Statistics show that more than ninety per cent of men are failures in business and investigation brings to light another fact that too many are prone to make constant changes in business instead of concentrating along a single line and developing a thorough mastery of the work undertaken. A notable example of this rule is Edward Cockrell Hoffman, who is now engaged in the line of business in which he started out as a young tradesman, being the secretary, treasurer and manager of the Hoffman-Speed Printing Company of Muskogee. He has been instrumental in building up a substantial business at this point and the results achieved are attributable in large measure to the thoroughness with which he has mastered the trade and the executive ability which he has developed in controlling his interests. Mr. Hoffman was born in Aullville, Missouri, December 29, 1879, and is a son of David Lincoln and Mary Louise (Kincheloe) Hoffman. The father was a contractor and builder, long conducting business of that character.
Edward C. Hoffman, after mastering the branches of learning taught in the public schools, began learning the printer’s trade at Higginsville, Missouri, and applying himself with thoroughness soon gained intimate knowledge of the business. Steadily he worked his way upward in that connection and in 1905 he established the Hoffman Printing Company of Ottawa, Kansas, where he conducted business until 1908. In that year he came to Muskogee and here organized the Hoffman-Speed Printing Company, of which he has since been the secretary, treasurer and manager. Through the intervening period of thirteen years he has developed a business of substantial proportions and he is also a director of the Crescent Engraving Company. What he undertakes he accomplishes. Obstacles and difficulties in his path seem but to serve as an impetus for renewed effort on his part and he never stops short of the attainment of his objective.
On the 5th of December, 1911, Mr. Hoffman was married to Miss Pearl Evangeline Chalmers of Ottawa, Kansas. Their favorite form of recreation is motoring and it is not an unusual thing to find them on some interesting automobile tour. Mr. Hoffman is a member of the Masonic fraternity and has taken the Royal Arch degrees. He belongs to the Ad Club and to the Kiwanis Club and manifests a keen and helpful interest in ail that pertains to the city’s welfare and progress. He is a member of the city park board and lends his aid to every movement that is calculated to advance municipal welfare and civic interests.