Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 111, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1916 — DYE BRINGS $12 A POUND [ARTICLE]

DYE BRINGS $12 A POUND

How a Broom Factory Makes Great Profits on a Hogshead Pur- . Chased Years Ago. Marysville, Kan. —H. H. Todt, a stockholder in a broom factory located near Marysville, tells a story of forced prosperity which fell upon his company as a result of the European war. The factory uses a green dye to color the broomstraw in its products and had been buying the dye at a price of one dollar a pound. It uses on an average of eight or ten pounds a year. In 1911 it received a letter from a firm in the East who claimed to be overstocked on the dye and offered it at a price of forty cents a pound if It would buy a barrel. A barrel looked like enough to last a lifetime, but the price was so tempting the factory placed an order for a barrel. When the barrel arrived it had grown to a hogshead and contained 500 pounds. Considerable correspondence resulted, but the broom factory finally accepted the 500 pounds of dye and settled the deal. Recently at a meeting of the broom manufacturers i» Chicago, the representative of this factory learned that green dyes were almost priceless. Upon his return he advertised its surplus stock at sl2 per pound in single pound 16ts or $lO per pound in lots of ten pounds or more. He has sold a large quantity of the dye and says he will have no trouble in selling the remainder of the surplus stock at sl2 per pound.