Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-02-23

nc OeSl udy WOEk any Ildu ever
did. according to Mr.. Witten, is the day
when he finds himself, that is, when he
can really estimate himself There is
no good in kicking about the town, the
people. the surroundings. etc, and say.
ing that these are what make rotten
business, said Mr.. Witten, for most
generally the kicker finds that he is
really at the bottom Of it after all His
chief theme, prevalent throughout the
entire talk, was service. do some.
thing good" he said Perform some
service for someone else at cost or
sacrifice to yourself" That Is his
method Of getting his share of the bus.
mess.
According to Mr.. Witteh. q town Is
not bounded by the city limits" It
stretches out just as far as it's mer.
chants extend service and just as far
as there are people who are interested
In that town. Like your business or
else get out of it," was another Of Wit.
tens remarks which set OF the audi.
ence to thinking. for he said that il any
man does not like the business in
which he is engaged, he has no bust.
ipess being in that business.
Mr.. Witten did not believe In calam.
ity howlers who say that the retail
merchant will eventually be forced out
Of business. He said that he foresaw
the greatest period Of hood for the re.
tail merchant he has ever known, for
We are now entering upon the age OF
cooperation, having finished the age OF
cutthroat competition. Cooperation.
he believed, will be the watch word
and the most important factor Of the
coming generation. and keeping that
in mind. the retail merchant will have
nothing to fear. 1--WE must cooperate
IN building up our towns. communities.
and the country" he said. "for only
in this way can We have good business
and the man who said business Is bus.
mess IS mistaken"
Following Mr. Witten's address. c.
s. Harper. president of the Ottumwa
Commercial club. gave his address OF
welcome. being unable to do so Tues.
day morning because OF illness. Mr..
Harper said that some years ago It
was prophesied that there would soon
be no retail dealers, but from the ap-
pearance Of the men gathered at the
short course. there was no lessening IN
their numbers and they seemed to be
successful The merchants. said Mr..
Harper. are the community leaders
and no movement Is undertaken with.
out the retail merchants being back of
it.
The last sneaker on the program
was DIR. c. w. Wassam, lecturer and
professor of commerce at the State
University Of Iowa at Iowa> CITY. Mr..
Wassam used as his subject, Know
Your Goods. He frankly told the
crowd OF merchants that he didn't
know thing about business, but said
that he could tell them lot of things
from the consumers standpoint. He
ridiculed some of their conceptions of
business and told them how he liked
goods to be sold to him.
He said that very few statesmen
have anything except mechanical
and vague idea OF what salesmanship
really is and said that far from being
drawing cards for their stores. some
statesmen are even detriments. The
statesmen got on lightly with what the
proprietors had to take. Mr.. Wassam
told them something OF ADVERTISING
that many had never heard before and
said that few OF them knew how to sell
their own goods. being content with
merely knowing that they were on the
shelves. He said that the great sue.
cess OF the mail order houses is not
that they cut prices but that they boost
their own businesses and never saw
Business is rotten and they put lots
Of pictures in their catalogues to look
it. and tell little stories OF the manu-.
fscture Of articles. He used various
methods OF demonstrating his mean.
ing and told the merchants how to
bring their wares before the eyes of
the people so that thew will be interest.
ed. Nobody. he said. likes to see a
window full of signs. $3.50. was s27. so,
now marked down to 1915" It leads
said DR.. Wassam. the buyer to believe
that he certainly would have beer
cheated il he had bought the article in
the first place.