ee NOTICE TO READER... When you finish re is magazin: notice, hand same to any postal employee and it will be placed in No wrapping, no address.- A. 8S. or sailors at the front. ‘ty - 7 es RE aZP7 A QOS pine 23 Snes aa ae te Atte OS OM i: Fi [ on a as Py ae Te Ie IN? be y ot SS ES) ie ik ie bh Ki 7 By A TY KN it g a (ae a CSP K ae ae y ce ) ( Pp g Ly. S PUBLISHED WEEKLY © Ce Ss NZI SSS DSS LPS ee a A SN NS Rec eine a Ws AL Oa ‘TRADESMAN. COMPANY, PUBLISHERS2. <5 e place a one cent stamp on this the hands of our soldiers Burleson, Postmaster General. 3 SOY. Y SS DIYAS x iS PUBLIC LIBRARY T. 1883 + SUES C Gg EN REI NZ > SSS # 2 Thirty-Fifth Year GRAND RAPIDS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1917 7 Number 1787 Z 3 fh & aa S ! RRARERAERNERNEARER a= é e 9 @ The Devil’s Competitor Judas, the boldest of the lot, Hypocrisy is not my roll, Approached the throne-room—piping hot— For I’m the devil, heart and soul. And found the devil all alone - I sit in state beside my pit And black as thunder on his throne. And gather those who are not fit “My lord,” said Judas, “pray give heed, To go elsewhere. The social scum For these are times of direst need. Of man’s domain to me they come. Up on the earth, in light of day, The ‘good’ are for the courts divine, - Another fiend is holding sway. The lost, degenerate, are mine.” Another devil’s fame is great, He runs a hell, sir, up to date. Here Satan paused. He’d spent his ire And so the ‘boys’ commissioned me And, brooding, gazed into the fire. ‘To call on you, my lord, to see At length he spoke—“‘Just tell your friends If some arrangement could be made That hell does not exceed its ends. To lay this Wilhelm in the shade. Those ends attained, is satisfied Enlarge. our policies, in fact, That Satan’s laws are justified. And keep our well-earned fame intact, Hell has its limits here below, Or else, they say, they will rebel But up on earth it isn’t so. And patronize that modern hell.” The fiend of whom you speak in awe Has broken every human law— Old Satan groaned and rubbed his horn, alec Shi ower le : poate de Ls pa all sae had ol d Some day he’ll totter on his throne f 7: ee eee ee came, To find he’s broken all his own. he tears of molten lava streamed. . “My friend,” he said, “I've done my best. — “Now listen, Judas, stay with me, We'll let this Wilhelm do the rest. Don't join this hell in Germany He has me beaten slick and clean Wherein the kaiser sits in state For being downright sneaking mean. And strikes about with fangs of hate I deal alone in wrecks of sin— Regardless where his venom falls, Just those who heaven won't take in. On cabin or cathedral walls, No little babe has fed my fires On suckling babes or wounded men, Which are reserved for thieves and liars— Jn deeds too vile for tongue or pen. _ (Here Judas winced, but kept his poise I've seen his acts, I’ve heard his brag And heard the message to the ‘boys’) And, meantime, seen his license tag. a ; No passion garbed in human cloak, I've got his number—you can bet No heart of aged mother broke, I'll get this big Hun devil yet.” No children do I maim or slay To make a Teuton holiday. So these are busy days in hell; ee The imps don’t get a breathing spell, “Tam the devil, great supreme; Enlarging pots in which to stew To punish evil is my theme. The kaiser and his retinue. My purpose is to find the weak, While on the trail in old Berlin, And tempting lures to them I speak. The devil hides a vicious grin If they are chaff, they come with me. And skulks to strike the blackened heart — - If they are grain, then they go free. Of him they call his counterpart. Fleischmann’s Yeast will perform the same valuable function in making war-time bread foods that it does in wheat bread. The Fleischmann Company PEANUT BUTTER CAN BE COMPARED TO COFFEE AS TO QUALITY Don't be fooled by price. Buy where quality _comes first. Buy Jersey Peanut Butter and notice the difference in taste. Order from your jobber today. Perkins Brothers, Inc. Bay City, Michigan. Ceresota Flour Always Uniformly Good Made from Spring Wheat at Minneapolis, Minn. Judson Grocer Co. The Pure Foods Hous Distributors | GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN LITTLE DUTCH MASTERS CIGARS Made in a Model Factory Handled by All Jobbers Sold by all Dealers Enjoyed by Discriminating Smokers They are so good we are compelled to work full capacity to supply the demand G. J. JOHNSON CIGAR CO., Makers GRAND RAPIDS You Should Carry All - Franklin Package Sugars Women who get used to buying Granulated Sugar from you in neat Franklin Packages will prefer to buy Dainty Lumps, Powdered and Confectioners Sugars in the same way. They like the clean, strong packages that will not burst in the market basket or cupboard as will a thin paper bag. It will pay you to sell ALL your sugar in the time-saving Franklin Packages. “A Franklin Sugar for every use’’ Cartons packed in 24, 48, GO and 120 Ib. con- tainers aceording to grade . Cotton bags of granulated sugar packed in 100 Ib. sacks and in barrels Made from Sugar Cane (Ce Cong tocol The Franklin Sugar Refining Company PHILADELPHIA € » Roey LS Rae ae) He) (=) = a} v o: - J 3 « i e , ) i a IGA GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC LIBRARY ADESMAN Thirty Fifth Year SPECIAL FEATURES. Page + Food Will Two of a Kind. News of the Business World. Grocery and Produce Market. 3 Win S 4 5. 6. Upper Peninsula. Te 8 9 the War. Bankruptcy Matters. Editorial. : The Tipping System. 10. Shoes. 12. Financial. 16. Woman's World. 18. Butter, Eggs and Provisions. 20. Hardware. 22. .Dry Goods. 24. The Commercial Traveler. 26. Drugs. 27. Drug Price Current. 28. Grocery Price Current. 31. Business Wants. HANDWRITING ON THE WALL. Late reports from Germany indi- cate that the business men of that country are. greatly worried—not over the fact that Germany started the war as a war of conquest; not over the sufferings caused by the Teutonic beasts who masquerade as men; not over the millions of un- mentionable ¢rimes committed by Germany; not over the loss of mil- lions of German citizens and the sure knowledge that Berlin and Potsdam must be destroyed; but over the fact that no one will trade with Germany after the war is over. These business men now realize that everything Ger- tabooed that no man will be for years | to with red blood in his veins anywhere in the world will COnIE; man consent to deal with a German or handle any article of German make or manufacture; that no one will sell a German anything under any circumstances; that Germany might:as well make up her mind that she must work out her own destiny, in sack cloth and ashes, without be- the nation (This is not a comforting permitted to associate with people of on earth. ing decent any decent conclusion to be forced to reach and, of course, the German people—with their total lack of mental discern ment and their brutal disresard of the finer feelings which men of other races possess but which Germans do ufidertake to understand—will this not distrust eternal hatred, but the Tradesman very much misiudges the break down barrier of disgust and temper of the civilized people of this world if the Germans for ten genera- tions to come succeed in re-establish- the they once held in the estimation of ing themselves in good opinion mankind. German business methods, like been detestable, but they have been German manners, have always tolerated because Germany could produce some things which the re- mainder of the world needed and was willing to purchase. Now that the world has learned to get along with- out Germany for more than three years it will be very slow in re- suniing relations with the beasts who undergo any privation and commit uncounted revolting crimes to further the their unholy personal ambitions of bloody monarch, ————— A vast number of producers and mer- chants in many lines of industry breath- ed easier after the conference on war industries held in Washington last week. Krom publications, apparently by official sanction, they had been led to believe that a hard and fast line had been drawn between what were deemed to be essen- tial that the latter were to be suppressed and non-essential industries, and more or less speedily. One statement, which was allowed to go uncontradicted fer several weeks, was that a list had heen prepared for some hundreds of arti- cles the manufacture of which was to be What this the way of dislocating domestic business checked. would mean in and causing unemployment was obvious. Its disturbing effect on finance and ex- another feature to which called Chamber of change the which Was Tradesman attention and the Commerce of the United States dwelt upon in a re- port of great value. From the remarks at the recent conference it appears that no drastic step is in contemp'ation and that, that at the utmost, all that is asked is waste—whether of fuel. needed taw materials, or of labor-—be avoided. Between the two extremes—the explod- ed “business as usual’ notion and the restriction of industries to those needed for military uses and the feeding and clothing of the civilian population—there is a rational middle ground conserving production that will preserve trade or- the their value thereafter, and that will also per- ganizations during war fou mit the extension of exports which will! aid in paving for raw materials brought in from abroad. When one recalls the manner in which Lincoln was continually handt- capped by criticism, condemnation and ridicule while he was prosecut- ina the Civil War, the united Nation beck of President Wilson in the pres- extremity is, indeed, a pleasant ent commentary on the change which has telen place in public thought and ut- termnce during the past half century. All through the war Lincoln was held up to scorn by Democtatic news- papers and politicians who did every- create dissatisfac- the and defeat the purpose of the war. As thine possible to tion and unrest among people late as 1864 the Democratic party in National convention declared the war a failure and Lincoln a usurper and demanded the immediate cessation of hostilities. No political party could do such a treasonable act at this time and not he stamped out of existence All of goes to show the difference between the minority party of 1864 and the minority party of 1917. by an enraged people. which GRAND RAPIDS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1917 CANNED GOODS SITUATION. Price regulation by indirection ap- pears to be the only method which the Food disposal, Administration has at its apart trom ram, Phis is shown by the action of the Admiunis- tration in intimating that the opening prices for salmon are to be the com- mercial prices and any valuation that basis is to be considered While it is plain abe WV € Uitair. not so declared, the that euilty of these unfair practices is to inference is anyone lose his license. This seems to bear out the old adage that “where there’s will, there's a way!” New enabling legislation is planned to grant the food Administration wider powers so that these substitute measures need not be resorted to. Jobbers are inclined to feel, however, that if the } action ih regard to salmon is to be taken as a precedent there is little hope toat the consumer will be given Why, for should there be a difference very much consideration. instarce, of 6C cents a dozen between the Gov- ernment’s price and the commercial canned goods? hoped more than any other just now is that the should be price of any item of Perhaps the one thing for prohibition against hoarding investigated thoroughly. There is little doubt in the minds of anyone that there has been some vio- lation both of the letter and the spirit of the new licensing regulations and that it would be a good thing if some little fellows, as has been the case thus far examples were made—not of but some of the big culprits. There 1s a fast growine that suspicion there are supplies of canned goods tucked away in warehouses where they should not be, placed there before the licensin: into effect which the owners have not been able perhaps regulations went and to dispose of without demoralizing the VGEe market, Or at feast makine se Sacrifices. Phe practice was wrong with or without the rules and the perpetrators if any are entitled to no sympathy. WORK AND WIN THE WAR. Work will win this war for Ameri ca; work in field, factory and mine work, work, work everywhere: work with the muscles, and work with the mind: work! [ft is the macic word o our hopes and the final test of our fitness to survive. task! Every man to his Every man his part; pleasant ly, t00; moO quibble about pay, or hours, or other things: no quarreling with cur brothers; no strikes: no lock- outs: no boycotts or picketings: work! We must keep the glow in our fur- maces: the plow in the furrow; we must build ships: make guns; airships, too; produce food: we must dig, dig everlastingly; we must apotheosize Number 1787 Work, and worship it, forgetting prot- its and all else, for work, and alone, work will determine both our fitness right to live unbossed, and unde- based and unoppressed by a Militant our and Merciless autocrat who has drenched the earth with a deluge ofl blood. eee \ week has gone by without the promulgation of any additional rul- have any particular bear- “4 retall ing on the erocer. The latte: is becomine more familiar with the flour and sugar rulings and, realizing the important position he occupies as 1 1 JETWEEN the } I a@ @F€at [Actor and ne producer consumer, he is rapidly becom- both protit—no the were taken reconciled to handling Sta les on small margins of whatever, in fact, if cost QO! dom business Into Ie consideration. As frequently pdinted out by the Tradesman, margins and Proper recompense [Or SE€rvices niust be utterly disregarded from now until the close of the war. We must fix our eyes and our thou the de- struction of the Kaiser and the thing he stands for and leave no stone un- turned to do our part in contributing to this result tor many years three thines— [Printers ink, varnish and lubricatine il—have almost invariably been "sold masty, as the expression 1s. meaning that employes who have for making up eoods have been paid r harge of tliese commis- : oe ; a : sions—which is only a polite term for bribes and sraft—ransi : O per cent. So flagrant has this abuse become that the Federal Trade Com- has niission determined to brin ebout its extinction. In pursuance of this policy 1t has secured the siec- natures of 90 per cent. of the ink manufacturers of the country to elim- inate the practice of paying commis- s‘ons on the sale of their products The other two articles mentioned will next receive attention. Because people who have always eaten powdered sugar on grapefruit are un- able to procure it during the temporary shortage, many have given up this citrus delicacy for the time being. This has led to a surplus of grapefruit on the market at reasonable prices, and Flor- ida growers think that by such an, opportunity. the public ought to profit Many people prefer grapefruit with salt in- and given wide publicity. } 1 stead of sugar this idea is being Syrups may also % used as sweetening for grapefruit and oranges. It takes a married seénius to in vent a new excuse. a infallible Even hunger is no cure for laziness, MICHIGAN TRADESMAN December 19, 1917 Gabby Gleanings From Grand Rapids Grand Rapids, Dec. 17—We were all pleased last Monday morning to see the smiling face of genial Jim Bolen at the union station. A minor cause fcr the smile he wore was that he is able to be out again after sev- eral weeks’ confinement at the house with a broken arm, contracted while cranking a fiiver. But upon a little cleser quizzing we ascertained the true and major cause for all those smiles, which is that a little daughter has arrived to gladden the home of Mr. and Mrs. James Bolen and her name is Betty Ann. Mrs. Bolen and Betty are at Blodgett hospital, both enjoying gocd health, and both will welcome any of their friends who wish to call. Many U. C. T. men, their wives and friends, are making big prepara- tions for the Christmas dancing party to be given Saturday evening, Dec. 22. If you haven’t secured your ticket, now is a good time to do so, by applying to A. E. Atwood, chair- man, or any member of the commit- tee. You can’t lose if you set that date aside for this party, as the com- mittee are featuring it with stunts that will well be worth while. W. H. Hall, a veteran business man of Ypsilanti, is taking medical treat- ments in Grand Rapids, and we hope for a speedy recovery. Mr. Hall has one of the finest and most up-to-date saddlery and traveling goods stores in Southern Michigan. The new roster is now in the hands of the printers and, we think, will be ready for distribution at the next reg- ular meeting, Jan. 5. Just think, we will have a new roster and a pot luck dinner all the same day! These are some of the many things that make life worth living. Only three more dollars to Christ- mas. If W. Hohenzollern could have list- ened to the things that were said about him at the banquet table last Saturday night by the Bagmen of Bagdad orators, the least he could have thought would have been that “somebody is always taking the ioy cut of life.” Grand Rapids Council is arrang- ing to place in group form in its Coun- cil rooms the photographs of all of its members who are in the service of their country and drape them with the American flag. The fcllowing are the names of No. 131 members in the service with their addresses: Capt. Walter N. 3urgess, 126th Michigan Inf., Camp MacArthur,, Waco, Texas: 5. S. Lubetsky, U. S. S. Iowa. Div. A-3, c/o Postmaster, New York City, N. Y.; H. Maurice Mann, Ambulance Corps No. 339, 310th Sanitary Train. Camp Custer; H. P. Grady, Jr., Am- bulance Corps No. 339, 310th Sanitary train, Camp Custer; Jay Trahern Pol- ing, Fort Sheridan, Ill. “These men will be pleased at all times to hear from the boys back home and our members are requested to drop them a line of greeting now and then. If there are other members of No. 131 not given above who are in service, kindly re- port their names to the Secretary at once. The Council dues are coming in very slowly and lest you forget, the time to pay is NOW. Please don't in- cur an additional and unnecessary ex- pense to the Council by making it necessary for the Secretary to mail you delinquent notices. Stamps come high these days. Only seventeen more days before the Pot Luck dinner. Stanley Knowles, cf the firm of Knowles & Knowles, Hanover, left for Camp Custer last month His part of the business will be managed for the present by A. Bibbins. F, E. Edmunds, injured in an au- tomobile accident recently, is report- ed doing nicely. He is occupying room 440. St. Mary’s hospital, and we know would welcome his manv friends any time during the visiting hours. At a Bagman meeting Saturday evening, the following were trailed over the sands: L. J. Liebler, Dee Carpenter, L. Vogelsang and A. E. Rockwell, of Grand Rapids Council, and Herman Johnson, of Kalamazoo Council. A banquet was served in the. evening at the Crathmore and patriotic speeches and music came later. Bill Berner says he can’t see much difference nowadays between the ex- pression “Doing something for some- body” or “Doing somebody for some- thing.” Martin Kuhn, formerly engaged in trade at Casnovia and Conklin, is spending the Christmas holidays with his wife’s parents at Ravenna. H. L. Proper (Burnham, Stoepel & Co.) is spending the week with his house in Detroit. J. Seixas MacGlashan will again cover the jobbing trade of the Middle West for the Pratt & Palmer Co., of New York. He will resume his for- mer residence in Cincinnati. Willard H. James, the veteran shoe salesman who has been covering the Michigan trade ever since the year one, has established a permanent sam- ple room at 508 Security building, Chicago, where he carries a full line of goods manufactured by the W. B. Coon Co., Rochester. There is an unusual amount of in- fection in existence at this time, due, largely, to the promiscuous use of the roller towel in the hotels. The note of alarm has been frequently sounded in these columns and cannot be re- peated too frequently in order that the old men may not become care- less and the new man on the -road may not fall into the habit of using one of the most common methods of spreading contagion in existence. The landlord who thus assists in the dis- semination of disease is no better than the German spy who seeks to ac- complish the same purpose by indi- rect methods, clandestinely carried on. A. F. Rockwell. Late News From the Saginaw Valley. Saginaw, Dec. 18—Saginaw people are congratulating themselves on the wonderful success of the Board of Trade and particularly its President, George H. Hannum, on the landing of a new industry for this city, which will employ from 1,200 to 1,500 peo- ple beginning the first of the year. It will occupy the Marquette motor plant, which has been idle for several years. This plant is thoroughly mod- ern, sanitary, and one of the best of its kind in Michigan. With the ad- vent of the new year, Saginaw seems about to live up to its slogan of the City of Opportunity and to take such a step forward along industrial lines as has never before been taken in this community. Four large plants have, within a few months, opened their doors or are about to open. They will employ close to 4,000 men, Three of them are opening at this t’me. They are the Northwestern Glass Co., which will employ about 200 men, the Sag- inaw Shipbuilding Co., which will emplcey close to 1,500 skilled work- men and the Marquette motor plant, which will employ at the start about 500 men and will, within a few months, extend its operations to em- ploy 1,500 men. A few nights ago, the Saginaw Board of Trade held a membership dinner, the first of its kind since the organization revamped and with new officers on the job, and 400 business, professional and industrial men were present. There was an absolute com- munity feeling for the past and for the future of Saginaw. In a way it was a love feast of anticipation and a concrete means of congratulation on what the Board of Trade has ac- complished in the last six months, the first half of its year on the job. President Hannum was paid a dis- tinct tribute for the part he has play- ed in the upbuilding of Saginaw along industrial lines by Benton Hanchett, who proposed a toast to him, the re- sponse typifying the atmosphere of the dinner. At the membership dinner of the Saginaw Board of Trade the general State highway law, as a road act un- der which to operate, was endorsed and on Tuesday, December 11, the voters of Saginaw county, by a ratio of four to one, gave their approval to the act. Business men in Saginaw believe that operating under the State road law, there will be a big and broad policy of treatment of road matters. Saginaw City voters have approv- ed an ordinance, which appropriates $4,500 per year for a municipal band, which will be headed by Prof. Arthur D. Amsden, long known as one of the most skilled band conductors in Mich- igan. By the terms of the ordinance each taxpayer will pay approximately 9 cents a year for a valuation of $1,800 for the support of the band. The or- ganization will hereafter be known as the Saginaw Band. Saginaw secured the 1918 conven- tion of the Michigan State Grange, at the Jackson convention, after a vigor- ous fight with the representatives from Grand Rapids, The Board of Trade is planning on the best Grange meeting ever held in December, 1918, and the magnificent Auditorium, the only municipal building of its kind in Michigan, will be the scene of the convention. The Michigan State Dairymen’s As- sociation, with its allied subsidiary organization of ice cream manufac- turers, etc., will hold its annuaP:con- vention at the Auditorium in Saginaw Feb. 4 to 7 and upwards of 1,000 mem- bers are planning on attending, The Michigan Hardware Dealers Asso- ciation will come to Saginaw the week following and about 500 of these gentlemen have signified their inten- tion to attend. The Saginaw Board of Trade is tak- ing vigorous steps to wipe out the fake advertising nuisance and is cir- cularizing its membership of 1,200 to destroy this evil. The organization has investigated and found that mer- charts and manufacturers contribute thousands of dollars annually to such advertising and charitable schemes and hereafter every member of the Board of Trade will send such solici- tors to the Board of Trade for in- dorsement before he even considers such a scheme. —_>-2-2——_—_ Boomlets From Bay City. Bay City, Dec. 17—George T. Kel- ley, general merchant at Twining, is holding a closing out sale, preparatory to retiring from business. George W,. Milligan, formerly en- gaged in the retail drug trade in Bay City, has re-engaged in business and is now located in the bank building at AuGres. D. J. Buck, P. S. C. of Bay Council, has been appointed by State Food Administrator, George 4 » % 40: 7 4 ” > s \ - + 4 o ¥ v4 > ge » ° 4 ‘ -@: 4 s 2 « 4 » 4 » ¢ ’ > a > ¢ . 4 > a + ae 4 7 « a >? ‘ aay? *~ Pd aS ' -* ,/ < » 4 | » | wo ro. > » « t é o ww t¢ wf Ts. o* mie al, 4 » «‘ ti. December 19, 1917 FOOD WILL WIN THE WAR. America’s Part in the Great World Problem. Food has gradually, since the war began, assumed a larger place in the economics, the statesmanship and the strategy of the war until it is my be- lief that food will win this war— starvation or sufficiency will in the end mark the victor. The Allies are blockading the food from Germany; and the surrounding neutrals are under pressure to export their surplus both ways and to re- duce their imports. The Germans are endeavoring to starve the Allies by sinking the food ships. Short produc- tion and limitation of markets cumu- late to under supply, and all govern- ments are faced with reduction of consumption, stimulation of produc- tion, control of prices and readjust- ment of wages. The winning of the war is largely a problem of who can organize this weapon. As to our more intimate problems, to effect this end, it must be obvious that the diversion of millions of men to war reduces the productive labor of the Allies, and in sequence, the food production. But beyond this the destruction of food at sea, and of still more importance, the continuous de- struction of shipping, have necessitat- ed the gradual retreat in area from which overseas food supplies can be cbtained for any given country. There has grown from this not only a limitation of supplies, but an ac- cummulation in inaccessible markets. The result of these cumulative forces is that North America is called upon, by both Allies and neutrals, for quan- tities of food far beyond its normal export ability. What this tax on our rescurces amounts to is evident enough from the fact that during the past fiscal year we have increased our grain exports from 120,000,000 bushels, the three-year pre-war average, to 405,- 000,000 bushels. This year the Allied production is reduced by 300,000,000 bushels over last year, and we must therefore meet a much larger demand. Our exports of meat and fat products have increased from pre-war aver- age of 500,000,000 pounds to 1,500,000,- 000 pounds for the last fiscal year. And owing to the decrease in their animal herds, the Allies will require still more next year. If the extremely high prices thun- dering at every door were not a suf- ficient demonstration, it is possible, by actual figures, to prove that we have been exporting in many com- modities actually beyond our capacity to produce. Taking the three-year pre-war period as 100, we find in pork, for instance, the number cf animals on hand at the 30th of June this year is variously estimated at from 92 to 98. The slaughter cf animals during the year was at the rate of 179; the exports were at the rate of 215, and the natural consequence is that the price is at 250. During the past year we have ex- ported every last ounce of which the country during this period was capable of producing, and our National stock of cereals and animal products, pro- MICHIGAN 1RADESMAN portionate to our population, was, at the beginning of this harvest, the low- est in our history, and many of us have been under the keenest anxiety lest we would face absolute short- age. This anxicus period is now hap- pily passed. The demand in many commodities during the coming year is beyond our capacity to furnish if we consume our normal amounts. The necessity of maintenance of the Allies on our first line of defense, and our duty to hu- manity in feeding the neutrals de- mands of us that we reduce our every unnecessary consumption and every waste to the last degree—and even then the world dependent on us must face privation. Owing to the limita- tion of shipping we must confine our exports to the most concentrated foodstuffs, grain, beef, pork, dairy products and sugar. We must control exports in sucha manner as to protect the supplies of our own people. Happily we have an excess of some other commodities which cannot be shipped, particularly corn and perishables, and we can do much to increase our various exports if we can secure substitutions of these in the diet of our people, but above all we must eliminate our waste. Herbert Hoover. ——_>->—____ Late News From the Cereal City. 3attle Creek, Dec. 18—James G. Redner, member cf Creek Jattle Council, has two sons in the service. Arthur is at Allentown, Pa., with the ambulance corps, and Boyd has en- listed in the British royal flying corps and will serve under the flag of Ene- land. Boyd went to New York Mon- day, where he enlisted at the British headquarters. Battle Creek Council had one of their jolly times Saturday evening. Cards and dancing followed a fine supper properly taken care of by the entertainment committee. As our guests we had the U. C. T. members from Wisconsin who are. stationed at Camp Custer. Battle Creek Coun- cil takes pleasure in entertaining the members from Camp Custer and have done everything possible to get the boys to our entertainment. We final- ly succeeded in having ten boys Sat- urday evening, and wish to say that all U. C. T.’s at camp are welcome. Our meetings are held in Arcade Hall every third Saturday at 7:30 p. m. Battle Creek hotels and restaurants will have an ‘absolutely meatless and wheatless day each week. A meet- ing was called Monday evening at the Post Tavern, at the suggestion of E. C, Puffer, of Jackson, who has been appointed food administrator for this district, Carl H. Montgomery is act- ing secretary. Some members of the U. C. T. are certainly observing ‘meatless and wheatless days. If they find hotels or restaurants are not observing the days, they do not patronize them. One of our patriotic brothers walk- ed out of a restaurant in Battel Creek one day last week after finding they were serving meat on Tuesday. 3attle Creek Council will hold its rally meeting Jan. 19 in the Council rooms, entertaining Jackson, Cold- water, Hillsdale and Kalamazoo Councils. Grand and Supreme of- ficers will be with us on that date. Preparations have been started to give the boys all a good time. If you doen't come you will be sorry. Jack. —_—_> +. ____ Some men know so much that their knowledge gets in their way when they attempt to talk. TWO OF A KIND. Gold Trading Stamps and American Legal Stamps. Lawton, Dec. 17—Although I am not a subscriber to your journal, still I think the subject at hand of sufficient impor- tance that your subscribers and the busi- ness men of Michigan should be ac- quainted with the facts. Some weeks ago a man by the name of Phil Cohan solicited the merchants of this city in the interest of the so- called American Legal Stamp Co., with branch office at Grand Rapids and head office at Benton Harbor. This gentle- man left some trading stamps with us, for which he got a check. He informed us that the company had made arrange- ments with the local bank to redeem the stamps from the customers who held them. He explained that one of their men would call on the merchants about every two weeks and see that we were properly taken care of as to stamps, ete., but nothing of the kind has occurred. Fortunately, we have put out but very few of the stamps, as we became sus- picious that all was not as it should be: The writer has written the gentleman at different times and he has promised to make a trip to see us, but we have concluded this was a bluff and merely to gain time to extend his questionable operations. The address of the com- pany, according to its letter head, is 324 Murray building, Grand Rapids, and the general manager’s name is J. W. Kingsbury. I am led to believe that the Cchan is another Dr. Jekyll ava Mr. Hyde—that Cohan and Kingsbury are one and the same person. I am in receipt of a letter from the firm which did the printing of the stamps and book:e.s. It claims that the company owes them for the printing that was done about six months ago. It thus ap- pears that the company has been operat- ing for some time. I should like to see him apprehended and jailed. I have written this to you, thinking that per- haps you might be interested sufficiently to look up the concern at the Grand Rapids address and get what informa- tion you can. I thank you in advance for any trouble this may occasion you. Stung. The Gold Trading Stamp Co. was originally organized by J. W. Kings- bury, Thomas M. Ditman and Ira Smith. For a time it was conducted by Kings- bury as manager in a little root in the store of the Ira M. Smith Co. On the failure of that house the office moved to 311 Monroe avenue. It is now located in the Powers Opera house block. On the failure of Smith the subsequent failure of Ditman, who undertook to conduct a series of chain stores in this city with disastrous re- sults—to his creditors—Kingsbury pur- chased the interest of his partners in the business. He then started the Fair store, corner of Monroe and Erie street, where he made a most disastrous fail- ure. He subsequently sold the stamp business to Rose & Cohen, whose repu- tations are not above par. They, in turn, sold the business to M. L. Katz, who made a disastrous failure as one of the owners of the so-called Star Mercantile establishment on Monroe avenue, near Erie street. Katz now claims to be sole owner of the stamp business and is devoting all his time to the sale of stamps. At present he is understood to be “working” in either Reed City or Cadillac. The books are not redeemed promptly; in fact, hun- dreds of books await the “return of Kingsbury to sign checks.” The office was and in the Powers building is kept constant- ly locked, for fear some angry holder of unredeemed books may come in and assault the young lady in charge. A week ago Friday the elevator man in the building estimated that 150 women visited the office their hands and ire in their eyes, but in no with books in case were they permitted to cross the threshold. The door was kept securely locked on the inside, in charge says The young lady has instructions from Katz to redeem stamp books as she fast as the money comes in from the of stamps, but the percentage of books redeemed is very small. Prose- cuting Attorney Hoffius has had many complaints from irrate holders of the and sale ready to books stands prosecute Katz any time a victim of the concern is willing to swear out a complaint on a charge which can be He has for an injunction restraining Katz from disposing of any Katz appre- and arrested. under consideration hended asking more stamps. The prosecutor lends a willing ear to all complaints from this because convinced that should be prevented from con- tinuing a business which is conducted with so little regard to honesty and faith. source, he is Katz eood eo The American Legal Stamp Co. is the creation of Kingsbury and Cohen. It is a good concern to avoid. Although it claims on its letter head to be located at 324 Murray building, Grand Rapids, there is no such a room in the building named. Cohen 126 North Prospect street. He is given in the city directory as assistant manager of the Merchants Gold Stamp Co. The record resides at of Kingsbury in this community is such as to warn any merchant to avoid him or any corcern with which he may be connected in any capacity whatever. ———>-_ Economy Is Good, But Human Sym- pathy Is Better. Written for the Tradesman. It is a grand thing that people who have leisure knit for soldiers. It is know that women can sweaters and socks good to and girls who here- much of their tim do while—mak- tofore have spent trying to amuse themselvés can something really worth ing bandages, pads, pillows, towels, etc., for the Red Cross hospitals or knit the Then, too, a garment made by a relative or friend appeals to the man away from heme as it never would if goods for soldiers. made in a factory. This ought to answer the criticism that to use two or three dol- lars’ worth of yarn and spend twenty or thirty hours knitting a sweater ‘s not very economical, when one which would wear just as long and be fully as warm could be bcught around the $4 mark ‘The may for the first time realize friendship and ‘sympathy of his neighbors and associates when they vie with one another to make especially for him something for which he will at times young man the be very grateful. The hold on the young man’s life—the influence for geood—can not be valued in dollars and cents, Economy is not always the highest motive. oJ E. E. Whitney. ———— Any woman who admits that he- shoes are too tight is inclined to b masculine, MICHIGAN TRADESMAN December 19, 1917 sre =~ Im SAS: Movements of Merchants. Port Huron—The capital stock of the Peninsular Seed Co. has been increased from $40,000 to $70,000. Litchfield—G. D. Mominee has closed his bakery and enlisted in the services of his country. Peck—Grimes & Waterman have sold their stock of agricultural im- plements to William Cork, who has taken possession. Sault Ste. Marie—The Prenzlaur Bros. Co., which conducts a depart- ment store, has changed its name to Cowan & Hunt, Inc. Sigma—Fred Narrin has sold _ his general merchandise stock to William Danielson, of LeRoy, moved it to that place. who has re- Nashville—Fire damaged the store building and most of the grocery stock of Quick & Co. Dec. 16. The loss is partially covered by insurance. Junction—-G. H. May, of Jonesville, has purchased the Chester Howell stock of general merchandise and will continue the business. Freeport—R. Walton has sold _ his store building and meat stock to Her- -man L. Feldpausch, meat dealer, who will consolidate it with his own stock. Rives Kalamazoo—The Silver Star Coal Co. has been organized with an auth- ~orized capital stock of $10,000, ot which $5,000 has been subscribed and $1,000 paid in in cash. Pentwater—Joseph Tebbets has sold his harness stock and store fix- tures to William Baker, who has re- moved it to Hart and consolidated it with his own. Detroit—The United States Auto- matic Sales Co. has been incorporated with an authorized capi%al stock of $50,000, $25,000 of which has been sub- scribed and $5,000 paid in in cash. Detroit—The Metropolitan Coal Co. has been organized with an authorized capital stock of $10,000, of which amount $5,000 has been subscribed and $1,000 paid in in cash. Saginaw—Fire damaged the _ store building and stock of the Schmerheim Electric & Hardware Co. Dec. 14, en- tailing a loss of about $5,000, which is partially covered by insurance. Detroit—The Bissell Scott Co. has been organized to conduct a general lumber business with an authorized capitalization of $25,000, of which amount $15,000 has been subscr’bed. Kalamazoo—Raymond R. Warren, recently of Lansing, has purchased the sporting goods stock and store fixtures of Perry & Warth, at the corner of Burdick and South streets, and will continue the business under his own name. Three Rivers—Fire damaged the un- dertaking and furniture stock of Baird & Crandell and the bazaar stock of Guy V. Cole Dec. 13. The loss was consid- erable and only partially covered by insurance. : S. Lockwood has sold his interset in the Collins & Lockwood grocery stock to his part- ner and taken a position as traveling representative of the McKensie Mil- ling Co., of Quincy. Manistique—M. Blumrosen, dealer in dry goods, clothing and shoes, has admitted to partnership his two sons, Joseph and Nathan, and the business will be continued under the style of M. Biumrosen & Sons. Ludington — George Hollick and Arvid Carlson, former emlpoyes of the A. E. Cartier Sons Co., have formed a copartnership under the style of Hollick & Carlson and pur- chased the stock and store fixtures of the meat department in the Dohue brick store and will continue the business. Escanaba—Guy V. Sullivan, mem- ber of the Manning & Peterson Shoe Co., was married last week to Miss Mary Ogden Hughes, of this city. Unbeknown to the couple the train which carried them from Escanaba to Chicago on their honeymoon was labeled with large posters announc- ing the “newlyweds” as passengers. Manufacturing Matters. Detroit—The Kramer Governor Co. has changed its name to the Monarch Governor Co. Detroit—The Central Repair Works has changed its name to the C. R. W. Manufacturing Co., Inc. Greenville—The Michigan Garment Co. has changed its name to Michi- gan Motor Garment Co. Detroit—The Detroit Fuse & Man- ufacturing Co. has changed its name to the Square D. Company. Freeport—The Freeport Milling Co. has resumed business after being idle nearly nine months. Its new cement dam has been completed. Battle Creek—The Regle Brass Co. has been organized with a capital stock authorized at $100,000, all of which has been subscribed, $25,000 being paid in in property. Detroit—The Detroit Carburetor Heater Co. has been incorporated with an authorized capitalization of $1,000, which amount has been subscribed, $500 being paid in in cash. Detroit—The Rex Piston Ring Co. has been incorporated with an auth- orized capital stock of - $50,000, ot which $25.000 has been subscribed and $5,000 paid in in cash. Detroit—The Detroit Shell Co. has been incorporated with an authorized capitalization of $2,000,000, of which $1,000,000 has been’ subscribed and $200,000 paid in in cash. Detroit—The Be Met Manufacturing Co. has been organized to conduct a general machine shop, with an authoriz- ed capitalization of $36,000, $18,010 of which has been subscribed and paid in in cash. Detroit—The Globe Bottling Co. has been organized with an author- ized capitalization of $10,000, all of which has been subscribed, $193.42 being paid in in cash and $8,682.27 in property. Detroit—The American Metal Prod- uct Corporation, 532 Springwells avenue, has been incorporated with an author- ized capital stock of $25,000, of which $12,800 has been subscribed and $8,000 paid in in cash. Detroit—The Economy Bearing Co., Inc., 375 Grand River avenue, has been incorporated to sell ball and roller bear- ings with an authorized capitalization of $1,000, of which $500 has been sub- scribed and $100 paid in in cash. Cadillac—As a very practical means of better making use of the fine reputa- tion that has been created by the Acme motor truck, made at Cadillac, the company name has been changed from Cadillac Auto Truck Co. to Acme Mo- tor Truck Co. Anticipating that there would be censiderable value attached to the trade name, the company proceeded early to copyright the name “Acme” and later on the seal was copyrighted, in- cluding the names and phrase, “The Acme, the Truck cf Proved United.” The Acme truck has quickly taken its place as a Michigan product that adds to cur state’s reputation for motor equip- ments. There has been nothing of chance cr luck in the Acme’s marked success. From the very beginning its selection and construction was in the hands of experienced engineers and thorough machinists, and the Acme motor truck business organization has also been one that from its inception has well deserved the confidence and high reputation ac- corded to 1t. Through its recent pro- vision to give further distinction to the name of “Acme” the Cadillac company has followed the example of all the cther most successful truck making or- ganizations. Without an exception these companies have changed their corporate names to correspond with the trade name of their product. —— ee, Activities in Michigan Cities. Written for the Tradesman. Hartford will guard against diary fires by employing an extra night- watchman, the two canneries, two ele- vators and the grist mill each paying $5 a month towards his salary, the village pays the remainder. incen- while A daily trucking service between De- troit and Pontiac is being discussed and Detroit jobbers and manufacturers have been asked if they would support such service. The co-operative creamery at Free- port has increased its capital and will install a condensary. The Kelsey Island Lime & Transport Co., with headquarters in Cleveland, has beught 2,000 acres at Rogers City and will build a limestone crushing plant there, employing 500 men. Ferry service between Manistee and Eastlake has been abandoned for the winter. The walking is good over the ice. This year the Saginaw west side schools are laying special stress on the ptactical side of work in the art and manual training classes. Many useful articles for the home and inexpensive Christmas gifts are developed through the decoration of bottles, jugs, earthen- ware and boxes, while tovs are being turned out with jig-saw and other tools. Many of the articles made will be ship- ped to Chicago and sold during holiday week by the Children’s Patriotic League for the benefit of children in war-ravag- ed Europe. The bond issue for buying the Smith- ville water power did not receive the necessary three-fifths vote at Eaton Rapids and was therefore lost. Another election will be held Dec. 31. All night schocls in Bay City were closed Dec. 13 and will re-open Jan. 2. Lansing’s street lights, except in the boulevard district, are out and will stay cut until the coal famine ceases. Cadillac’s leading retail stores wil! close Wednesday evenings at 6 o’clock during the first four months of 1918. Almond Griffen. —_++ + Mercantile News From the City of the Straits. Detroit, Dec. 17—Otto Reinhardt, one of the, best known men in shoe circles in Michigan, a former alder- man and shoe retailer for seventeen years, and now salesman for the Unit- ed States Rubber Co., has tendered his resignation to take effect January 1. Mr. Reinhardt plans to give his entire attention to the Detroit Twist Drill Co., of which he is a large etoclkhclder. He regrets leaving the shoe business in which he has so many staunch and sincere friends, but the opportunities in connection with his new venture looks too good to pass up. A. Hi Krum, general manager of the Detroit branch of the United States Rubber Co., has engaged Mr. Cassidy, of New York City, as sales manager. Mr. Cassidy will devote his time to increasing the sales, which will afford Mr. Krum more time to give to the general conduct of the Detroit branch. Albert B. Gemmer, Secretary of the Michigan Shoe Retailers’ Associa- tion, says Michigan will have head- quarters at the Hotel Sherman dur- ing the convention of the National Association. He says, “We want all Michigan shoe merchants attending the convention to register at head- quarters, and to keep in touch with the doings of the Michigan Associa- tion, as there will be some special ‘oatures for the Michigan merchants.” We also says that every shoe mer- chant in the State should be in Chi- cago during the convention. It will be a great opportunity to meet other successful men and to find out how thev do business. Michigan wants to show the right spirit and is anxious for a big turn out. Ralph D. Howell, .the well-known Jackson salesman, writes as follows: “We do and should practice true economy and that is the reason I en- close check for another year of the Michigan Tradesman. I have read the Tradesman for thirty years and the price of subscription is far short of the profit I have received. It has been an education in itself,” ¥ a al e ( 1 ¢ a? % ° e ° «! ‘* 7 > LZ » a < > 7 r 4 4 . a » a a 4 s 4 e v* y * * 4 2» ‘- a. a «le «>, qq ‘ i December 19, 1917 MICHIGAN = oa a = 5 = by 3 : - ’ . » - = = = = = = Review of the Grand Rapids Produce Market. Apples—Winesaps and perials, $2 per hamper; Baldwins, Greenings and Wagners, $5.50 per bbl.; Northern Spys, $6@7 per bbl. Bananas—$5 per 100 lbs. Beets—$1.25 per bu. Butter—The market is active, with a good consumptive demand, at prices ranging about 2c per pound on fancy creamery grades over a week ago. The receipts of all grades of butter are light and the consumptive demand is good. We do not look for much change the coming week. Local deal- ers hold extra fancy creamery at 49c for fresh and 45c for June cold stor- age; centralized brings 1@2c less. Local dealers pay 41c for No. 1 dairy in jars and 30c for packing stock. Cabbage—$2.50 per 100 Ibs. Carrots—75c per bu. Cauliflower—$2.75 per doz. Celery Cabbage—t5c per bunch for California. York Iimn- Cranberries—$18 per bbl. for late Howes: $9.25 per % bbl. Eggs—New-laid are scarce and very hard to obtain at any price. Lo- cal dealers pay 50c for strictly fresh, loss off, including cases. Cold stor- age operators are putting out their stock on the following basis: Extras, candled, 39c; firsts, 37c; seconds, 34c. Green Peppers—65c per basket for Southern grown. Honey—22c per lb. for white clover and 20c for dark. Lemons—California selling at $7.75 for choice and $8.25 for fancy. Lettuce—14c per lb. for hot house leaf; $2.50 per hamper for New York head. Limes—$1 per 100 for Italian. Maple per gal. pure. Mushrooms—75c per lb. Nuts—Almonds, 21¢ per lb.; filberts, 20c for Grenoble; Brazils, 18c; Mixed nuts, 16%4c. Onions—Home grown command $3 per 100 lb. sack; Spanish, $1.85 per crate. Oranges — California $4.25@ 4.50; Navals, $4.25@5; das, $4.50@)5. Oysters—Standards, $1.85 per gal.; selects, $2.25 per gal. Shetl oysters, $9 per bbl. for either Blue Points or Cotuits; 75c per 100 for Blue Points and $1.25 per 100 for Cotuits. Figs—10 lb. layers, $1.65; 20 8 oz. packages, $1.85; 12 10 oz. packages, $1.25. Grape Fruit—$4.50 per box for all sizes Floridas. Syrup—$1.75 for Valencias, Flori- Grapes—California Emperor, $5 per keg or $2.75 per crate; Malaga $7.50 @7.75 per keg. Green Onions—Shallots, 65c bunch. per Potatoes—Up State buyers are pay- ing $1 per 100 Ibs. Poultry—Local dealers pay as fol- lows for live: medium, geese, fc: fowls, Turkeys, heavy, 22c; small, 14c; thin, 12c; ducks, 18@20c; springs, 1 16c; old roosters, 12c. Dressed, 2c above these prices. Lic; ESC; Radishes—35c per doz. for home grown hot house. Sweet Potatoes—$2.75 for kiln dried Illinois. per hamper Tomatoes—30c per Ib. for hot house. —_>+>___ Reducing Shortening and Sugar in Crackers. Cracker bakers have been using 126,- 000,000 pounds of sugar and 98,000,000 pounds of yearly: Ac- cording to the estimate made by the cracker manufacturers an annual sav- ing of 16,000,000 pounds of sugar and 12,000,000 pounds of shortening will be made as the result of the new rules issued by the Food Administration which are effective December 10. Following are the regulations which apply to all cracker manufacturers: The licensee in manufacturing crackers shall not use the following ingredients in amounts specified be- low per unit of 196 pounds of any flour or meal or any mixture thereof: shortening Shortening—Not to exceed seven- teen pounds average in sponge goods of which not more than ten pounds shall be animal fats. Not to exceed twenty-six pounds average of shortening in sweet goods, of which not more than thirteen pounds shall be animal fats. Sugar+-No sugar shall be used in the manufacture of sponge goods. Not to exceed fifty-five pounds average in sweet goods. In the manufacture of crackers those made with yeast shall be con- sidered sponge goods. All other goods. shall be considered sweet goods. In view of the National necessity for conserving shortening and sugar, the Food Administration request manufacturers of crackers to reduce the quantity of these ingredients be- low the maximum permitted by the above rule. A reduction of the short- ening and stigar allowance may be found necessary at a later date. ——_>-.___ Ate Dykstra has scld his grocery stock at Eleventh and Tamarack streets to his son, Peter Dykstra, on a contract. The senior Dykstra re- tains title to the stock until the pur- chase price is fully paid. TRADESMAN The Grocery Market. Sugar—No change. Tea—Delays in transcontinental traffic are becoming greater as the winter advances and have been par- ticularly acute the past week on ac- count of the widespread storms. Add- ed to this is the difficulty experienced in moving stock from terminals to warehouses, especially since the Gov- ernment has restricted lightering in the harbor, Consequently stock avail- able for immediate delivery, which has been growing scarcer for some weeks past, has become almost unobtainable and when found readily commands a premium on quoted prices. The mar- ket is strong, with the general trend of prices in an upward direction. Coffee—The market is fractionally higher for the week, meaning ali grades of Rio and Santos. It is hard to see, however, how this can be oth- er than very temporary, as there is no condition, outside of Brazil, to cause anything like an advance. In fact, the very large supply of coffee and the small demand would seem to make for a decline. The only factors in Brazil which in any degree coun- teract this, is the fact that Brazil has manifested a disposition to buy some of the surplus coffee in order to help the market, and the further fact that Brazilian exchange has advanced and so have freights. It is not probable, however, that these factors can alone counteract the enormous weight of the over-supply of coffee. The de- mand for coffee is very quiet. Canned Fruit—Very little interest is being shown by either buyers or sellers at the present time as there is so little to do business with. Canned Vegetables—There is no change in the market situation, To- matoes are being held on the basis of $1.80 f. o. b. Southern cannery, but there is no business being done. Corn and peas are nominal. Canned Fish—The Administration is making it known that anything above the opening prices for salmon will be considered unfair. These prices were $2.35 for red, for medium red, $1.65 for pink and $1.60 for chums, f. 0. b. common shipping point, Pacific Coast. m9 O% Ppe.wd Dried Fruits—The only item of in- terest that has developed in the dried fruit situation during the past week has been the arrival of a steamer con- taining a supply of Malaga raisins. These, however, were practically all spoken for although the prices were very high being generally held at 22 @25c for clusters in one-pound pack- ages. There has been a scarcity of this kind of fruit for some weeks. Seeded California raisins are practical- ly off the market and cnly seedless are being offered. These are more plentiful than expected owing to the fact that several large distributors bought more than they have been able to dispose of in the regular way, the licensing rules having interfered with their usual method of doing busi- ness. There has been no word as yet of the currant steamer, but ow- ing to the high prices at which this item is being held jobbers are rather dubious as to their ability to dispose of the fruit after it arrives, especially § thus late in the season. The prune situation is unchanged. Stocks here are light, but are generally sufficient to meet the requirements of the trade. There has been heavy buying on the Coast chiefly for Government account so that the large have generally absorbed. sizes been Corn Syrup—There is no abatement of demand, manufacturers keep sold far ahead, prices rest on a firm basis. and, as Rice—Delays in transportation keep spot stock very low, but distrib- uters appear to have all they need for the present and are not inclined to anticipate requirement. The tone is firm in sympathy with Southern ad- vices, but prices are nominal. Cheese—The market is very quiet, with a light consumptive demand at unchanged prices. We do not look for much change in price until after the new year. The stocks of cheese are in excess of last year. Molasses—Continued scarcity pro- hibits spot business, but there con- tinues an active demand for forward shipment, and whatever comes for- ward is absorbed in deliveries on prior sales. The market is firm with prices unchanged. Provisions—Everything in the smoked meat line continues high, with a light consumptive demand, at un- changed prices. Barreled pork, drief beef and canned meats are also un- changed, with light demand. Pure lard is steady at about %c a pound decline, while lard substitute is scarce and firmer, with continued good de- mand, at an advance of '%4c over last week. Salt Fish—The mackerel situation shows no change for the week. The supply is fair and prices are unchang- ed on all grades. —__ +. Two Flagrant Violations of the Sugar Schedule. Two complaints have been filed with the Federal Food Administrator for Michigan against merchants who are wilfully defying the Government by violating the sugar ruling. men of German birth or descent who have been so pronounced in their ut- terances in behalf of the Kaiser that they are classed as pro-Germans by governmental authorities, The least possible punishment which can be inflicted upon them is to notify every wholesale grocer in the State not to sell them any sugar. As the procf furnished the proper officers is conclusive, being fortified by dates and names and sponsored by reputa- ble gentlemen, there is no half way course for Mr. Prescott to take. He must either order these men cut of from further supplies of sugar or ad- mit that the sugar ruling is a shadow and not a substance. ——_2-.____ S. S. Corl, formerly of Corl, Knott & Co., has formed a copartnership with a Detroit gentleman and en- gaged in the wholesale millinery busi- ness in the Miller building, at Detroit, under the style of the S. S. Corl Co. The new house will deal in hat shapes ready-to-wear hats and banded hats. No trimmed hats will be handled, Both are more UPPER PENINSULA. Recent News of the Cloverland of M.chigan. Sault Ste. Marie, Dec. 17—The Soo is now without an opera house. The old landmark which graced the Soo for many years was totally destroyed by fire late Saturday night after the perform- ance. There was no one in the build- ing at the time. Whether or not a mod- ern new opera house will be built in its place has not as yet been determined. The Soo is always considered a good show town and it is hoped that a new modern structure will be a reality in the near tuture. “A loss of appetite can generally be cured by work.” The Upper Peninsula men are given quite a boost at Fort MacArthur. An officer tetis that he can spot a North- ern Michigan man as soon as he picks up a gun. tie knows how to handle it, also how to avoid accidents to himselt and cthers, and can hit the mark in spite the influence of the recoil, making more bu.l’s eyes than the general run of soldiers. This is due to the fact that up in the north woods are afforded greater practice in hunting deer and other game, than some other parts of the country. John Soltner expects to start his saw mill at Greens next week which will help make a lively aspect in the neighbor- hood of Ailendale. There is nothing stimulates business more than the hum ot the busy saw. The entire public of Curtis was dis- appointed last Thursday night when the movie man failed to show up. Some of the crowd came from a distance of five or six miles to take in the movie. This is a serious offense in that com- munity and the movie man will hear something drop upon his next booking. The heavy fall of snow throughout the lumber districts in Cloverland makes the lumbermen happy. Every- thing is going full blast in the camps this year and the lumbermen figure on a record-breaking cut during the win- ter. The last residents of Mackinac Island were given an opportunity last week to visit Cheboygan on the steamer Island- er, which made a trip to Cheboygan to break a passage through the ice so that the steamer Aiva and other light ships could get down Cheboygan river. This will probably be the last boat trip for the Islander this year. Joseph McLachlan of the McLachlan feed store, left last week for Waco, accompanied by Mrs. McLachlan, to vis- it their son, Captain Ira McLachlan. “In some cases the clouds that hang in your heaven are of your own mak- ing.” Since ex-Governor Chase S. Osborn announced his candidacy for office of United States Senator from Michigan, it has met with hearty support from the residents of Cloverland. He comes with a clean cut statement referring to his public work and makes plain his at- titude on questions now facing Con- gress. With the vast knowledge and ability of our esteemed candidate, the people could make no better choice in trusting affairs of the Government at this stage in the hands of so able a candidate as Chase S. Osborn stands for everything that is good and right. Mr. and Mrs. D. F. Maloney left this week for Dayton, where they will visit at the home of their daughter, Mrs. Stacy P. Hinks, for a short time before going to Dade City, Fla., to spend the winter. A. Westin & Co., well known mer- chants of Newberry, have opened a new store at Hendrie, where they expect to handle a full jine of general merchan- dise. C. M. Dysinger, one of the Soo’s for- mer grocers, but now a resident of Lake Odessa, was a business visitor here last week, renewing old acquaintances. john P. Wessel, for many years con- nected with the Government works of the locks, but now with the commis- MICHIGAN TRADESMAN sary department with the Govern- ment at Hoboken, N. J., was a Soo visitor last week. Wm. G. Tapert. —~+22>__ How the Sugar Situation Looks at Mears. Mears, Dec. 't8—Considering the peculiar condition of trade these days, don’t you think I have been pretty good in not registering any kicks lately? Have been muchly interested in reading the Tradesman regarding the sugar situation. Guess all the zrc- cers in retail business are balled up on it. I got a notice three weeks ago through a Judson Grocer Company salesman that all would have to con- form with the two and four pound limit on sugar. That was Saturday and I started off with a peck and a half of trouble, because 90 per cent. of my custcmers are farmers who plough through the drifts for the hon- or of trading with me. They balled me out because I had plenty of sugar and would not sell them fifty cents or a dollar’s worth, as S. & M. Co., of Pentwater, had a car or two of sugar on track at that time and cffer- ed to sell and did sell the following Monday 100 pound lots. I know of six of my customers who went there on Monday and got 100 pounds each, but I believe they sold so much that they limited each one on Tuesday and since to a dollar’s worth a day. I understand the S. & M. Co. has a wholesale license, but it don’t look very patriotic for them, although it certainly was a peach of a trade get- ° ter. I know I suffered in a business way some—and no small sum, either —and I am positive it gave a solar plexis blow to the Hart merchants, also, as the three towns are close to- gether. JI am selling two pounds to villagers and four pounds to any farmer who has a large family or who lives very far out, as roads are al- most impassible. The Hart and Shelby merchants are also doing like- wise. People, especially some _ half baked newspaper men, don’t know what the grocer is up against. I would like to meet some of the wise gilligaloo birds who have been warn- ing the public about the grocer rob- bers. Food stuffs are being retailed at less than the same can be re-pur- chased for and the margin of profit has dwindled in lots of cases until you could not find it with a search war- rant. It makes me laugh to read about towns complaining of getting only a couple of cars of coal a week when they need three or four. Such unreasonable people ought to be sen- tenced to Mears. By heavens, I am trying to heat a butcher shop, two stores and my house by burning pine stumps in six coal stoves and have had zero weather now for about three weeks. Snow so deep you can’t find the stumps. Not a single car of coal has been received this fall or winter. I ordered my coal as usual last July and it is still coming. If I wasn't so darn hot tempered, I would have frozen to death long ago. If some of the people who have coal and have to be saving with it would have to do without entirely, as we do, they ‘vould realize that hell ain’t such an awful place in the winter time. Understand, I am not registering a lack at all. Everything is lovely and ‘ots of davs I am getting three meals a day. While I get pretty chilly once in a while, I just think of Bloody 3ill Kaiser and what he and his Ger- man cohorts will get when they all go to hell, and my blood boils immediate- ly. As E. P. Monroe says, we all have lots to be thankful for. He is thankful he is still out of jail and I am thankful I still have a chance to hear he is in jail. Ches. Brubaker. i Call no man perfect. You may have overlooked some portion of his rec- ord. Rarest Discovery Is the Discovery 0: Self. The speed a man makes in the race of life depends less upon his training and preparation than upon _ inherent strength, good wind and determination. Without baggage the army would starve; but when the impedimenta are too numerous it never gets anywhere. Pope’s line, “A little learning is a dangerous thing,” is open to dispute. Ignorance is dangerous, but too much learning is more so. It is possible to crowd a man’s head so full of theory that you paralyze his hands. Degrees may add dignity, but they do not increase efficiency. In every one of our great educational institutions you will find a certain group of men who for ten years or more have been migrating from one university to another. But they never get ready to tackle any of the world’s constructive work and probably never will. While they dally at their studies, bridges are being built, tunnels bored, and great corporations managed by men who have had no training save possibly what they received through a corres- pondence school. I do not underrate an education. The schooled mind and skilled hand are pre- requisites of power. But it is not so much what one has as the use he makes of it that counts. The man is greater than the tool. Intellect is more than iron. Genius is more than gold. Work is more than wealth. Heredity has no law that denies any man his chance. Environment surrounds no man with a wall that cannot be scaled. Garfield used to say that “a log with Mark Hopkins on one end and a student on the other constituted a university.” He was putting the emphasis on the teacher. But it belongs no less to the student. Benjamin Franklin set out to study the inexhaustible subject of electricity with a kite, a common key and a silk handkerchief. West, the well-known artist, made his first brushes out of hair from a cat’s tail. The rarest—and best—discovery is the discovery of self. Ask not, “What can I do the easiest ?” but “What can I do best?” Many men are failures, not because they do not work honestly, but because they are working at the wrong thing. There are men in Washington making laws who ought to be at home making horseshoes. There are some artists painting pictures who ought to be paint- ing fences. Many a ‘talented man has failed as a lawyer because he was cut out for a butcher. It is better to be a big man—big in aims, ambitions and aspiration—with small talents, than be a small man with big talents. Napoleon once said that “God is al- ways on the side of the heaviest ar- tillery.” But one day at Waterloo, where 160 guns of the British defeated 260 guns of the French, he discovered that his epigram, although trite, was not true. Remember, bulk is no sign of effic- December 19, 1917 iency. An elephant cannot make a bird’s nest. Greatness is always in the man, not in the thing he possesses. William Davenport. +2 Honks From Auto City Council. Lansing, Dec. 18—A visit to the Edward Sparrow hospital confirms the report that M. H. Gunn (Judson Grocer Company) is improving rap- idly. He says he is comfortable and well cared for, but it will be a long time before he will again be able to carry his grip and sample case. We notice that we are criticized in last week’s issue of the Tradesman for refering to the Michigan State hospital as an asylum, and we wish to apologize for the error. It is easy to understand, however, how former in- mates of the institution, now living in distant cities, should remember it by the name which it bore when they were confined therein. We might al- so say that not all of the residents of Kalamazoo are now up to date in the reference to this much needed and highly efficient State institution. As preof of this statement we need only to glance at the front end of certain street cars in Kalamazoo, the routes of which lead through the South- western part of the city. It is not our intention to deny any- thing Mr. Clay has said about our being an inmate of the institution re- fered to, but rather admit to it, and we feel constrained to tell how we came to be at liberty now, and our former keeper still under a certain amount of restraint: Late one day in November we were taken out for ex- ercise with the other squirrels (with which the grounds at that time were abundant) and we conceived the idea of inducing our keeper to exchange coats and hats. When we returned after dark, we had little difficulty in forcing him into-.a padded cell and making our escape unnoticed by the new superintendent, who had not as yet become acquainted with all the keepers. Brother Clay is perfectly harmless at all times, and at certain periods even rational. During his rational periods he is allowed to go and come as he pleases, hence his visit to our Council Dec. 1. In the same article he makes ref- erence to our being overworked sell- ing automobiles during the day and giving knitting lessons in the eve- ning. We also admit this. We have, however, sold many buzz wagons through demonstrations after dark and our knitting lessons are not by any means confined to evenings. Mr. Clay is in a position to know this, as several of our most promising and patriotic pupils hail from Kalama- zoo. H. P. Bullen. —_+-+—____ The open grate coal fire stands in- dicted, It gives cheer and compan- ionship as well as heat, the fuel ad- ministration admits, but it is “inef- ficient” and wasteful. That is sui- ficient reason for the administration’s stigma. And lovers of ease taken be- fore the romantic flames in an open hearth are asked to use wood or a more practical coal “jumbo” heater. The fuel administrator says: “The present fuel situation suggest that the grate should be filled with coal much less often than in the past. It should be used when only a little heat is needed for a short time and it should be fed on waste wood as much as possible. The flickering flames of a smaller fire may be made sufficient to excite the fancy rather than the scorch and the big roar of too full a fireplace.” ae re ° ¢: * ¢ ee “€.° + { e a > ‘ ’ % ie Ny pI a” / vé ae * * x 1 4 fe 4 > « € > < * x » q+ 4 . 4 » + e 7 »* + t “ate : ‘ 7 Pl 4é o> a e 4 » +* aes > « ¢ > «fy 4 > , Xe 4 a » . * @ > & » ef» < ¥ 4* aN December 19, 1917 BANKRUPTCY MATTERS. Proceedings in the Western District of Michigan. Grand Rapids, Dec. 18—J. Dewitt Hall, of Grand Rapids, has filed a voluntary petition in bankruptey. Adjudication has been made and the matter referred to Referee Corwin. The first meeting of creditors has been called for Dec. 27. The schedules of the bankrupt show lia- bilities amounting to $6,106.16 and assets amounting to $2,043.20 consisting of real estate, $793.20, household goods, $250, and unliquidated claims of $1,000. Following is a list of the creditors listed by the bankrupt: Preferred Creditors. Taxes due city of Grand Rapids $ 31 68 Secured Creditors. Wurzburg’s Dry Goods Co., Grand Rapids fo ee Ricks $8778 Young & Chaffee Furniture Co., Grand Rapids .2.....0........: 128.73 Cable Piano Co., Chicago ........ 133.70 Commercial Savings Bank, Grand Rapids | ....00.0.000..0 00 190.95 G. R. National City Bank, Grand Rapids (......0........ Harry D. Jewell, Grand Rapids .. 425.50 Myron H. Walker, Grand Rapids .. S. R. Fletcher, Grand Rapids .... 80.00 Harvey C. Hamilton, Grand Rapids 158.62 Charles E. Tart, Grand Rapids .. 618.00 $2,620.70 Unsecured Creditors. Old National Bank, Grand Rapids $200.00 Charles D. Reeve, Grand Rapids 303.75 Robt. G. Hill, Grand Rapids 208.00 E W. Dales, Grand Rapids ...... 70.00 Glenn Towsley, Grand Rapids 155.00 M. H. Friedrich. Grand Rapids .... 75.00 Van Vileit Bros. & Veit, Grand . RUDE 56.25 Grand View Auto Club, Grand RUADIIS ee 25.00 Barnard & Co., Grand Rapids ... 20.00 Life Ins. Independent, Cincinnati 3.50 Dr. Vernon M. Moore, Grand Rapids 10.00 Dr. Burton R. Corbus, Grand Rapids 8.00 Newcomb, Endicott & Co., Detroit 60.11 Henry Smith, Grand Rapids ...... 13:75 American Laundry, Grand Rapids 35.75 Association of Commerce, Grand ROMIGS 20.00 Park Congregational Church, Grand amigas) 2.6 le. 0.00 Boy Scouts, Grand Rapids Seah Ins. Research to 7-1-'17, Cincinnati 24.00 G. R. Taxi Co., Grand Rapids .... 13.00 G. R. Press, Grand Rapids ........ 7.50 G. R. News, Grand Rapids ........ 10.00 B. Siegel Co., Detroit ....... eeece 9.25 Noble Studio, Grand Rapids ..... 16.00 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN Heystek & Canfield Co., Grand OOS oe ee 41.95 Tisch-Hine Co., Grand Rapids .... 39.59 A. O. Wheeler, Grand Rapids 6.50 Century Fuel Co., Grand Rapids 22.70 Hammer & Cortenhof, Grand Rapids 6.14 Geo. L, Holwerda, Grand Rapids .. 1.50 Helmus Bros., Grand Rapids ...... 3.75 Bixby Office Supply Co., Grand Ape eee. 9.95 Sampson Dawe, Boston ............ 90 A. A. Aniba, Grand Rapids .. ... 5 Ben F. Hite, Grand Rapids ...... 2 eOhn Zink, Grand Rapids ......... 3.00 Geo. S. Smith, Grand Rapids 5 Commercial Credit Co., Grand RADIOS 2. coe ee Frank I. Sweet, Grand Rapids Citizens Telephone, Grand Rapids 5.14 Dr. T. D. Gordon, Grand Rapids .. 2.50 Frances Reed, Grand Rapids Masonic History, Grand Rapids Grand Rapids Herald, Grand Rapids 66.89 Mulich Floral Co., Grand Rapids 5.50 Naylor Upholstery Co., Grand Rapids oe 65.00 W. A. Martindale & Co., Grand PRAMS Co. ha 15.75 Albee Livery, Grand Rapids ...... 6.25 J. Patte, Grand Rapids .......... 9.00 Michigan State Phone Co., Grand Rapids) 06630 3.95 V. C. Ice & Coal Co., Grand Rapids 43.50 Postal Telegraph Co., Grand Rapids 1.87 Western Union Telephone Co., Grand HRapids ................. oa0 Nat. Underwear, Grand Rapids 1.70 Friedrich Music House, Grand Rapigs 200.0 8.95 Arthur Barber, Grand Rapids .... 75.00 C. Evan Johnson, Grand Rapids 50.00 Van Vieit Bros. & Veit, Grand RADIOS ec a: 3.50 Commercial Savings Bank, Grand Rapios Cluedse) .62 02... .25 6. 33.00 Walter S. Austin, Grand Rapids 38.00 Emil Yisch, Grand Rapids ....... 10.00 P. C. Johnson, Grand Rapids ..... 5.00 Mulder Market, Grand Rapids .... 16.50 ‘ N. Holst, Grand Rapids .......... 21.30 P. A. Kladder, Grand Rapids ...... 26.00 Western Underwriter, Grand RADIGS eo ee 2.30 Lalakoum Grotto, Grand Rapids .. 14.00 Radcliffe Storage, Grand Rapids .. 3.37 Berton A. Spring, Grand Rapids .. 1.00 Coffee Ranch, Grand Rapids ..... 3.00 Crystal Springs Water Co., Grand Rapids ............... 2.05 Mota 600 .co $2,340.05 Accommodation papers, amounting to $1,113.73. (Promissory notes). In the matter of Kehoe Bros. & Horan, jewelers, of Muskegon, the final meeting of creditors has been held in this matter. The report and account of the trustee =a showing balance on hand of $197.28 was approved and allowed. A first and final dividend of 6.7 per cent. was declared and ordered paid and certain adminis- tration expenses were also ordered paid. ——_+-->—____ Copying of Millinery Models Hurts Business. A novel suggestion for bettering business is contained in the current bulletin of the Retail Millinery Asso- ciation of America, which says: “One of the great evils of the milli- nery every one admits, is the haste of manufacturers to copy models which are selling well in the retail stores and to make them up at a much lower price. The effect of this is, of course, the killing of the business on that particular style, with the final result that the cheap manutacturer, while boosting his busi- ness for a very short time on that number, has succeeded really in les- sening the total business that he would otherwise have received on that num- ber. “For instance, business on and imitation for hats in one city was distinctly lessened by the appear- ance a few days after the original number had been shown at $6.50 of a copy selling at $2.89. The buyer who originally introduced this number was doing a splendid business, but business, satin no sooner had the cheap hat appear- ed in the windows of a competitor than the business dropped. The competitor might have done more business had he introduced the same number at a price more nearly that at which the original was shown. “The manufacturers condition, certain of this being realize them ? more appreciative of it than others. One aggressive manufacturer blames the condition on the buyers them- selves and his argument is rather a startling one. Keep the manufac- turers’ salesmen off the floor of the retail departments, he says, and you'll see a changed condition. More mod- els are ‘crabbed’ by salesmen see- ing a number selling well on the floor of a certain department’ than in any other way. Salesmen are keen. They are more or.less good merchants themselves, and when they see one house doing a big business on a num- ber they are keen to get that number into their line at a cheaper price so that they can run to the competitors with it. You'll say that the manufac- turers will send their shoppers around anyhow. But let me tell you that, in my experience, my shoppers have not been as productive of information as have my salesmen. So for the good of the millinery business in general, and I am frank to say my business in particular, I’d like to iron- bound rule in every department pro- hibiting manufacturers’ salesmen from going on the selling flcor.’” —_+-~.___ Off the Griddle. The hotel cvercrowded and a very fat man had been forced to spend the night on a wire cot minus blankets and mattress. “How did you sleep?” clerk the next morning. s¢€e an was enquired the “Oh, I slept all right,” the fat man assured him, “but I certainly looked like a waffle when I got up this morn- ing. Barney Langeler has worked in this institution continuously for over forty-eight years. Barney says— “It isn’t any worry— To ship goods in a hurry.” WorRDEN THE PROMPT SHIPPERS ROCER ( OMPANY GRAND RAPIDS— KALAMAZOO MICHIGAN TRADESMAN December 19, 1917 - other paper.) issue Complete in Itself. Each DEVOTED TO THE BEST INTERESTS OF BUSINESS MEN. Published Weekly by TRADESMAN COMPANY, Grand Rapids, Mich. Subscription Price. Two dollars per year, if paid strictly in advance. Three dollars per year, advance. Canadian subscriptions, $3.04 per year, payable invariably in advance. Sample copies 5 cents each. Extra copies of current issues, 5 cents; issues a month or more old, 10 cents; issues a year or more old, 25 cents; issues five years or more old, $1. if not paid in Entered at the Grand Rapids Postoffice as Second Class Matter. E. A. STOWE, Editor. December 19, 1917. AN APPEAL TO LABOR. “A great gate opens unto me, and effectual; but there are many adver- saries.’-—Paul the Apostle. Whether America and the Allies are to win or lose in the great war struggle now in progress in Europe must depend upon American labor. it 15 a opportunity for the forces of labor in America; an oppor- tunity to render America and civiliza- opportunity to usher in a new and more democratic great tion a great service, an order for mankind everywhere, and to lielp stabilize economic conditions at home and abroad. American labor can win this war for America and humanity. It can put an end to the inequalities and brutalities of a militant autocracy. It can do something more than help make the world safe for democracy. It can make the world safe and right for men and women who work for a living. What answer will the vast army of American workingmen and _ working- women make to this alluring oppor- tunity ? There are adversaries, to be sure, just as Paul found them when the “great gate” of his opportunity opened unto him. Where there is opportunity, always there is opposition also. Labor’s chief and most dangerous ad- versaries are in the ranks of labor, robed in the livery of labor’s friends and making loud professions of a de- sire to do and die for labor’s good But these adversaries are not hope- less. Some of them are moved by good intentions and really are seeking for a fair and honest betterment of economic conditions in America, The war is the only big fact of any consequence now. American victory in this war is the only possible victory labor can win. American defeat would put labor back into the black industrial bondage of dead It would sponge the slate of every particle of progress we centuries. have made in the long struggle for econ- omic justice, and would place the labor of the world absolutely at the mercy of a crazy, crooked, scheming and mer- ciless Emperor who is now drenching the world in blood in a md effort to force mankind to recognize his power and pay homage to his wicked and in- famous plans. President Woodrow Wilson has spok- en directly to the forces of labor in Amcrica. What the President said in his ad- dress to the American Federation of Labor at Buffalo shines with an elo- quence of patriotic anxiety for the present and future welfare of American labor which no honest and loyal Ameri- can workman overlook. Somehow we could not help feeling some of the strain and tension which marked the appeal of this tired patriot to the workmen of America, an appeal for National unity, for economic peace at home, for order, for law, tolerance, sobriety of corduct, and the long, hard pull together for the ultimate of our dreams as a free people. It was an unusual thing for the President to lay aside his heavy and almost crushing cares at such a time to speak a hopeful word to the forces of labor. What he said, the way he said it, and the solemn circumstances under which he said it are all facts which ought to help sink his message deep into the minds and hearts of workingmen of all classes in all parts of America. The President’s appeal was as sig- nificant as it was unusual. Tt meant, for one thing that President Wilson fully realizes what the forces of labor can do to win the war and that he fully expects labor to do its full part. Labor cannot disappoint Woodrow Wilson in this particular without slip- ping its head into the halter of a des- potic ruler who is wholly out of sym- pathy with the democratic tendencies of modern times. This whole bloody political tragedy, for magnitude, unparalleled in history, grew out of the commercial and in- custrial aspirations of Germany. Ger- many is seeking, not only the political and military domination of the world, but commercial and industrial domina- tion also, and what Germany has been doing to bring about the political and military subjugation of European coun- tries, is a fair indication of what Ger- many would do to bring about the com- mercial and industrial supremacy of Germany in the world as a whole. Germany will go to any length to carry out the plans for which Germany already has wasted so much blood and treasure. American labor is the lion in Ger- many’s path. Whether the line is to be crumpled back upon Berlin, to smother the Kaiser and the whole kit and shebang of Hoh- enzollerns and their murderous retain- ers, is an issue cf the utmost concern to American workingmen, for upon that issue hinges the question whether we are to have democratic or autocratic domination in the politics and commerce and industry of the world. With American success in this war, the American standard of labor, of skill, of wages, and the American stan- dard of living, will become standards for the world. With American failure, and German success, the standards of labor, of wages, of skill, and of living, would be whatever Germany wished to make them, and these standards would be low, as low, at least, as the Arab’s, for Ger- many’s supremacy in world trade would depend absolutely upon cheap labor; and no nation on earth could compete with Germany anywhere, or to any ex- tent, except upon the identical basis of cheap labor. Rather than see Germany press Amer- ican labor down to the low level of the Arab’s standards; rather than see Ger- many rob us of what we have won by more than a century of fruitful toil; rather than see Germany drive the products of American labor out of the markets of the world; sweep American commerce from the sea; fill weaker states with prowling constabularies: hold in check the forward energies of our civilization, and put upon mankind shackles which could be broken only in the red glare of another great war for liberty and economic justice, it would be better for us to spend all we have in men and money, and pulling the shin- ing fabrics of our achievements around us, go to sleep finally in a welter of Llood, for life has no meaning worth while without liberty and death is less to be dreaded than the tyranny of a mad prince. UTTERLY IRRESPONSIBLE. For many months the Tradesman tas felt that it stould warn its read- ers atainst having any dealings with the Merchants Gold Stamp Co., be- character of the men been connected with the The pur- chased by the merchant on a definite agreement that books containing $2.50 in stamps will be redeemed at $2 cash by the stamp company on presenta: The proposition is a profitable one for the stamp company, directly and indirectly. If the stamps turn up for redemption, there is still a large ratio of profit for the company. Those which fail to be presented for redemption are practically all profit for the stamp seller, because the cost of printing the stamps is insignificent, compared with the price obtained for them from the merchant. Failure to redeem the books promptly on pre- sentation is a violation of the agree- ment entered into by the stamp seller and is equivalent to obtaining money under false pretenses. Whether the default is due to downright dishon- esty or bad management on the part of the stamp schemer, the result is the same. The merchant is placed in a bad light before his customer, who has every reason for feeling that he has been duped and defrauded. ceuse of the who have undertaking. stamps are tion. The Tradesman is utterly unable to understand why any merchant should patronize a stamp. company when he can get up a stamp system of his own inside of $50 and thus save the large measure of profit which accrues to the stamp seller through the loss of stamps which afe never presented for redemption by the customer. Such an arrangement is more satisfactory to the customer, because he knows his merchant will redeem the stamps on presentation, instead of his having to go to the office of the stamp com- pany time and again, without result except promises of payment made only to be broken. The stamp sys- tem is bad enough at best, because it involves an admission on the part of the merchant that his goods or serv~ ice, or both, are so far below par that he must offer his customers some extra incentive to induce them to patronize him, but the adoption of a private system eliminates many of the evil features of the scheme sys- tem and enables the merchant to keep his business more self contained. ee enna Our own coal shortage is working hardships, and may yet cause greater, but until now the lack of fuel in this country has had nothing like the alarming results it is reported to have had in Germany. It is a pitiful state of affairs, especially in Berlin and the other large cities of the land of demons and savages. Vorwarts says the sufferings of the poor are intense. They have been forced to go cold, hungry, and filthy. The city gas and electricity works and trans- portation services are so short of coal that partial stoppage is imminent. But it is the people in their homes who feel that they are on the verge of a catastrophe. This picture drawn by the Socialist newspaper, with its at- tacks upon a do-nothing government, may be somewhat highly colored. But trustworthy information from other sources warrants the belief that the coal famine is as acute in Germany as it is in France and Italy. Want of man-power in the mines and_ the breakdown of transportation partly tell the story, but the main cause is the all-devouring war. If its insatiate furnaces keep on blazing for another year or two, the whole world will face sufferings as terrible as if the earth had been swung back into the glacial period. Mr. Hoover evidently realizes that he can not depend upon the volun- teer spirit alone to accomplish what- ever food-saving is necessary to carry us through the war. At the same time that he appeals to the people in general for a porkless day and an additional wheatless and meatless meal, he is depriving wholesalers who do not live up to his regulations of their licenses to deal in sugar. He probably realizes that he has a Na- tion unused to Government control to deal with, and that he must go slow. Nevertheless, he must know that all attempts to depend upon voluntary consent to food regulation have all over Europe been a failure. Experi- ence in the Central Powers at the very outset of the war demonstrated the necessity of rules for the purpose of limiting consumption and fixing the prices of certain necessaries, such as sugar, flour, meat, etc., backed up by the strong hand of the law. France has had the same experience, and England, in spite of an apparently voluntary system applied to the ulti- mate consumer, really has gone very far in the same direction. The great value of starting with a volunteer plan is that the public gradually be- comes used to the idea of regulation. Ss casnieuneneeesmmasemsnsememememenss ss ey The problem of life is to “decen- tralize trouble and centralize effi- ciency.” Here you have it in a nut shell. ¢ 2 4 , tL- 4 | > 4 <> > 4 ® « > ay. 4 4 } « i » e.g > a i i ~ & . 4 4 fob 7” q ™~ ? 4d +. e * ‘ ' > %s, ** 2 x t w& ¢€ > 4 > ~ ‘ s » a « 4 > é » “J ? € * d « a CY December 19, 1917 THE TIPPING SYSTEM. Attitude of Pullman Company To- ward the Abuse. Chicago, Dec. 17—The announce- ment that the Pullman Company has been enjoying exceptional prosperity —the profits for the last fiscal year being the largest in its history—has led to a revival of the campaign against the tipping system so far as it is practiced on the Pullman sleep- ing and parlor-cars, The company is charged with difference to the moral welfare of its colored employes, the porters, and with wilful perpetuation of a plan which degrades the negro while subjecting the patrons of the company to a species of petty and dishonest “graft.” Why, it is asked, does not the company, steeped in riches by its own admission, rid it- self of a vicious and degrading prac- tice? The substance of these criticisms was laid before officers of the Pull- man Company at its offices in this city. They listened patiently and courteously, remarking that they were ready to submit to any honest, ju- dicious paper all the facts and figures which they deemed relevant to a proper grasp of the problem involved in the tipping system on Pullman cars. But they did not care to en- ter into a controversy with press critics, nor to assume a defensive and apologetic attitude. They were not even disposed to take a definite po- sition on the tipping question. They were willing to submit data, however, and let level-headed, just, and practi- cal men consider the data and reach their own conclusions. 3efore presenting the data furnish- ed, the general views of the company, as gathered from informal and frank discussions not, however, meant for publication in quotation marks, may be summarized, perhaps, as follows: The Pullman porter and his tip can- not be treated as an isolated problem, a problem the Pullman Company is morally responsible for in any degree or in a position to solve satisfactorily on its own account. The _ tipping problem is a general, a world prob- lem. Tipping may be in every way objectionable, although opinions dif- fer with regard to this fundamental premise—and the public may be justi- fied in complaining against it on mor- al and economic grounds. But it is practically impossible to do away with the tipping system. Some states have adepted stringent anti- -tipping statutes —with what. result? Are these statutes ner one to any extent? Even the state officials violate them. The public has forgotten their very ex- istence. Are tips given and received be- cause wages are too low in the trades and occupations in which the system obtains? Would tipping disappear il eve shaly received a living wage? Some answer these questions with a confident “Yes.” but there is no real ground for their confidence. The fact seems to be that tips are given for certain kinds of personal service, and that the highest wage for such service would not do away with the tip, Perhaps all personal service ought to be reformed and made im- personal. But while service remains personal, to the degree to which it is personal. does it invite tipping. There are hundreds of thousands of hotel and restaurant waiters. chamber- maids, hotel porters, bell-boys and so on, who expect tips and get them. Tipping has invaded the barber shops. In Europe even superior hotel em- ployes do not scorn tips. Domestic servants everywhere expect tips from euests and are indignant if they fail to get them. These being the facts, why should the Pullman Company be singled out for attack by opponents of the wide- spread, deep-rooted tipping system? The Pullman Company wishes to do the right and decent thing, but it is not a reform body. It is in business MICHIGAN TRADESMAN under existing standards and condi- tions, and it tries to live up to the highest business standards now rec- ognized. “Moreover, if the Pullman Company earnestly wished and attempted to do away with tipping of porters, it could not realize that ideal. It might, of course, raise wages and forbid tip- ping. It might threaten the dis- charge of any porter found guilty of taking a tip. But all this would fail to abolish the practice. Tips would continue to be given and taken, and the only result would be very bad service, with flagrant discrimination against the non-tipping travelers in favor of the violators of the com- pany’s order. How long would the public stand such discrimination? Our last state would be worse than the first. As to the degradation of the Amer- ican negro, there is no evidence that tipping has degraded the negro—that is, in any special sense. Has it de- graded the colored porter to a lower depth than it has the colored waiter in a hotel—or the white waiter, for that matter? Tipping existed before the negro received his freedom in America; the colored freeman adopt- ed a practice in which the ‘superior’ whites had indulged from time imme- morial, Is it, then, fair, to talk about the degradation of the colored race by the Pullman Company? Finally, there is another important consideration to be taken into ac- count. The Pullman porter gets his tip, not for services he is paid and hired to do, not for services that na- turally go with the berth purchased, but for additional, personal services that, in the absence of tipping, would simply not be rendered to the travel- ing public. Shoes would not be shin- ed, for example. Clothes might not be brushed at the end of the journey —or brushed perfunctorily. Suit cases and satchels would not be carried out of the car by the porters. These serv- ices form no part, strictly speaking, of the porter’s regular job. The porter performs them, the company offering no objection, and gets extra pay for them from the traveling public. The public is not, therefore, paying twice for service. However, it is not to be denied that, were tipping eliminated, all those servant who receive gratuities, so- called, would command higher wages. Tips are, of course, considered by em- ployers in fixing wages—but less by the Pullman Company than by many —if not by all—hotel and restaurant keepers. It is notorious that many waiters get very little pay, and that not a few are believed to pay the proprietors for the privilege of pocket- ing tips. The Pullman Company does more for its porters than the public is often led to believe. This brings us to the question of fact: What does the company pay its porters, and what does it do for them in addition to what wage contract calls for? The porter’s minimum wage is now $30 a month. A few years ago it was $25. The average monthly wage of a porter as a class is about $36. Many porters earn between $40 and _ $50, while some go up to $60. An additional sum, equal to a month’s pay, is allowed by the com- pany each year for a good, clean rec- ord. A porter who loses this bonus by carelessness or violation of rules is afforded opportunity, by extra care and conscientiousness, to rehabilitate himself by the end of the year and get his bonus. Last year about 74 per cent. of the porters—and the com- pany has increased the number lately by about a thousand—earned and re- ceived this extra sum. After ten years’ service, the com- pany gives the porter two new uni- forms each year, thus saving him about $50 annually. After five years’ service porters are entitled to sick relief or sick benefits, the minimum being equal to one month’s full pay and one month’s half pay. After fifteen years’ service porters receive an increase in their regular monthly wages equal to 10 per cent. Further annual increases are granted after each additional five-year period of service. Porters are pensioned and retired at 70 after twenty years of service, the minimum pension amounting to $22.50 per month at this time. A porter who is disabled by accident or illness is retired at any age, if he has served the company for twenty years or more. The company voluntarily makes a contribution to the Pullman Porters’ Benefit Association toward the pay- ment of death benefits, the amount being equal to 5 per cent. of the total raised and paid by the Association itself. This Association is organized on the zone basis, and no porter is required to join it where it exists. Finally, the company provides, practically at all points, sleeping quar- ters for porters away from their home stations. Applicants are examined and if con- sidered fit for the position of porter they are given more or less training and instruction in a school maintained by the company, so that their work may be satisfactory even at the start. As a result of all these conditions, it appears, about a fourth of the com- pany’s porters have been in its serv- ice over'ten years. Many have been in service much longer; quite a num- ber over twenty years, and several thirty years. Many leave to find bet- tet positions, only to return and ask for reinstatement. These figures, with the general ideas of the Pullman Company, as indicated above, were submitted for analysis to impartial and intelligent citizens in- terested in the welfare of the negro labcrer. One of these, an educator and social progressive, thought the company’s position distincly unten- able. It may be true, he said, that tipping cannot be abolished by fiat, not even by a corporation so power- ful as the Pullman, which has _ vir- tually no competitors. It may be true that many porters would continue to take tips and many passengers would tender them, even if the company should prohibit tipping and dismiss offending porters. But the company would not be responsible for that de- gree of tipping. Its conscience would be clear. It would know that it was paying a living wage to the porters, and that the traveling public was not expected to make up a painful deficit in the porter’s family budget. The ras company might make it perfectly plain to the public, by advertisements and placards, that such service as_ the shining of shoes was not within the porter’s regular duties. This would largely eliminate favoritism and per- plexity. As things stand, the com- pany does pay less than a _ proper wage, and the public feels this, and cannot help resenting the tipping prac- tically forced upon it. Another citizen pointed out that even organized white waiters and oth- er servants accept tips, and, thinking aloud, asked: “If the trade unions cannot induce their members to give up this source of income, in spite of all that labor leaders say about the dignity and self-respect of organized workers, how can the Pullman porters be asked to give up the tip?” The third citizen thought the ques- tion most complicated and annoying. He thought a monopoly like the Pull- man Company might at least make the experiment of forbidding tipping for any reoular service, and raising the pay of the porters to a proper level; but he was not disposed to press the idea. Vanity. false pride, moral cowardice, selfishness, he thought, were responsible for the tipping nui- sance, and the same mean qualities 07 the average human would perpetuate tipping. If, he mused, men are not rational enough to stop killing one another at the bidding of politicians. or jingoes, or war lords, can we ex-’ pect them to stop tipping? Courage, independence, good sense, contempt for snobbery, devotion to principle— these are the attributes we need in order to disregard the sneers, the dagger-like looks, and the hostile de- meanor generally of disappointed servants, who fail to get what they deem the proper tip. How many of us are willing to suffer even small in- convenience and unpleasantnesses for a principle-—suffer them, not once, in a heroic or defiant mood, but suffer them every time we take a journey, dine at a hotel or restaurant, pay a visit to a friend? The subject cannot be anywhere without controversy. Perhaps this is the rea- son why the Pullman Company has not seriously discussed the question of experimenting with tipless sleep- ers and tipless chaircars. Certainly mentioned starting a lively the company does not feel that “it is up fo it” to lead in the movement of uplifting “personal,” or domestic, service in the whole world by mak- ink war on the porter’s tip—for this, in a nutshell, is how the matter really presents itself to its leading officials. Victor S. Yarros. B Rd : Ne Every Housewife Praises SCHULZES SILVER GOLD FRUIT SPICE pains cE », SERVE IT We solicit shipping accounts from country dealers SCHULZE BAKING COMPANY GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 10 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN Promoting a War Time Shoe Busi- ness. Written for the Tradesman, This war is upsetting many well- laid plans among retail shoe dealers throughout the country. A chart showing the rise and fall] of public sentiment—i. e. the hopes and fears of the American people— during the three and a half years of the war would be an interesting study. At the very beginning, when the stout little forts of Belgium had yield- ed to Germany’s big howitzers and the proud ranks of the Kaiser’s great army were approaching nearer and nearer to Paris, their first objective, there was a tremendous depression in this country. This was followed by a feeling of false security and ill founded hope- fulness consequent upon the battle of the Marne. The first defeat oi Russia’s forces in the field, their con- sequent flight in panic, and the Ger- man round-up of Russian prisoners, brought a reaction in sentiment. This was wiped out and forgotten by a later successful drive of the Russians. And so, month by month and year by year, hopes have arisen amongst our people by Allied successes—only to be dashed to the ground upon the receipt of news apropos reverses. The low water mark of our public pulse was reached last summer when it appeared that Germany’s ruthless submarine threat was in a fair way to be made good. What has all this got to do with selling shoes? Much everyway, be- lieve me. A sense of insecurity paves the way for pessimism and retrench- ment—in the matter of footwear pur- chases along with pretty much every- thing else under the sun. The retail shoe dealer who has keep a monthly record of his sales during the period of the war would do well to study this record. He will find it full of ups and downs Selling has been sporadic, freakish. and without a precedent in recent years. Sometimes the public has been in a buying frame of mind, but often it hasn’t. And there’s no use mincing words: the business of the average shoe dealer has suffered. The volume of business, on the whole, has shrunk. If one has gone ahead somewhat (as some have) in the matter of profits, it has been on the basis of fewer pairs sold: if one has broken even in the matter of prof- its for the season, or year, it has been on the basis of a still larger shrink- age in the number of pairs sold. The truth is people have been re- trenching all along the Jine—and some of them have apparently made a deliberate effort to retrench in the matter of wearables, especially shoes. Repair men report an abnormal in- crease in the volume of the repair business. People are getting shoes repaired to-day who haven't hitherto visited a repair shop for years. And it isn’t altogether the poorer classes that are conspiring to over-work the repair people; it’s the well-to-do, and even the rich! Why so? It’s a_ psychological phenomenon. Lectures, preachments, editorials, feature articles, countless paragraphs, and all manner of special contributions under divers and sun- dry scarehead titles—all have helped to convince the average American that he is desperately hard up now (if he only knew it), and that he’s going to be ever so much harder up to-morrow than he is to-day, and that the day after to-morrow (or next year, or some time during the subse- quent development of this intermin- able war), he is going to be in a per- ilous situation—wheatless, meatless, fatless, sugarless, shoeless, and the good Lord only knows what! Now it’s all right, on general prin- ciples, to preach the gospel of sav- ing—provided one preaches it along sane and legitimate lines; but there is a point where such preachments de- generate into pure and unadulterated pessimism—and pessimism hurts busi- ness. Let us observe wheatless and meatless meals and days, and let us bake, broil and boil (as our Govern- ment urges us to do, in order to con- serve our fats) and let us be nct wasteful of sugar; but in the name of all the proprieties is there any rea- son for our going barefoot? The shoe industry of America is an important one. Thereby a vast army of our American workmen and merchants earn a livelihood. If this business of footwear retrenchment keeps on and continues to increase in severity as the war goes forward, there will be a heavy bill of damages to pay. In the first place shoe manufac- turers and shoe operatives will suf- fer; for a part, at least, of their oc- cupation will be gone. Making less money themselves, they'll naturally have less money to spend with oth- ers. Those among them who rent, will be compelled to let their rent go unpaid or move into smaller quar- ters. Landlords will suffer. Build- ing and Loan Associations, through which thousands of these shoe oper- atives are paying for homes, will suf- fer; mortgages will have to be fore- closed; litigations will ensue. Less money will be spent with grocers, December 19, 1917 ° Nifty New Novelties Ready to Ship No. 2806—Mahogany Tan Calf Welt. B to D, 3 to 7......----- eeeeeeeeee Price, $5.35 No. 2828—Mahogany Tan Calf McKay, Bto D, 3to7......-----+- +--+ 05s Price, 4 50 No. 2815—Mahogany Tan Calf McKay, D only, 256 to 7......------seeee- Price, 3.75 Rindge, Kalmbach, Logie Company Grand Rapids, Michigan A Week To Be Remembered by all who make a trip to Grand Rapids and look over our close out numbers. We do not intend to inventory a pair of shoes that is not in our regular line for spring. To do this we are going to price them all so that we can sell every pair from Christmas to New Years. Some mighty good values to be had for that January sale. 21 doz. Men’s Tan Outing, Nailed, 6-10 17 doz. Men’s Cheap Side Bluch. McKay. 6-3C And many other values equally as good Hirth-Krause Co. Tanners and Shoe Mfgrs. Grand Rapids, Michigan SSS SSS q » 4: a» é a ' 4 ° ya . > 4 » 4 + s - e af » arg o a * é \ D ¢ ¢ c¢ Mi ie ie 4: a» é a ' 4 ° ied . > 4 » a, ¥ e of >, a @ a > é v D ¢ ¢ a¢ Py Decernber 19, 1417 meat dealers, department stores, fur- niture dealers, and so on ad infinitum. And then the people who have fool- ed themselves into thinking they are economizing by denying themselves needed shoes, will one day arrive at a painful disillusionment. Improper- ly clad feet means inadequate foot protection; and inadequate foot pro- tection spells colds, pneumonia, dis- eased and injured feet. If one must gratify a penchant for cutting down somewhere in the matter of expendi- ture for wearables, it’s far better to let the shoe item alone and make his retrerchment somewhere else. A felt hat, for instance, can be sent to the cleaner’s and rejuvenated for say a dollar and a half, thereby saving $1.50 to $3.50. As aman doesn’t walk on his head, there is a far greater per- centage of wear value in the hat than there is in his shoes at the end of the season: indeed, so far as service is concerned, the hat may have quite as much service in it after being clean- ed as it had before, But you can’t say that of a pair of shoes that have been repaired. As the war goes on, it is to be hoped the American public will come to a solidly sane view of the situa- tion, and learn to practice economy in legitimate fields. And the thing the retail shoe dealer is up against just new is to help nurse along prop- er ideas in regard to actual footwear requirements. With something over a hundred millions of people in this country who ought to be properly shod in order that they may retain their health and co-operate most el- fectively with our expeditionary forces now in the field and those who shall at present be in the field, we cannot afford to get any silly notions of false footwear economy in our heads. Every retail shoe dealer through- out the country should conceive it to be a part of his function to help the people of his own locality to think straight on this important proposi- tion. This is what I call promotiny a war time shoe business. Cid McKay. —_ ++ >___ Thinks Mr. Hach Might Have Said More. Saginaw, Dec. 17—In the days when the late P. M. Armour had his office at 205 LaSalle street, he had over the desk in the little office in the éor- ner a framed motto—probably con- cocted by himself—reading as_ fol- lows: “Say little of what you have done. Say nothing of what you in- tend to do.” The address of John A. Hach, of Coldwater, before the hotel keepers’ convention at Saginaw naturally leads to the conclusion that John does not agree with the great authority on hogs, grain and_ rail- roads, inasmuch as he opened the book wide upon and told the landlords ex- actly what the traveling men wanted in the way of machinery to make the Henry law effective. And the land- lords slyly winked to each other and quietly proceeded to adept plans which will block the game of the trav- eling men in attempting to secure remedial legislation during the next session of Michigan’s solons. It so happened that the writer mingled among the landlords in the hotel cor- ridors at Saginaw and, incidentally, overheard enough chance remarks dropped to convince him that the hotel men proposed to make mince meat of any effort the traveling men MICHIGAN TRADESMAN may put forth to amend the Henry law in such a way as to render it operative. The hotel men are satis- fied with the law as it is, because it is perfectly harmless as it stands on the statute books, due to the fact that there is no machinery to enforce it. That means, of course, that it is a dead letter—a sop to the traveler without incurring any obligation on the part of the hotel men to live up to its provisions and obey its behests. The programme decided upon by the hotel men is to pretend to favor the overtures of the traveling men, but really to knife and defeat any effort the latter may make to render the law vitally effective. To the writer it seems there are a number of timely statements our Grand officer could have made the hotel men which would have been di- cidedly in order at this time. He could have warned them, for instance, that any wholesale advance in rates should be accompanied by an im- provement in the service—at least by the maintenance of the old stan- dard of service. As a matter of fact, the writer notes that the hotel which makes a horizontal advance in rates invariable reduces its service in in- verse ratio, which works an unnec- essary hardship on the commercial travelor. He could also have told the landlords, in terms which they could not fail to comprehend, that the pernicious practice of charging com- mercial travelers one price and local people a much lower price for the same service should be abolished. He could have reminded them that there is a long period of peace ahead of us, when normal prices for staples will again prevail, and that the land- lord who takes advantage of the pres- ent era of high prices to boost his rates beyond the point of reasonable- ness will be remembered—and put out of business—when normal con- ditions are resumed, In fact, there are quite a few things I think Mr. Hach could have said to our hotel friends if he had taken a little more time and devoted a little more thought to the subject. The time was an op- portune one to convince the landlords that the traveling men are not a class cf ninnies, to be dealt with as though they were children. U cr se Why Don’t He Stop the War? Written for the Tradesman. “Oh, why don’t God stop the war? He could do it,” said a mother whose son had been drafted for the army. Why don’t He? Are all mothers, wives and sisters of the soldiers boys asking Him to do so? Does every woman and girl pray as she sews and knits for the Red Cross hospitals, the orphans of France and Belgium or the boys at the front? The blessing that God has for this country cannot come until America is brought to her knees. Which will they bow down to, God or the Kaiser? God must rule in the heart before he can grant the prayer. The sooner America turns from seeking ease, prosperity, indulgence, extravagance, extortion, reckless rushing after pleasure, law- defying and God-defying ingratitude, hatred and strife, the sooner will the war end, When Abraham demon- strated his faith and obedience, he was not required to sacrifice his son. So may it be with us. America, by her failure to prohibit and crush cer- tain stupendous evils, has allowed un- told numbers of her men, women. boys and girls to be sacrificed. As war measures she is now beginning to do what she would not do to save the individual life from his own folly or the snares of those who slay for gain. E. E. Whitney. ll Merry Christmas To You and Yours Is the Wish of Your Friends we a The Crand RapidsShoe & Rubber(o The Michigan People Grand Rapids The STYLE and QUALITY Combination to be Found in The “Bertsch’’ Goodyear Welt Shoe for Men will bring you the repeat orders. The insistent demand of your best trade for a moderate priced shoe, having both STYLE and QUALITY, can best be suited by selling them the BERTSCH shoe line. The BERTSCH shoe stands alone—is in a class by itself. We have aimed to make a line to appeal to the average man—the man who wants style. good conservative style and quality. so that he will get service from the shoes he buys. In the BERTSCH shoe you will find both style and quality—quality of workmanship and quality of material—far superior to any similar line offered you today. They are so carefully worked together into the shoe that the com- bination forms a trade builder you cannot overlook. Your customers will find in the BERTSCH shoes comfort and service- giving qualities they want. For the future success of your business YOU should RECOMMEND and SELL the BERTSCH shoe line to your trade. Herold-Bertsch Shoe Co. Manufacturers of Serviceable Footwear GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 12 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN December 19, 1917 i =e fe = ze aus = ga = - 2 @ = - = a 5 (2 FINANCIAL: :?; ‘ —, = — ’ = = Pa . 4 — = - - pa 4 ~ _ a an - — 4 -. = = tea 7 ee e — N e wll XN fr Rep yy G : : (] i. ( = SS , oe 4 ’ »», 4 MI, — —— i —— Epoch Making Times Precipitated By the War. Written for the Tradesman. Pressing need of the Allies and the United States for silver coin is re- sponsible for a plan of the Govern- ment to purchase the entire output of the United States silver mines at a price which is believed will be set at 87 cents an ounce. It is stated jewelers, manufacturers of dental and optical supplies and other users of silver will, under the tentative Govy- ernment plan, continue to receive their supplies probably at the stan- dard price. Growth of individual strikingly illustrated in statistical tables prepared by the Income Tax Division of the Internal Revenue Bu- reau at Washington and which will later be published as an appendix to the report of Internal Revenue Com- missioner Daniel C. Roper. It will show that in the last income taxing year, 1916, there were 22,696 Ameri- can millionaires. The income tax re- turns for 1915 showed a grand total of 14,771 millionaires, making the in- crease for 1916 over the previous year 7,925. These are not census figures, but are compiled from income tax returns which have yielded the Gov- ernment a large revenue. Experts of the income tax department, in mak- ing the estimate of millionaires. em- ploy the simple rule of capitalizing the fortunes of men who pay the tax by assuming the average rate of in- come is around 4 per cent. and he- ginning with the class of incomes that range from $40.000 to $50,000 and go- ing up to the last class under the law, which is income ranging from $5,000.000 up, it is an easy matter to calculate the number of mill‘onaires. But there is a class of incomes rang- ing from $30,000 to $40,000 a year. and there are, no doubt, many mil- lionaires within it—men who get only 3 per cent. on their investments or who have periodical reverses. and so claim exemptions that for the time being set them hack of the miltion mark. The class of multi-millionaires is not so easily estimated. Thereare ten persons in the country who have an annual income of $5.000.000. Reck- ened on the rule of a 4 per cent. rate of interest, these men are worth *125,000.000 each. There are nine persons who last year were taxed for income of from $4,000,000 to $5.000,- 000. These may be regarded as hav- ing fortunes of $100,000.000 each. There are fourteen who reported hav- ing incomes between $3.000000 and $4 000 000: thirtv-four having incomes ranging from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. Tf all persons who in the various wealth 1s classes made by the income tax law received incomes ranging from $150,- 000 up to the highest class are to be described as multi-millionaires, we would have in the United States 3,- 733 of them, which is almost exactly the strength of a regiment of infantry under the new United States Army organization. The latest appeal of Secretary Mc- Adoo to the people to buy War Sav- ings Certificates says: “This war can- not be financed unless the American people at once stop waste, practice self-denial and lend the money they save thereby to the Government. The campaign for the sale of war savings stamps in denominations of 25 cents and $5 is of the utmost importance. No such opportunity as this has ever been offered to the Americans for investing their savings with absolute safety at such attractive rates of in- terest. The Government will accept your money and pay interest at 4 per cent. per annum compounded quarterly, Let every man, woman and child reflect as they are about to spend 25 cents wastefully or needlessly how much that 25 cents will do for some splendid son of America who is fight- ing on the battle fields of Europe, how much even 25 cents multiplied by 100,000,000 loyal and_ patriotic American citizens will help their Government to bring to a quick end this horrible carnage in Europe; how many lives of America’s noble sons will be saved the sooner the war is ended. I appeal to the heart and patriotism of the American people to help their Government and help them- selves by a whole hearted support oi this war savings plan.” The appeal is a proper one and the fine manner in which the American Nation is living up to its high ideals assures its success. There is not a werd to say in condemnation of any legitimate plan to furnish the sinews of war, but there is room for sug- gestion as to the handling of the money. The fact must be taken into consideration that the more wide- spread and voluminous the purchase of these war savings’ stamps, the greater will be the decrease in sav- ings banks deposits. It must be re- membered that it is due to the proper investments of savings by the banks that the business of the ccuntry— transportation, industrial and com- mercia!—has been built up to its pres- ent proportions. It would be but fair and just that the money received through the sale of these war sav- ings stamps, instead of being forward- ed to Washington at once, should be deposited in the banks in the com- munities in which the stamps are BUY SAFE BONDS 0 Tax Exempt in Michigan Write for our offerings Howe Snow CorrIiGAN & BERTLES INVESTMENT BANKERS GRAND RAPIDS SAVINGS BANK BLDG. GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN. Michigan Bankers & Merchants’ Mutual Fire Insurance Co. Fremont, Michigan We are organized under the laws of Michigan and our officers and directors include the best merchants, bankers and business men of Fremont. We write mercantile risks and store buildings occupied by our policy holders at 25 per cent. less than the board rate established by the Michigan Inspection Bureau. If you are interested in saving one-third of your expenditure for fire insurance, write us for particulars. Wm. N. Senf, Secretary. Create a Trust Fund for the benefit of your family and yourself by putting a part of all your property in our hands as trustee under a Deed of Trust. The trust may be established with a moderate amount of property and additions made to it from time to time. You may re- serve the right to terminate the Trust or change your Trustee or Beneficiaries and thus have an opportunity to meet changing conditions. Send for Blank Form of Will and Booklet on the “Descent and Distribution of Property’’ THE MICHIGAN TRUST Co. OF GRAND RAPIDS Audits made of books of municipalities, corporations, firms and individuals Safe Deposit Vaults on ground floor Boxes to rent at low cost .% » gle + 4's | v* | Ry ¢ ¢ » | a 136 ‘ y » i &, ° , “ey Co os a} eu é December 19, 1917 sold, and allowed to remain there un- til needed by the Government. It would be well for the banks and oth- er business interests in Michigan to take this matter up with their sen- ators and representatives with a view of securing this disposition of the money. Joyful news comes from Washing- ton to small corporations and busi- ness men operating on $100,000 cap- ital or less in the form of a new rul- ing by the Treasury Department per- mitting full deductions of the exemp- tions named in the excess profits tax law. A previous ruling confined ex- emptions to the first step in the tax, so that where the exemptions were more than 15 per cent. only partial benefit was derived. The old ruling is now reversed and thousands oi small cencerns will be saved from threatend ruin. The vital importance of the excess profit tax above an- nounced can be appreciated from an example: A corporation with $20,000 capital, which in the pre-war period earned 9 per cent. or more, should have an exemption of 9 per cent. of capital ($1,800) plus $3,000, or $4,800 in all. But under the ruling now re- versed, the exemption in no case should exceed 15 per cent. of the cap- ital which in this case would be $3,- 000. Thus, if the corporation’s earn- ings were $5,000, the excess profit tax would have been levied on the excess above $3,000 or $2,000, whereas under the present ruling the tax will apply against only $200 of income. The effect of the new ruling will also be to relieve from tax entirely many small businesses which, had the for- mer ruling stood unchanged, would have been compelled to yield up to the Government a very substantial part of their annual profits. There is no doubt but that early in this session Congress will revise, if not repeal, the entire income tax law because of its clouded legislation with regard to the excess profits di- vision. Leaders in the Senate who stood ‘for high taxation of corpora- tions are finding out that corporations all over the country are in a quandary as to how the tax is to be applied. They have also been advised that the com- mission of experts appointed by Sec- retary of the Treasury McAdoo to unravel the tangle is unable to do so and that its members are fully as much in a quandary as are the corporations. These experts have turned to the legal experts also appointed by McAdoo, but these gentlemen have been un- able to show the way out. It is ex- pected that these advisors, legal and expert, will ask Congress to repeal the excess profits provision of the law and enact in its stead legislation that will be easier to interpret. From what information is obtainable there is a strong sentiment in both houses for a repeal of the entire $2,534,870,- 000 revenue measure and the enact- ment of an entirely new measure. Dissatisfaction has cropped out among holders of the underlying bonds of the old Pere Marquette Rail- way over the settlement under the re-organization. While a good many have deposited their holdings and ac- cepted either new stock or bonds in exchange, some are holding out for MICHIGAN TRADESMAN better terms. The latter allege that the re-organization plan as it is being carried out is not in conformity with the recommendation of the Michigan Railway Commission and the order of the court prior to foreclosure. It is declared Judge Tuttle in the United States District Court of Detroit or- dered the road sold under foreclosure at a price not less than $14,000,000 more than the total face value cf the underlying bonds. The Michigan Railway Commission, prior to fore- closure, pointed out the plan as ap- proved by it would give underlying bond holders face value of their bonds in new bonds after foreclosure, Un- derlying bond holders, instead, are being offered, in some cases, no bonds at all, but preferred and common stock worth at current prices one- eighth to one-third of the face value of the bonds. Frank A. Vanderlip’s plan for the complete unification of the railroads is being seriously considered at Washington. He favors unification not only during the war, but as a permanent means of establishing ef- ficiency in operation. His idea is to establish railroad districts, each to be controlled by a centralized organ- ization. In his opinion the present predicament of the railroads is due to the fact that there has been no “National railroad thinking.” road officials, he holds, have been thinking primarily of returns. Ship- pers have been striving to cut down rates, and the public, as a whole, has been content to do nothing. He be- lieves the anti-pooling and anti-trust laws should be set aside, so far as the railroads are concerned. Govern- ment control seems the solution of the problem for the present, as Congress is not likely to grant financial assist- ance necessary unless the railroads are under the control of the Govern- ment. These are epoch making times. Both the war tax question and the railroad problem are of vital impor- tance to all classes of bus’ness in- terests, and intelligent consideration upon the part of business men, com- municated to our senators and con- gressmen, will aid them in solving these problems satisfactorily. Paul Leake. —_-. Unsatisfactory Methods of Distribution. Written for the Tradesman. If the sugar famine continues or if consumers are to be limited to a certain number of pounds per capita, a different system of distribution must be adopted. People who now go from store to store and purchase as much as possible at each one are using as much as formerly or they are hoard- ing for the future, while those who are unable to leave home to hunt up sugar or are dependent on only one store for their supply are not getting an average share of the limited quan- tity which reaches the stores. A sugar card should be issued every householder showing the number of pounds he or she may purchase each Rail- Sutar week. This should cover three months at least, having thirteen spaces, each containing the printed figures 2, 3, 4 or more, to be punched out by the grocer at every time of purchase. This could be presented at any grocery store and the grocer should be allowed to sell more than a week’s supply in case the customer is a farmer living at a distance and finds it inconvenient to come to town often. Obliging the grocer to weigh and do up fifty packages to every 100 pounds of sugar is doubling or treb- ling his labor and increasing his expense for paper bags and twine, while it cperates as a check only upon those who least need restraint. E. E. Whitney. —_>2.____ Two or three heaping spconsful oi sugar drown the taste of real good coffee and robs one of part of his en- joyment of a meal. 13 Kent State Bank Main Office Fountain St. ‘Facing Monroe Grand Rapids, Mich. Capital - - - $500,000 Surplus and Profits $500,000 Resources 9 Million Dollars 345 Per Cent Paid on Certificates Largest State and Savings Bank in Western Michigan Merchants Life Insurance Co. ASSETS $2,471,351.65 OLD LINE INSURANCE AT ITS LOWEST NET COST WM H. ANDERSON, President J. CLINTON BISHOP, Cashier ® Fourth National Bank United States Depositary Savings Deposits Commercial Deposits 3 Per Cent Interest Paid on Savings Deposits Compounded Semi-Annually 1 3% Per Cent Interest Paid on Certificates of Deposit Left One Year Capital Stock and Surplus $580,000 LAVANT Z. CAUKIN, Vice President ALVA T. EDISON, Ass’t Cashier “Trice. NATIONAL BANK GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 177 MONROE AVE. Complete Banking Service Travelers’ Cheques Safety Deposit Vaults Letters of Credit Savings Department Foreign Drafts Commercial Department Our 3! Per Cent SAVINGS CERTIFICATES ARE A DESIRABLE INVESTMENT 14 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN December 19, 1917 Self Control the King Pin of Success. A man has two Creators—God and himself. His first Creator furnishes him with the raw material of his life, also the laws and charts with which to map out his life and build a man, or at least they are supplied him as soon as he begins to wander around this hem- isphere. His second Creator then is himself. We rarely realize the mar- velous powers to create, within our- selves; then if man is his own second Creator it is what man makes of him- self that counts and “cuts ice.” Man’s answer to failure many times, in fact most always, is, “God made me,” but when he succeeds, he proud- ly proclaims himself a seli-made man. Man’s greatest enemy is himself. The God-made man in his weakness is a creature of circumstance; whether he be a victim depends largely on him- self; man is not great for what he is in the raw material, but ever for what he may become. Until you become cognizant of the possibilities that lie within you you cannot start on the road to genuine manhood. It is these possibilities I hope to arouse and put into action: these possibilities once aroused, you will make a noise like something doing; no man ever travel- ed the high road of fame who did not first acquire self-control, and keep it. Self-control, then, is the first step and the hardest. Glance over all his- tory and you will find Self-control the King Pin of Success. It is the one great quality that distinguishes man from the animal. He is the only animal capable of a moral struggle or a moral con- quest. Every step in the world’s prog- been a new control. Man looked in terror for ages at the light- ning’s flash—now he has controlled it and made it his slave. Each moment of a man’s life he is either king or slave; as he day by day crushes out human weakness, masters passion and appetite, masters each opposing ele- ment in his makeup, he builds a man four square to all winds that blow. Man should think, “I am a great liv- ‘ing soul, with marvelous possibilities,” instead of, “I am a poor weak worm of the dust.” With the broad stimulat- ing view of life he sees how he may attain his coveted place in human af- ress has fairs by self-control. Somewhere I have read an advertise- ment, “Don’t envy your neighbor’s com- plexion—get one.” (Of course, this is Let me paraphrase; do other’s for women.) not envy success, but emulate and adopt the process that gave them success, and the greatest of these is self- control. The boys who succeed have fierce, cven vicious desires, passions ap- petites—but they succeed by mastering them and thereby mastering their work. You self-control by the same process you develop a muscle; by exercising it a little each day. can acquire Sandow could scarcely lift 300 pounds when he first beg2n to train. You cannot trans- form yourself in a day or a week, but you can begin, and by constant practice, see yourself develop, and you will be delighted with the results; your whole physical makeup will change—your face, even your person, change. your voice will ,egin with little things, add the larger ones as you develop; the reward will more than satisfy you. Find out your weakest point; then put your strongest guard at your weakest gate; force them to stay there and fight— and fight until you succeed. Selfishness, cowardice, morbidness of mind, temper, laziness, worry, mind wandering, and any form of human weakness can be overpowered; and in- stead can be planted, courage, character, will power, forcefulness, well-balanced mind, etc. Live each day. Don’t worry over your mistakes—they are just so much schooling. The man _ who _ never made mistakes, never sinned, never in- dulged in human error, as a general proposition, is not worth a “tinker’s tink.” I heard or read somewhere, something like this, “Requisites for a strong character are bold design, con- stant practice, frequent mistakes.” Again I read “All education is self- education; schools and colleges are merely agencies to make learning easy.’’ The main thing in making mistakes, is not to repeat; don’t respond to encore. Will you be a salesman, or will you be a “Mutt?” Just a mere exister. Don’t knock your competitor; instead, present your case in an artful way; act—acting is knowledge and intelligence, seasoned with work; practicing salesmanship, practicing intelligence, breeds more in- telligence; good microbes breed; so do bad. I recall in my boyhood days the plead- ings of many a good old soul before the throne. I have heard many of those good old time religious souls make this statement, “God in His wisdom and mercy, has sent such and such a judg- ment on us,” etc. Misfortune is not sent on you; it is brought on. Fre- quently, we hear it is judgment sent on. T have heard many good people say that judgment and misfortune are sent in order to chastise us. I wonder how they know. Have they been loafing, or eaves-dropping around the throne? T knew a little one-gallus, blue-overall farm lad on an Ohio Valley farm who was afraid in the dark; he determined to control it, and did. In a few months he could sit on the fence, or in the darkest canyon in the woods without whistling to keep up his courage. Mas- tering that one weakness, led him to master many others. Don’t worry. It tears down nervous energy; instead conserve and store it for reserve; be yourself; just what you are; Jacks John, Farmer or Saint, Don’t trv to be something you are not. Don’t tell your troubles. Don’t syndicate your sorrows. and pass them on to others: more than half of it is imagination: ves, seven-eighths: if you must use vour imagination. and work it overtime, write storiettes, to keep your mind off vour imaginary troubles; but be sure to tear them up and throw them in the waste-basket. Don’t search yourself with a micro- scope for your bodily ills; don’t radiate your ills and troubles; most of you haven’t any: it is just your state of mind—control it. Radiate instead, smiles, sunshine, cheer and you will be building a man. Concentrate your mis- takes and errors into a searchlight to look ahead to avoid the very rocks and errors that you have been breaking up on. Regret should only be light of a Do Not Delay Do you know what would be the disposition of your property if you died without a will? Do you realize the possible delays in the dangers of your property going to those for whom the results of your life’s work were not intended? settling your affairs; If you did you would not delay. Write or call for our booket on ‘‘De- scent and Distribution of Property.’’ [RAND RAPiOS [RUST [|OMPAAY MANAGED BY MEN YOU KNOW OTTAWA AT FOUNTAIN. BOTH PHONES 4391 GRAND RAPIDS NATIONAL CITY BANK CITY TRUST & SAVINGS BANK ASSOCIATED CAMPAU SQUARE The convenient banks for out of town people. Located at the very center of ia 0 Handy to the street cars—the Interurbans—the hotele—the shopping strict. On account of our tocation—our farge transit facilities—our safe deposit vaults and our complete service covering the entire field of banking, our Institutions must be the ultimate choice of out of town bankers and Individuals. Combined Capital and Surplus.................. $ 1,724,300.00 Combined Total Deposits ..................00- 10,168,700.00 Combined Total Resources .................00- 13,157,100.00 GRAND RAPIDS NATIONAL CITY BANK CITY TRUST & SAVINGS BANK «ASSOCIATED December 19, 1917 fuller wisdom from out of past mis- takes; merely experience to light and illuminate the future. Then let us make regret for our past failures, future wis- dom. Don’t desire to live your life over again; you might do worse; but live the future differently by the great Electrical Searchlight of past error. Charles B. Chancellor. ——_2+ >___ Open Letter to Burton F. Brown, of Detroit. Petoskey, Dec. 17—I have noticed in the paper recently a few quotations such as these: “Retail grocer wants 75 per cent. for doing business.” “Michigan grocers themselves.” “That the practice of profiteering was general throughout the state.” From my knowledge of you and an inside’ knowledge of the grocery con- ditions in Michigan it hardly seems possible that you could have used these terms; therefore, I wish you would inform me if you did use them and if so, in what manner and under what occasion? I will say that the retailers of Mich- igan have made every effort to work with your Department and, so far as I know, this is the first discord of which I have heard. If these state- ments were used, I am fully convinc- ed that they are so far from the facts that they should not go unchallenged. It may be true that a retailer here or there has been guilty of profiteer- ing, but the practice is not general and his case is certainly the exception. It is also true that no retailer has averaged 25 per cent. gross, let alone 75, and the majority will break on the wrong side of the ledger this year. Any statement made along this line should be made in a specific way and not general, as the papers seem to quote you. By doing this you would relieve the accusation that you would cast over the fellow who is conduct- ing an honest business and place the charge directly where it belongs. I might say for your private infor- mation that we have three stores in Northern Michigan which will ,do nearly one-fourth of a million dollars business and we have handled gomds so closely under present conditions that it is doubtful if any one of them will show an earning. We have in- vested in Liberty Bonds, Red Cross and every war measure which has come up and contributed fifteen youny men to the army from our clerks. With such a record I can not help but ask you for an explanation of your statements. What is true of us is also true of the great majority of retailers in Michigan. It has seemed to me from time to time this year that all a person had to do in order to catch the public’s fancy was to make some charge against the retailer. Such articles as have been published in some of our leading mag- azines and newspapers were certain- ly written without any investigation. It is such charges as these, not based on facts, which is driving the retail grocer business of our cities into the hands of foreigners who operate with- out expense, live in basements, etc., many examples of which are to be found in your own city. It is such baseless statements, made by our press and public men of one class against those of another, that is rapidly turning America into social- istic conditions. Can we wonder at it? John A. Lake. —_—_—---____ Kalamazoo Grocers Urged to Con- serve Coal, Kalamazoo, Dec. 15—Several days ago I wrote you in reference to a patriotic mass meeting to be held in this city some time within the next two weeks under the auspices of the Kalamazoo Retail Grocers and Meat Dealers Association, but inasmuch as I have had no reply I presume my letter miscarried or has been over- have hanged MICHIGAN TRADESMAN 15 looked. l am, therefore, writing again at the suggestion of the local committee, asking if we can prevail upon you to speak at the patriotic mass meeting mentioned above. The purpose of this meeting is to tell the public why it is necessary that the grocers one out the in. structions ‘of the National Food Cen- servation Committee. We shall, in- deed, be greatly pleased if you can favor us with an address at that time. The exact date of the meeting has not yet been determined, but will be decided within the next few days and I will then notify you exactly when it will occur. In the meantime I shall be very glad to hear from you and know definitely whether we can ex- pect you or not. W. M. Milham, Sec’y. To the above letter the editor oi the Tradesman replied as follows: Grand Rapids, Dec. 17—Your letter of Dec. 15 came to hand to-day. No previous letter has been receiv- ed from you. I fail to see the necessity of a mass meeting to tell the public why it is necessary for grocers to carry out the instructions of the Food Control when every newspaper® in the land is de- voting so much space to the subiect without cost to the grocers and in a much better way than any _ public speaker can present the subject. A mass meeting means coal—coal to light and heat the hall in which the mass meeting is held—and in this crisis we need every pound of coal for our homes, stores, hospitals and fac- tories. The man who does not read the newspapers cannot be reached by a public speaker. To put the grocers to the expense of hiring a hall when the newspapers are glad and willing to perform the same service and accomplish the same result free of cost to your members seems to me unwise at this time. I have made many visits to the Kal- amazoo grocers at my own expense during the past thirty-five years and i thought I could do them any par- ticular good at this time, I would cheerfully respond to your call. It seems to me, however, that the prop- er person to present the message of patriotism and good citizenship to your people is your own county food controller, Mr. er A. Stowe. ae The annual meeting of the State grange at Jackson last week was characterized by the same selfish spirit which appears to surround all organ- izations of this character. The Presi- dent was assured the support of the members in well rounded phrases, but every resolution adopted and every official action taken disclosed the cloven hoof of grasping greed and graft. Exorbitant prices having been established on nearly every staple the farmer produces, he now wants the manufacturers, wholesale and re- tail dealers of the country forced to do business at cost or less in order to be assured of his patriotism. He is anxious to see the business men of the country send their boys to the battle front, pay the war taxes, sub- scribe for Liberty Bonds and do busi: ness at cost or less than cost, provid- ing he is permitted to receive $2 for his wheat and corn, $10 for his beans, $3.25 for his milk and 50 cents pet dozen for his eggs. eee el rer Faith in your fellow men implies a belief that down deep in the heart of every man, somewhere, is the germ of goodness. Your faith may be a vital- izing ray of sunshine, reaching that particular germ.—Elbert Hubbard. = Ml ‘Three Sure Winners > ) = UD — LE) ¥ . 7 £ New Oricaas wa NEW ORLEANS MOLDS RLEAN Swe", OELERICH & pene) SS sat CONTAINS SULPHUR =" We are now packing NEW CROP Pure New Orleans Molasses in the same standard size cans, full weight. You can also have the same in barrels and half barrels. Oelerich & Berry Co. Packers of ‘‘Red Hen,’’ NEW ORLEANS CHICAGO You Can Buy Flour — SAXOLIN Paper-Lined Cotton Sanitary Sacks DUST PROOF DIRT PROOF MOISTURE PROOF BREAKAGE PROOF The Sack that keeps the Flour IN and the Dirt OUT Ask Your Miller in Your Town — he can give you his flour in this sack Our co-operative advertising plan makes the flour you sell the best advertised flour in your community For samples and particulars write THE CLEVELAND-AKRON BAG CO., CLEVELAND MICHIGAN TRADESMAN December 19, 1917 Pe: Sip se9 Ler La Cash or Credit—The Customer's Point of View. Written for the Tradesman, The merits and demerits of the cash system as compared with the credit system often have been dis- cussed in the columns of this journal. Very naturally, since this is a mer- chant’s periodical, the different phases of the subject have been presented mainly from the dealer's point oi view. Advocates of the spot cash method of retailing have dwelt with telling emphasis on the sure, quick profits and lessening of losses and expenses made pcssible by cutting out ail charging of goods. On the other hand, those who favor the time-honored credit system point to great fortunes amassed by some shrewd, successful merchants who have given credit freely to all patrons deemed reliable, and who even have made the seeking of new accounts a prominent feature of their business. Fully as these two opposing argu- ments seem to cover the subject, there is still another side to this mooted question of cash or credit—a side perhaps not always sufficiently con- sidered—the side of the customer. And since the store exists for the customer, not the customer for the store, should we not regard which- ever system better promotes the in- terests of a store’s patrons, as pos- sessing the greater intrinsic merit? If credit is a real benefit to good-pay- ing customers, then the credit sys- tem has much to recommend it, not- withstanding the fact that poor ac- counts have spelled ruin for many a business venture. But if, in the long run, the purchas- er fares better by paying his money down, then the cash system makes the stronger score, even though some dealers have profited exceedingly by judiciously managed accounts. And now the little story told by the clock tinker. He was a bright man of 60 or there- abouts, who rang the bell and en- quired whether we had any repairing of clocks, watches, iewelry, or sew- ing machine that needed doing. Our machine had been dropping stitches. and one clock needed cleaning and oiling. So, as the man seemed cap- able and had a pleasing way with him, ‘ve set him at work. Doubtless he ‘vas part Trish—at least he had a keen sense of humor and a wonderful flu- ency of speech. While he rubbed 7-n‘4 cleaned and adiusted. he gave us a chapter from the storv of his life. His name is John Frcrter. He and his wife Luella had morried rather ~oune and had raised a fo-~ily of four children. They lived well from the start, and with increasing expensive- ness as the years rolled along. The standards of their clique of acquaint- ances advanced and the Fosters kept pace. At the stores where they were known they hardly ever paid down— almost everything was charged. It was very easy to get credit—in- deed their patronage was eagerly sought by leading dealers, for John was steady and industrious as weli as bright and brainy, and he held a well-paid position as a salesman with a large jewelry firm. His salary more than doubled in the twenty-nine years he was in the employ of this house, but expenses increased even more rapidly. His pay check always was spent before he got it. In the course of time debts began to accum- ulate somewhat—he was unable to pay all up each week as he had done formerly. Still he gave himself no uneasiness. Every Monday he di- vided his money among his creditors. Each carried the unpaid balance of his account without protest. The trade of the Foster family was too good to lose. Things ran along in this way until the marriage of the youngest daugh- ter. When Mary married they made a large wedding. After it was over and the bills came in, John Foster was appalled. And he did what he had not done in all his life before, he reckoned up to see just how he stood with the world. He studied his problem seriously and reached the conclusion that if they remained there, living in the ac- customed way, he never could pull out of debt. He talked matters over with his wife and together they decided to make a change. Without consult- ing their children, who they know would oppose the move, they deter- mined to sell their furniture and household goods, which fortunately they owned clear, and pay their debts. When the last obligation was can- celled, this man, then 51, and his wife of 50 had left only enough money to take them to the distant city which they had determined upon as their home, and a very little over. Pluckily they packed their clothes and person- al belongingings in their trunks, and started. Arrived at their destinction, all the money they had in the world was just sixteen dollars. They found a little furnished room which they could rent with cooking privileges. Then John started out to find work. Opportunities for employ- ment were not plenty. Tired with ‘anmsuccessful search, he noticed a card i1 a shoe store—Boy Wanted. He applied for the job. “It’s just a boy I want, to sweep Steady Sale, Steady Profit When your customer makes a meal of Shred- ded Wheat she saves money and gets lots of nourishment. That’s a worth while accom- plishment in these days o1 high cost of living. Shredded Wheat is a perfect substitute for eggs or meat in food value, as it contains all the rich nutri- ment in the whole wheat in an easily di- gested form. The sale established on such a firm foundation is naturally a steady one. The Shredded Wheat Company Niagara Falls, N. Y. DWINELL-WRIGHT CO. & — Principal Coffee Roasters —CHICAGO COFFEE surely pleases—the solid logic of coffee honesty the compelling evidence of the increased sales of White House. Tale a | The public taste today is a cultivated taste; it knows and insists upon the best. We, as distributors, are servants to this de- mand. WHITE HOUSE is the BEST brand—the only question before you:—How many pounds of White House Coffee can YOU handle? Then PUT IT IN STOCK! Distributed at Wholesale by JUDSON GROCER CO. GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. @4s 4a December 19, 1917 the store and run errands and de- liver goods, I pay only $3.50 a week,” the proprietor replied to his enquiries. “Give me the place. I can do your work at least as well as any boy.” To himself he thought that even the pittance of $3.50 would keep his wife and himself from starving. He went to work with a will, and at the end of the week received not only the wages agreed upon but al- so a present of a good pair of shoes. Furthermore, through a little effort, the kind-hearted shoe dealer had se- cured John a place in a wholesale house at $15 a week. In their old home the Fosters had learned the evils of credit and decided that in their new start they would make it a rule to pay cash down. They held to this scrupulously. What they couldn’t pay for at the time, they went without. And they found they could do without many things for which they had been in the habit of running up bills. It is universal experience that the credit customer buys more freely and consumes far more than the cash customer. Cash buying is now being advocated in the interests of food ‘conservation. It is doubtful whether any other one measure could so effectively eliminate waste and cut down needless con- sumption. Soon John and his wife arranged for the purchase of a home, to be paid for by monthly instalments. He did not call this going into debt— they would have-to keep on paying rent if they didn’t buy. As _ their equity in the property increased, they felt they had just so much laid up. Through nine years of careful sav- ing they met every payment, at the end of the time obtaining clear title. Meanwhile his pay had been ad- vanced to a very creditable figure, but owing to the preference for younger men, he never got back to anything like the salary he had re- ceived with his old firm. About a year before the time we heard his story, he left his position and took up the house to house work, because the close confinement indoors was telling on his health. In his present field of effort, not only his mechanical skill but also his genial manners and glib tongue come in good play, and he is making a very fair income. But with rueful frankness he told us that had he begun the cash system when he was 20 instead of when he was past 50, he would now have a com- fortable little fortune, and not be un- der the necessity of going from door to door, tinkering clocks. For the ten years since they es- caped from the snares of credit, John and his wife certainly made a good showing, especially when you consid- er that they were past middle age when they broke away. Their home, which with the growth of the city has increased in value, he now counts worth $4,000. They have bought fur- niture, one piece at a time as they could pay for it, and now have “at least $800 in household goods.” Verv proudly he spoke of their savings account at the bank, ‘$193.50—just $6.50 more and we'll have even two hundred.” MICHIGAN TRADESMAN This was the watch tinker’s story, told with the simple straight-forward- ness and truthful ring that mark the account of actual experiences. We could not but admire this humble re- pairer of clocks and sewing machines, knowing well that very few, after being enmeshed in the credit system for thirty years, ever make their es- cape. Indeed the example of the Fosters hardly shows the dark side of the credit system as dark as it really is. Not many have the courage or the health and strength, successfully to start life anew after passing the fif- tieth milestone. The typical devotee of credit never gets ahead at all. If he lives beyond his years of earning, he of necessity becomes dependent upon relatives or charity. The happy ending of his story Mr. Foster attributed solely to the merits of the cash system. To quote him ex- actly—‘Had we again allowed our- selves to fall into the habit of buy- ing on tick, this good five thousand dol- lars worth of property that my wife and I now have, would belong to some one else, or perhaps to quite a number of somebody elses. Just to whom, I can’t say. That is a prob- lem for the sociologists or the politi- cal economists. But’—and let every one who is being deceived.by the pleasant delusions of credit ponder his words well—‘“this five thousand dollars would not belong to my wife and me.” Quillo. —_—_++.—___ Some Unusual Methods. The sales methods used by a home contractor who also sells at retail most of the materials that go into his houses are unusual.’ He has in his store many sales devices and methods that are seldom found else- where. One of them is a display of photographs which show the houses he has for sale. This gallery he changes daily. Those which have been sold or rented during the day are marked by small flags fastened on the frames. His method of getting prospects is not confined to direct advertising. His hardware store joins his execu- tive offices. On each Saturday night, which is designated as “sale night,” he conducts special sales of some useful article. For instance, one sale night a good hammer was offered to the public for 6 cents. These sales draw large crowds to the store. Naturally people wander into his offices, where flowers are pre- sented to the women. Private tele- phoning can be done in his telephone booths. They examine his picture gallery of homes, interest is natur- ally aroused, and usually the steps necessary to a sale are then only a matter of routine for the sales force. C. C. Sherlock. A woman’s smile is more danger- MACARONI i f CASE salesmen or write for particulars. ous than her frown. 8 3 The Nationally Advertised Line. SKINNER MANUFACTURING COMPANY 9 SKINNERS 24s per On SPECIAL DEAL. See jobber's Omaha, U. S. A. Coleman (Brand) Terpeneless LEMON Pure High Grade VANILLA EXTRACTS Made only by FOOTE & JENKS Jackson, Mich. 17 Watson-HigginsMlg.Co. Merchant Millers Owned by Merchants Products sold by Merchants Brand Recommended by Merchants NewPerfection Flour Packed In SAXOLIN Paper-lined Cotton, Sanitary: Sacks American Sugar Refining Company SS ESE Reduce your bag and twine expense by selling Domino Package Sugars These neat, strong cartons and cotton bags of clean cane sugar are always ready to put into your customers’ hands. American Sug2r Refining Company The Most Complete Line of Sugar in the World Public Telephones Wherever busy men and women may be—in large places or small—public telephones place the conven- ience of distance) within easy reach. The Blue Bell Telephone Sign points the way to public telephones. When you want to save time and effort, just look for the Blue Bell Sign and TELE- PHONE. Public telephones are found at railroad stations, hotels, restaurants; in cigar stores, drug stores and other places where they are easily accessible to the people. Michigan State telephone service (both local and_ long- Telephone Company MICHIGAN TRADESMAN December 19, 1917 = = = > ie ie BUTTER, EGGS 48D PROVIS Michigan Poultry, Butter and Egg Asso- ciation. President—J. W. Lyons, Jackson. Vice-President—Patrick Hurley, troit. Secretary and Treasurer—D. A. Bent: ley, Saginaw. Executive Committee—F. A. Johnson Detroit; H. L. Williams, Howell; C. J Chandler, Detroit. De- Is Egg Speculation Prohibited By Law? In the market for fresh gathered eggs we are now arrived at a period of naturally fluctuating prices, due to the predominating influence of the weather upon production and _ the great uncertainties as to future con- ditions of supply. From now on, for two or three months, there will be especially conflicting views as to nor- mal values because of the wide differ- ences in the possibilities of produc- tion and the various interpretations put upon the effect of passing condi- tions of supply and demand. There is frequently at this season, and later during the winter, a considerable fluctuation in the supply of fresh eggs arriving in the leading markets from time to time. It is hardly possible that the consumption can be made to increase and decrease in exact or close accordance with these fluctuations. The natural regulator in the matter is speculative. When supplies, for a time exceed the immediate demand prices naturally fall, but when they reach a point from which either lo- cal dealers or shippers expect a re- covery there come orders from ship- pers to withhold stock from sale and more or less disposition on the part of dealers to buy in excess of immedi- ate wants. These forces often create steadiness or firmness in prices even when there are more goods on the wholesale market than immediate con- sumptive needs require, if there is sufficient belief that the prices pre- vailing will tend to increase consump- tion, or that changing conditions in producing sections will lead to a re- duction of supply below trade needs. Such freedom of dealing seems to be essential to a reasonable manage- ment of egg stocks. It cannot serve effectively to stabilize prices because there is no natural stability in val- ues for a commodity whose prodac- tion is subject to such radical and ir- regular variations: but it tends in that direction and brings to bear upon the market naturally the influence of the average judgment of shippers and dealers alike as to the value normal to actual trade conditions of supply and demand, present and prospective. What concerns us here is to ask, in behalf of the industry, whether such dealings—such buying in excess of immediate needs or, more particular- ly, such temporary withholding o} stock from sale by shippers, is to be regarded as specalation by the Food Administration. Whether the trade can continue such a practice, which seems necessary to any intelligent at- tempt to equalize supplies so far as possible, without danger of being charged with such speculation as is prohibited by the law. It is a risky business. Fresh gath- ered eggs held off the market now under the impression that severe weather may soon lead to greater scarcity and higher value, may easily lose 10 cents a dozen if mild weather should return and receipts increase even moderately. After such a de- cline, or even a greater one, eggs then held off the market might later be sold 10 cents a dozen higher if blizzards should again predominate and great scarcity again ensue. Such losses would of course be of no con- cern to the authorities. But would such profits be regarded as specula- tive and unreasonable? If so it would be interesting to know the fact and how they are to be avoided. We are at a point where these con- siderations must be of concern to everybody in the egg trade, and an expression as to the attitude of the Food Administration in respect to the matter would at least tend to allay uncertainty and acquaint licensed dealers and shippers with the pro- cedure expected of them. —__...____ If waiters in restaurants and hotels asked every patron who ordered tea or coffee: “Do you want sugar?” and then put in the desired amount, not half as much sugar would be used in this way as when they pass the sugar bowl and allow each one to help himself. In the self-serve lunch reoms a notice on each sugar bowl: “Take one—that is enough,” would deter some greedy ones and remind cthers of the necessity of their being sparing in its use. 1052 N. Ottawa Ave. G. B. READER Jobber of Lake, Ocean, Salt and Smoked Fish, and Oysters in Shell and Bulk Grand Rapids, Michigan poeeness Syrup Syrup made from Crescent Ma- pleine, sugar and water costs half as much as good, ready-made syrup. And the syrup is superior. Sell Crescent Mapleine for its making. * * * * Crescent Mfg. ; Co., Seattle, Wash. Order of ‘) your jobber or Louis Hilfer Co., sg ga Life Bldg., Chicago. 1Crescent Mapleine Turkeys Geese, Ducks and Chickens Telegraph, phone or write us for special prices before you sell Wilson & Co. 20-22 Ottawa Ave., N. W. Grand Rapids Michigan Pleasant St. and Railroads MOSELEY BROTHERS _ Grand Rapids, Mich: Wholesale BEANS, POTATOES, SEEDS oo, 1217, or write when have oe to offer E. P. MILLER, President Wm. Alden Smith Bldg. F. H. HALLOCK, Vice Pres. Miller Michigan Potato Co. WHOLESALE PRODUCE SHIPPERS Potatoes, Apples, Onions Correspondence Solicited FRANK T. MILLER, Sec. and Treas Grand Rapids, Mich. LOVELAND & HINYAN CO. CAR LOT SHIPPERS Potatoes, Apples and Beans Write or telephone when you have anything to offer Association of Commerce Bldg. Grand Rapids, Michigan WE COVER MICHIGAN M. PIOWATY & SONS Distributors of Reliable Fruits and Vegetables MAIN OFFICE, GRAND RAPIDS Branches: Saginaw, Bay City, Muskegon, Lansing, Jackson, Battle Creek, South Bend, Ind., and Elkhart, Ind. Onions, Apples and Potatoes Car Lots or Less We Are Headquarters Correspondence Solicited Vinkemulder Company GRAND RAPIDS s MICHIGAN a 2 BEA eS * » 7 s ~ v NN calla aR a - » ° d a. December 19, 1917 Pickings Picked Up in the Windy City. Chicago, The writer had a week’s vacation. Thanks! The National Red Cross is out af- ter fifteen million new member by Dec. 25. Will they get them? It looks very must as though they would, They are making a house to house canvas and are having wonder- ful success. All outside visitors to Chicago this week will do well to visit the first annual Christmas toy show being held at the Coliseum, Fifteenth and Wa- bash avenue. General admission 10 cents for adults and 5 cents for chil- dren. They are showing every known Christmas toy. The profits will go to charity. Ice skating fans are now in their glory. All of the public parks and private rinks are in full swing and one of the sights to see is that along the Midway, Fifty-fifth and Garfield boulevard. For close to a mile and a half between the two drives one can skate to their heart’s content. John Dietrich, Secretary of the G. J. Johnson Cigar Co., was a Chicago visitor on business last week. There will be no special bar per- mits issued this year to private clubs or dancing parties for New Year’s eve and the lid will be clamped down tight on all bars and cabarets at 1 o’clock sharp. This will be a good thing for the city. The enlistments last week were so heavy that all recruiting stations were obliged to call on extra help. This was the last opportunity before the next draft that one holding a draft number could pick the service which was to his liking. Real estate in Chicago is showing some improvement, both in factory sites, flat and vacant property. Real estate men and brokers are putting on that smile that won’t come off. The police department are now gathering in their usual number of baby bandits, boys from the age of 15 to 20 years old. It seems every winter the police have their hands full with this class of boys, both in highway robbery, pickpockets and stick-up men. Chicago has gone and done it, by putting on ten lady mail carriers. They began their services last Mon- day, and so far they have received great encouragement. Some of the housewives are serving them with a cup of tea or coffee. No doubt, this will continue, and very shortly we will see them driving mail trucks and police patrols. One of the great social ideas now being carried on for the benefit of the soldiers and sailors is that of the Northwestern Railway Co. They have set aside their station rooms for the use of the soldiers and the Great Lakes Naval Training Station sailors. They furnish all kinds of amuse- ment, light lunches, plenty of reading matter and good speakers free of cost. The depots are kept open from early in the morning until the last train out of the stations at night. In ad- dition to this, the Ladies Welfare Club has established rest rooms in the Public Library for the same purpose. This goes to show that the parents of the soldiers or sailors need have no fear that their boys are not taken good care of when in Chicago. The great engineering feat, that of widening Twelfth street, from Clark to Fortieth, has been completed. This will be one of the widest streets im the city of Chicago. The build- ‘nes have been torn down, cut in two and moved back from ten to fifty feet, to make the street uniform. Any- one seeing this street before the work was begun would think it almost im- possible to accomplish what has been accomplished. This will be a wonder- ful help to the city and especially in the loop district, as it will divert traf- fic away from the main thoroughfare. W. J. Rooney, Illinois Representa- tive of the G. J. Johnson Cigar Co., MICHIGAN TRADESMAN visited Chicago last week. Mr. Rooney reports business very good throughout the State. The famous Bismarck garden, on the North side of the city, has at last consented to change its name to the Marigold = garden. The Bismarck Hotel, which is under the same man- agement, still retains its old name, excepting what was known as the Berlin Room is now known as the Colonial Room. All of the bankers on the South side have formed a vigilance committee and will take the responsibility upon themselves to protect the community against the increase of burglars. Sev- enty-five men have already volunteer- ed their services. One of the largest amounts ever paid one person in an accident in- surance was paid last week to John J. Arnold, Vice-President of the First National Bank. Mr. Arnold collected $100,000 for the loss of his two feet. It is said that a man entering a cafe recently asked the waiter what was on the bill, When informed that they had deviled kidneys, pigs feet and calves brains, he immediately left the place, saying that he was not in the habit of eating his meals where the waiter informed him of his ailments. _ The City Club of Chicago, one of Chicago’s oldest clubs, at 315 Ply- mouth Court, has opened its doors to the soldiers and sailors visiting the city. They will be admitted free to every part of the Club, even being allowed an inside price on meals serv- ed at the Club. The Board of Education of Chicago is now considering very seriously of listing with the farmers throughout the State the names of high school boys who will be willing to take up farm work in the spring. It is pre- dicted that Illinois and Chicago will be able to furnish 40,000 young men to the farmers the coming year. William H. Mann, has been appoint- ed General Manager of the wholesale department of Marshall Field & Co. John G. Shedd has become President of the corporation. Charles W. Reattoir. ——__».-—->—— At the beginning of the Kaiser’s war letters were found on German prioners to wives, mothers and sweet- hearts teeming with protests against the brutal things their leaders requir- ed them to do to women and children in the invaded countries. Now these letters gloat over what they are doing to the women and children. The psli- cy of terrorizing has re-acted upon the men until they have become bru- tal and fiendish beyond description. No man can be a pro-German to- day who does not close his ears to known facts covering the general brutality of these beasts. And no man, Other than a pro-German, can ever consider the possibility of the Hun’s winning this war. There is no place for a pro-German in this coun- try. The force of public sentiment must get so strong that pro-Germans will positively hide their sentiments and be absolutely inactive and abso- lutely silent or be placed within pr:son walls. Every individual in order to be at liberty must be a loyal citizen, and every loyal citizen must be an active supporter of the Government. There can be no political issues and political parties must have but one object— the best and surest and quickest means to bring positive victory to the Allied cause. —_——_»-+ + ____ It is human nature to be ungrate- ful to the man whoa fights your bat- tles for you and gets licked. SKINNERS MACARONI The Nationally Advertised Line. 24s per On SPECIAL DEAL. See jobber’s CASE salesmen or write for particulars. SKINNER MANUFACTURING COMPANY Omaha, U.S. A. Rea & Witzig PRODUCE COMMISSION MERCHANTS 104-106 West Market St. Buffalo, N. Y. Established 1873 B71: Dressed Poultry wanted in large quantities for the holidays. Get shipments here early. Can handle large shipments to advantage. Fresh Eggs in good demand at market prices. Fancy creamery butter and good dairy selling at full quota- tions. Common selling well. Send for our weekly price cur- rent or wire for special quota- tions. Refer you to the People’s Bank of Buffalo, all Commercial Agen- cies and to hundreds of shippers everywhere. 19 Dandelion Vegetable Butter Color A perfectly Pure Vegetable Butter Color and one that complies with the pure food laws of every State and of the United States. Manufactured by Wells & Richardson Co. Burlington, Vt. Sold in Suntiare Tin Packages— 2, 5, 10, 15 and 25 Ib. pails— by all wholesale grocers See Quotations in Grocery Price Current. SEEDS Reed & Cheney Co. GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. CIGARS Dornbos Single Binder Xmas Package Give your order to your salesman now PETER DORNBOS 16-18 Fulton St. W. Grand Rapids, Michigan Mr. Flour Merchant :. You can own and control your flour trade. Make each clerk a sales- man instead of an order taker. Write us today for exclusive sale proposition covering your bert: ba -<- 1B CodY Purtty Palent Flour Able ine laaks choice Michigan Wheat properly blended to pro- duce a satisfac- tory all-purpose bE Dee Dea ape Ce tO wm UY a) US GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. The Sack that keeps the Nour UN and the dirt OUT. Mio We mg it Wnt the world is something to live up to, so the greatest nation on Earth, and so We might make matches out of cheaper wood ‘ We might save money by using cheaper chemicals ‘ We might shut down our scientific department and cease )} trying to make the BEST match ever made BETTER BECAUSE 40 years of pre-eminence as the leading match makers of The safest match science can produce is none too ine for There’s no such thing as standing still if one is determined to march at the head of the procession nowadays, so DIAMOND Any American grocer whois progressive enough to place duty and responsibility above a mere fraction of a cent in price, in giving his customers the best and the safest and the greatest value for the money will pin his destinies to MATCHES lon it-WitlW i (0 tO But We Don’t. But We Haven’t. f But We Won’t. We’re Doing It. f That’s What We Make. We’re On The Move. December 19, 1917 Put “pep” in your prices r)3) - ee oe iam —_ — — —_ — — by Using cMc PRICE CARDS 40 cts. per 100 and up Write for Samples CARNELL MFG. CO. Dept. k, 338 B’way, New York HARNESS U8, OWN MAKE Hand or Machine Made Out of No. 1 Oak leather. We guarantee them absolutely satisfactory. If your dealer does not handle them, write direct to us. SHERWOOD HALL CO., LTD. Ionia Ave. and Louis St. Grand Rapids, Michigan OFFICE OUTFITTERS LOOSE LEAF SPECIALISTS 237-239 Pearl St. (near the bridge) Graad Rapids, Mich. WM. D. BATT HIDES, WOOL, FURS AND TALLOW 28-30 Louis St. Grand Rapids, Mich: Michigan Retail Hardware Association. President—James W. Tyre, Detroit. Vice-President—Joseph C. Fischer, Ann Arbor. Secretary—Arthur J. Scott, Marine City. Treasurer— William Moore, Detroit. Suggestions in Regard to the Annual Inventory. Written for the Tradesman. Early in the new year comes the annual stock-taking. Hardware mer- chants may vary the date and the fre- quency of stock-taking considerably, but for most of them, January, right after the Christmas rush is. over, seems the approved time. No merchant nowadays needs to be told that stock-taking is necessary; and no merchant who has gone through it needs to be reminded that it involves a lot of tedious work. Whether or not a special stock- reduction sale should be held previ- ous to stock-taking time is a ques- tion that has been much discussed in recent years. The answer depends on the locality, and on individual condi- tions. What is good for one store may not be good for another. Many dealers declare that the proper time for the stock-taking sale is right af- ter stock-taking has been completed: that only by stock-taking can it be determined what lines are “stickers” and that the chief purpose and advan- tage of the sale is to clean out these slow-moving lines. As I have stated, the matter is one for the individual merchant to decide, in the light of his own peculiar circumstances. There ts no positive rule for all mer- chants. The great thing in stock taking is. that it gives the merchant a really intimate view of his business. It helps him to get his bearings. It is not a mere form, to be rushed through as quickly as possible. It should nev- er be treated perfunctorily. The idea in stock taking is to get right down close to the business, and to examine its details with a keenly critical eye. For an inventory to be really bene- ficial, it must be thorough. Every item in the store must be listed, with quantity and price. Then a compari- son should be made with last year’s figures. The resulting lessons will be a helpful guide in future buying and selling. The pricing of the inventory should be done by the dealer himself. He knows the markets—has a pretty good idea of values. Each article must be judged on its own qualifica- tions. Look the situation squarely in the face, and price each item at ac- tual value as it now stands, not at value as it stood six months or six years ago. It is a comparatively easy thing serectnyosect ra 2A at AAT PA UR ROA ARENAS SEER SAT AOA IT IE to price the goods according to in- voice, but it is apt to be dangerous. lf for any reason the goods have de- preciated in value during the year, that depreciation must necessarily be taken into account. Remember, that your purpose in stock taking is, not to make a rosy, comfortable showing, for the delusion of somebody else, but to ascertain the cold, hard facts for your own benefit and guidance. It is wise to be singularly conserva- tive and cautious in pricing. While there is comparatively little depreciation in the hardware stock, there are some lines which must in course of time lose value through be- ing kept on the shelves. A cautious inventory will allow for all actual and for some potential depreciation. True, the trend of prices in most lines is upward, but this again consti- tutes a possible pitfall. In the near future these goods may have to be replaced by others bought at higher prices. And in the event of a slump, on the other hand, the goods you buy at present high prices may in turn have to compete with goods bought by other merchants at considerably lower prices. Hence, the need of con- siderable conservatism in pricing your stock list, lest you delude yourself into counting too strongly upon what are, at best, paper profits. So, too, fixtures ,should be priced conservatively. The other day a mer- chant, taking stock, was found to have listed his fixtures at the same price as they were bought five years before, The resulting inventory showed a decided excess of assets over liabilities; yet on a forced sale the business realized little more than 30 per cent. of the outstanding lia- bilities. Fixtures, delivery outfits, and similar items, should be depreci- ated from year to year. One con- servative merchant writes off depreci- ation to the extent of 25 per cent. annually. I know another of a more radical type who writes off a full 50 per cent. of the cost of such items at the end of the first year. His view is simply expressed: “Once a bit of machinery or equip- ment has been installed, it’s worth only half price. You may think dif- ferently, but you'll find out the truth if you have to sell. After a few years use, 50 per cent. is just a lucky acci- dent. Why not face the issue right at the start, that even the finest fix- tures, on a forced sale, aren’t worth anything like what they cost you?” The merchant who keeps on putting in his fixtures and other equipment at cost value, year after year, is apt to delude himself into counting on what are really paper profits. It is quite Grand Rapids Store Fixture Co., Inc. The Place, 7 Ionia Ave., N. W. BUY AND SELL Used Store and Office Fixtures 139-141 Monece St Both Phonas GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. Bell Phone 596 Citz. Phone 61366 Joseph P. Lynch Sales Co. Special Sale Experts Expert Advertising —Expert Merchandising 44 So. Ionia Ave. Grand Rapids, Mich. AGRICULTURAL LIME BUILDING LIME Write for Prices A. B. Knowlson Co. 203-207 Powers’ Theatre Bidg., Grand Rapids, Mich. Sand Lime Brick Nothing as Durable Nothing as Fireproof Makes Structures Beautiful nN ie ee : o Cost for Repairs Grand Rapids, Mich. Fire Penne Weather Proof ! Warm in Winter Cool in Summer Brick is Everlasting Ask about our way BARLOW BROS. This is the month that you sort up your stock. Our assortment of Grande Brick Co., Grand Rapids So. Mich. Brick Co., Kalamazoo Mackinaws, Sweaters, Saginaw Brick Co., Saginaw K n itt e d T oques an d a Brick Co., Rives Caps and Canton Flannel Shirts is still complete. PLUSH ROBES, AUTO SHAWLS and ROBES— all sizes and styles, in every range of price. Signs of the Times Are Electric Signs Progressive merchants and manufac- turers now realize the value of Electric Advertising. We furnish you with sketches, prices and operating cost for the asking. BROWN & SEHLER CO. Home of Sunbeam Goods GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN THE POWER CO. Bell M 797 Citizens 4261 Foster, Stevens & Co. Wholesale Hardware re 157-159 Monroe Ave. :: 151 to 161 Louis N. W. Grand Rapids, Mich. 4 ‘ « oy» ~~ BOE ag Resins = wr < Nee we . as vy 4 Seni sca OE ap aseanssss = » - December 19, 1917 true that most fixtures nowadays would cost more to replace than they cost a few years ago; and it is also true in a sense that a well-kept show case or other fixture is worth just as much after five years of use as a new one would be, so far as the merchant who owns it is concerned. But the careful merchant looks to every con- tingency; he figures against emergen- cies that may be in fact remote; and largely as a consequence of this care- ful figuring, he keeps the emergencies remote and his business in a healthy state. Instead of relying on inflated fix- ture values to show him a profit, he digs in and hustles to get a genuine cash profit out of his turnover. That is the only healthy basis on which to work. Similarly, in listing accounts and bills receivable, it pays in the long run to look the situation squarely in the face. What accounts are good, what are bad, and what uncertain? Do you know the hopeless ones? They must go to profit and loss. Don’t try to fool yourself. It is bet- ter to make more money than the books show, than it is to show a big profit on which you can’t place your fingers. A padded inventory rarely deceives a prospective purchaser; the only man it deceives is the man who relies upon it as a guide. Stocktaking furnishes the alert dealer with .a variety of excellent pointers. It shows how the various goods are moving; which are the pop- ular brands, and which are slow sell- ers, When next ordering, some things should be cut out entirely, others ordered in reduced quantities; while the more active sellers will be required in larger assortments. Thus the stock-taking is a guide to remov- ing sources of weakness, while point- ing the way toward more aggressive work in pushing the really profitable and salable lines. Stocktaking also helps to educate the sales force in regard to the goods they handle. To this end it must not be made too hurriedly, or allowed to become perfunctory. In stocktak- ing, system, and thorough prepara- tory organization of the work, is a far greater help than mere, regardless haste. Victor Lauriston. —_—_—_»---e ___ Michigan Tradesman Anniversary. The thirty-fifth anniversary of the Michigan Tradesman was commem- orated by a special edition consisting of 96 pages and cover on Nov. 21. As with every issue since its incep- tion, the anniversary number was filled with interesting articles and advertisements of legitimate enter- prises. The Tradesman has always been noted for its fearless stand in de- nouncing wrong-doers, grafters and law-breakers in general, regardless of their exalted position. It has al- ways had the best interests of the business men at heart and has been diligent and untiring in its efforts toward the education of the mercan- tile world and raising the standard of the traveling fraternity to the dig- nified position it enjoys to-day.—De- troit Optimist. ‘ MICHIGAN TRADESMAN Publish All the Facts. Written for the Tradesman. The reports of the Department of Agriculture as to the largely increased yield of various grains this year may be encouraging to those who are not wise to the real situation, and it mav tend to more prodigal use than as if a shortage were reported. Michigan may not be a big factor in the case or a correct criterion of the whole country, but some facts should be known. Heretofore crop reports were based on estimates of men appointed in al- most every farming community. Some may have been good judges and some poor, some optimistic and some otherwise; thus one year could be compared with another and determine actual increase or decrease. This year every thresher reported every bushel threshed and the num- ber of acres as given him by the farm- er. But remember, threshing ma- chines now weigh out the bushel, in- stead of filling bushel boxes. There was lots of wet grain threshed in Southern Michigan, and_ thirty-two pounds of oats, forty-eight pounds of barley, fifty-six pounds of rye and sixty pounds of wheat went for a bushel when it would have measured up a considerable less than a bushel. A bushel of grain by actual measure overran from six to ten or more pounds—that much water being counted as grain in the threshers’ re- ports. Not only was there much wet grain threshed, but much wheat was shrunk- en and not fit to mill for flour. It is being used for chicken feed. As to corn, there is very little ripe, sound corn. It is so green and full of wa- ter it is now frozen hard as rocks and should be thawed out to feed. When thawed it is mostly soft as green corn or shrunken or only water blisters and has not one-half or one- third the value as stock feed of good sound corn. If many other states suffered as Michigan did on these two crops the large aggregate yield would war- rant no encouragement. E. E. Whitney. ——__»-+-- This Lends High Tone. At the “cross-roads” where the central aisle in a high grade depart- ment store intersects the cross-aisle to the elevators—a ‘point passed by practically every visitor—is placed a massive mahogany table. On this table a single item is displayed each day, with a framed card telling in which department it may be secured. Each department has the use of this table a day at a time. Since it bears only the cream of the store’s merchandise, it thus be- comes both a silent salesman and a subtle creator of assurance. The ab- sence of competing displays focuses attention on the one article. No price cards ever detract from the quality atmosphere surrounding it, and as a result, the manager feels, the store’s general tone is held higher in the public mind than it possibly could be without the “cross-roads” table. M. P. Klock. Valid Insurance at One-third Less Than Stock Company Rates Merchants insure your stocks, store buildings and residences in the Grand Rapids Merchants Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Michigan For the last ten years we have been saving our policy holders 33% % on their insurance. Wecan and will do as much for you. Home Office, Grand Rapids CHICAGO United Agency Reliable Credit Information General Rating Books Superior Special Reporting Service Current Edition Rating Book now ready Comprising 1,750,000 names— eight points of vital credit information on each name— no blanks. THE UP-TO-DATE SERVICE Gunther Building ILLINOIS 1018-24 South Wabash Avenue Liquor, Drug Addicts TAKE SAFETY FIRST The NEAL Remedies given at NEAL Institute will destroy the appetite at the end of treatment. A guarantee Bond, for every patient, with (3) day Liquor Treatments, upon request. Don’t doubt nor hesitate, COME; make us prove it, at our expense if we fail; strictest privacy is maintained to patients, their friends, at our Home. 534 Wealthy St. S. E., City PERRY MILLER, Manager Automobile Robes Automobile robes 54 in. x 60 in. single plush, double plush, rubber interlined, ranging in price from $3.25 to $11.00. 54 in. x 72 in. auto robes for rear seat, double plush, rubber in- terlined, muff robes, mohair and fur effects, $7.50 to $40.00. Auto shawls and steamer robes, all wool, scotch clan patterns, 60 in. x 80 in., $6.50 to $17.00. Sherwood Hall Co., Ltd. 30-32 Ionia Ave., N. W. GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. Pere Marquette Railway Co. F ACTORY SITES Locations for Industrial Enterprises in Michigan The Pere Marquette Railway runs through a territory peculiarly adapted by Accessibility. excellent Shipping Facilities. Healthful Climate and Good Conditions for Home Life. for the LOCATION OF INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES. First-class Factory Sites may be had at reasonable prices. Coal in the Saginaw Valley and Electrical Development in several parts of the State insure Cheap Power. Our Industrial Department invites correspondence with manufacturers and others seeking locations. All in- quiries will receive painstaking and prompt attention and will be treated as confidential. Address Cc. M. BOOTH, General Freight Agent, Detroit, Michigan Leitelt Elevators For Store, Factory Warehouse or Garage Built for Service Send for proposal on your requirements Adolph Leitelt Iron Works 213 Erie Street Grand Rapids, Michigan MICHIGAN TRADESMAN = = = _- — — _— = = ee HTT — — DRY GOODS, FANCY GOODS*=NOTIO =. = ~-: -_ - = — — — = = i = —_ — — America Now First in Toy Industry. England, France, Japan and Sw.tzer- land are assisting American to solve the Christmas toy problem, but only in a small way. Upon America her- self has fallen the greater part of the work, and this country is supplying practically all its own needs, and in the meantime developing a profitable industry. One of the largest buyers of toys was all praise for the American toy manufacturer. He claims that this country awakened to a wonderful op- portunity and made the most of it. “France is sending us some dolls: England and Japan are helping cut, too; but their supply is negligible. We had to make toys right here is America, and we did it, just the same as we made dyes. In my opinion. Germany, the largest toy maker in the world before the war, will never enjoy the same trade she once con- trolled. We are taking the toy busi- ness away from her, and, what is more, we are developing it to a high- er degree of efficiency than she had ever done.” “We are meeting the demand and we are offering just as good, and in many cases better, toys than ever been marketed heretofore,” was the candid statement made by an- other manager of a successful de- partment store. “We are very opti- mistic over the American toy, and I believe it has come to stay. Of course, some of the toys on sale in the various stores are imported, com- ing from England, France, Japan and Switzerland. They are in a class by themselves, but they do not measure have up to the American product. Switzer- land gives us music boxes, France dolls and England games. But we are giving the market something en- tirely different. The mechanical toy is an American product, and it is the worth while toy because it is educational. “There was a dearth of animal toys three or or four months ago. I mean by animal toys those such as the Teddy bears and other skin-covered play toys. To make them here was entirely new. but the industry and persistency of the American toy man- ufacturer soon overcame early diffi- culties, with the result that to-day we are offering skin-covered animal toys that are second to none.” Another toy buyer believes, like the rest of his colleagues engaged in selling toys, that America has taken hold of a new industry with wonder- ful grasp and that she is preparine to hold it after the war. He seemed to think that this country had little to fear from Germany commercially after the war, in the toy field or any other, for that matter, because the prejudice against Germany on ac- count of the bestial character of her people will be so strong that no one will touch any article of German manufacture any more than he would voluntarily touch a snake. “She'll be so busy,” he said, “mend- ing broken fences when peace comes that she will have little time to think of toys. By that time we will have established ourselves and defy all comers.” “There is little ‘junk’ to be found to-day on display,” he continued “This is due to the fact that we are trying to induce the public to buy better toys. It is a matter of educa- tion and in a year we will have de- veloped a better business. There is no room for the miserable substitutes which Germany was once so fond of marketing, and there won’t be in the future because we are teaching the people to buy the ‘real thing’ made in America. —_»-. Free JTessons in Doll Dressmakine. A dry goods store made a great hit ina Christmas advertising way through making it possible for the little girls of the town to be given free lessons in making doll clothes. The only difficulty about the thine was that the big girls insisted on be- ing counted in and the room that had been hired for that purpose was over-crowded at each lesson. The store arranged with a compe- tent dressmaker to devote an hour’s time twice a week to giving the les- sons. Each child was furnished the necessary material by the store upon payment of a small sum covering the expense. The merchant reports that he gain- ed trade in this way that previously he had been unable to reach—another example of the wisdom of getting in right with the children. ——_2-2-____ A Local Style Show. The high school girls in a small Kansas town staged a style show for a local merchant. He offered a good- sized donation toward graduation ex- penses in payment. The prettiest girls of the senior class were delight- ed to parade across the stage of the schocl auditorium. The others served refreshments and took care of the numerous details. “People will buy what looks good on other,” says the merchant. “That is why the style shows in large cities are so effective. I could not get pro- fessional models in my little town— I would not have been able to stand the expense if I could have got them. But my sales this season have broken all record for my store.” J. A. Murray. Do You? Do you believe in fire protection? Do you practice it in your home or place of business? Do you make periodical inspections of your premises, to make sure that attic, basement, store-rovms and closets are in good order? Do you have a metal receptacle for rubbish and waste? Do you have metal receptacles for ashes? Do you have your heating plant in- spected and the flues or chinneys cleaned at least once a year? Do you inspect your gas and electric December 19, 1917 light fixtures and extension cords oc- casionally? Do you protect your home or place of business with an approved hand extinguisher? Do you keep one on your car? Do your carry fire insurance? Of course you do. Then you should make an effort to reduce the fire hazard by following the above sug- gestions. ——_++-+—____ Those who have saved and scrimp- ed all their lives cannot now be much more saving. It is up to those who have been lavish or wasteful to save much more than the average demand- ed by war necessity. Merry Christmas In friendly appreciation of your business qwe send The Season’s reese PAUL STEKETEE & SONS | WHOLESALE DRY GOODS GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. No. 260 at $12.00 per Doz. Send us a trial order on this LADIES’ CAP Made in any combination of the following colors of pure worsted yarns: White Black Purple Brown Maroon Cardinal Gold Orange Ox'tord Green Navy Blue’ Royal Blue Old Gold Khaki We have Soldiers’ Sleeveless Jackets for immediate delivery made of fine worsted yarn in khaki or oxford at $42 per dozen. Van Lopik Knitting Co. Zeeland, Mich. Grand Rapids Calendar Co. PUBLISHERS WEATHER CHARTS, MARKET BASKET and BANK CALENDARS We also carry an extensive line of Wall Pockets, DeLuxe, Art Calendars and Advertising Specialties Order Now Territory Open for Salesmen GRAND RAPIDS CALENDAR CO. 572-584 SO. DIVISION AVE. - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN > . we sana ~ cet a wv coe gan ronan a ceatin s ~ a - + McA ~ - ‘ > + > ~ o - siabtisbiiasiait NB nese IRG ataxia Mig Spcisicawitiis » fe vv - x Mega ’ , . e wit Mt sone Zip scsi + “ > « s . sana ~ . v v ao aon eee’ » 4 ea v ~ aR. pier dageenanesaaet » + ~ © lll: : sae + ~ » < ‘ > ¢ « . —~ > x « » i ' Be aN 4 ge ~ > ‘aA «oe ‘ ae December 19, 1917 Salesmen Must Cut Traveling Ex- penses. In a bulletin to members of the National Wholesale Dry Goods As- sociation on “Economy in Traveling Expenses,” prepared by one of the members, the following is pointed out as one of the economies taught by the war: The conditions brought about by the war will force upon us all certain sacrifices that cannot be shifted, and the man who realizes fully the con- ditions prevailing will intelligently set about adjusting himself to them. Many men think expenses cannot be cut down, and really make no seri- ous effort to do so until necessity compels it. There is a growing belief in most business circles that, in the past, too loose a policy has been followed with regard to traveling expenses. In line with the purpose of the Commercial Economy Board, appointed by Presi- ent Wilson, most executives are giv- ing careful study to all details of trav- eling expense reports. It is quite evident from the variation shown by several men traveling under virtually the same conditions that all men do not practice the care and thought needed—particularly in small items, the sum of small items, however, making a large amount in the agere- gate. The fact that a man is selling goods on a commission basis and paying his own expenses, makes no difference in correct method of handling this im- portant subject. With the growth of cost in many items of expense, many of them it is true unjustified, methods of meeting same by cut- ting out waste and items that can be avoided must he studied. Possibly one of the things which has contrib- uted more than anything else to raise the cost of traveling is illogical and liberal tipping for service already paid for in some other form. The traveling salesman by his lib- eral and open-handed methods has aided greatly in boosting the prices on himself. But war has brought the necessity for studied economy, and whether a man like it or not he must get down to “brass tacks” and cut down every item of expense that he can—he must tip, if at all, with judg- ment and consideration for service ac- tually rendered. Entertainment items, if any, will be questioned as to ne- cessity and as how far personal to the man or business. A man must realize that he is real- ly in business for himself and all these items count in his record. He should visualize the comparison of his sales and the cost of getting them, also realize that his economies with the firm’s money are in reality econo- mies with his own money. i —_>-+ Convictions and Sentences For Dis- honest Advertising. Towa’s new law against fraudulent advertising stood its first test in court with the conviction of the Emporium Cloak & Suit Co., of Des Moines. In sustaining charges brought by the Associated Vigilance Committee of ‘Iowa, Judge Mershon of the Munici- pal Court fined the concern $150 and costs. MICMIGAN TRADESMAN The case upholds the new princi- ple of the law that exaggerated price comparisons are in reality statements of fact rather than of mere opinion. The store advertised , $20 winter coats, $10.99; $18 dresses, $8.98, and $4 and $5 silk blouses, $1.98. The vigilance committee secured one each of the articles advertised and sub- mitted them to experts, all of whom swore that the garments were not of the value claimed. The highest retail value placed on the coat was $12.50; on the dress $10 to $12, and on the blouse $2.50. The evidence was that the blouse was a grade or- dinarily used as a leader at $1.95. In rendering , his decision Judge Mershon said that technicalities would not hold in a case where the viola- tion of the law was so complete. “The offense was wilful and inten- tional,” he said, “and a plainer case could not be shown.” The Tradesman mentioned briefly last week the fraudulent advertising conviction in Chicago of the Money- worth Wholesale Grocers, in which Edward Perlman, manager, was fin- ed $25 and costs in the Municipal Court of that city. The case was brought through the efforts of the Better Advertising Bureau of Chi- cago. Details of the case show that the concern had advertised in newspapers and magazines throughout the Unit- ed States, offering to sell sugar at 4 cents per pound and “Gold Medal” flour at $8.50 a barrel. Persons send- ing orders found that additional goods up to a certain amount must be pur- chased in order to get sugar and flour at the prices quoted. The ad- vertising had not contained such a qualification. The National Vigilance Committee says: “This is an important victory, not only from the standpoint of adver- tising but also in connection with steps being taken by the Govern- ment to conserve sugar and wheat. The low price of the sugar would in- duce people to purchase large amounts. Also the Food Administra- tion apparently is opposed to greatly reduced prices on certain items in merchandising assortments.” The prosecution was brought un- der the ordinance in Chicago which prohibits false and fraudulent adver- tising. A Co-Operative Delivery. A butcher shop and a grocery lo- cated side by side in the residence district of a large city found them- selves faced by the problem of pre- venting the loss of customers who moved away from their immediate neighborhood, and at the same time keeping up their local service. Their delivery equipment consisted of the butcher’s horse-drawn wagon and the grocer’s light truck. At that time the grocer’s service was costing him an average of $125 a month without meeting the peculiar demands of the situation. He therefore suggested to the butcher that they combine forces and offered to cover daily deliveries to the “Heights” section, a high class resi- dence district that lay a considerable distance to the Southeast, if the butcher would provide for those to the West. A trial proved the sound- ness of the plan, as it provided the service necessary to meet competi- tion. It also suggested another step which they have since put into prac- tical operation. They approached a man who had formerly operated a milk route to go into business as their delivery de- partment. He accepted, hired a boy as a “jumper,” and gives his whole time to the operation of the truck only. Careful study, added to the backing of past experience, has given them a delivery capacity which they feel is equal to that of from two to three average trucks in such service. The grocer pays a fixed charge of $90 a month, while the butcher pays $55. M. P. Klock. —_ 2+ >—_—_- Atrocities. “George has written a_ patriotic song to help the war.” “So I hear. Aren't the modern methods of warfare horrible?” Vana meh ae yi eer iieEe Of All Jobbers PRESIDENT SUSPENDER CO., Shirley, ett We are manufacturers of TRIMMED AND UNTRIMMED HATS for Ladies, Misses and Children, especially adapted to the general store trade. Trial or“er solicited. CORL, KNOTT & CO.. Ltd. Corner Commerce Ave. and Island St. Grand Rapids, Mich. The Goods! Net Prices! When you receive “OUR DRUM MER” catalogue regularly you always have dependable answers to these two important questions: What is the lowest net price at which I can buy goods? Where can I get the goods? Items listed in this catalogue have the goods behind them. The prices are net and are guaranteed for the time the catalogue is in force. Butler Brothers Exclusive Wholesalers of General Merchandise New York Chicago St. Louis Minneapolis Dallas SERVICE QUALITY For That Rush Mail Order For the late Holiday Trade, which will sure- ly come, use our service...... QUALITY The Grand Rapids Dry Goods Co. Exclusively Wholesale Grand Rapids, Michigan SERVICE MICHIGAN TRADESMAN BS tle W660C¢¢ aangatt ett (( HE‘ iece these ey Ay (} Eo Srereeeresyt ye Rs \} 1} ST Wut (8 qe ( y G i R ol 3 aes g = : = Sacks MAA oO cS Leo BN John Hach’s Talk to Michigan Hotel Men. It is one of the pleasures in connec- tion with my duty as Grand Counselor of the United Commercial Travelers to be privileged to meet with you at your State session, and I deem this oc- casion doubly interesting from the fact that it is my second appearance before you. My talk to you at this time will, in a measure, be a repetition of what I said to you at your last session, only to make it more emphatic if possible that the uppermost in the minds of the traveling men through- out the State is a closer relationship between them and the hotel, which we believe can be consummated only by an act of the Legislature creating the office of Hotel Inspector. This is a matter we had hoped to bring to the attention of the Legis- lature at its last session, but due to the fact that the chairman of our Legislative Committee was confined to his home by illness during the en- tire session of the Legislature, our cause was allowed to pass by default. The cost of travel, the cost of hotel accommodations and the steady de- mand upon us as business representa- tives place us in a position where we are called upon to meet the emergen- cy incident to these troublesome times more than any other class of men and all we ask is the same consideration given others not as farreaching in the affairs of state as is the calling of the commercial man. I do not believe there is a man within the hearing of my voice who will hamper our cause or hesitate to assist in bringing about the one act which will bring us into a closer re- lationship when you consider that the barber, the horseshoer and even the breeder of stud horses is protect- ed by the official inspection in the de- partment of State. Who of you will be so narrow minded in the face of these facts as to deny the same pro- tection as to health and comfort and safety to a class of men who are not only the main spokes in the wheels of industry, but who are the bone and sinew of the successful hotel? Matters of personal observation justify me in saying that while I do not want to even suggest a breach of faith on the part of your member- ship, I do want to say that many cases of flagrant violations of the Henry law are fostered and practiced by many hotels because of the lack of proper provision for enforcing same. For this reason, I am frank to say that I am instructed to state that nothing but a bona fide department of hotel inspection under the auspices and control of the State, with an ap- propriation sufficient to conduct the affairs of that department to the best interest of all concerned, will be sat- isfactory to us. For the purpose of a better under- standing as to what the proposed leg- islation shall constitute, I will, in as few words as possible, convey such information by referring you to a copy of the Washington State hotel law. Now, gentlemen, I am going to ap- peal to your fair mindedness in the spirit of justice, If the State of John A. Hach, Jr. Washington with a representation oi less than 35 per cent. of traveling men, as compared with the great State of Michigan, can see the justice of an appropriation of $25,000 annual- ly for the carrying out cf such a law, are we not justified in asking your co-operation in a similar cause? I appeal to you, not only for the 25,000 traveling men from the State of Michigan, but from over 2,500,000 under the glory of the stars and stripes, and with the hope of taking back to my colleagues your hearty endorsement of our cause, by the ap- pointment of a committee to. act in conjunction with the legislative com- mittee of our order. You might ask me why we lay so much stress upon the importance of the hotel inspectorship. I will reply by saying, for the very same reason that you carry policies upon your property and your life, which is for the purpose of protection. The vast sums expended annually in the main- tenance of fire departments by great municipalities is not occasioned so much by the present day fire-proof construction as by the time-worn structure with its defective flues. The vast sums expended by these munici- palities in the maintenance of police departments as well as secret serv- ice departments, is not occasioned by the law-abiding citizen, but rather by him whose greed for the Almighty Dollar is greater than his sense of justice. To the end that men aspiring to election to either the upper or lower house of the next Legislature, regard- less of party affiiation, shall have no claim to our suffrage unless they carry with them the approval and in- terest of the Crescent and Sample Case and on behalf of over 25,000 traveling men of the great State of Michigan, I appeal to your loyalty to our cause. Again thanking you for the courte- sies extended to myself personally and the organization I represent, with the renewed assurance of a hearty mutual co-operation, I will close my remarks with but a slight reference to the sub- ject of tipping. I have learned from various hotel men that the subject of tips is of more concern to them than is that of the hotel inspectorship and while it is not our purpose to antagonize the interests of the hotel, we deem the practice of tipping unjust, especially at this time when we are heavily call- ed upon for donations from many sources by virtue of the great num- ber called to the defense of a world wide democracy, not a few of whom are members of our fraternity, in whose cause we ask you to discontinue this pernicious practice, wherever pos- sible. Five Stories Completed April, 1917 HOTEL BROWNING GRAND RAPIDS NEWEST Fire Proof. At Sheldon and Oakes. Every Room with Bath. Our Best Rooms $2.0@; others at $1.50. Cafeteria - Cafe - Garage December 19, 1917 ELI CROSS Grower of Flowers And Potted Plants WHOLESALE AND RETAIL 150 Monroe Ave. Grand Rapids USED AUTOS My Specialty—Easy Terms or Trade DORT AGENCY Dwight’s Auto Ex. 230 Ionia Ave., N. W. OCCIDENTAL HOTEL FIRE PROOF CENTRALLY LOCATED Rates $1.00 and up EDWARD R, SWETT, Mer. Muskegon 3 Michigan CODY HOTEL GRAND RAPIDS $1 without bath RATES | $1.50 up with bath CAFETERIA IN CONNECTION Special Sales John L. Lynch Sales Co. No. 28 So Ionia Ave. Grand Rapids, Michigan Beach’s Restaurant 41 North Ionia Ave. Near Monroe GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Good Food Prompt Service Reasonable Prices What More Can You Ask? LADIES SPECIALLY INVITED HOTEL HERKIMER GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN European Plan, 75c Up Attractive Rates to Permanent Guests Popular Priced Lunch Koom COURTESY SERVICE VALUE Use Citizens Long Distance Service ee eae INDERENDENT oy aaa keine NUT TH To Detroit, Jackson, Holland, Muskegon, Grand Haven, Ludington, Traverse City, Petoskey, Saginaw, and all intermediate and connecting points. Connection with 750,000 Telephones in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Citizens Telephone Company € . a tn Nei laa - a . i ttt a € SA atapssu ati bia agbiRt, . » a tai = , ae aa atlanta mae ce ab ay e oe ‘ piace e » ¢ > » ® : Sa e » i sional ¢ ¥ > « me 2 ¥ a Ns i q « » 4 4 ‘ ri « @ 4 o € - i 7 4 ’ i ¥ Y ° ¥ _v it 4 bw <6 i i * ¢ < fie” peseeasilete ala a a - > « a" } ; * 4 ? ‘ s é a ¥ 4 » 4 3 & a e & : * « s a » > a « ‘ « t > » incase aet aR isco et eee e teil. * e ' « ¢ ° ¥ as - Se & o December 19, 1917 GOVERNMENTAL GUIDANCE. It is evident to anyone who watches the trend of events that the entrance of the Government into the arena of food control and distribution is resulting in a great gain in the public understanding cf mercantile and distributive problems. It may be suspected that the daily press is still unfortunately devoid of technical knowledge of the workings of the economic law and the reasons for the high cost of living, wherefore it still has vain imaginings of the wickedness of food merchants—and passes along its misinformation, or uninformation, to the public at large—but the powers in control are making rapid gains in in- telligence. They are finding ways to apply the regulations of war to business without ripping up its traditions and practices by the roots and in a striking way their investigations confirm what the grocer claimed all along as to the intricacies of food production and dis- tribution. On the other hand, practical grocery trade leaders are learning much of the other side of the food auestion—the human side that has to do with neces- saries of life, without regard to profit or any phase of the economic problems involved. When hard-headed jobbers and retailers and canners and manufac- turers undertook to assume duties as Uncle Sam’s administrators, and ap- plied to an altruistic outcome the same honesty of thought and effort they had exercised to the end of profits, they learned many valuable lessons. In other words, co-operation of opposing factors to a common and imperative end under the war emergency has opened the eyes of hoth to a new angle and created no small degree of friendly mutuality of effort. Each finds that the other was iight; also that he was wrong. to be done about it? What will the outcome be? So far there has been manifested a spirit of patriotic co-operation that has resulted in making food control very commonly effective without invoking the “teeth” in the law. A story from Washington, testifies to the satisfaction of the Food Administration with the trade willing- ness to aid; also to the fact that de- liberate disobedience of the regulations are rare. This would tend to strengthen the feeling that a large measure of co- ordinated effort will survive when peace is again restored. Now, what’s That the trade welcomed the entrance of a fair minded officialdom into the field is not denied. The grocers had long realized two things: that anti- trust laws prevented them from correct- ing many of the annoying abuses that had crept into trade practices under normal conditions, and that the absence of one centralized authority under war conditions robbed them of a “captain” they would all welcome. Two years of abnormal demand and rampantly ad- vancing prices left them helpless, and, although prosperous in general, fully aware that they were skating on thin ice. There were no guide posts along the route of the wild ride of inflation to direct them, and everyone feared a crash. Therefore, they welcomed—whether they will admit it or not—some power strong enough to control with acceptable MICHIGAN TRADESMAN authority the dangerous and unfair con- ditions that annoyed and menaced every- cone. Take the following quotation from the Washington story referred to; that infraction of the law occurred Where several small retailers in the sime neighborhcod are engaged 11 bitter competition. In the r eage-ness to get the best of the other fel ow these small retailers frequently py no attention to the rules. Usually fo- the satisfactory ad‘ustment of thes> cases it has been found necessary to cure the condition which gave rise to them. In other words, competition had been forcing an unrestricted competition to follow the sharpest, if not the best and most honest, contestant even. into dis- obedience. It was exactly the same in the conditions preceding the enactment of the pure food laws. Competitors, impelled by the trickery of unprincipled competitors, had been resorting to prac- tices which had gradually steeled their appreciation that it was food and not mere merchandise they were handling. And as they then welcomed the correct- ing authority of a pure food law, to compel all alike to behave, so they now welcome the hand of Hoover to direct along wholesome mercantile ideals. Now how much of this paternalistic influence will remain after the war no one can say, but the feeling is that a considerable degree will survive, not merely because of a dictatorial govern- mental potentate, but because a captain tc the ship is necessary; just as neces- sary as some kind of dictatorship would be welcome in Russia to-day if only one could rise above the rest and point the ways of wisdom and enforce them. Of course, after-war conditions will probably sweep away such radicalism as the elimination of “speculative profits” and will.allow the law of supply and demand to re-assert itself; but even there the voice of the Government will probably be not wholly unwelcome. And if this be true, would it not be wise to watch events and help shape them, not only to the problem of the minute but to their utility for the perinanent correc- tion of abuses. Mr. Hoover has done the established distributers the favor of an official endorsement—a judgment that wild talk about elimination and the creation of direct trading are useless; that co-ordinate factors are necessary —and has the reward of hearty support, which ought to continue indefinitely. But there are other points of the pub- lic’s education yet to be developed. There is the clamor for low prices. Un- doubtedly there is need for feeding the people more cheaply, but it is by no means certain that arbitrary reduction ly pressure will work more good than evil. If it discourages production and encourages consumption, it may prove a bad recourse here as it has in Eng- land. And that, the public had best come to understand as soon as possible, in order that one more false hope may be exploded. ——emceiennenetineeeGpe teers cea In the end we will see what we have always seen in a great war, that the nations with the most money will win. The United States possesses about one- third of the wealth of all nations and this will be the deciding factor—Judge Elbert H. Gary. —_——_..-———————_ Virtue never grows old; mankind won't let it. SOURCES OF NATIONAL WASTE If there is one tendency which, more than any other, seems to men- ace our success in putting the Na- tion’s resources in such condition as to be able to meet the extraordinary demand which the Kaiser’s war has created, clearly it is the tendency to- wards National waste. Our reputa- tion as the most wasteful Nation and people in the world finds fullest justi- fication in conditions which surround us upon every hand. Indeed, we ap- pear to have been so impressed by na- ture’s bountiful provision in our be- half that we have allowed ourselves to develop, almost as a National char- acteristic, a complete disregard for ordinary principles of every-day econ- omy which other nations have learned to include among the fundamentals of their existence. Many of us appear disposed to dis- cuss this question of National waste as though the solution were simple and involved only a certain amount of self denial upon the part of the aver- age citizen; as though the cutting out of luxuries in our daily life, the sim- plifying of the National bill of fare, the checking of extravagant tenden- cies in dress and in amusements, would be sufficient to cover the case and serve the National purpose. Economies of this kind are vitally im- portant—and indispensable to our full after all, they repre- sent only a very small part of what must be accomplished before this Na- success—but, tional tendency can be checked, and before more than a part of the vast wealth of this Nation will be avail- able to efforts in this war. support our Waste is everywhere—in production —in manufacture—in transportation —in purchase—in sale—in distribu- tion. It interferes with the efficiency and proper economy of business and of Government. It is responsible fo: immeasurable National losses in ma- terials destroyed—in services misdi- rected—in efficiency possible but not > secured. with that is the point at which Government action in correction and regulation to be fully effective must begin—we find waste. The farmer wastes, when, because of careless methods, he al- lows grain to rot in the fields, and when, because of labor, or transpor- tation or distribution difficulties of Beginning roduction—and 2 a some kind, he grows fruit which nev- er finds a market; when he allows his cattle to reach the market in an imperfectly fattened condition; when he tolerates land which is fallow in- stead of productive, and when he in- upon operating of his fellows, instead of taking full- est advantage of the obvious bene- sists independently fits of co-operative organization. Waste is found in unintelligent buy- ing and preparing and utilizing of materials; in money which is hoarded, instead of being put into the channels of commerce for which it tended; in commercial credit is tied up in frozen book accounts: in the purchase of luxuries, or in ex- travagances which mean nothing to the purpose of war; or in the possi- bility of productive labor of men or women which is not utilized in etfec- tive manner. was in- which wastes when it high as to The Government fixes a price so mit excess ‘profits and fails to pro vide a recovery tax upon the particu- lar industry affected. It wastes when it fixes a price so low as to remove the proper incentive to the necessarily large increased production demande. by war, and it wastes when, in ad- per- ministering the war business of the Nation, it secures from a machine or a man or an establishment or a busi- control a regularly under its percentage of efficiency lower than ness the highest efficiency of which that machine or man or establishment or business is capable, Again it wastes when. in constructing or purchasing, or in any other of the war business functions with which it has been en- trusted, it allows its different depart- ments to bid against each other for labor and for vast quantities of ma- terials and supplies, thereby creating purely fictitious values, with their na- tural bearing upon inflation and the high cost of living, and with the dis- turbance to business, and industry, and labor. which follows. It wastes when, in any form of contract it fails to provide the incentive to economy in which well managed private business always is so careful to re- quire. costs ——_»-—-———_———_ There are a lot of good chess play- ers in the poorhouse. —_—_.|——_—— If there were no fools fads would die out. wire or telephone. We wish all our customers a very Merry Christmas and many happy returns of the day. If you happen to run short of anything on which you can make any margin, get in touch with us by Exclusively Wholesale MICHIGAN HARDWARE CO. GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN MICHIGAN TRADESMAN December 19, 1917 ny F = ° 2 Michigan Board of Pharmacy. President—Leonard A. Seltzer, Detroit. Secretary—Edwin T. Boden, Bay City. Treasurer—George F. Snyder, Detroit. Other Members—Herbert H. Hoffman, Sandusky; Charles S. Koon, Muskeg >n. Next Examination Session—Detroit, January 15, 16 and 17, 1918. Michigan State Pharmaceutical Asso- ciation. President—P. A. Snowman, lapeer. Secretary—F. J. Wheaton, Jackson. Treasurer—E. E. Faulkner, Delton. Next Annual Meeting—Detroit. Michigan Pharmaceutical Travelers’ As- sociation. President—-W. F. Griffith, Howell. Secretary and Treasurer—Walter 5S. Lawton, Grand Rapids. Status of the Drug Market. There are few changes in prices, al- though developments of not a little interest were by no means lacking. Sugar of milk is advanced by leadin = manufacturers. There has steady this commodity for a considerable period and supplies available for prompt delivery are small, some quarters being bare oi stocks. Saccharine has rather quiet of late and the market is easier, with reports current of freer offer- ings from some holders. An increas- ed demand is reported for naphthaline flakes and the market is a shade stronger. A further advance has oc- curred in red cinchona bark owing to extreme scarcity. Yellow cinchona seems to be no longer obtainable. The essential oils are generally well maintained with a fair jobbing trade. Balsam tolu is quiet, but owing to scarcity the market remains firm at the recent advance. Sabadilla seed has been revised downward. Caustic soda and foreign chlorate of potash are quiet among second hands, and reports are current of shading of both. Some enquiry is noted for formaldehyde, and_ the smallness of supplies is reflected in a firm market. been a demand for been some further Sugar of milk is stronger and high- er in first hands, leading makers an- nouncing an advance in prices to 46@ 48c per pound, according to quantity. Spot supplies are small and some second hands demand 50@52c per pound in barrels. Saccharine is weaker for soluble, owing to a lessening demand of late and freer offerings from some hold- ers who desire to realize, and also be- cause of reports of cheaper offerings for shipment early next year. A sale is reported of soluble at $37 per pound, while offerings are noted at still lower prices. Vague rumors are in circulation of offerings of scattered lots at as low as $32, but nothing defi- nite is obtainable in regard to such alleged offers. Insoluble saccharine seems to be in small supply with hold- ers demanding from $40@43 per pound, according to dealer and quan- tity, and sales are noted within the range. Naphthaline is in somewhat better demand and flakes are firmer at 10G 10%c per pound. Chinese cantharides meets with a fair enquiry and the market is steady at recently prevailing prices. Denatured alcohol is easy owing to competition, and rumors are again current of further shading of prices. Prominent interests continue to quote 73@75ce per gallon. Thirty-Two Granted Certificates. The Michigan Board of Pharmacy held a meeting at Grand Rapids No- vember 20, 21, 22, eighteen applicants received registered pharmacist papers and fourteen druggists papers. Fol- lowing is a list of receiving certificates: Registered Pharmacists. John M. Warncke. Harold G. Harvey. Karl A. Simon. Victor C. Peaskowski. Wolf Levin. Jay Holcomb. Charles W. Harling. Arthur J. Winters. Stanley A. Snyder. Alex. J. Schramm. Ward R. McIntyre. C. Edward McCarty. Herbert O. Eskola. Carl A. Detwyler. Geo. A. Diller. Andrew J. Cromer. Robert O, Cox. Walter Catterfield. Registered Druggists. Raymond H. Ballheim. W. A. Camburn. W. E. Dengler. Edwin J. Denton. S. J. Masty. Dennis L, Murphy. D. F. Pochert. H. G. Sheffield. Arthur A. Thomas. A. D. Wood. R. E. Lorenz. L. G. Richard. Thomas C. Wood. The next meeting of the Board will be held at Detroit, January 15, 16, 17, 1918. Resolved—By the Michigan Board of Pharmacy, that if any registered druggist or registered pharmacist of the State of Michigan enters military service during the present war, their registration will not be lapsed on ac- count of non-payment of annual re- newal fees during his term of service. Resolved—That registered drug- gists or candidates who have not completed the required four years’ experience who enter hospital or am- those bulance service in the present war will be permitted at a future examination to present affidavits for the time ac- tually spent in such service in lieu of the pharmacy experience ordinarily required. The Michigan Board of Pharmacy cannot pass resolutions inconsistent with the State law, consequently is not permitted to issue certificates to licentiates in pharmacy without the renewal fee, therefore cannot mail annual certificates to any person un- less the request be accompanied w:-th one dollar, but will guarantee that any druggist or pharmacist now registered in Michigan who enters military serv- ice will at the close of war, whether or not renewals are paid, be privileg- ed to continue the practice of pharma- cy in the State or Michigan without further examination, and the Board hopes and expects to procure legisla- tion that will completely cancel all renewals that may have accrued dur- ing the war period against licentiates in pharmacy in the State of Michigan who are now doing military service. E. T. Boden, Sec’y. —__2 22> ___ Things You Must Do If You Seil Alcohol, 1. You must file a bond with the Internal Revenue Department. 2. You must have a permit. The bond gives you the right to sell and the permit gives you the right to buy. If you wish to buy non-beverage al- cohol for the manufacture of U. S. P. and N. F. preparations you must first file a bond, then you are granted a permit to purchase the same. You then make application to your jobber —the application to be in triplicate— one of which you retain, one goes to the jobber and the cther to the In- ternal Revenue Collector. 3. Non-beverage alcohol for re- sale must be medicated according to Government formulas and sales are restricted to quantities of one pint Gr less. 4. You may sell non-beverage al- cohol on_ physician’s prescription without medication. 5. The above rulings do not ap- ply to alcohol on which full beverage tax has been paid. The Internal Revenue Department does not furnish the application o: permits but they can be procured from the jobber or bonding company. Chocolates Package Goods of Paramount Quality and Artistic Design kind of agent. GRAND RAPIDS “CRITERION” House Paint, Flat Wall Paint and Finishes THE CRITERION PAINT LINE is made especially for Michi- gan needs—gives perfect protection, maximum spread and costs little compared with brands that offer less. SOME MICHIGAN TERRITORIES are still open for the right Write for our agent proposition NOW. Know the facts—then you will make no mistake. Heystek & Canfield Co. MICHIGAN Its Good For @ You It’s Pure, That’s Sure _ Piper Ice Cream Co. Kalamazoo, Michigan e ¥ o a nar « ie aaa ga v > Are Pisa AT wr iene mata > 4 e > ay *+@e* ‘ : {ey eu i o “a < s 4 9 A _ 4 f @y 4 q * a 4 . ba ». Bow oe : o ma 3 & ‘ s q ° ‘ e i i tes : «44 + ‘aes +, eS ’ 4 . 4 * ‘ e ° a a e a ’ 4 a = «@ December 19, 1917 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN 27 Deodorizing Benzin. about 3 per cent. of sulphuric acid, WHOLESALE DRUG PRICE CURRENT The following process has been diluted with about an equal quantity widely published: of water. Let the mixture stand a Prices quoted are nominal, based on market the day ot issue Bettie ooo ee 20 ozs. while, and then decant the clear por- Acids @ubebs -....... 9 00@9.25 Capsicum ....... @2 15° Mi ot Lavender ........... 1 dy: i Ta i i ; ic Bori : Bigeron ....... 275@3 00 Cardamon ...... @2 10 On of | le d tion, Wash this with water to which Havie wend) 18@ 25 eat ile fmeia Gaden, Coa s Potassium Dichromate .... 1 oz. has been added sufficient sodium car- Garholic 75@ 7g Hemlock, pure 175@2 00 Catechu ........ @1 60 i i q “ ro ee / oe ‘itri oe 94@ Juniper Berries 20 00@20 20 Cinchona ....... @2 35 Sulpnuric, Acid 22... 0..... 1 oz. benate to neutralize the acid, Again oS a: ee ene: at 00 Juniper Wood .. 2 7s@3 00 Colchicum 1.1... a Bk aE Oe 20 ozs. decant the benzin and wash it repeat- Nitric ............ 9@ 15 Lard, extra .... 190@2 00 Cubebs ......... @2 3 i : i a s << ee Oxalic 60@ 70 Lard, No. 1 .... 1 85@1 96 Digitalis ........ @1 90 Dissolve the dichromate in the wa- edly with water, and finally distil it gotnurie “Jl100" 3%@ 5 Lavender Flow. 7 00@7 25 Gentian ......... @1 50 ter, add the acid and when the solu- off, or carefully separate it. Tartaric ....... 1 05@1 10 oe Gar’n 1 aaa = Soa ene a = . tion is cold, the benzin. Shake every Shake the benzin with an alkaline aril mania “eo es polled bbl a 23 Casiae. Ammon. gi 80 : ‘ : ‘a é ‘ ater, cb CZ. ccc (@ a zinseed, Ss 33@ ¢ CGUMG scésedacec hour during the day, allow to stand solution of lead, obtained by dissolv- Water, 18 dan. r ; 2@ 20 Pinscad =a ‘bbl @1 22 lodine, Coioriess @1 75 all night, decant the benzin, was ing litharge in solution of sodium Water, 1 dee wae facte oes - f Chlorate, gran’r SpSICUM ....... 35@ 40 Shake well, with each gallon of backward of course, was fastened ON Aloes (Cape Pow) 20@ 25 Chlorate’ ba gael ! oe : pind . benzin, three ounces of powdered the back of the pail so that it could Aloes (Soc. Pow. 60) @) 55 powd -.......-. Te 8 asia B ae 40 Sak : oc af 4) : Asafoetida, @2 25 cyanide ......... 80@1 00 assi uds -..., @ quicklme, not be seem trom m sromt of ee WY Amatuctias, Powe. ae... 459@4 66 Cloves ........... 77@ 85 Add freshly-burnt charcoal to the dow. The unusual arrangement at- Veo ee eee eee @250 Permanaganate ... @5 25 Chalk Prepared ..12@ 15 Camphor ......... 92@ 95 Prussiate, yellow @1 7 Shaikh: Precinttata benzin. tracted passers-by while the sign did Quine 222222222. 45@ 50 Prussiate, red ..3 75@4 00 ye Precipitated 10@ 15 » 4 Sulphe ‘nloreform ...... 90@ 97 Add to the sample to be deodorized §& the rest. H. C. Torbett. o—. powdered as a Sulphate) .......... @ 90 cua Tidnein 1 a a4 Kino, powdered .. 75@ 9&0 Roots Cocaine .....- 11 65@12 20 Myrrh .........- @ . Alkanet ....... , 2 v0@2 9 Carka, hg ee 60 Myrrh, peavore’ @ Blood, powdere 25@ 3 - . Opium ....... 0 00@40 20 Calamus ........ 50@3 50 Copperas, bbis. .... @ 2 Opium, powd. a 00@42 20) tiecampane, pwd. low 20 Copperas, less .. 24@ 7 Opium, gran. 42 00@42 20 Gentian, powd. 30@ 35 Copperas, powd. - 4@ 10 an. Shellac .......... 70@ 80 Ginger, African, Corrosive Sublm. 230@2 40 Shellac, Bleached be 90 powdered ...... 20@ 25 Cream Fartar .... 68@ %% Tragacanth .... 250@3 00 Ginger, Jamaica ..30@ 35 Cuttlebone ....... 65@ 70 Tragacanth powder 250 winger, Jamaica, Dextrine ete 10@ 15 Turpentine ...... 10@ 15 powdered ...... 22@ 30 Dover s Powder 5 75@6 00 Goldenseal pow. 8 00@8 20 Emery, All Nos. 10@ 15 e Insecticides tpecac, powd. ..3 25@3 50 Emery, yaedered ‘@ p Arsenic .......... 23@ 30 Licorice .......-.-. 35@ 40 tspsom Salts, = fl m and Ne W Years Blue Vitriol, bbl. @ 12 Caaviee, powd. 30@ 40 Epsom Salts, less 6@ 10 Blue Vitriol, less 12%@ 20 Orris, powdered 35@ 40 Ergot .......... 1 25@1 50 Bordeaux Mix Dry 20@ 25 Poke, powdered e » at ponerse 2 i s Hellebore, White Rhubarb ........ i5@1 25 Flak sees , powdered ....... 38@ 45 Rhubarb, powd. 75@1 25 Formaldehyde, Ib. 24@ 30 Insect Powder .... 40@ 60 Rosinweed, powd. 25@ 30 Sees toe oe 90 i i te Po 34@ 44 | illa, Hond. ass z cs. lo The observance and celebration of the Christmas Fone frecete Fo S40 Sarsaparilla, Hon co 20 Glassware, tas $0% 0% : : ‘signi Solution, gal. 15@ 25 arilla “Mexican, jlauber Salts, 2 and New Year holidays have a particular ‘significance poolution, gal. .. 16@ 25 Sarsaparilla Mexi Bo 1 Slauber Sats, ess 2 i i i ME oe eee eee 40 Glue, Brown ..... 35 and a new meaning to us all at this time. ea oa winina Ga @ dine, thewa Gre ng 35 i Piper Ice Cream Co., Tumeric, powd. .. 13@ 20 Glue, White .... The year 1917 has been a good year for business ee - wi aad al ae Glue, White Grd. 30@ 35 4 1 7 i : GCering ..:..... i6@ § from the standpoint of volume, but uncertainty has pre- | futk Special Fiavored” 90 seeds Hops vee, 6@. #0 i j ick, Plain ..........-. 29 Anise ........---- 35@ 40 Iodine ......... 6 vailed on account of the constant changing of values. Brick” ro Gece jawaaed ee &% lodomes ....... 6 59@6 74 Added to this our part in the greatest war the world has Cane Bt eater wa a ioe ane ever recorded in its history, we come to the close of the Bee ious, } i B92 85 Caraway 2.2.2. BQ 99 Mace .....---.3::- SQ 90 year with more thoughtfulness, with greater considera- Sage, bulk ..... . 70 Gelery (Powd. 50) 38@ 45 Menthol ....... 4 25@4 50 : . : Sage, % loose .. 20 78 Coriander ........ 36@ 45 Morphine 16 60@17 00 tion and concern in our minds as to what the future has Sage, powdered .. 55@ 60 Dill .............. 30@ 35 Nux Vomica .... 22%@ 30 . : . : Senna, Alex ..... 0@1 00 Fennell ......... 90@1 00 Nux Vomica, pow. 20 in store for us, individually and collectively. Senna, ‘Tin. 49@ 45 Flax ...... eee 1%@ 12 Pepper, black pow. 86@ 40 Senna, Tinn. pow. Flax, ground .... 742@ d epper, qeece 1 i ing. | Uva Ursi ........ 18@ 20 FF ,, 19@ 25 Pitch, Burgundy .. 15 We are, however, just now the most liberty loving, Uva Ursi @ Ri cenugreek pee, ee Pee 2 1 } 1 Olis Inelia: 04.5... 0@ 50 Quinine .......... the best governed and the ablest ante in all the world. a a iuatard yellow .. 19@ 25 Rochelle Salts .... 48@ 55 We are. therefore, in a measure forgetting our trials and true .-..... 15 00@16 00 Mustard, black .. 19@ 28 Saccharine, oz. ++ Gt ; 5 Alea Ss, De ustard, are nae eeee burdens and our anxiety for the future, and join all our artificial ..... 7 00@7 20 Quine dou sues toe g . Sees tee cs 1. “s } 7 ; ap igaa Sweet, MINCE ....----0-- é wae people throughout this great land in a voice of thankful- TG «oc o cass @t@ Gane ......--<--. 15@ 20 Soap mott castile 22%@ 25 * d th irit of d will Almonds, Sweet, Sapadiila cues @ 35 Soap, white castile ness for loyalty, good business, and the spirit of good w1 imitation ...... 5@ 175 Sabadilla, powd. 35@ 45 case ........... @19 00 ‘: h iti bi f t Amber, crude .. 1 75@2 00 Sunflower ...... 8%@ 12 Soap, white castile ss that prevails throughout the citizenship of our country. Amber, rectified 250@275 Worm American .. @ 25 _ less, per bar ..... @2 00 a AydeG .........- wae = Worm Levant .. 1 00@1 10 —_ Lol “46 " 8 00 oda Yours Sincerely, aon | 1 35@1 60 Tinctures Gade, GAL ceccssss: 2@ 5 ° Cassia 3 00@3 25 Aconite ......... @1 65 Spirits Camphor .. @1 25 1 D Castor 2$4@2 96 Aloes ........... @1 35 Sulphur, roll ... 4%@ 10 aZe tine er ns rug 0. Cedar Leaf ..... + 7a@e 00 Arnica .........- @3 15 Sulphur, Subl. 4 9-10@ 10 Citronella sa ts 100@1 25 Asafoetida ...... @4 40 Tamarinds ....... 15@ 20 1 sehi @loves ........- 5 50@5 75 Belladonna @2 85 Tartar Emetic - @ 90 < Grand Rapids, Michigan Cocoanut ....... 40@ 50 Benzoin ........ @250 Turpentine, Ven. 50@4 75 God Eiver ...-- 4 75@5 00 Benzoin Compo’d @3 30 Vanilla Ex. pure 1 50@2 00 Cotton Seed .... 1 85@2 00 Buchu .......... @2 40 Witch Hazel ... 1 35@1 765 Groton .....-. .. 2 00@2 23 Cantharadies ... @3 90 Zinc Sulphate .... 10@ 16 28 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN December 19, 1917 GROCERY PRICE CURRENT These quotations are carefully corrected weekly. within six hours of mailing. and are intended to be correct at time of going to press. liable to change at any time. and country merchants will have their orders filled at market prices at date of purchase. Prices. however, are ADVANCED Candles Clothes Lines Twine AMMONIA Arctic Brand 12 oz. ovals, 2 doz. box 2 40 AXLE GREASE Frazer’s 1%. wood boxes, 4 doz. 3 lf. tin boxes, 3 doz. 2 3% Ib. tin boxes, 2 dz. 4 25 10%. pails, per doz. 6 15tb pails, per doz. 7 25%. pails, per doz. ..12 BAKED BEANS No. 1, per doz. ....... 1 35 Ne. 2. per doz ........ 2 25 No. 3, per doz. ....... 2 75 BATH BRICK een... 95 BLUING Jennings’ Condensed Pearl Bluing Small, 3 doz. box .... 1 95 Large, 2 doz. box .... 2 40 BREAKFAST FOODS Bear Food, Pettijohns 2 85 Cracked Wheat, 24-2 ..4 60 Cream of Wheat .... 7 50 Quaker Puffed Rice .. 4 30 Quaker Puffed Wheat 4 30 Quaker Brkfst Biscuit 1 90 Quaker Corn Flakes .. 2 75 Washington Crisps .. 2 : WVREBIONA ...--.---000 51 Grape Rete oc e 2 as Sugar Corn Flakes .. : 80 Holland Rusk ........ 3 80 Krinkle Corn Flakes ..2 80 Mapl-Flake, Whole WUUIPRG .cceccce pec - 405 Minn. Wheat Food .. 6 50 Ralston Wheat Food LLerge, 188 .......- 2 90 Raiston Wht Food 18s 1 95 Ross’s Whole Wheat ROCHE og uw ceeee ° Saxon Wheat Food .. 4 50 Shred Wheat Biscuit 4 25 rest, 38 4.6. eoese 2 25 Pililsbury’s Best Cer’l 2 +4 ost Toasties, T-2 .. 3 3 Post Toasties, T-3 .. 3 30 Post Tavern Porridge 2 80 BROOMS Fancy Parlor, 25 lb. .. 9 00 Parlor, 5 String, 25 Ib. 8 25 Standard Parlor, 23 lb. 8 00 Common, 23 Ib. ...... 7 50 Rpecial, 2 tb. ....... 7 2d Warehouse, 23 Ib. .. 10 00 & BRUSHES Scrub Solid Back, 8 in. .... 1 00 Solid Back, 11 in. .... 1 25 Pointed Ends ........ 1 00 Stove Maes Bee aces 1 00 i ea 1 50 PD. Foe erences -- 2 00 Shoe PU oo vcccccscceesns 1 00 PO Bf lene ees ose 1 30 Mp. 8 sc. see bce eee os & 90 BR vee cc ccc ccsue 1 90 : BUTTER COLOR Dandelion, 25c size .. 2 00 CANDLES Paravine, G6 ......--- 12% Paratine, 126 ...+...< 13% WORSE cco ee 46 CANNED GOODS Applies 3 Ib. Standards .. MO. 10 .. 4. 5.5: @5 25 Blackberries Suckeeeb ecee ces @2 25 Standard No. 10 @9 50 Beans Ll ea 1 25@2 25 Red Kidney . 1 25@1 35 Be aes cs 50@2 00 WAS .. oe ccc ees 1 50@2 00 Biueberries PERVIIATE . oon os oes @1 75 De. @ ..-.. eee ee ee os 0 CHEWING GUM Adams Black Jack .... Adams Sappota Beeman’s Pepsin Clam Little Neck, 1 Ib. Clam Bouillon Burnham's %& pt. Burnham's pts. Burnham's ats. PONCY 2. cleccs lee Sterling Gum Pep. Monbadon (Natural) Spearmint, 6 box jars 3 = a 70 No. 2, Fancy ........0. Wrigleys (5 box asstd.) 65 Walter Baker & German’s Sweet Walter M. Lowney Co. i 35 Soused, 1% Ib. Buttons, 48 ........ . Buttons, 18 ...scc-cce Hotels, 1s ........... @44 ru No. 3 can, per dz. 2 Galvanized Wire , each 100ft. long 1 90 each 100ft. long 2 10 , each 100ft. long 1 00 , each 100ft. long 2 10 Peas ectel 25@1 35 Early June sifta 1 60@1 75 No. 10 size can Je 1 75@2 seoseeeeee 1 45@2 60 Colonial, %s ........... 33 camer 8, : %s Eien: : a Hershey’s, %8 ........ . sere were eereeseeee LD leecceceecc- sc BOD . 2, Black Syrup a 00 No. 2, Red Preserved 3 00 . 10, Red, Water .. weer reser eecces Warrens, 1 lb. Tall .. Warren’s, 1 lb. Flat .. Med. Red Alaska .... Wilbur, %8 ..........0. 82 Domestic, MES cc ossccc 6 Norwegian, 4s ..... 15@18 4s, 5 Ib. case ....0... 31 Portuguese, %s .... Zs, 15 Ib. CASE ...0cc00 OL is, 15 lb, case ... ls, 15 Ib. case .... %s & %s, 15 Ib. case .. 30 5 and 10c pails . 4 25 b Be CRE so ecccscee 2 No. 10, CARS ...ccccess Dunbar, 1s doz. ‘ Dunbar, 1%s doz. .... 70 5c pkgs., per case 3 00 36 10c pkgs., per case 3 00 16 10c and 33 5c pkgs., a Bakers Canned, doz. COFFEES ROASTED Rio cere eee eeeesere 4s, 4 doz. in case .... 4 50 14s, 4 doz. in case . 1s, 4 doz. in case ....10 00 CATSUP Van Camp’s, % pints 1 - Van Camp’s pints .. seer oresesceseose CHOICE: .cicccscccsece, SD Limburger ...... S DANCY coccccccsscnecce OP Java. Private Growth .... 26@30 Mandling ........ -. 81@35 Aukola ............ 30@82 Mocha ‘ Short Bean ........ 25@27 Long Bean ...... -. 24@25 ta; 0. GG. oo soc -. 26@28 Bogota PAUCY. 5.5-2.0500 Exchange Market, ‘Geccey Spot Market, Strong Package New York Basis Arbuckie ....-.....-. 21 59 McLaughlin’s XXXX McLaughlin’s XXXX package coffee is sold to retailers only. Mail all or- ders direct to W. F. Mc- Laughlin & Co., Chicago. Extracts Holland, % gro. bxs. ae Felix, 4% ross ...... ia Hummel’s foil, % gro. a Hummel’s tin, % gro. 1 43 CONDENSED MILK Carnation, Tall ......6 20 Carnation, Baby ..... 6 10 Dundee, Tall ....... - 5 50 Dundee, Baby ........ 5 40 Hebe, Tall ... -.- 5 10 Hebe, Baby .........- 5 00 CONFECTIONERY Stick Candy Pails Horehound ........ s- 46 Standard ......... aos £6 Cases Jumbo ....... ceca c ce Aa Bic Shek ..... 2.65... 17 Boston Sugar Stick .. 20 Mixed Candy ails Broken |. 6. sole. 8 Cut toatl ......2....: 18 French Cream ....... 20 SPOCEIS foo. s cscs acc 13 Kindergarten ........ 19 heater ows... se 17 Monarch ...:........ 15 IMOWOIEY, 6 deci sc tee ees 18 Paris Creams ....... 19 Premio Creams ...... 22 MOWEs cot ee, 16 MPCCIAN 20506 eke e. .16 Ts oe aca cee ea 14 Specialties ails Auto Kisses (baskets) 19 Bonnie Butter Bites .. 23 Butter Cream Corn .. 21 Caramel Bon Bons .. 21 Caramel Croquetes .. 20 Cocoanut Waffles .... 20 Coty Tony .......... 22 National Mints 7 lb tin 24 Fudge, Walnut ...... 22 Fudge, Choc. Peanut 21 Fudge, White Center 21 Fudge, Cherry ...:... 22 Fudge, Cocoanut .... 22 Honeysuckle Candy .. 22 Iced Maroons ..... ~se oe Iced Orange Jellies .. 19 Italian Bon Bons .... 20 AA Licorice Drops Db ib, DOX ......... 1 75 Lozenges, Pep. ...... 20 Lozenges, Pink ...... 20 Maeancnns ... 20: >. 15... 20 Molasses Kisses, 10 1b) Om so. ss es 20 Nut Butter Puffs .... 20 Star Patties, Asst. .. 22 Chocolates Pails Assorted noe: 2.2.45 22 Amazon Caramels .. 7 Champion ......ccsecs Choc. Chips, Eureka 28 CUNAR on os. sooo os Se Eclipse, Assorted .... 21 Ideal Chocolates ..... 21 Klondike Chocolates 27 MAROOE: c.c5e 5. elles 27 Nibble Sticks, box ..1 75 Nut Wafers .....20s. 27 Ocoro Choc Caramels 25 Peanut Clusters ...... 30 Quintette .......6..; 22 ROPING oo ses cso see = Star Chocolates ...... Superior Choc. (light) 3 Pop Corn Goods Without prizes. Cracker Jack with COUDON .....4.....5 . 3 50 Cracker-Jack Prize .. 3 75 Checkers Prize ...... 3 75 Cough Drops Boxes Putnam Menthol .... 1 35 Smith Bros: .....5,--. 1 35 NUTS—Whole Almonds, Tarragona 21 Almonds. California soft shell Drake ... erOeNS og ibs wk oss cao 18 WUBCISS oo ccces teens 20 Cal No, 15. 8. .... 24 Walnuts, Naples ..... Walnuts, Grenoble ...22 Table nuts, fancy . P16 Pecans, Large Se os ciel 17 Pecans, Ex. Large .. 20 Shelled No. 1 Spanish Shelled Peanuts ...... 16 @16% Ex. Lg. Va. pee Peanuts ...... 16%@17 Pecan Halves ...... @90 Walnut Halves ...... 65 Filbert Meats ...... @42 Almonds: ......3:.5. @60 Jordan Almonds ; Peanuts Fancy H P Suns PW cs co 138% @14%4 Roasted ...... 14% @15%4 H P Jumbo RaW oy. sc 14% @15%4 Roasted ...... 1534,@164 CREAM TARTAR Barrels or Drums ..... BOKCS 3220 ose es 15 DRIED FRUITS Apples Evap’ed, Choice, blk @16 Evap’d Fancy blk.. @ oor: California .......... @25 Vitrog Corsican .......; saan @ar Currants Imported, 1 lb. pkg. .. 26 Imported, bulk ...... 25% Peaches Muirs—Choice, 25 lb. .. 12 Muirs—Fancy, 26 lb. .. 13 Fancy, Peeled, 25 lb. .... Peel Lemon, American ...... 22 Orange, American .... 23 Raisins Cluster, 20 cartons ; Loose Muscatels, 4 Cr. 9 Loose Muscatels, 3 Cr. 8% L. M. Seeded 1lb. 10% @11 California Prunes 90-100 25 lb. boxes ..@10% 80- 90 25 lb, boxes ..@11 70- 80 25 lb. boxes ..@12 60- 70 25 lb. boxes ..@13% 50- 60 25 boxes ..@14 40- 50 25 lb, boxes -.@15 _ om. FARINACEOUS GOODS Beans California Limas .... 16% Med. Hand Picked ... 15 Brown, Holland ...... Farina 25 1 Ib. packages .... 2 65 Bulk, per 100 Ib. ........ 9 Original Holland Rusk Packed 12 rolls to container 3 containers (40) rolls 3 80 Hominy Pearl, 100 lb. sack .... 6 00 i Macaroni. Domestic, 10 lb. box .. 1 30 Imported, 25 Ib. box .. Skinner’s 24s, case 1 87% Pearl Barley Chester ....5:.5,. 6 00 Portage ......,.. Peas Green, Wisconsin, lb. 11% Split, 11% eee ee eeecees Sago ust India ............ 15 German, sacks ........ 15 German, broken pkg. Taploca Flake, 100 1D. Sacks ... 15 Pearl, 100 lb. sacks ... 15 Pearl, 36 pkgs. ...... 2 75 Minute, 10c, 3 doz. ....3 26 FISHING TACKLE % to 1 in. 1% to 2 in. . 1% to 2 in. . ‘ 1% to 2 in. ... 2 in ee Bo ee: : Cotton Lines No. 1, 10 feet ..... seees DD No. 2, 15 feet ..... seca e No. 3, 15 fest .......,.. 9 No; 4, 15 feet .......... 18 No. 6, 15 feet ....... sie ae No: G, 15 feet ......... - 12 No; 7, 15 feet... ..3.5 5. 16 No. 8, 15 feet ....... oo a8 No. 9, 15 feet ......... 20 Linen Lines SIMA oo soso’ oeceaas 20 Medium ..... bg ne ees cs 26 RATRO 635i se50 2s bees 34 Poles Bamboo, 16 ft., per doz. 60 Bamboo, 14 ft., per doz. 55 » 18 ft., per doz. 80 FLAVORING EXTRACTS Jennings D C Brand Pure Vanila Terpeneless Pure Lemon Per Doz. 7 Dram 15 Cent ..... 1 20 1% Ounce 20 Cent ... 1 75 2 Ounce 30 Cent .... 2 60 24% Ounce 35 Cent ... 2 75 2%, Ounce 40 Cent ... 3 00 4 Ounce 55 Cent .... 5 00 8 Ounce 90 Cent ..... 8 50 7 Dram ‘Assorted ... 1 25 14% Ounce Assorted .. 2 00 FLOUR AND FEED Grand Rapids Grain & Milling Co. Winter Wheat Purity Patent ...... 11 35 Fancy Sprine’ ...... 12 50 Wizard Graham .... 11 00 Wizard, Gran. Meal 12 00 Wizard Buckw’t cwt. 7 00 RVO sok. 11 00 Baws Best 005.05. 12 50 ttlev City Milling Co Lily. White ......... 11 50 Tight Loaf. . 22.2... 11 10 GYARAIM ws sek 4 90 Granena Health ..... 5 00 Gran, Meals 0306.30: 5 50 Bolted Meal ......... 5 40 Watson- Higgins pee Co. New Perfection .... Tip Top Hiour ...... i 10 Go:den Sheaf Flour 10 60 Marshalls Best Flour 12 00 Watertown Wisconsin RYO 2. osc eo. 10 00 Worden Grocer Co. Quaker, %s cloth .. 10 85 Quaker, 4s cloth .. 10 75 Quaker, %s cloth .. 10 65 Quaker, 4s paper .. 10 75 Quaker, 4s paper .. 10 65 Nansas Hard Wheat Worden Grocer Co. American Eagle, %s 11 85 American Eagie, 4s 11 75 American Eagle, %s 11 65 Spring Wheat Judson Grocer Co. Ceresota, \%s cloth .. 12 30 Ceresota, 4s clota .. 12 20 Ceresota, %s cloth .. 12 10 Worden Grocer Co. Wingold, %s cloth .. 12 00 Wingold, 4s cloth .. 12 05 Wingold, %s cloth .., 11 95 Meal Bolted | .2...020....05 10 55 Golden Granulated .. 10 75 Wheat BOG 2 08 WWItO oe ee 2 05 Oats Michigan carlots ...... 65 Less than cariots ..... 68 Corn Caniots 22.6. 0262.5 214 Less than carlots .... 2 17 Hay Carlots) ...2..5...2.. 20 00 Less than carlots .. 22 00 Feed Street Car Feed .... 75 00 No. 1 Corn & Vat Fa 75 00 Cracked Corn ...... 80 00 Coarse Corn Meal .. 80 00 FRUIT JARS Mason, pts., per gro. 7 00 Mason, qts., per gro. 7 40 Mason, 4% gal. per gro. 9 85 Mason, can tops, gro. 2 75 GELATINE Cox’s, 1 doz. large ... 1 45 Cox’s, 1 doz. small .. 90 Knox’s Sparkling, doz. 1 75 IXnox’s Sparkling, gr. 26 50 Knox's Acidu’d doz. .. 1 85 Minute, 1 doz. ....... 1 25 Minute, 8 G0Z. 6.0050, - 8 15 Nelson's: (0.0), 0. 5. 1 50 OsfOTE 2 ee: 75 Plymouth Rock, Phos, 1 40 Plymouth Rock, Plain 1 25 Waukesha .......... - 1 60 GRAIN BAGS Broad Gauge, 12 oz. .. 24 Climax, 14 oz. ....... - 29 Stark, ‘A, POOR. oc. HERBS Sage ........ Sa cee ee bale 15 HIODS «...:...... necesaca OD Laurel Leaves ........ 15 Senna Leaves ......... 25 HIDES AND PELTS Hides Green, No. 1... 17 Green, No 2)... 16 Cured, No. i .0..5. 2) 19 Cured, No. 2 .......: 18 Calfskin, green, No. 1 Calfskin, green, No. 2 Calfskin, cured, No. 1 27 Calfskin, cured, No. 2 faorse, No. a) ose 0 6 00 Horse, No. 2 ...,.... 5 00 elt Old Wool ........ 75@2 00 RAMS oy. eo 50@1 50 Shearlings ....... 50@1 50 Tallow Prime 6.035 04.25 05.62 @18 Go. 2 @12 December 19, 1917 MIC HIG AN TRADESM AN Unwa Wool niyo eg med a. Se eee Qs Clay. No. 218 be ena. large ne Cob, 1s D. full < box SA ee ese e reece cou L on medium ...... 350 N 'PLAVING CAI nt 80 1 T FISH Sek ange, 200 ca Bhan, 90 Fhe Somes Pony wna T Be et 00 0. 808 amboat Ss mall, w Ie 1... Hal ABLE Mink ium "1450 ©6Pen » Bicy cous 2 Stri hole .- @12 ford SAUC Mink, small | ---++- 3 25 oo 3 50 Strips or bricks .. @11% fares oman. - Muskra s, winter ..... 200 B POTASH 3 hae .. 16@1 ' a. 75 t 5 .. v ab : TA 50 Holland _Her dl Ce B Chu Muskrats, fall piece c wig oon Standards, b ua a TEA 3% Ganek 10 es ge 29 m4 M see 5 Ov i? éeee 1 90 bls. M ncol a g L a 2 S ee kitts all... 80 Ba ISIONS St oe +s omiaas ored Ja al, each 49 Johns cap Po Stale a ae ae ea 10 Clear B rreled P ws kee —< Gabe ......... pan at Jo) son's Fi wders ane ae a TS - oo ee ck 51 00@62 oe rd kee oe Fancy cette a 20025 pei Pins Rub-No-) a ate Skunk, No. : a ' Brisk ee Ir a 00@49 . Med. Fat Hee aa 96 Basket-fired “cgi aeeis iY inch) ound Head al Coe Be 4 40 a Pig sket, Clear 7 00@48 Labora plit, 30 B sket-fired ed’m 28 5 artons 'No gross ee SY oe 450 A Gc. HONEY ae 90 Clear Fa r 52 00@5 00 Norw dor Split Ibs. 8 00 asket-fir Choice @30 , No. 24, 24s, 1 ae Queen aphtha a 3 85 7 0%, ‘Woodman’ fear Family... 300 Special, a ie, 200 1 Ib. 10 0 Ne 3 oc 35@37 __—99 © in Oe? Anne, 60s S .. 255 ce 38 rat j eat US 4 99 oo on per doz. s Brand Dr Vl. Scal ial, 8 Ib. 0 Ibs. 16 ° Siftings be oo. @45 Hum es and F Gale Peat. 100s 3 00 "per doz. ...... 3 | 9 P Bellies. 3! “7 38 00 Boned, 10 io > ga 9 Sittings, 1 ib. 3 --. 30@32 No pty Dumpt INlers Leaf, 245 oo. 4 25 HOR SS ellies . eats ned, 10 1 Ca! 70 . 1 i. ae 9@10 N - 1 compl pty, 12 4 page an Mie be pe Pe SE ee - 320 ee a pkgs. Se a. cle g Po 5 00 r doz. eee Pure in Lard 0@33 00 No. 1, 10 T ig aoe - Moyune bia 12@14 Case, = oben 42 Snow Ban 100 soa / BIb. JELL ate cae Compo tierces No. 1. 6 Ibs. Moyune, edium edium, 12 sets 35 Snow B a 60 oa 5 00 151b. pails, a ( Ib — men. ee No. 1, = oe, 7 50 Ping Sue Choice .. 28@33 C e em a a a pkgs. _. 3 00 eet ce a . i Bar Honus Hoe Sart Ie aucets Show Ho Bkas ©: 4 33 Ss, per “ 30 lb Ss lad ce % af eecnve 90 ing Sue ’ oice 0 c lined. i Vs at pkgs. as 25 pail . 20 Ib, tubs . vance ., ap(ackerel . y, Fanc 35@40 ork lined, th 70 , + 4% __ strate 3k 250 10 Ib: pails gos % pi 0 he. ™ ce. vue 45@50 sion ie 4... 80 P SPECIAL - 5 Ib. ils ° nce Ss, 40 eo ere Fan pee ye f T op Ss sees r mo ee nee Sot 3 Ib. pails --advanc % Mess oe. 20 00 i: seseeee 28 rojan s ticks ice C er case, per 4 doz . ee re EE woes eeeee * prin u Bight Fi per 4 oF 45 Ib. pail “advan e % Mess 10 lbs. + 2000 Qolong 30 Eclipse ‘e... rre Fl doz. S ... ce 1 3, 8 lb 0 F oO : fone = patent spring 13 nt a alg . 4 60 sm advanc No. i, 100 i 2 ormo olon a 0. 1 t spri 5 AR — . ° ) Et 100 Iba sa, 9 N com rin cr on, a jaca id Hams, ier Meats 1 No.1, ry The. at Formosa Medium 3 No. ot = ae : 35 EVAPORAT ic ap foe L , Lem- ams Ib, No. Ibs. iormos#a., hoice 5@26 eal, N rush h 5 Tall ED ey ime, Pine Hams, ear Yb a ee r a in. sea Fancy 32@35 12th. tha T ees is i 7 tae. MILK LY - Ham,’ 0 Ib 2 ake | ngl 50G te aoe! Weude 3 a ats in Sr oe ao. — bec *e ot ibe ow Sore Congot, i gage 1 Palle head 1781 racked be ; 80 - Im bbis.. per doz. 2 Califor uch een cee 10 Pee ena Co gou, Choi m .. 26 12 qt. Galvani sedge Mil tured by : <0 Z 5 ni Ib 00 n ce @30 niz k G . capped ir per doz Pieni a Ham @30 oe ea el Cc gou, F 8 qt. Galvani ed _. Sol Co. rand per doz ih 27 Hare Boiled . 23 @23% Q Woe. ..-.seeeeenee 2 a ongou Fancy feats aoe eS a : 25 woe uy gs je ee eens vg : Se ecee ’ : an . 0 ibre talvanized Ula a ao ots L al Groc J¢ ber MAPLEINE is Se Se poe ceeee lla 4 o5 Rapids. rocer Cx s and 2 oz. bottles, per 4 2 Mincea Hams \ ge Ae ins Bi Bokog, Medi - ee ia) Baki i 16 oz ee ae - 3 00 acon .... a .. 20 On Canary, 'S ea a Fouts, a 28@30 Birch, 100 othpicks NG POWDE 32 oz. ee per regs _ 75 Bol ea 37 @42 ory myrna .... a5 ry O. P. nee eee Ideal . packages a jc KC R e : Oo a cane. Maia — . 0c, “ ace per dz. 30 50 ther Ce ges Gi Malabar 15 P CIGAR 40@50 eeeees ° 15¢e, 4 -_ in ca Doz MINCE MEAT ara ee oes Fe Traps Pia s cece eee . eeeees i . eeecee . » Ww ct one a Ne OLASSES _ « oo ae it Mixed Bird cee A pBinder Single ape tie woe i we a ie ae i: 2 35 sing to Se ee Bete i. oe ae e a eae aed ate Dine 1B G oice .. Kettle . eandcheese egies ape Citeereeneeen 22 Allan >: plac 37 00 14 qt. Sonne ccs 5 SO KCB ., plain top “ 00 a ace 56 ee a 70 Allan . Grant 73 00 Mous vanized 7 70 guara aking P 4 00 Stock eviereteeteeneee 52 p weet 14 H SHOE B ose 15 pe 65 00 Take Os 6 holes 1 90 ALL ow to as in aa Sota: eo oneless ef paar Bos LACKING a see oe oe eee 79 State ae rece with ea ponsess, "a ovnet wo he Ene as go Bitch ccs gd cveereeescnes —— ' ‘ s «<8 y’ » Sma : ut er: a ee . Res Hen, ao. ol. 2 30 al Pig’s Fiat 00 Miller's ae ik 1 25 on Masters, eo 75 i ae sac - Royal Uncle Be No. ee 8 bbis., 40 Ibs... Scotch ae 36 Dutch Masters, Inv. 15 00 No Fibre @ 10c Uncle en, N 26 bbls. ee, 15 Ma ’ in bl ch Ma Ts, Pan - 0 a 4 We... 1 My . size . B o. 2 oe eee 34 ccabo adde El ster G . to 0 No. 3 Fi re . 16 50 %1 «. 5 6 Puce Bea’ No. 2 ..2 30 Cre 0 Fren y, in ja rs... 3 Porta rande 72 . io ae 15 0 b. cans Uncl Ben, No. y te 9 00 ch Rapple eerie i Dutch Mae. 72 00 sarge Galvs so toses- >: 1 0 | 6 OZ. 1 45 Ginger Cake, Be 280 i bbs, i Boxes gue sae on Medium Galvanized’ 12 0 lik an 30 singer C a Mo 2. 2 65% i ee Sen Bnchek ay : Soivanized a 10 25 %1 s 255 Ginge ake, N 7. 265 % bbls. a 90 no 5 ied |g a6 i ¥,lb. cans O.& L Cake, No. 2% 3 20 os ee a # s Above | fo Wa oe i ‘2 fo. Be paola og et dae trams, tre ES — is . cass aa eet oe att Allspice hole Spices — g basis: Phin BS ogg ellahda 3 75 23 70 Ib. 6 lb TARD bi bg 25 a middl set .. 19. 3 lspice, —— 2500 a. ed) 37 00 D ss, a2 67 Bulk ) IV ie 1 sd Ce es, set .. ieoee pete gon Sandee Ou 270 a. oo 36 00 ete Heasicas| |. 4 ip Bulk, 1 gal. tha - os fnoiored oe 115@1 fe ao airbag . purchases. discount 35 00 Seat, Wecrlese 2. 6 25 Bulk, 2 gal. ia 1 20@1 3 So id Dairy leomarge Gi sia, 5c ake ce Gee Wo on an 6Geed ee Queen |... 5 50 Stuff 5 gal. k zs 115@1 = ountry Rolls ..-. aS ice. Afri & doz. oan A adverb Groce Univ Tucan ........ 4 75 Stuffed, ae = z S .... 28 on Meas” on tt . ao a ce ee at 4 65 Stuffed, > a 110 os a Meats 29 Mixed Penang. @20 & > pueniens ate 00 ; oo 5 00 i : oe oO ’ i i ot BG, Ue cepts 3 4 ° toa ote Roast ‘Beet SME gy Mined, Ge BLS en Court Royal 000001 37 50 15 in. Butter Loa pneaniia. © 6 oast oe 3, Nutme pkgs. dz. @ pio s Cham- 43 7 in. a. 90 ie” oe 2 50 Potted oo ip. os Nutmegs, 70-80. . O45 Iroquois seeneeies ag 00 19 in. a ee 7 00 Lunch, 1 -_ 110 Suk e ¥, , Ham 3 75 Pepper, ” 105-110 @35 FOQUOIS soos e eee 42 50 eel aie 8 00 Lunch, 16 08. os. 150 Irlav ee Pepper, Black |... Bee | Whalcbac ‘Auréenient 38 a “1100. 1 Ib. boxes, pe eecee eevee , 3 eeree 1 x 1G oie meses oe Deviled "Ment i 5 Paprika Cayenne | O32 Worden's H oe "10.00 cic, Mennlee cea 4 tt bates, yar ee 9 90 ammoth, 28 bat Ham . ie optors Fond Made N » Mani : ag »xes, per gros vs One Tg nda 28 00 pee os Ham 95 Me oe @22 oe Made 36 i No, i Mania colored 5% r gross 26 10 per oe 2 “nce 25 PFlavor, 8 oo. 52 aa Jamaica Bulk eee 0 Kraft . Manila dseece 6% pat Se ae cs. ee one aa Cassia. Zanzibar -. @16 Cotton, 3 INE Wax Butt Sosa 6% , Naat rennet, Suge Bee ae. Wet Bie SN See Ae L -Car- Sy - c a Ju bE cea csence rchm’ * 4 ; 4 ; (7 en Fancy RICE mca Mace, ‘Penang vee Oa Hea a i ve Butter, a i rcs eR ua 8 o : doz. in case ..36 rie nee Pepper Soe @1 00 Biax oa. sc YEAS , rolls 19 ‘ es Poultry ae aes or ae ews a3 Blue Rose .....- : “8% Pepper, Black @36 Flax; “medium. .....-... a wee — CAKE eninge rd a 5 oz me eS e ’ fea 3 , agg aa pit unli moe oe -§ he pails Page case . : 30 Mm ROLLE — @8% Papriks Paven Sac e oan bales ... bie ee So dan 1 15 Successor veld CORE a x | ik - pails i epate fh 00 Bonanok, oe OATS ka, ‘Teangart +: @30 White WWINEGAR - a5 ee we 1% ee seeee 1 00 1. O. saan 25 ae Pgs Hae age Be oe 1 rian @45 went we! ae oe Yeast Waa 3 doz... 50 7 ' a ne Out. ade bhis, 0 00 ST Whi ine grain 17 Foa a HE 25 Ib. pails .......... ig%, Mon im ce 2 ARCH we ae a m, 1% do 115 5 ONLY 0 1b. tine ee 18 duster, 1S cae 4 10 peers om Oakland ein arm ss 12] Window Clean ale CLEANSE M PROD! 17y%, @uak Reg .. 490 zy, 48 Ibs. Vin n. ..- ers D er, 2 ular . 11b. ‘ yinegar fe R oo. Tron Barrels SALAD — 12 § 60 Silver Gloss, oa ot Liat Saree Pickle *° in etnies | 2¢ Gas 2 coon 11 C umbia, % ESSING . s, 40 lb de ak anal a ettee oe 85 Vv M achine G ne .. 21. ‘olumbia, int rgo, 4 Gloss. 9% 8B te Seal e cider .. -- 2 30 & > Gasoli ‘5 Durkee's, 1 pint ..... 225 «Sil » 48 5c fae fuinbon “cs . SOAP Capitol Pp Mepbina .. 35.9 Du ee’s, la tee ilver Gl pkgs 0 aha con Lautz Cylind tha .. 21. rkee’s, rge, 1 doz. 409 «Silver oss, 16 3lbs. . 2 sitand whi Corn .. Acme Bros. - 21. : Z. G 3 40 Ww s >; . 100 cak &C Capitol see etic Snider's, iarge,’ 1 doz. 5 00 toss, 12 élbs. 1. 9% eee tee teklg Clima jaster, 100 1 eee Pees So isco ea s, small, 2 dos. 2490 «(42 LD. Mu -- 9% No. WICK ue locks 5 45 Atent <8 6 n doz. 1 16 pack zzy 0, per ING Q Napht chase 16 Iron ce Red Engine, 5 ‘askin A - 145 4 8lb. Pe ckenes : 1, per gross .. Queen on ae 4 60 Winte Bbls. .. eine, Arm c 60 Ibs . 5 Gh. raewiece eae 9% 0. 2, per gross ....... 35 oo Leat ee 4 a ae a arm/and Hammer on, hI BOREE nee ie ae gross 2000111 #9 Queen ae eeoccceies BO olarine Sewacceces ’ 100 %, a aaswtna ee O en Anne osserees e Son bie, “4S. acc qeee Juee , 30 cans 5 00 Pick a rc: Granulated, bbls. - £0 i SYRUPS % . WOODENWARE 90 Show Maid, 60 pee 1 80 Barre Medium ' Granulated, 1 eo 4 arrels Corn ao — So Maid, 30 cans .. 3 60 Half Bb 1,200 coun meee. 36. Ibs. cs. 1 49 Half barrels...) lg 2s aa” 1 Proctor Gouns “ 5 ponte 600 a 00 pkgs. ..1 . a bal ge it eeu oe ae aoaae 1 pe i & Gamble C 60 egs 6 50 c ALT Y oo a s et, sin andle . vory, 6 0%. .-«. . Gu eiuea as 26 100 ommon Blue Kn ee ’ Splint, la: gle han 2. 65 Ivory, OZ. See 475 k aranteed ‘ Barrels ee a te ae ae Sette aE aes 5 eo ca a en ae 14 00 60 5 Ib. Basie 000. 15 Bl OZ. .. : o. 2%, 2 80 Will ey 35 os 4 20 -20 per case. n kegs eee eeeee ae 28 10 | enake | 3 05 ue Karo Gébe eg claw ca Ww ow, Ciathes. tara 3 0 swift’ t & Cor . 35 SALT Ba Gherkine 2 80 56 Ib. _ sacks ..-... 3 05 oe Karo, pa 5. 1 az 460 Willow: Clothes, large ” Whit s Pride mpany Bair by sete - a —- Lalas :° Red ee 0. 10, % Be ow, Clothes, ~ Wool, Laundry uae 4 15 5 er ee rane 500 5 Wai eeteees 2 aro, No. 1%, 2 4 30 Butte oT Wool, 10 oz. bars .... 4 85 bees coos 13 00 6 lb. sa arsaw 7 Red. —s eos aa es , r Plate oz. bars os G@ 20 eee ae 4 28 Ib cks i Red aro, No. 2,°3'43 3 1% Ib., 2 Ovals s Trade oe Oe Ba Sweet S 50 | doles & Gh & R Karo, N 224 20% Ib. 250 in c Blac sman C ee : mall s n drill ba 26 ed Karo 0. 2% Bass 405 1416, 950 in rate . . ack Haw! ompany a Ss same 56 Ib olar Rock gs 20 Red Karo. No. 5, 1 z.500 2 b., 250 in PE 45 Black Haw Kk, one box gall eae 00 - Sacks Oz. ro, No , 1 dz. 4 8 2 Ib., 2 crete. 45 Black awk, five 3 75 Ts on ke oe peal : . 10 % ce 8 Yt 250 in Ce A Hawk bxs 37 Par ale BS .-e 50 G eo 43 ee ¥ b., 250 i crate - OG Bo , ten b 70 veeee 4 20 veiulated, Wine sosecees & 3 Ib., 250 in crate ...... ea contain xs 3 65 Medium, Fi Fine Fr Pu 60 ” 960 in crate ...... 70 : a most oe 72 cakes rN inf . ne cnn 1 80 yoo oe a 90 one grease —a yi : sace 5 OO oe Soe weacae oe 4 1b:, 26 Wire End out injury cos i nS Od eesecesseteceees 8 2 1 ” 250 in ec the skin. - TPQ seeee - 20 >., 250 i rate s aka) o ao... 3 lb., 250 in erate 45 Sa couring Sana 5 Ib., in crate 50 polio 20 i te .. Sapolio, gross 1 . n crate ...... < Sapolio, halt a -. 9 50 RON SALE COE ooo: 0, - lot 0 Sapolio ey ices 4 85 “ , hand .. 2 40 orton’ ace Per s Sal .. 2 40 Bice cas 24 2 Ib t case lots 7 +++. 1 80 cauee 3 Oe 30 Why Every Merchant Should Read the Tradesman. Written for the Tradesman. 1. Current price lists and trade re view articles are indispensable to one who would be well posted in his busi ness. Not being well posted means frequent losses if nct final failure. 2. The young merchant who real- izes his inexperience and need will find the best of help in the Trades- man. The one who thinks he does not need a trade paper or has no time to read one will be agreeably surpris- ed after a short term of reading the paper. 3. Age and long experience in any business never makes a man_ inde- pendent of help or suggestions from others, especially fellow merchants. 4. The more one succeeds or en- larges his business the wider should be the range of his enquiries and in- vestigations. The Tradesman offers exactly what he needs. 5. A frequent annoyance to the retailer is to have to deal with people who are not posted in regard t» prices, quality or seasonableness of goods. How about the same mer- chant annoying the wholesaler with complaints based solely on ignorance and suspicion? 6. Reading the Tradesman will give a merchant a better, truer con- ception of the character of salesmen. wholesalers, manufacturers, bankers and capitalists with whom his line of business is inseparably connected. 7. The man who reads only what he thinks he needs to make money will be biased, narrow, warped, one- sided, unsymmetrical in character. The Tradesman has a moral and en- lightening side, a corrective and up- lifting tendency. Other things aside, it is a valuable home and literary pub- lication. 8. The exposure by the Tradesman of frequent attempts at fraud and im- position upon merchants are warnings much appreciated except by those who think no one sharp enough to “put one over” on them. Once in a while such men get “let down” as badly as the novice in business—usually after it was exposed by the Tradesman. 9. The merchant who assimilate the standards of business advocated by the Tradesman will enjoy an hon- orable position among all men with whom he deals. 10. Lest we forget, every issue of the Tradesman brings to mind some- thing the merchant needs to look af- ter, which he had intended to do at the proper time or something he nev- er thought of before. 11. Every merchant should fre- quently compare every item in in- voices with the price current in the Tradesman to discover errors. He should also be so familiar with quo- tations that he would not order goods of salesmen unless their prices are in keeping with it. 12. A reader of the Tradesman will learn that he is not fighting the battles of his line of business alone or unaided. He is benefitted by the work of every association or organ- ization of merchants, whether a mem- ber or not. He is kept informed of all that is being accomplished for the MICHIGAN TRADESMAN trade. It is helpful to realize that one is a member of a big family, all working for the good of the peop‘e, all with similar problems and exper- iences, And there are other reasons if the forgoing are not sufficient. E. E. Whitney. ——_>- We Are All Soldiers in a Common Cause. Sand Lake, Dec, 15—One of my customers told me that another one of my customers got twenty-five pounds of granulated sugar of Mont- gomery Ward & Co. yesterday. Now this woman certainly felt sore because 1 am holding to the Hoover rule. Here is something I do not seem to figure like the food people do: I have a bill of sugar at $7.95. If it costs 16 per cent. to do business, what does sugar cost and we must sell at 8! cents, but in no case must we sell at less than cost. I am not kicking, but it seems to me it is giving Mont- gomery Ward an undue advantage. George F. Cook. The Tradesman’s Reply. Grand Rapids, Dec. 17—Send me more definite data regarding the sale by Ward—date of order and date oi shipment and name and address of buyer. i If sale was made after Dec. 2, I will do all I can to get Ward cut off. You now have a right to sell gran- ulated at 34c above cost. Because you live remote from the railroad, you can include cartage under the head of cost. It is a fact that the profit permitted the retailer on sugar sales—%34c per pound—is a close one and does not cover the expense of doing business where sales are made in such small quantities, but every patriotic retailer will do his part to help hold down the cost of living in the present extrem- ity, and thus contribute to the suc- cess of American arms and American ideas and the defeat of the Kaiser The cost of doing business is not to be considered in this great crisis. The same condition applies to the wholesale dealer. One quarter of a cent profit does not come anywhere near repaying the wholesaler for the expense of handling sugar. He would be money ahead if he did not handle a single barrel, but he realizes that he is a public servant and a soldier enlisted in the war just as much as the man who carries a gun and wears a uniform. We are all soldiers of Uncle Sam and Humanity, enlisted in one com- mon cause, irrespective of the person- al sacrifice involved in the effort we are making and must continue to make until the war is won and civil- ization is established on the firm basis. E. A. Stowe. —_——_—-—--——______. To Reduce Sales Expense. About half of each state in his ter- ritory was covered by every salesman for an electrical jobbing house in the Middle West. This meant that each man’s work was disturbed frequently because he had to “jump” clear acros3 his territory to be on hand when a contract was to be let. The man of- ten had to stay in a town a couple of days and frequently the total extra expense of the sale ran to $50. Since at least five other salesmen were after the same work he spent money un- productively five times out of six if he secured only his share of the busi- ness. The sales manager decided to reduce this expense and so he gave orders that no man was to make a long “jump” unless he was specifical- ly instructed to do so. The sales manager now handles the sales him- self. First he mails the bid on the material; then by long distance tele- phone he informs the buyer that his man is busy in another part of his territory. The telephone call costs nowhere near so much as would a trip and has resulted in his getting an increased proportion of these or- ders. “The buyer seems to feel,” says the sales manager, “that we are alive, that we want business, and are unfor- tunate in not having a salesman avail- able at the moment. A personal visit from the salesman is a common oc- curence and, therefore, does not im- press him. A telephone call from the sales manager, on the other hand, seems to show him that his business is desired. The telephone call does al- most everything to land the business that a salesman could do; it also helps my lawyer. December 19, 1917 to enlist the buyer’s sympathy and to stir up his good will for the house.” Johnson Heywood. ————_++.—____ Did As He Was Told. Counsel (to plaintiff)—At this fin- al interview, when you demanded payment by the defendant of this debt, what did he say to you? Plaintiff-—Go to the devil. Counsel—What did you do? Plaintiff—I immediately consulted —_2->—___ If We Only Understood. Could we but draw aside the curtains That enfold each other's lives, See the naked heart and _ spirit, Know what spur the action gives, Often we should find it better, Purer than we judge we should, We should love each = better, f we only understood. re : Kipling. Greatly Enlarged in Scope prompt payment. spondence solicited. We have re-organized under the more liberal statute enacted by the Legislature of 1917, and are therefore in a position to insure store buildings, fixtures and merchandise stocks in which boots and shoes are included. This greatly enlarges our scope of operations and increases our usefulness to our members, who obtain valid insurance in our company at 25 per cent. less than the regular stock rate, with an additional discount of 5 per cent. for All losses promptly and honorably adjusted. Corre- Michigan Shoe Dealers Mutual Fire Insurance Co. Fremont, Michigan “‘The Gift that Lives is the Gift to Give” Victrolas Pianos Friedrich’s These are Gifts that ‘‘Live’’ Largest Stock in Western ° Michigan Player Pianos Sold on Convenient Monthly Payments 202 Monroe Ave. GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. Cough Drops Putnam Factory Grand Rapids, Menthol Packed 40 five cent packages in carton National Candy Co., Inc. MAKERS Michigan cater nas d December 19, 197 Advertisements inserted under this head for three cents a word the first insertion and two cents a word for continuous insertion. BUSINESS CHANCES. Grocery Stock For Sale The largest and best grocery stock in Alma, Mich. Large brick store with attractive lease, finest loca- tion in the city. Doing a strictly cash business of $75 000 per year. If you want something out of the ordinary. better look this up soon. Poor health cause for selling. MILLER BROS., Alma, Mich. For ale—Up-to-the-minute gentle- men’s furnishing and tailoring establish- ment, located on one of the_ busiest streets in Detroit, business solid, estab- lished five years ago, bright attractive store, Mission furniture; sales run from $17,000 to $18,000 per year. Rent only $80 including nice flat, steam heat, corner location; price inventory about $5,000. Owner’s reason for selling, has other in- terests which positively require his atten- tion. Dillon, 301 Congress building, De- troit, Michigan. 479 Come To Florida—Unequalled oppor- tunity to secure well established, exclu- sive, excellent paying, embroidery-art- needlework business in vegy best Florida city. Requires least $5,000. Owner re- tiring on account of inheritance north. Address Box 675, Tampa, Florida. a8 MICHIGAN TRADESMAN BUSINESS-WANTS| DEPARTMENT For Sale—Good, clean stock dry goods, groceries, boots, shoes, furniture and undertaking, invoicing about $10,000. Location Central Michigan, splendid farming community. Good live proposi- tion; will bear closest inspection. Ad- dress No. 398, care Tradesman. 398 Collections. We collect anywhere. Send for our ‘““No Collection, No Charge” offer. Arrow Mercantile Service, Murray’ Building, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 390 Cash Buyer of clothing, shoes, dry goods, furnishings and carpets. Parts or entire stocks. Charles Goldstone, 333 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, Mich. 407 Cash Registers—We offer exceptional bargains in rebuilt National or American Cash Registers. Will exchange your old machine. Supplies for all makes always on hand. Repair department in connec- tion. Write for information. The J. C. Vogt Sales Co., 215 So. Washinbton Ave., Saginaw, Michigan. 33 HELP WANTED. Wanted—Capable book-keeper and of- fice man, good salary, fine future. Must invest $1,500 in stock at par value in going concern. F. E. Mfg. Co., 1168 East 53rd S't., Chicago, IHinois. 480 Special sales to reduce stocks or raise money now being contracted for January. Merchants wishing highest grade, expert Special Sales service write for terms, dates, ete. Greene Sales Co., Jackson, Michigan. 484 For Sale—199-acre stock and_ grain farm. Good buildings. All fenced. Will take some property in part payment; balance easy terms. Southern Michigan. Wm. Wallace, 1419 Forres Ave., St. Joseph, Mich. aah For Rent—Four stalls, 10 x 20 to 10 x 50, in the best location in the city, next to the New Orleans Fruit House, to be used for teas and coffees, butter, cheese and eggs, meats or any desired business in that line. H. Winegarden, 317 So. Saginaw St., Flint, Michigan. 482 For Sale—Complete studio. ‘Will sell at a bargain if taken at once. O. A. Wendt, Standish, Michigan. 470 For Sale—Having decided to quit busi- ness I will sell at a liberal discount all or any part of my drug stock consisting of drugs, sundries, patent medicines, Nyal line, stationery, wall paper, window shades, furniture and fixtures, consist- ing of McCourt label cabinet, safe, counter balances, prescription balances, post card rack, shelf bottles, National eash register, desk and floor cases, etc. Theo. G. DePeel, Onondaga. Mich. 475 For Sale—Fixtures for bakery, ice eream parlor and restaurant. Will rent brick building. No bakery in town. Cor- respond and I will put you next. The business is here and waiting for you. Nice lodging rooms in connection. ; Abrams. Tekonsha, Michigan. tC For Sale—Grocery. Clean stock. Good town, 1,800 population. Daily cash aver- age $87.22 for entire year. Stock about $2,500. I have made good, so can you. Best of references. Address No. 467, eare Michigan Tradesman. 467 For Sale Cheap Or Exchange For Real Estate—Stock of drugs and fixtures. Will sell half interest to live wire. Located in best town in Michigan. Address No. 437, care Michigan Tradesman. 437 For Sale—Good clean stock of general merchandise in country town of Southern Minnesota. Will invoice about $9,000. Doing big business. Can give good rea- son for selling. Address No. 447, care Michigan Tradesman. 447 Will pay cash for whole or part stocks of merchandise. Louis Levinsohn, Sag- inaw. Michigan. 257 We can sell your store or other prop- erty, anv kind, anywhere. For quick sales address Nort*western Business Agency, Minneapolis, Minn. 468 Safes: Opened—W. I.. Slocum, safe ex- pert and locksmith. 128 Ann St., N. E., Grand Ranids. Michigan. 104 Cash Buyers of clothing, shoes, dry goods and furnishings. Parts or entire stocks. H. Price, 194 Forrest Ave. East, Netroit. 678 Merchants Please Take Notice! We have clients of grocery stocks, general stocks, dry goods stocks, hardware stocks, drug stocks. We have on our list also a few good farms ,to exchange for such stocks. Also city property. If you wish to sell or exchange vour business write us. G. R. Business Exchange, 540 House- man Bldg.. Grand Rapids, Mich. 859 For Sale—General stock of merchan- dise. Prices and terms to suit. Pros- perous trade. Address No. 403, care Michigan Tradesman. 403 Store Manager Wanted—I have a stock of $8,000, consisting of dry goods, gro- ceries, boots and shoes, ete., and I want a young man to take charge of same. Must be honest, reliable and a good salesman. Must send best of reference, experience and salary wanted in first letter. Must be able to take charge at once and would iike to know how he stands in draft, as that is my reason for leaving. I leave Dec. 28. B. W. Long, Pewamo, Michigan. 83 SEE NEXT PAGE. Advertisements received too late to run on this page appear on the following page. Conservative Buyers Patronize Tradesman Advertisers Simple —_——— Account File Simplest and Most Economical Method of Keeping Petit Accounts File and 1,000 printed blank bill heads............. - $2 75 File and 1,000 specially printed bill heads...... 3 50 Printed blank bill heads, . per thousand......... vo 26 Specially printed bill heads, per thousand, ......... 2 00 Tradesman Company, firand Rapids. No charge less than 25 cent$. -ach subsequent Cash must accompany all orders. Yearly Invoice Record The contract you enter into when you purchase fire insurance requires you to retain all invoices or keep a record of all purchases dur- ing the current year. Merchants who have small safes sometimes find it inconvenient to preserve all invoices intact. To meet this requirement, we have devised an Invoice Record which enables the merchant to record his purchases, as set forth in his invoices, so as to have a com- plete record in compact form for use in effecting a settlement in the event of a loss by fire. This Record is invaluable to the merchant, because it enables him to ascertain in a moment what he paid for and where he purchased any article in stock. Price $2. Tradesman Company Grand Rapids Michigan People should use Michigan Flour made from Michigan Wheat 1—It excels all other flours in flavor. 2—It excels all other flours in color (whiteness. ) 3—It excels all other flours for bread making. 4—It excels all other flours for pastry making. 5—It requires less shortening and sweetening than any other flour. 6—It fills every household requirement. 7—Michigan merchants should sell, and Michigan people should buy Michigan flour made from Michigan wheat for every reason that can be advanced from a reciprocity standpoint. Economic oupon Books They save time and expense They prevent disputes They put credit transactions on cash basis Free samples on application AM Tradesman Company Grand Rapids, Mich. MICHIGAN TRADESMAN December 19, 1917 Food-Saving Slogans in Your Ad- vertising. Washington, Dec. 17—A great many mercantile firms, large and small, re- tail and* wholesale, are contributing advertising space to assist Uncle Sam in his food-saving campaign. Because we must achieve by volunteer effort what Germany achieves through au- tocratic regulation, it is necessary to keep focd-saving before the American people constantly in every possible form. The merchants of the country have been quick to see this, and spon- taneously insert food-saving slogans in corners of their regular newspaper advertisements, as well as keying their merchandise offerings on Food Ad- ministration principles. They have also run food-saving slogans in their booklets, and on _ circulars, cards, banners, and posters, as well as made food-saving window and counter dis- plays. This gratuitous advertising has really just begun, During February and March there will be a great Na- tional campaign on war matters in the magazines and newspapers, using space contributed by the leading ad- vertisers of the country, and filled with food and other war announce- ments written by the country’s great authors. The seed catalogues of the country this spring will contain Food Administration advertising, contrib- uted by seedsmen who distribute 16,- 000,000 copies of catalogues. Mail or- der catalogues are carrying food an- nouncements, and the street car and bill board men throughout the coun- try are contributing space and serv- ices. As food saving will be a constant issue until peace returns, such co-op- erative advertising really represents a great volunteer movement getting under way. The sort of advertising calculated to produce the best effect for food-sav- ing is constant use of comparatively small space for standard food-saving slogans, inserted as fillers between items of large advertisements, or in little boxes in newspaper announce- ments, booklets, show cards, menu cards, street car cards, and the like. By way of copy, the Retail Stores Section of the Food Administration, Washington, D. C., has issued a bulle- tin containing standard slogans bas- ed upon the policy and purpose of the Food Administration. Here are some suggestions for copy: Food Will Win the Waste It. Wheat. 1. Eat less wheat bread. 2. Don’t waste a single slice; make toast, puddings, etc., of all stale bread. 3. Put the loaf on the table and slice as needed. Meat. 1. Eat less beef, mutton and pork; use any of this kind of meat not more than once a day. 2. Do not waste an ounce; utilize all left-overs. 3. Save the country’s domestic an- imals—the supply is running short. Fats. 1. Use less butter; eat fewer fried foods. 2. Don’t waste any butter, lard or drippings. War—Don't Sugar, 1. Eat less candy; drink fewer sweet drinks. 2. Omit frosting from your cakes. Fuel. 1. Burn less coal; turn out electric lights and turn down heat in radiators on leaving room. To use less coal is to release more transportation for military purposes. Milk 1. Waste no milk. We must send condensed milk to our fighting Allies. Instead of Wheat. 1. Use more corn bread, oatmeal bread, rye bread, barley bread. and, in the South, eat cotton seed bread, thus saving wheat. 2. Eat oatmeal, barley and corn breakfast foods, corn and buckwheat cakes. 3. In place of one slice of bread, eat one extra potato a day. Instead of Meat. 1, Eat vegetables, salted and fresh fish, cheese, milk, eggs, poultry and game. 2. Eat peanuts, peanut beans, dried peas, nuts. Instead of Fats. 1. Use vegetable fats or oils in cooking. 2. Use the following animals fats: suet, beef drippings, chicken fats, pork fats from cooking, goose oil, 3. Make your soaps for rough cleaning at home, since soaps contain fats. butter, Instead of Sugar. 1. Use honey, molasses and. dark syrups. 2. Can your fruit juices and turn them into jellies as needed. Instead of Coal. 1. Use fireless cookers. 2. Use wood, oil and gas wherever you can. Do Not Waste Milk. 1. Turn all left-over milk into cot- tage cheese or use in cooking. 2. Use less cream and more whole milk and cheese. —_—_2.»__— The Real Issues of the War. New York, Dec. 17—The hour has come for each of us to recognize the great cause we have espoused. We are fighting “the dark menace of the distant war’—that menace’ which threatens the peace of the world and the safety of our children and our children’s children. Let us put aside our ambitions, prejudices and criticisms and concen- trate on saving the coming genera- tions from the crushing power of Prussian dominion. If the Socialists of Germany who have been strug- gling for years for democracy had at the first note of war declared they would not fight, there never would have been this terrible calamity. One of Germany’s strcngest reasons for the war was that the Socialist party was becoming too strong and was threatening Prussian autocracy. But, at the nation’s first call to arms they failed to stand for the principles o- Socialism, but put their necks in the yoke of monarchy and blindly follow- ed the bloody monarch tc the sham- bles. Shall we tolerate what the Ger- man imperial government represents? President Wilson has clearly discrim- inated between the German imperial government and the people of Ger- many. A young cousin of mine re- cently returned from the trenches tells me he has talked to many Ger- man prisoners, men upwards of fifty years cf age, who said they did not know for what they were fighting. These thoroughly disillusioned men would gladly lay down their arms. America does not want to crush a people so capable of great achieve- ment. The days of the German im- perial government are numbered. When that dynasty has fallen, and we have accomplished our purpose, then will the American people extend their sympathy and support to the German people. When that propitious time comes there will arise great souls who will redeem Germany from the terrible stigma that now rests upon her. But before this can be accomp- lished we must do our part, and above all not tolerate disintegrating and seditious talk against our Govern- ment. This is the hour of our su- preme test. Nationalism is deep- rooted in the heart of every citizen. Notwithstanding the betrayal of the country’s best interests in this crisis by union labor men and the I. W. W., our financiers, merchants, farmers and non-union workmen’ have’ thrown aside selfishness and prcven our unity. Tremendous forces are at work. AI- ready internat onal thinkers are seek- ing the dawn of a new to-morrow. Georgiana Harriman Owen. mann arn CS Bt Buying Organization Maintained By California Grocers. © San Francisco, Dec, 14—The gro- cers of the Pacific Coast have or- ganized a number of associations whose purpose is co-operation in the buying, selling and delivery of goods. The oldest of these associations is the United Grocers, Incorporated, oi San Francisco. A _ salaried secretary is employed and a committee pur- chases all the stock required by the members of the Association, which numbers one hundred. H. O. Stirnus, a member of the Association, inform- ed the writer that many benefits had been derived by the members of the Association as the result of the organ- ization, which commenced its career two years ago. The plan pursued by the United Grocers is the sale of gocds of known quality and co-op- eration with the packers, canners and manufacturers in marketing their products. The organization has no private brand. The buying committee meets twice each month and oftene- as its services are required. A semi- monthly journal devoted to the in- terest of the Association is issued. Another organization, with a member- ship cf sixty-five has the same pur- poses to attain. It is known as the Retail Grocers’ Association of San Francisco. But two deliveries are made by wagon each day. All gro- cers sell bottled whiskies, wines, gins, brandies and cordials. As there are several thousand engaged in the sale of groceries in San Francisco, it may be said, to use a familiar expression, the crganizations “do not cut much ice.” Some of the independent gro- cers keep open their stores all night and all day Sundays. The shark, a much dreaded animal of the sea, has been found to he fit for food and fishermen are killing and packing thousands of the species. The meat is labeled “gray fish.” Dealers in fish complain of a scarci- ty of sole, sea bass and other species of salt water fish consumed largely by the people of the Pacific Coast. Arthur S. White. —— 2+. Need for Written Contracts. A hard-headed, “old-fashioned” busi- ness man persistently refused to sign contracts of any kind. “If my word is not good,” he would say, “then we can’t do business.” One day he rented a building for five years at a rate of $50 a month. He refused to sign a lease according to his custom, and he soon took possession under his customary word-of-mouth agreement. In a little over a year rents rose in his district, an industrial boom set in, and a local manufacturer offered the owner $80 monthly rental for the build- ing on a ten-year lease. The owner accepted without discussion and at once mailed the occupant a thirty-day notice to vacate. When the old-fashioned tenant con- sulted his lawyer he was advised to move. The attorney gave as the reason for his advice the Statute of Frauds in force in one form or another in every state. This provides that no suit can be brought on a contract creating an interest in “real” property, unless the contract is a lease for a period not greater than one year. After this costly experience the sufferer resolved to re- duce all agreements to writing, and in the case of all involved contracts to consult his attorney without fail. i C. C. Sherlock. a Sparks From the Electric City. Muskegon, Dec. 17—Muskegon Council held a very successful meet- ing Saturday night, One candidate was initiated, Mr. DeYoung, of the Non-Breakable Doll Co. The New Cheboyban bus at Che- hboygan now charges 50 cents round trip, which is in keeping with the gen eral atmosphere of greed which per- meates the place. ' The cancelling of the trains on the Pentwater branch and the Traverse City run of the P. M. will, no doubt, be welcome news to the travelers making the territory they run through. Surely the way of the peddler is get- ting to be hard. Funny how strong the brewers are now for temperance. If the poor fish had come out fifteen years ago with this present statement, they might have gotten a hearing. As it is, they will get what they have help- ed to create—hell. What is puzzling us mostly is how a poor fellow with ten children, get- ting $12 per, can join the Red Cross and all other worthy things and still give Christmas presents to a large number of friends and relatives, just when his taxes are due and unpa‘d. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! E. P. Monroe. ——_——->—_—____ Directly after Christmas will be a gocd time for the retail merchant to take his annual inventory. There is an especially cogent reason why the inventory should be taken with much care this year, on account of the high prices prevailing on nearly all staple articles. Results will frequently dis- close the fact that the dealer is not carrying enough insurance to proper- ly cover his stock. This should be attended to at cnce. A new standard form will go into effect Jan. 1, enacted by the last Legislature. The Trades- man has not had time to analyze it as yet, but as it was enacted under the auspices of the stock fire insurance | trust and the cards were carefully stacked up against the insured for yeers in advance of the event. it is safe to state that the form will give the man who pays for the insurance no more protection than possible. e232 - Customers may demand low prices, but they want the highest possible treat- ment. Don’t cheapen the treatment. For Sale Going coal operation, with houses, tipple. sidings, store, stock of goods, haulage motor and mine cars complete Now producing two hundred fiftv tons per day. Extra good Eagle seam, by-pro- duct, gas producer or steam coal. Also No. 5 splint opened and can be put in operation at nominal cost. Proposition first-class and price right. For further infor- mation address Box 1306, Charles- ton, W, Va.