THE MICHIGAN TRADESMAN. THE BACK OFFICE. Written for THE TRADESMAN. If there ever was a time when the rela- tions of marriage to commerce could be properly considered in the columns of a trade paper, it is now, when the commer- cial world, with the rest of humanity, gives a sigh of relief that the ‘high noon’’ function has culminated and that the happy pair whose union has done so much for commerce, foreign and domes- tic, has gone somewhere to pass the bliss- ful period of their wedded life. I use the term, ‘‘done so mueb for com- merce,”’ advisedly, for, turned from the traditional stocking into the marts of trade, it does make all the difference in the world to those marts, and the blessings which can be traced to such a turning cannot be set forth too plainly. Think, in the first place, of the different tradespeople that have been benefited. There are the dry goods houses, who furnished the wedding gar- ments (and who can say that the wed- ding was not a blessing when, from mer- chant to sewing-girl, the gain is taken into account?); there are the shoe firms, who have a pleasant story to tell; the florists have large accounts to settle: the grocer declares that the wedding would have been an utter failure without his assistance; the butcher, the baker, the candlestickmaker, present the same ac- knowledged claim, while the confectioner and the wine merchant beg leave to be counted in: that, the $169,000 gets over trickling downhill, the re- ceivers thereof are ready to affirm that, on purely business grounds, a wedding with American dollars on side and the coronet of a count on the other will do more to help business along than anything else in the world. That’s about as far in the line of blessings as I care to go, and 1 guess that’s about as far in that line as I can ga anyway. so when the one + * # A prominent business man recently re- marked, ‘‘l wish | knew where I could find a man who would take an interest in my business, and upon whom I could de- pend under all circumstances.” It is a wail which finds an echo every- where and, like most wishes, will for- ever remain ungranted. It means, if it means anything, that the wailer wants to find a man who will come right in and at once look after matters pertaining to the business as carefully as the owner himself. This first-class man shall be on hand the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night. He shall look after all the little details of the busi- ness, as well as after the general man- agement of the whole concern, and he shall be so true to his trust that the pro- prietor of the establishment may, if so desire, leave the whole concern to this man and go away for his heaith and, on his return, find everything running as it was when he went away—in fact, the man is, in the matter of business, to be his second self. It does seem as if such men must exist, but where are they? For such an one the careworn man of business would give a man’s ransom. Without trying to pry into the affairs of the gentleman quoted, I would be will- ing to wager that, if he, like Diogenes of old, would light the right kind of a fan- tern, and would go looking around in his own store, he’d come plump upon the he where $169,000 is | himself. ere ou general principles, are very much alike; so the man I’m after is like me. Now, I take all the care of this store on my hands because it’s mine and because it pays me to look after all the little details. If { were this first- class man, what would make me willing to do just as ’'m doing now? I wouldn’t do it for a cent less than the profit there is init. That means what is left after I pay the interest on my capital. I believe I'll be satisfied with that interest and will let my first-class man have all he can make besides that.’’ With that spirit, the business being fairly profitable, I guess the right man for the place could be found within the next twenty-four hours; but, if it is the hope and the expectation to come across a first-class man who will do this work for nothing, or next to it, the wailer will find the world to be desperately wicked and the men in it—every last one of them—just as selfish as he is! * * * ‘Karly in last April,’? says a recent publication, ‘ta Wabash, Indiana, man wrote a note on an egg, requesting the customer purchasing it to notify him when and where the egg was cracked. - has just received a note, dated Jan. », from a Hartford, Conn., woman, stat- ing she had that day purchased the egg at a grocery as a ‘strictly fresh’ prod- oe I have read that note over carefully and, for the life of me, can’t see any- thing remarkable aboutit. I know that three months more would have given that poultry fruit a year of travel, but that only shows what a good egg it was when it set out upon its Journey; and 1 know, too, that the grocer who finally found a customer for this hen product pronounced it ‘‘strictly fresh.’?’ The trouble here lies with the language and not with the egg. It was a ‘‘fresh’’ egg according to the vocabulary of trade, and the grocer, if questioned, would say that he received the egg that very morn- ing; so that, so far as he is concerned, it was just received and, in consequence, “‘tresh.’” To drive the implied point home, the writer should have stated whether the Connecticut woman found the product any the worse for its wanderings: but even then the grocer would be found equal to the emergency. **My dear madam’’ (and the words would have the smoothness of oleo) ‘tl am sorry that you found the egg unavailable. The ar- ticle came to us this morning as fresh. We cannot go back of the returns. If 1 could, | should be glad, on your account, to trace that egg to the hen that produced it; but you can see that that is as im pos- sible as it is for me to give you another egg, a proceeding contrary to the rules of trade. Candle our eggs? Another impossibility; we handle too many for that, and, besides, we cannot be held re- sponsible for what the wholesaler, the packer, or the producer does. It is one of those risks we must share together and be thankful that we suffer in such good company. Was that all to-day?” The result of one such transaction came to me and is to the effect that the woman, admitting her share in the risk, refused to assume that of the grocer, and deducted it from the price of her next purchases, a proceeding, the grocer very man for whom he was looking. Be- | affirmed, as illogical as it was illegal. fore he sets out on this search, he wants | to have a little private conversation with | is— That grocers don’t lie about such And the point to be emphasized what? Show Cases, Store Fixtures, as BUY ESTABLISHED 1864. Send for Circular. Silent Salesman “igar Case, J. PHILLIPS & CO., Detroit, Mich. Write Any Sfowctse Needed. 9-61 Canal St., for ; rices of 55-5775 GRAND RAPIDS. L. C. HAYDEN HONE 540. J. M. HAYDEN "“GET ON TO THIS” ina ri at 6¥ Pearl St. AND ASK FOR PRICES ON Mitt Hosr GARDEN Hose MacuHinE CI AXLE GREASE EMERY WHEELs and Emery Croru SPRAYER. GRAND RAPIDS, MICH Don't forget to ask to see our VEGETABLE J.M.HAYDEN &CoO., SWEET’S HOTEL. MARTIN L. SWEET, Proprietor. HENRY D. and FRANK H. IRISH, ilV’grs. Steam heat in every room. Electric tire alarms throughout the house. improvements and decorations will soon make it the best hotel in Michigan. Other PEAKING & HESS, DEALERS IN Hides, Furs, Wool & Tallow. OS. 122 and 124 ie Street, Grand Rapids, Michigan. WE CARRY A STOCK OF CAKE TALLOW FOR MILL USE.