The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-02-05
RETAIL GAME IS
Man SIZED JOB
discussing subject of 1some After the
War problems" Frank Stock
dale Gives some Good
Advice.
SAYS TO WATCH PROFITS
rooic This Evening viii be "oppor-
! tunities Of Retail Advertising"
and Lecturer will Probe
Deep Into Subject.
SAYS TO WATCH PROFITS

rront stoclcdale, retail CONNER
.ia,ist told an interested audience
~ Keokuk retail merchants at the
nrnheum theater last night in no
uncertain terms that the retail game
~ the immediate future was a mans
sized job-and proved his point,
He wasted no time in compliment
ING the intelligence Of his audience,
i,,,t drove some bald truths home
nth straight from the shoulder jolts
nat left no doubt of his earnest be-
,ef that a large percentage of retail
merchandising was being manhan-
lied by lot of men who ought to
he working for somebody else.
His subject was Some After the
war Problems" and he warned his
audience to not fall into the error OF
believing that the extra dollars taken
IN during the war represented an
increase in the amount of merchan-
disc sold or an upward trend in the
merchandising ability Of the man
aging proprietor Place the credit
where it belongs he said, and salt
your profits in good securities
against the time when eXorbitant
selling costs refuse to bulge in the
face of a declining market" And
while he pointed out that the man
who talks calamity brings calamity
to pass, he warned his audience that
the signs OF the times We're muslin
signs on the fronts of retail stores
in the inevitable wedding out of the
unfit and the unprepared.
Takes Rap at Show Windows.
He raped the dirty and untidy
show windows in Keokuk. A few
were to be complim ented, but he
found that two trips to Nineteenth
street and back again were most I'M
profitable. Good store and window
displays are worth the cost of the
two best clerks in any store, and
don't forget that glass is a non-con-
ductor of sales" he said. Get your
goods out where people can see and
feel them, and don't be afraid of
theft. The majority of people are
honest, and anyhow it's better to
write OFF one per cent. in shrfnkage
than ten per cent in depreciation
He asked if any man in the audi
ence could point to any kind of out
side competition that isn't advertis-
ing competition, and wanted to know
what Keokuk merchants were doing
to meet it. He said he was going
very deeply into this advertising sub
1ect, which is of such vast import
ance to the retail merchant, at to-
nights meeting, when Opportunities
IN Retail Advertising" will be the
subject of the lecture.
Margin of profit, rate of stock and
capital turnover, the income tax and
the kind of merchandise to buy We're
discussed as some after the war
problems. and the audience asked
questions as these problems were
solved on blackboard.
4 lectures Are Valuable.
Stockdale's lectures are growing in
popularity nightly, and the various
nnes OF business are meeting with
MIN in the afternoons in round table
discussions on questions that affect
each particular business The after
noon sessions are being held in the
industrial Association rooms The
furniture men met yesterday after
noon the dry goods men this after
noon the jewelers. will go into
round table after tonights lecture,
ana the automobile men tomorrow
afternoon. Other lines of business
VIII me UP during the week at hours
W SUIT their convenience
AT thursday nights lecture Mr..
slockdale win discuss Keokuk's com
.iSuhl.y problems, ard he intimates
nc, smss ne is going to say some things
n.an enough ginger in them to jolt
Aeohuk people into proper per-