Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1909-05-20
ANNUAL MEETING
 OF MERCHANTS
fCont.nued From Page Onel

; but organization can helD a man of : ability to understand and overcome
 the leaks in his business and give
 him better mercan(le education than he would otherwise obtain believe that the friendship formed and the interchange of ideas in your
 meetings have done more than any,
 thing else to elevate and educate the , Arkansas merchant. If there are any
 men in this room who are no. mem- 1 oers Of an association hope they ] will get up and tell us why they are not, for l believe they are losing dol lars and cents as we'll as knowledge daily by remaining out of the Asso- ciation One merchant cauno, suc-
 ceed if other merchants in the com
 munity are conducting their busi- nesses along lines of unbusinesslike competition; that is where | call the attention of our greatest friend and
 greatest enemy, the .Iobber. whose duty it is and whose duty it should be to see that your business is con-
 ducted in businesslike manner and
 not in a slipshop way Yon cannot
 settle With them, when settlement
 day comes. unless you have sold your
 goods at a reasonable profit. It is
 tr ,o1-
 dividual join when he does not care
 or probably does not appreciate the
 force of power in a membership in
 your Association. not understandin@
 it's usefulness and benefits. If all de-
 pends upon circumstances and these
 circumstances are frequently controll-
 ed by factors which are invisible but
 none the less powerful and infiuen-
 tial. It is worth while to indicate
 this to the indifferent individual and
 ask for membership basing the
 extent of the value and the probabil-
 ity of future usefulness upon what
 has actually been accomplished. You
 know some of these individuals are
 skeptical and you should do a great
 deal of talking with them. Each one
 must be treated in a different way
 and when that is done they are more
 likely to join. It may be pointed out
 that much of the possibility of Asso-
 citation work must be theoretical 1t
 will be told you that it is impossible
 to say that this or that thing can or
 will be done, and this is true, if you
 can modify these arguments or re-
 duce them with record of actual
 achievements you will secure the in-
 terest of the practical man. You
 must make your association do some
 good. In the end you will win mem
 bers and they will be better members
 i'll consequence of the good accom-
 plished, but you must have the in-
 terest of your membership in it's wei fare. A few who attended meetings accomplish something. Those who
 stay away undo almost everything the others do, hence the necessity of
 securing full cooperation. Some men reason that the expense is too great for the good received but they never think how many hundreds of dollars they let out in their business from confidence. without knowing how it may result. In association work we are giving you the experi- ence of thousands who have been msjudged in this little word Con fidence." Consequently the whole question resolves itself into propo- sition of personal responsibility and individual action No one else can act for you. It won't do you much good if your neighbor joins except in that indirect way which applies with equal force to the entire trade, but if you join you will immediately be gin to receive direct personal bene- fits and those benefits will accrue to you as long as you retaln your mem bership, but above all, be active; be prudent and cautious. Nothing comes without work. Conditions are not different; individuals are not differ ent The same aspirations and ex- pectations will be found today that actuated men years ago. They will be modified by circumstances. No one can get away from the fact that there is in all human hearts a de- sire to help others and each of you individually feel that way but don't know where to begin. Organization is yet in its infancy and l ask you to do your part towards pushing organi-