Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-09-06

| pect more than ten days credit, ant
no successful merchant can afford tC
ask for n longer time. taking his casl
discounts. In those days there was NJ
rating, but today every dealer is ratel
by the mercantile agencies in the jour
nails TO which the Wholesale dealers
subscribe. In this manner they inform
tfeir travelling statesmen who have good
credit and who have noI
IN contrast with the old DAYS, nov
no grocer steps outside of his store tC
buy for his shelves. Drummers visit
the store every day Of the week, carry
ing goods Of every description, and the
dealer only needs to give his orders for
what he requires. Another fact is
that the competition between the great
Wholesale houses is today remarkably
sharp and this confers an advantage
on the grocer The statesmen from the
various houses strive to Guido ono
another. ana as result, the grocer re-
celNcS better quota tons from the sales
men. This enables him to buy more
ch"apiy thar if he ordered direct from
the Whul"salinG house which the sales
men represent.
The motto Of the successful grocer
Of today must be,-Nothing too good
for The customer The up-to-date deal
er cannot afford to buy anything other
than the best The public has become
educated to the observance of q stand
ard which was not held 20 years ago
and has awakened to an appreciation
Of what it buys; and it demands the
best. The growth OF this good taste
has been gradual hut steady and sure,
and every kind Of business has felt the
effects If il. People today take far
greater interest in what they shall eat
can judge good groceries
with this alteration in taste has
COM" the death of some of the old-timc
IDEAS and prcjudccs with which the
grocer had once to contend People
buy canned foods to tar greater ex-
tent now than ever before ana scores
q different kinds of fruit and food
materials are now canned which We're
never prepared in this manner before
There have been many things which
have simplificd the groccr's business
for him, ana given him more time to
spend unOn his stock Not the least
of these aids is the fact that the scales
do not come into such frequent use as
they used to. So many of the COM
modltl"S are now put up in packages.
or cartons, an exact weight or meas
urc at an exact price, that a great
time-SaVing is the result. The COM
putting scale which weighs as we'll as
computes the cost Of the amount Of
anything: the cheese cutter which cut :
to weight by the setting of the knife
upon q scale; the gummcd strip, I'M
wound from 4 roll and moistened by a
sponge arrangement in the machine
itself, doing away with the tieinS up of
packages with 4 string,-al these are
aids to the modern dealer in provisions
Another time-SaVer and one which
the modern grocer has adopted is the
bookkeeping. The old-tima
grocer used to keep blotter in which
the account or purchase was first. en-
tered. From this it went into his jour
nal. ana from the journal to the ledger
He has now abandoned every book he
can. The entry is made but once.
Carbon paner enables him to have Il
copy for himself. and another copy or
statement in the form Of bill to send
his customcr.--all with single writ
Ing. This results i'll the saving of any
Of clerical work and marks one
of tho nraiscworthy changes in the
grocery business"