The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1906-10-18

4 system prevails all over the country,
but l don't believe in 1t, as / said, be-
cause 1t makes a clerk dishonest. A
corps of clerks who do not treat a
mans customers right will soon tear
down his business; a corps that
treat customers fairly viii build a
business.
Commission System.
mo. sir; no more Of this spin sys-
tenn for me OF course. / can see
where the commission system is bet
ter-that is, If you give the same per-
centage of commissions on all sales.
That would enable the clerk still to
be honest with the customer and at
the same time sell him higher priced
goods, which is never a disadvantage
to the person who buys them"
We'll, now, that strikes me as be-
ing a very good idea" remarked Hoov-
er, thoughtfully This had never come
to me and | am going to adopt that
system in my business. l believe, too,
II l had very large trade like the
man you spoke of. Watkins. should
not only pay a commission on sales
but would give an additional COM
mission for the sale Of goods above a
certain standard.
ITO be sure. should adopt the sys-
tenn Of the other man you spoke OF,
who calls his clerks together and has
a sort of school. II seems to me that
a combination Of these three ideas,
backed up with plenty of capital. and
with giving the clerks reputable mer-
chandise to sell, would build bigger
any retail business in America"
Faults Of Many Clerks.
"And this BOOKING: that's another
thing. | believe really that this comes
about because great many clerks be-
come despondent. They get their lit
tie $l2 or SIS week and they see
the same amount coming in year after
year and no advance They have no
stimulus during the week with each
sale they make. and that keeps them
from taking an interest in the busI-
ness. To make a clerk interested in
your business, make him interested
in every sale. Instead Of growing de-
spondent, stealing. knocking down and
has future just as much as any other
man. There are lots of men In busi-
ness who intend. after awhile. to re-
tire from business-perhaps not alto
gether, but by degrees-who would
like to have some one to put in. lit
tie money with them. and give the
: business their attention. Who is the
| mo ", fhax MIL To- knl~A
an interest? Not some stranger-but
the man he knows--the man who has
! been in his eye all the time-the man
J he can trust.
"rhe clerk should not grow despond-
ent and steal and booze-but instead
of that, he should take a vital inter-
est in the business. knowing that each
attention and hard work and honesty
} are sure to bring him material reward
as well as good conscience.
Il believe the greatest fault with
clerks is that they haven't enough
nerve. To be sure. to be clerk on a
salary. it matters not how much that
salary may be, should not be the final
goal OF any young man. 1t should be
to become proprietor himself Now,
for example, know Of one young man
who for 20 years worked for one es-
tablishment He was splendid sales
man, strictly honorable and all that,
but one day he had a knock-down,
drag out scrap with the buyer In his
department. The buyer was thought
well of by the head of the house ana
, this young clerk knew It. .Invfact,s he
3 felt so ashamed of himself for get
= ting into the brawl that he rendered
3 his resignation. He was asked to keep
. on, but he said: No, l can't stay
; around here any more He was a
married man, too. and had couple
of children. He had saved couple Of
r thousand dollars or so. He thought
that he would work for some other
firm. All at once he said to himself,
I am not making any progress even
!. If do find another place. have
$4,000 here and I'm going to sink that
4 $4,000 before so to work for anybody
: else, and l am going to have a busi-
|, ness Of my own. He talked the thing
n over with his wife and she had nerve
p enough to tell him to go ahead.
This was in the city OF st. Louis.
That man went downtown and rented
u a room for s12 month. He went to
New York and bought a little line Of
4 goods-special patterns in dry goods.
He sent out cards inviting those whom
: he had known and others to come In
y and see his dress goods Think OF IT.
I Asking the bon-ton of st. L6uis to
come and see dress goods in room
that cost s12 a month. But he did 1t.
These ladies began to ask him where
they could get these dresses made up.
; Then he got a few dressmakers to
take an adjoining room. Business be-
gan to boom. 1t then struck him that
the thing to do was to pay these
K dressnakers a salary and profit by
J. their work. His next step was to buy
few first-class ready-made garments.
; He started his little shebang on the
0 fourth floor Of a little building on
n~.ol u~nx~ l., Ann, ~rrn 80 H. h,l A. .