hey made their money, and
why they spent it and where. He walked the central streets, watching the
drift of the buying crowds, even counting them and compiling the
statistics in various notebooks. He studied the general credit system of
the trade, and the particular credit systems of the different districts.
He could tell to a dot the average wage or salary earned by the
householders of any locality, and he made it a point of thoroughness to
know every locality from the waterfront slums to the aristocratic Lake
Merritt and Piedmont sections, from West Oakland, where dwelt the
railroad employes, to the semi-farmers of Fruitvale at the opposite end
of the city.

Broadway, on the main street and in the very heart of the shopping
district, where no grocer had ever been insane enough to dream of
establishing a business, was his ultimate selection. But that required
money, while he had to start from the smallest of beginnings. His first
store was on lower Filbert, where lived the nail-workers. In half a
year, three other little corner groceries went out of business while he
was compelled to enlarge his premises. He understood the principle of
large sales at small profits, of stable qualities of goods, and of a
square deal. He had glimpsed, also, the secret of advertising. Each week
he set forth one article that sold at a loss to him. This was not an
advertised loss, but an absolute loss. His one clerk prophesied
impending bankruptcy when butter, that cost Childs thirty cents, was
sold for twenty-five cents, when twenty-two-cent coffee was passed
across the counter at eighteen cents. The neighbourhood housewives came
for these bargains and remained to buy other articles that sold at a
profit. Moreover, the whole neighbourhood came quickly to know Josiah
Childs, and the busy crowd of buyers in his store was an attraction in
itself.

But Josiah Childs made no mistake. He knew the ultimate foundation on
which his prosperity rested. He studied the nail works until he came to
know as much about them as the managing directors. Before the first
whisper had stirred abroad, he sold his store, and with a modest sum of
ready cash went in search of a new location. Six months later the nail
works closed down, and closed down forever.

His next store was established on Adeline Street, where lived a
comfortable, salaried class. Here, his shelves carried a higher-grade
and a more diversified stock. By the same old method, he drew his crowd