High Grade Office Chairs and Rockers

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,
Twenty_seventh
Yea.r-No.
16
FEBRUARY
25, 1907
Semi-Monthly
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High Grade Office Chairs and Rockers
1907
CATALOGUE
18
now
being mailed on request.
i
.,
"f!....uality will he rememhered
long after price Ita; heen
forgotten. "
THE B. L. MARBLE CHAIR CO., Bedford, Ohio
,
MAKING GOOD
"Making good" is a hobby with us---making good
LEATHER
FURNITURE
for one thing.---the bes'.
"Reliance'· Natural Grain Leather is the handsomest
and moSt dependable brand of M. B. Furniture Lea'h«
manufactured, but we ask no more for "Reliance" Leather
work than many charge for inferior grades.
If something cheaper is wanted. buy our "Oakdale"
No. 1 Natural Grain stock---we are quoting this at special
low figure5~
The "Oakdale" quality is fully equal to the average
market best.
Some manufacturers of Leather Furniture use Grain
Leather for the wearing surface and "Split" or "Deep Buff"
for bands; backs and trimmings. We condemn this practice .
---we use no "Split" Leather--no "Deep Buff"---nothing
but Natural Grain stock.
BIG CATALOG SENT TO DEALERS UPON
APPUCATION.
JAMESTOWN LOUNGE COMPANY
JAMESTOWN, NEW YORK
The Line That Caught Them All
I
GREATER THAN EVER
POSSELIliS'
I
PERfECT PATTERNS DID THE BUSINESS.
NEW
CATALOGUF.
Posselius Bros. Furniture
IN PRESS.
Mfg. Co., Detroit,
Mich.
1
The Safe Side is the Right Side
THE RIGHT SIDE
OF THE
REFRIGERATOR TRADE
IS FILLED BY THE
BELDING-HALL
MANUFACTURING
MANUFACTURERS
co.
OF
REFRIGERATORS
THAT CONTAIN
ALL THE GOOD POINTS
-IN-
REFRIGERA TORS
THREE GREAT FACTORIES
CAPACITY,80,000
Per Annum
WRITE FOR OUR CATALOGUES
INVESTIGATE
OUR QUARTER
SAWED CASES
saUD· QUARTERED OAK
The Belding - Hall Manufacturing Co.
BELDING, MICHIGAN
BRANCH OFFICES---213 Canal Street, NEW YORK; 196 Monroe Street, CHICAGO.
-----------------------_
...
_----
2
Beautiful Bedroom Suites
In our new catalogue we are showing a number of beautiful bedroom suites.
With our enormous variety of styles and designs, (for example, one dresser case
is provided with seven different styles of mirror, and each is made up in four different
finishes, making a total of 28 different designs to choose from), it is very easy to make
up bedroom suites to please any and every customer that might come into your store.
Our new catalogue is now ready showing hundreds and even thousands of handsome and new designs.
We have more white and birdseye maple than any other manufacturer in the
United States.
No one else can give you the splendid grading of price that we offer, from the
lowest to the highest.
Elegant simplicity is the popular rage in furniture this year.
We have always been leaders in high grade simplicity, and now we are enjoying
a total business far in excess of that done by anyone of our competitors.
You had better gel fm",har wilh our new linejusl as quick as possible
There is money in ilforyou.
Send for our NEW CATALOGUE.
Northern Furniture Company
SHEBOYGAN,
WISCONSIN
2 7th Year-No.
16.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH., FEBRUARY
LONDON FURNITURE MAKERS
Talk With Two ons of Harris Lebus Who Are an an American Pleasure Trip.
Louis H. and Herman A. Lebus who, with their father
Harris Lebus OVVll and manage the largest furniture factory
in the world, located in London, Eng., are making a tour of
the United States and Canada. They came over during the
first 'week in February and were in Grand Rapids, lvIich. for a
few days during the past week. They will visit Chicago, Milwaukee, 51. Panl, 1'1inneapolis and vVinnipcg and then go
west to the coast and return east through the southern
states. This is not their first visit to America and they do
not expect it to be their last. They aTe sharp, keen observers, aTe not at all backward in the matter of asking questions and declare that their travels in this 'country have proved beneficial in a business way; hence they are not in a hurry
hut propose to take the time necessary to see anything that
is \vorth seeing as Herman 1\. Lebus put it.
"V\'e are here for pleasure rather than for husiness;'"' said
Louis H. Lebus, '·'Of course we find pleasure in looking
through your factories, observing your methods and inspecting the products, but we do not expect to give much attention to business. \Ne did not gct over in time to visit the
furniture expositions, but we expect to see some of the best
displays in the factories.
1,Ve hal,."e nothing like a regular
sales season on our sille. It is all the year with us, though
we ship more in some months than in others. V/ e have no
organizations
of manufacturers-no
combinations
as you
have here-and
witbout uoitc.d action an exposition would not
be successful.
\Ve do not need an exposition to introduce
new styles-designs
are not changed so often as they are
here.
"Business has been quite good with us for several years.
The people of England are quite prosperous and business of
all kinds is good an<l steady.
"Yes, we have a large factory. Americans who have
visited us say that it is the largest in the world. It is surely
larger than any other furniture factory in Europe and if
there is anything larger on this side you ought to know about
it.
'''vVe have about 2,500hallds and 'we make all kinds and
styles of furniture from the cheapest to the most expensive
and from little chairs to roll top d.esks, parlor and chamber
suites. Our methods are quite different from yours in both
construction and finish. 'ATe use the best machinery that
'we cari find and I think we have some machines that are
hetter than anything T have seen on this side.
"There has been no material change in the cost of labor
or material with us in the past year and we have made no
advance in our prices recently:"
"vVe are going all over the country," said Herman A.
Lebus. "That may mean a long trip, but if we keep up with
your people here it will soon be over. Your people here
move quickly-always
rushing.
'{OUr business men are
25, 1907.
$1.00 per Year.
quick. They could not do things in their way in England
but it seems to be easy here. Everyone seems to have what
you call a 'cinch' on l1is business here while on our side it
is a struggle for everybody."
The Lebus brothers are accompanied by a friend, Edgar
D. Rosewall, who is not interested in the furniture business,
but as it is his flrst trip to America, is much interested in
the great country and its people.
Radical Regulation of Corporations.
The· legislature of North Carolina has under considertion a most drastic measure for the control of corporations.
It forbids corporations to pay more than six per cent. dividends, giving the state the right to sue for and turn· into the
treasury all earnings over this percentage, and of all the surp'lus retained by corporations.
A corporation
commission
is to fix the salaries of the officers of public serdce corporations, and no dividends or interest is permitted to be paid
except from net earnings.
The two-cent passenger rate rule is not tb be confined to
states cast of the Mississippi river. A bill fixing the two-cent
rate on all main lines in 1.fissouri has passed both houses of
the legislature and the governor has signed it. Judging from
Ohio's experience 1l,'1issouriroads may now expect an increase
in passenger earnings.
THE CORRECT
Stains and fillers.
THE MOST
SATISFACTORY
first
Coaters and
Varnishes
CHICAGOAwooIiCi=iNIStIlNu CD.
259·63
ELSTON AVE"'2·16 SLOAN ST,
CH I CAe D.
4
Short Credits .Favored in Scotland.
Reporting on, the matter of mercantile credits, Rufus
Fleming, American Consul at Edinburgh,
Scotland, says:
"Each year extends and confirms the thirty-day credit
rule in the domestic trade of British industries and wholesale
houses. Manufactureres
and exporters on the continent of
Europe doing business here arc also conforming to the genera"lly accepted system.
It .is nbt so much a restriction of
credit as an acquiescence in the common wish of dealers themselves. On the part of most dealers longer credit is neither
required nor favored. In fact there are few established
firms that do not pay cash for wares and merchandise on
thirty-day bills or accounts if they thereby get the benefit
of even a fraction of one per cent discount.
Some leading
firms buying large quantities of goods abroad deal through
their own agents, the discount for cash paying the agents'
commissions.
"Speaking of this part of Scotland only-although
conditions are probably much the same in all sections-I
find
that prominent business men take the view that the object
of trade credits is fully served (except in special cases) when
A Talty
fat children was one of the fine and beautiful traits in his
character, says St. Nicholas.
He was never known to be
unkind to a child. He often inconvenienced himself that he
might oblige children and ·give them pleasure.
Many of Longfellow's most popular poems are founded
on real events, real places and real things.
His "village
blacksmith" was a real man in Cambridge, and the "spreading
chestnut tree" under which his smithy stood was a very fine
and old one that Longfellow loved, ,for he was a great lover
of trees. \~rhen the street in C:;lmbridge in which the
"spreading chestnut tree" stood was about, to be widened by
the city, Longfellow protested ,to the utmost against its
being cut down. His protest, however, did not keep it from
being felled, much to the regret of Longfellow.
Then some
good friends of his had a "happy thought."
It occu,rred to
them that it would be a pleasant thing if the children would
have a chair made of some of the wood of the old chestnut
tree and make a present of it to Mr. Longfellow on his approaching seventy-second
birthday.
The children of Cambridge fell in very heartily with the idea and nearly 1000 of
them gave ten cents each,to pay for having the chair made,
Modern
the period covers the delivery of the goods. A longer term
offers a temptation to the purchaser to pay interest on the
money value of the goods, thereby reducing his profits. The
advantages of short credits-the
lowest prices and also the
best opportunities for the future-are
lost in proportion as
length of credit may create a sense of obligation for a favor.
The average Scottish business man esteems above everything
else his independence in business matters, and therefore dislikes above everything else the fetters of favors received.
He wishes to discharge any obligations with the least possible delay, to feel free to deal with whom he chooses, and
to secure the best bargains obtainable.
What specially commends the short-credit system to the trading community as
a whole is that it simplifies business and reduces to the minimum the friction in the machinery of trade."
Longfellow's Arm Chair.
The one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Longfellow, which occurs on the 27th of this month, will remind
many men and women of a de"lightful event in the poet's life
-an event in which these men and women had a part when
they were children in Cambridge.
The great poet's love
Interior.
and it is a very handsome chair indeed. It was designed
by the poet's nephew. The wood was ebonized 50 that it
was a dead black. The presenting of the chair was what
the children always enjoy, a "surprise present."
Mr. Longfellow did not know anything about it until he found the
gift in his study on the morning of the 27th of February,
in the year 1879, and as that was twenty-eight
years ago,
the boys and girls who gave their dimes for the chair are
now men and women.
Railroad Receiver Starts Important Suits.
Judge Harmon of Cincinnati, as receiver for the Pere
Marquette and the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroads
has started proceedings in the federal courts that may go, far
to solve the car shortage problem, by determining the extent
to which a railroad may use or detain cars belonging to
other roads. He has brought, suit against several lines that
he alleges have been iHegatly using a number of the cars of
the two roads in his charge.
Either an accounting of profit
derived from using the cars or damages for loss of business
due to their detention will be asked.
5
NEW IDEA IN FURNITURE DISPLAY
Overcomes Long Experienced Difficulty in
DISPLAY of FURNITURE.
A $4,000 to $7,000 Stockcan be dis~
played in a room 25x 100 feet so that
Every Piece of Sample Stock
will be in plain view, not obstructed .
from view by other pieces. Plan also
provides for considerable Storage room
in same building.
Stock Presents a Most Attractive
Appearance
from any part of Store. For full de~
scription and Storage arrangement, with
photograph, send $1.00 to
W. A. WILLIS
FURNITURE AND CARPET CO.
FORT SMITH
ARKANSAS
6
FURNITURE
FRAUDS.
Tricks in Trade Practiced by Sharpers Who Trap the Unwary
Bargain Hunter.
One day there came into the warerooms of a furniture
manufacturing establishment in an Eastern city a man who
asked to see parlor-suite frames, and, having been shown
them, selected a cheap set and inquired the price of it made
up in showy, inexpensive covering and stuffed with hay. The
surprised salesman never had received such an order before,
but, there being no good reason Why he should not fill it if
the customer so desired, he named a price, which, after S0mc
haggling, was accepted and the bargain closed.
The suite was duly finished and sent C. O. D. to a vacam
house in a good quarter of the city, where it was received by
the buyer in person and paid for. It was not till several
weeks later, and by accident then, that the furniture firm discovered just what the purchaser was up to. It seemed that he
was in t~e habit of hiring fm a few days unoccupied houses
in respectable localities, stocking them hurriedly with trashy
but outwardly attractive furnishings, and. then advertising a
forced sale of them at an enormous sacrifice on the repre-
"Did you get your money?" asked the suspicious husband,
when the glowing recital was finished.
"N 0, not yet-except
a dollar for that old broken table
that stood in the corner of the sitting-room;
he took that
with him and said he would call for the other things later
and pay then."
Ah, I se,e," commented the suddenly-enlightened
man of
the house; "very much later it will be, I think you'll find."
His surmise was correct.
The broken table was a genuine antique and, with a little repairing, could probably be
sold for twenty dollars or more; the other articles were almost absolutely valuel'ess except as firewood; and it is needless to add that the wily dealer, having secured the only
....ein that trusting dame's collection, entirely omitted to
cdrI for the trash
he had pretended to buy at such generous
prices.
Would Waste No Space.
Operating and traffic officials of the western railroads
are of the opinion that the climax of unreasonableness
has
been reached when strenuous objection is made by shippers
MADE BY CENTURY FURNITURE CO .. GRAND RAPlDS, MICH.
sematiOl1 that L1leowner either died ur had been ohliged to
leave town suddenly, or that for some other irnperatinc reason the contents of the bouse must he disposed of at once
quite regardless of cost. It is hardly nccessary to say that
the buyer "was the victim of the "sacrifice."
Another easy game, played some time ago on the toocredulous housewives in a certain surburban
community,
though not financially serious in its consequences, was rather
humiliating to the victims. The example more immediately
under notice is this: One evening, when the man of the
house returned from his daily grind in the city, he was greeted by his wife with a radiant face and the glad announcement
that she had sold all "that old furniture that had been cumbering up the attic for years-and
at perfectly splendid prices,
too:'
It appeared that an itinerant dealer had called at the
door and asked if they had any old furniture they would like
to sell. As there happened to be in the house considerable
lumber of that description she had invited him in and had
sold it to him. With astonishing readiness he had bought
two bedsteads at five dollars each, and a dozen cane-seated
chairs at two "dollars.
their in~i';ling that all shippers, in order to be entitled
to carload rate,;, ,;hould be obliged to Jil! the cars furnished
for their use to normal holding capacity.
Tn times like
th(:sc, when there is a car scnrcity from -:\lainc to Oregon
;[lld from
Texas to I\.finnesota, anJ the whole country is
suffering from 1::tck of facilities to movc their business, the
railroad men declnre it is preposterous that they should be
expected, much less required, to a11O\vany of their space to
be ruthlessly wasted for the benetlt of a small proportion
of the shipping public and at the expense of the great majority of shippers.
The officials declare that to allow shippers carload rates
when cars are only partially filled, even 'when the maximum
weight is put in, would be a direct violation of the spirit of
the Hepburn act, which is opposed to discrimination of any
kind. If the claims of the few small shippers alluded to
were to be conceded, they say, it would be a gross discrimimttion against the great body of shippers.
In justice to
all concerned it is declared necessary that cars should be
filled to normal holding capacity, and shippers who cannot
thus load them are in no sense entitled to car rates.
to
THE GREATEST LINE of the GREATEST MANUFACTURERS
OF _.
CHAMBER
FURNITURE
Every Dealer Wants It Because Everybody
SLIGH FURNITURE
Buys It.
COMPANY, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Manufacturers
of BEDROOM FURNITURE
EXCLUSIVELY.
New Spring Line ready. We operate the largest factory in the world producing
chamber furniture.
The Ford & Johnson Company
"EVERYTHING
IN CHAIRS"
When in Chicago do not fail to see our immense display at
our salesrooms, 1435-37 Wabash Ave. Many new patterns.
====
SEE OUR
====
Complete Dining Room Suites--Oak and Solid
Mahogany.
Chairs and Roekers--All Kinds.
Mission F urniture~~AllFinishes.
Children's Go-Carls and Carriages.
Reed and Rattan Rockers.
Fibre Rush and Malaeea--The Ideal Furniture.
===GENERAL
OFFICES ===
Sixteenth St. and Indiana Ave., Chicago.
. SALESROOMS~~
CHICAGO
1433-3S-H
IOGel
Solid Mahogany.
Waba~h Ave.
BOSTON, MASS. ATLANTA. GA.
90 Canal 51.
Marietta and Bartow Sb.
NEW YORK
CINCINNATI. O.
202 Canal St.
47 E. Sixlh St.
FRANKFORT, KY.
l06C7
Solid Mahoa-Bay.
rIFt.T I >5' ..7U'l
8
t
ESTABLISHED
1880
~i'?~
,
~~
I
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\
\
:if"'"'
J
I
"
,
,\
~"§v~
~~~'-~~
pua"ISHEO
MICHIGAN
ON THE
10TH AND
BY
ARTISAN
25TH OF
CO.
e:ACH
MONTH
O~P'ICe:-2-20 LYON ST•• GRAND RAPIOS, MICH.
ENTERED
AS MATHR
OF THE
SECOMD CLASS
The mail order problem seems to be solving itself. Merchants are finding ways to meet competition with the catalogue houses and the people are discovering that it does not
pay to send their money away from home. Many merchants
have suffered more or less from the competition with the
mail order houses but their experience has been beneficial
It has sparred them to greater efforts, to the adoption of
better methods, caused them to wake up and improve their
opportunities and advantages, until most of them have lost
all fear of mail order competition and very few are really
losing trade in that direction.
As now seen the mail order
scare appears to have been a clear case of borrowing trouble
on the part of country and small town merchants.
It was
very much like the department store scare of twenty or
twenty~five years ago when, it will be remembered, many
merchants imagined that their business would. be ruined unless they could find means to stop or control the growth of
the department institutions.
The department stores, however, continued to increase and multiply until now every town
of any considerable. importance has one or more and their
existence is hardly considered a menace by the straight dealers. The mail order problem will soon be considered as of
no more importance than the department stores and it is probable that the danger to retail merchants from the proposed
parcels post will prove to be largely imaginary.
Experience
has shown that the wide awake retail merchants-men
who
understand their business, are energetic, enterprising
and
up-to-date in their methodS-have
little to fear from legitimate competition of any sort. Dishonest, unfair or illegitimate competition may bother them at times but it can not
Jive long enough to cause permanent injury to merchants
who deserve the confidence and patronage of the peop'le.
An examination of the 1800 page catalogue of a great
mail order house revealed the fact that only a comparatively
small number of pages were used in offering furniture for sale.
The "..stuff" illustrated and described was low grade worklow in design as well as in price. Anyone acquainted with
the goods made in Grand Rapids, Rockford, Chicago or
other manufacturing
centers of importance would declare
at a glance that the stuff illustrated was of faulty construction and not in any respect like the product of the factories
in the cities n.amed. The Grand Rapids, the Rockford and
the Chicago "expression" was lacking. Regular single line
dealers should not fear such competition.
By handling a
better class of goods they can rise far above the level of the
mail order houses and in a short time forget that the mail
order houses handle furniture at alL
Charles Stedman Hanks, of Brookline, who has been
making a study of the nation's corporations in Washington
for the last year and a half, estimates that twenty~five per
cent of the business wealth of the country is !lOW under
corporate control. Mr. Hanks also agrees with the statement
recently put forth by another economist, that seven-eighths
of the country's wealth, seven hundred billions, is owned
by less than one per cent. of the population.
The alarming
2"·
significance of this condition df affairs is not so much in the
present ratio as it is in the fact that the proportion of wealth
owned by the -few is rapidly increasing.
Twenty years ago
it was estimated that ten per cent of the population controlled only three-quarters of the wealth of the country.
Some retail furniture dealers are disposed to grumble
because the hardware men are handling kitchen cabinets,
which until recently have been sold only in the furniture
stores. The kitchen cabinet business seems to have been
overdone.
It is probable that the action of the hardware
men is due largely to importunities from the manufacturers
of kitchen cabinets who have found difficulty in disposing
of their output. The furniture dealers have little caus.e for
complaint, however. The hardware men are only getting
even for loss of refrigerator trade. A few years ago refrigerators were sold almost exclusively in hardware stores. Now
it is ~stimated that the furniture dealers sell at least twentyfive per cent of the refrigerators and they still hold a consid·
erable share of the kitchen cabinet trade.
Can it be that marble is chea?er for table and dresser
tops than lumber? One of the large corporations engaged in
the business of making furniture in Grand Rapids, is using
considerable
Tennessee
marble for the purpose stated.
Twenty-five years ago no fine or medium priced work cou'ld
be marketed without tops of marble. While the brown and
pink slabs from the mountains of Tennessee were be<].utiful
to the eye they were cold to the touch and lost favor in the
estimation of the public. Why the slabs should be again
in demand can not be accounted for unless their cost is less
than figured lumber.
What's the matter with Chicago people anyway? They
have had their automobile show and their horse show recently with other attractions intended to induce people to
visit the city but the merchants do not seem to be satisfied
with the winter's business. They have now arranged a
"bargain week," beginning March 10. If that does not prove
successfu1 they should borrow a street carnival company
from some of the country towns.
Operators of furniture factories in the flood districts
ha ve fully recovered from the damage done by the winter
freshet in Grand Rapids, and abandoning the basements and
in several instances the attached buildings of plants, have
placed their property beyond the power of the river to do
further injury. The machinery of one entire floor in a large
factor}' was taken out of a basement permanently.
Some of the fire insurance managers are borrowing
trouble over the operations of the pure food law. They fear
that it will make some factories useless or unprofitable and
thus increase their tendency to burn easily. Well, "it's an ill
wind," etc. What injures the fire insurance men should benefit the "lifers." If theories are correct the pure food law
will lengthen the lives of many men.
The new clerk may make himself unpleasant at times
by comparing your stock with that of his former elnp!oyer.
This is not an unmixed evil. Perhaps the other fellow has
a good line of goods, and possibly his arrangement may be
superior in some particulars to your own. You can ~tal1d
for the comparison if you can learn anything.
lErch properly stained makes a good imitation of Circassi~l.llwalnut.
Few can discover the deception.
In view
of tqe rapidly increasing demand for goods manufactured
of Circasaian walnut, there was created an opening for the
stain' maker of which he was quick to take advantage.
I
9
BUCHANAN CABINET CO.
:BUCHANAN,
MICHICAN
Send for our
New
Catalogue
of
PATENTED
JULY
29,
SIDE·
BOARDS
KITCHEN
CABINETS
HOUSE
DESKS
1902.
The Best FASTENER
for Five Legged Tables
THE LI N E 0 F
MONEY
MAKERS
-,.,the
Write for Prices and .Information.
-10-
Invincible
Table Fastener Co.,
Shelbyville. Indiana.
NO.
132 KITCHEN
CABINET.
Say you saw this Ad in the Michigan A'rtisun.
The Luce Furniture Co.
INVITES ATTENTION
TO ITS LARGE LINE OF
Bed Room and Dining Room
Furniture.
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
Salesroom at Factory Only.
Merchants
10
~MI9«HIG~N
VARIOUS MATTERS.
E. M. Hulse, president of the E. M. Hulse Company,
although still young in appearance and just over the line
dividing youth and age, has had a long and varied experience in the furniture business. He has passed through trials
that sap the energy of most men, and came out, like the
individual sung about in the comic opera, years ago-he
"bobbed up serenely" in every instance.
No man in the
trade has tested the value of the trade papers as a means for
drawing business morc thoroughly than he, and his decision
is that the trade mediums are useful and valuable. Certain
journals he esteems morc highly than others, asa matter of
course. A few years ago he engaged space in all the trade
papers, taking a page in each, and offering one dollar for
every coupon which formed a part of the advertisement,
returned to his office. The main attraction was a very g"ood
Turkish rocker, in leather, for $25.00. It was illustrated,
described and guaranteed as to value. In printing the advertisement an error occurred in the price of the rocker in
one of the trade papers employed by Mr. Hulse. His feelings upen reading the offending publication in which the
$25.00 rocker was offered for $15.00, can he more easily imagined than described, and when the stenographer was called
into Mr. Hulse's office the very atmosphere was filled with
resentment.
In brief, yet pointed language Mr. Hulse informed the publisher that he would fiU every order for rockers
sold through the medium of the journal for $15,00 and would
look to the publisher to make good the difference. Many
orders were taken on account of the advertisement
in the
other trade papers, but not one ever reached his office for
a rocker for $15.00. Mr. Hulse was dumbfounded, and when
lie recalls the incident he is inclined to go into a dumbfounding mood.
"Every man has a hobby," remarked an eminent minister of the gospel. When asked to name the particular
hobby under wf:lich he labored, he replied, "A single-jointed
stove pipe hat." The minister in question was seldom seen
without a shining head piece. D. W. Kendall's hobby is
painting;
he has an "annex" to his particular affectation,
however; it is playing the fiddle. F6rmerly it was a bull
dog. William Widdicomb likes to. make speeches before
assemblages of business men. He acquired this hobby in
the commOn council many years ago. His remarks are
never dull or without interest.
A good horse delights John
Mowatt. He is never without a fine roadster.
E. H. Foote
seems to give most of his time and thoughts outside of ·his
business to the Michigan Soldiers' Home-a
hobby he is
proud of. A plantation on the' island of Cuba, is the source
of pride for John D. Case, while John Shanahan delights in
sailing a naptha launch. David E. Uhl is too busy to give
much time to a hobby, but a good horse pleases him as much
as anything.
W. H. Gay, Ralph Tietsort, "Rob" Irwin, Mi·ner S. Keele, W. A. Gunn and John R. Shelton dote on
automobiling while A. W. Hompe would rather sail a fast
single sticker than sign a check for a million. His business
associates, Messrs. Irwin and Tietsort would leave their
automobiles standing in the road if Mr. Hampe should bear
down upon them under the power of a stiff breeze.
The manufacturers at Jamestown, N. Y., are fully supplied with hobbies.
Charles W. Herrick, of the Maddox
TOLbleCompany finds rest and recreation (the term is used
advisedly) in the study of finance. Probahly no man outside
of Wall street, in the greac Empire state, has stowed away
in his brain as much ir.tormation as he regarding stock corporationsand
securitit:s. He reads prominent newspapers
devoted to finance, the letters of Henry Clews, Holden and
other monetary authorities.
He is an official of a prosperous bank and a director in several corporations, but having
entered a banking house when a boy his mind naturally
$
7fR T I.s ..7I.2'I
e
=e
clings to the influences of his earlier employment.
A beautiful summer home on Lake Chautauqua and the new home he
bas under construction in Jamestown call for the full employment of his mental and physical energies. A story is
told of a farmer who aroused his son at four a. m., and directed him to feed the horses, milk fourteen cows, split a cord
of wood, sho.vel the snow out of the paths, build the' fires,
feed the chickens and the hogs, and while resting before
breakfast, to peel the potatoes, grind the coffee and bring
water from tbe well. Like the farmer's son Mr. Herrick is
the busiest "rester" in Chautauqua COUIlty~
"Tom" Crane knows the history of every actor worth
mentioning since the days of Shakspeare;
Frank O. Anderson is a skilled navigator; L. C. Stewart smilingly acknowledges that his week old daughter is a good enough "hobby,"
wbile Mr. Corne"ll of the Jamestown Lounge Company fairly
"gloats" over beautiful painting.
W. J. Maddox, of the
Maddox Table .Company has a hobby which he employs in
promoting the business of his company.
His "mad ox" is
known to everyone in the trade. A few months ago be conceived the idea that a large white ox in action could be made
useful, but was unable to find any among his large force of
carvers, who were able to execute the animal in wood.
Finally his brother, J. W. Maddox, undertook tbe task and
turned' out a very good specimen of an ox in pine. It
attracted much attention at the late exposition at Grand
Rapids. Mr. MaddOX decided to have the specimen .reproduced in a smaller size in plaster and called in an artist
from sunny Italy to make a mold. Many attempts resulted
in failure, the curling tail of the imitation animal breaking
off, repeatedly.
Finally, Mr. Maddox suggested that wire
be used to support the tail, when the efforts of the artist
were successful, and a considerable number of casts were
made. The artistic spirit of tbe Italian conceive·J tbe idea
that an ox could not be enraged without an object to excite
his resentment, so he brought to Mr. Maddox various casts
to supply the deficiency. A girl in a red skirt was suggested
and rejected.
An ugly looking Turk followed -and finally a
crocodile was presented but all were rejected by th~ exacting
Mr. Maddox. The artist is still busy with bis brain and
hands, and promises to exbaust the animal kingdom in an
effort to please his employer.
RemOTe. Shipping Mark."
Marst Scratcbest
Staina.
Clean8 Fills in and PoUsbes.
t
11
SHELBYVILLE DESK CO.
MANUFACTURERS
OF
OFFICE DESKS
Mahogany. and Imitation Qyartered Oak. Plain
Oak in Three Grades.
SPECIAL
FEATURES
A SQUARE
Write for lotnt
DEAL
Catalogue.
SHELBYVILLE,
ALL
PROSPEROUS.
Notes and News From a Few of Michigan's Furniture
Factories.
The Lentz Table Company of Nashville, 1tIich., had a
great business in 1906-the largest in the history of the company. During the last year they made many improvements
and cnlargernents, and in addition to largely increasing their
sales they have steadily kept in view the making of higher
grade goods, and eliminating as far as possible the cheaper
lines. This has been a wise move, for while the averag"c
price is higher the quality of the goods more than makes up
for the difference in price, and every dealer realizes that
when he puts a Lentz dining extension table on his floor he
is prepared to show his customer an article that he can
guarantee to be without a superior in its grade. Lentz tables always sell well; the value is there-materials,
style,
workmanship
and finish. Good stuff.
Sturgis.
The Sturgis furniture factories, five in number, are all
busy and prosperous.
Sturgis is rapidly becoming one of
the most important manufacturing
cities in Southern Michigan, and prospects are bright for several more factories
locating here this year.
The Royal Chair Company has recently fitted up a new
set of offices and made other important
improvements.
The past year was the most successful in the history of the
company, and Mr. \Valton, the manager, is pushing business
with such energy and skill that every month sees a steady
gain. The Royal and Regal Morris chairs have become famous all over the land, and the merchant who does not
handle them is missing one of the best selling lines in the
market.
The Stebbins
Manufacturing
Company
although
the
latest addition to the furniture industries of Sturgis, is one
of the most prosperous, and thc growth of the business is
something
extraordinary.
The line of parlor and library
tables made by this company js onc of the best on the market.
The \Vallick Manufacturing
Company, manufacturers
of
refrigerators
and kitchen cabinets, are enjoying a fine trade.
Business seems to grow with this house every month in the
year.
Alusbrook & Sturges, the oldest furniture manufacturing
company in Sturgis, is pursuing the even tenor of its way,
IND.
manufacturing
an excellent line of medium priced chamber
furniture, sideboards and buffets.
The Grobhiscr & Crosby Furniture Company, is one of
the largest in the manufacture of dining extension, parlor,
library and office tables.
Buchanan.
Once in a while a fire proves to be a blessing in disguise. This seems to have been the ease with the Buchanan
Cabinc1 Company.
Last year fire completely destroyed the
main factory, and now in its place they have a fine brick
building with more than twice the capacity of the old onc.
K e.v engine house and dry kilns, a side track to the shipping
house door, the boiler room, dry kilns and lumber yards, a
new 150 horse power Corliss engine, new machinery throughout and a larger business than ever before. The plant presents an air of prosperity calculated to make one congratulate Albert Richards the manager, and all the stockholders.
The line is made up of sideboards, kitchen cabinets, house
desks, book cases and sewing tables.
Its a good medium
priced line and trade is fine.
Hastings.
Hastings is the county seat of Barry county, one of the
most prosperous agricultural
counties in Michigan.
It is a
thriving little city, with numerous manufacturing
concerns,
among them four furniture factories, the Tyden Car Seat
Company and the Hastings \Vool Boot Company.
The furniture companies are the Hastings Cabinet Company, manufacturers of kitchen cabinets; the Hastings Table Company,
dining extension tables.; the Grand Rapids Bookcase Company, bookcases, china closets, buffets and serving tables;
and the Barber Bros. Chair Company, manufacturers
of high
grade dining chairs, rockers, etc, The Table Company, the
Bookcase Company and the Chair Company have gone into
a combination scheme for making dining room sets to rnatch,
one furnishing the tables, another the chairs and serving
tables. This makes a very nice arrangement,
as it enab1es
the merchant
to purchase complete dining room sets to
match in style, wood and finish, and ship in the same car in
car lots or open freight, as desired.
Hastings furniture has
a name for excellance that is as wide as the continent.
The Hastings Cabinet Company made a fine. display at
the January exhibit in Grand Rapids, and is enjoying a fine
business.
Their white maple kitchcn cabinets are among
the very best made. A new catalogue is ready for mailing.
12
·§>~MI9,.HIG7}N
Evansville, Ind., Feb. l8.-The
manufacturers here have
voted to discontinue the practice of giving the long time
fall datings to customers on all orders for immediate shipment. This move has been agitated by certain influential
members of the Evansvilte Furniture Manufacturers'
Association for some time past, owing to the way that some of
the retailers have taken advantage of and abused the priv~
iIege, and recently an agreement was circulated and signed
by practically all of the factories abolishing the practice.
The trade in Texas has been particularly culpable and unscrupulous in this matter, some of the dealers there going
so far as to hold back the manufacturer's money for a whole
year, turning it over once and twi.ce i.n the meantime, and
with the small margin of profit that is left to the manufacturer now, he can't afford to a(low anything of that kind
or he will find his balance on the wrong side of the ledger
at the end of the year. Consequent1y all the Evansville
plants have notified their salesmen that in future no datings
must be allowed on goods ordered for immediate shipment.
\\lhere the purchaser leaves the shipping date to the discretion of the factory, and they choose to ship the goods
early to get thcm out of their warehouses, then the dating
is given same as formerly.
All the factories here that were closed down during
January either for invoicing or to make some much-needed
repairs have resumed operations again. All the plants have
plenty of orders and everything looks bright for a cracking
good year.
The Fellwock Automobile & Manufacturing
Company
is now the name of what was formerly the Feltwock Roll
& Panel Company.
P. B. Fellwock of the Bockstege Furniture Company and his brother who has been running the
roll and panel works since he was put in charge of the Bockstege plant, have bought out all the other stockholders and
have changed the name as above. The new concern will
manufacture
rolls exclusively and is the biggest exclusive
r01'l manufacturing
plant in the country.
A. F. Karges of the Karges Furniture Company who
is the guiding hand of the Karges-Globe-Bockstege
interests, is one of the most prominent men in the furniture
business in Evansville. Like most men who have risen several
rounds higher on life's ladder than most of his fellows, ~Jr.
Karges is averse to talking for publication.
When approached by your correspondent,
he at first said that the only
thing he cared to say was that his plant had recently issued
a handsome new catalogue..
Asked if he thought that business the coming year would equal that of the year just
closed, Mr. Karges said:
"I see no reason why business
during the· first six months of 1907 should not be fully as
big as that of last year. Further than that I would not like
to make a prediction, for conditions in the business world
are altogether too uncertain for any man to set himself as a
prophet, and furthermore, the state of affairs in Texas has
a large bearing on the trade of most of Evansville's factories, and until the cotton crop is gathered no man can
tell what Texas will do. However, money seems to be plentiful throughout the south and west, crops are good and are
bringing good prices, and unless something untoward should
occur, I believe we will enjoy another year of undiminished
prosperity."
"Ben" Bosse, of the Globe Furniture Company has returned from a visit to \Vashington, D. C. Mrs. Bosse was
with him, and they had a most enjoyable visit. The Globe
Company have prepared an entirely new line for this year,
and their new catalogue, just off the press, shows some designs that certainly ought to catch the dealers' eyes and their
orders.
They build sideboards, buffets, chamber suites, odd
dressers, chiffoniers, cupboards, kitchen safes, etc., that are
unexcelled.
Evansville now has a triumvirate
of salesmen on its
floor-the
third-at
the exposition building at Fourteenth
and Locust streets, St. Louis. Proctor Shelby has joined
Vining and Wilson, and the three ought to send in many a
good order for the coming year.
The United States Furniture
Company find -that they
can't turrt out ladies' desks, library tables and mantel and
upright folding beds fast enough in their present quarters.
They are building a three-story addition to their plant at a
cost of about $4,000 and when it is completed they will use
it for finishing and warerooms and will devote the floor
space in the main building which was formerly occupied by
these departments
to the installation of several new machines.
Old Rebate Claims Are Dead.
The interstate
commerce commission has announced
that it will not authorize the payment by railroads of rebates
and claims for overcharges previous to January 1, 1907, the
date on which the anti-rebate law became effective.
This was in response of an appeal from Mr. King, traffic
manager of the Alton, and -Mr. Boyd, traffic manager of the
Chicago board, who explained that a large number of claims
originating before the date named the railroads hesitated to
pay without' specific authority from the commission.
BERRY BROTHERS'
Rubbing and Polishing Varnishes
MUST BE USED IN FURNITURE
WORK
TO BE APPRECIATED
THEY SETTLE THE VARNISH QUESTION WHEREVER TRIED
WRITE
TODAY
FINISHED
FOR INFORMATION
SAMPLES
AND
PRICES.
ON REQUEST.
BERRY BROTHERS,
NEW
VARNISH
YORK,
BOSTON,
PHILADELPHIA,
BALTIMORE:.
LIMITED
MANUFACTURERS
DETROIT
CANADIAN FACTORY. WALKERVILl.E
CHICAGO,
CINCINNATI,
ST. LOUIS,
ONTARiO
SAN FRANCIScO.
13
Our
Oak and Mahogany
DINING
EXTENSION
TABLES
Are Best Made, Best Finished Values. All
Made from Thoroughly Seasoned Stock.
No. 506 Dining Table
Top 44X44. Made in ~artered Oak. Full Polished.
Castered.
LENTZ
TABLE
NASHVILLE,
-
CO.
-
MICHIGAN
No. 506 Dlnlng Table.
Please Send for
Catalogue and Prices
FOR
WILLOW and RATTAN
WARE
I manufacture the Fineat ClothesHamper or Bedroom Basket
IN
THE
BASKET
F. PARTHIER,
Manufacturer of Willowand Railan Ware,
MARKET
All Kinch of
WARE MADE TO
No. 209 GRAND AVE., CHICAGO,
"This Tlade Mark Guaranlees I~e besl."
No. 526.
AMERICAN
No. 525.
ORDER
ILLS.
14
FREIGHT
RATES FINELY
FIGURED.
Loss of a Mill per Ton per Mile Would Bankrupt Many
Railroads.
Addressing the Railway Employes' Transportation
Club
of Chicago, recently, A. B. Stickney, president of the Chicago
Great \Vestern Railway, a man noted for his conservative
views, declared that a reduction of freight rates of one mill
a ton a mile would wipe out all the dividends earned by the
greatest and most prosperous railroads in the country.
After quoting figures showing the average rate of interest
on bonds and dividends on stocks paid by the leading rail~
ways, Mr. Stickney showed that in 1892, the year of greatest
depression, the average rate of interest was 4.23 pcr cent. and
the average dividends 1.93 per cent. 1n 1905, the most pras-
considerable length the Question of statements to mercantile
agencies, and in the course of his decision said:
"It has never been decided whether under any circumstances a false statement contained in a report to a commercial agency can be made the ground of successful objection
to discharge.
The conditions advanced in re Dresser & Co.
are entitled to great weight, and in my opinion show that the
usual commercial agency report obtained by an agency in
order that it may gi\re the merchant a "rating," and for general distribution among its customers, cannot be made the
basis of successful action by an objecting creditor.
';If, ho\vever, such a report as is here shown be obtained
from a merchant by a comme;cial agency at the request, dis~
c10sed or undisclosed, of one or more of the agency's customers it seems to be incredible that the merchant furnishing su~h report call be supposed to have given it for any
V1EW OF A WELL-DESIGNED
perous year, the average interest rate \vas 3.6:') per cent and
the average dividend rate 3.02 per cent.
"There is no other business in the country," he said,
which is done on so gmall a margin of profit as 3.02 per cellt
dividends.
No other invested capital gets so small returns as
the capital invested in railroads, and the tonnage carried is
so large that a reduction of the insignificant amount of half
a cent a hundredweight on a lOO-mite haul would deprive the
stockholders of railways of all dividends.
"Such a decrease of one mill per ton mile would have
substantially the same effect upon all the great lines, and put
into bankruptcy most of the minor lines in the competitive
territory extending from the Atlanti.c to the Missouri river
and from the Gu1f to the Great Lakes."
An Important Bankruptcy Decision.
A decision that will surely have an important influence
in the administration of the federal bankruptcy :law was recently handed down in the United States District Court of
New York. In the ease in Question a discharge from bankruptcy was denied by the judge on the contention of the creditors that the bankrupt made a false statement in writing to
a mercantile agency on the strength of which these creditors
sold him goods, and also that the debtor made a false statement in writing to another creditor.
The judge discussed at
INTERIOR.
other pUf]lOse than of cn1igbtening those persons \'vho habitually deal \vith him on cre,lit as to his true financial condition.
"It cannot be that a merchant may in bankruptcy avoid
the consequences of making false statements by always making them to a commercial ag-ency, even though such agency
specially request him to tel! the truth for special purpose."
For several years there has been no material decrease
in the cost of anything used in making furniture, except
alcohol.
Years ago grain a1coho'l, used for cutting shellac,
etc., cost $2.40 per gallon. Then wood alcohol was intro:"
duced and sold at $1.25, gradually decreasing to 90 and
finally to 75 cents.
Kow, as a result of the law removing
the tax on alcohol not used as a beverage, manufacturers
get the denatured article at H5 cents per gallon, and it is
predicted that if regulations can be made that will allow the
farmers to make the stuff the .price will go down to 25 cents.
Of course alcohol forms a very small proportion of the
material that goes into a piece of furniture, but the reduction
in its COSt will help to offset the advanced cost of other
materials
and, alcohol at 25 cents per gallon new uses
will be found for it that may be of great benefit to the
country-it
may soon cut a great figure in the cost of heating and lighting.
15
Morton House
American
......Plan
Rates $2.50 and Up
1
Furniture Dealers need have no more
fear. \Vith the use of CHne's Caster
Cup one table may be placed on top
of another without injury. Made in
two sizes in the following fi nishes: Oak, Mahogany and
Rosewood.
Special prepared feet bottom, preventing sweat
Hotel Pantlind
European
......Plan
Rates $1.00 a.nd Up
GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
marks, scratching, etc.
The Noon Dinner Served at the Pantlind
for 50c is the FINEST IN THE WORLD
Price: 2)( in. per 100, $3.50, 3% in. per 100. $4.50
Wealso manllfacture
the market.
the most reliable
Card Holder on
:: Write for our new 40 pale Catalo_ue.
L. Cline Mfg. Co..
123'W.b~h-Av;;.
J. BOYD PANTLIND. Prop.
Chicago
WE
The New Banquet Table Top
manufacture the largest line of FOLDING
CHAIRS
in the United
States, suitable for Sunday
Schools, Halls, Steamers and
a.ll Public Resorts. . . . .
We also manufacture Brass
Trimmed Iron Beds, Spring
Beds, Cots and Cribs in a
larKe variety.
. . .
III
well u OFFICE. DINING and DIRECTORS'
TABLES are
OU1'
specialty.
Send for Cllta!o&ue
and Price. to
Kauffman Mfg. CO.
"SOLAND.
STOW & DAVIS FURNITURE CO.• ~:e''''''
OOID
Write for Catalogue,
Get samplelof BANQUET TABLE TOP.
five Complete Lines of Refrigerators
at
RIG"T
PRICES
a palite
Lined
Enameled
Lined
Charcoal Filled and
Zinc Lined
Zinc Lined with
Removable
Ice Tank
Gal ranized
Iron
Lined
Stationary Ice
Tank
Send fOI" nt:w
CATALOGUE and
us name you
price
let
Challenge Refrigerator Co.
GRAND HAVEN,
MICH.,
U. S. A.
71R T I.s .7I.Z'T
e
7e
16
MERCHANTS
WIN
FIRST
Dakota Judge Denies Montgomery
tion for a Preliminary
ROUND.
Ward & Co's ApplicaInjunction.
Retail merchants throughout the country have reason
to be pleased with the result of the first decision in the case
brought by Montgomery
vVard & Co. against the Retail
Merchants' Association of South Dakota. The matter is of
much importance to others than the South Dakota retailers
because there is no doubt that if l\'lontgomery ¥lard & Co.
could win this case they would start similar proceedings
against many other state organizations and also against city
and national associations.
It is true that the decision of Judge Carland of the Federal court at Sioux Falls, is only preliminary-it
simply denies the motion for a preliminary injunction-but
it is believed to foreshadow the court's views on the merits of the
main question, because it contains this declaration:
"Where the only object of a suit in equity is a permanent
injunction, a temporary injunction will not issue where the
court is of the opinion that there is no probability that the
complainant will succeed on the merits."
Those words surely mean that "Judge Carland is of the
opinion that the complainants are not likely to succeed when
the case is brought up for final hearing on its merits in ApriL
As some of the readers of the Artisan may not-have seen
the letters issued by the South Dakota Retail Merchants'
Associatioll on which the complaint of Montgomery
Ward
& Co. is based, that part of Judge Carland's decision in
which the letters appear is given here:
l'The South Dakota Retail Merchants' Association is a
voluntary association organized for the purpose of correcting trade abuses, to develop the mercantile profession and
to co-operate with other organizations
having like objects.
The retail dealers held their annual meeting at Mitchell, Jan~
uary 2?, 1906, and soon after said meeting there was with
the· consent and knowledge of its principal officers issue-d
and sent to a great number of wholesalers
and jobbers
throughout the United States who were not members of said
association the following circular letter:"
F. A. Grimm, President.
THE
L. S. Tyler,
Secretary.
SOUTH DAKOTA
RETAIL
MERCHANTS'
HARDWARE
DEALERS'
ASSOCIATION.
AND
Sioux Falls, S. D., March 1, 1906.
The South Dakota Retail ~1erchants in convention assembled at Mitchell, S. D., January 23, 24, 25, 1906, expressed
strong sentiments and were unanimous on the subject:
Relating to the selling of merchandise by the jobber and manufacturer to the catalogue or mail order houses. That it
was unfair treatment on the part of the wholesaler toward
the retailer.
The retail merchant of South Dakota feels that
the cause of the catalogue house has been advanced by the
wholesa"ler, inasmuch as the stock of the mail order house is
carried by the _wholesaler. The retail merchants have suffered.in consequence of this arrangement.
Wilt you not act with the. retail merchants?
Do you at
the present time encourage and help the catalogue house
business?
\i\Till you not refuse ,to sell -to the mail order
house, and will you confine your trade to the legitimate retail
dealer?
Any suggestion for co-operation' for our mutual interests of both the who"lesaler and retailer we would as a body
of merchants be glad to receive aild consider.
This letter is endorsed by the_board of directors as above
named and sent out under their instructions.
Yours truly,
L. S. TYLER, Secretary.
I<That on July 14, 1906, there was issued and sent to the
members of said voluntary association a letter in words and
figures as follows:"
F. A. Grimm, President.
THE
L. S. Tyler,
Secretary.
SOUTH
DAKOTA
RETAIL
MERCHANTS'
HARDWARE
DEALERS'
ASSOCIATION.
AND
Sioux Falls, S. D., July 14, 1906.
Dear Sir:-The
attached list comprises those, jobbers
that refused to answer in any way the letter that was sent
out by the Retail Merchants' & Hardware Dealers' Association
at your request in March, asking them if they would act with
the retail trade and not with the cata!oguehouses.
In these houses refusing to answer our "letters and ignoring the merchants, through their association, the secretary
cannot come to any other conclusion than that they prefer
the business of the catalogue houses as against retailers of
this state. It would seem that, in the course of business, a
jobber that depended on the retail trade for his support
might have courtesy enough to reply to a fair question even
though he might not be in accord with it and preferred to
trade with the catalogue houses.
Hang this over your desk
for reference.
Yours truly,
L S. TYLER, Secretary.
"It also fairly appears from the evidence that the retail
dealers have agreed among themselves that they will not purchase merchandise from who'lesalers and jobbers who sell to
catalogue or mail order houses. It does not appear, however,
that said retail dealers intend to do anything in connection
with the matter in controversy different than they have done
already."
Further quotations from judge
Carland's opinion read
as follows:
"For damage arising from the commission of lawful acts
the law affords no remedy. The facts in evidence on this
hearing show that the retail dealers have agreed among
themselves that they will not purchase merchandise
from
wholesalers and jobbers who seU to catalogue and mail order
houses. That they have corresponded
with jobbers and
wholesalers stating that the retail dealers were opposed to
said wholesalers and jobbers selling to catalogue or mail
order houses and have requested the former not to sell to
the latter.
Are these acts of the retail dealers unlawful?
Do they show unfair trade c,ompetition?
Is persuasion unlawful when considered with reference to the facts of this
case, or, in other words, is persuasion unfair competition?
Upon the answer to these questions depends complainant's
right to a temporary injunction.
I'That the retail dealers have a lawful right to agree
among themselves that they will not purchase merchandise
from wholesalers and jobbers who sell to catalogue or mail
order houses cannot be denied, and it necessarily follows that
they have the right to inform each other as to what wholesalers and jobbers do sell to catalogue or mail order houses.
The question in this case is, what may they do in ~ddition to
influence the wholesalers and jobbers not to seIt to catalogue
houses?
I'lt must be conceded that complainant has the right to
transact and carryon
its business free from intimidation
Or coercion.
That this is a property right, and that a combination to interfere with this right otherwise than in fair
competition must show justification.
"The American cases, however, when carefully considered, show that the great weight of authority in the United
States is in favor of the proposition that it is not unfair competition, intimidation or coercion for a combination to interfere with this right by persuasion or any peaceable means.
"It thus appears that the retail dealers have done nothing
nor threaten to do anything which is actionable."
Inset
Ranney Refrigerators
and
Kitchen Cabinets
are shown during the WINTER FURNITURE EXPOSITIONS
-at -
CHICAGO
ManufactureR'
Exhibition
Buildinll,
1319 MichigaD Ave.,
Fim Floor.
NEW YORK
Furniture
Exchange,
43d and Lexinatoo.
A full line of
samples at each ex~
position and competent salesmen in
charge.
THE BEST
MEDIUM
and
HIGH
PRICED
REFRIGERATORS
on the Market.
SEE THE SEVEN LINES
LAPLAND CHIEF, OAK, THe Lined. CHARTER OAK. ENAMELED. ASH. Whi'e Ennmel on Galvanized hon. LAPLAND.
OAK. Galvanized Iron Lined. MONITOR, ASH. Galvanized Iron Lined. CHARTER OAK, ASH, Galvanized Iron Lined. Ail with metal
Ice Racks, Adju&able Shelves. Self ClosingDoors, Removable Ice Chambers, and other improvements MASCOT, HARDWOOD. Galvanized Iron
Lined. RADIUM, HARDWOOD, Galvanized Iron Lined.
Ranney Refrigerator C ompany,
HOME OFFICES
and FACTORIES.
GreenVIalle, M icn.
[
CATALOGUES FURNISHED ON APPLICATION TO THE HOME OFFICE.
Inset
GRAND RAPIDS UPHOLSTERING
Davenports,
Odd Chairs, Library
Get our PICTURES
Furniture,
and PRICES-then
Sofa Beds,
Overstuffed
Leather
the GOODS-and you'll put MONEYin
CO.
Goods.
your 'bank.
GRAND RAPIDS UPHOLSTERING CO., Grand Rapids, Mich.
Say y~u saw thir in the MICHIGAN ARTISAN.
JOHNSON CHAIR COMPANY
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
We manufacture
a line
OFFICE,
as complete
of
DINING,
LIBRARY and BEDROOM
CHAIRS
AS ANYONE
IN 'THIS COUN'TR
G.atalogue to the
EXHIBIT:
r
:rrade.
Furniture Exhibition Building, 1411 Michigan Avenue.
17
GOOD RAILROAD
POLICY.
President Finley of the Southern Outlines Duties of Freight
and Passenger Agents.
\V. \V. Finley who succeeds the late Samuel Spencer
as president of the Southern Railway, while addressing a
meeting of 150 freight and passenger agents in Atlanta,
recently, expressed ideas that may seem new to many patrons
of railroads who have had more or less aggra vating exper~
ience in dealing with agents.
President Finley urged employes to build up erfLcient transportation
facilities, and declared that the railroad, as an institution, must he fair to the
people. He said:
"Your duties arc two-fold. 'lOll mve duties to the railway
company by which you are employed and you owe duties
to the public.' These double duties do not in any way result
in conflict or divided allegiance, for he serves the railway
best who serves the public best. The policies of the railway
are formulated and mapped out by the general officers, but
officer, but the: damage done to the reputation of the road
cannot be remedied.
Questions that seem to you to be
trivial may be considered of importance by the person asking them, and they should be answered with patience and
courtesy."
Reductions in Western Freigpt Rates.
Several reductions in freight rates in favor of Denver
have been made by the western classificition
committee.
The rate on unmanufactured
tobacco from the Mississippi
river to Denver in carload lots is reduced from $1.45 to
02 cents a hundred pounds. Lawn swings from Chicago in
carload lOb from $1.25 to 77 cents. Talcum powder manufactured in Colorado is given a rate of 80 cents a hundred
pounds instead of $1.2;',i,when shipped to points on the Missouri river.
Electrolytic carbons arc reduced from third class to fifth
class, and the class rates to Utah common points, from $1.85
to $1.54. The SOllthern Pacific is preparing to make a flat
reductio"n of fifteen per cent to points in 1\ ew Mexico and
MADE BY LENTZ TABLE CO., NASHVILLE, MICHIGAN.
the application of these policies to spccific transactions must
he entrusted in the main to mcn in the field. It fo!loovs, then,
that you have, in a substantial sense, the reputation of the
Southern Railway Company for fair and just dealing in your
hands.
"\Vhethcr the company shall be popular or unpopular
depends in a very large measure upon your attitude toward
the public, and upon your treatment of those doing business
,,,·ith the road. It is of supreme importance, therefore, that
yOU, who daily come into intimate contact with the public
shou"!d bear in mind constantly that it is the unvarying policy of the company to be just and fair to all alike, to the
small shipper and the occasional travelc:r as \vell as to the
larg-est shipper and the regular traveler; that you should be
perfectly frank in all business dealings:
that you should
always be considerate and patient, and that you should do
all in your power to make the services of the road satisfactory for whom they are performed.
"\Vhile everything possible should be done. for the accommodation of those doing business with the road. care
should be exercised not to promise the impossible in the, way
of facilities or service. \Vhen failure to fulfLll such a prOmise follows, the man 'who made it may he able to shift responsibility to the operating or some other department or
Arizona. A reduction of from 1:'j to 18 cents to all stations
on the Oregon Short Line in Utah, Idaho, Montana and
eastern Oregon will be made shortly.
The Rock Island has made a horizontal reduction of
twenty per cent to western Kansas.
The Burlington has
made a reduction of twelve to twenty per cent as far east
as 1TcCook, Neb., and as far west as Billings, 1'10. The rate
on pig tin from New York to Denver has been reduced from
$1.11 to 93 cents a hundred.
The changes noted above went into effect on February
15. It is expected that other roads will announce similar
reductions to take effect March 1.
Chili Wants "Little Brown Men."
,Vhile many Americans vie"", the deluge of Japs with
alarm, little Chili down in South America is inviting them
with open arms and promises of extraordinary
liberality.
She offers forty acres of rich land to the J ap settler, twenty
more to each son over eighteen years of age, a yoke of oxen,
a set of farm implements and $15.00 a month in hard cash
for the fir,';t twelve months of residence.
Such a proposition
seems attractive enough to nearly depopulate the Japan~se
island.
18
OWQSSOFactory
RIGHT MAN IN THE RIGHT PLACE.
Notes.
Business in Owosso is good. The furniture factories
are busy and everything points to a great year in this city.
The Woodard Furniture Company had an excellent trade
in Grand Rapids in January.
Their new line of Circassian
walnut and mahogany
chamber furniture was much admired, and the whole line, including the above woods, birch,
Louis Kanitz, president of the Muskegon Valley Furniture Company, who has served four years as a member of
the board of managers of the Michigan Soldiers' Home, located at Grand Rapids, has been re-appointed for another
term by Governor \\Tarner. The re-appointment
of Mr.
Kanitz is heartily approved by all who know of what he has
done for the So1diers' Home. He is greatly interested in
the institution, in fact, has made it something like. a hobby.
It is conceded that he has given it more time and attention
than any other man ever connected with its management.
During the past four years it has been nothing unusual for
}Ir. Kanitz to spend days and even weeks looking after the
interests of the Home and he has done it without financial
recompense.
New
Furniture
Dealers.
Central Furniture Company, Paterson, N. J.
Donald Furniture Company, Newark, N. ].
Geo. E. Tole & Co., Lancaster, Pa.
r>.1ackley, IVlah,an & Co., Pittsburg, Pa.
Bariteau & Girouard, :::lashua, N. H.
F. R. & Robert \Vadsworth, Pittsburg, Pa.
The Julius Campbell Company, Traverse City, l\Iich.
Samuel Adkr, Hattiesburg,
Miss.
H. R. Fox, Bay City, Mich.
O. L. McKee, Joplin, Mo.
A. \10.1. Bills, vVaterloo, la.
Petti Bros., Germantown, Neb.
Peoplcs' Hardware & Furniture Co., V\linfield, La.
Spande Furniture Company, Logan, Utah.
Hillstrom & Bennett, Vancouver, vVash.
"V. P. Sherman, Eureka, Mont.
Made by Woodard
Furniture
Co., Owono,
Mr. Dealer:
Mich.
birdseye maple and quarter sawed oak sold well. Trade
keeps right up, and if anything, grows better all the time.
They have just contracted with the Grand Rapids Veneer
\\larks to put up their dry kilns with their new system, and
will be in better shape than ever before to take care of their
orders.
The Robbins, Table Company is having a fine business.
Sales so far this year are ahead of last year, and that was t'.le
best in the history of the company. The American Blowcr
Company has just fitted up this plant with two moist air
kilns with a capacity of 75,000 feet, which is double Cut
which they had before the fire which destroyed their form~r
kilns a few weeks ago.·
The Estey Manufacturing
Company will soon erect an
addition to their factory containing about 4,000 square feet
of floor space. They are elljoying a fine trade, and in July
will bring out some finer goods than they had to show ill
January.
If you
want your
ordeI filled promptly
and want goods that
you can make good
profits on during the
.
.
commg spnng season, mail your orders
to us. We solicit
trial orders.
Sheboygan
Novelty
Company
A Cane Chair.
"The stranger, who had long white hair, good features,
singularly bold and well defined for an old man, and dark,
bright, penetrating eyes, looked round with a smile and saluted the carrier's wife by gravely inclining his head.
"His garb was very Quaint and odd-a long, long way behind the time. Its hue was brown all over. In his hand he
held a great brown club or walking stick, and striking this
upon the floor, it fell asunder and became a chair. in which
he sat down quite composedly."-Charles
Dickens, in "Cricket on the Hearth."
No. 244 Music Cabinet.
--Manufacturersof--
BOOKCASES, LADIES' DESKS,
COMBINATION CASES, MUSIC CABINETS,
and CHINA CLOSETS.
New
Catalogue ready for mailing.
SHEBOYGAN, WISCONSIN, U. S. A.
~MIEfHIG7}-N
Changes in Firms, Transfers, Etc.
Poe & \-Vhitson, Gowen, }10., sold to J. P. Holbert.
Charles \Vrenu, StOCktOl1, Mo., succeeded by \Vrenn
& Young.
A. \f>y'. Beswick, \VinfielJ, Kan., sold to L. C. Long-side.
J. \V. Parks, Jr., succeeds Dixon & Parks, Hillsboro, Tex.
J. A. Dahlgrectl, Enid, Okla., sold to Alva Goff.
O. VI/. Strong's Sons, Albuquerque, X. 1'1'1.,succeeded by
F. H. Strong.
"Vestfal! & 1Jitchcll, \i\/eldon, la., sold to C. E. Bodley.
YVeichel & Tatul11, Plymouth,
Neb., sold to Clement
Haake.
Franklin (.Keb.) Furniture & }fllSic Company, succeeded
by P. L. Sturtevant.
J. P. Gilbert & Co., Falls City, Ore., sold to ]. C. Talbot.
J. C. l\lcAdams & Co., Kaw, Okla., sold to B. E. Johnson & Co.
e. B. \Vebb, Eddy, Tex., succeeded by Beard & \"ebb.
19
Benton & Co., Fordyce, Ark., succeeded by the Thomas
Furniture Company.
O. L. Harris, Mercer, Mo., sold to Moore & Mollestoll.
J esse Child Mercantile Co., Richmond, Mo., succeeded
by A. B. Conrow.
Zimmerman, Clyde & CO.,Dodge City, Kan., sold to
Doolittle & Traynor.
The manufacturers of Rockford do not cater to the mait
order houses nor have they encouraged the efforts made by
certain promoters to establish a factory in that city to manufacture lovv.grademail
order furniture.
Representations
that have been published in the news and trade papers that
the manufacturers of that city were catering to the trade of
the mail order houses were erroneous, based upon false information, and the Artisan cheerfully publishes this fact because an injustice has been inflicted upon a manufacturing
community that should not have been subjected to it.
PART OF BEDROOM
SUITE No. 1431.
Made by the Nelson-Matter Furniture COO. Graud Rapids, Mich.
20
MUST OPPOSE PARCELS POST.
What It Would Mean to the Retailers and: to Small Towns.
One of the features of the national convention of retail
merchants, held in Dallas, Tex., recently, was an address on
"The Parcels Post; Its Rc'lation to the Retail Trade," by
George E. Green, editor of the Retail Merchants' J ourmil of
Peoria, Ill., in the course of which he said:
"If there is anyone
question before the public today in
which the retailer is directly interested, it is the Parcels
Post agitation, which has been before congress during the
past several sessions. The advocates in favor of a Parcels
Post measure for this country afc· very active and are exerting a powerful
influence in its favor.
The principal
agency for advocating the passage of parcels post enactment
for this country is what is knmvn as 'The Postal Progress
League.' The question would n~turally arise-what
interests compose the Posta'] Progress League, and the question
is very easily answered in the statement, that the Postal
Progress League represents the large catalogue mail order
houses of our country.
Literature is sent out by the Postal
Progress League, making the statement that 'The only things
that stand between the eighty millions of people of the
United States and the Parcels Post enactment, arc the express eompanies and the small shop keepers.'
In the eyes of
the Postal Progress League, these two intere.sts seem to he
insignificant and should'be brushed aside.
"I cannot stand here before you with any apology III
favor of express companies, but I do stand here he fore you
as a staunch advocate for the preservation to this country
of an avocation in which over one-half million people, men
of intelligence, men following an avocation for a livelihood
and the passage of a parcels post enactmcnt would mean, if
not complete ruination,: at least ,;'I. ,serious crippling of qt.e
business avocation of this so [arge·'{clas5,of
represen'tative
husiness men of our co~n;try, and th'c'T'~'1t're,ac~ording'to
a
conservative estimate, from statistics which I gather one milllon retail dealers i.n thc United States. The twelvi:'. principal
lines, such as dry goods, grocers, clothing, boots and shoes,
drugs, jewelry, millinery, mens' furnishing goods, stationery
and books, harness and carriages and furniture, make up in
excess of 350,000. There are about. 175,000 genenl stores,
carrying either several or combining all lines. On the other
hand, the catalogue and mail order houses are comparatively
few. \Vhile they as an individual business represent a larger
investment than the average dealer, the aggregate capital
of over one-half million of retailers, far exceeds the aggregate
capital of the mail or~ler houses, viewed in a comparative
sense, and in justice and equity to all business interests of the
country I would consider a Parcels Post enactment as in favor
of a very small proportioq of merchants as against the many,
and would greatly question the wisdom of congress in passing any legislative act in favor of the few against a great majority.
"The principal tendency of and the desire for enactment
of parcels post is to serve directly from the producer to the
consumer, which means the practical elimination of all middle men. The thought of receiving goods from first hands,
theoretically sounds quite agreeable and has an alluring fascination for the purchaser.
But connected therewith are
many things which not only the retailer, but the public in
general, should carefully consider. The tendency under the
operation of a parcels post enactment would be for a concentration and consolidation of business interests into a few
large trade centers, to the detriment of the smaller towns and
vi11ages throughout our country. The future of the retailer
depends upon the growth and prosperity of the smaller towns
and villages, and therein the residents of the rural districts
are also vitally interested.
* * '" * *
"It is true, that the tendency of rural residents, is to
trade away from home. We; need not, however, confine our
attention entirely to the residents of Tural districts, but we
find that this tendency is growing even in our smaller cities
and towns, and as a matter of special regret, it has come
under my observation and experience, that merchants themselves have this tendency to a large extent, This tendency
has been created, it has been nurtured, and encouraged by
catalogue mail order houses.
*' *'
'4'
'4'
""
"The relation of Parcels Post to the retailer is alarming.
It is one that deals with the perpetuation of retailing as an
avocation and in the thought of how catalogue mail order
buying was created, there lies a great study for the retailer.
The press of our country is a great power. The press is a
great molder of sentiment and any question handled by the
press, although there be two sides to the question, if viewed
only from the one side, sentiment is inevitably created in
that direction and so I find an unusually large number of publications that arc being utilized in favor of this proposed
measure and against the direct interest of the vast army of
retailers in our land. In dealing with any question it is not
only the purpose of holding to view the great dangers and
particularly in dealing with the topic under consideration
Made by Century
Furniture
Company,
Grand Rapid..
Mich.
there call be no question as to the relation of the retail merchant to parcels post; every indication demonstrates
that
Parcels Post is antagonistic to the retailer and the retailer
must exert himself if he will preserve unto himself and
future generations the privilege to deal in commodities in a
small way. I would therefore give these few thoughts for
your consideration:
"First of all, I would say that since Parcels Post is being
agitated by a few large interests for their particular advantage and since they arc seeking legislative enactment to
enhance their particular business interests to the detriment
of the retailer or small shop keepers of the country, the small
shop keepers must unite in a determined and vigorous protest
against its passage. One thing is certain, that even though
we concede that cata\oguemail
order houses are not with us
to stay, -..vecannot and never should concede that they are a
greater power or influence than the retailers of this country
and that the retailer can and must prevent any legislation at
the hand of our federal government which means rUination
to his business.
*
*
*
*
*
"The relation of the retai'! dealer to Parcels Post must
at all times be an unequivocal opposition and he must see
that the same does not become a law."
21
KiI(~en
(a~inets
of·
Oualil~
SPRA TT'S CHAIRS
ARE THE JOY OF THE CHILDREN.
Our new CHILD'S MISSION
Write f~r Catalogueand prius.
ROCKER was a winner from the start.
Our line is large and prkes are right.
We make
CHAIRS
Sell at
sight,
and make
a
greater profit
than other lines
of kitchen cabinets. Send for
catalogue.
Th. BBST
fo'
GROWNUPS
as well as
CflILDREN".
of
QUALITY
f"
least money.
We have dcmbled
our
CllDacity
aod
will be better able
of oUE
to take caEe
trade
than
before.
We solicit your
patronage.
MAlL ORDERS TO
C. F. SCHMOE & CO.
SHELBYVILLE, IND.
GEORGE
SPRATT
& CO.
Sheboygan,
Wis.
Say you law
this ad in the
Michigan Artisan.
SAFETY and COMFORT
Are Best Secured by Using
Lockless Metal Folding Beds
Made by the
SAFETY
FOLDING BED
CO., Ltd.
"
\
£
~, II
DETROIT, MICHIGAN
Full Line of Samples shown at the Furniture Exhibition Building, 1411 Michigan Ave., Chicago. Second
Floor, Front Middle Section.
22
OUR NEW 1901 LINE OF ALASKA REFRIGERATORS
with side ice chamber is made in twenty-one styles,
zinc lined, white enamel and porcelain lined. Our
cataloguewill interestyou. IFritefir it.
THE ALASKA REFRIGERATOR CO.
Exclusive Refrigerator Manufacturers.
MUSKEGON,
MICHIGAN.
EFFECTIVE ARGUMENTS.
Mail Order
Catalogue Patrons Thoroughly
Odious Comparisons.
Convinced by
A retailer in a small. town located near a 'large mail order
center, has a good method for keeping the home trade from
ordering from the mail order houses.
He was driven to
this idea by circumstances and has followed out the plan
long enough to see that it has been a big help to him, and
one thing in favor of any kind of advertising which holds
trade at home is the fact that once you thoroughly convert
a customer, be is not likely to again relapse into the mail
order habit.
His neighborhood
several years ago had quite a mailorder craze, and its effect was pretty bad on the local dealers.
This particular dealer, however, was not satisfied that it was
paying anyone but the mail-order house. A good friend
came in one day and told about a neighbor who had purchased some article through a catalogue, and that it was
very unsatisfactory.
Our dealer at once saw his 'opportunity, and sent word to the man to bring it into the store and
he would allow him the full price paid for it on a better
grade which he'had in stock. Upon arrival of the mail-order
house article, he explained to the owner that he wanted to
buy it just to show the difference between a good article and
an imitation, and asked to be allowed to tell where he got it.
This privilege was readily granted., and the man purchased
the kind of an article he had expected to get from the mailorder house when he ordered, and went home well pleased
that he had made a good turn of a bad bargain.
The dealer made a couple of good big cards, one for the
mail-ordcr article, giving the price it sold for, and calling
attention to the differcnce in quality between it and the genuine, which was displayed beside it, bearing a card, giving
its price, and the strong points of superiority.
This attracted the attention of all customers, and a little talk with
each one who mentioned it caused them to go away with
a better idea of the real value of mail-order purchases, all
the bargain-counter
features of their offers having been
explained away. He always told them honestly that if they
wanted to spend less money than good goods cast they
could get cheaper qualities at the mail-order
houses at
cheaper prices, but that the quality was always cheaper, and
he could not afford to handle it, because he was selling
goods to his neighbors and felt that he had to give good
value.
After his regular trade had seen the two articles side
by each, where they could be handled and closely inspected,
he put them in his show window, where they could be seen
by everyone who passed by.
The result of this display was so very apparent that he
decided to carryon
the campaign for a considerable length
of time, and took in several other unsatisfactofy
articles
from neighbors, giving them the same kind of publicity. The
next visit he made to the city he went around to the 1l1ailorder houses, took their catalogue and selected a number of
things in his line which looked to be particularly cheap and
asked to see the goods themselves.
He was allowed to inspect them, and found them exactly as expected, in nearly
every instance.
They showed ,they were not of the value of
Grand Rapids Caster Cup Co.
2 Parkwood
Il.ve., Grand RapIds, Millh.
We are now putting on the best Caster Cups with cork bases ever
offered to the trade. These are finished in Golden Oak and White Maple
in a light finish. These goods are admirable for polished floors and furnure rests. They will not sweat or mar.
PRICES:
Size'2X incbes ...... $4.00
SizeZ%, inches······
5.00
Try a Sample Order.
per hundred
per hundred
F. O.B. Grand Rapids.
goods imitated) so he made several purchases, and while at
the wholesale houses bought some of the goods imitated,
where there was not already plenty of them in stock,
When he got home, he cut the picture and description
of onc of these articles out of the catalogue and put it on
the article, then put the priee and. description on the imitated
artic1e, and a big card calling to the difference in quality
was put in the window with them.
But one mail-order
article wa's used in each dis-play, and attention was always
called to the difference in value, on a big window card.
Californians Are Greedy.
A correspondent
of the Artisan, writing from Oakland,
Cal., under date of February 16, 1907, says: "Dealers make
150 per cent. on mixed carloads of goods shipped from
Grand Rapids and· Chicago.
Several· are not satisfied with
the profit they are earning, and talk of establishing factories,
in the expectancy of obtaining goods cheaper.
It's the old
story, but few are wise enough to be satisfied with a' good
thing."
23
A Beautiful Davenport by Day and a
Comfortable 4 ft.,
6 in. Bed at Night.
fl No
double somersaults--~works
and easily from the front.
smooth
C] Finished in our Old Ivory it is the
swellest thing on the market.
g Mattresses
upholstered in Bagdad aT
Velours or T apeftry, and filled
Corduroy
with twenty pounds Sanitary Felt; Center
of Curled African Fibre.
g A soft
elattic Bed, it makes a deep cozy
Davenport.
q Try
a sample on approval.
We take
the risk.
HARD MFG. CO.
117 - 133 Tonawanda
Charge Railroads With Conspiracy.
J obhers and merchants in the larger cities on the ?vlissauri river have filed a complaint with the interstate commission charging that the Chicago & Northwestern, Burlington and Rock Island entered into an unlawful conspiracy to
prevent them from securing reasonable freight rates from
the eastern seaboard.
The complaint alleges that these railroads conspired
together to stop the St. Paul and the Great V\iestern from
putting in rates which would have given to the Missouri jobbers relief. It is declared the roads named threatened to
boycott the 51. Paul and the Great \Vestern, to treat them as
unfriendly connections, to refuse to route business ave,r
their lines and to do everything in their power to destroy
their business, provided they made the readjustment of the
Missouri river rates which they were then contemplating.
But for these iJ1ega1 acts, it is stated, the Missouri river
merchants would have securcd a reduction on freight rates
in 1906 ",,-hich would have permitted them to compete with
other jobbing districts including Chicago. They therefore
petition the commission to order these rates put in by all the
railroads.
It is claimed by the petitioners that, when compared with
the rates from the seaboard to 51. Paul and Minneapolis, the
The only CASTER CUP that will not Mar or Sweat
A New Caster Cup, it furniture
Protector iIInd ill Rest
We guarantee perfect sallsfadion.
We know we have
the only perfect ca"ter cup ever
made. This cup is in two sizes,
as follows: 2U Inch and 3 ineh.
ana we use the cork bottom.
You know tbe rest.
Small size, $3.60 per 100
Large siz.e, 4.50 per 100
F O. B. Grand Rapids.
Try it ana be convineed.
Our Concave Bottom Card
Block does not touch the surface, but upon the rim, permit.
ting a dre;ulation of air under the block, thereby preventing moisture or
marks of any k.ind. This is the only card block of its klnd on the market.
Price $3.00 per 100
Srand Rapids Casler CUPCo"
Also can be had of LUSSKY, WHITE
2 .,,'wood A.e.•
&. COOLIDGE,
Srand Rapids, Mich.
111-113La(i(eSr., Chfcaoa
St., Bnffalo, N. Y.
rates to the cities on the l\:fissouri river are discriminatingly
high. This view of the case was taken by the St. Paul and
the Great \\'estern, and, it is alleged, but for the terrorizing
methods said to have been used, a correction in the rates
would have been made. The Chicago Commercial Association also opposed the changes, claiming Chicago would suffer.
The five ciass rates from the seaboard to St. Paul are
$1.15, $0.99, $0.76, $0.53 and $0.46, and to the Missouri river
points $1.47, $1.20, $0.\13, $0.68 and $0.57. The petitioners ask
for the following rates from )Jew York and the seaboard:
$1.10, $O.95?"i, $0.727"2, $O.5n-;;; and $0.44.
The distances from
the East to the twin cities and to the Missouri river points
are said to be substantially the samc. The railroad defense
for this disparity in rates is water competition, which lowers
the twin cities tariffs,
A hearing and action on the complaint is expected at a
meeting of the commission to be held in Chicago early in
rdarch:
The deadliest problem is not a hard one to solve, but
the practice of the solution is more difficult. Every merchant has it ·within his power to restrict credits. How he
may do so wisely is a different thing. Therein experience
and discussion assjst greatly.
The White Directory
=====OF
MANUFACTURERS
OF=====
FURNITURE,
PIANOS, ORGANS, INTERIOR FINISHES and Kindred IndusSend in your order.
tries is now ready.
Price
l5.00
ENGRAVERS
PU8USHERs,
BINDERS:
Wh Ite P"r1nting CO. PRINTERS
o
2.20 LYON ST .. GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
GLOBE SIDEBOARDS
;---------
ARE THE -----------,
BEST ON THE GLOBE
FOR THE MONEY
GET OUR CATALOGUE.
Men/i," the .MICHIGAN
Globe Furniture
ARTISAN
when writi"g.
Company
EVANSVILLE,
INDIANA.
Kar~es.
War~ro~es
are Good Wardrobes
No. 257.
Price $18.50.
GOOD
Style
Construction
Finish
Has 48 Inch Top,S Legs and is Highly Polished.
It's One of the "SUPERIOR"
--
..
~==
Write for Calalugue
There are many more, all Peaches Pie and
Pudding. Send for Catalogue and get a taste.
THE BOCKSTEGE fURNITURE CO.
EV4NSVILLE
PRICES RIGHT
IND.
Karges Furniture
Company,
EVANSVILLE,
IND.
The
f without the Eli Bed
No "ELI"
Stock
BEDS
tnplete OLDING
.
00
LI
0 • MI LLE R
E
S In
&, CO.
ARE
PROFrl~I~N~RND
Mantel and Up,;.ht
5
~,;~:ro~i~~~.
IndiaDa
s and
prices
MAKE MONEY
MR. DEALER
BY
SELLING
THE
D055f
KITCHEN
CABINETS
CUPBOARDS
SAFES and
WARDROBES
Best Goods
Lowest Prices
EVANSVILLE
DESK CO.
send us an order. Writ f
you to
BOSSE
FURNITURE
CO., Evansville,
Ind.
Manufacturers of tl
DESKS
on the mrt.r~e
OP
e or
new catalope.
etBEST
today,VALUE
It will pay
26
HORN BROS.
MFG. CO.
281 to 291 W. Superior St.. CHICAGO. ILL.
MANUFACTURERS
Chamber Suites,
OF
Odd Dressers,
Chiffoniers
l4D1ES' DRESSING TABLES to match
Made ill Golden Oak, Genuine Maholf<l:DY Veneered, Birdseye
White Enamel Highly Pohshed or Dull Finish.
Maple,
We also make a line of PRINCess DRESSfRSfrom $13.00 up, In
Quarter-Sawed Oak. Mahogany and Birdseye Maple. Veneered
If you. have not nc~ved
OUTSpring Supplement, ask lor it.
SAMPLES
SHOWN BY PECK &: HILLS
HALL &: KNAPP, 187 Michigan
1319 Michi~D
Avenue,
Avenue, Chicago.
and
MOON DESK CO.,
Muskegon, Mich.
OFFICE DESKS
SEE OUR NEW TYPEWRITER
CABINET
No. 924.
Muskegon Valley Furniture Co.
Muskegon
Mich ••.
Tlte Sargent Mfg. Co.
MUSKEGON, MICH.
Odd
Dressers
;.
Chiffoniers
Bachelors' Cabinets
Ladies' Desks
Extra Large Chiffoniers
Wardrobes
Ladies'
Toilets
Dressing
Tables
Mabogany
Inlaid
Goods
Ladies'
Desks
Music
Cabinet.
LimJ on 8ale in
New Man1tfaciturero' Bftilding,
() RAND
RAPIDS.
---
__
Aloo Manufacturers and Exporten: of
ROLLING
_
CHAIRS
Chairs adapted to' all kinds of invalidism, both for
house and street use.
OVER FORTY DESIGNS TO SELECT FROM
27
REX [::~~]MATTRESS
CHAS. A. FISHER & CO.,
1319 Michigan Ave., Chicago.
WRITE FOR
BOOKLET
AND
PROPOSITION
WarehOUlelll:
ST. LOUIS, MO.
KANSAS CITY. MO.
PEORIA, ILL. LINCOLN, ILL.
STILL
MINNEAPOUS, MINN.
CHICAGO, ILL.
ON THE GRILL.
Grand Jury Investigation of the Alleged School Seat Trust
Not Yet Finished.
The investigation
of the so-called "School Furniture
Trust" which began before the grand jury in Chicago on
February 4, has not been completed.
So far no indictments
have been returned, but F. A. Holbrook the managing
director of the American Seating Company has been arrested on comp"laint of District Attorney Sims. It is expected, however, that several indictments will be secured,
including officia'ls of the American School Furniture Company.
A. H. Andrews & Co., Sherwood & Co" The Superior Manufacturing
Company, E. H. Stafford & Co. and
others.
The evidence is said to have tended to show that
while several apparently
distinct concerns were engaged
in the manufacture and sale of school and church furniture,
they were really combined under a "gentleman's agreement."
\Vhen the investigation began it was supposed the American
Seating Compa.ny had aC<luired title to all the other concerns in the combine, but the evidence is said to have
shO\-vn that such is not the fact. It appears to have been
organized merely to manage sales for the others and it did
not have complete contro! of the sales.
The government relies for an indictme.nt .Rot only on the
showing made regarding school furniture, but that of theatres and churches as well. Among the theatre owners
especiaHy there has been much complaint, for here the
persons dealt with were private individuals, who are usually
more canny in such things than a public hody spending
public funds.
The man who is credited with stirring up the government along this line of action, is Eugene Carpenter, a lawyer
in Grand Rapids, Mich., who was formerly connected with
the Haney School Furniture Company of that city.
President Boyd, of the American Seating Company is
reported as denying the existence of a "gentlemen's agreement." I-Ie states that the American Seating Company ...
vas
formerly known as the American School Furniture Company, which was organized in 1899 with a capital of $10,000,000. They did business under that title until April of
last year, when a new company, known as the American
Seadng Company was organized and purchased the assets
of the oM concern. The charter calls for nine directors.
There are two vacancies at present and Mr. Boyd names
the seven, now acting as follows:
O. M. Stafford, Cleveland;
F. Billmeyer, New York; S. H. Carr, Dayton; W. P. Orr,
Piqua, 0.; ]. P. Drouilard, New York; Edward Case, Indianapolis; and T. M. Boyd, Chicago.
)..lr. Boyd was asked why it was thought best to reorganize the American School Furniture Company into the
American Seating Company.
He hesitated about replying,
but final1y admitted it was a "financial" reason which he
did not care to discufiS.
More than ordinary secrecy has been maintained as to
the identity of witnesses.
It is known that many of them
live in Racine, Grand Rapids and Buffalo, but these for the
most part are employes of the American Seating Company.
Chicago men in the employ of the same company have also
been subpoenaed, as have the employes of the A. H. Andrews & Co. and the Sherwood Company.
It has been reported that the investigation has shown
that the American Seating Company contro']5 the product
of the furniture plant in the Indiana penitentiary, but the
report has not been confirmed.
One of the men who is we'll informed as to the affairs
of the American School Furniture Company says it is true
that the reorganization was necessary for "financial reasons"
as stated by President Boyd. It appears that immediately
after the organization of the old company-the
American
School Furniture Company-bonds
were issued, or authorized, to the extent of $1,500,000.
The bonds did not sell
readily to the public but most of them were taken by the
stockholders.
Then it was found that the bond issue had
impaired the company's credit and in order to restore it, the
reorganization
was effected, the bondholders
exchanging
their bonds for stock in the new company.
It has been surmised that the alleged "trust" was held
together by a plan invented by a Rochester lawyer, named
Oviatt-the
Oviatt plan-by which each member of the combine executes an immediate note for a certain amount, the
dates to be filled in and the notes thus made negotiable,
due and payable, in case of failure to stand by the agreement, but gentlemen who are supposed to know ,-ieclare
that no such notes have been given and that there is no
written agreement-that
the old company simply bought
the plants, paying for the most part in stock and bonds and
that the new company has simply taken charge and continued the business-that
the only object of the reorganization
was to call in the bonds and thus strengthen the company's
credit.
Edith-T do so admire a man who says the right thing
at the right time.
Harold-So
do I-especially
when I'm thirsty.
.:f'~
28
TRAGICAL
Hard
Luck
J:'vl.IF,HIG7J-N
TALES
,
OF SIGNS.
and Business Reverses Cause a Demand
Window Cards.
for
Did you ever notice anything in the advertising columns
of a newspaper that told a tale in brief as plainly as if it
filled a column of the reading matter in another section of
the newspaper?
Some people read between the lines romances and tragedies of the signs as readily.
A city sign-painter
has recently chatted entertainingly
about the suggestiveness
of his work. Ever since r first
learned my trade, he said, I have been a reader of signs as
well as a maker of them. Between the lines of many a sign
I read a story-a talc of triumph or a tragedy of ddeat.
Again, I have acquired the habit of industry, and ,by industry
I thrive, pay rent, meet bilts, keep square with my fellowman
and am in tbe shop when wanted.
I painted a window card for a prominent merchant years
ago. It read, "Boy ':Vanted."It was a ,remarkable boy who
got the job. As I lettered it, I imagined who the boy would
be and how he wou"ld turn out. I kept my eye on the boy
who took the job, the merchant's daughter for a wife, and
a place in the finn. That was a romance, and a fact.
In my time I have painted many a "Boy \\'anted."
Vv'ell,
some of them did not turn out so well as my first hero, more
than one was not wanted long and went to the bad.
It was only the other day that a man along in years
dropped in on me. He purchased a "Furnisbed
Room"
card and T could not hide the expression of surprise on my
face. He explained that he had lost a fortune since retiring
from bU'siness. He told me that the only thing that was saved
from the wreck was the family home which, as good luck
would have it, was in the name of his wife. As he paid for
the placard he said sarcastically:
"My wife has furnished
rooms to rent in the house and I have a vacancy in the upper
story."
I have in my shop now a "Piano Lessons" sign that is a
dirge of buried hopes. The job was done to order for as
nice a woman as ever trod the -earth, the flower of a family
of high degree. No end to their wealth, so everybody
thought.
Father died, left an immense fortune in trust.
Trustee, a scoundrel, beggared the estate and skipped. When
the exposure took place, girl was about to marry a nab. He
had a frozen heart on account of the changed financial conditions, and the wedding, already announced, was postponed.
The Lord didn't postpone the measley chap. The races and
the bucket shop got him, and if he lives long enough he will
be peddling shoestrings
Saturday nights and panhandling
the rest of the week. The brave little woman is now giving
piano lessons to support herself and mother.
Everything
they had went and they are the poorest of the poor.
Another sign reads: "Receiver's Sale.
Entire Stock
to be closed Out."
There -if, a story goes with that.
A man in trade crawled all the way up the ladder by patient
degrees, winning every inch and every dollar by hard work,
square dealing, and clean methods. Then at the height, Mr.
man got dizzy from a swelled head and thought that he knew
it all, made some blunders that jarred him, but taught him
no lesson. Then he got gay, became extravagant, then reckless; instead of hauling in sail, he sprl.::ad more canvas,
threw discretion to the winds, and his craft turned turtle.
Mr. :vIan is in a sanitarium, his affairs in the hands of the receiver, and his wife was in yesterday and ordered a window
card. "Board by'the Day or \\'eek."
I sell "Girl \Vanted" signs to the restaurant folks. The
last one that T disposed of produced unexpected results. A
wicked wag stole it out of the window and fastened it to the
coat tail of a bachelor friend and he paraded the whole
length of the street with the announcement in view, and as
he passed down the street a pretty young woman ran after
and halted him and removed the sign with many apo'logies
and blushes. That strange meeting led to an acquaintance
and a wedding.
Bennett Company's Booklet.
The Charles Bennett Furniture
Company, Charlotte,
Mich., have just issued a neat little pocket booklet on buffets,
chinas and sideboards.
This is a forerunner of their regular
catalogue which will be ready to mail about March 1. The
Made by Ch ... Sennett
Furniture
Co., Charlotte,
Mieh.
above cut and the one in their advertisement on another page
of this paper, will give a slight idea of the beauty of design
in this new line. These are money makers for merchants
because they are excellent values, well made and finished, and
cheap.
Great Demand! ·for New Freight Cars.
Orders for steel cars amounting to $150,000,000 are now
in the hands of the steel car building companies of the Pittsburg and other districts for construction this year and in.
quiries are coming for cars that already give indications of
orders amounting to from' $20,000,000 to $30,000,000 more.
This is startling in the face of so much talk that the railroads
have been compelled to curtail their buying because of failure
to secure funds.
Despite ~the enormous aggregate of cars now in the
hands of the steel car builders the railroads would be willing
to buy many thousands more if they could be assured delivery within the next twelve months.
Practically every steel
car building company in the country is booked ahead for
more than one year, and plans are on foot for extensions
that will "largely increase capacity. The need for cars was
never more urgent than at present, but the buying has been
limited only by the capacity of the builders.
Recently
the Standard
Steel Car Company which
has 6,000 men at work at its Butler plant, began the construction of a $3;000,000 steel car works at Hammond, Ind. to
care for the orders which are threatening
to overflow it.
This new plant 'will be almost a duplicate of the Butler
works, and it is expected to be in operation in August. Already the railroads of the \-Vest have placed orders for cars
to be constructed there during this year. This plant wilt
relieve the Butler works and allow orders for eastern roads
to be handled more quickly at Pittsburg.
29
Good Sellers Always.
Try
Sample Order
No. 46, Single Cone.
GENUINE
TEMPERED
.2.00 Net.
ALL STEEL
MANUFACTURED
WIRE
MATTRESSES
BY
SMITH ®. DAVIS MFG. CO.• St. Louis. Mo.
Callinet Makers
In these days of close competition,
need the best p08liible equipment,
and this they can have in • • • •
BARNES'
Hand and Foot
POWER
Machinery
Our New "and and Foot Power Circular Saw No.4
The strollgest, most powerful, and in every way the best
machine of it!l kind ever made, for rippiJlg,
cross-cutting, boring and grooving.
Send for our New Catalogue.
"W. F. ®. JOHN BARNES
654 :Ruby Street. :Rochford. Ill.
co.
30
WILL
Marshall
AWAKEN
LONDONERS
Field's Former Manager to Give Them a Department Store on American Lines.
London is experiencing a new invasion by the American
ideas and has been told to wake up by Harry Gordon Selfridge, former manager of Marshall Field & Co's retail store
in Chicago. M r. Selfridge has been in London for the past
year looking over the situation and has come to the conclusion that the London shoppers need an up~to-date department store. An article in the London Daily Telegraph concerning the enterprise quotes Mr. Selfridge as follows:
"Shopping in London presents a problem that will be
interesting to solve. I confess it fascinates me. I had practically retired after the Marshall Field store had been set
going on a successful basis; but the business holds me still.
The direction of a large number of men and women toward
one honorable end of legitimate success, in which all harmoniously co-operate, seems to me an ambition that is worth
while.
"If a big store in London is rU,n on lines that are elastic
and adaptable; if it starts without any old world prejudices
and methods except the essential virtues of hard work and
honesty; if it deliberately trics to please the women, first,
last and all the time; if it is never afraid of a new devel~
opment merely becausc it is a ch<:wge; if it rca'lizes that a
woman's shopping can be made more pleasurable to her
than ever was the case before-then
I venture to think a real
,vant will have been supplied."
The invasion seems to have bccn complete for th('. London Press sounds a warning note to the London merchants
. when it says:
"For years the English producer and ,;endor has had
the best article on the market in many trades.
But he 'win
never take the trouble to change his methods of sale, or to
alter his pattern to suit any of his customers.
If they don't
like what he offers them they can go to-well,
as a matter
of fact, they have gone to Germany; not for the best article,
which England still possesses, but for the article they want,
which England will not sell them. ::'-lotcontent with losing
the markets of the world, England's merchants are now to
see the actual trade of London itself challenged before their
very eyes.
"The writing has long been upon the waH, and few who
ran have read. Those few have profited accordingly.
But
the majority, who will lose their trade because they will not
change their old habits, will suffer; and it will serve them
rig~t. But his words were uttered to ears already sealed
in stertorous slumber. Now it is the sleeper's pockets that
wi!! suffer, 'and the appeal may prove more intelligible. The
c~mpetition is close at home; the gage of battle is thrown
down on his front door step."
The motto of the Se"lfridge & Vv'aring store, as it will
be known will be "integrity of business principles, the highest
quality of merchandise and accuracy in all our statements.
\Ve shall stock only the best. The purchaser remembers
"enry Schmit &. Co.
"opkln. _Ad "_rrlet St:t.
Cincinn_U. 0,
K..U::.llS
or
UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE
LODG~ AND PULPIT, PARLOR
LIBRARY, HOTEL
AND CLUB ROOM
the quality of goods long after he forgets their prices
According to the architect's drawings the plans for the
new store provide for a magnificent building. 250 by 200 feet
fronting on three streets.
The date of the opening has
not yet been announced.
An Endless
Belt Window,
It remained for an ingenious and enterprising Cleveland
merchant, says a contemporary, to discover a way of multiplying his available window display space by four-a seeming impossibility.
This is how he did it:
The window floor was arranged 50 that it re.volved like
all endless chain over two clrums at either elld; the window
Chas. Bennett furniture
CHARLOTTE,
CO.
MICHIGAN
Buffets,
China
Closets,
SideBoards
No. 615 Buffet.
Write tor Pocket Edillon
of the BEST SELLING LINE you ever handled.
Say the Michigan Artisan told you
SQ.
floor extending back into the store the depth of the window
and being s.eparated by a black velvet cloth.
The different aluminum articles-some
two hundred in
number-were
wired to the moving window floor, and thus
produced such a unique and striking effect as to challenge
the attention of a large number of pedestrians.
Before this
device \',,·as installed, but fifty pieces could be shown, and
that in the old time stationary stile.
This enterprising merchant has i<blazed a new trail" in
the window display line which merchants in many other
lines of business. may find it to their advantage to employ.
The device was home-made, simple in design, inexpensive,
and driven by a small electric motor concealed below the
floor.
Every man stamps his own value upon the coin of his
character in his own mint, and he cannot expect to pass it
for more, and should not be disappointed if people do not
take it for more than its face value.
31
Woodard furniture Co.
OWOSSO,
OUR
MICHIGAN
1907
LINE
of Mahogany,
Circassian Walnut,
BIRD'S-EYE
Quarter
MAPLE,
Sawed Oak,
BEDROOM
fURN ITU RE
is the sensation in the Furniture
Market today. rt's the kind the
best. merchants everywhere are
buying. If you are not onto this,
get next quick. If you say you
saw this in the Michigan Artisan
\\'e will let you into a get rich
scheme that beats anything you
e\"er saw.
The New
NALLS', the Polish thai Is Making Evansville Famous.
"PERFECT··
FOLDING
CHAIR
PATKNTEP OCT. 20, 1903.
Durable
Comfortable
Simple
Neat
The Acme of Perfection in the line 01
Folding Chairs.
PERFRCT
CaMP"cTNESS
wh«n folded.
Hard maple. natural finish.
WRITE
FOR
PRICES.
15M
PEABODY SCHOOL
FURNITURE
CO.
No. &1
North
Manchester,
Indiana
UNION FURNITURE CO.
ROCKFORD, iLL.
AMERICANPHARMACALCO., 'os UP". "ROT ST., Evansville, Ind.
EXCEPTIONAL
FACTORY OPPORTUNITY
Do yOll wish to find all opening for a CHAIR FACTORY
or would
like to remove to some more favorable 10caHon?
If so, it would repay
rOll to at once request information about a fille location itl tbegreat timber
section of Southeast Missouri along the
Buffets
Bookcases
China Closets
We lead in Sty~, CQnt.lructron
Finish. See OUI CatalOille.
Nan's Red Star Polish dries instantly
and never soften:;; or gums.
No disagreeablt! or offensive ooor. Never settles or evaporates. A trial order always
makes a permanent customer.
Brings
out the finish and gives new Ufll!:10
furniture, This PoUsb is free from add.
Can be used by any child. Guaranteed
to give satisfaction.
Sold in 1, 2, 5 and 10 gallon cans and
in barrels, also put up III 2, 3and 6 oz.
bottles retailing for 100. 15c a.nd
25c.
allowing a liberal profit to the
retailer. Write for prices and state
quantity wanted,
A perfect Polish and Cleaner for Furniture. Office and B ..r Ffxtures. Pianos. Organs. Bicycles. Iron beds. Carrh,iea and
Automobiles.
We re.r~l' you to the Crescent Furl1,iture (fo" The E'IJQnsvitle Oe8k (fo"
The Eli D. j!filler Folding Bed 00., and the Oity National Bank of
Evansville.
and
Qur line an pern1aDelltexhibitim. 7th
Floor. New M.tRllfacturer.! BuildiDe.
Grand Rapid"
•
Liberal indll~ments are offered to secure a bona fide proposition
employing !Lotless than forty men.
Good di.;tTibuting facilities for finished
product.
Correspondence
is invited regarding this and other excellent
opportunities
for furniture, mattress, iron bed and other factories along
our line~. Send forindustriat
d68cripliN3 matter about the Rock IstandIf'riseo.
M. SCHULTER, Industrial CommissiOlll}t. RDCk Island.Frisco
1144 Friscf) Bldg" ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.
Lines,
THIS PUSH BUTTON distinguishesthe
"ROYAL" Morris Chairs from the other kind
Six Years
of Test
THE."ROYAL
Have
PUSHBUTTON
EstaLhsLed
MORRIS CHAIR
Suprem.lcy
MORRIS CHAIRS
·--FROM-~-
$6.00
CATALOGUE
to
$30.00
UPON APPUCATION
Royal Chair Co.
STURGIS. MICH.
Good Traits in Employers.
The ideal employer is, no doubt, the one who gets the
most efficient work from his employes with the maximum
of contentment on their part. Under cover of anonymity,
says a writer in \Vorld's "'lark, I can tell several stories of
employers, and describe certain of the qualities that make
men popular or unpopular with their employes.
One was a grocer in a small western city for whom I
kept books. His sales people liked him because in rush
hours be worked behind the counter with them, and on the
occasion when he asked overtime work, he was always on
hand and did more than anyone of them. But my own liking for him was based 011 two incidents which happened soon
after I went to work for him. I was told that every morning I was expected to sweep out the office where I worked.
I disliked this small piece of drudgery because it seemed
menial and I~pproached
the l<boss" on the second day and
said:
"Me G-, am I supposed to sweep out the offiee every
morning?"
He responded with a simple "yes." There was
no emphasis on the word, either of command or irritation,
or other emotion, but it was as final as a judgment of the
Supreme Court, Some. months later I had an offer of a
position with a higher salary. I needed the extra money,
so I went to Mr. G-- again, and said:
".:lir. G--, I like to work here and I don't wish to leave,
but Blank & Co. have just offered me $60 a month-"
"I'll give you that," he interrupted, in the same dispassionate tone as before. I stayed.
I liked two qualities of the man-this
instant decisiveness
and the impression he always produced that he would stand
by his decisions.
It made us who worked for him feel that
we knew just what he could be expected to do when he said
a thing.
Another employer had a quality which won me in spite
of his rather acrid disposition.
\Vhenever he set me a task
he took great pains to make clear just what he wanted done;Ind how-and
when he wanted it. He would patiently. answer any numbeT of ,questions that would make these things
clear. Then I heard no more of the task until it was done.
H it were done properly, he merely said, "thank YOu." If
it were wrong, or not on time, I got a scorching "call-down."'
His theory was a fair one-that
when he had given a man
every chance. to learn what was wanted he had a right to expect the results.
But I appreciated especially the fact that
between the time the task was set and its conclusion, I
heard nothing about it from him. Other men for whom I
had worked had nagged me almost to distraction.
Reasons Are Necessary.
salesman, early in his career,learns
to judge his
buyers, and to adapt his arguments and methods of approach
to each individual case. You cannot address a different advertisement to each individual, but you can get at the kind
of people you are selling to and show up the points about
your goods that will get them to buy. Give reasons why.
That is essential, 110 matter whom you are addressing, but
the specific reasons why must be adapted to your particular
audience.
A.
Don't FoUow the Ban<t Wagon.
Don't be a band-wagon man. He never amounts to
anything.
Nobody respects him. He is not even respected
by himself. The world admires a plucky fighter even if he
goes down in defeat. Friends know that he can be depended
on, enemies know that he is to be counted on, and such a
one himself feels more like a man because of it. Stand for
something.
Don't be a nonentity, for that is what a bandwagon man is.-Chanute
(Kan.) Tribune.
711'<-T I oS' J'I~
27ft
THE LEXINGTON
Michigan Blvd. & 22d 51.
CHICAGO, ILL.
Refurnished
and re-
fitted throughout.
New
Management.
furniture
quarters.
Most con-
venienlly
the
The
dealers' headsituated
furniture
to
display
houses.
Inter·State Hotel CO.
OWNER
&
PROPRIETOR
E. K. eriley. Pres.;
T. M. CrHey, V. Pres.;
L. H. Firey. Sec- Tte3.S..
Chicago, Feb. 23.-,\1though the exposition season is a
thing of the past there is enough activity in the retail market to employ the millc1s of tile buyers and sel1ers. The manufacturers are now reaping the benefits of their talks to the
buyers at the ShO"'\'5 and the orders seem to be coming in
pretty rapidly. In fact, there is no let-up to the volume of
business. Salesmen in the city and on the road report
good business and every body seems to be satisfied. The
only difficulty experienced is with the manufacturer
who
either cannot get material enough to fill his orders or is
unable to get cars to move his goods.
The exhibition buildings have again fallen into the between-season state, and with the cxccpt~on of a few buyers
(mostly in the city) the attendance is very limited. Plenty
of goods, hmvcver, remain on the floors and even now the
furniture buyer should have little difficulty in selecting his
goods.
The Banta Furniture Company, which has had a wonderful growth under the management of llarvey F. Banta,
has begun an expansion of its plant at Goshell, Ind. Here-
Why Not Order?
or more Montgomery
Iron Display Couch Trucks sent you
on approval ~ If nol satisfactory lhey can be
Say a dozen
returned at no expellse to you whalever,
while the price asked is bUI a tri8e, com~
pared to the convenience Ihey afford and
the economy they represent in the saving
of floor space.
ThiIty-two couches mounted on the
Montgomery Iron Display Couch T fUcks
occupy the same floor space as twelve dis~
played in the usual manner.
Write for catalogue giving full descrip~
bon and price in the different finishes, to~
gether with illustrations demonstrating the
use of the Giani Short Rail Bed Fastener
for Jron Beds. Manufactured by
H. J. MONTGOMERY
PATENT"-R
Silver Creek, New York, U. S. A.
Dennis Wire and Iron Co., Canadian Manu~
facturers. London, Onto
9
7
33
$ .a
tofore, the company has made library and extension tables
-which
have proved satisfactory-and
now, with the erection of a new building and the installment of new machinery
for the purpose, a complete line of dining room furniture
\-viII be manufactured
in connection with its present line.
\Jr. Banta assumed charge of the old factory five years ago
and by his energy and ability has tripled the output.
The Chicago Furniture ::'vIanufacturer's Association held
its anntlal meeting Feb. 12 in the banquet hall of the Chicago
Athletic Association.
A large number of the members were
present and occasion was taken to cc'lcbrate the birthday
of the Great Em,ancipator.
The Fourteenth
Street Furniture
Market was unexpectedly turned in to an auto show the first of the month.
The Ford 1Iotor Company's sales rooms on Michigan avenue
were gutted by fire and manager l\lcCready generously tendered the company ample space on the first floor of the building.
A new furniture concern known as the ,Manufacturer's
Sample Furniture Company will be opened in Chicago the
middle of ~larch. The controlling parties in the venture are
Sigmund Kline and Louis \\l eil, the latter former manager
of the Sample Furni'ture Company of this city. The company
wilt occupy five floors at 346-8 \Vabash avenue, which will
give them a display space of some 30,000 feet. Both men
arc \vell and favorably known to the trade and the enterprise
will undoubtedly he successful.
J. C. Hills, of the Peck & Hills Furniture Company, left
la,st week for a trip to Cuba. He was accompanied by his
wit, and th. Ruiz, manager of the foreign department.
Mr. .-Jills will combine business with pleasure and expects
to remain in the tropics for the next two months.
Four new companies for the manufacture of furniture in
Chicago have formed during the month. They are: The
Empire Furniture & l\Ianufacturing
Co., with a capital of
$10,000. P. L. ::VlcArdle, F. P. Brodculis and A. ]. Schmidt
are the incorporators.
TlIc People's Portrait and Frame Company with a capital
J. E. Dittus, H. II. Costello, 1. R. Lewis, incor-
of $3,000.
porators.
11ahogany Koveity Company, capital $10,000. To manufacture picture frames.
Incorporators,
R. J. Cook, D. B.
Graham, and Vv'alter Frahicus.
International Mirror Company, capital $5,000. S. C. Carroll, E. E. V/augh and Nina Johnson, incorporators.
Secretary McCready, of the new }lanufacturer's
Furniture
Exchange, realizing the difficulty dealers have in remembering
the names of the various Chicago exhibition buildings, has
decided to re-christen the name of the new exchange.
It
will hereafter be known as the Fourteenth Street Furniture
:'darket and will continue to be the home of Chicago-made
furniture.
A new name has been added to the selling force of the
Columbia Feather Company. ZoIa C. Green, manager of the
company, has succeeded in enlisting the services of James A.
Dean, former manager of Mandel Brother's metal bed and
bedding department.
!vfr. Dean is well known in the retail
trade in Chicago and is a valuable addition to Mr. Green's
growing business.
A. H. Revell and family have been visiting in Washington,
D. C and Palm Beach, Fla" the past month.
The Derby Desk Company, 311 \J\.!abash avenue, sustained
a loss of $30,000 by fire February 13. The blaze started in
the basement which is used as a storeroom by the Derby
company.
Before the firemen could arrive the fire had
spread to the first and second floors and was making dangerous bead way. Two hours of fighting, ho",1ever, extinguished
the blaze. Several other companies suffered an aggregate
loss of $30,000, among them being the Chickering-Chase
J
34
B'rothers Piano Co., and the Henry Holtzmann & Sons Company.
F. T. Plimptoh has added the line of the Spencer &
Barnes to his list. The Hawks line was dropped from the
Plimpton exhibit in January, when no showing was made by
that company.
Chas. Kindel, of the Kindel Manufacturing Company, St.
Louis, was in Chicago Feb. 18 to confer with John A. Arton,
the Chicago representative.
Mr. Kindel reports good business in the St. Louis territory and a satisfactory season in
New York. He was on his way to Toronto to look after the
Canada branch of the company.
Mt ~rommersberger,
vice-president of Charles Emmerich & Co., is in New York attending to the company's business at the exposition.
Condemnation proceedings have been instituted by 'the
Northwestern -Railroad Company against the- factory sites
DAVENPORT
MANUFACTURED
nothing to do but make a settlement and vacate. How soon
that will be I cannot say; it will probably be some time,
though.
VVe have done nothing in the matter of a site for
our factory.
Several locations have been offered but none
has been accepted.
There are so many companies affected
by the ruling of the council that it will be months before
we are obliged to come to a settlement."
The police authorities of Chicago are still searching for
W, R. Wieboldt, a furniture dealer at 1302 Belmont avenue,
who, after setting fire to his store, disappeared,
Every effort
to locate the missing man has proven futile.
On the day of the fire it was fQund that blankets saturated with coal oil had been hung from the ceiling of the store,
which caused the p01ice to look further into the causes of the
blaze. Insurance policies to the amount of over $30,000
were found, aU of which had been taken out a month or two
previous to the fire. Between twenty-five and thirty com-
BY GRAND RAPIDS UPHOLSTERING
of the Johnson Chair Company, the L. F. K ounast Table
Comrany and the Koenig & Gamer Furniture
Company.
This is the result of an ordinance recently pas5ed by the
city council giving the 1':J orthwestern the privilege of widening tqe right of way amll II).aking various other improvements
in the Halsted street di~~trict.
The plans of the railroad company contemplate the destruction of a number of manufacturing pla.nts but the three
companies named are the 'only ones connected with the furniture trade to suffer. The Johnson plant will be cut in half,
the line of demarca.tion, so to speak, starting in at the southeast corner of the site at Halsted and Erie streets and continuing through t,o the northwest corner on Green street.
This will leave a part of the factory untouched but the ware~
rooms and office will be included in the path.
The northeast corner of the Nonnast factory, on Green
street opposite the Johnson plant, will be cut off, and almost
the entire site of the Koenig & Gamer factory will be taken
in by the proposed improvements.
It is possible that the
Nonnast plant will be able to stand the loss of the corner
and yet retain its present location, The: other companies,
however, will be obliged to remove completely.'
In regard to the suit and bis plans for the future, :\/Ir.
Ne1s Johnson of the Johnson Chair Company said: "We
have been served with a notice that proceedings have been
started but there has been nothing done so far, We will have
CO., GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.
panics were repre5ented in the policies nearly all of which
wcre for $1,000. Other papers found in a satchel in the v'liebolelt apartment were worth $20,000.
\Vieboldt's daughter disappeared at about the same time
and left a note saying that both she and her father had ended
their troubles in the: lake. The suicide story, however, has
since been discreJited
as reports from both parties have
been received by friends in this city, It is now supposed
that Wieboldt is hiding in St. Louk
Upon the request of the American Trust and Savings
Bank, receiver in the affair, an order was entered by the court
permitting the receiver to sell at 'private sale the two stores
owned by \Vieboldt.
Mr. Flesh Changes Base.
Vl. Flesh, the popular salesman of eron-Kills & Co.,
has become general sales manager for the L. C. & W. L.
Cron Company of Piqua, 0., who are about to discontinue
their export trade and devote their energies to satisfying
the American demands for dressers and chiffoniers.
,Mr.
Flesh is thoroughly competent, both horn his long experience as a furniture salesman and on account of his extensive acquaintances with buyers in all parts of the country,
to ,guarantee the sales of this company's output.
Mr. :Flesh
is very enthusiastic over the new patterns.
He says that
they are bound to make good.
l-
35
ROBBINS TABLE COMPANY
OWOSSO,
No. 318. American Oak.
MICHIGAN
44x48 in. Top.
American Base.
7 in. Pillar.
Rockford Chair and Furniture Co.,
OUR
SPRING
LINE
-01-
Dunels. Doo~mes.
Oina (IosetS.
li~rarJ Cases,
On sale at our warerooms, BLODGETT
BLOCK,
GRAND
RAPIDS, MICH., during January, 1907.
Rockford, III.
36
I
·:f'~MI9]iIG7JN
Detroit, Feb. 25.-The Palmer Manufacturing Company
wiH soon he in full possession of their new three-story brick
addition.
One floor is already filled with parlor and library
tables and pedestals.
A large part of the first floor will be
occupied with offices, which will be handsomely fitted up.
The second floor will be used as a sample room, where samples of their full line will be kept for the inspection of buyers.
/\. new old gold finish has recently been added to the large
line of finishes previously shown, and already it bids fair to
rival in popularity their famous Rookwood finish. Tbey report their January sales in Chicago as the best for January
they have ever had in that market.
The Pioneer }1anufacturing Company have recently
fitted up a neat set of offices on the second floor of tb'eir factory, directly over the old offices; hut they are much larger,
lighter and more convenient in every way. They report
trade as very satisfactory, their sales in January in Chicago
·being nearly equal to their last July sales, and much greater
than any January in that market. Their line of reed and
rattan rockers, children's carriages and go-carts 'is large
and grows in popularity every season.
The Posselil1s Brothers Furniture }\{anufaeturing Company report a good volume of orders on their books, and the
big factory is being operated to its full capacity. Their display at 1319 ~1jchigan avenue, Chicago, in january, was the
largest they ever made, and their sales were corresponJ~
ingly heavy.
The Safety Folding Bcd Company is another of the busy
ones, and under the skillful guidance of manager Farrel is
growing steadily from year to year.
J. C. \Vidman & Co., made such a big display of china
closets, buffets and ha1l furniture in Chicago and K ew York
in January that they "caught the crowd" and are full of bus~
iness.
The vVolverine Manufacturing
Company and Cadillac
Cabinet Company report business active.
The Detroit Folding Bed Company is one of the successful ones in the way of providir.g vehicles for the babies.
Some of their goods are illustrated in this issue. Look up
the pictures, get their prices and prepare to gladden the
hearts of the young mammas and the future presidents, dcepresidents, senators, representatives
and other great men
and great women who are coming to take our places in the
conduct of affairs in this great and glorious nation of Uncle
Sam's.
The "'1'/. E. Barker furniture 'store at 178 \¥oodward
avenue has been vacated, and the goods that were not sold
in the recent clearing sale were moved to the Michigan avenue store, corner of Third street. The big Michigan avenue
store is filled with goods, as the peop1e are discovering,
and a good, steady business is carried on.
Owing to the putting in of the foundation of the huge
eighteen story office building at Griswold and Congress
streets, the foundations of the ~1offat building, (in '",hich
Geo. J. Reindel & Co's office furniture store was located) required to be strengthened,
which rendered it necessary to
vacate the premises.
Temporary quarters are now occupied
on Farmer street, but the fine six-story building now being
erected for them wilt give th(',m in a few weeks, one of the
[Lnest furniture stores in the city or state. Geo. Reindel is
one. of the busy merchants of Detroit.
\\Then he removes
froin "Voodward avenue there will be but four furniture
stores on that street, viz: \iVeit & Co. and A. A. Gray & Co.
on the east side and Keenan & Jalm [lnd H. R. Leonard &
Co. on the west side. There arc nearly a score of furniture
stores on 1\1ichigan avenue and about as many more on Gratiot. ~lost 'of them carryon
an installment business, and
some of them have an immense trade.
\i\lith the opening of navigation, ""'hich is less than eight
weeks away, will commence the usua1 rush of spring and summer visitors.
Official reports show that the steamboat passenger business of Detroit far exceeds that of any port on
the lakes with the possible exception of Chicago. This al'ways makes busincss brisk for Detroit merchants.
Some of the enthusiastic Detroit boomers arc now predicting that this wilt be the sixth city in population when
the. United States census of 1910 is completed.
The city is
certainly making marvelous strides in growth of population
and business, but it is quite possible that these boomers are
not com1ting on what other cities are doing. But that's the
way to make things grow. Had there been no enthusiasts
Pioneer
Mf,g. Co ...
DETROIT, MICH.
Reed furniture
Babu Carriages
Go-Carts
Full IiDe shown on
secoDd floor. ] 3; ] 9
Mlcbi1!an Ave.. Chicago. iD January.
«OOKWOOD
and a general line of
ff\NGY Tf\BLES
Write for Cuts and Prices
PALMER
Manufacturing Co.
1015 to 1035 Palmer Ave.
DETROTT, MICH.
Full line shown on second
floor, 1319 Michigan
Chicago, in January.
Ave.,
:a
Chicago it would be far from the second city in the United
States and the fourth or fifth in the world. The writer, who
is far from being an old man, was in Chicago when it was
not not more thaI). half as large as Detroit is at present, so
there is every reason for the residents of Detroit to look
forward to a city of one million souls in less than twenty
years.
Andrew Dutton, the Boston jobber in upholstery goods,
will open a branch in Detroit, from which he will fill orders
from ~1ichigan and the northwest.
37
MANUFACTURERS
Murphy Chair Co.
HARDWOOD
OF
LUMBER &.
VENEERS
SPECIALTIES:
~1"f'f'E[jQUAR. OAK VENEERS
DETROIT, MICH. '
MANUFACTURERS
MAHOGANY
VENEERS
HOFFMAN
LINE
A COMPLETE
Banking
Tbe
circle
of
by Mail.Order
business
interests
BROTHERS COMPANY
804 W, Main SI"
FORT WAYNE, INDIANA
Houses.
adversly
affcctej
by
mail-order houses is widening.
These houses now propose
to extend their operations to banking.
Chicago advices state
that country bankers arc greatly disturbed over a recent development ·which threatens to sap their vitality. They have
1earncd that the rural sect tons of the central ...vest have been
circularized by mail-order houses requesting the opening of
deposit acconnt>;, offering to pay as high as six per cent interest and to fumlsh certificates for such deposits payable
on demand.
The circulars arc not only sent to farmers but also to
workingmen in towns and villages, tints taking in a very
large part of the income-producing
population.
The purpose of the scheme is plainly to increase the sale of merchandise, as the deposito"r is advised that he can make purchases against his bank account and have the charges deducted from tIle anlOnnt standi.ng to his credit.
The plan is 110W in use by some of the department stores
in large cities, and has evidently been found e1Tective in stimulating business.
The high interest which is held out as an
inducement \vOlild hardly be paid if the mail-order house
was simply adding a banking deparbnent;
but it is cxpected
to be easily borne out of the pro lib accruing from the increased sales of goods to those having runnillg accounts.
TIle resentment of country b;:l11kcrsagainst this invasion
of their field of operations is said to be so great that they
arc actively seeking for some practical method of heading it
off. Retailers of merchandisc and small mannfacturers, who
have increasingly felt the wit lIering competition of the mailorder houses operating in their territory, "wilt he greatly interested in observillg -..vhat degree of success wil1 attend the
efIorts of the bankers.
1'1uch rejoicing would be occasioned if the mail-order
houses, in grasping for still greater bnsiness advantages,
should antagonize interests c8pnble of efIeetive opposition
and perhaps of damagillg ret81i8lion.
Hen:>ism in Everyday
He who does the hard task with cheerfulness, who shakes
with hardship
as if it were his friend, who bears his
burden withont complaint, who does drudgery with undaunted spirit-there
is something of the hero in him. No one
unless there is something of this spirit inside of him can
risc 8bovc his task and be content.
It is the unheroic who
allow the task to master them. And especially is there
heroic stuff in that man who goes cheerfully to the work
that is uncongenial to him.
:~dorris tells us that art is the expression of a man's joy
in his work. And he who faces the work he dislikes to do
'with a cheerful spirit may not be an artist, but he has hero's
blood in his veins. The father who goes to a daily grind
that does not flt his taste, but who does it joyfully because
he can thereby minister to his own, is a hero-commonplace,
perhaps~but
a hero. The mother who takes up the drudgery of her household, not because it meets her pleasure,
bt1t because she finds joy ~n doing for her loved ones-she
is heroic. Om human nature is full of this heroic action.
On the other hand, he who whines because his task is
unfitting and sputters about it for sympathy's s8ke may get
sympathy.
But he will not get admiration because he does
not deserve it. In its heart of hearts humanity loves the
brave man \vho flghts on to the death and goes down with
the colors flying and the drums beating the march. It
adores the hero who battles on with broken sword. Onty
its eyes are not open to see these thillgS in everyday life.
hands
Bu"incss men of ~ e\'v·;port, Tenn., propOse to raise
$15.000. and secure S2G,000 more outside to establish a chair
factory.
The concern will he called the Continental Chair
Company.
The James G. Reynolds Co., recently organized to engage in gencral wholesale anil retail mercantile business in
Philadelphia,
will h:Jve a furniture
department.
Capital,
$73,000, paid in.
Life.
El Paso (Tex.) Times:-\Ve
agree with a contemporary
who says there is plenty of heroism in common life. It may
be a sort of passive heroism, hut it is heroism just the same.
Somc of the ~outhern lumbermen are predicting
the use of rcd gum as a furniture wood will increase
per cent Juring the coming year.
White Printing Co.
===GRAND
RAPIDS MICH.--====~====
HIGH GRADE
CATALOGS
COMPLETE
that
fifty
38
RICHMOND
Chair
RICHMOND,
Co.
IND.
The Slandard line of Double Cane
CHAIRS and
ROCKERS
Mentioll
CONDITIONS
Retail Furniture
ARE
MICHIGAN
ARTISAN
UNUSUAL.
Dealers Were Wise
at Old Prices.
Enough
to Stock Up
"Conditions
are peculiar or tltHlsual, rather," said CharIe" R. Sligh, president
and manager
of. the Sligh Furnitllre
Company,
Grand
Rapids,
Mich. the other day, when asked
for his views on the present
and future of the furniture
business.
"'/lire arc not grumbling,"
he continued.
"Vie booked
more business in January
than in ally previous
winter season
and have about all that we can handle, but it is a fact that
orders have been coming rather slowly in February.
I have
talked with several other manufacturers
and they all report
the same experience.
"There's
nothing
strange
in the situation.
In fact there
is a good reason
for the falling off in orders.
Prices have
been advancing
steadily
for the past year or two.
The furniture
dealers
knew
that
a general
advance
must
come.
They expected
it and most of them prepared
for it last fall
by ordering
heavier
than usual and they were \vise in their
action.
"Usually
manufacturers
have matly orders countermanded in the fall and winter.
Tbis year tbere were no COlll1termands.
On the contrary
the dealers
insisted
on having
their orders filted e',ren if they ran over the season.
'vVe had
orders amounting
to $12,000 or $15.000 that we were unable
to get out on time.
At the close of the January
season we
sent out cards to those who had not been here during
the
month
asking whether
they wished us to fill the orders
or
cancel them.
The replies,. 'without
exception
said ship the
goods
as soon as possible,
and several of them took occasion to remind us that the goods werc bought
at the old
prices and must be delivercd
without
change in figures.
"It is evident that most of the dealers are .vell stocked.
I do not think that any of them are overstocked.
If shipping facilities
improve
so that last year's crops can b(~ marketed, all dealers will have a good spring trade and will \vant
to buy heavier
than ever in the summer
sea~on.
"This car shortage
has had a worse
effect on business
than is generally
realized.
Ii has not only bothered
the
manufacturers
in getting lumber and other ~urp'jjes,
but has
hurt the relail trade in all lines.
It is not over yet and I
don't know when it will be.
I had a letter from a lumherman
on the PacifiC coast-V\iashington-this
week stating
that it
is worse
than ever out there.
The writer
tells of a mill
owner, who has $180,000 worth of lumber on hand that should
have been shipped
weeks or months
ago and that mill is a
small affair in the interior,
not one of the big concerns.
"I don't know just how the car famine can be· relieved.
It is true that the business of the country has increased
much
more rapidly
than the railroad
facilities
but that does not
account for the whole of the shortage.
Much of the trouble
is due to carelessness
or bad management
of the railroads.
The shippers
may he responsible
for a part of it, but most of
it can he charged
lo the railroad
managers.
"T t is not more lines of road or more cars that are needed
so much as more engines and more tracks so that the cars
can be kept moving.
Every
through
line in the country
should be double-tracked
and their terminal
facilities
should
be enlarged.
"I think the reciprocal
demurrage
laws that are being
enacted in se\"eral sta.tes will help the situation
considerably.
STAR CASTER CUP CO.
NORTH
UNiON
STRt"ET.
GRAND
(PATEi"T APt'Lnm
RAPIDS,
MICH.
FOR)
We have adoptl'!d celluloid as a base fot OUt Caster Cups. making the
best CUD0" the market. Celluloid is a great improvement over bases
made ('.If other material.
''''ben it is necessary to move a piece supported
oy caps with celJuk.id oases jt call he dOlle wilh ease, as the bases areperfectly smooth. Celluloid does not sweat. and by the use of Ihelle cup
tabl~s are never marren.
These cups are finished in Goldl"n Oak and
'White Maple. finished light. If you will try IIIsample order oj theBe
goods you will desire to hall.dte them in quantities.
PRICES; Size 21{ inchl"S
Size 27£ inches
f. o.
b.
Grand RapidB.
TRY
·$5,50 pel" hu.ndred.
4.50 P6r hundred.
A SAMPLE
OR])ER.
They will not only calise the rai1roads to make greater efforts
to move cars promptly,
but, by calling'attention
to the matter
will lead shippers
to load and unload without waste of time."
A Desirable Position.
The Boss-\\ihat
do you want?
Applicant-T
came to inquire if you were in want
assistant.
Boss-Very
sorry;
I do all the work myself.
Applicant-Ah,
that would just suit mc.-Hapgood's
portunities.
of an
Op-
L_
39
Miscellaneous
Notes.
Albert Owens, of Atlanta, Ga., has brought action in
the sum of $5,000 agaillst the Southern Spring Bed Company, Atlanta, Ga., alleging he lost a finger in the machinery.
His mother also sues for $2,000.
The 1Iarietta Chair COl'npany, Marietta, Ohio, recently
completed arrangements
by which five thousand acres of
timber land, located back of Nev\' 1Iartinsvillc,
\V. Va.,
'vere transferred
to the Hood Lumber Company, \\ibccling,
\V. Va., for a consideration of $50,000.
N. P. Angle is president, James /\. A[artin vice president and n. L. Angle secretary-treasurer
of the Bald Knob
Furniture
Company, Rocky :'ITount, Va., which bas becn incorporated with a capiUd stock of $50,000.
The exhibit of furniture and upholstering at the Jamestown Exposition
will be of all educational as well as industrial char;\cter and to display it eight or ten rooms will
be rcquircd.
These exhibits will cover a period of 300
years" beginning from the Elizabethan
reign and will show
the different kinds of furniture and decorations
that have
becn used at every period since that date.
Caster Cups Are a Necessity.
No furniture store is well equipped without a supply of
caster cups, The logical cup is the one that prevents the
table from slipping around in it and docs not mar the table
face. The Cline caster cup is one of the few successful
devices of this kind. It is made in two sizes and three fin-
Crib G From the Large Line of the Hard Mfg. Co,. Buffalo. N, y,
The copartnership
carried under style of Harvey Furniture Company, Knoxville, Tenn., has been dissolved by
mutual, consent, \\/. L. I-Tall and L. "\1. Hav ...
·kins retiring.
Charles K Harvey VI/illcontinue tlle business.
J. F. Gage & Co., dQalcrs in office furniture, Sixth and
Hennepin
streets, l\iill11eapolis, have incorporated
as the
J. F. Gage Compan:y. The capita! stock is $:;O,O{)(), and the
incorporators
arc John F. Gage, Justin C. ?vfarshall and
Oscar V. Rmvnd.
Tbe old chair manufacturing
firm of P. Derhy & Co.,
Gardner. "\Jass., with vvareroOhlS in Boston and Xcw York,
has been incorporated according to the la",vs of ~Iaine. The
capital stock is $500,000, and J. \V. Hawcs, of Kittery, 1fe.,
is president and clerk, and I-T. P. Knowlton,
of Malden,
}Iass., is treasllroc.
Four Knoxville, Tenn., furniture manufacturers
afe preparlng to exhibit their goods, made in Knoxviik,
at tbe
furniture exhibitions that \vill be held in Chicago and ~\re....
\'
York in Jury. They arc the Proctor Purniture
Company,
Knoxville Table & Chair Company, thc Vestal Lumher
&
IVfanufacttlrillg Company, ;ClOd the Cumherland
Furniture
:Manufacturing Company.
THE HA.WKEY& KITCHEN
CABINET
Original features. Desi~n, finish and cabinet worll::the best on earth, Prices
range from $3.25 to $60.00. Exclusive sale given. Sold to dealers onI",
Price is a good salesman. Quality is a better one. We have them both
Catalogue
on application.
Union Furniture Co.• BURLINGTON, IOWA:
ishcs :-rosewood,
mahogany and oak,-with
a special prepared felt or cork bottom which effectually prevents scratching or sweating marks. The Cline dedce is used extensively and has been taken up by the furniture and department
stores of Chicago. The Revell Company uses the Cline cup
exclusively.
The prices range from $3.50 per hundred to
$-1-.50per hundred and perfect satisfaction
is guaranteed,
Another article manufactured
by the Cline ).1anufacturing
Company, is' their card holder for price cards. The Chicago
address is L~39 ,Vabash avenue.
Furniture Fires.
Brovo.'n & Durham, .New Haven, Ct., Loss, $3,000.
Antoine & Kent, Urbana, 0., Factory No.1, destroyed.
Shelbyville (Ind.) Desk Company.
Drying room; damage, Sl,500.
'\·'ainscott
Furniture
Company,
Xevada,
110. Loss,
$:2,800.
George 1\1. }Iustard,
1{cCune, Kan. Stor~ completely
destroyed.
W. D Cox & Son, Elsmore, Kan. Store destroyed.
l3. F. Locbvood
& Co., Alliance, Neb.
Slight1y damaged.
DuBois & Davidson, Los Angeles, Cal. Loss, $18,000.
Findlay & Speer, School Lake, Man. Loss, $15,000,
L
40
Prevents Loss of Temper.
One of the most annoying and exasperating little thing"
in everyday life is to find something loose that ought to be
tight and fast.
Among the little things that frequently
cause such vcxatious annoyances arc knobs or drawer pulls
used on furniture.
The old style knobs, in fact all of the
ordinary drawer pulls are notorious for dropping off or
A Specialty for the Office.
The B. L, Marble Chair Co., manufacturers of fine office
upholstered, flag and wood seat chairs and rockers, in Bedford,
Ohio, is a very enterprising corporation, noted fOT their enterprise in introducing new features in chair construction of medium and high grade. The company have recently brought out
an office cha.ir, an illustration of which is shown in this connection, to match the heavy square line effects now so popular with
manufacturers and mieTS of high grade desks. The lines of this
chair are designer! to carry out the heavy effects so generally
being found loose. There is a kind, however, which instead
of being a nuisance really prevents much loss of temper.
This article is the invention of Daniel W. Tower of the
Grand Rapids (Mich.) Brass Company.
It is called the
"No-Kum-Loose"
drawer pull. It is furnished to manufacturers at remarkably little cost and does not add to the price
of the furniture.
Any dealer may have his stock equipped
with the "1\ o-Kum-Loose"
puBs by simply making his preference known when ordering goods.
seen in office desks, and its use furnishes a very pleasing contribution to furniture for banks, corporations and public institutions.The very best of material is used in the construction of
this chair, and every detail is worked out minutely. Since its
introduction this chair has sold very rapidly, at times the company being pressed to fill orders. Kat only this chair, but every
piece in the entire line of the R L. Marble Chair Company deserves the attention of buyers of furniture throughout the
United State".
WANTED-Wood
Seat Cutter.
Experienced man to take contract for finishing wood seats
after they come from seat cutting machine.
Excellent
chance to make good wages.
High grade work only.
It
would also require at least two helpers.
Please address I·X.
X.," care of Michigan Artisan at once, stating experience.
1-25-2t
Pittsburg and Sandusky Furniture Fires.
Fire, supposed to have been started by crossed electric
wires completely ruined the Derby Desk Company's buildon Liberty street, Pittsburg,
Fa., on :Monday, February
25th. The building occupied by the Baker Office Furniture
Company at 817 Liberty street was also destroyed,
and
several adjoining structures were more or less damaged.
On the same day and almost at the same hour an explosion of gas that had accumulatcd
in, the basement
wrecked the Bittner building in Sandusky, Ohio. The ex·
plosion was followed by fire, complete1y destroying
the
building with the stock of furniture owned by Dilgart &
Bittner, retail dealers, whosc loss was estimated at $30,000.
Eldridge & Peabody, of Boston, whose Tremont
stores were recently hurned, are occupying temporary
ters at 47 and 49 Summer street.
street
quar-
INDEX TO ADVERTISEMENTS.
American -Pharmacal Co
A'laska Refrigerator Co
31
22
Barnes. W. F. & John Co
29
Bennett, Chas., Furn. Co
, , .. 30
Belding-Hall Mfg. Co
1
Berry Brothers
12Bockstege Furniture
Co
,24
Bosse Furniture Co
25
Buchanan Cabinet Co .. ,...
9
Challenge Refrigerator
Co
,
15
Chicago Wood Finishing Co
3
Cline, L, Mfg. Co
15
Evansville Desk Co
25
Evansville Metal Bed Co
,
25
Fisher, Chas. A., & Co.,
,
27
Ford & Johnson Co
, .. 7
Globe Furniture Co
,24
Grand Rapids Caster Cup Co .. 22-23
Grand Rapids Upholstering Co, .Inset
Hard Mfg. Co
_
23
Hassler, Owen C., Co..
. .10
Hoffman Bros., Co..
.
37
Horn Bros. Mfg. Co..........
. .26
Hotel Pantlind
,
15
Interstate Hotel Co
_
33
Invincible Table Fastener Co
" 9
Jamestown Lounge Co
, Cover
Johnson Chair Co
,
Inset
Karges Furniture
Co
,
24
Kauffman Mfg. Co
15
Lentz Table Co
"
13
Luce Furniture
Co . , . . . . . . . . . .
9
Marble Chair Co .. ,
Cover
Miller, Eli D., & Co
, .25
Montgomery, H.
33
Moon Desk Co
"., .. 26
Morton House
,,.,
15
Murphy Chair Co
,
37
M uskegon Valley Furn. Co
26
Nelson-Matter
Furn. Co
Cover
Northern Furniture Co............
2
Palmer Mfg., Co
,
36
Parthier, F
,13
Peabody School Furn. Co
31
Pioneer Mfg., Co
36
Posselius Bros. Furn. Mfg. Co. Cover
J.,
""
Ranney Refrigerator Co
, .. Inset
Richmond Chair Co,.,
·.38
Robbins Table -C<L
"
35
Rockford Chair & Furn. Co
35
Royal Chair Co
, .. ' .. 32
Rock Island-Frisco Route
31
Safety Folding Bed Co
21
Sargent Mfg. Co .. ,
,
26
Schmit, Henry. & Co
,
30
Schmoe, C. F.• & Co
21
Sheboygan Chair Co
,
13
Sheboygan Novelty Co
18
Shelbyville Desk Co
11
Sligh Furniture Co .. "............
7
Smith & Davis Mfg. Co
;
29
Spratt, George, & Co
21
Star Caster Cup Co
,
38
Stow & Davis Furniture Co
15
Union Furniture Co (Burlington),. 39
Union Furn. Co. (Rockford)
31
White-McCarthy
Furn. Co
Cover
White Printing Co
23-37
Willis. W. A., Furn. & Carpet Co .. 5
Woodard Furn. Co
, .. ,
31
_.
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At 1319 Michigan Ave., Chicago
T H I RD
P L 0 0 R.
WHITE-McCARTHY FURNITURE CO.
S HOW
THE
OHERBECK
WHITE
F 0 L L 0 W,I N G
L INE S :
BROS. MFG. COMPANY,
Chamber Furniture in fancy woods.
FURNITURE
STANDARD
COMPANY,
Bedroom Furniture
in Oak.
FURNITURE
COMPANY,
Box Seat Diners and Rockers.
NA TIONAL
CARRIAGE
& REED CO.,
Go-carts, Baby Carriages and Reed Furniture.
HILLSBORO
CHAIR
GREENSBORO
MODERN
TABLE
FURNITURE
COMPANY,
Cheap Dining
Chairs.
COMPANY,
Pedestal Extension
Tables.
COMPANY,
Hall
Furniture.
UNEQUALED VALUES. SMART DESIGNS.
UP-TO-DATE GOODS.
At 1319 Michigan Ave., Chicago
•
THIRD
PLOOR.
GRAND RAPIDS