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—OUR— WEEKLY SMILE (C.J.T.—Phila.,Pa.) A lady came to me last week and said, “Pardon me, but I would like to ask a question. I have often wondered if large department stores like Gimbel’s, Macy’s and Wanna maker’s didn’t lose a lot of money in the course of a year on charge customers, employees and crooks who go from store to store. When I say employees, I mean by that, you have 5,000 here in Gimbel’s —how do you know how much goods they steal and how much they give away to friends?’’ Os course I went into detail and explained to her that our system was so near perfect that it is almost a physical impossibility to steal more than once and not get caught. After she left I wondered if my friends who are Hartwell Sun readers would not like to know all about how a big department store in a city is run so as to prevent losses. I think you would, so here goes. In a small town the rule is and has always been that the merchant con- Qfree Foot Comfort Demonstration Friday, September 4th Foot troubles are universal. Government records show that 7 out of every 10 adult people have some form of foot trouble. You are probably a victim of foot trouble yourself. It may be only a corn, a callous, a bunion or some more serious trouble such as weak and broken-down arches. You might not know the nature of your trouble but you do know that your feet ache, pain, and get all tired out on the slightest provocation. Foot Comfort Expert Here Come to our Foot Comfort Department on the above date and get a Free Demonstration. There’s no charge for this valuable service. This work is in charge of a Special Demonstrator from The Scholl Mfg. Co. This is an opportunity that every foot sufferer should grasp. FREE PEDO-GRAPH PICTURE ‘ln a few to^ crinc ' s ’ time, without removing the hose he can make a photo K :.' ,Dhic print of your foot that posi tively shore if you do l*?ve and to nat stage the trouble has This js abso* anQ places you under no obligation whatever. FREE SAMPLES Do you want to know how to stop corns hurting in stantly? Come in and get a sample of Dr. bcholl s Zino-pads. They remove the cause of coms—friction and pressure. Thin, antiseptic, healing. J. A. W. BROWN HARTWELL, GA. the southern serves the south As the South grows the Southern must keep pace Freight traffic on the Southern Rail way System has nearly doubled in ten years. With the South growing at its pres ent rate, traffic a few years hence will be double what it now is. Many millions of dollars of new capital will have to be found for increasing the capacity of tracks, yards, terminals and shops, and the purchase of cars and engines. This needed new capital will be at tracted to the Southern if the profits from its operation are maintained at a level to establish a broad market for its securities. (Oy southern railway system siders all of his clerks honest and not until he puts in a good cash regis ter system does he find out that there is a black sheep among his family of employees. As a matter of fact the National Cash Register Company tells all of its employees, or rather its salesmen, to be very careful when discussing the question of honesty of clerks with a small town or even a city merchant of small size, for nine out of ten merchants will take of fense at the suggestion that there is a dishonest clerk among his number. In a city it is different. The depart ment stores, especially, conduct their businesses just as though every clerk was dishonest for, if they didn’t, the few dishonest ones in every store would soon be able to retire. Now, as regards cash transactions, a customer pays the money to the clerk and the clerk either rings it up on a cash register (a six drawer reg ister—each clerk being held respon sible for his own drawer) or sends it in a carrier through an air-suction tube to one of the 500 cashiers in the sub-basement. The customer cannot leave with the package until the wrapper receives the paid sales slip from which she tears her voucher which is her authority for wrapping the package. If the clerk rings up a less amount than the customer paid the wrapper would refuse to wrap the pasckage because the price tags THE HARTWELL SUN, HARTWELL, GA., AUGUST 2«, 1925 (printed in indelible ink and acces sible only to the managers of the va rious departments) and the sales slip would not agree. The wrapper, or inspector, as they are called, would also refuse to wrap a package which had been charged unless her wrap ping voucher had been O. K.’d by the credit department. Now, Gimbel’s Philadelphia store has 600,000 charge customers and one would imagine that they lose a lot of money in the course of a year, but, on the contrary, one of the as sistant managers of the credit de partment told me that their collec tions are 100 per cent. To begin with, in order to open a charge ac count you must either be a property owner or have your application en dorsed by one. That, in itself, means much for if a customer should today open a charge account and tomor row sell his property, the credit department which watches all trans fers and sales of property in the city, every day, would instantly be on his trail. As I stated once before, when a man opens a charge account he is given a “coin.” This coin is a piece of metal with a number on it. If he should want to purchase a shirt, for example, he would present his coin to the clerk who would make out a charge sales slip and have the inspector to look in a book, one of which is located at each inspector’s desk, and find out if this customer’s number is listed as “N. G.” If it is not listed, the inspector may hand out the package to the customer. If it is listed, the inspector sends the coin and sales slip down the tube to the credit department. If the customer’s account has been fixed up since it was listed in the book, the credit de partment O. K.’s the sales slip and returns it. If the account has not been fixed up, the credit department keeps the coin and the sales slip comes back with a printed note which reads, “Refer customer to credit de partment, sth floor—see Mr. Jones or Brown,” or whoever may be the one he is to see. Some customers go up and some don’t. Some act highly insulted and leave but, of course, they know why they were refused credit. ; Occasionally, a customer says, “I would like to purchase some goods but I forgot my coin.” In that event the salesman calls the manager of the department who interviews the customer to see if he has proper identification and, if he has, writes on a gummed sticker, ‘‘ldentified by initials on watch R. A. C.,” or name on bank book, Philadelphia Trust Company, or initials on ring or name in coat pocket or letters, cards or railroad pass, and pastes this sticker on the back of the original charge slip and sends it down the tube to the credit department. The managers of the various departments are privi leged to hand out small packages amounting to sl, $2, and even $5, if the customer looks good, without having the checks O. K.’d, and right here, I will pat myself on the back for I have never gone wrong on a customer yet. I call myself a pretty good judge 'of human nature, if you will pardon me for saying so, and I rely on that to a great extent. I cash checks for customers on their face alone and I have never haH one returned. Wait till I knock on wood. A traveling salesman is usually a good judge of human nature for he makes a study of merchants—how to approach them, etc. “Suppose I should lose my coin,” this., lady asked me, “couldn’t Bill Jones or John Smith purchase on my coin if either of them found it? Couldn’t they use my coin and give most any name since your inspector goes by the number and not by the name?” Yes, that’s possible, but each customer is instructed to notify the credit department if he loses his coin and the*/ list the coin in the book as “N. G.” This coin book is changed every morning and during the day little pink slips with coin numbers on them are sent down to be pasted in the book. These are used in cases of lost coins or overtrading of an account. Each account is lim ited to a certain amount, according to the wealth of the customer, and, when that limit is reached the coin number is listed in the book as “N.G-.” is some stealing done by customers and employees but this has been reduced to a minimum for there are numbers and numbers of store detectives going through the store at all times. No one knows who they are except the managers of the various departments and the high er officials of the store. Each de partment is just like a store in it self and T am not interested in what goes on in the drug department for that is under another man, but I am interested in the men’s furnishing de partment and I know each sales per son in that department personally and I know pretty well who is straight and who is crooked. No employee can leave the build ing with a package unless it has been sealed and O. K.’d by the manager of the department from which it was purchased. We have gummed stick ers which have “Employee’s package —O. K.’d by,” printed on them, and then the manager writes his name with a blue pencil. The package must then be countersigned by the floor superintendent and stamped “out” by .the doorkeeper. All hats and coats are locked up and cannot be released during the day except at lunch time, without an order from the manager of the department in which the salesperson works. About bank checks and money or ders. If a bunch of post office mon- I ey orders are stolen somewhere in I Georgia, for example, Gimbel’s is 1 notified within twenty-four hours and 1 the firm, in turn, notifies the man- ■ agers of the various departments to > be on the lookout for those orders bearing certain numbers. The same thing applies to express money or ders, travelers’ checks, etc., from all parts of the country. Occasionally we get a notice which states that a ! man about such and such an age, . giving his description, has been pass- 1 ing bogus checks on department stores in New York or Philadelphia and to be on the lookout for him. This information comes from the De partment Stores Association. If a , man’s credit is no good at a certain ' department store the Association no tifies all other members. That was some meal which Enoch Benson described as having eaten at the Starr, (S. C.) hotel. DeWitt Teasley, make your plans to join me in ’a visit to that hotel Christmas. There is a hotel at Rutherfordton, N. C., which has the same reputation. They serve Parker House rolls at ev- I ery morning and evening meal. I’ll . venture to say that the Star hotel will know that DeWitt and I have been there after we leave for we are blessed, or cursed, as you want to put it, with a Teasley appetite. Q 810 CHURCH Bio church closed a six-day re vival last Friday night, August 21. This was the greatest revival in the history of the church, which was or- I ganized some forty-five years ago. I There were thirty additions, twen | ty-one of which were by baptism. One young man, Herbert A. Warren, announced his call and decision to preach the gospel. Our supply-pas tor, Rev. T. M. Galphin, had the gen eral oversight of the meetings. Rev. J. A. McManaway did the preaching, and Rev. T. J. Rucker led the sing ing, assisted by his daughter, Miss Kathryn, who rendered some fine selections. Also much credit is due Miss Fannie Sue Rucker for presid ing so faithfully and ably at the piano. ' We appreciate the attendance of the people from the neighboring churches and the valuable help in the song services and in other ways. Splendid behavior, fine attendance, some night services overflowing. People seemed eager for a revival of the “Old Time Religion.” More than 60,000 aliens were smuggled into the United States dur ing the last six months of 1924. One sign of greatness is to have a signature nobody can read.—El berton Star. Announcing Important Changes in Bodies 4 | | and Chassis ' Added Beauty and Utility | 4 Closed Cars in Color ■ f , No Increase in Prices All-steel bodies on Tudor Sedan, Coupe and open cars. Bodies and chassis both . lowered. Larger, more attractive fenders, affording greater protection. New im proved transmission and rear axle brakes on all types. One-piece ventilat ing windshield on closed cars; double ventilating type on open cars. Curtains opening with all doors on Touring car and Runabout. C Closed cars in colors, ; | with upholstery of finer quality to har monize; and nickeled radiator shells. Many other refinements now acid to the beauty and quality of these cars. See your nearest Authorized Ford Deal er today for complete details. DETROIT, MICH. & ; • * ' HART MOTOR COMPANY R. E. COX, Manager , Lincoln Fordson CARS' ’ TRUCKS TRACTORS Hartwell, Ga. Phone No. 48 Permanent roads are a good investment * —not an expense The High Cost of Postponing Permanent Highway Building Poor motor roads stifle industry and agricul ture, waste huge sums annually in high mainte nance costs, and greatly increase gasoline, tire and repair bills. There is not a community that isn't paying a heavy price for having too'few permanent roads. Many sections of the country—even whole states are trying to operate twentieth century traffic over nineteenth century roads. Even what we often call the moreprogressive communities are far behind the demands of modern highway traffic with its motor vehicles. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Canada to Mexico, we need more Concrete roads—the roads for twentieth century traffic. Your highway officials want to be of the greatest possible service to you. They know we need more Concrete roads —the roads for twen tieth century traffic. Get behind them with ways and means that will provide these roads and streets. Such an investment will pay you big dividends year after year. PORTLAND CEMENT ASSOCIATION Hurt Building ATLANTA, GA. A National Organization to Improve ancLExtend the Uses of Concrete OFFICES IN 30 CITIES?