By R.O. Vandercook

I have had the opportunity to visit thousands of printing offices. I can now make a very good estimate of the prosperity of the shop and its consequent credit rating by noting the prevailing condition of order and neatness. The equipment and its arrangement are considerable factors in the estimate, but not nearly so much so as the care given such equipment as is used and the general atmosphere of order and neatness prevailing.

While every value in the world is relative and there is no possibility of absolute standards, and conditions always alter case, it is a fact that those who have an intuitive appreciation of the fundamentals of order and neatness always get more harmony out of life and are prosperous in the truest meaning of the term.

Those in whom acquisitiveness is the strongest trait, who are motivated chiefly by the desire to increase “profits” (to my mind there is a difference between profits and earnings) always show to the careful observer false notes that spoil the harmony that it is indicative of truest success.

Those who love their work for the work’s sake have an atmosphere about them that attracts more work and therefore better business. Buyers of real values hunt these out. Good workers will naturally work for those who show the greatest appreciation of their efforts and this appreciation is shown in a practical way by the prices paid. Water seeks its level. It may be held down by artificial restraint for a time but the stronger the head the sooner the law of balance be stored.

Fortunate is the boy who has been early trained in the fundamentals of order, neatness, and harmony. He will not have to hunt jobs. Jobs will hunt him and when he becomes a proprietor or in other words a maker of jobs, he will have a harmonious and truly successful business.

From The Inland Printer, November 1930