Torch, Winter 1981

8 Free Enterprise-It Worked for Me by Clyde A. Sluhan S uccess is many things to many people . For some, it is becoming a millionaire by the age of30 . For others, it is learning to read at the age of 60. As I look back over years of work experience , success for me has come with my endeavor to provide the best possible products and the best service . That's the way the system works- the free enterprise system. As a result, God has blessed me with a multi-million dollar business. My beginnings were humble . Orphaned at the age of 1 1 /2 years , I was raised in the Lutheran Orphans' Home in Toledo , Ohio . I was well treated , received good schooling , and was taught to assume personal responsibility. I learned the value of hard work . I walked two miles each way to high school, regardless of the weather . One of my English teachers at Waite High School, Miss Florence Reese, took an interest in me and gave me the incentive to go to college . She and her mother helped me financially and provided me with a home after I left the Orphans ' Home in the summer of 1929 . One of Florence Reese ' s friends provided me with work that summer at his bank . Miss Reese also helped me obtain several gift and loan scholarships that permitted me to enroll at Ohio Wesleyan University in the fall of 1929. I majored in chemistry at O.W.U. and while there became acquainted with many fine professors. Among them was a special couple , Ralph V. Sinnett and his wife Merine. They opened their home to me, giving me wise counsel and a loving atmosphere. Upon graduation in 1933, I began to search for a job. In those depression years , work was scarce but I was fortunate . Again, God used Miss Reese in my life. One of her friends arranged a job for me that paid 25¢ per hour, 12 hours a night, seven days a week. I was fortunate; most of my classmates could find no work at all. Ever since I was a youngster , I had hoped to own my own business. Therefore, I was glad to be relocated in Atlanta, Georgia, working for a textile chemical company owned by Miss Reese ' s brother-in-law . I thought that this experience in a small company would help me to learn methods of operation which would be helpful in running my own business someday.