Torch, Spring 1986

If a task is once begun, never leave it until it's done. Be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all. (Perseverance and pride in ~our work) A penny saved at the barber shop is a penny saved and a penny got. (Thrift) Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. (Urgency of the present) I enrolled at Cedarville College in 1935 with scholastic and athletic scholarships. In exchange for a free room I took care of an elderly lady's yard and garden and did chores around the house. For my food I ran the boarding club which served meals in the basement of the library. I went home every weekend by hitchhiking on route 42 to Xenia, Ohio . I certainly wasn't spoiled by high living at an early age. After graduation I joined the Army . It was during World War II, and for the next four and one-half years I saw how in that regulated military situation our American troops exercised initiative they had learned through our free enterprise economic system. Many times this was the difference between victory and defeat. I remember the first night of our landing on Anguar, a small island in the Pacific. During the morning hours the infantry along with the forward observers of our field artillery had fought their way ashore and then inland. I landed with the artillery late in the afternoon and helped get the guns into position just before dark. About midnight an infantry lieutenant called for artillery fire because a Japanese banzai attack appeared forthcoming. We explained we couldn't fire because we hadn't registered our artillery and we had no idea where the shells might land; they might even fall on him. His response was, "If we don't get artillery support we' II be dead by morning." There was no policy or regulation to cover this situation, so Yankee ingenuity took over. We contacted a ship offshore, explained the emergency to the gunnery officer, and asked if he could fire star shells at 30 second intervals over a certain area until we requested cease fire. He did so and at midnight, by the light of the star shells, we were able to adjust the artillery and to provide support that repelled the attack. This episode confirms my belief that the free enterprise system fosters the development of initiative that isn't present in most other economic systems. I also believe that the free enterprise system provides incentive and opportunity for people to expand their skills, to accept further responsibility, and to advance in an organization. In 1947 I went to work for Standard Register as a sales representative. I retired 35 years later as its president and chief executive officer. I firmly believe that the training, initiative, responsibility, and hard work that I have chronicled helped advance me to the top of the corporate ladder. Corporate offices ofthe Standard Register Company Now I'd like to tell you about some other free enterprisers. These are men who imaginatively met the needs of the market place and benefited multitudes as well as themselves . John Q. Sherman , a man with a patented idea, founded Standard Register in 1912 . The company had a stuttering start and was in receivership at the end of the first year. Yet Sherman persevered. Today Standard Register employs 4 ,500 people and is the second largest corporati~.m of its kind in the world with 15 U.S . plants and 16 foreign affiliates . Sales in 1984 totaled $430 million. Then there was John Patterson at National Cash Register . At the tum of the century the Industrial Revolution had reached the point where current John Patterson ofNCR 5