Rockingham post-dispatch., 1918-08-01
Saturday Night Closing.
(Contributed)

SOhlClillC dSO Tic "IllCA VI tIilS al liNiC
was in one of the barber shops of Rock
ingham and by chance heard part of a
telephone conversation. 1t seems that
somebody was inviting one of the BARRIERS
to party on Saturday night. l heard
him say: why, couldn't possibly come
on Saturday. may not get home from
work before o'clock Sunday morning"
l thought of course that was quite an
exaggeration; that he just meant by that
that he worked pretty late Saturday. So
asked the man who waiting on me what
time they did close. He told me that
the rule was to close the door at IL
o'clock, and then finish up all the work
that was waiting. When | said that
seemed mighty late, etc, he said: Eyes,
we tried closing earlier once but the
people raised such kick we had to go
back to the old way"
Now here is just the point of what |
want to say: We, the people, the public,
make the stores and all of the other
business houses stay open too long on
Saturday night. This of course makes
it necessary for the barber shops to stay
open much later. 1t used to be the Gus
tom for people to do most of their Christ
mas buying on Christmas eve. But now
about the first of December we begin to
hear this: do your Christmas shopping
early" 1t used to customary for all sorts
of stores to stay open just as long as any
stragglng customres would come along.
Every night in the week. But now most
people have discovered that that is poor
business policy and so they stay open an
ordinary day and go home. The public
gets its shopping done just as easily as 1t
ever did, and nobody would think OF ask
| the dry goods stores, for instance, to keep
open at night all during the week. But
some of the grocery stores have to stay
open every night because their customers
come to buy And all the stores keep
open to an unearthly hour on Saturday
night because there are some people that
won't buy until they know Sunday morn
ing is near. Such things ought not so to
be.
After studying the situation for some
time, after talking with several of the
rre~o-ortS and after some nrrTnnal oh
servation, it seems to me that it's just a
small part of the public that makes it
necessary for the stores to keep open
till midnight on Saturday nights. Now
who is it that composes that part of the
public? 1t is not the country people,
because very few of them stay in town
after dark. Surely it can't be the people
who live in the mill villages around them
because they have all the afternoon to
do their buying, and I'm sure they do
not wait till II o'clock to start home.
Then it must be some of us who live
nearest the stores. Maybe you who are
reading are one of the people who make
the conditions we have been talking
about necessary. think we can safely
lay this down as a proposition: Neither
the owners nor the clerks stay there
until midnight Saturday night just be-
cause they love to stay there. | will
venture to say this, too. In lots OF cases
the profits on the sales made after 10
o'clock do not more than pay for the
electricity burned.
Al-.l,st everybody nowadays except mer-
chants and their clerks have halt holiday
on Saturday. But they work day and
half on Saturday.
In view of all these things it seems to
me that those of US who live nearest
ought not to compel the stores to work
so much over time, possibly because we
just neglect to buy until late, or for some
other reason just as thoughtless. We can
buy early Saturday morning jast as we'll
as late that night. Let's begin that right
this week and in that may say to the
merchants and clerks that we are willing
for them to have at least little shorter
working day Saturday. Then the bar
bers won't have to work on Sunday
morning. And it is certain that none of
us will be the worse off.
|