The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-29
VAN HOOSE SPEAKS
 AT NEW ORLEANS Addresses Retail Grocers in
 Crescent City. LARGE CROWD GREETS HIM Tells of the Advantage of co-opera. ton Between Wholesaler and
 Retailer. object Lesson
 In Birmingham.
LARGE CROWD GREETS HIM

I. A Van uoose president of the South ern Wholesale Grocers' association. The New Orleans Picayune of yesterday says
 There was large audience gathered in the hall of Crescent Encampment' Knights of Temperance, to hear MT. Van Hoose, and the audience not only includ- ed large representation of retailers, but several prominent wholesalers of the city.
 MT. Van Hoose said he had come to New Orleans on the invitation of the Retail Grocers association to have a business talk with it's members. It might be an unusual thing to see the president of the Southern Wholesale Grocers asso- ciation talking to retailers. It was un- usual, and 1t was so new that there were few people who could understand 1t at first blush. "I had an object lesson in my city," and MT. Van Hoose, ''and came to New Orleans with a definite purpose. About three years ago the re- tail grocers of Birmingham were In bad way. There were deadbeats coming into the town all the time, cutting and slash ing prices and causing trouble to the re- tailers. What hurt the retailers hurt the wholesalers, and the wholesalers deter mined that the solution of the trouble was to organize the retailers, so that they could protect themselves against irrespon- sible competitors. It cost the wholesalers about $500 to effect the organization of the retailers, and at first the movement of the wholesc- CTS was regarded with sus- picion. After the organization of the Birmingham retailers, the Minnesota wholesalers followed the lead, organizing the retailers of that state.
 Many of the best thinkers on economic and commercial questions think that pro- duction, manufactures, transportation and distribution should be along strictly | departmental lines. It will be sad time for America when production, manufac- lures, transportation and distribution are all lodged in one power. When that time comes, and the trend 0: the tide is that way, you will not, my friends, be in it. Who will stay that tide?'
 "As an example of the trend of the times take the Standard Oil company. There was a time when the Standard Oil company permitted The wholesalers as we'll as the retailers, to make money out of the product Now it furnishes oil d. rect to the consumer. And has the move been beneficial to the people? It Is true that the cost of the oil has been steadily reduced, but has 1t been reduced to a fair | figure? You have eliminated the whole sslers and retailer. but you are piling up the greatest and most iniqlitous tolls in your treasuries ever WIung from the peo- ple
 The forces which are eliminating the wholesaler and retailer know no bounda- ries Already the beginning of the eiini- iration has commenced. The beef merger has no mere effectually wiped out the in- dependent meat dealers Tn some cities than the men behind it could turkish soap, lard and other neat products with one hand to the customer, while It gives to another a bar of soap or a pail of lard. Where would the wholesaler or the I taller e me In on that?
 But I have been told that the ellm- iration of the wholesaler and the retailer. f 1t were ever realized would be part of a great e onomic development. It won't help me any when I pass by my closed doors and read on them that their clos ing was due to economic development
 The Southern Wholesale Grocers' as-
 
 which should interest and deserve the support of both wholesalers and retailers throughout the entire south.
 "Flrst-Buy no goods from any man who sells to your customers.
 ''Second-Wh respect the re- tailers' rights.
 "Third-Wholesalers. make an alliance, offensive and defensive, with the retail CTS.
 "Fourth-Retailers, get your credit system in shape. Put it in your own organization and keep 1t under your own control. Open to no che except to mem- bers in good standing
 q do not know who of you are whole sailing and retailing at the same time, but I say to you it's mistake to try and do both. If the one business or the other pays, stick to it and give the other fellow a chance. That's the way the wholesalers of Birmingham are doing, and are pledged to do. This state of af- fairs also exists in Chattanooga
 "The importance of good credit sys- tenn is not to be overestimated. There is no wall around New Orleans, and we'll dressed men are constantly coming in who live one month on you and another month on your neighbor and the third month on some other retailer. And right here I want to say that the retail grocer is the most abused animal on the face of the earth. not excepting the mule. And the retail grocer is the bone and sinew of any city.
 Why, in Birmingham we don't even sell to our clerks. We don't sell to the mem- bers of the firm get my own groceries from a retailer for my family use. In Chattanooga the wholesalers will not sell | to anybody except recognized retailers or recognized commissaries
 "The wholesalers have their sphere and the retailers have their sphere. The boun- | daries should be observed by each. 1 And in conclusion, let me urge you | to get together, stand by each other through thick and thin. strengthen your organization, and remember that none of us can take anything with us into the be- | yond but the truth, and the honor which you weave into your lives here." Mir vanHoose was heartily applauded at the close of his address. The meeting then adjourned, Mir. Van | Hoose admonishing the retailers. as they were about to leave the hall, to buy from New Orleans wholesalers, and wherever any differences existed to straighten them