You are ambitious， which， within reasonable bounds，does good rather than harm， But I think that during GeneralBurnside’s command of the army you have taken counsel of yourambition and thwarted him as much as you could， in which youdid a great wrong to the country and to a most meritorious andhonorable brother officer.
I have heard， in such a way as to believe it， of your recentlysaying that both the army and the Government needed a dictator.
Of course， it was not for this， but in spite of it， that I have givenyou command.
Only those generals who gain successes can set up as dictators.
What I now ask of you is military success and I will risk thedictatorship.
The Government will support you to the utmost of its ability，which is neither more nor less than it has done and will do forall commanders. I much fear that the spirit which you haveaided to infuse into the army， of criticizing their commander and withholding confidence from him， will now turn upon you. I shallassist you， as far as I can， to put it down.
Neither you nor Napoleon， if he were alive again， could getany good out of an army while such spirit prevails in it， and nowbeware of rashness. Beware of rashness， but with energy andsleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories.
You are not a Coolidge， a McKinley or a Lincoln. You want toknow whether this philosophy will operate for you in everydaybusiness contacts. Will it？ Let’s see. Let’s take the case of W. P.
Gaw of the Wark Company， Philadelphia.
The Wark Company had contracted to build and completea large office building in Philadelphia by a certain specifieddate. Everything was going along well； the building wasalmost finished， when suddenly the sub-contractor making theornamental bronze work to go on the exterior of this buildingdeclared that he couldn’t make delivery on schedule. What！ Anentire building held up！ Heavy penalties！ Distressing losses！ Allbecause of one man！
Long-distance telephone calls. Arguments！ Heatedconversations！ All in vain. Then Mr. Gaw was sent to New York tobeard the bronze lion in his den.
“Do you know you are the only person in Brooklyn with yourname？” Mr. Gaw asked the president of the subcontracting firmshortly after they were introduced. The president was surprised.
“No， I didn’t know that.”
“Well，” said Mr. Gaw， “when I got off the train this morning， Ilooked in the telephone book to get your address， and you’re theonly person in the Brooklyn phone book with your name.”
“I never knew that，” the subcontractor said. He checked thephone book with interest. “Well， it’s an unusual name，” he saidproudly. “My family came from Holland and settled in New Yorkalmost two hundred years ago.” He continued to talk about his family and his ancestors for several minutes. When he finishedthat， Mr. Gaw complimented him on how large a plant he hadand compared it favorably with a number of similar plants he hadvisited. “It is one of the cleanest and neatest bronze factories Iever saw，” said Gaw.
“I’ve spent a lifetime building up this business，” the subcontractorsaid， “and I am rather proud of it. Would you like to take a lookaround the factory？”
During this tour of inspection， Mr. Gaw complimented theother man on his system of fabrication and told him how andwhy it seemed superior to those of some of his competitors. Gawcommented on some unusual machines， and the subcontractorannounced that he himself had invented those machines. Hespent considerable time showing Gaw how they operated and thesuperior work they turned out. He insisted on taking his visitor tolunch. So far， mind you， not a word had been said about the realpurpose of Gaw’s visit.
After lunch， the subcontractor said， “Now， to get down tobusiness. Naturally， I know why you’re here. I didn’t expectthat our meeting would be so enjoyable. You can go backto Philadelphia with my promise that your material will befabricated and shipped， even if other orders have to be delayed.”
Mr. Gaw got everything that he wanted without even askingfor it. The material arrived on time， and the building wascompleted on the day the completion contract specified.
Would this have happened had Mr. Gaw used the hammerand-dynamite method generally employed on such occasions？
