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Nile Kinnick correspondence, January-May 1940
1940-04-29: Page 01
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Omaha, Nebraska April 29, 1940 Dear SB: Mother had just written to you and mailed the letter before yours of Friday, with Mr, Baum's letter, came this afternoon. Possibly she will write again, but I shall make some comments. Not that I can give you definite advice on what to do, but it does seem to me, as has been suggested before, that the right answer will come after prayerful consideration to the ear listening with patience for the voice of guidance. Perhaps it is a fitting sequence that the trip to Sioux City was postponed so that the Baum letter came before your conference with Mr. Weaver. It seems to me that there are a lot of angles to the the Baum proposal. The Weaver picture is somewhat clearer to me, after I have had a couple of chats with Joe. To go back a couple of weeks; it was after Wednesday meeting at the church, April 17th. Mr. Wearer was there and he had just answered your letter about coming down here after your meeting In Sioux City on the 25th. He was happy that you were coming out for a talk. Said he and Mr. Dickenson had recently discussed bringing younger men into the business and tho there is no vacancy in the business now they could find a place for you. They are considering opening a new mill at Decatur,Georgia, to supply a market already partially developed there, shipping the wheat down by water all the way via Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee, saving about 28¢ per bushel over rail haul and enabling them to under sell there. He told me several other points which may well wait until you come out. Yesterday we were at weaver's for dinner and we talked further about the business. It is larger than I thought; about two million invested and makes about 20% to 25% on that investment. The new plant at Decatur, and Joe speaks as they will go thru with it, will cost about $400,000 and have a daily capacity of 700 bbls, making their total capacity about 4,000 bbls. The business should be interesting, stable and has the agricultural flavor. From what we know about Joe and what he tells me about Mr. D., I fancy that the firm is one that one would never be ashamed to be connected with. Other angles are that It would be a gradual work-up process, with nothing very large in the way of income unless one could manage to get into the ownership end. Joe told me what Henry Glade gets now and he has been there about seven years, now on the sales. Mr, D is president and general mgr; Joe is Secy-Treas and sales mgr. But more when you come home. This man Baum certainly runs on enthusiasm, doesn't he? I hope that his business has somewhat more order in it than his personal correspondence would indicate. There are a lot of things that I should want to know about his business before I would affiliate with him with the idea of any permanency. It is quite possible thatyou have the attributes of a salesman; I should say that is quite probable. But it will take some tine for you to learn the product and that won't he easy with your lack of knack for mechanics. The technique of selling ought to come readily. But this man Baum has been at it for 35 years and with his high pressure gait It might he a bit difficult to stay in sight of him. But it is sure that he is in no wise downhearted about your prospects, I shall be interested in knwoing about the commission rate and what he figures is a fair starting wage. He has never married, I understand, but has been happy in this business which takes him all over the country. Not quite the fireside type, I should say, and probably none of his salesmen does just that. May I repeat that to my way of thinking a more settled type of existence is happiest and more conducive to those things in homebuilding that afford the deepest joys and satisfactions. It sounds like life with Baum would give experience at an excelerated rate, which might lend itself well to a period between college life and the establishment of a home. He appears to
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Omaha, Nebraska April 29, 1940 Dear SB: Mother had just written to you and mailed the letter before yours of Friday, with Mr, Baum's letter, came this afternoon. Possibly she will write again, but I shall make some comments. Not that I can give you definite advice on what to do, but it does seem to me, as has been suggested before, that the right answer will come after prayerful consideration to the ear listening with patience for the voice of guidance. Perhaps it is a fitting sequence that the trip to Sioux City was postponed so that the Baum letter came before your conference with Mr. Weaver. It seems to me that there are a lot of angles to the the Baum proposal. The Weaver picture is somewhat clearer to me, after I have had a couple of chats with Joe. To go back a couple of weeks; it was after Wednesday meeting at the church, April 17th. Mr. Wearer was there and he had just answered your letter about coming down here after your meeting In Sioux City on the 25th. He was happy that you were coming out for a talk. Said he and Mr. Dickenson had recently discussed bringing younger men into the business and tho there is no vacancy in the business now they could find a place for you. They are considering opening a new mill at Decatur,Georgia, to supply a market already partially developed there, shipping the wheat down by water all the way via Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee, saving about 28¢ per bushel over rail haul and enabling them to under sell there. He told me several other points which may well wait until you come out. Yesterday we were at weaver's for dinner and we talked further about the business. It is larger than I thought; about two million invested and makes about 20% to 25% on that investment. The new plant at Decatur, and Joe speaks as they will go thru with it, will cost about $400,000 and have a daily capacity of 700 bbls, making their total capacity about 4,000 bbls. The business should be interesting, stable and has the agricultural flavor. From what we know about Joe and what he tells me about Mr. D., I fancy that the firm is one that one would never be ashamed to be connected with. Other angles are that It would be a gradual work-up process, with nothing very large in the way of income unless one could manage to get into the ownership end. Joe told me what Henry Glade gets now and he has been there about seven years, now on the sales. Mr, D is president and general mgr; Joe is Secy-Treas and sales mgr. But more when you come home. This man Baum certainly runs on enthusiasm, doesn't he? I hope that his business has somewhat more order in it than his personal correspondence would indicate. There are a lot of things that I should want to know about his business before I would affiliate with him with the idea of any permanency. It is quite possible thatyou have the attributes of a salesman; I should say that is quite probable. But it will take some tine for you to learn the product and that won't he easy with your lack of knack for mechanics. The technique of selling ought to come readily. But this man Baum has been at it for 35 years and with his high pressure gait It might he a bit difficult to stay in sight of him. But it is sure that he is in no wise downhearted about your prospects, I shall be interested in knwoing about the commission rate and what he figures is a fair starting wage. He has never married, I understand, but has been happy in this business which takes him all over the country. Not quite the fireside type, I should say, and probably none of his salesmen does just that. May I repeat that to my way of thinking a more settled type of existence is happiest and more conducive to those things in homebuilding that afford the deepest joys and satisfactions. It sounds like life with Baum would give experience at an excelerated rate, which might lend itself well to a period between college life and the establishment of a home. He appears to
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