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7 A TIEARST’S SUNDAY AMERICAN, ATLANTA, GA., SUNDAY, DECEMRER 7, 1013. S> Merchants and Manufacturers’ Bulletin S More Efficient Methods Are Being Adopted by Progressive Distributors, The wide-awake jobbers and wholesalers of dry goods and kindred lines in the West are keenly alive to the urgent necessity of making very radical changes in the present meth od of sampling dry goods, furnishing goods and ready-to-wear garments. The present method is burdensome to the salesman and the cost is out of proportion to sales. , With the change from the time when the selling of dry goods in the piece was the important end of the business to the •'ready-made" era the lines of the traveling salesman’s sam ples have grown until to-day it is not an unusual thing for large wholesal ers to have on the road an average of from twelve to fourteen trunks with every general salesman. In Other Important Lines. The other important mercantile !( nes _groceries, hardware, furniture, queensware, clothing, etc.—have so reformed their loose and expensive sampling plans (or should one say lack of plan that to-day if a sales- I man would solicit an opportunity to I present his wares—men's clothing, for instance—on the strength of a state-1 ment that "he had fifteen trunks of clothing samples on display at the hotel." the merchant would tell him he was representing a "back number" j concern and that he felt no Interest In looking at the line of a concern so evidently unprogressive. As an evidence of the great interest there is in this new movement in the dry goods trade to reduce sample lines, a two days' convention was held in Omaha to consider this subject I in detail. New Plans Shown. The representatives brought wfth them trunks of samples to show what each one was doing in his own way to help solve the problem of reducing salesmen’s samples and the exchange of ideas was very Instructive and will undoubtedly lead to great reforms. It was shown that such important lines as blankets, duck coats, sheep- lined coats, mackinaws, shirts, under wear, sweaters, children’s dresses, aprons, children’s coats, bath robes, bedspreads, blankets, notions, muslin underwear, ladies’ waists, knit hoods, etc. (all bulky lines, which no house can profitably sample in made-up gar ments for Ailing in business), can be represented by means of photographs with snatches of the fabric and print ed description attached. Omaha* Houses Lead. Some of those present were going into their third season with the new sampling plan and furnished compar ative Agures showing not only sub stantial reductions in the expense ac count, but greatly in'ereased sales on the very lines where the change in method of sampling haS been most radical. The Omaha houses seem to have gone farther along' the new way than those from any other market, and it was generally conceded that while the “Omaha idea” was a novelty, now it Would unquestionably set a new standard. It was a constant expression with everyone that while the saving in traveling expenses was an important consideration, the point which would count most in the movement for a general adoption of the new plan was the fact that it would greatly increase the efAeiency of every salesman who carried a dry goods line. Shoe Manufacturing in The Southern States VITAL TO DIXIE Secretary Houston Says Good Staple Grower Suffers Under Present System. There Should Be a Factory Every Large City—Great In crease of Business. We make Picture Mouldings and Picture Frames for Whatever Purpose You Want Them. Samples of Mouldings Sent to Dealer on Request. Especially Prepared to Handle all Orders Same Day Received. BINDER FRAME MANUFACTURING CO. Atlanta, Georgia. Chicago, Illinois. /- \ THE EDISON DICTATING MACHINE SAVES HALF THE TIME, EXPENSE AND TROUBLE OF LETTER WRITING Mad© In Orange by Thomas A. Edison. Sold, demonstrated und guar- * anteed in Georgia by BAYLIS OFFICE EQUIPMENT C'0. Office Furniture—Commercial Stationery No. 1 South Broad Street. Phone 241 E. L. ADAMS CO. WHOLESALE GROCERS OUR MOTTO: First Quality Merchandise and Prompt Service. McCLURE TEN CENT COMPANY £ T E L 0 A ™’ Importers, Jobbers, Distributors GOODS TO RETAIL AT 5c TO $1.90 Write us about opening a store or department of this kind for you Vollmer Manufacturing Co. We Cater to the Retail Jeweler Only Manufacturers and Designers of Fine Jewelry. Engrav ing, Diamond Setting and Watchmaking a specialty. Special Designs in Platinum. Let us do your diamond mounting and repair work. Bell Phone Ivy 1670 Moore Bldg., Atlanta, Ga. rHE MAIL ORDER COFFEE ROASTERS ATLANTA COFFEE MILLS COMPANY Blenders of High-Grade Coffees Special Blends EUREKA, ATCO, SQUARE DEAL Rich in Flavor, Fresh and Pur. Ask Your Grocer. Buy Your Coffee Direct From the Mill—Roasted Daily 402 Edgewood Avenue, Atlanta, Ga. GEORGIA PRODUCTS DAY EVERY DAY WHEN YOU WEAR ARAGON SHIRTS---PANTS-“OVERALLS MANUFACTURED BY A. M. ROBINSON COMPANY 59 North Pryor St. Atlanta. Georgia The suggestion of Secretary Hous ton, of the Department of Agricul ture, regarding a standardization of cotton and corn should meet with favor of Southern folk. He says: “Several different standards of cot ton classification are in use. Some markets have adopted the official gardes and use them. Others have adopted them, but do not trade on them. Liverpool has one set of grades; New York another. The former is a great market for both spots and futures; the latter almost purely a future market. "Atlanta has its own grades; Au gusta’s are different. Savannah, han dling largely the same character of cotton as the two foregoing, trades on Liverpool grades, using Liverpool middling as a basis. Atlanta middling is equal to Liverpool good middling. In other words, at the present time the same grade name is applied to two qualities that differ in market vaiue as much as $2.50 per bale. “The adoption and application of one uniform standard would result in a great simplification of all cotton transactions, doing away with the complex method of figuring buyer’s limits. Same Basis Grade Urged. “It would not be sufficient to have uniform grades, but the grade se lected as the basis grade should be the same in all markets. "The local buyer knows the mar ket cotton grades, the farmer does not. Too frequently the local buyer gets the cotton at practically a flat rate basis on lower grades, grades the cotton himself and sells it for what It is worth. The middleman alone profits from this transaction, the producer is defrauded as well as the consumer. “There is not only no incentive for placing a good product on the mar ket, but, as a matter of fact, a penalty attaches to the cotton grower who takes the pains to improve his prod uct. Uniform standards throughout the I coton belt would result in the rapid | building up of a body of common knowledge on the part of the farm ers, students in agricultural colleges and others interested in the universal set of grades. “Practically the same results would follow and the same evils would be removed if standard grades for corn were universally adopted. Definite standards for the grading of commer cial corn and the uniform application of such standards ii\ all markets un- 1 der suitable Government supervision would be of direct value to our corn growers, in that such standardization would encourage the marketing o'f dry corn of better ctuality. Makes Farmers Careless. “Heretofore it has been the common practice to pay practically the same price for all corn delivered at country stations regardless of its water con tent or of its soundness. Farmers have not be°n slow to grasp the situ ation, and under such a system have naturally made but little effort to market com in a dry and sound con dition. The system has placed a premium on poor and careless farm ing at the expense of farm methods and practices. “Under a definite system of grading and the elimination of such terms as ‘reasonably dry’ and ‘reasonably clean,’ the farmer, as well as the grain dealer, will be able to know and fully understand the requirements for the different grades. With a knowledge of the grade r°oui remits the farmer who markets dry corn of good quality will be in a position to demand a premium for such corn. It will not be necessary for him to accept a $4 price for corn which he sells under a grade designation of $3. He will then have fome encouragement to exercise greater care.” Penny Change of Great Importance In Retail Business The importance of “splitting the nickel” and making prices and change on the basis of the cent is one of the most profitable details of the retail business. “Make Penny Change,” “Spilt the Nickel” or “Common Sense Merchan dising.” Call it. what you may, the net result for all those who use the system remains unchanged and spells thriftiness and prosperity What constitutes the very corner stone of a going manufacturing and jobbing business? Satisfied custo mers who meet their obligations promptly. What, then, can be done lo help improve the present status of things and bring about to a greater degree the above-desired condition? Make "penny change.” Why *is it that the business of so' many apparently good retail mer chants dwindles? Has it ever oc curred to you that it was because he iiid not “split the nickel?” The bases from *which a business is figured are sales, per cent of profit on sales and per cent of expense to sales. The difference between these last two should spell net profit. He depends on his ability to make up his short profits, on evenrmoney sales, by long ones on the same basis, and “thereby i nangs the tale” which usually spells isaster. His guess as to his average 1 \ fv cent of profit, sooner or later, 1 works the wrong way, and he be- j comes, in the familiar terms of the j jobber, “a lame duck." This process of trying to strike a satisfactory average profit by the merchant on an even-change selling -.asis is largely responsible for the mail-order business which leaves our nome towns. The mail-order houses 'earned the trick of “penny change.” They figure a per cent of profit and >n an item which costs 4 cents they list at 7 while our dealers’ price is 10 er.ts. It is by a comparison of such rues that the home customer loses unfidence in the home dealer. By J. K. ORR, JR., What of the progress and prospects of shoe manufacturing in the South? Its progress has been shown in an increase of volume from Southern factories of practically 500 per cent in the past five years. And why should its prospects be seE at a single notch lower than that accomplished by New England and the Middle West? Shoe making is a game in which no one section has any natural ad vantages. The machinery used by all the fac- J. K. Orr, President' of Ihe J. K. Orr Shoe Company. tories all over the country is the same, and is practically all made and furnished by one concern. Leather and other material is bought in the open market and is just as accessible to Georgia as to Massachusetts; skilled labor natur ally follows its own opportunities, so that it is just as sane to say that the South can not make its own shoes as to claim that it can not print its own newspapers. The present season has been in many ways a big help to the growth of Southern shoe manufacturing. Conservative buying during the summer followed by a bumper cotton crop caused a rush of business that found the retail merchants of the South needing shoes and needing them quick. Many dealers who had long bought all their shoes in the more distant markets, turned gladly to the newer convenience of at-home factories for help. Repeat orders from many of the most critical shoe stores show that Southern-made shoes not only have the call on convenience, but have proven themselves up to the best standard on syle, quality and value. The Red Seal shoe factory, here in Atlanta, has this fall pushed its out put 40 per cent above its previous high water mark, and we have been glad to hear that other Southern fac tories have had all the business they could handle. Shoe are now being made in Vir ginia. Tennessee and Georgia, and it is my opinion that within the next few years there will be. at least ope shoe factory not only in every State, but in every progressive city through out the South. EARL! INCREASE III BRITISH RETAILERS [ However, Prices Keep Up in the South on Persistence of Good Demand. Although thus far only general con ditions can be described, it is the prevailing belief that the next three months will show' a very substantial advance in importations in a good many branches of business. The ef fect on costs of living Is still some distance off, but forecasts made in trade circles are to the effect that current levels of prices in thin coun try in a number of important lines will be decidedly lower. The importations of important food stuffs that have taken place from for eign centers of production, notably in the case of meats, have had an appre ciable influence already, in prevent ing increases of cost that would otherwise have occurred. Iri the man ufactured goods, while changes have been relatively small thus far, there have been some distinct alterations of prices and more important ones are looked for when time has been given for distributors to contrast prices abroad and at home and to make their purchases in the most advan tageous markets. Advices from a good many of the manufacturing centers, particularly in the South, supposed to be affected by the new rates, however, do not indicate any decline in business, but on the contrary the persistence of good orders, so that the stress of for eign competition will make itself felt only some time after the strengthen ing of import business predicted in consequence of the greater interest now being shown. The new condi tions will, however, produce a sharper stress of competition. One reason for the more active In terest in the American market that is being exhibited in Europe is the slackening of business demand in some lines, which has been generally good heretofore and the consequent effort to get better openings for busi ness in the United States. Should this condition continue and become more intense, as it is predicted in many quarters will be the case, the result will be a steady advance in importations of foreign-made goods. This state of things applies not only In textiles, but In crude and unman ufactured lines such as cement and various forms of metal products. EXPORTS FOR WEEK. Exports of domestics and cotton duck from New York in the week end ed November 22 were valued at $232.- 063, a loss of $273,901 from the week previous. The greatest amount ship ped to a single foreign market, valued at $48,760, went to Central America. Steps Taken to Set Prices That Will Hereafter Yield Dealer Profit. Strange as it may sound, sewing thread is sold in England by most re tailer.*? or drapers, at a loss. Very recently the J. and .1. Coats combine circularized the whole retail trade of England asking if it were not possible to have the manufacturer agree upon a price at which thread would he sold in future at retail, so that a reason able profit might be assured. The returns from these circulars showed that the retail trade of Eng land was almost unanimously in favor of the set price system oh thread, and favored some similar plan whereby losses on other staples handled by dry goods men might be avoided. One large manufacturer of cotton goods entered upon a plan similar in all respects to the plans in vogue here of selling a finished and packaged fabric at retail at a fixed price, or at a minimum price. A cloth of stand ard quality lias been taken for trial. There is in England no counterpart of our Sherman anti-trust law. and the question hag not come up there as to what extent the common law re garding merchandising in the matter of restraining competition may be violated. Nothing in the way of suits to vex merchandisers has yet come forward, and where trials of the set price system are being made care is being taken to avoid all semblance of conspiracy to hold prices on a mo nopoly plane. It is most interesting to note that while manufacturers in this country are trying to break down prices on the theory that they enhance the cost of distribution and give opportunity for the sale of a great deal of inferior merchandise at the highest accepted retail price, over in England efforts are under way to adopt the very sys tem that is coming into strong dis favor here. Deplorable Condition Exists in Dry Goods Trade Which Forces Fight for Rights. A deplorable condition exists in the dry goods trade and perhaps in other trades when merchants of established reputation are forced to protect a trade-mark from offenders who live and thrive on imitation. The viciousness of imitation will certainly at some time react in a radical way upon thousands of traders in this country who are exploiting ihe brains of other people for their own profit and not for the ultimate benefit of consumers or producers. The pure {pod act was directed pri marily at the wrongs that had crept Into distribution of the necessaries of life. And sooner or later legislation is certain to be demanded for the pro tection of consumers against the wrongs that are being inflicted in the field of textile distribution, unless the trade itself soon undertakes a sane method of correction. In the past twenty years there has developed all over the textile world both her and abroad, a desire to buy merchandise because of its construc tion. Flood of “Just-as-Good.” A mill may bring out a cloth that is new in all of Its important features, and to safeguard It against imita tion a trade-mark is placed upon :t Merchants at once begin to imitate the cloth, the trade-mark, and then to debase the construction. Salesmen are instructed to go forth and sell something "just as good” as the other man’s. And everything that is com monly recognized as an established trade description as it applies to Die trade-marked article is violated. As a consequence of doing business in this way the markets become filled with “plunder” that has been foist on the jobber, the retailer and the consumer, all designed primarily to imitate something of character and solely for the purpose of depriving the original producer of a fair profit. Advertising is steadily becoming a handmaiden of truth, and in the pres ent instance it can be used to correct manv of the evils now existing. At the present time many producers ate depending upon secondary and reti'l distributors to acquaint consumer- with the facts they wish them to know. In a great many instances the facts are being distorted or sup pressed. New Advertising Foreseen. As yet the advertising men of Me country are not alive to thp difficul ties producers are under in meeting the competition of frauds. Happily, perhaps, they do not care to know much of the details of a trade art i prefer to deal with the consumer is having intelligence only in the matt r of price, and price as It measures quality. Should a time come when the legislators and the advertising men of the country emne together to understand the technical frauds that producers suffer from, there may come into this country a form of ad vertising that will make a new radi calism with a real menace. Dry goods men bear with many things In their business that are trou blesome because there Is a lack of public spirit unless some matter out side of the trade is at stake. They will rise up as one man at the call of charity and the leaders among them are constantly at the service of all sorts of movements designed for the betterment of the community and mankind in general. But when it comes to the consideration of meth ods to eliminate from the business such a ranker as the violation of trade-marks has become they are slow to act. Tradesmen Indifferent. Those of them who are in toinh with the producing end of the busi ness feel keenly enough about any thing that unsettles the financial status of a producer or a dlstibutor. And they lend all sorts of extraordi nary aid to an honest man who : s caught In troubles. But: the same men when appealed to in any effort to rid the trade of such a crying abu«e as the violation of trade-marks and rights to fabrics has become are weak in their consideration of the whole matter. This is plain speak ing, but the truth should not hurt. Demand Is Strong For Dull Leathers Tans Also Popular With Merchants. Tango Pumps and Gaiter Boots Moving. The present demand for the better grades <»f men’s shoes is about equally divided between dull leathers and tans. Patent leathers are not especially ac tive in high shoes, although there Is a good demand for tango pumps. The dull and shiny leathers have the call in the medium grade lines, and while tans are active, the demand is not up to last year’s mark. Patent leather ami cloth top combina tions lead the demand in women's goods. Dull leather shoes, both plain and with cloth combinations, come next. Gaiter boots are also active. Satin goods have started to move, and from present indications the demand will ex ceed previous figures. The kidney heel Is favored for popular-priced footwear, and the Spanish Louis heel for the more expensive lines. Lightweight welts are popular, while the call for heavy footwear is limited. Bronze shoes arc strong, both in high and low cuts. Manufacturers in this vi cinity report that spring orders are still coming, and that the volume of busi ness done to date exceeds that of the same period last year. Colonials lead the demand. White goods are fair y active, with the busi ness about equally divided between buck and canvas. The demand for targo slippers for spring is said to be greater than that for the present season. Co-operation Makes Strides in England Society in Existence 50 Years Pub lishes Interesting Account of Work. In connection with the various notes " hich are published about co-oper ation in various sections on the Pa cific Coast it may not be uninterest ing to notice the progress the cause ha3 made in England. The Wholesale Co-operative Society of Engiund has just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary by publishing an account of its origin and business. The purpose of the society is to furnish goods to Me retail, or Roch dale stores which have made them selves famous In Great Britain. It was organized in 1363 with $10,000 capital and its first years business amounted to $20,000. Last year it had $40,000,000 of capital and its sales footed up $150,000,000. This is an astonishing growth, but it has not all been made along strictly mercantile lines. Like many similar enterprises, the Wholesale Co-operative Society owes its success to the Impetus which it originally received from a devoted apostle. His name was J. T. W. Mitchell. His fidelity may be esti mated from the fact that his private property amounted to $1,750 when he died in 1895. THE HIRSHBERG CO. VVAY3 MtRt 5t&tionqr&n& Dru^tstoSunAria O-IS-rr NELSON St.. AT LANT/S FREE TRIP To Atlanta is avail able to the mer chant who buys an adequate bill from the members of the Merchants’ Asso ciation. Write to H. T. Moore SECRETARY. Rhodes Building, Atlanta. CAPITAL CITY TOBACCO CO. 176-178 Marietta St. Atlanta, Oa. IMPORTERS AMO JOBBTSS The Only Exclusive Tobacco House in Georgia When in town come to see us or write us for new price list. It will be worth your while Our Efficient Mail Order Service •ENABLES YOU TO KEEP THE ITEMS THAT SELL CONSTANTLY. INCREASED PROFITS RESULT WHEN STOCKS ARE FULL. ORDER NOW. RIDLEY WILLIAMSON WYATT CO., Wholesale Dry Goods and Notions, Atlanta, Georgia. 1 low’s Your Circulation? They say there’s lots of money in the country, and you know folks will spend it at Christmas time. Don’t you think on a season like this it pays to push vour shoe sales'? The forehanded man will he ready. The Red Seal dealer is usually fixed on sizes. He knows how to get them quick. If you haven’t our 1914 catalog, say so on a postal. If von are interested in floor goods under price, come to Atlanta and get in on our December Clearance Sale. We clean the decks twice a year. These lots are sold for wliat they will bring—and bring quick. They might stimulate some stag nant stock you may have and help your circulation. J. K. Orr Shoe Co. Red Seal Shoe Factory Atlanta Merchants contemplating going into business will lose nothing by con ferring with us. No charge for con sultation. Catalog or salesman on re quest. I