--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 15 number: 10 published: 1912-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Would You Win or Lose?," *Improvement Era* 15, no. 10 (August 1912): 922.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera15010unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera15010unse start_page: 922 end_page: 922 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1912-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera15010unse publication_year: 1912 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1912, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Would You Win or Lose? Would You Win or Lose? "I can't understand it, but I believe there's a conspiracy against me. I've been hunting a job all day, and enquired at places that advertised for help, but was turned down in every case," said a young cigarette smoker who came home disgusted with his prospects of getting work. "They would ask me to hold out my hands, and in two cases they asked me to hold them up. Then the man would just say, 'I'm afraid you will not do,' or, 'We can't help you.' Once he shook his head and said, with a cynical smile, 'The signs are not right ; we'll have to pass you up.' " The young man professed to be ignorant of the reason for his failure, but we all know. Hold out your hands young man, and see if you would win or lose !