The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1915-03-25

bolster up the business when charge
customers do not pay; no doubt as to
the xeact amount of money that every
line OF goods is making; no big ever-
head expenses; no unnecessary risks,
due to changing styles and seasons.
The cost of doing business in 1913
due to this system , was kept down
to between ten and eleven per cent.
However, the spread of the stores
ever so many states is due to some
thing more than this efficiency, even
something more than satisfied CUSTOM
ers. New links are always being ad-
ded to the chain by a definite method
of extension that works automatically.
1t has been said that the secret of
the organizations success is contained
in the word MEN. Right here is where
the human factor enters the PROPOSE
ton.
Every clerk can become a store
manager and part owner if he makes
good. A manager has the privilege Of
takin an assistant as a one-third own
er in his store. In this way the man.
ager, the assistant and the j. C.. Pen
ney Company, which has its main Of
flee in Salt Lake City, Utah, each, own
a third Of the store. Thus, the endless
chain movement is carried on. The
assistant in time picks out a field that
looks good to him, and to his super
iors. There he starts a new store,
still retaining his third interest in the
original business. His former man.
ager has the privilege of backing the
new venture by taking a third interest
in it himself. This arrangement is, Of
course subject to the approval of the
company, which takes the remaining
third.
eve do not back any man whom
we do not know personally" said Mr..
Penney to an interviewer. "Outsiders
with money are constantly trying to
enter u organization, but we prefer
to develop u own men and back
them ourselves. Ours is an organiza-
ton of friends-men who have worked
side by side for years, men who a be
trusted and who trust each other"
No managers activities are curbed
in any way. Each is permitted to re-
invest his surplus in anew store and in
turn sell a third interest in it to some
bright assistant who wants to buy in.
If the assistant hasn't the
money with which to buy In, it is ad-
vanced to him on a personal basis.
Mr.. Penney declairs that they
have We t pick a mar whohas not
made good the faith placed in him.
The assistant who buys a third
interest in the store started by his SUI
perior, may, when his finances war
ran it, start another store, and sell a
third interest in it to some bright
young man who has assisted him. And
so it grows and grows. Some man.
ayers are interested in. as many as
eighteen stores.
ut is an inspiration to see the
spirit of cooperation that dominates
the operation of the Stores" said Mr..
Penney. every man is ready to
help his brother manager at any time
and one mans Idea or plan for better
ment of the business is the property
of every other manager in the chain.
That is efficiency of the highest sort,
l think, and the part it has played in
the success of the stores We OWE is
inestimable.
I'VE have an annual meeting of
the stockholders at Salt Lake City in
the middle of January, at which vari-
Gus plans and suggestions for improv-
ing the business are made. Our
stores are now located in the West
because they were started there and
have made good. Some day we may
extend our operations eastward, but
it is too far distant to ever hazard a
guess as to when it will be."-.adv.