The Secret Of Wealth

The first question asked about a new hat is what it cost. Even the oil painting which hangs on the wall is judged by most people not so much by the artist's signature or its own beauty, as by what the owner paid for it.

No man lets go of his money as easily as the American. If the American is a "Dollar-chaser" he tries much harder to chase the dollars into the other man's pockets than he tries to gather them unto himself.

The standard of merchandise is all upset and quality no longer rules. The determining factor with most of us is the price and it must be high.

A motion picture theatre in the downtown district of one of the largest cities reduced its admission price from fifty cents to thirty-five cents and lost business, although it was showing the same class of pictures at the lower price. A leading restaurant reduced its prices about fifteen percent without in any way affecting the quality of the food or of the service and only gained three per cent in the number of people served.

It is not a case of looking for bargains as the American people have always done that. The old story of cutting a bolt of goods into pieces to sell as remnants at higher prices has been proved to be true many times. No blame attaches to the merchant who marks his goods in plain figures and does not misrepresent them. The entire blame attaches to the buyer who does not discriminate as to quality but who judges his purchase solely by the price asked. The need of the day is to use discrimination in buying. By using the arts and keen judgment of our grandparents in shopping and marketing, we can save right now from ten cents to thirty-five cents on every dollar purchase. But we must discriminate as to quality and we must patronize the merchant who is content with an honest and fair profit.

Most merchants can and will sell you goods worth the money if you insist upon it but, if you insist upon having something at a higher price, the merchant would be a poor merchant indeed if he did not supply your wants.

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