Show PAY CHECK RAVE HAVE GREATER POWER TH N YEAR AGO 1 J C Penney founder of the J JC C Penney Co lone one of the largest chum m store o oi amz of oC the country speaking before the tho Kl- Kl ams club in 10 I Brooklyn rooklyn Business atthe the present time IS goin going to the men or organizations which aie ale most moat t completely ly adapt adapt- ing day oay con conditions Just as the economist starts in- in insisting in insisting that the world must be re Ie rebuilt bUilt in m general because there IS no more business and noay no way ay to put life into what little there IS left someone comes along with the Express Eugenic Eugenie hat and the hat making centers of the country go on a t twenty enty four hour a day schedule I i The wool industry listens to ItS own obituary read to it by de- de despairing de despairing workers in its 0 own n field and then designers begin to call for wool in 10 dresses The wool cen centers centers tel'S start buzzing with activity and there sc seems ms to be plenty of money to buy their output The designers who created the theE E Express press Eugenic Eugenie hats and those who devised de wool dresses that pleased public fancy were doing in 10 their own fields just what our StOl stoic e man gers were doing in 10 I ourI theirs when hen they put then theu finger fingel on the pulse of local demands In their communities I There Thele were wele melch ints in 10 every locality who ho were ere doing outstanding I m mg jobs in 10 then their community And back of these jobs was as always posItive evidence that such mel mel- chants mei-chants chants had put their fingers on the pulse of the present situation Recent figures used to discuss the present economic situation re resealed sealed the fact thit th there are around people employ employed employed ed edIn in gainful occupations in 10 this country at the present time If each of these people were ere to spend one dollar a day mOl more e than tb they y are spending at atthe atthe atthe the present In time the entire shrink shrinkage shrinkage age in 10 trade v s shown in 10 year yearly I ly yearly 1 retail etall sales volume since the thestal I stal start t of the present slump in buy buy- buying buying ing would be In spending this extra dollar a da clay dav those who ho are at present employed ed would be bettering their own jobs and making new jobs for those who al are aie e at present unemployed unemployed unemployed One dollar in cn circulation IS WOl worth th about four hidden away in 10 inthe inthe the mattress or or in 10 the sugar bowl The s start rt of the present situ tion bon tion came not Lin in the fact that we wew wew w ere spending too many dollars but that we were ere getting too lit lit- little little lit little tle for foi what we we were spending The scales of values were ere not w rIght richt As As a nation mitlon we e have become unreasonably acute to statements which suggest fm further ther hard haid hal d times We We lead read that w ge scales In certain industries are being cut do don n ten per cent But we do not read that the things which the wages ages will be spent for have been cut in 10 many Instances instances from flom tw- tw twenty twenty tw twenty enty per cent Ito to forty pel per cent that in 10 many ninny of the essential lines of merchandise the prices today are less than they have been at any time since 1914 It is 15 impossible for us to eat our cake and have bave it at the same time f If my pa pay check is ten per cent less than it v as for foi the same month last y ear hoIS how ho is its pur purchasing purchasing chasm chasing power reflected in 10 what I pay for rent food food clothes My My pay check is in 10 terms of Its purchasing power powel seven per per- percent percent per percent cent greater than Ital it wag al last year 5 Out of that seven per cent net increase I can contribute to mal mak making mg jobs for other other people I can use it to dota do to a little buying of things that are being offered tome to tome me me mc un at iU at I J i afford un iU J t Jan If I am saving saving seventeen per percent percent percent cent on the average arage a rage on the things I buy wise b buying at the present time will pay me roe better than hoard hoarding hoarding ing my money money at low interest re- re re turns returns The greatest contribution to the common good food which we wo as merchants can make will come not from our donations to charity which in 10 its effect on the public welfare elfare is a asS passive e force but from our conti contribution to public toM confidence e Our present pres situation is not being helped b by bv the many new and ingenious methods which are arc being found to Impose impose increasing ta tax burdens burdens ta S These burdens are me already threatening to encroach themselves themselves ves the retail f the country which is carr ln carrying a sufficiency large load lond at the pres- pres present present pres present ent time t Excesses oa have base C in some cases followed the Imposition of taxes upon retail c selling The gasoline ta tax in 10 most Stites has reached the th figure of se seven seven en cents a gallon gallon-a gallon tax of 40 percent on the basic re- re retail retail tail retail price of the he gasoline Any Any move ent at the present time which sill v ill impose a d penalty pen on the effort of any retail or organ organ- organization organization an- an which s sincerely and gen gen- genuinely tr trying mg to render the service of oC distribution of oC the necessIties of life liCe on a basis of true tl oe economy is a thrust at ho sery vcr er forces from fron- which will come the revised and rejuvenated buss bUSI business ess life liCe of the country Its ultimate result can be only I to depress J JI I Taxes will produce Jobs J i Taxation will not save the incompetent I merchant against his own incompetence Jobs will produce I increasing revenues from taxes based on solid foundation Jobs will III produce more and more busi busI- busIness busi- busi business business ness for the merchant As in 10 the past the leadership which will restore public confidence confidence confidence dence on which the prosperity of this country is based will come not from the high places but from the pooled activities of all of us who are trying to do a areal areal areal real job under trying conditions |