Evening star., 1925-10-10
RABSON is SURE MERCHANTS WILL.
SURVIVE CHAIN STORE RIVALRY
Independents Must Give Extra Fine Service, He De
clares-Close Study of Public Needs and
Tastes Held Secret of Success.

we find that more gas is being sold to.
day than ever before, while the con-
sumption Of kerosene and even can
dies is increasing at a very rapid rate.
Independent Merchants Chance.
1t is well enough to talk about elm.
mating the middleman, but we cannot
eliminate his function. and it Is the
function which we pay for and not
the man. insist that the independent
merchant has as great an opportunity
today as ever if he will attend to his
job.
The real difficulty with independent
merchants" today is that they are not
working as they used to. This es.
pecially applies to the native stock
who are operating stores which have
been inherited from a previous gen.
Grafton. These native Americans com.
plain about the Hebrews. Greeks,
Italians and other nationalities. who.
they claim, with the chain stores, are
putting them out OF business An
analysis of the facts. however, show.
that the reasons why these foreigners
make good merchants are. first, be.
cause they are willing to work hard
and, second, because they seek to find
out what people want and deliver the
goods.
Study Of Public Needed.
A 100 per cent successful merchant
is never interested in manufacturing
goods or in creating demand for any
special commodity. The 100 per cent
out what the public wants, and then
securing for the public the best quail.
ity OF such goods at the lowest pos
sible price. The successful merchant.
therefore, will consider himself the
agent and buyer for the consumer
rather than the salesman for the
manufacturer.
He will keep up in the new develop
ments in food adulterants and food
preservatives, and will serve as the
protector Of his customer against
poor quality goods. There is Just as
much opportunity today for mer-
chant who takes this attitude as there
ever was, and no chain-store system
can put such merchant out of bust.
ness.
Preventing Price Cutting.
Experiments have recently taken
place in Minneapolis and San Fran.
cisco in connection with the grocery
trade. These experiments have shown
that the independent merchant has a
pTdCticdl Hl0CnOQ Oh meeting the price
lcutting situation. The Minneapolis
Grocers' Association met price cuttins
by agreeing that when a price cutting
| adj appeared they would all quote the
same price as the price cutter, with
out any emphasis or comment, a.
though that were the regular price fol-
the article. You can see the effect
The price-cutting 'ad' fell fiat for thu
treason that every customer attracted
Iby any special offer in the 'ad' found
, that 1t was not special at all.
Fight to Keep Prices Up. -.
In San Francisco they have a very
strong Grocers' Association. 1t is re
ported that If price cutting is started
a grocer who is a member of the as
sociation and whose store Is suitably
located in the same neighborhood al
| that of the price cutter is selected tc
carry vigorous war into the enemy's
camp. That grocer is visited and in
structed. If he Is not very progres
sive, up.to.date man, he is given lib
eral help. Three or four master gro
GERS spend one or more evenings ir
his store dressing his windows. ar
ranging the stock in logical order