The Atlantian (Atlanta, Ga.) 19??-current, June 01, 1911, Image 13

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THE ATL ANTI AN The United States Supreme Court bears the same relation to the national law-making body as do you, the public, to us, the merchant. The legislative body is the servant of the people. If the deliberations of this body result in enactment contrary to the people’s sense of justice, as expressed in the Constitution, then the people, through the Supreme Court, stamp such enactment with their disapproval and declare it void. We, the merchant, are the servants of you, the public. If the result of our deliberations—i. e., the quality of our merchandise, the amplitude of our assortments, the correctness of our styles, the moderateness of our prices, the quality of our service, the manner in which we fill our guarantees—be not in accordance with your ideas of fairness, then quickly will follow the stamp of your disapproval, and our consequent loss of patronage. In other words, great increase in profitable, legitimate business incontrovertibly indicates just, liberal, able management. Comparing the past six months with the corresponding period one year ago, we find that— Our sales have increased approximately $75,000 Our advertising expense has been decreased 20 r ° Sales for May to date have increased $20,000 Our prices have never heretofore been so low Our percentage of profit is as great as ever Sounds paradoxical, does it not, in an age when volumi nous advertising apparently is thought necessary to suc cessful business, to say that though our advertising ex penditure has materially decreased, yet our sales have shown a wonderful increase? Sounds paradoxical, does it not, to say that though our prices are lower than ever before, yet our percentage of profit has not been lessened? Yet both contradictions are easily explained. In the first place the self-evident truthfulness of our advertising easily offsets the use of vast newspaper space which many stores deem necessary. The fact that, for over thirty years, the printed or spoken word of the J. M. High Com pany has been even better than their bond, lends to our newspaper advertising an efficacy which mere use of space can never achieve. In the next place, the fact that we easily assimilate great quantities of merchandise, the fact that we unhesitatingly purchase in gross lots where others look upon dozens with distrust, opens to us trade doors of saving where others are confronted by bare, blank walls. Likewise the fact that we pay immediate cash upon all purchases, nets us still another material discount. The savings thus effected, and they amount to thousands of dollars during the year, are credited to your account. In other words, no matter how much below the market may be the price at which we buy, only our legitimate' percentage of profit is marked up. The news of the sav ings thus made possible, even though announced in limited newspaper space, produces for us much greater business than would unlimited space filled with the usual offerings. One merchant says: “The J. M. High Company has de moralized the glove market in Atlanta." If by this he means that we have sold more long kid gloves than any other house in Atlanta, at less than two-thirds the price that others have charged for identical goods, and yet made for ourselves a handsome profit, he is right. If by this he means that we have sold more long silk gloves than all other Atlanta houses combined, at a price almost one-third less than theirs, and yet made greater than our usual profit, then he is right. We have done these things. We are doing them daily in all departments. We shall continue to do 60. It is thus that we have gained your confidence, it is by just such able merchandising methods that we have induced you to trans fer the bulk of your patronage to us. We trust that we may continue to merit it.