Omaha daily bee., 1914-01-08
HAVE GRIEVANCE
Secretary of Implement Men Sets
Forth List Of Complaints.
TO BRANCH HOUSES
Says the Retail Implement Business
r. Gradually Becoming a Sec
Ondary Line-Business Can
he Made 20 Pay.


That the retail implement business has
been gradually drifting into what may
be called secondard line. is one of the
several pointed statements made by
Secretary Nj. l.. Goosman OF the Midwest
Retail Implement Dealers association
in his annual report to the association
in session at the Hotel Rome Wednesday
morning. That the secretary has received
some very unfavorable reports as to the
methods employed by manufacturers to
secure business, is another OF the secre-
tary's statements to the association.
Secretary Goosman after serving the
convention for years has made public
his resignation from the association work
In his report he announced that as this
would be his last work with the associa.
ton. he felt IL his duty to leave with the
organization a record of some of his OBJ
servations made during these four years
OF work. Mr. Goosman resigns to become
secretary of recently Incorporated COM
pany in Omaha, which is to engage IN
the manufacture of patent apparatus
for the safe shipping of eggs by parcel
post.
Does Business with Blacksmith.
Continuing with his report Secretary
Goosman pointed to a case in which u
wagon salesman. after trying vainly to
place his make of wagon In a given town,
went to a blacksmith and offered to put
In car of wagons, pay the freight and
drayage and give the blacksmith the
privilege of selling them when he could
and paying for them just as he sold them
Branch retail houses maintained by the
jobbers and manufacturers; the selling OF
implements by the jobbers to consumers
who CORE to the city with stock in the
winter at the same prices the retailers
have to pay for them; and other practices
were pointed out by the secretary as fol-
lows:
We continue to receive reports OF branch
houses maintained by manufacturers and
jobbers, but have evidently become rec
onciled to them. Auction sales, where
1t was advertised that new, up-to-date
implements would be sold to the highest
bidder, were held last spring, and I be-
lieve II is to your interest to emphatically
condemn such practices.
Get Retailers' Prices.
very serious complaint which we have
received is that when ranchmen bring
their stock to market they have no diff.
ficulty in buying their supply of i'm
plements at practically the same price
you are paying. We should most emS
phatically assert at this convention that
to the retail dealer belongs the retail
trade, and should insist that we receive
the same protection and cooperation that
merchants in other lines are receiving. !
am sure there would be nothing unrea.
sonAbie In such a request, as II is gen
orally considered that such protection IL
D courtesy and obligation that every
manufacturer and jobber owes to the re.
tall merchants. atE &A
1 simply mentioned the above to re.
mind yonszef<sonne. of the .prohlema swf
i~t, f1Aw o,.A 20 h.adA 1l.1 n.
added the overcrowdins Of territory. Nc
doubt all Of you are quite familiar with
Presiaeht.s a ddrssr.
President Ed Lehmkuhll of'the assocfa-
ton has not yet arrived as he is still
i'll. He has sent word that ne may come
by Thursday. He sent his annual address
by mail. 1t was read by Vice President
Anton Hansen of Upland Neb. Presi-
dent Lehmkuhfs paper praised the CO.
operative spirit that he said has been
manifested during the year in the asso-
citation. He called attention to the state
ment sometimes made that one-third OF
the retail implement dealers go out OF
business every year. This" he said
I'VE hope is too high a figure" He ad-
vised, however, that the retailers look
more carefully to such points as whether
they are throwing all their best talents
into the business, whether their help is
courteous. whether they have enough
ca pital In the business to carry 1t prop
erly, whether they are watching their
discounts and dates Of discounts properly
whether they are getting the right profit
on each implement when they consider
the cost of handling. erayage, freight
AMI general operating expenses, adver'
tising, etc. BY q careful watching of al
these points he believed all the retailers
could make the business pay.
! Let the mail order houses alone and
quit talking about them," was the advice
given the association by c. NJ. johnson
1 of Rush City, Mimi, in his address on a
| dealers service to hiscommunity. "Yol
should quit worrying about the mail or
der house." he went on. 'It is fact
and you can't stop It, But the more yol
rave about it the more business it does
Why should you offer to sell your good'
as cheap as they? Why should you Offer
10 meet their prices You make yourself
ridiculous by making such an offer"
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