San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-30
AT. MILL r., OF Huron. s. d.

I felt a decided Discrimination to
quit a comfortable Pullman berth one
morning at o'clock just to carry
on a quest for successful small-town
merchants in South Dakota. The
porter was insistent, however, seu
dragging me out. SO I found myself
on a dark and lonely platform VITA
the red tail-lights of the train fading
into the frosty north.
This was the town Of Redfield, but
my destination lay several hours
away on another railroad. 1 waited
four hours before the train came
along. so noon was not far OFT wnep
| found myself in Huron. This IS
n fair instance of ambulation in the
Dakotas. Out there, seconds ana
minutes are not reckoned as they are
in congested regions, yet paradoxicaa-
ly, The percentage of men who gam
emancipation is far greater than m
cities where subway trains shoot along
at 40 miles an hour, and elevators
drop 40 stories in q minute. ~
About fourteen years ago A. n.
Miller arrived in Huron in something
of the same labored way in which
landed there. He had $4,000 in his
pocket, and was seeking merchan-
dising soil where the seeds of ex-
perience would terminate aud produce
a respectable crop of fortune. ,se
Years before. Mr.. Miller had clerk
ed in the far-famed Boston Store
in Chicago. and might have stayed
in that great maze until the present
time. Possibly he might have climbed
the denartment-store ladder to the
floorwalker's tread, or worn a white
canation to symbolic him as the
ASK Me" man at the head of the
main aisle. But the impetus of in
dividuality took him west, and alter
various business ventures and exc
plorations he reached the Dakotas
from Iowa, deliberately bent ON
starting a store-if not in the Da-
kotas, then somewhere else. His
$4,000 had been made in merchandise.
ing, but too slowly. His money
must work harder and faster. He
had hunted from town to town in rye
Dakotas for a location that s0fted1
him. IL was about ready to quis|
this region" he says. 81
Here in Huron, however, he found
an empty store at $50 month.
Huron and only $50 month looked
good to him. and he opened-with a
innocent sale. His first years BUSH
ness was $4,000, and the second
year this doubled. Now his sales nre
up in the hundreds of thousands of
dollars, and he about leads in tho
| department store race in the Dakotas.
| Sometimes he wears white carna-
ton and stands at the head of the
main isle. but there's difference
when man has his own hand on
! the helm. -
Whenever he goes to Chicago he
fingers for q few minutes at the COR
ner of State and Madison streets and
contemplstively regards the huge
Boston Store, with its memories.
Fourteen years-how many men
have stood still for fourteen years.
How many men have made no par
ticular effort within that period to
blaze a way for themselves, Inertia
/, is the thief of mems independents.
Huron today is city. of about
10000 people. A group OF men like
A. I. Miller has made it one OF
| the GASES of the Dakota prairies.
Here you find hotel worthy Of IL
metropolis, modern hospital, hand
some homes, splendidly paved streets,
and much of the finish that makes
for prosperity. The Ronancs Of
Small Business often contains a
mission beyond mere cash.