The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-03-31

At the office of a third large firm
the conditions outlined above were
confirmed and even amplified, and
the fluctuations of the diamond i'm
porter emphasized by the recital of
the experience of their own and
other houses who were receiving
goods in small quantities together.
Said the head of this firm, Every
shipment of goods that we receive
is practically sold before it is OPEN
ed, but despite this fact customers
who come to our office (and many
out-of-town jewelers. have come to
New York for the purpose of see
ing why they cannot get their de-
mands attended toy are insisting
whenever they know of a shipment
coming in that we turn the whole
lot over to them. We have had to
refuse some of our best friends
who were willing to purchase all or
part Of the shipments at any price
and on any terms and who could
not see that it was unfair to dis
criminate against some customers
for the benefit of another.
"Of course, we and other houses
have had to turn down cash offers
for goods from firms who were not
our regular customers, offers On
which we could have made re-
markedly good profit, but the peo-
pie who made then had not dealt
with us in the past and simply
came to us because the houses
through whom they usually bought
were denuded Of the goods.
"You would be surprised to know
the offers we have had from other
importers the moment they knew
that a shipment had been received,
and in many instances this was no
case of hoggishness on part of the
importer, but simply an attempt by
him to buy at premium goods
which he knew his customers had
to have to carry on their business.
Of course. we have to look out for
our own customers first, but even
with all we are doing the jeweler
does not seem to understand fully
why he is getting so little or why
he can only get part of his orders
filled.
This condition in no way ap-
plies to goods of any kind or any
size. We can sell everything from
the smallest to the largest that we
get to our own customers without
solicitation and still be in bad
with lot of them because we can
not meet their needs. 1t is a time
that tries the patience of every
man who wants to be fair and do
the right thing by those who have
helped him in past years, and we
can understand also that it is
equally trying to the patience of
the wholesaler and retailer who has
the demand for the stones from his
customers and cannot fill them"
The same story in greater or less
degree, and with different varia-
tons, was told at a large number of
other offices in the diamond trade.
at all of which places it was pointed
out that the only thing to do was
for all to be patient until the in
creased goods or decreased demand
tended to alleviate the present con-
ditions.
1t was also pointed out that the
inability to get diamonds, particu-
larry small diamonds, might have
a serious effect upon the manufac-
turer Of platinum and other jewelry
as the manufacturers thereof could
not get what they needed to COM
plete the pieces. Whether or not
this will have an effect on jewelry
designs and tend to increase the
amount of ornamentation and de-
crease the amount of stones used,
was not subject on which any of
the dealers care to venture a pre-
diction at the present time.