Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1909-10-30


don. He overturned all the British t
wonderful success where failure was
which is reprinted here from the Sell
methods he pursued In capturing the
AS class the British merchants are
more scrupulously honest than Amer
leans. Integrity in America has in
many conspicuous examples 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 it.
Integrity is the foundation and all
the other stories of this business and
it is of every business that amounts to
much. Ability, perseverance, economy
any and all of these things are mere
ly superstructure, simply carrying
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-principle is the basis
we do business on; because principle
is the same today as it will be tomor-
row; 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 re-
mains long after the price is forgot
ten That doesn't mean that 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 it
does not have any of the sort which
are only desirable because of cheap
ness; we will not sell such goods.
"Dependability" is the mark we want
our merchandise to bear; and de
pendability" at the very lowest price
which can be asked for substantially
equal quality anywhere else.
Many men at the head of business
are absolutely honest-honest in word
and deed and throught; but they let
some uniformed or careless clerk
make statements or convey impress
sions that are untrue. We do not. We
never have. | remember years ago
when | was a boy working for Field,
Letter & Co., had been with the firm
only few months and was told one
doS " IlcihC ouI Dlll cSoehlhSt a Gil
road company for some sheeting dam
aged in transit. A few days later Mar
shall Field wanted to see me. Mr..
Field said: Young man, you have
done something never want you to do
again: you have tried to take advant-
age of some one. The bill you made
out for that damaged sheeting should
have been for it's cost to us, not for
our selling price"
1t would never have been discovered
by the railroad company; many mer-
chants would have considered it per-
fectly legitimate: in fact the or 4
per cent profit in my billing amounted
to only $50 or $40 and when insurance
and handling were considered would
possibly have been found hardly to
cover ourselves in the matter.
Mr.. Field put a great deal of en-
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
steadfastness of purpose of the people
who work for us and with us.
/ think can safely say that the
spirit of the corps at Selfridge's is
certainly not surpassed in any other
house know Of We are proud of the
people who work for us. believe they
have 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
sence of fear or the tyranny often used
in preserving order.
Every person at Selfridges is treat
ed as a person; his individuality Is en-
couraged 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;
W. uOu dlL w nave " W
them. We merely tell them all we can
about our wares: the bad as much as
the good Gf there is ever any bad
such as unreliable colors or unwash-
able fabrics. etc..
But, as I said, the British are in
stinctively honest. They are honest
by principle; not merely by policy.
The large merchants of London are
intuitiYely 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
isolated cases, and am convinced
that the British merchant class, as a
class, is more absolute in it's adher-
ence to unwavering honesty than in
America. Representation is identical
with fact. You never find them mis-
representing the quality of their goods.
AS result 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 universally of hon
esty does not make British advertis-
ing more effective 1t would if the
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