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"But," said I, and very cautiously, "don't you find some trade that will insist on having the other brands?" "Yes, and they can go somewhere else and get them. I wouldn't buy a U. M. C. cartridge if there never was any other. Reachum uses their goods to cut prices with, and, d n 'em! they can sell him, but they can't sell me." I finished the bill, then chatted awhile with him about trade.
"I didn't know he was a whistler." "He is; he's always whistling under his breath as if he was trying to catch the extra 2 1/2 on cartridges." "Are you handling the U. M. Co. cartridges?" "Yes; got them of Simmons. He offered to discount Reachum and I gave him the chance. What are you doing on cartridges?" "60 and 10." This was cost, but I saw he had a good stock.
"He's a lightning fellow; well posted; good natured; sharp as a needle, and a mighty sight better than his house. If he was in business for himself I'd buy all my goods of him." Yes, that was interesting; but I had other fish to fry. "Do you need any Lafoucheaux guns?" "Yes, if I can buy them right." "I will meet any price given you by Reachum, Simmons, or Hibbard Spencer."
I know you can buy of Reachum and Shiverhim & Gaily for $7.65, but there is all of $2 difference in the goods, and the man who should appreciate this the quickest is the retailer." "But I can't get a cent more for this gun than for the others; buyers will not discriminate." "You give them no opportunity.
But I want to sell you." "To be sure; to be sure!" He said this as a man might humor a child, and as if he fully understood all that was in my mind. "Tom, do we need any bull-dogs?" "No, sir; got 50 on the way from Reachum at $2.70." I probably looked as disappointed as I felt, for Whipper's voice took on a very sympathetic tone. "You could not touch $2.70?" he asked. "No, sir."
He seemed to enjoy it, and to pick up a good many items from it. "Yes," he said, "business is becoming less profitable every year. The idiots who are going to get rich by selling flour at 25 cents a barrel less than cost, simply by doing a h l of a business, are multiplying. Reachum can probably sell goods close and make money, as he has no traveling men; his principal expense is his postal cards.
It's a pretty good plan not to disagree with a man at any time, but it's especially a wise course about this time. "I can buy them," said he, "at $9." "Yes? That beats me; $10.50 is best I can do. Who quotes at $9?" "Why, Reachum does. So does Tryon's man. Do you know him?" "I do not."
I dared not sell Parker's guns at any such price, yet the man would cancel the order and probably always have a grudge against the house unless I sold him now. I could not believe that Reachum had made this price, and yet there was no telling what that house might or might not do. "How many Parker guns do you want?" I asked. "I don't want any.
We now get two postals a day from Reachum, and I expect to see them coming oftener by and by. Tom, where's Reachum's last card?" "I don't know; I toss them in the waste basket when I come across them." "Don't do it again; I want to make a collection of them in an album. So $2.85 is the best you can do?"
"There must be a mistake somewhere," said I, "for the goods cost that at the factory in largest lots." "There was no mistake," he said sharply; "I know what I am talking about. The discount offered was 25 and 10." I hastened to assure him that I had not meant that he was mistaken, but that Reachum must have made a mistake.
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