Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-24
Omega Oil good for everything nment ough good for

heaped the tray with handkerchief boxes
and pin cushions and ink stands and what
not. And you can sell 'em all at the same
price-a quarter apiece he said:
81 went to my first stand in front Of the
old post office and, say. you should have
seen the men and women fight to buy those
knickknacks. Why, in two weeks time
I'd cleaned out the wholesalers stock and
sir, and 1 was only fourteen years old;
and by the time 1 was fifteen I'd $500 in
the bank, and besides kept my mother
and myself. Not bad for boy, EN-?
DO you know, when l began bringing
home so much money to mother she couldn't
believe I'd earned it honestly-thought there
was something crooked somewhere. And
she was not entirely satisfied that every
thing was all right until I'd let her come
down town one day and stand by me while
I made sales. After that she was so proud
Of me that she couldn't help talking to
all the neighbors about me all the time.
well that's how the tray came into the
business, and the next step In the evolution
was the push cart.
How Push Carts Came.
"a few months after I'd cleaned up the
handkerchief boxes-in the meantime I'd
sold odds and ends that different mer-
chants furnished met got a chance to
handle some w-fangled clocks that hadn't
been going we'll You see, I've always made
point of selling things that other people
can't. That's what has made this business
and makes 1t profitable, for articles that
can't be sold in the regular way l can Sc
cure at sacrifice rates, sell them for a
good deal less than the original prices ana
still come out ahead. At first. however, l
sold entirely on commission, but for many
years I've been buying outright as well,
and in all that time I've been stuck only
twice through bad judgment.
We'll, when l got whack at the CLOCKS
saw at once that the tray would be
useless. AS luck would have it, l knew
Cornishman, called Banana john
because he ran a little fruit store and
delivered his goods in push cart l got
him to let me have the cart for day for
81. and this I loaded with clocks. sold
100 the first day at 81. The second day
sold seventy and the third day about fifty
But I didn't like the way the sales
dropped off. and I worried about 1t. FL
nally 1 got an idea that if I'd hire two
or three men to help me sell the clocks
and in this way work different parts OF
the town at the same time the sales would
go up again. And they did, and the four
of us made things hum until the last clock
was gone.
at was not until I'd introduced the
one-horse wagon, though, that 1 opened
up an Office and began regularly employing
men and systema tically pushing the bust
ness. That experience made me feel sure
of myself and convinced me that I'd really
got hold of an extremely good thing.
A Merchant Pleads With the Boy.
Like many another merchant, whole
sale dealer in Japanese goods came to me
and asked me to accompany him to his
office When we arrived there he showed
me row after row of Japanese cabinets,
about three feet high and a foot and a half
wide with lacquer and mother-of-peari
work showing extensively.
CT want you to sell them for me, he
said
Il told him I couldn't-they were too
bulky and nobody would pay the So he
wanted me to sell them for.
He argued with me for half an hour,
but I hesitated. At last he said, in a
pleading way:
:" Won't you please try it for me? I've
got to raise all the money I possibly can
within the next few days and If you can
make the cabinets go I'm saved
THAT settled it. felt sorry for the man
and said I'd try to help him. I went out
and hired huckster's wagon and loaded
It with cabinets in such way that the
pearl work showed up in fine style. Then
/ drove in front of the stock exchange, for
them if anybody would. And Lord. how
those fellows swarmed around me and
bought Why. they worked me into a
heavy perspiration In no time. and that
day I sold three wagonloads to them, sew
enty-fve to a LOAF.
Opening Up an Office.
"As I said. this experience led me to
quit the street. open up an office and en-
ploy other men to sell for me. Since then
gradually extending the business over the
country and listening to and. If somewhat
impressed. investigating propositions that
are made to me by wholesale houses, in
ventors and manufacturers from every
where. From selling pocket knives the
business has grown until in nay warehouses
you can find almost anything under the sun