The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1915-04-02

! weeks MT. FeQer would nave " Aiop
out a policy for a department that
would suit the clientele of the store,
that he would have to buy and install
fixtures, coach the salespeople, buy the
toys and have them in position by the
opening day.
In this predicamert Mr. FEEDER found
what every business man finds some
times in his life-and usually at crit
ical time, too-that friends are the
best asset business man can have.
He knew and had friends among the
trade" They knew that if he said
thing he meant it and they were
anxious to see him make good in his
new responsibility. At first when he
asked the wholesale men to let him
have certain toys before the end OF
October they declined. 1t was, as they
believed, an utter impossibility. Then
by skillful management they let him
have few Of the toys ordered by
other buyers who had not stipulated
for immediate delivery. By stretching
point here and there, they were then
able to fill the orders later and still
accommodate Mr. FEEDER without put,
ting other buyers to inconvenience
All during October Mr.. FEEDER worked
night and day, and when the new
store opened no one of the many pa
irons who came to inspect the new
department dreamed that the finishing
touches had been put on just a mo-
ment before the curtain rose
Mr.. FEEDER began his career as an
errand boy. He was New Yorker
by birth, and when he had finished the
public schools his family wanted him
to go to college; but tho youngster
knew somehow better than his elders
that there was great deal more for
him to learn in the business of the
great city than there was within the
walls of a college. So he took one
Of the first positions that offered itself
in a wholesale toy store as an
errand boy, at S. week.
Gets Hints From His Daughter
While the department store buyer
has one eye on the figures-and thinks
half his time of the way to buy the
best possible toys In the cheapest
possible market so as to make the toy
department as lucrative for his EN-.
ployer as possible-he has to keep
another eye on childhood.
Several years ago the different toy
departments in the big cities made a
point Of selling dollar dolls" and it
was up to every toy buyer to produce
the most effective doll that 1t was
possible to produce for a dollar.
Mr.. FEEDER has a daughter of his
own whose childish lispings have on
more than one occasion given him val.
liable hints on subject of toys. The
little daughter is named Henrietta
Evelyn. One day Mr.. FEEDER was put.
ting some of his expert thought on
the subject of the dollar doll-a propo.
sition which would mean many thou.
sands of dollars to his firm. 1t sud.
denly occurred to him that it would
be good idea to give his dollar doll
a special name; and in honor of his
little daughter he called it the "Hensir.
eta" doll. Latter -vascn.-nc~HAxrgd 70
launch another sort of dollar doll, he
called it the Baby Evelyn" It
seemed like a simple enough idea, but
it was good one, and the sales on
the dolls were increased enormously
as soon as they had a name. Within
a few months other department stores
took up the idea until the market was
flooded with Baby Mauds and Baby
Helens and Baby Margarets. But the
few weeks Mr.. FEEDER gained on his
competitors meant just so much more
In the pockets of his employers.
Next time you go into big toy de-
partment, as you pass from counter
to counter, examining the little per-
fectly shaped toy animals, pigs a few
inches long covered with real bristles,
tiny chickens with real feathers, dolls
that walk and talk and wink, automo-
biles that really go and Noah's arks
that would have made you as a child
dance with joy-stop and think that
1t is because Of the thought of some
such man as Mr.. FEEDER that all these
things are brought to your door, It
IS because some man with brains
enough to be a college president and
shrewdness enough to be high finan.
cler and with all the imagination of
childhood is devoting his time and en-.
ergies to buying toys and organizing
toy departments, that your children
have toys brought from the four quar-.
tiers of the earth to choose from,