JOSEPH L. PRESS

Traveling Chef of the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

The following is a paper
written by Mr. Press and
read before the National
Business League at Tus-
kegee Institute, Alabama:

PUBLIC DEMANDS IN FOODS

Mr. President, Officers and Members of the National
Negro Business League.
Ladies and Gentlemen:—

To say the least, I was profoundly stirred by the very kind invitation to
address this splendid organization at its Annual Convention. I was likewise
as profoundly perplexed as to the whys and wherefores of this invitation, for
public speaking is not an accomplishment by which I am best known among
friends, acquaintances and that portion of the general public with which I have
to frequently deal, and I would most certainly have declined the invitation, were
it not for the fact that the subject which I have been asked to discuss is one
which, because of the nature of my life's work, makes to me a singularly strong
appeal, and the further fact that out of the richness and variety of experiences
I have been privileged to have, it is just possible I may be able to say some word
that may prove helpful to some whose problems are not wholly different from
many I have had to meet and solve. If in the course of this brief address, I
should seem to draw rather heavily upon these personal experiences, regard it
not as an evidence of egotism, but regard them rather as my very own, and for
that reason, have full confidence in their realty and value.

You have all, no doubt, given much study and attention to trends in modern
business, from the gigantic corporations with their vast aggregations of brains,
capital and skill, on down through the lesser ones to the individual corner store
wherein its proprietor must be a combination of all the qualities enumerated for
the corporations plus the hired man of all work. If you have thought along these
lines you must have noted that one of the most outstanding trends in business
conduct is the attitude of business organizations toward Pleasing the Public, the
ultimate purchaser of all our output, whether these be products of forest, field,
mines, the sea, the factory, the foundry, the brain, our services, or what not; of
not only meeting this public's just demands, but actually anticipating and creat-
ing new desires for the ultimate in service and satisfaction.

As we have all come a long way from the days of the Tweed Ring in our
greatest American city, when the general policy in both business and politics was
"The Public be Damned." Today everywhere the slogan is "The Public be
Pleased." And it matters not whether the organization be large, or whether it
be small; it makes no difference whether it operates in this field, or whether it
operates in that; the principles which must govern in having it meet the public's
demands are the same. And we who sell this public, whether it be material
product or skilled services need to understand and apply these principles if we
are to have its generous approval.

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