The Washington times., 1922-09-17

FINANCE
= AND
|RUSINESS
By B. c. FORBES.

the WestJ
Next to a mans own family, VINO
a-e the people that know his bestY
whenever l investigate big man,
I rely more on what his own en-
pioyes say about him than I do on
comments made by his friends or
anyone else.
always have my doubts about
the worthwhileness of the SUCCESS OF
any man who has earned 1t at the
cost Of the ili-will and detesfation
Of those who have helped him TO at
tain his success. -.s.
Oh, yes, / know all about the wall
ing of many employers about now
worthless and ungrateful ana dis-
loyal land everything else present
dayJemployes are. But / also know
tnat really big executives, esp ecialiy
those Of the younger generation
usually manage to carry their people
with them.
Frank C. Rand. head Of the IN
ternational Shoe Company, with
headquarters in st. Louis, fell down
completely when he huEJfed over
to Europe and tried to teI shoes
to the allied governments when the
war first broke out. He spent TWO
or three months on the doorsteps OF
governmental functionaries. he ac-
tually wore out more shoe leathsr
than he sold-he didn't sell single
pair. Ole.
This wos one Of the best things
that ever happened to the company!
The explanation?
On his way back across the Al
lantic MIR. Rand said to himself:
"Wen let others scramble all thcy
like for war business; Wen turn our
whole efforts into developing the
broadcast possible market at nome
This market will remain after the
war is over. There is less risk In
every way in doing business with our
own people. There are over nun
dred millions OF them. and they wear
out more than SOC, O,000. 900 pairs OF
sboes every year. This ought to be
a good enough and big enough ueid
for us" -.
From then on the company has
never lacked orders. 1t didn't nave
to shut down all through the war
or the slump which followed the war.
II has grown and grown.
1t is now turning out l3o'ooo pairs
of shoes every day! ann
Its plants have averaged Soo
working days q year for years.
Output viii exceed 100000 pairs
Of shoes this year. .,no
It's business will pass the *ioo'
II doesn't have any labor troubles.
II has 10000 customers.
II had unique experiences Win
some of it's customers when the DOT
tom fell out Of prices all arouno'
Although absolutely entitled 10 IN.
sist upon full contract prices Tor all
the business on It's books, the com
many voluntarily deducted $l.5o
pair when sending its bills to puy'
ers for the first part Of their ORDERS
later the company made a still fur'
ther voluntary reduction when ship
ming a further quota of these un-
filled orders. This brought letters
OF thanks in most cases. But wnat
do YOU think one customer wroteE-
THAT was a nice package you
sent me in June, wasn't it?
This fellow. instead OF feeling IN
debted to the company for having
iopped off first s1.50 per pair on
mart Of his order, and a further
amount on the second part OF his
order, actually kicked!
In this country shoes are now
selling at factory for less than nan
the price reached at the peak. How.
ever, prices still average one-third
or more above the 1913 level.
Last year che shoe industry as q
whole ran at about 60 per cent OF
capacity. The ratio is now around
rs per cent. The International shoe
Company, however, Is away behind
with it's orders, although Its produc-
ton IL now far ahead Of all previous
records.
II will interest the business world
to learn that another large industrial
company, farther East. is also break
ing all sales and production records,
namely, the National Cash Register
Company, of Dayton. August was
the banner month in the company 8
long history. I learn, also, that
orders during the current month are
equally large.
Here's another significant item;
The N. c. r.. 1 have just found out,
has concluded negotiations prelimi'
nary to the building of an impor'
tant factory at Toronto. The com
pany already has a small plant there
but plans to establish a sort Of dupli'