Suggestions to Young Men

Suggestions to Young Men By George B. Hendricks, Director School of Commerce and Business Administration, Agricultural College of Utah The coming months are crucial in the lives of the young men of Utah. We are now in the "darkness that precedes the dawn." Immediately after the recovery from the business depression of 1914, the United States entered upon an era of stimulation such as we have not experienced in a generation. Prices of com- modities advanced enormously. In five years the general level of prices advanced 100 per cent. The value of the dollar was reduced one-half. This meant large profits to those who were in a position to take advantage of the situation. Days' wages went up rapidly. Salaries lagged behind, but they too advanced. Farmers and business mien generally went through a period of seeming prosperity. The spirit was contagious, and life began to be lived vigorously and swiftly. Like the mouse in the bell- jar into which oxygen was being pumped, we lived an entire life in a very short time. Money came easily and freely, and in many cases, was extravagantly spent. The luxuries of a few years ago became the imperative necessities of the hour. This situation has now changed. The most authentic baro- meters of business indicate a rapid movement in the opposite direction. In March, 1920, we began our downward movement. At that time factors affecting prices of goods and the value of industrial stocks became unfavorable. Since April, 1920, our bank clearings have indicated that our "fever has broken." Since June of this year the money market has given unmistak- able evidence of a period of contraction. Large business firms are curtailing their operations, men are being thrown out of employment, immigrants are flocking to our shores by the thou- sands, building operations are lagging still more, and we are ap- proaching the winter months with an awful housing problem. At the present moment negotiations are being made with the War Department for tents to take the place of houses in some of our cities. These are the conditions which are confronting hundreds of young men in Utah as they finish their fall work this year and approach the winter months. To them may I make two sug- gestions : (1) You have sold your products for a high price, your

SUGGESTIONS TO YOUNG MEN 171 wages have been higher than you have received before. Instead of squandering your earnings during the next few months, why not invest in liberty bonds, now selling below par, but going up in value every week, put your earnings in a savings depart- ment of a bank,or get them into any safe and liquid form so that you may easily, when the pendulum begins to swing back, get into business and go "out with the tide." Bank reserves are already beginning to swell, and before very long interest rates will begin to lower. When that time comes, it will be a good time for you to enter business for yourself, and you will be needed by others who are engaged in the expansion of their own business. (2) My second suggestion to you is that this is pre-eminently a period of preparation. The coming months and years are going to make heavy demands upon your training and skill. Business will need applied to it all the science that human thought can discover. Costs will need to be lowered, manage- ments of plant and men must improve, and the products of farm and factory must be more skilfully and equitably dis- tributed. While you are waiting for the tide to turn and a more op- portune time to buy a farm and to launch out in business, why not buy books and study business. There are many valuable books just off the press which are of untold value to you if studied and applied. In the second place, why not interview successful business men, study their methods, their systems, their principles and their philosophy of life. "When I find a man versed in the Word of God," said Moody, "I just pump him." Follow Moody's example. Lastly, why not take advantage of the winter months to register in some institution of learning and get the benefit of the accumulated experience of the past that is there preserved, and waiting for your use. Prepare not alone for next month, or next year, but for a time in the future, when you will sorely need such preparation, and when the cares of life and the re- sponsibility of supporting yourself and those who are dependent upon you, make the getting of such preparation impossible. Logan, Utah