\luality Both \fays

MBy Jack Dionne

"Never rob q mcn of his illusions," some philosopher scid. We <rll hcrve 'em. I knew c mcn who used to scry thct when he retired lrom active business he wcs going to spend the remainder ol his lile secrrching the ncrtion to see iI he could find tr m<rn whose barber hqd not told him he hcrd the toughest beqrd in town- Thct's cr common illusion.

Some dcy I'm going to stcrt cr world-wide investigction, going wcry bcrck into the dim recrches ol history, to discover the originctor cnd cuthor oI the scrles slogcrn: "Anyone ccn cut <r price but it tckes brcins to make cr better article." Like the origincl idecr oI cr deity crnd c heredter, its origin seems to be lost in the dqrk clouds oI cntiquity. As fcrr bcck <rs you c<rn recrd qbout business or business metL you run into that remcrrk on every corner. Awcy bcck in ihe filteenth century Ercrsmus wqs mcrking bibles crnd ollering them Ior sale with thcrt scurre slogcrn. Who he got it lrom, I don't know. Perhcrps it was Pericles. Or mcrybe Aristotle,'he scrid crlmost everything worth while. In cny cqse it htrs come down to us through ecch qnd every cycle of the pcrst Iive hundred yecrs.

However this cge-old slogcrn seems to directly contrcrdict cr not-so-old business beliel to the ellect thcrt il you ccrn find one mcm who ccrn recrlly SEIL you will find cr hundred who cccn produce or mcmulccture the goods Irom lonnulcr or blueprint. I'll cheerlully crdmit thct the latter idetr cppecls to me. I don't me(m to belittle the truth oI the slogcn thct "Anybody/ccn cut prices but it takes q smcrrt mcrn to mcrke ct better qrticle." Not for cr minutel Thct's true qs gospel! But mcrny cr mcn has crected q better <rrticle, crnd then hcrd to sit crnd watch some superior sqlesman who is selling cn inlerior crticle, crowd him out ol the mcrket. It hcppens every dcy. It mcry be true, cs so olten stcted, thcrt "Virtue hcth its own rewcrrd," but it mcry not be the sort oI rewcrrd thcrt will keep its possessor out oI the bcrnkruptcy court.

Why not set both these individucrl slogcns cside, qnd mcrke q combination oI them? Let us scy thct the rocd to success lies in mcking cr better crticle, cnd then hiring tr better sclesmqn? Then the more the production depcrrtment improves upon the article, the rnore re-scrles the scrlesman will lind wciting lor him,'cnd the more the sqlesmcrn sells,'the more incentive the production depcrrtment will hcve to mqke cr still better crticle.