Ruml Plan for Macy's?'

One of the world's biggest department store chains last week promoted one of the world's biggest and best idea men. Into the board chairmanship of Manhattan's R. H. Macy & Co., Inc., went ebullient, 240-lb. Beardsley Ruml, father of the pay-as-you-go income tax, the Ruml-Sonne tax plan, etc., and longtime Macy treasurer.

Ruml's new assignment will be to deal with "policy matters"--meaning that Macy's wanted some Ruml plans of its own, and was giving him a chance to operate on a far broader scale than he could as treasurer. Even within these limits, Ruml has already thought up several plans for Macy's. Best known is his "Q-system" of accounting, which keeps tab on individual department gains, thus makes each department compete with every other.

There were preliminary rumblings that a Ruml plan for Macy's was already in the works. Those who have watched Macy's recent expansion (TIME, July 16) had a new rumor to buzz about. The rumor: Macy's is dickering to buy Chicago's Carson Pirie Scott & Co. Said Ruml waggishly: "We've been denying that report for two years. But you can look awfully silly if you print a denial and then two weeks later the contrary is announced."

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