CHAPTER XVII

DISTRIBUTION

CORRECT buying and the most efficient methods of manufacture play a large part in the successful carrying on of a business, but the most important consideration is the successful marketing or distributing of the product after it has been manufactured or bought. Very few products are so superior in quality that they sell themselves purely on merit. Competition in business to-day is so keen that, in order to find a market for his product, a merchant must create a demand for it. Thus at its very foundation, distribution is merely a process of creating a demand and then filling that demand. For instance, the retail merchant is concerned with bringing the customers to his store rather than to his competitor's across the street. The wholesale merchant is concerned with having the retailers handle his goods rather than those of another firm. The mail order merchant is concerned with getting the farmer's business before some other dealer gets it. The salesman is concerned with writing the order before a rival from another house writes it.

In the first place, the merchant must handle those things that his customers consider necessary or desirable. Overcoats cannot be sold in August, ashsifters on the equator, nor electric fans in Iceland. Different peoples, different times, and different conditions create different demands, and it is the merchant's business to study those demands and to fill them. In the second place, he must leave no stone unturned in endeavoring to make his product more desirable than that of his competitors. This may mean extensive advertising campaigns, expensive displays, outlay for costly catalogues and booklets, the expenditure of money for inducements to bring customers, or the hiring of expert salesmen. In fact, thousands of plans are carried out every year in this endeavor to increase trade.

The getting of new and additional business, however, is only one of the important considerations that the merchant must always have in mind. He must also keep what business he already has by maintaining the standard of his goods and by giving his customers satisfactory service. One of the first essentials in this question of service is promptness and exactness of delivery. In this the merchant must depend very largely on the transportation companies, and therefore a brief study of these facilities will be especially in place at this point.

Transportation

Transportation is an essential item in the problem of distribution. If you wished to drink a cup of coffee and found that none could be had except in Brazil, you would begin to realize how much the steamship company and the railroad company have done in transporting and hauling it where you might buy it. The same is true of our oranges from California and Florida, our apples from Washington and Oregon, and our grain from the Middle States. In fact, in the case of many products the most important item is not growing them, but bringing them to market, since the transportation charges are often much greater than the actual cost of producing. Thousands of barrels of apples rot on the ground every year because their quality does not warrant the high transportation charges, the lack of transportation rendering them useless. In a smaller measure, the delivery wagons in our cities and towns are essential to us because they save us the trouble of carrying our purchases about. Thus, the element of transportation enters into our lives every day, saving us inconvenience, bringing to us necessities that we demand and luxuries that we like, and, at the same time, increasing the price of commodities.

Common carriers, as transportation companies are called, are of two general classes:

1. Those operating on water--the steamship companies. 2. Those operating on land--the railroad companies.

THE STEAMSHIP COMPANY

Steamship companies operate three general kinds of lines: (1) lines consisting of the largest and fastest steamers which carry only passengers, mail, and valuable parcels; (2) lines using slower steamers which carry both passengers and freight; and (3) lines employing vessels--steamers, sailing vessels, and barges--which carry only freight. The cost of hauling cargoes by water is in every case less per mile than that of carrying the same quantity of goods on land. It costs, for example, over four times as much to carry a bushel of wheat from Chicago to New York by rail as it does to carry it across the Atlantic. It is for this very reason that the traffic on our navigable rivers, the Ohio and the Mississippi, and on the Great Lakes is so heavy. Whenever a cargo can be shipped as well by water as by rail and there is no hurry for delivery, it is shipped by water. However, because so much of our freight must be rushed from place to place, the railroads get the bulk of the inland traffic.

THE RAILROAD COMPANY

The services of the railroad company embrace the hauling of freight, the carrying of passengers, and the transporting of express and of mail. The hauling of freight is the most important item in the railroad business, about three-quarters of the total income being derived from this source. Each year over one billion tons of freight are turned over by shippers to the railroads, who use almost two and one-half million freight cars to carry it. About one-half of this tonnage is minerals, mainly ore and coal; about one-seventh consists of manufactured articles; and one-twelfth of agricultural products. Commodities are grouped into from ten to fourteen classes, on each one of which the freight rate is different from that of the others. By freight rate is meant the cost of shipping a certain unit, usually 100 pounds or a ton, from one place to another; it is dependent on the distance. There are certain bulky commodities like coal, livestock, lumber, grain, and cement, which are almost always handled in carload lots. They are not included in the freight classification, but have a special ex-class freight rate. Freight rates depend also on whether the goods are shipped by slow or _local_ freight or by fast or _through_ freight.

There are a hundred different kinds of papers used in carrying on the railroad freight business. Only four of the most important will be considered here. When a shipper turns over his goods to the railroad company at its freight depot, he gets from the agent a _receipt for freight_, which is merely a receipt for the goods he has turned over. In the ordinary course of business these receipts are exchanged at the company's office for a _bill of lading_ in triplicate. The original and one copy are given to the shipper. The second copy is kept by the railroad. This bill of lading may be of two kinds, _straight_ or _order_. If a straight bill of lading is given, the original is sent to the person to whom the goods are shipped, who is called the _consignee_, who on the presentation of the bill of lading is entitled to the goods after paying the charges. An order bill of lading is much like a check, in that it can be assigned to another person. Like the straight bill it states the name of the consignee or the person for whom the goods are intended and his address, but the consignee cannot get possession of the goods until he has paid for them. To collect payment, the shipper attaches to the order bill of lading a draft for the amount of the goods and the freight, and through his bank and the bank of the consignee the amount is collected. The consignee then gets possession of the order bill of lading, which entitles him to possession of the goods. This is more fully explained on page 344. The railroad's most important paper is the _way bill_, which shows the conductor or the agent of the company just what articles are included in the shipment, so that it can be checked when unloaded. When the goods arrive at their destination, the consignee is notified and is sent a _freight bill_ showing the freight charges. When he presents his bill of lading and pays the charges, the _freight bill_ is receipted and the goods are his.

In quoting prices on goods, manufacturers and distributors usually designate whether they will pay the freight or whether it is to be paid by the consignee. In the latter case the price is quoted f. o. b. at the place from which the goods are shipped, which means freight on board at that point. That is to say, if a distributor located at Detroit quotes his automobiles f. o. b. Detroit, he means that he will see that the goods get into the railroad company's hands at Detroit, but that the consignee pays the freight from Detroit to the destination. The latter is the common practice in shipping.

In the following exercises we shall treat the subject of distribution under four heads:

I. The Retail Merchant. II. The Wholesale Merchant. III. The Mail Order Merchant. IV. The Salesman.

I.--THE RETAIL MERCHANT

=Exercise 259=

_Oral_

You are opening a grocery store. Remember that your object is to sell the largest possible amount of goods. Develop each of the following suggestions:

1. What kind of location would you desire?

2. How would you have the front of your store painted? Would you try to make it stand out from the rest?

3. Do you think it would pay you to have the interior newly and brightly redecorated? To put in the best and brightest lights?

4. What quality of stock would you select? The same for all neighborhoods? Give your reasons. Would advertised brands bring you more trade?

5. Do you think window display would pay? Would you recommend freak or ordinary displays? Price-marked or non-price-marked? Give your reasons.

6. Does the delivery wagon pay? Would it be advisable to buy a new wagon and a good horse? What other considerations would enter?

7. Would you sometimes cut the price of some necessity to draw people? Give reasons for your answer.

8. Is it a good thing to have a general cut-price-sale to bring customers to your store? Even if you lose money by it?

9. Would you give credit? Would the class of people you served come into consideration?

10. Is the use of trading stamps and premiums good policy?

11. Why do you often find a meat market in connection with a grocery?

12. There are two kinds of retail meat markets: (1) the one that sells goods which can be retailed at a low price, and (2) the one that sells superior goods at a higher price. Which policy would you follow and why?

13. Could a retailer combine the two spoken of in (12)? Consider cost, space, satisfaction of the customer.

14. Would you advertise by means of handbills? By circular letters?

15. What would you do if another grocery opened across the street from yours?

=Exercise 260=

_Written_

1. You have bought Burton & Sanders' grocery at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Send out a circular letter advertising the new White Front Grocery and telling what the policy of the new management will be. Explain that the opening sale will begin next Monday and that a special feature of the sale will, be twenty pounds of granulated sugar for eighty cents with a two dollar order.

2. At the same time have an article appear in a local newspaper, telling that Burton & Sanders have sold their store to you and that you are making extensive improvements, especially in sanitary means of handling provisions. In addition, let the article give an account of your business career in another town. Would such an article be of value to you? Write it.

3. Write to Peabody, Harper & Co., Rush Street Bridge, Chicago, Ill., saying that you would like to open an account with them. Give as references a bank in your town and one in Logansport, where you used to live. Ask Peabody, Harper & Co. what terms they can offer you.

4. You have decided to advertise in a local paper. Write to the advertising manager, asking him for yearly rates for a half-column every evening and a quarter-page every Friday.

5. Find out what are the advertising rates of a paper in your town and answer (4).

6. Reproduce a letter that a woman living in town sends, ordering two dollars' worth of groceries and requesting that you send, in addition, the twenty pounds of sugar you advertise in (1). She encloses a check for $2.80.

7. You are in receipt of a letter from Peabody, Harper & Co., answering your inquiry in (3) and offering you sixty days' credit and 2% discount for payment within ten days. Write the letter.

8. Send an order to Peabody, Harper & Co. for $200 worth of groceries. Among the items let there be 6 cases of canned tomatoes, first quality, at $1.75 a case. Ask them to send the goods by the Pennsylvania R. R.

9. Your business is increasing and you need another clerk, (a) Write an advertisement for one. _(b_) Apply for the position.

10. Write a short circular advertising an inexpensive novelty that a grocer might sell. These circulars are to be wrapped with purchases.

11. Peabody, Harper & Co. write, confirming your order in (8) and enclosing a straight bill of lading.

12. When the goods arrive, you find no tomatoes among them. Write a complaint to the wholesale house.

13. Peabody, Harper & Co. reply to your letter in (12), apologizing for the mistake, explaining how it occurred (supply an explanation), and telling you that they have sent one case by express at their expense. The rest will follow by freight.

14. The tomatoes sent by freight do not arrive. Write to the grocery company, asking the latter to send out a "tracer"; that is, to request the railroad company to trace the goods on its lines.

15. The grocery company telephones the railroad company, requesting the latter to trace the goods and to report. The grocery company also writes a letter confirming its request. Write the letter.

16. (_a_) The railroad company reports that by mistake the goods were carried through to Lima, but that they are being returned to Fort Wayne. (_b_) The grocery company informs you of the developments and hopes that the delay has caused you no great inconvenience. Write both letters.

=Exercise 261=

1. You wish to get a partner to open a meat market in connection with your grocery. Write to a friend in Lafayette, Ind., who you think will be interested, proposing the plan. Tell him of the opportunities, as you see them, of business in Fort Wayne and the surrounding country. Tell him that with $4,000 additional capital you and he could set up a much larger establishment, invest in a motor wagon, and thus secure the trade of the outlying districts.

2. Your friend replies that the proposal appeals strongly to him, but that he has only $2,000 in cash. However, he holds a mortgage for $2,000 on ---- (state the location of the house) in Lafayette, and, if he can sell the mortgage, he will be glad to avail himself of the offer.

3. After the partnership is formed, your partner writes to Orr & Locket, 14 W. Randolph St., Chicago, Ill., ordering the following to be shipped by Pennsylvania R.R.: 1 Refrigerator No. 361; 2 Meat Blocks No. 3; 1 Scale No. M. 30; 1/6 doz. Saws No. 33 (16 in.); 1/6 doz. Saws No. 33 (22 in.); 1/4 doz. Knives No. 955; 1/4 doz. Knives No. 490; 1/6 doz. Steels No. 82; 1/6 doz. Cleavers No. 09; 1/4 doz. Block Scrapers. He explains that he is the same man who formerly had a meat market in Lafayette.

4. Orr & Locket acknowledge the receipt of the order, enclose the invoice, and offer him 5% discount for payment within 30 days. Write the letter.

5. A Detroit manufacturer sends you f.o.b. prices on his motor wagons. Investigate the prices and write the letter.

6. Order one of them. (Remember the f.o.b. item.)

7. He writes confirming your order, saying that the car is now in the shipper's hands and that his bank has sent the order bill of lading with draft attached to the First National Bank of your city. Write the letter. (See page 344.)

8. At the same time the shipper's bank sends a letter to the First National Bank of your city enclosing the order bill of lading with draft drawn on you for collection. A copy of this letter is also mailed to you. Write it.

9. You telephone your bank to draw on your account for the amount of the draft and to send you the bill of lading. You confirm this understanding by a letter. Write it.

10. Your bank writes, confirming the telephone conversation and enclosing the bill of lading and a receipt for the correct amount. You present your bill of lading, pay the freight charges, and get your motor wagon. Write the letter the bank sends.

11. The automobile manufacturer has meanwhile received through his bank a credit for the amount you paid for the car and writes acknowledging its receipt. Write the letter.

=Exercise 262=

Choose four or six members of the class, one-half of whom are to argue in favor of the policy indicated in the plan outlined below and one-half of whom are to argue against it.

A certain grocer opened a store with the determination of doing a strictly cash business, and of making no deliveries unless the purchaser paid for the delivery. This was his plan as suggested by _System_:

1. To those who would carry their own purchases he sold everything for cash much lower than any other grocer in town sold it.

2. If the customer bought very bulky goods, or if he did not wish to be his own delivery man, the grocer charged him for delivery a certain percentage of the total of his cash purchases. Yet the customer bought more cheaply than he could buy in any other grocery in town.

3. Those who wished to pay once a month instead of at every visit he advised to deposit a certain sum of money with him as banker and to buy against that, paying cash prices and receiving 3% interest on the amount left on deposit.

II.--THE WHOLESALE MERCHANT

=Exercise 263=

_Oral_

Each of the following should be developed into a paragraph:

1. You are a manufacturer and wholesale distributor with a factory on the outskirts of a town; would you have a warehouse in the center of the town? Give reasons for your answer.

2. What would be the advantage of having your warehouse near the railroad freight depots? Near the docks?

3. What would be the advantage of being located in a large city with many railroads and with water transportation facilities--Chicago, for example?

4. Speed gets orders. With this in view, what would you recommend with respect to the equipment for handling? What would you suggest about the number of people through whose hands the order would have to go before being shipped?

5. If you were looking for big trade in a big city, what kind of stock would you carry? Musical instruments? Clothing?

6. Would it be a good plan to make a specialty of certain brands for leaders and to quote a special price on them?

7. If you were just starting a wholesale hardware or grocery business, state which you think would be the better policy: (1) to concentrate on one kind of goods in one territory and to take on other kinds and territories later, or (2) to work all kinds of goods as widely as possible from the very beginning. Explain fully.

8. Would you bear part of the expense of retailers' advertising, especially of window displays, provided they handled your goods?

9. Would it be good business for the salesmen of the firm to suggest selling methods to retailers and to plan window displays for them? Give your reasons.

10. Do you think it would increase sales to offer a money prize to the retailer selling the largest amount of a certain kind of your goods, the sale of which you wished materially to increase?

11. Tell which you think would be the better policy: (1) to undersell your competitors for a time and then, when you had the trade, to raise your prices, or (2) to set one price and maintain it from the beginning. Give your reasons.

12. If you were getting out a new brand of carpenters' tools, where would you advertise? Would you conduct an extensive national campaign?

13. If you were bringing out a new soap or washing powder, where would you advertise? Would you conduct an extensive national advertising campaign? What would your answer be if you were introducing a new brand of crackers?

14. Would bringing out novelties from time to time help the sale of your staple articles? Explain.

15. Do you think it would pay to send circulars to the housewives of a certain locality to get the local grocers' trade? After you had the local grocers' trade?

=Exercise 264=

_Written_

1. You are Thos. H. Peabody of Peabody, Harper & Co.'s wholesale grocery. Prepare a circular letter, announcing your removal to a new building. The letter will be printed in imitation of typewriting and the introduction filled in later on the typewriter. Remember you are seeking patronage. Address one letter to Walter T. Barth, 350 E. Water St., Milwaukee, Wis.

2. Write an advertisement to appear in the January number of _The Grocer and Country Merchant_, a grocers' trade journal. It will announce your change of location.

3. You receive an order from a retailer in which he asks for a certain brand of coffee that you do not carry. Write a letter telling him you do not handle that brand and offering him another. Make the letter as courteous as possible.

4. Write an advertisement for (1) a bookkeeper; (2) a stenographer.

5. Answer (1) or (2) above.

6. Write an advertisement for a traveling salesman.

7. Answer (6) telling why you think you could sell groceries although you have had no experience.

8. Write a circular letter to send to the trade setting forth the merits of a new brand of canned fruit. Say that you are offering the brand at a very attractive price in the expectation that retailers will make it a leader. Write to Mr. Barth (1).

9. You have made a contract with the manufacturers of the canned fruit mentioned in (8), by which you secure the exclusive sale but take the responsibility of advertising. Write to an advertising agency, saying that you are considering a three months' advertising campaign. Explain that you do not wish the expense to exceed five thousand dollars.

10. The advertising agency replies that, as five thousand dollars is a comparatively small sum for a campaign, it would suggest that the advertising be confined to one class: street car, billboard, newspaper, or magazine. Write the letter.

11. Notify the agency of your choice, giving your reasons.

12. Write a series of three letters to send to housewives, advertising the canned fruit, with the purpose of having them ask for this brand at their grocers': (1) Telling the name of the canned fruit, its excellence, its price, and where it may be bought; (2) Asking if the housewife has as yet bought any, and if she has not, telling her she can get a sample at her grocer's on presentation of this letter; (3) Asking how she liked the fruit and quoting a letter of recommendation received from Mrs. A., who lives in the neighborhood. Urge her to buy, but not too abruptly. A letter to a woman should be fairly long. (See page 265.)

=Exercise 265=

1. For two months you have been without a credit man. You wish to be very careful in your choice because of the importance of the position. J. B. Wright of 439 Russell Ave., Indianapolis, is a personal friend of yours. He has heard that you need a credit man and he recommends Joseph Haddon, who worked for him three years in that capacity until a year ago when he went to Colorado because of the ill-health of his wife. Meanwhile, Mr. Wright's son has been acting as his credit man. Mrs. Haddon has now recovered, and her husband is anxious to get another position. Reproduce Mr. Wright's letter.

2. Write the letter Mr. Wright sends Mr. Haddon in Colorado, suggesting that the latter apply for the position.

3. At the same time Joseph Haddon writes, applying for the position. Write the letter of application.

4. Write Mr. Haddon's letter thanking Mr. Wright for his interest. Remember that the two men know each other.

5. Joseph Haddon, whom you have engaged, is proving to be a very alert credit man. He has made a study of your credit files and has discovered that you have a great many accounts of long standing that ought to be collected. He prepares a courteous letter to send to the debtors, telling them that he has just been made credit man and that he personally would like to get into closer touch with their particular situation to find out how soon he might expect a remittance from them, so that he could plan the future of his department. Write the letter. (See page 254.)

6. A number of retailers remit the amount that they owe. Some explain their situation in detail, but a great many do not respond to (5). Write another letter, still courteous, but more emphatic than (5), to those who did not respond. (See page 255.)

7. Still a number do not respond. Write a third letter, saying that you will place the matter in the hands of your attorney unless you receive a remittance within ten days.

8. Mr. Haddon discovers that there are about a hundred retailers who used to be customers, but who have bought nothing for about two years. He reports this to the sales manager, Mr. James Woodworth, who writes a letter to the retailers to induce them to send another order, using the canned fruit spoken of in (8) of Exercise 264 as a means of interesting them.

9. Nathaniel Sears, a dealer in general merchandise at Joplin, Mo., writes to you asking for an open account. He says that he did a $10,000 business last year and that, apparently, sales this year will be larger. He gives no references. You refer the matter to Mr. Haddon, who looks up Mr. Sears in Bradstreet and then writes to one of your salesmen at St. Louis, asking him to investigate the financial standing of Mr. Sears. Write to the salesman.

10. After three days the salesman reports that Mr. Sears seems to be doing a good business, but he thinks the dealer is living beyond his means. He owes two wholesale houses $500 and $850 respectively; his property in Joplin is heavily mortgaged, and yet he is making extensive improvements on his residence; his son and his daughter are at expensive boarding schools. Write the letter. Be exact in your information.

11. As Mr. Woodworth, write Mr. Sears a courteous letter, refusing him credit but attempting to secure his cash business.

12. Charles Freeman, 141 Park Place, Newark, Ohio, writes in answer to (5) saying that he is unable to pay his account of $500. After the harvest his outstanding bills will be paid by the farmers, and then he can remit. He says he is willing to give his 90 day note for the amount he owes.

13. Mr. Haddon writes, accepting the note.

III.--THE MAIL ORDER MERCHANT

=Exercise 266=

_Oral_

1. Suppose you were starting a mail order business. Would it make any difference in possible profits if your center of operations were in a large or a small city? Give your reasons.

2. Would you try to be near good transportation?

3. What kind of stock would you advertise principally: bulky articles or those easily handled? expensive goods or those of more moderate price?

4. Your catalogue is your salesman. What would this statement suggest about the cost of running your business as compared with that of Peabody, Harper & Co., who employ five salesmen?

5. How would you bring special attention to your leaders in your catalogue?

6. Why is it advisable not to give your catalogue away free, but to charge a nominal sum for it?

7. Would you sell as cheaply as you could or would you try to sell for as high a price as possible even if you sold less?

8. Is it profitable for a mail order merchant to sell one spool of thread or one pocket-knife? Consider the handling and the packing.

9. Why can the mail order merchant sell more cheaply than the country dealer?

10. _a._ How is the parcel post favorable to the mail order dealer? _b._ Why did the country merchant object so strenuously to the passage of the parcel post law?

11. Some distributors who handle only one kind of article sometimes pay the freight. Would this plan be advisable for a mail order house to adopt?

12. Since the purchaser pays the freight, is it advisable for him to buy a large or a small order at one time?

=Exercise 267=

_Written_

1. A customer who wishes to buy some furniture complains that he can purchase what he wishes from another firm that will pay the freight. Write a letter meeting his objection.

2. You have just added a new clothing department and have published a special clothing catalogue, which you will be glad to send to your customers free of charge. Write a letter telling of the new department and drawing special attention to your three-piece serge suit for $15. Enclose a sample of the cloth.

3. Write, especially to farmers, saying that with the facilities now offered by the parcel post you are able to supply their wants quickly; as, for example, for a broken part of a piece of farm machinery. Write a fairly long letter in a friendly tone.

4. In the fall write a letter, addressing the farmers' wives, saying that, as winter is at hand, it would be well for them to put in a supply of groceries when prices are reasonable. Enclose a folder giving some attractive bargains. Write the folder.

5. Write a letter, saying that you have just put up a new building. Invite your customer to come to see it. Explain that every afternoon from 2 to 4 o'clock there will be a band concert in your large visitors' hall.

=Exercise 268=

1. Let one pupil be chosen to dictate to the class each of the letters outlined below. He is to use no notes. The class will represent stenographers.

2. Discuss and improve the letters that have been dictated.

1. Borroughs & Brown, a mail order firm at N. 11th and Callowhill Streets, Philadelphia, send you their catalogue and an advertising letter. Write the letter.

2. Write, stating that in their catalogue No. 6, page 673, Borroughs & Brown list a washing machine such as you wish, called the "Pride Swing" washing machine, No. 4-A-459. The measurements as listed are: depth 13 inches, diameter 21 inches. The price is $5.25. This is too small for your purpose. Ask if they can supply you with the same style 30 inches in diameter. Ask the price.

3. Borroughs & Brown write that they have no such machine in stock, but, since there have been many requests lately for a larger machine, they have decided to consult the factory, and if it is advisable, they will reproduce the "Pride Swing" machine in larger size. (Letter head.)

4. Borroughs & Brown, Dept. 18, House Furnishings, write to the W. F. Wiggins Mfg. Co., Saginaw, Mich., stating that they have had several orders for a larger "Pride Swing" washing machine which the Wiggins Company manufacture. Burroughs & Brown ask concerning a 30-inch machine. Write the letter.

5. The W. F. Wiggins Mfg. Co. telegraph Borroughs & Brown that before they can state a price on a 30-inch "Pride Swing" machine, they must make samples, calculating cost of materials and workmanship. Write the telegram. Confirm by letter. Write the letter.

6. Borroughs & Brown write you, giving the information contained in (5) above.

7. The W. F. Wiggins Mfg. Co. write Borroughs & Brown, stating that after several experiments they find that the coil springs by which the "Pride Swing" machine is operated are too weak for the larger sized tub. The manufacture of suitable springs will cause some delay in their final report.

8. Ten days later. Telegram. The W. F. Wiggins Mfg. Co. to Borroughs & Brown, stating that they have now perfected a "Pride Swing Special" machine; width 30 inches, depth 18 inches; price $8, with a discount of 50%.

9. Borroughs & Brown write you that they have perfected a "Pride Swing Special" washing machine, No. 4-B-459, 30 inches in diameter, 18 inches in depth, price $7. Add a courteous close.

10. Order five machines. Give full shipping directions. Say that you will pay according to the offer made on page 25, catalogue No. 6; viz., $20 upon receipt of the goods and $5 per month until they are paid for. Give two references.

11. Borroughs & Brown telegraph the W. F. Wiggins Mfg. Co. ordering 100 machines, five of which are to be sent directly to you. Write, confirming the telegram.

12. Two weeks later than letter (10) write again, explaining that you have not received the machines you ordered. Ask the reason for the delay.

13. Two weeks later than (11) write a telegram from Borroughs & Brown to the W. F. Wiggins Mfg. Co., asking why the machines have not been sent.

14. Send a telegram from the W. F. Wiggins Mfg. Co. to Borroughs & Brown, saying that, owing to a teamsters' and shipping clerks' strike, they have not been able to fill any of their orders for the last two weeks. The machines have been sent. (State how and when.) Write a letter, confirming the telegram.

15. Borroughs & Brown write to inform you that the strike was the cause of the delay in the shipment of the machines you ordered ----. The machines were shipped ----. Add a courteous close.

=Exercise 269=

Conduct a transaction of your own, using the above as a model, except in the method of payment.

IV.--THE SALESMAN

Salesmanship is a branch of distribution about which many volumes have been written. We cannot consider it minutely from the personal view of the salesman, but can only touch upon it from the point of view of distribution. The salesman is merely a force in distribution like correspondence, circulars, and advertising. But the salesman has the advantage over these in that he is able to bring his personality to bear in the problem of getting business. It is by means of his personality that the salesman gets the attention and confidence of the customer,--a thing which is extremely hard to do in a letter, a circular, or an advertisement. Securing a buyer's confidence is very important, because no suspicious customer has ever yet bought anything.

In addition to a pleasing personality a good salesman must have a wide and thorough knowledge of his wares. If he does not know his goods, the sale drags; whereas, if he knows everything good there is to be known about them, his enthusiasm instills enthusiasm into the customer.

After bringing his knowledge and his enthusiasm into play, he must next call on his perseverance and his tact; perseverance to keep at the customer until he gets the order, and tact to know in each case just how to go about getting the order and just when to stop. Many salesmen talk too much; many more do not talk enough.

=Exercise 270=

_Oral_

In talking on any of the following subjects be sure you know just what you are going to say before you begin, and then say it clearly and convincingly. Don't say too much and don't say too little. Just exactly how much you should say no one can tell you. You must watch your audience. If they look puzzled, give more details; if they look bored, try shorter, more concise sentences, or bring your talk to a close. After you have explained all your points, sum them up briefly at the end. Remember that your talk must, first, attract attention; second, hold the interest; and third, create enthusiasm and desire to buy.

To supplement what facts you get from observation, study advertisements and catalogues to get material for (9) to (20) below:

1. Get up a talk to persuade a freshman or a group of freshmen to subscribe to the school paper.

2. To persuade girls to contribute to a fund to be used to buy suits for the football team.

3. To induce particularly uninterested freshmen to buy tickets for a school activity; for example, a debate.

4. As a real estate agent induce a classmate to establish a home in your neighborhood.

5. Try to sell the manager of the baseball team a new line of athletic goods.

6. Try to sell a set of Dickens' (or any other author's) works to a boy who is not fond of reading. You must enjoy the books that you recommend.

7. Try to sell the class or the teacher a new kind of loose leaf note book for science or English work.

8. As an agent for the publishers try to sell this text book to your English class or to your English teacher.

9. You are trying to sell an automobile to a farmer. By means of concrete examples develop the following items into a talk:

_a._ The business opportunities to be gained. _b._ The social opportunities to be gained.

10. Get up a talk to sell a runabout to a physician who has a small practice. Suppose that he owns a horse and a buggy. Be tactful.

11. You are a salesman for an automobile house and are trying to sell a gasoline car to a man who is partial to an electric car. Meet the objections to the gasoline car and put forward its advantages.

12. You are trying to sell an electric runabout to a woman. Develop the following into a talk:

_a._ Ease of operation. _b._ Noiselessness and comfort. _c._ Elegant appearance.

13. You are trying to sell the manager of a local express company a motor truck. Gather all the data you can and present it in a talk on why he should replace his horses and wagons with motor trucks. Be as specific as possible.

14. Get up a talk showing why a man with considerable means should trade his two year old car as part payment for the latest model.

15. Get up a talk to sell a phonograph.

16. To sell an electric washing machine.

17. To sell a piano.

18. To sell a vacuum cleaner.

19. To sell a subscription to a magazine.

20. To obtain an order for groceries or teas and coffees. The offer of premiums might add to the effectiveness of your talk.

=Exercise 271=

The following paragraph was adapted from William C. Freeman's _Advertising Talks_.

George Washington's Cherry Tree Story has served a good purpose through all of these years. "I cannot tell a lie" is a phrase that has been used in every schoolroom in America to impress upon young minds the importance of truth telling. The phrase is also serving its purpose outside the schoolroom. In all professions and in all kinds of business, men know that in order to make good they must tell the truth. There never was, in all the history of the country, a greater movement than now toward universal truth telling. There is not even that winking at "white" lies that used to prevail. The man who does not make a direct statement, who does not earn a reputation for being honest, has no chance of succeeding. Time was when the trickster was regarded as shrewd and was accepted in the community as being right both socially and commercially. To-day the man who has money without a reputation for integrity is a bankrupt, as far as real friends and public opinion are concerned. The expression "I cannot tell a lie" has been changed to-day to "I will not tell a lie even if the lie seems more expedient than the blunt truth." So George Washington's Cherry Tree Story is as good to-day as it ever was.

Prepare paragraphs on the following suggestions, expanding each by examples:

1. As a salesman, be honest with your customers. 2. Cultivate tact. 3. Cultivate a conscience. 4. Learn to avoid friction. 5. Acknowledge your mistakes. 6. Don't criticise. 7. Don't procrastinate. 8. Don't boast. 9. Don't buy your clothes on time. 10. Don't borrow from fellow clerks. 11. Don't think your employer can't see whether you are working. 12. Don't sell a merchant a larger order than he can move. 13. Study the duties of the man ahead of you. 14. New ideas count with your employer. 15. He can who thinks he can.

=Exercise 272=

_Written_

1. A request has come in from your territory for your automobile catalogue. Write a letter to accompany the catalogue, inviting the inspection of your cars. Make it as personal as possible.

2. You have just been talking with a prospective buyer. Drive home some of the strong points of your car in a letter exploiting strength, reliability, and speed. Use the following as a basis of your letter: The Up-to-the-minute car breaks the record from New York to San Francisco, making the trip in ten days, fifteen hours, and thirteen seconds.

3. You have just shown your motor truck to a business man. Strengthen the impression you made on him by writing him a letter summing up the important advantages of the motor truck. Use the following extract from a letter:

"It has not missed a single trip since I have had it, and it takes the place of three wagons and twelve horses. My route from Waltham is so long that a pair of horses going over it one day has to be laid off the next."

"This truck makes three trips each day. I have had it on the road nearly four months and have covered over four thousand (4,000) miles with no expense for repairs."

4. A prospective customer has lost interest. Try to arouse him once more by telling him of a particularly good sale recently made, or of a new model just received, or of a new device lately perfected. Your object is to get him to inspect your cars again.

5. Write a letter to a wealthy man who bought one of your cars two years ago, offering him half of what he paid for the car in exchange for a new model. Make him see that it would be to his advantage to accept the offer.

6. Write an advertisement to appear in a local newspaper asking for an automobile salesman.

7. Answer the advertisement, telling why you think you could sell cars, although you have had no experience.

8. Write a letter to a friend telling him you have been offered the agency for the Up-to-the-minute car. Ask him to be your partner, and try to show him why you will succeed. He will be expected to bear half the office expenses, and he will get half the commissions.

=Exercise 273--Suggestions for Debates=

1. The mail order house ruins the trade of the country merchant.

2. The giving of free samples does not attract desirable purchasers.

3. The use of trading stamps should be abolished.

4. The motor wagon is more advantageous for the average grocer than the horse and wagon.

5. All manufactured food products should be sold in sanitary, sealed packages.

=Exercise 274=

_Oral or Written_

Prepare paragraphs on the following:

1. A merchant must know his neighborhood before he buys his stock.

2. Selling by weight rather than by measure benefits dealer and consumer.

3. Giving short weights does not prove profitable.

4. The price of a certain kind of goods, or of an article, that is going out of style should be reduced to move it quickly.

5. If merchants did not deliver purchases, goods would be cheaper.

6. Hard work and patience spell the merchant's success.

7. The middle man gets the bulk of the profit.

8. The telegraph is a great aid to the business man.

9. There is a difference between day and night telegraphic rates.

10. Money may be sent by telegraph.

11. The night letter is very useful to the merchant.

12. The parcel post is a great help to the farmer.

13. The parcel post tends to increase the business of the mail order firms.

14. The object of an automobile exhibit is to sell cars.

15. The five-and-ten-cent stores have succeeded because ----.

=Exercise 275=

Prepare paragraphs on the following:

1. The importance of transportation facilities to the farmer. 2. The importance of transportation facilities to the manufacturer. 3. The steamship in international trade. 4. Transportation before the days of the railroad. 5. The influence of the railroad in the advance of civilization. 6. Electrifying the railroads. 7. Speed, the cause of railroad accidents. 8. The observation car. 9. The care of food in the refrigerator car. 10. The work of the railroad repair-shop. 11. The advantage of railroad transportation over water transportation. 12. The advantage of water transportation over railroad transportation. 13. Why the larger railroads in our country run east and west. 14. The advantages of the pay-as-you-enter car. 15. The importance of the interurban electric railroads in country trade. 16. The disadvantages of the elevated system in large cities. 17. Congestion in the business district of a large city. 18. The underground system as a solution for congested traffic. 19. The work of a transfer company. 20. The motor truck decreases the business of the express companies. 21. The automobile decreases railroad suburban business.

=Exercise 276=

Topics for Investigation and Discussion

1. The work of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

2. How railroads control other railroads.

3. Railroad earnings.

4. Different kinds of railroad traffic.

5. The relation between the express companies and the railroads.

6. Railroad rates and rebates.

7. Government ownership of railroads.

8. The influence of the Panama canal in the growth of business in the southern states.

9. The influence of the canal in the growth of business in the central West.

10. The influence of the canal in the growth of business in South America.

11. The deep water way.

12. The parcel post zones.

=Exercise 277=

=Books that will Suggest Topics for Talks=

BOLTON, S. K., Successful Women.

CHAMBERLAIN, J. F., How We Travel.

DRYSDALE, W., Helps for Ambitious Boys; Helps for Ambitious Girls.

FOWLER, N. C., Practical Salesmanship; Starting in Life.

HALE, E. E., What Career?

HIGINBOTHAM, H. N., The Making of a Merchant.

LASELLE, M. A. and WILEY, K. E., Vocations for Girls.

LUNDGREN, CHARLES, The New Salesmanship.

LYDE, L. W., Man and his Markets.

MALLON, I. A. S., The Business Girl.

MANSON, G. J., Ready for Business.

MARSDEN, O. S., The Secret of Achievement; The Young Man Entering Business.

MITTEN, G. E., The Book of the Railway.

MOODY, W. D., Men Who Sell Things.

REED, _et al._, Careers for the Coming Men.

ROCHELEAU, W. F., Transportation.

ROLLINS, F. W., What can a Young Man do?

STOCKWELL, H. G., Essential Elements of Business Character.

STODDARD, W. O., Men of Business.

THE VOCATION BUREAU, Boston, Vocations for Boys. (Pamphlets on _The Grocer_, _The Machinist_, _The Architect_, _etc._)

WHITE, S. J., Business Openings for Girls.

=Exercise 278=

Write the following from dictation:

1

Transportation is a great business as well as manufacturing or farming. History tells us that very early people did not have a settled home, but, when the grass began to give out in one part of the country, several members of the community, perhaps whole tribes, took their belongings on their backs and sought for a new place to settle. It is reasonable to suppose that they wished to keep up some sort of intercourse with their friends. At once difficulties arose, since hostile tribes lived between them and their old home. It was a brave man, indeed, who ventured to encounter the dangers of the trip between the settlements. Such a set of men arose in the peddlers, who set out alone or in caravans with articles of produce or manufacture and braved the dangers even of a desert to exchange what they carried for the produce of the old home. This is the earliest form of transportation. Compare this simple form with the modern railroad, steamship, and express service.

2

CAPTURING THE LATIN AMERICAN TRADE

No empty iteration of the Monroe doctrine, no reservation of canal privileges, will capture the trade of Latin America. This will be accomplished only by efforts to produce and to sell those countries the kind of goods that they want; measured, labeled, and packed their way; offered in the language that they understand; and, moreover, sold at attractive prices. Our consuls abroad report that in all these essentials American dealers are deficient and that British, French, and German manufacturers fill the South American markets.

To these rivals must be added another, for, in spite of old South American prejudices against Spain and Spanish goods, the Spaniards are quietly regaining their footing in those republics of whose trade a century ago the home country enjoyed the monopoly. Her advantages, we know, are a common language and familiarity with the ways of life and the tastes of the buyers. Spain produces just the kind of wine, olive oil, and canned goods that South America wants; she turns out the kind of paper, the patterns of cotton goods, the styles of tools and implements, the clothing, shoes, and weapons used in Latin America; and the result is that she gets the trade. One-sixth, at least, of her entire exports goes to her former possessions.

3

South Africa has been successfully operating an agricultural parcel post. By its instrumentality gold, diamonds, minerals, wool, feathers, saddlery, boots and shoes, confectionery, fruit, plants, seed, butter and eggs suitably packed, and other farm products are transported, and the producer and consumer have been brought together. From the report of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs we learn that the scheme has worked well, is a recognized and popular feature of the postal system, and is entirely feasible. The sparse settlements and widely scattered population have not operated to bar its success, as was feared at the time of its introduction.

4

The duty of applying the remedy for wrecks rests, primarily, with the railroad managers. And what is the remedy, and how is it to be applied? It would seem that there can be but one answer: there must be stern discipline for taking risks. There must be thorough instruction as to what risks are and how to avoid them, just such instruction as the "safety first" movement is leading up to, but extended to every man in every department of every road. In addition, the promise that no engineman will be censured for losing or not making up time or for not running fast when it is not considered safe to do so must be changed to the positive, unequivocal statement that there will be a substantial penalty for every case of running fast when it is not safe to do so.--_Railway Age Gazette._

5

More and more attention, each year, is being given by the railroad managers to the locating of new kinds of industry along their lines. The roads in the West and the South nearly all have efficient industrial departments, land departments, or immigration departments. Their men seek out new industries, meet the steamers to tempt immigrants into their region, arrange for the purchase or rental of lands, and get together reports of the soil, the products, and the advantages of any desired location. Perhaps the greatest effort, however, is bent upon the location of new factories along the route. In one year one southern railroad induced more than seven hundred men to establish industries along its lines, after the railroads had made complete and painstaking investigation of all the conditions that would confront the prospective manufacturers.