Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1925-01-15
CHAINSTORES
DISCUSSED At
FORTNIGHTLY
r alf 7.
ung e Presents
Subject of Railroad
Consolidation

/ On Friday evening the Fortnight
Iy Literary club at its regular
meeting at the home of Mr.. and
| Mrs. Chas. Williams considered
Questions of industrial combination.
Attorney Ralf T. Runge presented
the subject of railroad consolida-
| ton as contemplated by the
Transportation Act of 1920, popu
larly known as the Esch Cummins
Law. The history of railroad de-
velopment and of. government reg
fulation before the World War was
outlined This regulation was neg
ative, consisting in fOrbidding Of
rate discrimination, granting of
passes, etc, and of rates above GER
| tain fixed points. The abuses by
railroad and other great corpora
tions of the power given them by
| their wealth led to the passage of
anti trust legislation, and the
hating by the United States sup
rene Court of tie gradual consoli-
dation of railroads, which had
been going on for years. Govern
ment operation during the World
War made very evident the bene-
! fits of unified control, and the OBJ
/ iect eff the Act of 1920 was to give
the Interstate Commerce Commls
sion a positive control which would
minimize labor troubles and en-
courage or if necessary force con-
solidatiOn into larger and more et-
! ficient units, with better service
to the public. Obstacles to consoli-
dation are geographical differences
of position and structure, making
some roads much less profitable
than others. and especially the fin
ancial difficulty of adjusting rates
so as to enable the roads to earn
a reasonable return on their CAPT.
tai already invested, which in turn
would give them a credit standing
which would encourage investors
to put in the additional capital re-
uuired for betterments and extern
/ tons demanded by the increasing
population and business OF the
country. 1t is recognized that un-
less a fundamental Motley IS adopt
ed enabling the roads throughout
/ the country to effect successful
consolidation under private opera
ton. under which the taxpayers
will have to pay the bills if the
roads do not pay their own way.
On Chain Stores
Mrs. Henry J. Bohn gave a pap
or on Chain Stores, dealing with
chains handling many different
kinds of produce, from the pioneer
Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company
grocery stores to the chain of de-
Ipartment stores of which the first
is TO be opened next month in Chi
cago bv Sears, Roebuck and Com
pany. The Liggett chain of drug
stores is the only chain that has
crossed the Atlantic. The Wool
worth chain has gone into Cana
da. The principles underlying
successful operation were outlined.
A chain must handle staple goods.
for which the demand is constant
rather than seasonal. They US
ually sell for cash only, and do not
deliver or accept telephone orders.
Certain chains have customers
help themselves instead of beins
waited on. These savings often
enable them to sell at prices below
those of stores which deliver, ex-
tend credit, and hire many clerks.
The result has been that they have
increased their business during
hard times In establishing new
store, the organization investigates
carefully the location, the charac
ter and occupation and habits of
the population, the bank clearings,
and a number of other local condi-
tions, down to the amount CT traf-
fc on each side of the street near
the locations considered; and from
these data their experts can tell
within one or two per cent the
annual business the store will do.
Chains economic by buying in
large quantities direct from manu-
facturers, and in some instances
by manufacturing GODS them
selves, and by buying frequently
rather than for long time ahead,
thus increasing turnover
/ The belief was expressed that
the chain store will never drive
the independent retailer out of
business, because some people pre-
| fer the personal attention he can
give, and some goods can be sold
only by that method.