Page 33 - Past Chair Book-Pre 2020

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First Annual Contention o<
to fifteen per cent. I think any merchant who pushes a line of
machinery in the proper way is justly entitled to a discount of
fifteen per cent. That fifteen per cent is not the fifteen per cent
the merchant puts in his pocket. It costs us accord­
ing to the amount of business being done, anywhere
from seven and a half to ten per cent to sell the goods,
and that expense is increasing all the time. I think if we start
with a minimum of fifteen per cent and bring it to the manufac­
turers in the proper way, we can more easily get twelve and a
half per cent from some of the older ones, and the manufacturers
who have gone into business very recently will give fifteen per
cent. It is only a question of value received. No merchant can
tie up a lot of machinery unless he gets value received, and pro­
duce for the manufacturer a satisfactory amount of business.
(Applause).
M r. M a r s h a l l : I listened to what Mr. Brown and Mr.
Clarke had to say. I was at that meeting in Cincinnati, and we
worked hard. I think we were at it from ten o'clock in the morn­
ing until ten o’clock at night. We did not go outside of the
Queen City Club. One gentleman said “When you try to get
more than ten per cent you are going to kill it. Be sure you will
get ten per cent and stick to it.” When the dealers agreed to
form that contract, and went away believing the contract was go­
ing through, and we would get twelve and a half per cent, still
that manufacturer did not say “I will give it!” When we ap­
plied for the fifteen per cent they made it twelve and a half be­
cause it was thought fifteen per cent would kill the issue. We
wanted something over the ten per cent, and we decided to com­
promise 011 twelve and a half per cent. The thing that makes me
sore it this, that we did not bring that contract up with the dealers.
It was brought up by the manufacturers, and it was brought up
last August. It came to an issue four months ago, and we went
there as dealers, and agreed to it, believing that the contract would
be enforced, and nothing has been done. They are simply holding
11s off. The Sccrctarv of the manufacturers’ assiciation p;oes to
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Europe, and when we go to one of those manufacturers they say
“Let 11s see what the Association will do.”