Show THE KICKING LUMBERMAN I How Ho Was Caught Through tho Negligence Negli-gence of His Office Boy I The numerous lumber dealers of Buffalo Buf-falo will appreciate the following true story i I In a New Jersey town is a gentleman i engaged in the lumbering trade whoso t fame as a kicker is not unknown to some tof our Buffalo dealers Try as hard as j j they might no dealer was ever able to ship this man as good stock as other j dealers did It is believed in fact by I i some lumber salesmen that this particular j particu-lar buyer relies more upon the rebates from kicking for his profits than upon a 1 legitimate percentage added to the first cost of his stock On ono occasion not many years ago he placed two orders with two rival concerns con-cerns in the same market The shippers in each case were instructed to make the grades good and to give careful measurements measure-ments to avoid the customary kick and subsequent rebate in settlement But one day there came to each firm a letter addressed to the other complaining complain-ing of the quality of the stock not being up to representations and saying that tho goods were there subject toorders D = I Each firm thought they had got a bit i of breezy news about the others methods of business for each letter stated that it was very queer that you are the only house I have any trouble with A sent the letter over to B with the explanation that it cacao to him having been wrongly addressed B sent an exact I ex-act counterpart of his letter to A with a like explanation It was now clear to I each that something was radically wrong and should ba looked after They held a council of war and decided to I send their adjusters together to interview inter-view Mr Kicker The adjusters i hap I pened to meet b yin mere chance of course j i I y-in Jlr Kickers office I No 1 started the circus by stating that i he was very sorry to learn that his was I the only firm with whose goods he even had to find fault and hereupon drew the I letter from his pocket and read it aloud I At this juncture adjuster No 2 remarked that there must be some mistake somewhere some-where as his was the only firm with I whom Mr Kicker ever had any trouble and he read his letter which was an exact ex-act copy of the other the firms names j being the only words differing They I both looked at their cringing victim and I I asked what explanation he had to offer j He said not a word but wrote out a j check for the face of each invoice and I asked the gentlemen to receipt their bills billsThey They did not wait to see what became of the office boy who had made the fatal mistake mixing up those letters which should each have been worth at least 25 to the kicker Warren G Benton in Buffalo Express |