Page 22 - Past Presidents' Club Book 1

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have been in force, some of them for many years, and there is not
one of those local organizations today where its members would
disrupt it if thev could. Why? In Cincinnati the different members
of the trade have been getting together and getting acquainted.
They are all human. When, we first got together we did not
have much confidence in what might be done. We got together
and agreed to do certain things for a week. Think of it, for a
week! After that week had gone by, the results were so satisfac­
tory that we tried it for another week, and so the weeks have gone
on, and when that Association had been in existence one year, the
question was asked as to whether it siioiild be continued. One
of the members said “The best answer I can give you to that
question is that in making the comparison between this year and
the year previous I find my profits have increased several thous­
and dollars.”
Now, I do not think that the cities that have done this, and
have accomplished so much are any better or any more able to
do those things than other cities that have not, and I hope when
we leave this Convention that every member here who has not
a local organization, or an Association of some kind at home,
will go to his home with the firm determination to establish one.
If they will do it, when we meet again a year hence I am sure
that every one who will try the experiment will find, it will not
only he very pleasant but extremely profitable, Gentlemen, I
thank you. (Applause).
P resident S t ro n g: I want to stand just as well as I can with
Mr. Fern ley, of the National Hardware Association, and with
that end in view I will ask Mr. McIntosh to give us a few remarks.
Mr. Mt Tntosii : First, I want to endorse what Mr. Puchta
has said. I think he has covered everything that I could saw I
want to congratulate you on your growth in the year, or in the
eight months you have been running.
Our company has been a member of the National Hardware
Association since its organization twelve years ago. I have seen
it grow from a struggling infant to the strongest trade organiza­
tion in the world.
If you will have patience with the officers of this organiza­
tion, and render them assistance, as is your duty, they will bring