Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-10-10
RAsED
F.. ON GOLDEN RULE
George F. Reynolds Tells Ro-
tary Club About Ethics in
Department Store Business
CHARACTER GREAT ASSET
Fundamental Basis is the
Creation of Confidence on
Part of the Customers

George +. Reynolds gave an in
spiring talk on the ethics of depart
ment store merchandising before the
Rotary Club at the weekly luncheon
at the New Packer House today. Mr..
Reynolds gave his impressions of
forty-five years as a business man.
He declared that the only road to
success in business is the Golden
Rule. There were very few mer-
chants, however. who followed the
Golden Rule, lie said.
To follow the Gollen RUE is TO
promote confidence and character.
With these rs "A basis any business
can be a success. Mr.. Reynolds de-
plcred the fact that there is SO much
Misrepresentation in advertising.
"The biggest asset which any mer-
chant possesses is neither his mer-
chandise his bank account, his store
or any other thing" MIR. Reynolds
said. The real foundation of all
business consists of ideas and the
greatest and most valuable of these
ideas is the confidence which a mer-
chant inspires in his customers.
Libraries could be filled with
books showing the value of all these
things but not enough has been writ
ten about the value of inspiring con-
ldeEce in yourself on behalf of your
fellows.
in theory credit is extended in
business only when borrower can
give substantial and material secur-
ity. In practice the real basis of
credit is the character of the bor'
rover.
1t is true that merchant cannot
build a business 4 poor mereh@n>..se
bts it is as true that good merchan-
disc alone is not sufficient for sue
cess. As a matter OF fact, very few
people know the difference between
good and bad merchandise. What
they do know is that they have con-
fdence in one store and not in an
other, and that is based very often
unconsciously on the character of
the merchant which is also reflected
in the character of the people who
work for him.
Zone of the most striking and
dramatic illustrations of what this
power of inspiring confidence means
Is offered on a big scale today by
England.
IN the face of every conceivable
adverse circumstance English sterl-
ing has held near to par. With the
currency of every other country in
Europe, including even the money OF
nations not involved in the great
war, far below normal value and
with the political atmosphere filled
with alarming rumors and threats
Of huge disasters. the British SOW
ereign hold its own in value.
This situation cannot be explain
ed by any material reasons. England
is staggering under a debt so vast
that 1t will take generations to pay
It, The business men have shoul-
dered a load of taxation greater tl-an
that carried by the citizens of any
other country in the world; the
streets Of her cities are thronged
by hordes Of unemployed; her gold
reserves are almost trivial as com
pared with her obligations. In spite
of all these things England's credit
in the world is practically as great
as it was before the war and her
business men can obtain the aid of
American capital almost as readily
as Americans themselves.
THE secret of the whole situa-
ton is simply and solely confidence
The world has confidence in Eng
lands business men and England
business methods, because for cen
tlries they have given practical proof
that their word is their bond ana
that any obligation they undertake
will be performed.
But the confidence which ma
ton inspires is after all nothing as
compared to the sum of the con-
fidence earned by its individual busl-
ness mon. This great asset which
England possesses and which prom
ses to carry her safely through the
crisis which the war forced upon her
was created by her individual busi-
ness men, bankers and manufactur-
ers.
at is not too much to say that If
England business had been built
on a different tradition, England
could not have weathered the storm
which has shaken her political. So
cial and economic structure to its
Continued on Page y
No matter what car you own or think
.,urEn., a. mill vou IN Chevrolet