Y ‘we ae St ‘ cae or { . ‘ | > a at A v RSSSERERRESERG (| & A =D - ‘ - pee Pate cemrence — oe j ~ PZZBANE AE SSH Ns WES nS > Z eo wre ene KG SLY? << << a2 y) y CANT FZ = ©) , J Y CEN, pm Ws —< a yy 5 CEN AO a =a Th foal rn : ee eS NO ISIE Ove Rg Ss NE GRE a rs a AG ma aq Us ye Pon hw: err ae ee LAT: nd Re A SS SA ee al Oe ye Ae] ee LO BK a + Detroit, Mich. } + oli i i tes + : Are the Best Investment yi seca r : eS which you can make F. E. BUSHMAN, Manager : of = + Teererererrerreretererterttrretrretererererteretttets ee Pe of EGG ‘ i] |? Start the New Century Right . / 7 : by sending us an order. : Baking ae : Walsh-DeRoo Milling Co., Holland, Mich. . $ : | ©OOO0OOO 000000006 00004060 000000000 00000000 00000000 mE QQLVND BLBLLILILILLIILILILLILILILIL LILI ILILIX [? owder ee + Merchants Attention! ‘ If you want a BOOKKEEPER, STENOGRAPHER, Or first-class office assist- oe of any kind, address the Michigan Business and Normal College, Battle Creek, THE GORED OX BELLOWS. How fiercely our jealous competitors have been attacking EGG BAKING PowbDER in the local papers lately. They wouldn't try to bother us unless they saw their trade going—going—al- Mich. None but thoroughly competent help recommended. No charge for our part of the work, and our students give universal satisfaction. They are trained for business. TOSS SSSSTSTSS SSCS SC SCOUS most gone in this State! ; a e , There is a | ] mMm eC NO ALUM 3 in Egg Baking Powder. It is fe e@ like the beaten whites of eggs. , A C C O ul n { FR l | e z For terms address our nearest office. fi Z j Home Office, 830 West street, New York. _ Western Office. 523 Williamson BI’dg, Cleveland. Branch Offices: A quick and easy method of —_——— a it H Cincinnati ‘ort Wayne i , a Grand Rapids Columbus keeping your - accounts. Es pecially handy for keeping ac- “1 > count of goods let out on ap- i. } proval, and for petty accounts with which one does not like to ' encumber the regular ledger. By using this file or ledger for -» \ charging accounts, it will save one-half the time and cost of keeping a set of books. . { ’ Charge goods, when purchased, directly on file, then your cus- tomer’s bill is always ready for him, and «& can be found quickly, ‘on account of the = | ae bk special index. This = | . saves you looking over several leaves of a day book if not posted, | when a customer comes in to pay an account and you are busy wait- M ‘(a B i sy N E ) 3 a. a Grand Rapids. nd Capital and Brains These attributes are essential to a grocer in transacting business, yeanesceeteeceas? * Wei etict oe nee but to GET ALL YOUR PROFIT and economize your time it is . ” necessary to secure a Stimpson Computing Grocers’ Scale r mp puting “ypocey They are better than an extra clerk and will make you more money than most salesmen. They absolutely prevent the most A r minute loss and are superior to all other scales on the market. Ask for further information. It’s to your advantage. THE W. F. STIMPSON CO. DETROIT, MICH. i SDT OMAN GRAND RAPIDS, iam JANUARY 2, 1901. Number 902 3 ° William Connor, 20 years with us, will be at Sweet’s Hotel, Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 2 to Jan. 10, with Spring Samples Ready Made Clothing, from $4.50 up. Customers’ expenses allowed or write him care Sweet’s Hotel and he will call on you. We guarantee quality, prices and fit. Our 50 years’ reputation for stouts, slims and all specialties requires no comment. All mail orders receive prompt attention. KOLB & SON, Wholesale Clothiers, Rochester, N. Y. N. B.—If you are low on Winter Ulsters, Overco its, Suits, Wm. Connor ean show you large line. i iccaaiiaiieeeil Knights of the Loyal Guard A Reserve Fund Order A fraternal beneficiary society founded upon a permanent.plan. Permanency not cheapness its motto. Reliable dep- uties wanted. Address EDWIN 0. WOOD, Flint, Mich. Supreme Commander in Chief. IMPORTANT FEATURES. a os a ® Getting the People. Around the State. Grand Rapids Gossip. Batter and Eggs. The New York Market. Editorial. Annual Convention of M. K. of G. 12. Shoes and Rubbers. 14. Dry Goods. 15. Clothing. 16. Village Improvement. 18. Window Dressing. 19. The Meat Market. 20. Woman’s World. 22. Hardware. 23. Hardware Quotations. 24. Clerk’s Corner. 25. Commercial Travelers. 26. Drugs and Chemicals. 2%. Drug Price Current. 28. Grocery Price Current. 29. Grocery Price Current. 30. The Expert Dun. 31. Down With a Crash. 32. Successful Salesmen. Persapy American Jewelry Co., Manufacturers and Jobbers of Jewelry and Novelties 45 and 46 Tower Block, Grand Rapids, Mich. Perfection Time Book and Pay Roll Takes care of time in usual way, also divides up pay roll into the several amounts need- ed to pay each person. No running around after change. Send for Sample Sheet. Barlow Bros. Grand Rapids, Mich. ASSOCIATE OFFICES IN ALL PRINCIPAL CITIES References: State Bank of Michi anand Mich- igan Tradesman, Grand Ra) —- Collector and Commercia Lawyer and Preston National Bank, Detroit. THE MERCANTILE AGENCY Established 1841, R. G. DUN & CO. Widdicomb Bid’g, Grand Rapids, Mich. Books arranged with trade classification of names. Collections made everywhere. Write for particulars. L. P. WITZLEBEN, Manager. Pie ee ES Es ig 3 Ss. a e ¢o 3% ¢ 2 pt, Conservative, Safe. ¢ J. $25 chee Pres. W. FRED a. Sec. @ 0oé aie Coupons THE MISSING LINK. The recent welcome sight of the teach- ers of the State upon our streets pro- claimed the fact that ‘‘the schoolmaster was abroad’”’ and that with him in good- ly number came _ the schcolmistresses. There can be no guests more welcome to this Western Metropolis of the State than those men and women who have in charge the training of her children. Our homes were theirs, our hearts were theirs, our blessing rested upon their deliberations and when they went back to their labors they took with them the good wishes of this community in full measure, witn the heartily-expressed de- sire that they would come again and often. There is nothing that comes so near to the inner life of humanity as the wel- fare of its boys and girls. Maturity cares little for itself, its wants and needs, provided the sacrifice redounds to the benefit of the children. With them a few more years at best will end it all, A little more care, a few more toils and tears to endure, and the whole for them is done. But with the chil- dren it is a different thing. This work, this anxiety, is as nothing only as it tends to lighten and brighten the years that lie fair and far before them; and just in proportion as the teacher per- forms the duties of his calling so these children will be fitted for the positions they are to occupy. Now, there is little doubt in the minds of these parents about the ability of their childrens’ earning an honest living. In many instances their own lives show that physical existence does not depend upon the schoolhouse and the training obtained there. They have been able to ‘‘get along’’ and home and belongings show how, by their industry and thrift, they have prospered. So the children will; but they need something more. Lands and costly homes and large bank accounts are facts substanial and desirable, but they are good only as they form the foundation for something bet- ter. This ‘‘something better’’ is what the parent wants for his children. In the money he has accumulated there is little, in itself, to satisfy. A dollar earned for the simple sake of the dollar is as dumb and dead and worthless as the metal of which it is made. He wants it to stand fora higher life and living for his children than his have been. He wants it to secure for them wider thinking and the choicest expres- sion for that wider thought. He wants the rough in them to give place to the smooth, but without weakening their in- dividuality. He has shown what stout, clumsy, kind-hearted John Smith, with his brave heart and industrious hands, can do in good homespun life and _citi- zenship and now he is looking to the teacher to transform John Smith, Jr., in- to as fine and wholesome a specimen of cultured manhood as he is of uncultured manhood. A link is missing. Can the teacher and the school supply it? Out of his abundance John Smith has given abundantly. The district school and the high school and the state uni- versity, well built and well supplied and well officered and well supported, meet his hearty approval and he truth- fully affirms that he pays no tax more cheerfully than the school tax. He has done this for years; but, with the out- spoken candor of his class, he insists that he is getting what he pays for. The school outfit is all right, but the cow- boy—he freely admits that is exactly what John Smith, Jr., is—in the rough remains the cowboy in the rough in spite of the costly outfit. Between the coarse and the refined, the uncultured and the cultured, there is still the missing link. It was supposed to be in the influence of the schoolroom—if not in the books studied there, in that indefinite some- thing which comes from the teacher’s personification of it—but it seems that it is not there. John graduated from the high school unable to speak or write respectable Englsh. His manners are those of a rowdy. His morals are noth- ing to speak of and his most noticeable attainment is his ability to ape the most objectionable features of the most objectionable college student. His four years at the university left him in these particulars as they found him, and Senior John is asking, with his usual pertinacity, for that missing link in public education. The common school does not furnish it, the high school does not furnish it, and that university has yet to be found whose graduates are known by their urbanity of manner, their pure unaffected English speech and that unmistakable culture which, at its best, is sure to appear in certain unmistakable signs. There is a missing link in the educa- tional chain. It is noticeable all along the line. The brain is trained, so are the muscles, but there is still one ele- ment lacking, and the teaching that Jacks this third great element, and the leading one—the pure, the good and the true—tends to evil; and evil, it is submitted, is not the intended end and aim of either public or private in- struction. The way that Christmas is abused by people who are not Christians makes honest folk thankful it comes but once a year, GENERAL TRADE REVIEW. It is a pleasant, and generally unex- pected, coincidence that ihe new cen- tury should come in with a higher aver- age of stock quotations in transportation circles than the old century ever re- porded. It was unexpected because usu- ally the holiday season, the time just preceding the annual settlements, is a time for waiting and dulness. This year it so happened that the London flurry had already made a slight re- action, and the inherent strength of the situation is such that any slight reaction is bound to be followed by a strong ad- vance. This advance occurring at the close of the year makes the happy co- incidence of closing with a new record. A most encouraging feature in the sit- uation is the condition of foreign trade. The year comes in with a wonderfully heavy export trade, at New York con- siderably more than double that of the corresponding time last year. It is gratifying to know that the new century comes in with the United States the greatest exporting country on the globe, even Great Britain being left far be- hind. And more and more the imports are being confined to such things as we can not produce and the exports are be- ing changed from raw materials to man- ufactured articles. It is especially gratifying that trans- portation interests are the ones to take the lead in the procession of prosperity. The average of $84.56 per share with which the new year starts out is the highest of the old century. Earnings for the month exceed the heavy reports of last year and the gain is not confined to classes, the least favored, the grang- ers, showing a considerable gain. In- dustrials do not start out with the high- est record, as they are under a more conservative influence than has charac- terized some boom speculations, but the market never presented an appearance of healthier conditions. There are no notable changes in the iron and steel situation, the tide of ac- tivity continuing with firm prices. Nat- urally the holiday season sees the clos- ing of many works for repairs, inven- tory, etc.,but the disposition is to make such stops as short as possible. De- mand for cotton goods is not so heavy since the attempt to advance prices nearer to a parity with the raw staple. Wheat opens the year with a sharp advance and all grains are in strong demand. The Saturday Evening Post starts an interesting article with the assertion that ‘‘Man lives longer nowadays than he ever before did.’’ Possibly they are right, but the days appeared to be longer last summer. The lovers of female beauty may piead for the long skirt on the street and talk of the mannishness of the sensible skirt, but the sensible American girl and woman are going to wear a short street skirt. A dispatch says the Czar has entirely recovered. And he had six doctors! He must be as tough as a spring chicken. SHORES LOTT y 2 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN Getting the People The Art of Making Advertisements At- tractive. Perhaps the most important branch of this subject is the avoidance of that which is repugnant or disagreeable. There are many things necessarily con- nected with trade which do not appeal to the esthetic sense of the ordinary reader. These things should not be ob- truded in advertising matter any more than such things should be made con- spicuous in the arrangement of goods. Every merchant understands that while unsightly objects and detail are neces- sary they should be kept in the back- ground cr out of sight. Display is made only of attractive objects. In the management of the meat mar- ket this prinicple becomes of the great- est importance. Study is made as to the best way to conceal or subdue that which is unpleasant, making display only of such cuts and forms of meat as may be made attractive, or at least as little repellent as possibe. Some butch- ers become so used to the less pleasant part of their business that they forget that there are things that do not attract the average customer and so take no pains to keep such things out of the way. These lose customers, which go to the more thoughtful and careful com- petitor, who may command a better trade with poorer goods. In less degree the same principle ap- plies to all other lines of trade. Not only does the successful merchant make prominent display of that which appeals to the refined sense, but he is careful to keep everything not attractive out of sight. He does not allow his stable boy, who may be properly dressed for his work, to meet his customers reeking with the aroma of the stalls. And so with everything of the disagreeable—the careful and successful merchant studies to make and keep everything that comes to the senses of the customer as _attract- ive as possible. But often in the writing of an adver- tisement this principle is lost sight of. I have had occasion to criticise the ad- vertisements of meat markets in that there was a reference to the act of kill- ing. Such a reference strikes the aver- age reader unpleasantly, and while he may not give it definite thought, he in- stinctively turns away. And the im- pression is unconsciously revived when- ever the name of the market comes to the attention. When an article advertised is pre- pared from some material which is capable of decorative or attractive handling it may be employed to ad- vantage. Preparations from grains or trees, as the numerous articles from the cocoa nut, may well employ their source in description or illustration. But when the preparation is from an animal source in which the slaughter house is suggested, such things had better be omitted. There is something repellant to the laity which may be wonderfully attractive to the accustomed and _initi- ated. As a first essential, then, to the mak- ing of an advertisement attractive omit anything that is unpleasant or repug- nant. + + + Frank McDerby presents an advertise- ment which has had evident care and thought in both the writing and compo- sition. The printer has given it a good border and has taken pains to white out his display well. I think the writer would have made his work more effec- = = 3 = = 3 = i Investigate Our Claims It Will Pay You We claim to have the largest: and best: selected stock of shoes: in "Nash- ville’ We believe we have just what will snit you in a dress shoe, a shoe for good, hard everyday wear. or a heavy shoe for rough usage. We aim to carry a full line of sizes in all the grades. We can fit out the whole family—tather. mother, young folke, children avd babies. We have also a full line of rubbers and arctics, socks and rubbers, boots, and the rest of the line. We are so desirous to have and to held your shoe trade, that we are making prices mighty close te the no-profit line. Will it pay you to in- vestigate‘ It certainly will. Our Grocery Store Reepeiup to ite old-tinerepntattantot leader in juality of svodepaudsinefair hess of prices We keep theselection