MY FAVORITE

ByJack Dionne

A$e not guaranteed-Some I have told

for 2O years-Some less She Approved of the Move

There are lots of people in the world who have the sarne sort of vision of things that the old colored wornan did, who had lived all of her eighty years of life in a log cabir5 that was situated just a few yards north of the line that divided

California Redwood

North and South Carolina. And she had been right there since her birth.

One day a party of surveyors came through. They represented both North and South Carolina' and were working in conpert, rerunning the line that separated those parts of the two states, and in many cases and places making slight variations in the old boundary lines, just sort of giving and taking in some territory that had always been subject to argumen!.

When they had finished the new line ran just NORTH of the old colored woman's cabin,, instead of iust SOUTH of it, as it al,ways had. Thinking'she would be very much interested in what had happened, the chief engineer approached the old woman, and told her about it. He said: "Auntie, since we ran that new line though here, ybu don't live in North Carolina any more, you live in South Carolina now."

"Thank de Lawd fer whut He's done fer me," said the old woman fervently, "Ah nevah didlike de climate uv No'th Ca'lina, nohow."

PROMISE VS. ACCOMPLISHMENT

Performance is as important in the rnaintaining of sales volume as promises. The buyer should not be inveigled into buying- by assurances of service that is not forthcoming. Theri ii too much talk about "service" these days, and too little action.

Thepoint is well illustrated in a little story-told by Speaker-Hines of Detroit, in their house organ Co-operation.

A dissatisfied customer called on the proprietor of a store to give him a piece of his mind.

'rI see that you have a notice in your shop, ''We aim to rrlease.'" remarked the irritated man. ' "Ye;," replied the proprietor, "that is ourmotto." "'Weil." iaid the Customer, "you ought to take a little time off for target Practice."

(Continued from Page 53) sumably in every existing field of bu,siness, that costs do not govern selling prices.

Perhaps there is some truth in this. But it is not to be believed that when reliable rcosts are available, they must be ignored. Supply and demand does have some effect ion selling prices, but supply and demand, ; which are only guides as to what to buy and how much to buy, what is easiest to sell iand what must be closed out, etc., must never be regarded as a safe basis for one to use in formulating his selling policy.

, One of the advantages of a good accounting system is that it helps to show the trend of supply and demand in relation to one's 'business. And every business man should have a thorough understanding of these factors and how they are afrecting his profits.

Much of the unfair competition thit ex,ists i! many.trades is due to nothing more than barren ignorance of costs.

Experience in association work tcaches one to know that the members who are usually the most enthusiastic about cstablishing a uniform accounting plan are thosc who have developed the best accounting sys- tem for themselves.

, The fellow who knows his own costs is usually anxious to have his competitors know theirs.

The hardcst competitor to m€et is the one who is procceding through ignorance to set selling prices that do not permit a reasonable profit, neither to himself nor to his more intelligent competitors afrected by his prrces.

No matter what trade you may come in contact with, you will find problems, evils and unfavorable conditions.

But talk and worry never eliminate them.

Better things are developed ina trade only in the measure that time and thought and work are givcn by the heads of the individual firms to learning about and following the best principles, methods and ethics, which shoulil generally prevail. This, to a degree, is an excellent reason for the existence of trade associations and their uniform accounting systems.

If a man will treat his firm as a delicate piece of macfrinery applied to business, and examine it as such and see what is wrong with it, perhaps he will find somewhere that it is eating up too much, and losing profits. If a concern can be considered as a mechanism, then when profits are not mad€, rrhat has likely happened is that the mechanism is out of order.

Rarely, is theri anything wrong with the busincss. Thc work of thc trade must go

Gamut of Roofing

Original man living in earthy holes grubbed out of the side of a hill primarily for protection from ferocious enem!es, has no conception of comfort. His was a rugged, bewildering battle forsurvival. His progress toward civilization, tedious, halting, but inevitable.

From crudely fashioned shelters of the aborigines to permanent weath€r-proof coverings of modern science, the story of the evolution of'roofs and rooffng materials reads like a story from Arabian Nights.

The earliest type of roofing known, was the rude shelter of boughs that primitive man laid over hewn tree lengths, his first attempt toward comfort. Next he fashioned walls 'of branches, graduating from his dingy cave retreat.

Such types of dwellings were first used by the. half sav,age tribes of the Amios in Japan, This form of shelter still survives among some of the aboriginal races in the hill countries.

. The Egyptians who were farther advanced in structural ,science than any other race of people of that period, were 'the first to introduce stone and mortar. Some of their buildings still survive and are in use. For example the' on; it always has; the world needs it. The game is inherently sound and if you cant play it, somebody else will play fb and make a proit out of it.

Competition today-intelligent competi- tion-does not make a practice of selling below cost. Such practice in the long-run, and the short run, too, for that matt€r, is harmful for all concerned and it is so recognized.

The life and vitality of business is profit, and intelligent competition, knowing its costs, sells to make a profit. It is not interested in killing you, it is interested in profits. If the prices of intelligent competition are hard to meet, investigate your costs. The clrances are that you will thereby solve a price bugaboo which is not as bad as it seems.

From now until the end of the world there will be people who refuse to look for and toJace the facts, who will go right on jump- ing qt conclusions, guessing, worrying and making excuses, and wondering at the success of their intelligent competitors.

And those who takc the bull by the horns, refusc to blame their failures on conditions or other outside factors and who find the real caus€ of their business troubles will continlre to sell their goods at a profit and a good one.

Temple of Edfar, which was built during the Ptolemy Evergertes in 247-222 B. C.

Excavations of the first Grecian cities show that the dwellings were roofea with clay which was laid upon reeds and \Mas baked, water tight, under the hot rays of the Southern sun. This was perhaps the earliest form of roofing that introduced a ceiling upon which rude decorations were painted.

Domes of brick of a more elaborate type, or of concrete covered with cement and sheathed with lead, making them water tight, were first used by the Roman Empire-in the days of _its glory and pomp. Sometime later more preten- tious edifices with tile or bronze plate roofs weri constructed in Athens in the fourth and fifth centuries.

As r4an advanced in civilization and experimentation, his needs became greater. No longer did he desire to live out of doors without-shelter. Evolution has proved that man's desire for comfort has exceeded all things, Thus progress thru experimentation has been made thru the centuries, and the modern methods employed by the Los Angeles Paper Manufacturing Company in producing asphalt roofing are an outstanding example.

Forest Tax Reform

State constitutional amendment No. 22 exempting immature forest trees from taxation was no soonei adopted than it began to bear fruitin the form of reforestation.

D. H. Steinmetz, vice-president of the Pickering Lumbering Company, one of the largest operators in California forests, in announcing a ne.qg policy, says:

"I have issued orders to our logging crews to leave every tree of 20 inches and under standing. Heretofore we have cut down to 12 inches. Besides this we have entered negotiations for the purchase of 960 acres of cut-over lands and adjoining our property, on which we will start a reforestation program under our forest engineer, J. V. Wulfi, as soon as the purchase is made. This land was cut over 12 years ago and since that time has lain idle, the country has been without taxes and that land has not been pro- ductive. Amendment No. 22 means that other lands such as this tract, cut over years ago and still non-productive,