"Organization and Cooperation"

(Continued from Page 37) business because he is two bits or four bits or a dollar lower in price than the man who is trying to operate his busi,r"., "long sound lines, yott create the .impression with the sound wfiolesaler and manufacturer that you are not -1nterested in the protection of your own business and that "o"riUfu he woufd be well aclviied to take what business he ."tr eet from the outlaw who aimost invariably pays a pre-iuti for his purchases or finance a man that he knows does not have enough money to conduct.his b-usiness properly on the off chan-ce that possibly he will make the grade and provide him with an outlet for his product.

It works both ways. If you ask fair treatment you must accord fair treatment, but if you handle your business on that basis I am convinced that it will afford you all of the remedy for those two problems that you will ever need'

I a,m not advocating anything drastic, anything i]].eSal anything that is impraiticai. Your common sense will tell yol tttal you should play ball '*'ith your friends and turn a iold shoulder and a heif ear to your enemies, but I want to take the time to tell you of just three or four things that will emphasize the soundness of what I have been saying' trn a nationally known business magazine editorial I read this the other day: "It is an open secret that the 91ndy business is in bad shape. Only a'very few of the old established companies are making any money. In digFing.into the reason fo? this situation it is evident that the blame rests on the shoulders of the manufacturers who; in their wild scramble for sales, are selling anybody and everybody. Better days will not dawn for the candy business until manufacturers and jobbers put a stop to unscrupulou.s practices, Just how this can be done, in view of the attilude of the-Federal Trade Commission, is not clear. Con-

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certed action is perhaps not practical.But if each candy manufacturer "tia every legitimate jobberwould only realize that when he selis a price cutter he is sawing off the branch upon which he iJ sitting, and contributing 1o the ruinatiott bf th. industry, no concerted action would tre necessary. Self-preservation is justification eno-uglr. 59 far as tht Federai Trade Commission is concerned, there is plentv of evidence to indicate that the majority of the cominission are taking a common sense view of situations which in former years would have been considered contrary to the spirit of tie law. An unscrupulous price. cutter who comes before the commission rvith unclean hands, gets scant hearing, and in at least one case has been told to mend his ways."

The leather industry, the wool industry, and the silk industry have all done things along these lines by.mutual education of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers on sound economics thata few years ago were thought impossible of accomplishment because of the thoughts then prevailing that suih results could not be accomplishe-d exiept by ilegal agreements. This shows that men are learning that a lommon understanding is more important than specific agreement. 'Just onl point from a report of the silk institute. "We meet with supply houses to gauge market supplies of materials which may have an increasing demand during comittg seasons,. One year there was a threatened silk shi,rtage. By advising our industry not to buy heavily and not boost prices and by advising banks not to lend money for speculation in this commodity, prices and deliveries -were kLpt on an even keel and no shortage resulted."

As a final example, over in Los Angeles the other day the laundries got logether after a period of price cutting