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THE
ffljJIC TIRADE
VOL. LXII. No. 11 Published Every Saturday by Estate of Edward Lyman Bill at 373 Fourth Ave., New York, Mar. 11, 1916
Single Copies 10 Cents
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A LL business is really exchange—not always, to be sure, perfectly equitable—but in fact a form
/ \ of exchange which becomes more nearly equitable as time goes on and humanity progresses
/ \ into knowledge of itself. Broadly, but truly, all the business trouble in the world—or nearly
all—arises from ignoring the great fact that there are two sides to every business deal. One
cannot do all the selling and none of the buying.
There is no use thinking of permanent business success if one is not committed from the start to a
policy of giving good value; on the good old basis of "Fair Exchange No Robbery," so much good
goods for so much good money. And it is just as true to say, parenthetically, that it is every day
becoming harder to make even a temporary evanescent sort of success on any other basis than this.
This is not the outpouring of a business theorist whose ideals are stronger than his practical
knowledge; on the contrary it is the merest common sense. After all, if a man makes something that
is to succeed, this is because he makes something worth what he asks for it. Value is not measured
alone by the figures of price, and an article is not by any means necessarily better value as its price
may be cheapened. The "bargain counter" type of "bargain" may be all right in its way, but in the
sense of permanent business, bargains are the worst delusions that ever tormented the human race.
An article is worth what can be got for it on its merits. If its maker is wise enough to ask for it a
price based on its production cost plus what is acknowledged by all to be a fair profit percentage,
sooner or later it must be sold successfully, if so be it is useful and legitimately desirable. Sales-
manship will do the rest. On the contrary, let its price be unfair, inflated, out of proportion, and it
is doomed. This is the experience of all big business everywhere, and apart from that it is the plain
simple truth. You cannot beat the eternal laws of right and wrong.
If this is all true, then it seems that the only legitimate basis for business is the placing of a fixed
retail price on articles by the manufacturer thereof. True, the actual money figures may change as
the standards of production change; but the price must remain fixed in relation to such standards.
Suppose a man builds some sort of machine and puts into it the labor of years, money and
ability. Suppose that he and others invest more money in it and gradually find that it is something
the world wants. Suppose also that these men then fix the retail price of this machine because they
believe that apart from what they can get for it, it is good to just the amount they ask; and being
just so good can then be made even better to-morrow by having its price fixed to-day. If, then, this
is done, the price fixed on a fair basis, the product may be constantly improved, with better material,
better workmanship, better service, all because its permanent price gives it that permanent value which
is essential to the healthy development of its production. If the fixed price be unfair, then it won't
take long for the world to find this out; and, presto, another concern has gone glimmering.
Well, what about the retailer being compelled to sell at a fixed retail price? In the first place,
if the manufacturer did not make the goods, the retailer would not have them to sell. In the second
place, by covenanting with the retailer to sell the goods only at an agreed-on retail price, the manu-
facturer is doing the eminently fair and business-like act of putting every dealer on the same level,
big and small, huge department store and little country merchant. In the third place, as a direct
result of this, all will have to buy wholesale from the manufacturer on the same terms, for there will
be no need to sell wholesale at cut rates to large buyers who want to "sacrifice" the goods at retail;
for there will be no "sacrificing" done. Hence, the value is upheld, every retailer, big and small,
alike, knows just what his goods are worth, and the manufacturer knows both what he gets for them
(Continued on page 5.)
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