The Old And The New

Millwork Institute of California.

(In beginning Mr. Dionne co-mplimented Ken Smith.very highly toi tfr" iitt t."naa just complgied, and- told- some reminiscenses of itr. ota days in Easi Te*as -wl,ren' he 6rst knew Mr. Smith' The ttn*.tout Stories with which lfr. Dionne illustrated his points are withheld. He's still using thqm, so can't afiord to publish them until they have served their speqch making purpose.)

In beginning, and before anyone asks me, let me state that I never tra"e iui a mi"liwork business. llowever, I don't feel that that disbars me from expressing opinioirs as to how the millwork business should be run. i likewise- co4less that I have never laid an egg' Yet I claim to be a better jgdge of an omelet than any hen in Catifornia.

/ Still, I remember the case of a man I knew once who held several - exiellint positions, and lost thelir alt because of incom-petency.One day I asked a man what had L-ecome of him, since I hadn't.heard "tii* in several years, and he-said: "He's wearing grey spats and an iron hat and is making plenty of money giving business advice to young men." ' it i3 more than twenty years since I attended my 6rst convention of millmen. At that fiis[ convention I learned these fundamental truths: there were too many mills; too much production, too many tLii"ii"tr out scrambling foi business, too muCh competition, prices i were too low, we'll have to gpt together or we'll all go broke." Last year I attended your annull meeting at Long Beach. There I was Jurprised to learn that thgre were "too many mills, too much producti,on, too many solicitols out scrambling for business, too much sales competition, prices were too low, and if you didn't get together you'd all go broke." Another year has passed'The businels world has swept forward faster in the past year than in any previous year. More changes hpve taken place in the average bu-si ness, brought about by the op-enly manifested public craving for change, chinge, and variety, tha.n ever before. The world is.moving fastei than ever before. The business that is doing best is the business that progresses most. L-ook about you and see the changes that scorcs of lines of industry have made during the past year to keep up with the march of progress. So you are gathered -hgre- t9 talk over your business, its past year and'its prospects, and r hnd from your own discussions, reports, and utterances, opinion,s-, -that there ire "too many mills, too -qr.uch production, too -many solicitors out scrambiing for business, too much sales competition, prices are too low, and if you don't get together you'll all go broke." Ald so my prediction made at Long Be-ach last year has come true. I can look you in the eye as a prophgt of truth and say 'I told you. so." Because I told you then that I didn't expect to save your business by my merchandising preachirlg, that you wouldn't pay_any_attentibn tb me,-and you haven't. --I'm indeed a prophet. But I'm so used to having mill men pay llo attention to my warnings, that- I don't mind it in the least. I cl4imed last year and still stoutly maintain, that I'm the world's champion failure at preaching merchandising to mill mbn.

I'vE been asked here again tt'is year to talk to you about YOUR business. And I anticipale mti-ch enjoyrhent in the matter, because I'm going to do all the talking,this particular time, and I.love these one iided arguments. I never enjoyed talking to,a business gan-g in my life more than I did tqlking to this-gang last-summer. It didn't do any good, but I had a lot of fun. So I came here again-to talk to you ib6ut your business-to tell you what's the trouble with your business. And it won't {g a bit of good. Not a bit. I-just -hop. *. succeed in having as much fun as we did a year ago. That's or,i re.son why I've alwJys beqp glad that I selected the lumber industry for mi lifetime busineSS associate. If I had selected any othei industry, it might have ggtten well, and I would have nothing more to prealh and luss aboul. But in this line of business my job is perpetual. It goes on forever.

I told you last year that you qere looking at your business through the-wrong end of the telescope, but it's sure hard to get some men to look a[ their own business through the eyes of the other fellow. It's so hard to see the forest, bgcause the trees are in the way. You can't see the city. The tall buildings obstruct your vision.

So, when Hairk Didesch asked me for a subject for my talk today, I told him I'd talk about "The Old and the New." I thought that title would do as well as any. I should have taken for my subject the slang phrase: "No matter how thin you slice it, it's still bolony."

But the greatest change that bas taken place between the.old and the new, is the change in the consciousness of humans toward each other. I'm going to try and talk to you folks about the old and the new, as it afiects your business.

I don't object to old things and old methods because they are otd. I object to fhem because the laiv of life is the law of progress, and the only hope of business today is to keep up with the march of progresi, to keep in step with-the procession. The business that lsn'i going ahead, is going back..The business that is not doing business in a newer and better way this year than it did last year, is a courting failure. As the nigger said, "The world is traveling so fast nowadays that a man has to run like Hell to stay right where he is." Last year's methods won't do. Last year's ideas won't meet their competition. Last year's speed is too slow. We're living in an age oI progress.

In the old days when the Prodigal Son came home they killed the fatted calf. Now they sit arouqd and shoot the bull.

In the old days fatted calves were a rarity; today the streets are so full of them that even the Prodigal Son pays them little attention.

In the old days the good dld toast, "Ifere's to our wives and sweethearts-may they never meet" was considered a good joke.

Nowadays its a solemn prayer.

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