Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1899-10-24
POULTRY SELLING.
"A Sensible Discussion Of Mar
keting to the Best Advantage.

at the Sherman house, Chicago
Sept. 6, 1899:
Mr.. President and Members o
the National Fanciers' Association
of Chicago:
1t has been to me a matter OIL
wondermeut that / should have
been selected from all your number
to prepare this paper livery much
preferred the work should have
been done by another. Perhaps
your secretary thought was the
proper one, hence felt justified in so
insistently urging it upon me, be-
cause of my connection for many
years with the business of selling
poultry supplies and poultry and
eggs of all kinds. While | have
since very much regretted that |
gave way to that insistent urging
and consented to do this work, and
while / very much doubt the wis
dom of the selection made, yet | do
not think it exactly egotism to say |
4eei that the transacting of a busi-
ness of ST., 500 per day on an av-
~erage for every day in the year
xnay in some sense have been a
preparation for the task; therefore,
such thoughts as are here present
ed have been suggested by knowl-
edge gained by actual personal ex-
perience.
/ do not propose, however, to
treat the subject from the stand
point of the commission merchant,
but rather from that of the fancier
and farmer. What l have learned
as a commission merchant in a
somewhat expensive school is too
valuable to give away to the one
hundred or more keen competitors
right here in Chicago, all of them
doing as large and some of them a
larger business than myself. There
are no combin ations or trusts in
this branch of trade; every one for
himself is the rule, and success is
only looked for as the result of rep
altation obtained by faithful work
and honest dealing.
] say fancier and farmer, and of
course, when l mention farmer I
mean poultry farmer, either exclu-
=siVely as such or in connection
with the production of other kinds
.ot stock or grains, and 1 put the
two, .fauoier and farmer, in one
classification, because l believe
there should be little difference be-
tween them. No one will deny that
the more of a fancier the farmer
becomes, the greater will be his
success, and if the fancier does not
to some extent adopt the methods of
the farmer be will always be a
purchaser of specimens rather than
"A seller. The farmer can do better
with the fancier's thOroughbreds
than with mongrels, and the fam
<cier, who does not raise enough to
vFroperly Gull, is making no ad-
Vyancement.
To sell poultry successfully we
must first have the stuff to sell.
Our object must be to get the best
price for the best article; to sell an
inferior article for the highest price
rmay be an accomplishment of the
clever man, but it is one that is not
only somewhat rare, but very dan
sgerous. If detected its possession is
"a detriment to the pOssessor. If
"a new customer could be found for
>each sale it would not make so
much matter. but when we con.
slider that one sale is but the first
should be right.
To produce the best article of
either fowl or egg necessltates
much of painstaking preparation,
and much of daily detail and labor.
TO be sure specimens for show
and market can be produced with
out this, but they will not be the
best. Surely the satisfaction, to
say nothing of the proht of obtain
Tug the highest reward is enough
TO pay for the effort.
In the beginning the producer
should aim to produce that for
which he can obtain the best re-