Fritz served as his junior partner and assistant in several failed operations, including large-scale strip mining and tungsten exportation to the United States. The tour ended in August 1917, after which Fritz rejoined Charles Richardson in Hong Kong. Determined not to retrace his steps back to the United States, his confidence bolstered by his success in China thus far, and with no immediate work in which to engage, Fritz embarked on a six-month tour of China in February 1917. Business was seriously undermined by the outbreak of World War I, however, when the United States prohibited flour sales to China because of demands elsewhere. Business assignments took him across Southeast Asia, and accounts of his success appeared stateside in the The Washington Alumnus and two flour trade magazines. Fritz found acceptance in the Hong Kong Club, an association of British and a few American Г©migrГ©s. Richardson, a very successful foreign trader. He worked under the guidance of Charles E.

After work in the testing laboratory and then the main office, the company sent him to work in Hong Kong as an exporter in the spring of 1915. Immediately upon his graduation, Fritz was employed by the Fisher Flouring Mills Company in Seattle. He found little time for social activities as he worked six days a week, but was initiated into Delta Tau Delta and was a member of the drama club. Returning to Seattle in the summer of 1911, he was hired at the cigar counter at the Owl Drug Company, where he worked throughout his enrollment at Washington. Most of this year was spent working in the order department of a wholesale plumbing, heating and hardware firm in Vancouver, British Columbia. He would not return to North Dakota for more than 40 years.ДЇritz was unable to gain steady employment and did not enroll at the University of Washington in fall 1910, as he had hoped, because of financial restrictions. He returned for his sophomore year at UND in 1909, and played an integral role in the Sock and Buskin Club's production of Twelfth Night. He was successful in Billings, and this experience gave him confidence and a desire to travel more. He made extra income selling tourist-tickets to Wyoming for commission. Following his freshman year, he jumped a freight train to Billings, Montana and worked at the Grand Hotel in exchange for his board. While at the University, Fritz practiced declamation and debate with the Ad Altoria Literary Society and pledged the Varsity Bachelor's Club.

Fritz graduated as valedictorian of his class at Lidgerwood High School in June 1908 and enrolled at UND that fall. He won this contest as well, which carried a prize of $12. In May 1908, Fritz won the fifth annual Lidgerwood High School Declamatory Contest, which qualified him to represent the town in the statewide contest, held at the University of North Dakota. In his biography, he states, 'I have been self-supporting since I was 12 years old.'ДЇritz credited his intellectual and competitive spirit to the influence of the Macdonalds. Chester Fritz worked on the Pagel farm west of town, earning $1 a day. During summers he went to Chaffee, North Dakota to visit his father. While in Lidgerwood, he paid $8 a month for board and worked odd jobs as well as attending school. They provided an active and scholastic environment for Chester. Macdonald, who was Superintendent of Schools in Lidgerwood. This prompted Chester Fritz to move to Lidgerwood, North Dakota, to live with his mother's sister, Kathrine (Belanger) Macdonald, who was Principal of Lidgerwood High School, and her husband Neil C. These tales of success attained through self-discipline and virtue instilled a belief that he could be prosperous through his own determination, despite undesirable living conditions or circumstances.ДЄnne Fritz left the family in February 1905 and was never seen nor heard from again. In January 1903, when the Fargo Carnegie Public Library opened, Chester Fritz began visiting daily, reading history and war novels, but also the novels of Horatio Alger. A farming accident in 1902 that left Charles permanently disabled forced Anne to take on work as a clerk and bookkeeper, and circumstances for the family were meager. The family moved to Fargo, North Dakota, in 1898, where Charles worked intermittently. He was the first and only surviving child of Charles and Anne (Belanger) Fritz. Chester Fritz was born March 25, 1892, in Buxton, North Dakota.

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