Vagabond Editorials

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Pe6ple have come to expect miracles nowadays in all lines of business, and the line that doesn't progress toward the rniraclefurnishing stage, is going to be just too dead to skin. The farmer in YOUR district sits idown befo,re the fire at night and tunes in on artistic programs from New York to San Francisco, and has becorne accustomed to THAT miracle. In his papers and magazines he continually learns how fast the world is traveling, and what wonders are being done on every hand. All those from whorn he buys sell him goods and service unheard of twenty years ago. Everything has changed, has progressed. Have you, his retail lumberman, done the same? Or are you still in the same old rut? Are they all out of step but you? Think it over.

'f** f know a city lumber dealer who rnakes a specialty of making, selling, and delivering sand boxes and sand for children to play in, every spring. He says it pays. They i make a fair profit on the box (which he has made right ip the yard) and on the sand, but every sale makes friends that bring more business of other sorts. People like to patronize live dealers, and the fellow who sells your kids a ready-built box of sand, filled with nice, clean sand, is likely to get the next bill of lumber these folks buy.

A new building service that is now in use in many cities of the country is the sale to the public of ready-mixed concrete. If you want to do some concrete work you can buy the stuff ready-mixed and delivered on your job for so much a square yard. fn front of me I find the advertisement of a retail lumber concern in a northern city of middle size, offering for sale ready-mixed concrete. The ad says: "Ask us about the latest improved method of delivering truck-mixed co{rcrete; materials are carefully proportioned at our plant, hauled in our truck-mounted mixers dry, and then mixed at the job, providing you strictly fresh concrete." In other cities we notice advertisements of readymixed concrete, mixed at the plant and delivered in revolving body trucks to keep tl trirn*""ail arrival at the job.

I know another "i.y r,J*ul, I""t", who rents a vacant lot on a heavy trafrc stfeet in the better residence district, and displays on this lot, yard and garden furniture anil equipment of all sorts, benches, seati, pergolas, and trellises, ready-built and pninted. Of course, to the dealer who still thinks nothing is worth while but big lumber bills through contractors, this doesn't mean much. But this sort of business brings many times the profit, per dollar, that big competitive bills can possibly bring, establishes the dealer as a merchant, makes him new friends and acquaintances, and helps his business in very substantial and permanent ways.

Speaking of changes that come to our attention<onsider the banker ! Do you remember what the banker used to be like a couple od decades ago? He always had the idea that he belonged to the especially privileged class, and he never forgot to act that way. He was cold, hard, and very up-stage. He dressed stiffly, and deported and conducted himself "as one having authority." Look at the banker of today. As much as any other business or professional man he has discovered that public and individual goodwill is the basis of his success, and he is usually a very human, very friendly, free mixing individual, the total opposite of the old-time banker. Nearly every strong bank has a professional back-slapper, just as every saloon used to have.