SELLINGLUMBER 167 



'World's business men can do nothing more for the happiness and 



prosperity of the world. A goodly number of the more efficient 



of the world's builders are already dead in the trenches, and an 



equal number will soon lie dead beside the others. The majority 



of those remaining abroad are likewise dead and buried buried in 



bad business hopelessly burdened by the blight of the war. The 



world's progress, the world's prosperity, the world's happiness, has Th ? Oppor- 



suddenly been thrust into the keeping of the American Salesman. Century * 



The American Salesman is the MAN OF THE HOUR. The 



whole world's fortunes are at the disposal of you and of me. 



You and I, if we are only willing to be aggressive, have the 



greatest opportunities at this moment that have lain in the paths 



of men for just one hundred years. 



In this connection I like to think about and remind my friends 

 how it has been just exactly one hundred years since opportunities 

 identical with our own were wonderfully capitalized by a young 

 salesman, who, in the perfect spirit of Salesmanship, through 

 extraordinary aggressiveness, moulded a golden career out of 

 opportunities identical with those confronting you and me at this 

 hour. 



It was toward the middle of June, in the 1 year 1816, exactly 

 one hundred years ago. Napoleon had been banished to Elba, 

 but suddenly he was reported returning like a conquering hero. 

 His magnetic name was rolling back opposition before him as the 

 sun dissipates the clouds. The business world was in a tumult 

 of terror. Business men stood paralyzed. Doubt and dread reigned 

 everywhere. Every man's mind was a question mark. Would 

 Napoleon do again what he had done before? Would he trample * 

 cities beneath his inconsiderate feet and parcel out the people and 

 the lands among his favorites? England was shaken to its center. 

 The Corsican Emperor had sworn, just as today another emperor 

 has sworn, that Britain should be, humbled. Business the whole 

 world over was dead. The banks were not loaning a dollar. Many 

 had closed and refused to honor the checks of depositors. People 

 with money were hoarding it. Warring nations were appropriating 

 all available moneys to advance their offensive measures, peaceful 

 nations \vere appropriating funds to strengthen their defensive 

 plans, but for business there was no money to be had. Govern- 

 ment bonds had dropped to 55, and the English loan at 8 per cent 

 had met with only a few straggling applications. Such were the 

 conditions exactly one hundred years ago. While other men stood 



