New Britain herald., 1917-01-23

had met with very little success in Russia. but which consumers are now obliged to take, owing to the lack of the saws to which they were ac- customed. As might be expected, the stores and dealers have taken ad- vantage of the situation, and have raised their prices by 50 to 60 to 100 per cent. or more. The increase goes mainly into their own pockets, since most of the goods were obtained be- fore the war started, at ordinary prices, on ordinary terms. Moreover, a large proportion of the hardware having been obtained from or throulf Germany has not yet been paid for by Russian dealers. It was obtained on credit, and the war broke out be- fore the due dates.
 or the hardware sold and used in Russia and Siberia, the quantity made in Russia is far less than that inn ported in spite of the fairly heavy and, in some cases, very heavy duty. Of foreign hardware the cheaper kinds and qualities are supplied al- most exclusively by Germany; Eng land sends both medium and su- perior kinds, and has more or less of monopoly in medium qualities and the United States ships not much of the medium but a good proportion of superior goods. The sales of other countries, such as France and Aus tria, are more Or less limited to par ticular kinds of hardware, such as saws, scythes. sickles, etc.
 Dealers Intelligent.
 The most important shops have been controlled by Germans now eliminated, at least temporarily The Russian hardware dealer Is, gen. erally speaking, an intelligent, good natured man of middle-class educa- ton. He is not very enterprising, somewhat distrustful, conservative, kind, and hospitable to his friends. not very industrious (although he keeps his business premises open un- til late). In Russia, time is not money, tomorrow is as good as today for decision and appointments as well. Because of lack of organization in the conduct of his business the dealer frequently does not order carefully enough or not in sufficient time, or else he keeps too large a stock. AS a rule, he gives his buyer long credit terms and often postpones the time ol peN IIlcllL SliPuldISu NilSi ~ SoliiCS to settling his account; at the same time he makes requests on his own behalf for concessions here and there but does not expect to have interest charged on his deferred payment. He is not aggressive in pushing goods; few Russian dealers are able to ere ate a demand for new article and introduce it successfully. The mar ket must to a great extent be created for them. The retailer is slow and conservative and the jobber even more so. Most of them rarely buy new articles; they do not care to ham, dle articles for which they have not received requests.
 German manufacturers owe their success mainly to the fact that the majority have sent their own travel CTS not only to the big cities in Rus sia but also to the larger provincial towns, and have provided them with elaborate collections of samples and i'll many cases with catalogues print ed In Russian and containing values quoted in rubles f. 0. b, Russian port or railway station. The majority of the Moscow houses are prepared to buy f. o. b. factory and pay the freight and duty. remitting in foreign checks, but most of the provincial