The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-01-20

For instance, I would advertise an
article for sale In our catalogue at
six dollars. This article would cost
US, in the house of the wholesale deal.
er, for example, $3.50. By paying cash
I would make two per cent additional
and for quantity Il agreeing to take,
say 1000 of this particular thing) !
would obtain a discount of say five
per cent. x . ,-1 !.
This is how I would figure it out:
Cost of article ...".!2.5O :
Cash discount at per cent. ..05 go :.
Quantity discount at S per cent.12h
Discounts .-....:..............17h .171h
Net cost a.o11s
Selling price to ,YOU................. 5000 ,
Our profit \. X. . -. s7ss
You can see for yourself that when
/ was making such profits it was but
natural that I should deem 1t proper
to spend the money on trips to Europe
and UP the Nile, etc. OF course,
had plenty OF money to spend. Even
way, back when the concern was In
its infancy always made big money.
And It made no difference what the
financial barometer said about the
money market. I was not bothered by
bank failures nor by financial stringen-
cies. / did not have to borrow any
money. OF course not. You fur.
nishedi 1t. a55 {! b Il IA s.
Good gracious, IL you had fur.
3nished your local merchants with the
cash you sent to me, In advance, they
would all be millionaires. now, In.
stead of plodding along trying to make
both ends meet. I:s + 55. & stit 81 !s,'
Take 1t, for instance, that you sent
me an order for a. lot Of things includ:
ing hardware. Did you ever wonder
why the. hatchets and hammers and
other tools broke. so easily or would
not keep an edge? Did you wonder
why the locks became broken and out
of order? Did you wonder why moth.
Ing would work Just as II SHOULD?
Your dealer in your own town buys
goods that he feels sure will give
service and be satisfactory. II not
you can make him give you q 'duph.
cate that win All the bill. But he
Is a different proposition. He has to
be right there In his store to meet you
face to face while my concern is' q
long ways Oh. f@5.' r / 4
In groceries. too. It was my Gus
tom to buy 10 whst we call "job lots
OF arv raerchandtse Thatever II q
merckant waat broke aid went into
bankryutcE useG to biz on h:s stock.
] wop!u iuy il. ior cash, tor all the
,wGy irUR; fifteen c2ats 90 fUrry OF fifty
GER is OF the dollar iic aiM.y,T; want.
ed rash and was willing ID sacrifice
his goods 1t any price. Then would
tie Ibis stuff and parcel /. out. AL
was :.an ti,ai came to my net. world
offer soTc old junk, that he h@d kept
on his shelves for man: gears. as sDe-
cial bargains, and would quote 6escr.p-
tions as though the stuff were new,
and yet make price that sounded
low. would call an article. valued
at" say. SIS, and price it at $3.50. It
would have cost us about half a dollar
or perhaps less, -, Z, I, !. ..1t
Cases of tomatoss, corn, fruit and
other canned goods we've my speciality.
Many and many time have / dug up
from the cellar OF from tts, back ST
the shelves Of some old r reliant
whom / bought out for cash as 2 very
small price, a lot Of old cans, bulged
out, and rusted and looking as IL they
had been there for years. And they
had; probably. | would set q boy to
work cleaning and polishing these
cans and then I would paste new ia-
bells on them. Sometimes there were
no labels and then i could have a lot
Of fun deciding what labels to put, c,n
them. There were many surprises In
store Tor those who bought such stun
at q a"bargain." would paste new
labels on such cans as I could not tell
the contents of, and ship them out TO
our customers. G5 lfsss, I, .'.s:7l..i,l Z q
Sugar, that had become wet, and
which I, had to break up with an ar,
salt the same, prunes full of worms,
corn meal alive with reaches, salt
fish strong enough to float ship,
-four and crackers filled with vermin--
yes, I bought all sorts :.of stuff and
sold 1t at a great profit. Il,
And clothing-there's where I made
some of my greatest profits, for the
clothing sold, in a majority Of in
stances, was made by half.grown Jew.
ish girls and boys In what are known
to the trade as "sweatshops.
The vest I sold as a part OF your
suit was probably cut by d sweating
young Jew from Russia, who cannot
speak more than q half dozen words
of our language. He cuts them out In
lots, pile Of cloth foot deep and ha
cuts them with a big knife that looks
more like straw or hay knife-the
kind you use to cut hay out Of a staci;
with. It's the same way with the
coats and trousers. ...
Then these pieces Of cloth are sewed
together by perspiring young Jew"
esses. They get few cents for sew
ing vest. Another gets few pen
MES for putting in the pockets. An.
other gets a similar amount for sew
ing on collar, etc. All this work is
done by. the dozen. So many cents