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Show IP! anuLiol (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) AMERICA'S SMALL TOWN ND MERCHANDISING THIS TOWN is first of all a mar-cet mar-cet place. That is the foundation ipon which it is built. On that 'oundation of merchandising is also auilt the spiritual, cultural social itructure of the community. Take away the stores and with hem would soon go the churches, ichools and all those things which nake the town a desirable place in which to live, and a desirable place !or people of the farm homes to visit The influence of, and the advantages advan-tages offered by the town do not stop at the corporate limits. It is the :enter, the hub, of a community. Its spiritual, social and cultural in-luenoe in-luenoe extends into the farm homes. The people of those homes are a part Df the community of which the town is the hub. They, too, support its :hurches, its schools and its market place. They, too, are interested in its prosperity and advancement, and its continuance and improvement as 1 market place. Such improvement means increased convenience for them and increased values for their (arm acres. For this town, and all other American Amer-ican towns, the shortage of rubber that makes necessary the saving it tires, is not an unmixed evil. Ihere is less Inclination for the town's people or the farmers to travel trav-el longer distances to larger market centers. The trade of the community commu-nity is staying at home. The conditions con-ditions of today offer an opportunity tor tomorrow for the merchants of this and all other American towns. Buying that is now being done in local market places will continue after the war, provided all merchants mer-chants make the most of their opportunities. oppor-tunities. For them it means larger and more varied stocks of merchandise. merchan-dise. It means merchandising, instead in-stead of storekeeping methods. It means providing in home stores those things people have previously gone to larger centers to obtain. This and modern advertising methods in the home-town papers will keep the business of the community in the home-town market place. U. S. DEMOCRACY IN A DINING ROOM P. G. B. ("BUD") MORRIS Is a friend of many years' standing. He is English-born Stratford-on-Avon an A-l American citizen, who flew American naval planes in World War I. I was having dinner with him at the Arrowhead Springs hotel, of which he is manager, in the foothills foot-hills of the San Bernardino mountains moun-tains in southern California. It is a pretentious place, with bridle paths and saddle horses, golf courses and dinner coats, lavishly furnished lounges and spreading balconies. If located in Europe, such a place would be a rendezvous of wealth and the nobility. In America it is a rendezvous ren-dezvous of democracy. I asked "Bud" to tell me who some of his guests in the dining room were. There was an Iowa farmer and his wife; a merchant and his wife from a small Nebraska village; a United States army colonel; the head of one of the great packing concerns of Chicago with his wife and her friend; a country doctor from Pennsylvania; a New York society leader and her daughter; daugh-ter; a private from a nearby army camp and his mother, and so on. The men were all gentlemen, the women all ladies not by class but by instinct. They were all eating in the same dining room, all selecting their choice of food from the same menu, all paying the same price. There was no thought of class distinctions. dis-tinctions. They were all Americans. Such a gathering in such a place could be found in but few countries outside of America. Because it can happen here is what makes America tick, what makes us love this land of ours and its Institutions; what makes us fight for its preservation preserva-tion as a land of opportunity. CONGRESSIONAL POLITICS IN WAR TIME THAT THE minority lobbyists at Washington, who threaten timid members of congress with a loss ol votes for any infraction of the lobbyists' lob-byists' demands, do not represent any considerable number of voters is illustrated by the result of national na-tional polls. A congress that is more interested in winning votes than in winning a war should note that 93 per cent vote for legislation that would force labor unions to register with the federal government and report their receipts and expenditures. expendi-tures. It should note that approximately approxi-mately 75 per cent oppose the 40 hour week and demand at least 48 hours before overtime is paid. LABOR'S DIVIDEND OUT OF A NATIONAL INCOME of 100 billion dollars, 74 billion-74 billion-74 per cent-will this year go to labor. la-bor. That is labor's dividend from the business of America a fai greater percentage than can be found in any other country on the globe. It includes all labor-mechanical, clerical, professional, farm, mine and factory. Out of it laboi pays taxes, just as out of the 4 pel cent that goes to capital it must paj taxes and out of. the receipts to in dustry it, too, must pay taxes. 1 |