The Old and the New

(Continued from Pase 28) wgre fancy hats and plain stockings. hat-sr no one looks at their heads any

In the old days your friends dropped in for a call. call in for a drop. Nowdays they

In the old days when a man wanted to drink himself to death, it took a good part of a lifetime. Nowdays he can do it in three days easy.

In the old days when a man 'lvanted to drown his sorrows in drink he usually found after consurning a case of two that he was just giving his sorrows swimming lessons; nowdays he can kill his sorrows and himself both with a pint of bootleg.

In the old days if they didn't like your religion or your politics, they would take your money and cut your throat; nowdays the throat specialist does both, and he doesn't ask anything about your politics or religion.

In the old days you used to buy your groceries out of a big box or barrel. Nowdays your wife wouldn't take them for a gift unless they were cleanly packed, sealed, and plainly labeled.

' But there is one thing that las come down to us in too copious quantities from the old days;4 thing that is hurting your business rnore than any other one thing; the elimination of which means the solving of your business probtem because the medicine that eliminates it, will bring health and strength to your business.

I'm talking of Juqgle Competition. The compgtition of the Jungle. The competition of the lion and the tiger. The competition of tooth and fang. The consciousness that if I am to live, my competitor must be destroyed, It has corne down to us from the dark ages for our destruction and damnation, and all of bur efiorts have not yet eradicated it.

In the old days the Gods were all jealous Gods, who sought to destroy one another. Rulers were jealous rulers, who could not understand that there was room in the world for everyone, work for everyone to do, that men pould help one another rather than destroy one another.

When Rome was in the hcy-dey of her glory, a great man named Cato graced her citizenship list. Cato went to Carthage. And when he saw that great city that ha{ sprung up on the other side of the Mediterannean, he got from that sight but one impression-that the greatness and the strength and tlre prosperity of Carthage, threatened the power of Rome. Tbere ha{ not come as yet into human conselousness the understanding of cooperation. Even the wise Cato kncw but one law, the law of tlre Jungle. And from that day forth whencver he appeared in public address in Rome, he thundered forth that one idea-Carthage must -b_e destroyed-and he kept at it until Carthage was destroyed. He didn't know tlat those two great powors might live in peace on opposite sides of that sea; that they might trade with one another; that they might help one another solve their problems; that they might join together to secure the advancement of civilization against the barbarian world. Hc didn't know thcse truths, because ki4dly competition, ar_rd mutual understaading had not yct come to man. And so Carthage was dcstroy€d. And that same mistaken consciousness has corie down everi to this day. Thank the Lord it ii disappearing rapidly. Our modern eseociation work, our modern idea of getting men togethcr to help solve their mutual problems, is -steadily but iurely drivinc away thl fog of entiquity. And yet Ju4gte Compctition ii still tf,e curse of in-dustry, and has been particulaily thc curse of this industry we are atl intcrested in.

We are still too busily engagcd into trying to get ahead of our competitor to give the sort of attention we should-to our custom€r and our prospective customer. We still use jungle methods to set business, price cutting, quality cutting, back slashing, underhaind methods that help us momentarily when they succeed, yct hurt oui-

'- selves, and our industry, as well as our competitor, in the long run. And how shall we get rid of i-t? What's the answer? It seems to me that there is but one ansv/er. We must devote ourselves to the thought of giving better service to the world. We must devote ourselves to the work of making ryore people know about our business, and what it means to them, in order that the cup from which we must all drink, shall be contingSlly enlarged, and improved. There is only one way to eliminate Jungle Competition, and that is to devote ourselves, both individu.a-lly and collectively, to building this business. lr Yqg won't have any more cbance than a bowlegged girl in her own home town.

You say, "Oh, service is an overworked word." True, but it is not an overworked activity. Thgre is a world of room for increasing the service in this business you are in, How?

By having your business meet more people, make more friends, becoine better understood. .I d-4re say there isn't a firm representcd in this room that hasn't improvid their product since tast year, injected new ideas into their products,.created newer and better and more beautiful things out of wgod. I'm sure that's true.

But have you given the world the benefit of these improvements? Does your trade, your prospeqts know about them? If not, what qood have vou done vour business?

And so, 6f course, i come ba!:k to the point I always come back to-the subject of selling. Because I still think, as I have alway-$ tbought, that there is only one-important department in every !us!ness, and that is the sales'end. If it fails, the business fails. It isn't the MOST important end of tlre business. It's the all important end. It's the only reason why your business exists. Create a great dcmand, and the supply will come every time, in any tine. But you can create the mosfwonderful product on earth, and unless you tell the world about, and show it to the world, and sell the world oa its worth, the cffort falls flat.

Therc are examples all about you in every line of successful endeavor to provc my coqtention. If you will accept the experiences of other men, you will discovgr that better service, bett€r salcst better publicity, works miracles, I could name you a hundred, off hend.

Look at Standard Oil, for instance. When we were kids Standard Oil was hcld up to the public-as a tainted thing, that preyed-on humen beings. Is it so today? You know it's not. Why? Seriicc, sales, and publicity that brought a better and truer understanding. Today you can drive up to any Standard oil station in a second hand Ford, aird the Standard Oil Cogpany will wipe oft your windshiel4 put air in your tires, water in your radiator, and 6x any small trouble you want 6xcd, while you lol! back in luxury and let.this billion dollar servant wait on you-aqd won't take a cent for it. Do you think you can matce the public suspicious of a business that treats them that wcll? Not on iour life. The Standard Oil Company has made close fricnds of a hundred million people by moving up close to them and giving them huma.n service. The public not,only b-uys their products-, ac&pts their seivice, but buys their securities. The thing-has changed.- The pubt[c has become the corPoration. Tltg soulfess corporation no longer e:5ists because Mr. Citizen is his chicf stockholder.

Isn't there . thought there tlrat you can usc in this business of yours?

- Do you actuatly doubt, you iltelligent looking birds that sit hcre today,-that you cin increase the -use of your products by proPer publiciti? That you can improve the standing of your goo{s? --That you c.n build up the level of your business. v-olume by intelligent inethods, without Jungle Competition, with fighting your compctitor? Surcly Irou don't when you see what othcrs are doing.

(Continued on Page 32)