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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 42

III.—Push

III.—Push.

"To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain.

"—James iv. 13.

"Push" is a good element of character as "Go" is of conduct. It is made up of ability, alertness, "stay," and caution. "Where there's a will there's a way" is its animating spirit. The morality of "Push" depends on its restraints and its objects. A determination to succed anyhow is its curse and shame. The sole pursuit of narrow or vulgar aims is its degradation and depravity. It is of the perils of "Push" I shall speak to-night.

To make a trade, a man must draw attention—must solicit custom—must make a profit on his capital—and frequently must have credit. Thus Push develops on its bad side into puffing advertisements, reckless commercial travelling, tricks of trade, and over speculation; and on its good side into strenuous effort, righteous activity, and an honourable fortune.

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Advertising.—The morals of advertising are not very straight sailing. It is, of course, right to put a plate on your door, to decorate windows, to light up the premises, to proclaim far and near the existence and true nature of a business, to show the wares to advantage—and so to arrest attention. But there are Advertisements and Advertisements. There is what professional men politely call "a card"—a most modest inch. There is the standing advertisement of quiet firms—just a list of goods in the warehouse or store. Then at the other extreme are the comically exaggerated notices—which describe nothing but in distortion, deceive none with their wits about them, and amuse the rest. These want dignity, for they are stupidly funny, like the clown at a country fair. The humour is too broad and vulgar to take people in; but it draws attention. I am not prepared to condemn this style as absolutely and necessarily dishonest. But between the simple and the grotesque are many varieties—some very shady. It is an advertisement of very questionable nature to describe in a local or elsewhere only the rosy tints—thus you may say that a house has a magnificent view from the garden, or that communication is constant and quick with town. These need not be downright lies; for there may be a garden twelve feet square, and on a starry night, or on a windy day, with drifting cloud, there is a magnificent view upwards to the sky—and if a steamboat has been put on for the nonce—communication is regular and rapid. Here are cases in which an advertisement is literally true and actually false. One is reminded of an old saying that the worst lies are half-truths—and of another that the letter killeth. Sincerely honest men, who have not lost their heads, will never countenance that kind of thing either in the papers or at the auction desk—it is the cunning craftiness whereby men lie in wait to deceive. I would recommend to all Advertisers the professed motto of one:—"No Puff, no blow, no gas."

Commercial Travelling.—This brings us a step further than getting attention, it is a direct personal canvass and solicitation of custom. It is far more effective than advertisement. Firms that never expend a penny on the papers will spend thousands on this device for pushing trade, and tell you the money is well spent too. The true "Commercial" is an incarnation of "Push," an embodiment of "Go." No firm will send out a merely quiet, jog-trot, plodding fellow on this errand; these virtues serve in the house, but on the road must be put smartness as well as solidity. Few employments are more responsible, more arduous, and I must say more perilous. The accused in a criminal court places his case in the hands of the lawyer, but is there to watch and communicate. A firm places its interests in the hands of the travellers, but must leave them to act on a few broad instructions and to do so at the ends of the earth. Many a firm is deservedly proud of "our traveller;" many a commercial is proud of "our firm." The esprit de corps, the sense of honour, secure integrity and reward on the one side, confidence and gratitude on the other. Large orders are secured—new connections are opened—fresh roads are traversed—old clients are dropped—and all, involving on one journey alone very heavy amounts, is done almost solely at the advice or discretion of the Traveller.

There is no rest to him for months together. Life is a constant hurry. I have seen these men start at ten—return to a hurried meal at six—and write hard in a commercial room till nine and ten o'clock. They stay neither for wind nor weather. They have no easy time of it. And they are as little at home as seamen. For knowledge, alertness, perseverance, and sometimes for caution; few men are their equals in any department of business. There is not a good Commercial who has not the making of a fine man in him. The Travellers—take them all round—are the pick of our business men for shrewdness, readiness of resource, patience and general information, and sometimes for prudence. What do I mean by that "sometimes?" I mean this, that, as their standing depends largely on the orders they can send home, they are often tempted to force goods when the trader were better without them; customers are over stocked, bills cannot be met, and all the trouble of discounting and of meeting creditors follows. I do not know what checks there may be on this temptation. But I think some modification of the co-operative system—some commission on annual profits instead of on annual turnover—would meet the case; a man would be more careful if he had a defined share in the bad-debts as well as the other items of the firm's accounts. Our manufacturers would save enough by avoiding bad debts to diminish the loud cries some are making for Protection.

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Few callings are more perilous. Comparatively few men come through the life of a commercial unhurt. I have watched my own acquaintances for nearly 30 years, and there is scarcely one of them that has stood the ordeal unsinged. It is, if possible, more dangerous here than at home; when on some journeys it takes but three years to do a man up. Men that have come through it comparatively undamaged, tell me they are a wonder to themselves—these men are a kind of salvage from the general wreck of reputations. Look at some causes of this—the opportunities, surroundings, and atmosphere of this life.

It is a career of constant excitement, perpetual motion, and intense strain. All this makes them terribly sensitive to the seduction of highly stimulative entertainments, whenever the day's work is done. Thrown of necessity at the hotels into society of the same mood they are assailed by temptations most difficult to resist. The billiard room, with drink and gambling, the sensuous performances at the theatre, and sometimes the foolish women, as Solomon calls them, offer their attractions to the jaded nerves of our travellers. And, having practically no home and caring little for any books—even if not too weary to read them—they are drawn into the current of dissipation, absorbed into its swilling rapids, and lost to use, and name, and fame. This sad issue, in which fine parts become coarse and vulgar, commercial energy is emasculated, and effective travellers sink into mere bagmen" is largely promoted by the practice of treating and shouting which prevails It is supposed business cannot be done without a "nip" here and a "nip" there; cither our traveller becomes sodden or blunders through his work with a fuddled brain, and then he is cast off by employers who have winked at the practice when they have not sanctioned or commanded it. This evil is less than it used to be. The remedy is simple and twofold. Let the firm refuse any allowance for the purpose; let the commercial lay it down as a rule that he will not do business in this way; and the temporary contraction of orders will be more than compensated by the ultimate soundness of trade.

Adulteration.—The purpose of advertising and soliciting is to bring custom, lessen the proportion of expenses, to turn over and so to increase profit on capital. This profit is the first object of all business. The pursuit of it is so eager that men are often seduced into over-reaching or defrauding their customers. Hence, the way we talk of fair profits and legitimate business. From careful enquiries, I am ready to say that the retail trade of the city is sounder and healthier morally, than at Home. Either the competition is less or the moral tone is higher. I would say both. Occasionally an inferior parcel may be sold as a superior one, a soiled article for a perfect one, or a faded and washy colour may be passed off by gaslight for a bright rich tint, or sometimes brands may be counterfeited as in the days when New Zealand flour was sold in South Australian bags. The chief tricks of trade lie more among producers and constructors, than among distributors; though horse-doctors still practice without diplomas and without shame. Scamping and adulteration are unhappily known amongst us. Scamping is encouraged by the almost uniform and uncalculating preference for the very lowest tenders. The buyer says: "I will have it cheap." The seller rejoins: "Then you must have it nasty." You have shuddered to read how the plates of the Tay Bridge were found with a crack in one, with loose rivets, and sometimes only clay for iron. I am disposed to think that those workmen who did that, and not the ill-fated travellers, were the chief offenders. There have been men in this Colony who, in building bridges would have filled in the piers with rubble instead of cement, to the certain peril of another generation, and the certain profit of their firm when cement cost over a guinea a barrel. Stone walls are built with "shiners" and "upstarts" outside and rubbish or spalls within, in order "to get away with it." Plumbers' irons take a long time in heating, and the weight of lead piping is a very variable quantity. Enough of these samples; they are known to the trade; but they are not universal far from it. Proper pride in turning out good work goes far to check this evil. William Gray, of Boston, once complained to a carpenter about his work. "What do you scold me for, Billy Gray? You are rich; but I knew you when you were nought but a drummer boy!" "Eh! but didn't I drum well?" Building, blacking shoes, or preaching, let us "drum well."

The returns of the Government Analyst are the only reliable account we have of adulteration. These show that the main element used for the purpose is water, and this chiefly in whisky, and other alcoholic drinks, though several milkmen draw freely on "the cow with an iron tail." Numerous samples have been page 13 tested lately with these results:—12 milks—4, genuine; 2, bad enough to be fined. 18 loaves—2 with alum; 48 drinks—36 considerably diluted. Dr. Black says, and the successive reports confirm his assertion, that the practice of adulteration is less than it was, and an occasional case in the Police Courts keeps it sufficiently in check. "Thou shalt not have in thy house divers weights nor divers measures, a great and a small." "A false balance is not good."

Over-Speculation.—I have spoken of turning over a larger profit than is fair on separate transactions. I have yet to speak of the efforts which a pushing spirit sometimes resorts to for the purpose of extending transactions. This is called speculation—it may be good or bad—reasonable or extravagant. It is in planning these enterprizes that a merchant's imagination comes into play. You must not forget that business has its poetical side as well as the battle-field. The Captains of Industry require a General's power of forecasting contingencies, fixing times, and guarding against defeat. This calls forth the faculty of imagination with severe simplicity over a wide range. The actual condition of things must be realized, the possible variations, the character of the population, the amount of competition, the extent of a profitable trade. You think a merchant little but a calculating machine, or a second Dryasdust pondering over ledgers. But there are speculative aspects of his occupation that make him an artist and a poet. The possible vicissitudes and varying composition of an enterprise sweep before his mind. Presently some combination appears possible; the light plays calm and bright about his face, and though when he leaves the counting-house, the vision splendid fades into the light of common day, there is a touch of poetry about the enterprise for all that. And it is only right when we go about to censure over speculation that we should recognise the nobility of the spirit of enterprise and the fine severity of imagination, whose perversions have led to and accomplished this dire evil of distress. None will deny that it is reckless trading which has thrown over this Colony a darker gloom than would have fallen from the shadow of general stagnation alone. Credit has been asked for and given without stint; in some cases it has been urged on a trader; in others, extorted from the bank. It is this inflation of trade by extravagant advances and preposterous ventures that has produced our recent collapses. Do not mistake me. I am not indulging in an unqualified tirade against Credit. On the contrary, it is regarded by me as a most powerful engine of trade; but, like other powerful machines, it needs careful handling—for it is of delicate and sensitive construction, and will not be misused without revenge. "Cash down" is doubtless the wise policy wherever the purchase is to be immediately consumed. But so long as one man has money and another has brains, there is no means of combining these excellent qualities in business but the credit system. There is no more sin in paying rent for money than rent for a house. Money is lent on mortgage and the property is guarantee for the interest. Money is lent on a promise to pay and the character of the borrower is often the chief stay of the lender. If we don't pay loans secured on property, the lender has a remedy; if we fail when it is granted to our honour, he has none; this should make lenders more cautious and borrowers more scrupulous. And this then is the charge I lay against the business of this Colony. The commercial use of the imagination has been an illuse and a misuse. Imagination has not gathered all the facts into a comprehensive survey, or has not combined them in a natural and reasonable manner. The banks have played ducks and drakes with money not their own, for they have lent lavishly without prudence; the merchants have borrowed without conscience, and in many cases opened up a trade by spending the last penny of their broker's pound. Hence commercial cannibalism, commercial logrolling, and commercial foolhardiness.

Commercial Cannibalism.—Smith sees his neighbour doing a good trade; he has a few pounds; there are one or two chums who will back him; times are prosperous and the bank will deal generously with him. Stocks are thus obtained. To secure custom he will sell every thing below his competitors—some things at less than cost. Bills fall due—sales must be pushed—more go under cost—then more. His competitors stagger; if he can keep it up a little longer the field is his. In vain. His bills are dishonoured; his creditors are called and he offers them a few shillings in the pound. The rest has gone partly to bribe customers, and mostly to keep him these few months while he has been befooling his friends and eating up his competitors.

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Commercial Log-Rolling.—The lobbies at Wellington would never bear the evil repute they do were not the general community tarred with the same brush. One form log-rolling takes in commerce is the practice familiarly known as "kite-flying." Jones draws on Robinson for £250. Robinson draws on Jones for the same amount. They are both on the verge of insolvency; but, if the several banks will discount the bills, time may be gained. The disgrace or villany of this system is that two men jointly pledge themselves to the payment of £500-when they have nothing, and because they have nothing to pay it with. Accommodation-bills are fair enough when the bank is not hood-winked. But, by exchanging bills, these kite-flyers conspire to deceive their several bankers. They help one another at the risk of robbing their bankers. They are burglars in broad daylight.

Commercial Foolhardiness.—When Caesar crossed the Rubicon he cut off all retreat, there was nothing for him but complete success or disastrous failure. This is no pattern for business men. It is bad policy to risk all in one bottom—even though the all is our own. It is a wicked policy to risk borrowed capital in a venture when one possible alternative is bankruptcy. The Duke of Wellington never entered the battlefield without providing for a defeat as well as against it. This is the true and righteous policy of commerce. "If the worst comes to the worst—what then? Can I meet my liabilities in such a case?" Unless you can, you have no right, but are utterly wrong, to accept the enterprise. "Win all or lose all" is Cæsarism in Trade—as bad as Cæsarism in Politics. Both are rooted in selfishness. When you borrow money on your character as a business man, you virtually pledge your honour to use it discreetly, that you may restore it fully. To trade recklessly—when you cannot see how to meet creditors if you lose—is to imperil your honour and to act a falsehood. "A Poor Man is better than a Liar."

Far be it from me to charge all insolvents or bankrupts with dishonour. Many are culpable, all are not. A little more courage in facing creditors and less cowardice in postponing the evil day, earlier retrenchment of expenses and earlier contraction of trade would have saved the wealth, the honour, and the health of many a man. Were you the creditor you would like such frank dealing, and respect the man that "pulled in." "Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you."

"Push" is not confined to the narrower range of business—called making a fortune. Similar energy is required in every calling, and various perils attend its exercise. Ability, readiness, constancy and prudence are in demand everywhere. There may be less stir and bustle than when men go to the city "to buy, and sell, and get gain," but well directed, lively and patient, energy will alone win success in any career.

In a previous Plain Talk, I adduced Socrates, Paul and Wesley as examples of men, who though "poor made many rich." But the work these men wrought, was only accomplished by the best elements of "Push." They were able, active, persistent and of a sound mind; in every emergency they were "all there." On one side of His history, the greatest moral Teacher that ever walked the earth was remarkable, while "He went about doing good," for power, readiness, patience and adaptation. It is not that "Push" is a wrong spirit, but that it is so often misapplied to bad purposes and concentrated solely upon inferior ends. The misapplication and narrow use of "Push" go far to explain why Christian effort is so often barren of result and religious knowledge is so fruitless of decision.

Were business transacted in the same habit of cool indifference which marks the conduct of too many Christian men, trade would come to a stand still. The stagnation of church life is caused by the spiritless attendance of members. Everthing is left to the intense efforts of a few, whose concentrated activity is the salt that saves the world. Feeble piety acts in the church, as adulteration does in the market; it injures the reputation of religion. The imagination is not consecrated to the conception of fresh enterprises—to the able, lively, patient, and wise fulfilment of them; and extension is impossible. Another story would be told were half of us moved by the spirit of that prisoner at Rome. "This one thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind I press forward to the mark for the prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus." This is possible for everyone possessed by the love of Christ. Come then you men of Christ, "Awake, awake, put on thy strength O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments oh Jerusalem." Many men have found a stronger call for "Push" in the earliest stages of their business career than when their house became an established concern. "It was not chance, luck, or fortune which forwarded the firm; it was ability, alertness, perseverance, and page 15 prudence. There is no royal road to any position, and the first steps are often the steepest and roughest—calling for the most strenuous and sustained exertion. Happily this demand is usually made on the prime of life and young men answer readily to the summons. The path of the just shines brighter and brighter to the perfect day; the early stages are narrow, darksome, and difficult. The first acquisitions of sainthood are attained only through concentrated thought and continuous conflict; hence the clear direction of our Lord: "Strive to enter in at the straight gate, for straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life eternal and his district assertion: "The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent—the men of Push—take it by force." And you men, in life's early prime are apter for such Push than you can be in years to come.

Such endeavours will never be put forth without due regard to the interests at stake. The man, whose fancy never rises above trade, and whose imagination ranges within the narrow proposition that "money answereth all things," will never become a Christian. Young men, the world is too much with you night and day! Think of the grave and solemn significance of life in view of the majesty of Law, the shadows of Retribution, the powers of the World to come, and the promise of the Gospel—Forgiveness, Peace, Holiness, and companionship with God for ever. For One came into this world long years ago; He lived a life of poverty and died a death of shame to teach men there was something worth living for beyond the dream of avarice or the treasures of earth—a soul to be saved by the sacrifice of His love, and an immortality to be made welcome and rich for the chastened fitness of the faithful. In the presence of such a revelation, I repeat one of His Plain Talks and ask you young men: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?