THE STREAM BROADENS
At the beginning of 1884 our business was increasing so rapidly
it became necessary to have a larger office force to handle it.
Orders poured in day after day and it was evident we were getting
the preference from all the large and most of the small buyers
throughout the country.
It had been our policy to give just as careful attention to the
small business as to that of more importance, but we now began to
consider the wisdom of letting the former go. In the aggregate it
was a handsome business of itself, but in detail it required so
much time and attention, it was a question in my mind whether it
paid us to longer cater to it.
That the future had a much larger business in store for us we felt
assured and we wanted to get ready for it in advance of its coming.
Gradually we commenced to weed out the little fellows.
Some of these small concerns had become so accustomed to sending
us their orders and were so well satisfied with the way we had
treated them that they objected strongly to being turned down.
Still, we were in the line of progress and had outgrown that class.
The argument we gave them was, that as we were selling the large
dealers so extensively, it was unfair for us to take this small
business, which ought to go to the dealers without the interposition
of a broker. Ultimately we succeeded in getting most of them off
our books without any hard feeling.
That we were wise in ridding ourselves of this small trade was
soon evident. It strengthened us greatly with the large dealers,
who now secured most of it direct, and that we could afford to part
with so many customers, small though they were, added much to our
prestige.
With more time now at my disposal I mapped out a campaign having
for its objective the gathering of a speculative clientele.
The first step was the sending of a carefully prepared letter to
a dozen or so of the wealthiest men in New York. No replies were
received. Probably their secretaries tossed them in the waste-basket
with many others. I know now better than I did then that the mail
of even moderately rich men is crowded with schemes.
A second lot of letters was mailed to men a grade lower in wealth.
Some of these brought replies but no business. We tried a third
lot, this time to men estimated at half million to a million; same
result.
That settled it as far as New York was concerned. Evidently the
rich men of New York did not want to speculate in our commodity.
Well, fortunately we could get on without them.
Now for the broader field. We had one thousand letters prepared
and mailed at one time. These were addressed to a list of alleged
wealthy out-of-town investors, which we had purchased from an
addressing agency. Not one single reply did we receive.
Then we took our "Bradstreet's" and at random selected the names
of five hundred firms, scattered over the United States, rating not
less than five hundred thousand dollars. The letters were addressed
to the senior partner of each firm. Before the end of the year
nearly two hundred of those men were on our books. Every one of
them made money.
This constituency was sufficient for the time being. I had in mind
something on a much larger scale, the forming of a syndicate; but
that is another story and belongs to a later period.
Toward the later part of the year there was a falling off in our
trade with the customers, owing to a period of dullness in the
manufacturing industries; but what we lost in this way was more
than offset by the gain accruing from the business with speculative
clients.
On December 3lst, I had the satisfaction of knowing that for the
first time my profits for a single year exceeded thirty thousand
dollars.
In my home life there had been nothing to mar in the slightest
degree its serenity and delight; indeed, our happiness had been
increased on the ninth of June by the arrival of our third daughter.