Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-20
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. G.. M.


Publicity is now profession, holding
definite place in the modern economic
structure, functioning therein as an
essential In the vast system Of ex-
changes that gather under the name OF
business.
Advertising is no longer makeshift
and spectacular ballyhoo. Instead, 1t
has become, in purpose, science Of In
vestigation in the field of trade. Its
than Sny other single enterprise could
hope, or desire, to cover. Since its
object is to attract as well as to in
struct, its method is largely artful, pic
torial in essence, bent upon prompt
seizure of general attention toward this
or that in the range of merchandise.
1t Is from the slightly point Of adver-
| advantage Of the practical and expert
enced advertiser, that Mr.. Phelps offers
this study Of buying and selling from a
recent survey Of that gigantic enter
| prise, as 1t exists within the United
| States at the present time.
| The story sets out with q snapshot
| Of the miracle that in the last quar-
ter-century has worked pretty general
| emancipation to every condition of life.
Within this minute of time, as time
runs, the machine has reached an
enormous efficiency, each machine do
ing the work of many men. Other
causes combined with this one have
lifted the worker to q wage easement
never before known. Money and COM
parative leisure have so changed life
that today the workingman lives as,
the earth even dreamed Of living. By
and large, general amelioration of the
poor mans lot has come through the
1 expansion Of industry, better wages,
clearer understandings, truer co-opera-
ton. Oh, no, not the millennium
not yet! Even yet the poor man far
outnumbers the one Of easy circum-
stance. Poet and preacher. moral pre-
cept and biblical admonition, are not
stance. Nevertheless, and this is the
point, the laborers Of the present are
clearly on the upgrade Of fair pros
perity.
This picture made, Mr.. Phelps draws
from 1t the fact that, by sheer weight
Of majorities alone, it is this eased-up
laboring man that, in bulk, constitutes
the biggest customer to those having
things to sell. He Is the great consumer
He is the meat Of the merchant of every
sort of ware. Such is the basic point Of
| study. From 1t various corollaries come
| forward for examination and trial. If
this workingman of easier pocket Is far
and away the chief instrument in the
movement of daily trade throughout the
land, why not still further advance the
means Of such movement? This is the
shopkeeper talking. He must look with
contentment upon cars and radios and
monographs, upon silk for the women
| from the skin out" upon watercraft
for the menfolks, upon excursions and
outings and fast Spinnings across the
continent itself.
The situation posts q few vital
| queries. Does the machine harm the
worker by taking away jobs from so
many? The author discusses this in
a most interesting manner We might
have thought out the answer for our
selves, but we didn't. Without ques-
ton the machine does release workers.
| Yet, every new industry. every advance
in those already established, opens UP
fresh pursuits which are calculated In
large measure to absorb the surplus
left over from machine efficiency. Taxis
and bus lines, filling stations, cleaning
and repair shops, wayside emergency
stations. the ubiquitous garage for rent,
the frequent roadway eating place
these point upon but few Of the in
| dustries that have sprung up around
the motor car alone. And so one might
| in keen interest follow out other ave-
| nueS OF employment that have risen
round the uSurpation that the machine
| IS now and then assumed to have made.
| The lesson Of adaptability Is having a
fine run here. A prime lesson 1t Is too.
| be stopped than the legendary jugger-
maui itself. Man must At himself to
| the new order. And that he can do
this, that he Is doing SO splendidly,
constitutes the accolade of his true man
hood, Of his true knighthood.
| But let us get back to Mr.. Phelps
and his questions. II the workingman
| is so large factor in the industrial
interests OF production and distribu-
tion-trade-why not make him an
even stronger one by the simple ex-
pedient Of adding to the larger wage,
the shorter day and the fve-day week,
securing more leisure in which to en-
| JOY life and spend money? Well, why
not? Along the same line, why hold
over the worker the terror of retire
ment while he Is at the height Of him
self? Why? And SO the queries run
beside the workingman In his estab-
customer" Rather materialistic in
outlook? Somewhat, but remember the
author Is examining the matter from o
single point Of view. Besides, am re-
! porting him q bit sketchily. At the
proper time views are given that in
| clude the whole wage Garner, not the
mere spender Of money.
Speaking Of trade, Mr.. Phelps moves
over to the tradesman himself, in a
straight discussion Of his part in the
business Of selling the worlds goods to
the worlds customers. What Is his at
titude toward them? What is his per-
sonal relation toward those who do the
Selling-toward the clerks? What Is
his theory Of credits" and what his
| method Of operation at this most SenSi-
tive point in trade?
The queries move up and down and
roundabout the point Of inquiry.
Among them, what about the modern
merger, the old trust" over which the
politician used to froth at its essential
iniquity? The merger Is here, by invi-
tation. What has become Of its hoofs
and horns and other insignia Of sheer
diabolism?
Read this spirited and timely book.
| It will not take you long. You don't
have to read novels all Summer, not
| quite. Having read, you will begin to
look around In new vision upon GER
tain vital matters. You will find your
self in = mood Of wakened concern
4 about that which Is very much your
own affair. You'll disagree now and
then. Not important. Thinking, a
little, Is good exercise even for Summer.
Better read "Our Biggest Customer"
| n \ X y
Word comes that that perennial book,
Progress and Poverty" Is about to
celebrate It's golden anniversary. Robert
Schalkenbach Foundation is issuing the
new edition Of this stormy petrol Of
| political theory.
The world has moved on within the
SO years that Progress and Poverty has
| been mellowing In the various currents
| of thought which have set In since its
day began. The gospel of Henry George