Volume 16 , Issue 38

Five Minute Sermon On Optimism (1914)

Today is not the only era that was needing a "Five-minute sermon on Optimism." We can go back to 11 November 1914, on the front page of The Seattle Star, top of the page, where we found this article concerning "A Five-minute Sermon on Optimism."

It begins . . . "We talked with a second av. merchant today. His face was long, there was a sob in his throat, and his heart was filled with gloom. 'Take it from me,' he groaned, 'this town has committed suicide. What with the breweries closing down, and thousands upon thousands of working men being thrown out of employment, Seattle is certainly up against it.'

"Honestly, the man had us scared. 'How many men,' we asked him, 'will be thrown out of work when all five breweries have been closed down?'

'I haven't the exact figures,' he replied. 'Thousands and thousands. Ten thousand, maybe; perhaps more.'

"We looked up hat the industrial commission had to say on October 24, 1914. We discovered in the report that the Seattle brewing & Malting Co. employ 375 workers and drivers the Independent Brewing Co., 25; the Hemrich Brewing Co., 22; the Clausen Brewing Co., 20, and the Washington Brewing Co., 4 -- making a total of exactly 446 workers and drivers! An estimate for office help, collectors, branch managers and the like, might bring the total to 600. This does not include men engaged in the retail trade.

"We went back to the Second Av. merchant and told him how his 'thousands and thousands' had dwindled. It put so much heart into him that when next he went behind the counter to wait upon a grumpy customer, he made a big sale.

"If we know anything about the psychology of salesmanship, that customer would have gone away without buying anything, but for the merchant's new-found optimism."   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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