Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1867-11-30
THE BUSINESS OF MILWAUKEE,.

msnds oftheir customers. and feel unusually
cheerful at the prospects. Milwaukee has
been remarkably fortunate in the character
of her ftl- -
LEADING BUSINESS MEN.
In the earlier history of any commercial
city, a few merchants give tone and char
acter 10 its business, impaTt 20 il spirit OF
enterprise, give it standing and credit
abroad ana determine largely its future
prosperity. Their example operates like
QTayitatiOn. as an unseen but constantly
peFvading force, TO infuse energy into all
departments of industry, to attract thither
business and capital, to establish new en-
terprises, multiply the chances for proflta5
bic employment, give stability to trade aud
confidence TO business men, and to tram up
young men with business habits ntted TO
become. in due time, the heads of respOn-
sible business houses. Such men i've not
merely for themselves. However prosper
Gus they may be personally the community
in which they live is largely their debtor
for their enterprise. All its material inter.
ests are promoted by their success and
their removal from the sphere OF their ac-
tiyity and usefulness Wonld, be- seen, AMI
felt to be a public calamity. Take Tor
instance
THE MAMMOTH HARDWARE HOUSE
OF John Nazro q CO., 3l9, 32l and 323
East Water Street, established by III. j i
Nazro s. King, May LIST, 1874, the largest
house of the kind in Milwaukee, and since
1854 under the sole management OF John
NazrO What a. void would be made ia
the business circles Of Milwaukee and its
dependencies, if this house were struck out
of existence, and its strong attractions and
systematized agencies for drawing trade
and business to Milwaukee were at once To
cease
This house Is one Of the institutions Of
Milwaukee, and as such its history and the
history OF the man to whom 1t owes its
success is a matter of general interest
JOHN MARIO ~ >@|
Came to Milwaukee from Boston in the
spring of AZ, and engaged as clerk with H
]. NaZro, ia the establishment oyer which
he now presidea In the spring OF IS
when lust twenty-one years Oid-he bought
the Hardware establishment Of Eliphalet
CTamer, with ID j. NaZrO as partner, and
managed it two years, when the two estab-
lishments were united, and John NaZTO be-
came partner with II. j., under the firm
name of ii. J. NaZrO 4 Cos In the spring
OF 1854, h J. NaZro left Milwaukee and
went to New York, and since that time the
UAEluEsE has UCEA uAANA tiAC bolC AA1tAaEN-
ment Of John NaZro. la 1856 the present
store-6O feet front by 100 feet deep and
i've stories high with basement-was built
in the most substantial manner, at cost,
including grounds, Of $50, 600. To build
such a store now would cost SI25.00O. l
recOllect well, it was said at that time, that
they never would I'LL it. But they not only
fill il from bottom TO top, but have to
rent other buildings in which to store their
goods / have recently made a personal
| inspection Ofthe establishment and learned
something Of the extent of their business,
and of the manner Of doing IT,
Two years ago their trade had so IN
creased that they sold out the iron busi-
ness, and now they are going ont OF the
tin plate and sheet iron business, and sell
heavy and shelf hardware. There are two
rooms 80 feet by 100, in each story, The
basement and the two upper stories are
used chiefly for storing goods. Below are
the balance of tlc timers stock and heavy
goods. Above are hOrse-forks, Takes,
! shovels, scythes and farming utensils in i'm
mense quantities, nails, and almost all
kinds of hardware
THE SAMPLE ROOM.
The first room of the first floor is the
sample room, where samples of everything
/ sOlu III tie EEAhUAloulANul 1t ~ anu llG
sales are made from these samples.
THK SHIPPING ROOM.
The other room on this floor is filed
with heavy goods and is the shipping
room
THE PACKING ROOMS.
In the second story, filled with shelf
hardware on the sides, are the packing
rooms. a head man superintends this de-
partment, with five packers as assistants.
The goods are laid out on tables, marked
down in blOtteTs, called over and checked
and recalled, and the books at the close Of
the work sent to the proper clerks TO be
billed.
EVERYTHING sTsTEMATIzED e
Each department has a superintendent
who is responsible to the proprietor for
everything In his department The rules
of the house are: "A place for everything
and everything in its place. A post for
every man and every man at his post,
Work for every man and every man at his
work Mr. NaZro has the whole BUSH
ness of the house at his fingers ends. He
knows Just where every article is, or
should be ia every room fFOm the top to
the bottom of his store. lie knows what
/ every one is doing, or should be doing in
every department. There is the head
clerk and his corps OF subordinate clerks,
| occupied with the country trade, making
out bills for Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa,
| Illinois and Michigan There is the city
trade department, with its complement of
clerks. under q head clerk. These heads
of Departments are MIR NaZFo's staff Off
| GERS, by which he administers with mill
tary precision and efficiency the affairs of
this vast and complicated establishment,
/ And though he has fOrty-five men in his
employ, he seldom has occasion TO speak
to any of them except the superintendent
on matters of business. He puts aside
business when he leaves the store, with as
much facility as Napoleon did the cares of
| a General to sleep on the eve of q decisive
battle.
INCREASE AND EXTENT OF BUSINESS.
The trade of the house extends over i've
states - Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois,
Iowa and Minnesota. Some idsa of the
/ amount of the business done may be form
i ed from the fact that it requires ten clerks
TO do merely the writing, and that they
frequently send out one hundred and fifty
bills of goods to country merchants IN
| single day. The annual sales have in
creased from $3.50, 900 in 1854, to eleven
hundred thousand dollars in ls67Lnearly
a hundred thousand dollars month,
throughout the year.
The marvellous success Of hIrE NazTo ia
building up so large and fouTishine a
business naturally suggests three things to
a rejecting mind:
1. With great executive energy and force
of character, there must be combined in
ltegrity, uprighiness and fairness. in deal
ling. or MIR. Nazro could never have schiev-
ed his present success Business men,