Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1914. THE BUSINESS MAN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 11975, 12 May 1914, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1914. THE BUSINESS MAN.

Fifty years ago, or even less, the business man, as we know him to-day, did not exist. He is the product of a commercial age, aud he is a big factor to-day. All big enterprises, railways, shipping companies, and canals are in the hands of the great business men, the financiers of the world. In the old order of things there was no place for the man who is "now at the head of affairs. A century back a community consisted of the '' gentry,'' the '' shop-keepers,'' an<l the "working class." The idea of a "gentleman" taking any part in business was abhorrent to his class. Today we have such concerns as the Princes' syndicate and the business man mixing with princes and dukes on terms of equality. Considering the amazing developments which are daily taking place in the world of commerce, it is not an unreasonable contention that the qualifications of the business man of the future will differ in many respects from those of the business man of, say, ten years ago, or even of today. An attompt to delineate thoso qualifications was made in an interesting lecture given a month ago in London by Mr 11. E. Morgan, the controller of a big printing business and advertising agency. The speaker began by dismissing the old idea—a product of university education, chiefly— of "looking at business as something unclean and sordid, although it is the life-blood bf the nation." More and more business wag c.oming to demand the trained brain, which alone could help to keep pace with tho narrower and more intense competition existing today. But mental energy and acuteness were not all. The basis of nearly all personal efficiency was physical health, and it was coming to be recognised that physique and stamina were important assets to tho business man. What

he needed was the' energy and enthusiasm that sprang from natural vitality, not the energy and enthusiasm produced by. temporary "simulation.. To-day, Mr Morgan thought, there was a little too much driving and direction in business. "The business man of the future," he said, "will be a real leader, his character will inspire loyalty, his capacity, enthusiasm and belief, and while he must always direct he will not always bo directing." There was not enough confidence between employer and employee, and a return to the "personal touch" was needed. One sometimes hears it laid down as an axiom that business is extremely matter-of-fact, and that imagination is something essentially unbusinesslike. Mr Morgan strongly contested this notion, and went so far as to claim imagination as one of the most necessary items of tho future business man's equipment. "The business man of the past," he said, "lived at Tooting, which for many years had typified dullness and smug respectability. That kind-of civilisation has moved on, and Tooting, owing to improved traffic and the advent of a reasonable amount of amusement, is becoming civilised. Smug respectability and dullness have moved to Weybridge and other salubrious suburbs." Education, Mr Morgan concluded, had unfortunately come to mean the acquisition of much that was of little use. Training, On the other hand, suggested specific study and effort towards a more definite result. "Training is available ou every hand. All we want as a nation or as individuals is* a willingness and a desire to acquire that training with physical energy aud strength to help us. "