The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-31
nx Harry 0. selfridge.

Hy Hnrry G. SchfftaBe. Selz Shoe News.S *
 As class the British merchants are more scrupulously honest than Am ericans. Integrity in America has In many conspicuous example reached a very high place. Absolute honesty in trading has grown to be an essential of Merchandising among the big mer- chants of this country. It's wise; no business can long succeed without II.
 Integrity is the foundation and all the other stories of this business and 1t Is of every business that amounts to much. Ability. perseverance, econo- my-any and all of these things are merely superstructure, simply car rying out of purpose. All these are parts of integrity:
 You ask me to tell you the chief point in our business policy? Policy isn't the right word--prinefple is the basis we do business on; because prin- ciple is the same today as it will be tomorrow; policy changes. What may seem like good policy is not always good principle; but good principle Is always good policy. In buying our goods and in selling them we preach and practice that the recollection Of quality remains long after the price Is forgotten" That doesn't mean thar we never sell low priced goods: we do; our stock includes all qualities down to the very lowest priced goods which are worth buying and wearing. But 1t does not have any of the sort which are only desirable because of cheap ness; we will not sell such goods. "De- pendability" is the mark we want our merchandise to bear; and "dependa- biiity" at the very lowest price which can be asked for substantially equal quality anywhere else. s sa
 Many men at the head of a business are absolutely honest--honest in word and deed and thought; but they let some uninformed or careless clerk make statements or convey impress sions that are untrue. We do not. We never have. I remember years ago when I was boy working for Field, Letter & Co, had been with the firm only a few months and was told one day to make out bill against a rail- road company for some sheeting dam aged in transit. A few days later Marshall Field wanted to see me. MT. Field sa:di Young man, you have done something I never want you to do again: you have tried to take ad- vantage of some one. The bill you made out for that damaged sheeting should have been for its cost to us. not for our. selling price,"
 It would never have been discovered by the railroad company: many mer- chants would have considered 1t per- fectly legitimate; in fact the or 4 per cent. profit In my billing amount ed to only $3o or $40. and when insu- rance and handling were considered would possibly have been found hard Ky to cover ourselves in the matter.
 Ar T1.sf or 6RQi nf phasis into his remarks (which was hardly necessary considering my scare. at the reprimand) and have never forgotten the incident
 Probably the. next-most important thing in our growth and strength has been the loyalty, enthusiasm and stead fastness of purpose of the people who work for us and with us.
 think I can safely say that the spirit of the corps at Selfridge's is cer- tainly not surpassed in any other house pie who work for us. I believe they have a good deal of pride because they work at Selfridge's.
 We ask our customers in printed notice which we give out In the store, as a special favor, to inform us when- ever an item seems higher here than elsewhere, to guard against mistakes.
 One of the things that impresses people most about our establishment Is the quiet and orderliness of the whole store: discipline is evident everywhere but there is an utter absence of fear or the tyranny often used in preserv- ing order.
 Every person at Selfridge's- is treat ed as a person; his individuality is en- eouraged and fostered; there is none of the mechanical talk or action such as Is often noticeable in large estab- lIshments.
 Our salespeople are taught that we want to have people buy our goods; we don't want to have to sell to them. We merely tell them. all we can about our wares; the bad as much as the good of there Is ever any bad-such as unreliable coIors or unwashable fa- hrics. etc.)
 But, as said. the British are iu- stinctively honest. They are honest by principle; not merely by policy The large merchants of London are intui. lively men of their word.
 Of course you can go to London and discover isolated cases of trickyness. misrepresentation. double dealing. two prices. and the like. But they are iso- the British merchant class, as a class, is more absolute in it's adherence to unwavering honesty than in America. Representation Is Identical with fact. You never find them misrepresenting the quality of their goods. As a re- suit the public has come to rely as absolutely on the word of a London merchant as on that of a judge
 You ask If this universality of of honesty does not make British adver- Using more effective It would if the British were advertisers: but they're. not. In England advertising Is not decided feature. Advertising in Eng land is done more by catalogs and by mail, rather than by the newspapers.
 The London merchant doesn't seem to have recognized that his chief field Is the local field. He spends his mon ey in stirring up country order busi- ness. neglecting to go after the local business
 We are going after the local busi- ness almost exclusively, though we get business from all over the world We