Of the 497 members of the low capital group, 380 received small grants and 117 large grants; while of the 197 members of the high capital group, 96 received small grants and the remaining 101 large grants. Thus the proportion of applicants who received large grants was much larger in the case of the high capital group than in the case of the low capital group—an application, doubtless justifiable, of the scriptural principle, “unto him that hath shall be given.”
The members of the high capital group who received small grants were possessed of other resources so considerable that the grant was, in many instances, but a small fraction of the capital available for business. In such cases, the grant derived its importance and its justification from the fact that it was in the form of cash. The possession of a certain amount of ready money was always necessary to secure a site, and was often a necessary condition of obtaining credit.
Whether or not a given capital is sufficient for a business venture will depend largely on the nature of the business entered; and, as has elsewhere been noted, the successful applicants for relief engaged in many different and highly diversified undertakings. The discussion of the adequacy of capital and of the relation of capital to grants will therefore be deferred to the following chapter, in which the recipients of business relief will be considered in occupational groups.
Summary.
Outward circumstances have much to do with the success of a business enterprise: the time, the place, and the money form a strong combination, and with health thrown in for good measure the combination is almost proof against disaster provided the right man make use of the combination. A committee disbursing business aid which patiently eliminated those doomed to fail, could get practically all of its beneficiaries started if it were left free-handed throughout the whole period of relief distribution to make well-timed and adequate grants, and if it spent enough on administration to allow for the supervising of grants whenever character and circumstances indicated the advisability of doing so. It may be noted that the 45 persons who in the judgment of the reviewer received timely aid, properly given, to the extent of $250 or as much more as was needed; persons who had resources to equal or exceed the grant, who were in good health, and who secured what seem to have been good locations, had started in business. Only three of the 45 had discontinued business, and of these, one had only temporarily discontinued.
II
ANALYSIS BY OCCUPATIONS, STUDY OF REFUSALS AND SUMMARY
1. SUCCESS OR FAILURE IN RELATION TO OCCUPATIONS
The proportion of applicants aided who succeeded in establishing themselves in business varied to a certain extent with the occupation entered. Sufficient data relative to the occupations and success in business could be secured for only 702 of the 894 applicants visited in 1908. The [table] next presented shows for the different occupational groups the number of cases in which grants of each specified nature were made and the proportion of these cases that were still in business at the time of the re-visit.
TABLE 60.—BUSINESS STATUS AT THE TIME OF THE RE-VISIT OF APPLICANTS RECEIVING BUSINESS REHABILITATION, BY OCCUPATIONS.[164]