Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 April 1915 — Page 3

GENIUS OF THE TOY DEPARTMENT

Inspiration and Skillful Work Have Made Him a Success. STORY OF HIS FLAG CORNER Quickly Anticipated the Demand Following Death of President McKinley—Gets Valuable Ideas From His Little Daughter.

By OSBORN MARSHALL.

(Copyright, ISIS, by the McClure Newapapaper Syndicate.) .’ During the Spanish-American war there was a big boom in the flag business. People who had never thought Y of being patriotic before suddenly discovered their fondness for “Old Glory.” Everywhere you went, you saw flags. Children waved them at school entertainments, picnics and on every holiday. They covered pulpits and festooned barrooms and waved from the windows of offices, stores and homes. This made good business for the people who sold flags. One of the biggest New York department stores of those days had made an especially good thing of its flag sales. Flags, you may know or you may not know, are part of the merchandise for tjie toy department in department stores. The toy buyer of this particular department store was at that time A. B. Feder, Jr. He was a live wire in the toy business and he had managed to keep his store supplied with the best flags at the lowest retail price, with the result that he

made a neat profit from the wartime patriotism of the Americans. One evening Mr. Feder and an associate in the buying business were walking in the gloaming after work In the store was done, when Mr. Feder happened to open a conversation he never forgot “There is one sure thing about the toy business,” he said to his companion. “We may make good sales in some -things, but we will neVer make such good money again on flags.” “No,” said his companion. “The war is over and the big demand for flags with it That is, of course, unless another war should break out” “Yes,” mused Mr. Feder, “a war or some other national calamity—say the assassination of a president or something like that—would remind the people again that they are American citizens.” “It is an ill wind that brings no one any good,” commented his companion. Quick to Seo the Opportunity. This was in the spring of 1899, just * few months after the end of the Spanish war. Two years and a half later, on the morning of September 14, 1901, Mr. Feder was dressing leisurely in his home in upper New York. He was still employed as a toy buyer for one of the biggest New York department stores. His mother woke early and, like hosts of newspaper readers all oyer the United States that morning, learned that President McKinley had died at Buffalo. She hastened to her son - and told him the alarming news. After the first shock of it the buyer recalled, as if it had happened but yesterday, the words he had spoken to his friend on Broadway two years before. Mr. Feder didn’t wait to finish his breakfast He grasped his hat and hurried to the nearest elevated railroad station. By eight o’clock he was at the Battery, six or eight miles from home, In the neighborhood of the wholesale flag dealers. It was before the days of taxis, so he hailed a cab that was standing near the Battery place sta

“I Want All the Flags You Have.”

tioa. He jumped In and told the sleepy driver that he wanted him for the next hour or two. He dnwe first to the biggest wholesale dealer in flags. He was recognised as one of the leading department store buyers, and no one thought anything about his presence except that it was rather an early hour to be doing business. “I want all the flags you have in your house,” Mr. Feder said. After due deliberation and tn consideration of the large order the flag dealer decided to let him have his entire stock at a very reasonable figure. Mr. Feder stayed in this wareroom long enough to close up the deal and then dashed to the cab waiting for him and hurried to the next wholesale flag dealer. "Good morning,” he said cheerfully. "I am looking for some flags. If I take all you have on hand what terms will you let me have on them?” “Well," mused the dealer, '’seeing it is you and seeing you want all I have, and seeing that your house pays promptly, and seeing that there isn’t much demand for flags nowadays—now that the war is over—-I’ll let them go at fifty and ten off the list." Feder finished the deal, hurried to his dab and went to the next flag dealer’s.

Had a Corner on Flags.

Here he made another bargain, and from there he went to the other dealers, until he had cleared up every available flag there was in New York city, and he got them all at from twenty to fifty per cent off listed prices. As buyer for his firm he had authority to spend his allotted money as he chose, and if he wanted to spend it making a corner in flags that was his business. He imagined that there would be a big demand for flags, but even if there were not, he figured, flags were not likely to go out of fashion, and they were a reasonably safe investment. What happened? Within a few

hours Mr. Feder had all the available flags in the city in the receiving room of the department stpre. In the meantime other department store buyers had gradually come to the realization that there would be a run on flags in view of the death of the president. Many of them realized this first when customers actually came to their stores and asked for them. Then the buyers hurried to the wholesale dealers, but not one flag was to be had. “Mr. Feder bought them all,” the dealers said. “He has got every flag In New York city except a few in retail houses.” That was one of the little coups that lend excitement to Mr. Feder’s business as one of the leading toy buyers of the country. It was also one of the shrewd pieces of business that make department store owners and directors bid high for bis services. Last autumn, when one of the department stores in Manhattan moved from a downtown to an uptow-n site, the owner of the store engaged Mr. Feder as buyer for the trunk and sporting goods department All summer Mr. Feder worked with the other buyers to get together the merchandise for the opening of the store in the autumn. Late one evening a few weeks before the new store was going to open the owner sent for Mr. Feder to come to his office. « As Head of Department . “You have had experience as a toy buyer, Mt. Feder?” he said by way of beginning his,proposition. “Yes," said Mr. Feder, “I began in a wholesale house and I was a toy buyer for a dozen yean more or less. That is the line about which I know most” "I thought so,” said the owner. ’ “As you know, we have never, had a toy department But I Aave decided that we ought to have one. I have also decided that you are the man to take charge of it” This happened the twenty-fifth of September, and the new department was to open on the twenty-seventh of October, tt meant that within M*

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

weeks Mr. Feder would have to map out a policy for a department that would suit the clientele of the store, that he would have to buy and install fixtures, coach the salespeople, buy the toys and have them in position by the opefling day. ’ In this predicament Mr. Feder found what every business man finds sometimes in his life —and usually at a critical time, too—that friends are the best asset a business man can have. He knew and had friends among the “trade.” They knew,that if he said a thing he meant it and they were anxious to see him make-good in his new responsibility. At first when he asked the wholesale men to let him have certain toys before the end of October they declined. It was, as they believed, an utter impossibility. Then by skillful management they let him 'have a few of the toys ordered by other buyers who.had not stipulated for Immediate delivery. By stretching a point here and there, they were then able to fill the orders later and still accommodate Mr. Feder without putting other buyers to inconvenience. All during October Mr. Feder worked night and day, and when the new store opened no one of the many patrons who came to inspect the new department dreamed that the finishing touches had been put on just a moment before the curtain rose. Mr, Feder began his career as'an errand boy. He was a New Yorker by birth, and when he had finished the public schools his family wanted him to go to college; but the youngster knew somehow better than his eiders that there was a great deal more for him to learn in the business of the great city than there was within the walls of a college. So he took one of the first positions that offered itself —in a wholesale toy store as an errand boy, at $5 a week. Gets Hints From His Daughter.

While the department store buyer has one eye on the figures—and thinks half his time of the way to buy the best possible toys in the cheapest possible market so as to make the toy department as lucrative for his employer as possible—he has to keep another eye on childhood. Several years ago the different toy departments in the big cities made a point of selling “dollar dolls,” and it was up to every toy buyer to produce the most effective doll that it was possible to produce-for a dollar. Mr. Feder has a daughter of his own whose childish lispings have on more than one occasion given him valuable hints on the subject of toys. The little daughter is named Henrietta Evelyn. One day Mr. Feder was putting some of his expert thought on the subject of the dollar doll —a proposition which would mean many thousands of dollars to his firm. It suddenly occurred to him that it would be a good idea to give- his dollar doll a special name; and in honor of his little daughter he called it the “Henrietta” doll. Later, when he wanted to launch another sort of dollar doll, he called it the “Baby Evelyn." It seemed like a simple enough idea, but it was a good one, and the sales on the dolls were increased enormously as soon as they had a name. Within a few months other department stores took up the idea until the market was flooded with Baby Mauds and Baby Helens and Baby Margarets. But the few weeks Mr. Feder gained on his competitors meant just so much more in the pockets of his employers. Next time you go into a big toy department, as you pass from counter to counter, examining- the little perfectly shaped toy animals, pigs a few inches long covered with real bristles, tiny chickens with real feathers, dolls that walk and talk and wink, automobiles that really go and Noah's arks that would have made you as a child dance with joy—stop and think that it is because'of the thought of some such man as Mr. Feder that all these things are brought to your door. It is because some man with brains enough to be a college president and shrewdness enough to be a high financier and with all the imagination of childhood is devoting his time and energies to buying toys and organizing toy departments, that your children have toys brought from the four quarters of the earth to choose from.

When Smiths Were Rare.

The great family of Smith, Brown, Jones and Robinson had not spread so far over London when the first directory was published as it has now, the London Chronicle observes. Only 18 Smiths, 10 Browns, 9 Joneses and 4 Robinsons figure in it, the Cooks, Halls, Hills and Kings being- almost as numerous. There were then but five London bankers, or “goldsmiths that keep running cdsh,” as the directory describes them —Richard Blanchard and Child, at the Marygold, in Fleet street; Mr. Coggs, in the Strand, at the King's Head; Banjamin Hinton, at the Flower de Luce, in Lombard street; James Heririott, at the Naked Boy, in Fleet street; James Johnson, at the Three Flower de Luces, in Lombard street.

Getting in Line.

Mrs. De Style—Ah, good morning, doctor. So glad I met you. I was go. Ing to call at your office this afternoon. Doctor Uppson—lndeed! Anything wrong? ' Mrs. De Style—Not St present, thank you. I merely wanted to ascertain what the fashionable ailments for the spring and summer were to be. I always like to keep up with the procession, you know.

Even.

“He lavished pearls upon her.” “Yes.” “Yef/her affection was not genuine. -

AEROPLANE SCOUT RETURNS TO REPORT

This picture’ shows one of the armored aeroplanes of the British corps, snapped Just as it returned to its base after having gone on an important scouting expedition. The lieutenant, who had been making observations of the enemy’s positions, is hurrying off to report his findings to the commander of the division.

OPENING OF DARDANELLES MAY HAVE WIDE REACHING EFFECTS

Development of Indicated Operations Seems to Purpose Expulsion of Turks From Constantinople—Allies in West End Need Oil and Grain, While Russia Desires Southern Ingress to Her Territory for Her War Shipments.

New York.—The Herald’s naval correspondent writes: The most striking characteristic of this great war is the rapidity with which its main interest centers first in one part of the world and then in another. Something like eight thousand miles separated the scene of the battle off the Falkland felands and that oft the Dogger bank, while on land attention is riveted at one time on the Belgian coast or the campaign in Lorraine, and at another in the Carpathians or on a life-and-death struggle in Poland. This week the minds of both naval and military watchers of the conflict have been directed to the "Dardanelles, the gates of Asia. There another phase of the world-wide war is opening, the effect of which no man can tell. Each of the contending empires in the conflict possesses an advantage which in a measure compensate one the other. While Britain holds the command of the sea, Germany has the Interior position on land, which enables her to strike alternately heavy blows on either front She also has been able, with the assistance of Austria and Turkey, and aided by the geographical conditions, to drive a wedge between the communications of her enemies which extends from the North sea almost to the Indian ocean. The movement in the Mediterranean indicates the determination on the part of the superior sea power to cut that wedge In two.

The strategic importance of the straits between EuYope and Asia has been recognized from very ancient times. It was on the Chersonese, the peninsula on the western side of the straits, that the Turks got their first foothold in Europe. It may very well be that if it now falls into the hands of Great Britain its occupation by British troops will mean the uprootIng of the last vestige of Ottoman rule .in the northern continent. There are at least indications of the development of a far-reaching operation from both ends of the Sea of Marmora, having for its purpose the expulsion of the Turk from Constantinople. There are other objects of first-class importance to be obtained from a successful attack on the Dardanelles. Now that the Archangel route is closed by ice, communication between Russia and her allies has almost entirely ceased. There is no outlet for the Immense supplies of corn and oil of which they are in want and which she could furnish, and, on the other hand, the only source of supply of the munitions of war, which she cannot manufacture herself, must be brought over the long and difficult road from Vladivostok and Harbin. The opening of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus must have, therefore, an Immediate and important effect both in the western and eastern theaters of war. Nor can ft be doubted that a substantial gain of this character to Germany’s foes would directly Influence the nations which hpve been for so long hesitating about entering the war. All the Balkan States would be affected considerably, and while Greece could scarcely stand still with Russia at the gates' of Constantinople, Italy might well feel that this-sharp stroke removed the last doubt as regarding the side with which she should be acting. Of the operation Itself, although the Dardanelles have long been regarded as impregnable, it fe more than likely that as other fortresses have failed tn maintain their security

against the modern materials of war, so those in the straits will be overwhelmed by the mass of explosives hurled upon them from the long-range artillery of the battleships of today. When the' forts in the straits were planned ships were dependent upon the wind and they carried guns which could not compare in power with those mounted tn the land batteries. When Vice-Admiral Duckworth took a British squadron through the straits in 1807 his vessels were assailed with huge shots, some of them weighing 800 pounds, but even these heavy missiles did little damage. Today the British ships will throw shells filled with high explosives, each more than double the weight of the shot thrown at Vice-Ad-miral Duckworth’s ships, and the destruction wrought by such missiles will be immeasurably greater. Moreover, it is unnecessary for the ships themselves to approach near enough to be injured by the shore batteries, even if the guns in these have been somewhat augmented from German sources. It is already announced that the forts at the mouth of the straits, about two miles apart, have been crumbled into atoms, and those in the narrows, further up, can be similarly treated at ranges at which the ships’ themselves will be comparatively immune. There remain other obstructions in the shape of mines in the but that these have been located by the British submarines is

WHAT ONE SHELL DID

Few people realize what great power there lies in the modern shells and explosives. This unusual picture vividly tells what an enormous amount of destruction a shpt from one of the French 75 mm. guns is able to accomplish. When this horse was struek by the shell the force of the shot cut the animal in two and lifted the fore half of the carcass into the tree. There are &ÜBIB organised workers In Missouri, of whom 3,92€ are women.

certain, and their remora! should b»‘ no difficult task. Once the*passage is clear for the ships of war, and these are off/ Gallipoli, the remainder of the business is simple. With the numbers and composition of the Turkish garrison in the Gab lipoli peninsula the British authorities must be acquainted, and, the forts be-. Ing destroyed, a force of sufficient' strength doubtless will be landed, if necessary under the fire of the guns. The configuration of the mainland by a narrow Isthmus not four miles wide at Hulair, and open to bombardment from the sea at either side, makes the occupation and holding of it by the stronger sea power easy. The possession of the peninsula, as the late, admiral of the fleet, Sir Geoffrey Horn-1 by, said in 1877, when he took an, ironclad fleet through, guarantees a ! safe passage, not only for the ships of. war, but for their auxiliaries as well. The appearance of a Franco-British fleet off Constantinople and the consequent wiping out of the Ottoman navy, even with its German re-enforce-, ment, will make the task of Russia at the Bosporus end a light one. Already, It is said, Russian forces are; assembling at Odessa and the trans-; ports are available whenever re-\ qulred, so, in the opinion of many astute onlookers, the ultimate success! of this undertaking is scarcely indoubt. It will be one more lesson of the übiquitous exercise of sea; power.

IMAGINED RAT WAS BURGLAR

Girl Bitten by Rodent Thought Her Cheek Punctured by Hypodermic Needle of Night Intruder.

Lafayette, Ind. —Miss Bernice Crowden heard a noise in her bedroom at her home and, thinking it was a burglar, did not move. In a few minutes she felt warm breath on her face and was too badly frightened, either to scream or to move. She thought that she was about to be chloroformed and! a second later, when she felt a sharp sting in her cheek, she was certain! that a hypodermic needle had been! used by a burglar. She screamed fori her brother, who rushed into the room and found Miss Crowden’s cheek) bleeding. The cause of the wound was not! determined until a * physician waai called. He 'declared that the youngj woman had been bitten by a rat A rat, believed to have been the one that bit the young woman, was caught and killed by her brother, Louis CrowdenMiss Crowden is in a serious condition, from the nervous shock.

IN THE GERMAN TRENCHES

Underground Houses In the German' Trenches in Poland.

WAVE DOES HOUSE MOVING

Huge Breaker Accomplishes Work So Gently Milk and Coffee Are Not Spilled. Los Angeles, Cal. —C. H. Jennison of Alamitos Bay, near Long Beach, planned to move his home back 20. feet Before he started a big storm* struck. A huge breaker picked up the house and moved it back 20 feet, setting it down squarely on the ground so gently that a pail of milk and pot of coffee on the table in the house were not spilled. Mrs. Jennison and her two children were not in the house at the time. The house was placed on its new; foundations the next day. ;

SHOULD HE TAKE ONE DRINK?

It Will Cost Him $4,000 Placed as Conditional .Forfeit to Obtain His Release. a ■ Tacoma, Wash.—One drink will! cost Thomas Cannally s4,ooo—that is, if he takes it. Six weeks ago Cannally was sentenced to six. months im jail for stealing $4 while intoxicated.; After serving a month of his sentence Cannally appealed to Police Justice Evans to be released, offering tot deposit $4,000 in cash, to be forfeited in case he took a drink before his term would have expired. Justice Evans agreed, and placed the money on deposit in a local bank. The money was still in the bank today drawing 3 per cent interest and Cannally was occupying' a seat high on the “water wagon.**

Thief-Catching a la Mode..

New York. —Pursuing a thief wh® had stolen his watch, Robert Brownj ran his automobile on to the sidewalk, and pinned his man against a buildin*. I