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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. TUESDAY, JUNE 11. ISOT. | Giaipkerlin-JoHnson-DuBose Company | Chamberlin - Johnson - DuBose Company [ Chamberlin - Johnson - DuBose Company To Knew a Man, Observe How He Wihs His Object Ratksr Than Hqw He Loses It; For When We Fail, Our Prick Supports Us—When Ws Succssd, It Betrays Us . This store is sole. It is unique, uncommon, singular—the only one of its kind; therefore without equal. Today we state some interesting facts that all retail buyers should read. We also commend them to the consideration of our competitors. Intelligent study of our meth ods gives the inspiration that leads to bet ter storekeeping generally, thereby pre venting some of the unfortunate missteps of merchandising. The abnormal operation of nature gave us the coldest April and May we have had since 1867. This surprising climatic con dition has affected retail merchants un favorably, and in some instances, disas trously. However, misfortunes, resulting from the weather, have overtaken only those dealers who conduct their affairs blindly, recklessly or stupidly. We are not going to pause here to point out the blunders and errors of others. Ob- .viously, they have found them out, and are paying the penalty. Besides, were we to enumerate their mistakes, the spirit and motive that prompted us to do so, might be misconstrued, thus destroying the useful ness of such a policy. . What do these advertising shrieks mean? They clamor in the blackest type from the pages of your newspapers. The chorus of “Help Us or We Perish” in creases in an ascending scale as new voices from every direction are added to the sad refrain. It would bo unkind for us to tell you what they mean. Out of the mass of screams there is one note that rises clear and strong. It tells you that thisretailor or some other retailer is offering thousands and thousands of dol lars’ worth of merchandise at a loss, at an enormous sacrifice on account of the April and May weather. Leaving the obtrusive headlines, with their story of calamity, and pemsing the quotations of the items, we find that these merchants claim to be selling goods at about half price. (Were they true, the ■sheriffs of this country would be largely en gaged in the retail business temporarily.) Ninety-nine merchants out of every hun dred have all their capital invested in their businesses. Were they to sell goods at the Wes they say they sustain and continue to pay operating expenses concurrently, they would bo bankrupt very soon. The futility and absurdity of that sort of advertising should appeal to the thoughtful merchants to such an extent that it would cease entirely^ We, in com mon with other self-respecting, truth-tell ing advertisers, deplore such tactics. We never employ phrases or merchandise to deceive you. And now about ourselves. We are selling more goods, giving our customers more real bargains and making more profits for ourselves than ever before in the history of our business at this time of the year—all on account of the unusual ly cold weather that you have read, heard and talked about so much. The foregoing sounds different, doesn’t it? Truth, in advertising, always does have a rich, resonant ring. That’s one reason why we stick to it. To explain. Our departmental buyers assembled in New York, the latter part of last February, to make their respective purchases for Spring and Summer. The first few da^s were spent in viewing the market in its varying aspects. Conditions were dis cussed with jobbers, manufacturers, im porters, and commission merchants of wide experience and prophetic vision. Each of our buyers pursued these important in vestigations individually—on his own hook. Each received our encouragement to in dulge in his own deductions and form his own inferences and conclusions based upon the information he had succeeded in gath ering. Then we discussed every phase of tho market among ourselves in order to learn the consensus of opinion. Knowledge, ob servation and judgment impressed every mind with one overwhelming fact: Prices Were High. New standards of value were being es tablished by the productive mills of Europe and America, affecting practically every thing made of silk, wool, cotton, leather, metal and wood. The Silk masters of Lyons, France, and the Calico makers of Lowell, Massachu setts, had the same story to tell: “Running day and night at high pressure and can’t supply the demand for goods.” No won der prices went skyward! Under such con ditions we arrived at the only prudent con clusion and permitted it to control our actions. Our lino of argument was some thing like this: We kn<5w prices are high; we know why they are. high, but we do not know of any reason to jus tify us in thinking that they will go higher. If any change occurs it will probably be reactionary and falling prices will relieve the tension. We summed up the sit uation in just that way. Then we decided upon the only sensible course. Having convinced ourselves that any change in the market would be to our advantage, we determined to buy goods in' a hand-to-mouth fashion—in limited quan tities—selecting just enough of every line to provide for our immediate needs—and no more—except in lines where existing' conditions would make continued advance ment of prices the only logical result. In these we bought heavily, and in many cases are selling these now for less money than we could buy them for today, but not at a loss. Spring business opened up tentatively in March. Prosperity waved its magic wand over the land and the volume of our Marph sales increased $18,544.71 over the corresponding month of a year ago. April came and passed and business continued to boom—here. Then May tripped to the fore with her garlands frozen—and the times came that try men’s souls. But we had bought sparingly and our stocks were low. Depletion and exhaustion marked many of them. The country shivered in the grip of Boreas—sales began to slump off. (Our sales for May showed an increase of only $4,278.66.) Are you following the thread of this true story? Although it’s no romance, it is intensely interesting. Fell, notch by notch, the mercury in May. Then it was that thousands of re tailers, who had lost their balance of con servatism, listening to the vivid accounts describing the “scarcity of goods,” awoke to a realizing sense that they had over bought. In their February and March ef forts to fortify themselves against the then Chamberlin - Johnson - DuBose Co existing and anticipated famine they had over-reached themselves. Surpluses and unsold balances, bought at high prices, bought when “scarcity of goods” was a fact and not a dream, bought when “mills couldn’t supply the demand,” were bulky and concrete evidence that they were in deed overloaded. Now to the point. Not one merchant out of a hundred is financially able to meet such an emergency in the way they advertise they are meeting it, namely: By selling the goods at the losses declared. That avenue of escape is blocked because it would break them—if the quantities they have on hand are ac curately stated. We could stand a strain relatively as great, and about manage to pay our debts, but there would be nothing left over. In May our buyers returned to New York. , Everything is changed since February. Manufacturers, importers, jobbers and commission merchants have few customers. Anticipated reorders have not material ized. Contracts for undelivered goods have been canceled. Retailers who bought prod igally have tales of woe. ■ May is crazy- icicles glisten through the Btar dust. May is inanimate so far as merchandising is concerned. Manufacturers, importers now realize Spring is slipping away. They must “get busy” on Fall and Winter goods. What’s to be done? Their stocks must ha sold. Retailers are apathetic and. inert or groaning, like themselves, with burdens of surpluses. Of course, they don’t tell us the above in exact language. But the substance is the same. That’s all of our story. You will have no trouble to fill in the rest. We bought stingily early in the sea son; others bought lavishly. When cold weather created the reaction, we needed goods, holders of goods needed the stock rooms they filled, and our money besides. Tliei’efore, we were in a position to secure bargains—bargains in merchandise that represents all kinds of merit. This combi nation of conditions enable us to sell more goods, giving our customers more real value, and making more profit for our selves than ever before in the history of our business.