◆ SpookStack

wee tnd boy ee terme ee Fs. “ if 2 ” Housewares are important to Ameriod, they always have been, I hope they always will be. Housewares are important, even to victory. We must all do the best we oan, must substitute, must improvise and must carry on and quit “bellyaching". ‘It will not help to quit or give up or lay down on our respective jobs. You will do less business in 1942 than you did in 1941, You had best mke a larger mark-up to pay your increasing overhead, Our firm is rapidly bring our pricing policy to a point where we can allow a full and satisfactory margin to our key accounts. The manufacturer who "cuts" your diseount today is doing you a grave disservice, when your costs are mounting against the possible restriction of sales due to rationing or to some equivalent, Beh & Company wants to tell you that we are selling our merchandise to our regular department store and jobbing accounts exactly as we always have done. We have not solicitated nor accepted any new and large catalog or chain store business. Neither - " have we sold the hundreds of premium, chain, furniture and "schlag” houses who are coming in to see us in droves, both here at the Housewares Show in Chicago, and in our New York office. We are not, have not and will not sell the second story “dia- count houses" that you so justly complain of (and about which you do nothing). All our items are for your counters and for the shelves of our other established and key accomts. We have, to date, filled 90% of your orders complete. We are still doing so and oan continue, we feel, longer than the average of your resources. May I say, also, that wood products are becoming scarce and will shortly be as difficult to obtain, perhaps as steel. To those who say "how come?" and add "the camps are all built", I reply, the oamps have not even been started as yet and relatively speaking, of course, A concrete case is the cancelling of 21 cars of lumber due us at the present time. Another 3 cars of Southern pine also suddenly taken by government priorities and only last week, Do not believe that the government will freeze your legitimate stocks of normal housewares, nor any items therein. Freezing of automobile stocks has no bearing on housewares, Naturally with auto production stopped, cars on hand must not be “gobbled up” by those with ready cash in their jeans, but must, in all sonscience, be rationed, if that be the right word, but of course "sold" to those individuals and firms whose service to the public most urgently requires new transportation. No car dealer will have his cars requisitioned or will lose his investment as the appeasers are apt to "whisper", Rumor mongering, cursing the government, damigg Roosevelt, .daming England; apologiz- ing for Hitler, condeming the Catholics, "God-daming" the Jews, all will not help us_win this war. Let us stop these dangerous, if unoonscious fifth columnists, Thank you} pic