New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-30
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Humber Bicycles
A Story of Folly
TO-DAY our remaining Humber Bicycles
are withdrawn from sale.

The recent course of the retail Market III
Humber Wheels has been the occasion or
great public interest. AS the principal DIS
tr;buters of the Humber Wheels for this
year our story of the case will be welcomed
by many readers.
First In the Autumn of 1897 we made
q contract with the Humber Company tor
Twenty-Five Hundred Wheels. The retail
price for the Roadster, under this contract
was to be $780, The lowest previous prce
had been Sis. Other models, as Tourist
and Lady Humber, were slightly higher'
This was our only contract with the Humoer
Company.
Sffond. This contract assigned to us as
distributors of the Humber Wheels all OF the
territory for one hundred miles in every
direction around the cities of New York and
Philadelphia, and by stipus ton was under
stood to extend from Hartford, Conn.,, to
Washington, D. C. Birding conditions
were made as to the protection of our terri
torv and the maintenance Of the prices until
August 3lst. This cont ict was tulllled.
The Humber Company delivered all the
wheels and we paid for them.
Third. The early demand for Humber
wheels was disappointing. Therefore an
agreement was reached between us and the
Humber Company in March whereby the
price of Roadsters was reduced from $lOo
to S73, other models in proportion. We
then urged a still lower price. The heavy
loss thus occasioned was divided. The Hum
Der Company allowed us Five Dollars per
wheel and we assumed the balance. The
profit remaining could barely pay the cost OF
selling.
Eonyfh. In order to 7eassure US and the
Public that the retail prices of Humber
wheels would be sustained, responsible
representative of the Humber Company re-
peatedly promised us that no 1898 humber
wheels would be made, except such as were
sold UPON orders. We thus had confidence
that our market could not be interfered with
either during or after the expiration OF the
time limit of the contract, and accordingly
proceeded to sustain very vigorously the
Humber Companys policy and prices.
RIM. About the middle OF August the
Humber Company astounded US with the
information that Eight Hundred and Sixty
three BICYCLES had been made, all but sixty
two being 1898 models, and demanded that
we should buy them all for our own protec-
ton We refused to be coerced by threat.
and demanded, as a moral right, that they
be withheld from the market until 1899.
S,rN. Notwithstanding our protest the
Humber Company sold the wheels, and, on
Saturday. the 10th, we knew that Roadsters
would be offered at $50. On that day we
prepared and on Monday, the 18th, pub
lished our offering of the Roadsters at $40.
But the frantic competition went further. a
lower price was made which we also met by
making the price for Roadsters S34. so.
The odd-cent price finds no favor here, and
for reasons that affect the interests Of the
retail buyer.
.Ss1<nh. AS consequence the Public
has obtained over thousand Humber
wheels from us, and some hundreds from
Others at merely nominal figures, far below
the cost of manufacture. Dealers also, until
discovered, bought the wheels of US one by
one at retail through their clerks.
The folly of it all illustrates the short
sighted policy that results from the sacrifice
of a promise A price-cutting war, childish
and absurd, has compromised the best BIZ
cycle reputation in the world. The natural
question arises: May not quality of bicycles
also be compromised by the same influences
that have destroyed the market3 The con-
clusion can scarcely be avoided that the only
hope for future Humber Bicycle profits rests
in degrading quality to meet degrading
price.
Regardless of loss the market prices OF
Numbers have been met and our faith with
the public has been fully sustained. The
sorry spectacle suggests the blind man who
pulled down house, large and fair, only to
be himself overwhelmed in the ruins
JOHN WANAMAkER