ss." No one else has any concern with
it, and there is no reason why the instinct for gossip or the appetite
for malicious reports on the part of the other employees should be
satisfied. The world would be happier and business would be infinitely
more harmonious if each person in it could realize that his chief aim in
life should be to mind his own business or, at least, to let other
people's alone.

Private secretaries and other people in more or less confidential
positions are many times tempted to give away secret information, not so
much for the benefit of the person to whom it is given as to show how
much they themselves are trusted. Nearly every one who holds a
responsible business position receives items of information which are
best not repeated, and if common sense does not teach him what should be
kept private and what should be told, nothing will. It should not be
necessary for the superior to preface each of his remarks with, "Now,
this must go no further."

Matters concerning salaries should always be confidential, and so should
personal items such as health reports, character references, and so on,
credit reports, blacklists, and other information of a similar nature.
It is compiled for a definite purpose and for the use of a limited group
of people. It is unethical to use it in any other way.

The reason for dismissing a person from a business organization should
be kept private, especially if it is something that reflects unfavorably
on his character. But the reason should _always_ be given to the
employee himself. He may not listen, and most of the men who have had
experience in hiring and firing say that he will not, but that is his
own responsibility. The employer has no right to let him go without
letting him know why. And the employee should listen--it may not be his
fault but he should check up honestly with himself and find out. The
same thing that lost him this place may lose him another, and a good
many times all that he can get out of being discharged is a purification
of soul. It is a pity if he misses that.

Discharging a person is a serious matter, serious from both sides, and
it is not a thing to be done lightly. Most houses try to obviate it in
so far as possible by hiring only the kind of people they want to keep.
"Our efforts toward efficiency" (we quote from one manager who is
typical of thousands) "begin at the front door. We try to eliminate the
unfit there. We do not employ any o