Better Sellers

AMERICAN PROSPERITY: ITS CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES--Paul. M. Mazur--Viking Press ($2.50).

The Theme. In his "explanation" the author, a smooth-faced banker of the Wall Street house of Lehman Bros., confesses: "I have not proven prosperity, though I think others have. . . . You will discover among other things that I believe in exaggeration in advertising; and since a title has largely an advertising function to fulfill, I believe there is some justification in my exaggerated title."

Fortunes have been lost in advertising--but not when the product is as sound and as timely as Mr. Mazur's book.

His theme is simple, incredibly simple, even when put into academic formulae (which he does not use).

The U. S. owes its present prosperity chiefly to mass production methods. Ergo mass production must be maintained.

Stimulation of customers' constant cravings for products, by increased advertising and selling effort, is the way to keep mass production humming. Ergo more selling effort, more advertising, more style changes--more sales cost.

Selling price depends on production cost plus sales cost. Competition does not permit the raising of the selling prices. Ergo either production cost or sales cost must be reduced.

But selling cost must be increased, as stated above. Ergo reduce production cost.

But production cost is already as low in a particular industrial unit as is feasible under present conditions. Ergo merge industrial units and thereby effect economies otherwise impossible.

Merge not only productions units. Merge also raw material units, selling units, consumers' units. Merge them sidewise--like with like--horseshoe maker with horseshoe maker. Merge them up and down--coal miner, iron miner, pig iron founder, horseshoe forger, blacksmith, teamster. Merge them round and round--blacksmith, nail maker, harness maker, feedman, stableman, veterinarian, buggy maker, cabby.

The first phalanxes are already merging into formation. And what a fight there will be when one huge phalanx starts stepping on another phalanx's toes! Automobile v. billiard table (go out and play v. stay home and play). Apartment v. baby carriage (a baby cannot be taken for a ride on a roof). Meat v. vegetable (doctors disagree). Radio v. crossword puzzle.

What to do with too much calls for as great courage and acumen as what to do with Mother Hubbard's cupboard. Mr. Mazur draws a comparison: "Europe's problem is that of the man whose farm and workshop have been destroyed and whose family demands the prime necessities, food, shelter, and clothing; whereas America's problem is that of the potentate who must not only maintain but even increase the magnificence of his palace and whose family demands all the furbelows and gewgaws that had once been luxuries but have now become necessities."

The Significance. Let a man mention prosperity in the U. S. today, and 20,000,000 people will cry "myth," while 100,000,000 will cry: "Isn't it grand!" Mr. Mazur takes prosperity for granted, though he admits that it contains a few dark spots. Keen in his own perceptions, he writes in a style that is easy and pleasant to grasp. He gives this booming country better advice than can be found in a fifty-foot shelf of the works of eminent boosters.

The Author is at that early middle stage of Wall Street power where he dry-washes his hands with dignity. Aged 35, Harvard graduate of 1914, he has also written a book, Principles of Organization Applied to Modern Retailing, which had a large effect on department store management.