Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1922-12-12
JOHN WANAMAkER.

and fact. was John wanamaker. who
passed away at hts home in Philadel-
phia. this morning. He was in his
eighty nth year. and he had long en-
Joy.d justly-won honors after a bust
ness career of extraordinary success
ard a record Of public service and
work for the general good of human
ny that has been surpassed by few
men. Hts death comes as a shock.
however. as apparently he had almost
recovered from the attack Of two
weeks ago that brought him near TO
deaths door.
IL Is hardly possible for those OF
che present day TO conceive OF the
business practices that prevailed when
John wanamakcr started his wonder
ful department store in the old Penn
sylvania Railroad freight building nj
Market and Thirteenth streets in the
city Of Philadelphia. In those days.
selling prices were the unknown. Sc
eret element In business Each store
81 consequence. especially in the lines
OF dry goods and clothing. had Its own
"price marks" mere hieroglyphics TO
the uniubiated. and the rule was 10
obtain that price. Il possible. and IL
not. as near to lis limit as the Gus
toner would consent to pay. Haggling
was the iuvariable rule. OF purchase,
and some women In each community
would acquire high nO;oriety as sue
cessful buyers. who beat the store
down tn prices 10 the most profitable
extent Also. IL was the rule 20 work
90 shopworn or otherwise undesirable
stocks FOR as much as shrewd sales
men could obtain. and the latter were
allowed special commissions on such
sales. In order 20 encourage ability
and industry in this special line of
dealing unfairly with the buying pub
DC.
But John wanamaker put a stop 20
such business practices. His rule
90 the beginning was one price.
and that price plainly marked
and never deviated from. In
stead o. deceivins the people with
goods not % FUN quality in all
respects. In order 20 derive as much
proni as possible from them. ne intro
duccd the wise and satisfactory plan
% Offering them openly as 20 condition
and quality. az special bargain sales ="
an innovation that has retained popu-
lsrity Co. this day. Utter failure was
predicted az the result of the young
merchants cray methods" as they
were called. but all the world now
knows what a great pioneer he was
and the splendid work he did for the
establishments % business on the prin.
cii'lcs 81 square dealing.
Mr. wanamaker was one Of III,
pioneers in newspaper advertising
and during his long and active careei
b IL told that ne never lost persona
ouch with the advertising heads n
Ne great store He created IN,
Wannmalser editorial" which ha,
or long time featured the news
paper announcements Of the mercan
tile establishments which bear hi
name one IN Philadelphia and one il
New York City. With John wana
maker advertising was merely "stor'
news" and his expenditures for news
paper space have totalled hundreds o
thousands o. dollars annually 10
many years. There are many Of tn
opinion that his policy and practic
contributed more to make advertiser,
the tremendous force In business tina
~ has become today. than the effort
81 any other one man. and II is un
duubtedly true
In his active business career Nj
Wanamaker found time TO devote 1
the interests Of the public and IN