New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1881-03-23
WHOLE NUMBER 167

WHOLE NUMBER 167
have them made in sufficient numbers.l
There were heaps of remnants Of
liHen, and it so happened that the rem
nants were exactly long enough for q
shirt, or some other garment Any
clerk who could push OFF one of these
remnants upon a customer was allowed
penny or two-pence as a reward for
his talent; and there were certain cost
~ articles, such as s,aw]s and silks of
unsalable patterns, upon which there
was premium of several shillings for
selling.
There was one frightfully ugly shawl
which had hung fire SO long that the
master Of the shop offered reward of
eight sh;lliDgs two dollars) to any one
who should sell it at the full price,
which was twenty dollars Our lad
covered himself with glory one morn
ing. by selling this horrid old thing. A
sailor came in to buy a satin scarf for
a present. The boy saw his chance.
AS you, want something for pres
ent,'? said he to the sailor, sswould
you not like to give something really
useful and valuable that would last for
years?'
In three minutes the sailor was
walking out of the store, happv
enough, with the shawl under his arm.
and the sharp youth was depositing the
price thereof in the money-drawer:
Very soon he had an opportunity of
assisting to gull the public on a great
scale. His employer bought out the
stock of an old-fashioned dry-goods
store in another part of the town for a
small sum; upon which he determined
to have grand g selling off, To this
end he filled the old shop with all his
old, faded, unstable goods, besides
looking around among the wholesale
houses and picking up several cart
loads of cheap lots, more or less dam
aged. The whole town was flooded
with bills announcing this selling off of
the old-established store, atwhich MANY
goods could be obtained at less than
half the original cost. As this was then
comparatively new trick, the public
were deceived by it, and it had the most
astonishing success. The selling off
lasted several weeks, the supply of
goods being kept up by daily purchases.
Our junior clerk was an apt learner
in deception ana trickery. Shortly aft
er this experiment upon the public
credulity,. a careless boy lighting the
lamps in The window for this was be-
fore the introduction Of gas) set some
netting on fire, causing damage of
few shillings, the fire being almost in
stantly extinguished. As business had
been little dull, the junior clerk con-
ceived the idea of turning the conflaera-
ton to account. Going up to his en-
ployer, and pointing to the singed arti-
cles, he said to him:
'Why not have a selling off here,
and clear out all the stock damaged by
fre?'
The master laughed at the enormitv
of the joke, but instantly adopted the
suggestion, and in the course of day
or two, flaming posters announced the
awful disaster and the sale. In pre-
pairing for this event, the clerks applied
lighted paper to the edges of
whole stacks of goods, slightly dis
colored the tops of stockings,
and in fact, they singed to such an ex-
tent as almost 10 cause real conflaera-
ton. During these wicked night OBJ
erations great deal of beer was con-
sumed, and the whole effect of the ma
newer was injurious and demoralizing
to every clerk in the store.
This sale, also. was ridiculously sue
cessful. A mob surrounded the doors
before they were opened, and to keep
up the excitement some lOw-priced
goods were ostentatiously sold much be-
low cost. Such was the rush of Gus
toners that at noon the young men
were exhausted by the labor of selling:
the counters were mere litter of tum-
bled dry-goods; and the shop had to be
closed for while for rest and putting
things in order.
To keep up the excitement, the mas
ter and his favorite junior clerk rode
about London in hackney coaches, in
search of any cheap lots that would an
swer their purpose.
In the course of time this clerk, who
was at heart an honest we'll principled
fellow. grew ashamed of all this
trickery and fraud, and when at length
he set up in business for himself, he
adopted the principle of zone price and
no abatement He dealt honorablv
with all his customers, and thus founded
one of the great dry-goods houses of
London. Two things saved him: first,
he loathed drinking and debauchery;
secondly, hewas in the habit of reading.
The building up of the huge establish
ments, to which some persons object,
has nearly put an end to the old system
of guzzling, cheating and lying. The
clerks in these great stores 90 to
business at eli ght O. clock in the morning,
and leave at six in the evening, with
an interval for dinner. They work all
day in a clean and pleasant place, they
are neither required nor allowed to lie or
cheat. A very large establishment must
be conducted honestly, o. :: cannot long
60 on. Its very largeness conpels q
strict adherence to truth and fact
James Parton, IN Youths Companion.