The Plan and the Dealer

By JACN DIONNE

We remember the firgt ret of retail lumber plan books ws eyer raw, and how rplendidly they impressed ur.

We remember the firet editorialr we err€r wrote boosting and recomrnendins the use of plan booke for retail lumbermen, at a time when few retailen had ever reen one.

And we always feel a sort of pride of ownerrhip when we 6nd the dealer rnaking practical use of hil plan books to increare and improve his burinec!.

Right alwayr triumphr, and today the plan book departmnt ir a fundamental depar{rnent of the retail lunrrber businerr from ocean to ocean, and from the Gulf to the Arctic circle.

^A,nd it har not been entirely the ure of building plana that the plan book era has urhered into the lumber burineer. The big thing it har done har been to develop the Gospel of Sewice in every way.

With plan books has come the general thought of MERCHANDIIiING buildingr. ,And merchandisi"S har meant live publicity, intelligent advertiring, burineu creation and solicitation, with dl the thousand and one interesting thingt that attend the giving of retail sendce.

Tlrere are still men who rail at the Gospel of building serice jurt ar there are men who rail at the Gospel of Chrirt; and in both caser it ir the result of rmwise trhinking, and befuddled prejudice.

That a man shall profit according to the service he giv.s the world, ir a law that is older than the solar ryrtem, and ar unbreakable as the law of gravitationand then aome.

The development of the plan businesr har been thc development of the retail lumber business from the dreary wagon yard to the modern retail building serwice rtation. It har given the retailer a mighty businesr club to work with, and the results have been inspiring.

And for this reason we have consirtently boorted the plan busineas, and will continue to do so.

"Ask and ye shall receive" saith th€ S,cripture. But the right sort of asking is more than the mere rnumbling of words. And the lumber merchant who is uring dl hir wits and his energies to ASK his trade for bucine$, and creating a foundation for hir requestr by attaining a proformd understanding of their needs, and equipping himrelf without stint to SERVE them with thos€ necessitierr-6 1tr" kind of an ASKER that is always a RECEIVER.

And the fellow who continues to mouth and mu,mble at the modern thinss that the other fellow ic doing, continuer to wonder why he ttdoeg not get somewhere.tt

Maryts tot

Mary had a little lot Right on the edge of town, And every time she went up street, She paid a little down.

It kept her digging every day t And at last she had it paid for, A:rd then she planned a little house, For that was what 'twas mad.e for.

"Now, why should Mary build a house?" The neighbors all did cry.

"Because,tt said she, tt 'tis eheaper far To build, than rent or buy."

But Mary had a further thought Of what that house would do; For when she went into her home, She took a husband too.