out invitations to people of good standing to open charge accounts with them. These invitations read: "Your standing in your community is well known to us, you needn't send references, send us an order, we want you on our charge account, etc. Emphasize your prompt delivery, guaranty, money back if not satisfied, opportunity to see the goods before buying, etc. All these arguments will appeal to a customer, because it will show him that you really want his trade, because you are making such an effort to get it.

People should have civic pride and loyalty enough to leave their money with the merchants of their own town, to spend their money where they earn it, but they haven't, and as a rate of one-half a cent on a bushel of grain will divert its route from the western wheat fields to the sea, so a few cents discount on an article will divert the trade from your local community to the big Chicago mail-order houses. This question is so big, that the Boards of Trade, Chambers of Commerce, and Merchants' Associations are taking it up and trying to cope with it in a co-operative manner.

WHY TRADE LEAVES HOME.-At these meetings some of the reasons given why trade leaves home are: Because of the natural obstinacy of some people-because of the thoughtlessness of some, who do not stop to consider that they are disloyal to their home town-because the local trade is not properly taken care of-because the home merchants do not make proper effort to meet the demands of the community, therefore the people become dissatisfied and look elsewhere to buy their goods.

The writer recently attended a meeting of merchants to discuss the latter cause, and the thought seemed to strike home to them that perhaps they had neglected their opportunities for keeping the money in town.

TRADE AT HOME CAMPAIGN.-A strong "trade at home" campaign was suggested. Some opposed it on the ground that if the mail-order houses were mentioned it would advertise them and influence people to send them a trial order who had never traded with them before. It was suggested that

the merchants unite and send out circular letters asking for criticisms of the merchants' stores, their service and prices. This scheme was tried in a city in New York State; many replies were received criticising the stores, the town, and the prices. Several frankly admitted that they were wedded to the mail-order houses, and any propositions from the local merchants would not appeal to them.

While many people would be loyal to their local community if it is pointed out to them in the right way, and their civic pride aroused, yet they have a strong affinity for their pocket book, and if an outsider can appeal strongly enough to that, the civic pride barrier is overcome. While the theory is "that every man owes something to the community in which he lives and works," the more popular interpretation of it is "that the community owes something to every man in it." People like to believe, nowadays, that if the mail-order houses think that their patronage is worth soliciting, the local merchants should think so, too. Do what individual soliciting you can, then co-operate with the local merchants.

Many claim that the merchant who keeps his store up, has reasonable prices, good store service, has nothing to fear from mail-order houses. Of course they are less affected than those who have dirty, dingy stores, yet the writer has stood in the lobby of the post-office and watched people drop letters in the letter slot carrying orders to Chicago mail-order houses as the printed addressed envelopes showed. Evidently these people were more attracted by the mail-order houses' offers than the clean inviting stores of the local merchants. One of the post-office clerks told the writer it was surprising how many money orders they sold to local people to send to the Chicago mail-order houses. He also said that the Government keeps a branch of the Post-Office Department in a Chicago mail-order house, the employees of this branch being paid by the Government.

Do not use prize-ring methods to fight mail-order competition. Use business methods. That is just what the mail

order houses use, and they know how to apply them. Their advertising and salesmanship is about as scientific as you can find anywhere. You can compile a list of people who trade with mail-order houses-whom you think do so. Cut some wellknown article way down, then boom it. That is about the general plan of mail-order houses. Then follow it up with strong arguments of the advantages of trading at your store. The co-operative merchants' campaign which you should join will probably consist of improving general merchandise conditions in the town. Better window displays, lower prices on such general goods as the local people buy of mail-order houses, better roads leading to the city, better transportation facilities, lower express rates, better telephone service, public comfort stations, rest rooms for women and children, dry shelter for farmers' automobiles and teams. These are all important factors in a campaign to keep trade at home. Such a campaign, together with the improvement of each individual merchant's store, ought to bring about the desired result.

CHAPTER XLVII.

BUILDING UP A HOLIDAY BUSINESS.

A GREAT deal more money is spent at holiday time than at any other time of the year. Why shouldn't you, as a pharmacist, bid for your share of it? It is worth trying for, but to succeed you must go after it in the right way. You must use success methods and that is what this article will explain. First of all your whole Christmas campaign must be mapped out in advance. Spend the last two weeks in October in working out a plan, figure about how much money you have invested in holiday goods, how much extra newspaper space you will need, how many circulars or cards you will send out to your mailing list, how much you can afford to spend for store and window decorations; also, lay out a plan for window and interior displays and list the show cards and price tickets necessary for the campaign. This

plan should be all settled by November 1st. All your holiday goods should be ready by that date. Commence then to get them displayed in your show-cases. Do not use the show-cases needed for regular goods that sell well in November, their display space shouldn't be sacrificed for holiday goods.

After your goods are well displayed in the show-cases, post your clerks on every holiday article you have. If they cannot remember the different descriptions, write the description of each and enclose it. The one for a toilet set might read: "This seven-piece combination manicure and toilet set is of genuine celluloid, tortoise-shell pattern, good quality of bristles in the brush pieces, best quality of steel in the manicure pieces, the case is satin lined," etc. This card can be slid under one of the articles in the set, or you can have it rest on top of the article where the customers can read it themselves. In that case it should be typewritten or painted to give it a neat appearance.

Now write out the copy for all the store signs you will need, send the copy early to your sign writer so he can do a good job on them. Have them a little bit fancy at Christmas time. Black letters backed with red and a little fancy scroll here and there. About the neatest combination is to have the first letter of every article painted in red and all the other letters in black. For instance, Holiday Perfumes, Sachets and Toilet Waters, the H, P, S and T would be in red, all the other letters in black. Leave the upper left hand corner vacant. Procure a punch and punch two holes in the vacant space about an inch apart, horizontally. Slide the card into the sign holder, then tie a small sprig of artificial holly in the vacant space by means of a piece of red baby ribbon passed through the two holes already punched. You never will find a neater sign than that. The red berries and the green foliage on the white cardboard show up fine. That kind of a sign sells goods. Six or eight of those in your store present a uniform, striking appearance.

Start next on your newspaper ads., write the whole series and number them as they will be inserted. They should all

bear a relation to each other and should lead up gradually to the climax. The first one should be a sort of early announcement of your new novelties, asking them to come in and see what pretty things you have displayed in your store. The next ad. should speak of one particular novelty which is extra popular. The next ad. should be directed to those that buy Christmas goods to send across the water, these goods are always bought early to avoid the deluge of ocean mail the two weeks before Christmas. The next ad. should be a little talk on the benefits of early shopping. The next few ads. should list the different articles for the different members of the family. Then follow with ads. showing what articles five cents will buy, ten cents will buy, twenty-five, fifty, seventyfive and a dollar will buy, etc., thus striking home to them and showing just how far the stated sum they have set aside for gifts will go. Follow now with strong perfumery ads., as this is an article they buy late. After that comes the cigars by the box, usually bought the two days before. Then an ad. showing what you have for late shoppers, also a strong candy ad. for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, mentioning your telephone service, your messenger call box, white cards. for enclosing in the packages, etc. Ask them to telephone their candy orders, furnish the name and address and you will write the card, ring for the messenger, and deliver the package. The customer usually pays for the messenger in such

cases.

You can at once see the advantage of planning your campaign in advance. It gives you a start over your competitors, it brings the early shoppers to your store, you keep up their interest by each successive ad. following up and strengthening the one before it, you tell them plainly what you have, who for, and how much. You help them make their selections through your informative copy. You also check yourself from using too much space, you have the rush period to direct the store and wait on customers, and not have to take up your valuable time writing ads. the last minute. Your series of ads. being numbered, they are in the printer's