a
bushel of corn: time is of no account in the transaction. A small
jobber located in the same territory as refiners buys a small amount of
sugar today and distributes it to his trade the next--time is
negligible. A large jobber, buying perhaps for several branch houses,
or located at points which necessitate a delay of two or three weeks in
transit, may find it necessary even on a declining market to purchase a
considerable amount of sugar, and, as a result, weeks may go by before
his sugar arrives and is sold--time is vitally important.

Time is an element in costs and prices, because over any extended
period of time many things may happen to influence costs and prices.

All business planning must deal with Time.

To the unenlightened business man, Time is a bugaboo--a gambler whose
cards are stacked and against whom there is no defense. Such a man
conducts his business from hand to mouth, in constant fear. He is a
fatalist, taking his profits and losses as if they were gifts or blows
of Fortune.

The enlightened man works with Time as an impartial, exacting,
inevitable power for his own good or ill. He shapes his actions and
enlists the services of Time to prevent catastrophe on the one hand,
and to enforce prosperity and happiness on the other. Storms may come,
but so far as his mind may control it, he is "the master of his fate."

Cost and Selling Prices

That the element of TIME is important in the jobber's business no one
will deny. He does not base his selling price on cost, but rather on
the market price. Regardless of his cost, he must sell to meet
competition. It is equally obvious that the larger his business, or the
greater his distance from the source of supplies, the more important
part TIME plays in both his cost and selling prices.

All jobbers, large or small, are obliged to assume greater risks (even
proportionately) and exercise greater care, than, for instance,
retailers buying in small quantities. A jobber's business may enlarge
by a perfectly natural process of expansion, but his purchasing risks
increase in greater ratio than his business expands.

Similarly, under abnormal conditions, jobbers located at points
requiring several weeks in transit prior to delivery, must assume
greater risks than those located at the source of supply. In the event
of serious delays in deliveries or in shipments, even buyers located at
shipping points are confronted with this problem, and the diffi