The Daily Missoulian., 1913-02-09

tailcrS are sold at a fixed price, which
allows him a fair margin of profit
when Sula at the advertised price to
the consumer. The iobher. in turn,
is allowed the customary jobhcrs' dis
count. From first to last, the manu-
facturor. whose business it is, takes
the initiative and assumes the ex-
pense. He can afford to, as his cams
pagn is going to enable him to sell
his product for n much higher price
than would otherwise be possible. 1t
is only by these necessary expendi-
lures that he can accomplish his OBJ
iect, Having taken these steps, the
town is ready for the advertising, and
not before, tor if the advertising were
to be sprung prematurely the cons
Sumcrs would call once or twice for
the article, would not find it in the
stores, and the campaign would fan.
Value of Brand.
The foregoing is a plan which, in
my Judgment, is perfectly practical.
with certain notifications to apply
to our industry. The course | would
propose is Ia select a brand with A
catchy name. copyright it, and allow
packers. under a reVocable license,
and only on a few high grade varie-
ties, and only on the extra fancy $50
size and larger of those varieties.
The brand would appear on the
wrappers and also on the box. On
the maintenance of the quality Of this
! brand would depend its lccess. SO
too many precautions coud not be
taken to see that every box bearing
the brand is strictly up to grade Tho
next move would be to select one
state In the union in which to make
"A thorough test OF the plan. Let us
say Indiana. as that state is not only
rich and populous, but at the same
time one of the poorest consumers of
| boxed apples in the union, relatively.
! indianapolis ia rich, prosperous city
of 253,65o inhabitants. start, say. in
| Indianapolis. with the special brand
| of J0nathnnS and Grimes Golden.
would ship several carloads of the
brand to indianapolis, either placing
them in storage temporarily or else
, timing their arrival conveniently. The
next stop would be to send one or two
thoroughly trained. experienced sne-
cinIty statesmen there / could lay
my hands on just the right men in a
/ moment. | would have a thorough
canvass Of the retail grocery trade
made, ANA also the fruitercr trade
/ Thcr" Is about one proccrN store To
every 200 of the population; fruitcr-
"rS additional. This would mako LIES
groceries alone in indianapolis. Not
ever one quarter to uuo-half of these
would h" good stores in good parts of
| town. Say about 300 in all The Tive
wire salesman can work about -
| groc"rS in a day If he has a quick
| talking proposition, which this would
| be In two weeks work, one man
| could cover the town pretty thor
| oughly, Have this salesman explain
! to tn" grocer the extraordinary quail
! itN, appearance, and merchautnbility
! of the product; the convenience Of the
| package; the advantages of cooperate
! ms with the producers to work up Il
! box trade, which would avoid measur-
| ing, bags, strings, etc. and save him
money all around. Under which con-
! ditions he could afford to handle the
! fruit at reasonable profit, especially
| by decay. Any "livc Wire could make
grocer without going further into
the argument suffice to say that a
"whirlWind campaign" could be made
| Explain to the grocer that on a Ger
tain morning. n fun page lad" will
appear in the indianapolis newspa =
pcrs, written by an expert, SO as to
command instant attention by every
housckecper in town. And that in
3 l..t
frnitorors who can supply the fruit
Will also appear, That is n good al
for the dealer. That advertisement
viii state the price per box at which
the consumer can buy this brand by
the box from the grocer. That would
be the first Intelligent step ever talk
en- by northwestern producers to reg
ulatc the profits of the retailer and
1t would be doing it in n way that
would not make the retailer our enc
my for life, but would have his full
approval, Then take the order of the
retailer for five, ten, fifteen or tWen-
ty-fiVe boxes of the advertised brand
for delivery through his wholesale
grocer or wholesale fruit merchant
Perhaps under this system the whole
sale grocers throughout the country
generally, could be induced to carry
boxed apples, like the wholesale gro
GERS in Texas do now. If so, it would
be another big advantage gained az
the Wholesale grOcerS would not carry
any but the advertised brand. Then
assemble these orders on the various
jobbers deliver them and get the job
; hers order for IL generous stock over
and above what we have sold for him.
BY taking the retailers orders at q
! fixed price, you can then allow the
: jobhers fair margin of profit and
; no more, but this time you have not
only limited his profit, but you have
forced him to buy. and YOU have done
: lit all without making him your enc