ARE TIMES AS BAD AS THEY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 441, 5 December 1930, Page 8

ARE TIMES AS BAD AS THEY

Are they! Without, doubt they could be better but are. they as desperate as all this pessimistic talk and suggestion would have us believe them to bet Just let us consider the facts. We have a wonderful country, capable of producing not only as much as it has done in the past, but infinitely more. We arc not suffering from a drought; no plague of any kind has been inflicted on our flocks or crops. We are not at war with anyone.

•So much for the national or general aspect. The trader and the man in the street may say “Yes, that’s all very well, but what about the incidence of all this depression on the people’s pockets—the final agent or link in the ■chain of merchandising? In other words how is the volume of sales to be maintained with all this unemployment and other adverse effects ■consequent upon the present depressed state of affairs?” Admittedly unemployment is very real and is to be deplored. But while it is silly to blind oneself to it. no good will come from letting its seriousness overcoud or obscure the happier side of the picture. Make no mistake, there is a happier, a more rosy side. Just let us have a good look at it. First of all, despite all this talk of depressed conditions. slackening of trade, unemployment, etc., there arc literally thousands anil thousands of people profitably engaged and profitably employed. All these are buying food, clothing, articles for the house, toilet necessaries, lighting and heating requisites, and in many cases, even luxuries. Christmas, too. with its festivities, glamour and greater urge toward spendin -. is no distance away. All those things which have just been enumerated will be sought for and purchased on an even larger scale than at presentHere is a large prospective field on which to draw. Why not go after it? Why not put a little more effort into the job of capturing the biggest share possible? It can’t be expected to come of its own volition to the door of any one trader oven in the best of times. However just as this trade can be influenced and directed w’hen conditions are good so can it be won even at this particular period. Courage and faith are all that are needed.

So far, so good. Tf we admit the fact that conditions are not so bad as we believed them to he and having realised that this large, profitably-en-gaged and profitably-employed field is awaiting courageous exploration, w r hat are the best means from which to obtain results? Theories at :• time like this are of little avail- What is needed is practical methods and. shorn of all prejudice what is there more likely to bring results than advertising? No amount of argument can alter or refute this- Tn plain English, the people must be told about the goods which manufacturers have to sell. They must be attracted and persuaded to buy those goods not so much because of the good a trader personally may derive from any sales so effected, but. because of the value the people themselves will gain from such purchases. From Whatever angle the problem may be viewed, the fact stands clear that advertising is the most potent force at the command of the manufacturer* for inducing sales. This holds true whether it be for breaking new ground or for sales which through depression or other causes, have become anaemic.

Summed up. it is only plain commonsense to believe that increased business can be secured by any firm even at lhe present time, provided the commodity is worthwhile and will live up to the claims made for it. Finally, the collective and cumulative result of many individual efforts toward increased business will assist tremendously in solving the problem of unemployment—the greatest disturbing factor of present conditions.