Western Voice
2010-03-04 19:41:45 UTC
Tesco: An Age-Old Multicultural Problem
In older England the merchant class had many easy-going traditions.
One tradition was that a respectable tradesman would never seek
business but wait for it to come to him. Another tradition was that to
decorate one's store window with lights or colors, or to display one's
stock of goods attractively in the view of the public, was a
contemptible and underhanded method of tempting a brother tradesman's
customers away from him. Still another tradition was that it was
strictly unethical and unbusinesslike to handle more than one line of
goods. If one sold tea, it was the best reason in the world why he
should not sell teaspoons. As for advertising, the thing would have
been so brazen and bold that public opinion would have put the
advertiser out of business. The proper demeanor for a merchant was to
seem reluctant to part with his goods.
One may readily imaging what happened when the Jewish merchant bustled
into the midst of this jungle of traditions. He simply broke them all.
In those days tradition had all the force of a divinely promulgated
moral law and in consequence of his initiative the Jew was regarded as
a great offender. A man who would break those trade traditions would
stop at nothing! The Jew was anxious to sell. If he could not sell one
article to a customer, he had another on hand to offer him. The Jews'
stores became bazaars, forerunners of our modern department stores,
and the old English custom of one store for one line of goods was
broken up. The Jew went after trade, pursued it, persuaded it. He was
the originator of "a quick turnover and small profits." He originated
the installment plan. The one state of affairs he could not endure was
business at a standstill, and to start it moving he would do anything.
He was the first advertiser — in a day when even to announce in public
prints the location of your store was to intimate to the public that
you were in financial difficulties, were about to go to the wall and
were trying the last desperate expedient to which no self-respecting
merchant would stoop.
It was as easy as child's play to connect this energy with dishonesty.
The Jew was not playing the game, at least so the staid English
merchant thought. As a matter of fact he was playing the game to get
it all in his own hands — which he has practically done[..]
The Jew in Character and Business, by Henry Ford (of car fame)
http://www.jrbooksonline.com/Intl_Jew_full_version/ij01.htm
In older England the merchant class had many easy-going traditions.
One tradition was that a respectable tradesman would never seek
business but wait for it to come to him. Another tradition was that to
decorate one's store window with lights or colors, or to display one's
stock of goods attractively in the view of the public, was a
contemptible and underhanded method of tempting a brother tradesman's
customers away from him. Still another tradition was that it was
strictly unethical and unbusinesslike to handle more than one line of
goods. If one sold tea, it was the best reason in the world why he
should not sell teaspoons. As for advertising, the thing would have
been so brazen and bold that public opinion would have put the
advertiser out of business. The proper demeanor for a merchant was to
seem reluctant to part with his goods.
One may readily imaging what happened when the Jewish merchant bustled
into the midst of this jungle of traditions. He simply broke them all.
In those days tradition had all the force of a divinely promulgated
moral law and in consequence of his initiative the Jew was regarded as
a great offender. A man who would break those trade traditions would
stop at nothing! The Jew was anxious to sell. If he could not sell one
article to a customer, he had another on hand to offer him. The Jews'
stores became bazaars, forerunners of our modern department stores,
and the old English custom of one store for one line of goods was
broken up. The Jew went after trade, pursued it, persuaded it. He was
the originator of "a quick turnover and small profits." He originated
the installment plan. The one state of affairs he could not endure was
business at a standstill, and to start it moving he would do anything.
He was the first advertiser — in a day when even to announce in public
prints the location of your store was to intimate to the public that
you were in financial difficulties, were about to go to the wall and
were trying the last desperate expedient to which no self-respecting
merchant would stoop.
It was as easy as child's play to connect this energy with dishonesty.
The Jew was not playing the game, at least so the staid English
merchant thought. As a matter of fact he was playing the game to get
it all in his own hands — which he has practically done[..]
The Jew in Character and Business, by Henry Ford (of car fame)
http://www.jrbooksonline.com/Intl_Jew_full_version/ij01.htm