The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1910-01-29

electric roads.
" Against the higher charges on Tex
. press treight. the dealer balances
economy Of capital and absence Of
risk; the wholesaler finds 1t cheaper
to pay telephone tolls than 10 covei
the neighboring trolley zone with
statesmen. To buy by telephone, the
retailer must be in close touch with
the jobber's offerings in manner
therefore, HIS ability to sell from the
wholesalers stock without actual out
Icy OF capital is a by-product Of his
buying trips 70 the central market
Incidental also but by no means un-
important, is the training in business
methods which each journey to the
/ city gives the alert country dealer. No
school OF merchandising exists to com
( pare With the big city store. where
buying, selling. management display,
are problems worked out TO fresh So
lutions weekly by trained and expert
minds From window dressing TO the
arrangement and decoration OF depart
ments. from individual tricks OF dem
onstration and salesmanship to the
subtler skill with which the featured
bargains are made to feed the whole
store, the classes are always open to
the obseryant
In a lesser degree, too. the inter-
urban performs for the small town
man its single service territory, brings
him new customers, makes better buy
ers OF indifferent ones
Farmers make up the bulk Of these,
on course. On half the days OF the
year, at least. it is difficult or uncom-
Portable for country folk to drive even
three Or five miles to town Bad roads,
rain or winter cold. need OF the horses
or men in meadow or corn field may
keep these potential customers at
home. even though Il means denial Of
accustomed luxuries or virtual waste
OF butter or eggs which would make
the trip profitable
The inteurDan. however. invites to
travel in any weather; when the men
and horses are busy, the housewife can
make the five, ten, fifteen mile journey
to market; start the cycle OF business
with her basket Of produce. make pur-
chases otherwise out OF the question
with her troiley-created wealth. Like
the visitor to the big city she returns
NTH a wider horizon Of needs and de-
sires demanding satisfaction-to the
obvious advantage Of the store suggest
ing them.
Transient customers from the most
unlikely fields help to swell the troll.
leys small town score. Even bulky ar
ticIes like furniture and stoves
find purchasers who want deliveries
twenty-five 10 fifty miles away BY in
terurban freight Here's a dealer ID.
Lebanon. 2S miles of indianapolis. and
with less than a thousand population.
who showed me record Of five sales
within year to residents OF the big
nelghbor City Two Of the buyers were
visiting back home. while three.
waiting for cars. fancied tables or
chairs displayed in the windows and
bought them before the impulse cooled.
This furnituer store is type Of
countless aggressive retail businesses
built around the freight and passenger
service Of the electric roads. Since the
troneys entered three years ago, 1t has
completely changed its way OF doing
business, has doubted It's floor space
and more than doubled sales.
What rapld-fire its proprietors Sc
cures is evidenced by the fact that he
sold and delivered the Saturday before
Christmas. five rockers OF certain
style though he on;y had one OF the
kind on his floor in the morning. He
simply held the first as sample, and
ordered the successive chairs by tele-
phone as fast as the farmers wives
made up their minds that they wanted
them The splendid organization or the
wholesale house trained to handle
hundreds Of such holiday emergencies,
tnd the rapid service OF the traction
express allowed the Lebanon man to
sell the chairs with the same certainty
OF delivery as though they had been in
his own stock room.
The chief dry goods store In Lebanon
employed three clerks before the troll.
ley era counted eighteen while. the
owner led me about his enlarged es.
adjustment and explained how the H..
terurban brought him customers from
points fifteen miles distant and allowed
him to run up to the city twice a week
to keep in touch with the latest and
hest in merchandise and methods,
The leading grocer, too, has worked