Arizona republican., 1906-02-20
By Nathl c Fowler, Jr.


 Copyright, 1906. Nathi c. Fowler, Jr )
 The modern and apparently irresisti- ble tendency toward trade centraliza- . ton and business consolidation gave birth to what is popularIy known as the department store. A department store, broadly defined, is a store of de- partments a combination of what may be considered distinct stores, yet all under one roof and managed by one general head.
 The department store grew from the dry goods store. Substantially all of those department stores which have been in existence more than a dazen years were at one time dry goods es- tablishments. The dry goods business for some reason seems to offer basic opportunity for enlargement and divi- sion. The dry goods store is, in every sense, a family store, catering 10 family trade; and as substantially every department of the department store carries goods for family con sumption, it is but natural that, the dry goods store should be divided and sub divided to meet conditions.
 There is no limit to what a depart ment store may sell, although com paratively few of them carry other than household goods. Some stores however sell everything from carriages and harnesses to meats and provisions. Commercially speaking, dry goods store, which sells other than dry goods. may be considered department store, although it's number of departments may be limited. If this classification be allowed, then substantially all dry goods stores are now department far selling only dry goods.
 The country village store. or whar is known as a crossroads store, is virtually a department store, in that it sells everything; and the great city department store is the outgrOwth Of these country stores. Here the coun- try has led the city, or rather the methods of country stOrekeeping have been followed by the city neighbors.
 The organization of a great depart ment store is almost military in its discipline. and is one of the best ex- amples of what organization can ac- complish. The proprietor is com mander-in-c chief, and under him are a number of assistants who are what might be considered district supervi- sors Below them are heads of de- partments, who are responsible to their
  The walker, the man who is so much in evidence because he spends his time in the aisIes, is, in fact, a superintendent or foreman in charge of a department or a series of depart ments.
 Each counter is under the general supervision of what is known as d head salesman, but this head salesman is subject to the direction of the floor walker Of the rank and file of eIn- ployes probably more than ninety per cent are salesmen and saleswomen, counter folks, whose places are be- hind the counter, and whose duty Is to sell goods from the counter, none Of them being what is known as traV- cling salesmen or drummers. These great stores maintain extensive book keeping and cashiers departments and a well-organized buying department. The so-called cash boy or cash girl has largely disappeared, the mcchani- cal contrivances having usurped them; but there still remain bundle girls, whose duty it is to receive the goods from the mechanical carriers, to prop erly wrap them and return them to the counters from which they came. In some department stores the clerks wrap up the goods, but in most cases the work is done by bundle girls who are placed at the terminals of the me chanical bundle carriers, or some times there is a bundle girl to eacn counter, who sits usually above the shelves.
 As these articles are devoted to the interest of boys and not of girls, it will hardly be fair to consider the rela- ton of girls and women to the de- partment store further than to say that about ninety per cent of the clerks are women, who are paid anywhere from four to twelve dollars a week. Head clerks or head saleswomen re- ceive from twelve to twenty dollars a week; but comparatively few, even Of the filters in ready made" depart ments. draw salaries of over twenty five dollars a week.
 Some of the higher grade depart ment stores employ men exclusively in certain departments, paying them more than women receive for the same work. First-class, experienced sales men, in the larger stores, seldom re- ceive less than twelve dollars a week, or more than twenty-five dollars a week. although, occasionally, as mucn as thirty dollars are paid, but this latter sum almost invariably goes to the head salesman, or to one in charge of a department. Junior clerks, that is, green clerks, are paid from six dol lars to eight dollars a week at the start. The fioor-walker is generally well paid, his minimum salary being not far from twenty dollars week, and his maximum in excess of fifty dollars, with an average of about twenty-five dollars. Buyers for large stores Oc- casionally enjoy incomes of over ten thousand dollars, and from that down to a thousand dollars a year; and the average first-class buyer for a large department store probably does not receive less than thirty-fve hundred dollars a year.
 Does the great city department store offer good opportunity to the young man who desires to take up this bus ness for a livelihood?
 l answer, yes and no. The ambi- tioTs and capable department store g1ic-rnan has more anDare-F1t than rpa I