The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1884-03-27
TRUTH AND TRADE.
A Worldly. Wise View Of Everyday
Business Methods.
In which II IL Made to Appear that
Truthfuluess Lacks Something
or Being the Best
Policy.
New York Times.

'Tf a storekeepar wants to starve in bust.
ness, let him tell the truth" This sentence,
overheard as it dropped from the lips OF a
man apparently well versed in business meth
DDS, led to an attempt to discover to what
extent the business code of honesty has been
deliberately adopted among shop-keepers
The inquirer met at length, however, phi
losopher with whom he had previously had
slight acquaintance. The question being put,
the reply was lecture.
81 believe" said the philosopher, who was
rather a handsome man, about 80 years
of age, well-dreSsed and wholesome looking,
that you have asked the right question OF
the fatal man. had occasion a few years
ago to look up the practical ethics Of various
branches Of business. l believe that business
men are, at heart and in intention, honest
The customer, however, frequently drives him
to practices in which the suppression of UNI
pleasant and Improbable fact figures to some
extent In following these practices the
shopkeeper does not lie outright He could
make affidavit to that. But his experience Is
like that of man who has been often on the
witness stand, and knows that il he attempts
to tell the whole truth both sides may be
damaged The customer is nearly always a
man uniformed and prejudced. He is UNI
u
he is purchasing. He may believe that in
buying he has only to see for himself, order,
pay and receive. Or he may deem it best to
leave his order with the shopkeeper and
trust to the latter's honesty to give him
fair article at a fair price. If, with the first
described customer, the shopkeeper let drop
some unfortunate word in describing the
goods, exciting the customers prejudices, he
might lose the opportunity of making a sale.
He therefore adopts a Fabian policy in deal
| ing with him, and wthholds all information.
! with the second his policy is TO deliver an
article sufficiently good to secure his trade in
! future In either case the shopkeeper's brain
is busy calculating the profits, which has a
tendency to make him put the highest figure
possible on his goods You know, of course,
that in almost any store you enter you buy
| piece OF goods at n certain price, while beside
| it lies another equally good. but not quite so
fashionable marked at price perhaps only
half or three-quarters as much ms the first
piece Fashion, the shopkeeper will tell you
took fancy to the design of the first piece
it has become scarce and consequently, dear.
the seller charging for it all he can get. Now,
with human fallibility. the shopkeerer may
fall into the belief that pretty much all his
goods are fashionable and scarce when Gus
toner appears who is able and willing to pay
good price for what he orders. but when II
bargain-driver is facing the shopkeeper he
may have his doubts to the scarcity and
dearness of goods elsewhere, and let them 60
at price less than he charged the other cur
toner. You see, he thus transfers to his shop
the methods OF a board Of trade. apparent
supply and demand governing transactions.
1.-THE tailor who measures you for n suit of
clothes may tell You he is too busy that you
must wait a week or two before 1t can be
made AT the end Of the time agreed upon
you call upon him and he brings out from a
drawer a suit made from the cloth YOU
ordered You think it a handsome, we'll
made suit; you try it on and it is perfect fit;
you pay your cash and go away satisfied.
! Your folks at home congratulate you on
your nice clothes, you admire them and your
figure in them in the glass, and then you 60
on wearing them for whatever time you
usually wear suit, when you put them off
for good, knowing that you got your moneys
worth from that tailor But what would be
your feelings toward that tailor if you were
made aware of some little facts that he with
held from youi The suit of clothes WAS an
other mans misfit, il was made a month be
fore your measure was taken, and it was
| lying in n drawer in the shop when you were
waiting for it to he made. Moreover, when
you expressed to him your pleasure with his
promptness in delivering them, and with his
artistic skill in making them, his modest atti
tude and his professions Of honest work were
part of the sham OF his business
"You perceive how far reaching is honesty,
do you not! Well, if you attempt to handle
any one Of the various classes of goods which
are sold in our city shops you will find that
the public is not educated up to point which
will permit the shopkeeper to tell all he
knows about his stock. II shopkee er told
damaging facts about his own goods, and yet
could assert with truth that they were AS good
as his neighbors', his customers would want
him to take something Off his prices Igno-
rance is bliss with the average customer.
Take coffee. You buy it ready ground. You
don't know whether it is half coffee or three
quarters something else. You don't know
whether the green coffee-beans were not
somewhat damaged by sea-water. II you
like the taste OF it, you buy it AMI think it
good coffee But if told by your grocer that
it was damaged or adulterated, you might be
uneasy.
Take cigars at smoker can
gauge the value OF { 81 of half dozen
cigars Of different prices, Angling, say. from
Is to 80 centst Yet the man who always
smokes a c-cent cigar would he made I'M
happy If told that a bunch OF 2O-cent cigars
had been worked off on him. Take shoes
There are certain seams in shoes which to the
knowing bring down their value, a. they are
not regular made. Yet they will
wear well enough, and If you don't
know where to look for these seams
you will rest contsntedly in the belief that