The Butler weekly times and the Bates County record. (Butler, Mo.) 1918-1950, 1922-02-02
"oh, Yes; We Have It."

| ZION WIN only S11dll QOuDt OF the
familiar, ooh, yes; we have it. Cen
ter aisle'-or. Second floor" She
has asked for other things. She
knows.
But how often does she know what
it means to have it there, ready for
her?
Having it there, in advance of her
demand. calls for anticipation of her
needs. This anticipation, whether
her want is supplied by mteropoli-
tan store or by a store in another
locality, is part of the elaborate and
forehlnded plan of merchandising
which is an integral feature Of our
modern system of distribution.
1t may be a French beaded bag,
women's ribbed wooden stockings, or
a pearl handled serving piece, or any
one OF a thousand things; the answer
is the same.
Months ago, buyers for the store
in mary instances directly employed,
i'll others representing houses which
in turn represented the store--toured
the markets in quest Of those bags,
ribbed wooden stockings, pearl
handled serving pieces and the thou
sand other things They visited the
specialists, the importers, the man
ufacturers. They worked with the
ardor of collectors and the shrewd-
ness OF diplomats. Small groups OF
them in many cases. individuals in
others, spent money like millionaires
rather. like a dozen millionaires,
for there are individual buyers EN-
ployed by numbers of stores, who
operate on the grand scale. and all,
whether they buy for the great or
the lesser establishment, represent |
the buying capacity Of many as COM
pared with the few.
IN their buying, they pledged the |
store to obligations that could be as
sumed only by an enterprise Of large .
resources in capital and credit And
then. after infinite care, oversight,
costly insurance and equally costly
attention within the store itself. the
appeared in its depart
ment. ready for customers judicialiy |
testing eyes. and fingera
So it was in the matter Of silks. of
garments. of the whole broad round
OF store stocks-al bought three, six
months ahead of the time when the
stores patrons can be expected to en-
ter and inquire for them, all bought
on 4 scale SO comprehensive that no
reasonable and not many unreason- :,
able. requests need be gainsaid
What are accepted as the common
places OF retail trade arc actually the
narvcls ofsour modern American
store service There is scarcely
store Of standing in the country that
does not pledge itself, unhesitatingly
to Obligations mounting into the
thousands and often into the millions
IN the probability that its patrons
will al certain definite times in the
ear come in, ask for the goods, buy
and duly pay for them.
The ordinary individual who would
tssGnle such risks on such probabili-
Tics would be accounted foolish. at
III, least. Indeed, no ordinary in
ljyiduai does assume them; or. when
&c does. his chances OF coming out
II them with his capital whole prove
ljscouragingly slim to others. 1t
axes merchants OF exceptional skill, {
exceptional experience and excep-
ional resources TO do it and pros
,er. Yet this country has Thousands
II them, who take the whole pro-
,ecdng, just as the public takes it.
S 4 matter of course.
1t IS then oily when some world dis
urbanco of trade interferes that the a
'old ventures go awry4 Then we
witness values. OF which the total /
mounts into the billions. quiet in
and dead on shelves,
While interest charges accumulate a
nd nobody. except the merchant and S
perhaps the banker behind him. so
much as wonders what is going to a
become of them--or of him. Then
e draws in his enterprise; buys from a
land to mouth. and reluctantly de-
'rves producers of their assurance +
hat they can go. on and produce in /
onfidence that their output will be
isposed Of
Here. in the, person of this retail
merchant. is no gambler, no risker at j
vhim. no player with chance. On
he contrary. he is one of the most I
areful and cautious of business men. a
'et one who. in the very nature of a
lis enterprise, must needs perform