Business English Part 88

MOWRY, W. A. and MOWRY, A. M., Inventions and Inventors.

PARTON, J., Captains of Industry (two series).

ROCHELEAU, W. F., Products of the Soil; Minerals; Manufactures.

TOWLE, G. M., Heroes and Martyrs of Invention.

WILLIAMS, A., How it is Made.

=Exercise 258=

Study the punctuation of the following; then write from dictation:

1

It is stated that practical experience with gas mantles made of artificial silk--that is, silk made from wood pulp--has proved them to be far superior to those made of cotton, especially where the mantles are exposed to excessive vibration. Several German towns are said to be obtaining exceptionally good results from these new mantles used in conjunction with pressure gas, and it is a.s.serted that the mantles are in good condition after being used for seven or eight weeks. Artificial silk, according to reports, has also been used experimentally by several manufacturers of incandescent gas mantles in the United Kingdom. The reports are all very encouraging, except that there seems to be one difficulty that is purely mechanical--the knitting of the artificial silk. The knots and other imperfections in the yarn cause a considerable amount of waste. However, the knitting-machine makers are experimenting to overcome it.--_Daily Consular and Trade Report._

2

As the production of wool in this country, although approximating 320,000,000 pounds a year, does not begin to meet the demands for the raw material, there is a yearly importation of from 156,000,000 to over 300,000,000 pounds. When each new census reveals the fact that there are fewer sheep of shearing age in the country than there were ten years before, the question of wool production becomes one of still greater importance. A solution may be found in a Peruvian product. A variety of cotton grows in Peru whose long, rough, crinkly fiber mixes so readily with wool that manufacturers use it in connection with wool in manufacturing "all wool" goods. It grows on a small tree that yields two or three crops a year for seven or eight years. The area, however, in which it is being successfully cultivated in Peru is so limited that the annual output is only about 16,000,000 pounds, of which the United States takes approximately 5,500,000 pounds. As the region in which it thrives is practically rainless, perhaps a way may be found to persuade the rough Peruvian to make a home for itself in the hot and arid regions of our Southwest. It would be a triumph of agriculture, certainly, to raise vegetable wool in regions not fitted for real sheep.--_The Wall Street Journal._

3

THE CASTING OF METALS

As is well known, some metals are unsuitable for casting, while others, like iron, can readily be cast into any desired shape. The property of casting well, it is said, depends upon whether the metal contracts or expands in solidifying from the liquid form. Iron, like water, expands in solidifying, and hence the solid metal may be seen floating in the liquid iron about it. The expansion causes it to fill the die into which it is poured, and so it can be cast easily. Gold and silver contract in cooling, and are, therefore, not suitable for casting.--_Harper's Weekly._

CHAPTER XVII

DISTRIBUTION

CORRECT buying and the most efficient methods of manufacture play a large part in the successful carrying on of a business, but the most important consideration is the successful marketing or distributing of the product after it has been manufactured or bought. Very few products are so superior in quality that they sell themselves purely on merit.

Compet.i.tion in business to-day is so keen that, in order to find a market for his product, a merchant must create a demand for it. Thus at its very foundation, distribution is merely a process of creating a demand and then filling that demand. For instance, the retail merchant is concerned with bringing the customers to his store rather than to his compet.i.tor's across the street. The wholesale merchant is concerned with having the retailers handle his goods rather than those of another firm.

The mail order merchant is concerned with getting the farmer's business before some other dealer gets it. The salesman is concerned with writing the order before a rival from another house writes it.

In the first place, the merchant must handle those things that his customers consider necessary or desirable. Overcoats cannot be sold in August, ashsifters on the equator, nor electric fans in Iceland.

Different peoples, different times, and different conditions create different demands, and it is the merchant's business to study those demands and to fill them. In the second place, he must leave no stone unturned in endeavoring to make his product more desirable than that of his compet.i.tors. This may mean extensive advertising campaigns, expensive displays, outlay for costly catalogues and booklets, the expenditure of money for inducements to bring customers, or the hiring of expert salesmen. In fact, thousands of plans are carried out every year in this endeavor to increase trade.

The getting of new and additional business, however, is only one of the important considerations that the merchant must always have in mind. He must also keep what business he already has by maintaining the standard of his goods and by giving his customers satisfactory service. One of the first essentials in this question of service is promptness and exactness of delivery. In this the merchant must depend very largely on the transportation companies, and therefore a brief study of these facilities will be especially in place at this point.

Transportation

Transportation is an essential item in the problem of distribution. If you wished to drink a cup of coffee and found that none could be had except in Brazil, you would begin to realize how much the steamship company and the railroad company have done in transporting and hauling it where you might buy it. The same is true of our oranges from California and Florida, our apples from Washington and Oregon, and our grain from the Middle States. In fact, in the case of many products the most important item is not growing them, but bringing them to market, since the transportation charges are often much greater than the actual cost of producing. Thousands of barrels of apples rot on the ground every year because their quality does not warrant the high transportation charges, the lack of transportation rendering them useless. In a smaller measure, the delivery wagons in our cities and towns are essential to us because they save us the trouble of carrying our purchases about. Thus, the element of transportation enters into our lives every day, saving us inconvenience, bringing to us necessities that we demand and luxuries that we like, and, at the same time, increasing the price of commodities.

Common carriers, as transportation companies are called, are of two general cla.s.ses:

1. Those operating on water--the steamship companies.

2. Those operating on land--the railroad companies.

THE STEAMSHIP COMPANY

Steamship companies operate three general kinds of lines: (1) lines consisting of the largest and fastest steamers which carry only pa.s.sengers, mail, and valuable parcels; (2) lines using slower steamers which carry both pa.s.sengers and freight; and (3) lines employing vessels--steamers, sailing vessels, and barges--which carry only freight. The cost of hauling cargoes by water is in every case less per mile than that of carrying the same quant.i.ty of goods on land. It costs, for example, over four times as much to carry a bushel of wheat from Chicago to New York by rail as it does to carry it across the Atlantic.

It is for this very reason that the traffic on our navigable rivers, the Ohio and the Mississippi, and on the Great Lakes is so heavy. Whenever a cargo can be shipped as well by water as by rail and there is no hurry for delivery, it is shipped by water. However, because so much of our freight must be rushed from place to place, the railroads get the bulk of the inland traffic.

THE RAILROAD COMPANY

The services of the railroad company embrace the hauling of freight, the carrying of pa.s.sengers, and the transporting of express and of mail. The hauling of freight is the most important item in the railroad business, about three-quarters of the total income being derived from this source.

Each year over one billion tons of freight are turned over by shippers to the railroads, who use almost two and one-half million freight cars to carry it. About one-half of this tonnage is minerals, mainly ore and coal; about one-seventh consists of manufactured articles; and one-twelfth of agricultural products. Commodities are grouped into from ten to fourteen cla.s.ses, on each one of which the freight rate is different from that of the others. By freight rate is meant the cost of shipping a certain unit, usually 100 pounds or a ton, from one place to another; it is dependent on the distance. There are certain bulky commodities like coal, livestock, lumber, grain, and cement, which are almost always handled in carload lots. They are not included in the freight cla.s.sification, but have a special ex-cla.s.s freight rate.

Freight rates depend also on whether the goods are shipped by slow or _local_ freight or by fast or _through_ freight.

There are a hundred different kinds of papers used in carrying on the railroad freight business. Only four of the most important will be considered here. When a shipper turns over his goods to the railroad company at its freight depot, he gets from the agent a _receipt for freight_, which is merely a receipt for the goods he has turned over. In the ordinary course of business these receipts are exchanged at the company's office for a _bill of lading_ in triplicate. The original and one copy are given to the shipper. The second copy is kept by the railroad. This bill of lading may be of two kinds, _straight_ or _order_. If a straight bill of lading is given, the original is sent to the person to whom the goods are shipped, who is called the _consignee_, who on the presentation of the bill of lading is ent.i.tled to the goods after paying the charges. An order bill of lading is much like a check, in that it can be a.s.signed to another person. Like the straight bill it states the name of the consignee or the person for whom the goods are intended and his address, but the consignee cannot get possession of the goods until he has paid for them. To collect payment, the shipper attaches to the order bill of lading a draft for the amount of the goods and the freight, and through his bank and the bank of the consignee the amount is collected. The consignee then gets possession of the order bill of lading, which ent.i.tles him to possession of the goods.

This is more fully explained on page 344. The railroad's most important paper is the _way bill_, which shows the conductor or the agent of the company just what articles are included in the shipment, so that it can be checked when unloaded. When the goods arrive at their destination, the consignee is notified and is sent a _freight bill_ showing the freight charges. When he presents his bill of lading and pays the charges, the _freight bill_ is receipted and the goods are his.

In quoting prices on goods, manufacturers and distributors usually designate whether they will pay the freight or whether it is to be paid by the consignee. In the latter case the price is quoted f. o. b. at the place from which the goods are shipped, which means freight on board at that point. That is to say, if a distributor located at Detroit quotes his automobiles f. o. b. Detroit, he means that he will see that the goods get into the railroad company's hands at Detroit, but that the consignee pays the freight from Detroit to the destination. The latter is the common practice in shipping.

In the following exercises we shall treat the subject of distribution under four heads:

I. The Retail Merchant.

II. The Wholesale Merchant.

III. The Mail Order Merchant.

IV. The Salesman.

I.--THE RETAIL MERCHANT

=Exercise 259=

_Oral_

You are opening a grocery store. Remember that your object is to sell the largest possible amount of goods. Develop each of the following suggestions:

1. What kind of location would you desire?

2. How would you have the front of your store painted?

Would you try to make it stand out from the rest?

3. Do you think it would pay you to have the interior newly and brightly redecorated? To put in the best and brightest lights?

4. What quality of stock would you select? The same for all neighborhoods? Give your reasons. Would advertised brands bring you more trade?