124 SELLINGLUMBER 



Character Judging as a 

 Business Asset 



By Dr. Stanley L. Krebs 



Institute of Mercantile Art 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



I was thinking of a series of firsts. I expect this is the 

 first time such a meeting has been held. This is the first time 

 that I have faced such a convention with the particular purpose 

 A Combina- back of it that you have ; and this is probably your first-time con- 

 "Firsts" tact w i tn mv specialty, or work, which I am pleased to call, prac- 

 tical or applied psychology, or the mind working out the thing for 

 the hand and the feet to do, and doing it. And in this combina- 

 tion of firsts, Mr. Chairman, I feel a little bit like telling you an 

 anecdote of Sam Jones' I knew Sam well. I lectured in Carters- 

 ville, Georgia, and was entertained in his beautiful home there. I 

 was thinking of something that happened to Sam in Dallas, Texas, 

 and he always loved to tell us about it. In Dallas he was holding 

 revival meetings, and he was trying to make the point that there 

 was no such thing as a perfect organization. He said, there is no 

 perfect government; there is no perfect secret society, lodge or 

 fraternity; there is no perfect church denomination; there is no 

 perfect school, college or university; there is no perfect firm or 

 company ; there is no perfect family, said Mr. Jones, because, he 

 said, there is no perfect individual, and since each of the organiza- 

 A Surprise ^ ons or com Psites are made up of pieces, or parts known as 

 for Sam individuals, and those individuals are all imperfect in some parti- 

 Jones cular or another, you can't expect a perfect thing when you have 

 got a bunch of imperfect pieces to make up that thing. He 

 challenged his audience ; he asked them, w-as there a man present 

 who was an absolutely perfect man, and if there was, let him 

 rise in his seat; and he paused and looked around, but not a man 

 dared to accept a challenge like that. Then he turned to the ladies 

 and said, if there is a woman present who is acquainted with an 

 absolutely perfect woman, let her rise in her place; and to Sam's 

 intense astonishment a demure little woman, clothed all in black, 

 arose in the middle of the audience, folded her arms and looked at 

 him. Well, when Sam could get his breath he said : "Sister, are you 



