December 1930
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
561
W ith the P urchasing A gents When the advertising clubs of the world met at At lantic City, I was asked to make the opening address in the industrial section. Instead of taking the technical subject which was assigned to me, I thought it would be helpful to the men who were in the advertising game to call attention to the kind of men at the head of the con cerns where they expected to sell the goods which they were advertising. So I investigated purchasing agents a little bit and made this discovery: I found that not one of the great concerns that are spending millions (when the time comes to select the man for the tremendously import ant position of purchasing agent) goes to the Great White Ways, to the cabarets, to the poolrooms, to the race tracks, to the card tables, to the sporting places, or to other such resorts to get its man. In every case it goes to the church and Sunday-school. For example, the purchasing agent of the great Penn sylvania Railroad, Mr. Porcher, is active in the Episcopal Church. Another purchasing agent of the P. R. R., Mr. Grone, who has since gone into business for himself, is superintendent of a Christian Sunday-school in Philadel phia. The purchasing agent of the United States Steel Company, Mr, Millar, is a man who goes out and ad dresses religious gatherings. The purchasing agent of the Bethlehem Steel Company, Mr. Holton, is an elder in the Presbyterian Church and a teacher in the Sunday- school. The purchasing agent of the United Gas Improvement Company, Mr. Pearson, is a vestryman in the Episcopal Church, and his assistant, Mr. Hubbs, is a trustee in the First Presbyterian Church in Germantown. The pur chasing agent of “ Heinz, 57 Varieties,” Mr. Kober, teaches a Sunday-school class in the Methodist Church. The pur chasing agent of the International Harvester Company, Mr. MacDonald, is also an active Sunday-school man. Some time ago, I had Mr. A. C. Bedford, the head of the Standard Oil Company, to dinner with me, and we were discussing this very matter. I asked him how it was with the thirty-four subsidiaries of the Standard Oil Company. He replied, “ So for as I know, the same thin? holds true.” Up to the present time, I have not found a single large concern with a sporty, godless purchasing agent. I knew of one large concern, the very largest in its particu lar line, whose owner made the boast that he had every thing in his cellar fit for a man to drink. But when he came to select a purchasing agent, he selected a Baptist deacon. I asked him why he did not select one of his own kind. He said, “ That would not be good business.” A t B ryn M awr Some time ago, a professor of the Bryn Mawr W o man’s College broke into the newspaper with the state ment that eighty per cent of the scientific men of the country did not believe in the immortality of the soul. That is a highbrow way of saying, “ Have no religion.” I asked the President of the University of Pennsylvania,' himself a great scientific man, Dr. Edgar Fahs Smith, “ Is it true ?” He replied, “ The statement is ridiculous; pay no attention to it.” The leading doctors in this land are Christian men— the Mayos, of Rochester, Minn., and Dr. Kelley and Dr. Finney, of Baltimore. I wrote to the editor of the Philadelphia Ledger, in which the statement appeared, stating that, whether the claim of the Bryn Mawr professor was true or not, I
would like to call the Ledger’s attention to the fact that right alongside of the Bryn Mawr Woman’s College was the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. The men who were at that time officers of that church, who were men who made two blades o f grass grow where one grew be fore, and who gave employment to thousands and thous ands of the men who make the happy homes in and around eastern Pennsylvania, all believed in the immortality of the soul. As I write this article, Mr. Walter S. Gifford has been made president of the American Telephone and Tele graph Company. When I saw the announcement in the paper, as is my custom when a new man comes to the top, I wrote and asked him how about it. He replied, “ I was brought up in the Christian Church and am still a Christian.” ' Any young fellow who thinks it is smart to be profane, irreligious, and sporty simply “ breaks his merlassus jug,” as Uncle Remus would say. No man ever gets very far in this world to stay, who does not stand in with the Captain.
Many Ways to Bethlehem B y W illiam L uff Some come by revelation; They hear the angels sing. Some come by observation; A star their feet must bring. Some by illumination Are led to own the Lord; And some by inspiration, The reading o f God’s Word. But, be it star or angel, all Are led before the Christ to fall. Oh! stay not, soul, enchanted, To hear the angels’ song. Oh! stay not, lost in wonder, To watch the starry throng. Be not content to study The prophecies that tell O f Christ the coming Saviour, The Babe Immanuel: But, be it star or angel, thou Must in the Saviour’s presence bow. So, be it revelation — A song direct from heapn, Or be it observation — A star expressly given, Or be it inspiration — The holy written Word,
That leads to adoration O f the incarnate L ord :
I care not what the means may . be, I f thou art led God’s Christ to see.
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