The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-11-15
ALL SEEM OPTIMISTIC

l ALL SEEM OPTIMISTIC The furniture men all over the town seem very optimistic in regard to the l coming years business. Many report | that it has never before been better and l that the war had a tendency toward l an increase rather than a decrease. The advantages of cooperation are urged by all of then
 R. L. Sparkman, president of the Bir-
 mingham Furniture Dealers assoca- ton, said, in speaking of organized eff fort
 "Our association has done an untold amount of good to every member. We have been able to exchange ideas, work to a common purpose and utilize the mistakes of one for a warning to all. Our ideal has, from the very first beer to lift the furniture business from the place it formerly occupied to the plane of legitimate business, conducted by modern merchandising methods; to make the knock -down-and- drag-out idea thing of the past, and to educate the people to know the value of good furni-
 ture. This last month has been rec ord-breaker for our firm In fact one of the largest months since the busl- ness has been organized.
 CAUSE OF BETTER BUSINESS
 q consider times better now than at 'Ne"' from good authority that in the eastern and western parts of the country there is some stacking up of business, this district has not felt even the outer wave of the depression
 Many contributory causes could be stated but, I think, the greatest of all
 is that the working man is. for the first time, beginning to get real pay for his work I was talking to a miner the other IIa toiI mo 6uripp the pa st month he made about $145, that this month he expected to make it s175 and that he had already done more than the quota for this part of the month and had laid off both Saturdays,
 "A negro sold bale of his cotton not long ago for sl5o. and the seed for SS7 To my mind this is the real funda- mental reason for the wave of prosperity that is surging over this district"
 Phillip Oster. another prominent furnt- ture dealer of this district, said: There can be no doubt that the furniture busi- ness of this district is on the incline and forging ahead very fast. We are giving the people better values and bet ter assortments. They are responding by purchasing better goods and showing better taste in their selections.
 SHOULD BUY BETTER GOODS
 'It is a great source of regret to us. not as furniture men alone, but by rea- son of our knowledge that it is for their good. that the country people in the district do not buy more and better goods. They can't be made to realize. it seems, that by coming here they will be enabled to select from a greater va riety of patterns, and that by doing the volume of business that the mer- chants here do we can sell for less profit and quick turnovers. While the business is developing it is not yet near what 1t should be.
 "The older people are beginning to realize. however. that in justice to the younger generation they should provide them with modern surroundings. that they should make home more desirable. provide those little things which the young people go elsewhere to find. Grad uallv the cheaper grades Of furniture are being used un and in the vacancy left we are supplying a much better grade."
 ''No city in the corntrv of like size affords so good a selection of furni- ture as Rirmingha m" said Bert Jacobs of Ben NJ Jacobs & Brothers.
 Birmingham is a splendid furniture market. Note the displays in the win dows. Nowhere will you see better Our merchants buy with judgment.