The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-09-27
THE DEPARTMENT STORE.

we SAID recently that the weekly papers
Of Virginia were giving more attention
just now to trusts than to any other issue
INVOLVED in the Presidential campaign of
1900 1t is indeed an interesting topic and
re have devoted a great deal OF srace to
its consideration because Of its supreme
Importance: and we have tried 10 present
bota sides OF The question. We have said,
and it becomes every day more apparent,
that the outcry against trusts is really
an oatcry against all sorts Ct corporations
whic;. tend to concentrate business under
one management, and therefore TO inter-
fere in degree with Individual onter-
prise. 1t las been time and again said
that the trusts of the country were grad
ually erslavinS the young men and taking
from them the opportunity TO carry on
business on their own account. But this Is
as true Of ali other corporations as it is
of those when are called trusts. Recog-
niGing this fact. q Virginia newspaper re-
cent,.- went Sc far as to say that 10 cor
po.ati,ns Ought TO be permitted. except
those whose business it is to run Transport
tation lines, telegraph and TELEPHONE lines,
insurance, tanizlng ard the like. The
Dea1oc-aCc nominee for Governor in New
York is new attacking the department
store as 1.-The legitimate fruit of the trust"
This brings US to the consideration Of an
article in a recent issue of the Saturday
Evening Post on 1.-The Ethics OF Modern
Retailing by Robert c. Ogden. 1t is
one of the clearest and most instructive
articles that we nave seen on that sub
iect and presents some new and highly
interesting facts in connection with the
conduct of a modern retail store. Mr..
Ogden says in the beginning that the de-
partment store was not the invention OF
single mind, or group Of minds. but mas
been evolved from trade laws that in their
application are as real as any laws OF ma
ture The increase Of capital, says he,
has made money c1eap; steam has rcvo-
lutionized travel and transportation; steam
plus electricity has changed communica-
ton, and these elements afford the means
fer the large collection and easy disttf-
button of merchandise. The obstacle at
all times and everywhere is cost. The cur
rents Of merchandise always follow the
lines of leas- resistance. Economy comes
n:lh aggregst ion The power to reduce
the cost to the consumer is the dynamic
force of cumulative retailing
No man has ever stated the case more
clearly and concsely. Herein is the secret
OF modern combination. Its great purpose
is TO decrease the cost of making and sell
Ing so that the consumer may have the
best article at the lowest price. We have
said this so often that the saying has
become trite In these columns, but truth
cannot be too frequently stated This is
not philanthropy; it is business II cor
rorations could make more money by eA-
tor.ion, then extortion would be the rude
with them, but experience has taught that
| t.,ey profit most by pursuing liberal
| policy.
Referring 10 the criticism that the com
petition of the department store destroys
the small store. Mr.. Ogden says that to a
degree this is true, but not to the extent
commonly supposed, and points out that
which, for miles. are filled on both sides
with small retail stores. and that in Psfla-
delphia the store-leeping licenses have con-
s.derably more than doubled within the
last thirty years.
We have no local statistics on this sub
ject before us, but if there has been any
decrease in the number of retail stores in
Richmond because Of the department stores
that have grown up here We have Not
noticed It.
but the real issue. says Mr.. Ogden,
ras this: Does the department store in
crease the consumption Of merchandise"
He is quite clear that it does, and says
that careful study has convinced him that
in certasn large stores the increase is 50
per cent; or. to state it differently. that
by maaern methods department stores def
n.tely create eae-third of the business they
transact This increase ss@I1,,.. - arr,