THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
257 
DEAL DIRECT—THE CATALOGUE WAY 
Address by IF. J. Maloney, Dansville, N. Y., before 
the Detroit Convention, June 23-25th, 1915. 
I assure you it is rather embarassing to come out here 
and tell you something about the catalogue game after 
going through a spring such as 1 feel most of us exper¬ 
ienced the past season, for T am convinced a whole lot of 
business disappeared, and I wonder if it didn’t go to the 
same place the Jew told Hilly Sunday about, ll appears 
Billy Sunday was conducting a meeting in Philadelphia. 
After putting over one of his powerful sermons, he called 
upon all those who wanted to go to Heaven, to arise and 
those who wanted to go to Hell, to remain seated. To his 
and others astonishment, one man, a Jew remained seated, 
Mr. Sunday asked him why he wanted to go to Hell. He 
said. "1 just came from New York, and they tell me over 
there, business is going to Hell.” For a time this spring 
I felt he was correctly informed. 
That the mail order business is growing rapidly and 
becoming a factor in the mercantile world, is a statement 
which admits of no contradiction. It is a self evident 
fact. Sooner or later the agent must recognize the more 
economical method of distributing, provid'd by the re¬ 
liable catalogue house. 
In pioneer days the agent was undoubtedly a great con¬ 
venience, but advancing civilization has provided better 
and cheaper ways of getting goods to us, which the agent 
must learn eventually to acknowledge as superior to his 
more expensive system. 
Any improved method or system that eliminates loss or 
effects a saving to the people, whether individually or 
collectively, is a benefit to the community and country. 
As civilization advances, new and better methods are con¬ 
stantly replacing old ones. Manufacturers have been 
quick to adopt the improvements our inventors have pro¬ 
vided, hence it remains for the public at large to follow 
the example of the manufacturers and avail itself of the 
modern and economical method of distribution. 
Years ago before the establishment of mail order 
houses, and before the making of catalogues had ap¬ 
proached as near perfection as it has today, people pre¬ 
dicted failure for those who attempted to sell direct to the 
consumer. Nevertheless, it has been demonstrated that 
it can be successfully done and it may be truly said it is 
the improved method of selling goods. The first large 
catalogue house was established in 1872 in a loft over a 
livery stable in the city of Chicago and has been doing a 
very successful business since. 
The farmer, the man living in distant villages, yes the 
professional man in the busy Metropolis can sit down by 
liis fire side and make selections at his leisure. The beau¬ 
tifully illustrated, descriptive catalogues make it an ex¬ 
treme pleasure, for his family can assist in choosing the 
varieties most desirable for the garden and orchard, and 
have his goods delivered either by freight, express or the 
recently adopted system of Parcel Post. There is not a 
hamlet in the United States which is not reached by one 
of these systems. In fact the catalogue has revolutionized 
general merchandising. 
How < wer, if you are going to succeed in the catalogin' 
business, remember this—you must treat the customei 
who lives in a remote part of the country and whom you 
never saw, just the same as a customer living in tin* same 
community with you—deliver the quality advertised, 
and render the service promised. So many of our people 
make the serious mistake of neglecting the customer. You 
will make oil kinds ol concessions, special offers, pre¬ 
mium offers and so forth to the prospect, and for the first 
order, undoubtedly send him best selected stock, after¬ 
wards anything will do. Give him at least the same 
quality and service as you did on the initiatory order. 
You must do this to retain his patronage, which you need 
if you are going to be successful, for no business could 
last if it has to depend on new customers each season, 
therefore, make no statements which you cannot put over, 
give quality and service, thereby building up your bus¬ 
iness to a high standard of efficiency. 
In my estimation, it is unfortunate that too many be¬ 
ginners in tin; catalogue business, start after the vol¬ 
ume on a small margin of profit, and think it can be ac¬ 
complished in the nursery business, same as those en¬ 
gaged in handling other lines of merchandise. They fail 
to take into consideration that their responsibility ends 
when goods arrive and are accepted. Ours actually just 
starts and continues until the trees come into fruiting, 
then possibly be advised by your patron that some of tin 1 
trees are not true to name, which will take tin' profit on 
that particular sale and several others to adjust his loss 
All of you who have been established anv length of 
time, have these rather perplexing experiences to contend 
with. Furthermore, ours is a perishable line, for wo en¬ 
counter many vicissitudes, frost, hail, floods, poor union 
of buds, and so forth. All these should lie taken into 
consideration and make your price to cover. 
I want to say to you catalogue men. we fellows at 
Dansville adopted the volume idea, however, we found 
it must necessarily be eliminated. We believe the gen¬ 
eral public should be taken into consideration, but that 
does not call for the sale of trees at such exceedingly 
low prices, as prevailing throughout the United States 
this spring. 
It is said many of our brother nurserymen engaged in 
the agency business, are prejudiced and antagonistic to 
the mail order houses. If so. is it simply because we si'll 
direct by mail to the consumer and are doing a legiti¬ 
mate business, or because of cut rate prices? 1 think the 
latter. If the former I personally cannot conceive why 
this should be, as the field affords plenty of opportunity 
for all. Through the catalogue we reach the intelligent 
farmer and the dweller in small towns and hamlets, that 
the agent does not frequent. 
However, as I stated before, he who thinks it possible 
to sell at greatly reduced prices and do business on a nar¬ 
row margin of profit, simply because he has eliminated 
the middleman, predicts failure for himself, as there are 
many over head expenses which we must not lose sight 
of. 
If you are going to secure your portion ot patronage 
from the best planters, you must have an attractive cata¬ 
logue which is expensive. Low price does not neces¬ 
sarily mean more orders, but on the contrary, fewer or¬ 
ders and a smaller profit at the end ot the season. Low 
prices drive away trade they are afraid your qualitv 
will also be low. The American people demand a good 
article, and are w illing to pay reasonable prices. 
