The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-04-21

plOyes do about as they choose, is the difference
between success and failuTe-betWeen rapid ac-
cumulation and utter bankruptcy. Do not come
to the store ten minutes after the time. Be there
within two seconds. and let it be two seconds be-
fore instead Of two seconds after. Do not think
anything too Insignificant to do well. Do not
say LIS only just once" From the most i'm
portant transaction in commerce down to the
particular style in which you tie a string around
a bundle, obey orders. Do not get easily dis
gusted. While others in the store may lounge or
fret or complain, you 90 with ready hands and
cheerful face and contented spirit to your work.
When the bugle sounds, the good soldier asks 10
questions, but shoulders his knapsack, fills his
canteen and listens for the command of
8 March, Do not get the idea that your in
terests and those of your employer are antagon-
istic. His success will be your honor. His en-
barrassment will be your dismay. Expose none
Of the f~railties of the firm. Tell no store secrets.
Do not blab! Rebuff those persons who come to
find out from clerks what ought never to be
known outside of the store. Do not be among
those young men who take on a mysterious air
when something is said against the firm that en-
ploys them, as much as to say: 81 could tell
you some things If l would, but l won't" Do
not be among those who imagine they can build
themselves up by pulling somebody else down.
Be not ashamed to be a subaltern.
Again, | counsel clerks in this house to search
out what are the unlawful and dishonest de-
mands of an establishment, and resist them. In
the six thousand years that have passed, there
has never been an occasion when 1t was one s
duty to sin against God. 1t is never right to do
wrong. If the head men of the firm expect of
you dishonesty, dsappoint them. Oh" you
say, " should lose my place then Better
lose your place than lose your soul. But you
will not lose your place. Christian beroism is
always hOnOred. You 60 to the head man of
your store and say Sir, | want to serve you
1 want to oblige you it is no lack of industry
on my part, but this thing seems to me to be
wrong, and it is a sin against my conscience, it
is a sin against God, and l beg you, sir, to ex-
cuse me-" lie may flush up and swear, but he
will cool down, and he will have more admira-
ton for you than for those who submit to his
evil dictation and while they sink, you will rise.
Do not, because of seeming temporary advantage.
give up your character, young man. Under
God, that is the only thing you have to build on.
Give up that, you give up everything. That en-
ployer asks a young man to hurt himself for time
and for eternity, who expects him 10 make a
wrong entry, or change an invoice, or say goods
cost SO much when they cost less, or impose upon
the yerdancy of a customer, or misrepresent a
style of fabric. How dare he demand of you
anything so insolent?
There is one style of temptation that comes on q
great many of our clerks, and that is upon those
who are engaged in what is called q drumming"
Now that occupation is just as honorable as any
other, if it be conducted in accord with ones
conscience. In this day when there are so many
rivalrIes in business, all our commercial establish
ments ought to have men abroad who are seeking
out LOT opportunities Oh meTcndnulbe. lHeTe
can be no objection to that. But there are pro-
fessed Christians merchants in the mcknight
prayermeeting who have clerks abroad in New
York conducting merchants of Cincinnati, and
Chicago, and st. Louis, through the debauche-
ries of the great town in order to secure their
custom for the storer. There are in stores in
New York and Brooklyn. drawers in which there
are kept moneys which the clerks are to go and
get whenever they want to conduct these people
through the slums of the city. The head men
of the firm wink at it, and in some places &C
tually demand it,-professed Christian mer-
chants. One would think that the prayer would
freeze on their lips, and they would fall back
dead at the sound of their own song. What
chance is there for young men when commercial
establishments expect such things of them?
Among all things Internal, l pronounce that the
most damnable. Young man, how will that firm
treat you when you are utterly besoiied and
dragged out with sin, going through the haunts
of iniquity for the purpose of getting customers
for their store? How will they treat you? oh,
they will give you a pension They will build
you a fine house! They will get you a horse
and carriage! Will they? No. Some day you
will go to the store, shabby, intoxicated, worn
out in their service, and they will say: John,
you are a disgrace to our house. Now just look
at yourself. Accountant, how much do we owe
this man2' "a dollar and thirty cents"
50 Well, now, here-here it is a dollar and
thirty cents. Go off. Don't be hanging around
the store" Magnanimity superb. They stole
the luster from his eye and the color from his
cheek and the honor from his soul, and then they
kicked him out. o young men, disappoint the
expectation of that firm disappoint those custo-
mers, if these things are expected of you. You
may sell an extra case of goods; you may sell an
extra roll of silk but the trouble is. you throw
your soul to boot in the bargain.
Again, 1 counsel all clerks to conquer the
trials of their particular position. One great
trial for clerks Is the reconsideration of custo-
mers. There are people who are entirely polite
everywhere else, but gruff and dictatorial and
when they come into n store to
buy anything. There are thousands of men
and women who 60 from store to store to price
things, without any idea of purchase. They
are not satisfied until every roll of goods is
brought down and they have pointed out all
kinds of gloves and stretch them out Of shape,
and they put on all styles of cloak and walk
to the mirror to see how it would look and
then they sail out of the store, saying: 81 will
take it to-day;'' which means: 81 don't
want it at all, >" leaving the clerk amid a wreck
Of ribbons and laces and cloths, to smooth out
4 thousand dollars worth of goods-not one j
of which did that man or woman buy
Dr. expect to buy. Now l call that a dishonesty I
IN the part of the customer. IF a boy runs 6
a store and takes a roll of cloth off the 1
counter and sneaks out into the streets, you all t
DIN in the cry pell-mell :" Stop theft" When I
see you 90 into a store, not expecting to buy c
but to price things, stealing the time I
u HIo SmpiOyeIS L say, too. Slop tueIeI Ii 1
were asked which class of persons most need L
he grace of God amid their annoyances, 1 would a
ay, DRY goods clerks" All the indignation '
If customers about the high prices comes on ]
The clerk. For instances a great war comes. t
rhe manufactures are closed. The people go t
to battle. The price of goods runs up. A a
customer comes into the store. Goods have C
up. How much is that worth ?' 81 o
lollar.' "A dollar, Outrageous. A dollar :" t
Why, who is to blame for the fact that it has o
cot to be a dollar? Does the indignation go f
to the manufacturers on the banks of the I
ierrimac, because they have closed up? No. o
Does the indignation 60 out toward the employer, 8