Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1915-11-26

AS l recall the watches l will esti
mate their value at about SO each
although there are now dozens of bet
ter watches made which retail for 81
each. The whole plan was actually
fraud. There was no John Smith OF
whatever name they used, in any OF
the towns. The watches were bright
and kept fair time.
1t was all trick to sell to the ex.
press agents in hundreds of small
towns So watches at $3.50 each. 1t
was a great trick, the success OF
which depended on the skillful knowI
edge of human nature possessed by
my two clever BOSSES
In few days after we began send.
ing out the letters the returns came
in. Express orders, money orders,
checks and currency. We realized
about 81 from each watch after de-
Quoting the express and C. o. D.
charges. So we kept it up until we
had marketed thousands of watches
in this way.
"I believe those fellows will buy
stuff straight" remarked one of my
bosses to the other, one day. "They
have fallen for the watches and other
things" For we had sent out other ar
ticles of jewelry on the same plan and
had discovered an especial demand for
reviewers, guns, etc.
We moved into more commodious
| quarters. We prepared little an.
nouncement on single sheet of. pa
per, the size of letter sheet, giving
illustrations of the articles for which
we had discovered the demand and
printing the price, together with a
stated value greatly III excess of the
market price. 1t was miniature cata-
logue, mail order catalogue, because
we sent it only to the addresses of
those who lived in the small towns
and in the country.
But we suffered for lack of names
We must have names, as the express
agents and railroad agents had been
loaded up. They were on to the
game now. So we selected one or two
weekly newspapers which had a cir.
culation in the small towns and among
the farmers and we inserted an adver
tisement in which we announced q
fine revolver at a very low price
Yet this price gave US more than one
hundred per cent on the cost to us
We selected other newspapers and ad
vertised watches, guns, jewelry. etc.
AS the names came in we filled the
orders and sent to each customer oul
little catalogue leafiet. The orders
came in by the hundreds, by the thou
sands.
My salary was increased 1t rose t,
$40, to $12, to SIS, to SIS a week
wore no more secondhand clothing
l went to night school, where
studied hard. / learned shorthand
and typewriting. My value to tn
business was increasing all the time
My bosses made thousands of dollars
Our catalogue leafiet increased pag
by page as we added various articles
But we did not carry these article
in stock. Oh, no. We had arrange
ments with various wholesale house
to fill our orders when they came il
We never bought dollars worth Q
goods until we had the money il
hand. We were doing business O.
other peoples money. Can you imas
inc anything SO easy and SO profitable
A customer would send us $40 wit
which to fill an order. We would g
to the wholesale house and pay 81 O
SIS for the article, send it to the cus
, toner and keep the difference, whic
was our profit OF course, there wer
! office expenses to pay. There wer
printing bills and postage bills, bu
they were merely incidental to tn
great profits which we were placin
in the bank.
/ We planned all'sorts of things. W
/, discovered that the woman in tn
household was the easy one to des
/, with, so we played up to the femal
2 contingent. We appealed to her vanit.
to her love of home decoration, t
her love of her children, etc. W
: wrote out carefully our catalogue col
! tents and then we worked it over
e dozen times to get the best talkin
! points for the women We laughe
S over it. We shouted aloud when som
t particularly apt phrase or senreno
Q would be evolved which sounded g
though it would hit the spot.
a Oh, yes, we studied human natur
r We laughed at the poor country me
s chants who found their trade slippin
away from their stores and diverte
: to us by the clever printed matte
t which we sent out. There would /
a a big laugh whenever we would g,
e an order from a country merchal
e himself, but these were few and far b
n tween, because we realized that tt
e poor country merchant had but lit
:. cash to spend. We were getting a
It of his profits, and we knew it, long
y fore he began to realize it.
AS students of human nature "
e became adopts. An Office was opene
It in big eastern city. Then we di
g covered nat people took pride
e receiving letters and packages from
s. big city. We found out that peop
i right in our own city would answ'
IS our advertisements and write to IL
s, branch office instead of writing
a our own home Office right in the san
g. city, both addresses being given
" the advertisements.
e. Business piled up until we despairt
of taking care of the money that can
in so bountifully.
We'll have to begin to pay stora,
on our money" said one of the boss
TO one day. 1--WE have no room here f
IS it," and it was true.
Is