Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-25
CHAIN STORE HEAD
PLANS TOL0CAL|zE
ALL UNITS IN FIRM
Saunders Explains Proposal
to DecentraIize 0rganiza-
tion of 400 Markets.
STATE DIRECTORATES
FEATURE NEW SYSTEM
Salaries and Purchasing Policy
Will Be Placed on CAT
Home" Basis.
BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, May 24.-Clarence
Saunders Of Memphis, the stormy
petrol Of chain store operation, this
week assumed full control of the Clar-
ence Saunders Stores, Inc. and the
Clarence Saunders Pacific Stores, Inc,
States, with annual sales of over S40,-
000, 900. He says that every one of these
stores will be decentralized-that is, 10
cally owned operated and controlled.
This is the first important step yet
taken to meet chain store opposition In
the United States. Here is the way Mr..
Saunders outlines his new plan:
Each State is to have its own board
Of directors. The officers will be Sc
lected from the citizenship of that State
and the banking Of all money will be
done with the State banks in the COM
munity where each store operates. All
wages and salaries will be kept at home.
The plans Is for each store company to
purchase every item of merchandise
possible from those who operate within
the State in which the store is located"
The Saunders organization, which
will continue as the central buying and
advisory body for all the stores, is to re-
ceive for its compensation one-half of
per cent on the gross sales from all
stores.
The opposition to chain stores has
centralized largely in the small towns
and villages. A Government survey, al
ready made, however, shows that chain
stores are developing much more rapid
~ in the great cities than In the rural
sections.
Tha Saupdere announcement is the
first one issued by an important chain
to indicate the growing opposition to
that fern of organization.
One wonders what the reaction of
"Ole Man" Henderson of Station KWKH
Of Shreveport, La, will be to this latest
evolutionary announcement OF his friend
Saunders.
.... Situation in India.
cal! The British government, watching
every move, is extremely anxious over
the outcome. Gandhi, in jail, his non
resistance followers are becoming more
rests ant every day.
British India, divided into Is admin
is.r.tioi,s, each Under governor, has
found the governing problem no sine
cure in recett rears.
With fetal Srea CT sos 900 square
mir 2 population CT $4,000, 900 peo-
pic, - per cent Of whom live on the
,cad.. India is just waking up COM
mc-c.-lly.
r2i,:nk of 80 cities in India with a
i,c2',,ct!cn Of more than 100000 each!
N;.,; 81 cities more with a population
CT frcm 10000 TO 100000!
A',out $500 ooo,oco year is raised
by t,::es for til, national budget, out Of
which must be paid the regular British
army of G0oo0 nlcn and the native
army Of 10000 men. The total army
expenditures for 1928-1929 were $2l2,-
100000.
The next 80 days should tell the
story.
Taxicab Rates.
With first-hand experience in taxicab
operations in Chicago, Cleveland, De-
troit Pittsburgh. Los Angeles, ST. Louis
and Baltimore. Ernest H. Miller OF Chi
cage, PRECEDENT of the Parmalee Trans
portation Co., thinks the prevailing
rate of Is cents for the first quarter OF
a mile and 10 cents for each half mile
thereafter is a fair living charge.
So the New York rates-15 cents for
the first quarter and 5 cents for each
living charge.
Chicago. with its 3,157,000 people, has
$500 taxicabs. most of which are owned
by two companies-the yellow and the
Checker. Pittsburgh has 7l8 cabs all
under Parmalee control Both of these
cities have the rs and 10 cent rate.
Cleveland, with 100000 people. has
500 cabs. while New York, with $780,
COO people, has 10000 taxicabs.
and low rates lead to bankruptcy and
that the selling of cabs to individual
owners on the installment basis is both
harmful to the industry and ruinous to
the purchasers.
Give satisfactory service on a small
margin of net return" said Mr.. Miller,
land apply the general principles appli-
cable to other public utilities"
How can taxicab service be. made
profitable. safe, and efficient?
Mr.. Miller arfswers-"Only by a mo-
,loply or emi-monopoly, under super
vision of some governmental agency,
with power to limit the number Of cabs,
by requiring certificates Of convenience
and necessity
I'm another five years, the taxicabs
of the Unitsd States will all be In the
hands of two or three big companies"
said a New York taxicab driver, sadly
surveying the field. Then the individ-
ual, owning his own taxi, will have
sweet time to break in"
Merchadise Mart.
Chicago's Spring contribution to Amer
lean business architecture-the mer-
chandise mart, and its board of trade
lis an epoch making one.
The merchandise mart, with its 4,000.-
900 square feet of space, is the largest
in the world. Already 81 per cent of its
space is taken, with Marshall Field g.
Co., the largest tenants, occupying 20
acres of floor space.
When the mart, was first conceived
by James Simpson, chairman of Mar
shall Field g. Co., it was considered
too ambitious even for Chicago, But
it starts from scratch a cuccess, be-
cause. as Clyde A. Wells. its general
manager. says, it concentrates under one
roof the goods of hundreds of manu-
facturers and wholesalers. making for
the great convenience of an army of
buyers and resulting in reduction of
cost to the retail merchant and to the
ultimate consumer"