Evening star., 1922-11-13
BACK RETAILERS,
!. PLEA Of BABS0N
Says Prosperity of Country
j. Is in Hands of
r. Merchants.
LITTLE RESEARCH MADE
Declares Government Spends Mil
lions for Farmers and Manufac-
turers, But Stores Overlooked.

Prosperity is IN the hands OF the
retailers of the country. said Roger
W. Babson this afternoon IN an ad-
dress at the New willard Hotel. Peo-
ple should help thr retailer. and not
knock him. said the speaker. The
address was delivered under the aus
r;ces of the Washington Federation
of Churches.
"Offhand critics are fond OF knock
Ing the retailer as man OF limited
foresight and ability" Mr.. Babson
said. Il do not agree with this view.
But even if it were true. il would be
far better to help him than to knock
him. Moreover, if he ,eall. is
Lightweight. then SO m.ch tie worse
'o- the manufacture. whose Suct,ss
or failure lies in the ha@Gs Of the
retailers who sell his goods.
should Rack Retailer.
We all have learned many things
In this recent period OF depre sion.
One is that no one nj us can l:ave
lasting prosperity except as those
whom we serve prosper likewise. The
retailer has been as guilty as any
one in falling to recognize this. but
there Is nothing TO be gained now
by calling names. The crying need
Of the hour is that we all get behind
The retailer and he!p him. II his
methods are wrong it is our fnisfos-
show him a better way. We have
failed to realize that this inefficient
retailer still sells al least IS per cent
of all the goods bought in the United
states: that he has NOR, than mil
lion stores in TIE country. represent
f,,c- II. =,
lars. In short. that the individual re.
taller today is our main and vital
artery of distribution.
''Whiie we have been devotins our
Efforts to Building better factories to
manufacture goods. We have done
nortant problem OF getting those
goods to the ultimate consumer. The
government Is spending over $150.-
100000 a year in research to help
manufacturers and farmers. bat II has
never ever taken a census of the re-
science and human ingenuitv have
contributed to production. bat we
have let distribution look out for
itself The result is that our manu-
facturing cost has been cut to a frac-
lion Of what it was fifty years ago,
u more than it was fifty years ago.
1--WE should begin at once to give
more support to the retailer. Supplied
With the same statistical information
End backed up with the Same assist
sAee from government and private re-
s4atch. the individual retailer will
make as much progress in his field as
the producer has in his own. The
idea that he must fight the chain store
6nd cooperative buying is entirely
wrong. He must be willing to adopt
the improvements of those systems In
order that the retail field may not be
dNminAted either by the chain store
of ahy other single organization.
Nov we are on the very eve Of d
general business Improvement. but
the retailer must get in better
rHental attitude to capitalize this op-
peftunity. He should be going into
it like d fighting cock. but instead his
attitude is fearful and defensive. Our
pfoolert IS to show him the facts and
show him that we are on the upwar rd
side of the business cycle. A period
II Improvement is ahead in which he
u certain to share II he will only
sAlse the opportunity, adopt modern
methods, render real service, CO.
operate with his competitors and in
vest his savings in the securities of
the corporations with which he deals"