"Whoa! Before you hire me out as a clerk and go to an old ladies' home yourself, let me tell you my fable. Once upon a time. . . all good and regular fables start that way . . . there were two squirrels. One was a Born Worrier and very industrious, the other was a Placid Squirrel who had come to the conclusion that all things work together for good if you only handle your affairs properly.

"The Born Worrier was quite convinced that winter was coming five months sooner than usual. There was no especial reason for so thinking, but he thought it, anyhow. So he did a little mental arithmetic, and got up two hours and twenty minutes earlier every day and went about

his business of gathering nuts and putting them in a hole in the hollow tree.

"He allowed himself only five minutes for lunch and he ate only the wormy nuts to save the good ones for the winter. Meanwhile, the Placid Squirrel chased himself up and down trees, for exercise, played with his bushy tail, for vanity, and made fun of the Born Worrier.

"Don't you kid me!' responded the Born Worrier. 'When Winter comes and you are starving, don't you come and ask me for any of my hoard, either. I am not denying myself now, while you have all the fun, merely to support you during the winter!'

"Why, where do you get that stuff?'

responded the Placid Squirrel, or words to that effect. 'I don't expect to starve to death. I have been thru several winters in these parts, and I always had plenty.' ""That was before I came on the job!' retorted the Born Worrier. "There won't be nuts enough to go around if you don't get on the job and commence to put some away. I'll have all there are!'

"Wouldn't that be shocking?' answered the Placid Squirrel. 'We shall see what we shall see!'

"The Born Worrier ate a wormy nut and went back on the job. But there was one matter he hadn't taken into consideration, and that was the result of spending all his capital. He had only so much strength, and long hours, poor food and no recreation, used up all of it. Long before winter came, he was taken sick and died. Whereupon the Placid Squirrel married Mrs. Born Worrier, moved into Born Worrier's hole in the tree and they lived very comfortably all winter on the store of nuts poor Born Worrier had laid up!"

"Well?" said the New Clerk, "What's the answer?"

"The merchant who spends all his time. worrying about his competitors has small strength or time left in which to push his own business," explained the old Bookseller. "If a chap does the best he knows, and keeps a good bookstore, and handles. the right books in the right quantities, and gives good service, and has a good location and has been in business long enough to have a solid and satisfactory list of customers, he is merely wasting capital if he starts into worrying himself sick over the business tactics of his rivals, especially newcomers like Smith.

"You have said that poor Smith is holding a mark-down sale and is including a lot of books that we sell at standard prices. That will, of course, for the time being, take away some trade that we might otherwise get. But why is Smith doing this? Can it be that he is overbought? Can he have purchased so unwisely that he has no capital with which to conduct his business, and must get rid of some of his stock at a sacrifice in order to have money to pay his bills? If he is losing money, while we are merely losing some temporary trade, how is that going to benefit him and hurt us?

"Too expensive newspaper advertising can be more of a liability than an asset. I believe in advertising, but it must be strictly proportional to the size of the business and based on the gross or net sales . . . it doesn't matter what it's based on, so long as it is based on business and not on desperation.

"Smith is up against it. He doesn't know the book game as I do. He buys too much of one book and not enough of another. He hires too expensive clerks and they don't know books as they should. So he has to hold sales and do sudden and very expensive advertising and resort to stunts, like the empty stores hired for the occasion at a stiff rental, in order to keep going. every time he does it, he stimulates booktrade, not only for himself, but for me, too, and every time he loses capital, credit and prestige.

...

But

"Meanwhile he worries. How can he help it? And before winter comes to this store, Smith will have sold out . . . maybe to me!... or turned up his toes and died. Then, like the Placid Squirrel, I shall have the advantage of all the nuts he gathered, I will fall heir to his customers, and in the long run be the gainer, not the loser. . "I'm sorry for Smith. But I can't help him any. He's headstrong and he doesn't know either books or business. And so I

am not worrying. As long as I keep my eyes upon high ideals and stock and service, I can't lose. I am not afraid of competition. Honest and straightforward competition helps business. Dishonest competition destroys itself. So does foolish competition. Smith is putting up foolish competition. In the long run Smith's mistakes mean money in my pocket."

"Is that all you are going to do about it?" asked the New Clerk.

"No, I am going down and see if he has any bargains I want!" answered the Old Bookseller. "Maybe I can lay up a few nuts against winter time at even less than publishers' discounts!"

The New Clerk moved away thoughtfully to the fiction shelves.

The Old Bookseller smiled to himself, understandingly.

"You will not find it under F," he remarked pleasantly. "Aesop is on the children's shelves, under A.”

W

ITH the completion of the new Hotel Statler in Boston in the Park Square district, the Old Corner Book Store has taken one of the best shop locations facing Arlington Street to open a branch store.

When Boston's retail district, so long located on Washington and Tremont Streets, first needed room for expansion, the presence of Boston Common to the west made it necessary for the newer stores to string themselves along from Boylston Street to Copley Square. Newbury and Commonwealth Avenues were held by residences. Altho the old Park Square Railroad Station was moved some twenty years ago, nothing could seem to induce trade to take its course up in that direction. Finally the extension of Stuart Street and the improvement of St. James Avenue has brought this district into active development, and the Hotel Statler organization has taken the key situation at the corner of Columbus and Providence Street for one of their fine structures. This will assure the character of the district, and the Old Corner Book Store believes that it has made an important move in locating a branch here.

This whole district has become one of the active book centers of the country. The Bookshop for Boys and Girls is on Boylston Street facing the Public Gardens. Hall's Book Shop is on the same street just beyond Arlington. The Berkeley Book Room is at 420 Boylston Street, and the Gardenside. Bookshop is on Dartmouth Street. The Universalist Publishing House has its book rooms on Newbury Street as do F. H. Thomas Company, the medical supply house, and the presence of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University and other educational institutions has developed several educational stores in the Copley Square area.

Many cities are finding that new retail areas are now in process of development, especially as downtown street congestion makes approach more difficult. There are many who believe that the task of establishing book distribution in outlying centers and even in the suburbs should be taken up by the big general stores downtown, as they can give more complete service than any new entrant in the field, and the conduct of a branch is an outlet for the energies of younger men in the organization.

A Bookshop Entertains Prince William

would like to see every Department store buyer attending the Convention and the Department store round table conference, for I am sure that everybody has many ideas and suggestions that can be advanced and discussed at such a conference, and surely we need new ideas and inspiration.

Joseph J. Estabrook

No buyer is so big in his job that he cannot learn something new from the other fellow. Many times the good suggestions come from the managers of the smaller departments but the big department representatives, should be willing to give to the buyers from the smaller stores the advantages of their larger experience.

JOSEPH ESTABROOK,
Chairman.

Mr. Estabrook and Mr. Herr will be very pleased to receive suggestions for discussion at the round table conferences. Address then to Mr. J. J. Estabrook, care Joseph Horne Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., or Mr. Eugene Herr, care L. B. Herr & Sons, Lancaster, Pa.

house does not often fall to the lot of a mere bookseller but such was the pleasure and privilege of the Book Shop of The Glass Block Store, Duluth, Minn., on Monday March 7th.

H. R. H. Prince William of Sweden. came to Duluth to lecture under the auspices of The Nobel Club. The subject of the lecture was taken from a recent book of the Prince's entitled "Among Pigmies and Gorillas." The Bookshop invited the Prince to visit them and autograph copies of this book and also to be their guest at luncheon later. In accepting the luncheon invitation the Prince expressed the wish that it might be very informal this request was satisfactory to the Bookshop, for they could then assure the guests invited to meet the Prince, that business suits were strictly au fait for the

occasion.

The luncheon party assembled in The Bookshop and after the Prince had autographed his books and exchanged greetings the group adjourned to a private dining room and there invited, not their souls, but their appetites.

The luncheon table was brilliant in the Swedish national colors-yellow and blue. These colors were carried out both in the floral decoration and candles which ornamented the table. A stand of American and Swedish flags added greatly to the decoration.

The Prince proved himself a charming. guest and at once won the friendship of the group of men and women invited to meet him. The hosts at the luncheon were Mr. D. P. Carey, head of The Glass Block Store and Mrs. J. T. Watson, manager of The Bookshop.

The Bookshop has several of the fine posters put out by the Year Round Bookselling Committee, framed and hanging on the walls, over the book shelves. Prince William noticed these posters and complimented the artists on doing such excellent work, the committee in selecting the posters and the Bookshop on the privilege. of having and making use of such effective decorations.