For Love or Gold? The Story of a Great Department Store — page 91: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

wes 5 Sen ee wats a3 paianess ee >» The Partners I Do ¢ a Little ‘Talking, ce aid pracy, “but our suoetinates should attend to these matters ; ; that is what they are paid for.” fe Mr. Forbes wheeled around in his chair and faced the ee xe es pt a 4 speaker, Bee ‘Tl have hired no subordinates on that basis,” he de distinctly. “My orders have been to get all the work pos- iD i sible out of a clerk, and when they were incompetent or — in any way useless, turn them out and get new ones, and ~ I believe that I have acted with the full consent of ays eH partners.” eh tae Mr. Day looked crestfallen for about a minute. He tie . “Oh, if you put it that way, why, of course, Mr. Roches: ; We could ‘not expect to sell our goods with a lot of dum- — mies behind our counters.’ ! a “We've had worse than ‘dummies,’ ” spoke up Mr. Den- 2 af ton. “We've had skeletons and lunatics and almost — corpses! Just go down and look at them, men, women and children! ‘There’s not ten healthy human beings on any floor in the building; yet they came to us, many of | them, glowing with health, like Miss Marvin.” “Are they worse than at other stores?” asked Mr. Day, ~ *T don't know,” was the answer ; “but that doesn’t mate | “They get their. pay regularly,” 4 Mr. Forbes. ‘Fur-- Ber ther, we do not solicit their Services, nor compel them - to stay with us.’ ; “No; we merely take advantage of their wretched con- — He ditions to secure their services cheap,” said Mr. Denton — 3 bitterly ; “then instead of bettering their lot we grind then aa lower and lower, until at last they die either forgiving: or | . cursing us.’ Z There was another silence more oppressive. than. he oa then Mr, Day rose slowly and started to leave Pe. “We are exciting ourselves foolishly, I think,” he ana loftily ; “neither you nor I, my partners, can hope to rem- = - _ edy the conditions of labor.” foe __ He closed the door softly, and was free from the un- ee ae te atmospehere of the office. aie Sha he did so, a young ous sare out of the elevator — ~-comicboo S.com KS aes