Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1917 — SHORT TALKS TO MERCHANTS [ARTICLE]

SHORT TALKS TO MERCHANTS

Be an example to the rest of the citizens—not a problem. Make of- your home town more than a freight station and. postoffice. The interest earned on a home depends upon the interest taken in it. It is better to be a slow-fuse booster than a hair-trigger knocker, but it is awful to be both. The livest town is where the livest citizens live. The dead town is the abiding place of dull citizens. Most of those who claim the world owes every man a living are making collection through the street corner agency.

The graveyard 'has but one kind of dead. The merchant may have three: The stock, the salesman and the customer. Advertising keep business alive. There are two good men in most towns and these two are about alike. One is the man who gets behind things and pushes and the other is in the lead and pulling. Some people are always looking toward the big town. The big things are not all done there. The greatest poem- in the English language was written in a country churchyard. . Kicking about mail order buying will not increase home buying. Meet mail order competition in quality of service and quality merchandise and make these business essentials known. Let the selling service be gracious, interested, cheerful and intelligent always. Then add to that the admirable quality of unobtrusiveness, and you will find that customers will come back to trade with the salesman who “understands what they want. ”