130 COMMERCE AND EXCHANGE 



from that of agricultural implements. The general buying public 

 has recently become familiar with retail establishments owned by 

 manufacturers and which are stores in the usual meaning of the 

 term. They are not as yet very numerous, and their establishment 

 is not stimulated by any of the advantages which we have just con- 

 sidered. They are not practicable except for goods which can be 

 successfully sold by themselves in specialty stores (that is, they 

 are impossible for articles like sugar or saws), and in this fact of 

 depending upon specialty sale they meet their strongest check, for 

 the prevailing tendency which has originated among retailers is 

 integrating in its nature and is expressed in the department store. 

 Furthermore, a system of retail stores operated by a manufacturer 

 cuts him off from distribution through independent dealers, for the 

 dealer will not buy of his rival in trade. There are arguments, how- 

 ever, w r hich have apparently been deemed convincing to many manu- 

 facturers. A chain of stores absorbing the output of a factory 

 affords an independent outlet entirely free from the control of jobber 

 or retail dealer. The maker also, by coming into direct contact 

 with the customer through his agencies, has the benefit of the direct 

 criticism of the user. He can from week to week follow the changes 

 in demand as they affect styles. He can to some degree avoid the 

 intensity of rush seasons and the idleness of dull ones in his factory 

 by supplying his stores evenly throughout the season. The domi- 

 nant argument in most cases is, however, undoubtedly the fact 

 that it is only through the ownership of retail stores that the full 

 profit of an extensive advertising campaign can be realized by the 

 manufacturer. By means of retail stores he takes all of the highest 

 retail price which the force of his advertising will induce the cus- 

 tomers to pay. The stores themselves also are an advertisement. 

 The independent dealer always wants his own name over the door. 

 The manufacturer's store exerts its entire force as an harmonious 

 element in the general scheme of publicity which is being followed. 

 This principle, which makes the store one means of realizing the 

 profit out of the modern gigantic campaigns of advertising, helps to 

 account for the shoe-stores of Douglas and Means, the forty-five 

 of Bliss & Co., and the twelve Crawford Shoe stores. It applies to 

 the Knox Hat stores. Together with the desire to intrench a mono- 

 poly, it explains the policy of the American Tobacco Company in 

 effecting distribution through the United Cigar-Stores Company and 

 other firms. 



It is w r orthy of notice that there is a tendency at work which in the 

 near future may lead to an increase in the number of stores owned 

 by manufacturers or combinations of them. This is connected with 

 the growth of advertising. When a few manufacturers only are 

 conducting strong advertising campaigns they are conspicuous be- 



