Vagabond Editorials

By Jack Dionne

A man asked me the other day-"po you know what a man needs most in times like these?"-and I ssid-"[ ssnss of humor". He said, "That isn't what I was going to say, but I think you're right about it." No doubt about it. The man without a sense of humor has been in a heck of a fix for the past year. Every day you pick up the paper and see where some poor devil who got in a corner-and who isn't in some sort of a one?-took a shot at himself. Lacked the saving sense of humor that would permit him to laugh at .his troubles.

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Jim Swinnerton, famous artist of the west, told me years ago how vitally important to every man is a sense of humor. Jim went to the Painted Desert of Arizona many years ago to gct over consumption. He got over it. He says it was because he had a sense of humor, and could laugh at his troubles no matter how he felt. And he likewise concludes, after many years of watching consumptives, figlting for health in the desert, that the big question with each casc is, has he enough sense of humor to make light of his troubles? If he has, the chances are he gets well. If not' exit' ,r * *

Jim trained a small group of Indians to play band instruments when he was in the desert. When a new arrival came to join the list of T.B.'s who were fighting for health, Jim's band used to go and serenade the newcomer. They usually playcd "Nearer My God to Thee" for him. If he saw the joke and laughed, they knew he had a good chance to get well. If not, they started getting ready to ship him back. Hc hadn't a chance.

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It's like that in business of late. The man who can laugh when he catches Hell, is the guy that has the best chance. Say your prayers for a development of your sense of humor. Givc that so-called sense a little of your direct attention. Practice up on your laughing. *

When the history of the period through which we are now passing is finally written by unbiased minds, the banks of the country can be prepared to read nothing fattering about themselves. Even to the lay mind their part seems a vcry unheroic one. It was the gobs of money the banks sent to New York to finance stock market gambling on call notes at usurious rates of interest that precipitated the stock market crash. And ever since they have been scaring the wits out of anyone who had a dollar and thought of putting it to work. Innumerable times in the past six months f have heard of the bankers who say to their clients-..This is not the time to build"-and the prospective building money went back into the bank. and the further scare went abroad into the land. rf you want to trro* *f ;; "r" slow, go to any bank you want to and try to nrrange a line of credit for some perfectly good and legitimate line of business or industry; something that any bank would have gladly financed two years ago. You'll find out in a hurry why business drags its feet. Better take your. sense of humor along with you when you make that visit or you may find yourself filled with a wild longing to commit a light case of assault and battery on someone.

Leaving bankers "rra gJ..iJg io ,"."r, lumbermen, herc's one that a perfectly good lumber friend of mine vouches for the truth of. A certain man owns several retail yards in a small territory. Feeling that his personal efforts might be of some use in promoting business, he climbed in his car and started combing the territory, stopping at every sign of building activity to see what he could learn, or promote.

He stopped where u"iliri rJ"" going up, a small frame structure. The carpenters were setting up some two by fours. He looked the stock over. "FIow much are you paying for these two by fours?" he asked. "Thirty-five dollars a thousand," replied the builders. "You're paying too much; I can save you a lot of money on that kind of stock," said the gent. Then he made his big mistake. "Where did you buy this stufr?" he asked. The carpenter handed him an invoice that came with the lumber. IT WAS FROM ONE OF HIS OWN YARDS. The next thing the carpenters saw was a cloud of dust up the highway.

Thanks to R. E. S"b"rJrr, of Luy"rrr""user, for a good thought. He was talking about creating markets, holding markets, etc. He said that when Henry Ford found his sales volume on the old Model T Ford declining, he tried a huge adveitising campaign. No use. The sales line continued to decline. "All the money on earth," said Mr. Saberson, "could not have produced the old volume for the old Ford. The public had learned that there was something better, and they wanted it. Ford had to furnish it."

He says the lumber industry is in exactly that same 6x. For generations the mills made boards, shiplap, and dimension, and waited for the world to come get it. They were doing that when we traveled in stage coaches. Today we are traveling by air, and the rest of the world has changed

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