The Winslow mail., 1915-03-13
Martha GreenIaW Is Visiting
Bookkeeper to Retail
Merchants.
FOUND HER PLACE IN WORLD
Noting the Habitual Lack of Method
of Smaller Shopkeepers, She Has
Been Earning Good Salary by
Correcting Their Errors.
BY RICHARD sPILLANE.

|
branch food products houses, was de-
lighted His branch was to be closed
but he was to have charge of another
in a larger city and was to have an
increase of salary. He wanted to take
most of his subordinates with him.
He told Martha Greenlaw, who had
been his bookkeeper for seven years,
that she was to be transferred with
him
Miss Greenlaw went home with no
sense of elation. What was an ordi-
nary happening to big business con-
Germ was matter of supreme i'm
portance to her. If she moved it
meant the breaking up of her home,
| the sale at a sacrifice or the rental
of the little house she had purchased
out of her savings and to which she
was greatly attached, separation from
friends of lifetime and the opening
of a new existence under conditions
she never had known before She
might face the change alone but it
would go hard with her mother Her
mother was old and none too strong.
Martha was her sole support 1t is
difficult for an old tree to take root
in new soil
Miss Greenlaw thought it all out
for herself. She knew she was
good bookkeeper but she also knew
it was no easy matter to get as good
a position as the one she held. The
more consideration she gave to the
matter the more convinced she was
that she couldn't leave the home
town. She told the boss. He said
he was sorry Then he forgot Miss
Greenlaw. His mind was full of the
details of moving and the big pros
poets before him in his new field.
| Following the ordinary method
Miss Gree11law went among her busi-
ness friends and acQuaintances look
! ing for job as bookkeeper. Most of
| them told her times were dull None
of them knew of a vacancy just then
but they assured her they would keep
her in mind and when they heard of
anything they'd let her know 1t
usually is that way. Weeks passed
and no work came to the woman.
Then she concluded that if she was
! to get employment she would have
to make a position for herself.
Lax Methods of Retailers.
One of the many things she OBJ
served in the years she worked in the
branch Office of the food products
company was that the average small
retailer to which the company sold
goods was lax in his business meth
DDS. Many of them we're slow in pay
ing their bills. Some of them got
mixed in their accounts with the com
pany and apparently didn't keep their
records straight She had heard the
| travelling men of the house tell re-
markable stories of the slipshod ways
and general carelessness of men
whose trade amounted to many thou
sands of dollars a year
Unable to sell her services to one
large concern, she got to wondering
if she could not sell them to a num-
Der of small ones The more she con-
sidered the matter the more it ap-
pealed to her. She went to the credit
man of a large jobbing house and
told him what she had in mind. He
was impressed favorably and gave
| her a lot of names of possible custom
ers. She got lists from other men
and started out. These lists included
millinery houses, jewelry stores, gro
GERS, etc.
The first place on her list was a
general store. One glance at the eX-
terror convinced her that it would be
useless for her to talk to the proprie-
! tor. Everything indicated slovenly
habits on the part of the owner. 1t
would be a hopeless job to straighten
| out such man.
The next was a jewelry house 1t
was neat and inviting. The owner
was not too busy to give five min
utes of his time to her. She always
talks we'll and she talked particularly
well that day. She told little about
herself and about the general idea
she had in mind.
JeweIer Gave Her a Trial.
Il am not business expert, busi-
ness doctor or business quack," she
said. Il simply am a good bookkeep-
er. l think the small business men
need nothing so much as good book
keeping. That has been my observa-
tion from my business career. You
keep your own books you tell me.
Possibly the time you give to your
books could be used more advanta-
geously by you in looking after your
| customers I do not know What 7
do know, however, is that proper
bookkeeping will perform the same
function for you in regard TO your
whole business as your electric light
meter does in regard to your electric
ity or your gas meter does in respect
to your gas. The meters keep books
for you on your electricity and your
gas. If your bills run high the meters
tell you there is a leak or waste
somewhere. They do not stop the