•v < ifrr LLC l yj tj J By ON THE ROAD TO RICHES HINTS FOE CLERKS AND YOUNG BUSINESS MEN ON BUYING AND SELLING GOODS; SELLING GOODS ON THE ROAD; BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE; DRUMMING; DUTIES OF CLERKS; PARTNERS, ETC. BY WILLIAM H. MA HER. CHICAGO: J. FRED WAGGONER. 1878. COPYRIGHT. WILLIAM H. MAHER. 1878. PREFACE. The following pages have been written with the single purpose of helping onward on his way towards success the young man just starting on a business ca- reer. There has boon no attempt at fine writing, nor has the author endeavored to push an} - pet theories of his own. The daily routine at the desk, behind the pounter, buying and selling, etc., has been pictured as ^;t actually is. and such rules laid down for the young man's guidance as a long business experience has iown to be wise. The critics most dreaded were the busine.-s mm, whose experience would show them at glance whether the principles here inculcated were judicious or otherwise, but the words of cheer I have received from this class lead me to think that my work will benefit those whom I most der-ire to assist; if this be so, I shall be well satisfied. W. H. M. Toledo, Ohio, 1878. CONTEXTS PAGE CHAPTER I.— Leaving Home 5 CHAPTER II.— City or Country— which ? 9 CH VPTER IIL— The Firsl Step '. 14 CHAPTER rV.— Taking Hold 19 CHAPTER V.— Th Retail Clerk 24 CHAPTER VI.— A Permanent Situation 29 CHAPTER VII.— Pers mal Expenses 34 CHAPTER VIIL— Lessening Competition 39 CHAPTER IX.— "Telling Tales out of School" 44 ( HAPTER X.— Anchors 50 CHAPTER XL— A Step Higher 55 CHAPTER XII.— At the Desk 60 CHAPTER XIII.— Cash 71 CHAP! ER XIV— Selling Goods 80 CHAPTER XV.— The Traveling Man 87 CHAPTER X V I.— Leaves from a Drummer's Experience !j5 CHAPTER XVII.— A Drummer's Experience— Continued 102 CHAPTER XVIII— "On the Road " —Selling Ill CH UPTER XIX.— "On the Road "—Collecting 117 CHAPTER XX— "On the Road "—Collecting— Continued 124 CHAPTER XXI.—" Will you be a Partner?" 131 CHAP] i It XXII.— " Starting in Business" 138 CHAPTER XXIIL— Buying Goods 144 TEE XXIV.— Store Assistants 152 CHAPTER XXV.— Arranging stork. Insurance, etc 163 CHAPTER XXVI— A.1-, . rtising 171 < HAI-'I ER XXVIL— Selling Goods , 183 CHAPTER XX VIIL— Dunning L93 CHAPTER XXIX.— Attention to Details 203 CHAPTER XXX.— Speculation 211 CHAPTER XXXL— Letting Well-Enough Alone 220 CHAP! ER XXXII— i; ;ses 226 CHAP! ER XXXIII.—" .Mind your Own Bu inesf 235 CHAP! ER XXXIV.— Busines Man'f R< ercations 240 CHAPTER XXXV.— Growing Rich 251 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. CHAPTER I. LEAVING HOME. Those of us who have passed the mile-stones that mark the early roads of business, often fancy that a bit of our experience might be of some value to the young who are just starting out on that thoroughfare. And while we do not believe that we can lay down a chart which will invariably lead to success, we do think that our own mistakes, and the mistakes we have seen oth- ers make, ought to be of benefit to those who are tread- ing in our steps. I chose a business career because it was the best offered me. Had I the power to choose among the professions, I might have selected one of them; but I was where most young men of to-day are — very ambi- tious and very poor. I was like the young man who told his father-in-law that he had no money, " but was chock full of days' work." I was full of the energy that Beemed to tell me that if T had but half a chance I would not ask for help — I would make my own way in the world. (5) G ON THE ROAD TO KICTIES. I was not ambitious of becoming a Yanderbilt in wealth, or a Stewart in business. My ambition was bounded by very moderate limits, and I am afraid such success as I have had would strike most men, not as success, but only as the beginning of victory. And if anything I can say will help you to this beginning, I shall be amply satisfied. The first thought that enters a boy's head is a wish; he wishes he was like some man or older boy, who has what he has not. It is this wish and desire that spur him on the road of life. I like it to be so; but oh! be careful that you are aiming after a noble end. Con- it effort will enable the most ordinary capacity to i 1 a i tate the object aimed at. If your model is a young man who "travels on his shape," I can encourage you 1 iy saying there is no reason why you should not equal, if not excel, him. If your society is among the fast young men, who pride themselves on their recklessness, yon may reasonably hope to compete with the leader of your set. We are, most of us, just what we strive to be; perhaps not to the extent we desire, but often- times we excel our own ideals. The difference between a man and a boy is, that one has memories — the other has none. Memory is a -t that clings to us through life, after we have reached the age of manhood, and blessed is he who can turn to it with content and satisfaction. The sigh of every man is, that he might be allowed to live his life !■ again; that he might so live that the blots, here and there, would never have been. Probably there is little use in moralizing over this point, because our LEAVING HOME. < children are going to see for themselves just what we saw for ourselves, and they will no more heed our warning than we heeded the warning of our elders. '' But for all of this, I cannot help writing of the im- portance it is to every young man to choose his soci- ety carefully. You are going out into the world with a mother's prayer over you, her hopes around you. You have a vague feeling of what your mother's love is, hut it is only a very indistinct conception of her heart. She has taught you the pure truths of right- eousness till, it may be, they are a little tiresome to you, and all her care you have taken as a matter of course. I love to turn in the Bible to that part where the Son of God looked to his disciples and commended his mother to their care; and when I see the army of boys who every year turn from their homes to fight the battle of life, I think of the patient, praying moth- ers who are left at home, and who can only patiently wait. and pray. God pity them all, for some of them wait, and wait, and wait, and get back only curses and neglect when they gave their best love. Wherever you go, whatever you do, cling to the home that nur- tured you; keep closely in communion with those at home, and whether business is brisk, or society de- mands much from you, do not forget the letters that bring the light to your mother's eyes, and that send another " God bless him! " to the throne of God. It is the habit of age to say the world is getting worse, and that u we didn't do so and so;" but that is merely a habit. There are no more dangers in the steps of our young men to-day than there always were, 8 ON THE ROAD TO KICHES. and I think an independent manliness goes farther in winning respect than ever it did. There are good reasons for saying that it is easier to do right now than ever it was, and the men who are your judges are bet- ter educated, I think, than any other generation of merchants — just as I am confident the succeeding gen- eration will be in advance of us. So my first word to you, as you go out into the world, is, to hold fast to your home ties. Come what will, do not let them loosen. Teach yourself to be proud of them, and on no account allow yourself to neglect those to whom you owe so much. The day may come when you will be glad to turn back to that home in sick- ness, there to be tenderly cared for. The time may be when your love of home may be the influence in the scale that will keep you on the right side, when otherwise you would have been lost; but you may be sure that no man ever cherished such ties without be- ing the better man. CITY OK COUNTRY — WHICH? CHAPTER II. CITY OR COUNTRY — WHICH? I can readily understand why your eyes should look longingly towards a situation in the city, and I appre- ciate all of what you call the advantages that the city clerk has over his country brother; but there are two sides to this question, as to every other, and while I do not propose to say either " stay " or " go," I think I can give you a few points that you, as a young man, may be in danger of overlooking. First, then, you must take into account the fact that the competition in the city is a thousand-fold greater than in the country, and this rivalry is not only in money-making, but in brains, and hand and brain service. As a rule, the brightest and sharpest of the country boys find their way to the city. Some of them get there as easily and as naturally as water rims down hill; others are pushed there by the stories they hear of large salaries and the wonderful for- tunes made. So that the result is the country is con- stantly pouring its best blood into the city, and the competition to be met there by the young man com- mencing life, is entirely different in degree from what he has to overcome in his own village. Another reason why the city does not always lead 10 ON THE KOAD TO RICHES. to fortune, is the fact that salaries are not proportion- ately higher than country salaries, as the cost of liv- ing is higher. I am aware this is not as you have been looking at things, but nevertheless it is the fact. The country clerk hears only of the fancy salaries paid; of the $2,500 to this man, $2,000 to that, and $1,800 to another, and nothing is said about the hundreds who work for $100 a year, and are hardly able to keep out of debt. A few days ago I was speaking to one of the lead- ing New York importers about a country merchant who had just failed, and I said the man expected to get a situation from some of the New York houses. " What salary will he expect?" my friend asked. I suggested that the man was a capital salesman, and ought to command a good salary; that I thought he was worth more than another traveling man I named, who was getting $2,500 a year. " Yes," said the importer, " we hear a great deal about some of these fancy-priced men, but I happen to know the man you mention does not get $1,800, and the day has gone by when we care to hire traveling men at any such prices." A young man came to me who had been clerking in a country town in Ohio for five years, and was in busi- Dess two years for himself, but had been "laid out" by the hard times, and now wanted me to help him to- wards "ettin ne of the turning points in my life. Business may not be many things that is claimed for it, but it is hard work. After the first freshness the many details become mere labor, and it is the ability to work and accomplish results that counts. The merchant first watches a boy's manners ; when satisfied with them, he next turns to what the boy does or is doing. One often hears it said that the wise clerk is he who makes his own and his employer's interests identical ; if that is to be done it must be commenced now. And it does not simply mean working about the store — it goes farther than that, and means working on yourself as well as the store. If von are filling your mind with useful infor- mation in regard to your business — how the different articles grow or are made, how they are used, and the difference between the same goods prepared at differ- ent establishments ; all these items, when learned, are of benefit to your employer as well as to yourself. Unfortunately business is made up of much that is disagreeable drudgery. The grocer is obliged to sort over his apples and potatoes occasionally in order to save those that are good; the boot and shoe dealer must go through his stock and rub and wipe to guard against mold and to make old goods appear fresh; the 22 OX TIIE EOAD TO RICHES. hardware merchant must fight against rust and spend a good share of his time polishing up rusty goods. These are not pleasant occupations, and those who are skiers for their rights feel that they are being im- posed upon, but I have yet to hear of an instance of such work ever damaging the prospects of a young man. To him who is anxious to learn the opportunity will come. Among my friends is a merchant, who at twelve years of age began his career in a woolen factory; his duties were, to sweep one room and carry water. ]S"ot very much chance in such work to get educated, but one day an elderly man who weighed cloth was taken sick, and this boy promptly took his slate and went on with the work. One of the overseers, hearing of the - of the weigher, went to that room, supposing he must be needed to finish the task, but found the boy doing so well he let him go on. The next day the old weigher was still unwell, and the overseer asked the boy to do the work. The weigher never recovered, and at his death the boy was given the work as a per- manent job, in addition to his other work, but no addi- tion was made to his pay. There were opportunities for advancing into other and higher steps, and the boy, who was on the look-out, mastered them, and before many years was taken out of the factory and given a d 1: in the office. It is very evident to my mind that the only " right " lie wanted was, by his being pre- pared, the right to get on in the world, and that is a right every merchant is eager to give to each of his clerks. TAKING HOLD. 23 The old days of apprenticeship are passed and gone. Then men expected that the proficiency of the boy in his Later years would repay the time wasted in instruct- in.;- him through the early steps. No mistake can be greater than for a clerk to fancy he is paying his employer for the knowledge of the bnsihess. It isn't true. "We hire a clerk and enga to pay him what he will be worth to us — neitl more nor less. lie earns his pay, if we are not disappointed in him, the first year, and does more — he learns so much of the business that he is going to be more valuable the second year, and consequently receives more pay ; and the second year's experience increases his salary the third year. ]STo where is he paying, but always is being paid. After he has learned the details of the business, it then rests with himself as to whether he shall simply be worth so many dollars and cents every year, or dollars and cents and something more; and it is this "something more" that every ambitious young man is striving for. 24 ON THE ROAD TO lilCHES. CHAPTER Y. THE RETAIL CLERK. Talking with a bright young fellow a few days ago, he said to me: " I am satisfied that I could have done a great deal better for myself if I had gone into a wholesale store instead of a retail house; a man has twice the chances of working up in a wholesale store." In a'letter lying before me, a correspondent, who signs himself "A Retail Clerk," says: "I have been clerk- ing for eight years in a retail store here, and don't see that 1 am any better off to-day than I was six years ago; the retail clerk doesn't have the chances that a clerk in a wholesale store has." Kow possibly both of these young men are correct; but if they are I must begin to readjust my views and the results of my own experience, for up to this time I have not thought that the wholesale trade controlled all the avenues to advancement. A few doors from the room where I am writing is a grocery store that never seems to know what dull trade is. Whatever hour of the day I look out, be it fair or stormy, there appears to be a steady flow of people going in and coming out of the doors. I am told that the proprietor is doing a business of $100,000 a year, and I can well believe the statement. Yet ten THE RETAIL CLEKK. 20 years ago, when I first saw him, he was a clerk in a store on this same street, and in the retail grocery trade. I have been at some pains to gut a knowledge of his early start 1<>r himself, and, in a large measure, it answers the objections raised by the clerks who think no paths point upward from a retail store. Here is the story: At twenty-one } T ears of age Mr. B found himself a clerk in a retail grocery, with a salary of SUOO a year. lie was satisfied with what he had dune hitherto, hut was determined to be something more than a clerk. He had been content to sell the goods on the .-helves without asking much about them; the cost-mark was as far as inquiries went. lie had been careless and easy about his expenses, simply taking care not to run in debt. In selling goods his ambition had been to please his employers, and had not reached beyond that point. He took a square turn in affairs. First, he w r ould commence to lay up money; second, he would learn all about groceries, and lastly, he would make a special effort to please every customer who came to him. Do you know what it is to make a sudden halt on the road where you have been spending money freely, my young friends, who read this? It is not an easy or a pleasant turn to take. Men will tell you that all you must do is to stop, but that isn't half the story. The young man who has no associates and friend.- is not a healthy young man. And if he has been having a pleasant time with his companions lor two or three years, it requires some courage to take a different 26 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. track. But young B went along the road marked out for himself, and though there were places in it that tried his resolution, yet he held on. To become well posted about goods he had to read and ask questions; and by watching the drummers and hearing them talk about their goods, he soon began to have a store of available knowledge about the articles he was hand- ling day after clay. His efforts to make himself popu- lar with customers succeeded, as all such efforts inva- riably do. There is no secret about learning to please people; it is to want to please them; when the desire is there, the result follows. And while he was doing this for himself he was growing more valuable to his employers, and his sal- ary was increased in consequence. At the end of three years he had saved $1,500, and determined to start in a small way for himself. The result of his venture was told at the commencement of this sketch; he has succeeded in building a good paying business of $100,- 000 a year. Did his having been in a retail store harm him? iNo; it was what made him. His uniform po- liteness and desire to please had raised him hosts of friends, and when he opened his own store, these friends followed him there. His exjjerience told him just what stock to buy and what to avoid, and the habits of economy gained while a clerk were worth everything to him when he became a business man. If there are any easier steps from a lower to a higher position in any one branch' of trade over another, [ have yet to see it demonstrated. It isn't the position — it's the man. Here and there a clerk gets pushed TIIE RETAIL CLERK. 27 up because he has been faithful for many years ; but the average young man of to-day goes higher because he pushes himself up. And when one is progressing at a reasonable pace, and is pleasantly situated, lie should lie cautious how he changes his base. Salary is an important item in a clerk's inventory, bul salary is not everything. The true question rarely is: " What is best for this year?" but, " What is best in the end I " When I was -citing a salary of $1,300 a year, and fully earning it, I was approached by the manager of another house, and after he had thrown out feelers, he made mc an offer of $2,500 a year if I would work for him. It was a tempting bait, and I looked at it a long time before saying "no," but I finally did decline it. Twelve hundred dollars was a large sum to throwaway, and it was at a time when I was anxious to make and save all I could; but I fancied my present position would be the best in the long run, and I concluded to stick. In less than twelve months 1 was a partner in the house, and my share of the profits during the first year in business was some $7,000. One of the best boot and shoe men I ever met told me he worked three years for $700 a year, at a time when another house held an offer of $2,000 a year open for his acceptance. But he saw that a house which could pay such a salary as that was in a posi- tion where they were independent of their salesmen, while the firm employing him would eventually be obliged to give him an interest. And the sequel proved him wise. In a tew years he was taken into partnership, and to-day is known as one of our best and most successful managers. 20 OX TnE HO AD TO RICHES. A year or two is not a very important matter to a young man who is on the right road and doing well. He can better afford to hold his own merely, if there is a good prospect ahead, than to lose a good chance by-and-by for the sake of a few dollars to-day. And this is true of clerks who have nothing more than salaried positions to hope for. It is greater wisdom to work for a reliable house at a fair salary than to go with a firm who may be pulled down in the first finan- cial Hurry, even though the latter position promises the highest salary. The wise clerk improves every advantage, and, with a long look ahead, is bound to rise — no matter if he is in a retail or a wholesale store. The men who are made by circumstances are unmade by trifling misfortunes ; while they who conquer cir- cumstances snap their fingers at luck. A PERMANENT SITUATION. 29 CHAPTER YI A PERMANENT STTUATION. Among all clerks there is a feeling that, sooner or later, they are to be members of the firm and doing business for themselves. That every young man should look forward to this, should use all his energy to push himself into such a position, is very natural and all for the best; but you will not have to look far among the business houses on your street to see that, at the best, the percentage of clerks who become mer- chants is not lar£re. You will see erav-headed men at work over the books and among the stock who are clerks, and who have been clerks all their lives. There are very plain reasons for this state of things. The largest houses in trade have not been built up by a firm composed of several men; even though there may have been several names in the firm, you will find that there is one among them who really was as much director and master as if his partners were only bo many clerks. And instead of thinking to yourself that these men must have been " foolish" to allow them- selves to be thus controlled, you may put it down to their credit that they were wise enough to let the man lead. A wise merchant wants just as few partners as he 30 ON THE EOAD TO RICHES. can possibly get along with. If lie has genius for his trade, he can invent for the others to carry out, but oftentimes the carrying out can be done much better bv a clerk than a partner. The chances are the part- ner had a scheme of his own for doing the same thing; he has been compelled to drop his method and substi- tute this, and in his heart he will not be very sorry if this plan shall prove a failure. This is no uncommon feeling in business; the amount of friction constantly generated in business partnerships is not understood by any one who has not had experience in it. But when the merchant turns to a clerk and says: " I want this done so and so," he knows that the clerk will have an interest in doing it well and in being successful, lest failure may be laid on him. Though an army contains numberless captains, colonels and generals, there is but one commander-in-chief. So in business; however well the arrangement of duties among clerks and part- ners, there must be one mind among all that is su- preme. It is in the nature of things that there shall be more clerks than merchants, and while your constant aim is to push yourself up among the merchants, you should not overlook the fact that your place may be among the rank of subordinates for a great many years, if in- deed it is not- to be always there. And if you are to be a clerk always, there are two points that must be looked after: first, that you shall be so far proficient in your position that you can be sure of a steady place; and next, that you systematically save a part of your income for a time of need or inability to work. A PERMANENT SITUATION. 31 The man who is surest of steady employment is not the one idea man; Buch a man is a peg that can fill only a very peculiar hole, and he may search for months and years for jnst such a situation as he has losl and even then not find it. Say that you have had charge of the stock and lose your place; you have been so long at this work that you know but little about Bell- ing goods, and nothing about making bills or keeping books, [f you were to accept a situation at either of these latter two tasks, you could not expeel more sal- ary than beginners usually receive, and you could not think of going to work for such pay, so you search through the city for a house in need of a stock-man, and find none. Now the experience of every merchant is, that while a man is pushed forward in position and salary bc- cause he is unusually proficient in some one place, it is for often er the case that the man who can iill several places well is the most valuable in the store, and the one who is never allowed to be out of work for a very long time. • If through some turn of the wheel he loses his position as stock-man, he is ready for the first vacancy he finds, be it as salesman or book-keeper. I am aware that in some of the largest houses this is not very practicable, but I am a firm believer in the adage about the will finding a way. .In a small establishment there is no difficulty in getting posted in every department of the store, and I have yet to see the employer who was not willing that his men should thoroughly learn everything in the store to be learned. 32 OX THE HOAD TO RICHES. The salary of a clerk is at once a curse and a bless- ing, according as lie uses it. If he spends every cent of it, knowing he is going to have jnst so much to spend, it is a curse; but if he guides his expenditures so that he shall save something every year, then it is a blessing to him, for it enables him to regulate his wants. There are men — men of mature years, men of families — who look upon a salary ,as a figure that they are expected to expend yearly; an increase of salary means an increase in expenditure, and though it would seem an easy matter to cut off some of these extras should the salary grow smaller, in reality it is by no means easy; when one has indulged in a luxury long enough he begins to consider it a necessity. I knew a man who on a salary of $900 a year raised a family and bought and paid for a comfortable little home. A change in the firm he was with benefitted him by an increase in salary, and eventually it reached the sum of $1,500 a year. One would think that if he had been able to live on $900, he ought to save a snug sum yearly on $1,500; but he did nothing of the kind; the increased salary allowed him to indulge in a horse, his wife in more expensive bonnets, and his daughter in a piano and music teacher, and the truth was he found it harder work to make both ends meet than he had done in the old days. And when his affairs were probated last spring, his entire property consisted of the house and lot he had paid for when he was working for $900 a year. There is another point in connection with the sub- ject of this letter that I was in danger of overlooking, A PERMANENT SITUATION. and it is this: Xo clerk is justified in doing that for an employer which will damage his own reputation. I do not refer to the little every-day affairs of trade where- in glibness of tongue leads a clerk to claim more for the goods than they can bear; no sensible merchant will ask or allow such service; but there are positions wherein merchants are sometimes so placed that the endorsement even of their clerk will be a help to them and bridge over their difficulty. But a clerk should hesitate to make a statement until he knows exactly what he is stating, and then if the truth will not help his employer, he can remain silent; to make a false statement may temporarily help his employer, but it will not help himself. I am reminded to speak of this because of an in- cident of very recent occurrence. A creditor asked a merchant for a statement of his affairs, and the state- ment was sent in the hand- writing of the head clerk, who personally vouched for its being correct. It showed the employer to be solvent beyond doubt; but within thirty days of that time the merchant suspended pay- ment, and made another statement to his creditors, this time showing himself insolvent by a large sum, and there had been no losses between the first state- ment and this one. Now one of them was false, and the last one proved the correct one. Of course the clerk had damaged his own reputation irretrievably, and had not benefitted his employer. An employer has no right to ask a clerk to do such work, and if he does ask it, the clerk is a fool who accedes to the re- quest. 3 34 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. OHAPTEE VII. PERSONAL EXPENSES. There is but one class of clerks to whom there is the least use in preaching economy, and that is the class who have a well defined aim before them, and who are working steadily towards their object. To say to the young man who does not look beyond to- day: "you ought to be saving," is simply to waste words. The one thing he does not do is to look far- ther than the present hour. But to the young clerk who is determined that the future shall bring him something more than the present holds, it is well to be reminded that one of the sure steps to success is to have become well grounded in the habits of economy. You may be one of the best salesmen that ever sold goods in your employer's store, and you may force him into a position where he must decide whether he shall give you an interest or lose you, but if you have been reckless with your salary, he will hesitate about trusting you with his capital. Among the very pleasantest ways of handling money I count spending it as the most pleasant. But to get this pleasure one must feel that he can afford to spend it. The salary of a clerk, if he is a good clerk, is not intended to be the exact sum upon which he can live, but is usually PERSONAL EXPENSES. 35 more than that. If he is a young man with no ties depending on him, there is generally a very snug sum between the amount of the salary and the sum nec- essary to support him. If he is desirous to see how fast he can spend this, or if he is aping some stylish companion who in turn is copying the fashion-plates, he can easily keep his account down where the casting of a balance between the two sides is a very easy matter. It is the proper use of this salary about which I desire to write. That man has seen very little of life who has not learned that a few ready dollars are a great power; not the dollars that you might own or may have, but the dollars you can lay your hand on now. In every branch of trade we all know there are bargains now and then for the man who can avail himself of the chances. So in business houses there are constant changes, and occasionallv a little cash can do wonders. I remember a boot and shoe merchant who owned half of a stock of goods worth four thousand dollars. He wanted to sell out his interest, and that he might make a ready sale, he offered it for a thousand dollars cash. The stand was a good one; the firm was making money, and for a young man with small means it offered an excellent opening, but neither of three young men to whom I mentioned the bargain could raise the money, though each of them might easily have been that much ahead, and the opening was lost to them. One of the questions in men's minds when you tell such a story as this is, why didn't you help some one 36 ON THE EOAD TO RICHES. of the boys into this? And the answer is: The boy who will not help himself is not worth assisting. When I was a traveling man one of my companions on the road was the representative of a drug house. He was not satisfied with his position, his salary or his pros- pects, and as he was a good salesman and a pleasant fellow, I one day introduced his name into some con- versation I was having with his employers, and sug- gested their giving him an interest in the business; stating that I had found it an excellent way to deal with clerks, so that they might have encouragement to do better work. " There are some young men you can't encourage," said the merchant, " and this fellow is one of them. I have tried to make a man of him, and have been willing to give him an interest in my business the first moment I saw him taking hold as if he realized what life was, but I can see no encourage- ment to helping him. Two years ago I told him when he had saved a thousand dollars I would give him an interest in my profits in addition to his present salary. He receives a salary of $1,350 a year — now let us see what he might save: Board at $7 per week $365 Washing, say 75 Clothes (at the highest estimate) 200 Allow for spending money 200 and you then have $500 a year for what he ought to save. Well, the facts are he is in debt, and 1 am sat- isfied he will never save $1,000, and I am disgusted with him." PERSONAL EXPENSES. 37 Now there was no gush or sentiment about this thing; the employer liked his clerk and was anxious to help him, but he did not propose to do anything till the young man had shown he had some self- restraint and discretion. But the clerk had fallen into expensive habits and among extravagant associ- ates, and did not have strength of mind enough to break away from them all. He is a clerk to-day. Only a few days ago I overheard two business men canvassing two of their clerks. In character and per- sonal habits both were alike, but one on a salary of $1,200 was always in debt, and the other on $1,000 a year was saving money. The one was unable to deny himself aught that he wanted; the other was strong- willed enough to buy nothing that he did not need. It is not necessary to state which clerk was advanced. There are a class of people who can never hear a word of economy without at once jumping to the conclusion that you desire them to be miserly; but this is not the case with me ; I despise a miserly disposition, and know of nothing that will be more damaging to a merchant. I like to see a clerk dress well, both at his work and out of the store — not gaudily, nor discarding a good garment to get one a little more in style, but to dress sensibly and well, as most of the employers dress. And I do not think a clerk should shut himself away from every form of entertainments or society pleas- ures; on the contrary, I think a young man who works steadily at the desk or counter, will be all the better for an evening at the theatre or concert, or at a pleasant home-party in some friend's house. But 38 ON THE EOAD TO RICHES. these things are not the end and aim of life, and con- sequently should only fill out a small part of it. Now if one looks at the cost of a reasonable amount of innocent pleasure, the expense for a year need not be such a very large sum. I have before me the ex- penses of a young man for the years J 6Q, '67 and '68, and I find the total expenses for the three years $2,200; of this amount he sent his mother $500, leaving for his own expenses $1,700. Being a traveling man, his board was light, as his em- ployers paid his expenses when on the road — it was $800; clothing during three years, $375; leaving for extras $525. And upon looking over the items making up the sum of $525, I see some that look rather extravagant, but I can remember that even a very economical per- son enjoys a little extravagance occasionally. In the three years that this young man was spend- ing seventeen hundred dollars he saved fifteen hundred, and with them was enabled to go into business for himself. I haven't said one tithe of what might be said in favor of a young man's being economical, but I have given a few heads for what each clerk can expand into a great many sermons for himself. And I venture to say no man ever kept an accurate account of his ex- penses for a year or two but that he was led to turn his thoughts toward saving, and for that reason I advise you to watch your salary for the next twelve months, and see if the exhibit is not the strongest sermon ever preached you in favor of economy. LESSENING COMPETITION. 39 CHAPTER VIII. LESSENING COMPETITION. Of two clerks working side by side, other things being equal, the one who has the best general educa- tion will prove the most valuable clerk. The mer- chant who is thoroughly posted about his business, and possesses the other requisite qualities, is sure to succeed in life; but if, in addition to this, he is a reading man and a student, his success will be vastly greater Business is made up of much besides mere business. When we have sold a country merchant a bill of goods, we do not turn on our heels and bow him out in the quickest method possible, but we feel like laying our order book down and having five minutes' chat on some other topic than business. The customer who comes in to buy a few goods at retail may be a gossipy sort of man, and while he is doing his trading enters into conversation upon matters entirely foreign to the goods we keep or he is buying. In this day and country, where education counts for so much, it seems at first sight as if the boy who is compelled to leave school at twelve or thirteen to begin life, is much to be pitied, but I am not sure that such is the case. Our schools of to-day are graded even more than sugars are. With the disposition 40 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. common in human nature, to magnify their office, the school teachers of our common schools have adopted distinctions that were in use only in the higher uni- versities, and children are "being trained with much more regard to methods than the real object for which they go to school. A boy of twelve ought to have a good knowledge of spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography, and the main points of history. With this foundation he can build quite a structure of learning, with only himself for a teacher. But as boys are turned out to-day at twelve, they have a little smattering of arithmetic, without the ability to do a sum in long division; they have studied botany, without retaining a single fact in their mind; spelling is such a commonplace branch that they wasted very little time upon it, but the chances are they have had a course in astronomy and one in chemistry. The fault of our schools is that they are planned for rich men's sons, and there are no courses laid out for the boy who has to leave school at twelve and start out in the world. But no boy need feel discouraged if he wants to get an education. The best taught men are not always those who graduate from the higher colleges. I have a feeling of keen regret for the young men who allow the years to pass over them and do not improve their minds with each year. In every store it is brains that tell. Cheap men will open boxes and nail up boxes; a man need not be very well educated to make an or- dinary entry-clerk; to keep a set of books, even by the much-lauded double-entry, is not a very difficult LESSENING COMPETITION. 41 task, and does not call for a very high order of intel- lect. But the minute one gets above this level of me- diocrity, the case assumes a new phase. The entry- clerk who is educating himself, the book-keeper who learns something more every day than how to add, subtract or divide, are both becoming more valuable, and are pushing themselves up where the competition lessens. I knew a young man who was entry clerk in a large wholesale house where he was kept busy all day, but who at night was storing up information, that had for his immediate superior a young man who paid a great deal of attention to his hair and his waist, and who considered thtit his work was all done when he struck a balance and made his books come out to a cent. One day a bill came in from England; it covered several items; on each one of these a different commission had been charged; the duty was different, and the cost of carriage was varied, as the goods were bulky or solid. To take the invoice and allow the proper percentage of all charges from commission in England to freight charges here, was no very simple task. The book- keeper was given the invoice to figure out the proper cost of each article, but when he attempted to prove his work, the result did not agree with the original in- voice and all the expenses. He had to give up the job. A member of the firm took it in hand and gave it up. At last the entry-clerk took the invoice, made his computations, allowed each item its proper pro- portion of expenses, made out a new bill with all these expenses added, and the result agreed with the gross 42 ON THE KOAD TO RICHES. cost of the goods. That little thing made an impres- sion in that young man's favor which eventually helped him into a commanding position. A question frequently asked by young men is, " What shall I study? " The answer is, " Study that which you are interested in. Cultivate a taste for reading, and then channels will be opened to you that will lead you on from one topic to another." I heard a rich man remark the other day that he would give a hundred thousand dollars if he was a lover of read- ing. " I can't take up a book and enjoy it," said he, " I never cultivated a taste for it, and when I glanced through the daily papers, that was all the reading I wanted. I would like now to sit down and enjoy a book, but no sooner do I open one than I either go to sleep or my mind wanders out of my control." But I did not begin with the intention of showing the delights or pleasures of an education ; I wanted to speak of the value of it in a money point of view, and in helping young men on in life. One of the best salesmen I ever met was a young man who usually carried a book in his valise; it wasn't Hoyle, but generally was some late work of permanent value. The time that other salesmen gave to billiards and " fun " he gave to reading, and because of this study he was a good salesman. Merchants told me they liked to talk with him ; that he not only knew his business but he knew a good deal more, and had a head filled with interesting information. I watched him when selling goods, and saw that his success was due to the fact that his customers respected him, LESSENING COMPETITION. 43 and enjoyed sitting down for a social chat with him. Tongue does not make one friends alone — tact is the magical word. People who drink ale delight in seeing a nice froth on the top of their glass, but they only want a small quantity of froth. So it is in business. A man need not turn himself into a walking diction- ary, but he should store his mind and educate himself so that he can hold his own with other men. The clerk especially must avail himself of every help to lift him on the road to success, and that clerk who has not learned that education is his most valuable lever, has not yet caught the A T> C of business. 44 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. CHAPTER IX TELLING TALES OUT OF SCHOOL. One of my friends in the wholesale trade came to me as I was about to start on a trip selling goods, saying: " You can do me a favor, if you will; I con- stantly hear it said that I am selling a great many ' seconds,' and I find it is damaging my trade. If it was told by my competitors I could fight against it, but somehow it sticks too well for a jnere trade story. When you get among any retailers who have bought of me, I wish you would feel around, and if they have heard any such tales, try and learn how they first came to them, and you will do me a favor." I promised to oblige him, but was in danger of forgetting it, until one day I overheard a merchant talking with a drummer. The merchant answered a remark I had not heard, observing: "Tour price is high; So-and-so offered the goods for less." " Pooh," said the salesman, "you know the goods that he sells; we don't deal in seconds." When it came my turn to do a little drumming, I finished my own business, and then I began to enquire on my friend's account; I asked: "You buy some goods of So-and-so?" " Oh, yes, but not many." "Isn't he reliable?" TELLING TALES OUT OF SCHOOL. 45 " To tell the truth, I never had anything from him that was not all right, but I believe he handles a good many seconds, and I don't care to get any." I professed surprise at this, saying I knew him to be a shrewd merchant — much too shrewd to sell seconds for firsts. "Well," said my customer, "I didn't take much stock in it at first, but his own traveling man admitted it, and I conclude it is true." I dropped the matter, but when I had opportunity again, I examined others and found the same answer — that So-and-so's traveling-man had admitted it. My friend was much surprised when I told him who was authority for the stories circulating among the trade, but he satisfied himself of the truth of it, and promptly discharged the man. Now the truth was, he had no more seconds in stock than other houses in his line carried, and what he bought for seconds he sold as such; but the salesman having lost a customer by selling him seconds at the price of firsts, had found it convenient to tell of the incident so often that nearly all his cronies had heard of the story about the ' seconds,' and when he was through telling the tale, all that his hearers remembered was that his house sold seconds. As I said, he lost his place, and he could not get an- other in so responsible a position in the city. ISTot long since I met the book-keeper of a merchant who was in rather deep water, and whom a very slight push might force beyond any power to save. While we were talking another man joined us, and turning to the young man, asked: 46 ON THE EOAD TO KICIIES. " How is M. getting along in his affairs?" " Ain't getting along at all," was the answer. " Won't he pull through?" " He thinks he will." " What do you think? " " I think it's six of one and half-a-dozen of an- other." Within an hour the questioner had put his claim against M. into the hands of a lawyer. It was promptly brought before a justice, and before night it was known to several that M. had been sued. Now notice how things had worked. M. had made arrangements with a banker to help him over the crisis, and the matter was to be closed the next morning at nine o'clock; but in the meantime M.'s clerk had said what he never ought to have said, brought his employer before the court, and frightened the banker from helping him. The merchant had to make an assignment. Said a merchant to me while we were talking on this subject: " Boys will blab, and you cannot help it. I remember one of my clerks destroyed a very pretty trade I once had in a patent saw. I had no monopoly of it, except from the fact that none of my competi- tors kept it. I went to work quietly and built up a large trade on it — a trade that paid me a couple of thousand dollars in the season. I cautioned my trav- eling-men to talk about the saw only to our customers, and to do no outside bragging. But I overlooked my entry-clerk; I didn't suppose he was going up and down the street telling of the saws we sold, but that is just what he did. He fancied it added to his impor- TELLING TALES OCT OF SCHOOL. 47 tance to show that the house was doing a big trade, and so he kept up an admiring tale of our trade in saws, often telling this when among the clerks of my com- petitors. It was not long till I found the saw with the other houses, and then my sales and profits began to drop. That boy's boasting cost me $1,500 a year." "And what did you do with the boy?" " At first I thought I'd ship him, but he was a pretty good boy and I concluded it would be a lesson to him, so I kept him; he's been as dumb as an oyster ever since." These are a few instances that I recall where clerks have damaged their employers by talking too much; but I am satisfied the amount of harm done yearly to merchants by just such work as this is incredibly large. What our competitors say of us does very lit- tle good or harm; it is taken for what it is worth, and abundent allowances made for business rivalry. But this is not the case when our own clerks speak against us. A miserable little rat often sinks a beautiful, great ship, and a merchant's well -laid plans are brought to naught because a babbling clerk mentions them where they are carried to the ears of his compet- itors. I doubt if merchants realize the extent to which their business is talked over by the clerks when out of the store. And there are two kinds of talking clerks — one hears a great deal and tells nothing of impor tance: the other tells everything and learns nothing: he talks for the love of talking, because he does not know any better. 48 ON THE KOAD TO RICHES. The proverb tells of silence being golden, but it is a great deal more than that; it is gold — the pure metal. There can never come any good from talking about the business or the plans. If other clerks are interested. in your story at all, it is only because they are picking up items about your business that they can carry to their employers. I noticed one of my traveling men in very close conversation with a competitor's clerk one day, and I began to feel uneasy about it, not knowing what might be said, about our affairs before the conference broke up. But my man came to me with a smile of satisfaction awhile afterwards, saying, " I was pump- ing Charlie to find out where their traveling man is." " Did you learn? " " Yes; and I'm going out to-night to head him off." I didn't have much respect for the clerk who had told. I confess I cannot understand how a clerk can go on blindly talking about his employer's business with peo- ple outside of his store. If a sharp thing has been done in the store they tell of it as if it in some way added to their reputation for smartness. At a social call, one evening, it chanced that two clerks of rival houses were together. One of them, when conversa- tion flagged, told of an incident that was rather laugh- able, where one of their men had got an order from a retailer by a very sharp dodge, and so interested was he in his own story that he gave names and locations. The other clerk had a good memory and told the story in his office the next day to, among others, the travel- ing man, who in turn made a minute of it in his TELLING TALE8 OUT OF 80HOOL. -I' 1 mind, aild when next in tlie store of the man upon whom the dodge had been played, used the story to such advantage that he got an order, and the other man got — the door the next time became there. I overheard a conversation like this once between two clerks, who mel just a few feet ahead of me: "How's trade, Jim?" " Can't complain. " "Pho! that's what von always say." "Well! Do you suppose if it was dull I'd say so?" If I had known the boy I would have patted him on the back. That merchants often let out secrets and damasre their trade by boasting, I am well aware, but that is no excuse for the clerk; there is but one safe rule for him to follow, and that is to refuse to discuss business matters with anyone but the people belonging in the store with him, for he cannot know what advantage a competitor may get from some careless word dropped by him. 50 ON THE EOAD TO EICHES. CHAPTER X. anchors. Don't turn away from my letter because I have headed it like a trade dictionary; I am not intending to write an essay on ship anchors, their uses and value, but I want to write about the moral anchors which every young man should heave out, once in awhile, on his course — not to prevent his progress, but to keep him from falling out of the right path. The boy who stays in the town where he was born and bred, and still has his parents' watchful care over him, will find it a tolerably easy task to keep on the right course; but when he goes to a strange place, if that place is a large city, with the temptations and allurements that are found in nearly every city, he will find that it requires no small amount of force of char- acter to keep him on the right track. Youth is full of desire to see and have a part in all that goes to make up life. While the boy has been at home, he has felt the eyes of friends upon him so closely that he has avoided much that he would like to see. The good things of the world have been brought to him until they have lost their value, while the other side of life has been carefully kept from his sight. When he is away from all control, perhaps un- ANCHORS. 51 known to a person in the city except his employers, he determines to see all sides and corners of life. If there are but two or three clerks in the store with him, there is sure to be one among them who can gratify his cu- riosity by tales of the under side of life, and as he gets acquainted at his boarding-house, he soon hears his cronies discussing and dilating upon matters of which he has yet to learn the alphabet. But there will be plenty of opportunities for him to learn the whole book. Scarcely a night but some one will suggest a trip or a walk that will lead him a little nearer to the ground that has been forbidden him, and as his acquaintance extends, so do his opportunities for seeing what he calls "life." If I were writing a sermon, or drawing a moral les- son, I might stop here and speak of the hollowness of all such pleasures as this young man is anxious to taste; but I am not attempting a sermon, and am look- ing at a young man's life only as it may affect his business career. Kow I cannot write that a young man who takes a step downward in life is surely lost, because I do not believe it; but I do believe that it is very easy riding when you are going down hill, and the farther down you get the harder it is to stop. And SO I come to my anchors I advise you to put out, here and there, anchors that will help you to keep on the right course. And the first of these might be to select a church where you will attend, if not regularly, at least with some degree of regularity. I do not say that you must not do anything more than simply go to church once in a 52 ON THE ROAD TO EICHES. while; you can go as often as you please after you have decided where you will attend. Going to this church, you will soon get acquainted with some of the members, and through them with others, and then you will feel at home there, and the people will have an interest in you. And the time may come when you will go there carelessly, just because it is your habit to go there of a Sunday; and you may hear a sermon that will appeal personally to yourself, and your whole life ma}- be changed by it, until your past life will be a shame to you, and your future be better and brighter because of your resolutions formed that day. Or it may be that no such high motives shall ever enter you heart, and you go on from Sunday to Sun- day simply from habit, but the nod of welcome from those you meet is pleasant to you, and the hearty hand-shake from pastor or deacon makes you feel more of a man. And an hour may come when you will be held back from evil just by the thought that you will lose the respect of these good men, and then you will feel that this anchor holds you on in your course. Another anchor will be getting acquainted with good women. It is easily done by a young man whose name is without reproach. Some of your brother clerks have sisters, and will be willing to make you acquainted ; your employers will be glad to see you calling upon their wives; your church will have soci- ables and opportunities where you can extend your ac- quaintance among the ladies, and you should avail yourself of these. In all this 1 am not advising you ANCHORS. 53 to be with the girls; you will do this without advice, but my advice is to make friends of the women. "Women who have passed young girlhood appreci- ate attentions from young men. Girls accept these attentions as a matter of course, and as being homage to which they are justly entitled, but women accept them at their value and feel kindly towards those who offer them. One can sit with a company of girls for a month and know no more about life, as it really is, than if he had sat before a cage of canaries; but a woman's instincts tell her what a young man needs, and he cannot spend an hour with her without learn- ing something that it will he well for him to remember. Another source of strength to any young man is the love of reading and of good books. This is a taste that can he cultivated, and will be a source of infinite pleasure through all the years of life, whether one is rich or poor, clerk or merchant. The man who reads has a fund of pleasure to draw upon whenever there is danger of time hanging heavy on his hands. He need nol yawn about billiard rooms, nor hang around saloons because the hours are so dreary; he can turn to a book and enjoy the company he finds therein. I count the love of reading as one of the accomplish- ments that ought to be cultivated in every fain i! v. Most men set altogether too light a value upon it, and in sonic households a hundred dollars are expended on a party with less thought than one dollar is used for good reading. If children are not encouraged to read, it is a taste not so readily learned in after life, and one of the surest anchors that parents can 54: ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. give to their sons as they send them out in the world is this one — a love for books. I am afraid some of our friends would read this letter and blame me for not writing on a higher plane, and perhaps they would be right; but I have written for those who need it — those who are liable to be drawn into the temptations of life; others who will not be so tempted are not in need of anchors. A STEP im.HEK. 55 CHAPTER XI. A STEP HIGHER. The principles of business that can he taught are not many; those that can be learned are almost with- out end. A clerk very soon reaches the place where he has been told all that it is actually necessary that he should be told about the details of the business; lie falls into the ruts of the house, understands the run of trade, the variations in people and prices, and how to get in and send out goods to the best advantage. But all these details, while they are necessary to be learned, only fit the young man for that particular place, and if he is ambitious he is always looking to something better. Others have been teaching him; it is neces- sary that he should now teach himself. A clerk who remains in one position all his life, advertises himself lacking in one of two things — ability or ambition. There undoubtedly are instances where a clerk is kept so constantly and continually employed at one task that he has no opportunity to learn anything bat his present work, but such instances are very rare. As a general rule, every clerk has some time at his disposal, either at intervals during the day or in the evening. These are hours that he cannot afford to throw away. Not that it follows that lie must 56 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. deprive himself of every pleasure, or must desert every form of entertainment. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and dullness does not lead to success. But let him have his- entertainment as recreation, and not seek it as business, and then he will still have many valuable hours for self-improvement. Now-a-days, the young man who wants to be a book-keeper begins to search through the columns of a newspaper for the advertisement of a " business col- lege." The notice reads most flatteringly; in three months it is guaranteed that he will be turned out an accomplished penman and accountant, and with his "diploma" secure a position at a large salary without any effort. But after he has earned his diploma and learned to make beasts and birds with his pen, he finds there is another side to the story. Somehow business men do not seem to be impressed with the fact of his being a "graduate;" and in the end he learns that he had better Irani his diploma and try and get a situa- tion as entry-clerk. One of the prosperous merchants of this city began life as an errand boy in an office. Most boys and most men too, for that matter, would say that his position offered but little hope of advancement. The men in the office were busily employed, and saw or spoke to the boy only when they had an errand or order for him. He had no accounts to keep, no writing to do. Hut the desire being there the opportunities came. He carried the mail to and from the post-office; watching the letters that passed through his hands, when he found an envelope unusually well addressed he saved A STEP IIK ill Kit. 57 it from the waste basket, and with this before him lie began to try to imitat It was his duty to copy the letters in the copying press, and lie read and remembered the phraseology and the style until ho could have sat down and, with the topic given him, have dressed it up in the same form. Se was bo ready and willing to do any and every- thing asked of him that the men sent him on many private errands of their own, and in return they could not but answer his questions when he asked about the books or the business. A chance offered where he might do a little writing, and lie did the work before any one there knew that he could. There was some surprise at the good hand he wrote, still more at the good form of his matter, and then he told them In >w he had learned. Ilo was given a place at the desk, while another boy ran the errands, and before he had ever thought of studying to be a book-keeper he was one, and a good one. What will uot a persistent effort in the right direc- tion do? Energy is a good thing of itself, but it must be applied in the right direction — in the direction leading to advancement. There are two points that decide a young man's advancement in the minds of his employers — first, is he worthy of it? Next, is he fitted for it? Character and ability decide his future. Xow if a young man is not fitted for the next step higher, it is his own fault. Nothing in business is a sealed book; everything is open and to be had for the asking. 58 ON THE ROAD TO KICHES. A young man whom I knew went to a "Western city and secured a position as bookkeeper in a whole- sale store. He found that the position did not prom- ise the advancement that he desired, and without say- ing aught to any one, he began to fit himself to be a salesman. Every moment that he could spare from books he spent out around the stock, and watched the other salesmen, and asked questions. When the proper time came he proposed that he should be sent out on a trip, and he made a successful one. He was already a good bookkeeper; he now proved his ability to sell goods, and his salary was advanced to corres- pond with his increased worth. In the house he was both accountant and salesman, as was most needed, and he was given an interest in the firm, when men who had been with the house many years longer than he still remained clerks. It is young men of this kind who are pushing them- selves above their fellows to-day. They are not wait- ing to be told how to do things, but are finding out for themselves. They are not the men who leave the store the moment the clock strikes the closing hour, no matter whether the store is full of customers or not, but they are the clerks who are polite with the late customers, as if every dollar they were making was going into their own pockets. They are not wasteful with their employer's money, nor with their own. They rise because they can not be kept down. They learn that being a good " stroke " at billiards does not give them credit among business men; that it is not so " manly " as most boys suppose to be seen A STEP HIGHER. 59 with a cigar between their lips. They find that mer- chants do not go to saloon-- to search for clerks or part- ners. They select their companions with care, as they find the old maxim is still credited by good men that "A man is known by the company he keeps." They wisely endeavor to make the acquaintance of good men, and are not long in learning that it is easier to get acquainted with men whose acquaintance and friendship is of positive value, than it is to become the companions of the fast men who consider their profligacy makes them " the style." The man who simply saved the talent given him was condemned, while they who had used and increas- ed theirs were commended. This parable is being enacted around us every day. They only are told to "go up higher" who lit themselves for a higher position. In a large measure, people are taken at their own valuation, providing they do not overvalue themselves. But when we see a young man making no effort to advance himself, we are apt to think that he has reached his level, while we fancy there is much concealed in that man who is doing his best where he is, but trying to push himself into something better. Modesty is a virtue that is as beautiful as it is rare; but in this busy age people have neither the time nor the inclination to seek after those who are too modest or too lazy to make their abilities known. It is the lowest ranlcs that are always full; up higher the com- petition lessens, and the opportunity surely comes to the one who has fitted himself to grasp it. 60 ON TUE ROAD TO KICHES. CHAPTER XII. AT THE DESK. There is a pleasant ring in your voice as yon an- nounce that you have been promoted to the position of book-keeper, and I cannot keep back the words of Sol- omon: "Let your eyes look right on," and: "He that buildeth slowly buildeth surely." Your new position bringswith.it new duties and greater burdens of re- sponsibility. As clerk you were expected to turn to the book-keeper for advice and direction; in your present place you must decide matters for yourself, and an error on your part may cause serious loss to the house. As your eyes scan the duties belonging to your po- sition, do you not see why it is that merchants select their book-keepers from the next lower position, rather than engage a graduate of a business college? Un- doubtedly you have been surprised that so few of the thousands thus " graduated" are not heard of in count- ing-rooms, and that so many of them return to their fathers' farms. The prospectuses of the colleges cer- tainly promise a golden future to every young man who earns a " diploma." Is he not taught banking, insurance, actual business, and even telegraphing? Do they not have and handle notes and bills till their AT Till, pi - r.. CI business transactions run ap into millions? Arethey not taught not only how to write a good hand, bul to put flourishes to their signatures that drive common folks to despair with envy, and to make beasts and birds with their pens till they are able to start a me- nagerie with their own productions'? But when the graduate asks for a situation, and announces with par- donable pride that he is a graduate of the Mildam Business College, he is wonderfully surprised to learn that the fact is a damage to him. If he ever secures a position he finds he must keep his ''diploma" to himself, and begin at the bottom step and work his way up. Actual business is so vastly different from theoretical business, that it is necessary to completely drop the latter from the mind before you can make much headway in learning to manage the former. To be a good book-keeper four points must have been thoroughly learned, viz: accuracy, rapidity, neal and habits of order. I take it for granted that you are a good speller, but a dictionary should be as indispen- sable as your ink-bottle; and whenever you have the faintest doubt as to the proper way to spell a word it should be consulted. All book-keepers have more or less of the correspondence to attend to, and it is to be hoped that you have studied the letters sent out and received under your predecessor, so that your own efforts will bear scrutiny. The ability to write a good hand is a valuable one. but not so necessary as many suppose. Some of the best book-keepers T am acquainted with, men getting large salaries and filling important positions, are \vy 62 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. indifferent penmen. There are other qualities than the ability to write a good hand needed. But there is very little excuse for a boy being a poor writer. Prac- tice, practice, practice, and if your aim is to improve, you will improve. You can't be a good writer in a day or a year; but you will constantly be improving if you set a good model before you, and work hard and at all times to equal it. I do not boast of my own writing, nor set myself up for a model, but my writing is a little better than it was when I began to work at the desk. When my forlorn letters got mixed up among the graceful characters made by the propri- etor, I felt cheap enough; I felt so cheap I determined to have it changed. I began to work over letters, and whenever I came across one I liked I tried to copy it. 1 remember I worked eight years before I could make a capital E that pleased me. The time came when my writing was not noticeably bad, though it was never uncommonly good. Business correspondence differs from a law docu- ment in that it should convey the greatest amount of information in the fewest possible words. You might write: " Your letter dated the 8th of August has been received in due time. We would be glad to accept the proposition you make, but are sorry to say that it is impossible for us to do so. The prices you name are much too high for our market. Yours very truly," etc. But you would find business men laughing at you. One of the firm would probably have condensed the above into this form: " Yours of 8th ult. is at hand. We regret that we cannot accept at price quoted. Yours truly, 1 ' etc. AT THE DESK. 03 In beginning .1 letter to a firm it is common usage to Have "Messrs." prefixed to their name, and then on the line helow the abbreviation " Gent." or " Gent n;" "•Gents" has too much of the cockney about it. In a letter to an individual you should use the prefix " Mr." or write " Esq." after his name, and then begin the letter with "Sir" or "Dear Sir." Messrs. Black & White, GenVn: — "Yours of Tthinst. is at band," etc. JonN Smith, Esq., Dear Sir: — " In reply to yours of the 7th inst.," etc. In writing a letter do not take it fur granted that your correspondent will know your residence so well that it is not necessary to write it in full. Always give your full address — post office and state, and date your letter, giving not only month and day, but year. A few days ago I received a letter from Portland; the letter-heading was a printed one, show- ing the firm was doing a wholesale business in their line, but their address was merely "Portland," and no state given. Whether it was in Maine or Oregon, or any of the states between these two, could only be learned by searching the mercantile register, and to do that took up much time. In ordering goods every word Bhonld be clear and unmistakable. Each order should contain full shipping directions. It is not enough that yon gave lull directions when ordering before; yon cannot, ex- pect wholesale houses to remember just which one of G-i OX THE ROAD TO RICHES. the many lines you prefer to ship by, though yon can say, if you want goods to come as before, "ship same as last bill," and parties can then refer to pre- vious order. If there is but one railroad line, say whether to send by freight or express. Accustom yourself to get these directions in your mind as a part of every order. If no directions are given, the party receiving the order is at liberty to ship as it pleases him, and should the goods come by express with heavy charges, when they might have come by freight at small cost, the fault will be with you. If I were ordering goods, I would write as follows: Toledo, Ohio, Sept. 1, 1SS0. Messes. Beowx & Smith, Gentn:— Please send us by L. S. It. E. at your earliest convenience, 1 case Men's Calf Boots, 1 " Children's Copper Tip'd Shoes, same sizes and quality as those billed July 20th. Truly yours, John Joxes. But putting aside correspondence for the present, let us return to what I called the four cardinal virtues desired in a book-keeper. First, as to accuracy. The accountant who is not accurate will ruin the standing of the firm who employs hi m. Of course m i stakes will happen, but they must not "follow fast and follow faster." A Detroit merchant needing a book-keeper, stated a supposed error in the books, and asked each applicant for the position how he would go to work tr correct it. One answered this way, another that; e^oJi AT TIIE DESK. DO one had a theory, and some of them very i ngen ions ones. But none of them suited the merchant and their ser- vices were declined. At last a young man came, who, after listening to the supposed error, informed the merchant that he should correct it by never making the mistake in the first place; and he was the man the merchant wanted. Not one who was skillful in correcting, but one who did not make errors was what the merchant was looking after. " My account is not correct, sir," said a good cus- tomer to me one morning. " You have a bill there that I have no knowledge of." " It is possible my book-keeper has made a mis- take," I answered. " Please come back to the office and we will look it up." After referring to his account in the led o-er and then turning to the sales-book, I found the book-keeper had made the mistake of posting a bill belonging to an- other party to his account. I made many apologies to him, but I could see that he was not satisfied. After paying the proper amount and getting his receipt, he turned to go out. " Do you not need any goods this morning?" I asked. "Nothing to-day." " I am sony, but when you are in want, I hope we shall hear from you." "Well, to tell you just how I feel, Mr. Blank, I don't like this kind of mistakes. I stopped trading with Smith & Co. because mistakes were too frequent, and I prefer to do business where they don't make blunders." 5 QQ ON THE ROAD TO ETCHES. I slaved him that in his two years' business with us this was the first time a mistake had occurred, but he never came back to do any more trading with us. lie was an unreasonable man, I admit, but then you will find that you have a great many unreasonable men to deal with. Another day a Mr. Brown comes in and tells me he wants to pay his account. I turn to my book-keeper: "What is Mr. Brown's balance, Walter? " He finds his account and foots it up: " $122.67, sir." " You must have made a mistake," says Brown, " or else I did." Walter runs it over again. " I did make a mistake; it is $112.67." " That agrees with mine," re- plies Brown, " and I see I am ten dollars in pocket by having my memorandum with me." Of course I show him we would have discovered the error when balanc- ing the account, but in his mind remains an impres- sion that the book-keeper made the mistake willfully, and we must suffer for it. This brings me to the second point — rapidity. Many will say the book-keeper was in too great hurry, or he would not have made the mistake. Perhaps this is true and perhaps not. It is necessary a good book- keeper shall be a rapid writer and calculator. He should be able to do two-thirds of his calculations men- tally, and do them correctly, too. I remember two young men who were entry-clerks in the same house; each wrote a good hand, and were equally pleasant- natured, enjoying the favor of the firm in the same degree. But John, in making an invoice, could do nearly all the extensions mentally, while Henry was AT THE DESK. 67 obliged to figure out on paper even such a common sum as twelve times thirteen. Naturally John was pushed forward and became book-keeper when a va- cancy occurred, while Henry is still plodding on as an entry-clerk. I was so fortunate in my school-days as to have for a teacher a man who had a great appreciation of men- tal arithmetic. The average teacher looks upon mental arithmetic as a mush-and-railk dish to be given to the minds that are still struggling over the tact that d-o-g spells dog. Not so with the teacher of whom I write. As an accompaniment to the higher arithmetic we were kept at work on mental calculations. When the cla^s was ready the problem was read, and he was the best scholar who could give the correct answer first. "We were not permitted to suppose that we knew the multiplication table just because we had learned 12 times 12; we were sent up to the thirteens and the eighteens and the thirty-eights, and expected to know them, too. Only the men who make out invoices day after day know how much advantage such experience as this is. It saves time and saves work. Now this is something that every clerk can teach himself. If in extending such a sum as 12 times 344, we see the clerk begin with the 2 and go through the sum; then with the 1, and then foot up these two pro- ducts, we are apt to say he is a long-winded clerk; most of them will multiply with the 12 at once, and save about seven-eighths of the work. But if the sum was 17 times 344, it ought to be done just as readily. It is as easy to say 17 times -i are GS; 17 times 4 are 68 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. 68, and 6 are 74; 17 times 3 are 51, and 7 are 58, and have the answer before you with no more work — 5,82S, than it would be to multiply if the figures were 12 in- stead of 17. There is everything in practice, and the clerk is now where he has every opportunity to prac- tice. I fully believe correctness is a habit as much as I believe anything. I used to look at a long column of figures as I now look at an ice-cold bath in mid-winter. I disliked to tackle it. But it had to be footed up and at it I went; up and down, up and down, and it was done. !Now to prove it. Down and up; down and up I followed the figures, and halloo! what's up? I made a mistake; begin again. "Well, I would go over it six times and get six different results, and then I would get — provoked. But it had to be done, and I had to keep on till I could get it twice alike. I saw this had to be changed, and the thing to change was my habit of mixing in things in my mind with the figures I was footing. Any one can say eight and seven are fifteen, but if he says eight and seven are — and just then he remembers how pretty Annie was last night — he can get sixteen out of those figures as easy as not. I concluded I would get control of that mind of mine, and the time came when I didn't worry over a column of figures, unless they represented so many bills coming due. The virtues of neatness are so apparent that it is hardly necessary to dwell upon them here. Merchants are anxious that their books, the history of the house, shall be a credit to them when their successors glance AT THE DESK. 69 over tlicin. A slovenly accountant ought not to l>o tolerated among business men. I had a neighbor who lost a case at law because his book-keeper had blotted the account so thoroughly that he could not swear to the items, and the jury could not do otherwise than ac- cept the sworn testimony of the defendant. There are so many details to the duties of an account- ant that he can hope to see everything done every day only by establishing a system, and arranging his duties so that he shall have a time for everything. " I for- got" are words that ought not to be found in the vo- cabulary of an accountant. A book-keeper's " I for- got " once ruined a large jobbing house. They had been "tight" in money matters for several weeks, and every creditor of theirs knew it. By almost superhu- man efforts they had managed to keep up their pay- ment.-, and finally entered into negotiations with one of their heaviest creditors by which he would advance them the money needed for immediate payments, and carry them over the danger that had been threatening them. But their book-keeper " forgot " to send this creditor a very important list until it was too late. In the meantime a note had gone to protest; the friend refused to do anything under the circumstances, and the house was obliged to suspend. The work of each day ought to be arranged so that each hour would suggest its own duties. A time to post, an hour to answer correspondence, an hour to at- tend to banking business, an hour to check up and journalize bills, etc., should be the rule. And there are other things to " keep " as well as 70 ON THE ROAD TO KICHES. books; one is, keep your lips closed about your em- ployer's business. Neither boast of the money he is making, nor shake your head over dull times. If harm comes to him through anything you may reveal, you may be sure other firms will guess it, and you will be rightly known as a dangerous man. Keep a pri- vate debit and credit account with yourself; charge yourself with failures, and credit successes. You will probably find it the most unsatisfactory of all accounts you keep, but it will " pay " in the long run. Do not allow your interest to be circumscribed by the covers of the books you write in. If you do you will become a mere machine. Be interested in the store, in the stock, in the cost and selling prices of goods, in the men who write to the firm and to whom you write, and always and at all times in improving yourself. CASH. 71 CHAPTER XIII. cash. Not the least of the duties of the book-keeper is to keep the cash account, while it is generally the most perplex ing'of all accounts. You are ready to go home when you have made up your cash. There is a half- hour for this, and you//";" it will come out straight in half that time. So you begin. ( )n your boot you enter cash received, as shown by the debit Bide of yonr cash- book. Against this you place cash paid out, as shown by the cash-book; cash paid out as shown by the petty blotter; drafts, bills, currency and nickels on hand, and then you foot up. How provoking! It is ten dollars over. You go over your figures again. Ah! here is an error of twenty dollars. But now the cash is ten dollars short! Over the figures you go again and again. There is no error here, and the cash is really short. The half-honryou had allotted to the task lias Long been gone, and still you are no nearer a balance. Yon go over each item in the transactions of tin 1 day; you see no errors there. You count your money over again in a helpless way, as if possibly one hundred and ten might, by some happy fancy, turn into one hun- dred and twenty, but it persists in remaining just one hundred and ten. The entry-clerk can give you no 72 ON THE KOAD TO EICHES. assistance. You seek the proprietors to ask them for help. " No," says one, " I have had no money to-day." "Let me see," says the other, "did you charge me with the ten dollars you gave me this morning? " Hurrah! that's it! And you are so haj)py at finding the error you do not stop to apologize for the greater error you have been caught in — paying out money without charg- ing it. Of course you do not need to be told that there is no part of the business which requires more carefulness than the taking care of the cash. That fact is a self- evident one; and the book-keeper who does not keep his cash in good order — no matter how well he may write or figure — is soon set adrift. When money is received it should be counted care- fully before being put out of your hands. A sharp look-out should be kept for counterfeits; and in order to be posted, you should ask your banker to keep you informed of any new ones that come to him. If you have any doubt as to the genuineness of a bill, give yourself the benefit of the donbt. Place a ticket upon it, and if it is pronounced counterfeit, you can testify, without hesitation, as to the package of money the bill was received in. When you know a bill is counter- feit, place a ticket upon it, stating the name of the party from whom it came, and the date received. Then promptly notify him of the fact, and ask his orders regarding it. I would write like this: " Toledo, Ohio, July 31, 1880. " JonN Siirrn, Esq. " Dear Sir: We are in receipt of your remittance of the 10th, covering $100, but we find enclosed a $20 bill which casii. 73 is counterfeit. We, consequently, credit you with $80 on account. r tee inform us what disposition to make of the counterfeit. With thanks for the remittance, we remain, "Truly yours, "Blank & Blank." Some of our country cousins seem to think that it is impossible to counterfeit a national bank bill, and consequently it is a difficult matter to make them be- lieve that they have sent you other than genuine money. Hut your bankers will tell you that the number of counterfeits in circulation is by no means small, and that you will do well to scrutinize your bills, from twos to fifties. Your cash-book should answer any question about the cash that will ever be asked. It is not enough to give a customer credit for the amount of money paid you; your entry should show just what the character of the payment was — whether bills, drafts or check; how it came — whether b}^ mail or express; or, if handed to you, by whom it was delivered. Such items do not occupy many minutes in the making, but 'circum- stances may arise when this information will be of value. In paying out money it is well to be equally par- ticular. If you pay out drafts or checks, the number of each should be entered, so that a remittance can al- ways be traced. In remitting money, you should state whether it is "on account," "in full of account," or in payment of some particular bill. Also mention in the letter the character < " You haven't "given me credit for all the money I have sent you," is a frequent complaint. I was gen- erally prepared to say, k * I think you will find our state- ment correct," because the book-keeper was tolerably careful about posting cash. But I said it to a customer one day, and we went back to our books to examine. •• Eave you the date of the remittance that was no1 credited?" I inquired. " Yes. June 20 I paid $25, but it does not appear on the statement." I turned to the ledger; no, there was no credit under that date or for that amount, I then turned to the Cash-book, but there was no such entry there under date of June 26th. "You must be mistaken, Mr. Gibbs, our cash-book does not show any such entry." " But I did pay it," he persisted, ' ; and here is your book-keeper's receipt," at the same time handing me the document. " This is your writing, Walter," I observed, "how is this?" I was really sorry for the young man, his regret and embarrassment were SO evident. •"I dont see how it could have happened," was his answer; but upon refering to the book where he kept daily cash balances he found his cash was sl ; :> over that date. We explained the matter to Mr. Gribbs, but there was a suspicion in bis mind that the book-keeper had tried to pocket the money, and from that day he always paid directly to my partner or myself. I have spoken of drafts received from your cus- 76 ON THE ROAD TO EICHES. tomers, but there are also drafts which you make for bills past due, and those drawn on you by your creditors. Here let me say a word about those two unsatis- factory accounts, " Bills Payable," and "Bills Beceiv- able." I remember it took me a long time to learn which was which. At first I could not make out any- thing about them ; then I began to think all notes went to one account, and all drafts to the other; then some other solution appeared; and so on till finally I understood them, and called myself very stupid for not having done so long before. If some one had told that all notes or drafts which we had to pay were bills payable, and all notes or drafts which had to be paid to us were bills receivable, I would have been thank- ful. In these days of printing presses it is not economy to write out drafts or notes. It is much cheaper to have them printed, and a handsome draft is a good advertisement. You can buy blank drafts at any sta- tioners, but if you prefer to write them, they should read after the manner of this: Toledo, Ohio, October 12th, 1880. $150.50. Thirty days after date pay to the order of Smith Hall, Esq., Cashier , One Hundred and Fifty and 50- 100 Dollars, value received, and charge the same to account of Blank & Blank. To Philip Murray, Esq., ) Fort Wayne, Ind. This is supposing you send the draft to a bank to cash. collect for you. And if yon do 3-011 will not receive $150.50, because the bank will deduct the "cost of col- lecting" or "exchange." Consequently if it is the duty of your customer to pay you $150.50 at your store, and of course all bills you sell are payable at your store, unless otherwise agreed, you should insert in the draft after the time, the words "with exchange." Say, "at sight, with exchange," or "ten days after date. with exchange," as the case may be. In sending a draft or a note to a bank to collect, remember that, in the absence of advice to the contrary, the banker must protest the paper if it is not honored or paid. Knowing this, you will generally mention "no protest" in your letter accompanying the paper, unless it bears an endorsement. Endorsed paper must be protested or the indorser cannot be held responsible. Drafts drawn on your house, if on time, must be ac- cepted or dishonored. To accept a draft, it is enough to simply write the name of the firm across the face of the draft. But it is more ousiness-like to write the word " Accepted " over the name, and to make it pay- able at the bank where you do your business. Also, if it is a certain number of days " after sight," it is well to write the date when the draft is presented, as of course the time begins from that day. Consequently if you were going to accept a draft drawn on you at ten days sight, you would write across the face of the draft- Accepted. Oct. 12, IS 74. Payable at First Kat. Bank, Toledo. Blank & Blank. ' N ON THE EOAD TO RICHES. When you accept a draft, you should charge the party who draws on you with the amount, and credit " Bills Payable." Notes that you give should be made payable at your bank. You will, of course, buy blank notes, but if you write out one, be sure to have it regular. If I owed John Smith fifty dollars, and he wanted a thirty days' note, I would write: Toledo, Ohio, Oct., 12th, 1874. $50.00. Thirty days after date, for value received, I promise to pay to the order of John Smith, fifty dollars, at the First National Bank, Toledo, Ohio. Frank Brown. Where you take notes from your customers or others, see that they are correctly made out before they are signed, because it is unpleasant to have t;o confess that you made a mistake, and to ask that a new note be given. When a customer has remitted for a note which you hold, do not write on the back of the note " Paid, Blank & Blank," because if it should be stolen from the mails it would be an easy matter to erase the word '•'Paid," and then the paper could be used for swind- ling purposes. The best way is to draw your pen through the signature on the face, and write the word " paid " across the face. We might do as the Pennsylvania men did, if we were all as honest. Philip borrowed one hundred dol- lars from Hank, and wrote a note for the amount due in four months. The question then arose as to who CASH. 79 ought to have possession of the note, and it was de- cided that Philip should keep it, so that he would know when it was due. When he paid it this question arose again, and it was then decided that Hank should keep the note, so that whenever he saw it he would know Philip had paid it! It is well that your and your employers' interest should he one, but beware of letting this feeling carry you to the point when you shall think their cash is yours. Keep a private cash account; it will show you where you have thrown away a ureat deal of money at the end of the year. And even fools, you know, learn from experience. 80 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. CHAPTER XIY. SELLING GOODS. It is a very common remark that good salesmen are born, not made. I believe it is true. But it does not mean that a man is born a good salesman; only that what makes him efficient in that line is born in him. There are peculiar natural qualities needed to make a good salesman, and if a man does not have these he had better turn his attention to some other branch, for he cannot succeed here. Yet two men who are equally good salesmen, may be almost totally unlike; almost, mind you; they must be good judges of human nature. How shall you become a good judge of human nature? You might as well ask me why the violets are blue; I cannot tell you. You need to know human nature because you must please the person with whom you are talking; must make a pleasant impression on him. We do not trade with a disagreeable person unless we are obliged to; we often buy articles we did not expect to purchase just because the man who waited on us was pleasant. Every good salesman is one who does just this: he makes himself agreeable to the person he is waiting upon, so that if he does not sell him more than he in- tended to buy, he sells him all he expected to purchase, BELLING GOODS. 81 and sends him away with a plea-ant impression of the salesman. Do not misconstrue my phrase, "mal himself agreeable;" perhaps you have been making yourself agreeable to some young lady, and think the same tactics you used with her are to be brought into play in the store. You could not make a greater mis- take. When a person enters the store he or she should be met with respectful politeness; not the pigeon-wing flourish yon make in the ball-room when the prompter calls " salute partners," but a salutation that digni the person you address. Don't chipper in like a par- rot with, " What can I show you? " or, " What is it, sir ?" as if you wanted him to push forward his busi- ness as rapidly as possible. Be in as much hurry as you please yourself, but never hurry your customer unless you are sure he or she will bear it. Do not vol- unteer advice about what they shall buy, if you have what they ask for, get it for them, and while you are getting it, if you have something that is as good for less money, or better for the same money, mention it, and tell of its merits, and people will give you a better hearing if they see you have the tiling they asked for; if they did not see this they would think you were out of it and were trying to get them to decide on some- thing else just because you could not give them the article they wanted. Never joke unless you arc sure of your customer; never volunteer a remark unless you are sure the cus- tomer will be pleased. Men often pass for being wise simply because they keep their lips closed, and many G 82 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. merchants get rich by keeping silent. If you volunteer a remark bear in mind that what you are aiming at is not to show your own smartness or brilliancy, but to please your customer, and let everything you say have this end in view. Don't get into any argument of any kind or on any subject; in your store every customer has aright to his own opinions, and if you cannot agree with him in all he says you will find something in his views or creed that you can agree with, and you can make the most of that. What a pity that this spirit cannot be carried with us out of our stores, and that each of us does not go through life searching for that upon which we might all agree rather than quarrel and bicker over little points of difference. The remarks I have made thus far have been with a retail salesman in mind, but they hold equally good for the wholesale salesman. Year by year the drum- mers seem to become more numerous, and there are a variety of opinions regarding them and their useful- ness. My opinion is that they are a very necessary part of business, and a considerable experience as one of them on the road, and in dealing with them in my own store, leads me to believe that they are no better and no worse than the rest of the business community. Now and then a retailer writes a tirade against travel- ing salesmen, and probably feels better for having done it, but it does not proclaim him a very shrewd man. There are good and bad on the road, just as the men they sell to are good and bad, and the retailer need not buy of any of them unless he chooses. But the shrewd merchants of to-day know that they can buy cheaper SELLING GOODS. 83 of drummers, as a rule, than they can of the proprietors. But they must be posted and well posted; drummers do not cut unless obliged to, and talk does not scare them while figures do. Selling goods on the road offers an opening for work- ing up second to no other position. The traveling man has to be thoroughly posted in his business or he cannot succeed; he must be a good judge of human nature or he cannot make sales; he must be pleasant- natured or he cannot make friends. And yet one sees a great many mutton-headed men on the road, and wonders if all his ideas on the subject are good for nothing; for if these men succeed then his experience is most assuredly worthless. Here was a man in my store an hour ago. He left a valise at the door and walked back where I was get- ting out an order, with a face that would do credit to Praise-God-Barebones. I bid him " good morning," and waited for him to open up h is batteries. He stands silent; I look up as if to say " begin," but he looks like an owl, and says nothing. I have to start him. " Well, sir, what can I do for you? " "I am from the Blank Manufacturing Company." " Yes, sir." I wait for further light. " We make table cutlery." "Yes?" " I was here last fall, and you promised me an order." " Our arrangements for table cutlery are made for this spring, sir." "You ^promised last fall you would give me an order." 84 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. "Yes? I Lave forgotten it; but I could do nothing with you now, we are filled up." "Without another word he takes a "left face," picks up his valise as if keeping time to the Dead March in Saul, and goes out. I have a quiet laugh over his style of doing things. I say to myself, "If he succeeds who need fail? " But here comes a different man. "Good morning, sir; I am from the Cutlery Company; I see you are pretty well filled, but if you can spare a few minutes during the day I would be glad to show you my samples; you might find some desirable patterns, and if you don't want any goods to-day you will some other time." Of course I will look at his samples; not to please him entirely, but to post myself up; he may have some goods that I will be glad to add to my stock; if he hasn't why it doesn't cost anything to look his sam- ples over. Here comes a little fellow with " Boston " written all over him; he is selling a patent paring-knife, and goes to work at me as he would at a kitchen girl, if trying to sell one to her; he is pert and " drefful smart;" his knife is a good thing and might sell, but I wouldn't take them from him as a gift. Here's a New Yorker — a loud one. " Good morn- ing; are you the proprietor? " " Yes, sir." "Ah, yes, I'd forgotten you; what's the news?" (He had never seen me before, nor I him; I never forget faces.) SELLING GOODS. 85 I wait for him to open up, but lie asks again, "What's the news?" What shall I tell him? My porter is home because he's had an increase in his family, but he wouldn't be interested in that. I don't know any news, but he stands there waiting for something; at last I desper- ately say, " There isn't anything new." That seems to satisfy him, so he opens up with his story. " How is your stock of revolvers % " " Full, just now." ' Where do you buy ? " (That's none of his business, so I answer vaguely): " In New Fork." " We are headquarters on cheap revolvers; can sell you a nickel-plated seven-shooter for 81-85." " That is cheap," I answer, though I had just got some in at Si. 80. " Couldn't you use a few? " "Xot just now." "Did yon buy better than that?" That is a question I don't care to answer, so I say, "We have all we need just now." "Well, remember ns when you want some more; we can give you better figures than any other house in the trade," and he goes on his way. I would buy of him providing his prices were lower than everybody's else, but not otherwise. Here is a middle-aged man who evidently knows his business. lie is selling an article with an established reputation; we are not handling it. lie proceeds to show us where it would be for our interest to sell his §Q ON THE EOAD TO KICHES. goods; we do not see it just as he does and decline to give an order. "Well, he will come in and see us when our way again ; perhaps we will change our mind. Of course we tell him to come, and part from him feeling kindly disposed toward him and his wares. But here is a fellow who will not take "no" for an answer. After we tell him we do not need anything in his line he begins with each item in detail and endeavors to show us we do need it. But he is more tedious than he is convincing, and we are glad to see hi in go out the door. But no one of these men is a type we would care to follow exclusively, so we must examine the matter in detail. THE TRAVELING MAN. 87 CHAPTER XT. THE TRAVELING MAN. There seems to be a decided difference of opin- ion among business men as to the need of travel- ing salesmen. One merchant looks upon them as a help, another puts them under the head of a curse. One retailer thinks he buys cheaper because of them, another is satisfied that the traveling salesman adds an extra price to his bills. Some of the largest wholesale houses dispense with them entirely, while others systematize their trade so that it appears to be wholly dependent upon their traveling men. But whether this class of employees benefit trade or not, we may accept them as a necessary evil, and depend upon their remaining always with us. Just so long as some houses send out traveling men most houses must employ them. The firm that would dare to dispense with drummers to-day must be exceed- ingly sure of their customers, and must expect to be lavish with printed matter. And the retailer who sits hack at his dignity and says "he does not buy of drummers," is not wise. The great volume of trade is done through traveling men. and this way of doing business has its advantages if it has also its disadvan- tages. 88 ON THE KOAD TO RICHES. One reason why traveling men have grown into dis- favor is because care has not been taken in selectinjr men to go on the road. There has grown up a popu- lar impression that but two things were needed — tongue and cheek, and if a young man appeared to be possessed of these two qualities in large degree, he was at once selected to go out on the road. I am glad to say that this idea is not so prevalent now. The hard times have cut down orders to such an extent that not every one who comes along can sell a bill of goods, and it has gradually come to light that the loud- mouthed fellows are the ones who are left out in the cold. So if you have had thoughts of copying one of these men you will do well to change your mind. What are the requisites of a traveling salesman? This is a difficult question to answer, and all the more difficult because when there come before my mind several men who are good salesmen, I find no two of them alike. Oftentimes I have met two men on the road who were known as first-class drummers, and have been surprised to see that they seemed to be totally unlike in everything. Of course the men they sell to are not alike, and it may be that one suits one class of merchants and the other another. Yet I think at the bottom the drummers will be found alike in a few points. I would put as the first requisite of a traveling salesman, that he should be a good judge of human nature, and quick to read other men's minds, so that in making a statement he could follow in his hearers' mind its effects, and be prepared to stop or go on at THE TRAVELING MAN. 89 the right moment. The stupid-headed mangoes on with his tale till it is finished,' though he may be weary- ing hi.- listener almost beyond endurance; but his . My spirits went from zero up to fever heat again. It was alter eleven o'clock when I began to pack my samples; then I counted my sales over again, and the figures $255 were so pleasant and meant so much to me that they were before me all night, and I did not sleep a wink. The next morning I was up at 4 o'clock to take a freight to the next town. I told the landlord I had not slept a wink; he hoped it was not the fault of the bed, and was much relieved when I told him it was the best bed in which I had ever been. 102 ON THE EOAD TO RICHES. CHAPTER XYII. A DRUMMER'S EXPERIENCE — CONTINUED. As will readily be imagined, I undertook my work on the second day with some feelings of confidence. Here I had gone to a town where our house was total- ly unknown to any of the dealers, and yet I had taken orders from every merchant in the place. The towns on my route for this day had been drummed by one of the firm, and we had more or less trade from them. It seemed reasonable to suppose that I would have less trouble to sell where the house had already sold. The train that came along at 4 o'clock in the morn- ing was a freight, with a caboose attached for such passengers as would ride at that time of day. Of course there were innumerable jars as the train start- ed and backed about the switches, but at last the en- gine gave a fierce shriek, and we started on our way. As we neared my destination a premonitory feeling came over me that I was not going to sell much there, and I was sorry to see the end of the ride. This feel- ing was one that remained with me during all my years of traveling. No matter what the circum- stances, I always felt a cold chill creeping over me as I neared my next stopping place, and a foreboding thut I was not to have much trade there. But when a dbumkeb's EXPEBIENOE — CONTINUED. 103 I struck out t<>r business this sensation was forgotten, and no matter what the encouragement, I did my b Tiiis town boasted two hotels, and of course two hotel-runners. One screeched "American House," and made a dive for my hand-valise, while the other veiled " Day's Hotel," and prepared to take poss< ssion of me. To this latter young man I turned, and [did not regret the choice when lie led mo into the "office," where I found a roaring fire sending out heat from a wide, old-fashioned fire-place. After breakfast I sallied out, my first point being one of the hardware stores. The town was much larger than the one 1 was in the day before, and was well drummed by New York, Buffalo, Cleveland and Toledo. The merchants were wide-awake men, ami tolerably close buyers. Id my line the dealers were much better informed than I was, and I made it my business to pick up all the information I could from them. I did not pretend to be well posted, but I was careful to avoid showing my ignorance. At the first place where T introduced myself the member of the firm who met me said curtly, that " they could not buy goods in Toledo." " I low is that?" said I, as if I did not understand his meaning. t% Because we can buy cheaper than you fellows can sell." was the answer. The point in my mind then was to see how cheaply they bought. There are two kinds of buyers: men who buy very close, and men who think they buy close. You can 104 ON THE EOAD TO RICHES. never be sure which class a man belongs to until you have tried him. I talked about the price of this, that and the other thing, until I saw about what profits I could expect to make on him, and then I was ready to quote. Of course, I had to make my prices as low as he had been paying, and even a little lower, in order to start him. He was one of the class who think they buy cheap because they send their orders to New York, and not because they are getting low prices. I have found a good many of this kind in business; men who would rather pay a little more, and be able to say they were buying in New York, than save money and have to admit they stocked up in Toledo or Chicago. The goods I was trying to sell this man were such as paid a good profit, and I was able to sell them as cheap as any New York house was quoting them. 1 saw that my figures rather predisposed him to buv, but that lie fancied it added to the importance of his house to order from New York. How to get over that was the next question. I remembered that the east- ern dealers were very prompt with their duns and state- ments; I took hold of that idea. I said that I would make the time sixty days. He said the time did not matter, but I saw that it did. At last I had his order; not a very large one, some- thing like seventy -five dollars, and I moved along. My next customer was a shrewd little German who dealt in almost everything. He wanted nothing in my line, he said — not a thing. Was sony, as he would like to give me an order, but he didn't really want a thing. That was somewhat discouraging, but I did not turn A DKUMMHU'S EX PEREENOE- -CONTINUED. 105 away. T began to talk of business, of Toledo, of every- thing that I thought would interest him, and all the time I was putting in side questions about his stock. At last I caught from him the fact that he did not have a very full stock of pocket cutlery, the line of all others that we were most desirous to sell. Then I began to drive remarks at him about the handsome line of samples that I carried; how cheap the goods were, and what big profits he could make on them. He did not seem to be overcome with their praises, but put off everything with the promise that he would not buy of anyone till I came around again, and then I should. have his order. But if a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, an order in one's book is worth a score that are only promised, and I had to take another tack. I was not a smoker, but before starting out I had bought half a dozen cigars, thinking they would come into play somewhere, and I drew one out now. " Have a cigar?" said I. " Thank you." When the cigar was lit we gossiped about one thing and another, and became very friendly. He told me abont his early start in business, his gains and losses, and his plans for the future. I tried to interest him in my efforts, and when we had chatted quite awhile I returned to the subject of pocket cutlery. I talked to such purpose that In' agreed to look at my samples, and we went to the hotel at once. They were arras for effect, ami the effect was good. I ran the prices over, showed how much profit he could make on them, and finally had the pleasure of hearing him .-ay: 106 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. ♦ "Well, I will give you a small order." Whether the goods were cheap or not, I am not now able to say, but I remember that he ordered in full packages, and when we were through it footed up one hundred and thirty dollars, and paid a large profit to the house. I was in excellent spirits now, and I went among the other dealers feeling like a lord. I took a couple more small orders, making my sales for the day about two hundred and fifty dollars, and then I was ready for the evening express to carry me farther on. The next stopping-place on my list was a large city, a place of ten or fifteen thousand inhabitants. We had sold but one firm in the place, and very few goods to them. I called there after supper, and found the buyer in. If every man doing business was as pleasant as the head of that house, drumming would cease to be labor, and become simply recreation. In years of travel on the road, I never met a man who was more genial, or who could send you away without an order, and still have you feel so perfectly satisfied. I was made to feel at home, and he was ready to chat with me. I saw at once that he was shrewd enough to take advantage of any low figures, so I quoted some goods at very low prices, lie said nothing at the time, but when I was bidding him " good-night," he remarked that he might do something with me in the morning. My sleep that night was sound and unbroken, and in the morning I was out pretty early to look after trade. I called upon my friend of the night before, A DRUMMER'S EXF-ERIENCE — CONTINUED. 107 and was able to take a good order from him; the per- centage of profit was not large, but I knew it would be satisfactory to the house. The other hardware men would not listen to me, but the moment I handed out my card said they wanted nothing, in a manner which said that if they were to speak all that was in their mind they would have added "of you." I turned my attention to the drug trade and got out my sample of white lead paint. The first dealer who took my card lifted his face from it to me, as if the boldness of a Toledo man trying to sell him was very amusing. " I don't believe you can sell me," said he, " I buy from the factories." This is a remark I afterwards heard frequently from a certain line of retailers; as if that was enough to crush the poor jobber to the earth. But my friend of that day bought of the factories to some purpose; ha had just got in a car-load of glass, and ten tons of white lead. I saw in a flash that there was about as good a chance of his selling us as of our selling him; but I was there and proposed to go off with flying colors. I quoted glass and lead to him a little less than they were costing us, and then, feeling that 1 had upheld the dignity of the house 3 and with a remark that "We Mould expect to hear from him when next he wanted goods," bowed myself out. I never troubled him again. The next stopping place was on a strap road, where I was four or five hours going eighteen miles. Luck was still with me. I sold no very large hills, hut I sold a good many small ones, and they counted up well. 108 ON THE ROAD TO KICIIES. I fear I would grow tedious if I were to describe the rest of my trip in its daily details. I had good trade in every town in which I stopped, and my sales for the first week were thirteen hundred and fifty dol- lars, and twelve hundred and fifty the second week. Before the first week was over I received letters from the house congratulating me upon my large sales, and cheering me on the way. So far as I was concerned I was as much surprised at my good fortune as any one could have been. But I found that I was a pretty good judge of human nature, and I saw where success was to come from, if it came at all. My first point was to gain the kindly interest of the man whom I was drumming — his interest for me, per- sonally; I talked with him about myself, not to boast, but to show him that an order would help me, and I led him to talk about himself. I explained that it was my first trip ; how many goods I had to sell ; how lucky I had been; and what a benefit it would be to me if I could keep on with the same good luck. And then I impressed upon him that if I continued upon that route, I intended to have my word always as good as any other man's word ; that I intended to represent goods just as I knew them to be ; and that I would treat my customers in money matters with the utmost leniency. I was fortunate enough to make men believe me, and I secured their orders. I sold goods over that route for ten years, and I never lost a customer because of making a misrepresentation to him. The men who bought of me became, after a time, not customers merely, but personal friends. A DRUMMER'S EXPERIENCE — CONTINUED. 109 When I went in business for myself, they seemed to rejoice with me, and their orders were made large just to encourage me. I traveled over and bnilt up other routes, in which I was equally successful. I never made a trip that was not a profitable one, and I never lost a customer un- less I dropped him for being bad or slow pay. I find my traveling experience one of the pleasantest parts of my business life, when I look back upon it. I was thoroughly acquainted with my customers, their clerks, and in many cases with their families. I was inter- ested in their success, not only because I wanted to continue trading with them, but because I had a warm feeling for them that trade had no part in. Their con- fidence in me was very pleasant. But the years have almost buried the hardships of a drummer, and leave me only the pleasant memories. Yet the work was hard, fearfully hard. I wasted very few hours in all my traveling. I never waited till morning for a train, if I could make time by going at midnight. I never was kept from going to a town because the weather was bad or the roads heavy. My trip was before me, and I took it as it came. Neither did I worry or run before other drummers in my line. I made up my mind that I could do better by mind- ing my own business, and I kept to it. I saw my com- petitors rushing around a town to get ahead of me, and I generally found they went too fast to get the orders. I paid no attention to them, but hung on for trade. "When I was through with a town, if I could not get 110 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. away at once, I did not play billiards with other drum- mers, but I made a sociable call on some of my cus- tomers. It drew us nearer each other, and everything that makes a customer more friendly, makes him a better customer. A man will not buy from a sales- man whom he dislikes, no matter how low the prices quoted ; he will pay more and buy of a friend. It is not strictly business, but it is human nature. ON THE KG AD — SELLING. Ill CHAPTER XVIII. ON THE HO A I) — SELLING. Tn giving the foregoing history of my early travel- ing experience, I have wandered somewhat from the path I had marked out for myself, but perhaps in re- lating my experience I may have covered some les- sons I might otherwise have overlooked. Let us now return to the general principals governing the selling of goods on the road, and the collecting of debts by traveling men. Of course you have selected your samples with great care; have seen that they are fully up to the standard of the bulk of the goods, and have arranged them so that they show off to the very best effect. Don't say of them as a young man once said to me. He had been showing me some samples that were nicely finished, and when I asked if the goods would conic looking ns well, he answered, innocently, "Oh, dear no; these are got up especially for me to take on the road." I did not give him an order, as I was just about to do, and I presume he wondered why I did not. Get your baggage checked and bring your wits to play at the outset. "What have you to do with a baggage-man, other than get your cheek? You have a great deal to do. You intend to travel over this road a great many times during the next few years, 112 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. do you not? Yon will come in contact with this man every time, probably; you may want a little accom- modation from him; there are numberless little things he can do for you during the year, and a travel- ing man cannot have a friend too many. Begin now by trying to make one. You will make but little impression upon him, but after two or three attempts you will get acquainted. Get aboard cars and be ready for the call: "Tour tickets, please." Here is another man whose good will you ought to secure. Conductors are often appealed to by country merchants for the name of agood grocery house, or a good dry goods house in the city. A con- ductor is supposed to know everything, and the mer- chant thinks he will be an impartial adviser in the matter of business. Taking men as they run, there is no class so accommodating as railroad conductors; and baggage-men, in spite of the belief to the contrary, are not far behind them. I and my traveling men have received kindnesses at their hands that we never could fully repay. "When you arrive at your destination you ought to be prepared with the name of the hotel you intend to stop at, providing the town boasts of more than one. The average town contains three or four places called by courtesy "hotels." Each hotel has a runner at the depot, and possibly two. If, when you step out on the platform, you waver when you hear: " Hotel, sir? hotel, sir?" you are lost. Half a dozen hands will grasp your valise at one and the same moment, and you will trulv be in the hands of the Philistines. ON THE ROAD — SELLING. 113 On the contrary, if you have prepared yourselfi beforehand yon will hand tin' proper porter your bag- gage check, an walk up to a man and hand him a card, and then wait lor him to say some- thing. I prefer to say: u Mr. Brown, my name is Green; I represent the firm of Salt & Sugar, Toledo; and 1 have some samples in groceries that I would be glad to show you." At the same time I handed him a card, not as an introduction, but merely to empha- size what I had said. lie will probably say that there is nothing in that 116 ON THE ROAD TO KICIIES. line that he needs to-day. Heaven only knows what a man may say, they say so much, except just what you hope they will ! If you have any inducements to offer by way of price or quality, bring them on. Be in earnest; don't imagine you can get an order with- out working for it; and may success attend you ! If you are fortunate enough to get an order from him, be careful about getting it down correctly. Get his firm name; the name of his postoifice— oftentimes the name of the station is different from the name of the postoifice; — complete shipping directions; and be sure that he understands terms and prices exactly as you do. I do not mean that you must go about this as if you were taking the census; get all the informa- tion quietly and naturally; and get it in a convenient moment. If you have been talking prices, and he opens the ball by saying : " Well, you may send me a barrel of this sugar and a barrel of that," do not stop? and, striking an attitude, say : " Let me see, what is the style of your firm ? " but take down the order at once, leaving room at the top for address and directions. You can get his address, etc., when he has stopped buying; so make it a rule to write down the order at once, and let everything else go for the time. "When you have his order, you want to make sure that he is responsible, if you have not already done so, but I will postpone that part of the subject, together with some remarks about collecting, for another chap- ter. ON THE BO AD COLLECTING. 117 CHAPTEE XIX. ON THE ROAD — COLLECTING. One of the axioms among wholesale men is: "A good salesman is a poor collector; and I think it is fully borne out by experience. But because this is so it does not follow that it could not be otherwise. Indeed, I am free to say that a good collector ought to be the better salesman. But I will give a sample of the conversation that often passes between drummer and country merchant. " "Well, Mr. Snyder, I want to send you what notions you need in my line; how is your stock? " " I'm a little low in some things, but I guess I won't order to-day." " What is the matter? Nothing wrong with the house, is there?" " No, the house is all right, but I must stop buying until I can pay you up once. " Oh, the pay is all right. Pitch in; buy what you want; we'll back you up." " I haven't the face to order with the account as it stands now. I guess I won't buy anything now, but will send your folks some money pretty soon, and then make a small order to last me till you come around again." 118 ON THE ROAD TO EICHES. "We will leave the conversation at this point, but we can be tolerably sure that the drummer got the order, even if he didn't get any money. During the last five years, when trade has not been pushing, such conversation as this may be heard in four stores out of live. The retailer really does not want to order because he has allowed his account to run be- hind, and the drummer is determined to get as big an order from him as he can. Let us look at this. Common-sense must suggest to us that the retailer would be wise in refusing to order. His best interests demand that he "pay as he goes." The drummer, judged as a drummer, is also wise in getting him to take an order. We take it for granted that the man is sound. How is it with the drummer's employers? Their interests would have been best served by not teasing the man into giving an order until he had reduced his account. There is no surer way to lose a customer than by let- ting him continually lap bills. Trouble must come through this; better when he owes fifty dollars, than when it amounts to five hundred. There is nothing more annoying to a drummer than the customer who is willing to buy, but will not because his account is past due, and he can't pay up. Judging from my own experience and from the experience of those who worked for me, I think I may safely say that of two men who are exactly alike in other respects, the one who keeps his ac- counts collected closely will sell the most goods in two, three or five years. In one year he might fall 0N T THE HOAD COLLECTING. 110 behind. The drummers from the large houses of the East have nothing to do with collections. The book- keeper makes them through statements and by draw- ing through the banks. Hut the drummers from the wholesale houses in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, and St. Louis, are obliged to collect as well as to sell. The accounts due on the route are entered in pocket ledgers, or made out on "statement'' sheets. I think there was never yet a man sent out on the 'road but was cautioned that he must put in his ''best licks" in collecting. As you are getting ready to follow your samples to the.depot, the Senior calls you back into the office with the announcement that "your accounts are ready/' And he opens the book at the first page and comments on each account as he comes to it. I imagine it would sound something like this, could we hear him : "Here's Smith dreadfully behind; hasn't paid up his bill bought six months ago. Punch him up hard. Tell him we're fearfully hard up, and must have some money. Brown's account is in pretty good shape; sell him all you can. Joy is the most provoking customer on our books. We dun him, and dun him, but it doesn't do the first bit of good. There is no satisfaction in doing business with him. Don't sell him unless lie pays up, and you can get big profits out of him. Martin is good, but slow. Sell him all he wants, but try and get some money out of him. Don't leave the town until Jackson pays up. I have. no confidence in him, and don't want his name on our 120 ON THE EOAD TO KICHES. Looks. Get this balance out of him, but don't sell him a dollar more," etc., etc. You begin to feel blue. Tou are well aware that some of the men that he finds the most fault with are the very ones upon whom you always depend for an order; and if you are to be so independent with them upon money matters, "good-bye " to their trade. But hope springs eternal in the drummer's breast; so you buy your ticket and trust to luck. The probabilities are that Smith has no money for you, and you make his account still worse by selling him another bill. Brown pays up but does not want anything. Joy gives you a part of his, and you sell him a bill at very bottom prices. Martin pays you a little, and buys a small bill — and so on. As you send in the orders you write all about Smith's affairs, and you are certain that the Senior will sniff awhile before be sends the goods, and in a day or two you will receive a letter informing you that you must push collections. Of course, you get angry at this; tell all the other drummers what an ass the " old man " is, and wish he would come out and try it himself awhile. The usual chain of circumstances that follow a drummer's collections are like this: You have secur- ed the trade of a country merchant and can rely upon his buying all his goods of you. The first bill you sell him is paid promptly when due. The next bill and the next are also as promptly paid. When you are around after the next bill he is a little bit short, and promises to remit it in a few days. You laughingly ON THE ROAD — COLLECTING. 121 tell him to take his own time, and sell him another good bill. Lie has your money ready to send to the house in a few days, but he sees a chance to buy some- thing that he thinks will pay well. He remembers how indifferent you were about it, takes you at your word, and uses the money instead of paying your bill. \Vhen you next come around he pays the first bill only. Gradually he drops behind little by little until he is quite deep in your debt. He has probably been trusting out goods as freely as you trusted him. It is utterly impossible for him to raise money enough to pay your balance at once; what shall he do ? There are two ways open to him: to buy lightly and push his collections until he has you paid up, or to stop trading with you entirely, buy of some other house, and pay you up as fast as he can. The latter way is the one oftenest chosen. And you see, when it is too late, that your careless manner of collecting has deprived you of a customer. What you ought to have done when he first began to lap bills was to give him cheerfully the few days he asked for, but to have it understood that the money would be sent in at such a time, and that you would explain the matter to the house. Under these circum- stances he would have worked hard to send in the money by the time agreed, and felt under just as much obligation to you. It is an exceedingly delicate mat- ter to dun customers who are some time past due. They may remit and feel all right; they may remit and say they did not know their credit was so poor; or they may wait till the poor drummer comes around 122 ON THE EOAD TO KICHES. and then pour the vials of their wrath on him. Didn't he say they might have all the time they wanted; didn't he promise this, that and the other thing? Here is his money, and they do not want to see him any more. I have tried to impress upon every young traveling man that it is for Ms interest to keep the accounts on his route collected up closely. And where it is impos- sible to collect in one trip all the bills that were sold on the previous trip, I strongly urge that every unpaid balance be put in a note. The advantages of having an account in this shape are apparent to every business man. For one thing, it settles the vexed cjuestion of interest. How many men there are who will not pay interest on an open account. And yet they pay inter- est on a note without a lisp. Again, and a very strong argument in favor of the notes is, there will be no confusion of accounts in either one's books. Every drummer knows what a series of misunderstandings lie in a string of open accounts. And a country mer- chant will be more anxious to take up his notes than he would be to simply pay off his account. Lastly, and by no means the weakest of the arguments, if the man is to be sued, or the money to be collected by any process of law, the note will save time and lawyer's fees. It is becoming more and more the custom to make collections through the banks by drafts. This could become more general if the drummers would familiar- ize their customers with the idea. At first, one drew on a man at the risk of forever offending him, but it is DN THE ROAD — COLLECTING. 123 not so bad now. If Smith says, " I can't pay you to-day, but will have a rai.se in a week from this," you can say: "All right; suppose the house draws on you in ten days, will that be satisfactory?" And if it is, the drummer notifies the house and the collection is made. This question of collecting is a many-sided one, and always a delicate one, even when you are trading with those who are anxious to pay, and who are finaneially sound; but when you begin to get among the men who are unsound, and who do not want to pay, then one needs to be as cool as an icicle and as decisive as fate. But of this hereafter. 124 ON THE ROAD TO KICHES. CHAPTER XX. ON THE KOAD COLLECTING. In the last chapter, referring to the subject of col- lecting, I advised the traveling salesman to take notes for unpaid balances. I gave reasons showing that this would be the wisest plan, both for settling up with those who are financially sound and willing to pay, and for enforcing payment from those who were too slow. Bad debts are inevitable. Every man commencing business estimates that a percentage of accounts will prove worthless, and plans accordingly. No matter how careful a salesman may be, he will sell to some men who are not responsible, or who never pay until they are compelled to do so. It is wonderful to see how many men there are doing business who have no credit, deserve none, and yet are able to keep their stock replenished by buying goods on credit. Compe- tition among jobbers " doing business for glory," and traveling men's habits of " taking the chances on this bill," help to keep a great many unsound retailers in trade. It is not a difficult matter for a salesman to learn the standing and responsibility of his customers, pro- vidino- he is a man who understands his business. It is his duty to sell to none but good men, and his inter- ON THE KOAD — COLLECTING. 125 est to make as few bad sales as possible. To decide as to a man's responsibility requires judgment more than rules. A man without a dollar might be a perfectly safe man to trust, if he were honest, economical, and understood his trade perfectly; while another worth thousands of dollars, but tricky, speculative, or neg- lectful of business, might be a very unsafe man to have on one's books. "When money is collected it should be sent home at once. It is a dangerous habit to carry much money around on the person, and it is well to have it known one never carries more cash about him than will take him to the next town. In taking bank-bills each bill should be examined with care, and if there is the slight- est doubt of the genuineness of any, the customer's attention called to it. If he does not replace it with another, make a minute of the number and amount of the bill, and of the customer's name, and then if it proves bad there can be no dispute as to where it came from. In taking drafts, either upon banks or individuals, have your customer endorse them. If they should be dishonored there will be no question as to where you received them, nor as to the payer's responsibility to make them good. Have them en- dorsed payable to your house, then if they are lost they will not be negotiable. The simplest and ordi- nary form of endorsement is this, written across the back of note or draft: Pay to Long & Short, or order. B row n & Smith. 126 ON TIIE ROAD TO EICHES. When a bill is long past due, and one can get no satisfactory explanation from the customer, while dun- ning is of no avail, he begins to think it is time to try the courts. There are two courses open: to give the account to a justice of the peace, or to send to a lawyer to have it sued. "Whichever way is determined upon, the chances are that he will be sorry and wish he had tried the other. Fully two-thirds of the justices are men who have no knowledge of law, and many of them do not possess common honesty. Some of them are excellent collectors, but they neglect to hand over what they collect. They take more interest in their neighbor who is sued, than in the creditor who lives a hundred miles away. Here and there one is found who understands the laws he is required to administer, and manages his affairs without fear or favor. But if justices are so very uncertain, what shall we say of the average country lawyer? If justices are bad, lawyers are many times worse. Indeed one should investigate the justice and lawyer with the same thoroughness that he gives to his customers' standing. Every traveling man finds that he has more trouble over the few accounts that are being forced through, than with all the other accounts combined. An account is left with an attorney, a receipt taken, and it is expected that the squeezing process will promptly begin. On the next trip the drummer calls to see what progress is being made, and is informed that everything is all safe, judgment secured for the amount, and writ in the hands of the sheriff. Again ON THE ROAD — COLLECTING. 127 he comes around and is informed that the lawyer had given the man a few days' grace under a solemn promise that the account would be surely paid at the expiration of that time, but he failed to come to time and now he is going to "catch it." On the next trip it is the sheriff who is in fault, and finally, when the property is attached and offered lor sale, no one appears to bid and collection is delayed. So it goes; every- thing combining to keep the merchant out of his money, until he thinks he would have been much wiser to have burned the account than to have attempted collecting it by law. In fact, so unsatisfactory is suing, that salesmen are more and more inclined to practice the art of coaxing, and are ready to accept almost any cash offer rather than go to law. One of the worst men on our boohs was brought to terms by coaxing, after a lawyer had declared there Mas no possible way of getting the man to pay. Our agent coaxed merchandise from him, and made him believe that he was really doing a sharp thing, to get rid of some of his stock and our account at the same time. It would be hard to find another such mixture of hardware, dry goods, notions, etc., as we received, and our first thought was that we would have done better to have presented him with the account, but we closed the goods out at satisfactory prices, and not only saved <>ur account, but were a little ahead on the trade. Two-thirds of the bills lost on the road are lost by delay in pushing things. Were the agent to promptly press matters, he would save the account in many 12S ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. cases where lie now loses it. Merchants are partly to blame for this; they are not so energetic in pushing collections as they ought to be. The largest bill I ever lost on the road was lost through the policy of the managing man of the firm. I sold the bill in the store, but afterwards added to it when I was in the party's town. He gave me a little money, and a good- sized order. Before I went to his place again I heard some reports damaging to him, and when I investi- gated them I found that if they were not true they were not far from the truth. I declined to sell him anything more, and did my best to get some money out of him. I succeeded in getting a small amount only. I made a statement of his affairs to the house, and ended by requesting their permission to go to the town again, and compel him to secure the claim, as I knew I could do at that time. The firm wrote back that they thought more was to be gained by coaxing; to go slow; nurse him along, and we might get our money out of him; whereas, if we were to make trouble, it might bring all his other creditors about his ears, and we would lose all. I was only a clerk, and had nothing more to say; if their pol- icy suited them it must suit me. But within sixty days the party was compelled to make an assignment, and we had not coaxed a dollar from him. Several creditors had pushed him after I saw him, and had their accounts secured by outside endorsers. I could have had our claim in the same shape, had the firm allowed me to do as I wished. It is rarely that a salesman is compelled to swear out ON Till' ROAD COLLECTING. 120 a writ of attachment, and he Bhonld do it then only under the advice of a good lawyer. If traveling men did less business for glory, and were more anxious for profit, there would not be bo much need of lawyers among business men. The Mercantile Agencies furnish books of reference for one State or a dozen States, and these, with good judgment and observation, would prevent a man from running into danger: but the trouble is that they run into danger with their eyes open. "He is good fortius hill." is the excuse they offer their own conscience, and so they send the order home. When the bill is due, it is somewhat harder to collect than it was to sell it. Traveling men, when at home, arc usually gay gen- tlemen of leisure, and here is where they make a grave mistake. If they have no special duties in the store, they should use every minute of the time in posting themselves as to changes in style and prices since they wmt on the last trip. It is impossible for a man to be too thoroughly posted about his business, and the stock of goods he is selling from. Be will also find it for his advantage to look through the orders he sent in, and see how they were filled. If any were not complete, let him learn why, so that he may be able to explain should his customer refer to it. Let him bear in mind that there is but one step more to be taken in his course — a step into the firm. By making himself master of the business and of a good paying trade, he makes himself master of the sit- uation. If these men do not sec that their interests will be advanced by giving him a share of the profits, 9 130 OX THE EOAD TO KICIIE>. other men will see it, and if he is fitted for it, his day of advancement will come. The traveling man holds the key to the situation; he may make himself worth just his salary, or he may wind himself about the busi- ness in such a manner that salary will not be a com- pensation, and others will see this much quicker than he will. There are plenty of opportunities — it is for him to grasp them. WILL YOU BE A PAETXEE? 131 CHAPTER XXL WILL YOU BE A PAETNEE? That man is surely to be congratulated who lias worked his way up in mercantile life from the position of porter, to where an interest is offered him in a well established business. The credit of it all is his, and his alone. Men often gain places of honor in life through political intrigue or influential friends, but business men do not give something for nothing, and when they make a clerk propositions that lead to part- nership, it is because they think he has deserved it and their own interests are to be advanced thereby. Becoming partner in an old house, one which has an established and paying trade, has much in its favor against other inducements, such as going into busi- ness for one's self, or taking an interest with a new firm. But the interest usually offered a clerk in an old house is apt to be a very small one, and little, if any, better than his old salary. Oftentimes a partner- ship is a decided damage to him. As junior partner he is compelled to do all the unpleasant work, to carry out the orders of others, and to be everything but independent. A clerk with proper self-respect may object to rules and regulations of a house, often modifies its orders, and will act on his own responsi- ON THE EOAD TO RICHES. bility, but the new partner can do nothing of the kind. Some men will work for less money just to have the name of being partner in the firm. Others are shrewd enough to take a large salary which is sure, rather than a percentage of profits that may be large and may be nothing, while in addition they may have to shoulder the responsibilities that will come in case of failure. "What a young man should do is something that cannot be decided by rules. One who has suc- cessfully made his way thus far in the world ought to be able to decide for himself whether the offered part- nership will be an advantage to him or not-. But it is best to be very cautious. The London Punch boiled down a chapter entitled, "Advice to Those About to Marry," into this one word: "Don't." The advice is equally good for those who are about to enter into a business partner- ship. He must be a very careless observer who has not seen that there is more or less jarring and friction between the members of every firm. Brown thinks Smith buys too many goods; Smith thinks JKobinson does not financier wisely; Eobinson finds fault with both Brown and Smith; and so they go, each with his own grievance. One of the most surprising things to me, when I had become well acquainted on the street, was to see the almost universal discords and jealousies that existed among business partners. Nine firms out of ten are not satisfied with their make-up. As it looks to an uninterested observer, they seem to be quarreling about trifles, and making mountains out of miniature WILL YOU BE A PAKTNKU? I:;:'. mole-liills, but the unpleasantness may be a very real and vexatious tiling to the complaining party. I believe it was a Greek of whom it is told that when her friends began to argue his unjustness in putting away his wife, a woman whom, according to them, all the virtues adorned, he for an answer held out his foot and asked them to tell him whereabouts his shoe hurt him. They could not oblige him with the informa- tion; whereupon he said — but the point is too plain to be enlarged upon. It was a capital way of teaching them that every man knew his own troubles best. Similarly in business, the whole city may sing the ] »raises of one's partner, and still he may be a very unpleasant man to be in business with. I have noticed, however, in connection with this matter of fault-finding among partners, that he who does the most of it is invariably the one who works the least. When I see a man going up and down the street, pour- ing his story into every ear that will receive it, I decide in my own mind that he is the weak link in the chain, and that if he attended to his share of the business his partners would not, necessarily, be so much remiss in theirs. The man who publishes the name of his own household, is a very small man indeed. "It is a very dirty bird that fouls its own nest." A man's partners in business stand to him in so close a relation that their honor should be his honor, and their good name should lie as dear to him as his own. From innumerable instances I select one that bi to be an ordinary example of this fault-finding among partners. Two men doing business near me seemed to 131 ON THE KOAD TO KICHES. be well-matched for partnership and success. One was talkative, sociable, and a fair salesman; the other was reserved, industrious, and a good financier and buyer. They did a fair business and made money. After a time it came to the ears of the quiet man that his partner was in the habit of talking of him as if he was an incumbrance on him; as if all the success was due to the talkative partner, and the reason that the success was not greater was because of the apparent faults of the man who really did all the work of the house. He was a man who was not able, like the other, to appear one thing when he felt differently, and there was an unpleasant feeling between the two from that time. The busy man neglected his work, the talkative man began to have a real grievance to relate, and between them both the business went to the wall; and the public, who had judged them both rightly, said it served them right. During my traveling experience I was made the confidant of my customers, and the first secret imparted to me was invariably a complaint against the partners, if they had them. If you have a clerk in your employ, you know that you must treat him as he ought to be treated or} T ou will lose him. As a clerk, too, you expect him to be re- spectful to you. As a partner you may treat him as your mood is, and he dares not object, or he in turn may be sullen and unpleasant to you and you must bear it. If, after all this, yon decide to join the firm, see that yon are not "going it blind." "Never buy a pig in WILL YOU BE A PAKTXKK? 135 the poke." In inventorying stock you will notice if goods are entered at their market value, and your knowledge of your customers will enable you to judge if the book accounts are estimated at their correct worth. If the profits for a few years back have aver- aged satisfactorily, and if those years are such as you can reasonably expect to see repeated — having ups and downs in them — you can make a fair estimate of what your interest will bring you. This figure should beat least fifty per cent, higher than the salary you have been receiving. If this examination is favorable and you conclude to accept the proposition, the next step should be to draw up articles of partnership, or rather, to have them drawn up by a thoroughly competent lawyer. Under no circumstances would I go into partnership with a man, or men, without being protected by this agree- ment. As they ought to be drawn up by a lawyer, I will not give any form for these articles. They usually signify that John Smith, Thomas Brown and Richard Robinson, or whatever the men's names may be, " have this day entered into partnership, for the purpose of buying and selling dry goods, at Toledo, Ohio, under the firm name of Smith, Brown and Robinson. That the capital of the firm is twelve thousand dollars, {>f which John Smith contributes one-half, Brown one-quarter, and Robinson one-quarter, ami that the profits arising from the business shall be divided, or the losses borne in this proportion," etc. If there are to be any special arrangements, here is the place to record and bind them. Let the minutest 13G ON THE KOAD TO BICIIES. particular be incorporated in the articles of co-partner- ship, and there will be less chance for misunderstand- ings in the future. If not inserted in the articles, it ought to be distinct- ly understood what particular duty each member of the firm is to perform or take in charge. The man who is sharpest, best posted, and is fitted for the place, should be the buyer. Another should take charge of the office work, while others should have charge of the store itself, getting out orders, keeping up stock, etc. If each one has his path marked out for him in this way, there will be much less chance for friction; but if each one is to make himself "generally useful," there will be no end of clashing, and it will finally end in one having to do all the work, while the others go up and down the street complaining of their partner to whoever will listen to them. Such a partner as this will destroy whatever pleasure there might other- wise be found in doing business. He will begin with petty stories that mean nothing, but will continue until he is prepared to falsify every action of his partner. And a man of this kind is always a two- faced one. Though he is filling the city with positive falsehoods about you, he will endeavor to impress upon your mind that he is yonr staunchest friend, and is under great obligations to you for your successful management of the business. Of course there are good partners to be met with; men who devote themselves to the business with the same earnestness that you bring to it: men who are too honorable to peddle stories about the street, even WILL YOU BE A PARTNER? 137 if the stories had a foundation of fact to rest upon, and men \vh<> remember they are only partners, and not sole owners of the busine Look at the history of the houses near you. There are A, B, and C, who began business in 'n'4. At the end of the year C left the firm. In '67 D bought in. In 'CO 13 left. A and D continued in business a year and then they gave two of their clerks an interest with them. Since January, '71, there have been two changes, making h.y changes in eleven years. Such constant changes do not tell a good story, and un- doubtedly have been a damage to their trade. In another house two of the salesmen were made partners with an interest in the profits ten years ago. One of these clerks was made manager of the business, and he put his shoulders to the wheel with an energy that deserved good things in return. Last year he withdrew from the firm. During the time he was with it they had had a good trade, and ought to have made money, but lie told me he would have been money in pocket had lie kept on at his old salary. So you see " an interest in the house" is not quite so sure a step to riches as you have been thinking. If you have a little money of your own I shall be sur- prised if you do not start in business for yourself, and be the founder of a house that will one day rival your late employer's. 138 ON TUE KOAD TO EICHES. CHAPTER XXII. STARTING- IN BUSINESS. The young man who fancies that being a clerk in a dry goods store is more " respectable " than being a farmer, a carpenter, a printer, painter, or machinist, is not the young man to think of going into business for himself, even though he can command a goodly capi- tal. To conduct business a man must be possessed of some small amount of brains, and this fact is a fatal obstacle to the young man just mentioned. The man who is afraid of soiling his hands, and thinks no gentleman should be seen doing manual labor, had better buy into an established business, for he never can build up a trade by his own merits. The man who considers that all that is necessary to get rich is to rent a room, stock the shelves with goods, and the people will come nocking in, anxious to pay him big prices, had better invest his money in city bonds and hire out as clerk. He may eventu- ally learn wisdom, but he will surely save his money. Business men are born to be business men, and are not accidental out-croppings from the great army of smooth-haired, nice young clerks who would rather starve in the city than be independent in the country. The men who work to the front are those who have STARTING IN BUSINESS. 139 energy, tact and judgment. The greatest merchants have been men who began poor, and most of them have given as the key-note of their success — personal industry. Franklin said : " In short, the way to wealth, if you desire it, is as plain as the road to market. It depends chiefly on two words — industry and frugality; that is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both." A man of business should be able to fix his atten- tion on details, and be ready to give every argnment a hearing. He should have a patient temperament, and a vigorous, but disciplined imagination; then he will plan boldly, and execute promptly. Success in life mainly depends upon perseverance. When a man has determined to follow a certain line of business, he must at the same time resolve to per- severe until success crowns his efforts. You have determined to go into business for your- self; your capital is not large, and you are prepared to begin life proportionately, determined to " ham- mer away " until you have acquired wealth. May success crown your efforts! If I were starting in business, the first point to which I would naturally pay attention would be to obtain a proper room in the best location. It is essential to the success of a retail tradesman that he should establish himself in some leading thorough- fare. It is much easier for you to go to your custom- ers than to draw customers to you. A wholesale dealer will, or should, naturally, locate himself among the wholesale dealers, and if there is one particular 140 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. street in the city where his branch of trade is gener- ally located, there is the best place for him to com- mence business. In selecting a locality always bear in mind that " a rolling stone gathers no moss." Fix upon premises that you may stay upon as long as you live. " Three removes are as bad as a fire," is as true of business as of household affairs. Having found the store you want, do not put in an article until you have secured a lease of it. ]STo one should be a tenant at will. If you are successful in building up a good business, you make the store a more valuable one. It is more valuable to you, be- cause your customers know where to find you, and have become accustomed to stopping at your door. It would be very valuable to other dealers in your line of business, as they, by occupying the store, would catch a good deal of trade that was meant for you. Consequently, have a written lease of the room, or rooms, and take the lease for a number of years, or for a few years, with the privilege of continuing it a longer period. The next step in order is to provide store furniture and fixtures. Of course these will depend altogether upon your business. A retail grocer does not provide the elegant room that the dry goods dealer considers necessary. A retail boot and shoe store cannot com- pete with the jeweler's room. So among the whole- salers; a hardware store requires shelves; a dry goods store tables; a boot and shoe dealer scarcely anything but a bare room. There is the office, however, and an STARTING IN Bl 8INES6. 1 I 1 important part of every wholesale store. There is a chance for display when fittting up the office, providing yon want display. I remember a concern who were doing business in my day, who fitted np their office with royal extravagance; magnificent desks for every one, from the private desks of the proprietors down to the porter's desk; splendid and very high-priced car- pets; clocks that would have done credit to the Tuil- eries; inkstands and so on of beautiful design and cor- respondingly expensive. It was a treat to go through their office. But when, a few months later, it was known that the firm was compromising with their creditors, and were not paying anywhere near one hundred cents on the dollar, there was a srencral wasr- ging of heads, and a universal " I told you so," among the merchants who clung to old fogy principles. Not that the office furnishings had ruined them, hut that room was a fair exhibition of their style of doing bu>i- ness — too much paid out for show. A business office should be fitted up for business, not for a ladies' reception-room, nor to look like a parlor in a dwelling house. A traveling man's expe- rience has taught him that all the wisdom of the world is not confined to city limits, but that our country cousins can easily match us in putting two ami two together, and making them count four. And these same country cousins, upon entering an office which has been fitted up as it for a lady's boudoir, are apt to inquire, "who pays for all these things?" Fix up your office so that it will be convenient and comforta- ble for yourself and your clerks, but do not imagine 142 ON THE ROAD TO EICHES. that you will get a larger order from a customer out of an upholstered chair, than you would if you were both seated on a box of merchandise. Tour signs will next demand your attention. If your business is such that you can, have a sign out indicating the character of it. If in the hardware trade, you can have a pad-lock or an anvil ; if in boots and shoes, an immense boot; and so on. Do not be niggardly about your signs. They are to last for years. Have your name and your business promi- nent. The fewer words the better. A sign like this: JOHN BROWN, DRY GOODS. is seen farther, and serves the purpose better than if you had attempted to say more; compare it with this: JOHN BROWN, Dealer in DRY GOODS ani NOTIONS. If you have rented a tenement from basement to garret, place signs on every story; you are only paying out so much for a permanent advertisement, and with- out advertising you need not expect to do much busi- ness. Signs at the door are also desirable, as they catch the eye of the passer-by, who would not have looked above his head. Such signs may have several words on them, as one begins to read them when he is STARTING IX 143 some distance away, and continues to face them for several seconds. I like one after this style: CHOICE GROCERIES CANNED GOODS, Fresh Fruits and Vegetables PURE IMPORTED WISES. Strictly One Price. 14i ON THE KOAD TO MCHES. CHAPTER XXIII. BUYING GOODS. An old-fashioned trader is said to have made his money by " buying cheap and selling dear." "Whether " selling dear " is a good business principle or not does not concern us at this time, but there is no doubt that "buying cheap" is an absolute neces- sity, both for the purposes of building up trade and of making money. The man who can sell goods is a valuable man to have around, but the man who can huy rightly is a necessity. If business was done on the principle we so often see in the retailers' adver- tisements, "One Price Only," one man could buy as well as another, but there are about as many different prices for the same article as there are customers; and in a great measure this is a necessity. It is all well enough to advertise a business as being strictly one price, and it is possible to carry on a retail business on this principle; but the jobber finds himself obliged to cut his garment according to his cloth, and do the best with each customer that the circumstances admit. It is right that a man who buys one hundred gross of an article should get them cheaper than one who buys a single gross. It is right that a man who pays promptly should buy cheaper than one who allows his BUYING GOODS. 145 bills to drag along months after they are due. It is right that a man who is sound beyond possibility of doubt should buy cheaper than one who is liable to be Bwamped by any little change of trade. But the men who ought to buy cheapest are not always the ones who do. I have known some of he sharpest buyers to be men who bought only in very small quantities, and men, too, of small means. The seller takes the buyer's measure in a very short time, and the figures are quoted according to the man, and not to his cir- cumstances. The talk about the riirht and the wron» of the thing is, in my opinion, all bosh. An article is worth what it will sell for. If I ask you five dollars for a pair of shoes, and you pay it, we have simply made a trade. You have my shoes and I have your money. If you did not like my price, or if you could have done better elsewhere, you were not obliged to buy my shoes. It was your privilege to take them or not, as you saw fit. If I had sold the shoes to you for perfect shoes when I knew them to be imperfect, I cheated you. If I told you five dollars was the lowest price I ever sold a pair for, or would sell for, when I had sold out of the same case for four dollars and a half, I lied to you. But if you asked me my price and paid it, I have treated you honestly, even though I should let another pair of the same shoes go for four dollars. The one price system is a favorite idea among an enthusiastic class of men who think they can do any- thing until they have a chance to try their skill. Two young men came to a western city from two of 10 146 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. our prominent eastern cities and opened a jobbing store. Coming from the East they naturally thought it would require but little effort to outsell the traders already established in the place of their destination. Business was to be done "on the strictest business principles," according to their advertisement, and everything was to move like an automatic show of wax figures. But, above all else, they were to have but one price, and only one price. To Tom, Dick and Harry; to the man who bought one dozen spools of thread, and to the man who bought a thousand dozen, there was to be no difference in jjrice; "busi- ness was business." They opened a very fair stock of goods, sent men out on the road to solicit trade, and prepared to do a laro;e business. But somehow or other the lar^e busi- ness did not come to them. Their prices were as in- flexible as the laws of the Med.es and Persians, and every one had to pay their price or leave the goods. You can see how it would naturally work. A, who buys but one dozen collars at a time and has been paying sixty cents, finds that the new firm sells the same article for fifty cents. He buys a dozen. B buys fifty dozen at a time and is a good customer; the the old houses sell him close and quote this collar at 43c. lie calls on the new firm. Their price is 50c. Can't they do a little better than that? No, sir, if he took a thousand dozen. All right, he must buy else- where. The one price system means cheap goods to the small trader, or careless buyer, but means high prices for the close buyer. Our friends found they BUYING GOODS. 147 had not done the business they expected; what was tho matter? Their traveling man explained that he was cutoff from large orders because lie could not make concessions. Still they did not see it. Another 3 Bhowed them no different result. They now began to believe they had made a mistake, but it was too late to amend their fortunes. Among good buyers they had the name of being above the market, and they could not gain any of that trade. They closed out their business poorer and wiser men. A good buyer must of necessity be a man possessed of a good memory. He must be well and thoroughly posted. He must be a man of pleasing address and of genial temperament. You cannot scowl a man's price down; yon may coax it down. If there are a dozen manufacturers of a particular article, a good buyer will not give his order until he has learned the lowest price of each of the twelve. The aim of every man in business should he to buy lower than his neighbors. To do this he must never be satisfied with a quotation until he know- he cannot better it. The ordinary buyer goes to New York and puts up at a hotel. His next move is to call on some of his cronies among the houses selling goods in his line, and with them he mikes "a night of it.' 1 Ee is treated to win' at their expense, cig.u-s. goes to the theater, etc., and is escorted to his hotel. In the morning they arc waiting tor him in the hotel ofl and their friendly watchfulness keeps him from get- ting into other hands until they have sold him all he wants. He may know that he is paying a Utile more 148 ON THE ROAD TO KICHES. than he had been offered the same goods for, but how can he complain, they are such good fellows! It is no uncommon thing to have goods offered in one's own store for less money than his partner is paying for them in New York. We all have our preferences, and would be glad to indulge them providing we do not have to pay for it; the man who pays a little more for an article because the seller is his friend, is unfit to be in business. When you go to the city to buy goods, carry a carefully-prepared memorandum of what you are going to buy. Where partners are in business this should be gone over carefully, with each one by to assist and advise. The opinions of the stock clerk and salesman should also be consulted. The first business on hand is getting posted. Don't imagine that you must be dignified and impressive in order to get the lowest figures; the same qualities that make a man successful in introdu- cing himself when selling goods are necessary when he is buying goods. If the house knows you and your standing, all you have to do is to begin the busi- ness of posting up at once. If you are a stranger, you will give them references; state how you want to buy, whether for cash or on time, and then ask to be shown through the stock. Inform your man at the outset that you are not in- tending to buy that day, nor until you have posted yourself up a little, and that you intend to buy where you can do the best. Don't tell too much, however. A s you are not intending to buy then, it is not neces- BUYING G00D8. 149 sary to tell him just how much of this, that and the other thing you are going to order, unless you are going to make a large order — then tell him by all means. When you do order, he may object to giving you such very low figures on so small an amount of that particular item, but he cannot very well go up on it. We must be " wise as serpents," we are told; and it is a very wise man indeed who knows when to hold his tongue. It is for your interest to make the salesman who is showing you around your friend. lie can help you if he chooses. If your memory is not an excellent <>ne write down the prices he gives you. When he lias shown you around, call on another, and repeat the performance. Don't buy until yon have been around the circle. Comparing notes after your campaign, you will probably find quite a variation in prices. Make lists of the articles that each house is cheapest, and then go around and give your orders. The one who is largely the cheapest should be called on first. After you have ordered the articles on his list, see if hi' will not put in the other goods at the prices quoted by the other houses. If he will, give him the order; it is not well to cut up your trade unless you can buy cheaper by so doing. You have now got your stock of goods and are post- ed as to market prices. You will probably keep vour stock up during the season by buying of traveling mi 'n. And I think it is generally conceded that one can buy much cheaper in his own store, of traveling men, than he could if in the seller's store, dealing 150 ON THE KOAD TO KICIIES. direct with the principals. Men are out to sell, and they will sell if they possibly can. Keep in their srood srraces. Thev can serve you well, if treated with the courtesy that their position entitles them to. But it is not good policy to get one man's figures sim- ply for the purpose of making some one else come down in price. Be tied to no house nor man. Buy of the man who offers you the cheapest goods, and guarantees the quality to be equal to the others. Enter every order you give in a book kept for that purpose; minute the quantities, prices, and terms of payment. When the invoice is received, compare it with this order. If any discrepancy exists, report it at once. But after all, a very important maxim in buying is to buy no more than you want. Two-thirds of the men who fail in the business are of the class who will buy twice as much of an article as they really need, because they can get it five per cent, less! How often have you not known some of your customers to buy two years' stock of an article simply because you made a concession in price? Don't buy more than you want for your season's trade, no matter how cheap it is, unless you have money lying idle in the bank, and you are sure you will not need it in your business. Where two different manufacturers make a similar article, and sell at the same figure, buy the goods that are best known in your market. And when you have bought, and know that you have bought at low figures, do not boast of it on the street. My experience leads BUYING GOODS. 1 5 1 me to think that the man who goes up and down the street boasting of his purchases, is generally the man who pays very good prices; for men with close figures do not name them to a man who has not capacity enough to keep his business to himself. Rules for buying goods might be boiled down into two maxims: Goods are never cheap enough, provided they can be bought cheaper. A goood buyer hears and sees a great deal more than he tells. 152 ON THE EOAD TO KIOHES. CHAPTER XXIY. STORE ASSISTANTS. "While your goods are coming to you from near and far, and before you attempt to open or display them, let us see about your needs in the way of help — por- ters, clerks and salesmen. You will find one hundred men who will be willing to work for you, and there may not be a good one for your purposes among the number. The market is overstocked with clerks. To- day's quotations are similar to yesterday's, last month's, last year's. " ' Prime; ' the number of 'prime' offer- ing are few, and easily selected by good merchants. There was a brisk demand for ' good ' at fair prices. ' Culls ' were plenty, but the price was only nominal, as there was no demand." There is no position in the store that is not a place of trust, and none that your interest does not require should be filled by a trusty person. But because the porter does not sell, does not touch the cash, does not handle the checks, we are apt to think that almost any one who will work for the wages is suitable for the position. We hire a man, and the first transaction with him after he has come to work is to give him the key of the store! Every dollar we own in the world is in goods piled up on our shelves, and the porter has a key STORE ASSISTANTS. 153 to the room; but we think any one will do for a porter! Outside of the largest cities a good porter can be hired lor wages varying from $25 to $50 per month. He should bring you undoubted references as to his honesty, sobriety and disposition. lie should be able to read and write, and the better he can do these the more valuable he will be. He should be at the store in the morning early enough to have it cleaned out by the hour when it should be opened for trade. He should be the last one there at niudit. You could probably hire a boy for much less than you will have to pay a man, but it is doubtful economy. Boys have so much else on their mind that they cannot bring themselves down to mere business duties. I had ex- perience of this kind which fully satisfied me. One boy was naturally quick and bright; what he did he did well. But there was always trouble between him and the clerks above him. He was really too smart for the position. He left and I had a siege with a wooden-headed young man. It was his duty to see that the store was securely fastened every night, but I aecidently discovered a back-door wide open one night, long after he had gone home, and after that I made it my duty to see if all was properly secured before I left the store. I think I found the door un- locked at least one night out of three, and all cautions and complaints could not make him more faithful. When a man took his place I slept easier o'nights. A good man can be relied upon, and will ease your mind of worry. Select him with caution, treat him fairly, and he will stay with you for years. 151 ON THE IiOAD TO KICUES. The stock clerk should be one who has had experi- ence in the business, and a person of good judgment. A man who has been salesman on the road makes the best stock clerk. It should be his duty to get out orders, mark goods and put them away, check invoices of goods coming in, and to report goods running low, so that more can be ordered before the stock shall be quite exhausted. He should have, under the proprie- or, full charge of the store and clerks outside the office. Men with the experience and ability necessary to fit them for this position are not plenty. They demand a salary of from $800 a year upwards, according to ability and experience in trade. The shipping clerk should be a young man who is anxious to work his way up in the store. He should be able to write plainly and rapidly. After seeing to shipping, checking off goods going out and in, to see that no mistakes are made, he shonld assist at getting out orders. Boys of eighteen or twenty can be found for this position who will work for small pay, and the sons of men who are wealthy will often work without wages, but these are generally very dear help indeed. The entry clerk should have a desk in the office, and another in that part of the store where the orders are laid out. The duties of the position are not very heavy, and as the book-keeper is expected to examine his work and watch his progress, a young man who is able to write well and rapidly can fill the position, even if he has no previous business experience. He should be quick at figures, and as nearly absolutely correct as jjossible. While you can hire young men STORE AJSSISTAJrrS. 153 for this position at very low wages $25 to $50 per month — you will find that it is true economy to pay a good price and get a man with some previous business experience. As the book-keeper is in a great measure responsible for his work, he should be obliged to respect his wishes and directions. To rind a good book-keeper is a very perplexing task. You are necessarily so much in his power; the position is one that requires perfect integrity; and unless hi absolutely correct, lie may by somepetty blunder drive away a customer whose trade is worth hundreds ot dollars per annum. The average book-keeper is a very dapper fellow. His clothes are made by the most fashionable tail< >r. and are one hundred per cent, better than his employer wears. His time is so fully taken up with society that lie is obliged to make appointments for business hours. He passes through the store entirely unconcerned, though there may be several customers waiting for one salesman to attend to them. And he expects that every January shall see an advance in his salary. To keep a set of books does not require a vast amount of brains, nor a very long apprenticeship. To be a good book-keener requires a clear head, ex^l- lent judgment, correct habits, and the ability to write and compute with great rapidity. And this is why good book-keepers are so difficult to find. If you should advertise for one you would be overrun with applicants within a few minutes after the issue of the paper, but it would not be strange if there was not a desirable man anions the number. 156 ON TIIE KOAD TO KICIIES. "When you find one who is well recommended, take him awhile on trial, and then, if he pleases you, determine to keep him so long as he attends to his duties. Let him and all your other men know exactly what their duties are, and hold each one to a strict performance of them. Your book-keeper, if he is quick and correct, will gradually take almost entire control of your office atfairs out of your hands, pro- viding you allow him. For your sake, and for his, do not allow it. Giving a young (or old) man entire control of your books and easily only relying on a monthly balance sheet, is simply placing temptation in his way. Monthly balance sheets are good things in their way, but they do not offer the slightest pro- tection against an accountant who desires to peculate, and they do not show that the postings are absolutely right, though they are popularly supposed to show that everything is in perfect order. A balance sheet will tell me that I have posted Smith's, Brown's and Johnson's payments to the credit side of their account, but it will not show whether I have posted the pay- ments to the right accounts or not. The $50 paid by Smith may have been credited to Johnson, and the $20 paid by Johnson may have been credited to Smith, but the balance sheet does not discover mis- takes of this character. If you keep a close watch on all your money receipts and expenditures, your daily cash balances, and sign your own checks and drafts, you will be doing yourself and your book-keeper a duty that should never be neglected. Merchants are npt to place strong temptations in the way of their STORE ASSISTANTS. \ ■> t clerks, and the failure to resist is more a weakness than a crime. The salesmen are the most important of your clerics; a good one will increase your business, add to your profits, and be of the same service as a partner would have been. A poor salesman will drive away trade, and may ruin your prospects. Let " fancy men " severely alone. Avoid all " loud " fellows. Do not allow a man who indulges freely in intoxicating liquors, to carry your card through the country. A man of quiet manners, unostentatious both in dress and in speech, quick-witted, a ready reckoner, and one who is ambi- tious to work his way up in the world, will sell more goods, make more friends and keep them, and get bet- ter prices than will one who works only that he may have better clothes, and be more of a " b-hoy." Men who have had experience in a retail store generally do better on the road than they would without that expe- rience. As with your book-keeper, so with your traveling men; if you are careless about their accounts, you are measurably responsible should the temptation be too great, and they should fail to report all their collec- tions. Have them report their collections daily; bal- ance their accounts each trip; oblige them to settle up all accounts by note if they are not paid, then you have the note or the cash. Have them keep an accurate account of traveling expenses, and let them see that you watch this account closely. Advise with them about purchases, and make them interested in your suc- cess beyond the mere point of their salary. 15S OX THE ROAD TO RICHES. In a former chapter I have said something about partners who had too much to say about one another. I want to say here that many merchants talk too much about their clerics. If a man does pretty well on the road, they sing his praises up and down the street; if another lias a poor trip, or has made a loss for the firm, they are anxious that every one shall know how much tliey are displeased witli him. The true business man keeps his lips closed about his affairs, except when it is necessary to speak. He does not damn his men one day and praise them the next. If he has a complaint to make, it is made to the one who has offended, and not to Tom, Dick and Harry, who have no interest in it whatever. There are men so constituted that they can never find fault in a straightforward, manly man- ner. If they are in business and have a jjartner, they push all such work over on him. Then they take care that the offender shall see how much better fellows they are than the partner who has been complaining. One does not know what human nature is before he has been in partnership. Before I leave the subject of employees, I must nofc omit mentioning the danger of having clerks who talk too much. Be watchful of your men in this particular. If you hear of your book-keeper's mentioning any details of the business outside, discharge him at once; lie is a dangerous man. If you hear or know of any of your housemen having told the cost of goods, or any other matter that should not be spoken of except among themselves, set them adrift as soon as possible. If you have a clerk who is so thoroughly stupid as to let a STORE ASSISTANTS. 159 drnmmer pump him, and draw out of him the pr you have been paying fortheg Is he Is trying to sell yon, you had much better pay that man to Btay out of the store. Be stricl npon this point. Have your men understand that they arc paid for keeping their lips shut about your business, and do not keep a man whom you know to have violated this rule. Thousands of men arc ruined by the chattering of their clerks; do not allow your name to he added to that list. In selecting clerks for a retail store as much care must he observed as if the business was of the largest proportions. Every person who steps into a store does not come in with his mind made up to purchase. Some of the customers come in merely by accident; some of the callers are on a tour of enquiry; some; come in without any intention of buying then or thereafter, but merely to pass away time, or to post themselves so that their regular dealer may not take advantage of them. And the clerk who will take trade of this kind, and turn it into purchasing customers, must be something more than a wooden-headed young man. It does not do to take every man's word for it that he does not intend to buy. That is a question yon can decide better after you have tried, and you ought to have some men around you whom you would be willing to turn over one of these questioners to, with the feeling that the clerk will get an order from him. if one is to be had. The first important requisite of a good clerk is that he shall understand his business. I know of nothing more unsatisfactory than to trade with a man who knows no mure about his goods than is told on 1G0 ON THE EOAD TO EICIIES. the label. I would rather twice over attempt to sell a bill at wholesale to the ordinary merchant, than to wait on the best class of consumers, unless I knew my business from A to Z. The merchant's knowledge of an article is often merely a selling knowledge, but the consumer is a practical man, knows what he wants, may have posted himself among his neighbors about their experience, and he is an expert to all intents and pur- poses in the line of goods he asks for. If I make a mistake he is abundantly able to correct me, and if he sees I am not well posted in the article I am selling he can easily confuse me. "We all like to deal with a man who knows his trade, and we have more confi- dence in the goods you are commending when we have found you are well posted about other brands known to us. I think it a sure sign of ability in a young man to see him constantly learning points about the goods he is handling, and who has an eager interest in every thing concerning his trade. I go into stores daily where clerks have only the most superficial knowledge about their wares, and I am surprised that they are kept in employ. There are enough young men who will eagerly grasp at a chance to work up, and no clerk can work up without at the same time helping his employer. It it the best test of the value of a clerk to know if he is working towards a higher goal or not; if he does not care for his own future he cer- tainly will not strain himself in your behalf. Then the clerk with knowledge should have a pleas- ant manner. There are a great many ways of being STORE ASSISTANTS. 161 pleasant; but one can be affable and jet need not sit down and tell stories to one man, while others are standing around with no one to wait on them. The clerk who can sell a bill the quickest is the best clerk in a large retail store where time is money. Yet there are men who can hurry trade and at the same time appear to be taking it very leisurely. One does not need to rush at a customer with a " what is it you want?" as if you wanted him to buy like lightning and then clear out. One of the most disagreeable men to me in a store when I buy goods, is a clerk who dives at me the moment I come in the store with, "something you wish?" and I always think he is sroinjr to add — " because if there lis'nt we have no room for loafers. " But I know him so well that I know it is only his way, but it is a very disagreeble way to me. A very unbusiness habit permitted in many stores, is that of allowing clerks to carry on chat with each other while they are waiting on customers. I know of nothing more exasperating than to have a man ask you "what next?" and when he begins to cut or weigh the article out, see him turn to a brother clerk at his left and pick up the thread of his story, about "what I said." and "he said," and more especially what "the said." This ought not to be permitted for a moment. A clerk has all he can attend to properly in waiting on the customer before him, and if he is anxious to talk let him talk about the goods he wants to sell. It is a great mistake when you have several clerks to pay them all the same salary. It does not encour- 11 102 ON THE ROAD TO EIC1IES. age a good man to do better to find he is paid no more than a dunce who stands near him; and the shiftless man will not improve any the sooner when he is now paid as much as the best men. Clerks are good judges of each other; they watch each other closely, and if one man does less than another, or is slower witted, they soon find it out. Pay your best man the best price, and have it understood that every other man who will do as well shall have the same pay. Good retail clerks can be hired at $35 per month, and boys can be had at almost any price. AEEANGING STOCK, INSURANCE, ETO. 1G3 CHAPTEE XXV. ARRANGING stock, IN8URANCE, ETC. Tx a store where the stock is composed of a great variety of articles, if it is properly arranged with a view t<> being handy when getting out orders, a boy's salary may be saved, and fewer mistakes made in get- ting out goods. Arranging the stock for show in a wholesale store is a needless task. Bringing handsomely-labeled goods to the front just because they are handsomely labeled, is taking a very peculiar view of the way to arrange a wholesale stock. Retailers who want goods are not caught by the bright labels, though they are impressed by a large stock of goods. In arranging the stock the first point to be taken into account is convenience. The articles most erener- ally sold should be nearest the place where orders are laid out. If order- arc laid out in the rear, then that should be the center of the radius from which to arrange the stock. Every step saved in getting out an order is very desirable economy. Of course heavy goods should be on or close to the floor, and the bulky, light goods on the top. Each arti- cle should have it.- own particular amount of space and on a particular shelf, and no matter how much ofsome- 164 ON THE ROAD TO EICIIES. thing else you have, do not encroach on the space given to this particular article. By following this rule you will be surprised at the ease with which you can keep the run of the stock, compared with the other way of always spreading goods out to fill up the gaps. All goods when received should be compared with the freight bills and the bills of lading. Mistakes in the weight of boxes and bundles are of very frequent occurrence, and in houses where business is done with the best system, each box is weighed, and the weight compared with the freight bill. I know this is a very small matter, but business is made up of series of small matters, and every penny ought to be saved as surely as if the pennies were so many dollars. It should be the porter's duty to bring in the goods from the sidewalk, open the boxes, if they are to be opened, take out the goods and pile them up ready for the stock-clerk. This latter person should check off the goods with the invoice, mark them, and put them in their proper places on the shelves. Any shortages should be minuted on the bill, and also reported verbally in the office. As soon as known they should be reported to the parties from whom the goods were purchased. No goods should be put on the shelves until they are sampled. This should be a rule. It is becoming more and more general to have a room furnished off especially for samples, and it is much easier to keep the goods looking well when they are in a place like that. I would rather sell a man direct from the stock myself, but it is harder work. I like to have the sam- ARRANGING STOCK, INSURANCE, ETC. L65 pies arranged in the center of the store, where it is handy to refer to the stock, if your customer desires to have you do so. The samples should have attention daily; should be carefully dusted and polished, and the cost marks con- stantly kept current with new goods. Stock in a retail store should be arranged for effect. The few goods should be made to appear as if there was a large stock. Goods under the head of " fancy goods" should be placed nearest to the doors and win- dows. Articles that every one wants do not need to be displayed to sell them; the goods that attract the eye and pay the best profit should be displayed freely. Care should be taken to sell the sample when it is out a few days, and replace it with a new one, or else it will have to be sold under the head of " old stock." Goods that have to be weighed should be gathered near the scales, and every effort made to save steps. Every store doing a business where ready cash is passed out and in, should be provided with a patent cash drawer; one that strikes an alarm when not han- dled knowingly. They are opened as easily as a com- mon drawer, by the parties acquainted with the com- bination, and cost but four or five dollars. Another absolute necessity in every store is a fire- proof safe. It is not so much money thrown away, the money paid for a safe, but so much invested in insur- ing books and papers. In cities, where banks are con- venient, money is deposited daily, and a burglar-proof safe is not needed. In the country, however, if the dealer can possibly afford it, he ought to buy a fire- 166 OX THE KOAD TO RICHES. proof safe with a burglar-proof box inside. It is pretty well assured that the outside shell of a safe cannot be made both burglar and fire-proof, and the best safes are simply lire-proof, but have fastened in them a bur- glar-proof box. A fire-proof safe can be bought for $60, and from that up to any amount. I believe the smallest safe with burglar-proof box is worth about $200. Here are a few points to remember if you have a safe. Black ink will stand the heat better than red. Lead pencil will stand better than either, and can be read even when the paper is burned black. The heat of afire coming from the outside will affect the things at the sides first, consequently place your most valu- able books in the middle of the safe. Crowd the books from the sides to the center of the safe for the purpose of making them tight together, as in this condition they will stand the heat much longer. Wood drawers are preferable to iron for cash-boxes, and for small val- uable papers, as wood is a non-condnctor of heat, and iron is a good conductor. ISTever use in a safe a leather wallet as a receptacle for valuable papers, as boiling water, or heat at 212 de^. will crisp and curl it, con- vert it into a gluey substance, and destroy the papers. "When a safe has been under fire send for an expert to open it. The first duty a man owes to his creditors is to in- sure his stock in reliable companies. William B. A -tor insured his own property; but we are not all William B. Astprs, and we can better afford to pat- ronize existing companies than to organize one of our ARRANGING STOCK, INSURANCE, ETC. 1' »1 own. It is astonishing what negligence there is in this matter among small country dealers the very men of all others who should most eagerly take advan- tage of the opportunity to secure themselves. Select a good company, and one having a good agent in your city or town. There are so many good companies that you can afford to look along until you find one represented by a good man. In the first place it is pleasanter doing business with such a man, when all goes well, and, what is much more impor- tant, there will be no trouble with him in settling up losses. Have your insurance policies specify the amount of risk on stock, on furniture and fixtures, etc., and be careful to comply with every requirement of the com- pany. Have nothing on the premises that is prohib- ited, and treat the company honestly and fairly. Blank books and stationery are an important item, and should be of the best quality, especially the books. It is poor economy to buy cheap books. Do not have too much on your bill-heads. A few prominent words describing your business will do you vastly more service than half a page of closely printed mat- ter. If you have an important agency, or are hand- ling an article in large quantities, it is well to men- tion it, but as a general thing men say too much more frequently than they sin on the other side. What is the use of a boot and shoe dealer saying " Deali T in Boots and Shoes/ Men's ETeavy Wear/ Ladies' Fine Goods, Slippers, etc.'''' The words " Boots and Shoes" include the rest. Hardware men will follow the word ItiS ON THE EOAD TO EICHES. "Hardware'' with "Nails, Glass, Sash, Farming Im- plements, etc.," just as if a man would not naturally go to such a store for nails, glass, etc. The two lead- ing lines are your name and your business. Every- thing you can do to make them familiar to men, in connection with each other, is a gain to your bank account. These same rules apply to your business cards. The time was when a card was a catalogue of what the party had to sell, but now a card is merely an in- troduction of the party who presents it; he is expected to be able to tell his own story. If you go into a store you hand out your card that the man may know your name, your business, and your place of business. Notice how much more effective the one of these cards is than the other. And I believe it pays to get up a nice card, one that will not be thrown into the basket the moment it has been read. I know of nothing in which so much advancement has been made of late years as in printers' work. A master of his craft will turn out a very pretty piece of work if left to follow out his own ideas, after he has learned what it is you need. If you are getting your work of such a man, give him some lee- way with your order; do not have it flowery, and do not crowd it with matter. ARRANGING STOCK, INSURANCE, ETC. 109 0. LONG. B. SHORT LONG & SHORT, WHOLESALE DEALERS IX NOTIONS 112 l^aixs. S-fcree-b, TOLEDO. O LONG & SHORT, WHOLESALE DEALERS IN NOTIONS & FANCY GOODS. NEEDLES, THREAD, BUTTON'S, HOSIERY, Underwear, Corsets, Soaps, Combs, Razors, Shears, Pens, Pencils. ORDERS PROMPTLY FILLED. 112 Main St. TOLEDO, O. Printed letter- heads ought also to be as plain as cards and bill-heads. If you are writing to a stranger, the card at the head of your letter gives him your busi- ness and location, and that is enouirh. Printed receipts are a labor-saving convenience, but I prefer the letter form rather than the plain blank receipt. I like a blank of this form: 170 ON THE KOAD TO EICilES. hammer & tongs, Wholesale Hardware, 1108 SUMMIT STREET, Toledo, Ohio, _ 1 8 7 M. _ Dear Sir: — We are in receipt of your favor of the , covering % and have placed the same to your credit, With thanks for the remittance, and soliciting a continuance of your orders, which shall always have our prompt attention, we are Yours Respectfully, etc. HAMMER & TONGS. I believe in using printer's ink much more than merchants are doing. A printed "form'' for order- ing goods, another for making remittances, another for dunning, another to accompany drafts for collec- tion, and another to parties who have been drawn on, will save two or three hours out of every day, and especially during the days when you are " going through the books." ADVERTISING. 171 CHAPTER XXYI. ADVERTISING. In a little book published many years ngo, entitled " How to get Money," I find the following remarks on advertising : "Whatever your occupation or calling may be, if it needs supporl from the public, adverti.se it thoroughly and efficiently in some shape or other that will arrest public attention.. There may possibly be occupations that do not require advertising; but I cannot well conceive what they are. Men in business will sometimes tell you they have tried advertising, and that it did not pay. This is only when advertis- ing is done sparingly and grudgingly. Homoeopathic doses of advertising will not pay, perhaps; it is like half a portion of physic making the patient sick, but effecting nothing. Administer liberally, and the cure will be permanent. Some say they cannot afford to advertise. They mistake; they cannot afford not to advertise." If that was true forty years ago, it is still more forci- bly true to-day. Ihisiness has thrown off many of the forms that hampered men engaged in it. Retailers no longer tie their trade to one house, nor expect to be personally acquainted with each one of their customers. People buy of the party who offer the best bargains, 172 ON THE EOAD TO EICHES. be he friend or stranger. Although the young firm of Sharp & Beatem are selling goods very low, it is not known around the town, and they have no trade. Slow & Steady have a good stock, are well known, and claim to sell as cheap as the cheapest. Sharp & Beatem must do something to inform the public that they have a better stock of goods and are selling cheaper than Slow & Steady; they must advertise. To-morrow it will be heralded about the city that Sharp & Beatem are selling goods cheaper than any firm in the city. People will wonder if it is true; they will call '"just to price things," buy much or little, and go their way. Slow & Steady notice that a great deal of their old trade is going across the way; what shall they do to regain it? They conclude they must advertise ; and in his way advertising is an absolute necessity. To gain customers we must advertise; we must advertise to keep them. We must create a demand for new goods by advertising their merits; we must hold the sale of old goods by keeping their good qualities before the public. Every business should be advertised, no matter where or what it is. If a moderate custom was sure among a circle of friends and acquaintances in a given locality, it would still be to the merchant's interest to advertise and increase his trade. The main expenses of doing business will be about so much, be the amount transacted greater or less. A large busi- ness can be done at a much less percentage of cost than a small one. A man can better afford to sell one hundred thousand dollars' worth of goods at a profit of ADVERTISING. J i o ten per cent., than fifty thousand at fifteen per cent. A merchant may expect to hold trade by selling low, but he must have first made it known in some way that lie is ready to sell low, or he will not get the customers. "Ways of advertising are as numerous as the busy brain of man can invent. The first step usually taken by either a wholesaler or retailer is to have a circular struck off announcing that the "undersigned" has opened a large stock, etc., promising to sell cheap, and soliciting a trial. A boy carries these about the city, or Uncle Sam whisks them about the country, and half the dealers sit down as if they had nothing more to do but wait for the rush of customers that their circulars will send them. But seven-eighths of the city people never look at the circulars; they have been bored too much already by hand-bills and kindred nuisances. Consequently they are still in blissful ignorance of the new store. The other eighth resolve that thev will aro and see stock and prices when next they are shopping, but probably ninety per cent, of them forget the firm and the store before a day has passed over them. The country merchant opens the circular, wonders what kind of men they are who compose the firm; whether they really will sell cheaper than the old houses or not, thinks it very doubtful, throws the circu- lar under the counter, and sends his order to the old firm. But I do not say that circulars and hand-bills are not of some value. They perform a work of their own till a place in advertising; only they are of little value if they are not followed up by something else. 171 ON THE EOAD TO RICHES. Posters on the wall arc good, but they are there only a few days, and then they are covered by anothei advertiser. Si^ns nailed to trees alonfj the coun- try roads are effectual while they last, but they soon become old, or are rendered of no value by a dozen others being nailed over and under them. The most unmitigated humbugs in soliciting adver- tisements are the men who have " hotel cards," " depot cards," "business cards," "maps," and similar abom- inations. Men will invest in these wild-cat enterprises who think an advertisement in the daily or weekly paper is so much money thrown away! Of course money can be wasted upon advertisements as upon everything else. It would be folly for a hard- ware merchant to advertise his wares in a paper espe- cially devoted to the druggists' trade, or the reverse. A man who depends upon local traffic should patronize the local papers. If he wants to reach a special class he should select the medium patronized by that class. "What to advertise is a question easier answered by the retailer than the wholesaler. The retailer adver- tises his stock according to the season. Everything he has is more or less needed, and he cannot miss by " making a run " on anything. But the wholesale dealer is confined to closer quarters. It will not attract customers for the wholesale dry goods dealer to adver- tise that he has a large stock of muslins, because every other dealer is supposed to keep a large stock of these goods too. If he has special advantages in buying muslins, and can offer special inducements to retailers, i it will pay him to advertise the fact. But why the ADVKUTISIXC. 1 wholesaler should advertise is for the same r sason that the retailer needs to advertise — to make buyers familiar with his name and location. Every traveling man knows the chill that comes over him when he is met with the announcement: "I never heard of your house before;" while the contrary remark: "I have often heard of your house," opens the way for trade. .V wholesaler who is handling a regular line of goods, and has no special- ties, should make liberal use of circulars; not bo much to quote prices, unless he can quote especially lowfignres, as to constantly keep himself before the trade. The country merchant pays but little atten- tion to the circular I may send him, it is true; con- stantly bringing my name before him is an advan- tage, makes him familiar with my location, and in the end may induce him to come in and look at my stock, and in this way I am well repaid. Getting up a circular is not the easiest thing to do, and do well. It should be neat and small, differing in some way from the general run of circulars, and should not attempt to say too much. If I were in the boot and shoe business I would get up something like this: Dear Sir: — In making your purchases for spring stock, will you kindly bear in mind that we are carrying the 1 k of boots and shoes to be found in the West; and that we have been able to purchase our stock at figures that will unable us to compete with the largest Eastern jobbers or manufacturers? We intend to give our customers goods at low prie s, and will be glad to Bhow you our stock and give you figures. Any orders you may favor us with will be promptly and carefully attended to. Very respectfully yours, 1 1 \vi 1:1; & Co., 1188 Main street, Toledo, 0. 176 ON TIIE ROAD TO KICIIES. The objection to circulars is that they are sent in open envelopes, and the receiver knows it to be a cir- cular before he opens it, and many times they are thrown into the waste-basket unopened. To overcome this, or rather to get the information before the trade, there is nothing so valuable as a " reading-matter " notice in the newspaper. During one season that I gave to enquiring about advertising among my cus- tomers, and to watching for evidence of their having read circulars, etc., I found that a marked article in the newspaper was never passed over. The proper way, and the best, is to have an appreci- ative notice written of the house, embodying the facts you would naturally have put in a circular, only to have it dressed up as a local. There is nothing equal to this in value. A paper is always opened and read, while four out of five circulars are destroyed unopened. A retailer should advertise in every legitimate way. If by circulars, they should contain but a very few lines, and ought to have something about them to attract the reader. But the retailer should invest ninety-nine dollars in the columns of his local paper to every one that he expends for circulars, hand-bills or cards. His name should be constantly before the buying public. But a small card of half a dozen lines, paid for by the year and never changed, is of doubtful value. Writing an advertisement is not the easy matter it appears to be at first sight. On the contrary, to write an advertisement that will be read, is an art possessed by very few. It is with this as it is with letter-writing; some of the easiest and simplest talk- ADVERTISING. 17 ers will sit down and write a pompous, stilted letter. The fact that they are letter-writing seems to throw them out of their own natural character into what they think they ought to be. So in writing an adver- tisement; instead of sending out a concise statement of what they have to say, they go at it as if they were to be delivered of a legal document. Men too forget what it is the public are interested in; for instance, our friend Blank feels that he must get out a card, and he writes as follows: "James Blank begs to announce to the citizens of Toledo and vicinity that he has just returned from New York, where he has made large purchases of Crockery and Glassware, which he is prepared to sell at astonishingly low prices. Call and see me, at b88 Main street, Toledo, Ohio." So far so good. The next thing is how to display it. He imagines that the words that ought to attract the most attention are " James Blank," " Returned from New York," " Call and see me." So he arranges his advertisement acccordingly, and it looks like this: JAMES BLANK. Begs to announce to the citizens of Toledo and vicinity, that he has just RETURNED FROM NEW YORK, Where he has made large purchases of Crockery and Glassware, Which ho is prepared to sell at aston- ishingly low prices. CALL AND SEE ME, At 8SS Main Street, Toledo, Ohio. 12 178 OX THE ROAD TO RICHES. If the citizens of Toledo had all been lying awake nights because of Blank's absence, this might be a good way to display his notice, but the sad truth is not more than a dozen people knew he was out of town, or for that matter cared whether he was in New York or in Halifax. Blank carries his card to the publisher's office, bar- gains for three squares " till forbid," and goes back to his store happy in the belief that it will be crowded to-morrow. The publisher could have bettered the card, but hesitates about changing it, so it appears as Blank had marked it. The paper comes out and in Blank's mind his card stands out plainer than every- thing else. He is a little surprised that people do not speak to him about it as he goes home. The next clay comes but not the crowd, and so on with the next and the next, till a week is over. Blank in a fit of disgust, calls at the office and orders the advertisement out, and remarks savagely, " It is just so much money thrown away." But the publisher is disposed to argne the matter with him, and finally says: "Mr. Blank, let me arrange your advertisement a little differently as to display, using different style of type, and allowing little more space for it, that will help wonderfully, as you will see, and keep it in the paper a week longer ; if you think it does not pay, I will make no charge for it." " That's fair," says Blank, " go ahead." The next day the advertisement appears as follows : Al'YKETISING. 179 JAMES BLANK, Has just received a new and fresh assortment of CROCKERY & GLASSWARE Which he is selling AT ASTONISHINGLY LOW PRICES. Call and examine before purchasing elsewhere. 888 Main St., TOLEDO, O. The four prominent lines answer all the questions a probable purchaser of crockery would ask. The main line, " Crockery and Glassware," catches the eye; he needs something in this line; what else have they to say ? The next line he sees is "at astonishing low prices." Of course he wants to buy where they are Belling cheap; who is it ? The advertisement tells the rest. He and a dozen others call on Blank next day, and when I-. sees the publisher he says: " Send me your bill; I can afford to pay it." In a pamphlet devoted bo advertising and advertise- ments, I find the following sensible rule: "There is one rule which has been found a good one by which to write an advertisement. It is first to write out, no 180 ON TIIE KOAD TO KICIIES. matter at what length, all that is worth while to say; next examine it critically, and experiment upon it carefully, with the purpose of ascertaining how many words can be stricken out without injuring the sense. It is rare to see a six-line advertisement which could not be expressed in five lines. An advertisement should not be flowery — nothing need be said for orna- ment. It should be plain and honest. It should claim nothing which is not strictly true, but should be sure to claim as much as is true." To advertise something one has not got is a mere waste of money, and the wonder is that men do it; yet the habit of exaggerating is so common that very few of us believe all an advertisement says. But this habit can be carried to a point where positive damage will result. It was only this morning one of my family was complaining for having a walk for nothing; a prominent dry goods house advertised, " an invoice of Hamburg edgings just received; call and seethe new patterns." "When she reached the store she found this was all a falsehood; no new goods had been received. It is possible a great many others went there and be- lieved that the old stock had just come in and were as well satisfied, but I doubt the wisdom of employing falsehood to attract trade. Then there is the reckless advertiser, who claims a deal more for his goods than they will bear; people purchase on his representation, and finding themselves deceived, put him down as a good merchant to avoid. Here is a man advertises " a set of plated tea spoons worth $2, for 75 cents." No person of experience ADVERTISING. 181 ought to be caught by such a bait, but you may be sure it will have a run for a short time, and if those who are bitten are like the old lady I heard mention the matter, the dealers trade will not have been much bettered by his sales. " I might as well have thrown my money into the street," she said; " I want no more to do with him." An advertiser should use only such newspapers as are circulated in the localities from which he can hope to derive trade. The retailer should patronize his local papers; the jobber his local papers and the trade journals devoted to his branch of trade, providing he knows them to have a general circulation among his hoped-for customers; the manufacturer or inventor who wants to create a demand for his goods, should advertise everywhere. Men are generally penny-wise and pound-foolish in their advertising patronage. An advertisement will not do everything,' it will not have more life than is put into it; there are mummies two thousand years old who are livelier to-day than some of the paid notices in the papers, and the men who write and pay for these notices are among those who will tell you advertising does not pay. An advertise- ment will not help you if you do not keep a stock of the goods you advertise; it will not bring people back to your store if you do not do all that it claims yon will do; but if you are honestly doing what you agree to do, it will work for you morning, noon and night — following people through work-shops and offices and to their homes, persistently trying to do you good. Put it down among the axioms that judi- 182 ON THE ROAD TO EICIIES. cious advertising always pays, and live advertising in your local daily and weekly papers is always judicious advertising. SELLING GOODS. 183 CHAPTER XXVII. SELLING GOODS. The first question every business man must decide for himself is: Shall I work to the utmost limits of my strength for a few years, and then retire; or shall I settle down to business as a life's work, being satisfied with accumulating slowly but surely, enough for my family's comfort and support when I must retire from active work? If the decision is to see how quickly a fortune can be made the dealer must expect to do fif- teen years' work in five; must push his trade by e\iTy means known, and must squeeze out of every article the very last cent of profit that it will possibly stand. His energy will bring him trade; his tact will enable him to see just how much profit each customer will pay, and come back again; and when lie has become known as a man who charges the very highest juice-, he is ready to retire from business. But the men who can accomplish this undertaking successfully are few and far between. They are men who would succeed in any enterprise upon which they entered — the men whom we are apt to call "lucky," but whose "luck" consists in the possession of an active brain, a smooth tongue, and the ability to be "all things to all men." 1S4 ON THE KOAD TO RICHES. But because some men are so brilliantly successful, let us not imagine that we can go and do likewise. I believe the tortoise beat the hare in the long race, though to be sure he could not have been a very smart hare. A business man should arrange his business with the understanding that it is to be his life-work; trying to establish it so firmly in his younger years that it will almost run itself when he shall want to shift some of the burden. And no business can be established on a lasting basis unless the motto is: " Goods at market prices." To a new beginner the question of profit is a very perplexing one. Often- times a man who has been working on a salary thinks he is making a great deal of money for his employers when he sells staples at cost and other goods at a profit of ten per cent. Perhaps he is, and perhaps he is not. If the bills are very large ones, ten per cent, may be a good profit, but in the average wholesale store it costs ten per cent, to do business. A wholesale hardware store doing a business of two hundred thousand dollars per annum must pay a rent of $2,000; three traveling men and their expenses, $5,000; book-keeper, stock- man, entry-clerk, porter, and house-salesman, $3,500; and insurance, postage, taxes, stationery, going to New York, fuel, gas, etc., $1,500 more, making $12,000 the cost of doing business; or six per cent on the sales, which would be over six and one-half per cent, on the cost of the goods to the wholesaler. Then there are bad debts, which will run about one per cent, more, and the ten per cent, is pretty well used up. But salesmen do not figure as deeply as one might SELLTNG GOODS. 185 think they would, and when they go into business for themselves they have to throw away a year or two getting wisdom. That/was a shrewder man who always claimed to sell goods for five per cent, profit. At last one of his friends said to him that he could not see how he was able to live on so small ;i per cent. " I don't know much about your ' per cent.,' " said the merchant; "but what costs me one dollar I sell for five, and that is all the per cent. I want." A dealer should undertake to keep himself well posted as to his competiors' prices, and should so man- age that his own will average as low, if not a little lower. But no merchant ever grew rich or prosper- ous by cutting under competitors. Ko one house can control the trade of any given section of country. " Cutting " may enable me to sell a bill to-day, but a customer made in this way is apt to be lost just as easily. If A is ahead of me and sold goods at regu- lar prices, and I quote at a less price, A at once meets my prices; ten chances to one I have not benefited myself, but may have broken down prices where I would rather have had them firm. Have your samples arranged so that each article will show to advantage, and so you can tell at a glance what it cost. I am confident that ir pays a man to have the cost of goods so firmly fixed in his memory that he will not need to refer to the marks. We all prefer to trade with a man who is thoroughly posted; and when we see a clerk searching after marks, we are apt to think that selling is not his business, and to fear that he may ask us more than one of the regu- lar salesmen would. 186 OX TIIE ROAD TO RICHES. We will suppose that you are ready for customers, and looking anxiously for tliem. Your stock is in perfect order, the assortment complete, and bought at the lowest prices. You have issued your circulars to the country trade, had your city newspapers write up your undertaking, and mailed copies of these to the retailers, and now you are eager to show your goods and make a sale. As business is conducted now-a-days, however, you must look up customers, and not wait for them to look you up. In some of the older houses you have friends among the salesmen, and you saunter in to find a country merchant buying some goods. You are introduced to him, and when he is through at this place invite him to accompany you to your store. He will probably assure you that he does not intend to buy, and you will give him to understand that he is at perfect lib- erty to buy or not, as he may choose. If he does not think he can have some advantage by it, he will not care to change his trade from his old house to you. There are two arguments that aifect men: that you will sell them for less, or that you will sell them as low and treat them better than their present house. The last argument is the best one. Customers gained in this way remain with you for years. A pleasant cordiality, a generous interest in your customer's welfare, a readiness to be of service to him in matters outside of your business, will win his friend- ship, and with his friendship his trade. Some of the pleasantest of my friends at this day are men of whom I bought goods, and men to whom I sold goods. The BELLING GOODS. 1 v 7 dealer for whom I felt a personal friendship naturally had the preference over all his competitors. Suppose you ask your customer to take a seat a moment, and that you then give him an insight into your institution, and the manner you propose doing business; that you intend to personally watch over your trade; do what is right in the way of quality and price; ship promptly and pack carefully; and that while you expect to have you bills paid promptly when they are due, you intend to treat your customers in money matters as you want your creditors to treat you. It is not a difficult matter to win the good wishes of a customer if you but treat him sincerely. But if you have a story made that you expect " to do the business with the country dealer," }'ou had better not attempt to say it. The man who believes that all the wisdom of the world is confined to city dealers is a fool. The men who succeed best are they who respect the man- hood of every man they meet. Do not have too many prices, and especially to the same customer. A few judicious questions will enable you to gauge him, and to learn the prices he has been paying, and you should carry that information in your memory, to be used whenever you see him, or have an order from him. "With some men it is absolute ly necessary, in order to hold them, that you "fall " a little on the prices first quoted them. "With others your willingness to cut under your own price will drive them away. You should use every effort to increase your house trade and mail orders. You do not have to send a 1SS ON THE KOAD TO RICIIES. man at heavy expense for such trade, and you have a better understanding of your customers, what to charge and how to write them. Never be afraid to ask a man for references when you have no other way of finding out his financial standing, though you can generally learn his condition by enquiring among your brother merchants, and referring: to the mercantile agencies. Be careful about shipping directions, and be particular to get his name, or his firm name, down correctly. Never refuse to " break packages," unless you are sure that the man's trade will never reach a point where it will pay you for humoring it now. The best cus- tomers are not always the ones who buy the largest bills. The men who purchase but a few goods in your line do not scrutinize prices very closely, and do not run around from one dealer to another. Encourage your customers to use your office as if it was their own; have them feel at home in your store; introduce them to your clerks; each point will be one that will draw them more surely to you when they come to town again. The retailer when ready for trade must open with the best display of his wares that he can make; he must entice people to enter. I have seen groceries arranged about the doors and windows of a store so that it required a decided effort to go by without pur- chasing. And I have seen dry goods stores that no female of my family would pass by. People's wants generally run ahead of their means, and a tempting display of choice goods appeals to them so that the average man cannot resist. SELLING GOODS. 189 Everything about the store should be nicely labeL d, and tasteful card- calling attention to quality or price do a deal of good. You can readily learn to do this work, and you will be surprised at the result in increased sales. Signs to be effective should be made in different styles of letters, and different colored ink used. For common work the best quality of ball blue is one of the cheapest and most economical things you can use; powdered and mixed with a little water to the consistency of cream it can be used on ■white or brown Manila paper with great effect. Liquid bluing can be used, but owing to its free flowing is not so desirable, nor does it give as pretty a shade as the ball blue. For black, use India ink, which may be procured in solid cakes or liquid. The solid cakes should be rubbed into a little water in a pan or plate until the mixture is about twice the thickness of ordinary ink. The liquid ink is sold ready for use in small bottles, but sometimes will bear slightly thin- ning with water. The cost of cakes will vary from about 25 cents upwards, according to size. For a red letter get some carmine or vermillion at the druggist's, or any other dry colors you may desire that will readily mix with water. A ten-cent brush is the only implement needed, taking care to cleanse it thoroughly after using. The paste colors used in branding flour barrels can be had in many shades, are cheap and easily used with brush and water. Constantly changing your stock about has a good effect; to all appearances it is a new store every time it is changed; your customers do not know but that 100 ON THE EOAD TO RICHES. the old stock was sold and this is all new; the infer- ence is that you are doing a rushing business, and that is the kind of merchant they want to trade with. There are plenty of dull spells when the clerks can do this work; bring forward old or shelf- worn goods, put them up as attractive as you can, with a fancy sign near them, and make it a point to work them off just as fast as possible. They will never grow more salable and never bring more money ; the first loss is always best. You will never get rich selling muslin or sugar; make a good display of these goods, for people will buy them, but do not forget to have the more profit- able goods out where they will tempt the buyer. Re- member it is always easier to follow the public taste than it is to lead, but we all crave something new, and as a general thing new goods pay better than old. But always buy light until you are sure the new goods will sell. In fact it is wise to buy light whether the goods are new or not. Too many men's first step toward bankruptcy has been in buying heavy stocks. There is nothing made by doing this at the best of times. An overstock of goods is never cheap, no matter what they cost. If you have plenty of idle money use it for a larger variety of goods and not in a larger stock. The railroad will be at your command just as much for a small shipment as for a large one; your jobbing house will fill a small order just as care- fully as a large one, and though you might get 2J per cent, off a five-gross lot, if your wants only call for one-half gross you can afford to let the extra 2£ per cent. go. BELLING GOODS. l''l In these clays a four weeks' stock is large enough; the nimble sixpence is the coin that fills the pocket quickest. But do not get out of salable goods; this shows lack of care. When you find an article running low look through stock and make up an order at once. Customers do not take it kindly to be told "We are out" of goods. Neither be too quick in changing your brands that are giving satisfaction. If you have a quality of tea that your customers speak favorably of, take pains to duplicate it when ordering again. If a certain brand of boot or shoe is commending itself, advertise it and hold to that make. Constantly aim to get good goods at lowest prices, and when you have them stick to them. If you have something that is doing exceed- ingly well, try and get the exclusive sale of it in your place. In some staple goods get up brands of your own; have the goods made for you by a reliable house who will guarantee the quality, and then if you build up a good trade your neighbors cannot profit by it. One of my friends gave an order to a manufacturer for good, e very-day boots; when they came to his store a fancy brand was put on them with the dealer's name under; the goods gave satisfaction and the men wanted the same brand again, so that in a few sea- sons this boot was the leading one in that locality, and my friend had all that trade. Another man got up his own brand for white lead; the article was good, and by constant pushing and liberal advertising the the sale was very large; but by using a cheaper lead one season the eight years' work and sales were totally 192 ON THE KOAD TO RICHES. destroyed, and the brand was worthless. It is sur- prising that men cannot learn that honesty is the best policy. Do not try to do all the selling yourself. Have none but good clerks and men whom you can turn a customer over to with confidence. Have a pleasant word for everyone; go to any pains to get a customer just what she wants; listen to what is being told up and down the counter, and be at hand to help a clerk with a word when the word will do the most good. Never neglect a poor woman for one who comes in a carriage; take all trade in its turn, making no dis- tinctions whatever, and try and send everyone away satisfied with your goods, your prices, your clerks, and yourself. Duiramra-. 193 CHAPTER XXVIII. DUNNING. In the early days of my traveling to sell goods on the road, I was annoyed by the complaints made of the firm's method of dunning. The senior member of the firm was a thorough business man. His idea of a good letter was one that did not contain a superfluous word. As a consequence of this, some of his requests for re- mittances were very short; so short that they seemed severe when such was not his intention. He was the manager of the business, did all the close figuring, and was killing himself to make his business successful. The first trip I made over a certain road leading out from T , was the most harrassing of all trips I ever made over that or any other route. A member of the firm had been over the road three or four months be- fore me, and the bills he sold were over-due — that is, the senior partner supposed they were overdue, because at that time all bills were sold on thirty days' time, un- less by special agreement. The selling partner had not reported any deviation from the general rule, and, of course the other supposed the bills to be due, and had been dunning the parties. As I was about to leave the store he said: "So-and- so, of , and Such-a-one, of , seem to be offen- 13 194 ON THE EOAD TO UICIIES. ded at our having asked them to remit for the bills A sold them. I don't understand from A that he gave them any extra time, but guess he did, as he is always doing it; when you see the parties you must smooth it over." Now " smoothing over grievances" is one thine to the man who stays in the house, and another and quite a different matter to the man on the road. I would much prefer to have none to smooth over. It is hard enough to sell goods when you can go into a man's store and have him meet you with a smiling face; but when it comes to having to heal ol(J sores before you can commence business, I for one would rather be counted out. I set out on my trip, however, and determined to do my best. At my first stopping place every one was pleasant until I reached — let us say Smith's. I handed him my card, and when he read the firm's name he broke out savagely: "Why the dash didn't A. himself come! I just want to see him once." "He couldn't come," said I, "he is sick; but I guess I can sell you fully as reasonable as he." "Sell me! Not a dashed cent's worth will that house ever sell me again." " If there is anything wrong I am ready to make it right, Mr. Smith," I answered. " There is nothing wrong except that I like to have men do as they agree." "And haven't the house?" "No, sir! They have not." "Tell me the circumstances; perhaps there is a mis- understanding upon one side or the other." DUNNING. 195 " There is no misunderstanding about it. Last fall A came around and teased me to give him an order. I did not want any goods, but he teased very hard, and finally he said: 'Make out an order for some goods, and you needn't pay for them until you sell them.' That was fair enough, and I made out quite a laro-e bill. But the goods had not been here over thirty days when you fellows sent me a statement. I did not pay any attention to it, and in a couple of weeks along comes another with a line at the bottom: 'The^above is two weeks past due, please remit.' I didn't do anything about that, and pretty soon along comes another and a mighty saucy one. I got mad and wrote to them they might come and get their goods, or wait until I had sold them. But about so often along comes a statement, and I expect you have the account on your books." Yes, I had it. "Well, you just tell A to come out and get his goods, for I have them all boxed up ready for him. He can't play any of his dodges on me." What could you say to such a story as that? I did not blame the man for being angry, and I told him so. I explained just how the account stood on the books, and showed that the fault was all with A, and that the writing was done by another man, who had nothing to show that the goods were not sold on thirty days. I promised to write home and explain the matter, and that everything should be made satisfactory. I wrote the senior a note; he apologized to Smith, and did it so handsomely that Smith remitted for the bill, and 196 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. gave me a great many good orders during my stay on the road. I had the same experience at the next town, and at pretty much every place where goods had been sold on the last trip. Some of the complaints I arranged satisfactorily ; others were so deep that I could do nothing. But it taught me a lesson, and I think I profited by it. When I sold goods I had a distinct understanding about terms, and when I dunned men I was careful to do it in such a way that the money would come, and yet not make the customer angry, unless he was a man I did not care to sell again; in that case I was not particular what I wrote, if it only brought the money. But I defy any man to do the dunning for a large house without making some of the customers angry. It is an absolute impossibility. A man may have dunning reduced to a science, as indeed many men have, but for all that he will start up some complaints the moment he begins to dun a certain class. The book-keeper or partner begins at the first page of his ledger and writes to each account that is due. It is his first time at the business, and he merely fills out a blank statement and expects that will bring the money. He was careful to have printed at the bottom of the statement, " Dear Sir: Please examine the above statement, and, if correct, favor us with a prompt remittance." But of the one hundred statements sent out, he hears only from four or five, and they are from men who would have remitted even if they had not received a statement. At the end of ten days the DUNNING. 107 concern finds itself " hard up," and he determines to go through the books again. He fills out the statement as before, but now he adds "Please Eemit" in very large letters. A few more respond to this call, but at the end of another ten days he finds that at least eighty of the one hundred ac- counts are still unpaid. Something must be done. Money the firm must have. He opens the ledger again, and this time he determines to dun for money. lie has lost faith in statements, so he takes a package of note paper and begins: Toledo, Ohio, April 10, 1880. Mr. John Smttii — Dear Sir: The liill bought of us Dec. 30, 1879, was due March 2. We have already sent you a statement, but not hearing from you, beg to call your attention to the matter again. "We are in need of funds, and would be obliged to you for a prompt remittance. Truly, yours, etc. . Of the eighty to whom this is sent, forty or fifty will respond with tolerable promptness, while the bal- ance will take their time to it. But some one or two of the eighty will have had their feelings wounded; they don't like to be dunned three times in a month; when they traded with So-and-so they never were treated so, etc., etc. If they make this complaint to the traveling man, do you know what he will probably do ? He will begin to blame the book-keeper at once. If he doesn't he is an extraordinary man. I have seen but very few who did not. In place of showing the man the position the house was in, and treating the matter in a business way, they at once turn to and curse the book-keeper. " It is all the fault of the book-keeper; 198 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. don't pay any attention to it. The book-keeper is altogether to important. But don't you worry about it; when I go home I'll make it all right, and when he duns you again, don't take any notice of it." The result of such " business " advice as this is that very soon letters are as ineffectual in bringing the money as statements were, and the house draws on the party through the nearest bank; then the customer is so greatly offended that he takes his valuable trade to another place. Do you think this is overdrawn? I assure you that it is not. The desire of traveling men to make sales has cut down the profits to a small figure, and their anxi- ety to flatter, and smooth over every little difficulty, has rendered collecting a very disagreeable and uncertain part of business. The man who runs the books and finances has to take all the blame. If he is a book- keeper, he either does not dun very hard, or he is care- ful to do so only under the direction of one of his em- ployers. If he is a member of the firm he must expect to be the scape-goat of all the other members. Is it business? Of course it is not. It is short- sighted policy on the part of traveling and business men. If it is a crime to ask for your money when bills are past due, men should sell only for cash. If a cus- tomer is angry at a statement, he should be reasoned with, and not apologized to. If I have dunned you before your bill was due, I ought to apologize; but if afterward, it is you who should apologize for having given the occasion. The traveling man and the house that does business DUNNING. 199 on business principles will hold trade, when the man who is ready to blame his book-keeper or partner for having dunned a customer, is numbered among the things that were. A customer must either pay with- out waiting to be dunned, or must be dunned. A\ hat else would you do? When the bill is due the money should he yours. If you let it lie with him you arc damaging yourself in order that you may furnish him capital! And yet your traveling man is ready to apologize because you asked for the amount! The man who is dunned for a bill past due should either send the money or write to the party, explain- ing why he does not send, and stating when he can probably remit; it is demanded not only by business principles, but by the principles of common courtesy. When you receive my statement, suppose you should send me a few lines like this: ''Dear Sir: — Tour statement is at hand, and I am extremely sorry that I cannot remit at once. I have had some unexpected drafts made upon me the last few days, but if you will be good enough to favor me with ten days more I will then remit, with interest for the overtime. Yours, etc." Don't you believe I would have a better opinion of you than if you threw my statement in the waste-bas- ket, and sent me the money by and by, without a word of thanks for the extra time taken? So long as men do business on credit there will he more or less dunning uecessary. If merchants would discharge the traveling men who have no more brains than to curse the book-keeper, they would be the gainers iu the end. Such a traveling man is a dam- age. 200 ON THE EOAD TO RICHES. Statements are handy and perhaps necessary; hut as a general thing they are not enough. I prepared a printed form of a letter and statement comhined. They were printed on a half-sheet of note paper size, and might read like this: "Dear Sir: — Herewith we hand you a memorandum of your account, which is now due, showing a balance due us of $ Will you be kind enough to give this your early attention, and favor us with a remittance. " We will also be glad to have your orders for anything in our line. " Very truly yours," etc. I like this printed in red, so that the figures, filled in with black ink, will be very prominent. If the account is past due, I write the word in the blank space before the word " due." I am a believer in collecting money through the banks, that is, drawing for accounts. It is becoming very general as between manufacturers and jobbers, and it will eventually be used as extensively between wholesaler and retailer. I would have another blank form to send in about fifteen days from the first, to those who had not remitted. Something like this: " Dear Silt: — " Under the date of , we notified you that your account, amounting to , was then due. We are without a re- mittance from you up to this time. " We are in need of funds, and should we not hear from you by the inst., we will take the liberty of drawing upon you for the amount through the Bank of , adding interest and ex change. " If it will be convenient for you to honor our draft, please in- form us by return mail. "Very truly," etc. DUNNING. 201 Should this fail to bring a remittance, the party should be drawn on, and it will prove labor-saving to have a blank printed to accompany the draft; some- thing of this kind: " Cashier Bank : "Dear Sir: — We enclose for collection and return in New York exchange, our drafts on " No protest. " Should they desire a few days' time, you may grant it. "Yours," etc. I would have several lines on the face of the form, because you might want to draw on several parties through some one bank. The drafts can be bought at any book-store or printing office. As a sample of the kind of letters that are sometimes sent out by way of duns, here is an anecdote that is going the rounds of the press : A merchant who was nervous and irritable received a letter from a customer in the country begging for more time. Turning to his clerk he said : " Write to this man immediately!" "Yes, sir; what shall I say?" The merchant was pacing the office, and repeated the order : "Write him at once!" "Cer- tainly, sir; what do you wish to say ?" The impatient merchant broke out: "Something or nothing, and that very quick." The clerk asked no more, but wrote and dispatched a letter. By return mail came a letter from the delinquent debtor, enclosing the money to balance account. The merchant's eyes glistened when he saw 202 ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. the remittance, and hastening to the desk lie asked the clerk: "What sort of a letter did you write to this man ? Here is the money in full." " I wrote just what you told me to, sir. The letter was copied." The letter-book was consulted, and there it stood, short and to the point: "Dear Sir: — Something or nothing, and that very quick. Yours, etc., ." And this letter brought the money, when a more elaborate dun would have failed of the happy effect. ATTENTION TO DETAILS. 203 CHAPTEK XXIX. ATTENTION TO DETAILS. No merchant, and particularly no young merchant, can possibly succeed who does not master and watch the details of his business. There is no one item too small to be watched, or to have done well. Looseness in some trivial matter will beget carelessness in that which is important. Waste among things costing pen- nies will lead to waste where dollars are spent. It will astonish any merchant who has been careless about the little things to see how much he can reduce his ex- penses by judicious pruning among these same petty items. Of two partners with whom I had a close business acquaintance, one was careful about every penny ex- pended, no matter what he was buying — whether arti- cles for use in the store, or goods to sell again. His principle was to make every cent go as far as it would. His partner was fully as anxious to make money, but was careless about store expenses, fancying there had to be about so much money spent in that way, and that it did not matter what it went for. The close man had complete charge of the store for the first few years, and the expenses were kept at a minimum figure, though it was up-hill work, having to watch his part- 20-i ON THE KOAD TO EICHES. ner as well as the clerks. They were so successful that business increased greatly, and it was impossible for him to watch the details so closely as he had been doing, and at the end of another year he found the expense account, with the same number of men in the store and at the same salaries, had increased eleven hundred dollars. So much for the pennies. Most of us imagine that we can safely leave all the business to the clerks, if we but watch the sales closely ourselves. The odds and ends about the store are purchased by the clerks, and we do not look at prices, or at the length of time the old article was used. " It is for the store" answers all questions, if we have the curiosity to ask. Our correspondence is left to our book-keepers, and our purchases made at the wish of our stock-clerk. It ought to be borne in mind that a merchant cannot understand his business too w r ell. To thoroughly have the run of it he must watch every detail. If his business is very extensive he cannot expect to write every letter, get out every order, or sell every bill of goods; but he can see that all these things are done, and done as they should be. Every letter to the house should be seen by him. Ko matter if it consists of but a line, it should be placed on his desk if he is not present upon its arrival. The correspondence is the pulse of the business. The man who attends to it is in a position where he must weigh carefully every word before his pen records it. This important position cannot be delegated to a clerk, trusting him to show you the letters which ATTENTION TO DETAILS. 2<>5 will need your attention. The very letter perhaps that you ought to have answered yourself has been answered by him, and not at all as you would have written. Have it ordered, then, that every letter which is received shall be placed on your desk, and answered only when you have read it. Do not trust your entire banking business to a clerk. lie may carry the deposits to the bank", and do such work as that, but when you have special busi- ness with a bank go yourself. If you want some paper discounted, or a loan extended, you can attend to the matter much more satisfactorily than a clerk could do. If the banker has any objections to make he will not scruple to make them to you as readily as he would have done to your clerk; while you may be able to remove his doubts, and your clerk could not. The following "Hints to those Having Bank Ac- counts," were furnished a Philadelphia paper by an experienced banker; they will bear study, and should be acted upon. 1. If you wish to open an account with a hank, provide your- self with a proper introduction. Well-managed banks do not open accounts with strangers. 2. Do not draw a check unless you have the money in hank or in your possession to desposit. Don't test the courage or gener- osity of your bank by presenting, or allowing to be preset, ted, your check for a larger sum than your balance. 3. Do not draw a check and send it to a person out of the city expecting to make it goxl before it can possibly get back. Some- times telegraph advice is asked about such checks. 4. Do not exchange checks with anybody. This is soon dis- covered by your bank ; it does your friend no good, and discredits you. 206 ON THE KOAD TO RICIIES. 5. Do riot give your check to a friend with the condition that ho is not to use it until a certain time. He is sm - e to betray you, for obvious reasons. Do not take an out-of-town check from a neighbor, pass it through your bank without charge, and give him your check for it. Your are sure to get caught. 6. Do not give your check to a stranger. This is an open door for fraud, and if your bank loses thereby, it Won't feel kindly to- ward you. 7. When you send your check out of the city to pay bills, write the name and residence of your payee thus: " Pay to John Smith & Co., of Boston.'" This will put your bank on its guard, if pre- sented at its counter. 8. Don't commit the folly of supposing that because you trust the bank with your money, the bank ought to trust you by paying your over-drafts. 9. Don't suppose you can behave badly in one bank, and stand well with the others. 10. Don't quarrel with your bank. If you are not treated well, go somewhere else, but don't go and leave your discount line unprotected. Don't think it unreasonable if your bank declines to discount an accommodation note. Have a clear definition of an accommodation note; in the meaning of a bank, it is a note for which no value has passed from the endorser to the drawer. 11. If you want an accommodation note discounted, tell your bank frankly tnat it is not, in their definition, a business note. If you take a note from a debtor with an agreement, verbal or writ- ten, that it is to be renewed in whole or in part, and if you get that note discounted and then ask to have a new one discounted to take up the old one, tell your bank all about it 12. Don't commit the folly of saying that you will guarantee the payment of a note which you have already endorsed. 13. Give your bank credit for being intelligent generally, and understanding its own business particularly. It is much bet- ter informed, probably, than you suppose. 14. Don't try to convince your bank that the paper or security which has already been declined is better than the bank supposes. This is only chaff. 15. Don't quarrel with a teller because he does not pay you in money exactly as you wish. As a rule he does the best he can. ATTENTION TO DETAILS. 207 16. Tn all your intercourse with banfe officers, treal them witti the same courtesy and candor that you would expect and desire if the •tations were reversed. 17. Don't send ignorant and stupid messengers to the bank to transact your business. In a very large establishment I suppose it is neces- sary that the book-keeper or cashier should be permit- ted to sign the firm name, but it is not necessary in an ordinary house, and I doubt if it is wise to all< tw- it to the extent that is ordinarily done. For myself, I prefer to sign my own checks and make my own acceptances. Store expenses will bear constant watching. Every dollar of expense is a dollar out of the profits. We do not sit down to-day and say that we will charge such and such a per cent, on what our goods cost us, and add so much for store expenses. Prices are regu- lated by competition. If an article is selling at cost, you must meet the market. Consequently your profits are not regulated by what goods cost you, or by what your store expenses are; but the cost of goods and expense of doing business are matters that deter- mine if you have made or lost money. This being the case, no clerk should have liberty to purchase articles on his own responsibility. Of course you do not intend that yon shall "je told whenever a broom is needed, but you can easily make your watchfulness felt, and be a wholesome restraint on the clerks. Stationery and postage stamps are very expensive items in a year's business, and yet there is hardly a clerk to be found who thinks he must economize in 20S ON THE EOAD TO EICIIES. these things. If he has a letter to write he writes it at the desk, puts it in the firm's envelope, sticks a three cent stamp on it, and away it goes. I never knew a merchant who cared to check his clerks about using his stamps, but I have known a great many who thought the furnishing of postage stamps for eight or ten clerks anything but a " petty " item. If one of the clerks was to take three cents out of the cash drawer to pay postage on his letter, he would be spoken to very promptly, but the bit of paper that cost three cents is too trifling a matter to mention. A constant watch should be kept on the stock, and if there is a certain space alloted to the stock of each article, it will be easy to see if the amount of that arti- cle is low or not. By watching the stock, too, you will learn how fast each item sells, and will be better posted when purchasing the next time. There ought to be a regular overhauling of odds and ends, and of damaged goods, so that they shall be where they can be seen and disposed of. In many stores there is but little effort made to work off old goods. The last new thing sells the best, and the old patterns are pushed aside where they are not seen or sold. Perhaps at the end of the year, when they are being inventoried, some one says these goods must be cleaned out, but there are so many of them they can only be worked off at a great sacrifice, and the chances are that they will not be sold at all. By hav- inr till you have satisfied yourself that fishes will not bite that day. Bui the crowning pleasure ought to be to put away all business, pack- your valise with clothes for rough usage, and go off every summer for a week's, or two weeks', or even a month's vacation. Blessed are they who have the "old farm" to go to. We leave it in bo}*hood as if we were leaving prison, hut in after life it means to us all that the city does not give us, and we turn to it as the shipwrecked sailor turns to a friendly call in the dark. Do not imagine that the business will surely go to the dogs if you leave it for a day. If you have been thorough with your men the machine will go evenly and smoothly with another hand on the valve. We are all apt to flatter ourselves that we are doing what no other person could do, but an occasional accident shows us that we are not near- ly as indispensable as we suppose. I knew a man who worked sixteen hours a day to build up a splendid business; every part of it was under his supervision, and nothing important was ever allowed to be done until it had his sanction. J I is partner was not a common-place man, but by common consent my friend was given credit for build- ing up the business and for holding it, As with many such men, just when his care was most needed, he was stricken down with disease and compelled by liis physician to leave the country for twelve months. Everybody lamented with him and for him; it looked 244 ON THE EOAD TO KICTTES. like utter ruin to his business, but it was imperative that he should go, and go he did. Yet the business did not immediately suffer; those who looked to see it sink at once were disappointed. Gradually it was told that instead of decreasing it was holding its own, and eventually that it was increas- ing beyond anything the firm had ever done. "When the absentee returned with recovered health he found that he had not been missed, but that his partner had exhibited powers that neither of them had guessed at his possessing. Oftentimes we do not give the clerk beside us credit for ability that he possesses. He turns to us for directions until we suppose him to be merely a ma- chine for carrying out our will ; yet he may be capable of improving vastly on our ways. One of my neigh- bors left his book-keeper in charge of his store dur- ing an absence of three weeks, and on his return was surprised to see numberless improvements throughout the room. The man had a chance to carry out some of his own ideas, and they were of decided help to the business. There are many matters of busines that can be car- ried into the woods with us, and there solved out to a more satisfactory conclusion than could ever have been accomplished in the store. One of the prettiest designs for a trade-mark I ever saw was thought out while the owner was leaning against an old apple tree in his summer vacation. I think the most happily worded circular I ever read was gotten up while the merchant was camping in the Adirondacks, where A BUSINESS man's RE0REATT0N8. 245 Lis writing-desk was the head of a flour barrel, and his paper the inside of some once used envelopes. No, you can make no greater mistake than to suppose that every hour out of your store is an hour lost. The well that is not supplied by Bprings will soon run dry, and no one of us contains enough in himself to make up all that a. man should be. If you cannot learn something from contact with men outside your store, you are not a healthy man. But do not confound dissipation or debauchery under the head of recreations. This is a mistake which, if once made, leads rapidly to ruin. There will be temptations without number placed before you; if you overwork yourself there will be advisers in plenty who will suggest a tonic, and it will not be long till your own weakness will crave a stimulant. Yet you cannot afford to do business upon any such basis as this. I do not believe that every man who tastes liquor will become a drunkard ; experience does not show any such result as this, though it is the statement constantly made by advocates of prohibi- tion; but the road through life is full of wrecks of good men who began simply with a " tonic." I am glad that drunkenness is unfashionable; the restrictions of society are bonds that none of us cafe lightly to break over; and when men's credit is scanned closely, the man who has an occasional "bout" is not marked up higher because of it, nor does his credit get strength- ened by it. I think, too, that it is no longer an added figure to a man's credit to find that he is u a little wild." The ;. . ', c\ THE ROAD TO RICHES. only men who look with favor upon this class are they who are companions with them in vice. There is close scrutiny made of men's habits and pastimes, and merchants who are the companions of women of the town are not quoted as being worthy of unlimited trust. ISTo greater mistake can be made than to sup- pose that " one man is as good as another so long as he pays his bills." This is not true: it is not any where near the truth. The man who respects him- self, his family, society, and the laws of God, is hon- ored of men, while good men look upon the debauchee with contempt, and dread the effect of his example upon young men just starting in life. The only pleasures worthy of the name, and that are recreation, are pure and honest pleasures, and these should begin and end in your home. Success in life is dearly bought if it does not mean more of com- fort and happiness to one's home. We laugh over the merchant who thanked God he had failed, because now he could get acquainted with his family; yet I have no doubt the incident was an actual one. Men believe they do all their duty to their family when they pay their bills, and go through life without learn- ing what rest and strength can be found at their own fire sides. No man in business to-day can look back over the list of brother merchants for the past twenty years without noticing this : that the men who were tricky in their dealings with men, who were addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors, or who were unchaste in their lives, rarely made their business successful. Such A BUSINESS BIAN'u El BEATIONS. 247 men frequently appear to be on the highest wave oi prosperity; they laugh at all laws of man or God, and seem to thrive; bul the day surely comes when they lake the downward course. The tricky man is Mire to over-reach liiua •!.'. or h known a9 an un- safe man and is avoided. The man who dabbles with strong drink will be brought to the pass where strong drink masters him, and from this place his ruin is sure and swift. The retrospect that shows so many ruins is at best but an exceedingly sad one. Not seldom it is our brightest and best who are dragged down by the de- mon of drink. I pass men on the street to-day whom I remember as energetic, prosperous merchants; men who were pointed out as models to younger men. and whose Buccess was as well assured as any thing could be. Cut there came a time when conservative old merchants shook their heads at them, and when the street spoke of them as being jolly boys; from that to the bottom was a short race. I do not wonder that such men are tempted to take their own Li It seems to me that the man who ruins his life, and brings misery to those depending onhim, just by gratifying his own appetite, cannot help but feel that he lb deserving the scorn of all mankind, and should wish to hide himself away from all his fellow.-;. But this habit does not come in a night. Y"oa will be told it is your duty to "recreate" a little, and a jolly set of fellows will tempt you to be one of them. I hear men say the road to ruin is an easy road. Yes; I believe it is; but I believe the road to prosperity 2J:S ON THE ROAD TO RICHES. is just as easy to travel. If you put yourself in the track that leads downward, you will be helped along that way ; but if you keep on the other track you will be pushed along with that crowd just as easily, and to an end that means respect and prosperity. No pleasures can be called recreation that do not leave the person as pure in mind, as sound in body, as cheerful in spirits as when he began. One of the wholesale merchants who did business near me, who was quoted well by all the mercantile agencies, and in good credit everywhere, seemed to be a pushing, careful sort of man and attended strictly to his business. But during one of his visits to Kew York he was seen making a tour of disreputable houses while he was " drunk as a lord," and from that time his course was downward. Much of the credit given him was on the strength of his personal charac- ter, and conservative houses found they had overval- ued him. The chances are they underrated him after this, and did not give him the credit that his capital entitled him to; but he had only himself to blame. Instead of learning a lesson by it he put on bravado and said, "one man was as good as another so long as he paid his bills, and that it was no one's business what he did or whom he went with so long as he paid one hundred cents on the . dollar," but it did make a difference, for he is to-day salesman on a very moderate salary. The search after recreation often leads men towards fast horses; a good horSe is as wise an investment as the man who can afford it could make, but I never A business man's keckeations. 240 knew a man's business credit strengthened by the fact that he owned a horse that had made a record ; nor am I sure that the style of talk and living that obtains among fast-horse men IS of any advantage to the aver- age business man. It is wonderful how easily men are influnced to become like the company they keep! I have dwelt at length on the recreations that are not recreations; perhaps have said much more than was necessary, and nothing but what was well known before, but there is a pecular temptation to the over- worked business man to indulge in the excesses I have been writing against. Sitting down in a chair away from his desk is not always rest; the busy wheels of the brain keep on revolving, and plans are made just the same whether sitting in the office or in one's parlor. The surest release is in pleasant converse, or getting lost in good books. Then every business man who has children looks i'm-ward to the time when his son shall share the labors and cares with him; shall fit himself to take the leadership when old age comes. I know of no better way of fitting a boy to carefully and honorably discharge the duties of manhood than by making him your companion, and by living the life you desire him to live. Men are not turned out of the mould ready- made, principles and habits all correctly formed; they grow. I think we are apt to forget this. Our clerks are swift to follow out our orders; our business connections are ready to meet our wishes, and many men imagine their children are growing up right because they occasionally shoot a moral maxim at 250 OX THE KOAD TO RICHES. thorn. But figs will grow on thistles, long before the example of an immoral father will produce moral children. I have seen young men who were unable to speak the truth, simply because they had seen their fathers lie in every transaction they undertook. I have known merchants to boast of their marital infidelities, and then seen their sons "go and do likewise." I have known sons of good men to turn out badly, yet I always have hope that these will some time turn to the good, but it is rare that a bad father sees his chil- dren grow up better than himself. So I think it should be a part of every man's recreation to devote himself to his children, and to see that they are close to him in sympathies and companionship. And this leads me to say that a man's best pleasures and sweetest rest should be found in his own home. Business is a master that soon makes abject slaves of us if we will, but with your trade established it is your duty to be the master of your business. Men go to their stores in the morning and work till bed-time, only stopping long enough during the day to swallow down their meals, and yet they consider themselves good husbands and parents. I pity the man who has a wife to whom he cannot talk about his business, and have the feeling that she understands the subject. If there were more of such confidences between man and wife there would be fewer failures. The old adage says : " If a man would be rich he must first ask his wife;" I think we are appreciating this now when economy is the order of the day. GEO WING KICII. 251 CHAPTER XXXV. GBOWXNG KICII. In attempting to lay before young men the true way to do business, I have held before them the fact that each of the steps is an important one in reaching the successful end — wealth. The list of men who have started out in this path is a very long one; they who reached the goal are few in number. I think I have shown why this is so, and that their ruin came, not from any fault of the business, but from the very fact that they could not stand success. Overweening con- fidence in themselves and their luck, and anxiety to grow rich in one jump, landed them where they prop- erly belonged — in a salaried situation. But the man who conducts his business with ordinary care and shrewdness cannot fail. There will be business losses, but he will have prepared himself for them. Goods will decline in value on his shelves, but he will have foreseen it, and be found with a small stock. Some seasons will be dull and trade much lighter than he had any reason to ant icipate, but if he does not sell his goods to good men he lias them on his shelves. He avoids speculation, ostentation, and keeps himself perfectly familiar with every detail of his busia and he invariably becomes a wealthy man. 252 ON THE EOAD TO RICHES. "When lie is rich lie should give others a chance. A man owes a duty to his clerks, and one that reaches beyond the simple paying them their salary. If they have been good men they have had no small share in establishing his business. They long for an opening whereby they can get into business for themselves, but are unable to see one, and have not the means to take advantage of one should it turn up. You have become rich. There is a greater pleasure than that of making money: it is to spend it well. So give your clerks a chance. Here is one who has been with you for years. He has looked after your interests as closely as if the store was his own. A large measure of your success is due to his watchful care. Have you balanced accounts by paying him twelve hundred a year? There is the book-keeper. He has been with you so long that you have come to rely on his judgment as much as your own. You have gradually given up the charge of the office work to him, and feel and know that you are perfectly safe in so doing. You have paid him a good salary, but has he been worth only that ? Your traveling men have worked early and late on the road, and your own experience reminds you that it has been hard work. They have made you thousands every year, and are increasing their trade yearly. Can you say, now that your pockets are full of dollars, that you are under no obligations to them? You do not want to break in new men ; you would sorely hate to have one of these old clerks leave you ; why not bind them to you, and make your interests identical ? Be liberal GROWING RICII. ZOO with tlicm. Do no1 be afraid to be generous. Yon can afford to divide. You have enough now; tl have nothing. When you were beginning yon wanted to get one hundred cents out of every dollar thai yon invested; you are able to take less interest now. To offer them an interest that will really be no more than a fair salary, is an outrage upon yourself. You cannol afford to do such a thing. Your character as a busi- nessman is established. You are known to be shrewd and successful; why not establish a reputation now as a generous man? You do not want to quit business, neither do you care to tie yourself so closely to your store as was necessary in past years. There is but one way of solving the problem justly: divide the responsibility and the profits with your men who de- serve it. "When you have done this do not allow yourself to rust; still have some one department of business under your charge, and see that the "boys" are doing all things rightly. If your style of living is too plain, not for others' eyes, but for your own circumstances and your own comfort, gradually change it to that which pleases you. But do not jump out of a plain, unpretending house into a palace, and expect that people will not laugh at you. If you have been content with the street cars heretofore, do not blossom out now with a coachman. A rich man cannot do just as he pleases unless he is very thick-skinned. You will find that keeping your money is as hard a task as making it was. Every day there will be a 254 OX THE ROAD TO RICHES, new avenue opened before you, wherein you will be invited to merely step in and double your fortune; but you can afford to take no chances in any thing ex- cept in human nature. You can better afford to lose a little money among your neighbors than to grow up into a tight-fisted money bag. Money is good for what it will give us, and especially good if we use it so that we gain the good-will of our neighbors. Whatever yon do, don't quit business, unless it be to do something else. You have kept young by keep- ing up your connection with business; don't drop it, or you will at once grow old. In all the fancies that fill the head of an old merchant, none are so entirely false as that he will be happy when he can jmt aside his business. He will find that his business was a very important part of himself, and now that it has gone from him, he is only part of a man, and a very poor part, too. I have been very sorry for old men who have quit business, and know that their lives were cut short by what they imagined would prolong them. "When the old farmer gives up the farm to the boys, his steps are rapid towards the grave ; whereas he who keeps up his connection with what has been his life for so many years, keeps himself from growing " old," and his mind from rusting. Young men can lay down one thing for another, but old men can get out of the net only at their peril. In an address by the late Chas. Sumner, occurs this passage: "Wealth, power and influence are not for self-indulgence merely, and just according to their extent are the obligations to others which they im- A!.\.. RICH. -•'•' p ,. If by the rule of increase, to him that hath veil, so in the Bame degree new duties are super- added; nor can any man escape fron their behests. If the merchanl be in reality our feudal lord, he must render feudal service; if he be our modern knight, he must do knightly deeds; if he be the baron of our day, let him maintain baronial charity to the humble ye, and baronial courage against tyrannical wrong, in whatsoever form it may assume. But even it' 1 err in attributing to him this peculiar position, I do not err in attributing to him these duties; for his influ- ence is surely great, and he is at least a man bound by his simple manhood to regard nothing human as foreign to his heart. Mr. John ^rcDonongh, the New Orleans millionaire, has engraved on his tomb a series of maxims, which he had prescribed as the rules for his guidance through life, and to which his success was mainly attributable: •• Remember always that labor is one of the condi- tions of our existence. Time is gold; throw not one minute away, but place each one to account. Do unto all men as von would be dour by. Never Covet what is not your own. Never think any matter so trifling as not to deserve notice. Never give out that which not first come in. Never spend but to produce. 1 ; | ■ I order regulate the transactions of your life. Study in the course of life to do the great- amount of good. Deprive yourself of nothing necessary to your comfort, but live in an honorable simplicity and frugality. Labor, then, to the last mo- ment of your existence." 256 ON THE EOAD TO RICTTES. If my reader has followed me through the various steps of business, he will have now reached that place where we leave the merchant blessed with wealth and happy visions of a declining age. He has earned the honor and esteem of his fellow-men ; his name is re- spected upon 'change; his advice is sought, and freely given to the young merchants who are struggling in the path he remembers so well; and there is neither care nor worry before him. What he sowed he is reaping, and — "An old age, serene and bright, And lovely as a Lapland night, Shall lead him to his grave." THE END.