Part 25 (1/2)

Bulder, the Garter trading stamp man, called according to arrangement.

”_Good_ morning, Mr. Black,” he said heartily, as he entered the store.

”Well, I _don't_ think we'll have much difficulty in getting this little matter fixed up to-day. It is going to mean a _big_ thing for you, and you can be _quite_ sure that the Garter Trading Stamp Company is going to be at the back of you to make this thing a _big success_.”

He spoke quite confidently, as if he were sure I was going to take them up. And indeed I had been all along practically decided to adopt them.

”That's fine,” I said in response to Bulder's greeting. ”I want you, however, to meet Mr. Fellows, who is waiting in my office.” I saw a faint change take place in Bulder's manner. He seemed at once to become a little suspicious and on his guard.

”Fellows? Fellows?” he replied. ”Oh, one of your men?”

”Well, yes and no,” I returned with a laugh. ”He is connected with the Flaxon Advertising Agency and he does all my advertising, and I like to get the benefits of his ideas.”

”Mr. Black,” said Bulder, ”I am doing this business with you, and while I am _sure_ that Mr. Fellows is a _mighty_ fine man, you could hardly expect me to want to talk this matter over with him--at any rate, with the idea of helping you to decide what to do; for, you see, he is an advertising man and _naturally_ wants to spend all your appropriation himself.”

”Fellows isn't that kind,” I replied, somewhat curtly.

Bulder saw that he had been tactless, so he put his hand on my shoulder, and said, soothingly:

”_That's_ all right, Mr. Black, I was only joking. Glad to talk the matter over with _any_ friend of yours.”

I don't know why it was, but I seemed from that moment to feel a distrust of him. I had rather liked him before. But now he seemed to me too suave, too--oh, too fat and easy about it.

Well, we went into my little office and I introduced him to Fellows.

”Our mutual friend, Mr. Black,” said Bulder with a smile, ”wants me to talk over with you both the _splendid_ possibilities of his store through the Garter Trading Stamps. _Good idea._ It shows he is cautious and has good judgment.”

”Mr. Black is quite a busy man, you know, Mr. Bulder,” Fellows replied, ”and perhaps don't have time enough always to think over every angle of a proposition; so he very wisely believes in talking things over and getting an outside viewpoint. Mr. Black can a.n.a.lyze these problems himself just as well as you or I can; but he believes in conserving his time and energies as much as he can.”

All this preliminary by-play interested and amused me. But then the real battle began. Imagine those two--that big, burly, good-natured, somewhat bulldozing Bulder, and the shrewd, courteous New Englander, Fellows; Bulder with his heavy, sledge-hammer methods,--the bludgeon method, you might call it,--and Fellows with his keen, sharp, rapier methods.

Bulder realized at once that Fellows was strongly against the stamps, and that it was going to be a battle of wits and logic. I had better confess that my sporting blood was roused, and I had decided that the fellow who won the argument would have me on his side.

”What do you know about the company?” I asked Fellows, so as to get things started.

”Not a thing,” he said, ”but I am sure that that is a matter of minor importance; for Mr. Bulder is too big a business man to connect himself with an organization that is not thoroughly sound.”

Very neatly put!--and yet I could see that, even if the trading stamp proposition won, Bulder would still have to prove that his company was financially and morally sound.

How I wish I could write down in full detail all that was said by both of them, but I can't remember it all. Bulder started in with a few heavy blows by stating that the Garter trading stamps gave the merchant who handled them a decided advantage over his compet.i.tors; for their splendid premium catalog, their numerous supply stations, the fact that they would let me have a set of representative premiums for window display, the excellent line of advertising matter which he said was part of the service which I bought from them at the time I bought their stamps. . . . ”You _quite_ understand, Mr. Black,” he said laboriously, ”that you are not buying _just_ trading stamps from us, or trading tokens as we prefer to call them, but you are buying a merchandising service--you are buying _all_ the selling ideas and helps which we can give you, besides the _splendid_ backing which the name of Garter stamps gives you.

”And,” he continued to Fellows, for he knew that Fellows was the opposition and not I, ”when Mr. Black takes up our agency, _no_ other hardware man in town will be able to get it. . . . In fact,” he said, with a sudden burst of generosity, ”so that there will be absolutely no question of full protection and no compet.i.tion, we will not _even_ supply a gla.s.s and china store, a five-and-ten-cent store, a cutlery store, or a novelty store--in fact, _any_ other store which might compete with him in _any_ way.

”Thus, you see, I am offering you something, Mr. Black,” he said with an ingratiating smile, ”which is a _wonderful_ advantage to you. It will really put _your_ store in a cla.s.s by itself.”

”Fine!” broke in Fellows, before I could say anything. ”A thought has just occurred to me, however. While you promise that no other hardware man shall have the _Garter_ stamps, can you promise that no _other_ trading stamp concern will offer stamps to any other hardware man in Farmdale?”

Bidder replied with a deprecating smile: ”What other concerns are there of our importance and size?”

Fellows came back with the names of two concerns which were better known to me than the Garter trading stamp.

”Why, yes,” drawled Bulder, ”of course, they _might_ offer stamps to some other hardware man. But, my dear sir, think a minute--what are the value of _their_ stamps compared to _ours_? Why, my good friend, you _can't_ compare them! Every woman in town knows that Garter stamps have a higher premium value than _any_ others.”