Business Hints for Men and Women — Story, Setting & Ideas

The Farmer as Businessman

The opening chapter, “Common Sense Farming,” frames the farmer not as a laborer but as a “producer, and seller.” This positioning is deliberate: Calhoun insists that agricultural work requires the same documentary rigor as any mercantile trade. The chapter headings—Wealth, Land and Labor, Money, Sources of Wealth—suggest a systematic approach to what might otherwise be seen as seasonal, informal work.

Later chapters reinforce this view. The section on accounts includes “An account with crops” and “Workingman’s account,” implying that even small-scale producers should track inputs and outputs in writing. Calhoun does not romanticize rural life; he treats the farm as a ledger entry.

Forms, Signatures, and the Weight of Paper

Calhoun devotes entire chapters to documents: deeds, mortgages, wills, bills, receipts, notes, drafts, and bills of lading. His method is to define the document, list its essential parts, and then provide a blank form or model. For example, in the chapter on deeds he distinguishes “different deeds” and explains “making a deed” as a series of legal steps.

The emphasis on signatures and seals recurs throughout. In the express money order procedure, the sender must sign the back of the order; the agent affixes an official seal that “cannot be opened or tampered with, without breaking.” A receipt for money sent by express “should be cared for as a vital part of the record.” The physical act of signing, sealing, and preserving paper is presented as the backbone of trustworthy exchange.

Navigating the New Infrastructure: Post, Telegraph, Express, Rail

Four consecutive chapters cover the postal system, telegrams and telephones, express companies, and railroads. Each follows the same pattern: describe the service, explain how to use it correctly, and warn of pitfalls. The postal chapter includes “Rural free delivery,” “Classified mail matter,” and “Registering letters.” The telegraph chapter gives “Directions” and “Charges.”

Calhoun treats these services as extensions of the reader’s own business desk. He explains how to telegraph money, how to send goods C.O.D. by express, and how a bill of lading functions as both a contract and a voucher. The tone is advisory but not alarmist: the goal is to make the reader competent, not fearful.

Calhoun’s book is best read as a reference, not a narrative. Readers will find the most value by turning directly to the chapter that matches a current need—whether that is writing a will, endorsing a note, or shipping a package by express. The forms and step-by-step instructions are the core of the work; the surrounding commentary is spare and functional. For anyone curious about the practical business literacy expected of an early twentieth-century American citizen, this manual offers a detailed, unadorned snapshot.

That rainy afternoon, the dry pages of Business Hints felt like someone patiently showing me how to hold a deed, a will, the very paperwork of a life. And then, almost by accident, I found myself reaching for Twenty Years' Recollections of an Irish Police Magistrate — Edition Insights, where those formalities dissolve into the messy, human stories behind them.