278 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 1. 



to our orders, and delivered to friend D. along 

 while before his last letter was written, and 

 our book-keeper then decided to give up the 

 43 cents advanced, and let it go, and pronounc- 

 ed our customer a bad man. The matter nev- 

 er came to me, for the transaction was so small 

 that it was not considered worth while. Friend 

 D. never replied, admitting that he had receiv- 

 ed the goods, nor did he ever send us the 43 

 cents. The book-keeper decided that D. was 

 trying to get pay for the goods after he had 

 received them. The railroad company made 

 some sort of report — at least the book-keeper 

 thinks so*— that by some means he got the 

 goods without signing a receipt for them; and 

 the book-keeper thinks friend D. felt vexed 

 because the railroad company had delayed 

 them so long, and was going to try to get the 

 said company to pay him for them, even while 

 he had them in his possession. Now, I do not 

 believe this can be true. The letters sound 

 honest and straight ; but at this late date it 

 may be a hard matter to get at the real facts 

 in the case. We will now let the above rest 

 for the present. When the letter below reach- 

 ed us, as the cash was inclosed it did not come 

 to the book-keeper at all : 



Gentlemen :— Please find inclosed my check for 810.50, 

 for which please ship me by freight two bushels of 

 alsike clover seed. Send bill of freight, and I will 

 remit it to you in stamps. Please ship as soon as pos- 

 sible; also please quote me your wholesale prices on 

 5 to 10 rolls 48-inch 2-inch-mesh poultry-netting. 



Feb. 28, 1899. T. D. 



As the above order was for alsike clover it 

 came into my department, and in the spring 

 of the year all ol my helpers have strict orders 

 to rush clover seed, for it is exceedingly im- 

 portant that it be put into the ground at just 

 the right time. But no one noticed that it 

 was from the man who owed us the 43 cents 

 for freight prepaid last year ; but when they 

 applied to the bookkeeper for the money to 

 prepay the freight so the seed could go on, he 

 replied at once to the effect that we had ad- 

 vanced money to that man about a year before, 

 which he never paid ; and I do not know but 

 he smiled a little bit when he put the two items 

 together and informed our friend and custom- 

 er, that, on receipt cf 72 cents, covering both 

 items, the seed would go on. Permit me to 

 say here that I knew nothing of this transac- 

 tion whatever. If it had come to my notice I 

 would have said, " Why, this man has sent us 



* Please do not think, dear friends, that I am put- 

 ting any blame on our book-keeper. The head book- 

 keeper "occupies a very important place, and I think 

 most business men would prefer to have their book- 

 keeper err a little in being over-careful rather than 

 being too loose in the matter of handing over hard 

 cash. When we sell goods there is supposed to be 

 some profit to pay for the expense of keeping books, 

 paying for postage-stamps, etc.: but where we take 

 cash right out of the drawer, simply to do somebody a 

 kindness, and ask him to please return promptly just 

 the amount we have advanced, there is no sort of 

 profit anywhere. We neglect our own business, give 

 ■ iur time, and if the friend who has been accommodat- 

 ed does not respond promptly, we waste postage- 

 stamps also. I suppose more or less of this kind of 

 work has to be done; but a good book-keeper doesn't 

 often get caught the second tune in that way. If the 

 proprietor decides to throw away some cash just be- 

 cause he wishes to help a customer get his clover seed 

 in the ground in proper time it is all right; but the 

 book-keeper is not expected to take such responsibil- 

 ity. 



$10.50 in cash, and it is very important that 

 the seed be rushed through as he directs. We 

 certainly can not think of stopping a ship- 

 ment worth $10.50 for the paltry sum of 29 

 cents. "* But I did not see it, and so the mat- 

 ter went along, and the letter inclosing the 72 

 cents came very promptly, you ma}' be sure, 

 and here is what came with it : 



Gentlemen: — Inclosed please find 72 cts., balance due 

 you on freight on wire netting and alike clover seed. 

 Please ship the seed as soon as possible. By the tone 

 of your letter you think, I guess, that I am not a man 

 of my word, and that you are afraid to trust me to the 

 freight. I can buy more goods on time than A. I. Root 

 is worth, if I want them; and as you act so little about 

 such a small sum of 72 cts., I don't think A. I. Root 

 has any more religion than a cow has : and this will 

 be my last order to you while I live. I had intended 

 to remit to you freight on netting and clover seed as 

 soon as I got a fi eight bill; but it is all right. You can 

 ascertain my standing by writing to the list cf ref- 

 erences I gave you. T. D. 



March 8, 1899. 



The above letter came directly to me. In 

 fact, the lady who opens the letters makes it a 

 practice, by my express desire, that any thing 

 reflecting severely on myself or on the stand- 

 ing of our company, shall be submitted to me 

 at once if I am around. The first thing we 

 did was to direct the connecting railroad line, 

 where the seed was stopped, to start it going 

 as soon as possible. Then I wrote as follows : 



Friend D.: — Yours of March 8 was answered by Mr. 

 Calvert yesterday, and then referred to me. The stop- 

 ping of your goods for the small amount demanded by 

 the railroad company before they would ship any fur- 

 ther was entirely in the hands of the book-keeper. I 

 knew nothing about it at the time or I might have 

 done differently. The book-keeper declined to open 

 any further account with you because he had not suc- 

 ceeded in getting the small balance that we advanced 

 last summer under similar circumstances. Further- 

 more, I find you wrote three or more letters complain- 

 ing that you had not received wire netting, one ot them 

 dated as 'late as Aug. 1 last season. The book-keeper 

 says that the railroad company shows the goods had 

 been delivered you long before that date. Now, I am 

 sure there is a" mistake or misunderstanding some- 

 where I do not believe you would keep writing us, 

 " Goods have not come to hand " if you had received 

 (lain; but you have never made any explanati >n of 

 this matter, and never paid the small sum we advanc- 

 ed. You may be aware, perhaps, that we have lost 

 quite a little by advancing similar sums in order to get 

 goods to destination. I can not find by the correspon- 

 dence that you ever agreed to pay this money we ad- 

 vanced as a kindness to you. We are not responsible 

 for delays on the part of the railroad companies nor 

 for loss'cf goods. Again, when you made the order 

 this year you did not say a word about that little bal- 

 ance lemainiug unpaid. Had I known ot it, knowing; 

 that your two bu-hels of clover seed ought to be in 

 the ground, I would have paid the money out of my 

 own pocket rather than to annoy you in this way; but 

 you certainly can not blame our book-keeper very 

 much under the circumstances. Now friend D., I 

 am not going to talk hard to you, even though 1 do 

 think you are greatly to blame, and I am very sorry 



* I pre-ume our readers are already < ware that we 

 guarantee f. eight on everything e ship by freight 

 or express. The railroad company, knowing we are 

 responsible, u ually push things along to their desti- 

 nation without delay ; but these prepaid s ations sec m 

 to be an exception. In the letter dated Feb. 28, 1899, 

 T. D. says, " 1 have no agent at our station." If there 

 wi re ;i n agent t here, of course he could hold the goods 

 until the back charges were paid. All through Flori- 

 da, and in many new regions of the country, the rail- 

 road companies frequently, for the sake of accommo- 

 dation, drop freight almost anywhere out in the coun- 

 trv, the only condition bei g that the charges be fully 

 p epaid, for a train of cars can not stand still waiting 

 for somebody to make change, even if he were on the 

 spot when the train arrives. I make this explanation 

 in order that some of our friends may have more char- 

 ity for the railroad companies. 



