BUSINESS LIFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14220, 17 November 1909, Page 9

BUSINESS LIFE.

! ■; MONEY VALUE OF YOUR WIFE. It is not in " one of Tennyson's poems that we read of someone who liked his ' wife a . little more than his dog and a little less than his horse? * We have passed that stage at-the pre- ; sent time, yet it is still a fact that many men are apt to lay too much stress on i, the fact that the prospective bride has i "no money of , her own." : ..-:"; > They must, so they appear ,to. think," give up a goodly portion of their own ; ■ earnings to maintain a ywife, and they '. hesitate, regarding it'as somewhat unfair. Such '■ reasoning .is unwise it 4s also incorrect, as will be shown. ~ ; - The use of the word "earnings" is'in itself ah answer to..such arguments; the [ intending husband most probably has very.little actual money himself, and is, therefore, not much better off than his <: future wife. He is trading on his ; ■, ability to earn. ' >.• , .. , !;| . y Now, a -\Ydntan can ."assist a man to gain a good living by, her knowledge of human nature and "her natural intuition. 'In that way her money value is as great to him as his ability to earn is to her, apart altogether from the work she does in the house, for which he would v have to pay somebody if he remained single. % . ' V ■:' : '- : . ■ , A woman's intuition will often enable her; husband to take advantage ■> of a chance that seems • remote, and, on the other hand, prevent him from entering -into a bad undertaking. ; ",{■ > V , .;'>"' An instance of a wife saving a hus--band from a detrimental enterprise may •be given from the writer's experience. ! He ?: had entered into j negotiations with ; two men for starting a certain undertaking; just as negotiations were about to : be completed his wife ' urged him* not io "do. it- . ; V*v ' . -"Break it -off !" she urged, earnestly. ■ "I have listened to what you have told me, and I have just' caught a brief^view ; of your partners; one is an idler' and tha other will^prove a thorough rascal, and you will .find yourself . saddled with a heavy burden. %If ,th < * enterprise succeeds, which I doubt, you will be robbed in some way; if it'fails, they-will leave you in the lurch !" - : '*'■'"•'^'■^'-';■:''""" After some discussion he yielded. Within three months one of the" men fled the. country, while the second proved himself a good-for-nothing tool of the other. 1 ' •• >X..\ '*' ■■■:■: There is nothing really extraordinary in the foregoing it is merely a matter of developing ■ the attributes with which women : are naturally gifted. Many volumes might be written of, the ways in which wives "have aided their husbands by i their' intuition, their knowledge of humanity. '"'T'.'.;. 77; "''■.7''*'';T7Y < 77,.77 r ''7 Has not such a woman a; considerable money value? . Here, too, is a, hint for the young woman : By cultivating the.inborn gift of observation, 'she will; not only lea how to choose a husband, bat. she will be of material assistance to him in the struggle for a position in life.. She will perceive what he will overlook while 'he is trying to reason it all out logically. '. She can augment her worth as a wife from every standpoint). HARRIMAN'S . SECRET OF SUCCESS. ( Born sixty-one years ago, Edward Henry Harriman, the great -'Railway King" of America, who died recently, was the eon of a poor country minister. • ■;"; ' :. With only ah indifferent, education he rose to ;be the possessor of. millions and controller of more railway mileage than before' was ever dreamed of.'(;-; __ ; : '-X v* '; An instinctive sense . of. possibilities; com- ; bined i with , audacity, financial ; genius of the highest < order;. and a grasp" of , details and management made.him great in ' his particular line. -'. ; t " y>r '"'' ' ~>,'' ''~ '• ," Mr. Harriman attributed his.success to two things—profound'"oelief in himself and" complete 'mastery of every detail of his" af.fairs. . ~' * , r ' - .. '■ ..,. Most financiers plan great coups and leave the details to be worked out by their subordinates, and nearly every great American railway manager has relied on his subordinates for the proper administration of I properties. •■'/' ".' '*' . .•'""■ ■■■';-■ " ■, ■■ I Mr. Harriman was unlike them in that, while he planned his campaigns, ho 'also executed them down to the smallest move, and he was manager in fact as well in Hi name of the railway companies which he dominated.' . : ." '.< '•'""',. In his hands centred all. authority; ho , knew everything that his Subordinates did, < and he permitted none of them to make '. a move without first submitting their plans : to him, and obtaining his consent. , , , '; MORE THAN A SPECULATOR. tf« - A man who could do this, who could hold firmly in his ', hand all the threads, of the , railways stretching across the Continent, north and south, east. and west,. who _ was continually adding to his holdings and either crushing a rival or executing a flank move, or resisting an • attack from some, of liis most powerful opponents in Wall-street, ] was something more than a mere speculator. ] Mr. Harriman possessed the same' quali- i ties that make a great military commander 1 —the same power to see the , weak I point 1 in his i adversaries' lines, - ; and the samo quickness of decision and merciless power i of execution. .. v ' "-. ' ' "' ; <