The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-21
STATESMEN IN THE STORES.
Blaine Was a Freaky Buyer and John
 Sherman a Mighty Close One.

| Blaine Was a Freaky Buyer and John Sherman a Mighty Close One.
 | Great men display more or less eccen-
 tricity in buying. This, at least, is the
 opinion of a manager of one of the we'll
 established stores of the city, who has
 had many dealings with such during his
 thirty years in business.
 James c. Blaine was a customer of ours for many years" he said. ''He was a peculiar man. He bought a
 thing because 1t had for the moment
 appealed to his fancy and without the
 least regard for the fitness or utility of the object purchased. He was as great
 a terror to managers and fioorwalkers as the man who orders fried oysters and mince pie for breakfast is to wait
 CTS. He used to come in the store,
 stroll about for few moments and
 then exclaim, I like that chair; send it
 to my house.
 1 Then perhaps I would have to ex-
 plain to him that that piece of furniture would not harmonize with the plan and decorative escheme of his residenc. 1 Usually Blaine yielded to the better l judgment of managers or proprietors, 1 but there were times when he had his heart set on havinb a thing, and then
 he rebelled. I remember one day he 1 came into the store and selected book
 case that was not at all suited to the interior arrangement of his house. This I explained to him. He admitted that
 I was right and seemingly abandoned
 his determination to have the case But
 as soon as I had turned my back he
 beckoned to one of the store porters
 and told him to send the case up to his 1 house. ! President Mckinley always bought with one object in view, and that was
 to please Mrs. Mckinley. They would
 frequently visit a store together. This
 was especially the case at the time
 when they were furnishing their home
 in Canton. Mrs. Mckinley was fastid- ious as to cofors, preferring the more delicate shades, whereas her husband
 was fond of dark blues, reds and
 browns. It was in the selection of such things as upholstering goods, carpets, rugs and curtains that they differed
 most. He would hold the camples up to the wall and argue like a diplomat, always gently and soothingly, however, 1 for one or two colors on which his fam l cy had set. Sometimes he won, but not often, Mrs. Mckinley generally decid- 1 ing such matters in her own way.
 Bob Ingersoll was as good a Chris tian in his business dealings as any
 man going. I remember once that we ha aYs3 FttYo fN,. d,r We had large outstanding accounts, among the number being a bill of LOGO purchased by Colonel Ingersoll, which,
 however, was not quite due. I there l fore sent our collector to him with in- struetions to ask him for few hun dred dollars on account, telling him to explain our situation and in collecting the money under no circumstances to
 annoy the colonel. The collector reach ed Colonel Ingersoll's residence just as he and a friend were leaving, walking rapidly in an opposite direction. At first the collector was at loss to
 know what to do; but finally he decided
 to risk approaching him, hoping that he would not give offense. He had all he could do for a time to overtake the two, and when he did Colonel Ingersoll, I before he had time to announce his
 mission, gave him to understand that
 he was in a hurry and could not under any circumstances be detained.
 ''The collector said he would walk along with him. As he did so he qui-
 etly and politely explained the object of his call. At this Ingersoll stopped short. returned to his house and in the
 kindest manner imaginable made out a check for $1,0O0 the full amount. The same day this same collector called on popular preacher with 8 bill of like magnitude, long since overdue, in the same polite manner, explaining that we