PREPARATION OF THE SALESMAN

than to deal with the individual for whom everything has been made smooth and easy.

I have found that the greatest obstacles in the way of success of practically every man are the twin evils of fear and worry. A man who worries will soon begin to fear. However, you must re-member that you cannot drive worry and fear from the human heart by simply saying, "be gone." It is necessary that you put something in the place of these negative thoughts, so we endeavor to inject courage, hopefulness and cheerfulness in the place of fear and worry.

I try to get a salesman to see that he must quit blaming others for what has happened to him, to make him realize that the cause of that which has happened to him is himself, that he is one of God's creatures with a mind and heart and, above all, a divine soul, that he can succeed if he wills to succeed and that the difference between failures and successes is courage. I make him see that it is cowardly and contemptible to undertake to account for the success of others by ascribing to them all sorts of sharp practices, including rebating, and so forth. I make him see that the normal man is courageous, hopeful and cheerful and that consequently he should keep his mind and body normal, and that he can easily accomplish this by a liberal use of fresh air and pure water, proper hours of sleep and rest, and, above all, a proper selection of his food. I believe that food has been the cause of more incompetence than any one thing in the world. A great many men eat a hearty meal in the middle of the day, smoke two or three black cigars, then immediately begin to be-moan the dullness of business and the hopelessness of things in general.

Ruined by Office and Roll Top Desk. By Horace W. Carey.

If it is true that "many a good mechanic has been lost by making of him a poor preacher," it is equally true that many a good insurance salesman has been ruined by getting him an office and a roll-top desk. What a traveling salesman wants of an office is something I never comprehended. People don't come to an office to be insured—if they do, look out for them. If they come to pay premiums once a month, it is cheaper to collect it personally and get a chance of writing some new business among friends and acquaintances of the policyholders. I always feel like weep-

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