The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-05-18

MUM in the business mart and that one thin
had
would recognize me to the tune Of more dol
lars than any other man In the business
That was his reputation. But. to tell tn,
truth, was more interested In seeing m,
idea blossom into reality than in the imam
cial benefit that might accrue.
Such are the strange ideas Of youth.
However. into the factory / went for tn,
two days prescribed by SiIas Crabb. And II
was model factory. Daylight. cleanliness
order. and everywhere one man doing the
work Of two without realizing Il.
Silas crabb's ideas on ventilation, SAM.
tary working conditions. etc, paid him big
dividends on the money he invested to OBJ
tain them.
Monday morning found me in Kansas
City. which I had already selected as the
right location for my tryput.
Murphy Craig ran a chain Of retail gro-
ceries throughout the states Of Kansas
and Missouri which were famous through
out the country for the amount of merchan-
disc they sold. and incidentally bought.
They handled a line of food products COM
petitive to ours.
Murphy Craig's headquarters were in Kan
sas City. He was the man had selected TO
try out my plan on.
/ was unable to secure an interview with
him. but his manager after listening to my
proposition. made the statement that while
II was interesting. ! would have to go out
and sell the stores Individually as each store
did its own purchasing, under supervision,
OF course. from the home ONCE. This. he
said, was an ironclad rule which they would
not under any circumstances break. It
originated when Craig consolidated a num-
Der OF independent stores
! went back and thought 1t over. To sell
their stores would necessitate trip to each
OF the sixty towns where they were located.
Some trip But on the Murphy Craig Mer-
camille company / had started and with
them would finish. Ny grip hadn't even
been unpacked, and caught the next train
for Clay Center. where the first store was
located.
don't like to talk about the next ten days.
II was a series of heartbreaks. / found
our competitors goods strongly intrenched
andstore managers who wouldn't or couldn't
see through my proposition
In vain figured on the leaves Of my order
book the savings to be made by purchasing
my way They didn't want Empire goods,
they didn't want to save money, they didn't
want anything except to see the Empire
company's salesman's coattails going out
their front door.
The morning Of the eleventh day ] found
telegram at my hotel-seven words:
Better 60 back to your old territory.
SII.As CRABB"
But had my teeth firmly sunk in the
Big idea and wouldn't let go.
Iwired back:
Send somebody else In my old territory.
Tell my customers I am with you. List OF
my trade in mail. JOHN HEMINd.
Another wire caught me in the next town:
Il will do all the telegraphing necessary
in this concern Statesmen must use the
mails SILAs CRABB
ENCOURAGING wasn't IT. And In the next
three days I met with no more success than
the first eleven Twenty-eight of Murphy
craig's stores had seen without even the
sign Of an order. Began to look as II me big
Id ca were a rank. fiat failure
I'll admit right now I was discouraged.
Wouldn't you have been?
But the crowning touch Of all was the letter
tHHt accompanied stCOIlC CneCk-
lust three words:
You are discharged
But that was the one thing needed to wake
me UP.
wrote on a telegraph blank:
II am paying this message out Of my own
money. From today draw no salary and
no expenses. but am still working for tn.
Empire company, and don't you forget IL
JOHN HEMINs"
sent the wire and drew a sigh of relief
had saved a few hundred collars and
vas willing to spend my own money-to go the
INIT before was prepared to admit that the
big idea was no good
Considering the fact that was now work
ng on my own time, It looked as IL I had
earned a rest. so ! bought two large. fat
Havana cigars, lit one, and walked out to the
banks OF river on the outskirts Of town and
eated myself under the shade of a big eIr,
o think matters over and decide whetbsrT
vas wrong and the idea was right or vice
'ersa.
Fifteen minutes of careful reflection apdT
umped to, my feet The suddenness with
which the white light dawned upon me was
tartling. The idea was right and so wasI