see, Mr. Gregg, I want to &9around the co untr y with Mr . Wil son ashis reporter when the campaign starts.I f I had l eft w ithout getting someonein my place they would probably hav etaken a reporter - perhaps a Pitm:tnwriter - in my place. I sent Miss Tarrdown there, because they will no t wantto take a girl in the private ca r with a llthe reporter s , and through th e crowd s,

33


19/22

.md so th at w ill kee p th e job open for"e.

You ca n see from thi s th a t Mr.Swem has imagination a s well a s ini -. .tlatlve .

In boo ks a bout succe ss, th e y s peakof that so rt of thing as i n it ia ti ve. Atthat momen t I ca lled it "n erve."(La ughter. ) I f you do a thing like thatand succee d , it is ca lled in itiative; if

d d " li d " "O ll on t succee , I t IS ca e nerve.It was rea lty "initiat ive" in Swem 's ca sebeca u se he "gOt awa y with it , " as t hebo ys say.

One ev e ning Mr . W ilson wished todictate his speech of ac ce pt;l11ce ofth e nomination, in wh ich he outl inedth e is slles of th e campaign. H e di ctated it to Mi ss Tarr. Mr . W ilson expecte d to get th e tr a nscr ipt in about twOdays, an d he proba bl y thoug ht he wouldha ve t o spend a good deal of time inedi t ing it . What wa s h is surpri se whenhe came to hi s de sk at ten o'clock nextmo rning to find on it a beautifull y ty pedt ranscript of what he had d ictated atn ine o'clock th e prev ious night. And hewas st ill more s u rp rised whe n he readthe tran sc rip t to find that it wa s almo stwithout a Aaw. H e gave ent husiasti c

34

;:

ex p ressio n t o his s . t i s f a ~ t i ul l , and th enew spap er reporters, ha vi ng nothin gelse t o do, pia l' ed th at up in news pap ersall ove r th e cou nt ry. I n th e next twoweeks I su ppo se 1 rece ive d from th eclipping s bureau seve ral hundred n ewspap ers containing Miss T ar r's phot ograph and an article a bout he r p erfo rmance. That wa s good advertising - for acertain sys te m - and 1 didn ' t ob jec t toit in th e least!

The point I wish to di r ec t spec i:d attention to is th i s : that this yo un g girl- she wa s then about eight ee n- had t hewis dom t o app reciat e th e possibi litiesof th e occasion. She go t up at fiv eo' cloc k in th e morn ing, craw led th r o ugha window to ge t into th e office to typeou t that spee ch , and by so doin g s he walla nation-wid e repu t :1tion as a yo un gwoman of unu sual initi a ti v e and ability.Mi ss Tarr continued in my employ asmy per so nal st enograph er un t il a fewwee ks ago, but, as J sa id b efo re , goodste nographer s make goo d wives, ,mdso rece ntl y she ha s retired to m ana gea hu sband and a home.

About eighteen or nin etee n yearsago, wh en I was str ugg ling for a foothold here in Chi":'lgo, a new s paper

35


20/22

JOHN H. MA 1TER

Mr . Maller earned his way throug h th e Ride r-Moo re & Siewart HIMiness School. a mi madestich a record that h e was lf iven t he posi tion of

chie f cl erk 10 General Pers hin g.

came to me from Se attle, containing apicture of a girl writing shorthand onthe blackboard while blindfolded, a littlegirl, fourteen years of age, with her hairdown her back and in short dressesthat is, the y wer e short for that time.(Laughter.) I t wa s very interesting tome because it came from the first schoolwest of the Mis sissippi to teach oursys tem. Th e little girl wa s Rhea Whitehead. To-da y Miss Rhea Whitehead isa judge on the b ench in Seattle. She has

36

,

been assistant public prose cutor ofSeattle, th e first woman to hold thatposition anywhere, and she was recentlyelected judge in Seattle. First she wa s astenographer in a law office. She studi edevenings to perfect her education; thenshe became a court reporter and studi ed

law, wasadmitted to

th ebar,

and th erest of her career you alread y know.You have probably seen her p icture inmany of th e magazines . Th e "AmericanMagazine" had a full-page picture ofJudge Rhea Whitehead presiding over atrial in court, and her pictur e shows he rto be a woman of umisual beauty. MissWhitehead in a letter to me told a veryinteresting story o ~ how shorthandhelped her to succeed.

My time is up , bu t there is one factor

of su ccess which I ought to mention,and that is what we call personality.That is a very unsatisfactory wordbecause it is so indefinite, bu t I thinkwe all know, in a general way at least,what is meant by it .

Perhaps the best suggestion abouthow to develop personality was thatgiven by Madame Sarah Bernhardt inanswer to a question asked her by aNew York newspaper writer. Sarah

37


21/22

Bernhardt, "the divine Sarah," is th egreatest woman, th e most inspiringwoman, in th e world t o-d ay. P ict u reto yourself th e indom ita b le courage ofthat marvelous woma n who had he rleg amputated when she was seventyyears of age, and ye t has conti n ued toen t h rall t he world by th e force of he rsublime genius. L as t year she went toth e war front and electrified t he F renchsoldiers by portray ing patr iot ic ro les.Most people would no t dare to cross t heocea n in t hese times, but at the verytime when th e submarines were mostac t ive Sarah Bernhardt crossed th eocean in order that we in America mightsee he r in that wonderf u l l ittle play inwhich she portrays a Fre nch soldier dying in de fense of th e tr ico lo r of France.

When you see Sarah Bernhardt in thatplay yo u do not t hink of her as a woma n ,young or ol d ; she is a French so ld ier, andth e tones of her wonderful voice makeyour heartstrings quiver.

Bu t I didn't mean to ta lk a boutSarah Bernhardt, but me rely to te llyo u what she sa id abo u t persona li ty ,or rather charm. When th e newspaperwr iter asked he r th e sec ret of charm,Madame Bernhardt said: "Charm,

3S

;:

JUDGE RHEA M. JVJJlTElIEADJudge Whitehead had a remarkable career as a short hand wriler before she enter ed the practice of law, and

finally was elected to th e bench.

char m- why, charm comes from takinga deep inte rest in others and in everyth ing. I f yo u a re interested in others,they are i nterested in you, and find you

h . "c ar m m g.

T here it is in a nutshell . You cannothave personal ity or charm unless yo utake a deep an d sincere interest in thosearo u nd yo u and i n everythi ng.

39


22/22

Cultivate an intere st in ochers, eventhe l east important ofthose around y ou,

and yo u w ill not onl y have p erso

nalityand charm and magnetism, but you willadd greatly to the interest, pleasure,and u se fuln ess of yo ur own life. ( Ap-plau se. )

1917 - some young people who have made good and why

Documents