Clean Competition is the Life of Business

Bg Jacft Dionne

Last issue I discussed the value of membership in noonday business clubs.

The Gulf Coast Lumberman, in Houston, holds active members,hips in both Rotary and Kiwanis.

The Californ,ia Lumber Merchant, in Los Angeles, does the saine.

And we find that these great organizations are doing a mighty work right now in spreading, fostering, preaching, SELLING the spirit of better business, better competition, and better service to the publ'ic and to one another, to the business men of the nation.

That effort is best illustrated by quot'ng from recent statements of workers in these fields. From recent Rotary Bulletins from different cities, f secured the following:

"If in all your dealings, whether with your employer, your competitor, the man. you buy from, or the man you sell to, you are guided by the tho,ught of "service above self," you will create for yourself the most valuable assets any business can haveconfidence and good will. " (From Atlanta, Ga-)

"One of Rotary's primary tasks is to narrow the divergence between the ideal and the practical, not by eliminating the ideal, but by applying the ideal principle to the practical problem." (From Po,rtsmouth, England.)

"When a business man allows his competitor to fix his standard of ethics-of qual- ity, service, and price-he is taking the rock out from irnder him, and replacing it wittr quicksand. Business is simply ORGANIZED SERVICE, administering to the imperative need o,f humanity. When a business firm attempts to mold its whole policy to meet the prices of its competitors, that business is entering a labyrinth, the center of which is a chamber of despair. Highest quality and service can never be obtained at the lowest prices." (From Ann Arbor, Mich.)

President Coolidge's remarks on, business have been widely quoted by Rotary Bul- letins. For instance his statement thdt:

"The ideal in which one side gets the best of it is NOT good business," but that, "when two parties enter into a transaction by which each'exchanges something which he n'eeds less for something he nbeds more," both sides are benefitted.

In other words, the luncheon business clubs are spreading the practical applica- tion of the Golden Rule. And in the long run, no other rule will ever substitute for it.