Part 45 (1/2)

”You will find,” said Martin, ”that the Woolton people will make their store as bright as possible, and I am afraid that ours will look a little dull in comparison.”

When Stigler had had the store fitted up he had had some very powerful lights put in, but he had never used them much. My store was not any too bright, although, of course, like him, I used electricity.

”I tell you what we'll do,” I said. ”We'll have an electrical display in both windows and, for the first week, we'll try to get a bigger blaze of light in our windows than they will have. We'll display the best quality goods that we can, so as to avoid any attempt at compet.i.tion with them, but we'll make our store so bright that every one going to their store for bargains will be impressed with our up-to-dateness.”

That is what we decided to do.

Martin had given me his handbill advertising the vacuum cleaners. On the next page is a copy of it.

LET INVISIBLE HANDS DO YOUR HEAVY CLEANING

Instead of hiring help to clean your carpets, let one of our PEERLESS ELECTRICAL VACUUM SWEEPERS do it for you.

PEERLESS ELECTRICAL VACUUM SWEEPERS are quiet, efficient, and thorough. You don't have to find meals for them and they never answer back.

If you have electricity in your home hire a PEERLESS ELECTRICAL VACUUM SWEEPER to clean your rugs.

$2.00 a day--delivered and collected free.

A child can operate them, but they do the work of a giant.

A special demonstration all next week at

DAWSON BLACK'S HARDWARE STORE 32 Hill St.

”If it's electrical you can get it from us.”

I had had Roger Burns around for dinner the previous Sunday. He used to go to school with Betty and me, so of course when I told Betty that the New England Hardware Company, for which Roger was working, had made him manager of its chain store in Farmdale, the first thing she said was that we must ask him for dinner.

While Betty and the Mater were clearing away the dinner things, I asked Roger how business was coming along.

”Well,” he said, ”we knew pretty well what we would do before we came.”

”How could you tell?” I asked, laughing.

”We knew how much money we were to invest in Farmdale. We knew how often we ought to turn over our stock every year. We also knew what our expenses would be, and what our profits would be.”

I couldn't help smiling as I said, ”The only thing you didn't know was whether the people would buy the goods.”

”That's where you're wrong,” said Roger. ”We knew what the people would buy, because we a.n.a.lyzed the market so thoroughly. We knew just what kind of goods each cla.s.s of people bought; and how often they bought certain kinds of goods. And with our experience in marketing we knew how to get them into our store.”

After Roger had left I thought that over a lot, and believed there was some truth in what he had said.

”Of course,” I said, ”it is much easier for you people to make money than it is for me, because you buy much cheaper than I can, and your expenses are so much less. You could afford to sell cheaper than I do, and still make a handsome profit.”

”As a matter of fact,” said Roger, ”you are wrong; for, while the actual operating expense of this store would be a smaller percentage than your actual operating expense, we have a heavy supervision cost. It is a fallacy to believe that the larger store can operate for less expense.

It cannot. The bigger business you have, the more money you have to pay the executives to control that business, and there is such a scramble for really big men that salaries of fifteen thousand dollars and twenty thousand dollars a year are not unusual. Our general manager makes eighteen thousand dollars a year!”

”Think of making eighteen thousand dollars a year! Three hundred and sixty a week! Sixty a day! Working six hours a day! Ten dollars an hour!

And here I pike along on twenty-five dollars a week and work my head off ten hours a day. Then you mean to say that it really costs you more to do business than it does me?”