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Show - COMMENTS - THE INDOMNITABLE SPIRIT OF AMERICANS Hv Leslie Davidson The indomnitable spirit of the American Ameri-can way of life accounts for the almost miraculous fight which (ieneral Arthur's troops are )uttinir up against numerically stronger Japanese forces on the island of Luzon; the fact that the American says such a thing can't lie done then proceeds, to do it is the one thing that the enemies of this country can't understand : it is a throw !ack to the old days of the pioneers who were confronted hv problems which would stump others simple bowed their necks and did the seeminglv impossible. Their father had it when thev carved this freedom-loving n ition ,,ur of a trackless desert; their parents h:u it when they braved the unknown terrors ot the western trek; that spirit may have lain dormant for a while but it crops out when thev are told by a treacherous toe to get out and" let them have the results of pioneering. The spirit of the Alan, is stiil ingrained in the soldiers of the L". S. and the will to do the impossible will ever come to the surface when the occasion arises. WHAT RETAILING IS DOING ohn I'. Nichols. Managing Director of the Institute of Distribution, has issui d a little booklet entitled. "With Chan Stores in" '41," which contains facts of direct lnter-st to everv American producer and consumer. The old hue and cry to the effect 'hat the chain stores are destroying the hide- (Continued on page 81 COMMENTS (Continued from page 1) pendents, is shown to he completely unfounded unfound-ed . 1933, independents did 71.3 per cent of the country's retail business. In 1935, thev did 73.3 per cent. In 1939, they id 74.7 per cent. There have been no significant changes since. In other words, the independent is not an incompetent. He is well able to take care of himself, and to present the chains with plenty (if healthy competition. American retailers, including' both independents inde-pendents ad chains have been a dominant factor in fighting- inflation. They have publicly pub-licly praised the Price Administrator Leon Henderson, who has said that in his belief they have been more acutely aware of the inflation problem than any other group. Thousands of retailers have publicly pledged themselves to do everything in their power to prevent speculation, profiteering and preventable price increases, and they have fulfilled those pledges to the letter. The retailers have been leaders in selling sell-ing Defense Stamps. Such sales are made, of course, without a penny of profit to themselves them-selves the money all goes to the Treasury. The retailers have put on extensive and successful promotional campaigns to move record quantities of basic farm products, of which milk and cotton arc outstanding examples. ex-amples. . This just touches a few highlights of retailing's achievements in the public interest. inter-est. In this war period, with priorities and scarcities and inflationary trends creating new problems for all the people, the soundness sound-ness of the open competitive system in retailing re-tailing is being proved as it never was before. |
