1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



397 



Our Homes. 



Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.— Matt. 

 20:28. 



Tliou liast been faithful over a few tiling's; I will 

 malie tliee ruler over many things.— Matt. ™'5:31. 



Perhaps I should apologize for using these 

 old, old texts over again; but the only excuse I 

 shall offer now is that it seems to me there is 

 still a vast unexplored region of not only joy, 

 peace, and happiness, but prosperity, in this 

 line of taking up the duties of a servant— yes, 

 waiting on others instead of waiting for some- 

 body to wait on you. 



One special department of our business just 

 now has been delegated to me because I begged 

 to have that department. I refer to the col- 

 lection department, or looking after people who 

 do not pay or who can not do so; and I have 

 succeeded excellently in at least one line of this 

 work. I have induced people to write and tell 

 me their circumsiances; and when the book- 

 keepers have declared that these people would 

 not answer a word, not even if we inclosed an 

 addressed postal card to them, I have succeeded 

 in getting replies. In studying the case I often 

 say, " Bring me the last letter you can from 

 this person;" and from this one letter— from 

 even a brief scrap of the person's handwriting 

 — I often gather the circtimstances and an idea 

 of the character of the person ; or. if you choose, 

 I become a little acquainted with them. Oh 

 what a grand thing it is in this world of ours 

 to become acquainted with our neighbors! I 

 finally get good letters telling all about the 

 home, the wife, and the dear children; and 

 oftentimes, where there have been hard and 

 unpleasant feelings toward The A. I. Root Co., 

 very kind and pleasant relations have been 

 established. Well, in these letters telling about 

 the homes where the readers of Gleanings 

 live I have heard of much disappointment. I 

 have heard of failure of crops; 1 have heard of 

 undertakings and new kinds of business that 

 have turned out badly. Some of these enter- 

 prises have brought the good friends deeper 

 into debt instead of getting them out of it. 

 And now I want to tell you of one reason why 

 people fail In business — in any kind of business, 

 if you choose, because the failure is in the line 

 of our text. 



You may say, " Mr. Root, it is not because we 

 do not work hard enough here at our home, for 

 we are already overworhcd, every one of us." 

 But it is not because you do not work enough. 

 Let me give you some illustrations. A few 

 days ago I saw a farmer standing on the walk 

 in front of our store. His wife was sitting in 

 the wagon. I saw they were worried about 

 something, and so I pleasantly asked them 

 about it. The man said: 

 " Mr. Root, where is your warehouse ? " 

 " Why. we have several warehouses. Why do 

 you ask?" 



" I want the one where you keep your poultry- 

 netting. We have been waiting here a long 

 while for one of your men to bring some netting 

 from the warehouse; and if I knew where it 

 was I would go down and get the netting my- 

 self, for I must get off home." 



I went into the store and made inquiries, and 

 found that nobody had gone to the warehouse 

 for his netting. The clerk who took his order 

 asked another clerk to go and bring the desired 

 width and quality. But clerk No. 2 was busy 

 with somebodv else, and didn't go. and suppos- 

 ed that clerk No. 1 went for it. Meanwhile the 

 man was walking up and down in front of the 

 store, waiting. His team was standing idle 

 during a beautiful April day; and the good 



wife— nobody knows the circumstances that 

 made it needful site should be at home. Let me 

 digress a little. 



During the present spring our people have 

 sent out a great number of price lists of house- 

 hold conveniences — something like three or four 

 thousand in our county alone. The postage on 

 them was thirty or forty dollars. I made ob- 

 jection when I knew of the project; but I was 

 told there were lots of people in our county who 

 did not know what goods we keep, and espe- 

 cially did not know how low we offer to sell 

 things. If I did not do so, I felt like suggesting 

 that we should spend more brains and muscle 

 in waiting on people better when they come to 

 us. and in this way advertise our business 

 rather than to have so many printed catalogs 

 that cost so much money. I wonder if this 

 suggestion fits any of the readers of Gleanings. 

 Dear friends, I have had quite a little experi- 

 ence In different kinds of business. I have seen 

 men succeed, and I have seen them fail; and I 

 do believe a great part of the failures have 

 been because the owners of the business did not 

 take care of the trade when it came to them. I 

 have known quite a good many who have spent 

 time and money — yes, and brains — on elaborate 

 and carefully prepared circulars, and then I 

 have known them to lose the trade just because 

 their customers were not promptly and care- 

 fully waited on when they came in answer to 

 these printed invitations. My opinion is, that 

 here at our place of business customers get bet- 

 ter care where they send their orders by mail 

 than where they come in nerson — at least, that 

 is many times the case. Our force of clerks is 

 better organized for office work than it is for 

 the customer who comes in person. It is hard 

 and fatiguing work to wait on customers per- 

 sonally, especially where there are as many 

 departments as we have in our business; but 

 yet it is the personal work that builds up busi- 

 ness and that saves souls. You may suggest 

 to me something like this: 



"Mr. Root, don't be hard on your clerks. 

 The case you mention was a misunderstanding. 

 It proljably does not happen often." 



Well, this may be true; but it does happen 

 too often in our business, and in the same way 

 In everv other place of business. I once came 

 up behind a customer when he did not know I 

 was around. He was saving something like 

 this: 



" These people here sell goods low, it is true; 

 but I have a good many times thought I would 

 never come here to trade again in the world, 

 for it actually costs about as much as a thing is 

 worth to set somebody to find what you want 

 and tell you the price of it." 



And this reminds me, after I succeeded in 

 getting the man's wire netting from the ware- 

 house, and putting it in his wagon, the clerk 

 who brought it did not know what the price 

 was, and more delay was caused because we 

 had to hunt for somebody who did know. Per- 

 haps I should say there is at present a tremen- 

 dous demand for poultry-netting. The different 

 widths, the different sizes of mesh and wire, 

 make many complications; then we have rem- 

 nants which we oPer at special low prices; 

 and, aeain. the stock takes up so much room 

 that it has to be kept away from the store in a 

 separate building. Somebody who has had ex- 

 perience in mercantile business may say we 

 have not competent men in our retail store, 

 and that perhaps we do not pay wages enough 

 to get a good man. This may be true; and if 

 you will all agree not to tell anybody I will say 

 to you confidentially that we are almost all the 

 while wanting better men and better women (we 

 have a few of them, but we need more) In every 

 department in our establishment. Now, do not 



