Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to his Son

Amusing, enlightening and quite practical advice, even if a bit dated in some of the attitudes and language.

A collection of fictional letters from John Graham a fictional pork packer mogul to his Harvard bound son, let me just say that although he speaks in love with improvement on his mind, I would be hesitant to open these letters if I were on the receiving end very often. Aside from offering sound advice, he does not hesitate to offer criticism if he feels it is deserved and he usually does. He gives two or three examples to back up his advice, and they do go on a bit, even if amusing. Which is funny, because one of the letters is all about being brief with your words when you have something important to say.

When I looked up the show more author, I found that he was the editor of the Saturday Evening Post, hence the humor and the moral tone. A very handsome man as well, and I can just imagine him really writing these sorts of letters to a son! show less

The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a biography presented as an instructive, exemplary guide to young people how to develop a successful lifestyle. It has been a steady best seller ever since its publication.

Letters from a self-made merchant to his son by George Horace Lorimer is written in the same vein. It was a best seller in its time, 1902, but is now largely forgotten. The book consists of 20 letters by a father to his son, counseling him on major issues is life. It's subtitle reads Being the Letters written by John Graham, Head of the House of Graham & Company, Pork-Packers in Chicago, familiarly known on 'Change as "Old Gorgon Graham," to his Son, Pierrepont, facetiously known to his intimates as "Piggy."

Contrary to show more Franklin's Autobiography, which appeals to the audience at large, Lorimer's Letters are of more specific interest to the so called nouveau riche upper class of "captains of industry". John Graham, the pork-packer, counsels his son on the relative merit of postgraduate education, frugality and various other virtues. The latter part is concerned with the question of choice of a wife. The first candidate, a spoilt daughter of a vastly rich family is resolutely rejected by father Graham, as she would soon wreck the family. The ultimate counsel is that a man needs a proper wife to take care of him, and then all should be well.

Much of the advice given by Graham to his son is, and would still be, sound, but the overbearing didactic tone of the father's voice in the letters is a bit straining. Despite its apparently different audience, Letters from a self-made merchant to his son is close to The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, in the sense that it gives very practical advice on matters which are immediate and close to people's experience. In that aspect it is much more direct than for example Arnold Bennett's How to Live on 24 Hours a Day or The plain man and his wife which were published only a few years later, but approached lifestyle from much more elevated plane, aiming for higher values and more abstract goals. Bennett, though of humble origins, aspires to higher, aristocratic values, while Lorimer represent the much more practical class of self-made new millionaires, which was so much despised by Bennett. show less

This book is structured as a series of letters written by a father, to a son who has just finished university and entered the family business. The 19th century style of the writing may make it difficult for younger readers, and most older readers will have already received elsewhere the wisdom contained in these pages. But it never hurts to hear it again and the book is an easy read. I enjoyed reading a letter a night before going to sleep.

Read this book on Ryan Holiday's suggestion. The self-made merchant is in the pork business in Chicago and writes to his son. The son starts off as a student at Harvard and gradually moves into the family business where he starts at the bottom.