El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-12-24

far as to place letter box in his store
inviting the children who come there TO
write their letters and place them in
this box He guarantees that if names
and addresses are furnished the letters
will be delivered in due time to Santa
Claus AS the agent of the good old
saint. the dealer opens these letters and
makes list Of the names and address,
es he finds He not only notes the de-
sires Of the children who write the let
ters for the present Christmas but
tries to KEEP trick of them for the next
year.
Another toy dealer. in order to get in
touch with the boys and girls of his
town, agreed to give toy to every
child who would come 10 his store and
leave his name and address Nearly ev-
cry youngster in the town came and
received toy which ordinarily retaiIs
for five cents. In this way the dealer
got large list Of names and addresses,
and made many friends who are ex-
pected to stand him in good stead in
the years to come He is one of those
farseeing business men who believe it
to be good business policy to win nhe
friendship Of children. These children
are TO be the grownups of tomorrow,
and they Will be a pulling power for
the store today and a big factor in its
trade in the future
Let's Them Have Free Hand
a merchant in Chicago who conducts
one of the most important toy empo-
RUINS Of that city makes it an invari-
able rule never to tell a child it must
not handle the toys on the tables in
his store He says that the small
amount which broken toys cost him is
the best advertising he can do. and his
clerks give a standing invitation to
A1r- u
toys on exhibition to their hearts con-
tent He charges all broken toys to
his advertising account and is thor
oughly satisfied with the result.
western toy dealer found last
Christmas that he had on hand a lot
Of toys of the genral class designated
as SLOW movers" He wanted te get
them off his shelves and decided TO
put them up at auction With this end
in view he placed the entire lot in his
show windows and announced that he
would sell them TO the highest bidder,
each bidder to mail his bid in a sealed
envelope for the given toy desired
Upon the day announced the bids were
opened and it was found that every one
of the toys had been bid on While
some Of them went for a song. the
general average OF tSe bids was such
tlet their total selling price was Is
percent ABOVE In6lr cost
Many Special Features.
Department store people always have
a special feature of. some kind TO at
tract boys and girls and their fathers
and mothers to the toy department. Last
year big store in Washington had
three live indians of the Onandaga
tribe come and take part in the exhibi-
ton of indian trappings- These in
dams were from near Syracuse, New
York. and reside close to the big coun-
ell house Of the Five Nations. where
the ceremonial fires have been kept
burning since long before the white
man set foot on American soil Along
with their fellow tribesmen they make
a speciality of producing indian trap
pings and novelties. from tepees to
Snow shoes These attract the eye and
stir the heart of young America, and
are great drawing card in the depart
ment store especially when exhibited
by real indians
There is a certain psychology Of
craftsmanship running through the
whole field of trade, but nowhere else
must the salesman be possessed OF
keener discrimination or better ability
to size up his customer than in the re-