What Is Service?

By J. C. Dionne

The strenuous current of the tide of modern times has brought into everyday modern use, the word "SERVICE." It prictically dominates every business discussion; has become the harp of many strings upon which the modern thinker strums with vigorous hand. Upon it every salesman bases his argument-his hopes-his aspirations.

And yet we seldom hear the potent question asked"'What IS service ?" It is worthy of serious thought and consideration, because as 1\'e look about us we so often see men claiming to be rendering service of a phenomenal sort, to whom the actual meaning and demonstration of the rvord is absolutely and utterly unknown.

Nearly two thousan{ years ago that Man who died on Mount Calvary, propounded the sovereign principles of SERVICE when he said, "Whosoever shall be great among you shall be your minister; and whosoevcr of you will-be the chiefest, ivill be the servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and gave his life a ransom for many."

The VALUE of service rvas wonderously predicted in the above quotation, but the grorvth of modern civilization has developed the practical everyday necessity for the rendering of businesi service, and is gradually setting a giltedged premium on service-giving ability.

Today the question that the man in any walk of life must answer'is, "What degree of service can you render?"

All the departments of our civilization are working_toward the one great object;-the intensification of SERVICE-the super-development of EFFICIENCY.

The rvorld is learning that the worker is to be judged by the service he renders, and that he shall be rewarded in exact proportion to the quality and quantity of that effort.

Service- is the basis ol all honest business, all creative work, all free government, all orderly society, and all true religion.

Sirvice is the magic password that unlocks the vaults wherein lie hidden away the best of human possibilities. It is the Aladdin's lamp of modern business, but unlike the lamp of Aladdin, theie is more to be done than merely the rubbing of hands or the muttering of a word'

Then what IS service? What IS this thing that the Master preached-that men proclaim-that all humans have learned to praise ?

Let us turn to the dictionary. It states that SERVICE is "Assistance rendered;" also that it is "Duty performed."

As service afiects the business man of today, the lumber merchant particularly, it seems to us that a blending- of these two befinitions, sives an excellent interpretation, because the giving of MODERN BUILDING SERVICE means the iendering of assistance to the buyer, and per- forming a duty towards him also. The assistance is a necessity, and the duty is clear.

We should say that MODERN MERCHANDISING SERVICE means to furnish to the public the fullest possible degree of intensified, specialized, intelligent assistance in the use of those materials which you sell. It means that vou will use vour most earnest efforts to "Do unto others is you would'have them do unto you"-if YOU were at the buying end, and the other fellow the merchant of building material.

Use THAT as a basis for measuring the quality and quantity of the service that you give, before .you- put "SERVICE" on your letterheads and in your advertising copy. SERVICE is NOT a physical THING. It is a demonstrable FORCE. The meichandise that you sell is the PHYSICAL end of your sale; the SERVICE is that intangible and uncharted-dynamic development of modern times, which makes your goods worth buying, and worth having.

Are YOU giving service, or not?

My Longing

I long to be in a friendly California woodland, Where nature has herway; Where the great redrvoods tower high into the sky, And make a shady resting place for travelers llassing by.

I long to climb the western mountains high, And reach the snow-capped peaks; Where glaciers mighty are sliding, Making valleys deep.

I long to walk the shady canyon path And listen to the birds and bees; And come to a cool resting spot beside a bubbling spring, Where the fleet deer leaves his tracks.

I long to be where the melting snows make a California rushing stream, And the salmon leap from fall to fall; And the trout play in deep, dark pools.

I long to wander by a Califolnia sunlit sea, And watch the rushing rvhite waves foaming up the sandy beach And breaking with a mighty roar against the jutting rocks, Where the mountains rneet the sea.

Age 11.

Fred E. Golding, Jr. Los Angeles, Calif.