The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-17

|
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. IA came
from Washington to Philadelphia to
have an interview with Mr.. John Wan
amaker. I wanted his ideas of adver-
tising, business methods and of the
condition of the times for the readers
! of this paper. + had no appointment
with Mr.. Wanamaker, but / knew him
while he was postmaster general, and
was sure that If I could get access to
| him he would talk. He Is, however, a
very busy man. He Is, you know, the
biggest merchant in the United States.
| if not in the world. Since he bought
| the establishment which was orginal-
| ly founded by A. T. Stewart in New
| York he has more than doubled his
mercantile interests. His store here in
! Philadelphia handles tens of millions
of dollars worth of goods a year, and
| it's profits foot up, I have been told.
more than a million dollars every
| twelve months. He has 1000 clerks here
under one roof, and his interests reach
out to every country of Europe and
to every part of the United States. He
is one Of the great advertisers of the
world. I have heard 1t said that the
| man who writes his daily letter about
new goods for the newspapers receives
| a salary of $4,000 year, and that he
! rays each of the Philadelphia papers
from $4,000 to $4,000 a month for ad-
vertising. Mr.. Wanamaker supervises
| almost the whole of his interests him.
| self, and it goes without saying that
| he has plenty to do.
HOW I GOT TO WANAMAKER.
Men who do business of such proper
| tions are usually hard to reach. They
| are besieged by cranks and beggars
and did they not guard their leisure
they would have no time for work.
Still, I saw Mr.. Wanamaker. The jour
! ney I took in getting to see him was
+, an interesting one. One of the clerks
/ told me where the office was, directing
me to a little corner room on the sec
end floor. There found White-hair-
ed old man and a brown-haired young
boy. The old man must have been
| seventy; the young boy did not look
| to be more than seven. The old man
made me think of a Methodist deacon.
He was one Of Mr.. Wanamaker's con-
| fidential secretaries. He told me that
| he did not think I could see Mr.. Wana-
he thought he was somewhere about
| the store. 1 urged my case and the
| old gentleman finally said that he
| would present the matter to Mr.. Jones.
| A moment later Mr.. Jones came in.
| Mr.. Jones is the second confidential
| secretary to Mr. Wanamaker. Like the
| first secretary, he is man Of mature
| years and of clerical aspect His beard
! J. as long as that of Aaron, and his
is as somber as that of Moses
must have been when he first saw the
| golden calf. Mr.. Jones decided that
| I might possibly be of interest to Mr..
| Wanamaker He called the young boy
| and told him to take me to the ante
room Of the Office Of the great mer-
! chant, and to give my card to the
young lady in charge. The young boy
| went with me- It was almost a Sab
| bath days journey from Mr. Wana-
makers public Office to the little pri-
vate den which forms his real work.
shop. We walked through rows Of
counters to the opposite corner OF the
| building, took the elevator and finally
away up under the roof, next to a
long hall filled with bookkeepers, /
was shown into little room, and my
card was left with Mr.. Wanamaker's S
private secretary. This private secre-
tary was young lady. She was more
attractive person than the conhden-
tial secretaries at the other END OF
the building. She was, in fact, quite
nretty. but exceedingly retfcent. she
told me that Mr. Wanamaker had just
stepped out, but that in all probaoll-
ity he would soon step in. She asked
me to wait. I waited. l waited an
hour. Other people came in and walt
ed too. but most of them soon got
| tired and left l continued to wait
until at last [ heard a quick step go
IN the hall and the door of the room
bavond opened. The step was that OF
Mr. Wanamaker. Mr.. Wanamaker at
last was in. The question with me
row was was he in for me. The
Young lady took my card and left the
room moment later she returned
and said that Mr. Wanamaker would
see me. I entered the room, and
moment after that was chatting with
o,,a of the biggest merchants of the
United States.
IOuN WANAMAKER AT SIXTY.
Mr. Wanamaker's private office IS
not more than ten by twelve IN SIZE.
He does his work at little SO desk,
crowded up under the window, SO tnal
the light falls over his right shoulder'
as he sits there looking over the hS-
ures of each days business. He rose,
and as we shook hands L could not
see that he looked a day older than
when he was postmaster general.
Still he is now in his siXtieth year,
and he has been in active business life
for more than a generation. He mas
few wrinkles, and does not look hur-
ried or worried. AS 1 shook hands with
him I remarked upon his freshness,
and said to him that he did not seem
to be oyerworked. He replied:
mo; I am not overworked. Still, L
have nIenty to do. / have to spend
mart of each week in New York. L
get reports from my New York store
every morning, and the business OF
two establishments is, OF course,
greater than one"
'sT suppose your business extends to
the whole country, Mr.. Wanamaker,
does it not?''
mo" was the reply; "it is largely
local. The business of any great store
| must be near home. My chief GUS
| toners are within radius of 100 miles
of New York and Philadelphia. or
| course. we sell some goods by mail,
| hut the real business is made up of the
| goods which we sell across the count
ers.''
II should think, Mr.. Wanamaker,
| that this store would have been large
enough for one man. You have made
a great success here. Why did you
! add to your work by buying the es-
! tablishment in New York?'
| "Why do we do anything" said the
merchant "It is hard to tell. can
only say 1 saw that there was an
opening for such a store as I have in
! Mour Yorl. I took il not that I want