1931

My "Salesmanship" (?) in this column since becoming class secretary, trying to activate some of you into a little correspondence or even a little news-clipping forwarding service, has begun to pay off - thank goodness! Not to any great extent, mind you, but at least some of you have responded and it is a beginning, even though small - at least I'm encouraged. There's a pretty good axiom that those of us in sales or distribution work go by and that is the fact that in most instances twenty percent of your dealers or distributors will do about eighty percent of your business. That rule no doubt holds true with respect to the percentage that class secretaries can look forward to and that's the goal I'll shoot for and on that basis we should get good news coverage.

During the month of December my appeal for news was not only answered by more class members than in any other month but also by three Dartmouths from other classes. You have no idea what a wonderful shot-in-the-arm it gave me to get a most encouraging letter from a member of the class of 1907 who signed his name but who asked to be kept anonymous. For other members of '07 who might read this, his initials are E.B.B. and he lives in New. Jersey. God bless him and my sincere thanks for his taking time out to compliment me on my efforts with this column, to give me encouragement, to flatter me about my ability while playing football for the school, and to even remember my nickname of "Shep." With such a school spirit as this it's no wonder that world-wide the Dartmouth alumni body has such an outstanding reputation for loyalty to its alma mater whether it be the Fund Drive, a Memorial Drive, a Class Drive or any other activity that calls for concerted effort.

This is advice from someone who graduated from Dartmouth a year or two, in most instances, before we were born and it pleases me to quote from the letter as follows, "Your appeal to classmates in the December ALUMNI MAGAZINE seems to me to be the nicest such message that I have ever read. If the men of your class do not respond in large numbers then those in good health who do not do so do not deserve to have such a fine secretary." Please heed this advice from someone who has been around a long time and whose experience no doubt makes such advice much more authoritative than mine, but no more sincere than mine. Thanks a great deal, Mr. E. B.B.

Assistance from another "outsider" of the class of '18 comes from Ernie Earley. The only thing I didn't like in your letter, Ernie, were the words "remember me?" I not only remember you - I can't forget you! and for a very excellent and profitable reason. You have always operated around New York City and Brooklyn and since I was from Brooklyn each year while at school you always sent me a nice letter with a calendar which usually had the football schedule printed on it. You never met me during my four years in Hanover so you never knew what impression your letters were making on me (so I thought then, but you undoubtedly did know exactly what was going on). One of the first things I did after graduation, in fact it was the first week upon my return home from school, was to go to your office and ask you to give me an insurance policy - an act which has proven to be one of the smartest things I have ever done. Smart because it of course gave me the start in protection I needed, but smarter because it convinced me thoroughly that success in selling required a lot of foresight, planning and constant follow-through. I have been in sales work now, Ernie, for 28½ years, I have followed your example of advance preselling of ideas with the result that I have been successful in my work and my family has lived comfortably accordingly. For the lesson you either knowingly or unknowingly gave me, I thank you, and this is a heck of a long way of proving that I do "remember" you. Now that so many of us have sons who have graduated, who are now in college or who will be soon and many of of them no doubt will enter sales work in the forthcoming "Fabulous Fifteen Years" of our country's predicted economic growth, I suggest that you pass along this idea to them - it's been proven and it works. Ernie has rendered service to his class for twenty years in the secretary category - congratulations to the class of '18 and thanks again.

Ernie mentions that he had just "talked" with Bob Frederick - I'll wager anyone that when you "talk" to Ernie you'll wind up with a new policy one way or the other, so congratulations on extending your insurance program, Bob. "Bob's Vassar wife is getting her M.A. in speech, and then will go after some other degrees when their son is away at school." The moral to this news is as it should be, that education should never stop.

My plans for this column were to base it entirely around my pleasure at getting letters from members of other classes but then along came a nice note from Emily Hill with a Merry Christmas card which is a picture of the entire Charles B. Hill Jr. family and I just couldn't do anything but include it in this issue. The card will be sent along to the ALUMNI MAGAZINE with the hope that they can reproduce it for the column. The picture shows Emily and Charlie, thendaughter Emily (Smith '57) and her husband Tom (Princeton '58) and their two children Beth and Tommy (prospective Dartmouth '75, just imagine it)', and son C. B. Hill III who was at Dartmouth, class of '60, until his junior year, now '6l at Lake Forest College where he is doing honors work in his major, English. Emily says, "Read the class notes in midst of card writing, so thought I would send this from "The West" - have been in touch with the Mattesons (Lorene and Matty whose #1 sport is baiting Notre Dame fanatics) and Ellen and John H.Chamberlain." Johnnie recently was, and maybe still is, president of the Dartmouth Club of Central New York. The Mattesons and Chamberlains were together in Syracuse after the Cornell game.

The following is a suggestion to our wives - won't you please do as Emily has done and pitch in and help me keep this column of real interest to us all by sending me short notes about you, "the old man," your children as individual members or of the entire family. The effort is practically painless. I'll bet it didn't take Emily more than five minutes to do the nice thing she did in forwarding their Xmas wishes with the family photo and the short note (only ten (10) lines) but how helpful to the column. Please do so.

My only New Year's resolution is that I will do my best to keep the column alive for you if you will supply me with the material to make it possible - and again, may you all have a very healthy and wonderful 1961.

Secretary, 36 Shaw Drive, Wayland, Mass

Treasurer, 40 Water St., Boston, Mass.