i B = (ane IW a 7 \ “ NZ ¥) 4 SN Vi \ aN Ry (A C a SS Y u a W Pal oP 4 i iy an 58 agp XC) me cy, \ a va f XS N ~ iN SS BS \) \ A) i AE ' g (Gear SPUBLISHED WEEKLY 4/7 SOI SSFRRID RVERED 5 EAI RIE FEN SY RAE: LAOS BN ee pak RENO SOO y DENG Sais Ae {G Rd RAS CH Vin \( SEE Ke MOMS GSROR a No AN Si We, We ES on BSE bE X Dey We é SS SE DA EES a'r : bs rer , Caan) mm Ss SS oy Mo AZ, SErn CAG GS LSS eds ZEON Forty-third Year GRAND RAPIDS, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1925 Number 2195 TO A BIRD C) bird upon your swaying bough, Teach me your secret; tell me how You learned to find in life such joy? What are the arts which you employ? Why do the notes swell in your throat? Why do you rest like some fair boat, Upon a calm unruffled sea? O singer, teach your song to me. I find in life so many cares; O, tell me where you buy your wares, Who sells the food you feast upon, Which gives you joy till life is done. The secret of the Gods you hold, More precious far than finest gold. Your life is full, your song is free. O singer, teach your song to me. William N. Ricks Reference Library. Library St public Indian Summer The crisp, clear days of October are the finest of the year to those fortunate peo- ple who revel in good health. The sting of cool winds upon the cheek, the crackle of dried leaves underfoot, bring a sense of the joy of living that comes with no other season. Happy indeed are those whose racing blood leaps to the challenge of fight against these poisons, that the sharp tang of an October day brings discom- fort instead of stimulation. Sufferers from constipation will find re- lief in Stanolax (Heavy), the colorless, odorless, tasteless mineral oil. Stanolax (Heavy ) aids in the elimination of waste matter by lubricating the intestines October's nip- py breezes. But to many people October is a chilly month,a month of colds and snuffles and twinges of the joints; the fore- runners of the es usual flock of — winter ills. come ai STANOLAX (Heav temedy for the relief tion. Its action is purd tical. STANOLAX (H pure, tasteless, odor! mineral oil and has ai heavy body. Having a heavier bq taken to make it confo| S., Br. and other phag standards for purity. and _ softening the hard, dry masses so that they can be eas- ily passed. It has no medicin- al effect, and is oo ii, il, hal not followed by for Constipation There are thou- sands of unfor- tunate people throughout the country who never realize to the full the joy of life, because their systems are clogged by the poisons of uneliminated waste matter. Their vitality is so taxed by the strain of the continual, energy-sapping any of the in- jurious __after- effects which commonly re- sult from the use of purga- tives and ca- thartics. ALGO US PAT OFF (HEAVY) welire: MINERAL ‘ol ‘em Douroum os YTLLTrtririrrritrritrrrrtttrtrtrrt YT If you are one of those who fail to extract your full share of pleasure from life because of the bur- den of faulty elimination, get a bottle of Stanolax (Heavy) today. It is for sale at all drug stores. STANDARD. OIL COMPANY [i CHICAGO U.S.A Ra The Standard Oil Company [Indiana] Forty-third Year MICHIGAN TRADESMAN (Unlike any other paper.) Frank, Free and Fearless for the Good That We Can Do. Each Issue Complete In Itself. DEVOTED TO THE BEST INTERESTS OF BUSINESS MEN. : Published Weekly By TRADESMAN COMPANY Grand Rapids EB. A. STOWE, Editor. Subscription Price. Three dollars per year, if paid strictly in advance. Four dollars per year, if not paid in advance. Canadian subscription, $4.04 per year, payable invariably in advance. Sample copies 10 cents each. Extra copies of current issues, 10 cents; issues a month or more old. 15 cents; issues a year or more old. 25 cents; issues five years or more old 50 cents. Entered Sept. 23, 1883, at the Postoffice of Grand Rapids as second class matter under Act of March 3. 1879. LOWDEN LOOMS LARGE. It is a long time until the next Presidential campaign. Congress will have met twice in regular session. Full many a lightning rod will be shaped and thrust skyward between now and 1928. Thus far even the issues of 1926 are vague, but it is, nevertheless, worth noting that former Governor Frank O. Lowden of Illinois has paid a leisurely visit to the East. Within the year this Illinoisan has loomed as the tallest figure in the farm political field. The failure of the Grain Marketing Corporation last July was a staggering blow to the American Farm Bureau Federation. This cor- poration, formed by merging six “old- line grain companies,” had been back- ed and officered by the federation. It was a co-operative built from the top down. Illinois, Indiana and Kansas bureaus fought it and farmers refused to buy $4,000,000 worth of its stock. Lowdep fought the plan. He believes in the Aaron Sapiro program, brought Fast from California. This builds from the ground up by organizing smaller units and then consolidating. Two or three years ago this plan caused the first split in the Farm Bureau Federa- tion. The smashup of the Grain Mar- keting Corporation has swept the field clean for the Lowden policy. It is the Lowden turn now and if he succeeds he will be the one big political figure that the farm revolt, beginning in 1919, has produced. The TIllinoisan’s present trouble seems to be that he has not thought his program through. All he is sure of is that “the farm problem is not solved.” His assertion that the farmer earns only 3.6 per cent. on his capital, while United States Steel earns 10 per cent., has been asserted before by the old farm bloc. He holds that a crop surplus is both inevitable and desirable, but he does not know what to do with it. The old farm bloc wants the Gov- ernment to buy and sell this surplus. The only Lowden reliance is co-opera- tion. If Lowden, the farmer’s hope, can find some plan of relief that Lowden, the business man, can endorse, then Lowden, the politician, will be a force to reckon with soon. He is now in the way of becoming the new idol of the corn belt and wheat country. He is able and astute. As Governor of Illinois he massacred a score of useless State bureaus and agencies and gave Illinois a taste of economy in govern- ment. Frank O. Lowden had won his spurs at the Chicago bar before he married into the house of Pullman. He has a half-jesting tale in 1920 that he had determined to reach the White House so the junior Lowdens might be known not as “the grandchildren of George M. Pullman” but as the “children of President Lowden.” Whatever his reasons, they were still good in 1924. It will be remem- bered that Lowden of Illinois did what no other man ever has done—he re- jected a Republican nomination as Vice-President. This was warning enough for all who were looking be- yond that June day in Cleveland or the third of last November. They will be watching him in Washington or such other places as “Presidential bees” suck the nectar of hope. COTTON AND GOODS PRICES. Those who were hoping against hope of a smaller yield of cotton than seem- ed probable were much jarred at the report from the Crop Reporting Board on Thursday announcing an estimate of 14,759,000 bales, exclusive of linters. If this is shown correct by the final result, it will mean the largest crop ever grown with the exception of those of 1911 and 1914. With the production of other countries where the staple is grown, it will provide enough for the world’s needs and leave a safe carry-over for the next season. The estimate, according to past experience, is apt to be nearer the actuality than those issued earlier, but there is still time for changes to be shown one way or the other. The one big factor ahead yet is when the frosts will come. If these are delayed a few weeks longer the crop may reach the 15,000,000 bale mark. The effect of the new estimate was to send down quotations with a rush. This, in turn, halted operations in unfinished cotton goods. For the time being. however, prices are apt to hold firm because of the curtailment of produc- tion by Southern mills on account of the prolonged drought. Spot goods and those for near-by delivery are be- ing quite firmly held at prices higher than they were at this time last year, when raw cotton was much dearer. On the other hand, certain lines of finish- ed fabrics are lower. Distributors continue to report a good business in cottons of divers kinds, more especial- ly the novelty ones and the rayon mix- tures. There is little new in the situa- tion as regards knit goods. Heavy- weight underwear for near delivery is hard to get. WHAT UNIONISM DOES. British coal mine operators found it impossible to meet the mine wage scales and keep their export business. They tried to reduce wages. The min- ers struck. The Baldwin government, for the sake of peace, agreed to take $9,000,000 a month from British tax- payers’ pockets and give it to the miners. Yet there is no peace. The miners want to take over the mines, despite the fact that if all profits and royalties were divided among Britain’s 1,170,000 miners they would get no more than 50 cents a day above their present wages. Meanwhile 500 of the 5000 Britsih mines are closed, France is buying coal from the Germans and the retail cost of coal is increasing in the British Isles. Coal exports continue their decrease. I:aly and France have called their coal buyers home from Wales. Both France a.d Italy are turning more and more to water power. Five royal commis- sions since 1902 have tried to find what is wrong with the British mining in- custiy. Since 1919 there have been three big coal strikes in the British mines. Great Britain has had an excellent market for coal. British colliers were found in all waters. That market is being lost through union sirikes by union disturbers. The coal users de- pendent upon British coal are finding substitutes or turning to other sources of supply. On a smaller scale, that is exactly what is happening in the United States, so far as anthracite is concerned. Ctrikes, causing a scarcity or an in- tcrrupted supply, have worn out the public patience. There is a lesson for anthracite miners and operators in the coal situation of the Old World if they have the wisdom to see and under- siand it. AUSTRIA’S DIGNITY. The League of Nations is preparing to give up its financial control of Aus- tria January 1, 1926. But there are several strings to the plan. Control of certain sources of revenue tagged to meet Austria's foreign obligations is to be retained. The hope is express- ed that the Austrian government will consent to a foreign controller for sev- eral years in the management of the national bank. Lastly,. there is the suggestion that Austria agree to a re- Number 2195 sumption of full control in case at any time within the next ten years Austria defaults upon her foreign loan pay- ments. Austrians resent these conditions. They naturally want their country to resume its position as sovereign and independent. They want their own parliament and their own government to regain full say in the financial af- fairs of the nation.- They are standing on their national dignity. But when Austria was rescued from the financial and economic abyss by the rest of the world she assumed certain moral obligation. Other na- tions went to some lengths and as- sumed certain burdens in order that she might recover her equilibrium. They are now asking Austria to give certain guarantees that they will not come out the less preferable end of the horn. If Austrians wish to stand upon their true national dignity, they will not only be willing to satisfy those who did the rescue act, but will insist upon according complete satisfaction. That would be the honest and honorable attitude for them to take. Along in 1915 and 1916 there were thousands of plans for ending the war. The Western front was “frozen” fast in a military stalemate. Lord Grey in his “Twenty-five Years” reveals the outlines of one of many of these plans. This came from Woodrow Wilson on the tongue of Colonel Edward M. House. There was to be a conference with the United States as a participant. If Germany refused to enter such a conference, it was the Wilson idea that “the United States would probably en- ter the war against Germany.” In the event of a failure of the enemy nations to agree, then the weight of America was to be thrown to the Allies. It seems that events and policies had so shaped themselves that nothing could be done. However, it is interesting to note that as early as February, 1916, Woodrow Wilson had come to the conclusion that sooner or later the power of the United States must be exerted agains ‘‘Prussian militarism” rather than against “British navalism.” Mrs, Ned Carpenter, wife of the genial manager of the Dwight Bros. Paper Co., had the misfortune to break both bones of her left wrist about two weeks ago. The accident was the result of a fall sustained at a summer home near Baldwin on a Sat- urday evening. Ned made a record run—he can drive on occasion—to Grand Rapids, where the fracture was reduced at Butterworth hospital. Mrs. Carpenter is doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances. ——_~-+>———_ It is better to follow a good leader and get there than to insist on leading and land in a blind alley. AI IT I EY CITE RT AS IC MES SET 2 IN THE REALM OF RASCALITY. Cheats and Frauds Which Merchants Should Avoid. Cadillac, Oct. 6—Some time ago our mail carrier delivered a package to my home from Frank M. Jacobs, “The Handkerchief Man” Monument Square 3uilding, Grand Rapids. Believing that I knew what the package con- tained from the fact that I had seen one of his packages opened, I have not done anything with it. I thought I would leave it where it is until he either sent a messenger after it or for- warded the fees to pay one. To-day I received the enclosed card and wish to ask you where I would stand if I carried out my intentions. The writer is one of the retailers who appreciates the service which you are rendering through the columns of the Michigan Tradesman. James Johnston. The following reply was made to the above: Grand Rapids, Oct. 9—The man Jacobs who sent you the handker- chiefs is an absolutely reliable mer- chant in this city who has become so enamored with the mail order business that he has fallen in the same pit that the necktie people have in sending out articles which are not ordered. How- ever, he does one thing that the neck- tie people do not do, and that is he encloses postage, so that you can re- turn the handkerchiefs to him if you wish to do so. This is, of course, no more than fair and entails very little trouble on the part of the recipient. Mind you, I do not countenance Mr. Jacob’s methods. I think they are execrable and utterly indefensible; but, because otherwise the man is a high grade merchant, my _ thought is I would return the handkerchiefs to him with a strong letter, stating that you wish him to strike your name from his mailing list and not bother you again. If he does bother you after you have given him due notice to desist in his unbusiness like practice, you can throw the package in a corner and never touch it unless somebody comes after it personally. Mr. Jacobs has worked up a fair retail business during the past half dozen years and has developed a grow- ing mail order business by advertising handkerchiefs in high class magazines. Why he should not be satisfied with these two lines, but insists on breaking into the illegitimate field so long culti- vated by Fox and Beaumont is more than I can understand. E. A. Stowe. Mr. Johnston thereupon came back at the Tradesman in the following fashion: Cadillac, Oct. 12—Yours of Oct. 9, relative to Frank M. Jacobs, “The Handkerchief Man” was received in due time, I have gone over the same and while I admire your spirit of fair- ness in suggesting that I return the package, from the fact that I presume he has enclosed postage, I do not want to do so unless I am obliged to do so for the sake of saving myself trouble. First, I wish to offer an apology for imposing on your time any farther in this matter. However, I do not in- tend to even carry the package to the postoffice unless I am obliged to do so for the sake of saving mvself trouble. If you will kindly tell me just what the consequence would be if I let them remain in my house where the mail carrier left them until called for I will surely appreciate your kindness. I would not have gone so fr in this case if I had not been a reader of the Tradesman for so many years. The fact is that I have seen so many cases where the merchant has consult- ed you and invariably has received valuable advice that I have concluded that it is worthy of imitation. Conse- quently I am again imposing on your good nature. I hope to hear from you at your convenience and again assure you of MICHIGAN TRADESMAN my appreciation of vour services to the retailer. James Johnston. Mr. Johnston is certainly within his rights in refusing to even take the trouble to carry the package of hand- kerchiefs to the postoffice. Mr. Jacobs had no more right to send him hand- kerchiefs without an order than he has to deliver a sack of flour to a resident of Cadillac and ask the recipient to return it if it is not acceptable. Such a practice, steadily persisted in, would make Mr. Johnston the most unpopu- lar man in Cadillac. Perhaps the best way to break up the pernicious and utterly indefensible practice of sending out goods promiscuously, without any authority, would be to pursue the course indicated by Mr. Johnston. Cer- tainly Mr. Jacobs cannot complain, be- cause he violates every business prin- ciple dear to the American people when he engages in the forcing process he is now pursuing. The Knickerbocker Merchandising Co. has been repeatedly exposed as fraudulent. Now the Federal courts have taken a hand in the matter, judg- ing by the following report from New York City: A batch of indictments have been handed up by the Federal Grand Jury containing one accusing the Knicker- bocker Merchandising Co., Inc., of 122 East Twenty-fifth street and Maurice Innerfield and Emanuel Seaman with having used the mails to defraud re- tail grocers out of nearly $130,000. The scheme of the defendants, the indict- ment read, was to pretend that the purchase of certificates in the “Perma- nent Associate Buying Service Mem- bership” would enable purchasers to obtain groceries at prices lower than those paid by chain stores and other large purchasers. The defendants, it is also alleged, falsely represented that the saving in the purchase of groceries would range between 8 and 15 per cent. and that unless the victims joined in the plan they would be undersold and driven out of business by neighboring com- petiters. “High-powered” salesmen, it is charged. were employed to dispose of the certificates. J. M. Wolfe, who presented the evidence to the Grand Jury, said that one witness had de- clared that more than 5,000 merchants in various sections of the country had been victimized. A fraud order has been issued against the Lee Thomas Co., Chicago. This concern sells women’s apparel and other merchandise through the mails. It is claimed that the goods were not as represented and instead of money back, as guaranteed, the con- cern sent to complainants “cash credit certificates” covering the amount remitted and when this was fot ac- cepted, refused to answer further en- quiries. A fraud order has also been issued against the Importers Salvag- ing Svndicate. This company adver- tised binoculars, firearms and various kinds of police equipment. It is said that the merchandise furnished to buy- ers was not as represented, and that in most instances no merchandise of any kind was furnished. The Post- office Department also says that when October 14, 1925 DELBERT F. HELMER WHOLESALE COFFEE and TEA WE SELL OUR DIV-I-DEND CORFE? to only one merchant in a town. If it is not sold in your city or town,we solicit your account. 337-339 Summer Avenue, N.W. MICHIGAN GRAND RAPIDS - FAaGEOL Bian “RIDE THE GREYHOUNDS?” Fare $6 Grand Rapids to Chicago DE LUXE OBSERVATION COACHES. Lv. 7:00 Ar. 3:00 8:00 4:45 Pavement 10:00 6:00 all the way. 12:00 9:15 Central Standard Time Two 5 minute Comfort Station stops and a 30 minute lunch period are included in the time. G. R. Stations: Crathmore Hotel Rowe Hotel ” > yy R ” the Ee Yee nt g y ~ x A P) « ¥ - < > — er oo - Lf m a Jae ~* >» 4 & > i 4 a i om at 4 ¥ Mw ce > » —cccaceea™ October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN customers insisted on a refund of their remittances and returned the merchan- dise, these customers were in many in- stances, sent “no funds” checks. Counterfeit $20 bils are making their appearance in Lansing. The imita- tion is very poor and if held to the light easily shows the falsity of the bill. Endeavors to imitate the silk threads of the genuine bill in ink are easily discernible. The Lansing post- office, as well as the local banks, have uncovered a number of the imitations and turned them in to the Government. East Tawas, Oct. 10—Will you tell me what you can of the enclosed com- munication? I would like to be better informed before biting. G. C. M This refers to an offer of the Berthel Motor Corporation, 1252 Fuller Road, Canton, Ohio, to “hop in on the ground floor and lose some money.” They are generous enough to make an allotment under liberal option, at the confidential net price of $75 per share, the only restriction being that the es- tablished selling price of $100 per share be maintained. The individual behind this is said to have an invent- ive turn of mind, and this is a pure speculation founded wholly on ‘the hopes and desires of the promoter. A little wisdom gleaned from years of dollars than are needed to pay the public debt have been lost by misguided souls who have backed inventions.” experience, “more Frankfort, Oct. 8—I enclose a form letter from the Allied Merke Institutes, Inc.. of New York. Is this a reliable outfit or not? Wife and I have very bad cases of dandruff, and have tried many tonics (so-called) and other mix- tures, but have obtained no relief, so are looking for possible relief in some other method. But this thing sounds “fishy” somehow. However, if the firm’s guarantee is worth anything we would try it out: first would like your opinion as to their reliability. HM. TT. The proposition is a palpable fake. The circular forwarded by this sub- scriber represents the price of the treatment to be $9.85, but agrees to send the remedy or treatment with two gifts worth $3.50, and all you have to do is to pay the postman $2. This offer reads like “sucker bait,” and our advice to those with dandruff trouble or whose hair is falling out,, is to consult some specialist in this line. Jamestown, Oct. 10—A short time ago I wrote to you about some trouble which I was having with the Anthony Wavne Institute, Ft. Wayne, Ind. I am enclosing their latest letter and I am asking your advice as to iust what T should do. I really do not see why I should be held to that contract. I was but 20 years old when I signed it, and “a contract made by a minor is void.’ I am enclosing the contract for your criticism. M. H Individuals under 21 years of age have no legal responsibility in con- tracts or orders signed. If the con- tract was fairly entered into, however, we would strongly advise this young woman to assume the responsibiity, no matter at what cost to herself. These Ft. Wayne correspondence schools seem to make a specialty of taking ad- vantage of young school teachers, trong-arm salesmen, by the use of misrepresentation, induce young girls to sign orders without their parents’ consent. Not only is the young woman justified in repudiating the contract in such cases, but owes it to herself and other young women to do so. 2 <_—__ Silver Wedding of Bowers Harbor Merchant. Bowers Harbor, Oct. 8—Fred A. Doig, the Harbor grocer, and wife re- cently celebrated their silver wedding at their home here. They were the recipients of a set of silver presented by their friends and customers. The presentation was made by Mrs. Bert Kroupa in the following poem, written by herself: Twenty-five Years Married. ‘Myas in Ninteen Hunaved, in weptember, On the Ninteenth, I remember, That you took the marriage vow. Minnie was the blushing bride, Fred, the groom, was by her side; Minnie’s voice was low and sweet As the vows she did repeat, While Fred’s voice was almost shrill As he bravely said “I will.” Minnie placed in Fred’s her hand, He slipped on, the godlen band A symbol, of their love, that day To love, to honor and obey. In a short time, ali was over She was no longer Minnie Grover. She was now Fred Doig’s wife And must stick to him for life. Sounded queer to call her Mrs. This they did, with many kisses, They wished them joy a good full measure And then told Fred he’d found a treasure. One girl friend whispered in Minnie’s ear So loud, that one of the guests did hear And Minnie, ’tis said, was quite abash For the girl said something about Fred’s mustache. And whi.e they yet were standing there Her pastor raised his voice in prayer And called on God to bless and guide Through-out their life this groom and bride. Thus started they in the world together Through rain and shine for worse or better They have worked together and done their es And iike the birds, have built their nest They have had their sunshine and tneir showers But mostly sunshine, here at Bowers: They have had their laughter, shed some tears As days to weeks and months to years, Twenty-five years have rolled away Since that memorial wedding day. The group has changed, the faces new, But the bride is here, the groom is, too. The pastor, good man, has long since died, Since Fred was a groom and Minnie a bride I wish he had lved, I’d like to know How he tied that knot so long ago And so, kind friends, that’s why we're here To help you celebrate your silver year. We like you and we wish to say We hope you'll always with us stay . So here’s a gift with all good wishes We hope you'll like these silver dishes. ———_—_> > From an Oceana County Viewpoint. The forty-second anniversary num- ber of the Michigan Tradesman, pub- ished last week, contained 144 pages and cover. Its first number was a folio sheet without any. cover. In fact, the Tradesman in its early days had that sheet by dint of the most laborious and persistent effort that this writer has ever seen one man under- take and accomplish. He was not thinking of quilts and comforts in those days, not spending a quarter as which time on them as on the sheet. He had a vision of the sort of institution which the Tradesman has now come to be. He had a supreme confidence unflagging zeal and a never-say-die de- termination. The skeletons of trade journals may be dug up in many a mid- Western city which are larger dis- tributing centers than Grand Rapids, but, living or dead, there are and have been none, so outstanding in its policy or success as this newspaper conducted for forty-two years by one man, Ernest A, Stowe,—Sheby Herald, Quaker Food Products TT Tee Cee ee OL EXD \WoRDEN GROCER COMPANY Wholesalers for Fifty-six Years The Prompt Shippers BEECH-NUT Prepared Spaghetti 2 NUT PACK) E+ +43 Lhe aad FT Ok. sey Ready to Serve! The ideal quality product for the progress- ive Grocer to sell. Display it, thus telling your customers you have it. It is nationally advertised. BEECH-NUT PACKING COMPANY ‘Foods and Confections of Finest Flavor’’ CANAJOHARIE NEW YORK 4 MOVEMENT OF MERCHANTS. Howell—C. P. Adams has engaged in the shoe business. Ceresco—F. A. Hands has engaged in the boot and shoe business. Lakeview—Charles Cook has en- gaged in the boot and shoe business. Sunfield—O. L. Beebe has engaged in the shoe and shoe findings business. Kalamazoo—The Blanchard Music Shop has removed to its new location on South Burdick street. Carrollton—The Carrollton Accept- ance Co. has increased its capital stock from $200,000 to $300,000. Kalamazoo—Paper Products, Inc. 242 Eleanor street, has changed its name to the Paper Specialties, Inc. L’Anse—Cole Bros., of Iron River, Wiss. will open a grocery and bazaar store here in the Samardjec addition. Detroit—The General Distributing Co., 3—131 General Motors building, has changed its name to the Dus-Proof Metal Trunk Co. Pequaming—Theil Robertson and Joseph Getson have engaged in the fruits, confectionery, cigars, ice cream and soft drinks business under the style of the Chocolate Shop. Lansing—T. J. Shields, who has conducted a plumbing and _ heating business at 314 East Michigan avenue, number of died at his home, following a short illness. Quincy—T. N. Brockway has pur- chased an interest in the stock of the Rawson Furniture Co. and the busi- ness will be continued under the style of the Rawson & Brockway Furniture Co. Saginaw—Frank W. Pohiman & Co. have purchased the store building they occupy with their grocery stock and ior a years, meat market at the corner of Court and - Caroline streets. Consideration, $17,- 000. Marcellus—C. C. conducted a grocery, crockery, shoes, Long. who has notions and produce store for the past 42 vears, has sold his stock to Harvey Hartshorn, who will continue the business. Onekema—Truman M. Smith has built a large addition to his depart- ment store, 48 feet wide by 76 feet deep. It is of cement block construc- tion, with plate glass front containing 38 feet of glass. Morley—The Jackson Inc.. has been incorporated with an authorized capital stock of $100,000, of which amount $86,700 has been sub- scribed. $17,200 paid in in cash and $64,500 in property. Pewamo—James Long has sold the stock and real estate of the Pewamo Hardware Co. to Neville Davern, for several years engaged in the elevator business at Carson City. He will take possession in about 10 days. Detroit—The J Candy 137-9 East Woodbridge street, been incorporated with an authorized capital stock of $25,000, all of which Fox Farms, Co., has Jamison has been subscribed and paid in, $1,000 in cash and $24,000 in property. Lansing—Celia M. Roach has en- gaged in business at 104 West Washte- naw street, under the style of the Celia Shop. A complete stock of womens blouses, sweaters, handker- chiefs, and neck wear will be carried. Detroit—The Houck Plumbing & MICHIGAN Heating Co., 6527 Welton street, has been incorporated with an authorized capital stock of $10,000, of which amount $3,080 has been subscribed and paid in, $620 in cash and $2,460 in property. Grand Rapids—The Spinner-Skutt Lumber Co., 638 Seventh street, N. W., has been incorporated with an author- ized capital stock of $60,000, all of which has been subscribed, $1,305.24 paid in in cash, and $35,280.09 in property. Detroit—The White Star Refining Co., 5950 Avery avenue, has increased its capital stock from 3,000 shares no par value to 10,600 shares no par value. Plymouth—Green & Joliff succeed A. H. Dibble & Son in the boot and shoe business. Detroit—The Detroit Conveyor & Machine Co., 5821 West Jefferson avenue, has been incorporated with an authorized capital stock of $10,000, of which amount $4,490 has been sub- scribed, $996.60 paid in in cash and $1,337.40 in property. Adrian—The Seger—Graham Elec- tropure Dairy Co., 360 Crystal Springs avenue, has merged its business into a stock company under the same style with an authorized capital stock of $25,000, $10,400 of which has been sub- scribed and paid in in property. Lansing—The Sanders & Newsom Hardware Co. has opened a_ branch store at 907 West Saginaw street. It will be under the management of C. H. Newsom and the main store at 2016 East Michigan avenue will remain un- der the management of L. E. Sanders. Bellevue—S. M. Abbey, who has been connected with the business life of Bellevue for the past 64 years, and proprietor of a confectionery and cigar store for the past thirty-six years, is closing out his stock and will retire from trade. Mr. Abbey is 87 years of age. Nashville—Mrs. R. C. Townsend, who has conducted the Postoffice Pharmacy since the death of her hus- band, last January, has sold the stock and store fixtures to Edwin L. Kane, Detroit, possession and will continue the busi- recently of who has taken ness under the same style. Inter-Northern Sup- street and Michigan avenue, hardware, machinery, motor vehicles, etc., has been incorporated with an authorized capital stock of $1,000 common and 200 shares at $100 per share, of which amount $1,000 has been subscribed and paid in in cash. Detroit—The Medical Supply Cor- poration, 3733 John R. street, has been incorporated to deal in medical and surgical supplies and equipment, with an authorized capital stock of $10,000 preferred and 500 shares at $1 per share, of which amount $5,000 has been subscribed and $1,340 paid in in cash. Grand Rapids—The Twin Stores Co., conducting stores at 320 Monroe avenue, Grand Rapids, and 206 East Lansing avenue, Lansing, has been in- corporated to conduct a wholesale and retail wearing apparel and general mer- chandise business with an authorized capital stock of $50,000, of which amount $27,500 has been subscribed Jackson—The ply Co., Main TRADESMAN and paid in, $20 in cash and $27,480 in property. Detroit—Charles W. H. Robinson, Inc., 231 West Jefferson avenue, has merged his business into a stock com- pany under the same style, with an authorized capital stock of $25,000, of which amount $20,000 has been sub- scribed, $173,48 paid in in cash and $11,826.52 in property. Besides the wholesale nuts business the company will manufacture and deal in furnish- ings for retail stores. Grand Rapids—The Muller Bakeries, Inc., has merged its business into a stock company under the same style, to conduct wholesale and retail baker- ies in Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Jack- son and Kalamazoo, with an authorized capital stock of $1,000,000 preferred, 100,000 shares class A at $25 per share and 100,000 shares class B at $1 per share, of which amount 400 shares of class A has been subscribed and $10,- 000 paid in in cash and property. Manufacturing Matters. Detroit—The Detroit Laundry Ma- chine Co., 1430 21st street, has in- creased its capital stock from $35,000 to $50,000. Detroit—The Insulating Material Co., 5133 Wesson avenue, has changed its name to the Great Lakes Thread & Yarn Co. Sturgis—The Sturgis Furniture Cor- poration has engaged in business here, manufacturing overstuffed chairs and davenports. Lansing—The Lansing Cast Stone Block Co. has added to its activities by engaging in the retail fuel business at 1800 North Turner street. Muskegon—The Central Paper Co., 703 Lake street, has increased its cap- ita stock from $2,600,000 to 2,000,000 common, 1,100,000 preferred, and 150,- 000 shares no par value. Grand Rapids—The Shynall Wax Co., has been incorporated to manu- facture and sell polishing wax, with an authorized capital stock of $15,000, all of which has been subscribed and paid in in property. Brighton—The Brighton Manufac- turing Co., water filters, pumps, etc., has been incorporated with an author- ized capital stock of $75,000, $50,000 of which has been subscribed and paid . in, $10,000 in cash and $40,000 in prop- erty. Detroit—John B. Miller & Co., 228 East Baltimore avenue, has been in- corporated to manufacture bottle caps and stampings, with an authorized cap- ital stock of $25,000, of which amount $12,510 has been subscribed and $12,- 500 paid in in property. Detroit—The Meckl-Andres Co., of Detroit, 27 Winder street, has been incorporated to manufacture amuse- ment devices under patent. with an authorized capital stock of $15,000, all of which has been subscribed and paid in in property. Detroit—The Pelton & Crane Co., 632 Harper avenue, has merged its manufacture and sale of electrical specialties into a stock company under the same style, with an authorized capital stock of $50,000, $40,000 of which has been subscribed and paid in in property, October 14, 1925 Items From the Cloverland of Michi- gan. Sault Ste. Marie, Oct. 13—The many friends of Elmer Fleming, who left the city several months ago for Cleveland to engage in business, will be pleased to hear that he has decided to come back to the Soo, where he will go into the furniture business with David Williams, of the Williams Furnitur: Co. This speaks well for our cit) when we hear of them coming back after trying the larger cities. Mr Fleming was formerly associated wit! Mr. Monzero in the dry goods an shoe business, known as the Boston Store. It costs just $15 to one of our bar- bers who refused to wait on the colo: ed brethren. We had a test case come up last week, when one of our whit barbers refused to cut the hair of ; colored gentleman, and the funny par: of the case was, after the fine was im posed, the same colored gentleman called at the same place for a hair cu’, which was handled in due form, bu: the barber demanded $1, instead of the usual charge of 50 cents. This thie customer refused to pay, so that the barber sought to have the patron ar rested. He was not so fortunate st week. From reports there are still quite a few in that neighborhood yet. Frank Atkinson, living at Manis- tique, was a visitor here last Fridav. He is representing Swift & Co. on the D., S. S. and A. division and reports the side roads in the lumber district almost impassible in some place Frank makes most of his territory via auto and knows where all of the poo: roads are located. Art Nessen, the well-known mer chant at Eckerman, made a trip her« for supplies last week. John Werve, who for the past year cut meat in the A. Westin market, ai Newberry, left last week for the Soo, where he expects to locate. The old saying may be true, but most birds in the bush appear to be worth more than two in the hand. The Gannon Grocery Co., for th past five years one of our leadine wholesale houses, has decided to clos: the branch here and supply _this trad from the home office at Marquette rhe sales force and office force ar moving to Tron Mountain, where new branch is being opened. This leaves the National Grocer Co. and th« Hewett Grocery Co. to supply the local Soo trade, which will be amp! to take care of the retail business here Mr Sparling, city salesman for the Gannon Co., will work the city trade. Mr. Wright, the local manager here made many friends since coming to the Soo who regret his departure and wish him every success in his new field. William G. Tapert. e , - i pe mp af 4 , : ¥ “=. ™ ME mmneme 4A ‘ c rT sh ote a ee. October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN 5 Essential Features of the Grocery Staples. Sugar — The market is without change. Local jobbers hold granu- lated at 5.90c. Tea—The past week, has witnessed a continuation of the firmness in India News has come from the foreign markets that the production is falling short there, and inasmuch as the mar- ket in this country is active, it has had in immediate effect. It also strength- ns Ceylons, because of the agreement imong the India and Ceylon people to cut down the output. All Ceylons and Indias show advance for the week. Most other desirable teas are also strong, including Formosas. Japans are rather neglected and remain un- -hanged. Coffee—The market for Rio and Santos coffees has been very unsettled luring the entire week. There have been several fluctuations, the result of which is a decline all along the line of possibly half a cent per pound since the last report. At the present writ- ing the news from.Brazil is weak. Mild coffees also show a general drop of about one-quarter cent. The jobbing market for roasted coffee is quiet, with a rather soft undertone. teas. Canned Vegetables—Tomatoes are being taken from packers in carload blocks by wholesale grocers, but the market is too unsettled and too wide- ly quoted to bring about any heavy trading. Established packers are given the preference and premiums are paid where a buyer is critical as to quality and wants the protection of a good sized canner behind the merchandise. Plenty of low quotations are heard, but on off grades, of which there is'a surplus here and in the country, with no market at present. If actual busi- ness in corn approximated the en- quiry there would be no cause for complaint. Some retailers have not accepted full deliveries of contracted corn from wholesalers and have turn- ed back their tenders, wholly or in part. This is disturbing and makes the jobber cautious about his addition- al commitments. The pea statistics have increased the weakness in grades below fancy, which are the bulk of the pack, and most buying is desultory and at a wide range of prices. Canned Fish—The situation is about unchanged from last week. This in- cludes all varieties of salmon, sardines and other tinned fish. Dried Fruits—The spot situation is improving as the volume of business ‘increases and confidence is restored. Domestic buyers have begun to cover their full requirements and are taking new crops from first arrivals. which depletes available holdings and forces the trade to wait for second and third shipments. The call is principally for California prunes, raisins and peaches. Apricots are not in the class with those mentioned for the reason that there has been new crop here for some time and a temporary reaction has occurred. There has been no heavy buying re- cently for winter and spring require- ments. With no surplus here or at the source, many factors look for a stronger market in the near future. Oregon prunes are taken only in small parcels, with 30s quoted 12c, spot, and 40s, 8@8%c. New 30s are due the end of the month and are being held at 12%c. As the crop is mostly of this size the bulk of the business must be done in domestic markets since Europe does not want 30s, but pre- fers the smaller sizes and cheaper prunes. California prunes are some- what steadier in tone. There is a good demand for package Sun-Maid raisins, of which there is a light spot stock. Operators have advanced seeded, puff- ed and Thompsons to 10c and believe that other gains are likely, as there is too narrow a margin now ‘between Coast and spot quotations. Pears of the new crop are due in the first half of November and more interest is being shown. New crop currants have arrived and are being cleaned and packed in cartons for shipment to the interior trade. Hallowe’en buying is felt. Peaches are decidedly firm and are wanted, particularly the medium and low grades. Cheese—The market has been held firmly during the entire week. Of- ferings are comparatively light and the demand is fair. Provisions—The demand for provi- sions is quite slow. This includes all varieties of beef and hog products. The prices are just about steady, and the aggregate demand is not large. Beans and Peas—The demand for all varieties of dried beans is exceed- ingly poor at present. The prices are hardly steady on anything. The same applies to dried peas. Syrup and Molasses — Favorable crop reports. still continue coming North from New Orleans, but prices on the new crop will not be named for several weeks. The low grades of molasses are lower for the week. The demand for sugar syrup is very fair and prices are steady. Compound syrups show a better demand and un- changed prices. Salt Fish—The cooler weather has brought a better demand for mackerel, which rules, however, at unchanged prices for imported and domestic fish. Rice—Scattered offerings are being made by Southern mills, few of which have any quantity for immediate ship- ment. What they will have in the near future depends upon the weather, which has checked harvesting during a period of ten days of rain. Mills are not ready to commit themselves to definite delivery dates. The market at all primary points is firm. Locally there are light holdings, which are in strong hands and quotations are easily maintained. Foreign rice is not active, as there is little available, mostly in broken assortments. —_.2>———_ Review of the Produce Market. Apples—Wolf River command 75c per bu.; Wealthy, $1 per bu. Bagas—$2 per 100 Ibs. Bananas—/7%c per |b. Beans—Michigan jobbers are quot- ing new crop as follows: G@ Pea Beans — 2.2 $4.65 Light Red Kidney ---..----..-- 9.25 Dark Red Kidney ~------------- 8.25 Brown Swede ..—----+-------_-. 5.50 Beets—$1 per bu, Butter—The market still rules rela- tively very high. In fact, since August the advance has been about 13 cents per pound. During the week the de- mand has been rather slow and the fine creamery butter declined a small fraction in consequence. At this writ- ing the offerings on the best grades of butter are light and the medium and undergrades are quiet and not wanted. Local jobbers hold June packed at 47c, fresh creamery at 49c and prints at Uc. stock. Cabbage—90c per bu. California Fruits—Honey Dew Mel- ons, $3.50 per crate of 8s. Climax Plums, $2.50 per 6 basket crate; Santa Rosa Plums, $2.50 per 6 basket crate; Pears, $4.50 per crate. Carrots—$1@1.25 per bu. Cauliflower They pay 25c for packing $2 per doz. heads. Celery—25c for Jumbo, 40c for Ex- tra Jumbo and 50c for Mammoth. Cranberries—Early Black from Cape Cod are now in market, commanding $6 per box of 50 lbs. Eggs—The supply of fine fresh eggs is comparatively small. The demand is immediate for this grade of eggs, and at this writing there are about enough fine fresh eggs coming for- ward to satisfy the demand. Under- grades of eggs are ample and dull. Local jobbers pay 41c for strictly fresh, selling as follows: resh Cangied —.- 45c ee 38c eS ee 35c Egg Plant—-1.25 per doz. Garlic—35c per string for Italian. Grapes—Concords, Niagaras or Del- awares in 4 lb. baskets, $3.50 per doz.; Calif. Tokay, $2@2 25 per crate; Calif. Malagas, $2@2.25 per crate. Green OUOnions—Home grown, 40c per doz. bunches. Honey—25c for comb; 25c_ for strained. Lemons—Quotations are now as fol- lows: BO hee $12.00 S60 Red Ball... 11.00 300 Read Ball _____---_________. 11.00 Lettuce—In good demand on the following basis: California Iceberg, 4s and 4%s ..$5.7 Outdoor Grown leaf ___-.------ 12 Onions—Spanish, $2 per crate of 50s or 72s; Michigan, $2.75 per 100 Ib. sack. Oranges—Fancy Sunkist Valencias are now on the following basis: 160 $11.00 150 oo ose 11.00 Wee 11.00 ONO ee ee 11.00 7) (a oes Se 11.00 Oo 11.00 PAG is pees 10.75 Cae 9.75 Red Ball $1 lower. Parsley—50c per doz. bunches for home grown. Poultry—Wilson & Company pay as follows this week: Heavy fowls ...--...--------.-- 21c Tight fawle 22-2). 13c Sotmeers 2 ih. ....--.__-----.. 19c Broilers, 1%4 lb. to 2 Ib. ----..--- 18c Peaches—Elbertas command $3.50 per bu.; Prolific, $3 per bu.; Hale’s, $4.50; Chilis, $3. Pears—Anjou, $2.25 per bu.; Kiefers, $1.25@1.50 per bu. Peas—Green, $3 per bu. Peppers—Green, $1 per bu.; Red, 40c per Pickling Stock—Small white onions. $1.50 per box; small cukes, 20c per 100. Potatoe Northern district, $1.60€@ 165: Caditiac $1.60@1.65; 1 district, $1.65(@1.75. doz. district, Greenville Radishes—15c per doz. bunches for home grown. Spinach—$1 per bu. Squash—Hubbard, $2@2.25 per 100 Ib. Sweet Potatoes—Virginia Sweets, $225 per hamper: $6 per bbl. Tomatoes—$1.25 per bu.; 75¢ per 14 bu., Green, 25c per bu. less. Veal Calves—Wilson & Co. pay as follows: Raney 2. 2... ae 16¢ @6qa ee. es 14c Medium i ite Poor ee ws acc cue aoe mat am ae ah are om moet ve er ap ge het 9c ———— Considers the Dishonest Bankrupt a Menace. Muskegon, Oct. 13—I_ note bv the Tradesman that Bruff W. Olin has sought repudiation in_the bankruptcy court, owing $11,242.87, with total as- sets of $75, which he claims is exempt to him. I do not know Mr. Olin at all and cite his case simply as an instance of the too frequent tendency of the times to secure immunity from honorable obligations, incurred in the regular course of ‘business, by men who ap- pear to have no just conception of the ricehts of the business public and the duty of men who engage in business for themselves to meet their obliga- tions like men. There is too much in- clination nowadavs to speculate on other people’s money. If their specu- lation is profitable, the profit can easily he ahearhed bv unfair salaries and un- necessary expenses. If the speculation is unprofitable, the speculator can flv to the bankruptcy court for relief. I do not regard either alternative as honest and I cannot help thinking that there should be an effective embargo placed on men of both types, so that they cannot use the men who trust them as footballs. Until this menace to good business and good morals is effectively squelched, we will never have ideal conditions in the conduct of business in this country. T do not pretend to offer any solution of the problem, but there ought to be or: somewhere, so that people who trust other men in the belief that they are honest should not be betrayed by scamps who have no regard for de- cency. business probity or common honesty. Nemo. —_—__..>___—_ Will Come To Grand Rapids in 1933. Harbor Springs, Oct. 13—Your forty-second anniversary number of the Tradesman was the best ever and I was very much interested in many of the articles pubilshed. T observe that I was mentioned in the Roll of Honor and I also observe that the list is continually growing less. If I am spared to live until 1933 and able to go to Grand Rapids, I will, most assuredly, accept vour kind in- vitation to be one of vour guests as a member of the Honor Roll of sv b- scribers to your valuable journal. William J. Clarke, Pres. Emmet Co. State Bank. >> Bay City—The Walker Veneer & Box Co., 415 Sheridan street, has been incorporated with an authorized capital stock of $75,000 preferred and 1,500 shares at $40 per share, of which amount 750 shares has been subscribed and $30,000 paid in in property. ss) Aims and Accomplishments of Three- Quarter-Century Club. The Battle Creek Three-Quarter- Century Club sprang into existence, like many other “Battle Creek Ideas,’ because there was a service to be per- formed and the fact that it is perform- ing useful and valuable service is the reason why it is attracting much atten- tion and receiving wide-spread pub- licity. In April, 1922, Henry Ogden, of 85 3each street, Battle Creek, stepped into C. H. Wheelock’s store, at 27 West State street. Because of his alertness and the fact that he signed his name without the aid of spectacles, he was asked his age and some ques- tions regarding his early life, and the following are ‘the facts recorded on the roster of the Three-Quarter-Cen- tury Club, as the initiation of Number 1” as a member of this unique organ- ization: No. 1 Henry Ogden, born in Ithaca, N. Y., May 21, 1839. Came with his parents to Calhoun county, Mich., in March, 1846, where they located in the vicinity of Beadle Lake. He has lived in Calhoun county since that date, with the exception of forty-six months spent as a soldier in the Civil War. Thus Mr. Ogden became a full fledged member of the Three-Quarter- Century Club as the only requirements for admission to the club is the answer- ing of these five questions: Name, Address, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, and date of Coming to Battle Creek, or to Michigan. The roster at this date contains 451 names, 375 of whom are living. There are 180 living members who are 80 years of age and older, and twenty- four 90 years old and older: the oldest member being James Wylie Gardner, whose ninety-eighth birthday anniver- sary occurs on the 24th day of Octo- ber. Eighteen states in the Union and nine foreign countries are renresen‘ed in the recorded birthplaces of the 451 named in ‘the list of members. New York leads with 117 names, followed by Michigan with seventy-seven names, with the following: Ohio, Pennsyl- vania, Vermont, Massachusetts, In- diana, Connecticut, Maine, Missouri, West Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Towa, Florida, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Rhode Island. These are the nine foreign countries represented in the membership of the club—England, Scotland, France, Ger- many, Ireland, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium and Canada. Having the date of birth of the mem- bers allows the secretary to send each a birthday card each year, on which is written a cheerful greeting and ap- propriate scripture texts, with this an- nouncement, “Remembered by _ ‘the Three-Quarter-Century Club.” To the shut-ins especially there is a certain degree of pleasure in the thought that several hundred other members of the club of which they are a member may be thinking of them on their birthday anniversary, for to do so is made pos- sible from the fact that on each month of the year two daily papers of the city furnish a list of names, addresses and date of birth of those whose birthdays are celebrated in the following month. MICHIGAN This affords an opportunity for rela- tives and friends to send greetings with cards and flowers and makes the day one to be remembered with pleas- ure by these in whose lives are crowd- ed nearly forty thousand years of life’s experiences of joy and sorrow. The results are gratifying and sometimes astonishing. Much valuable and interesting in- formation was obtained through the answers received to a questionnaire fur- nished the members of the club by the secretary of the Chamber of Com- merce of Battle Creek. This question- naire referred to birth in city or coun- try, spent in city and in country, num- ber of children in their parents and their own families, nationality of par- ents, use of tobacco and intoxicants, church membership and lastly, the question. “To what do you attribute your long life.” A large proportion of the answers to this last question by these aged pioneers was that they at- tributed their long life to “hard work, temperate habits, outdoor exercise and a cheerful disposition.” Each vear, Dr. J. H. Kellogg, presi- dent of the club, furnishes some form of entertainment to the members, gathered together from all parts of the city, either an evening meeting in one of the spacious auditoriums of the Battle Creek Sanitarium or an open air meeting on a pleasant summer day. The first of these gatherings was a bangcet held in the Sanitarium Annex on an evening in November, 1922, at which time a moving picture was taken of the members while seated at the table and also one as they marched from the banquet room, led by the oldest of the club, Mrs. Rannells, who was 100 vears old. The “Three-Ouarter-Century Club” number of the “Battle Creek Idea” a Sanitarium publication, contained the addresses given at the banquet, also many p:ctures of noted people. all ad- vocates of “biologic living.” Pictures were also shown of several of the old- er members of the club, including five, the sum of whose ages was 454 vears. In October, 1923, the entertainment was held in the Sanitarium Gymnasium the guest of honor being the oldest member of the club, James Wylie Gardner, now 98 years of age, in Oc- tober. An interesting program of music and addresses was furnished, one address being given by C. W. Barron, of New York, a noted financier and publisher. In September, 1924, Dr. Kellogg en- tertained the club at the Sanitarium Villa (Goguac Lake) with a feast of Sanitarium fruits, food and fruit juices and a program of talks and music. The fourth and last annual gathering of the club was a lawn party held in the afternoon of Sept. 10, 1925, on the roomy and shady front lawn of Dr. Kellogg’s Manchester street residence. In place of a formal program, the aged members of the club were cor- dially welcomed by Dr. Kellogg, presi- dent of the club, and then they weve asked to give reminiscences and in- teresting incidents of their early lives. It was learned that one at least, of those present, had voted for Fremont for president and had twice voted for Abraham Lincoln, while twenty-eight TRADESMAN October 14, 1925 m PROTECTION— GOVERNED BY COMMISSION; September 30, 1925. Kent Laundry, Grand Rapids, Mich. Gentlemen: Ster-O-Brand Wipers Guaranteed Sterile Wiping Cloths Read This Recommendation: GrwrenGranp Rakes, Micuican After. @ careful inspection of your laundry and methods used, I am satisfied that you are producing sterile wiping cloths. As fer as I know you ere the first people to put an article of this character on the market, and I trust that your efforts in this line meet with merited success. Very truly yours, Every plant owner should protect his employes with guaranteed sterile wiping cloths, recommended by board of health as protection against germs and disease—After careful inspection of our new plant, read what Dr. Slemons says about our product Sterilized wiping cloths are delivered to your fac- tory thoroughly cleansed and sterilized, 100% wiping surface, with no loss, guarding the health of every employe. Against Disease Against Germs Against Contagion Against Sickness Against Waste \ Phone and Our Factory Salesman Will Call KENT LAUNDRY Co. 516-700 Letellier St., S. W. Dial 54626 October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN others had voted for Lincoln, and one member of the club had been per- sonally acquainted with Abraham Lin- coln in his Illinois home. To the old- est man and to the oldest woman pres- ent a handsome bouquet was presented and to the oldest member present a cash present of five dollars was given. A basket of fruit was sent to the eighteen or more shut-ins who were unable to attend the lawn party by Dr. Kellogg, and, as a pleasant reminder and memento of the enjoyable oc- casion, a group picture of the com- pany was promised each one present. The Battle Creek Three-Quarter- Century Club is performing a valuable service in an effort to make a little smoother the pathway of the aged residents of the community, and to learn from them the secrets of their long and useful lives, with their most interesting experiences and accomplish- ments, how to make life worth living. Other cities which learn what has been accomplished by the Battle Creek Three-Quarter Century Club, may be persuaded to organize similar clubs, thereby making the present a connect ing link between the past and the future. John I. Gibson. — —-..———— Are you doing your work in the way you would expect it to be done if you were hiring another? —_———_ 2s A good clerk who can’t get along with others in the store won’t hold any job very long. —_222>—__ Always try to get as little mileage as possible out of your troubles. Why Grocers Do or Do Not Succeed. Hours and hours of time of noted speakers and columns and columns of space by noted writers have been de- voted to the subject, “Successful Re- tailing.” Most of it, however, has gone right over the heads of the majority of retail grocers. It is mostly for big business and can not be applied to smal retail stores. Some of the rules that have been laid down for our success are: Better book- keeping, more advertising, bigger turn- over, smaller stocks, fewer articles or bigger variety, clean stores, new style fixtures, more efficient clerks, sell more advertised goods, read more magazines and a hundred and one other formulas. Some of the reasons why we do not succeed are: Lack of brains, lack of experience, lack of capital and too much credit. But when all is said and done, there are but three real essen- tials to success: Hard work, economy and common horse sense. We will concede tha twe should keep records of all our transactions, but the elaborate systems which are laid down by most theorists are so complicated that they are beyond our understanding or income. Advertising is all right if used right, but I do not believe the neighborhood grocer should bother with newspaper advertising because it is costly and the business he gets is too expensive to show a worth-while profit. “Bigger turnover” sounds good, but the question is how to get it at a profit. If the bigger turnover is secured at prohibitive cost or without profit, of what value is it? The Good Book says: “What profit it a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?” I say: “What profit it a grocer if he do all the business of his town and then go broke?” Smaller stocks are very advisable, but as long as manufacturers insist on selling in five or ten-case lots instead of one and also insist upon giving free deals and special discounts, we will have to buy the big deals and carry heavy stocks to be in the running. It should be the dependent grocer and every grocer’s as- sociation, both wholesale and retail, to show the manufacturer the curse of “free deals” and “special discounts.” “More may be all right, but you will find the first aim of every in- articles or bigger variety” most successes to-day are the ones who are picking out the quick movers and throwing out the rest. “New fixtures are all right, but fine fixtures with heavy obligations are not as profitable as discounted bills. “Et ficient clerks” are prizes these days and hard to find. There is no question that advertised goods move faster than the unadver- tised brands, but what good is that if you must sacrifice the profits? Ad- vertised goods are used as footballs by price cutters and most advertised goods carry a profit too small to pay for the room they occupy. “We don’t succeed because we lack experience.” That whole of it for I know of an instance where a man, having been a teamster at $40 a month, and his wife, a coun- try school teacher at $8 a week, saved in the neighborhood of $1,000, and cannot be the when they bought the store they car- they To-day they are said to be worth in the neigh- borhood of $30,000; all in less than twenty years. Another learned the ried mortgages and notes until couldn’t see the end of them. instance of where a man cigar maker’s trade and eventually went in business for himself than three years he was in bankruptcy, owing about $4,000. He paid up what they owed, saved about $500 and in less and his wife went to work, then started in the grocery business about thirteen years ago and to-day are worth twelve to fifteen thousand dollars. On the other hand we all know of were A-l whom you would stake your all men who clerks and on who have started in the business and made flat failures. It cannot be lack of experience, therefore that spells grocery failure. “Tack of capital.” It is not neces- sary to fail for lack of capital when credits are so cheap. All you have to have is $25 in cash and your name on a board. “Jack Jones Grocery,” and every salesman and wholesale grocer in the country will want to sell you and trust you, so it can’t be lack of capital. 3ut really, are grocers such failures? I think you will find more retail gro- cers owning their own stock than any other line of retailers. And statistics show as many successes among grocers as any other line. Even among the poorer paid laborers you will find suc- cesses and failures. Let us see if we can find just a few (Continued on page 30) Boston Denver Michigan Offices: Detroit Dime Bank Building Grand Rapids Michigan Trust Building ITH representatives in more than sixty cities of the United States, we offer nation- wide facilities for the purchase and distribution of Public Utility, Corporation and Municipal Bonds. E. H. Rollins G Sons Founded 1876 231 South La Salle Street, Chicago Philadelphia San Francisco New York Los Angeles SELECTIVE SERVICE ACT. There is a determination in this country that when and if America again mobilizes for war there shall be a mobilization, not only of men, but of money, manufacturing power, ma- terials, food and all resources. Pro- duction would be regulated. Distribu- tion would be controlled. As in 1917, rails and ships would be taken over. Labor would be under the direction of the Government. Doubtless, as the President suggests it would be necessary to fix prices, and this would lead to wage regulation. At the end of the kaiser’s war we were rapidly approaching these policies. Prices were being fixed. Capital was mobilized and controlled. Competi- tive biding among the Allies had been ended. We were coming to that pool- ing of national resources and the limit- ing of profits now recognized as vital if war should come agin. This would mean the taking of profit out of war. It was proposed by mem- bers of the old War Industries Board. Secretary of War Weeks urged it years ago. President Harding on his last ill- starred trip to the West advocated it before a Western audience. It has been made a part of the Coolidge policies and sooner or later it must come before Congress for decision. Four millions of Americans came out of the last struggle with the con- viction that never again shall some men be sent to the trenches while others are left at home to make more profits out of war than they ever made out of peace. No other phase of the last war roused more bitterness or bred so great a sense of injustice as this. The name “profiteer” became a by-word and a hissing. Taking the profit out of war is not a visionary idea. We were proving late in 1918 that it could be done. Men, money, food, industrial plants and ma- terials can be pooled and prices can be stabilized. The time, however, to set up this machinery for mobilization is in time of peace and not on the eve of war. It should be a part of the general scheme of national defense. The legis- lation creating it and giving the Pres:- dent power to bring it into action in time of danger should be passed in a tranquil time when it may be given unhurried consideration. Since 1920, when the existing Na- tional Defense Act was passed, the War Department has been working on a selective service act. It is about com- pleted and will be introduced in the next Congress. Unless it includes a mobilization of money as well as men, of industries as well as fighters, of re- sources as well as guns and includes provisions for taking the profit out of war, it is a one-sided and fatally de- fective measure. SEEK HOLIDAY MERCHANDISE The experience of the past week in the linen department shows a marked increase in the demand for all goods suitable for Thanksgiving and holiday trade. The call applies not only to items of a fancy nature, colored or otherwise, which predominate, but al- so to plain white cloths, hemstitched sets, etc., of which a steadily increas- Sa NES MICHIGAN TRADESMAN ing proportion is being sold. Fancy mixed towels, huck towels with colored borders and Turkish towel box sets and bath mats are in great favor. Volume was well maintained, the total for the week exceeding that of last year in satisfactory degree. Increased activity is noted in the blanket and flannel departments. Buy- ing is well sustained. Near-by mer- chants, who waited the coming of cool weather before purchasing their needs in these lines, have now placed good orders for rush shipments and special sales are much in demand. Many large orders are received for staple cotton blankets for Dollar Day sales. As in the previous week, cotton and wool plaids lead in the volume of sales. Bleached domets in 27 inch widths are in better demand than for some time past. Chiffon velvets in the cheaper grades in black enjoy a brisk demand. Crepe satins and charmeuse are again the leading sellers, with sport satins and georgettes closely following. Brocaded rayon novelties also move freely. Mail orders received during the past week show a marked increase over those of the preceding week, mostly calling for re-orders on 54 inch plain silks. Road orders from salesmen and mail orders direct from customers calling for dress goods show a very decided increase during the past week. The demand continued for lightweight French flannels, balbriggan flannels and border fabrics, particularly those with rayon decoration. Plaids are growing stronger as the cooler weather advances. Brocades, rayons and silk and cot- ton mixtures, both printed and plain, continue among the best sellers in the wash goods department. There is an increased demand for printed flannels. Percales are very active and challies and cretonnes sell freely. Ginghams still continue to show improvement. Sales for the week on handkerchiefs show an advance over those of the same period last year. Many requests are received from various parts of the State to have salesmen call, indicat- ing that the trade in general is now ready to cover their requirements for the holiday season. TWO NATIONS IN CONTRAST. Economically and financially. Italy stands in striking contrast to France. A report for the half year shows no improvement in Italian trade. On the other hand, the nation’s governmental finances are considerably stronger. France has shown quite a remark- able recovery in commerce and indus- try, with only small, if any, improve- ment in governmental finance—at least up to the time Caillaux took hold. The outstanding French problem is, Is the population standing still or de- creasing? Italy’s, Is the population too large for the country and con- stantly on the increase? From a polit- ical point of view, it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that France suffers from too much democracy; Italy may not be suffering from too much autoc- racy under Mussolini, but the dictator- ship has yet to deliver the goods. WOOL AND WOOLENS. No definite trend in wool prices can be predicated from the results of the auction sales which ended in London on Thursday, a day ahead of the period fixed. Nor do the sales now in progress in Australia offer much better oppor- tunity for judgment. In London, rais- ing the upset prices on certain wools put a stop to the bidding on them and they were withdrawn. This happened to about one-third of the total offer- ings. In some instances in Australia small quantities of the highest grade merinos showed a slight advance in price from the previous low levels. At both places most of the demand was from Continental sources, neither Americans nor British cutting much of a figure in the bidding. The French, particularly, are after wool for cloth- ing their troops in their warfare. Im- ports of wool into this country have recently been fairly large, but there have also been some re-exports, while the quantitiy remaining in bonded warehouses continues rather heavy. Takings by mills have not been large, orders being put in only as required for manufacture. Dealers are trying to hold out for better prices than buy- ers are willing to pay. Meanwhile the goods’ market still leaves much to be desired, cutters-up waiting for further business from retail clothiers. Cloth- ing manufacturers have opened their Spring lines and are sending out their men on the road with them. Prices remain substantially unchanged. In women’s wear, complaint is still made of the slow ordering from retailers. A notable event during the past week was the opening of the Spring lines of the Forstmann & Huffman Company at prices about 7 or 8 per cent. below the former ones. The greater atten- tion paid to sports fabrics was another feature. Garment lines for the South- ern resort season are to be generally open this week. FOREIGN COMMERCE. With all its admitted excellences, the Department of Commerce seems to have some weak points. One of these concerns. statistics, more especially those relating to foreign trade. The main criticism of these is the long de- lay before they are made available. Such figures were never given out with anything like the promptness of those issued by the British Board of Trade, but in the last half dozen years or so the dilatoriness seems to be on the increase. The statistics are contained in the monthly summaries of foreign commerce. With the avowed purpose of making the main data concerning imports and exports more _ speedily available, the publication was put into two parts, one issued before the other. This has not helped matters because even the first of them is now delayed longer than the whole used to be. Up to Thursday, for example, the latest detailed figures’ were those for July. On that day the first part for August appeared. Before that a few totals were issued for August. The first of these came out on Sept. 15. It gave the exports for the month mentioned at $383,000,000 and the imports as $375,000,000. But these figures now appear to have been highly erroneous October 14, 1925 and misleading. Corrected ones have lately been given, making the total exports of August $379,862,547 and the imports $340,484,265. While the difference in exports is only a little over $3,000,000, the discrepancy in the imports is nearly $39,500,000. It changes the favorable balance of trade for the month from $8,000,000 to over $39,000,000, making it one of the larg- est, instead of next to the smallest, for the year. This seems careless figuring, to say the least. STILL BUYING CAUTIOUSLY. While in many mercantile lines there has recently been a greater activity, it cannot be said that business has struck its full stride for Fall as yet. Textile mills and other producers are increas- ing their output in response to calls on them for supplies, and distributors are passing these through channels with a fair measure of success. But there remains an indisposition to trade ahead in any wholehearted way even in cases where little, if anything, is dependent on chance. A repetition of small orders from many sources com- prises the bulk of the business that is passing. This is especially the case with regard to merchandise in which the style element is a factor, although there is practically no uncertainty re- maining as to the modes of the season or the materials which will be favored. Buyers continue to come to this mar- ket in quite fair number, but wherever possible they are making frequent trips here. The buying pace, it is gen- erally believed, will be quickened by a spell of continued cool weather. Re- tailers profess to be doing a little above the average at this season with- out a concentration on any one or two lines, and their offerings have been of a most diversified character. When- ever anything appears to take well they add to their stocks of it, but still sparingly and with caution. In most lines no advance of prices appears on the horizon, so they think they run no risks. HAS AN OMINOUS SOUND. Certain manufacturers are making urgent appeals to the trade through the daily newspapers to handle their lines because they are “Nationally ad- vertised.” Of course, the cost of these frantic appeals means money wasted, because the only proper way in which the advertiser can reach the attention of the retail grocer is through the ad- vertising columns of the trade press. To be entirely truthful some of them should be a little more explicit and make the statement as follows: “Na tionally advertised and sold to chain stores at lower prices than to inde- pendent dealers.” Most of these ap- peals are made by manufacturers who sell the chains at the same prices they’ obtain from the wholesalers who sup- ply the independent dealers. “Nationally advertised” is a seduc- tive phrase to roll under the tongue, but it has an ominous sound to the merchant who finds himself unable to compete with the chain store in price, because the chain store can stock the goods 10 per cent. less than the legi- timate retailer can. «1 r the demnition bow wows. October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN 9 OUT AROUND. Things Seen and Heard on a Week End Trip. I never pass the large store of Otis Miner, at Lake Odessa, that I do not recall the large white store building at Bonanza which was occupied for many years by Mr. Miner’s father with one of the most complete general stocks to be found anywhere forty years ago. This was before the days of the railroad and prior to the found- ing of Lake Odessa, which ultimately resulted in Bonanza being blotted off the map. H. F. Miner was a prince of good nature and hospitality. I never knew a man whose face revealed his character more truly than did H. F. Miner. The smile of his mouth and of his eyes was gentle, good- humored and tolerant. The quizzical, up-curving lines at the corner of his mouth and of his eyes were the soul of the man. His store at Bonanza was reached by stage coach or private con- veyance and traveling men who sold him goods were handsomely entertain- ed by the family in living rooms over the store. An evening with the Miner family was looked forward to by dozens of salesmen with the same fond anticipation as an oasis in the desert by the African explorer. On reaching Sunfield I learned something I had not heard of before— that I had been sued by Jack Murphy, who had also caused my arrest for the unpleasant statements I felt compelled to make concerning him in the Trades- man a year or more ago. Two reput- able merchants told me Murphy had repeated these charges in their pres- ence and other merchants told me they had been told that Murphy was flamboyantly circulating such reports. Of course there is no foundation for such charges and I challenge Murphy to start any kind of proceedings against me, because I now know ten times as much about him as I did a year ago. He is a man who has no regard for his word and whose life is replete with false pretense and untrue statement. I have undertaken to get service on him in Grand Rapids for over a year, without result. He pre- tends to do business as the Grand Rapids Safe Exchange, when there is no such concern known to the mer- cantile agencies, city directory people or postoffice. He evidently does this to prey on the good name of the Grand Rapids Safe Co., which has established an enviable reputation by many years of fair dealing. He solicits orders for office safes—at about double what they are worth— collects. the money in advance and then apparently forgets all about the transaction. Replies are seldom made to letters of enquiry and after several months of weary waiting the victim appeals to the Tradesman for assist- In such a case I write the al- leged manufacturer of the safe sold by Murphy and receive an illy spelled letter, inviting me to attend to my own business and consigning me to I note one thing, however—that the safe goes forward the same day my letter reaches Louisville, which is all I aim to ac- complish, Insulting letters mean ance, nothing to me when couched in inde- cent language, written by people who are in the wrong. I always welcome a competitor if he is an honorable competitor, but I’ have no use for a man who abuses the confidence of his customers and brings the business he espouses into disrepute by making promises he does not intend to fulfill in man fashion. About the time I started the Trades- man in 1883 and for several years subsequent thereto a plethora of trade papers were started to prey on the good name I aimed to create for my publication. Detroit put out the Michigan Trader and subsequently the Michigan Trade. Saginaw put out the Michigan Merchant. All of these papers undertook to imitate the Tradesman in size, appearance and contents. They succeeded in the two former undertakings, but failed in the latter, primarily, I think, because the promoters regarded their publications as makeshifts and had not given their mediums and the field they purported to occupy the careful study I had given the Tradesman for eleven years before I put out the first issue. When I learned that the authors of these imitators were circulating reports that the Tradesman had suspended publica- tion, it aroused all the fighting blood in my veins and I started out on a career of exposure and denunciation which resulted in the demise of two of the publications and the retirement of the third crook, who turned his ven- ture over to more honorable hands. Trade continued until about ten years ago, when it suspended publication. Its subscription list was taken over by the Tradesman and some of our best friends and most hearty supporters came to us from that source. No publication has been more gen- erous to its competitors than the Tradesman. All I ask is fairness and a high sense of justice and honor, which I am prepared to give in return. Probably few merchants are aware that while the Tradesman was estab- lished in 1883, it really was born in 1872 in the store of D. M. McClellan, of Reed City, where I was then em- ployed as a clerk. In those days I worked from 6 o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock at night—and there was no trades union at that time to tell me that I was being abused. After starting the Tradesman I worked six- teen hours per day for twenty-five years and never complained, because I learned quite early in life never to quar- rel with my bread and butter. In a shipment my employer received from New York one day I discovered a copy of the American Grocer. It was the first trade paper I had ever seen. Careful study of the copy induced me to subscribe for the paper—and I have not missed reading a copy of that journal for fifty-three years. I soon decided that I could make a success of a trade paper, but I determined to con- duct it along different lines than any other trade journal in existence. I de- cided that in order to know what I was about I would have to be a prac- tical printer, so on Jan. 1, 1874, I be- gan a three year apprenticeship in the office of the Big Rapids Magnet. My salary was $50 the first year, $100 the second and $200 the third year. For the next seven years I worked in vari- ous editorial positions on the daily papers of Grand Rapids, having always in mind the publication of a journal devoted to the best interests of the retail merchant. In these eleven years of preparation and anticipation I probably talked with 1,000 merchants, undertaking to ascertain the features which would be most valuable to the retailer. The outcome was not an instantaneous success. It required many years to secure the confidence of the trade, which had become sus- picious of all trade publications through the fiascos attending the fly- by-night papers above described and which naturally regarded my venture with extreme caution until I demon- strated to them that I was in earnest, and that the Tradesman was to be an important factor in their success. E, A. Stowe. —_—_.. a October Notable in Accomplishment and Disaster. Grandville, Oct. 13—October holds an important place in the calendar year. Forty-five years ago the 15th of this month a party of young people were eight miles from home attending a grand political rally. The day had been one of unusual mildness, with sunshine and the color of matured leaves and shrubs on every hand; al- most a renewal of summer, and then— a sudden clouding of the heavens, as the midnight hour approached. By the time the attendants at the rally had reached home the winds be- gan to blow, the rain to fall, and pan- demonium was thereafter let loose, so that on the morning of the 16th a hur- ricane raged through the North woods. a tremendous sweeping the length of Lake Michigan. A gallant steamer went out from a Michigan port that pleasant evening, laden with passengers for Chicago. That boat was the Alpena, and boat and passengers were never heard from again. Several Grand Rapids people were passengers, and these, to- gether with perhaps a hundred others, found graves in the wild waters of the great lake. That storm filled the roads with fallen trees and the havoc along the great lakes was long remembered as the worst that had ever happened. October is a very unreliable weather breeder. Our Indian Summer is not due until November, although we often get touches of it during the preceding month. Violent storms, however, are not strangers to October. With all its pleasant days there ever lurks a hidden demon of destruction under its dove- like wings. The sinking of the Alpena was a record event and will long hold place as one of the worst lake disasters of all time. Near the end of the month so long ago, gales swept the face of nature. and considerable snow fell. Up to the time of the storm which overwhelmed the Alpena the weather had been ideal- ly mild and pleasant. Treachery is an- other name that might be applied to this month. Back in Civil War days the month of October had its full share of in- cidents to mark it as of importance along the lines of history. That immortal poem, “Sheridan’s Ride,” tells the story of one of: the most exciting events of that struggle. When the Confederate General Early surprised the Union camp at Cedar Creek by an early morning on- slaught, he caught the Unionists nap- ping, with their commander resting at Winchester, twenty miles away. The left flank of the: Northern army was doubled up and a.general stampede followed. That nineteenth of October, 1864, is a memorable date in history. Thomas Buchanan Reed tells the story most graphically in his poem which stresses the dashing ride of Phil Sheridan to meet his retreating army from Cedar Creek. The little cavalry general went through the lines to the front in whirl- wind style, snatching by his magnetic presence victory from defeat, winning one of the most decisive victories of the Civil War, and which stamped Philip Henry Sheridan as the greatest cavalry commander of any time. General Grant once said that Phil Sheridan was capable of commanding all the armies the United States ever had together. And this officer was, in the early part of the war, colonel of the 2nd Michigan cavalry. There is no accounting for how things come to pass in this queer old world of ours. Much, however, can be said in praise of this month of October. Great deeds have been done in the month and no brighter days ever were than many of the month’s hours of sunshine and haze. That year of the great storm which whelmed the Alpena and other boats on the great lakes was an exceptional year in many respects. While the weather had been excep- tionally mild and delightful up to the 16th, thereafter cold gales were the rule. Snow began falling that autumn on the 7th of November, continuing to fall without abatement for days and weeks. No bare ground was visible after that date until past the middle of the next April, making the winter of 1880-1 the longest in point of continuous sleighing of any known since whites settled the State. In many respects October is an ideal month. Usually the weather is pleasant, with only now and then a_ shower, with clear, cool nights, sometimes frosty, yet with brilliant days of sunshine, the dying of summer before the opening rigors of winter. “The autumn days have come, the saddest of the year,” as the poet has it, marks well the conditions, and warns the summer idler that the days of coal bin filling is at hand, with Jack Frost in the offing. It would prove a great blessing to the much abused consumer if the com- ine winter should prove an open one, with only half the usual amount of coal necessary to keep the homes of the common people warm. At this time of the year weather prophets pretend to tell as to what sort of a winter is coming by the amount of “shack” in the woods. Large quantities of acorns, beech and butternuts are, they say, a sure sign -of a cold winter. However, I long since divested my- self of a belief in signs of this kind, since the most open winter I ever knew (not a day’s sleimhing) was when the ground was literally covered deeply with nuts of all kinds Old Timer. eo. o————- Now It is Cretonne Vests. The vogue of cretonne coats in wo- men’s wear is held responsible for the further development of the cretonne idea in men’s vests. Youthful and not so youthful wearers of these vests have been observed on the streets and also in commuters’ trains. They are pat- terned in the usual floral all-over ef- fect and present a decided contrast to the remainder of the clothing worn. The question was asked yesterday, however, as to what fad in men’s wear is likely to result from the new vogue of wearing Indian blanket coats which many of the fair sex are doing, 10 SHOE MARKET Selling the Public on Shoe Values. That price cutting as a means of sales promotion is uneconomic from every viewpoint, and likely to result in business failure in the case of oper- ators whose limited capital is eaten up by high costs which the profits of dis- tribution are insufficient to absorb, is the substance of a significant and time- ly statement issued last week by J. Harry Tregoe, executive manager of the National Association of Credit Men. Mr. Tregoe’s statement was directed at business in general, but it applies so aptly to the shoe business that it might have been written with the prob- lems of the retail shoe merchant pri- marily in mind. Our first problem these days is high costs, he savs, and unless profits are sufficient to absorb the costs and leave a little for compensation to canital in- vestment, there is neither safety nor pleasure in a business enterprise. Unless an article is well sold, that is, sold at a reasonable profit, it had bet- ter not be sold at all. This philosophy may be attacked by some who believe that volume distribution is a safeeuard of business, but I am confident that in some particular lines price cutting is being indulged in only for the sake of making sales. This kind of business jeopardizes the existence of many mer- chants who fail to recognize that there must be a margin between cost and selling price that will take care of the overhead and leave something for capital. Every retail shoe merchant will readily admit the truth of the principle involved in these remarks of Mr. Tre- goe and the fact that so many have been and are being led into the danger of which he warns is not because they do not recognize the truth that a mark- up sufficient to cover the prevailing high cost of doing business is abso- lutely necessarv and because they have seen themselves, on the other hand, faced bv a competitive situation which has apparently made it next to impos- sible to obtain the required margin of profit without losing out on volume of sales. In trying to steer clear of one rock they have run aground on the other. What, then, is the Mr. Tregoe suggests one answer when he goes on to say: “If there are more operators in a particular field than can distribute at a reasonable profit. then something should be done to eliminate the unsafe margin and allow the re- maining merchants a reasonable oppor- tunity for success.” answer? There is nothing particularly orig- inal or constructive in this remedy. It is simplv the old rule of the survival of the fittest. We hardly agree that “something should be done to elimin- ate the unsafe margin,” for in the shoe business at least, much has already been done, too much no doubt, in that direction. Mr. Tregoe, of course, spoke from the angle of the wholesale credit man, who is mainly interested in the credit risk involved in his retail ac- counts. The retailer will scarcely rel- ish being told that “something should be done” to eliminate him. He is more interested in doing something to save himself from the ruthless process of elimination which he has seen going on MICHIGAN about him. Is his situation hopeless from this standpoint? On the contrary, if recent develop- ments in the industry mean anything at all his situation is far more hope- ful to-day than it has been at any time since the beginning of the liquida- tion movement that started in 1920. In the first place, many of his competi- tors have already been eliminated. In the second, there is a distinct change in the buying attitude of the consumer. Reports from many sections indicate an increased interest in quality and less disposition to hesitate over price. The reason for this would not be difficult to find, but it is sufficient to note that the tendency does exist. The import- ant thing is what the retailer ought to do to take the best possible ad- vantage of this situation. Ought he merely to increase his percentage of mark-up because he finds it easier to get the price he knows he ought to have? If he does this he will be doing the very thing that will be most likely to bring on a relapse of the illness that has afflicted the shoe business in the past few years. Much has been said of the possibility of selling service as well as merchan- dise and so making it easier to induce the customer to pay an adequate price. Much more has been said of the pos- sibilities of specialization along lines that will put the independent merchant out of the class where competition is most intense. There is another way of meeting the situation that has not received sufficient attention. It is the possibility of better salesmanship. The average American believes in fair play. He is willing to pay a fair price for value received. If he balks or hesi- tates, the reason in nine cases out of ten is because he has not been con- vinced that the article is worth the price. The retailer is to blame for that. He must see to it that his sales- people know every article of merchan- dise in their stock, appreciate its “sell- nig points’ and are able to tell cus- tomers in an intelligent and convincing way why it will prove a worth while investment. It is distinctly encouraging that more and more retail merchants are coming to appreciate the need and im- portance of more efficient salesman- ship. They are recognizing that they can get farther by teaching their sales- people how to sell than by complaining about the high cost of hire. They are learning that volume can be increased by more efficient salesmanship as well as by price cutting and are working with schools and educational agencies of various kinds to give their sales- people the opportunity to learn. shoe In this all-important work of raising the standard of retail salesamnship and retail advertising, manufacturers can well afford to co-operate with their re- tail dealers. For despite what Mr. Tregoe says about eliminating the un- safe margin of operators, the fact re- mains that every time a retailer goes oue of business some © manufacturer loses an outlet for the distribution of his product—Shoe Retailer. —_>-+ > What we need to realize the greater possibilities of life is more spade work and less surface raking. TRADESMAN October 14, 1925 As Hirth-Krause Cos are going out of the Leather Shoe business, all shoes in stock will be sold at a big discount, beginning the week of October 19. This will include the famous Rouge Rex and More Mileage Shoes. This is your chance to make a lot more extra profit. Be sure to come in to see us during the week of Oct. 19. There’s No Fuss with PROUDFIT BINDERS Any page can be removed or inserted without disturb- ing the leaf body. Proudfit open style of punching provides the quickest method of doing this. When open, the pages lie flat. They are easy to work on. Loose leaf devices of all kinds. Write us concerning your needs. PROUDFIT LOOSE LEAF CO. 21 Logan Street Grand. Rapids, Mich. We buy and sell property of all kinds. Merchandise and Realty. Special sale experts and auctioneers. ig 4 Merchandise Wreckers Room 11 Twamiey Bidg. GRAND RAPIDS MICHIGAN aa BARLOW BROS. Grand Rapids, Mich. Ask about our way. SHOE RETAILERS! MAIL THIS COUPON TODAY Herold-Bertsch Shoe Co., Shoe Manufacturers, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Gentlemen: Please send me without obligation full details of your new plan for selling a short line of work and dress shoes. We understand you claim greater profits, cleaner stocks and faster turnover for your plan. October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN 11 MEN OF MARK. E. E. Branch, Secretary New Era Association. Elam E. Branch was born in Osh- temo, Kalamazoo county, March 3, 1871. His father was a Congregational clergyman whose ancestors came to this country from England on the second voyage of the Mayflower in 1629. His mother was also of English descent, her antecedents having been people who embraced the faith of the Baptist church. Mr. Branch’s father died when he was three years old and the family removed to Lawrence, where he re- sided until 20 years. of age, graduating on the literary course of the local high school at the age of 17. He subsequent- ly fitted himself for the Baptist min- istry and for the next thirty-two years ministered to congregations in Iowa, Hartford, Nashville, Kalamazoo and Tonia. At the latter place he became interested in the organization of a lo- cal building and loan association, serv- ing as Secretary and Manager for ve E. E. Branch. eleven years. He then~ removed to Muskegon, where he organized the Muskegon Building and Loan Associa- tion and started it on a career of great prosperity. His work as an organizer and business executive having been brought to the attention of the officers of the New Era Association, he was in- vited eigheten months ago to become a member of the Cabinet and Secretary of the organization, which he accepted. He likes the work incident to his new association and is making a high water mark for himself and his associates. He has been a member of the New Era twenty-seven years, having joined the organization when it was less than a year old. Mr. Branch was married Jan. 21, 1891, to Miss Jennie M. Gorham, of Lawrence. They reside at 108 May- field avenue, Grand Rapids. Mr. Branch still retains his member- ship in the Muskegon Baptist church. He is a Mason up to and including the Knight Templar degree. He is a Past Master of the Blue Lodge and Past High Priest of the Chapter. He is an Odd Fellow and a Past Noble Grand. He is an Elk and has served the Ionia Lodge as Chaplain. He isa K. P. and a member of the Sons of Veterans. Mr. Branch attributes his success to the fact that he always studies every subject he investigates to such an ex- tent that he can see the viewpoint of the fellow on the other side and sympathize with him in his position. He believes that an honest day’s work is entitled to an honest day’s pay; also that an honest day’s pay is entitled to an honest day’s work. He is fair and generous in his treatment of all men who come in contact with him and, no matter how great the provocation, he never loses his head, fails to keep his humor or permits anything to disturb his composed and unruffled spirit. —_2+2—___—_ “Watching Immediate Color Trend. Aside from black, the new blues and the wine shades are outstanding colors thus far in Fall ready-to-wear. To date there has been no concentrated call for any single shade, as was the case with cranberry last Fall. The mills, how- ever, are closely watching the imme- diate color trend, as the probabilities are that if there is to be one dominat- ing shade it will soon make itself manifest. The color situation for Spring i sstill very much of a hit or miss proposition. Guesses only have materialized up ‘to the present. The new rose shades, including coral, and the greens, however, are well thought of, with the vogue for white expected to develop with the start of the Win- ter resort season. —_—_2-2>_____ Sees American Mills Leading. An American mill representative who returned fro mabroad during the past week reports that he found very few women’s wear woolen fabrics that ap- pealed to him. He expressed his con- viction that the American mills were now far ahead of their European com- petitors in the production of new weaves and finishes. France, he said, was offering some fine duvetyns, pop- lins and imperial serges, while some of the English mills were showing goods that had a high order of merit. It will be recognized before long, con- cuded this executive, that the Ameri- can mills are in fact leading the world in the styling and manufacture of high grade woolens. —_2+->—___ Never Speechless. Mrs. West: The average woman has a vocabulary of only 500 words. Gordon: It’s a small stock, but think of the turnover. I. Van Westenbrugge GRAND RAPIDS—MUSKEGON Distributor “The Wholesome Spread for Bread” CHEESE OF ALL KINDS BUTTER SAR-A-LEE GOLD-MEDAL "~ Mayonaise OTHER SPECIALTIES Quality — Service — Co-operation DID YOU SEE IT? Nucoa’s two-page spread in the Saturday Evening Post of September 19th? If you didn’t you—simply lit your smokes with bank notes and that’s foolish. Look at it now! If you did see it, you will be glad to look for Nucoa’s page in the Saturday Evening Post of October 17th. THE BEST FOODS INC. New York Chicago San Francisco Thousands of Retailers say ae fe mareminne MADE BY THE QH10 MATCH (©. Seto Aod Me Poh an Lory Deserve the Popularity They Enjoy The Ohio Match Sales Co. WADSWORTH. OHIO Grand Rapids National Bank The convenient bank for out uf town people. Located on Campau Square at the very center of the city. Handy to the street cars—the interurbans—the hotels—the shopping district. On account of our location—our large transit facilities—our safe deposit vaults and our complete service covering the entire field of banking, our institution must be the ultimate choice of out of town bankers and individuals. Combined Capital, Surplus and Undivided Profits over $1,500,000 GRAND RAPIDS NATIONAL BANK GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 12 FINANCIAL Standard Oil of N. J. Still King of Them All. Taken from any angle, the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, notwith- standings the segregation ordered by the Federal authorities in 1911, is the biggest and most powerful of all the world’s petroleum companies. What other company can boast of refineries, both here and abroad, with a consump- tive capcity of some 375,000 barrels of crude oil daily throughout the year, or a fleet of ocean-going tankers capable of transporting some 95,000,000 bar- rels of crude and refined oils annually? These are just a few facts that set forth clearly the immensity of the or- ganization. Aside from the refineries operated at Bayonne, Elizabeth and Jersey City, N. J., with an aggregate capacity of 180,000 barrels a day, this company, through its subsidiaries, has refineries at numerous points throughout the United States which bring its total domestic refining capacity to almost 320,000 barrels daily. Its foregin subsidiaries, which oper- ate in Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Peru, Rumania, Italy, France, Spain and Colombia, have an additional refining capacity of some 85,000 barrels daily, and several new plants are being con- structed at foreign locations to look after its ever-growing business. Crude oil producing properties con- trolled by the New Jersey company in the United States and at other points throughout the world produced at the rate of about 178,000 barrels a day last year, although in the previous year out- put of these properties had been much larger. The biggest of its producing subsidiaries, include the Carter Oil Company, the Humble Oil and Refin- ing Company and the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana. It also con- trols producing properties working in Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and other South American countries, and in Mexico and the Far East. Its domestic marketing business is done in New Jersey, Maryland, Virgina, West Virginia, North and South Carolina and the District of Colombia. In this territory it operates more than 900 bulk distributing plants and re- tail service stations. Through its sub- sidiaries it does a wholesale and retail business in a number of other states, and in addition wholesales its products to the Standard Oil of New York, which does an annual business of more than $50,000,000. The tanker fleet which it maintains constitutes about 12 per cent. of all the tanker tonnage afloat under the Ameri- can flag, and, with that of its sub- sidiaries, it controls approximately one-tenth of the entire world-s ton- nage. Having no funded debt, its capitaliza- tion consists of $507,301,775 in com- mon stock of $25 par value, preceded by $199,972,900 in $7 preferred stock. The balance sheet shows total assets of $1,244,940,055, of which the grand total of $474,960,207 represents invest- ment in real estate, plants and equip- ment. Its gross business last year ex- ceeded $400,000,000 and net income was more than $81,000,000. MICHIGAN TRADESMAN Since the dissolution in 1911 up to and including the first six months of the current year this company has paid out in cash dividends a grand aggre- gate of $360,745,879, of which the pre- ferred stock received $74,204,939. In 1922 a stock dividend of 400 per cent. also was declared. The position of the preferred stock as an investment is clear from the fact that during the last seven years annual average profits have been equivalent to more than five times the dividend requirements on that issue. [Copyrighted, 1925.] —_2.2s—__—_ More Auto Drivers Than Formerly Owned Horses. Let him who fears we are racing into an age when machinery will re- place labor and when opportunity for individual effort will disappear remin- isce a bit. Did we not think the same thing fifty years ago? It does not take an old man to re- call the time when the village black- smith shop stood beside the village post office and was about as im- portant an institution. Almost every- bodv had horses. In 1870 our black- smiths numbered 3677 to every million inhabitants. Times have changed. The horse, instead of an everyday neces- sity, has become a luxury. The auto- mobile, instead of a luxury, has very nearly become an everyday necessity. More people now own cars than for- merly owned horses. Blacksmiths once looked with apprehension upon the invasion of the garage. The num- ber of blacksmiths to every million people by 1920 had fallen one-half, and thousands of smithies have been obliged to change their profession; but who will say that the motor car has stifled the opportunity for individual effort? Such interesting facts as these are to be found in a study just completed by the National Industrial Conference Board. Outstanding in the ‘analysis, however, is the proportionate gain in the number of persons engaged in the manufacturing and mechanical indus- tries and the declining proportion en- gaged in agriculture. The board says: “Workers in the manufacturing and mechanical indus- tries numbered 65,148 per million in- habitants in 1870, but in 1920 121,265 per million inhabitants, an increase of more than 85 per cent. in fifty years. The number of farmers and planters per million population during the same period decreased from 77,320 to 57,550, a decline of 25.6 per cent. The num- ber of farm laborers declined even more, from 74,848 to 37,544 per mil- lion inhabitants, or by nearly 50 per cent.” Something of interest to housewives appears in what the report says about domestic servants now and fifty years ago, for apparently our increasing wealth has not enabled us to surround ourselves with more help in the house than we had then. In the decade fol- lowing the Civil War domestic ser- vants numbered 25,337 to every mil- lion inhabitants; whereas in 1920 the number was only 16,285. That the change in affairs has re- duced opportunity for workers can scarcely be concluded when one studies Main Office Cor. MONROE and IONIA Branches Grandville Ave. and B St. West Leonard and Alpine Leonard and Turner Grandville and Cordelia St. Mornoe Ave. near Michigan Madison Square and Hall E. Fulton and Diamond Wealthy and Lake Drive Bridge, Lexington and Stocking Bridge and Mt. Vernon Division and Franklin Eastern and Franklin Division and Burton dhe ‘Bank ‘Where you feel at Home OLDEST SAVINGS BANK IN WESTERN MICHIGAN October 14, 1925 YOUR OWN Vine and Fig Tree. The joy and pride of your manhood.— The heaven of your old age. —Well, Why Not? We would like to see every man in this community the owner of his own home. We would like to open a Savings Account for you TODAY to that very end. Grand Rapids Savings Bank OFFICERS WILLIAM ALDEN SMITH. Chairman of the Board CHARLES W. GARFIELD, Chauman Ex.Com. GILBERT L. DAANE, President ARTHUR M. GODWIN, Vice Pres. ORRIN B. DAVENPORT, As’t Cashier EARLE D. ALBERTSON. Vice Pres. and Cashier HARRY J. PROCTER. Ass’t Cashier EARL C. JOHNSON. Vice President H. FRED OLTMAN, Ast Cashier TONY NOORDEWIER, Ass’t Cashier The Same Service For HE same type of service to assist you in solving the problem of your family’s future and its enjoyment of your estate will be cheerfully rendered whether your estate amounts to a few thousand dollars or a million dollars. Our Trust Department is organized for the purpose of caring for large and small estates in the same efficient way. Whatever your problem, a consultation with one of our officers would prove help- ful. [FRAND RAPIDS [RUST | OMPANY GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN All Estates Sean te a) ~ 4 a. F ° ~— 4 ¥ » o : « i - ~ ~ Py mR, % al pees October 14, 1925 Dre EES SN AR SR re hee ne Re can MICHIGAN TRADESMAN 13 what has happened in the transporta- tion field. Railroad workers in 1920 numbered 12,818 for every million in- habitants as against only 3995 in 1870, an increase in proportion to the popu- lation of 220 per cent. “The change from the individually managed small business enterprise to corporate management of great indus- trial establishments, and the incidental requirement of increased bookkeeping correspondence and accounting, and, to a degree, the rise and development of the statistical science and profession, is reflected strikingly in the item of clerical occupations, which enjoy by far the greatest increase of all cited in the census figures,” says the board In 1920 clerical office employes num- bered 26,691 to every million in- habitants as against 1926 in 1870, an increase of 1286 per cent. Paul Willard Garrett. [Copyrighted, 1925.] —_2-+2——_ Sustained Firmness D’spelling Fears of Erratic Movements. Shifting wholesale prices are to a business corporation what shifting sands are to the builder, for unless a concern knows the trend of raw ma- terial costs how can it stabilize and popularize values quoted to the public? Not much discussion is heard on such matters nowadays since changes in the commodity markets have been small, relative to fluctuations in stocks, but in the present stability of whole- sale prices shrewd men recognize a basis for the soundness of the over- head business structure. When Bradstreet to-day announced that the general level of wholesale prices during September gained “four- tenths of 1 per cent.” a smile must have come over the face of many ex- dollar-a-year men, statisticians and plain industrialists that much sharper fluctuations. All of us can recall changes of 6, 7 and 8 per cent. in the wholesale price averages within a single month. That Dun reports a dip in prices during September of “five-tenths of 1 per cent.” and Bradstreet a gain of about that has no significance. The interesting point is that both authorities agree that the outstanding feature of the present price situation is its stability. In the circumstances business men could ask for nothing more. It is even arguable that stability in wholesale commodity prices at this time, and until some readjustments are made in the business cycle, is prefer- able to rising prices. There are several reasons. Whole- sale prices already are high, relative to pre-war levels. They average some- where near to 60 per cent. above 1913 values. A further substantial advance would swell immediate profits, but act as a boomerang later on. Rising prices eventually increase living cos‘s and in the present instance would al- most surely raise labor. costs at a time when manufacturers complain that the item already takes a larger part of their dollar. Another advantage can be named. It is summed up in the expression “buy- ers’ resistance.” Every protracted price rise in the last five years has de- remember veloped a resistance on the part of buyers. Again and again the point has been reached when buyers will determ- ine to postpone purchases awaiting a drop in prices. Demand for goods is enormous at present and it is likely to continue large for an indefinite time so long as an equilibrium is maintained. The country is doing a large volume of business at a reasonable profit and from the standpoint of business that is better than a large profit on a small volume. Paul Willard Garrett. [Copyrighted, 1925.] — > -o--o——— More Money in Meat Business Than Formerly. A practical meat dealer writes the Butchers Advocate as follows: There is more money in the retail meat business to-day than there was twenty-five years ago, when I opened my first shop. I repeat that there is more money in the retail meat business to-day than there was twenty-five years ago, when I opened my first shop. I admit that the business is more complicated to- day than it was then, and the money may be harder to get, but it is there and the returns you get justify the efforts you have got to put forth. I have been in the meat business about thirty years, twenty-five of which were spent in running my own market, so I know what I am talking about. During that time I have heard a continual cry of hard times. When beef was selling as low as 7 cents a pound just as many butchers failed, proportionately, as do to-day. I think there were more failures then. If high prices cause failures, why is it that present prices do not send three- quarters of us out looking for jobs? The price of meat isn’t what makes or breaks the meat dealer by a long shot. People are going to think good and hard, and are going to sacrifice a lot of other things before going without their daily beefsieak. The failures do not come because of this; they come because of the methods, slipshod and _ haphazard, which so many meat dealers use in their markets. That’s the rub—the methods every time. The education which the people have received in sanitation, and gradual rise of a demand for quality, are the great- est things that ever happened for the retail meat dealer. When people came to realize there was good meat and poor meat, it opened the way for the up-to-date meat dealer of to-day, who caters to the demand that that realiza- tion created, and that is the class who are making the money. They are the ones who were on the job and moved with the times. Progressiveness al- ways pays. It is my experience that nine times out of ten the meat dealer who is complaining of bad business has not kept up with the times. You'll find, for one thing, they have not paid any attention to the sale of ready-to-serve meats. Their failure to install a ready- to-serve counter may not be re- sponsible for their ill success, but it points to the fact that they are not in step with the times, and the man who lags in business is sure to be left behind. THE CITY NATIONAL BANK oF Lansine, Micu. Our Collection and Bill of Lading Service is satisfactory Capital, Surplus and Undivided Profits over $750,000 “OLDEST BANK IN LANSING” paid on Certificates in force three months. Secured 5% by first mortgage on Grand Rapids homes. GRAND RAPIDS MUTUAL BUILDING and LOAN ASSOCIATION A Mutual Savings Society GROUND FLOOR BUILDING and LOAN BUILDING Paid in Capital and Surplus $7,500,000.00 GRAND RAPIDS MICHIGAN Fourth National Bank United States Depositary Establishea 1868 The accumulated experience of over 56 years, which has brought stability and soundness to this bank, is at your service. DIRECTORS. Wm. H. Anderson, Pres. L. Z. Caukin, Vice Pres. J.C. Bishop, Cash. Christian Bertsch, Sidney F. Stevens, David H. Brown, Robert D. Graham, Marshall M. Uhl, Charles N. Willis, Victor M. Tuthill Samuel D. Young Samuel G. Braudy, Charles N. Remington James L. Hamilton YOUR BANK HE Old National Bank has a record of 72 years of sound and fair dealing with its depositors and with the community of which it is a part. Its facilities are available to you in all fields of progressive banking—Commer- cial Accounts, Securities, Safe Deposit Boxes, Savings Accounts, Foreign Exchange, Letters of Credit, Steamship Tickets. The OLD NATIONAL BANK GRAND RAPIDS GRAND RAPIDS PAPER BOX Co. Manufacturere of SET UP and FOLDING PAPER BOXES G KR AN OD R A PEioes M £ € HoH Et G AN Kent State Bank “The Home for Savings” With Capital and Surplus of nearly Two Mil- lion Dollars and resources exceeding Twenty- Two Million Dollars, invites your banking business in any of its departments, assuring you of Safety as well as courteous treatment. a : a REET reer eee anne a a enieeneneeaee nee What Price Fires. The record shows that nearly 15,000 persons were burned to death last year, and more than 16,000 were in- jured by fire. Of these persons, 80 per cent. were dependents—mothers, children, and inmates of state institu- tions. With a total of $548,810,639, the property loss was the highest ever re- corded for the Nation—an average of $1,503,590 a day, or $1,044 for each minute of the year. That property loss of more than half a billion is more than three times the amount of the Chicago fire loss, and more than any other country has ever endured in one year. Ten years before, the property loss was $221,437,000—a figure indicat- ing that the United States is now burning more than $2 where it once burned only one. What will the loss be for 1934? Fire departments and water supplies are maintained at a cost of another half-billion dollars a year, so that a billion dollars is paid every year to keep fires down and out. If that bil- lion dollars of tribute money were piled up on one side of a road to be paid one dollar at a time on the other side of the road, and if one man began the job, carrying a dollar across the road every minute day and night, the payment would require twenty-seven generations of men, each man living to the age of 70, which means that if the work had been begun twenty-two years after the birth of Christ, it would have been completed just last year. But fire collects a billion dollars from the American people in one year. That towering pile of dollars would pay for nearly three Panama canals, would pay the salaries of all the 'teach- ers and school superintendents in the United States for a year and a half, or would keep the postal service going for nearly two years. Economy and patriotism would be well served could the American people declare “Millions for fire prevention, but not one cent for tribute.” ——__>-2—--o_————_- Firmer Money Rates Would Correct Irregularities. In an analysis of the money situa- tion the National Bank of Commerce in New York sets forth some interest- ing facts and considerations which are timely by reason of the _ present stringency in funds for speculative purposes. Money rates have risen % per cent., it is pointed out, since Aug. 15, and while an easy tone may pre- vail with tax payments and Treasury refunding operations out of the way, the prospect, the bank finds, is for a further moderate advance in interest rates during the next few months. The position of the Federal Reserve banks, as set forth in the article, is en- tirely satisfactory. “On September 9,” says Commerce Monthly, “discounts of members banks with the Federal Re- serve banks were $639,000,000. While this compares with $261,000,000 on the nearest corresponding date of last year and is the highest figure reached since January 2, 1924, it is some $200,000,000 lower than at mid-September, 1923, when conditions were regarded as in no wise abnormal. : “Total gold holdings of the Federal October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN and the reserve ratio is 73.4 per cent. compared with gold holdings of $3,- 085,000,000 and a ratio of 80.3 per cent. a year ago. Certainly says the bank the A SUGGESTION TO MICHIGAN ratio is high enough even if it were not ' within the power of the Federal Re- CORPORATIONS ¥ serve banks to increase gold holdings at from stocks now within the country. Reserve banks are now $2,771,000,000, | = ws “_ “The total of gold in circulation and |) You may do well to secure a service rendered ah? gold holdings of the United States J) by this Company. It costs but little. It will tend i 7 Treasury banks and Federal Reserve to put your corporation, if worthy, in a class with i. agents is $4,400,000,000, compared with | the worthy. In case you should ever need to “‘list’’ wey $4,531,000,000 a year ago. The reduc- your stocks, this service will be required, in the ‘ tion amounts to $131,000,000, or 3 per J interest of correct business methods. It is desirable i cent. Gold certificates in circulation J whether or not you ever intend listing. ee are now $163,000,000 higher than they were on September 1, 1924 and if the Federal Reserve banks want more gold it can be withdrawn from circulation. “Commercial loans, as measured by | We refer to the protection afforded by having all your issues of stock certificates countersigned 7k and recorded by this Company as Transfer Agent or Registrar—protection against improper issues or re-issues, and against over-issues, liable to arise from errors. One error saved in the course of a long period will make it worth while to adopt this generally approved and often required practice. ey. If you have not started on this system, it may pay ce you to begin at least to investigate. Many the item ‘AJl other loans and dis- 999 counts, says the bank, “are little higher than a year ago. The conserva- tive character of manufacturing and merchandising operations is further in- dicated by the very small offerings of . j 3 Ce ee ee corporation officers do not know the federal and i commercial paper. The directions in s : : ° re Fe ; : state provisions bearing on this subject. which the volume of outstanding credit apparently has increased are loans on We invite correspondence, whether your capital stocks and bonds, loans in connection stock be large or small—reserving the right to _ ea, with real estate and building opera- decline the service in case we are not in all respects [ ‘ions and obligations incurred as a re- satisfied. . sult of installment purchases.” Ay Only in the case of loans on stocks THE und bonds is there a definite measure. ; Loans of this class made by reporting a member banks, exclusive of loans AN RU f against Government securities, have i increased to $5,063,000,000, a gain of COMPANY : . $745,000,000 in twelve months. Grand Rapids \ Obligations backed by real estate are known to have increased in recent The Oldest in Michigan years, and the same holds true of the . : a volume of credit based on installment Onapneed tn Tene purchases. One has only to consider a a the increase in the number of com- \a— panies extending credit to prospective purchasers of automobiles to realize the truth of the latter situation. $s It is the opinion of the bank that ‘if conditions surrounding any im- H. S & B l portant proportion of these classes of Owe, nOw ert es | : loans are not wholly satisfactory, the (INCORPORATED) ’ best corrective is firmer money.” tt ic app Investment Securities Ee _—— oe __ i Things To Forget. GRAND RAPIDS Cie New York Chicago Detroit Forget ‘the slander you have heard: Forget the hasty, unkind word; ids Forget the quarrel, and the cause; Forget the whole affair, because Forgetting is the only way; } ; t D é; B \ ) “ 4 Forget the storms of yesterday; en on av IS 0 e€ : . Forget the chap whose sour face Forgets to smile in any place; ee Forget the trials you oe had: ' Grand Rapids National Bank Building ~F »& Forget the “knocker,” he’s a freak— : Chicago GRAND RAPIDS Detroit \ Forget him seven days a week; First National Bank Bldg. Telephones f a Congress Building ‘4- Forget the plumber’s awful charge; es 4 Forget the iceman’s bill is large; i Forget the coal man and his ways; ‘ Forget the frost in winter days; THE TOLEDO PLATE & WINDOW GLASS COMPANY & Bo Forget, wherever you may roam; Mirrorse—Art Glass—Dresser Tops—Automobile — the guy who wrote this poem, and Show Case Glass orget that he, in social bliss, All kinds of Glass for Buildi mf Forgot himself when he wrote this; 601-511 IONIA AVE., 8. W. gS ae MICHIGAN : Forget you ever get the bues, But don’t forget to pay your dues. —_2+>___ GRAND RAPIDS LABEL CO. If you think you are displaying all Manufacturers of the goods possible in the space avail- GUMMED LAB ELS OF ns able, you don’t know what the store ADDRESS, ADVERTISING, EMBOSSED SEALS ETC } fixture people are offering in the way Write us for Quotations and Samples , GRAND RAPIDS of new display equipment. MICHIGAN " ory 4 | « October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN 15 Importance of Time in Case of Fire. The battle against fire is won in the first two minutes. The fire department is not called in the infancy stage. Usu- ally five or iten minutes elapse be- fore the fire department is notified. This is because no one has the pres- ence of mind to call the fire department by using either the public telephone which are almost everywhere or the familiar red fire alarm boxes of which there are many thousands. Citizens can co-operate and help the fire department by notifying them over the public telephone or if they are observant they will know the lo- cation of the nearest fire alarm box to their home or to their place of busi- ness and also know how tto operate the same. Statistics prove that most fires are preventable. The causes of fires are known and can be safeguarded against. One of the greatest causes of fire is spontaneous ignition. This occurs in rubbish accumulations and in dark un- ventilated holes, such as basements, closets, and attics and other out of the-way places. The rubbish usually consists of old papers, old rags, old clothing, unused material and worth- less junk of all descriptions. Statistics show that 60 per cent. of all fires in this city are caused by spontaneous ignition in piles of rubbish. One can see from the above facts that by keep- ing your basements and attics and other dark and unventilated places clean and free that a great number of fires will be prevented. Another great cause of fire is care- lessness with matches, cigars and cig- arettes. It is possible to go on down the list of fire causes and point out instance after instance where fires have been caused through preventable causes by careless people who de not realize that many things that they do or neglect to do causes fires involving life as well as property. When a fire breaks out in your home, factory or office call the fire depart- ment first, and fight the fire afterward. It is every-day experience to respond to a spreading fire which has been burning fifteen or twenty minutes be- cause some misguided individual has tried to extinguish the fire, but without success. Then after a delay of fifteen or twenty minutes the fire department is called and instead of finding a small fire they find a fire of great intensity and of large volume. — Value of First Aid Fire Fighting Apparatus. As experienced fire fighters point out, the first few minutes after a blaze has started are of the utmost import- ance. The extent of a fire is often de- pendent upon the steps taken to com- bat it at the start and for this reason the value of first aid fire fighting ap- pliances in all buildings (including dwellings) is unquestioned. Home owners who have had the foresight to install small fire extinguishers and water pails in their homes have often been more than repaid for their trouble. Chemical extinguishers are usually of three types, soda acid, carbon tetrachloride and foam. The soda acid extinguisher contains a solution of bi- carbonate of soda and a bottle of sul- phuric acid which mixes with the former when the extinguisher is oper- ated. This generates carbon dioxide gas under pressure and forces the solu- tion out of the nozzle for a distance of about twenty feet. As the solution is likely to freeze at low temperatures, extinguishers of this type should be kept in warm places in winter. They are intended primarily for fighting or- dinary small fires. They should be emptied and recharged annually in or- der to insure perfect operation when needed. The carbon tetrachloride and foam types of extinguishers are also valu- able in the home. Both may be used advantageously in oil or grease fires, the kind that often occur in a kitchen. Home owners are urged to equip their dwellings with some form of first aid fire fighting apparatus. One or more extinguishers, a pail of sand, water buckets and a garden hose attached to a faucet in the cellar or outside of the house will be helpful. All members of the household should be instructed in the proper use of this equipment that they may be prepared for emergencies. — ane Small Brooches Are Favored. Very small! brooches, intended for wear with light, jimsy gowns, and made of a variety of gems, are now in vogue in Paris, according to informa- tion that has reached the jewelry trade in this country. Flower forms, either highly naturalistic or severely conven- tional, are in particular favor. A de- sign made up of three flowers, with leaves, in rubies and diamonds is very popular, while emeralds and diamonds, with occasional pearls to mark the center of the flower, are also seen. The brooches are compact, and are offered in circular, triangular, crescent and heart-shaped forms. Spot Demand Growing Larger. The spot business in women’s wear Fall woolens continues to improve. A number of mill representatives com- mented yesterday on the increased de- mand. The broken pile coatings, it was said, are particularly wanted, indicat- ing that the garment manufacturers are receiving better orders for the dressy types of coats. The belief was expressed that the present activity is- the forerunner of a very brisk demand during the next few weeks, reflecting the increased buying of ready-to-wear by retailers who thus far have been covering their requirements in a very restricted way. en i Rayon Draperies More in Demand. The spreading vogue for fabrics con- taining rayon has resulted in a more active demand in this market for draperies embodying that material. Un- til recently the call for such goods on the part of the retail trade had not -been large, but now they are moving in good volume. Mail orders for the goods have been very numerous. Damasks and cretonnes, while continu- ing to move in a volume as great as that of rayons, have been a bit over- shadowed during the last several days by the increased activity of their rival. Taken as a whole, the drapery situa- tion is healthier at the moment than for some time. SAFETY SAVING SERVICE CLASS MUTUAL INSURANCE AGENCY “The Agency of Personal Service” Cc. N. BRISTOL, A. T. MONSON, H. G. BUNDY. FREMONT, MICHIGAN REPRESENTING Central Manufacturers’ Mutual Ohio Underwriters Mutual Retail Hardware Mutual Hardware Dealers Mutual Minnesota Implement Mutual Ohio Hardware Mutual National Implement Mutual The Finnish Mutual Hardware Mutual Casualty Co. We classify our risks and pay dividends according ¢o the Loss Ratio of each class written: Hardware and Implement Stores, 40% to 50%; Garages, Furniture and Drug Stores 40%; General Stores and other Mercantile Risks 30%. WRITE FOR FURTHER PARTICULARS. Merchants Life Insurance Company RANSOM E. OLDS Chairman of Board WILLIAM A. WATTS President © Offices: 3rd floor Michigan Trust Bldg.—Grand Rapids, Mich. GREEN & MORRISON—Michigan State Agents August 2nd, 1909 August 2nd, 1925 16 YEARS Without an assessment. Without a lawsuit. Paying all losses promptly and saving our members 30% an- nually on their fire insurance premiums. The Grand Rapids Merchants Mutual Fire Insurance Company Affiliated with the Michigan Retail Dry Goods Association 320 Houseman Bldg.. Grand Rapids, Michigan OUR FIRE INSURANCE POLICIES ARE CONCURRENT with any standard stock policies that you are buying rhe Net Costs OO LESS Michigan Bankers and Merchants Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Fremont, Michigan WILLIAM N. SENF, SECRETARY-TREASURER 16 ~WOMAN’S WORLD > The Art of Successful and Happy Living. Written for the Tradesman. Superefficiency is what comes when a certain kind of clear, practical, fault- lessly working mind is connected up with a pair of hands that are innately swift, deft, skillful. The result of the combination is—results. To us whose hands are only clumsy tools for doing the mistaken behests of our still more inadequate brains, these results seem little short of marvelous. Speaking for the vast number whose efficiency cannot by any charity of judgment be graded as above twenty- five per cent.—even when we do our level best we fall into one or the other of two grave errors. If we try to keep our work up to standard we are so slow that what we accomplish is pitifully small in amount. In bitter shame we compare it with what some super-efficient sister has turned off easily in far less time. We decide that we've got to get a different move on us and hustle frantically. We do suc- ceed in getting through with more work, but our product is so poor that it is rejected even by our nearest and dearest—“especially by our nearest and dearest,” I hear some one say. The correction is allowed. How different it all is with her who has the gift! Empowered with a sixth sense by which she knows just where pains should be taken and what will come out right of itself, and with a sure intuition of the best possible ap- plication of her forces, quantity su- preme and quality superb wait on her efforts. -Emerson somewhere speaks of sap- ient hands. If you want a concrete illustration of better than 100 per cent. efficiency, read the word picture of the heroine’s mother in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “The Minister’s Woo- ing.” The account is summed up thus by the author—“‘Whatever any woman could do, Mrs. Katy Scudder could do par excellence.” There you have it. Since we all know an unusually high degree of efficiency when we see it, no further description of it is needed here. Our concern is mainly with its psychological and other consequences. The woman who is super-efficient gets results—immediateiy speaking. But what results does she get in a life- time? Not so great nor so satisfying, oftentimes, as those obtained by some sister whose fingers are all thumbs and whose headpiece, so far as work is concerned, is past praying for. The super-efficient woman wins out in the field of industry or in any vocation to which her particular powers are adapted. But frequently she loses out in the larger field of life. Why is this? One reason is that she overworks. She has the kind of mind that finds work and she is in a world where endless amounts of work are to be found. She doesn’t conserve her health and strength. When anything is to be done she is like the war horse describ- ed in the book of Job, that stamps and paws and smells the battle and is eager to be in it. She won't take help. The awkward way in which other people do things MICHIGAN makes her ache. The _ best-hearted husband in the world can’t do the heavy lifting or any chores about the house for such a woman—she doesn’t thank him to try. She fails to get anything out of her young folks. She would rather they would run along and not bother her with offers of assistance. If she keeps servants she still does most of the work, or else wears herself out following them around. : oS While in the home of one of these extra-efficient women, I happened to drop into the kitchen in the early morning. The maid was sitting in a rocking chair, her hand idle in her lap, while Madame herself was prepar- ing breakfast. Our woman of this type is so crammed full of energy that every- where, in office, store, factory, or in the home, she gets the hardest job. It is just the same if she belongs to a lodge or joins a ladies’ aid society. Others get to depending on her. Al- ways it is “Let Mary Jane do it.” While she can do any single task more easily and quickly than any one else, with what legitimately belongs to her to do, and what she won’t let any other person even attempt doing, and what she lets lazy, shiftless souls load off onto her, she undertakes an amount that nothing human can stand up to for long. If a worker for pay, it is exceptional if you find her with much of anything to show for what she has done. She may receive a good salary, but the incessantly busy, overactive person seldom is accumulative and even more rarely is a shrewd investor. “The Irish make it and the Jews get it,” quoted a bright son of Erin. Paraphrased so as to mean certain different tempera- ments in any race of people, this say- ing would be more strictly true than as it stands, as well as having a far wider application. It occasionally happens that the woman of very high efficiency marries a man apparently her inferior in this respect, but one who in a quiet way is possessed of real financial acument. She aids him either by helping direct- ly in his business or by making a com- fortable home for him, or by both. They prosper immensely. “She does most of the work,” is common com- ment, and she is given credit which she does not fully deserve, for their increasing wealth. Even so she is likely to be foolish and work herself into an early grave, leaving all she has, including her sagacious, long-headed husband, for his second wife. Unsuccessful, in the long run, as to tangible things, she whom we have in mind fails even more woefully as to the tangible things. She doesn’t make friends. There is an arrogance of ef- ficiency that we who are inefficient— and that includes almost everybody— simply won’t stand for. The woman who can do things better than others always knows it, and lets everyone about her know it. She becomes opin- ionated, conceited, stuck on herself. Do you ever see a notable cook who will admit that any other woman can get up a meal that is fit to eat? We who are in the twenty-five per cent. class are humiliated by our in- TRADESMAN feriority, and envy the super-efficient woman her adeptness. So what do we do but take our ill feelings by hat- ing her from the bottom of our hearts, and by poking sly fun at her behind her back? All this is mean and catty of us but we do it. The over-efficient woman _ believes that she can travel on her efficiency and does not take pains to learn those little tricks of dress and appearance, those pleasing ways of manner and of speech, and those graces of sympathy and kindness, that would draw others to her. Almost never does she have charm. Her recognized ability as a worker may bring her suitors of a sordid type, but it will neither win nor hold a man’s real love and admiration. It some- times happens that the hard-working, very capable wife, even before she her- self is tucked safely under the sod, loses her good and honest husband to some bewitching little minx who really can’t boil water without scorching it. Sad to say, the super-efficient woman loses out also as a mother, never re- ceiving the devotion which is her due. Sister of the clear brain and the sapient hands, be warned in season. Know that there is more in life than just turning out work. Don’t go on attempting to do more and more and trying to do it better and better. Slack up. Sit down occasionally and rest those weary feet and those admirable hands. Accept help gratefully. Give others a chance to do. Better keep pretty mum about your own surpass- ing skill. Of course, if earning, you must let your employer and to some extent the general public, know what you can do. But in private and social life, forget it. Don’t go on adding plus after plus to your already too-great efficiency, or at least not until you have taken time to bring up somewhat on the traits in which you are short. Try to look your best. Dress as well as you can afford. Improve your mind, which in all like- lihood has been badly neglected. Culti- vate those ingratiating qualities that will bring you friends and the affec- tion of your own family. Remember that you may be adept to the finger tips in every housewifely or professional art, and still be a crude bungler in the most difficult and most essential of all arts—that of successful and happy living. Ella M. Rogers. ———_< > —————— Will Feature American Laces. The first styles show of laces made in America will be held in this city some time in November, it was an- nounced yesterday by Clement J. Dris- coll, Secretary of the American Lace Manufacturers’ Association. The di- rectors of that association decided yes- terday to hold the show, which will feature the products of its thirty mem- ber firms. The laces will-be displayed as gowns and as trimmings for gar- ments worn by living models. The aim is to counteract the propaganda which has been circulated by foreign manufacturers, particularly British, as to the superiority of their goods, Mr. Driscoll said. October 14, 1925 Retailers Have Yet to learn Benefits of Co-operation. Written for the Tradesman. A recent editorial by Paul Lovewell, of the Merchants’ Journal, is worth condensing thus: There are too many merchants who join their local association with their fingers crossed. They agree to stand by their fellow merchants in plans and policies which everybody admits will be good for all concerned. But all the time they have their fingers crossed. They make mental reservations. They say out loud: “Ves, I agree not to do any advertis- ing in mediums not approved by the association”—and they add to them- selves, “except when I take a notion. Nobody can tell me how I ought to advertise. That’s my business.” It is the same with agreements about Sunday and holiday closing. Merchants agree—with their fingers crossed. It was the same when trading stamps were the curse of business. It took a State law, fathered and pushed through by a few determined men, to put stamps out of business. The finger- crossers had to be forced legally to keep to their agreements before that incubus could be shaken off the re- tailers’ backs. : Finger-crossing is born of suspicion, jealousy and greed. Some merchants just cannot believe that others are on the square, willing really to do things for the general good—to make sacri- fices to that end, if need be. Finger- crossers constantly expect some com- petitor to violate any agreement—and they don’t intend that anybody shall get the jump on them. When it comes to breaching agreements, finger-cross- ers are always on deck, leaders of the procession. Manufacturers and wholesalers have learned by experience that it pays to co-operate. Eventually retailers will learn too; but it may require severe punishment to convince them. Nothing truer than that ever was written. And no indictment more dis- creditable to the trade could be found. The remedy is in every man’s hands for himself. Each man can determine how his own record shall stand, re- gardless of others; and when he ttakes such determination and acts on it in- variably, he can do what no finger- crosser can. He can look the whole world in the eye and tell it where it gets off. Some years ago a young grocer thought he was being squeezed by a trust—a new sort of fetish at that time. Through a friend he approached the trust and was somewhat amazed to find how speedily he could deal. He sold out. While shaping the details, feeling that now he no longer was in- terested in the business he was selling, he remarked to his sponsor: “Yes, I suppose it is safe to act in good faith with those folks now.” He was startled when his friend rejoined quietly, but impressively: “You want to keep faith with everybody, Henry!” That remark made him realize that he had strayed so far from the ways of uprightness in business that already he could be flippantly thoughtless about it. Years afterwards, he came to realize that the trust which he had regarded as soulless, selfish and the acme of self-interest had paid him for his business two or three times the sum for which it could have duplicated everything he sold, including his trade. Why did that trust pay so much? Because it knew that fair treatment, ~~ October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN 17 good faith and liberality in business pays. Similar organizations now in- sure their workmen, foster savings and accumulations among their employes, provide for the purchase of their own stocks by their workpeople at less than market values, discharge highly paid officers when business slacks up rather than curtail wages, and do many other things formerly regarded as al- truistic. Is it too much to hope that the days of the finger-crosser are about num- bered? What proportion of your supplies come from the wholesale grocer? Is the proportion increasing or diminish- ing? You remember the old game called “Gossip” which we used to play? The plan was to form a circle, to whisper something to the one next to you, he (or generally, she) would whisper the same news to his neighbor, and the fun was to see what the last in the circle heard. Something like that is the impression we derive when we listen to everybody, making no direct examination of facts for ourselves. Certain figures have been printed rather widely in recent weeks relative to the proportion of your sales which is made up of sugar, flour, eggs, etc. Here they are: 13.6 per cent. of your sales are sugar. 12.9 per cent. of your sales are butter 11.5 per cent. of your sales are cured meats. 7.6 per cent. of your sales are canned milk. 5.6 per cent. of your sales are fruits, vegetables. 5.5 per cent. of your sales are soap. 5.2 per cent. of your sales are eggs. 4.2 per cent. of your sales are butter substitutes. 2.6 per cent. of your sales are flour, etc. Where did those figures come from? I am suspicious of them because, in 1919, I investigated a department store in Rochester, New York, which, in the month of June of that year—and only in June of that year— had figures which closely corresponded to the ones quoted. I published the tabula- tion and immediately it was picked up and heralded as standard throughout the year for grocery stores in general. Such tabulations are useful, if used and not abused. Assume that this one reflects a general condition, it will still be of little use to a Wisconsin grocer who sells no butter substitutes what- ever, unless he compares and contrasts his own actual figures with these. Country Wisconsin grocers sometimes sell sugar so extensively that sugar makes up 30 per cent. of their sales; and 20 per cent. is not uncommon in that State. Obviously, if such a man accepts this tabulation as standard for himself, he will be in sad error. But there is another aspect to all this which involves the question of what proportion of your supplies comes through the wholesale grocer. This is stated as being as little as 25 to 30 per cent., but it may range up to 45 per cent. In any case, the condition illustrates the change that has taken much trade directly to the manufac- turer and direct distributor, also to many specialty distributors, during the last generation. Sugar is bought from the jobber usually. Butter never comes from him; nor cured meas, nor perishables, nor eggs. Canned milk usually comes from him; soap, sometimes; vegetable fats, sometimes; salad dressing, partly; tea, partly, also coffee; cheese, maybe, and so on down the list. Now, if the jobber distributes 40 per cent. of your supplies, he has a goodly hold on his trade. If he sup- plies only a quarter of what you sell, his case is not so good—unless he then develops into a specialist, as many of them are doing. In either case, the grocery jobber is important to you, as you can see if you study the list of the proportions of your own sales and notice how much you buy from your jobber. And the jobber, like the retailer, survives by be- ing adaptable. If he cannot change with the times, if he hangs back, sticks too close to his desk to notice what is happening around him and otherwise does as non-progressive retailers do, he will go to the discard even as they are going. One slow jobber I know. He was exclusive agent for MJB coffee. There- fore, MJB should seem to be an im- portant item with him. Once in six months the MJB representative called on him, and on one occasion came for an important interview. But though the jobber knew in advance, he not only was not prepared for the repre- sentative, but he did not prepare until one hour from the time the representa- tive had to leave. What was he doing? He was buried under the apron of his desk running over the commonest kind of routine orders, such as any other man in his organization might check. He complains often about bad condi- tions. He howled when the MJB ac- count went to a more wakeful jobber. Contrast Hancock-Nelson Co., St. Paul, also MJB agents. That house has no complaints to make. Manager is accessible, eager to see any man who can help him, promotes sales all the time. Result? Stock turned four- teen times in 1923, close to eighteen times in 1924, as against a general job- bing average of less than seven for the country. Which of these two houses will sur- vive? Paul Findlay. ———_.---2>———- No Rush To Buy For Spring. Woolen and worsted dress goods factors admit they anticipate no mark- ed rush to place early orders for Spring fabrics. Some of the larger garment stock houses and the catalogue firms are covering a fair percentage of their needs, but the greater portion of the garment trade is in no hurry to place commitments for the coming season. Many firms included in this category, however, are understood to have taken kindly to the new worsted and rayon novelties which are being offered. In this respect at least there is promise that there will be greater competition for silks during the coming season. The entire buying situation, however, is taken to resolve itself into one in which the dress trade wishes to get better results with its Fall merchandise before buying fabrics for next Spring. Boston Chicago DWINELL-WRIGHT COMPANY Portsmouth, Va. The Flavor Is Roasted In People buy coffee for one big reason— the coffee taste. When they fail to get real coffee flavor, they change from one brand to another. White House Coffee always gives satis- faction because the flavor is roasted in. Folks who buy White House once learn how delicious good coffee can be. 'Then they keep buying White House, year after year. Let them buy it at your store! 18 DRY GOODS Michigan Retail Dry Goods Association. President—Geo. T. Builen, Albion. First Vice-President—H. G. Wesener, Albion. Second Vice-President—F. E. Mills, Lansing. Secretary-Treasurer—H. J. Mulrine, Battle Creek. Manager—Jason E. Hammond, Lansing. Michigan Retail Dry Goods Associa- tion Group Meetings. Lansing, Oct. 13—We were in Adrian the other day and made defin- ite arrangements for group meeting to be held at the Adrian Club (opposite the W. O. Albig store) in that city, beginning with a dinner at 6 o'clock Eastern standard time on Tuesday, Oct. 20. George H. Lewis, of Lewis & Coe, is the local committee. All members, store executives and wives are invited. The attendance of store employes is not urged. Besides Mr. Bullen, our President, there will be present a capable man, W. W. Diehl, who is an expert on community organizations touching the relation of city merchants to surrounding country territory. Mr. Diehl will speak not to exceed fifteen or twenty minutes. Miss Celia R. Case, our educational director, will also be present, not as a formal speaker, but to participate in the round table and question box dis- cussions. To those merchants residing in Adrian area we have inclosed a sheet of paper asking members to give two questions which they desire to have discussed at the Group Meeting and a space for luncheon reservations. The envelope is addressed to Mr. Lewis. It is not a difficult task to fill out the blank as furnished and we trust all of our members who will attend will take the time and trouble to fill it out and post it. A slight change has been made with the schedule of the meetings at Clare and Pontiac. For the information of all of our members we give the cor- rected schedule: Adrian, October20. Owosso, October 27. Clare, October 28. Pontiac, November 3. All of these meetings begin at 6 o'clock (fast time). It will be ob- served that the’ meetings are all held on Tuesday evening, with the excep- tion of the one at Clare, which is held on Wednesday evening, directly fol- lowing the Owosso meeting. Former officers and directors of this Associa- tion will be in attendance at these meetings. This includes Christian, Knapp, Toeller, Sperry and others. Our educational director, Miss Cela R. Case, is now conducting a school of instruction in the Arbaugh store, in Lansing. Those stores who may de- sire to engage Miss Case for similar work may communicate with her di- rect in Lansing. She has arranged her work so as to attend all of the group meetings. Do you remember Virginia Wain- right? She had other names’ too ‘mumerous to mention; passed bad checks all over Michigan and got a couple of sentences to the Detroit House of Correction from the Ingham county circuit court. A woman bear- ing her identical description, methods and all is now operating in Iowa un- der the name of Mrs. B. F. Wilson. Possibly she will not return to Michi- gan, but she is cunning enough to put over her game, even if she has served time in this State. Watch out for her and all other artists of her kind. Jason E. Hammond, Mer. Mich. Retail! Dry Goods Ass’n. Z ee ee No More “Off Season in Millinery. Five years of campaigning on the part of progressive firms engaged in the millinery business, wholesale and retail, to stimulate the demand for new millinery in the periods which were formerly regarded as “between sea- MICHIGAN sons,” have resulted in a gradual but certain lessening of dull times, accord- ing to a report on the “four seasons movement in millinery” that has just been prepared by the Trade Develop- ment Committee of the Eastern Millin- ery Association. Among other things, the report quotes the millinery merchandise man- local department store, in commenting on the improve- ment brought about in that store large- ly as a result of the four seasons move- ment, as saying that previous to the campaign the store had made a prac- tice of taking space away from the millinery department for the month preceding Christmas to devote it to gift merchandise. In the past few years, however, the millinery depart- ment has been so_ successful in its pre-holiday merchandising activities, largely due to the campaign to pro- mote Winter hats for Winter wear, that its space is secure at all times of the year. Similar conditions, the report of the committee says, are quoted in other stores throughout the country. It is now generally acknowledged by the millinery buyers and by retail store executives themselves that millinery is a twelve-month item, and that it should be merchandised constantly for fifty- two weeks in the year. The effect of the twelve-month business has been to produce a steady expansion of the mil- linery business as a whole. Each branch of the industry has benefited in the five years of campaigning and, each season, additional enthusiasm is dis- played in the form of increased co- operation in the movement. ager for a certain ——_---e——__ Hats That Paris Favors. Predictions of elaborate late Autumn and Winter hats are being fulfilled in millinery for afternoon and restaurant wear, according to radio information TRADESMAN from Paris under date of Friday last, but for street wear the same classic, close-fitting shapes that have domin- ated for a number of seasons continue popular there. “Most Paris modistes,” says a radio- gram to the New Millinery Bulletin, the organ of the Retail Mililnery Asso- ciation of America, “show numerous elegant, generously trimmed hats in strong contrast to the little band- trimmed felts. Marthe Collot says that her black satin turban, trimmed at the right with a jeweled buckle and a waist long uncurled ostrich feather, is a dis- tinct success with her exclusive clien- tele. “Turbans with great jeweled semi- circular pieces framing the upper part of the face are reminiscent of the Czar- ina’s headdress, and are sold by Char- lotte Henard. Suzy makes a smart tur- ban from a brown velvet directoire crown. It is trimmed with several wide fans of brown pleated lace, placed at the right side and held in at the center by a knot of gold ribbon.” ——_»--—____ Blouse Re-orders Coming in. Re-orders now coming in on blouses show a strong preference for those of navy blue. Manufacturers of costume blouses have made up a number of models in ‘that shade, and all of them are moving well. Most of the new sea- son’s blouses according to a report from the United Waist League of America, show extensive sleeve trim- ming in embroidery, the application of a contrasting material or the use of buttons. Sometimes the trimming is confined to the cuff, but in many cases it extends up to the elbow. Sleeves mostly are full, especially the lower half. Tailored blouses in silks and cottons are moving well now, in keep- ing with the increasing call for two- piece suits for Fall wear. October 14, 1925 No Action on Pre-Shrinking. For the time being, the matter of pre-shrinking of women’s wear fabrics, recently championed by factors in the ready-to-wear trade, is being held in abeyance. Some conferences between the mills and the cutters-up were held but no action was taken. In some quarters in the woolen trade it is held very likely that the situation will re- main the way it is for some time. The assertion was made that the cutters-up will not press the matter, in the near future at least. Enquiry disclosed much opposition on the part of many mills, whose representatives said pre-shrink- ing would mean added equipment in the way of machinery and space that would prove very costly. At the same time, they said, there is no standard of shrinking for the entire industry. What would suit one garment manu- facturer who made a low-priced quan- tity line would not do for the producer who required the utmost care in the shrinking of the fabrics he used for his line. REAL VALUE CRESCENT GARTER CO. 515 Broadway, | New York City For Quality, Price, and Style WEINER CAP CO. Grand Rapids, Mich. profitable. containers. 515-17 Broadway CRESCO 39 in 1 The season’s newest and fastest seller. A boon to the retailer. Our 39 in 1 holiday carton contains just the right assortment of men’s and women’s items to make your holiday trade It contains 39 pieces packed in individual gift Practical Convenient Simplifies your holiday problem. If your jobber cannot supply you write us for name of nearest one who can. CRESCENT GARTER CO. MAKERS OF PARAGON and PRISCILLA GARTERS Holiday Garter and Novelty Assortment Profitable New York City y eg Rags ht e. a ! + Y 4- ~*s v - a ~~ 45 Bg cht e a ! +e sd October 14, 1925 BIRTHDAY GREETINGS. Congratulatory Messages From Friends of the Tradesman. New York, Oct. 9—I am in receipt of your letter and the clipping from the Michigan Tradesman. I highly appreciate your kindness in sending Mr. Belknap’s very inter-st- ing article about that famous dinner. I remember the occasion well, and all the great men who were present. It makes one feel lonesome to know that of all who wre present, Mr. Belknap and I are the only survivors. That reminds me about another not less famous dinner, namely, the Grid- iron Club’s fortieth anniversary. The celebration took place on the 23d of April, this year. I was invited, but the day being my 91st birthday, I was compelled to decline. the Gridiron Club was organized and had its first dinner, about three hun- dred guests were present. At its fortieth anniversarv, it was found that all but myself had passed away. As I said before, it makes one feel rather lonesome. I hope Mr. Belknap, like myself, is in good health and with cheerful in- terest looks back on past happy days, and calmly toward the future. With all best wishes for Mr. Belknap and yourself. Chauncey M. Depew, Chairman N. Y. Central Railway Co. Lowell, Oct. 9—This week’s Trades- man is a knock-out. It has carried its forty-two years very gracefully and shows no signs of old age. It was founded upon the right principles and has lived up to them; always putting the subscriber’s interest first and pro- tecting them in every way by exposing all cheats and frauds; giving authentic news items and market quotations and real rational human reading matter. You have made the Tradesman our best trade journal. Congratulations and best wishes to E. A. Stowe. He deserves them. He who serves most serves best. M. N. Henry. St. Johns, Oct. 10—Kindly permit me to congratulate you on the con- summation of the crowning event of the forty-second anniversary of the Michigan Tradesman. Forty-two years is a long period of time, but the event is important be- cause of the fact that the same master hand and mind is still on the throne to receive the honor justly merited. Mr. Stowe certainly has reason to be justly proud of the wonderful growth of the Tradesman. It is re- markable what he has succeeded in de- veloping out of the little sheet of forty- two years ago. We must congratulate the man who has been on the job continually, as Stowe has, and we sincerely hope that he will be personally identified with the Tradesman’s anniversaries for many years to come. Down life’s shining river Sunny to the end, Be your voyage ever, and May each turn and bend Clearer, fairer, brighter be, Until you reach The Eternal Sea. C. B. Mansfield. Cadillac, Oct. 9—It affords me pleas- ure to congratulate you upon the 42d vear of the publication of the Michigan Tradesman. I have watched your progress for years and have always felt in my mind that you were destined to succeed. I remember when we were boys together living in Big Rap- ids, it then occurred to me that Ernest Stowe would some day be a prominent man, and I am more than pleased that my prophecy has come true. I remember distinctly the debating club in Big Rapids in which you al- ways took part and whichever side you were on the decision was invariably in your behalf. This demonstrates to me that a young man with brave heart, In 1885, when” MICHIGAN push, vim and vigor is bound ‘to suc- ceed. I hope for you a continuation of a successful career. C. W. Cunningham. >> The Irishman and the Jew. Traverse City, Oct. 13—The store of Joy & Netzorg is advertised widely as that of the “Irishman and the Jew.” Tt is a modern establishment, ably managed. Joy is an accomplished salesman and Netzorg is scarcely his inferior as a dispenser of men’s wear- ables. The store would be a credit to a much larger community. As there is no synagogical organization of the Jews in this city, Netzorg supports the benevolences of the Christian churches, impartially. John R. Santo, formerly of Grand Rapids, is highly regarded in the busi- ness affairs and the social life of this city. He has been very successful as the manager of and owner of hotels, cottages and vacant real estate and has served the city as president of the Chamber of Commerce, member of the City Commission, Mayor, representa- tive in the State Legislature and di- rector of the Tourist and Resort As- sociation. Mr. Santo prefers to con- fine his investments to local develop- ment enterprises. He is not doing, like many others are doing, handling Florida land speculations or conduct- ing stock gambling operations. For many years he has represented fifteen insurance companies in this city, un- derwriting all forms of indemnities. Mikesell & Co., who formerly op- erated a cannery in this city have re- modeled their buildings, which will be used hereafter for storing dry wares and merchandise. Thousands of bushels of early fall apples are rotting in the orchards. Twenty cents per bushel is the prevail- ing price for such apples and forty cents for pears of good quality. Traverse City hopes to furnish a site for the fifth normal school, to be erected during the coming year by the State. On account of its rail and steamboat connections, its libraries, churches and social advantages. pupils attending such a_ school would be served more completely than by any other city which hopes to be chosen as the location of the school. Arthur Scott White. ——— a - Oo Has a Device For Shavers. A simple device that is expected to take a good deal of the trouble out of shaving, especially on Pullman cars, has just been brought out here. It consists of a small circular rubber suction cup, to which are fastened two short flexible metal arms. Into these arms the handle of the shaving brush is inserted, and the device then makes the brush “stay put” under all circum- stances. The suction cup holds it fast to anything the cup is stuck to, whether it be the wash basin, the shaving mir- ror or the side wall of the bathroom. The sanitary side of the device is stressed, it preventing the brush from being tipped over, knocked to the floor or otherwise dirtied. In addition, the device makes it possible to hang the brush upside down for drying, which adds to the life of the bristles. The list price is $3 a dozen. ———- 2s ———_ Additional Orders For Mohairs. Clothing manufacturers are placing additional orders for mohair suitings, according to one of the largest pro- ducers of these goods. In quite a few instances, it was said, the manufactur- ers request November delivery, in or- der to keep their plants going. This, it is said, cannot be done, owing to the lack of stocks on hand and the time re- TRADESMAN quired for production. The situation is being explained to the manufacturers and. for the most part, the orders are going through on a “delivery quick as possible” basis. The initial business in mohairs was described as better than last year, with no carryover to worry about. New business is resulting from the orders booked by clothing salesmen on the road. Most retailers are, how ever, buying cautiously for next year, as the element gamble in the sale of these and other Summer suits. weather presents a —_2+>—____ Sell Quality Goods at Right Prices. The introduction of chain stores in the beginning was first a menace to the wholesale grocer. Secondly, a menace to the retail grocer, and third- ly, a menace to themselves because they have created what I call shoppers, who make it a business to shop with the different chains in purchasing those advertised leaders which are very often sold at cost and sometimes be- low cost, and sometimes at prices lower than the grocer is able to buy at. I am of the opinion that grocers who cary on service stores, who will forget that a chain store exists, who wll not allow themselves to get rutty, who will progress with the time, who will give right and well regulated ser- vice, who will sell quality goods at right prices, are bound to succeed. Thomas F. Driscoll. oe Has Novel Sock For Children. A combined sock and stocking for boys and girls of from 2 to 9 years of age is among the season's novelties in this type of merchandise. It is called a two-in-one, and is made of brushed wool. There is a striped cuff at the top which may be rolled down, with a double fold that makes a sock of the thing. Otherwise it comes well up over the wearer’s knee. The colors in which the novelty comes are blue, brown, ox- ford and camel tweed. had in all the wanted plain colors with a contrasting stripe. —_—eo-2ss_— Is Becoming Bargain Day Again. One of the interesting things about current retail merchandising in this city, it was said yesterday, is that, with the steadily growing importance of Saturday as a trading day, there has It may also be teen almost corresponding slipping off in the amount of business done on “regular” goods on Friday. This, it was further said, has resulted in stress being lai don Friday as bargain day, and emphasis is being put on that fact by way of special inducements to bring shoppers in on that day. Some stores are offering extra bargains for Friday morning. The general purpose of Fri- day bargains was said to be two-fold— to boster up sales on a day when something of the kind is needed and to reduce, so far as possible, the grow- ing Saturday congestion. —n - A cynical bachelor says that one can never tell what a day may bring forth, A man may be happy to-day and married to-morrow. —._.--———— Some young wives love old husbands because of their ability to transform them into rich widows. Oo 0) eT St Under both State Py esa Ti RYT ood We are as near as re mail box. As easy to ban with us as mailing a letter. Privacy No one but the bank’s officers and yourself need know of your account here. Unusual Safety Extra Interest Send check, draft, money order or cash in registered letter. Either savings account or Cer- tificates of Deposit. You can withdraw money any_ time. Capital and surplus $312,500.00. Resources over $4,000,000.00. Send for free booklet on Banking by Mail HOME STATE BANK FOR SAVINGS “““v RAPIDS MICHIGAN 19 Chocolates ene Package Goods of Paramount Quality and Artistic Design LIGHT FORGING NEVER SLIP ICE TONGS AND PLUMBERS CALKING TOOLS e H. T. Baldwin 1028 Fairmount Street, S.E. Grand Rapids, Mich. In replying please mention this paper 20 RETAIL GROCER CHAIN STORE’S POWER WANES Labor Troub'e Overcomes Advantage of Quant’ty Purchase. About two vears ago Roger W. Bab- son advised merchants to get busv and meet chain store competition. He also advised investors to purchase chain store stocks. Subsequent events have shown the wisdom of that advice Now Mr. Babson takes up another side of the problem which—in view of seri- ous consideration. Mr. Babson’s official statement follows: “About two years ago, in some com- ments on the chain store situation. I made the pont that chain stores would have a tremendous growth in 1924 and 1925. and then their troubles wou'd begin the same as the troubles of in- dependent stores. I called the at‘en- tion of readers to the fact that the advantages of the chain stores consist- ed primarily in their ability to get ex- cellent management and to purchase at very low prices. I made it clear that there is no reason whv independent merchants. who are on the job. could not have equa'lv as good management, and said that the chain store would be up against other troubles wh’ch would in a way offset its great purchasing power. “In connection with these other troubles I mentioned the fact that bv the end of 1925 chain stores would be cutting one another’s throats and also would be subiect to labor troubles. Labor troubles are inevitable in large corporations with absentee manage- ment, while independent merchants who personally operate their own stores are almost entirely free from such labor troubles. Already these troubles are beginning to appear. which means that the independent merchant mav be again coming into h‘s own while the chain stores mav be the ones who will do the worrying during the next few vears. “As stated above. the chain store has the advantage of buving goods very cheaplv, ow'ng to its great purchasing power: but there is no reason whv a chain store should have better manage- ment than the independent merchant if the indenenden+ merchant would attend to his business and use his head instead of merely his arms and legs. It is said that Amer’can consumers spend about $40.000.000 daily on food and that price is a secondarv consideration in the spending of this money. “The great maiority of American consumers are more interested in ser- vice than in price. This is the reason that some chain stores are now mak- ing deliveries and. in many instances, run what is equivalent to: charge ac- counts. The ‘cash and carry’ idea was fine in theory but it does not work out well in practice. statistics showing that, at the most, it can save only about 5 per cent. “Chain stores have their functions in the economic world and in the great reail distribution system of American life. They are here to stay but they are not going to do all the business any more than are the department stores and mail order houses. Each took its turn in causing a scare through MICHIGAN TRADESMAN the retail field and all thought they were going to put everyone else out of business. “However, history has shown that such is not the case. Also, the future will show the jobber to be in existence 100 years from to-day just as truly as he is to-day. As population and busi- ness increase, new lines of business de- velop. These new lines create interest for the time being, but in most cases the old lines still continue although profits often fall off. For instanace, while we hear the electrical industry talked of as the only worth while pub- lic utility in which to invest, yet we find that more gas is being sold to- day than ever before, while the con- sumption of kerosene and even candles is increasing at a very rapid rate. It is well enough to talk about el‘minating the middle man, but we cannot elim- inate his function, and it is the func- tion which we pay for and not the man. I repeat, that chain stores are here to stay, as are department stores and mail order houses, but I also in- sist that the independent merchant has as great an opportunity to-day as ever if he will attend to his job.” — +2 .____ Pretzel Demand Growing Steadily. Philadelphia, Oct. 6—It was a near- ly universal opinion when the Vol- s‘ead act became effective, and “pret- zels and beer” divorced, there would be a lull in the pretzel baking business and later it would pass into the limbo of forgottn things. But within the past few years, so pretzel bakers say, their business has shown a steady rise. And what is more they are increasing their production by reason of popular demand. There is probably no other article of food, not even bread itself, that is eaten in so many different surround- ings and upon so many occasions as ‘he pretzel. For example, in many Pennsylvania homes it is not uncommon to see large pretzels served with milk as part of the breakfast. Many children take pre‘zels to school with them for lunch, and in manv a home the first thing the children call for when they return from school is the pretzel box. : : Even going through the office build- ing of any large city you will find in manv a desk drawer a bag or box of pretzels depended upon to relieve hun- ger if extra work postpones the lunch hour. At amusement parks, baseball games and at the circus and carnivals, pret- zels are in constant demand. The weakest stomach can digest a pretzel and that is why pretzels afford such a splendid lunch for children between meals. The history of the pretzel is unique Hundreds of years ago, 2n old cleric in a far country made little cakes for children as a reward for learning pray- ers. One day the thought stuck him to shape the little cakes so that they would rem‘nd the children of the pur- pose of their reward. He rolled the dough in a long strip and then bringing the two ends to- gether. forming almost a circle, he crossed the ends folding one over the other, the ends being crossed to re- semble the folded arms in the attitude of praver. And he named the cake, “Pretiola,” meaning a little reward. Thus the pretzel was born. —_+ 2 >__ What causes a mistake the first time? Carelessness. What causes the same mistake the second time? Foolishness. —_—o.o.a_____—_ Every man wants a strict boss but no man wants a fault finding boss. October 14, 1925 A BIG MARKET FOR YOU The advertising of Fleischmann’s Yeast-for-Health is building a big market for you by preparing your customers to buy. Make these prospective customers yours and keep them coming every day by pushing the sale of Fleisch- mann’s Yeast in your store. -FLEISCHMANN’S YEAST The Fleischmann Company SERVICE BLUE GRASS MILK BLUE GRASS BUTTER WORCESTER SALT KENT CLUB COFFEE TEA, SPICES, ETC. GOOD LUCK and DELICIA OLEO. THRU COMMUNITY GROCERS ONLY _ KENT GROCER COMPANY WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTORS RED STAR HERE is pride in selling to the housewife; she is known for her insistence on quality. When she buys RED STAR Flour, we know that this flour is keeping company with other high quality products used in the home. And RED STAR easily holds its place. JUDSON GROCER COMPANY GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN | i Duty ! hoe t } ? - + 4 a y 4 “ » a - 2 “ “ > x 4 ~~ _ oot i Huts, ! 4 hon oY cf y « Y 5 ” > 2 « * October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN 21 MEAT DEALER Some of the Best Nnown Cuts of Steaks. “How many hides has a beef?” is a question very often answered wrongly due to the lack of knowledge as per- taining to the use of this commodity. We all are aware that only one hide can be taken from an animal, but only a small percentage know that the manufacture of leather really makes more than one hide by the process of splitting the original one. Thus a similar condition exists when the in- terrogatve statement, as, “how many steaks are there in a beef carcass?” is asked of the average consumer or meat purchaser. Dut to the trade and local practices of various sections, we find different names applying to the same cuts; thus in these few minutes all of these differences cannot be discussed, and consequently only those common to this section of the country will re- ceive attention. If we were to ask all consumers to name all the steaks in a beef carcass, a safe assumption may be taken, and say that the aver- age person would name about three or five different steaks out of the to‘al number of seventeen. The best-known steaks, those received from the short loins, are divided as follows: The first including part of the last rib. are term- ed “club steaks,” the next. which pos- sess only a short portion of the tender- loin muscle, is the “T” bone, and the remaining ones are generally known as the “porterhouse.” The last steak which contains part of the hip bone, is sometimes called the “hip bone por- terhouse.” The large muscle which ‘S found along and underneath the back- bone is sometimes removed and sold as “beef tenders,” “tenderloin steak” or “beef fillet.’ That portion of the carcass lying between the short loin and rump is commonly known as sir- loin. and is divided into steaks known as “butt end, wedge bone, round bone, double bone and hip bone | sirloin steaks,” respectively, when named from the rump end forward. In the whole- sale round cut we find two steaks, the rump an dround steak. All of the above-mentioned steaks, plus the flank steaks, are derived from the hind quar- In the forequarter, which is not used to a great extent for the making of steaks, one generally hears the re- tailer speak of “rib steak,” which is derived from the prime ribs of beef, while the chuck gives forth the shoul- der and chuck steak. The latter re- sembles the rib steak in structure while the former mav be easily taken for a round steak derived from the hind- quarter, because of the similarity in muscular formation. Another but rather uncommon steak, termed “skirt steak,” consists of that muscular struc- tion known as the diaphragm. Other names as flanks, Swiss, Delmonico, top sirloin, top and bottom round, are ap- plied to the above-mentioned cuts, but express more definitely as to the mat- ter and exact location of cutting them from the primal wholesale cuts. ter. What the Term “Bob Veal” Implies. In practical application “Bob Veal” refers to immature calves. Very young calves, usually under three weeks, are considered by most health authorities to be too young to be safely eaten. There is, however, a great deal of dif- ference in calves of similar age, and it is often found that a calf three weeks old is well nourished and possesses characteristics of good milk veal of more mature age, while on the other hand poorly nourished calves up to four weeks of age or older are watery in the flesh and lack in fat covering and internal fats, and so are not con- sidered fit to be used for human food. - So whether a‘ veal calf is fit to be used for human food or not must necessarily be left to the expert judg- ment of inspectors who are continually passing on such carcasses and who, consequently, are thoroughly compe- tent to say what is fit for food and what is not. Age alone cannot be considered a safe method of determina- tion: The usual unsatisfactory result of eating immature veal is its laxative effects, which affects different persons in unsimilar ways. One individual may eat veal from a certain calf safely and with no unpleasant results, while an- other individual may be made unwell from it. This also applies to more mature veal, and some individuals cannot eat veal at all without suffering digestional disorders. For such an in- dividual the only safe plan is to leave veal entirely alone. If a person is made ill after eating veal he is apt to blame the veal for the condition, and feel that something was wrong with it, while as a matter of fact the veal might be perfectly good and healthful for the ordinary person. It is conceded by all that calves only a few days old are not fit to be eaten, and then should never be placed on sale and the neces- sary restriction prevents sale of such veal. These restrictions are properly enforced, and, on the whole, few com- plaints result from veal eating in the metropolitan area or other places where similar restrictions are well en- forced. —__ oa People Like To See How Sausage Is Made. A packer in Oklahoma City says the manufacture of sausage attracts the attention of more visitors to his plant than that of any other manufacturing proceses being carried on_ there. Whether it is the curiosity of the visitor or whether it is the love of this kind of meat that is responsible for the interest he did not know, but it really makes no difference. The point is that people like to see how sausage is made, and it is a safe prediction that the man or woman who is permitted to witness the entire operation will have a much better opin- ion of sausage as a pure and whole- some food. It would be a good plan, we think, for all sausage manufactur- ers to invite the public to come in and look things over. It would result in increased consumption. We have in mind a Pittsburg butcher who hit upon the idea of making sausage in one of his show windows. His sales on sausage increased enor- mously.—Butchers Advocate. —_—o.2so vou don’t have time to read your trade paper? Take it home with you and sit up an hour later to-night. It will pay you. JUST GOOD CANDY Pure and Wholesome THAT'S 7, PUTNAM FACTORY Grand Rapids, Mich. and crisp Delicious cookie-cakes appetizing crackers — There is a Hekman food-confection for every meal and for every taste. kman Biscuit (0 e Grand Rapids.Mich. at HEKMAN’S Salen an OKIe ~ es 4 Now offering— Grapefruit Cranberries Sweet Potatoes Tokay Grapes Figs, Dates, Etc. The Vinkemulder Company Grand Rapids, Michigan M.J. DARK & SONS GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. —————< «— Receivers and Shippers of All Seasonable Fruits and Vegetables To eaeeernrmretecenernr etter ne CCT OT i q 5 : i HARDWARE Michigan Retail Hardware Association. President—Scott Kendrick, Flint. Vice-President—George W. McCabe, Petoskey. Secretary—A. J. Scott, Marine City. Treasurer—William Moore, Detroit. The Selling of Stoves and Ranges. Written for the Tradesman. The profitable handling of stoves and ranges requires a certain amount of skill of the very type which the hard- ware dealer possesses. The stove de- partment is particularly an important part of the hardware store in the small community. It is worth while for the small mer- chant to remember that he occupies a very important place in the business field. He has his own particular local clientele: and this connection can in most instances be materially increased by intelligent The smaller the community, the closer is the contact of the merchant with his customers. This contact is a great help in the development of the stove depart- ment. The people who get acquainted with you and your store and whod get to know and like you will come to you for heaters and ranges; and they talk you up among their friends and neigh- bors. The stove department of your busi- ness can be made to not only produce merchandising. a direct profit on the actual sales made, but, if intelligently and_ skillfully handled, will serve the purpose like- wise of attracting women to the store and if the line stocked is first class and appeals to customers the latter will have all the more confidence in the gen- eral hardware and house furnishing lines you carry. Women are compe- tent judges of heaters and ranges; but from the very nature of things they cannot be equally good judges of tools and cutlery. These latter they are obliged to take targely, if not entirely, upon faith of the dealer who furnishes them. But just as one judges a man’ whole character by those outward words and acts which are intelligible to all, so the women will instinctively form their opinion of your hardware stock by the qualty of the stove vou sell and the satisfaction it gives. Thus the line may be made to advertise your regu- stock. If the line of heaters and ranges is a good one, the incidental advertising will be decidedly favorable. The hardware dealer should handle but one make of stove; unless it seems necessary for very compelling reasons to carry both a high priced and a low priced line. In the latter event, should handle just one of each line. A dealer is apt to do better with one fa‘r- ly good stove than with the best half But the stove must be a good No dealer can do well with poor stoves anywhere. The beginner should study the needs of his territory and confine himself to supplying the principal demand rather than try to catch the stray customer who wants something pretty much out of the common run. The one way to build up a profitable stove trade is to get a legitimate profit and sell the best standard grades. A prominent Western dealer, who has been selling stoves for nearly a quarter lar he dozen. stove. MICHIGAN of a century, attributes his success largely to carrying standard lines of stoves and continuing from year to year to advertise and push the same lines. During all this length of time he has carried but one range of gaso- line stoves, two makes of gas ranges, one make of base burners and two makes of steel ranges. Don’t think because you live in a small town that a cheap line will be “plenty good enough.” Our big cap- tains of industry are men who have always planned ahead. If you put in a cheap line one of your competitors may wake up, and by going you better on quality install a high-grade line that will throw yours completely in the shade. By putting in a cheap line you give your competitor an incentive to do this very thing. Take a long Jook ahead. in selling stoves and ranges you are not merely building for the present but also for the future. The cheap range may sell more easily now; but it is only upon the foundation of dependable quality that permanent business can be built. When your line is selected, pick out a man to take special charge of the department. Get the best man you can find, and make him responsible by giv- ing him full charge. In the large hard- ware stores in towns and cities the volume of stove business is usually large enough to allow it to have the attention of one man practically all the time. He should have practical experience and be in a way a stove ex- pert, and able to answer all questions and give proper advice on heating topics to the customer as well as able to see that all stove complaints are properly taken care of. Remember In the smaller stores, of course, it is usually impossible to have one man devote all his time to the stove end of the business. In such cases it is not a bad idea to put the care of the stove department up to one particular clerk, who will give that department all the attention he can, and will be- come the stove expert of the store, studying all the time to become thor- oughly posted on the subject of heat- ers and ranges. Tf you put your department into the hands of a young fellow who is bright and intelligent, make his bread and bui- ter dependent on its success, and en- courage him all you can, you will find. if your man is any good, the stove de- partment will begin to show results right away. Make the manufacturer of your line tell you all there is to tell; make him give you all the information he can; for the better posted you are, the more faith you will have in the stoves and the harder fou will push them. All this means more stove sales, more busi- ness, and extra profits for you. This is an advertising age and it is a good thing to keep your stove de- partment well before the public. The finest product on earth will go to waste unless people know that you have it. General advertising of almost any sort will help your stove business. With stoves, as with other lines, a consider- abe amount of a advertising should be done just-before and just after the season opens, The old saying about TRADESMAN October 14, 1925 BROWN & SEHLER COMPANY “HOME OF SUNBEAM GOODS” Farm Machinery and Garden Tools Saddlery Hardware Blankets, Robes & Mackinaws Sheep-lined and Blanket - Lined Coats Automobile Tires and Tubes Automobile Acessories Garage Equipment Radio Equipment Harness, Horse Collars GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Michigan Hardware Co. 100-108 Ellsworth Ave.,Corner Oakes GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN e Wholesalers of Shelf Hardware, Sporting Goods and Fishing Tackle Flat or Roll top desks, Steel or wood files,account sys- New or Used for store or tems, office chairs, fire- office proof safes. G. R. STORE FIXTURE CoO. 7 Ionia Avenue N. W. Foster, Stevens & Co. WHOLESALE HARDWARE wom 157-159 Monroe Ave. - 151-161 Louis Ave., N. W. GRAND - RAPIDS : MICHIGAN October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN 23 the early bird applies pretty well to the advertising of goods which have a certain selling season. Some people will think of their stove needs before the season really opens, but more will think of them just after the opening. It is then that the old stoves are brought to light and re- placed with new where necessity re- quires it. Others will notice the ad- vertising before the season opens, and will look to their stove needs early. More, however will wait until their stove needs are evident, and then will begin to think of a place to buy. It is evident, then, that the advertising should continue pretty well through the season. There is certain to be more or less of a rush for seasonable goods after the season opens; but there will be many customers holding back, and many trying to put off buy- ing until another season. Keep after these, and try to land their business. In connection with advertising, the fact cannot be too strongly impressed that the merchant who advertises best is now always the largest advertiser. Good advertising does not solely con- sist of spending a large amount of money. Advertising stoves and rang- es has been compared to steam in a locomotive. It’s a good comparison. Both steam and advertising are prime movers——they start things and keep them moving. Steam alone, however, never made a railroad: and advertising alone never made a business. One of the oldest business axioms is “A satisfied cus- tomer is the best advertisement.” Now let us stop and analyze just what that means. A satisfied customer is a good advertisement for three reasons. First, he becomes a repeat customer—he re- orders. Second, he recommends to others the product which has given him satisfaction. Third, he talks about the good value he has found and his talk often reaches the ears of other prospects and influences their trade. Quality, service and good salesman- ship are dominant factors in a profit- able stove trade. Victor Lauriston. ————— 2.» >—__ Senator Underwood was dreaming dreams before the American Bankers Association at Atlantic City. It would of course, be highly desirable for cap- ital to have a rail settlement approved by the public that would take the rail- road out of politics. Reasonable and permanent rates would be a boon to business. What Senator Underwood has in mind would be more than won- derful. It would be miraculous, this removing the roads from politics. To do so would knock down the ladders by which so many men have climbed to preferment and public office. This would steal well nigh the whole stock in trade of a swarm of demagogues. It is not likely, however, that the railroad question can ever be divorced from politics or kept from being manhandled by the politicians. The Alabama Senator, in the same speech in which he spoke of that desirable state, him- self dabbled in politics. He protested that the South and West are not duly represented on the Interstate Com- merce Commission, thereby paving the way for the political fight that may he made against the appointment of Thomas H. Woodlock of New York to that body. —_~++>—__—_ It fits in with the future plans, and possibly the ambitions, of former Gov- ernor Frank O. Lowden of Illinois to discount the rising tide of rural pros- perity. He is now engaged in trying to do what the American Farm Bureau Federation failed to do. He is trying to make farm co-operation in market- ing a success. Therefore he must in- sist on keeping farm economic ills be- fore the farmers and the country. He is also a possible candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1928. If a candidate, he must rely up- on the States of the corn belt and the wheat country to launch his candidacy. He has given much time to farm move- ments for a good many years. The farmer is not yet convinced that he is or will be prosperous. The Lowden background, his present activities and his hopes for the future, help in ex- plaining his statements to the Ameri- can Bankers Association at Atlantic City that the agricultural situation is not righting itself. —_~++>—___ The bill for a selective service law is to be presented to Congress. Under its terms all male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-six years could be called for military service. There are, of course, the usual exemp- tions for the conscientious obiectors, for whom non-combatant service is provided. The measure follows con- stitutional lines, and in a general way its provisions are much the same as those of the selective service law dur- ing the war. An act of this kind is needed to round out the present nation- al defense act. We have a three-field army plan. This includes the regular army, the National Guard and the re- serves. The reserves are classified as the organized and unorganized re- serves. There is at present no machin- ery for calling up the unorganized re- serve. That is what the proposed measure is intended to supply. sos More Underwear Is Wanted. Not for some time has the demand of knit goods jobbers been more in- sistent for heavyweight ribbed under- wear for men than is the case at pres- ent. Many iobbers apparently neglect- ed sufficiently to cover their needs earlier in the season, possibly in the hope of obtaining lower prices later, with the result that they are now scrambling around in an endeavor to find mills that can make anything like near-by deliveries in quantity. This is especially true of the heavier ranges of union suits, but the call for separ- ate shirts and drawers is not much be- hind. One fwctor of the situation is the paucity of available supplies of men’s fleece underwear. Not only are stocks of these goods at the mills prac- tically nil, if not actually so, but their somewhat limited production is cover- ed some time ahead. ——_22.—___ It is a clever merchant who can pick the fads while they are coming instead of when they are going. ———-_ <>< There is method in some people’s madness, it is said, but methods never vet saved madness from disaster. a ee = EE ee enn a i REYNOLDS SHINGLES and ROOFING Aline complete enough to give the dealer a type of roof covering for every need, yet without posses- ingsomany different styles as to make it difficult for him to carry the line in stock. H. M. REYNOLDS SHINGLE COMPANY “Originator of the Asphalt Shingle’’ GRAND RAPIDS ~ MICHIGAN owoss9o MICHIGAN Makes Good hocolates | )alkex 24 COMMERCIAL TRAVELER News and Gossip About Hotels. Saginaw, Oct. 13—The new hotel at Albion is to be called the Parker, after one of its local promotors and will he operated by the Wiggins syndicate, which is to have control of the new Olds Hotel, at Lansing. Work is progressing very satisfactorily on the Albion structure. It is to be a com- munity affair, similar to the Huron, at Ypsilanti, which under the manage- ment of Geo. H. Swanson, proved a success from the very start. although the investors, or rather contributors to the enterprise were not depending upon dividends or did not expect it to show a profit. It looks very much as though the Michigan Hotel Association may, within a short time, perfect a working arrangement with the Interstate Hotel Protective Association for the purpose of catching up with and punishing fraudulent check-passers, skippers, etc. This class of crooks has got to go and the service which Michigan hotel men hoped to get from the American Ho- tel Association may properly be handled more effectively by the new organization, which will be made up of and controlled by hotel operators from all the Middle States, at a nom- inal expense. The Michigan Associa- tion will keep its members fully posted as soon as it has anything tangible to offer. It is definitely settled that the next annual convention of the Michigan Hotel Association will be held at Port Huron, probably the latter part of September next. The writer has been spending the past week with John A. Anderson, Port Huron, the new President of the Michigan Association, and manager of the Hotel Harrington, planning the Association’s program of action during the coming year. Naturally one of the plans is to strengthen the organization by securing new membe~- but it ‘7 further proposed to carry the benefits of same to all of its constituents—in every part of Michigan. The Secre- tary will conduct a thorough canvass of the field, starting in with the Upner Peninsula, hoping that a_ sectional meeting may be held in that district at an early day, giving each individual hotel man an opportunity of becoming acquainted with his neighbors. Incidentall, I have noticed that Jack Anderson’s hotel, the Harrington is a credit to his community and that the community shows a proper spirit of appreciation of what he is doing by giving him an unusual percentage of its local patronage. When I say “un- usual’”’ I mean that they concede that the Harrington nossesses facilities for entertainment which cannot be supplied by anyone else and bring their social gatherings to his hotel. Under the management of Mr. An- derson, begun two years ago, the Har- rington has undergone phvsical im- provements that have entirely trans- formed it and made it one of Eastern Michigans leading hostelries. Every- thing has been provided to brine i’ strictly up-to-date and its spacious rooms, unequalled bv any newly con- structed hotel, are a maior attraction Restaurant and cafe service, away ahead of most interior cities, is sup- plied and at reasonable charges. In fact, in the matter of charges in all its departments, the Harrington is “right” with its patrons, and the patronage it is receiving is constantly on the in- crease. Hospitality is inseparably connected with being a host. One of the mean- ings of the word hospitality is enter- tainment. Unless the guest is really pleased there is no true hospitality It is necessary to nut him at his ease, make him feel that he has stopped a‘ the right place and that if it cost him Michigan MICHIGAN TRADESMAN a great deal more to stop there he would consider it worth all the money spent. Old time inns became famous for their hospitality. The fame - of some of these old institutions has lived because of this. Just so the modern hotel that wins a name for being hospitable will win a reputation that will spread to distant parts of the country because of the kind words spoken to the guests. As a matter of fact true hospitality perhaps more than anything else determines the success of any place where people are furnish- ed meals and lodging. It is not the appointments of the place, the machin- ery for rendering service, or even wide- spread advertising, that counts so much as real hospitality. All these other things count where there is hos- pitality but nothing can take the place of the real hospitable host. It must of course be understood that hospital- ity does not necessarily mean giving anything away. It has an entirely different meaning which has nothing to do with the cost. It has to do more with atmosphere than with money. It sometimes occurs to me that per- hans the hotels of the present day are too large, that in capacity they are away beyond the capability of any single individual to give a proper de- eree of personal attention to the guest, that as in the feeding game the pa- tron has reached the degree of indif- ference as to what is really offered in the wav of food, that eating has de- generated into perfunctory habit of consuming food to sustain life, and not the source of pleasure it once was. It used to be common practice among travelers to stop at certain hotels de- ficient in conveniences, just because thev anticipated with pleasure, the mea!'s which they felt sure would be set before them. They were going home, as it were. “Home cooking” meant that you were to be sunplied with food, possibly not so dainty, or served in such comprehensive style, but well-seasoned and tasteful. In Michigan, twenty-five years ago there was a long category of hotels which specialized on appetizing meals, and they are even talked about to-day It is true that they did not give the service of to-day, but they radiated joy at every turn. They were not so pro- digious that the landlord could not make one feel sure that he was a real personal guest, and even to-day this is an element that counts. You are fre- quently told that guests do not care for these attentions nowadays, but it would be a hard matter to make me believe it. Whoever sees a picture of the jovial host nowadays. That smile that made you feel at ease once you were proper- ly inside the walls of the institution. Sometimes these days one wonders if “smiling” is a lost art. Where former- ly it was a pleasure to stop at a public house it is now a matter of fact neces- sity. The old-time tyne of host is not quite extinct. You occasionally run across him and he si easily recogniz- able. He is worth while to cultivate. He is not confining himself to his private office and counting the cost of everything, but you will discover him in the open, and he is not worry- ing because his employes did not sell you a high-priced room or concerned about the quantity of food selected from his table d’ hote bill. He wants you to like his place for conscientious reasons, and he gets as much enjoy- ment as you do out of your personal contact. Perhaps not all of you would want to go back to the days of washbowls and stove heated apartments, but I imagine you would even overlook these in your contemplation of the pleasure of meeting one of the old-time hosts. Work has just been started by the L’Anse Hotel Co., at L’Anse, on a new three-story, 60 room house, which is October 14, 1925 OCCIDENTAL HOTEL FIRE PROOF CENTRALLY LOCATED Rates $1.50 and up EDWART R. SWETT, Mgr. Muskegon <5 Michigan HOTEL DOHERTY CLARE, MICHIGAN Absolutely Fire Proof Sixty Rooms All Modern Conveniences RATES from $1.50, Excellent Coffee Shop “ASK THE BOYS WHO STOP HERE” CODY HOTEL GRAND RAPIDS $1.50 up without bath RATES $3520 up With wath CAFETERIA IN CONNECTION HOTEL KERNS Largest Hotel in Lansing 300 Rooms With or Without Bath Popular Priced Cafteria in Connection Rates $1.50 up E. S. RICHARDSON, Proprietor Columbia Hotel KALAMAZOO Good Place To Tie To WESTERN HOTEL BIG RAPIDS, MICH. Hot and cold running water in all rooms. Several rooms with bath. All rooms well heated and well ventilated. A good place to stup. American plan. Rates reasonable. WILL F. JENKINS, Manager. The HOTEL PHELPS Greenville, Michigan Reasonable Rates for Rooms. Dining Room a la carte. GEO. H. WEYDIG, Lessee. CODY CAFETERIA Open at 7 A. M. TRY OUR BREAKFAST Eat at the Cafeteria it is Cheaper FLOYD MATHER, Mgr. The Durant Hotel Flint’s New Million and Half Dollar Hotel. 300 Rooms 300 Baths Under the direction of the United Hotels Company HARRY R. PRICE, Manager Hotel Whitcomb Mineral Baths THE LEADING COMMERCIAL AND RESORT HOTEL OF SOUTHWEST MICHiGAN Open the Year Around Natural Saline-Sulphur Waters. Best for Rheumatism, Nervousness, Skin Diseases and Run Down Condition. J. T. Townsend, Mgr. ST. JOSEPH MICHIGAN CUSHMAN HOTEL PETOSKEY, MICHIGAN The best is none too good for a tired Commercial Traveler. Try the CUSHMAN on your next trip and you will feel right at home. HOTEL HERMITAGE European Room and Bath $1.50 & $2: JoHN Moran, Mgr. GRAND RAPIDS’ 400 Rooms—400 Baths MORTON HOTEL NEWEST HOTEL Rates $2.00 and Up Rooms $2.00 and up. The Center of Social and Business Activities THE PANTLIND HOTEL Everything that a Modern Hotel should be. With Bath $2.50 and up. Woes ba 9 4 a Excellent Culsine Turkish Baths WHEN IN KALAMAZOO Stop at the ail y) \ cae oa . Headquarters for all Civic Clubs Luxurious Rooms ERNEST McLEAN, Mar HOTEL CHIPPEWA European Plan New Hotel with all Modern 150 Outside Rooms Hot and Cold Running Water $1.50 and up . HENRY M. NELSON Manager MANISTEE, MICH. Conveniences—Elevator, Etc. Dining Room Service and Telephone in every Room 60 Rooms with Bath $2.50 and $3.00 HOTEL BROWNING GRAND Corner Sheldon and Oakes; Facing Union Depot; Three Blocks Away. 150 Fireproof Rooms RAPIDS Rooms with bath, single $2 to $2.80 Rooms with bath, double $3 to $3.80 None Higher. October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN expected to be ready for guests in \pril next. The building will be of reinforced concrete, all modern, land- scaped and _ overlooking Keewenaw Bay, an arm of Lake Superior, and will be one of the finest of its size in the State. Its cost will be about $250,000. A group of Michigan hotel men who attended the Ohio hotel convention, at Akron, two years ago, will remember with pleasure the brand of entertain- ment dispensed by Manager Harry Halfacre, of the Hotel Portage. Mr. Halfacre is now manager of the Ho- tel Claridge, Memphis, Tenn., and ad- vises the writer he will be glad to have any of the Michigan “boys” as his per- sonal guests at any time. He demon- strated to me on the previous occasion alluded to that he means exactly what he says, and for which evidence of lasting hospitality he will have the thanks of the “gang.” John D. Martin, the veteran repre- sentative of the Michigan U. C. T. or- ganization, feels that much of Michi- gan’s history centers on certain old- time hotels and their operators, and wants someone to write it into our State annals. This would be most in- teresting, and no one I know of would be better equipped to launch the project than our own John. Once begun, no doubt information of great interest would be volunteered by others who are undiscovered at present. In the announcement made of the opening of the new addition to the Hotel Sherman, Chicago. mention is made of special accommodations for “tall? men. Our own Fred. Pantlind was responsible for the advent of the eight-foot bed. Four years ago he had a complete equipment of these dimen- sions made and presented it to Mine Host Swett, of the Muskegon Occi- dental, it being a wel-known fact that for years he had been compelled to utilize a billiard table for his nightly siesta. It made a great hit with Ed. and for the first time in years he was enabled to “hit the hay” in a strictly orthodox manner. That the Sherman House now mentions this innovation of long beds is an evidence they have previously entertained the Muskegon boniface. The Hotel Pantlind fitted up one entire floor with eight-foot beds when it added new rooms some two years since. “Penn E. Wise,” the conductor of the mirth column of the Kalamazoo Gazette, during the recent convention there, and speaking of its deliberations thereat, said this: “The better part of the afternoon session was given over to the discus- sion as to whether five or six prunes should be served for a quarter. The committee appointed last year to in- vestgiate the stewed prune crop re- ported, after traveling 22,345 miles, that there is a shortage.” Reminding one that the once neglect- ed and despised prune has come back with a vengeance and will be found daily on the menus of the best cafes in the country. Taking little cognizance of the claim that the prune has certain medicinal properties, it still may be considered as a palatable fruit course when properly prepared, which can be accomplished by soaking in cold water for a period of forty-eight hourse to restore normal moisture, then adding sufficient sugar to produce a medium heavy syrup, and simmering for twelve hours. Just ‘before completing the process of cooking add one teaspoonful of ground cinnamon to each pound of prunes, stir thoroughly, and you have something the “children will cry for.” If your dried fruit is of good quality, and these directions are strictly ad- hered to, you need feel no anxiety about the results, and you may expect repeat orders. Your Detroit correspondent who, in a recent issue of the Tradesman, took exception to certain criticism of ac- tivities of well-meaning, but misguided ndividuals who are, innocently it may be, inducing an unsophisticated public to invest in church-operated hotels, wrecked his own argument in one statement in his communication, i. e.: “The dormitories of the Y. M. C. A. are not in any sense hotels, because the men who will stay in them cannot afford to stop at the better hotel,” etc. This is also a mild confirmation of the statement that the so-called “Yumcy” hotels compete with legiti- mate enterprises, at an absolute loss, thereby creating a “bread line’ among a class of individuals who would soon scorn the suggestion that they were alms-takers. Careful observation shows that the greater number of beneficiaries of these charities are not from the class who cannot afford to patronize hotels, but are largely secured in active com- petition therewith. However, promoters of church-ho- tels, outside of displaying lack of busi- ness acumen, are by no means_ the worst competition that the established hotel enterprises have to contend with. One year ago, at the annual conven- tion of the Michigan Hotel Association held in Detroit, E. M. Statler, well- known as one of the large, if not the largest, hotel operators in America, made the following “pat’’ statement: “A point I want to make is that there is an over production of hotels everywhere. My prediction is that more and more hotels which will in the future show greater loss than they are showing to-day, owing to this craze for building hotels where they are not needed, and I speak authoritatively. The Statler organization has between eight and nine million dollars more invested than ever before, and our profit for the past eight months is 25 per cent. less than it was the year be- fore. We are absolutely unable to change this condition. It is simply over-production of hotels. During a few months each year there is seem- ingly an under-supply, but to build ho- tels to take care of occasional conven- tions, or a temporary rush during the tourist season is a very foolish thing to think of. People around the country have become accustomed to taking stock in something that somebody else says is a money maker, and they take it blindly. It is true that a good hotel, where there is a chance for it to exist, is an attraction for any city to offer to the traveling public and an asset to the community, but before going into the proposition blind-folded, why not -ascertain if it will ever make a return on the investment.” Under these conditions the wisest course to pursue, before launching an enterprise of such magnitude, is to get the advice of some practical hotel op- erator who knows -from experience, just what it is possible to accomplish © under certain apparent conditions. Don’t ask some promoting concern to come to your town and make what they term a “survey” of possibilities— which is usualy a calculation of “pos- sibilities’ for raising money from among the unsophisticated natives. There is, just now a lack of interest in mining and oil well stocks, hence the talk of a new hotel in your com- munity, backed by the statement that E. M. Statler started his career as a bellboy and is now a second Rocke- feler or that Ernie Richardson, of the Kerns, Lansing, made a quarter of 4 milion last year, when he was in luck if he took in that amount in gross re- ceipts. These promotors will go to your local merchants and tabulate a list of the commercial travelers who may have called upon them during a given period and talk you into the be- lief that, had you a fine hotel in your city, they would all have spent oodles of money in patronizing it, when these self-same travelers had a flivver parked in front of the very establishment they were soliciting and could not have been induced, under ordinary circum- stances, to stop over night in your city unless business warranted it. A favorite argument is that during the winter months the town’s people will close up their residences and flock to the hotel and literally pour their coin into your till, a statement not borne out by the facts, and a result that is never realized. I know of a case in Michigan where promotors suc- ceeded in interesting a bunch of peo- ple, mostly of limited means—at least, who could not afford to make an out- right donation for sucha project—upon the representation that the hotel was assured of a winter occupancy of 50 per cent. from “regulars” at $12 per week. The realization was a 9 per cent. occupancy at $5. “If your town hasn’t a first-class hotel, we can aid you in securing it. Will you let us do this?” Sure they will aid you. They will make a so-called “survey” of the com- munity’s available (financial) resources with the result that if the cash is in sight, sufficient to meet ordinary de- mands of contractors, etc., a promotion campaign will be started, always with the understanding that they—the pro- motors—will have their “rake-off.” The “boomers” never hold the sack. They relegate that function to the poor devil who made the investment on the representation that opportunity raps at your door but once in a lifetime, and that Statler was an opportunist. One of the largest bond houses in the country owns over fifty hotels, with a rooming capacity of 100 and over. They advanced the money on ‘bonds when they had satisfied them- selves that the site had been paid for and that sufficient funds had been raised, locally, to go a considerable way toward construction. Did they in- vest in any stock? Never. The local investors took the stock, and when the discovery was finally made that opera- tion was impossible, and overhead charges could not be met, the bond- holders annexed the property and ad- vertised an “opportunity” in the hotel periodicals. Now, if the investors were of a class who could afford to make a donation toward a community built and operat- ed hotel, some of the tragic features would have been eliminated, but the chief sufferers were naturally in the widow and orphan class. So many of these unbusiness-like projects have been launched that it seems unfortunate that the State Sureties Commission has not started an investigation and called a halt te this species of larcency which is hard- ly less criminal than the sale of oil and mining stocks. Here is an oppor- tunity for our practical and square- toed Governor to dip in his oar and at least familiarize himself with con- ditions. Frank S. Verbeck ——_++>__—__ The voice of the voter is louder be- fore election than after. FOR SALE OR LEASE Choice business vacant property on the main street of Muskegon. 64 ft. frontage, exceptionally good location for furniture store, auto- mobile agency and many _ other lines of business. GEORGE M. STOECKEL, 714 Union Bank Bldg., Muskegon, Mich. YOUR FALL SALES Munsing Underwear for women and children—will sell out right, consign or ex- change for other merchan- dise. We also conduct merchan- dise sales. Speese’s Sales System 204 Mc Mullen Bldg. Grand Rapids Mich. TOLEDO SCALES— Joe Robinson Sales Agt. for Western Michigan. 20 W. Fulton St., Phone 51685 We Service all makes of scales. Our Coliection Servite Must make good to you or we will. “There’s a Reason” DEBTORS PAY DIRECT TO YOU AND IT’S ALL YOURS Only the one small Service Charge —absolutely no extras. References: Any Bank or Chamber of Commerce of Battle Creek, Mich. MERCHANTS’ CREDITORS ASSOCIATION OF U. S. 208-210 McCamly Bldg. BATTLE CREEK, MICH. For your protection we are bonded by the Fidelity & Casualty Com- pany of New York City. $1,500,000 | A TI y A S PLYWOOD Corporation First Mortgage Sinking Fund Gold Bonds, Due July 1, 1940, at 99/2, to Yield Over 614% Bonds are the direct obligation of the Atlas Plywood Corporation of Massachusetts, owning all properties of the Nelson & Hall Co., Veneer Products Co., Allen Quimby Co., Standard Seating Co. and Atlas Plywood Corp., of Vermont. Plants, equipment and | real estate appraised at $2,401,751; timberland, 32,000 acres, at $600,- 500. Current assets $1,- 397,721; current liabili- ties only $318,639. Con- solidated net earnings for three years average $610,252, over six times interest requirements. A.E.Kusterer & Co. INVESTMENT BANKERS anpD BROKERS MicHIGAN TRUST BUILDING. citizeENS 4267 BELL MAIN 2435 Sand Lime Brick Nothing as Durable Nothing as Fireproof Makes Structures Beautiful No Painting No Cost for Repairs Fire Proof Weather Proof Warm in Winter Cool in Summer Brick is Everlasting Grande Rapids Saginaw Brick Co., Saginaw Jackson-Lansing Brick Co., Rives Junction. Brick Co., Grand aeacenewnaptn eats 26 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN October 14, 1925 DRUGS Care of Mouth and Teeth A ta meeting of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, Dr. D. D. Smith, by invitation, presented a paper on the subject of Mouth Infection, speaking from the standpoint of a practical dentist, who is also a physi- cian. Dr. Smith stated that he had been working at his calling for twenty- five years, and only during the last eight had he grasped the true meaning of mouth infection. He then spoke at length regarding the mouth as a pro- lific source of contagion. Dr. Smith said that in 1894 he sought the cause of dental caries and its relation to the deposits on the teeth and the health of the individual. Investigation show- ed that caries of the teeth was due to the accumulations on them. From this he formulated a method of treatment «diametrically opposite to that in use before. Instead of confining his work to the repair of carious teeth he began prophylaxis. This consists in enforc- ing a radical and frequent cleansing of the teeth, thus providing a change in their environment. The removal of all deposits on the teeth, calcareous secretions, etc., is the first step. Then the teeth are thoroughly polished by hand methods, a power polisher never being used for this purpose. Orange wood charged with pumice powder gives the best results. This cleansing not only prevents the beginning of caries in children, but aids greatly in the proper alveolar development. In older persons decay of the teeth is re- tarded. For the past seven years the effects of this systmatic polishing of the teeth have been the source of con- stant delight. The polishing is done at intervals of about one month, or in severe cases much oftener at first. Without good teeth there cannot be good masticulation. Without thorough mastication there cannot be perfect digestion, and poor health results. The importance of a sound set of teeth is as great to the child as a sound set is to the adult. Children should be taught to use the tooth brush early. Food left on the teeth ferments, and the acid formed produces decay. Decay leads in time to pain and the total destruction of the teeth. The substance of the following rules should therefore be impressed con- stantly upon all children: 1. The teeth should be cleansed at least once daily. 2. The best time to clean the teeth is after the last meal. 3. A small tooth brush, with stiff bristles, should be used, brushing up and down and across, and inside and outside, and in between the teeth. 4. A simple tooth powder should be used if the teeth are dirty or stained. 5. It ts a good practice to rinse the mouth out after every meal. 6. All rough usage of the teeth, such as. cracking nuts, biting thread, etc., should be avoided, but the proper use of the teeth in chewing is good for them. Detrifice. a 74 ers. Sodium Borate --__.._.__--- 75 ers. Carbolic Acd 30 ers. Rose Water 2: 6% ozs. Mint Alcohol) 220 IZ oz. Bored Water 2 10. ozs. M. A few drops in a glass of water. The above dentrifice is an admirable antiseptic for the mouth. ——_-. The Mysterious Sundae. Everybody patronizes the soda foun- tains nowadays, and everybody knows what the word sundae, or Sunday, means. But the person who can ex- plain how this word came to mean what it means will make a real con- tribution to the knowledge of Ameri- can lexicography. In the form sundae the word has a kind of Dutch East Indian look, but it is difficult to get beyond this vague suggestiveness. Tucker, in his “American English,’ gives an explanation which is circum- stantial but not convincing. He de- clares that the word originated “about 1897, at Red Cross Pharmacy, State street, Ithaca, N. Y., directly opposite to barroom of Ithaca Hotel, which was closed on Sunday, suggesting to the pharmacy people to offer a distinctly Sunday drink.” There are _ several difficulties with this explanation. One is that a sundae is not a drink. Another is that persons who had been accus- tomed to stop at the bar of the Ithaca Hotel—of blessed memory—would not be tempted by a soupy ice cream sub- stitute at the Red Cross Pharmacy. But the main trouble with all such explanations is that they are too cir- cumstantial to be convincing. Quite recently a newspaper report carried the news of the death of an aged wo- man who soon after the close of the Civil War, “became cook at the Porter House in North Cambridge, Mass.,” and who “developed such skill in carv- ing steaks from the sides of heavy beef that the tender cuts she served became known as porterhouse steaks.” But, alas, Thornton’s “American Glossary” gives citations for porterhous steak in America as early as 1843. The term porterhouse is old, a porterhouse being a drinking place where steaks might be served, just as a chop house is an eating place where drinks used to be served. There is little doubt that the Parker House roll took its name from ‘the Parker House, in Boston, but in this case the history of the word is simple and clear. It is otherwise with sundae, which still awaits some happy discovery for its satisfactory explana- tion. ——_~>-+-.—_—_—_ Cater To Women and Children. It is well to divide the public into groups and make a separate effort for each group. Let the first be com- posed of the women. Some dispensers have an idea that they want the men’s trade only. In a cigar store this is all right, but in any other it is all wrong. Women have been from the first among the big supporters of the soda fountain. When men were still drink- ing toddy, women were calling for lemonade; now the men have dropped the strong drinks, more or less, and are enjoying carbonated beverages, but there is no reason to forget the friends who helped to build the business and who are still an important factor in maintaining it. There are dispensers who _— never think of doing anything special to win the boys and girls as customers, much less the smaller children. Think how much is spent for goods served at soda fountains and how much more might be drawn into the channel if only these little ones were interested in what you have to serve. Things taste better to young folks than they do to us older ones. . Some of the things you can do to win the younger ones may not appeal to the older ones at all, but let the older ones look on and enjoy seeing the younger ones have a good time; it will make some of them want to be young again, at least young enough to enjoy a treat as much as the little ones do. Some men have special chairs for children. Others have special signs announcing things that children like— signs that appeal to the young. There are many ways of bringing children of school age into your place. One man has made a specialty of Fri- day afternoon after-school-souvenir. Some days it is a school pencil, again it is a toy balloon with his advertise- ment on it. —_—_.-2———_—_ Watch Your Barometer. He who wants to know what the weather is going to be for the next twenty-four hours keeps an eye upon his barometer and, similarly, the drug- gist who desires advance information as to business conditions for the next few months makes a practice of con- sulting his barometer frequently. The only difference is that the for- mer instrument is fashioned of metal and glass, encased in wood, while the latter is made of paper and ink and is usually known as a “record of charge sales.” Is the barometer too high? Are charge sales increasing? Does this mean that the store is too liberal in its extension of credit? What effect is this having upon collections? Is the amount of the average charge sale also increasing? Has the type of cus- tomers changed, or are the older ones being forced to pay more for ‘their goods? Is the barometer too low? Is charge business decreasing? What’s the rea- son? Fewer active charge accounts, or are they buying less? Possibly some new collection methods have been installed which have alienated the patronage of those whose pay is slow but sure. Is the discrepancy being made up in cash sales, or going to another store? These are only a few of the import- ant questions which can be answered by analyzing charge accounts, by watching the barometer which can give so much useful information with respect to future business, if only you will permit it to do so. ——_---.——___. Perfumed Gasoline. Ordinary gasoline is the cheapest grease-solvent for the cleansing of wearing apparel in the household. However, it has the disadvantage of leaving its characteristic disagreeable odor clinging to articles cleaned with it. The process of deodorizing gaso- line renders the finished product too expensive, and the average household- er will not pay the increased price, preferring, rather, to endure the odor left by ordinary gasoline. A compro- mise can be effected by the use of cheap aromatic oils which to a great extent mask the disagreeable odor left by ordinary gasoline upon evaporation. Synthetic Oil of Sassafras to the ex- tent of 0.5 per cent. is effective and economical. A little study will, no doubt, bring to light even cheaper and more effective materials for this pur- pose. The following formula for deodor- izing benzine is recommended: Benzine 20000 1 pt. Oil of Lavender 222 1 dr. Bichromate of Potassium --~---- 1 oz. Sulohunic Acid 250 0 fo 1 oz. Water 0 1 pt. Dissolve the bichromate in the water, add the acid and when the solution is cold shake up the benzine with it. Shake every hour during the day, al- low to stand all night, decant the ben- zine, wash with a pint of water, and again decant. Add the oil and put up in 2 ounce bottles. ——_++.——_——. Artificial Maple Flavor. An artificial maple flavor may be obtained by using aqueous extract of guaiac wood. The wood, finely rasped, is boiled down to the condition of an extract. This is shaken up with ether, or a mixture of alcohol and ether, to get rid of the resinous matters taken up in boiling. Some manufacturers attain the desired end, though not so completely, by adding cold water to the aqueous extract while still hot, which causes the resinous matter to precipi- tate. After standing a little the clear extractive is poured off and is ready for use. It is said that when a proper mixture of cane syrup and glucose is used the imitation of the maple flavor is so near perfect as to puzzle an ex- pert. Merck’s Report says: “Boil simple syrup, remove from fire and add in the shape of strips the inner bark of carya alba (hickory) or carya tomentosa (white heart hickory) half an ounce to the pint of syrup; let stand for five or ten minutes and then strain. —_——- oo Red Color For Show Bottles. The following is a permanent color: fedine 202) a 3 dr. Potassium iodide __----______ 3 dr. Hydrochloric acid ~-----___. 10 oz. Distilled water... 2 gals. Dissolve the iodine and iodide in 8 oz. of water and dilute with the rest, to which the acid has been added. —~--.__ When a telephone girl breaks her engagement it is another case of “ring off.” Chesty? a beginner. Henry Smith Floral Co., Inc. 52 Monroe Ave GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN PHONES: Citizens 65178, Bell Main 173 Remember you once were SELLS ON MERIT id October 14, 1925 a> Common Causes Which Lead To Failure. Finding fault with the other fellow, but never seeing your own. Doing as little as possible and try- ing to get as much as possible for it. Spending too much time showing up | the other fellow’s weak points and too ce little time correcting your own. Slandering those wo do not like. i Procrastination—putting off until to- morrow something that we should have done day before yesterday. hu Deceit—talking friendly to the other 4 fellow’s face and stabbing him in the back as soon as he turns around. aX False belief that we are smart enough to reap a harvest of pay before sowing a crop of honest service. Ins. postpaid. ed Merchants write for prices. KALAMAZOO VEGETABLE PARCHMEN}? CO.. ‘ Kalamazoo, Mich. of - ing Paper Good Waiting, $}00 For the Home, School and Office—pure white bond, very little trimmings—all writing paper— properly styled the Economy Package. Also good for mimeograph and type- writer use. Easily matched in enve- lopes. Try your local dealer. If he cannot supply you pin a dollar bill to this advertisement with name and ad- dress and we will send either size AY MICHIGAN Disloyalty to those who have trusted us. Egotism—the belief that we know it all and no one can teach us anything. Last, but not least, lack of the neces- sary training and education to enable us to stand at the head in our line of work. Look this list over and check your- self up by it. If none of these causes for failure apply to you, then you are to be congratulated, because you are a success. ————_>2>—_—_ Lansing—The Mahoney-Holmes Co., 214 South Washington avenue, has been incorporated to deal in general merchandise, with an authorized cap- ital stock of $25,000, all of which has been subscribed and paid in, $10,000 in cash and $15,000 in property. a * x a8 A TRS \ria\ ok axN MATAR waa SAAS 0 S Soe @ es \ AA \ \ LS eo Two $1 Sizes \ A 5 Ibs., 500 sheets s\_¥ > letter size s\ 8x11. AS 5 lbs., 450 sheets \ legal size 814x18 j Install Soot and dust on window sill KEEP THE COLD, SOOT AND DUST OUT “AMERICAN WINDUSTITE” all-metal Weather Strips and save on your coal bills, make your house-cleaning easier, get more comfort from your heating plant and protect your furnishings and draperies from the outside dirt, soot and dust. Storm-proof, Dirt-proof, Leak-proof, Rattle-proof Made and Installed Only by AMERICAN METAL WEATHER STRIP CO. 144 Division Ave., Nort h Citz. Telephone 51-916 Grand Rapids, Mich. School Supplies Ink Tablets, Penholders, Composition Books, Pencil Tablets, Pastes, Glues, Inks, School Records, Penholders, Pens, Slates, School Blanks, Slate Pencils, Rubber Bands, Pencil Pockets, Crayons, Compasses, Chalk, Pencil Sharpeners, Chamois Skins, Inks, Pencil Assortments, Fountain Pens, Blackboard Erasers, Colored Pencils, Blotting Paper, Exercise Books, Water Colors, Pencil Pockets, Cardboard, Thumb Tacks, Paste, Pencil Clips, Water Colors, Dictionaries, Ink Erasers, Bristol Board, Library Paste, Blank Books, Rulers, Dusters, Mucilages, Sponges, Crayolas, Pencils, Lunch Kits, Banner Loose Leaf Note Books, Pencil Boxes, Legal and Foolscap Paper, Dictionaries, Pat's Pick, Michigan History, U. S. Civil Government, Pattengill’s Orthographies, Civil Government Primary, Michigan, Welch School Registers. SEND US YOUR ORDER TODAY HAZELTINE & PERKINS DRUG CO. Manistee Michigan Grand Rapids TRADESMAN WHOLESALE DRUG PRICE CURRENT Prices quoted are nominal, based on market the day of issue. Acids Boric (Powd.) -. 15 @ 26 Boric (Xtal) ---- 15 @ 2% Carbone 47 @ 46 Citric _..__-... 58 @ 70 Murtatic ----.--- 3%@ 8 Nittie .......... 9 @ 15 Oxalio — 15 @ 26 Sulphuric —.——--- 3%@ 8 Tartaric .____... 40 @ 50 Ammonia Water. 26 deg. _. 10 @ 18 Water, 18 deg. —_ 09 @ 14 Water, 14 deg. -- 6%@ 12 Carbonate ------ 20 @ 2b Chloride (Gran.) 10%@ 20 Balsams Copaiba -------— 90 1 Fir (Canada) .. 2 55@2 Fir (Oregon) --- 65@1 Peru 3 oes Tow ..-.--___...~ 8 00@3 Barks Cassia (ordinary) oe Cassia (Saigon)-~- Sassafras (pw. 50c) @ Soap Cut (powd.) a06 2. 18@ Berries Cunen @1 Fish —______._ Juniper ---------- 99 Prickly Ash ------ Extracts Licorice ---------- 60@ Licorice powd. —-- @1 Flowers Arnica —..__._-__-- 25@ Chamomile Ger.) 20@ Chamomile Rom. -- Gums Acacia, Ist ----- 50@ Acacia, 2nd ------ 45@ Acacia, Sorts --. 20@ Acacia, Powdered 35@ Aloes (Barb Pow) 25@ Aloes (Cape Pow) 25@ Aloes (Soc. Pow.) 65@ Asafoetida ------ 50 Pow, .---_~_..-+ 7b@1 Camphor ------- 1 05@1 Guaiac ---------- Guaiac, pow’d —- @ Kine - 2. @1 Kino, powdered @1 Myrrh 2 @ Myrrh, powdered @ Opium, powd. 19 65@19 Opium, gran. 19 65@19 Shelac _.._....... 90@1 10 Shellac Bleached 1 00@1 10 Tragacanth, pow. @1 7d Tragacanth ---. 1 75@2 25 Turpentine -_---- @ 25 Insecticides Arsenic -_-~---- 165 @ 26 Blue Vitriol, bbl. 07 Blue Vitriol, less 08 15 Bordea. Mix Dry 12% 25 Hellebore, White powdered -_ .. 20@ 30 Insect Powder —- we 55 Lead Arsenate Po. 17 30 Lime and Sulphur Dry — 22 Paris Green 232@ 38 Leaves Buchu: ........... 1 ~ 30 Buchu, powdered 1 80 Sage, Bulk ----- 25@ 30 Sage, % loose -_. @ 40 Sage, powdered__ @ 35 Senna, Alex. __. 50@ 175 Senna, Tinn. --.. 30 35 Senna, Tinn. pow. 25 35 Uva Oras 20@ 25 Olis Almonds, Bitter, true 50@7 76 Almonds, Bitter, artificial __.... 4 00@4 25 Almonds, Sweet, true 2 50@1 80 Almonds. Sweet, imitation --.. 1 00@1 25 Amber, erude -. 1 50@1 75 Amber, rectified 1 75@2 00 Amse 22.22. 1 50@1 75 Bergamont ---- 8 50@8 75 Cajeput _.__..- 1 560@1 76 Cassia 4 25@4 50 Gaston oo. 1 75@2 00 Cedar Leaf —.. 1 60@1 75 Citronella ----- 1 25@1 50 Cloves ..___--_ 8 00@8 25 Cocoanut --__--. 25@ 86 Cod Liver ----.- 1 90@2 40 ton _._._-___ 2 00@2 26 Cotton Seed _.._ 1 40@1 68 Cunshs 7 0@7 25 Eigeron -~------ 6 00@6 25 Eucalyptus —----- 1 25@1 50 Hemlock, pure._ 1 75@2 20 Juniper Berries. 3 50@3 75 Juniper Wood ~ 1 50@1 75 Lard, extra -... 1 60@1 80 Lard, No. 1 ---. 1 40@1 60 Lavendar Flow... 8 60@8 75 Cinchona -~..~---- @2 10 Lavendar Gar’n 8641 20 ¢olchicum ------ @1 80 Lemon. ___..._._ 3 00@32 26 Linseed, bid. bbl. @1 19 Cubebs ---------- @3 00 Linseed, raw, bbl. --@1 07 Digitalsa ._..... @i 80 Linseed, bid. less 1 17@1 30 Gentian __..._... @1 35 Linseed, ra. less 1 14@1 27 Gince D. Ss @1 80 wae ation € 6 UCU ca Neatsfoot -.----- 1 35@1 50 Guaiac -----~-- @2 20 Olive. pure ---- 3 75@4 50 Guaiac, Ammon @2 60 Olive, Malaga. iodine @ % yellow -...... 163 0 — 2 Olive, Malaga, lodine, Colorless @1 60 —— Pr 3 ieee 00 fron, Clo. ..55--.- @1 35 range, Sweet -- 5 25 ' Uriganum, pure ~ @2 50 EO nt @1 46 Origanum com'l 1 06@1 20 Myrrh —_..... @2 50 Pennyroyal .-.. 3 50@3 75 Nux Vomica _. @1 65 Peppermint .. 22 50@22 75 . cn wae. vue SC CUS O28 60 Rosemary Flows 1 25@1 56 Opium, Camp. -- o & Sandalwood, E. as Optum, Deodors'd @s 50 Bann = 16 00@10 36 Rhubarb ———-- @1 7e Sassafras, true 2 00@2 25 Sassafras, arti’) . 90@1 20 Spearmint 15 00@15 25 a hee se Paints. Teueaana. Bil @r 14% Lead, red dry — 15% @16% Turpentine, less 1 21@1 34 Lead, white dry 16% @16% Sr Leng OO oll... 6a se Wintergreen, sweet birch 2... 3 00@3 2h Ochre, yellow less 3@ 6 Wintergreen, art__ 75@1 90 Red Venet'n Am. 3%@ 7 Wormseed —__._- 7 50@7 75 pog Venet’n E 4 oe oa a ome Te ed Veneta Bog, t@ 4 Putty 2 b@ 8 Whiting, bb. @ t% Whiting _ 5%@ 10 Potassium L. H. P. Prep... 3 05@3 26 Rogers Prep. ~~ 3 05@3 26 Bicarbonate _---- 35@ 40 2 r “->_____ Hides, Pelts and Furs. Green, No. 2 —. Cured, No. 1 — Amen. INO. 2 Calfskin, Green, 1 Calfskin Green, No. 2 Calfskin, Cured, No. 1 Calfskin, Cured, No. 2 Horse, No. Horse, No. 2 __ Ol WORE as 1 00@2 50 lambs 2. 1 00@2 00 Shearlings 50@1 00 Prime —_- 07 No. 1 a 06 No. 2 05 Wool. Unwashed, medium @40 Unwashed, rejects Unwashed, fine -______ 2... A woman always credits another woman with having excellent judg- ment when they both dislike the same person. >>> The wise man is always learning something new—that’s why he is called a wise man. 22-2 SWORN STATEMENT FURNISHED THE POSTOFFICE DEPARTMENT. Statement of the ownership, manage- ment, circulation, etc., of the Michigan Tradesman, published weekly at Grand Rapids, Michigan, required by the Act of Aug. 24, 1912. State of Michigan, | ss County of Kent, f Before me, a notary public in and for the State and county aforesaid, person- ally appeared Ernest A. Stowe, who, having been duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is the business manager of the Michigan Tradesman and that the following is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management (and if a daily paper, the circulation), etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown in the above caption, required by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in sec- tion 443, Postal Laws and Regulations, to wit: 1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, und business manager are: Editor—E. A. Stowe, Grand Rapids. Managing Editor—E. A. Stowe, Grand Rapids. Business Manager—E. A. Stowe, Grand Rapids. Publisher—Tradesman Company, Grand Rapids. 2. That the owners are: (Give names and addresses of individual owners, or, if a corporation, give its name and the names and addresses of the stockholders owning or holding 1 per cent. or more of the total amount of stock.) E. A. Stowe, Grand Rapids. S. F. Stevens, Grand Rapids. F. E. Stowe, Grand Rapids. F. A. Wiles, Grand Rapids. 3. That the known bondholders, mort- gagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cene. or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities, are: NONE. 4. That the two paragraphs next above, giving the names of owners, stock- holders, and security holders, {f any, con- tain net only the lst of stockholders and security holders as they appear upon the books of the company, but also, ir cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon the books of the company as trustee or in any other fiduciary rela- tion, the name of the person or corpora- tion for wnom such trustee is acting, is given: also that the said two paragraphs contain statements embracing affiant’s full knowledge and belief as to the cir- cumstances and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the com- pany as trustees, hold stock and securi- ties in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner; and this affiant hag no reason to believe that any other person. association, or corporation has any inter- est direct or indirect in the said stock bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him. E. A. Stowe, Business Manager. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 5th day of October, 1925. (SEAL) Florence E. Stowe. Notary Publie in and for Kent Co.. Mich (My commission expires Jan, 26, 1927.) Why Grocers Do or Do Not Succeed. (Continued from page 7) simple rules for success. First: Hard work. I do‘not mean that you should open your store at 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning and keep open until 10 to 11 at night for seven days a week. My observations prove to me that the men who open and close their stores at reasonable hours are the most success- ful, for a weary brain can not pos- sibly be as alert as the one which has had some rest, and it certainly takes an alert brain to make a success of re- tailing groceries to-day. Second: Don’t buy anything to-day no matter how cheap or how good the deal unless you can pay for it to-mor- row so that you can be sure to get all the discounts for they are your biggest profits. Third: Don’t try to put all your profirs on one sale, for always remem- ber you have competitors and your customers are spending their own mioney and can spend it where they please. Fourth: Don’t buy goods that you don’t need just because they look cheap or because it is a good “deal” or the salesman is a “good fellow” or a good talker. Remember that is what he is paid for. Fifth: Don’t buy just because you want to give your pet salesman an order or because you want to kid your- self or someone else into believing you are doing a big business. Beware of specialty men with big deals and won- derful “buys” low who is going to boost the price and especially the fel- to-morrow. or going to give you the last case that can be bought until the Tf the goods are put up by reliable firms and are all right you~ jobber has them and if he is a friend of yours he will give you the best de:! on them. If he doesn’t vou had bette new pack. change jobbers. The greatest trouble with retailers to-day is trying to follow too many will-o-the-wisps of theoretical writers, writers who are getting big money fer writing dreams of success for would- be grocer’s magazines. If vou would succeed in any kind of business, first make yourself a set of rules to go by and then ive up to them. Always re- member that free advice is the most plentiful thing on earth and is never worth what you pay for it. M. J. McGartx. —_+~--.___ Velvet Vogue Is Strong. Fashion interest in velvets continues high and sellers here report a very sat- isfactory demand. The buying is cov- ering all types of velvets. The chiffon variety is said to be in particularly good call, selling in black and some of the high shades for evening wear. The cutters-up are using quantities of velvets for the new coats for misses and young women. Velvet brocades of real silk or rayon are also do‘ng well. These brocades in new and, in some cases, highly original effects are being offered for Spring. —_2-~.___ The hot air that bothers many of us does not all come from the weather- man. —_2~-.__ The greatest objection to summer mornings is that they get up too early, af - . ° A 4 P e ‘ é « re ~ » a "a October 14, 1925 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN 31 SWITCH TO SUPER SALESMEN High Powered Men To “Sell” Resort Association. Another $50,000,000 bond issue by the State of Michigan for the continu- ance of its road building, called for by resolution of the Michigan Tourist and Resort Association at its meeting held in Muskegon on Wednesday, most forcefully indicated the purpose and temper of that organization. It repre- sents the largest interest which the ordinary taxpayer of this, or any other county in Michigan, has in the As- sociation. If a county, a community or an individual is for another $50,000,- 000 bond issue, before we have even started paying on our last and some previous bond issues, then these units of taxation are naturally with and for the Association and its plan. This ought to be fully understood—and the converse likewise. The Association also adopted a reso- lution by which the function of getting memberships and money for the sup- port of its activities would be switched from the officers of the Association to an organization of “super-salesmen”’ employed to “get results.” No one out- side the Association has any right to criticize or question the manner in which the Association conducts its busines, so long as it is along legiti- mate lines, and selling memberships for money in this Association is quite as legitimate as selling stocks. In both cases the individuals or com- munities are acting upon their own judgment or discretion. If a super- salesman can get more money for the Association after taking his own divy it is simply a matter between the sev- eral parties and ought to be so under- stood all around. Upon this basis the will do the work and turn over to the As- sociation the memberships and its part of the money. Under these stances there should be no reflection upon person or community who do not affiliate. It is simply a ques- tion of super-salesmanship and if they fail to sell the blue sky, the woods, the streams, lakes and roads to those who already own them, it is merely a matter of business, and the check up should be on the salesman rather than upon the prospective buyers who were salesman circum- any not sold. There is a good deal of ballyhco about some of the talk which you will hear at meetings of this sort. In the Stearns Hotel at Ludington is a paint- ing by Robert L. Stearns, and a smaller one in his studio, which show an aged wise man, speaking wisdom into the ear of another in the words, “You take yourself too damn An amusing statement of one speaker was that “Western Michigan was discover- ed by the Michigan Tourist and Re- sort Association.” Truly a beautiful figure of speech, but rather too neglect- ful of the and work cleared the forests and opened to the soil the sunlight of God, and plant- ed seeds and fruits and left off-spring to carry on their work. seriously.” men women whose Rather silly and presumptious, is it not, to try to steal through verbal blandishment the glory of those pion- eets whose bodies are now mouldering under the sod to which they brought the seed. Just how much of all this vocal back-patting is fact or fancy? Let us think over what specific things were placed here by the Almighty, carved out by dint of effort, paid for by the labor of its people or handed us by the grace of some extraneous God gave us the sunshine, Our pioneer men influence? the soil, the climate. and women developed our country and built our roads. The writer knows of town, which had a black mark on the Association books, yet which owes $40,000 for the roads built within the single township. It furnished the highway for the and the resorter, built before the Association was itself discovered. Taking the town off the Association map does not take up its portion of one has has tourist the highway, nor will leaving it on pay its taxes. Castigation of the communities which had not come up to the standard of ‘Joyalty” set by the organization, was bitter, and Char- levoix, in particular, was pointed out and challenged to state its case in de- fense, and by inference anyone who had the hardihood to speak in behalf of any community which had not come up to the of the Association’s management in its like- wise challenged. It was repeated sev- eral times and this writer was remind- ed of the old time minister, who, at the end of a three hour discourse upon the major prophets exclaimed “now where shall we place the minor proph- ets,’ and a brother who had been wedged in among more patient and enduring listeners arose and said “any of them can have my place.” And that was what the writer did, but in a quiet and becoming manner. Once in a while a spark of good sense prevails upon him to say nothing when he has a desperate urge to say much. The people will be sold on the As- sociation to the extent that they agree with the Association’s program and policy. It is not Western Michigan which this Association has to sell— but its own service. Western Michi- gan is already sold and is, in the main, occupied by the people who own it. “Sel] Western Michigan to Western Michigan,”—oft repeated at the meet- ing—is a poor slogan, because it is er- sarcastic offensive. ideas support was roneous and meaningless, and an of- fensive phrase because it suggests the stupidity of the people or questions the title to their holdings. Under all of the circumstances it is not strange that the Association has found it necessary to turn a bunch of “high-power sales- men” into the field to sell itself, on a commission basis.—Harry M. Royal in Hart Courier. —_++>—___ 3etter be called a money wind up in the poor house. and and poor sport save than a good sport It makes any man nervous to have a woman gaze at him. Moseley Brothers GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. Jobbers of Farm Produce KING BEE DAIRY FEED 20% Protein This latest addition to our line of King Bee Feeds is now on the market and going strong. Manufactured by HENDERSON MILLING COMPANY Grand Rapids, Mich. MOSHER SALES SERVICE A Business Building Service For Merchants Wayland Michigan COLLECTION LETTERS Why not collect your old accounts with our set of five result getting letters? Send $2 for series 7C. FREE with above, a short letter with good psycological effect, also a special DEAD BEAT letter. J. ©. STONER. Lynn, Mass. Watson-Higgins Milling Co. GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. NEW PERFECTION The best all purpose flour. RED ARROW The best bread flour. Look for the Perfection label on Pancake flour, Graham fiour, Gran- ulated meal, Buckwheat flour and Poultry feeds. Western Michigan’s Largest Feed Distributors. You Make Satisfied Customers when you sell ‘““SUNSHINE”’ FLOUR Blended For Family Use The Quality is Standard and the Price Reasonable Genuine Buckwheat Flour Graham and Corn Meal J. F. Eesley Milling Co. The Sunshine Mills PLAINWELL, MICHIGAN Bell Phane 596 Citz. Phone 61366 JOHN L. LYNCH SALES CO. SPECIAL SALE EXPERTS Expert Advertising Expert Merchandising 209-210-211 Murray Bldg. GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Business Wants Department Advertisements inserted under this heac for five cents a word the first Insertion and four cents a word for each subse- quent continuous insertion, If set in capital letters, double price. No charge less than 50 cents. Small display adver- tisements in this department, $3 per inch. Payment with order is required, as amounts are too small to open accounts. For Sale—A 4200 lb. four-door fire-proof safe. Have just sold my business. sar- gain if taken at once. Chanes C. Long, Marcellus, Mich. 59 FOR SALE—Crusen’s restaurant, Pe- wamo, Mich. Located on M21. Groceries, ice cream, bus depot in connection. Will sacrifice. Have other business. Box 254, Pewamo. 70 For Sale—Hstablished boot shop, South- ern Michigan manutacturing and college town, 10,000 population. Clean — stock, modern front, low rent, good lease. ++____ Wheat and Flour May Go Slightly Higher. Written for the Tradesman. Apparently wheat was forced too low, for the time being at least, dur- ing the recent decline, as we have had quite a sharp reaction, an advance, in fact, of about 6c per bushel for futures and fully as much as ‘that for cash wheat. * It is possible prices will go a little higher, yet there has been no change in the statistical position of wheat as a world-wide proposition and if it proves up that the world crop is ac- tually 10 per cent. larger this year than last and 7 per cent. larger than the five year average, it will be found that present prices are plenty high enough and, in fact, if there has been a large acreage of wheat sown this fall, as re- ports. indicate, and if it winters well, prices may be lower next Apri and May than at the present time. There is no occasion for a change in the buying policy of the trade. In other words, purchasing in ample quan- tities to properly care for trade re- quirements is the practical thing to do, it would seem, under present condi- tions and while both wheat and flour at present prices afford a better oppor- tunity for speculative investment at a profit than when wheat was 20 to 25c a bushel higher, a reasonable amount of caution should be used. Values will probably be fairly well maintained for the next sixty to ninety Both flour and wheat are appar- ently worth the price being asked; they may go slightly higher during the next two or three months. Lloyd E. Smith. ——_+-+—___ Gabby Gleanings From Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids, Oct. 13—-The Sales- man’s Club of Grand Rapids will meet in the Rotary room of the Pantlind Hotel Saturday at 12:45. Community singing, led by Harry Behrman, with Mrs. Ernest Ghysels at the piano will be followed by a short business ses- sion. Committees will be appointed and prizes awarded. A man well known in Grand Rapids has been asked to relate some of the amusing experiences in dealing with professional people. The successful salesman makes you feel that he has called for the express purpose of showing you, and then sell- ing you. He comes with a confidence born of belief in his ability to show you, and then convince you that he has what you ought to buy. He does not apologize for calling— does not offer a lame excuse for com- ing in. He modestly but firmly, hon- estlv but fixedly, starts on the subject of showing and selling. Saunders Norvell writes as follows: I sometimes wonder whether workers in the house fully realize iust how hard it is and how much thought and work it takes to make the sales that keep the business running. When I myself was a stock clerk, I thought of course that in the house we were very hard workers. I indulged in that very com- mon occupation of self-pitv. I was sorry for myself. When I saw the salesmen come home during the holi- days, I envied them. They were al- ways so jolly. What a nice life they must have, stopping at good hotels, traveling around and seeing the coun- try! After a while, when I became a days. TRADESMAN salesman, I found a salesman’s life was not exactly what I expected. I was away from home. I had to travel night and day in all kinds of weather, sleep in all kinds of beds and eat all kinds of food. Then, customers were not always agreeable. I had to be tactful with cranky, irritable dealers. Often I had to swallow my own pride or lose an order, but the worst thing of all was the nervous irritation caused by waiting—waiting for customers, waiting for trains, waiting for a room. IT soon learned that to be a successful salesman, I had to work like a slave and make all kinds of personal sacri- fices. However, I became interested in the game. I was determined to succeed and I wish to say in passing that I believe all the kicks and cuffs that a salesman has to stand are one of the finest developers of strength and character in the world. If I had a dozen sons, I would send all of them out on the road iust for this training. Another good training for every young fellow is that when he is taught to live on a small salary without any outside assistance, he learns the value of a dollar. When anything comes too easv to any of us, it makes us soft. Wild animals are an entirely different breed from the animals vou see in captivity in the Zoo. Wild animals have to get out and exercise to obtain their food. They have to use their brains. ——_2.-2-.—____ Addition To Facilities. Boyne City, Oct. 13—The new gym- nasium will be opened for the public next week. The school board are to be congratulated that the long pull for the betterment of our school facilities has been successful. It has a big floor for the special use of the pupils in their athletic training. a large dining room, with well-equipped kitchen, a room for bowling alley with dressing rooms and showers for the athletic teams of both sexes. The gymnasium auditorium is equipped with a com- modious stage with adequate lighting, which makes it available, not only for various school exercises, but also for all kinds of community doings, public meetings, lectures, concerts. etc. A. E. Munger, of Bay City, furnished the plans. The Cadillac Cabinet & Con- struction Co. took the contract for building, and Arthur Chipman, of Boyne City, superintended the building, all of the work being done by Boyne Citv men. The building will cost in the neighborhood of $40,000 when com- pleted. Whether the new “Jim” has anything to do with it or not might be questioned, but our high = school team has given an uncommonly good account of itself this fall. Maybe be- cause Boyne Citv is the dryest town in the dryest county in Michigan. The new transmission line which is to connect Boyne City with the hydro electric plant at Flk Rapids is pro- gressing finely, especially the Boyne City end of the line. It is expected that within sixty days this city will be able to furnsh electrc power sufficient to take care of any reasonable demand which may be made. Boyne Citv’s situation is such as to assure econom- ical operation for any industry and this addition to our resources will be of very material help in replacing the finished lumber industry. Already there are rumors that the increased “juice” will be used as a nerve tonic to our flaeging life. A Concrete Road Association has been organized in Charlevoix county, and we expect soon to offer to our friends a highway as smooth as a bil- liard table for the drive around Pine Lake. Our experience with even the best of gravel roads has not happy. In spite of constant attention, there is little left of them by the end of the second season but the grade and during a dry spell the dust is so thick that the roadside foliage looks like January and the motorist like a Important Athletic been ° October 14, 1925 Hottentot; and the last year has been mostly dry spell. Say, Mr. Editor, just what does a “butternut with banners” look like? We never saw one. Just try “battle- ment” in our last week’s notes, and see if it does not read better. Do not blame you much. Have to ask friend wife occasionally what my fly tracks do mean. Charles T. McCutcheon. —_2 2 >__<__ “Best Trade Paper in the United States.” St. Joseph, Oct. 13—Permit me to congratulate you upon the forty-second anniversary edition of the Michigan Tradesman. There are so manv ex- cellent articles I am at loss to under- stand how they all were compiled in the one magazine. “Cape Cod Folks,” “How Fast Do We Travel?”, “Sturdy Pioneers,” “The Old Lilac Bushes,” “The Land of Romance,” “Sane and Insane,” “De- pew and Belknap,” “Little Rivers” and many others which I can mention are so interesting that they are worthy of printing in some of the high priced magazines. I certainly hope that vou will con- tinue in giving the retail dealers and others of Michigan the best trade paper in the United States, as you have in the past, and I am satisfied you will so long as you remain as editor of our most excellent publication. Willard J. Banyon. —_322>__—_ While we are insisting on a square boss, are we equally insistent upon being square with the boss? 22. Promise little; perform much. BRUSHED WOOL. MUFFLERS A close out of these, in plain, and colored striped all clean mer- chandise that originally sold from $10.50 to $14.00 a dozen, now of- fered to our trade at $6.00 Dozen patterns, Stipulate No.’s 4525, 4514, and 4573 when ordering. Paul Steketee & Sons Wholesale Dry Goods Grand Rapids,Michigan