worried, and thoroughly discouraged. We have had a meeting of the Razor Company this morning and we are at the end of our rope," or words to that effect. He said, “That’s too bad. I have been much pleased with the razor; I have used it ever since you gave it to me, and I think it’s fine, and if it were put on the market it should make money." I said I thought so too, but I could see no prospect of securing the necessary money to keep the business alive. Before we were through our lunch Mr. Joyce, who had been thinking, said: "King, I’ll go into the razor on certain conditions. If your Company will issue $100,000 worth of 8% bonds, I will agree to buy these bonds if the Company will sell them to me at 60 cents on the dollar, and will issue with each bond an equal amount of stock of the Company. I will agree to buy the bonds in lots of 5000 as the Company needs money, and will reserve the right to refuse to furnish more money after I have paid in $30,000, if the progress made does not in my judgment warrant further investment." I said, "When will you do this, Mr. Joyce?" He said, "At once—after you have called your Board of Directors together and they pass the necessary resolutions to protect me, and assure me that they will accept my proposition and arrange for the bond issue."
I left Mr. Joyce, went to Mr. Sachs' office and by phone called a meeting of the Board, and within an hour I had them together, the necessary resolutions were passed, copies subscribed to by members of the Board, and I was on my way to Mr. Joyce’s office to secure his approval, and if possible close the transaction then and there, with the result that I went from Mr. Joyce’s office with a check in my pocket sufficient to meet all our pressing obligations and permit the continuance of our experiments.
The continuation of this highly interesting article will be found in the March issue of "The Gillette Blade."
Gillette News Items
January 15th, a cable order was received from the Gillette Company in Paris for 50,000 razors and 800,000 dozen blades for our Italian Agency and the Y.M.C.A. in Italy.
January 15th, the Directors declared a dividend of $1.75 per share payable March 1, 1918, to shareholders of record January 80, 1918.
The best wishes of this organization are with our employees who are now serving in the trenches, many of whom are under the command of Capt. McCarthy of the 101st Inf.
Elbert Hubbard wrote, "Initiative is the ability to do the right thing without being told. Next to doing the right thing without being told, is doing it when told once."
