ers. They told their friends about it, and
more enquiries were answered, more orders received. This encouraged some
effort, and special circulars or booklets were issued telling about the
store and goods. These were mailed to regular customers, and a few
thousand extra sent to carefully-selected names of possible customers,
until gradually extra help was required to attend to these orders, to
answer the correspondence, etc.; and it was found necessary to
systematize this branch of the work, to organize and establish a
"Mail-Order Department." The mail-order trade grew up side by side with
the store trade. When the store was young and variety of goods small,
the mail-order trade was limited; but as the store grew, as extra space
was needed for increased service, and new goods and new departments were
rapidly added, the mail-order trade increased in proportion, keeping
abreast of it all the time.

Mail-order customers could not know but very little about the house they
dealt with except through advertisements, or from hearsay, and,
therefore, the reputation of the business depended upon the goods sent
and the treatment they received. The foundation of this business was
well laid from the beginning. The principles inculcated were that a
clear understanding must exist between the house and the customers--that
goods would not be misrepresented, that customers would be told in plain
words what they were, and that they would be found to be exactly as
represented, or that their money would be refunded; and that's what
they wanted.

The management and method were perfected, and the responsibility of
handling the business fully recognized, and an honest endeavor made to
satisfy every reasonable demand. They realized that it is one thing to
create a business of this kind, and another thing to retain it; that it
costs more to get a new customer than to retain one already secured.
Anything, therefore, that would destroy the confidence of a customer in
the house or leave an impression that would tend to injure trade must be
strongly condemned, and to strengthen this position a personal interest
in every order was encouraged and insisted upon. Mail-order buyers must
learn to interpret the customers' wants, and see that the detail of
every order is carefully attended to. The correspondence must contain
the fullest explanations; the goods must always be properly checked,
packed and shipped; and every head of every department must take