Newspaper Page Text
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. There appears to be some basis tor‘
the sensational reports concerning the
imminent increases in shoe prices, al
though many newspaper reports have
exaggerated, according to J. K. orr
Jr, of the J. K. Orr Shoe Company.
Market conditions today are sum
med up by Mr, Orr to mean that
leather prices are Kkiting, and as a
natural result, the price for the fin
ished product will tag along. |
Footwear at $26, as quoted, does not
mean a minimum price It simply
means that footwear of the finest
quality, such as has always been ex
gensive, will reach and perhaps go
eyond that figure. Men's footwear
at §8 and §lO and sl2 and even sls
for the finer grades will be the rule,
it is said. i
A large volume of leather expeort is
reported. Labor conditions have af
fected the leather market in about the
same manner they have affected
other markets, Labor is about 50 per
cent of the manufacturer's cost, Mr,
Orr said, and mater. .l is the otner
60 per cent. Due to the demand of
European markets, the material has
seen specific increases, while labor
eonditions are common history.
It is up to the retailer to stocx up
now. This point was stressed by the
shoe manufacturer, although he said
be believed prices were too high to
day, and a gradual leveling in the
market might be expected. This,
however, will not affect prices in the
next 30 days, and perhaps not for six
months. England has recently pmced
an enormous order for American
shoes, and other nations are eager
bidders for the American product.
The experience of many dealers,
%earned through constant contact with
them by the salesmen and represent
atives of the Orr Company, have con
' vinced Mr, Orr the better grades of
ghoes are more active everywhere ana
under almost any conditions,
“Years ago where a dealer, for in
stance, carried grades ranging in price
from $3.50 to $7, he found his, say,
$4 grade was the best seller, while
sis higher priced shoes laid on the
shelf. This was the rule for many
years. Strange to say, almost the ex
act opposite is true roday.
“Dealers selling shoes that have
advanced from $3 to $4 in each grade
tind their higher class merchandise
by far the largest seller, while the
cheaper shoes prove almost a drug.
Look at our shelves—we can sell all
the fine shoes we can mannfacture
or buy, while the lower grade shoes
remain {dle. Tt is one of the peculiar
hases of these plentiful days. Folks
K&ve money, and they want the best
there is.
“Shoe dealers will do well to buy
Petter grade shoes, buy them quick
‘;nd not worry about any early break
in the market. In fact, they are not
worrying about the prices six months
from now-——things are too uncertain,
Almost no one would dare predict the
market at any given time. However,
1 believe the peak is almost reached,
and next year will see a reaction to
lower levels.”
=l o o
lies That Sell
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_»r’k"\ ({ &l[ “ “‘y,. The new styles and patterns are now
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) ity and style will appeal to your trade
and they will bring you business.
| Send us your order and if the goods are not satisfactory,
| or if you are not thoroughly pleased in every respect, re
| turn them at our expense.
ALL-STAR MANUFACTURING CO.
| Atlanta, Georgia |
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Caloric Enemy
Of Jack Frost,
Says E. Bunnell
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Jack Frost's implacable foe, Calorie,
is going to be quite busy in Atlanta
and the South this winter, from pres
ent indications. But if Caloric is half
as busy as Caloric’'s managers here.‘
it will be interesting.
You've met Caloric, of course—
known from Alaska to Florida for a
genuine warmth of nature, a kindling,
smile and a pleasing unobtrusiveness
about the house. Caloric has haa s
initial introduction as a resident of
Atlanta in a business way, ane has
found a welcome in many homes in a
comparatively short time. But if you
haven't met Caloric personally, com
sider yourself introduced.
According to E, Bunnell, who has
become a resident and business man
of the city, Caloric is the best fellow
ever on a ecold night, heating pipe-~
lessly, smellessly and healthily any
‘home, business house, church, school
theater or what-not, |
Caloriec is the original perfected
pipeless furnace, patented. Forty
years ago the idea of Caloric lay dor.
mant in a gas heater used extensive
ly in the Pennsylvania fields. Eleven
years ago the idea sprung into flow
er and became one of the new de
partures in heating—a pipeless fur
nace with a new idea. |
Many homes in Georgia are using
Calorics and 76,000 homes in this
country have instarted the furnaces,
Mr. Bunnell said. Several, installed
in Alaska, where it is reported some
times it is pretty cold, -are doing ox-‘
cellent work under those circum
‘stances. |
The Caloric heats the house through
one register, thereby simpifying the!
process and insuring uniform heat, |
Mr. Bunnell pointed out. It warms
the air in the structure while circu
lating it through the rooms, thereby
insuring a uniform warmth at alli
times and at any degree. Hundreds
of physicians have investigated and
Lcommendod the idea behind Caloric
methed as healthy and sanitary.
HEARST’S SUNDAY AMERICAN — A Newspaper for People Who Think — SUNDAY, AUGUST 31, 1919,
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By G. A. TARVER,
When an acquaintance asks me to
tell him some of the things which
will help him to make a success of
his business, one of the first things
I say to him is this. “Be friends with
your books.” By this I mean that
he should know those facts about his
business which a properly devised set
of books tell him.,
Too many merchants look on books
and bockkeeping as necessary evils
and think that the less they have to
do with such things the better orr
they will be, As a result these mer
chants try to carry the figure facts
of their business in their heads, or
else keep only the most meager ac
counts, Haphazard, slipshod records
which are absolutely worthless as
guides in developing business is the
natural result. Such conditions seems
a double shame when one considers
that it is a comparatively simple
matter to keep a set of books that
will give one a moving picture view
of his business. Of course, an ade
quate system costs a little more in
cash outlay than the customary lack
of system, but in the end it is cheaper
because the merchant’s books will
show him the exact eondition of every
department of his business, If some
detail is not working right, the books
will show it up and the merchant can
then make the necessary correction.
In our business, fgor example, we
can tell at any time the amount of
stock on hand in each department, as
‘'well as how much has been ordered
for tht department. This informarron
keeps us from overbuying and also
enables us to put special pressure be
hind merchandise that does neot sell
as quickly as it should.
We always know just how much
our customers owe us and how much
we owe our creditors, and whethor
that amount is more or less than it
was on the same date of the preced
ing year, We know our expenses to
a cent and keep a detailed record of
sales in order that we may be sure
we are making sufficient profit to
cover our costs and leave something
in addition. And we can tell instantly
each clerk's and each department’'s
percentage of gross and net profits.
Our dally sales bulletin is one of
the most effective means of promot
ing sales and selling efficiency that
it has been my good fortune to see
in operation, These bulletins, which
are posted in prominent places about
the store, give the amount of sales of
each clerk for the preceding day, as
well as the aggregate sales of each
for the month to date. The hames of
the three leading clerks for the aay
before are listed in a special place of
honor. The various departments are
also listed aceording to their sales.
To supplement the daily bulletin, each
clerk is also given a slip showing her
or his sales for the corresponding
date of the year previous. This plan
puts the sales people in competition
with one another and with their own
individual records, and it certainly
has proved most effective in pro
moting selling efficiency. But we
could not use this plan if we did not
BALTIMORE, Aug. 80.-—An official
announcement was made today by the
Maryland Casualty Company to the
effect that the company will invest
several milnon aoliars to build a com~
plete modern plant adjacent to Ro
land Park and Guilford suburbs, The
company’s big structure with its high
tower, in the heart of the business
district, will be sold.
The new site comprises twenty-five
acres of land which the company will
improve with buildings containing
more than 220,000 square feet of floor
space. The main or administration
building will be erected on the unit
plan to provide for future extensions
as they become necessary. Other
structures will include a clubhouse, a
plant to generate electricity for light,
heat and power throughout the entire
property. There will also be built a
printing plant to care for all the com
pany's publications and stationery.
The clubhouse will have an auditori
um, a dining room seating 500, a read
ing and rest room for female em
ployees, a similar department for men
employees, an infirmary for men, an
infirmary for women, kitchen, pantry,
toilet rooms, ete.
The grounds will be improved in ac
cordance with designs by leading
landscape architects who will plan an
attractive park, flower beds, shrub
bery, driveways, footpaths and lawns.
Tennis courts, baseball field and
stadium are also included in the plans.
An extensive tract will also be im
proved for residence sites to be sold
to employees who will desire to build
at the location.
The Maryland Casualty building
with its high tower will be sold with
arrangements for retaining therein
the company’s general agents and its
Baltimore elaim inspection, auditing
and legal divisions, which it is neces
'sary to continue in the heart of the
city.
keep a complete record of each clerk’s
sales as well as the sales by depart
ments. It takes the bookkeceper oniy
a short time daily to sort over the
sales slips to get the necessary in
formation, and the advantages of the
plan repgy many times over for the
effort.
And I know that other successful
merchants believe as I do that one
must know the innermost workings
of his business in order to make it
successful. This fact is forcefully
brought out sometimes in most un
pected ways. Take the case of J, H.
Pfeiffer of Parsons, Kan;, as an illus
tration. Pfeiffer was running a jew
elry store that had been started wy
his father in 1873. Every year he
made a little money, but he never
paid much attention to how the busi
ness was running. Then one day he
decided to check up his cut glass
department. An inventory showed
him that he was carrying a $2,000
stock, while his sales records for a
month showed that he disposed of
only §36 worth of cut glass. A year's
sales on the same basis would be
$420. At that rate, instead of turn
ing his stock at elast once a year, it
took him nearly five years to get one
turnover,
Now, Pfeiffer had always figured
that his cutglass department was one
of his best money makers. It was
one of the show places of the town,
and he received many compliments
on it. But the facts showed that this
merchant was paying rather high for
the nice things said about the de
partment. A similar investigation of
the other departments brought to
light some equally surprising condi
tions. He found that diamonds were
turning much less rapidly than he
supposed, and the same was true of
some of the other merchandise. On
the other hand, certain lines—watch
es, for example—were turning much
more quickly than he had imagined,
And the knowledge he obtained from
these records had a wonderful effect
in increasing his profits through more
careful buying—buying that enabled
him to keep his dead stock at a mini
mum and to build.up the lines that
‘were in demand.
Then, there is C, W. Kollitz or the
Kollitz Mercantile Company of Or
tonville, Minn. Kollitz always kept
an adequate set of records, including
a perpetual inventory. One night fire
destroyed Kollitz's wtore, but with the
ald of his perpetual Inventory this
merchant was able to secure a set
tlement from the fire Insurance ad
justers within twe nours after the
fire—before the ashes wers cold,
“In that emergency,” Mr. Kollitz
later remarked, “my perpetual inven
tory was a tower of strength to me,
but remember this: I would never
have had it if I had not believed in
knowing my business every day, in
every detail, through all the long
yvears when I had no fires. And the
profit built on that daily knowleage
far outweighed the gpecial dividend
on accuracy, so to speak, that fol
lowed the fire.”
I eould continue Indefinitely to give
concrete illustrations of how ade
qnate records have enabled different
merchants to make the most money
from their business; but I beliewe that
I have cited enough cases to prove
my point that it will pay any mer
chant to be friends with his books.
i
Textile Export Trade
Experiencing Big Boom
NEW YORK, Aug. 30.—Exporters
of textiles and wearing apparel if
this country are experiencing the
most prosperons days in history with
Buropean and South American firms,
who are bidding against each other
for the products of American manu
facturers.
Many American firms, taking ad
vantage of Europe's inability to ship
to South American points, have es
tablished wide awake connections In
all of the principal citles of South
Ameriea, snd the harvest is now
reaching the high water mark,
Thess firms are now filling orders
for all kinds of American made goods,
There has been an especlally large de
mand for garments, The demand for
garments Is not confined to woolen
and cotton goods, but includes silk
novelties and yard goods,
With the reopening of trade rela
tlons with Germany, where thero is a
pronounced shortage of cotton goods,
manufacturers of fabrics anticpate
unusually large demands in the Im
mediate future. J'rance, Bngland and
other European countries are likowise
‘mfleflnx as a result of the shortage
of avallable goods, and are now send
ing buyers to the Ameriean markets
in efforts to supply the wants and
needs of their people.
GAS WELL BROUGHT IN,
Oklahoma Natural Gas Company
has bought in a 300-barre! well in Ok
tahoma, Ohlo Fuel 01l a 300-barrel ofl
well in West Virginia and Arkansas
pletion tn Serritory adlacent & JArgs
mmm of Standard mmm.
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An enormous business for the fan‘
months is the prediction of P. D.
Yates, of Ridley, Yates & Co., whole
sale dry goods, the big Atlanta firm.
No retailer need fear inactive stocks
~-provided he can obtain the stocks.
“Never was the buying public in
such a responsive mood,” Mr. Yates
believes. “There is ready money in
every hand. The demand for all
classes of goods In this State has
never been larger nor more insist
ent. Stocks disappear today from the
retailer's shelves almost like magic—
it 18 magic compared to the slow
moving volume of a few years ago.
“Take silk stockings, for instance,
Mother, who used to wear cotton
stockings and find herself pretty
well pleased, wears silk hose today,
while daughter spurns anything less
than filmy socks. Sonny wears silk
socks—or as nearly silk socks as he
can buy. Silk stockings is one of
the war babies. The demand for
them seems to be insatiable,
‘Dealers everywhere are short of
gsilk hose, and as for the full-fash
joned variety, they are as secarce as
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Those merchants who have followed the trend of the market during the :
last sixty days realize that while they are facing the busiest Fall and Winter '
season they have ever experienced, thsy are, at the same time, approaching
this unprecedented activity in a nervous frame of mind on account of the daily
fluctuations in both staple and fancy merchandise.
No one knows today what the prices will be in thirty days from now, but y
this much is generally appreciated, that almost without exception goods will ;
! be scarcer with the start of the Fall season.
For months we have been using every method at our command to urge
the merchants of the South to replenish their stocks. Many have profited by
our advice and they have already made profits before turning the merchandise.
We can still take care of your wants, offering complete selections in the vari
ous departments and prompt deliveries on most lines.
Mill quotations are changing almost hourly, but our contracts with the
manufacturers and mills enable us to offer you some advantages which you
cannot afford to overlook.
You may expect the biggest Fall Season you have ever had.
But be sure that you have sufficient stock to take care of this big busi
ness.
| Ragan-M alone Company
W holesale Dry Goods
ATLANTA
IMPORTERS JOBBERS
& l\./."—““ THE
"9G, LSR SOUTH'S
\\\—.—Tfi"rfi &f%'s/’j ———llP= ] LARGEST
S Q«\\)’“\ fne /il WHOLESALERS
S |'""/’ : — Q‘. 2,, 7 We Have Mail Order Customers
P —— in Every Southern State
. KERS 2 CAR LOADS
T PORCH ROC READY TO SHIP
Q) Mg s R v CAR LOADS
‘fi '! m%fi"m a:?;*??rl\ DINING TABLES READY TO SHIP
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-l 4= ROCKERS &£57 138hk
p ’W ) Write— Wire—or Phone
= B FURNITURE AND
Ny STERCHI CARPET CO,
Hisosinig 7-9-11 East Mitchell St. , ATLANTA,GA. .
the proverbial hen's teeth. The mills'
are unable to sustain production, exs
ports make a heavy demand and
labor is high, Instead of a gold mlne.}
were a man so fortunate as to find .
a store of silk hose he would be a
magnate of the first consideration—
a man of riches,
“Markets are good, considering.
Prices are high, but money is ‘easy,’
collections are good, credit is good,
failures few compared to recent.
years., The farmers will make money,
will spend money, and if labor con
ditions relax there will be a spurt
in production that will relieve the
straitened conditions,
“I believe a settling market 1s a
certainty-—but not soon. There will
be no quick, specific decline, The
market will settle, adjust itself md-;
ually, as fast as conditions meet it.
1t is my opinion that no econserva
tive merchant will hold off at tha
present time in hope for a sudden
break In any line of merchandise.
Buy now, take a profit on the turn
over and be ready for market con
ditions next season, is my advice,
However, that is hardly needed, since
most of the retailers of my acquain
tance realize the condition of affairs
and are making hay while the sun
shines—to use an old phrase. Per
sonally, I hope for lower prices scon,
but my personal hopes have not af
fected the market as yet."
The Ridley-Yates company is one
of the largest wholesale houses in At
lanta, with a reputation built up by
years of service to the trade. Mr.
Yates replied to a question about spe
cific merchanides activity by saying:
“All lines of merchandise sell well
There is a demand for almost every
item on our list, Tbat in itself is
a good indication of conditions, And
Idle Stock Likened to
‘ Cash Hidden ir Seck
If you had S6OO in cash you would
place it as soon as possible where it
would earn a profit, wouldn't you?
You wouldn't put it n an old soek
and then tuck it away on a shelf? Of
course you wouldn't,
There really isn't mueh difference,
so far as earning capacity ls con
cerned, between SSOO worth of stock
lying idle on a shelf and SSOO in cash
lying idle in an old sock.
Certainly there isn't, and you say
no sensible peruon would tuck away
SSOO in a sock.
But how about the dealer who per-
it proves beyond u doubt that the
consumer 18 ready to buy whenever
and d‘.'h.m good materials are of
fered."
DIRECT ADVERTISING
Blotters, Mailing Cards, Form Letters, Circulars, Folders, Bo.fl:
House Organs, Caulo('pvu—-lo be read to get results must be desigmed
printed attractively. e are specialists in this line.
HUBBARD BROTHERS
—Service Printers—
Mitchell, and Forsyth Sta. Phone Main 3920,
Herring-Hall-Marvin Fireproof Safes
Baylis Office Equipment Co.
No. 1 S. Broad St. Phone Main 124
mits S6OO worth of stock te idle away
its time on the shelf?
~ Isn't he just as foolish as the man
iwho tucks away his cash?
- Just take a look at your own
'shelves today. Are you sure you
haven't stock tucked away that hasn't
moved for six months? If you haven't
you are one of a comparative few ex
ceptions.
. But there is no reason why
‘you or any other mer%snt 8
give storage to merchandise that
not in sufficient demand to pay fer
‘lu keep.
e e e —
NEW STORAGE BATTERY,
MILWAUKER, Au{. 30.—Milwau
kee capital plans to locate a |W
)battery factory at Wa.tertmn;'°t .
in the Hiens Brush Company o‘a
‘site. It 1s planned to issue SIOO,
in stocks, half of which is to be sald,
| while the remainder is being supplied
in Milwaukee and Watertown,
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