Seward daily gateway., 1925-12-05
STORY OF FOUNDING AND GROWTH
 OFSEWARD'S MOST SUCCESSFUL FIRM
Both Members of the Firm of Brown Hawkins Are Old Sourdoughs Having Been in Business in Knk,
 Valdez and Other Parts of Territory

shelf here for three years before it is asked for. Quite often articles of this kind cannot be found in stock in the city of Seattle, and yet when a logging engine or piledriver breaks down one of these days, we'll be expected to have this ready"
 We went into the packing room and watched a much-haras assed ship ping clerk painting queer names on boxes.
 Here orders are put up for fox ranches, for farmers; for mines, fish ing boats, trappers, logging camps, and a dozen other varieties of indus try.
 They go out by automobile, train, gasoline lunch or steamer, and be- fore arriving at their destinations may be carried on pack horses; by dog teams; by airplane, or on mems backs.
 I Each order demands it's own indi- vidual treatment; if it is to be car ried in a dog sled it must come un- der certain definite weights and measurements, and the eggs must be wrapped in tissue and packed in crate which is then covered with canvas to present freezing. If it is to be packed on horses, another set of requirements must be fulfilled, and the shipping clerk is obliged to have all this information and a complete picture of freight routes in mind every minute.
 In the clothing department we saw moccasins and muckluks, as we'll as pafkas and other garments which would seem curiosities to folk in the States, and we saw too that the shelves were filled with merchandise which bore familiar names-names which appear in magazine advertise ments, and street car cards
 "Alaskans are the greatest readers in the world, MT. Brown said. "They know good merchandise and will have nothing else, for most of them have had at some time or other, some dear experience in camp or on the trail With goods that weren't just l the best"
 Early in the career of Brown & Hawkins Corporation, the red and blue Swastika which every Alaskan knows, was selected; the trade slo gan Quality First" was adopted, and 1t is the cardinal principle which all those associated with the stores fol- low today.
 For in Alaska, MT. Hawkins ex- plained, the initial cost of an order oof merchandise it quite often only small portion of the cost landed. A man may neck his supplies in over forty miles of glacier or float them down the river, or pack them in over the ice-he may even have them car ried into some inaccessible place by a1rplane-and when he has landed his freight and commenced his sea- sons work, his supplies simply must open up in perfect condition.
 We talked of other conditions which merchant must meet in a frontier country, and Mr. Brown gave an.in- teresting insight into community af- fairs in speaking of credit.
 The merchant in Alaska is a vast ly different man from his brother in the States" he remarked. Here he has his part to play in the devel- opment of the country, and a very important part too. It is not simply question of buying and selling goods, but one must throw in his iot With the country and with it's people,"
 l Our business house was the first one established in Seward: we also kept a pioneer store at Knik before the railroad came, and moved it to Anchorage in 1914. In all these towns We have seen both good and bad seasons, and have kept high ser- vice standards through it all.
 Tn common with other Alaskan merchants, we have been very liber- a! in our credit dealings, and it IS amazing how often an apparently per- fectly feasible development project will come to ruin for not reason a.. all. In such cases one will find that the merchants are heavy losers, but then Alaskan merchants have to be good losers"
 The question of competition with Outside houses was brought up, and