| Show ELBERT WARD THE LATE SAGE OF 0 F EAST AURORA victim of lusitania lusita nia disaster tells in his wonderful way of A little i journey to the greatest of compera cooperative t institutions I 1 know of no business organization that so BO completely complete ay mirrors the new time ome in we live as the united drug company it has a chain of 11 seven thousand a genales that circle jc le the globe they are known as rexall stores stares here is a business concern that is doing something besides doing business b one general purpose e animates and ins inspires In soiree Dires all ot of these agencies and that is the desire to serve bere iere 1 ere business and beauty blend jhoo goo will industry and economy arid prosperity cornea comes asa as a natural re sult suit the man who rounded founded tills this concern is is a A young man yet turned forty but he has seen the evolution of 0 a great ideal he has seen a beautiful dream take tangible form and become a commercial s success beyond the dreams of avarice it Is very certain that louis K liggett when in nineteen hundred three he called forty druggists to gether and laid before them a definite ite plan of operation cooperation co in business had no idea of the extent to which this plan would expand get your principles right said napoleon and the rest is a matter of detail louis K liggett got his principles right A great wave of light was breaking over humanity liggett saw that light we began to take on common sense the fears that had haunted us were found to 10 be baseless life we discovered is largely what we choose to make it we work from the complex to the simple and the obvious is the last thing we know we have what we give we keep that which we pass out the treatment we give to others comes back to us again cast thy bread upon the waters and it shall return to you shortly buttered these truths in modem times seem first to have been uttered by emerson but they got into the air young liggett the traveling salesman sensed them breathed them in he was in touch with humanity he knew the great throbbing heart of mankind the contrast with the old with what might be took hold of the heart of liggett shabby stores had discouraged the drug business and pushed it to a very low ebb the turn of the tide came when louis K liggett that traveling salesman from detroit had a big idea one that was so big that lie he did not know how big it was and he know yet louis K liggett was no poet no dreamer no reformer no moralist I 1 am not sure that the subject of ethics came in at all he was simply a successful businessman and in order to be still more successful he incubated his idea and so the forty druggists gathered together and mr liggett explained the idea and as he explained it the subject grew plain to himself liggett was luminous possibly voluminous um inous his enthusiasm ran over and inn undated everybody he swept the forty druggists off their feet he met the quibbles questions and quirks with liggett logic he said one man in town handling one line of goods and this a line that Is not sold thru jobbers can control the trade so as to make tor for himself a living and more without this operation cooperation co liggett aw only bankruptcy ahead of the re trade the wholesale druggist was to him a superfluity tor for it if any druggist caa viet gt anything from a wholesaler ahta any other druggist can do the tha same the result was that retailer was pitted against retailer and they fought it out like the kilkenny cats v that practically all that was left 0 the druggists was their tales of woe young liggett pictured what tile the business might be his idea was to make a line of 0 fifteen remedies tor for which he had the formulas liggett pictured a store that would be attractive to all people where chil dren could safely trade and where women would like to come lie he would have the man who ran a drug store be something beside a druggist he must be a merchant iila his stock must be so attractive that things would sell and sell fast if the profit were close and the volume large why the bal ance sheet would show up all right this new kind ot of drug store must symbol life light laughter love it must stand for truth for education and civilization and for or all that makes for brotherhood and h human uman betterment ter ment the idea was interesting liggetts enthusiasm was contagious thirty three thre out of the forty agreed on the spot to put up tour four thousand dollars apiece and the plan was set in motion each drug store was to be known as a rexall that Is the king of all drug stores it was to be a peculiar store it was to be weil lighted well ve ventilated and the idea of beauty cleanliness order decency was to be cultivated A rexall store was to be a store that rendered a service to the whole town the idea of being accommodating and courteous was never to be lost sight of this chain of stores would stand by one another the united drug company would manufacture in large quantities certain things that were desirable and would distribute these at a very slight advance over actual cost to the rexall stores and so the business began the business grew and aad the men in charge of it grew with the business these forty men who put in four thousand dollars cash have received halt half yearly dividends without fall fail on their investments not one has dropped out and their trade has vastly increased several men started other stores one drug store in each town or vicinity was the rule Gra gradually Kally slowly surely new towns were allowed to come in and always and forever on exactly the same basis the man must be a stockholder only thus could his hearty interest be secured the united drug companas Comp anys stock is owned by the rexall stores the middleman gets no grab things move direct from manufacturer to dealer every dealer is given courage inspiration animation hope every rexall drug store stands by all the rest the cost of selling from manufacturer to dealer has been reduced to a minimum where formerly twenty five per cent or more commission was expended on traveling salesmen advertising and jobbers the article goes dl di from the factory to the re retailer taifer at it a cost of say three per cent for selling every rexall druggist is practically in partnership with all other rexall druggists they are brothers all what one knows is told to the rest there are no secrets secrete annual conventions state conventions conventions ot of rexall clerks clerics keep knowledge in motion every rexall druggist is going to a school chool also he f a teacher an jdell ideal is placed before him and lie has to live up to it the whole thing mirrors operation cooperation co it symbols harmony instead of strife it stands tor for human betterment and is representative of the best thought of the time there is a degree of decency order and good taste manifest in rexall drug stores that I 1 have never seen in any other or in fact in any other similar business institution they have kibo shed the cockro cockroach ac h ers the flies files and the microbes mic robes and lifted the whole hole drug traill trade efrom a cheap village atmosphere to a plane of art such a degree of excellence and beauty and worth is only possible where a large number of people work together and where a high standard Is maintained A rexall drug store symbols health not dis disease edse it is a pleasant place to visit go into a rexall drugstore drug store in any town or city and you will feel at home try it A rexall store is a bureau of information automobilists know that when I 1 auto into a strange town and want information I 1 head for this the rexall it is a part or of the duty of every rexall clerk to give reliable information it he know he finds out and ive had a rexall clerk say III go with you and show you whether you buy or not you are welcome in rexall rich or poor high or low learned or illiterate no customer is ever guyed or given the smile audible children trade at rexall stores with perfect safety tor for it Is the highest policy always to safeguard the customers interests knowledge Is only a comparative term and none of us know very much but no matter how ignorant a man is in calling tor for one thing and meaning another no rexall clerk will ever lift an eyebrow in disrespect the rexall idea has grown as the world lias has grown A rexall drug store stands tor for friendship As a rexall store is in aier ship with every other rexall so Is a rexall drug store in partnership with all of its customers the interests of the public are the interests of a rexall drug store money honey comes incidentally to service rendered ich dieni dien 1 I serve could well be on the sign of every rexall but better still it is in the heart of every rexall owner or ceiri in order to hold its position a rexall drug store must constantly study the wants and needs of the people it must be the times tuis this is mirrored in the fact that recently the liggett stores which are directly owned by the united drug company have eliminated spirituous liquors in every form from its shelves this was a big money loss but even dually it means gain gain in friendship once the drug stores chief standby was just imagine the biggest dealer in drug supplies in the world not handling spirituous liquors at all also it if you please just imagine the P biggest drug store supply house in th the e world not selling preparations that contain strychnine opium morphine arsenic or mercury rexall remedies are sate safe they always benefit and sometimes they work remarkable results but they never poison safety first it if you want deadly poisons there is no use applying to a liggett druggist this is in accordance with the best modem ethical ideas also speaking it Is not ethics at all it is simply a matter of business and enlightened self interest in no particular line of human endeavor lias has a bigger evolution taken place recently than in that of medicine my father is a doctor he is ninety three years of age he has practiced medicine tor for seventy years and he is still practicing it is a common thing tor for the funny men to take a fling at the doctors happily however the doctor has evolved with the times and a good doctor Is now a totally tota lly different sort of man from what he was forty years ago doctors have played a big part in the evolution of civilization also they have done a valuable work in literature doctors S weir mitchell Ml john W draper john drown brown thomas huxley lord lister william harvey edward taylor still austin flint frank billings the mayo brothers roswell park maurice richardson all have played big parts in the play we call life against three hundred remedies the united drug company carries over three thousand articles for household and toilet use liggetts chocolates made from juicy fruits and selected nuts covered with delicious chocolate perfumes from france dis distilled tilled from the flowers toilet soaps from paris toilet powders from vienna elquis lie ile things from the orient high grade stationery each and every article b being e packed plainly label led and marked with absolute truth stated in reference to the quality then there Is a line of rubber goods and hot water bottles unequaled in quality by anything that can be found elsewhere the world over there are a great number of articles today that are regarded as necessities which once were luxuries or perhaps of such as tooth brushes hair brushes clothes brushes soaps dentifrices denti frices pleasant tasting mouth washes perfumes toilet waters hair washes soda fountain supplies toilet powders cosmetics and in tact fact most of the business of is top to supply these little trivial necessary y nothings that we all need and without t which we are uncomfortable and at a disadvantage As we go thru life we want to be pleasant and agreeable most certainly we do not want to live in such a way that people will wish to side step us when they see us coming clear eyes a good breath agreeable manners cheerful habits a kindly disposition these are the things at the last that make or mar on this little journey thru life and one thing surely the united drug company Is doing it is educating its helpers to be bigger and better men and women the home office is a good school and a university here is a place where civil service reform is no idle theory the U D co is a search tor for talent every inducement and opportunity is offered for better work just as fast as a boy is able to fit into a better place the lad is moved along and his pay raised accordingly are committees that study each case where an employee may be at faults fault and the erring one la is helped la in 26 friendly way in order that the same mistake may not be repeated but as tor for being shown the door no such thing happens the door shown is I 1 the he door of opportunity not the door of disgrace so b by this plan errand boys evolve into clerks into salesmen salesmen into foremen and foremen into superintendents I 1 met one young woman at the U D who began work ten years ago pasting labels now the is in charge ot of a department at a good salary and her case cae r I 1 afterward found was not unusual children and old people always have consideration in a rexall drug store it if the man is deaf he never gets the tee hee from a clerk it if he lisps and stutters nobody knows of it if lie he is dull and stupid and speaks the english language imperfectly jt i makes no diff difference arence unfailing ailing courtesy and attention are his no service is too small for a rexall man to undertake der take anybody can call do business fairby well some can do business superbly well and occasionally there are men who do business so perfectly well that they are without competition in their own particular chosen line of human endeavor these are the people that grumpy grouchy growling competitors often reter refer to as the trust the rexall stores reveal genius in the realm of it is mo ther love in trade the greatest compliment ever paid to a druggist was when the new york central railroad company invited louis K liggett to open a rexall drug store in the grand central terminal in new york there were hundreds of applications tor for the space some from bligh lY worthy people but the vanderbilt order had gone out that svery every store tn ia the grand central must berentes be rented only to men trusted and tried who knew their business thru and thru and whose line of goods and attention to customers would reflect credit on everybody concerned there must be no experiments with it was decided that the rexall policy was exactly suited to the patrons of tile the new york central lines and today it happens that the aln est comer of the grand central terminal is occupied by a rexall drug store the space is big bg roomy generous in very truth it is the largest retail drug store in america or in the world As for the stock it is exactly the same as what you will find in any rexall drug store and the prices are the same moderate figures to which the rexall customers are used the grand central terminal is not only the finest railroad station in the world but it is the most elaborate and complete structure ever erece by the genius of of man mail to describe the grand central terminal battles baffles words and makes adjectives look inexpensive I 1 know the kremlin at Alo moscow scow the palace of versailles the louvre in paris but these fade into futility compard with the grand central terminal in new york city i 4 i it is 13 the last word in engineering a palace beyond compare dedicated to the needs of the people and in this structure which is finer tar far than pericles ever saw or julius caesar imagined the recall holds a proud place and it belongs go into the grand C central rexall and see no difference whether you wish to buy or not walk in and ask the time of day or for a toothpick or inquire what time the ten train goes the grand central |
