The Washington herald., 1912-10-27

o6Nn Manktown, Mass. one OF the best
~ manufacturing towns In New
England I worked for my faith.
erwas the clerk. He had nc
other
We had q dinsy one story building on @
side street. No prstensions to styie-vsry
little even to cleanliness-but We certainly did
the business We catered to the worktngmen
the factory hands. and As 80 per cent Of the
towns total population was made up Of mill
employees We were In right.
New. bright. well fitted shoe stores on the
main street came and went. Every time a
new shoe store opened up ia 90 to father in
fear and trembling and announce the event
He'd listen attentivsly while described the
glories Of their fixtures. the handsome stocks
and the fins window displays. Then he'd SOL
emnly shake his head and say. They can,
last And the funny part Of It was they
didn't.
Tho people We did business with were
small town workingmen. They
were Suspicious Of bright lights. handsome
fixtures. and wen dressed clerks. All these
things made them feel Ill at ease and emBar-
raseed- Besides they figured that all these
expensive things cost them money In the
shape Of either a higher price or less value
In the shoes they got. and they did. As my
father tersely expressed II. Good value is
the only thing that will bring them back
After they leave my store they don't take the
lights or the fixtures with them. All they
have Is a pair Of shoes. and II those shoes
don't wear all the advertising and all the
handsome stores in the world won't bring
them back TO buy again But the longer the
shoes wear the harder II will be for my COM
petitors to take my trade away. Homely
philosophy but absolutely true.
Went Into Manufacturing End.
Father died. Mother had long since
passed away. I had nothing to keep me in
the home town. A year later when a good
cash offer came for the store accepted It.
dissatisfied with the retail end Of the busi-
ness and felt that the manufacturing end
was the thing that paid the largest returns
for the same number Of hours a day.
80 I went down to Brockton where q
number Of larger shoe factories were in oper-
alton, and sorted in 10 lsaFn the shoe manu-
featuring business from A to z. Seven years
later found myself occupying An executive
seat IN the IactOfy WnoIe 1 nAu entered a
an apprentice
"A few more ysars went by and MANAGED
to accumulate little stock In our company.
Than conditions changed-so did our factory.
Improved machinery decreased the cost of
manufacturing shoes to . point that would
have seemed incredible few years before.
Then came that spoch marking time
when the commercial world awoke to the DOS
sibdlities Of modern sales methods-of ad-
vertising, Of emciency on the distributing end
Of the buziness a. well as the manufacturing.
But our stockholders shook their heads.
New tangled ideas-they can't last The
same line Of logic my father had advanced
should have been enough to convince me. but
1t wasn't. But there was no reason back Of
the stand our directors took. They were be-
hind the times.
Conditions grew worse and worse. Our
product was good-hrst rate. Our name had
been good, but was being rapidly replaced by
the names on which thousands Of dollars
were being daily expended to place them
before the public. And the best article in