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Show O D Uncommon Sense JOHN BLAKE II D EDISON'S QUESTIONS A BACKGROUND of general knowl- edge Is useful, and, In some mens-re mens-re necessary. But storing up In your mind a mass of knowledge which can be found by ready reference to books, merely means overloading. The young man who could answer all the questions Mr. Edison recently laid down. as a test for applicants for positions, would be a young man with a very remarkable memory. But that would be all. The fact that he could answer the questions would be no proof whatever of his ability. Abraham Lincoln or Gladstone could not have answered a quarter of them not even of those whose answers an-swers were known In. his time. Neither could many another man who has been of conspicuous service to the world. There Is so much to know In tha world that no man with any purpose In life hns time to know much of It If he knows, say, 75 per cent of all there is to know about his Immediate profession, und hns a fair amount ot genernl Information besides, he Is a well-educated man. But even well-educated men are not necessarily capable. It Is not what you put Into your brain, but what you get out of it that counts. A scrub cow eats twice as much as a Jersey or Guernsey, but she docs not give half as good milk. The processes of your brain do not depend on masses of Information but on the quality of the Information, especially es-pecially of that which applies particularly particu-larly to your own business. Mr. Edison's test would probably have banjfd from his Institution Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright brothers, Lloyd George and Charles M. Schwab. But all these men did fairly well with the knovidedge they had of their own lines of endeavor. Your memory will be serviceable to you If you do not loud it up with things' that books can carry Just as easily. Read history, study languages If you can. get general Information, but at the same time teach your mind to work. The general information will be pleasant to have and useful now and then. But the special Information will be what wins the race for you. (Copyright) |