The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1915-01-07
HOW THE BUSINESS EXPANDED

rev complaints from our CuStOmeTb
out In the country" said one OF my
bosses, whom | will call ~" for con-.
venience.
"They seem 10 be satisfied with
whatever We send them responded
my boss whom | will designate for con.
yenience ~"
"Thcy don't know the difference be.
tween good stun and bad stun said
Y. Il guess it's this way. Out In the
Jay towns they have 80 few things that
they are glad to get anything that
looks all right"
"Ha." said 2 with n shout Of laughter.
"They keep their parlors all dark ex.
cept when company comes, or on sun.
lay. | can understand how their par.
or furniture don't become worn out.
remember how Il was when | was
a boy
Look here. Y. why not start n
department OF furniture for our Gus.
toners" said Y. I'VE ought to find II
profitable" lie spoke TO me.
Il think we're losing money every
day by not handling furniture" I'm.
~terjected T.. %"Supposing We let Y try
out his hand by putting n new line in
our catalogue-furniture, carpets. rugs,
pictures and that stuff"
SO Il was decided that ! should have
n respite from my office work and put
IN my time for n few weeks looking
IN the possibilities OF a furniture dc.
pnrtmcnt. All this time while We
wore doing an enormous business, sew
ernl thousand dollars worth every
week. We carried no stock at all with
tho exception Of a few cheap watches
and other ~articles OF ~jcwclry-revol.
vet7 and n half dozen guns. The Gus.
toners were furnishing the capital for
our business, cash I'm advance. so that
all We had to do was TO take their
money, 70 out and buy what the or.
ders called for. for generally less than
Onchalf the amount Of the remittance,
and keep tho balance. from 30 10 60
per cent Of the amount. rs our profit.
After visiting several Of the furni.
turc manufacturers I'm our city, ! for.
mulated u list OF prices and arranged
that we could obtain any OF the artl.
clos on the list at an" time by paying
only for such as ", had orders for.
or course We rot all Of these things
NJ Wholesale priccs and ! had learned
that another discount can always be
demanded for the payment Of cash.
So | secured from the manufacturers
photographs Of tho various articles |
nd. picked out and showed them to y
ard Y.
They look rather skinny and slim,
those chair legs" said Y.
THAT photograph Of n chifonier
looks like a coffin stood on end-its
so narrow" suggested T..
"But | picked out only the cheaper
grades Of stun" I replied. "Yuu told
me not 10 try 10 get ANYTHING *.
Ionsiyc. It's all cheap stuff"
cant vc make il look better in tho
Catalogrc than II does in the photo
Trguh.' suggested y.
We sent for q wood ongravcr 20
como 90 the Office and then We went
into the subject in detail. He said
that he could make the chair legs look
bigger and stronger by drawing them
ns though they were larger than they
wcre actually. As for the chirouior
and similar articles, he showed Us n
very neat plan. lie took a pair OF
shears and split the photograph IN
two. then pasted the two parts on
another sheet OF paper so that the
split parts were about a quarter of an
inch apart.
"Now that looks like n wide, com
Portable chiffonicr," said Y. and We
could not help but agree with him. II
made an entirely different piece OF fur
niture. II looked half again as wide
and presented a really desirable ap
pearance while. as the photograph
showed II, Il would look too narrow and
ungraceful to sell well. The change
in the character OF the illustration
made II look like n piece of furniture
worth $50, whiio II was TO cost us only
about $3.50, wholesale.
And tho chairs. when the ongravc,
had drawn them TO look rs though III,
legs were an inch and n hali In diam
cter. instead Of as they really were
actually loss than an inch through
looked like 81 chairs instead of Xix,
the chairs they were, honestly made
10 retail for Sl,25.
And so It went on. We took bu
reaus, ~commodes, wooden beds, and al
OF the various articles that ! had sc
lccted and made them look In ouI
catalogue illustrations as though the!
were vastly superior pieces. sultabl,
for the finest rooms In the house. tn,
engraver did his work wcll, with n con
slant grin on his face. for he admitted
that all OF this hocus' pocus, as III
called II, was n new one on him.
One day he said to me, confidential
~, Say Y. what will those poor zap.
out I'm the country say when they &c
the real thing? Won't they holler?'
repeated this TO Y and Y, who re
piled soothingly that II they hollere'
we would send them a nice letter ant
Jolly them along.
We've got their money. anyhow,