,,DAMN THE TORPEDOES! GO AHEADI,,.-.

To begin with this is going to be something in the ncrture ol q sermon on present dcry selling, cnd will contcin suggestions to the lumber dealer for meeting crnd becting the present emergency. Since this writing will recrch <r considercble ierritory in which there cre tremendous vcrriations oI conditions, plecse keep thcrt lact in mind cnd il some ol the stqtements made or suggestions ollered do NOT rellect conditions in YOUR territory, iust cssume ihey don't mecn YOU, crnd go chead. But the underlying principles thct I crm going to try to get into words, qpply crnywhere cnd everywhere. And get fiIIS: if some ol the remarks hereclter mcde seem to be oI c scolding chqrqcler, remember iwo things: first, thct I crm iust trying to be helplul; second, you probcbly need cr durn good scolding.

First-c text. When Ncthcn Hale, thcrt brcrve, loycl, hventy-one yecr old Americqn boy who was crbout to be executed cwcy bcck in the yecr 1775, uttered those memorqble words-"I only regret thcrt I hcve but one lile to lose for my country"-he lelt an inspiring messclte crnd excnnple behind him lor crges yet unborn. Yet, much crs I revere his memory, THAT is cr bcrd cttitude lor the business mqn who is trying to ligure out how in the bloody blcrzes he is going to mqke his lumber yqrd survive for the durqtion" to tcrke just crt this time. The re<rson I mention it is thct there crre cr whole lot oI good relcil lumber decrlers who seem to hcrve qssumed something ol that attitude. They seem to scy-"This thing is too tough lor me, I ccrn't survive in the lcrce ol conditions, so I guess I'll just be cr wcr ccrsucrlty."

And the reqson ihis editoricl is being written is iust to scy nuis with thcrt crttitude, or with cny other attitude that cssumes that defect is inevitcble. Hcsn't it been scid for crges crnd proven counlless times that the size ol the obstacles iust mcrkes the strong hurdler stronger?

No, the text ol this sermon and one thct the fightingr lumber deqler would do well to post at his mcsthecd ond inscribe on his consciousness should be ihe words ol another illustrious Americqn oI bygone dcys, cr mqn nconed Admircl Fcrrrcgut. You cll remember the immortcrl words he uttered at Mobile Bcry on the filth dcy oI August, 1864,' words thcrt hcrve probcbly been repecrled cs olten as <rlmost crny words in Americqn history-

TIIE TORPEDOES! GO ATIEAD!"

Bemember? O,K. then. Thct's my text. And the cvercge retcril lumber decler todcy ccn <rccept that text in good Icdth cnd cr f<rmilicrr feeling, beccuse Fcrrcrgut never scriled q sea thqt w<rs more dcngerously inlested with "torpedoes" thcn the business seq the lumbermcrn scrils iodcy, Yes siree, he's got his problems, crnd they keep him scrcrtching his hecrd hcrd during all his wcrking moments, But c little good head-scrqtching never hurt cnyone; in Icct, I've known mcny pcrticulcr instances in which it helped lolks. Old Josh Billings used to scy thct fleas were good lor tr dog becquse lhey kept him lrom worrying crbout being cr dog. And the present troubles thct beset the lumber deqler can do one good thing lor him-they ccn keep him lrom worrying cbout the wcrr, by giving him cr war ol his own. And they ARE.

The lumber dealer has one huge problem; HE CAN'T GET

Iots

OF

Biiiiding

MATERIATS. Lumber is his scqrcest item, Steel products cnd plywood qre next. His trcde cries crloud lor building mcrtericls. With c housing shortcge thct bdlles description even by cr good describer, the people tum to the lumber decler lor succor,' and he Ieels like q sucker beccuse he hasn't got the stuff to sell them. The trcrde hcs money. It likewise hcs the desire to buy cnd build. Under <rll normcrl circumstcrnces the first obstccle to the scle of building materials is lack of the wherewithcrl to pcy; the second one is the necessity lor overcoming the sales resistqnce oI ihe customer. Todcry the customer hcs plenty oI ccsh cnrd is dying to spend it,' he is suffering from cr building situqtion thcrt rcnges lrom a simple shortcae to c screcming fcmine; so iI the deqler could get the building supplies he would find those two ordincry obstccles prccticclly non-existent.

So whcrt does the lumber deqler do? Well, thcrt question can't be crnswered in cr lew syllcrbles, becquse there is cr vast difference between the manners qnd methods of dillerent decrlers. Just cs clwcys in history, there is c lcrir percentcrge oI deqlers who refuse to tcke cr licking without mcking one helluvq scrqp. There is cnother lot ol declers who sit and wcrit lor normqlcy to return, cnd in the meccrtime luss crnd gripe qbout ihe situation. And there <rre c vast number oI other decrlers whose cttitude toward the situction rqnge somewhere between those two groups And thct's the set-up todcy. BUT MANY A tUMBEn DEALER IS NOT MAKING TI{E INTEIIIGEI{T BATTTf fil}iT HE SHOUI.DORTHAT}IEISCAPABI.EOF,TOENABIEHIMTO IIDE OVER THE EMERGENCY AND RIDE OUT IT{E STORM. He isn t willing to make the chcrnges in his opercrtions crnd cctivities that must be mcde,' he isn't witling to do the thinking thct is esseniicl; he isn t wiUing to do the honesi-to-God lcboring crnd sweciing thct the problem demands,' he isn't crdiusting himsell cnd his business to condilions he does not like, while he wqits lor the retura ol conditions thct he DOES.

When I scy these things I cm not sitting here in the office crnd prccticing necromcrncy. Neither cm I purely guessing. I'm bcsing these remcrrks on qctuql reports lrom dependcrble sources. I hcve crlwcrys believed linnly in the business philosophy ihat-with proper qllowcnces lor crbnormal developments-"business is whcrt you mcrke it." Even in such times cnd under such conditions cs we lqce todcy; I still think so. I think thct the superior merchcndiser is going to hqve cn cdvantage over the weqker one, iust cs he clwcrys did; that the mcm oI mentcrl and physiccl energy will hcve an cdvqntcge oI the lesser hustler, iust cs he clwcrys did; thct the mcrn who ccrn odiust himsell cnd his thinking trnd his crcting to fit those conditions thct lcce him, has c grect cdvcntcge over the