| By Author | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Title | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Language |
|
Download this book: [ ASCII ] Look for this book on Amazon Tweet |
Title: One Thousand Ways To Make Money
Author: Fox, Page
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.
*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "One Thousand Ways To Make Money" ***
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)
ONE
THOUSAND WAYS
TO
MAKE MONEY.
BY
PAGE FOX.
COMPRISING
The Rounds and Bounds of Money-Making; The Arts of
Getting a Living; Old and New Opportunities for
Fortune; A Storehouse of Facts, Hints, Helps
and Practical Ideas, in all Kinds of Business,
and Hundreds of Trade Secrets
Never Before Given Away.
SECOND EDITION.
THE
Abbey Press
PUBLISHERS
114
FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1900,
by
THE
Abbey Press
in
the
United States
and
Great Britain.
All Rights Reserved.
TO THE READER.
Friend--Are you looking for a place? We tell you how to find it. Are you
poorly paid for your work? We tell you how to get better wages. Have you
goods you want to sell? We suggest new plans.
Are the profits of shop, store, office, or farm unsatisfactory? We tell
you how to increase your income.
Do you want to change your business? We suggest a vast number of new
ways to make money.
Have you a boy whom you wish to put to a trade? We tell you what
occupations pay the best.
Do you wish to make money in your own home? We give you a list of 100
paying articles which you can make and sell.
Have you a little plot of ground around your house? We tell you how to
make it yield you a yearly revenue.
Do you want to know how our rich men made their money? We give the
secrets away by the hundred.
Do you want to know what to do with your savings? We give you a list of
the best-paying investments.
Have you practical ideas? Are you skilled in the use of tools? Would you
like to take out a patent? We present to you a list of over 300
inventions needed, and in some cases even suggest how the article
should be made.
Have you literary ability? or reportorial talent? or advertising genius?
We mention 100 ways by which you may be able to make a living by the
pen.
In short the 1,000 ways of money-making in this book are 1,000 nails to
hang your fortune on. Others have profited by these suggestions. Why may
not you?
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
HOW TO GET A PLACE. PAGE
The Secret of Work. Nature’s Furrow. General Details. The Prismatic
Brain. The Bridled Tongue. Studying the Stair Above. The Missing Factor.
The Magnifying Glass. The Microscopic Eye. Scoring a Point when off
Duty. The Study of Men 13
CHAPTER II.
STARTING IN BUSINESS.
The Minimum Basis. The House-to-House Canvass. The Choice Location. The
Maximum Basis. The Personal Equation 21
CHAPTER III.
MONEY IN TRADE.
The Interlined Advertisement. The Picturesque Name. The Pictorial Wreck.
Red-Letter Day. Class Discount. The Honest Flaw. The Premium Clerk. The
Railroad Mileage. The Dial Dollars. First Customer Package. The Carpet
Coupon. The House Lot Coupon. Price-Time Grade. Sales Bulletin. Best
Reason Prize. Birthday Calendar. Conspicious Price-List. The Early
Discount. The Money-Space Counter. 24
CHAPTER IV.
MONEY IN THE INTRODUCTION OF A NEW ARTICLE.
The Puzzle. The Toy Imitation. The Cartoon. The Conjurer. The Striking
Figure. The Advertising Story. The Word-Builder. The Popular Pun. The
Political Guesser. The Geometrical Group. The Pictorial Comparison. The
Open Challenge. The Book Gift. Sunday School Supplies. 30
CHAPTER V.
MONEY IN THE HOME STORE.
Section 1--Household Ornaments.
Crystallized Grasses. Leaf Impressions. Vine and Trellis. The Suspended
Acorn. Moss and Cone. The Tumbler of Peas. The Hanging Turnip. Bleached
Leaves. The Artificial Plant. 35
Section 2--Tea Dishes.
Delicious Ham. Choice Tongue. Artificial Honey. 39
Section 3--Pastry.
Angel Cake. Dominos. Soft Gingerbread. Doughnuts. 41
Section 4--Sweetmeats and Confectionery.
Walnut Candy. Chocolate Caramels. Peppermint Creams. Molasses Candy.
Blanched Almonds. Fig Paste. Fig Layer Candy. 42
Section 5--Preserves, Pickles, and Jellies.
Orange Marmalade. Brandied Peach. Ox-Heart Cherry. Pound Pear. Grape
Jelly. Sweet Pickles. Chow-Chow. Pickled Walnuts. 44
Section 6--Toilet Articles.
Rose Oil. Cologne Water. French Face Powder. Night-Blooming
Cereus. 47
Section 7--Varnishes and Polishes.
Stove Blacking. Shoe Blacking. Furniture Cream. Leather Polish. 48
Section 8--Soaps and Starches.
Poland Starch. Glue Starch. Gum-Arabic Starch. Starch Luster. Hard Soap.
Savon D’Amande. 50
Section 9--Soft Drinks.
Root Beer. Ginger Pop. Lemonade and Orangeade. 51
Section 10--Dairy and Other Farm Produce.
Golden Butter. Fresh Eggs. Sweet Milk. Sparkling Honey. New Cheese.
Clean Lard. White Pork. Poultry to Order. 52
Section 11--Garden Vegetables.
Cut-to-Order Asparagus. Quick Market Strawberries. Round Tomatoes. Pint
Peas. String Beans. Green Corn. 54
Section 12--School Supplies.
Book Covers. Artificial Slates. Cheap Ink. School Bag. Pen Wiper.
Children’s Luncheon. 56
Section 13--Christmas Presents.
Sofa Pillow. Jewel Tray. American Flag. Hair-Pin Case. Chair Cushion.
Lamp Shade. Bookmark. Handy Work-Box. Pincushion. Catch-Bag.
Court-Plaster Case. Postage-Stamp Holder. Photograph Frame. Match Safe.
Wall-Pocket. Glove Box. 57
Section 14--Miscellaneous Articles.
Hot Gems. Sliced Watermelon. Toothsome Pies. Ice Cream. Pork and Beans.
Tomato Ketchup. Mince Meat. Dried Apples. Peanuts. Cigarettes. Tallow
Candles. Lung Preserver. Poison Killer. Mucilage. Pop Corn. 61
CHAPTER VI.
MONEY IN THE HOME ACRE.
Money in Pears. Greenbacks in Greenings. Plums of Gold. The Raspberry
Acre. Profits in Big Peaches. Easy Tomatoes. Assorted Strawberries.
Livings in Lettuce. Sovereigns in Spinach. Thousand-Dollar Celery.
Fortunes in Water-Cress. The Dollar Blackberry. Nickels in Pickles. The
Beet Lot. The Roasting Ear. Paying Peas. Grated Horseradish. 69
CHAPTER VII.
MONEY FOR WOMEN.
The School Store. The Hand Album. The Novelty Bakery. The Front Yard
Snap. The Pet Dog. The Box Lunch. The Hairdresser. Typo and Steno. The
Sewing School. Flat Hunting. A Tea Room. Dress Mending. Lace Handling.
Intelligence Office. Professional Mending. The College Cram. Shoe and
Wrap Room. General Convenience Room. Sick-Room Delicacies. Shopping
Commission. School Luncheon. Hatching Birds. Butter-and-Egg Store.
Saratoga Chips. Fancy Lamp Shades. Bee-Keeping. Cleansing and Bleaching.
Fancy Soaps. Home Architecture. Home Ornaments. Doubtful Debts.
Dressing Dolls. Fruit Preservers. Mushroom Cellar. Poultry Raising. Home
Hothouse. Art Needlework. News Agency. Women’s Wants. Home Printing
Press. Short Service Bureau. Delicatessen Room. Miscellaneous Exchange.
Cap and Apron Plan. Kitchen Utensils. Wedding Manager. Foreign Homes.
Lady Barber. Mineral Collections for Schools. Turkish Bath. Trained
Nurses. Traveling Companion. Paper Flowers. French Perfumer and
Complexion Expert. A Woman’s Hotel. Guide for Shoppers. Bicycle
Instruction. Cooking School. Boarding House. Pen Engraving. Ladies’
Restaurant. A Woman’s Newspaper. Advertising Agent. The Civil Service.
Post-Prandial Classes. Women Druggists. Almanac Makers. Women Lecturers.
Magazine Contributors. Women Physicians. Paper Box Making. Horticulture.
Vocalists. Packing Trunks. Women Costumers. Express Office. Fancy
Bakery. Women Grocers. Food and Medicine Samples. Samples in Stores.
Samples from House to House. The Woman Beautifier. The Manicure Parlor.
The Massage Treatment. Ice Cream Parlor. Flower Packets. Lady Caterer.
Delicacies for Invalids. Insect Powder. Rice Cultivator. Yeast Cakes.
Physical Culture. House Cleaning. Selling Oysters. Pie Cart. Men’s
Neckties. Dancing Teacher. Haberdasher. Lady Architect. Lost and Found
Agency. 73
CHAPTER VIII.
MONEY FOR BOYS.
Section 1--How a Boy Can Get a Place.
Free Service. Special Department. Show Superiority of Goods.
Advertising. Influence. A Trial Week. Commission. 104
Section 2--What Boys Can Do.
The Boy Magician. The Glass-Blower. The Dime Lunch. Cancelled Stamps.
The Boys’ Press. Saw and Scroll. The Magic Lantern. Candy-Making. Odd
Jobs. General Employment Agency. Collect Magazines. Vacant Lot. Bicycle
Teaching. First-Cost Sales. 107
CHAPTER IX.
MONEY IN AGENCIES.
Book Agency. Patent Agency. Commission Merchants. Insurance Agency.
Traveling Salesmen. Supply Companies. Agencies for Teachers. Clerical
Agency. Matrimonial Agencies. Agency for Servants. Agency for Farm
Hands. 113
CHAPTER X.
MONEY IN PROPRIETARY COMPOUNDS.
Healing Ointment. Spasm Killer. Anti-Malaria. Hostetter’s Bitters.
Toothache Ease. Candy Digest. Cough Lozenges. Lovers’ Hair-Oil.
Purgative Powder. Consumption Wafers. Beef, Iron and Wine. Spring Tonic.
Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery. Bed-Bug Exterminator. Catarrh
Cure. Lip Pomatum. Ointment for Chapped Hands. Cod-Liver Oil Emulsion.
Beauty Water. Cough Mixture. Dr. Sage’s Catarrh Remedy. Diarrhea
Mixture. Blood Purifier. 120
CHAPTER XI.
MONEY IN REAL ESTATE.
City Property. Pleasure Resorts. New Town Sites. Western Lands. The
Apartment House. The Sky Scraper. The Jersey Flats. Abandoned
Farms. 127
CHAPTER XII.
MONEY IN THE FINE ARTS.
Crayon Work. Drawing. Photograph Coloring. Oil Painting. Water Colors.
Wood Engraving. Book Decoration. Dyeing. Designs. Engraving on Glass.
Embroidery. Lace Making. Drawing in Charcoal. Painting on China.
Portrait Painting. 132
CHAPTER XIII.
MONEY IN MANUFACTURE.
Bicycle Factories. Double Profit Furs. Mica Sheets. Artificial Marble.
Artificial Whalebone. Artificial India Rubber. Artificial Camphor. Car
Building. The Transverse Wooden Pavement. 137
CHAPTER XIV.
MONEY IN MINING.
Nevada Silver. Aluminum, the New Mineral. North Carolina Mica. Kansas
Zinc. Missouri Cottas. Nickel Mines. Mexican Iron. Tennessee Limestone.
Fortunes in Copper. German Amber. African Diamonds. Tasmania Tin.
Georgia Sapphires. Rock Salt. Asbestos Pockets. Prospects in Platinum.
Petroleum Wells. Gold Discoveries. Prospecting for Mines. 143
CHAPTER XV.
MONEY IN PATENT RIGHTS.
Section 1.--Money in Bicycles.
A Non-Puncturable Bicycle Tire. Bicycle Holder Attachment. The Bicycle
Umbrella Holder. A Bicycle Cyclometer Clock. The Double Power Bicycle.
The Folding Wheel. A Bicycle Support. The Cushion Saddle. A Bicycle
Guard. A Combination Bicycle Lock. A Bicycle Trunk. The Unicycle. A
Bicycle Cover. A Package Holder. Handle Bar Cyclometer. The All-Selling
Wheel. Toe-and-Heel Clip. The Extension Bicycle. A Bicycle Shoe. The
Stirrup Pedal. The Home Bicycle. 149
Section 2.--Money in Building Contrivances.
The Ornamental Floor. The Secure Window-Blind. The Self-Locking Window.
The Adjustable Blind. The Dollar Door Closer. Sectional Window.
Adjustable Storm Door. A Hinge Lock. Double Window. Hot-Blast Furnace.
The Weightless Window Sash. A Floor Cover. Sash Balance. Painting
Machines. The Pneumatic Water Tank. The Wood-Pulp Floor. 154
Section 3.--Money in the Kitchen.
The Cheap Washer. A Meat Chopper. Automatic Stove Damper. Potato
Extractor. Knife Sharpener. Cold Handle. The Electric Stove. Fruit Jar
Holder. Can Opener. Odorless Cooking Vessels. Coal Filled Flat-Iron.
Automatic Soaper. Dish-Washing Machine. A Stove Alarm. The Elastic
Clothes Line. Combination Line and Pin. A Fruit Press. The
Can-Slide. 157
Section 4.--Money in the Parlor.
The Chair Fan. The Rocking-Chair Fan. Christmas-Tree Holder.
Picture-Frame Fastener. Adjustable Head Rest. Imitation Coal Fire. Music
Turner. Roll-Front Fire-Screen. Removable Rockers. 160
Section 5.--Money in the Bedroom.
A Noiseless Clock. A Narcotic Pillow. Electric Fire Igniter. Bedclothes
Fastener. Easy-Working Bureau. Extensible Bedstead. Movable Partition
and Folding Bed. An Attachable Crib. Pulse Indicator. Dress-Suit Hanger.
The Anti-Snorer. The Ventilated Mattress. 161
Section 6.--Money in the Cellar.
Furnace Feeder. Ice Machine. Stove Ash-Sifter. Jointed Coal Chute.
Combined Pan, Can, Sifter and Roller. Ash-Barrel. 163
Section 7.--Money in the Library and the Schoolroom.
A Paper Binder. The Correspondent’s Desk. Book-Duster. The Portable
Library. Pocket Lunch Basket. The Multiple-Leaved Blackboard. 164
Section 8.--Money in Meals.
Butter and Cheese Cutter. Paper Tablecloth. Scroll-Edge Meat Knife.
Carving-Knife Holder. Lamp Cooker. Wine Tablets. Extension
Table. 165
Section 9.--Money in the Business Office.
The Keyboard Lock. Automatic Safe Opener. Paper Binder and Bill Holder.
Book Lock. The Perpetual Calendar. The Lightning Adder. Copyholder.
Envelope Moistener and Sealer. Multiple Lock. Office Door Indicator.
Automatic Ticket Seller. Perforated Stamp. 167
Section 10.--Money in the Packing-Room.
Nonrefillable Bottle. Collapsible Box. Bottle Stopper. Combination Cork
and Corkscrew. Collapsible Barrel. Self-Standing Bag. Barrel Filler and
Funnel Cut-Off. Folding Crate. Paper Barrel. 169
Section 11.--Money in Articles of Trade.
The Tradesman’s Signal. Barrel Gauge. Elastic Chimney. Air Moistener.
Automatic Lubricator. Short-Time Negative. Drying Apparatus. Rotable
Hotel Register. Glass Dome. Round Cutting Scissors. Casket Clamp.
Self-Winding Clock. Dose Stopper. Faucet Measure. Automatic Feeder.
Coupon Cash Book. Gas Detective. Paper Towels. Water Filter. Pneumatic
Freight Tube. Storm Warning. Heat Governor. Automatic Oil Feeder. Paint
Brush Feeder. Inside Faucet. House Patterns. Extension Handle. Wire
Stretcher. Price Tag. Handy Vise. Folding Ladder. Smokeless Fuel.
Finger-Ring Gauge. Laundry Bag. Sole Cement. Goods Exhibitor. Shoe
Stretcher. Cork Ejector. Lemon Squeezer. Spring Wheel. Plural Capsule.
Dose Bottle. Fisherman’s Claw. Pocket Scale. Toy Bank and Register.
Paper Match. Illuminated Type. Paper Bottles. Paper Sail. 170
Section 12.--Money in the Street.
Street Sweeper. Phosphorescent Street Numbers. Buggy Top Adjuster.
Shoulder Pack. Adjustable Cart Bottom. Nailless Horseshoe. Elastic Ring.
Heel Cyclometer. Whip-Lock. Rein-Holder. Automobile. Low Truck.
Automatic Horse Fastener. Foot-Cycle. 178
Section 13.--Money in Farming Contrivances.
Corn Cutter. Frost Protector. Farm Fertilizer. Postless Fence. Automatic
Gate Opener. Corn Planter. All-Seed Planter. Fertilizer Distributor.
Bone Cutter. Bucket Tipper. Post Hole Digger. Well Refrigerator.
Multiple Dasher Churn. Fruit Picker. Portable Fence. Poultry Drinking
Fountain. Poultry Perch. Mole Trap. Seed Sower. Milker and Strainer.
Paper Milk Can. Plant Preserver. 180
Section 14.--Money in the Mails and in Writing Materials.
The Reversible Package. Copying Paper. Word Printing Typewriter.
Transparent Ink Bottle. Double Postal Card. Safety Envelope. Combination
Cover and Letter. Always Ready Letter Paper. Ink Regulator. Pen Finger
Pen Rest. Perpetual Pen Supply. Letter Annunciator. Envelope Opener.
Mail Stamper. Rotary Stamper. Invisible Ink. 184
Section 15.--Money in Dress.
Bachelor’s Buttons. Shoe Fastener. Trousers’ Guard. Twentieth Century
Shoe. Combination Tie and Collar. Spring Hat. Rear-Opening Shoe.
Detachable Rubber Sole. Instantaneous Cement. Elastic Hat Pin.
Starch-Proof Collar Band. Dress Shield. Sleeve Holder. Convertible
Button. Paper Clothing. 187
Section 16.--Money in Personal Conveniences.
The Pocket Umbrella. The Million Match. Finger-Nail Parer. The Watch
Pad. Pocket Bill Holder. Extension Umbrella. Portable Desk. Flower
Holder. Hat Lock. Spring Shoe Heel. Self-Igniting Cigar. Spring Knife.
Phosphorescent Key Guard. Knot Clasp. Single Match Delivery. Watch Head
Cane. Bookcase Chair. Coin Holder. Pocket Punch. Mouth Guard. Parcel
Fastener. 189
Section 17.--Money in Household Conveniences.
The Warning Clock. Slot Gas Machine. Revolving Flower Stand. Window
Shade Screen. Baby Walker. Detachable Shower Bath. Carpet Beater. Carpet
Stretcher and Fastener. Stepladder Chair. Window Fly-Gate. Double Window
Shade. Folding Baby Carriage. Scrubbing Machine. Catch-All
Carpet-Sweeper. 192
Section 18.--Money in the Saving of Life and Property.
Safety Shafts. Pocketbook Guard. Cheap Burglar Alarm. Collapsible Fire
Escape. Air Tester. Lifeboat Launcher. Saw-Tooth Crutch. Elevator Safety
Clutch. Gun-Guard. Pocket Disinfector. Automatic Fire Alarm. Key
Fastener. Lightning Arrester. Window Cleaner. Safety Rein. Rope Grip.
Scissors Guard. Double Pocket. Fire Extinguisher. 195
Section 19.--Money in the Laboratory.
Fly-Killer. Artificial Egg. Sediment Liquefier. Fire Kindler. Egg
Preserver. Mosquito Annihilator. Artificial Fuel. Flamless Torch.
Chemical Eraser. 197
Section 20.--Money in Tools.
The Instantaneous Wrench. The Double Channeled Screw Head. The Double
Power ‘Screw Driver. The Multiple Blade Parer. Knife Guard. The
All-Tool. Nail-Carrying Hammer. 199
Section 21.--Money in the Cars.
Speed Indicator. Automatic Car Coupler. Fender Car-Brake. Folding
Car-Step. Car Signal. Automatic Water Tank. 200
Section 22.--Money in Making People Honest.
The Housekeeper’s Safety Punch. The Unalterable Check. Egg Tester.
Umbrella Lock. The Honest Package. 201
Section 23.--Money in Traveler’s Articles.
The Adjustable Trunk. The Hollow Cane. The Elastic Trunk Strap. The
Slide Bag. The Outfit Trunk. 202
Section 24.--Money in Toilet Articles.
Curling Iron Attachment. The Hinge Blacking Box. The Mirror Hairbrush.
The Soap Shaving Brush. 203
Section 25.--Money in Amusements.
Ducking Stool. Double Motion Swing. Folding Skate. Bicycle Boat. 204
Section 26.--Money in War.
Slow Explosive. Transparent Cartridge. Ship’s Bottom Cleaner.
Self-Loading Pistol. 204
Section 27.--Money in Minerals.
Galvanized Iron. Metal Extractor. Gold Paint. 205
Section 28.--Money in Great Inventions Unclassified.
Storage of Power. Pictorial Telegraphy. Solidified Petroleum.
Non-Inflammable Wood. Suction Pipe. 206
CHAPTER XVI.
MONEY IN THE SOIL.
Substitute for Silk. Washington Pippins. Dorsets and Downs. American
Cheese. Business Apples. Fortunes in Poppies. The Capon Farm. Barrels of
Baldwins. Rare Rodents. Mortgage-Lifter Oats. Record-Breaking Dates.
Dollar Wheat. Leaf Tobacco. Tree Nursery. Round Number Onions. Potato
Profits. Golden Geese. California Prunes. A Bee Farm. The Apple Acre.
The Sugar Beet. Gilt-Edged Breeds. December Layers. Florida Celery.
Oneida Hops. Boston Beans. Christmas Trees. The Guaranteed Egg. Double
Vegetable Culture. English Shires. Fortunes in Nut Shells. 209
CHAPTER XVII.
MONEY IN LITERATURE.
The Popular Novel. The Short Story. The Village Reporter. The Truth
Condenser. Town History. The Shoppers’ Guide. Birthday Book.
Church-Workers’ Book. Household Economics. The Plain Man’s Meal. Present
Century Celebrities. Readers’ Guide Book. American Eloquence. Racers’
Record Book. Your Own Physician. The Boy’s Astronomy. Recreations in
Chemistry. The Curiosity Book. The Child’s Bible. Guide to Trades. The
Pleasure Book. The Soldier’s Book. Book of Style. Science of Common
Things. Popular Songs. Foreign Translations. Children’s Stories.
Condensed Stories. The Manner Book. The George Republic. 1,000 Times
across the Atlantic. The Man Hunter. Story of a Ragpicker. Story of a
Diver. Story of a Convict. The Stowaway. Wheel and World. Story of a
Fireman. In a Balloon. Story of an Engineer. Story of a Murderer. Story
of a Tramp. Story of a Lunatic. Story of a Criminal Lawyer. Story of the
Klondike. The Exposition of Frauds. Sermons of Modern Preacher’s. The
Wonder Book. Health Resorts. The All-Cure Book. Success. How to See New
York. Map Making. Story of the Pole. The Making of a Mighty Business.
Heroes of Labor. The Elite Directory. Popular Dramas. Furnishing a Home.
Pretty Weddings. Quotation Book. 220
CHAPTER XVIII.
MONEY IN NEWSPAPERS.
The News in One Minute. Nutshell News. The Bulletin Forecast. Bottom
Facts. The People’s Paper. The Big Seven. Free Wants. Bargain Bureau.
Reserve Space. The Page Contract. 241
CHAPTER XIX.
MONEY IN CLOTH.
Linen Mills. Triple Knee Stocking. The Unfrayable Collar Band. The Ramie
Plant. Cotton Mills in the South. Artificial Silk. Mineral Wool. Leather
Substitute. 247
CHAPTER XX.
MONEY IN FERTILIZERS.
Garbage. Leaves. Urban Sewage. Ashes. Phosphates. Cottonseed Meal. City
Stables. Peat. Menhaden. Fish Scrap. Soot. 250
CHAPTER XXI.
MONEY IN ADVERTISING.
Money and the Muse. Cents in Nonsense. Word Puzzle. Tracks to Wealth.
The Story Advertisement. The Fictitious Bank Bill. The Pocketbook Find.
Everybody’s Eagle. The Witty Dialogue. The Stereoscope Bulletin. The
Arc Reflector. The Last Scene. The Red-Letter Bat. The Restaurant Fan.
The Cigar Wrapper. The Growing Word. The Polite Stranger. The Funny
Quartet. The Street Brawl. The Box-Kite. 254
CHAPTER XXII.
MONEY IN THE POWERS OF NATURE.
Compressed Air. Steam. Electricity. Caloric. Water Power. Windmills. A
Sand Mill. Sea Power. Artesian Well. Liquid Air. 261
CHAPTER XXIII.
MONEY IN BUILDING MATERIALS.
Stone Quarry. Artificial Stone. Baked Brick. Glass Brick. Rubber
Floors. 265
CHAPTER XXIV.
MONEY IN AMUSEMENTS.
The Farce Comedy. Instrumental Concerts. Stage Stars. Popular Lecturers.
Hand Shadows. Museum and Circus. Gymnasts. Opera Singers. Mimic Battles.
Theatrical Enterprises. Dancers. Moving Pictures. Band Players.
Impersonators. Ancient Burlesques. Reciters. Bell Ringers. Magicians.
Story Tellers. Cartoonists. 268
CHAPTER XXV.
MONEY IN ROD AND GUN.
Fat Quails. Tropical Birds. Ivory. The Trout Pond. Fabulous Prices for
Furs. 274
CHAPTER XXVI.
MONEY IN THE FOREST.
Wisconsin Pines. North Carolina Tar. Vermont Maple Sugar. Alabama
Chestnuts. Idaho Cedar. Maine Birch Wood. Southern Canes. 277
CHAPTER XXVII.
MONEY IN THE SEA.
Oregon Salmon. Massachusetts Cod. French Sardines. Sea Otters. Arctic
Whales. Behring Seals. Sea Gold. 280
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MONEY IN WASTE MATERIAL.
Waste of Sewage. Waste of Coal Ashes. Waste of Garbage. Waste of
Sulphur. Waste of Tin. Waste of Heat. Waste of Land. Waste of Gold,
Silver, and Iron. 284
CHAPTER XXIX.
MISCELLANEOUS WAYS OF MAKING MONEY.
The National Advertising Co. Free Rent. X-Rays and X Bills. Golden
Sails. Game Preserve. The Junk Shop. Old Newspapers. The Bookstall. Old
Furniture. Public Convenience Room. General Advice. Language Classes.
Business Opportunities. Mine Owners. Cattle Raisers. Stump Speakers.
Artistic Home Builders. Cemetery Owners. Glass Ball Shooters.
Entertainment Bureaus. Ice Cream Manufacturers. Gold Hunters. Asphalt
Companies. Horse Jockeys. Wig Making. Book Repairing. The Household
Pack. Pawnbrokers’ Profits. 288
CHAPTER XXX.
MONEY IN SPECULATION.
City Bonds. Colonial Trade. The American Tobacco Co. Collapsed
Railroads. Wheat Margins. 299
CHAPTER XXXI.
WHERE TO INVEST MONEY.
Illuminating Companies. Trust Companies. Banks. Insurance Companies. Tin
Plate Company. Pottery Combination. Consolidated Ice. Flour Trust.
Furniture Combine. Telephone Monopoly. A Great Electrical Company.
Industrial Stocks. Railroad Dividends. Lodging House. Real
Estate. 304
CHAPTER XXXII.
MONEY IN SPARE TIME.
What Five Minutes a Day Will Do. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty. Twenty-five.
Thirty. Thirty-five. Forty. Forty-five. Fifty. Fifty-five. Sixty.
Seventy-five. Eighty. Ninety. One Hundred. One Hundred and Ten. One
Hundred and Twenty. 310
CHAPTER XXXIII.
MONEY IN ODDS AND ENDS.
How to Save $100 a Year. 314
CHAPTER XXXIV.
STRANGE WAYS OF MAKING MONEY.
Experts. Detectives. Traveling Poets. Old Coins. Purveyor of Personals.
Gold on Sea Bottom. Rare Books. Old Italian Violins. Magic Silk. The
Gold Cure. The Telephone Newspaper. Race and Stock Tippers.
Promoters. 316
CHAPTER XXXV.
HIGHLY PAYING OCCUPATIONS.
Electrical Experts. The Confidential Man. The Advertising Agent. The
Great Daily Editor. Medical Specialists. Legal Counselors. Corporation
Presidents. 324
INTRODUCTION.
The object of this work is to help people who are out of employment to
secure a situation; to enable persons of small means to engage in
business and become their own employers; to give men and women in
various lines of enterprise ideas whereby they may succeed; and to
suggest new roads to fortune by the employment of capital. The author
has been moved to the undertaking by the reflection that there exists
nowhere a book of similar character. There have indeed been published a
multitude of books which profess to tell men how to succeed, but they
all consist of merely professional counsel expressed in general terms.
We are told that the secrets of success are “industry and accuracy,”
“the grasping of every opportunity,” “being wide awake,” “getting up
early and sitting up late,” and other cheap sayings quite as well known
to the taker as to the giver. Even men who have made their mark, when
they come to treat of their career in writing, seem unable to give any
concrete suggestions which will prove helpful to other struggling
thousands, but simply tell us they won by “hard work,” or by “close
attention to business.”
The author of this book has gone to work on a totally different plan. I
have patiently collected the facts in the rise of men to wealth and
power, have collated the instances and instruments of fortune, and from
these have sifted out the real secrets of success. When as in a few
cases, the worn-out proverbs and principles are quoted, these are
immediately reinforced by individual examples of persons who attributed
their advancement to the following of these rules; but, in general, the
suggestions are new, and in very many cases plans and lines of work are
proposed by the author which are entirely original, and so far as he
knows, absolutely untried. Hence, the work becomes of incomparable value
to business men who are constantly seeking new means to interest the
public and to dispose of their goods.
Of course, the vast field of action treated of in this work lies beyond
the experience of any one man, but the author has talked with business
men in every walk in life and gleaned from them the essential facts in
their career; in many instances these facts are not the things they have
done, but the things they would do if they could begin again, thus
giving the reader the benefit both of their success and failure. As a
book offering opportunities to the ambitious; presenting openings to
those seeking a wider scope for their faculties; affording stimulation
to persons of sluggish blood; and giving away trade and business secrets
never before divulged; the author feels confident that the little work
stands unrivaled, and as such he modestly offers it to the public for
its approval.
ONE THOUSAND WAYS TO MAKE MONEY.
CHAPTER I.
HOW TO GET A PLACE.
You Can Get It--Positions Yawning for Young Men--Any Young Man May
Become Rich--Men Who Began at the Bottom and Reached the Top--How
A. T. Stewart Got His Start--John Jacob Astor’s Secret of
Success--How Stephen Girard’s Drayman Made a Fortune--$100,000 for
Being Polite--How One Man’s Error Made Another Man’s
Fortune--Secret of the Bon Marché in Paris--How Edison Succeeded--A
Sure Way to Rise--How a Young Man Got His Salary Increased
$2,000--A Sharp Yankee Peddler.
Young men are often discouraged because the desirable places all seem to
be filled. But remember there is always room for the right man. Says a
New York millionaire: “I hold that any young man, possessing a good
constitution and a fair degree of intelligence, may become rich.” Says
another business man: “I have made a personal canvass of a dozen of the
largest business houses in five different commercial and professional
lines to see to what extent there exist openings for young men.” In only
two of the houses approached were the heads of the firms satisfied the
positions of trust in those houses were filled by capable men. And in
each of these two houses I was told that “of course, if the right sort
of a young man came along who could tell us something about our business
we did not already know, we should not let him slip through our fingers.
Positions can always be created. In four of the houses, positions had
been open for six months or more, and the sharpest kind of a lookout
kept for possible occupants. These positions commanded salaries all the
way from $2,000 to $5,000 a year. In the publishing business, I know of
no less than six positions actually yawning for the men to come and fill
them--not clerical positions, but positions of executive authority.
Young men are desired in these places because of their progressive ideas
and capacity to endure work.”
Another prominent man who interviewed the heads of several large firms
writes in a recent periodical as follows: “It is not with these firms a
question of salary; it is a question of securing the highest skill with
the most perfect reliability. This being secured, almost any salary to
be named will be cheerfully paid. A characteristic of the business world
to-day is that its institutions, empires in themselves, have grown to be
too large for the handling of ordinary men. These institutions are
multiplying in excess of the number of men whose business skill is broad
and large enough to direct and command them. Hence, the really
commanding business brain is at an immense premium in the market. A
salary of $50,000 a year as president of a railroad or manufacturing
company at first sight seems exorbitant; but the payment of such a
salary usually means pure business. The right or the wrong man at the
head of a great business interest means the making or the unmaking of
fortunes for the stockholders. Only a single glance at the industrial
world is needed to show that here is room for the advent of genius of
the first order. This world, seething like a caldron, is boiling to the
brim with questions of the most vexing and menacing kind.”
Look at the men who reached the top of fortune’s ladder, and see under
what discouraging circumstances they began. James Fisk, called the
Prince of the Erie, rose to that position from a ragged newsboy.
Stephen Girard began on nothing, and became the greatest millionaire of
his time. Young men, would you scorn to row a boat for a living?
Cornelius Vanderbilt plied a boat between Staten Island and New York.
Would you tramp the country as a surveyor for a map? Jay Gould began in
that way, and forty years later satisfied certain doubters of his
financial standing by showing them certificates of stocks worth
$80,000,000. Do you fear to have your hands calloused with ax or saw?
John W. Mackay, who acquired a fortune of $20,000,000, started in life
as a shipwright. Is it beneath your social station to handle butter and
eggs? “Lucky” Baldwin, the multi-millionaire, kept a country store and
made his first venture by taking his goods overland in a cart to Salt
Lake City. Are your fingers too delicate for the broom handle? A. T.
Stewart began his business career by sweeping out the store. Do you
abhor vile odors? Peter Cooper made $6,000,000 in the glue business.
Tens of thousands are looking for a place. Most of them have had places,
but could not keep them. If you follow all the rules below, having
obtained a place, you will never need to seek one again. The place will
seek you. Employers are in search of the qualities herein to be
considered, and they are willing to pay liberally for them. They are
qualities that come high everywhere. If you possess them, you can in a
short time command your own price. But do not scorn to take the humblest
place. Merit, like murder, will out. Be sure you have the winning cards
and wait.
1. THE SECRET OF WORK.--Men will employ you if you mean business. When
you find men working, work with them. Lend a hand. Every employer would
rather employ a busy man than an idle man. When he sees you working, he
will watch you. If he likes you, he will make you an offer. A glazier,
being refused work at a place where a church was being erected, put down
his kit of tools, picked up the broken pieces of glass which the workmen
had thrown away, and, laboring just as if he had been hired to work,
fashioned the finest church window in the world, and became rich and
famous.
2. NATURE’S FURROW.--Plow in nature’s furrow. In general, a man is
fitted for the thing he likes. Do that which you can do best. What you
want to do you are called to do, and what you are called to do you can
do. Darwin says that the fittest survive because they have a slight
advantage over those which do not survive. Your liking for an occupation
is the advantage you have over those who do not like it. Follow the
hint, whether it be to publish a paper or peg shoes. A leading merchant
in New York found his calling through having loaned money to a friend.
He had to take his friend’s store to secure his money, and thus learned
his gift for merchandise. The man was A. T. Stewart.
3. GENERAL DETAILS.--The best general is General Details. In business
life, no matter is small enough to be despised. To master an infinite
number of small things is to prepare yourself to master great things.
When your employers see that you have everything at your fingers’ ends,
they will intrust you with larger interests, and greater responsibility
means greater pay. John Jacob Astor knew the minutest point about every
part of his great business. _That_ was the secret of his success.
4. THE PRISMATIC BRAIN.--Be many-sided, but transparent. Tell your
employer where you have failed. Do not try to cover up a fault. Be
absolutely honest. You may get along for a time on “shady” lines, but
such success is only gained at the expense of ultimate loss. It is
absolutely essential that your employer should have the utmost
confidence in your integrity. Try by every means to gain that
confidence. Court examination. Invite inspection. Remember that his
profound belief in you--belief in you when out of business hours as well
as in--is your surest stepping-stone to promotion. Character is power.
Your success depends as much upon what you are as upon what you know or
do. Stephen Girard once trusted his drayman to buy a shipload of tea
worth $200,000. He trusted him because he knew his man, and he gave the
young man the profits of the transaction, which amounted to $50,000.
5. THE BRIDLED TONGUE.--Do not cross your employer in any way. Never
dispute with him. You may be sure that you are right, but do not say so.
You need not be a Democrat or an Episcopalian because your employer is,
but if you are wise you will avoid discussing with him questions of
politics or religion. Courtesy pays. Ross Winans, of Philadelphia,
secured a business that netted him $100,000 a year simply through his
politeness to two Russian agents, to whom others in the same trade had
accorded scant courtesy.
6. STUDYING THE STAIR ABOVE.--Study, not stars, but stairs. Learn all
about the position next above you. When you can point out new methods to
your employer, advance new ideas, or suggest new channels of trade or
lines of work, you are surely on the way to promotion. Only, be sure
that your new ideas are practical. There is no more direct road to the
confidence of your employer than for him to see that you understand any
part of his affairs better than he does himself. Employ your spare
moments in studying the business. While the other clerks are joking, do
you be learning. While the students at the boarding-house in Andover
were chaffing each other during the wait for breakfast, Joseph Cook
would turn to a big dictionary in one corner of the room and look out a
word. He climbed many stairs above them.
7. THE MISSING FACTOR.--Your employers are wrestling with a question.
They are uncertain whether to invest or not. They are doubtful about the
character or standing of some man with whom they are or may become
heavily involved. It will be worth thousands to you if you can procure
any scrap of information that will help to set them right. A young clerk
who discovered an error in Bradstreet’s was soon admitted to partnership
in his employer’s firm.
8. THE MAGNIFYING GLASS.--Make the most of your present position. Wear
magnifying glasses. Exalt the importance of every item. Let not the
smallest thing be done in a slipshod way. If you are answering letters
for the firm, answer them briefly but completely. Remember that brevity
is not brusqueness. If you are waiting on customers, treat the small
customer just as courteously as the large one. You may be sure that your
employer knows the market value of politeness. In the Bon Marché in
Paris, the employers determined that something must be done more than
was done in other stores so that every visitor would remember the place
with pleasure and come again. The result was the most exquisite
politeness ever seen in a mercantile establishment, and it has developed
the largest business of its kind in the world.
9. THE MICROSCOPIC EYE.--The microscope shows a hundred things the naked
eye cannot see. Endeavor to see what others fail to see--new
possibilities of sales, new means of profit, new methods of doing
things. It was by steadily looking at a thing until he saw what was not
apparent to the superficial view that Thomas Edison became the greatest
electrician of the world.
10. SCORING A POINT WHEN OFF DUTY.--Do something for your employer when
you are out of the shop or store. You may be sure that he will
appreciate it. It is a fallacy that he has no claim on you when off
duty. Do not give him the idea that you have no interest in the business
except to get your salary, and no time to spare him except what you are
paid for. Do not watch the clock; do not filch a few moments at the
beginning or end of the day’s work, and do not ask leave of absence
except when absolutely necessary. Do overwork and unpaid-for work, and
when you see a point in favor of your firm, fasten to it. Become
essential to the place, and you will rise in the place. “I can’t spare
you,” said the publisher of a New York magazine to his advertising agent
when another publisher offered him an increase of $1,000. “Let’s
see--you are getting $5,000 now; I’ll make it $7,000.”
11. THE STUDY OF MEN.--This is the very key to success. The proper study
of mankind is man. The greatest college on earth is the business world.
The man who can sell the most goods is the one who knows the weaknesses
of human nature, and how to avail himself of them. Your best diploma is
a big bill of sale. Sell something to everybody--what the customer wants
if you have it; if not, what he doesn’t want; but at any rate, sell him
something. It is related of a Yankee book-peddler that he sold three
copies of the same book to a family in one day--to the husband in the
store, to the wife who was calling at a neighbor’s, and to the daughter
at home. And not one of the family wanted the book.
Following the above lines, and adding thereto good health and steady
habits, you cannot fail to be promoted and to rise to the highest
position of responsibility, if not even to actual partnership in the
firm. These are the qualities that proprietors are yearning for--nay,
actually groaning for, but which are hard to find in the average man.
Employers are keeping the sharpest kind of a watch for the right man. It
is stated on the best of authority that there are a thousand business
firms in New York and vicinity each having one or more $5,000 positions
awaiting the men who can fill them. If you have the right qualities or
will acquire them, at least a thousand great firms want your services,
and posts of responsibility with almost unlimited salary await your hand
or brain.
CHAPTER II.
STARTING IN BUSINESS.
Why Men Fail--Luck on the side of Pluck--Marking the Day’s Profits
Before they Begin--No Diamond Like the Eye--The Man Who Takes His
Bank to Bed With Him--The Two Hands of Fortune.
Many men fail because they undertake a business without considering
whether there is room for it; others because they do not thoroughly
establish themselves in the place, making no effort to get a
constituency; and yet others because they do not keep the goods that are
in demand, or do not renew the stock sufficiently quick, or do not
present their goods in an attractive way. Such causes of success or
failure as are in the line of this work will now be considered. Here are
the rules of an old merchant which he would take for his guidance were
he to start anew in business:
12. THE MINIMUM BASIS.--Enumerate the entire number of heads of families
in the town, village, ward, or neighborhood where you purpose to begin
business. Figure out the number of such persons you will require as a
minimum basis in order to get on--that is, how many persons or families,
spending each on an average a certain amount per day or week at your
place of business, you will require in order to make a living. Do not go
blindly into your work, trusting to luck. Luck is always on the side of
pluck and tact. Determine what per cent. of the people’s patronage is
absolutely essential to your success. The first step is to ascertain if
such per cent. is likely to come to you.
13. THE HOUSE TO HOUSE CANVASS.--Make a personal canvass from house to
house. Do not trust the work to your friend, relative, or clerk. Nobody
can help you so much as you can help yourself. Nobody has your interests
so much at heart as you have. Tell people pleasantly that you are a new
bidder for their patronage. Inform them what you propose to do. Make
them to understand that no man shall undersell you, or give them in any
way a better bargain. If possible, take a few samples of your choicest
goods with you.
14. THE CHOICE LOCATION.--If you become popular, the people will come to
you; but at first you must go to them. Your place need not be central or
on a corner, but it must be where many people pass. Step out largely and
conspicuously. You could make no greater mistake than to rent a shabby
place on a back street. Have out all manner of signs, curious, newsy,
and alluring. Do not think to sustain yourself by people’s sympathies.
Men will trade most where they can do best.
15. THE MAXIMUM BASIS.--The maximum basis is the high-water mark. It is
the number of persons or families that under the most favorable state of
things can be your patrons. All you cannot expect. Kindred, religion,
politics, friendships, and secret fraternities, will hold a portion of
the community to the old traders. The sharpest rivalry will meet you.
Also, you must consider what incursions are likely to be made by
out-of-town dealers, and what prospect there is of others setting up
business in the place. But you should have an ideal trade toward which
you steadily work. Declare daily to yourself, “my gross earnings shall
be $--per day,” or “---- (so many) persons shall be my patrons.” When
you fall below the mark, bestir yourself in many ways.
16. THE PERSONAL EQUATION.--Remember that you yourself in contact with
your customers count for more than anything else. The weather of the
face, the temperature of the hand, the color of the voice, will win
customers where other means fail. Make your patrons feel that you are
their friend. Inquire about members of their family. Be exceedingly
polite. Recommend your goods. Mention anything of an especially
attractive or meritorious nature you may have. Join the church, the
regiment, the fire company, and the secret society. Become “all things
to all men, if by any means you can sell to some.” Be everywhere in your
place of business. Oversee the smallest details. Trust as little as
possible to your clerks. The diamond of success is the master’s eye.
Remember there is no fate. There are opportunity, purpose, grit, push,
pluck, but no fate. If you fail, do not lay the blame upon
circumstances, but upon yourself. Enthusiasm moves stones. You must
carry your business in your brain. “A bank never gets to be very
successful,” says a noted financier, “until it gets a president who
takes it to bed with him.” There was an angel in Michael Angelo’s muddy
stone, and there is a fortune in your humdrum store. Hard work and close
thought are the hands that carve it out.
CHAPTER III.
MONEY IN TRADE.
What Kind of Advertisements Pay--“Don’t Fail to See the Blizzard
Saturday Night”--The Keynote of a $20,000,000 Sale--Selling Goods
by the Mile--Watches for Bait--How to Get Five-Year
Customers--“Trade With Me and Get a House and Lot”--Why Trade at
Push and Pluck’s?--Bargains in Buttons Often Means High Prices in
Broadcloth.
Thousands fail in business every year when an idea put into practical
operation would have tided them over the trouble and opened the road to
a competence. This chapter will tell you how to succeed. No man with
common ability and industry who puts the half or even the quarter of
these ideas into practice can possibly fail. The great thing is to make
people buy your goods. But to induce them to purchase you must first of
all call attention to what you have to sell. Here are a few of the ways
in which this is to be done. The following methods will fairly compel
the people to trade with you, but you must bear in mind that as soon as
the influence of one device begins to flag it must be immediately
succeeded by another.
17. THE INTERLINED ADVERTISEMENT.--Advertisements are not read unless
persons are looking for something in that line. This is because they are
all placed by themselves. Your bid for patronage must be put in the
midst of the reading matter if it is to attract general attention. Many
publishers will not do this, but your chief and only point in appearing
in the paper is to have your advertisement read, and it pays better to
insert it in a journal with 5,000 readers who will all see it than in
one having 100,000 subscribers, hardly 100 of whom will glance at the
advertisement. You can afford to pay handsomely if the publisher will
give you a line of black-faced type to eight or ten lines of news.
18. THE PICTURESQUE NAME.--Have a name for your store such as will
easily fit everybody’s mouth. “The Beehive,” “The Blizzard,” “The
Buttercup,” or “The Bonanza,” are suggestive titles. Many customers are
attracted by the talk of their acquaintances, and it is much easier to
tell a friend that you bought an article at “The Hub,” or “The Sun,”
than to attempt the unpronounceable name of a proprietor, or to give a
forgotten number. Successful men in several lines of business assert
that they owe much of their good fortune to the happy hit of a popular
name.
19. THE PICTORIAL WRECK.--A writer with the gift of a lively imagination
can write something interesting in the way of a fanciful battle between
customers and goods. Head lines, “Great Slaughter in ---- (the taking
name of your store),” “Wreck of Old Conservatism,” “Smash of High
Prices,” “Ruined by the Rush.” Then would follow a graphic description
of the charge of customers upon wares in which the store was almost
wrecked by the enormous number of people who took advantage of the
under-cost prices. People enjoy this kind of pleasantry, and the impulse
to follow the crowd is almost irresistible. A certain New York house
grew from a small to a great one by this method of advertising.
20. RED LETTER DAY.--Have a day in which you offer special bargains to
the people of a certain town, village or hamlet. Put up flaming posters,
announcing “Squashville day,” “Jonesboro Day,” “Bloomington day.”
21. CLASS DISCOUNT.--You may draw numbers of men to your place by this
means. Secret fraternities, workingmen’s orders, church societies,
wheelmen’s leagues, will be attracted to you if they know you specially
favor them. Fortunes have been made by close attention to these great
organizations.
22. THE HONEST FLAW.--Strictly instruct your clerks to tell your
customers the precise nature of every article; if the quality is
inferior, make them to understand exactly what they are getting for
their money; and if there be a flaw, let them be careful to point it
out. By such means thousands of people who cannot trust their own
judgment in these matters, will be attracted to a place where they are
certain to be treated fairly. A. T. Stewart, who began business in a
modest store, and who, in the latter part of his life sold $20,000,000
worth of goods every year, declared that this plan was the keynote of
his success.
23. THE PREMIUM CLERK.--You need clerks who can induce acquaintances to
visit your store, cajole visitors into customers, and coax customers to
become larger buyers. If you have a number of clerks and your business
will admit of it, offer a monthly premium to the one who brings into the
store the largest number of new buyers or into the cash-drawer the
heaviest receipts. There are certain kinds of business where this plan
will work, and will be provocative of such competition as greatly to
increase trade.
24. THE RAILROAD MILEAGE.--Arrange, if possible, with some railroad
company to issue mileage tickets as premiums to those who will trade
with you. At two cents a mile you could afford to give two miles of
travel for every one dollar’s worth of goods. At that rate $500 worth of
goods would buy a $20 mileage ticket.
25. THE DIAL DOLLARS.--How many figures on the dial of your watch?
Twenty-eight, counting the number VI, which is generally either omitted
or only partly indicated. Fix a big dial two feet or more in diameter in
some prominent part of your store, and announce that when a customer has
traded an amount equal to the total figures on the dial you will present
him with a watch. Of course, the timepiece would be a very cheap one,
but many a parent will trade with you for the sake of getting a watch
for his child.
26. FIRST CUSTOMER PACKAGE.--In some periods of the day you will have
more custom than you can well attend to, while at other times you will
have nothing to do. The following plan will perhaps help to equalize
trade, and also give you additional buyers: Suspend a package in some
conspicuous part of your store with the announcement thereon that it
will be given free to the first customer in the morning.
27. THE CARPET COUPON.--By a system of large-sized coupons--we will say
a foot square--you can put into practice a unique system that will
appeal to the heart of every housewife. Publish that you will give a
free carpet of a certain size and grade when a fixed amount has been
traded. A square foot of a coupon represents a sum of money spent in the
store--perhaps one dollar. Every woman by measuring her room can learn
how many dollars’ worth of goods she must buy before she can have a free
carpet.
28. THE HOUSE LOT COUPON.--This is an extension of carpet coupon. A
certain amount of purchased goods entitles one to a building lot, which,
if in the country, need not be of great cost. Have the particular lots
selected and advertised. Another plan is to offer the lot to the largest
purchaser within a certain time--possibly five years. This is a good way
to hold on to customers.
29. PRICE-TIME GRADE.--If you have the credit system, have also a
gradation of prices so as to encourage people to pay at the earliest
possible time. A system like this would do--forty days full price;
thirty days, two per cent. off; twenty days, three per cent. off; ten
days, four per cent. off; cash, five per cent. off.
30. SALES BULLETIN.--People like to buy where others buy. Success brings
success. If you are doing well, you may do better. Have a large bulletin
board in front of your store, or near it, announcing your sales for the
past week. Newspapers boom themselves in like manner by publishing their
enormous circulation.
31. BEST REASON PRIZE.--Offer a prize to the one who will give the best
reason for trading at Push & Pluck’s, and then insert in the form of an
advertisement in a leading paper a list of the best reasons. Six months
before Christmas offer presents to all who will trade a certain amount
before that holiday.
32. BIRTHDAY CALENDAR.--A calendar with the birthdays of your customers
(age of course omitted), would attract attention, and the offer to give
a present to any one trading a certain amount before his birthday would
certainly add to your receipts.
33. CONSPICUOUS PRICE-LIST.--Buyers are caught like fish. Display in
your window a list of cut prices. Passers-by who cannot resist the
opportunity of a bargain will come in, and often be induced to purchase
the goods which are not reduced.
34. THE EARLY DISCOUNT.--In order to equalize the trade of the day
announce that you will give a slight discount to persons trading during
the dull hours.
35. THE MONEY-SPACE COUNTER.--Determine that every portion of your store
shall pay. Have every lineal foot of your counters calculated at a
certain rate of profit. If you find a department that does not pay,
change methods or your goods, and if still unsuccessful drop it. Many
large dealers fail because they keep departments where the expenses are
more than the profits. But if every foot of room pays only a little, the
entire store must pay handsomely.
It will be seen in the foregoing how every leading impulse in human
nature is appealed to--curiosity and cupidity, honesty and economy,
personal flattery and local pride. If, in addition to these powerful
inducements to patronage, you combine shrewdness in buying and
cautiousness in trusting, if your goods are excellent in quality and
generous in quantity, if your place of business is neat and attractive,
and your service marked by promptness and politeness; then it is
impossible to fail; you have all the elements of prosperity, and are
certain to be a great and successful merchant.
CHAPTER IV.
MONEY IN THE INTRODUCTION OF A NEW ARTICLE.
Success of the “Imitation Cigar”--The Dealer’s Seeds of Gold are
Black--Barnum’s Belief in Humbugs--Tricks for Trade--Politics for
the Men, Novels for the Women--How the Remington Typewriter was
Boomed--A Business Man’s Experience in Advertising.
New articles in all lines of trade are constantly appearing. Inventors
of mechanical appliances, authors of books, proprietors of patent
medicines, introducers of something novel in groceries, and promoters of
new departures in dry and fancy goods, are all anxious to have the
public take their products and pay them in cash. The problem is how to
introduce the article. However meritorious it may be, it is useless
unless the people find it out. The following are believed to be unique
methods of advertising:
36. THE PUZZLE.--Buy some patented puzzle which can be manufactured
cheap and scattered broadcast over the land. There is no better way to
advertise. If men do not solve the puzzle, they will remember what is
stamped on it. The “Get-off-the-earth-Chinese puzzle” enormously
advertised its purchasers.
37. THE TOY IMITATION.--Wooden nutmegs and shoe-peg oats have duly
advertised the shrewd ways of the people of Connecticut. A man recently
made a hit by the “imitation cigar,” which is only a piece of wood of
the shape and color of a cigar. Every boy wants one. As an advertising
medium it was an immense success. Think of something as common and cheap
as a cigar, get up an imitation for the children, have your enterprise
stamped upon it, and it will go from one end of the land to the other.
38. THE CARTOON.--A caricature of some political person or situation is
always taking. Hit off some social craze, or give a witty representation
of some matter of passing interest. Drops of ink in this way are seeds
of gold, and the harvest will be golden.
39. THE CONJURER.--This is a good way to advertise when the article is a
cheap affair which can be shown in the street. There are few things so
attractive to the masses as the tricks of the sleight-of-hand performer.
Mr. P. T. Barnum uttered at least an half-truth when he said the people
liked to be humbugged. For a few dollars you can get an equipment, and
in a few days’ practice you can acquire enough of the art for your
purpose. You can draw a crowd wherever there are people. When you have
performed a few tricks, your climax should be a shrewd advertisement
which can be worked into the last performance.
40. THE STRIKING FIGURE.--If your goods are on sale in some prominent
store, this device is sure to draw attention. Make a figure of some
animal or vegetable or other form, if your article will lend itself to
such a work. The figure could be some prominent man, or represent an
historic scene, or illustrate some popular movement. A dealer in
confectionery had in his window a bicycle made all of candy.
41. THE ADVERTISING STORY.--Offer a prize to the one who will write the
best story about the merits of your article. The latter must be brought
deftly into the story, and the award should be based upon the merits of
the literary production and the skill in the use of the advertisement.
Every competitor should be required to buy a small number of the
articles, and the story should be published.
42. THE WORD-BUILDER.--Another prize might be offered to the one who
could compose the greatest number of words from the name of your article
or invention. The name ought to include at least a dozen letters, and
there should be a set of rules for building words. Every contestant must
buy your invention from whose title he is to build words.
43. THE POPULAR PUN.--This is an expensive way of advertising, but an
immensely paying one. You make a pun upon some fad of the day, a hit
upon some general craze, a piercing of some passing bubble, a political
quib. Something of this nature printed several times in the issue of the
daily papers would make your venture known to everybody.
44. THE POLITICAL GUESSER.--If your enterprise admits of the coupon
system, offer a prize to the one who will guess the successful candidate
at the next election, and come the nearest to the figures of his
plurality. The contestant must purchase one of your articles, and in
this way hundreds of thousands may be sold. Every presidential election
is the occasion of the floating of many things by this scheme.
45. THE GEOMETRICAL GROUP.--Some wares, such as fancy soaps and canned
goods, admit of a grouping which is very attractive to the eye.
Pyramids, cones, circles, and towers, always draw attention. Some
mechanical device whereby motion is produced will be sure to draw a
crowd to your show window.
46. THE PICTORIAL COMPARISON.--If you are sure of your ground, draw a
diagram or other figure, comparing your staple with those of others in
the market. In this way the Royal Baking Powder Company pushed to the
front, comparing with heavy black lines its product with the outputs of
other companies.
47. THE OPEN CHALLENGE.--And if you are still further confident that you
have the best thing of its kind, you may issue a challenge to your
competitors. Make it apparent that you are anxious, even clamorous, for
a trial of your product against others. By this means you will establish
yourself in the confidence of the public. The Remington Typewriter was
boomed in this way.
48. THE BOOK GIFT.--Try the religious field. Issue leaflets or tiny
books with paper covers, costing not more than two or three dollars a
thousand, and offer them as gifts to Sunday-schools or other children’s
organization. Most Sunday-school superintendents would be glad to give
away booklets of this kind if they could be obtained free of charge. The
books should contain a bright story, a few pictures, and, of course, a
taking presentation of your wares.
49. SUNDAY-SCHOOL SUPPLIES.--In some cases, you might even be warranted
in issuing the supplies of a Sunday school, at least for a portion of
the year. The books in the last number might not in every case be read,
but the picture papers, lesson leaves, and other helps, are all looked
over, even if not studied. You could in many cases present them,
reserving large advertising space for yourself so as to net a good
profit. The class of customers thus obtained would be the very best. Do
not hope for large returns unless you are willing to spend money. Money
is the manure that creates crops, the blood that makes fatness, the wind
that fans fortune, the sap that runs into golden fruit. Money is the
bread on the waters that “returneth after many days.” It seems like the
sheerest folly to spend so much in advertising, but you cannot reap
bountifully unless you sow bountifully. “For every dollar spent in
advertising,” declares a successful merchant, “I have reaped five.”
CHAPTER V.
MONEY IN THE HOME STORE.
How to Make Money at Home--One Hundred Ways to Get Gain in Your Own
House--How to Get One Hundred Per Cent. Profit--Make Your Own
Goods--Cheaper to Make than to Buy--Anybody Can do It--A Woman as
Well as a Man--A Chance for Persons With Small Capital--Three
Profits in One Sale.
How? On every article sold there is first of all the profit of the
manufacturer, then of the wholesale dealer, and finally of the retailer.
There is commonly a fourth, that of the freighter. If you keep a retail
store, you must pay the man who makes the goods, the man who transports
the goods, and the man who keeps the goods in large stock, and all this
leaves you only a small margin of profit. In the following plan you
avoid all these costs, pay only for the raw material, and make the four
profits yourself.
You may begin your sales in your own home. If you have a large room
fronting the street and near it, a little alteration will make it a
veritable store. An expenditure of $25 should give you a show window and
some nice shelves. Have a workroom in connection with your store. If
your sales at first are small, you can put in your spare time in the
making of your goods, and afterward as your custom increases you can
employ help. The following articles are easily made. Many of them are
novel, but all are salable if the store is properly managed.
_Section I. Household Ornaments._
A home may be rendered attractive by a few simple ornaments that are
very cheap. Vines, grasses, etc., add touches of beauty to a home and
cost very little. Few people know how to prepare these little
curiosities, and many would esteem it too much trouble to get and
arrange the material if they did know. But most of these persons would
buy them if the materials were prepared, and the vines, etc., ready to
grow. You must have models of each kind in full growth in order to
excite their admiration, and then you must have others in the initial
stage for sale. Take pains to show the models, and explain the method of
treating the plants and vines. The following cost little, and can be
sold for from 300 to 500 per cent. profit. Some of your patrons will
prefer to buy the models outright, and others to grow them themselves.
50. CRYSTALLIZED GRASSES.--Put in water as much alum as can be
dissolved. Pour into an earthen jar and boil slowly until evaporated
nearly one half. Suspend the grasses in such a manner that their tops
will be under the solution. Put the whole in a cool place where not the
least draught of air will disturb the formation of crystals. In
twenty-four to thirty-six hours take out the grasses, and let them
harden in a cool room. For blue crystals, prepare blue vitriol or
sulphate of copper in the same manner. Gold crystals can be produced by
adding tumeric to the alum solution, and purple crystals by a few drops
of extract of logwood. Sell them at twenty-five cents a bunch.
51. LEAF IMPRESSIONS.--Hold oiled paper in the smoke of a lamp, or of
pitch, until it becomes coated with smoke. Then take a perfect leaf,
having a pretty outline, and after warming it between the hands, lay
the leaf upon the smoked side of the paper, with the under side down,
press it evenly upon the paper so that every part may come in contact,
go over it lightly with a rolling-pin, then remove the leaf with care to
a piece of white paper, and use the rolling-pin again. You will then
have a beautiful impression of the delicate veins and outline of the
leaf. A sheet containing a dozen such leaves should bring you
twenty-five cents; if arranged in a pretty white album, with a different
kind of leaf for every page, the selling price should not be less than
one dollar.
52. VINE AND TRELLIS.--Put a sweet potato in a tumbler of water, or any
similar glass vessel; let the lower end of the tuber be about two inches
from the bottom of the vessel; keep on the mantel shelf, and sun it for
an hour or two each day. Soon the “eyes” of the potato will throw up a
pretty vine. Now with some small sticks or coarse splints construct a
tiny trellis, which, if placed in the window, will soon find a customer.
53. THE SUSPENDED ACORN.--Suspend an acorn by a piece of thread, within
half an inch of the surface of some water contained in a vase, tumbler
or saucer, and allow it to remain undisturbed for several weeks. It will
soon burst open, and small roots will seek the water; a straight and
tapering stem, with beautiful, glossy green leaves, will shoot upward,
and present a very pleasing appearance. Supply water of the same warmth
once a month, and add bits of charcoal to keep it from souring. If the
leaves turn yellow, put a drop of ammonia into the water, and it will
renew their luxuriance.
54. MOSS AND CONE.--Take a saucer and fill it with fresh green moss.
Place in the center a large pine cone, having first wet it thoroughly.
Then sprinkle it with grass seed. The moisture will close the cone
partially, and in a day or two tiny grass spears will appear in the
interstices, and in a week you will have a perfect cone covered with
graceful verdure. The advantage of this, as well as of the other pretty
things in this section, is that they are fresh and green in the midst of
winter, and people are attracted to the slice of spring in your window
when the outside world is mantled with snow.
55. THE TUMBLER OF PEAS.--Take a common tumbler or fruit can and fill it
nearly full of soft water. Tie a bit of coarse lace or cheese-sacking
over it, and covering it with a layer of peas, press down into the
water. In a few days the peas will sprout, the little thread-like roots
going down through the lace into the water, while the vines can be
trained upon a pretty little frame.
56. THE HANGING TURNIP.--Take a large turnip and scrape out the inside,
leaving a thick wall all around. Fill the cavity with earth, and plant
in it some clinging vine or morning glory. Suspend the turnip with
cords, and in a little time the vines will twine around the strings, and
the turnip, sprouting from below, will put forth leaves and stems that
will turn upward and gracefully curl around the base.
57. BLEACHED LEAVES.--Mix one drachm chloride of lime with one pint of
water, and add sufficient acetic acid to liberate the chlorine. Steep
the leaves about ten minutes, or until they are whitened. Remove them on
a piece of paper and wash them in clean water. They are now ready for
sale, and all you need do is to arrange a dozen of them on a sheet of
black paper, or in a dark-colored album, and expose them in your show
window.
58. THE ARTIFICIAL PLANT.--Take the glossy silk stuff known as taffeta.
Dye the piece the proper green color before cutting. After it is dried,
prepare with gum arabic on one side to represent the glossy surface of
the leaves, and with starch on the other to give the velvety appearance
of the under side. Use a fine goffering tool to make the veins and
indentations. Glue the leaves to the stem, and place to advantage in
your store window, where, if you have been skillful, they can hardly be
distinguished from the leaves of a growing plant.
If you are moderately successful, procure a book about household
ornaments and artificial plants, and you will learn to make many more
designs. We have selected these because they are the cheapest and most
easily made. All the above, except the albums, should sell for
twenty-five cents. Remember that a great deal depends upon your taste in
arranging, your manner of explaining, and your adroitness in
recommending. You must be so in love with your plants as to be
enthusiastic. In general, a lady succeeds in this work better than a
gentleman.
_Section 2. Tea Dishes._
At almost no cost, you find yourself established in the midst of dozens
of clinging vines and pretty plants. Now for the next step. Have a few
appetizing tea-dishes in your window. Put out a sign, telling people
that you will have every night certain fine and fresh table delicacies
on sale. The effect of dainty dishes in close proximity to graceful
vines is exceedingly tempting to the appetite.
59. DELICIOUS HAM.--If very neat, you can sell to many families cold
boiled ham for supper or lunch. Put the ham in cold water, and simmer
gently five hours. Set the kettle aside, and when nearly cold draw off
the skin of the ham and cover with cracker crumbs and about three
tablespoonfuls of sugar. Place in the oven in a baking pan for thirty or
forty minutes. When cold, slice thin and lay temptingly on large white
plates. Cost of a ham weighing ten pounds, $1.20. Sales at thirty cents
a pound, $3.00. Deduct for shrinkage in boiling and waste in trimming
one and one-half pounds, forty-five cents. Profits, $1.35.
60. CHOICE TONGUE.--If successful with ham, you can try a little tongue.
Soak over night and cook for four or five hours. Throw into cold water
and peel off the skin. Cut evenly and arrange attractively on plates,
garnishing with sprigs of parsley. Cooked meats should be placed in the
show window under transparent gauze. In hot weather a cake of ice
beneath will greatly tempt the appetite of the passer-by.
61. ARTIFICIAL HONEY.--Where honey is high priced, make the following:
Five pounds white sugar, two pounds water, gradually bring to a boil,
and skim well. When cool, add one pound bees’ honey and four drops of
peppermint. There is a large profit in this where the customer is not
particular about the quality; but if a better article is desired add
less water and more real honey.
You can add a number of other tea-dishes as you learn what will sell. A
thing that is salable in one community is often not so in another. You
must be guided by the taste of the locality, and when a dish does not
sell well try another.
_Section 3. Pastry._
Suppose you now try a little pastry. If you can make a superior article,
you will have a ready sale, but it is often difficult to introduce the
goods. It is sometimes a good plan to donate a cake to a fair, cutting
the loaf into very thin slices, and giving them to leading ladies who
may be present, superintending the matter yourself, and advertising that
you will take orders.
62. ANGEL CAKE.--The whites of eleven eggs, one and a half cupfuls of
granulated sugar, measured after being sifted four times, one cupful of
flour measured after being sifted four times, one teaspoonful of cream
tartar, and one of vanilla extract. Beat the whites to a stiff froth and
beat the sugar into the eggs. Add the seasoning and flour, stirring
quickly and lightly. Beat until ready to put the mixture into the oven.
Use a pan that has little legs on the top comers so that when the pan is
turned upside down on the table after the baking, a current of air will
pass under and over it. Bake for forty minutes in a moderate oven. Do
not grease the pan. This cake should sell for $1, or, cut in twenty
pieces, at five cents each.
63. DOMINOS.--If you are located near a schoolhouse or on a street where
many children pass, you can do a big business in dominos. Bake a sponge
cake in a rather thin sheet. Cut into small oblong pieces the shape of a
domino. Frost the top and sides. When the frosting is hard, draw the
black lines and make the dots with a small brush that has been dipped in
melted chocolate. They will sell “like hot cakes.”
64. SOFT GINGERBREAD.--All children like this. Here is an excellent
kind: Six cupfuls of flour, three of molasses, one of cream, one of lard
or butter, two eggs, one teaspoonful of saleratus, and two of ginger.
You can sell this, when light and warm, almost as fast as you can make
it.
65. DOUGHNUTS.--These, too, are tempting to children. Four eggs, one
half-pound sugar, two ounces butter, one pound flour, boiled milk,
nutmeg, cinnamon, and a few drops of some essence. Beat the eggs and
sugar and melt the butter and stir it in; then add a pound of flour and
enough boiled milk to make a rather stiff dough; flavor with nutmeg,
cinnamon, and a few drops of some essence; cut into shapes with tumbler
or knife, and fry brown in hot lard. When done, sift on fine sugar. Made
fresh every day and placed temptingly in the window, they will sell
fast.
After you are well established, you should sell at least two dozen
doughtnuts at a profit of a penny apiece, two cards of gingerbread at
seven cents profit each, and three dozen dominos at a profit of five
cents a dozen. Total profit per day on three last articles in this
section, fifty-three cents.
_Section 4. Sweetmeats and Confectionery._
If you find that children are your best customers, you may cater yet
further to their taste. Remember that your success depends upon your
keeping choice articles. It is surprising how children find out the best
candy stores, and how quick they are to discern between good and bad
stock. By making your own goods, you can sell a little cheaper than the
dealers who have to buy.
66. WALNUT CANDY.--This is something which all children like. Put the
meats of the nuts on the bottom of tins previously greased to the depth
of half an inch. Boil two pounds of brown sugar, one half pint of water,
and one gill of molasses, until a portion of the mass hardens when it
cools. Pour the hot candy on the meats and allow it to remain until
hard.
67. CHOCOLATE CARAMELS.--A favorite with girls. Boil a quart of best
molasses until it hardens when put in water. Before removing from the
fire, add four ounces of fine chocolate. Pour a thin layer into tin
trays slightly greased. When it hardens a little cut into squares. You
can sell these as low as thirty cents a pound, and still make a good
profit.
68. PEPPERMINT CREAMS.--Take one pound of sugar, seven teaspoonfuls of
water, and one teaspoonful of essence of peppermint. Work together into
a stiff paste, roll, cut, and stamp with a little wooden stamp such as
are bought for individual butter pats.
69. MOLASSES CANDY (White).--All children want molasses candy. Two
pounds of white sugar, one pint of sugar-house syrup, and one pint of
best molasses. Boil together until the mass hardens when dropped in cold
water, and work in the usual manner. Sell by the stick, or in broken
pieces by the pound, half, and quarter.
70. BLANCHED ALMONDS.--Shell the nuts; pour over them boiling water. Let
them stand in the water a minute, and then throw them into cold water.
Rub between the hands. The nuts will be white as snow, and, if placed
prominently in the window, very tempting. Sell by the ounce.
71. FIG PASTE.--This always has a good sale. Chop a pound of figs and
boil in a pint of water until reduced to a soft pulp. Strain through a
fine sieve, add three pounds of sugar, and evaporate over boiling water
until the paste becomes quite stiff. Form the paste into a square mass,
and divide in small pieces with a thin-bladed knife. Roll the pieces in
fine sugar, and pack in little wooden boxes.
72. FIG LAYER CANDY.--One half-pound of drum figs, one pound of finest
white sugar, white of one egg, one tablespoonful of cold water. Make
sugar, egg, and water into a cream, and mold like bread. After figs are
stemmed and chopped, roll a fig to one fourth of an inch in thickness.
Place the rolled fig between two layers of cream, pass rolling-pin over
lightly, and cut into squares of any desired size. Delicious, if
well-made, and always salable.
It is astonishing what vast sums accumulate from the children’s pennies
spent for candy and sweetmeats. Many cases could be given of persons who
have kept small stores, and been supported solely by the little streams
of coppers and nickels. Get the children’s confidence, learn their
names, always have a bright, kind word for them, and bait your hook
occasionally with little gifts of sweets. They will flock to you like
bees to a flower-garden.
_Section 5. Preserves, Pickles, and Jellies._
We put these sweets and sours into one group because they sell best when
in proximity. Almost everything depends upon the way they are put up. If
the fruit shows artistically through the glass jars, or the pickles are
put up attractively in cute little bottles with fresh-painted labels, he
must be a stoic indeed who can pass your show-window without a coveting
glance. Here are a few of the most popular things in this line:
73. ORANGE MARMALADE.--Take equal weights of sour oranges and sugar.
Grate the yellow rind from one fourth of the oranges. Cut all the fruit
in halves, pick out the pulp and free it of seeds. Drain off the juice
and put it on to boil with the sugar. When it comes to a boil, skim it,
and let it simmer for about fifteen minutes; then put in the pulp and
grated rind, and boil fifteen minutes longer. Put away in jelly
tumblers. Sell large glasses for twenty-five cents; small, for fifteen.
74. BRANDIED PEACH.--The Morris whites are the best. Take off the skins
with boiling water. To each pound of fruit allow one pound of sugar, and
a half-pint of water to three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling
hot put in the peaches, and as fast as they cook take them out carefully
and spread on platters. When cool put them in jars and fill up these
with syrup, using one-half syrup and one-half pale brandy. This is a
very choice brand, and will only pay you where you have customers who
are not sparing of their money.
75. OX-HEART CHERRY.--Of showy fruits, none can excel this. To each
pound of cherries, allow one-third of a pound of sugar. Put the sugar in
the kettle with half a pint of water to three pounds of sugar. Stir it
until it is dissolved. When boiling, add the cherries, and cook three
minutes. Put up in jars that can be sold for from twenty-five to fifty
cents.
76. POUND PEAR.--They hardly weigh a pound a piece, but they look as if
they do with their great white bulks pressed up against the sides of
the transparent glass. Take the largest kind, Bartlett, Seckel, or any
that have a delicious flavor. Pare the fruit, cut in halves, and throw
in cold water. Use one pound of sugar for three of fruit, and one quart
of water for three pounds of sugar. When the syrup is boiling take the
pears from the water and drop into the syrup. Cook until they can be
pierced easily with a silver fork. Fill the jars with fruit, and fill up
to the brim with syrup, using a small strainer in the funnel, in order
that the syrup may look clear. Sell good-sized jars for fifty cents.
77. GRAPE JELLY.--Jellies in little tumblers take up small room, and
they can be grouped in artistic shapes. Here is a good grape: Mash fruit
in a kettle, put over the fire, and cook until thoroughly done. Drain
through a sieve, but do not press through. To each pint of juice, allow
one pound of sugar. Boil rapidly for five minutes. Add the sugar, and
boil rapidly three minutes more.
78. SWEET PICKLES--(Apple, Pear, or Peach). For six pounds of fruit, use
three of sugar, five dozen cloves and a pint of vinegar. Into each
apple, pear, or peach, stick two cloves. Have the syrup hot, and cook
until tender. Put up in attractive little jars with colored labels. Jars
should sell for twenty-five cents.
79. CHOW-CHOW.--Here is a very taking kind: Take large red-peppers,
remove the contents, and fill them with chopped pickles. The red of the
peppers against the white of the glass gives a very pretty appearance.
Small bottles that can be sold cheap will be the most popular.
80. PICKLED WALNUTS.--Pick out the nuts as nearly whole as possible, and
steep in strong brine for a week, then bottle, add spice, and fill with
vinegar boiling hot. Put up in very small jars. Have a jar from which to
give samples if the dish is not common in the place.
There are a vast number of other fruits, vegetables, and nuts, which you
can use as custom shall demand. If you grow your own fruit and do your
own work, the result is nearly all profit. If you have to buy the fruit,
the selling-price should be such as to give one third profit. This is
the per cent. which all manufacturers expect.
_Section 6. Toilet Articles._
These have a perennial sale. They are not confined to any season or age.
Most of them, especially the French makes, come high, but they are
composed of a few simple ingredients, and can be made by any person of
ordinary skill. Here are a few of the best selling:
81. ROSE OIL.--Heat dried rose-leaves in an earthenware pipkin, the
leaves being covered with olive-oil, and keep hot for several hours. The
oil will extract both odor and color. Strain, and put in little
cut-glass bottles.
82. COLOGNE WATER.--Take one pint of alcohol, twelve drops each of
bergamot, lemon, neroli, sixty drops of lavender, sixty drops of
bergamot, sixty drops of essence of lemon, and sixty drops of
orange-water, shake well and cork.
83. FRENCH FACE POWDER.--_Poudre de chipre_ one and one-half pounds,
_eau_ (water) of millefleurs one and one-half drachms. Put up in small
cut-glass bottles and give it a French name. _Poudre de Millefleurs_
will do.
84. NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS.--This is a very delicate and fragrant
perfume. Spirit of rose 4 ounces, essence of jasmine 4 ounces, tincture
of tonka 2 ounces, tincture of civet 2 ounces, tincture of benzoin 4
ounces. Cost $1.65 per pint. Put up in half-gill bottles at fifty cents
each, $4.00. Profit, $2.35.
In selling expensive perfumery, remember that the glass is cheaper than
the contents, and you should therefore select thick bottles with small
cubical space. Tie pretty colored ribbons around the necks of the
bottles, and put them, four or six together, in attractive boxes with
the lids removed. You must in every way court the patronage of the
ladies, and you can in some cases well afford to give a bottle to the
leader of a social set with the understanding that she recommend it to
her friends.
_Section 7. Varnishes and Polishes._
With your plants, meats, preserves, candies, and perfumery, you have
already got much beyond your show-window. You now have a “department
store” on a small scale, and as you make the goods yourself you ought to
be making money. There are some things you can add for which the demand
will not be great, but then the cost of making is small. Besides, the
goods, put up in bright tin boxes with colored labels and built up in
pyramids on your shelves, will give your store an artistic and
attractive appearance. Here are a few things that might profitably
occupy your spare moments:
85. STOVE BLACKING.--Take half a pound of black lead finely powdered,
and mix with the whites of three eggs well-beaten; then dilute it with
sour beer or porter till it becomes as thin as shoe-blacking; after
stirring it, set it over hot coals to simmer for twenty minutes; then,
after it has become cold, box and label.
86. SHOE BLACKING.--Mix six parts of fine bone-black, twenty-eight of
syrup or four of sugar, three of train-oil, and one of sulphuric acid.
Let the mixture stand for eight hours, then add with vigorous and
constant stirring four parts of the decoction of tan, eighteen of
bone-black, and three of sulphuric acid, and pour the compound into a
little tin boxes. Cost, one cent per box; sell for five cents.
87. FURNITURE CREAM.--Take eight parts of white wax, two of resin, and
one pint of true Venice turpentine. Melt at a gentle heat, and pour the
warm mass into a stone jar with six parts of rectified oil of
turpentine. After twenty-four hours it should have the consistency of
soft butter. Sell in small ten-cent boxes.
88. LEATHER POLISH.--Beat the yolks of two eggs and the white of one;
mix a tablespoonful of gin and a teaspoonful of sugar; thicken it with
ivory black, add it to the eggs, and use as common blacking. This will
give a fine polish to harnesses and leather cushions, and also may be
used as a dressing for ladies’ shoes.
These are the varnishes and polishes that sell the most readily, but you
must not think they will sell without advertisement, recommendation, and
display. Label them attractively, and tell just what they will do. It is
well to have a little hand press so that you can print your own labels,
and also some marking-ink for posters. Use ink freely; and, if you can
get the recommendation of some townsman who has tried one of your
varnishes or polishes, give it a large display.
_Section 8. Soaps and Starches._
Soaps are easily made and very profitable. Several firms have made
fortunes in soap during the last few years. You can make just as good an
article in your own home and reap all the profits. With starches, take
pains to let your customers know that you have different ones for
different kinds of goods. Many use the same starch for all kinds of
washing. You must show people that your starches are made especially for
various kinds of garments, and that the effect will not be so good if
the wrong starch is used, or one kind applied indiscriminately to all
kinds of goods.
89. POLAND STARCH.--Mix flour and cold water until the mass will pour
easily, then stir it into a pot of boiling water, and let it boil five
or six minutes, stirring frequently. A little spermaceti will make it
smoother. When cold, put in pasteboard boxes and sell cheap.
90. GLUE STARCH.--(For calicoes.) Boil a piece of glue, four inches
square, in three quarts of water. Put it in a well-corked bottle, and
sell for a little more than Poland.
91. GUM ARABIC STARCH.--(For lawns and white muslin.) Pound to a powder
two ounces of fine, white gum-arabic; put it into a pitcher, and pour a
pint or more of boiling water upon it, and cover it well. Let it stand
all night, and in the morning pour it carefully from the dregs into a
clean bottle, and cork it tight. Recommend this to your customers, and
tell them that a tablespoonful of this stirred into a pint of starch
made in the ordinary manner will restore lawns to almost their original
freshness.
92. STARCH LUSTER.--This is a substance which, when added to starch,
gives the cloth not only a high polish, but a dazzling whiteness. To
produce this result, a little piece the size of a copper cent is added
to half a pound of starch and boiled with it for two or three minutes.
Now we will give you the whole secret. The substance is nothing more
than stearine, paraffine, or wax, sometimes colored by a slight
admixture of ultramarine blue. You can buy it in quantities for a
trifle, and sell it in little balls or wafers at a profit of 500 per
cent.
93. HARD SOAP.--Five pails of soft soap, two pounds of salt and one
pound of resin. Simmer together and when thoroughly fused turn out in
shallow pans so as to be easily cut. This costs little more than the
labor and by being able to undersell rivals you should have a monopoly
in soap.
94. SAVON D’AMANDE.--This is a celebrated French toilet soap. The recipe
is French suet nine parts, olive oil one part, saponified by caustic
soda. Toilet soaps are also made of white tallow, olive, almond and
palm-oil, soaps either alone or combined in various proportions and
scented. The perfume is melted in a bright copper pan by the heat of a
water bath.
_Section 9. Soft Drinks._
You may now if you have a counter try a few soft drinks. A soda fountain
is expensive and perhaps would not pay at this stage, but you might try
it when you have more capital and customers. First try.--
95. ROOT BEER.--Get a bottle of the extract, and make it according to
the directions. Cost of ten gallons extract and sugar, $1. Put up in
pint bottles at five cents a bottle $4. Profit, $3.
96. GINGER POP.--Put into an earthen pot two pounds of loaf sugar, two
ounces of cream tartar, two ounces of best ginger bruised, and two
lemons cut into slices. Pour over them three gallons of boiling water,
when lukewarm, toast a slice of bread, spread it thickly with yeast and
put it into the liquor. Mix with it also the whites of two eggs and
their crushed shells. Let it stand till next morning. Then strain and
bottle. It will be ready for use in three or four days. Profits about
the same as the last.
97. LEMONADE AND ORANGEADE.--Get juicy fruit, and allow one orange or
lemon to a glass. The tumblers for orangeade should be smaller than
those for lemonade. Profits about two and one-half cents a glass.
Have your counter for drinks as near the door as you can. Keep your
bottles on ice. Make your lemonade to order, and let it be known that
all your beer is home-brewed. Ask your patrons if they like it, and take
kindly any suggestions they may make. Let them know you want to please
them.
_Section 10. Dairy and Other Farm Produce._
If you live in the country, or if your grounds are large enough, you can
add immensely to your profits by keeping a cow, a pig, some poultry, and
a few hives of bees. You will now need help--a boy to milk your cow, run
on errands, and deliver goods; and a girl to help you in the work-room
and to assist in the store.
98, GOLDEN BUTTER; 99, FRESH EGGS; 100, SWEET MILK; 101, SPARKLING
HONEY; 102, NEW CHEESE; and 103, CLEAN LARD, are among the attractions
and the sources of revenue you can add to your already prosperous
business. Churn your butter till it is entirely free of the milk, salt
it well and put it up in tempting balls, rolls or pats. A little
finely-strained carrot-juice will give it a golden color without any
disagreeable taste. For poultry, the Wyandottes and Plymouth Rocks are
the best year-round layers. Have a sign “Eggs Laid Yesterday,” or “This
Morning’s Eggs.” Sell milk by the glass, pint or quart; only be sure it
is always fresh. Get a small cheese-press, and if you find a good sale
for your cheese, milk, and butter, add to your stock of cows. Find out
which of the three dairy products pays the best, and work accordingly.
Invite people to taste your good things, and tell them that everything
is homemade and fresh. Bees are perhaps the most profitable things in
the world, as they entail no expense after the first outfit. Have honey
both strained and in the comb as you learn the wants of your patrons.
The pig will keep you in meat a large portion of the year, besides
supplying to your store a limited quantity of nice white-leaf lard,
which should be sold in little bright tin pails.
104. WHITE PORK.--If you do not care for swine’s flesh, you can sell it
for from twelve to twenty cents a pound. People are glad to buy
fresh-killed meat and to pay a good price for it when their ordinary
purchases have been many days slaughtered, and often freighted a
thousand miles.
105. POULTRY TO ORDER.--Do not keep your hens beyond the second year, as
they are not so good layers after that age. Have always a stock of fat
fowls ready for market. SPRING CHICKENS. Here is another line in which
you can invest. A chick costs in feed about twenty-five cents for the
season, and they sell readily for a dollar a pair.
_Section 11. Garden Vegetables._
If you have a small garden, you can supply your store with fresh
vegetables during the season. It is very important that they should be
fresh. Having your own garden, you can guarantee that quality to your
customers. Take orders for the following day so that the vegetables may
come straight from the garden into the hands of the consumer. Here are
the six which grocers say sell for the largest profit.
106. CUT-TO-ORDER ASPARAGUS.--Asparagus is at least one-half better when
newly cut. Choose the white variety, and tie in small bunches. Sell at
fifteen cents a bunch.
107. QUICK MARKET STRAWBERRIES.--Pick them fresh every morning. Put them
in the usual boxes, and set them on a stand in front of the store. Have
one or two large ones on the top of each box, and lay around them two or
three strawberry leaves wet with dew.
108. ROUND TOMATOES.--If possible, have them so fine and large that five
will fill a quart box. Sold even as low as five cents a box they are
very profitable. This is at the rate of a penny apiece, and a thrifty
tomato plant will bear fifty.
109. PINT PEAS.--Peas in the pod are not attractive, but very young peas
when shelled and put in little bright tin pails are irresistible. The
very sight of them tickles the palate. Rise early, and pick and shell a
pint of peas. If they do not sell, you can have them for your own
dinner. Do not keep them overnight, as the succulent quality is soon
lost after shelling.
110. STRING BEANS.--Nothing easier to raise, nothing easier to sell. You
can raise a bushel on a square rod if properly managed. Sell at fifteen
cents a half-peck.
111. GREEN CORN.--Sell at twenty-five cents a dozen ears. Be careful to
pick before the kernels become large. Have a notice, “Corn Picked to
Order.”
We have found out from the grocers what garden products sell the best.
Now, suppose you have only a single rod of ground (about the size of a
large room), and want to know how to plant it to the best advantage.
Below will be found a comparative table of what, under generous
cultivation, may be expected of each of the above in the way of hard
cash from a single rod of soil.
Asparagus (40 bunches at 15 cents a bunch), $6.00; strawberries (33
baskets at 15 cents a basket), $4.95; tomatoes (150 quarts at 5 cents a
quart), $7.50; peas (16 pints at 25 cents a pint), $4.00; beans (1
bushel at 15 cents half-peck), $1.20; corn (8 dozen ears at 25 cents a
dozen), $2.00.
If you have twenty square rods instead of one, your revenue from your
garden may be increased by that multiple, and you will have an
opportunity to try all the above sources of profit. Find out what fruits
and vegetables sell best in your neighborhood, and plant accordingly.
And remember that the key to your success in garden produce is the
single word _fresh_.
_Section 12. School Supplies._
There are a number of articles in use in our schools which can be made
at home. Once let it be known that you can make and sell as good a
quality as the imported article, and at a cheaper price, and you will
have the patronage of all the schools in your vicinity. Advertise
wisely, and in cases where the trustees furnish the things, make a low
bid for the entire school supply.
112. BOOK COVERS.--Save all your paper bags, iron them out smoothly, and
make them into book covers. Sell them at three cents apiece, or take the
contract to cover all the books in the school at two cents apiece.
113. ARTIFICIAL SLATES.--Take forty-one parts of sand, four parts of
lampblack, four parts of boiled linseed or cottonseed oil. Boil
thoroughly, and reduce the mixture by adding spirits of turpentine so
that it may be easily applied to a thin piece of pasteboard. Give three
coats, drying between each coat. Finish by rubbing smooth with a piece
of cotton waste soaked in spirits of turpentine. You have an excellent
slate or memorandum book, which may be sold for ten cents. Use a slate
pencil. Made in large quantities, these are very profitable.
114. CHEAP INK.--Boil one and a half pounds of logwood with sufficient
residue water to leave a residue of two and a half quarts. When cold,
add one and a half drams of yellow bichromate of potash, and stir
thoroughly, and the ink is ready for use. The above will fill
twenty-five large ink bottles, which, at five cents apiece, come to
$1.25. Cost, 25 to 35 cents.
115. SCHOOL BAG.--Take a piece of cheap white linen and make it into a
pretty bag, with a strap to go over the shoulder. Have a colored stamp
to put on the initials of the purchaser. Sell for twenty-five cents.
116. PEN WIPER.--Take any cheap material, and cut in three circles of
different sizes. Scallop the edges, and stitch together at the center.
If the circles are of different color as well as size, it will be
attractive to the children, and still more so if the smallest circle has
an initial letter. Sell for five cents.
117. CHILDREN’S LUNCHEON.--Thousands of parents would rather pay a
trifling sum than be put to the trouble of providing and preparing
lunch. Make a little repast cheap and neat. One large or two small
sandwiches, a small dish of jelly or a tart, a pickle or a piece of
cake. Put in a collapsible paper box, and tie with red or blue ribbon.
Cost about six or seven cents. Sell for ten cents.
_Section 13. Christmas Presents._
You can do well with these if you are supple with your fingers and
nimble with your tongue. Learn what artistic designs are becoming
popular, and keep abreast of the latest fads. The fabric called denim is
coming more into use every year, and as it is very cheap, and comes in
all colors, it is especially suited for making, covering, and adorning
all kinds of household handiwork. A ramble through the large
metropolitan stores with a request to see the various lines of goods
used for trimming and ornamenting will astonish you. The endless
varieties of silks, satins, velvets, plushes, linens, laces, feathers,
and so forth, should suggest to a lively mind infinite possibilities in
the way of made-up articles of market value. Our list below must be
taken only as samples of what a fertile mind and ingenious fingers can
accomplish.
118. SOFA PILLOW.--Take a piece of India silk of different colors, and
let them all taper to a common center upon which a monogram is worked.
Relieve the bareness of the white by a running vine and morning glories.
A pillow of this kind which cost $3 sold for $8. The varieties of the
sofa pillow are almost endless. Get a book of designs and learn to make
the Organdy, Butterfly, Duck, Clover, Daisy, Cretonne, Yacht, Mull,
Poppy, and many others.
119. JEWEL TRAY.--Cut a circle of delicate écru linen twenty-two inches
in circumference, and sew a piece of bonnet wire around it, notching or
looping it so as to give an escaloped edge. Have a pretty little motto
in the center, and fill the remaining space with snowdrops worked in
ivory white, each tiny petal tipped with pale green, and with a long
green stem. When properly worked, this is very pretty, and ought to
command a good price.
120. AMERICAN FLAG.--Make it five feet in length by three in width, and
smaller flags in the same proportion. There should be seven stripes of
red bunting, six of white, and a field of blue. On this field stitch
forty-five stars of white. Face the inside of the flag with a piece of
strong canvas for the admission of the pole. If the stars are of silk,
the price should be at least twice that of linen.
121. HAIR-PIN CASE.--Cut a piece of fine white duck in the shape of a
square envelope and embroider upon the flap any simple design in wash
silk. Close with button and buttonhole. Sell for fifty cents.
122. CHAIR CUSHION.--Take blue denim with dark and light shades happily
combined. Let the tint of pale blue be appliqued on, and then worked in
different shades of this color with rope floss in long and short stitch.
The back may be of plain denim unadorned.
123. LAMP SHADE.--You can get a dozen skeleton frames for a few cents,
and French crêpe paper which costs little, and your own cultivated taste
and deft fingers will do the rest. A cheap kaleidoscope will suggest an
infinite number of designs. One lady made an elegant shade at a cost of
$2.50, and sold it for $6.00.
124. BOOK-MARK.--Silk, worsted, and two hours of spare time will give
you a pretty book-mark which should sell for fifty cents, at a cost of
making (time not reckoned) of only fifteen cents.
125. HANDY WORK-BOX.--Take a pasteboard box and line with denim. Include
a tiny pin-cushion, scissors-case, thimble-holder, needle-book, flap,
and spool wires.
126. PIN-CUSHION.--Always popular, but the form changes every season.
Cover with silk or satin, and overlay with strips of fine linen
embroidered in festoons of tiny blossoms. Border with ruffle of lace,
and put small rosettes of baby ribbon at the corners.
127. CATCH-BAG.--A convenient receptacle for laundry, schoolbooks,
shoes, and many other articles. It should be in envelope form, the
dimensions eighteen by twelve. The material may be white linen, upon
which you should work a gold border. Make an attachment for hanging on
the wall.
128. COURT-PLASTER CASE.--Cut two circles of celluloid two inches in
diameter, and four other circles of thin drawing-paper for inside
leaves. In these little pockets place pieces of court-plaster, pink,
white and black, cut into strips or squares, and held flat and
stationary by having their comers thrust into slits cut in the paper.
Punch holes in the left side of the case, and tie with baby-ribbon.
Paint or work on outside cover a design of burrs with “I cling to thee,”
or a design of beggar-ticks with “I stick to thee.”
129. POSTAGE-STAMP HOLDER.--Same as above except that the shape is
square.
130. PHOTOGRAPH FRAME.--Take a piece of stout pasteboard and turn down
the corners. Cut the inside to the proper size, and stitch a piece of
chamois over the pasteboard. Tie bits of colored ribbon on the corners.
Sell for twenty-five cents.
131. MATCH-SAFE.--Cover a tin box of any shape with one of the lesser
inflammable materials such as chamois, and on the front attach a piece
of match-paper. Sell for ten or fifteen cents.
132. WALL-POCKET.--Take bamboo sticks or thin strips of wood, and glue
them together in the form of a pocket-frame. The sticks should be about
two inches apart and the outer lattice-work a little lower than the
inner. Wind colored ribbons around the sticks, and have a circular
head-piece for attachment to the wall.
133. GLOVE-BOX.--(Easter present). Cover a flat pasteboard box with pale
gray linen or delicate blue. Work a spray of passion-flowers on the top,
inclosing some suitable motto.
Christmas presents should be in the store at least three weeks before
the holidays. As many donors like to attach the initials of the
recipient to the present, have prettily worked letters for that purpose,
and charge ten cents a letter. Be careful to inform all possible
customers of this arrangement, as many will be attracted by that
feature. Call attention to this class of goods when your patrons are
buying other kinds of your wares, and be always eager to show your
latest designs. Remember that taste in this department is as important
as the word fresh in Section 10.
_Section 14. Miscellaneous Articles._
Here are a few other things to complete the list of one hundred which
you can make in your own home. You will discover many others for
yourself as your trade increases, and your friends make suggestions. The
secret of success is to find out what people want, and then give them a
better and cheaper article than they can get elsewhere. You will find
your customers’ wants changing according to the season or the newest
fad. Things which you expected to sell will often be left on your hands.
You must be prepared to take advantage of this. Drop the price when the
demand falls, and always have in your mind some new article of home
manufacture to take the place of that whose popularity is waning. Keep
eyes and ears strained for the newest thing. As it was said of a certain
burglar that he never saw a lock without the thought, “How can I pick
it?” so you should never witness the sale of any article without the
query, “How can I make it?” The following are easily made, and some of
them very profitable:
134. HOT GEMS.--If you can work up a demand for hot gems, you can make a
good profit. Take a pint each of flour and milk, an egg, and half a
teaspoonful of salt. Beat the egg until light, add the milk and salt to
it, and beat gradually into the flour. Bake twenty minutes in hot
gem-pans. The quantities given will make a dozen gems. Notice should be
given of the hour of the day when they may be expected to be fresh from
the oven. Charge twenty-five cents a dozen.
135. SLICED WATERMELON.--Nothing so delights the heart of a boy. Cut a
large ripe melon into half-slices, rather thick, and lay them on ice in
the show window. Cost of melon and ice, fifty cents. Twenty slices at
five cents each, $1. Profit, one-half.
136. TOOTHSOME PIES.--Roll two strips of paste for the upper and lower
crusts. Place the latter in position after moistening the plate, and
fill with the prepared material already sweetened and seasoned. Lay on
the upper crust, and make a little slit in the center. Put in hot oven,
close draft after fifteen minutes, and bake from fifty minutes to one
hour. Charge twenty-five cents for good deep pies.
137. ICE CREAM.--You can do well with this in warm weather, if you have
a room suitable for serving. One pint of sugar, one of water, and three
of cream, the yolks of five eggs and a large tablespoonful of the
flavoring extract. Boil the sugar and water twenty-five minutes. Beat
the eggs with one fourth of a teaspoonful of salt. Place the basin of
boiling syrup in another of boiling water, and, stirring the yolks of
the eggs into the syrup, beat rapidly for three minutes. Take the basin
from the fire, place it in a pan of ice water, and beat until cold. Add
the cream and extract, and, placing the mixture in the freezer, pack
around with ice, alternating with thin layers of salt. Turn the crank
until the cream is frozen hard.
138. PORK AND BEANS.--You can make a large profit on pork and beans in
places where there is a demand for them. Both are cheap, and you can
make a handsome profit on a dish selling for thirty-five cents, the dish
to be returned. It is well if you can to make a bargain to supply
families once a week on particular days. This dish takes well in all
parts of New England.
139. TOMATO KETCHUP.--Raising your own tomatoes, you can make it at a
trifling cost, and reap a profit at ten cents for small bottles. For
twelve ripe, peeled tomatoes, take two large onions, four green peppers,
and chop fine. Add two tablespoonfuls of salt, two of brown sugar, two
of ginger, one of cinnamon, one of mustard, a nutmeg, grated; and four
cupfuls of vinegar. Boil all together for three hours, stirring
frequently, and bottle while hot.
140. MINCE MEAT.--Many housekeepers prefer to buy the preparation rather
than to be at the trouble of making it. Lean beef, two pounds; beef
suet, one pound; apples, five pounds; seeded raisins, two pounds;
currants, two pounds; citron, three-fourths of a pound; pounded mace and
pounded cinnamon, two tablespoonfuls each; one of grated nutmeg; one
each of cloves and allspice; brown sugar two and one-half pounds; sherry
wine, one quart; brandy, one pint. Put up in three-pound cans. The
compound should make six cans, and you should charge seventy-five cents
a can for so choice a product. You can reduce the expense, if your
customers wish a cheaper article.
141. DRIED APPLES.--If you have a few apple trees, you will often find
it more profitable to dry for future sale than to sell the green fruit.
Pare, core, and slice. Lay the slices in shallow pans or on clean
boards, and expose to the air until thoroughly dried. Then pack and
store for the winter market. You should get at least ten cents a pound.
142. PEANUTS.--No risk of loss on these for they will always sell. Buy
from a shipper or wholesale grocer a bag of peanuts and roast them in
the oven until they are a fine brown, taking care not to burn. Profits
in a bag of peanuts selling at five cents, one-half pint, 100 per cent.
143. CIGARETTES.--Roll a pinch of tobacco in a piece of white paper and
scent with any agreeable perfume. More profit than in cigars.
144. TALLOW CANDLES.--Still used in the country, and to some extent by
poor people in the city. Take beef and mutton suet in the proportion of
one to two. Melt, and fill tin molds in which the wick has been
previously inserted. The cost is little beyond the work. Charge
twenty-five cents per dozen.
145. LUNG PRESERVER.--(Rock and Rye). Here is the secret of this popular
remedy for coughs, colds and lung troubles. Rye whisky, three gallons;
syrup, made of rock candy, one gallon. Cost of whiskey and syrup, $3.50.
Put up in pint bottles at fifty cents each, $16. Profits, $12.50, or
nearly 300 per cent.
146. POISON KILLER.--You may not sell much of this, but it is a useful
article to have in the house, and will keep indefinitely. Buy a
quantity of powder of aristol, and put it in small pepper-boxes, or in
any box with a perforated lid, holding a few ounces. Dust the affected
part freely with this, and the effect on the poisoned flesh will be
magical. Use for any inflammation. Advertise it in placards.
147. MUCILAGE.--Dissolve gum-arabic in water until the whole is of the
consistency of cream, and keep it from contact with the air. Add a few
drops of sweet oil to prevent it from souring. The cost is almost
nothing. You can sell it at five cents a bottle.
148. POP CORN.--Use a large popper, and when the corn comes out white
and hot, add a little molasses to make it adhere, and flavor with some
popular extract. Mold it in balls, rectangles, or in any other fancy
shape. A bushel of shelled corn which costs a dollar will make 125
balls. These at five cents apiece come to $6.25.
This completes the list of one hundred articles for your store. Observe
that they are all made at home, and for that reason the profits are from
50 to 500 per cent., while in the ordinary way of buying from the
wholesaler the storekeeper has to be satisfied with from 10 to 20 per
cent. You will discover for yourself many other articles which can be
made at home and sold at a profit, and you will not confine yourself to
homemade goods, but will handle anything for which there is a demand
whether you can make it yourself or not. Of course, if you make all the
above goods, you will need much help, the cost of which will diminish
somewhat the profits, but the design is that you begin on a modest
scale, at first doing all the manufacturing yourself, and call in
assistance as your business and capital grow. In writing this chapter
the author has contemplated a lady as keeping a store of this kind, but
a gentleman can do much of the work as well, and some sections of it
better. Perhaps the ideal store would be that kept by husband and wife
with growing children to assist. Now let us have the experience of a
lady who has tried our plan.
Mrs. J---- G---- says: “By the death of my husband I was left alone with
three children, Wilhelm fifteen, Gertrude thirteen, and Egbert ten. I
had no means, though, fortunately, my little place in the suburban town
of T---- was free of debt. It consisted of a neat house and three acres
of land. Having a fondness for plants, I cultivated them in curious
ways, while keeping my little family together by taking in sewing. One
day a lady who was spending the summer in T---- called and inquired what
I would take for a pea vine which was growing in a tumbler of water. I
was surprised, as I had not thought of making merchandise of my plant
pets. She purchased a number of pretty little odd things of vegetable
life with which I had amused myself, and suggested that I might earn
something by cultivating rare forms of plants. It was a new idea to me.
I had not thought there was any money in what had been to me only a
pastime, but I increased the number of my plant curiosities, and the
lady and her friends bought them all.
“Then my friend said to me, ‘Why don’t you keep a Home Store? You have
so much taste I think you would do nicely?’ ‘And pray what is a Home
Store?’ I inquired. ‘Oh, it’s a store where the things are all made at
home.’ ‘But I have no capital.’ ‘You need no capital. See, the things
are all made at home. Begin with a few tea dishes.’ So I bought a ham,
sliced it thin, and laid some sprigs of parsley around it. I also made
some artificial honey from a recipe in an old cook book. With the money
I thus earned, I had my window enlarged into a show-window, and put in
a variety of vegetables from my garden, taking care they should be
strictly fresh every day. I had such success that, at the suggestion of
my lady patron, I began to make a great many other things--pastry,
preserves, sweetmeats, and toilet articles. I also purchased one hundred
fowls, and served my customers with fresh eggs. My trade grew so that I
decided to have a real store, and so, at an expense of about $50, I had
my two front rooms made into one and fitted up with shelves and
counters. I purchased a cow and a pig on credit, and also two or three
hives of bees. The people seemed to appreciate my fresh eggs, milk,
butter and honey, and I soon paid all my debts and branched out in
several other directions in the way of homemade goods. Hitherto, my
three children had afforded me all the help I needed, but now I found it
necessary to employ a cheap male laborer to look after my garden,
orchard, cow, pig, and poultry, as well as to assist in making some of
my goods. I made a great variety of things as new suggestions came to me
almost daily, and also, as my customers called for them, I bought what I
could not well make myself. Now, after three years’ experience, I think
I have the most profitable store of its size that can be found anywhere.
Here is my account for last year:
ARTICLES. COST. SALES. PROFITS.
Household plants Seeds $ .90 $15.25 $14.35
Table dishes Meats, etc. 12.59 36.94 24.35
Pastry Materials 53.36 166.05 112.69
Nuts and candy “ 61.66 379.22 317.56
Preserves, etc “ 12.10 49.75 37.65
Toilet articles “ 9.05 19.05 10.00
Varnishes and soaps “ 3.18 15.50 12.32
Soft drinks “ 5.15 31.55 26.40
Vegetables Seeds 2.50 37.27 34.77
School supplies Materials 3.70 13.71 10.01
Christmas presents “ 5.25 48.13 42.88
Eggs, honey and the dairy Keeping stock 75.50 217.00 141.50
Miscellaneous articles Materials 55.05 291.15 236.10
Goods bought Price paid 473.02 551.10 78.08
------- --------- ---------
$773.01 $1,871.67 $1,098.66
“Deduct from the above the wages of laborer at $20 per month, $240, and
I have left $858.66 as net profit for my year’s work. The fruit for the
preserves and pies was raised on the place, and I was under no expense
for tin and paper boxes, these being collected from the houses of my
friends. It will be seen that nearly one-third of the sales of my ‘Home
Store’ were of purchased goods on which the profit were only 15 per
cent., but so large was the profit on the homemade goods that the total
sales were at the gratifying advance of 80 per cent. Besides, I have had
the living of my family and hired help. The expense for meats not
furnished on the place, and for groceries not kept in the store,
together with that for clothes, taxes, and sundries, was $316.05. Thus,
I have paid all my expenses, and saved $540 for a rainy day. Pretty
good, don’t you think, for a woman, and a novice at that? Of course, I
have worked hard, sometimes as many as fifteen hours a day, but I have
enjoyed it, and think I am on the way to a snug little fortune. Others
with more talents, and under more favorable circumstances, I have no
doubt could do much better.
“The secrets of my success, if you ask me, are: First, the trading
instinct, or the knowing what, where, and when to buy. (I never let
myself get out of a stock article). Second, courtesy to all--to the
little barefoot colored boy just the same as to the grand madam. Third,
economy, both in my family expenses, buying only what I need, and in my
store, using in other ways that which will not sell in the original
form, throwing nothing away unless it is spoiled and even that giving,
as a last resort, to my pig and poultry; and fourth, hard work, making
and selling with my own hands everything I can, and carefully
superintending everything I cannot.”
CHAPTER VI.
MONEY IN THE HOME ACRE.
Money at Home--What a Single Acre Will Do--Gold in the Soil--How a
Dike Made a Klondike--$1,000 at Your Back Door--Nickels in Pickles!
Livings in Pickings!--A Fortune in a Fat Slice of Earth--A Great
(Grate) Way to Make Money.
There are multitudes of people who have a single acre of ground which
could be made to yield much profit if they knew how to handle it. Others
have an half or a quarter of an acre; not enough, perhaps, to give them
a support, but which would add very materially to their income if
properly cultivated. In this chapter we tell you what to do with the
“home acre,” with examples of what others have done with it.
149. MONEY IN PEARS.--Do you know that one acre of the best yielding
pear trees will bring more profit than a five-hundred acre farm without
a twentieth of the care or capital?
150. GREENBACKS IN GREENINGS.--It is a fact that forty apple trees of
the R. H. Greening variety on a single acre have yielded a crop worth
$400.
151. PLUMS OF GOLD.--A widow has in her garden twelve plum trees from
which she regularly receives $60 a year.
152. THE RASPBERRY ACRE.--“There are repeated instances of $400 and
even $600 being made clear from a single acre of raspberries.” See
Morris’ “Ten Acres Enough.”
153. PROFITS IN BIG PEACHES.--When ordinary peaches were selling at 25
cents a bushel, a grower received $2 a bushel. This is how he did it.
When the fruit was as large as a hickory nut, he employed a large force
of laborers and picked off more than one-half the fruit. The rest
ripened early, grew large, and were of excellent quality. His net profit
that year from eleven acres was between $3,000 and $4,000.
154. EASY TOMATOES.--An easy crop, requiring little care. Says a grower
in New Jersey: “My single acre of tomatoes netted a clear profit of
$120. I am aware that others have realized more than double this sum,
but they were experienced hands, while I was new to the business.” Four
hundred dollars per acre has frequently been realized from this crop.
One person had four acres from which he received from $1,500 to $2,000
annually.
155. ASSORTED STRAWBERRIES.--Here is the experience of a novice: “I ran
a ditch through my wet and almost worthless meadow land, and set it out
with strawberry plants. The second year I had an enormous crop. The
larger berries were separated from the smaller, and the show thus made
by the assorted fruit was magnificent. For 600 quarts I received $300,
it being a little early for strawberries in the New York market.” It
pays to grow early and large fruit.
156. LIVINGS IN LETTUCE.--Fifteen thousand heads can be set upon an
acre. These at the average price of $1.50 per hundred means $225 per
acre. Five acres of this crop should give a fair-sized family a good
living. It is an auxiliary crop and may be sowed between heads of
cabbage.
157. SOVEREIGNS IN SPINACH.--There are few more important crops in
market. It requires little labor, can be cultivated evenings and
mornings by a busy man, and pays about $75 an acre.
158. THOUSAND-DOLLAR CELERY.--Celery may be grown as a second crop after
beets, onions, or peas are cleared up. A little reckoning in the number
of heads per acre shows that if the grower could get the consumer’s
price of eight or ten cents a head, it would yield a clear profit of
$1,000.
159. FORTUNES IN WATER-CRESS.--“I have no doubt,” says a large grower,
“that in situations where irrigation could be used at pleasure, or
regular plantations made as for cranberries, judging from the enormous
price water-cress sells at, picked as it is in the present haphazard
way, an acre would sell for $4,000 or $5,000.”
160. THE DOLLAR BLACKBERRY.--When the Lawton first came out, so great
was the praise of it and the rush to obtain it that many roots were sent
through the mail at $1 apiece, and the lucky discoverer netted a small
fortune. But any grower has the same chances to discover a new variety,
or to improve on his present stock.
161. NICKELS IN PICKLES.--Do you know that the enormous number of
150,000 cucumbers may be easily grown on an acre of land, and that at
the low price of $1.50 per thousand this means $225 per acre? The crop
also is very easily raised.
162. THE BEET LOT.--You can grow 80,000 roots per acre even when sown a
foot apart, yet at $1 per hundred, deducting one-half for expenses,
there still results a net value of $400.
163. THE ROASTING EAR.--You can plant an acre of sweet corn, realize
$100 for it, clear it off in August, sow the cleared ground with turnip
seed, and from the second crop reap another $100.
164. PAYING PEAS.--They are the early kind, marketed before the price
falls. If grown under glass so as to be crowded on the market in early
June, they will bring $4 a bushel, and at that rate an acre will mean
$400. If delayed a month, they will not bring a quarter of that sum.
165. GRATED HORSERADISH.--The root is very easily raised, requires
little cultivation, but is quite profitable. Grate finely and put in
attractive white bottles with red labels. Give it some fancy name, as
“Red Orchard,” or “Spring Valley.” “Little Neck” clams got their
reputation largely in this way. Sell for ten cents a bottle.
CHAPTER VII.
MONEY FOR WOMEN.
One Hundred Ways a Woman Can Earn a Living--A New Way to Remember
Your Friends--The Woman with a Pet Dog--Solving the Servant-girl
Question--Shopping for Pleasure and Profit--Profits of a Lady
Barber--The Business of “Samples”--The Rise of the Trained
Nurse--Dollars in Scents--How to Go to Paris Without
Cost--Something that will Sell to Millions of Shoppers--How Clara
Louise Kellog Got a Start--A Woman Who Sold her Jewels for
Newspapers--Women in the Civil Service.
The field of woman’s work has been vastly augmented during the last
half-century. From school teaching and dressmaking, which were about the
only occupations open to our grandmothers, the number of ways a woman
can make a living have increased to over two hundred. To be exact, there
are two hundred and twenty-one occupations open to women, out of a total
of two hundred and fifty. It is the design of the author to give only
those methods which are unique, unusual, and presumably unknown to most
lady readers. In a few cases these money-making methods must be
considered as only tributary to a larger source of revenue, as when a
salaried position or business enterprise is not sufficient for a
support, or when a woman wishes to help the family “eke out a living,”
but in most cases it is expected that the suggestions if followed will
be an adequate source of income. Several of these ways may often be
united where one is insufficient. There is no need for any woman to
marry for the sake of a home. The examples given will enable any lady
of the least tact, skill, or enterprise, to secure an independent
living.
166. THE SCHOOL STORE.--If you live near a public school, a small store
containing candies, school supplies and knickknacks for the children
will be found to bring much profit. The store need not be large or
conspicuous. A room in a private house will do. Children, like bees, are
all fond of sweets. The store need be open only for an hour in the
morning, or noon, and at the close of school, so that other work may be
carried on at the same time. A dressmaker, with hours arranged so as not
to conflict, could combine very well these two ways of earning a living.
167. THE HAND ALBUM.--Have an album made in usual style, except that the
places for pictures are omitted. Smear each page with soft wax to the
depth of one-sixth of an inch. When a friend calls, slightly heat a page
and request him to lay his hands, palms down, upon it. In that way you
can preserve the digits of your friends, and you will be surprised to
find there is as much difference in hands as in faces. When your album
is full, if you choose you can consult a patent lawyer, and arrange to
protect your invention. A novelty of this kind would doubtless be
immensely popular, and enable the author to reap a financial harvest.
168. THE NOVELTY BAKERY.--A woman who knows how to make tempting
creations in flour can make a good living. Begin by taking your goods to
the Woman’s Exchange, of which almost every large city has at least one.
If your baking is novel, from the Exchange will come demands from
private customers, and even orders from hotels. A New England woman,
beginning in a small way, in a few months had an income of $33 per week.
169. THE FRONT YARD SNAP.--With a photographer’s outfit, go through the
better class residential sections of a city or town and take the
pictures of the children which you will see in every street, and in
almost every front yard. Get a child in a most striking position, on a
wheel, or in a swing or hammock, or at play. Secure parent’s consent to
take the picture. No matter if they declare that they will not purchase,
they will yield when they see a pretty picture of their child. Much
money can be made at this.
170. THE PET DOG.--Do you know that pet dogs often bring enormous
prices? You want the Yorkshire terriers, or the King Charles spaniels,
or some of the rare Japanese breeds. A lady in New York counts on $500
yearly as the income from the families raised from one dog, a King
Charles spaniel.
171. THE BOX LUNCH.--There is a large field for some one to cultivate in
our great office buildings and factories. Thousands would pay for a
light lunch which costs five cents, and is sold for ten cents. Rent a
small room near a business center. Make known your occupation. Go
through the places of business if possible, or if not take a stand near
the door, and if your lunch is tastefully arranged, it will find many
buyers. After a time you will get regular customers. Profits 100 per
cent.
172. THE HAIR-DRESSER.--A refined business for women is the dressing of
hair. For $25 you can learn the business. Place samples of all kinds of
bangs and switches in the window. They can be sold for a great profit,
and if industrious, you can build up in a good neighborhood an excellent
paying business, and best of all, it can be done in your own home.
173. TYPO AND STENO.--In many large cities typewriting and stenography
may be learned in the Y. W. C. A. Then with a machine and a rented room
cheaply furnished a woman is all ready for business. Many women are
making $25 per week. One enterprising young lady takes dictated matter
in short hand, and then typewrites it at her leisure, thus saving much
time to her busy patrons.
174. THE SEWING SCHOOL.--Here is a vast unworked field. If you
understand needlework, and have a little business enterprise, you are
certain to succeed. Advertise in the papers and get out circulars,
stating that for the small sum of twenty-five cents per week you will
teach all pupils plain and fancy sewing. Form your pupils into classes,
and if you are gentle and patient, as well as skillful at the needle,
you will in a short time have the work which mothers are glad to get rid
of. And it can all be done in your own home.
175. FLAT HUNTING.--Rent a small office and advertise that for a
trifling fee you will exactly suit persons looking for homes, and save
them all the trouble. Three or four hours a day are spent in
house-hunting, and two in the office. You must have a book with your
customers’ demands set down in detail, and another book with a careful
description of each house to let. A commission might be exacted from
both owner and renter. An enterprising woman could in a short time
build up a large business in this way.
176. A TEA ROOM.--Hire a counter in a fashionable store much frequented
by ladies. Have a sign that fresh tea is sold here, made to order with
good cream. Small accessories may be fresh rolls, toasted crumpets,
bread and butter, and other light articles of food. Ladies weary with
shopping will surely come to your counter to be refreshed. A lady in one
of our large cities made a fortune by this means. The requirements are
dazzling cleanliness, a smiling welcome, a cheerful place near the door,
and hot, fresh tea.
177. DRESS MENDING.--Here is a good field. There is a vast army of women
who would patronize a mending office rather than run around the city to
find a sewing woman, or use their own limited time in the use of the
needle. Have a tariff of prices for mending gloves, sewing on buttons,
renewing the sleeves, putting braid around the bottom of dresses, etc.
The right woman could earn a good living at this business.
178. LACE HANDLING.--The mending and washing of fine laces is a work
that is given to experts, and commands high prices, yet is easily
learned. In five lessons at a dollar apiece any lady of ordinary
intelligence can learn, or, cheaper yet, one can sometimes give services
in return for instruction. You are then in a position to earn a great
deal of money. Issue a thousand circulars to the wealthier people of the
city, letting them know of your enterprise. This plan combines the three
advantages of fascinating employment, good pay, and work done at home.
179. INTELLIGENCE OFFICE on the subscription plan.--Buy a copy of the
“Social Register;” send circulars to all persons named therein; announce
that you have opened an intelligence office on a new plan. For $10 a
year you will keep them supplied with as many servants as they want, and
you will guarantee satisfaction. Make a specialty of securing servants
for people going out of town. Thus you will go far toward solving the
perplexing question for your patrons, and make an excellent living for
yourself.
180. PROFESSIONAL MENDING.--Hotels, boarding houses and bachelor
apartments have loud and long calls for mending. Mothers with little
ones, professional women, and school-teachers, as well as men, have
neither time nor taste for this kind of work. Have an outfit in a small
satchel, which should contain a light lunch, a white apron, and various
assortments of tapes, buttons, etc. In a short time one would have a
regular round of customers. One lady who did this never had to go out of
one large hotel for work.
181. THE COLLEGE CRAM.--There is room for a lady with a knowledge of the
classics and a faculty for teaching to take boys and young men and carry
them over the hard spots in their education. These hard spots, which are
known as examinations, conditions, etc., are the bane and bugbear of
many a young man’s education. In one town a lady earns $100 per month by
taking pupils through the intricacies of algebra and Latin.
182. SHOE AND WRAP ROOM.--A room in some fashionable quarter where
ladies could go after a journey on the cars and have the dust brushed
off their wraps and their shoes polished would doubtless prove
remunerative.
183. GENERAL CONVENIENCE ROOM.--The last idea might be combined with
this. Have a room in which, for the charge of a dime, one could get a
glass of ice-water, could read the morning paper, have his clothes
brushed, and look over a map of the city or a directory, and have all
the advantages of a toilet room.
184. SICK-ROOM DELICACIES.--Another unoccupied field is the preparation
of delicacies for the sick. Bouillon, chocolate, jellies and many other
kinds of delicacies could be prepared and placed in a show window in
some fashionable part of the town. The conditions of success are
exquisite neatness and daintiness. It would pay well, for people stop at
no cost in providing for their sick friends.
185. SHOPPING COMMISSION.--If you live at a little distance from the
city, a good business may be built up by shopping for your friends and
neighbors. By dint of experience you know where to buy, and when your
practice is built up you can buy cheaper by reason of larger purchases,
and you can give both of these advantages to your patrons. Many women
might find here both a congenial and profitable field.
186. SCHOOL LUNCHEON.--Here is another good field. Tens of thousands of
schoolchildren have to eat a cold luncheon. Rent a small room near a
schoolhouse, and provide bouillon, clam and chicken soups, sandwiches,
baked beans, lamb pies, with white and brown bread, plain cake and
fruit. You will help to preserve the digestion of myriads of children,
as well as fill your own pocket with cash.
187. HATCHING BIRDS.--Buy half a dozen songsters at $1.50 apiece, the
females at half that price. Get proper cages, mate the birds, provide
soft nests made chiefly of cotton; and with care you can do an excellent
business. Birds in good condition mate two or three times a year. One
lady, with eighteen pairs of canary birds netted $500 a year.
188. BUTTER AND EGG STORE.--Butter and eggs are two things which every
housekeeper wants fresh, but which are difficult to obtain. Get some
reliable farmer to supply you at stated dates, and procure a list of
customers. Then with a boy to deliver and a push cart for the
merchandise, you have little to do but figure your profits. An advantage
of this plan is that it gives you the most of your time for other work.
The business may be extended almost _ad infinitum_.
189. SARATOGA CHIPS.--These are a sample of what may be done with a
single good article by one who knows how. One family has a weekly income
of $12.50 from this means.
190. FANCY LAMP SHADES.--Made of crêpe papers they are very cheap, and
look almost as well as silk. Any woman of ordinary ability can make
them, and they sell readily. She can buy for sixty cents material for a
shade which she can sell for $1.25, thus more than doubling her money.
191. BEE-KEEPING.--This is another means of large profit. It can be
carried on even in a city where there is a small plot of ground. Fill
all the space not occupied by the hives with white clover and such other
flowers as your study of bees will tell you they delight in. Buy a book
about bees. The advantage of this industry is that the cost of
supporting the bees is practically nothing. There is no risk. After the
first small expenditure of capital for boxes and hives all is profit.
192. CLEANSING AND BLEACHING.--There are many things too costly to be
intrusted to an ordinary washerwoman, and many other cleansing processes
that do not come within that woman’s sphere. Cleaning feathers, velvets,
furs, gloves, silks, and many other articles afford a wide opportunity
for one who understands the business. Who can take grease spots from
carpets, fruit stains from napkins and table covers, paint from windows,
thumb-marks from books, and scratches from furniture? Here is a useful
field.
193. FANCY SOAPS.--Fortunes have been made from fancy soaps. The process
of making is easy, and the variety of method is so great, and the
possible ingredients so many, that there need be no danger of infringing
on anyone’s trademark. Get a recipe-book and practice on the kinds given
in the formulas; then branch out into new kinds. The sale will depend
upon your ability. Give your product an attractive appearance.
194. HOME ARCHITECTURE.--Write to the secretaries or agents of church
building societies. Many of these societies publish pamphlets, in which,
in addition to the designs for churches, will be found many cuts for
pretty little parsonages. From these you can compile an attractive
little book of home architecture, which would sell to every person
contemplating building a home; and almost every one living in a rented
house hopes some day to rear his own domicile. If you have a friend who
is an architect, he would procure for you other books of plans.
195. HOME ORNAMENTS.--What is a home without at least a few trifling
ornaments? An inventive mind can think of a hundred inexpensive ways of
beautifying a room. But most people are not inventive. If, therefore,
you have that gift, and can think of a few novelties in lace and
embroidered goods which you can make and sell for fractions of a dollar,
you will have opened your way to constant and remunerative employment.
196. DOUBTFUL DEBTS.--It is well known that in efforts that require
perseverance and persistence women succeed better than men. Grocers,
butchers, real estate agents, and in fact almost every business man, has
a large number of accounts, a considerable per cent. of which he
considers worthless. To any one who could succeed in collecting them,
the dealer would give a very large per cent., in some cases even
amounting to half the bill. Many of these are really collectible if
attempted with the persuasive arts of womanhood. Here is a large and
profitable field for a woman having the right qualifications.
197. DRESSING DOLLS.--A fair profit can be made by taking orders for
making dolls’ dresses, as they can be bought and dressed for about
one-half the cost of those already dressed. Persons giving the order
should be required to bring the materials for the dress.
198. FRUIT PRESERVERS.--Vast numbers of people are in the country during
the fruit season, and cannot “do up” fruits; they must depend on the
grocer. Let a thrifty, economical woman who _knows how_ equip herself
with sugar, fruit, cans and preserve kettles, and she will not long wait
for customers if she makes her business known. The second year, her
patrons having tested her talents and tasted her fruits, and finding
them so much better than “store goods,” will flood her with orders.
199. A MUSHROOM CELLAR.--An enterprising woman hired a cellar at a rent
of $10 per month, had it fitted up with shelves, placed on these shelves
in order, straw, fertilizers, and soil; then put on mushroom spawn,
renewing it at intervals, as also at longer intervals the soil. Average
sale of mushrooms per week, $31.50. Average expenses, $8.80. Profit per
week, $22.70.
200. POULTRY RAISING.--Following is the experience of another woman in
raising poultry. She bought forty-five Minorcas, because they lay a
large white egg, and are nonsitters and prolific layers. Each hen laid
on an average one hundred and sixty-four eggs per annum. She purchased
also forty Brahmas for sitters and for fattening. Total expenses for
fowls and for keeping, $278.70. Total receipts, $1,144.11. Net profit,
$865.31.
201. HOME HOTHOUSE.--Thousands of people will buy plants already started
who would not go to the trouble to buy seeds, slips, and pots. There is
also a large demand for cut flowers all the year round. Have a cellar
for rooting, and a south room for sunning. A liberal use of cards and
circulars, stating what you propose to do, will surely bring custom. The
secret of the florists’ business is to provide flowers for every month
in the year, and to force or retard the flowers that suit the demands of
each month. This is a very pretty employment for a woman, and can be
done in her own home. There are three hundred and twelve floral
establishments in this country managed by women. The work is easy and
tasteful to ladies. The elements of success are the habit of early
rising, business ability, close superintendence of laborers, intelligent
advertising, knowledge of plants, and promptness in filling orders. The
best location is near a large cemetery. One florist thus located takes
in from $1,500 to $2,000 per month during the busy season.
202. ART NEEDLEWORK.--Here is the way a woman paid off a $600 mortgage
on her home, and at the same time attended to her domestic duties. She
bought linens stamped with designs, and gave her spare time to
decorative embroidery. She disposed of her work at the Woman’s Exchange,
and at the art stores. Six hundred dollars in spare minutes are not a
bad showing. Besides, one could form a class and add the income from
teaching. Mrs. Clara Louise Kellogg began by giving lessons in
embroidery at the age of fourteen. Before her fifteenth birthday she was
earning $30 a week with these classes.
203. NEWS AGENCY.--Keep the daily papers. Almost any lady who will go
into the business could count on one hundred patrons; and these by the
recommendation of friends could easily be increased to five hundred. One
hundred patrons would mean at least $3 per week, and five hundred
patrons would mean at least $15 per week. Tact, enterprise, and good
service are the qualities needed. If your place is on the main street,
and you can make a show-window for periodicals, your income will be much
augmented. A woman came to this country and heard of a news stand for
sale for $250. She sold her jewels to purchase it. With her two
brothers she made it a success, and it now supports three families.
“Courtesy and application,” she says, “were my capital.”
204. WOMEN’S WANTS.--Take advantage of bargain sales--ribbons, silks,
lace, and velvets. They can be had, if you watch the papers, at very
trifling cost, but wondrous are the shapes into which they can be made
by woman’s deft fingers. You can make boas, ruchings, berthas, lace
bibs, draped collars, belts, etc. Every woman wants these things, and
will buy them if they can be found in colors and style required. They
can be sold at moderate cost, and at a very large profit.
205. HOME PRINTING PRESS.--Pay $10 for a press, and a like sum for type
and other accessories. Print visiting cards, at-home cards, business,
reception, and wedding cards, tickets of admission, etc. Give a specimen
of your work to every one of your friends, and request their patronage;
place circulars with samples and rates in the stores, and solicit the
favors of business men. Doing the work in your own home, you have no
extra rent to pay as have printing establishments, and you can do the
work much cheaper and still make a profit.
206. SHORT SERVICE BUREAU.--Many people want help in an emergency, and
for a short time only. The housewife is suddenly taken ill, a servant
without warning leaves, company unexpectedly comes, stoves are to be put
up, yards are to be cleaned, gardens dug, snow shoveled, clothes washed,
and a hundred other things done requiring short service only. Keep a
list of men and women who go out at labor. Know accurately their
whereabouts every day. Be ready instantly to supply any one’s demand.
When it is known that you furnish that kind of service, your office will
be in demand, and your patrons well willing to pay.
207. DELICATESSEN ROOM.--Here is a paying business that is not
overcrowded, but success depends upon the quality of the goods. Make
yourself a specialist in cookery. Homemade pies, plum puddings, orange
marmalade, salted almonds, fancy cakes, jellies and jams can be made and
sold at a good profit. Bakers and grocers will be forced to keep them
when once there is a demand for your goods. This is no speculative idea.
Many a woman has not only made a living, but accumulated a snug little
fortune by this means.
208. MISCELLANEOUS EXCHANGE.--Many people have no use for some of their
possessions, but desire something else; others would be glad to get what
these possess. Establish a place for the exchange of typewriters, sewing
machines, bicycles, baby carriages, jewelry, bric-à-brac, etc. Charge
both parties to the exchange a small commission. This plan has the
advantage that it requires no capital, and hence has no risk.
209. CAP AND APRON PLAN.--Here is a plan available near any large hotel.
Have a place for the sale of aprons, waiters’ jackets, cooks’ caps, etc.
Get out a great quantity of circulars, stating your plan in an
attractive form, and have a boy to distribute them--one upon whom you
can rely to hand one to every employee of hotel shop and store. Repeat
the circulars every week until your business is thoroughly known.
Arrange to keep the articles in repair, and engage the agency of some
laundry establishment for their washing; then with the work of selling,
repairing and laundrying these goods you will have an established
business.
210. KITCHEN UTENSILS.--As a rule you can sell five kitchen utensils
where you can sell one book. The former shows for itself; the latter
must be exhibited and explained. Send to a large wholesaler for the most
modern samples of labor-saving tools for the kitchen. Test them for a
few days yourself. Then start out among your neighbors. A housewife will
purchase anything that lightens labor if it is only cheap. An
enthusiastic person can make many dollars a day selling useful articles
for the kitchen. A woman for three months averaged $4 a day selling an
improved coffee pot.
211. WEDDING MANAGER.--How many brides shrink from the work of a large
wedding, while at the same time feeling under obligations to have one! A
lady who has an artistic taste and a knowledge of the best social
customs may very properly undertake the management of a wedding. She
should know what is proper for the bride’s outfit, and how to dress her,
how to decorate the rooms, what style of invitations to issue, and in
short, all the delightfully perplexing details of a wedding. For this
work she has a right to charge a fair sum, and if the wedding proves to
be a very pretty one, she is entitled to the credit of it. When once the
office of a lady manager is recognized, and the relief afforded to the
bride’s family appreciated, the fashion will quickly spread, and others
will wish to avail themselves of your taste and skill.
212. FOREIGN HOMES.--Here is an example of the pluck and enterprise of
an American girl: Miss Mary Widdicomb went to Paris in company with a
lady friend, and established a home for Americans in that capital. Her
rooms accommodated thirty-five, and such was the success of her venture
that she is about to open another apartment. Think of it! You can go to
a French city and hear the American language, associate with American
people, and have American surroundings the same as if in the United
States. Here is an opportunity for young women with small capital to see
a foreign country and make money at the same time.
213. LADY BARBER.--There is a school in New York for the instruction of
barbers. Three months’ apprenticeship will give you a knowledge of the
trade. One lady who graduated a year ago from the school now has two
assistants, and is earning from $6 to $10 a day.
214. MINERAL COLLECTIONS FOR SCHOOLS.--Dana’s Mineralogy gives fourteen
hundred places in the United States where rare minerals are found. There
are 240,968 public schools, and each one needs a mineral collection. Why
has no one thought of gathering these rare stones and selling them to
our public schools? At $1 a school, the sale should be $240,698, but
many rare collections would bring $5, and even $10 each.
215. TURKISH BATH.--One lady opened a place for Turkish and Russian
baths. She went around among her lady friends and acquaintances and
secured the promise of a paying patronage. Five promised their patronage
every week, eight every two weeks, and twenty-four at least once a
month. Thus the sum of $60 per month was assured at the start, and this
paid for rent and assistants, with a good margin of profit.
216. TRAINED NURSES.--Trained nurses in our large cities command $25 a
week. The duties are exacting, but not difficult. Assistant nurses
receive $15. The latter have less responsibilities, and are not required
to spend so long a time in training. This is an inviting field for
ladies who have gifts and tastes for this work.
217. TRAVELING COMPANION.--If you have a good education and can make
yourself agreeable, your services ought not to go long begging for an
engagement in this delightful occupation. Watch the advertisements in
the daily papers; better yet, insert an advertisement of your own,
modestly stating your qualifications. The remuneration depends upon the
wealth and liberality of your employer.
218. PAPER FLOWERS.--This has become a distinct trade. You can learn in
a few months. There is a paper flower store in Broadway, New York, which
does an immense business. There are great possibilities in this line in
every city.
219. FRENCH PERFUMER AND COMPLEXION EXPERT.--How does this
sound?--Madame Racier, French Perfumer. Equip yourself with perfumes,
essences, tinctures, extracts, spirit waters, cosmetics, infusions,
pastiles, tooth powders, washes, cachous, hair dyes, sachets, essential
oils, etc. All ladies like perfumes. Once let it be known that you are
an authority on the subject, and you will lack neither patronage nor
profits.
220. A WOMAN’S HOTEL.--A hotel exclusively for women would no doubt be a
paying investment. More than fifty thousand ladies without male escorts
stop every year in the hotels of New York City. A very large proportion
of this number would patronize a cheap, clean, well-kept place, fitted
up and conducted solely for the comfort of ladies.
221. GUIDE FOR SHOPPERS.--A department store in New York recently made a
census of its customers, and from the count kept for a single week it
was estimated that 3,125,000 persons passed through its doors every
year. This for a single store. But there are thousands of stores. Vast
numbers of these people are from the country, and do not know where they
can trade to the best advantage. What a field is here for a shoppers’
guide! Ascertain what stores make a specialty of certain goods, what
ones sell the cheapest in certain lines, and what days they make
bargains in certain wares. Show by what routes the places are best
reached, where to dine, etc. Fill a little book with just the
information a shopper wants to know; call it “The Ladies’ Shopping
Guide,” put it on the market at ten cents, and you can sell millions of
them.
222. BICYCLE INSTRUCTION.--Why, may not a woman teach “the wheel” as
well as a man? Many women are restrained from learning through the
dislike of falling from the wheel into the arms of a strange man,
commonly a negro. A woman’s bicycle academy would pay in any large city.
223. COOKING SCHOOL.--Madam Parloa and Madam Rorer have set the example,
and they will be sure to have many imitators. A course of instruction in
cooking, costing $10, is a vastly better investment to any young woman
than a course on a piano costing $100, or many times that sum. First,
learn the art thoroughly yourself and then teach it to others. There is
money in this, but it needs taste, tact and work.
224. THE BOARDING HOUSE.--One who has a taste for cooking and a little
marketing skill can do well in this somewhat overworked and not always
paying business. The gains increase from zero with one boarder, in
geometrical progression, until $1 a head is realized with twenty
boarders. Profits, $20 a week. With great skill and management this may
be doubled.
225. PEN ENGRAVING.--If you have a circle of one hundred friends, and
can secure their patronage, you can make a fair living for one person at
engraving cards. A lady with a large calling list should engrave $500
worth of cards a year. Expenses, $25. Remuneration for work, $475.
226. A LADIES’ RESTAURANT.--A restaurant where delicacies pleasing to
ladies are made a specialty would surely pay. A lady who recently
established one adjoining a large department store has been obliged to
enlarge her premises to accommodate her crowd of patrons.
227. A WOMAN’S NEWSPAPER.--One has just been started in a Western city.
The editors, reporters, printers, and press-feeders, are all women. Of
course it advocates woman’s reform. An enterprise of this kind requires
considerable capital, and is not without risk, but a woman of ability
and experience can make it pay as well as a man, besides the advantage
of an appeal directly to her sex in support of a paper conducted in this
manner.
228. ADVERTISING AGENT.--A lady by her courtesy, tact, and gentle
address, is especially fitted for this work. All our great newspapers
and magazines pay large salaries to successful agents, for, as a rule,
the advertising department is the one that pays the dividends of the
business. The shopkeepers and others who, by reason of repeated
solicitations give the cold shoulder to the male agent, would listen at
least respectfully to a lady. On the whole, this field presents to
ladies who have the right qualities better opportunities than to men.
229. THE CIVIL SERVICE.--This is now open to women. There are more then
ten thousand of these places to be filled every year. Clerkships range
from $600 to $3,000. Very few fall below $1,000. These places, according
to the Civil Service Law, are filled by competitive examinations. There
are thousands of bright young women who secured these places, not
through any governmental pull, but by sheer merit in examinations. Get a
book entitled “Civil Service,” by John M. Comstock, Chairman of the
United States Board of Examiners, for the Customs Service in New York
City, and published by Henry Holt & Co. This book will give you a
complete table of the positions open, the salaries attached to each, and
a list of questions required to be answered.
230. POST-PRANDIAL CLASSES.--Few, even among educated women, are masters
of themselves to the extent of being able to rise before an audience,
and without previous preparation express themselves clearly and
creditably on whatever subject may be under discussion. A woman in New
York, a member of Sorosis, made a reputation for bright, witty,
after-dinner speeches. As she earned her living by newspaper work, a
friend said to her, “Why don’t you add to your income by teaching other
women how to say a few graceful words in public?” She caught at the
idea, and organized classes in the hitherto untaught art of
post-prandial speech-making, and had capital success, earning $500 by it
in one season.
231. WOMEN DRUGGISTS.--The neatness of women, their delicacy and
attention to details, qualify them admirably for the drug business. At
the Woman’s Infirmary, New York, the apothecary department is entirely
in the hands of ladies. Drug clerks receive on the average of $9 per
week. There are few lady proprietors, but there is no reason why there
should not be more, as the business is very profitable.
232. ALMANAC MAKERS.--Of late years many of the great dailies issue
yearly almanacs. The mass of matter which goes to make up these
publications can be collected as well by women, who have gifts for
details, as by those of the other sex. In one publication house a woman
is paid $30 a week to manage one of these almanacs, and in another $20
for the compiling of an index for the daily paper.
233. WOMEN LECTURERS.--Women of talent have earned a competence and
almost a fortune on the platform. Lucy Stone was sometimes paid as high
as $260 for a lecture, and Anna Dickinson also received large sums. The
lady who hopes to succeed in this field must have fluency, the gift of
oratory, self-poise, and a certain dramatic or magnetic power.
234. MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTORS.--In this work women are paid as much as men,
and their facile pens are often able to turn out equal and even
superior work. The Harpers pay $10 a page; the Atlantic Monthly, $6 to
$10; the North American Review, $1.50.
235. WOMEN PHYSICIANS.--Says a recent publication: “There is a real
necessity for women physicians; there are many ladies who prefer them,
and in some cases will consult no other. There are now over one thousand
lady physicians in the United States, but the number will soon be
doubled, and even trebled. Several of these lady physicians are making
over $2,000 a year.” One of them says: “I have several well-to-do
families whom I charge by the year. I charge $200, if they are people
who are considered well off; less, if they are poor.”
236. PAPER BOX MAKING.--Hundreds of women are making paper boxes, but as
employees, not as proprietors. A woman made the first orange box in
California. Seeing that it was a good thing, and that there would soon
be a demand for others, she built a factory, and is now turning out
fifty thousand boxes a year.
237. HORTICULTURE.--Here is an example of what a California woman can
do. A widow having four boys purchased thirty-six acres of land in San
Jose, and under her personal care, aided by her boys, planted the tract
with apricot, cherry and prune trees. For four years she did all the
pruning, a difficult task for a refined and delicate woman, accustomed
as she had been to luxuriant ease. Her prune trees alone netted $2,700
in one year.
238. VOCALISTS.--A lady with a good voice is certain of making a
living, some have made fortunes with it. The demand is wide and various.
If your taste does not incline to the stage, there is still a large
field in the church. All large churches, and many small ones now, have
paid choirs. The leading vocalists are commonly well paid. There are a
great number of altos and sopranos in New York and Brooklyn, and in the
fashionable suburbs, who receive $1,000 a year, or an excess of that
sum. And this is an excellent compensation when it is remembered that
the singer has nearly all her time in which to pursue some other
vocation.
239. PACKING TRUNKS.--This is a Paris occupation carried on exclusively
by women. You leave your order at the office of the transportation
company, and say when you want a professional packer. She comes, and is
paid fifty cents, and sometimes $1 an hour for her services. She has
genius for folding dresses so that they can be carried all over the
world without a wrinkle. She wraps bonnets in tissue paper. She tucks
away bric-à-brac in a way that makes breakage impossible. This industry
might be introduced profitably into this country.
240. WOMEN COSTUMERS.--Costumes for the stage are now gotten up mostly
by men. A woman of taste and ability could make a success of this
business. Many rich ladies would consult them in matters of personal
wardrobe.
241. EXPRESS OFFICE.--A woman can sit in an office as well as a man. One
woman in Boston tried it four years ago, beginning in a modest way. Now
she has three offices and five teams in constant use.
242. A FANCY BAKERY.--An elegant and educated young woman in San
Francisco took a dingy, dying little bakeshop, with sickening sights and
smells. She put it in order. In two months she had cleared $700, and in
four months $1,800. Another woman in Brooklyn has just opened a bakery
under very flattering prospects. She works on the plan of exquisite
neatness, trimming her windows like those of a fancy goods’ dealer, and
wrapping her bread in tissue paper.
243. WOMEN GROCERS.--There are not many women in the grocer business,
but there is no reason why there should not be. A woman grocer in a
Western State who has been established since 1860, has a business worth
$80,000 a year.
244. FOOD AND MEDICINE SAMPLES.--Proprietors of patent medicines and
foods will give you a large commission to introduce their inventions
into homes, and if successful, you will soon be employed at a good
salary. These proprietors often pay ladies to introduce samples at
country stores. The storekeeper will give you room rent free for a few
days, with the understanding that he alone has the sale of the article
in the place.
245. SAMPLES IN STORES.--Ladies of tact and good address are receiving
fair salaries in the introduction of new articles. Every inventor is
anxious to introduce his goods, and every storekeeper is equally
desirous to sell. Call upon the proprietor of some new article of
household use, secure territory, and then solicit space in a country
store. After three or four days in one store you should go to another,
or perhaps to the next town. You may have to begin on a commission, but
if successful you can soon command a salary.
246. SAMPLES FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE.--Others find ample remuneration in
introducing new articles from house to house. We know a little lady in
Brooklyn who is paid well for giving away samples of a new baby food.
This is much more pleasant work than that of importuning people to
purchase.
247. THE WOMAN BEAUTIFIER.--Whatever is of the nature of beauty appeals
to the heart of woman. A lady who has the secret of making other women
beautiful cannot fail of success. After making a study of your business,
advertise that you understand the art of removing moles, wrinkles,
warts, wens, birthmarks, tan, freckles, and superfluous hair. If
successful in pleasing one or two leaders of fashion, you will have
plenty of custom.
248. THE MANICURE PARLOR.--The manicure business is yearly increasing.
For $15 you can learn the business. Implements will cost you $10 more.
With the capital of $25 you can begin business, and, if ladylike in
appearance and gentle in touch, you can build up a big business in the
right neighborhood. Any lady would prefer in this art to patronize one
of her own sex. Get out cards and circulars and scatter them freely.
There is room for many women to excel in this field. One lady who
entered upon this work two years ago says she is on the road to a
fortune.
249. THE MASSAGE TREATMENT.--Another lady is having great success with
the massage treatment. She has now more than seventy regular patrons.
This method of cure is easily learned and readily applied. Hardly a
lady among your acquaintances is in good health. It is a proverb that no
woman is well. A vast proportion of these cases are nervous and will
yield to the massage treatment. If you have strong muscles you could
readily achieve a large practice by this system, especially in summer
resorts and places where invalids flock.
250. ICE CREAM PARLOR.--This is not new, but possesses possibilities of
a good living where the field is not overworked. There are five things
necessary to success, and in the following order of importance: An
attractive place in a clean, fashionable locality; good and generous
plates of cream; unexcelled neatness; polite service; and popular
prices. We have known a lady commencing business on these principles to
oust quickly an older establishment run on slacker methods.
251. FLOWER PACKETS.--Buy quantities of flower seeds of all varieties.
Put them up in very small envelopes, a few seeds in each one, advertise
that you will send samples for a penny a kind, ten for six cents,
twenty-five for fifteen cents, fifty for twenty-five cents, etc. A large
mail envelope will hold fifty or more of the smaller ones containing
seeds.
252. LADY CATERER.--A woman has a fine chance to succeed as a caterer.
Her taste in arranging tables should at least make her hold her own with
business rivals of the opposite sex. Mrs. A. B. Marshall, a woman
caterer of London, often manages a supper for one hundred guests.
253. DELICACIES FOR INVALIDS.--This is a new field which is being
worked with much promise. “Mrs. Kate Teachman,” as she is known in the
New York _Sun_, is working in this line with great success. She says:
“Of course, if you want this sort of thing you must pay for
it--sixty-five cents for a pint of broth, seventy-five cents for a pint
of puree, sixty-five cents for a half-pint of jelly, twenty-five cents
for chopped chicken sandwiches.”
254. INSECT POWDER.--A California woman who now owns four hundred acres
of land has a history that ought to inspire other women with a belief in
their ability to get on in the world. In 1861 her husband died, leaving
her with a debt of $1,400, three children, and a small farm mortgaged.
Within five years she had paid the mortgage by taking boarders, raising
chickens, and doing whatever offered. In 1877 she began to raise
pyrethrum, the plant from which insect powder is made, some years having
one hundred acres planted with it. Now she has from fifty to eighty
employees of both sexes, and is said to be worth half a million dollars.
255. RICE CULTIVATOR.--A few years ago a young Iowa girl-squatter, with
her sixteen-year-old brother, took up a government claim in Louisiana,
and went to planting rice, the first crop of which paid her $1,000. She
lives in a three-room cottage, and has a few fruit trees, plenty of good
fences, and a sea of waving rice-blades. Her nearest neighbor is another
girl-farmer who also settled a government claim, and is bossing an
orchard that is giving her a comfortable living.
256. YEAST CAKES.--Here is what one woman did: Being thrown on her own
resources, instead of following the beaten path of custom, she engaged
in something novel. She made yeast cakes. Gradually her trade increased
until she was obliged to hire help, and in time had to build an addition
to the house to provide room for her thriving business. She now makes a
good living, finding her work congenial as well as profitable. Here is
her recipe: Take one dozen hops and boil two or three hours, remove from
the fire and strain through a sieve, adding boiling water until there
are three or four quarts of the liquid. Then thicken with canaille until
quite stiff; and one-half tablespoonful of ginger and one-quarter cup of
molasses; let it stand until cool, add one-half cup of salt yeast, or
one cake of lard, and in the morning stir down with a little fine
cornmeal. Let it rise again, then mix with cornmeal, roll, and cut with
a cutter. This rule makes one hundred cakes. They sell for seventy-five
cents per hundred, and retail for one cent apiece.
257. PHYSICAL CULTURE.--There are twelve million young women in the
United States. The great majority of them have an ailment of some kind;
in fact, it is almost impossible to find a perfectly healthy woman.
Physical culture will add years to one’s life. An eminent physician has
estimated that twenty-four million years, or an average of two years
each, can be added to the lives of our young women by simple bodily
exercise of one hour each day. Get a book, study a chart, employ a
teacher; then, after a thorough course go about among your friends and
form a class. Induce your pupils to bring other pupils. Advertise,
lecture, give class exhibitions. Charge $5 a quarter for a class of
twelve; $4 for one of fifteen; $3 for one of twenty. Mr. John D. Hoover,
of Los Angeles, Cal., says: “When I entered a college of oratory, I was
almost penniless. I took a special course in physical culture, with a
view to teaching that art. It is now eighteen months since I left the
college, and during that time I have earned in clear cash from teaching
physical culture the sum of $20,960. I have 1,507 pupils. My sister also
has been very successful in teaching since she graduated, and has made
quite a large sum of money.”
258. HOUSE CLEANING.--Enterprising men have taken up the work of house
cleaning with considerable success, but the business can be managed
better by a woman than by a man. If your patrons are not too many, you
can personally superintend the work in each house yourself to the great
satisfaction of the lady, who would commonly prefer to have it managed
by one of her own sex. If your business increases so as to require your
presence in the office, you can send a lady assistant to superintend the
work. Have a fixed price per room where there is no extra work, such as
painting, kalsomining, and paper hanging. In the latter case it is
better to take the work by the job.
259. SELLING OYSTERS.--Here is the way a woman with five little children
gets a living: She hires a boy to open the oysters, which she then puts
up in little pint pails and takes from house to house. She has many
customers whom she serves regularly on certain days. Sales per week,
fifty pints, or twenty-five quarts. Boy’s wages, $1. Net, $3.
260. PIE CART.--Hear what another woman says: “I have a little pie cart.
It is nothing but a pie-crate mounted on wheels. I bake every morning
ten pies and in the afternoon I sell them hot from door to door. I make
about seven cents on a large pie, and four cents on small one.” Average
earnings per day, fifty cents.
261. MEN’S NECK TIES.--As every man, at least every well-dressed man,
wears a tie, which must be renewed several times a year--white lawns
every day--the number in demand is enormous. First learn the business,
and then if you can sell them a little under the manufacturers’ price
you are sure to dispose of all you can make. One girl earned $12 a week
in this way.
262. DANCING TEACHER.--The natural grace of women fits them better than
men to be teachers of this art, especially to be instructors of young
girls. Dancing teachers charge on the average $15 a quarter. There are
several very successful lady teachers.
263. HABERDASHER.--The selling of small articles of the dress and toilet
is profitable if the location is good and the competition not too
severe. Where one cannot purchase the articles outright, she can sell on
commission. Dealers in small wares of this kind often take in from $12
to $20 a day, of which on the average, one-sixth is profit.
264. LADY ARCHITECT.--There is no reason why women should not succeed in
this occupation, since it is one in which taste is a chief requisite.
Several young lady graduates of college have entered it recently, and
with flattering success. Architects charge about three per cent. on
contracts.
265. LOST AND FOUND AGENCY.--In every large city numbers of articles are
lost by the owners and found by others every day. A single New York
paper contains daily from ten to twenty advertisements of lost
articles. Open a small office, advertise in the “Lost and Found” column
of the paper that you will receive any articles that may be found, and
charge the owner a small commission. The agency could be carried on in
connection with some other light business.
CHAPTER VIII.
MONEY FOR BOYS.
Seven Ways to Get a Place--The Way a Boy Should Advertise--Openings
Everywhere for the Right Kind of Boys--Beating the
Booksellers--Stories About Smart Boys--Twenty-five Hints to Hang
Your Fortune On--How a Towheaded Country Boy Became a Great
Editor--A Barrel Full of Postage Stamps--How a Poor Boy Became the
Richest Man in the Country--The Journey from Nothing to Forty
Millions--The Best School in the World--The Beginnings of Great
Fortunes.
Boys, you can do it! What! get rich? attain to fame? Yes, both. “But I
have no chance.” Neither had Humphry Davy, nor Jay Gould, nor Henry
Wilson. But the first became one of the greatest of scientists; the
second, the richest man in the country; and the third, vice-president of
the United States.
“The best school is the school of adversity,” said Rousseau, who, from a
waiter in a restaurant, became the most noted man of his age. The boy,
Horace Greeley, wandered up and down the streets of New York, asking of
printers if they “wanted a hand,” and was everywhere laughed at and
turned away; and the boy, George W. Childs, worked for $2 a week as a
clerk in a book store, saved money, bought the Philadelphia _Ledger_,
and became a millionaire.
“I have no capital,” you say. But you have ten servants (fingers) to
work for you. Daniel Manning, ex-President Cleveland’s Secretary of
Treasury, started as a newsboy. John Wanamaker, the great merchant,
commenced in a book store at $1.25 a week. Fred Douglass, the colored
orator, began life as a slave without a cent. And P. T. Barnum, the
world-famed showman, rode a horse for ten cents a day. No chances! You
have _five_ on each hand. No capital! It is the _blood_ that fights and
wins. If you have no opportunity, make it. Do not wait for something to
turn up; _turn_ something up. Be a match for events. The world’s great
and rich men have forced their way to success at the bayonet points of
their fingers, and with the iron pry of an unconquerable will. Boys,
here are a few hints for you:
_Section 1. How a Boy can Get a Place._
SEVEN WAYS TO GET A POSITION.
266. FREE SERVICE.--Make friends with a clerk. Offer to go with him on
the delivery wagon. He will be only too glad of your assistance. The
next step will be to help in odd jobs about the store. After a little
familiarity with the business, you will find an opening. Your friendly
clerk will have a sick day, or a leave of absence, or a vacation. The
employer knows you have assisted the clerk, and will gladly give you his
place for a day or a week, and from temporary employment it is but a
step to a permanent place.
267. SPECIAL DEPARTMENT.--Make yourself familiar with a particular
department of the work of shop or store. Suppose you take a pound of
tea. It will surprise you to find out how many things you can learn
about so insignificant a thing as a pound of tea. Ascertain the
different brands; what markets they come from; where they are raised;
how they are manufactured; in what quantities they are shipped; what
are the fluctuations in price; who are the largest dealers; in what
section of the country the trade is chiefly carried on. A study of these
things will suggest other branches. A year given to a study of this
kind, and you will know more about tea than the most trusted employee,
whose knowledge is commonly of a superficial kind. Then, if you have an
opportunity, you can surprise the merchant with a knowledge of his
business, and he will be sure to give you a place as soon as he has an
opening. One merchant says: “I always have a place for a person who can
tell me anything about my business I don’t know myself.”
268. SHOW SUPERIORITY OF GOODS.--A man occupied his spare moments in
measuring the linear feet of advertisements contained in the different
Sunday papers, and sent the result to the one which had printed the
most. Go around among customers and find what brand of goods they like
the best. Then report to the makers of these brands, and you may be sure
they will take an interest in you if they see that you take an interest
in them.
269. ADVERTISING.--Here is an advertisement for the right kind of boy:
“A brisk-footed, up-to-date boy, not afraid to work, will take a place
at low wages for the sake of learning the business.” Here you have four
qualities in two lines--quickness, intelligence, industry, and low
wages--the four things men are looking for, and such an advertisement
will not wait long for a reply.
270. INFLUENCE.--Great names are mighty. Introduce yourself to the
greatest man in your town, and tell him your qualifications and
ambitions. Do not be afraid of him. A truly great man is more willing
to do a real kindness to a meritorious boy than you think. Robert
Lennox, an old-time New York merchant, one Sunday at church saw a timid
young person looking anxiously around as if for a seat. “Come with me,”
said Mr. L., “and I will give you a seat.” The next day the young man
took a letter of recommendation to the store of a merchant. “Can I get a
small bill of goods to begin business with?” he inquired. “I will trust
anybody that Robert Lennox invites into his pew,” was the reply. “I owe
all my success in life,” said Jonathan Sturges, “to the invitation of
Robert Lennox to sit in his pew.” With the great-and-good-man’s
indorsement you will find places waiting for you.
271. A TRIAL WEEK.--All many boys want is a chance. When you apply in
vain for a place, tell the proprietor you are sure that he needs you,
and that you will come a week for nothing (better a month if you can
afford it). If you really have the merit you think you have, it will be
strange if you cannot displace some indolent or indifferent employee.
272. COMMISSION.--Offer to sell the dealer’s goods on commission. You
must leave a deposit to cover the worth of the goods. Take the articles
to your friends and tell them you are trying to get a place. In most
cases, if the goods are cheap, they will try to help you, and you will
be able to make an excellent report to your employer. When he sees that
your service means money in his pocket, he will be eager to employ you
at a salary.
_Section 2. What Boys Can Do._
TWENTY HINTS FOR BOYS.
273. THE BOY MAGICIAN.--For fifty cents you can buy a book entitled
“The Parlor Magician,” containing one hundred tricks for the drawing
room. A few weeks’ practice should make you master of these arts, and
then with your outfit you are ready for a money-making tour. It is best
to take along a friend, as in some of the most clever tricks you will
need an assistant.
274. THE GLASS-BLOWER.--For twenty-five cents you can get a book with
full instructions in the curious art of glass-blowing. The wondrous
forms you will be able to produce, the pleasure of the work, and above
all the money derived from the sale of your products, will delight the
heart of any boy. There is money in glass-blowing after you have
mastered the art, but if you would make a business of it you must
apprentice yourself for a time to a master of the trade.
275. THE DIME LUNCH.--There are thousands of business men and clerks in
our large stores and offices who would prefer to pay ten or fifteen
cents rather than go out to a restaurant. Especially is this the case in
rainy weather. Pretty boxes with tasteful lunches could be prepared at a
small cost, and taken through the places of business. The important item
is attractiveness.
276. CANCELLED STAMPS.--In every large city there are dealers who will
pay you for canceled stamps. Ordinary stamps bring about ten cents per
thousand, but rare ones bring very high prices. Ask all your friends for
their canceled stamps. In a store in New York there are several barrels
full of postage stamps collected by boys. Each barrel contains a
million.
277. THE BOYS’ PRESS.--Do you know you can get a printing press with
complete outfit, a full font of type, and one hundred cards for $3? You
can make money easily by printing cards and doing other small press
jobs. Charge fifty cents, seventy-five cents or $1 for cards, according
to the quality of paper and amount of printing.
278. SAW AND SCROLL.--Most interesting articles, both of use and
ornament, can be made by the scroll-saw. Some have earned boys’ fortunes
in making these curious articles, and there is as much pleasure in
making them as in getting the money for them.
279. THE MAGIC LANTERN.--The very best lantern and slides can be
obtained for $6. From that figure the price runs downward to fifty
cents. Purchase a good one and give parlor exhibitions at a charge of
five cents admission. As you become more expert, you can increase your
price. If you are a success at the business, your services will be in
demand for more pretentious entertainments, where you can make $5 or
more in a single evening.
280. CANDY MAKING.--What can please a boy better than candy making.
Offer your services free for a short time to a confectioner. When you
have learned the trade, which you can do in a little while, commence the
business on your own account in a small way. Beginning with those sweets
which are easily made, you can extend your art as your business
increases until you have a good trade.
281. ODD JOBS.--“I push baby carriages through the park at five cents
apiece,” says a Chicago boy. “I clean and oil bicycles,” says a New
York lad. “I stand on the Boulevard and pump up tires,” declares a
third. “I buy a dozen lemons and a pound of sugar and sell lemonade on
all holidays and at times of parade,” says an enterprising schoolboy. “I
carry bundles and valises from the train, and make often fifty cents a
day,” says a Boston youth. “I hang up a slate on the front gate and take
store orders for neighbors,” says a bright village lad.
282. GENERAL EMPLOYMENT AGENCY.--Inform a hundred or more families in a
particular district that at a certain hour of the day you will be there
to carry messages, roll out barrels of ashes, go on errands, mail
letters, black boots, and do whatever work they may require. If the work
is sufficient to warrant it, a business partnership of boys may be
formed, so that while one is engaged another can go on his usual rounds,
and thus insure punctuality.
283. COLLECT MAGAZINES.--Almost every one takes a literary magazine, and
some take two or three. After a time they become refuse on their hands.
Many persons would gladly give you a truck-load. But these are worth
money, and second-hand dealers who sell them at five cents apiece will
give you three cents for them.
284. VACANT LOT.--If you live in the city, get the owner of a vacant lot
to give you the privilege of raising vegetables. With a little
experience you can easily raise from $50 to $100 worth of vegetables on
a lot 20 × 100 feet. This will go far to eke out the support of a large
family.
285. BICYCLE TEACHING.--Here is a field for a stout lad of fifteen
years. There are thousands of modest young ladies and men, especially
elderly gentlemen, who would like to learn to ride a wheel, but do not
like the publicity of a riding academy. Issue some neat cards and
circulate them from house to house with the information that for the sum
of $1 you will teach any one to ride. Most people have a back yard where
such instruction could be given. Having no rent to pay, you could easily
afford to take them for that price, as you have the advantage over the
professional instructor, both of cheapness and privacy. There is a lot
of money in this for the right kind of a boy.
286. FIRST-COST SALES.--When public attention is aroused upon any
subject, consider how you can turn it to account. Here is what a boy
thirteen years old says: “When ‘Coin’s Financial School’ came out and
the people were talking about it, I wrote to Mr. Harvey, the author, and
got a lot of the books and sold them all before they got into the book
stores here. I have made in this and like enterprises $500.” Like
opportunities were presented in our late war, with the Dewey buttons,
battleship pictures, etc. Keep your eyes open. Opportunities to make
money are all about you. The alert boy makes the successful man.
* * * * *
Boys, there is gold in all the mountains, pearls in all the seas, and
money in every street. Elijah Morse at fifteen years of age bought a
recipe for stove polish, paying $5 for the materials. He peddled it in a
carpetbag, and from this small beginning grew the celebrated “Rising Sun
Stove Polish,” whose huge factory covers four acres at West Canton,
Mass., and whose proprietor is immensely rich. Cornelius Vanderbilt was
a poor boy without a cent. When he died his estate was valued at
$40,000,000.
Boys, there is a fortune for you. It is not to be found, but made by
hard work. Write on your banner, “Luck is a fool. Pluck is a hero.”
CHAPTER IX.
MONEY IN AGENCIES.
The Omnipresent Agent--What He Says and What He Sells--Power of the
Successful Drummer--The Five Secrets of the Book Agent--Five
Thousand Dollars Commission on a Patent--How Seven Men Carry
$7,000,000 Insurance--A Man Who Receives $5,000 a Year and Does
Nothing--How Teachers Pay for Their Positions--Searching for a
$10,000 Preacher--The Matrimonial is Often a Matter-of-money-all--A
New Way to Get Good Servants--The Farm Supply Company.
Few occupations offer such inducements for persons with little or no
capital as that of the agent. There are two classes of agencies. In one,
as a book or patent agency, the agent works for one or two persons at a
fixed commission and needs no capital. In the other, as that of servants
and of supply companies, the agent is also in a certain sense a
principal; he obeys no one’s orders, fixes his own commissions, and
makes his profits directly from the public. Here are a few points for
agents:
287. BOOK AGENCY.--The book agency depends partly upon the kind of book,
but chiefly upon the kind of man. The right man selling the right book
can make enormous wages. An agent selling a commentary on the Bible made
sometimes $25 in half a day. An agent for the “People’s Encyclopædia”
earned $3,000 in one year, and spent only about half the time in the
work. Many agents for “Memoirs of General Grant” earned from $10 to $20
a day. Ordinarily, an agent should be satisfied if he can make from $3
to $5 a day. From this sum must come his expenses. Book agents receive
from 25 to 45 per cent., according to the nature of the work. Forty per
cent. is considered excellent compensation.
288. THE PATENT AGENCY.--Considerable business is now done in the
selling of patent rights. The agent studies the lists that come out
weekly in the “United States Patent Gazette,” and sends his circulars to
those who have secured patents. The agent will charge from five to ten
per cent., if he can arrange with a patentee for the sale of the
patents. In other cases, he charges a fixed sum, which is paid in
advance, and is considered an equivalent for his services whether or not
he is successful in effecting a sale, on the same principle that doctors
and lawyers are paid whether they gain or lose a case. In extent and
profit, the business varies from the itinerant vender with half a dozen
patents in his valise to the established business house with
sub-agencies in all parts of the world. What the profits are in the
latter situation may be judged from a single case in the former, where a
traveling man received as commission on a single patent sold the sum of
$5,000.
289. COMMISSION MERCHANTS.--A vast business is done in the sale of
general merchandise on commission. Foreign houses have their agencies in
this city. Also much of the produce of the farm and of the products of
manufactures are disposed of in the same way. Take a case of the former
kind. A man hires an office in New York and storage in a warehouse. Then
he sends circulars to Westerndealers, stating that he is prepared to
take their stock or grain on commission. When he can make quick sales he
saves the expense of storage, but rental in a warehouse is necessary in
holding for futures. He receives in one day 100,000 bushels of wheat at
seventy-five cents per bushel, which, after paying freightage, he sells
at one half of one per cent. profit. Gain of one day, $500. He will not
receive so much every day, and some days he will have to sell at a loss;
but, taken altogether, there are good chances of wealth in the
commission business.
290. INSURANCE AGENCY.--Insurance, both fire and life, is a mine of
wealth, and has opened wondrously during the last few years. The present
magnitude of the business is shown by the statement that there are
$2,500,000,000 invested in life insurance in the United States, while
the fire insurance agents last year wrote more than $16,000,000,000.
There are seven men who have an aggregate of $7,000,000 on their lives.
But the business is yet in its infancy. The field of life insurance is
not nearly covered, and if it were, ten million persons will come to
maturity during the next ten years, all of whom may be considered as
candidates for insurance, and all the policies will have to be renewed
in a short time. Insurance agents receive as commission from ten to
twenty-five per cent. Some companies secure to their agents a regular
percentage on the premium so long as the policies continue in force. If,
therefore, an agent gets fifteen per cent. commission, and the company
receives $10,000 per year as premiums from the policies he has written,
his share will be $1,500; and thus he enjoys an annuity without any
further work for a long period of time. The larger old-time companies,
also, have general agents whose positions are still more lucrative. Many
of them are in circumstances of affluence, and have very little to do.
In fact, it is in the insurance business as in many other occupations,
that as one rises the salaries are larger, and the actual work, aside
from the responsibility, is smaller.
291. TRAVELING SALESMAN.--In some houses a traveling salesman is allowed
a standing commission on all goods bought by firms whose custom was
secured through his influence. As the commission continues as long as
the customer continues the trade at that house, some agents, after a few
years of active work are enabled to retire on incomes of $2,000, $3,000,
and in some cases of $5,000 a year. The business done by drummers is
immense. Three hundred million tons of goods are shipped by them yearly,
and the business amounts to nearly $2,000,000 a day.
292. SUPPLY COMPANIES.--A supply company differs from an ordinary
merchants’ firm in that it does not keep goods in stock. It is a mammoth
general agency for procuring whatsoever you desire. Specimens only are
kept in the store, and from these the customers make selections. The
advantage of supply companies is the saving of large rentals, of
expensive clerk-hire, and of loss or damage in the long keeping of
goods, and, most of all, of risk in unsalable articles, and in the fall
of prices. Thus, a supply company can undersell an ordinary dealer, and
if alert and prompt can make vast profits. Another great advantage is
the smallness of the capital required. Here are great opportunities for
bright young business men of limited means.
293. AGENCIES FOR TEACHERS.--The number of teachers in the public
schools in the United States is 400,325. The matter of engaging school
teachers varies in different States, and often in different parts of
the same State. Sometimes it is done by county superintendents, often
by the Board of Education, but most frequently by the school trustees,
commissioners, or committees. One going into the business of a Teachers’
Agency must ascertain the particular method in every part of the
country, and learn the name of the persons authorized to act in that
capacity. Then he should issue circulars by the hundred thousand. For
the eyes of applicants, he should use the advertising pages of the
newspapers. Teachers should be charged a commission upon their salaries
in something like the following order: Five per cent. on first year’s
salary, three per cent. the second year, and one per cent. the third
year. After that it may be allowed to lapse. The contract should be
rigorously drawn, and, where possible, payments should be collected in
advance. There are great profits in the business when systematically and
vigorously conducted. One agency in the eastern part of the United
States is receiving commissions from ten thousand school teachers. Owing
to frequent changes, the majority of these are paying five per cent.;
but if we suppose the average to be only the amount payable the second
year--$3 commission--the income would be $30,000.
294. CLERICAL AGENCY.--Here is an opportunity for an unoccupied
clergyman of wide clerical acquaintance. There are thousands of vacant
pulpits and other thousands of ministers anxious for calls. Establish an
agency through whose medium the supply shall meet the demand. Your list
should comprise the names of all churchless pastors, together with those
desirous of change; and their experience, qualifications, education,
family, age, personal appearance, together with other interesting
information, should be properly tabulated for the inspection of church
committees. Candidates should be graded according to the catalogue, and
sent out in order as pulpit candidates. As clerical engagements are
commonly much longer than those of teachers, it is right that you should
receive a larger per cent. for your services. If a church pays its
pastor a salary of $10,000, and you are successful in the search for an
available man for its pulpit, it would hardly be a presumption for you
to charge $500 for your services.
295. MATRIMONIAL AGENCIES.--These should be conducted with the greatest
care, and only by the most conscientious persons, on account of the
great responsibilities involved. They are, however, capable of vast
development, and of immense good. In Massachusetts alone there are
seventy thousand females in excess of the males, while in Illinois the
men preponderate to the number of fifty thousand. Your task of bringing
together the unmated is a most delicate one, and you should accordingly
be well compensated. Where there is much wealth on either side, your
commission may be expressed in three figures, and even in four. One
thousand dollars is a small sum for a man to pay who secures an
accomplished wife and a happy home. We have known several marriages made
in this way to turn out exceedingly well.
296. AGENCY FOR SERVANTS.--This is not new, but you might revolutionize
it by a new plan. Written recommendations are worthless, because almost
every one will compensate the disappointment of the discharged servant
by a certificate of good behavior, in the writing of which the
elasticity of the conscience is more or less drawn upon. Instead of
accepting a valueless paper, let an employee of the office personally
visit two or three of the places where the servant has been employed.
The lady of the house will tell you many things she would not write in
the letter. This will consume time, but the compensation is in the
better class of service you will be enabled to offer. When it is known
that you make personal investigation, sifting out the useless and
offering only first-class help, your patronage will be vastly increased,
and you can charge much higher commissions. Tell your patron that at the
end of a month she may pay you $10 if satisfied; and most people would
prefer to do that than to pay a half or quarter of that sum in advance
with small guarantee of fitness.
297. AGENCY FOR FARM HANDS.--There are thousands of idle people in the
great cities who would gladly go on farms for a portion of the year. If
they make personal application, they are commonly regarded by the farmer
as tramps. Besides these, there are thousands of emigrants arriving in
search of work. Many of them are valuable as farm help, having tilled
the soil at home. An agent who has a keen knowledge of human nature, and
knows how to ask questions, sifting out the useless and the vicious from
the valuable and the virtuous, can through proper advertising in
agricultural papers, send at least a thousand of these men into the
country every summer. Through an arrangement with the farmer by which $5
of the first month’s wages shall be withheld and forwarded to the agent,
the sum of $5,000 as commission for these one thousand laborers is
secured. But the energetic agent ought to do far better than this.
CHAPTER X.
MONEY IN PROPRIETARY COMPOUNDS.
Proprietary Kings and How They Acquired Power--Patent Medicine
Secrets Given Away--Where Perry Davis Found His Recipe--The Parent
of the “Killers”--Men Who Made Their “Pile” in Pills--Fortunes in
“Bitters”--Electricity, or “Mustard Plasters”--The Story of a
“Discovery”--How a Man Made a Fortune With an Indian Cure--“What’s
in a Name?” The Mighty Lubec--Tons of Drugs Taken Every
Day--Triumph of “Soothing Syrup”--A New Patent Medicine for Every
Day of the Year--The Man Who Took Everything.
Owners of proprietary compounds have built up great fortunes in the sale
of their concoctions. Our drug stores are filled with patent medicines,
and millions of “cures” are sold annually. The names of some of these,
such as Hostetter, Brandreth, and Mother Winslow, have become household
words, proving how largely and universally their medicines have sold.
The story is told of one credulous hypochondriac, who, on the theory
that of many shot some one is likely to hit, actually took every kind of
patent medicine in the world, or at least of every sort he had heard
about. As there are more than three hundred and sixty diverse
concoctions, this genius must have taken a different kind for every day
of the year, or else have extended his experiments through a long
period, which seems impossible under the circumstances. It is said that
Perry Davis obtained his famous “Discovery” in the form of a recipe in
an old newspaper which he found in an outhouse. This was the foundation
of one of the largest fortunes in patent medicines, and it was the
parent of all the “Killers.” The men who have made their piles in
“pills” may be counted by the hundred. Perhaps the “Soothing Syrup”
success is the most signal example of “_multum in parvo_.” It is sold by
the million bottles, and yet it is nothing but a little paregoric
dropped in some sweet mixture. “Lubec” is a mighty name, but anybody can
be a Lubec so far as the question of perfumery goes. Among the anecdotes
of medicine venders we have only space for one or two. A man was crying
up the virtues of an electric belt, and it was found that he had
adroitly attached a strip of mustard plaster to the magic band, and this
when heated by contact with the warm skin produced redness and an
itching, which were supposed by the too trusting patient to be the
effects of the healing electricity. Another man has made a fortune with
an “Indian Plant.” He travels about the country with what he advertises
to be a “troop of Indians,” giving performances and hawking his “cures.”
The “Indians” are New York toughs, and the “medicine plant” is a common
pasture weed. We give no sort of countenance to these frauds, but,
dismissing them all, there are still both profit to the patient and
profit to the maker in the taking of proprietary medicines. To succeed
in this line one should first have an article of genuine merit, and then
advertise lavishly. Below are given some recipes quite as good as those
that have made fortunes for their possessors, and in some cases the
exact formulas of these widely renowned medicines are given.
298. HEALING OINTMENT.--One of the most celebrated of ointments is
composed of these simple ingredients: Butter, lard, Venice turpentine,
white wax and yellow wax. Here is a rule for another ointment: Fresh
butter, three-quarters pound; beeswax, four ounces; yellow resin, three
ounces; melt together; add vinegar of cantharides, one fluid ounce; and
simmer the whole with constant agitation for ten or twelve minutes, or
until the moisture is nearly evaporated; then add of Canada balsam one
ounce; express oil of mace, one drachm; balsam of Peru, ten or twelve
drops; again stir well, allow mixture to settle; and when about half
cold pour into pots previously slightly warmed, and allow it to cool
very slightly. There is nothing else but to put on your label and expose
for sale.
299. SPASM KILLER.--Acetate of morphia, one grain; spirit of sal
volatile and sulphuric ether, one fluid ounce each; camphor julep, four
ounces. Keep closely corked in a cool place and shake well before use.
Dose, one teaspoonful in a glass of cold water as required.
Here is another: Spirits of camphor, two ounces; tincture of capsicum,
one ounce; tincture of guaiac, one-half ounce; tincture of myrrh,
one-half ounce; alcohol, four ounces. This is Perry Davis’ famous
medicine.
300. ANTI-MALARIA.--One ounce each of Peruvian bark and cream of tartar,
cloves one-half drachm reduced to fine powder. Dose, one and one-half
drachm every three hours.
301. HOSTETTER’S BITTERS.--Here is the recipe for the famous bitters:
Calamus root, two pounds; orange peel, two pounds; Peruvian bark, two
pounds; gentian root, two pounds; colombo root, two pounds; rhubarb,
eight ounces; cloves, two ounces; cinnamon, four ounces; diluted
alcohol, four gallons; water, two gallons; sugar, two pounds.
302. TOOTHACHE EASE.--Liquor of ammonia, two parts; laudanum, one part;
apply on lint.
303. CANDY DIGEST.--Lump sugar, one pound; water, three ounces; dissolve
by heat; add cardamom seeds, ginger, and rhubarb, of each one ounce;
when the mixture is complete pour it out on an oiled slab or into
moulds.
304. COUGH LOZENGES.--Lactucarium, two drachms; ipecacuanha, one drachm;
squills, three-fourth drachm; extract of licorice, two ounces; sugar,
six ounces; make into a mash with mucilage of tragacinth, and divide
into twenty grain lozenges.
305. LOVERS’ HAIR OIL (Makes the hair glossy).--Castor oil, one pound;
white wax, four ounces; melt together; add when nearly cold, of essence
of bergamot, three drachms; oil of lavender, one-half drachm; essence of
ambergris, ten drops.
306. PURGATIVE POWDER.--Equal parts of julep and cream of tartar,
colored with a little red bole; dose, a teaspoonful in broth or warm
water two or three times daily.
307. CONSUMPTION WAFERS.--Two parts each lump sugar and starch in
powdered form; powdered gum, one part; made into a lozenge mass with
vinegar of squills, oxymel of squills, and ipecacuanha wine, equal
parts, gently evaporated to one-sixth their weight with the addition of
lactucarium in proportion of twenty to thirty grains to every ounce of
the powders, the mass being divided into half-inch squares weighing
about seven and one-half grains.
308. BEEF, IRON AND WINE.--Here is a recipe for Liebig’s famous extract:
Beef juice, one-half ounce; ammonia citrate of iron, 256 grains; spirit
of orange, one-half fluid ounce; distilled water, one-half ounce; sherry
wine sufficient to make sixteen fluid ounces. Dissolve the ammonia
citrate of iron in the water; dissolve the extract of beef in the sherry
wine; add the spirit of orange and mix the solution.
309. SPRING TONIC.--Calamus root, two pounds; orange peel, two pounds;
Peruvian bark, two pounds; gentian root, two pounds; colombo root, two
pounds; rhubarb, eight ounces; cinnamon, four ounces; cloves, two
ounces; diluted alcohol, four gallons; water, two gallons; sugar, two
pounds.
310. DR. PIERCE’S GOLDEN MEDICAL DISCOVERY.--Here is all there is of Dr.
Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery. It is no doubt a good thing, but you
can make it yourself. A one-dollar bottle holds 220 grains of a
brownish-colored, clear liquid, consisting of fifteen grains of pure
honey, one grain of extract of acrid lettuce, two grains of laudanum,
100 grains of diluted alcohol, with 105 grains of water.
311. BED-BUG EXTERMINATOR.--Corrosive sublimate, one ounce; muriatic
acid, two ounces; water, four ounces; dissolve, then add turpentine, one
pint; decoction of tobacco, one pint. Mix. For the decoction of tobacco,
boil two ounces of tobacco in one pint of water. The mixture must be
applied with a paint-brush. If well applied, this is a sure destroyer of
bed-bugs. It is a deadly poison.
312. CATARRH CURE.--One-half gram of carbolic acid; one-half gram of
camphor; and ten grams of common salt; which are to be dissolved in
four-sevenths of a liter of water and injected into the nostrils. You
can call it the “Excelsior,” for it is excelled by none.
313. LIP POMATUM.--For chapped lips, lard, sixteen parts; cacao oil,
twenty-four parts; spermaceti, eight parts; yellow wax, three parts;
alcana root, one part. The substances are fused for a quarter of an hour
at a gentle heat, then strain through a cloth, and mix with oil of lemon
and oil of bergamot, each one-sixth part, oil of bitter almonds,
one-fifteenth part; then the mass is poured into suitable vessels to
cool.
314. OINTMENT FOR CHAPPED HANDS.--Camphor, sixty grs.; boric acid,
thirty grs.; lanolin and white vaseline of each one-half ounce.
315. COD-LIVER OIL EMULSION.--Yolks of two eggs; powdered sugar, four
ounces; essence of oil of almonds, two drops; orange flower water, two
ounces. Mix carefully with an equal bulk of cod-liver oil. This is a
delicious emulsion. Of course, the dose is double that of the clear
cod-liver oil.
316. BEAUTY WATER.--(To remove freckles). Sulpho-carbonate of zinc, two
parts; glycerine, twenty-five parts; rose water, twenty-five parts;
spirits, five parts. Dissolve and mix. Anoint twice daily, keeping the
ointment on the skin from one-half to one hour, then wash off with cold
water. Wear a dark veil when exposed to the sun.
317. COUGH MIXTURE.--Syrup of poppies, syrup of squills, and paregoric,
each one-half ounce. Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful in a little warm water
night and morning, or when the cough is troublesome.
318. DR. SAGE’S CATARRH REMEDY.--Here is the famous secret: One-half
grm. of carbolic acid; one-half grm. of camphor and ten grms. of common
salt; which are to be dissolved in four-sevenths of a liter of water and
injected into the nostrils. Its reputation is believed to be well
deserved.
319. DIARRHEA MIXTURE.--Wine of opium, one fluid ounce; tincture of
valerian, one and one-half fluid ounces; ether, one-half fluid ounce;
oil of peppermint, sixty minims; fluid extract of ipecac, fifteen
minims; alcohol enough to make four fluid ounces. This is the formula
for a most celebrated patent medicine. The dose is a teaspoonful in a
little water every two or three hours until relieved.
320. BLOOD PURIFIER.--Equal to the best selling compounds. For a bottle
holding 220 grms., take fifteen grms. of pure honey; one grm. extract of
poisonous or acrid lettuce; two grms. laudanum; 100 grms. of diluted
alcohol; with 105 grms. of water. Make large quantities in like
proportion.
CHAPTER XI.
MONEY IN REAL ESTATE.
The Costliest Spot on the Western Hemisphere--A Mile and a Half of
Millionaires--The Kings of the Earth--Why Some Rich Men Do Not Live
in New York--The Country Fool and the Knowing Ones--How Coney
Island Was Born--The Story of a Great Land Sale--Rents in Apartment
Houses--The Fifty-story Office Building--The Man Who Gave a _Carte
Blanche_ Decoration Order, But Won’t Do it Again--The Western Land
Bubble--Good Farms Going to Waste--The Jersey Flats.
No class of men have made greater or securer fortunes than dealers in
real estate. W. C. Ralston, James Lick, and J. J. Astor, are examples of
persons who have accumulated vast sums through investments in land. The
_points_ of real estate are: First, a sound title; second, a keen
foresight of the wants and the roads of civilization; third, a careful
inspection of the neighborhood where a contemplated purchase is located;
fourth, a thorough knowledge of market values of this kind of property;
fifth, non-professional advice, in the disinterested judgment of men
thoroughly familiar with property and prices. Other considerations are
the rate of taxes of various kinds, imposed or likely to be imposed upon
the property. Tax methods in large cities are often ways that are dark.
For this reason, George Gould, the multi-millionaire, and Mr.
Rockefeller, the Standard Oil magnate, have disposed of their urban
properties.
321. CITY PROPERTY.--A mile and a half of millionaires! Midway between
the East River and the Hudson there lay a few years ago a neglected
tract of land which could have been bought for a few hundred thousand
dollars. To-day it is the wealthiest mile and a half on the Western
continent. One hundred million dollars would not purchase the ground
alone. Forty years ago a piece of land which is now almost “down-town”
was called “Eno’s Folly,” because he paid for it what was supposed to be
an extravagant sum. It is now the site of the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The
tide is still running up, but you must now go to the Bronx, or even
further for cheap city property. It is, however, the most secure of all
investments. Nothing is more certain than that the property in the
annexed district of New York is bound to advance. So also with real
estate in all city suburbs.
322. PLEASURE RESORTS.--Less than forty years ago a man, simulating
country simplicity, sauntered along Coney Island and astonished the
owners by inquiring the price of what was supposed to be worthless land.
They, thinking him crazy or a fool, named a thousand dollars, or five
times what it was supposed to be worth. He accepted the offer on the
spot. A million dollars would not buy the land to-day. The supposed
countryman’s “folly” has been repeated many times since. The owner of
Bergen Beach has made a fortune in this way during the last two or three
years. As cities grow, pleasure resorts must be found. Buy a bit of
seashore and make it into a Bergen Beach or a Bowery Bay. Or, purchase a
grove within easy distance of the city, and make it into a pleasure
park. In either case, railroads or trolley connection is indispensable,
but with these and plenty of enterprise and money you cannot fail to
reap a large harvest.
323. NEW TOWN SITES.--Large fortunes have been made by men who had the
sagacity to see a potential factor in the meeting of two rivers, or the
projection of a railroad. The question for investors in real estate is,
“Where is the population going?” Keen observers note the drift, get
ahead of the tide, and are ready to sell lots when the people arrive.
Whitestone and Morris Park on Long Island were built in this way. It is
a good investment, not quite so safe as city property, but paying more
handsomely where the projector is fortunate in his location.
324. WESTERN LANDS.--Fortunes have been made and lost in Western lands.
The facts are that some sharpers have been booming lands that are hardly
worth the taxes. Persons who have bought “corner lots” in “promising”
Western towns have been surprised to learn that the towns were not
built, or even surveyed, and that often the site was located in the
midst of an impenetrable swamp where a town was impossible. However,
lands along the line of railroads, or places which have harbor
facilities on the banks of rivers are good investments.
325. THE APARTMENT HOUSE.--The apartment house, which is a kind of
evolution of the flat, is becoming a feature of life in large cities.
The question whether it is a paying property will receive light by the
consideration of the rents received by the owners of a building of this
kind in New York, the Knickerbocker at Fifth Avenue and Twenty-eighth
Street. This is a typical apartment house, and the tenants may almost be
said to buy their rooms, for there are several who give $100,000 for a
ten-years’ lease, and even small bachelor apartments on the tenth floor
command $1,000 a year.
326. THE SKY SCRAPER.--There is no limit to the extent of a building in
height. Some are twenty stories, one is thirty, and it is reported that
a sky-scraper fifty stories in height is projected. Do they pay? Here is
the account of a modest one of only nine stories, the Mills Building on
William Street, New York. The cost, with land, was $2,500,000. It is 175
× 150 feet. It contains 400 offices, has 1,200 tenants, and pays an
annual net rental of $200,000, or eight per cent. It is related of Mr.
D. O. Mills, the owner, that in completing his magnificent residence on
upper Fifth Avenue, he gave a _carte blanche_ order to a decorator, and
departed with his family to California. On returning he was delighted to
find the place transformed into an Aladdin’s Palace, but his joy was
somewhat modified at the presentation of the bill which amounted to
$450,000.
327. THE JERSEY FLATS.--Right over against property whose taxable value
is $3,000,000,000 lies another property worth literally nothing. Step
over from Manhattan Island, where every foot of land needs to be
overlaid with silver round-moons for its purchase, to New Jersey, and
you will find 27,000 acres of marsh lying under the very nose of the
metropolis--land hardly worth a song. Why is this? Simply because
capitalists have not been wise enough to improve this great waste. In
Holland, by a system of diking, land in a similar condition is now
covered by great warehouses and factories, and cannot be bought for
hundreds of millions of dollars. Here is the opportunity for
capitalists. Why invest money in far-off gold fields when you have a
Klondike here at the very threshold of the metropolis? “The first step,”
says the State geologist, “is to build an embankment and a pumping
station. The cost will be about $1,000,000. The main ditches should be
made, and the whole area laid out in twenty-acre farms, and sold on the
express condition that each plot shall be immediately ditched and
brought under cultivation.” If we put the cost of ditching, and of other
incidental expenses at $500,000, we have a total cost of $1,500,000.
Then, if we estimate the worth of the land at only one-fourth the
average price of land on Manhattan Island--which is the average worth of
land in Jersey City--we have a value for the total 27,000 acres of
$50,000,000. Profits, $48,500,000.
328. ABANDONED FARMS.--There are 4,300 abandoned farms in New England
alone. These with a little expense could all be made profitable. Some
are selling, buildings complete, as low as $700, and even $500. Many of
these abandoned farms, costing $1,000, could, at the expense of another
$1,000, be put in a highly thrifty condition and sold for $4,000. An
Abandoned Farm Company will some time be organized with chances of good
profit.
CHAPTER XII.
MONEY IN THE FINE ARTS.
Some Things Everybody Ought to Know--An Institution that Teaches
“Without Money and Without Price”--A Woman Who Earns $3,000 a
Year--The Old Glue-Maker’s Gift to Women--How a Little Girl Earned
$300--A Young Woman Who Earned More Than Her Father--“As Rich as a
Queen”--Fortunes in Designs--Livings in Lace--One Painter’s
Earnings Last Year--Checks in Charcoal--Book Publishers Who are
Looking for Ideas.
This is one of the most enjoyable as well as one of the most
remunerative occupations. One of the noblest things which Peter Cooper
ever did was to found a Free Art School for Women. Not only is it
absolutely free to all women, but opportunities are afforded for
meritorious pupils to earn no mean sums during their period of
instruction.
329. CRAYON WORK.--A teacher in the Cooper Institute says: “During the
previous year forty of my pupils in art have made $7,000, or $175 each,
while learning the art of crayon-photography. Every year one hundred
women on leaving the Cooper Institute make from $400 to $1,200 a year by
art work.”
330. DRAWING.--One graduate of the Cooper Union is now receiving from
$2,000 to $3,000 as a teacher of drawing in the New York public schools,
and another has been appointed manager of a decorative art society in
New Orleans, with a salary of $150 a month, and opportunities to earn as
much more by private tuition.
331. PHOTOGRAPH COLORING.--“A little girl,” says Mr. Cooper, “came to my
house to thank me for what she had learned at the Institute.” “I have
earned $300 coloring photographs,” she said with enthusiasm. The
coloring of photographs gives employment to many hundreds of young
women, and there is no prospect that the market will become glutted.
332. OIL PAINTING.--A man in middle life met Mr. Cooper on the stairs of
the Institute. “My daughter,” he said, “makes $1,300 a year by teaching
painting, and I never earned more than $1,200 myself.” The chief points
of oil painting are a _good tooth_ (a canvas which will take color from
a brush readily), perspective, fineness of touch, delicate perception,
an eye for shades of color, and a bold, free hand. Oil paintings bring
from $5 to $50,000, according to merit.
333. WATER COLORS.--Paintings in water colors are popular because less
expensive than those done in oil. Good work in this department is,
however, well paid. Much depends upon the subject and its treatment. It
is said that the artist, Mr. John LaFarge, sold about $15,000 worth of
water colors last year.
334. WOOD ENGRAVING.--A young woman from California sat on the sofa of
Mr. Cooper’s library. “I have come to thank you,” she said. “I feel as
rich as a queen. I have thirty pupils in wood engraving.”
335. BOOK DECORATION.--Publishers of books, and especially of magazines,
pay large prices for decorations for the covers, title pages, and other
important parts. The secret of success is in the design. If you can find
a happy idea, you will get a large price for it. Of course, the point in
most cases is to illustrate the subject-matter. A unique conception,
happily worked out, will give both fame and money.
336. DYEING.--This may not be thought one of the fine arts, but it
requires a skill hardly inferior to that of the painter or sculptor.
There is a large field in the recoloring of tapestries, silks, and
woolen goods. The requisites of success are taste, a good eye for color,
knowledge of dye-stuffs, and indefatigable industry in finding a market.
337. DESIGNS.--These are constantly in demand. Wall paper manufacturers,
dressmakers, architects, builders, home decorators, carpet
manufacturers, fine-art workers, all want designs. An ordinary
kaleidoscope will furnish you thousands of suggestions every day. From
these select a few of the best and work them on a fine, white drawing
paper. Have a separate folio for each department of drawings, and
advertise what you are doing. If you have a real talent for the work,
and a show-window, you cannot fail of success in any large town.
338. ENGRAVING ON GLASS.--By the use of the wheel this becomes easy
work. The chief fields for its operation are in summer resorts where
people wish to carry away a souvenir of the place. One who knows how to
display goods can do a very profitable work in the season.
339. EMBROIDERY.--This is one of the simplest of the arts. The only
capital required is a ball of worsted, the only tool a needle, and the
only instruction a few elementary rules that can be quickly learned. The
demand depends upon the skill. A small store can be cheaply stocked, and
its contents sold at a good profit if the articles are unique.
340. LACE MAKING.--Our valuable laces are chiefly imported, but there is
no reason why work equally good should not be done at home. An immense
field yet to be developed is American-made needle-point lace. Get a book
on the subject and study it theoretically. Then take lessons of a maker.
The book will give you suggestions and enable you, after you have
learned the business, to strike out in various directions independently
of your teachers.
341. DRAWING IN CHARCOAL.--This is a rapid, facile, and effective method
for sketching. The drawings are more especially in demand in summer
cottages, tents, and in whatever places lodgings are temporary, and
where lodgers dislike the trouble of shipping costly paintings. You can
find a ready market for good work at any mountain or seaside resort.
342. PAINTING ON CHINA.--This is becoming very popular. Few kinds of art
pay better than china-firing. The outfit will cost from $15 to $50,
according to the size of the kiln, but the pleasure and profit will be
worth many hundreds of dollars. If you live in a country town, put your
wares in a prominent store, and they will be sure to attract attention.
343. PORTRAIT PAINTING.--This is profitable if you can secure sufficient
custom. The difficulty is to get the flesh tones, the expression, and
the proper degree of illumination. Last year, there were thirty young
women in Cooper Institute learning the art, and one-fifth of the number
were earning from $5 to $12 a week, even during their tutelage.
CHAPTER XIII.
MONEY IN MANUFACTURE.
How a Blacksmith Got Rich--The Story of Pullman--The Story of the
Columbia Bicycle--A Recipe for a Fortune--A Mica Secret--How to
Make Marble--Another Great Secret Given Away--Rubber as Good as
Goodyear’s--A Way to Smash the Trusts--Wanted--A New Railroad
Car--Sidney Smith’s “Wooden Pavement.”
Vast profits accrue from manufactures, but the best returns for
investments in this line are realized when the manufacturer is able to
make a new article, or to make an old article by improved means. David
Maydole, a village blacksmith, was requested to make for a carpenter a
hammer as good as he could make it. He made a better hammer than had
ever before been seen, and the carpenter’s mates all wanted one. The
village storekeeper ordered two dozen. A hardware dealer, passing
through the place to sell his wares, left an order for all the
blacksmith could make. The hammer-maker built a large factory, and this
was the humble origin of the celebrated Maydole hammer, and the
foundation of a great fortune. Another fascinating chapter on
manufacture is the “Story of Pullman,” which reads like a fairy tale,
but is all strictly true. Mr. Pullman began in a small way to build
parlor cars, making one or two as an experiment. The traveling public
were quick to appreciate the luxury, and Mr. P. had to enlarge his works
again and again. He built the town of Pullman, which is now valued at
$30,000,000, and the capital stock which now has a market value of
$60,000,000, has paid dividends with the regularity of a government
loan.
344. BICYCLE FACTORIES.--These have proved veritable bonanzas during the
past few years. In 1878, Col. Albert A. Pike began the manufacture of
bicycles, making fifty that year. To-day he has a phenomenal business,
employing a capital of $5,000,000 utilizing four factories in Hartford,
Conn., and making 600 bicycles a day.
345. DOUBLE PROFIT FURS.--Here is a way to make a double profit from the
skins of animals: Soak the furs in limewater till the hair is loosened,
then wash and hang it up to dry. Lay it on a board with the hair side up
and apply a solution of glue, care being taken not to disturb the
natural position of the hairs. When the glue is dry and hard, hold the
hairs so firmly as to allow the natural skin to be peeled off. Now you
can apply the artificial skin by pouring over the hairs liquid
India-rubber, boiled drying-oils, or other waterproof substances, which
on drying will form a continuous membrane supporting the hairs. The glue
is then removed by steeping the fur in warm water. This plan has the
double advantage that the fur so prepared is moth-proof, and the old
skin can be used for the manufacture of leather.
346. MICA SHEETS.--Large sheets of mica command a great price. There are
only a few places where the mineral can be mined in sheets of one foot
square or larger, but the vast heaps of waste mica can be utilized by
building up the sheets artificially. This can be done by treating it
with shellac. There are fortunes in waste mica quarries for those who
know how to utilize the countless tons of fragments. The field is
especially promising in North Carolina and Georgia, where immense
quarries abound.
347. ARTIFICIAL MARBLE.--There is room for profitable investment in the
manufacture of any article which is procured from nature at great
expense. This is the case with marble. It is scarce at best; the
quarries are remote from the centers of population, and the mining and
transportation make it a very costly article. Marble can be manufactured
by imitating nature’s processes--the percolating of water through chalk.
The popular verde antique can be made by an application of an oxide of
copper. The slices of marble are then placed in another bath, where they
are hardened and crystallized, coming out exactly like the real article.
In Italy, a fine black marble is made from common white sandstone. The
manufacture is carried on by the owners of the local gasworks, who thus
reap a double profit from their plant. Here is a hint for American
manufacturers.
348. ARTIFICIAL WHALEBONE.--Whalebone is in great demand. It is worth
from $3 to $4 per pound. No artificial substance has as yet been found
to take its place, but we are surely on the eve of that discovery. No
one substance is at the same time so hard and so elastic, but
experimenters will yet find a combination which will answer the purpose.
One has already been found which draws the surplus demand when the
genuine article cannot be obtained. The inventor who can advance another
step and produce an exact imitation will have the whalebone market in
his hands. This field is rich with possibilities.
P. S.--Since writing the above we have the secret. Here it is: Treat the
rawhide with sulphide of sodium, remove the hair, immerse the hide
twenty-six to thirty-four hours in a weak solution of double sulphate of
potassa, and stretch it upon a frame or table, in order that it may not
contract in drying. The desiccation is allowed to proceed in broad
daylight, and the hide is then exposed to a temperature of fifty to
sixty degrees. The influence of the light, combined with the action of
the double sulphate of potassa absorbed by the skin, renders the
gelatine insoluble in water, and prevents putrefaction, the moisture
being completely expelled. Thus prepared, the skin is submitted to a
strong pressure, which gives to it almost the hardness and elasticity
which characterize the genuine whalebone, with the advantage that before
or after the process of desiccation any color desired may be imparted to
it by means of a dye bath.
349. ARTIFICIAL INDIA RUBBER.--A man while experimenting recently with
cottonseed oil for the production of a varnish, obtained to his
surprise, not a varnish, but a rubber. By its use, with fifteen per
cent. of genuine rubber, an article can be produced so exactly like the
real as to defy detection. The process is so simple that a patent is not
obtainable. So, manufacturers, the field is open. Rubber is high and in
great demand.
350. ARTIFICIAL CAMPHOR.--Here is another trade secret. The genuine
camphor is scarce. The artificial is made in England, shipped to
Hamburg, and then re-shipped to England as the real article. Here is the
way it is made: Pass a current of dry hydrochloric acid gas through
spirits of turpentine cooled by a freezing mixture. The liquid deposits
crystals, which are dissolved in alcohol and precipitated by water. The
separated crystals are drained and dried. They are perfectly colorless,
with an odor like camphor. At the ordinary temperature, its vapor
tension is sufficient to cause it to sublime like ordinary camphor in
small brilliant crystals in the bottles in which it is preserved. It is
insoluble in water, and gyrates when on the surface of that liquid like
true camphor.
351. CAR BUILDING.--Some day another Pullman will arise, but with
developments in car building in a totally different direction. We quote
from a recent magazine article: “The time is sure to come when a new
railroad genius will arise and make an end of the game of brag between
American general passenger agents. This reformer will probably
substitute light and easily cleaned bamboo seats for those now in use;
he will save a good deal of the money now spent in useless
ornamentation, and spend it in better ventilation and lighting; and he
is likely to design frames and trucks much lighter, and at least as
strong and durable, as those which carry the average day car of the
present time. It is possible, too, that he may accomplish a good result
by lowering the center of gravity of the prevailing type of passenger
car, thus preventing it from rolling at high rates of speed, and
obviating the supposed necessity of placing two or three tons of old
rails in the floor to keep it steady.” It is perhaps needless to say
that such a man as Mr. Pullman or Mr. Wagner will become a
multi-millionaire through this much-needed reform.
352. THE TRANSVERSE WOODEN PAVEMENT.--One day the celebrated wit,
Sidney Smith, was talking with some vestrymen of the church of which he
was a member about laying a wooden pavement around the sacred edifice.
“Well,” said the famous jester, “we have but to lay our heads together
and the thing is done.” But here is a pavement which some capitalists
will one day lay their heads (funds) together to produce, and it will be
no joke. It has been ascertained that the most durable pavement is made
from blocks of wood sawed transversely about twelve inches in thickness.
The larger and smaller blocks are fitted together, the smaller
interstices being filled with wooden wedges. Here is a chance for some
enterprising firm.
CHAPTER XIV.
MONEY IN MINING.
The Earth a Vast Treasure-box--$300,000,000 from the Comstock
Lode--A Short Story of Three Millionaires--Opportunities in Mica
Mining--Fortunes in Salt Wells--$10,000 for Locating a Mine--Not a
Cent of Capital Needed--The Gold Belt of the United States--Two
Men’s Earnings with the Pan--What Michigan Boys are Doing--Big
Dividends in Tin--A Man with an Income of $2 a Minute.
The immense importance which minerals play in our industries and the
glittering fortunes made by delving into the earth, are faintly
indicated by the fact that the output of last year aggregated the almost
unthinkable sum of nearly $1,000,000,000. Profits in mining come mainly
from four sources. The buying of mining lands with a view to sale,
prospecting for the purpose of selling claims, placer-mining, and mining
by machinery. Here are a few of the most promising roads to the earth’s
hidden wealth.
353. NEVADA SILVER.--The Comstock lode produced in three years
$100,000,000, of which $30,000,000 went for cost and working expenses,
and $70,000,000 for profits. Altogether $300,000,000 have been taken
from that celebrated mine. In the African mines there are sixty-nine
companies. In 1896 the lowest dividend of any of these companies was 10
per cent., and the highest 350. In 1897 the lowest was 10 and the
highest 500 per cent. The accounts of the way that such men as James
Flood, James G. Fair, and William Sharon obtained their wealth from
silver mines reads like the fascinating story of a popular novel.
354. ALUMINUM, THE NEW MINERAL.--“The product of aluminum in the United
States,” says a mining expert, “should be three million pounds in 1900.”
The present price is from thirty-five to fifty cents per pound. It is
found chiefly in Georgia and Alabama at the foot of the Appalachian
system, but there is no known reason why it should not be discovered in
other parts--the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina, and
Pennsylvania.
355. NORTH CAROLINA MICA.--In the mountains of North Carolina are found
the best mica dikes in the United States, but the methods of mining are
crude and bring small profit. Here is an opportunity to make a vast
fortune by the producing of mica with machinery such as is used in
extracting other minerals.
356. KANSAS ZINC.--Zinc is a mineral which has a great future. It is
being used largely in place of tin. There are many zinc mines, and
especially in the Western States, as yet undeveloped. One acre in
Galena, Kansas, produced $250,000.
357. MISSOURI COTTAS.--For clay go to Missouri. It is found in 90 out of
the 114 counties of the State. From this mineral three companies in
Kansas City are manufacturing sewer-pipes and working on an invested
capital of $1,000,000. They have an annual output worth $1,100,000, or
more than 100 per cent. profit, less, of course, the cost of production.
The sewer-pipe industry will vastly increase with the growth of cities.
358. NICKEL MINES.--Nickel is a metal for which there is a constantly
increasing demand. Aside from the vast number of nickel-plated articles,
it has recently been found that steel, alloyed with a small percentage
of nickel, makes the hardest substance known which can be produced on a
large scale. It is bound to be used in future for the shells of our
ironclads. In North Carolina and in Oregon, are large deposits of this
valuable ore awaiting the hardy miner or bold speculator.
359. MEXICAN IRON.--Near the city of Durango, Mexico, are the largest
iron mines in North America, but as yet entirely unworked. There are
10,000,000 square feet in sight, sixty per cent. of which is metallic
iron. An opportunity for capitalists.
360. TENNESSEE LIMESTONE.--In the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains
are ranges of blocks--lower Carbonifererous and Devonian shales, and
impure limestone, but the rocks of the basin proper are pure limestone.
This limestone when pulverized makes the best phosphate, and is worth
$18 a ton. A mining authority states that with proper working it ought
to produce at least 200,000 tons of rock per annum.
361. FORTUNES IN COPPER.--Forty-eight per cent. of the copper of the
world is in the United States and Canada. The price is $200 a ton.
Almost all the mines of the Lake Michigan region are making profit, but
the industry is yet in its infancy. When it is known that a mine has
been made to pay which contains less than one per cent. of copper, it
can be seen what fortunes are in the mines that pay from forty to fifty
per cent., and there are some that pay even more.
362. GERMAN AMBER.--In Memel, Germany, a dredging company pays the
government an annual rental of twenty-five thalers a day for the
privilege of dredging in the Kurische Hoff, near the village of
Schwarzarts. But it is not to be supposed that this is the only spot
where amber is to be found. It will doubtless yet be discovered in this
country.
363. AFRICAN DIAMONDS.--Diamonds in vast numbers are found in the beds
of many South African streams, but if you have capital you may develop
an industry like that of the De Beers Company, which is paying forty per
cent. per annum.
364. TASMANIA TIN.--A single company in Murat Bischoff has paid more
than $7,000,000 in dividends to the fortunate owners of a tin mine.
365. GEORGIA SAPPHIRES.--In 1872, Colonel C. W. Jenks, of Boston, picked
up one hundred of these valuable stones at Laurel Creek, Rylang County,
Georgia, a single gem of which was sold for $25.
366. ROCK SALT.--Rock salt is found in Syracuse, New York, and in
Michigan, also in Louisiana, and in South Eastern Arizona. It is
believed that if these mines were bored deeper, potassium salt--a salt
hitherto not found in the United States--would be discovered, and home
plants take the place of foreign imports. Here is a chance for
enterprising men.
367. ASBESTOS POCKETS.--A profitable pocket of asbestos was found a few
years ago on Long Island not far from Brooklyn. Present supplies come
from Sal Mountain, Georgia, and from Wyoming. It is believed that the
serpentine rocks in Western North Carolina, as well as similar rocks in
California and Oregon, contain rich deposits of this mineral.
368. PROSPECTS IN PLATINUM.--This is a metal of very great importance.
It has not thus far been found in large quantities in the United States.
The most promising field is the North Pacific Slope, following the line
of the coast mountains. Some day, it is thought, that rich platinum
mines may be discovered there equal to those in Russia, and, of course,
the early prospectors will reap large fortunes.
369. PETROLEUM WELLS.--“Petroleum,” says a leading article in the
_Electrical World_, “is the coming fuel.” It is believed by many that
the excitement over the discovery of oil fields in Pennsylvania in 1865
will be repeated on a much larger scale in oil regions yet to be
discovered in the far West. At present, the mountains of Wyoming appear
to be the most promising field. To sink an oil well costs $500 on the
average. On Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, a few wells have been struck which
yielded 3,000 barrels a day. One of the quickest ways to accumulate a
fortune is to prospect for oil, and when a rich vein is struck to buy as
much land as you can. A young man named Johnny Steel once owned nearly
all the land where the Pennsylvania oil wells were discovered. His
income was over $1,000,000 a year, $30,000 a day, or about $2 a minute.
But, verifying the adage that “a fool and his money are soon parted,” he
not only spent all this enormous income, but also squandered the entire
principal, and came at last to work as the driver of an oil wagon on the
very oil farm he had once owned.
370. GOLD DISCOVERIES.--Draw a line from Colorado Springs, Colorado,
north to Laramie City, Wyoming. From these two points draw straight
lines one thousand miles to the west and inclose the parallelogram. You
have inclosed what is known as the great gold belt of the United States.
Nearly all the gold has been discovered within these comparatively
narrow limits. Cripple Creek produced $8,000,000 in four years. A man
who walked into that place three years ago to save his stage fare is now
taking out $100,000 a year from his mines. Dawson City, way up in the
frozen British possessions, promises to do as well as any gold discovery
in the United States. Two men, the Thorpe brothers, cleaned up with
their pans $13,000 in eight weeks. This was but a very small part of the
immense amount of gold found in an insignificant creek, but there are at
least five hundred creeks on the branches of the Yukon River, many of
them no doubt as rich as the one that gave Dawson City its fame.
371. PROSPECTING FOR MINES.--“How many undeveloped mines are there west
of the Mississippi, which, if developed, would be valuable properties?
There may be ten thousand. It is far more likely that there are a
million.” Extract from “Mines and Mining Industries in the United
States.” The same authority also says that a prospector who has spent a
year in locating a mine should receive $10,000 from a capitalist as his
share. Mark this, you who think mining has no prospects, except for men
of wealth.
CHAPTER XV.
MONEY IN PATENT RIGHTS.
Nearly 100 Patents Issued Every Day--The Easiest Way to Get
Rich--Crystallize Your Idea Into a Coin--Six Billion Dollars of
Capital Based on Patents--Great Returns for American Genius--What a
Patent is Worth--A Million Dollar Patent Discovered by Accident--A
Fortune in a Needle’s Eye--The Man who Invented the “Donkey,” and
What He Made by It--What “Pigs in Clover” Netted the Lucky
Inventor--How to Get a Patent--What to Invent for Profit.
Probably no enterprise has yielded so great profits with so little
capital as the work of the inventor. The small outlay, resulting in
mammoth fortunes, has often consisted in little more than the set of
stools and the cost of the patent. Of course, there must be brains and
hard thinking. The sale of articles protected by patent rights is a
stimulus to invent them, and has been the source of fortunes for more
people in the United States than in any other country in the world. The
United States Patent Office issues every year about 25,000 patents, and
the number is constantly increasing. Nor are the patentees in all, or
even in a majority of cases, men of genius, or persons who have been
learned in the occupations in which they have achieved distinction. The
greater part of them have been issued to persons in humble walks of
life, who made their lucky discovery either by accident or by close
application of thought.
In every department of human industry there are possibilities of
improvement. He who can find a cheaper, quicker, or better, way of doing
anything will get rich. Cyrus H. McCormick thought out a better way of
cutting grain than with the old scythe. The result was the McCormick
harvester, known all over the world. His patents made him a millionaire.
Charles Goodyear accidentally mixed a bit of rubber and sulphur on a red
hot stove. The result set him to thinking. He discovered the process of
vulcanization, which is the basis of the great rubber industry
throughout the world. His patents made him enormously rich. Elias Howe
wondered if there could not be some better way of sewing than by the
bone and muscle of weary woman’s hand. He tried and tried in vain. At
last he had a dream in which he saw a needle with the eye at the point
instead of at the head. He awoke exclaiming, “I have it!” The result was
the sewing machine. Mr. Howe received every year more than $100,000
royalties on his patent needle. Eli Whitney, watching some slaves
cleaning cotton, set to work to find a better way. He invented the
cotton-gin by which one machine performs the labor of five thousand
persons. This invention reaped for him untold wealth.
These were men of genius, but there are inventions which, being simple,
lie apparently within the reach of all men. Mr. Parker, whose invention
of the tobacco box fastening, is nothing but a “bulge and a dent,” and
which it would seem any child might have thought out, made an immense
fortune. Another inventor obtained a patent for a washing machine, and
sold it in about fifteen months for $50,000. A man obtained a patent for
a windmill, took a model through the Western States, and in eight months
returned with $40,000 in cash. Probably the simplest device of all which
has afforded amusement for millions is the game of the “Donkey Party,”
which is nothing more than the picture of a tailless donkey placed upon
the wall. The game costs less than one cent, but millions are annually
sold. A copyright costing $5 insured this windfall to the inventor. The
“Parlor Target and Dot” patent brought $35,000. The chief examiner of
the Patent Office says: “A patent, if it is worth anything, when
properly managed, is worth and can easily be sold for from $10,000 to
$50,000.”
According to an estimate by the Commissioner of Patents seven-eighths of
the manufacturing capital of the United States, or upwards of
$600,000,000 is based upon patents, either directly or indirectly. A
very large proportion of all patents prove remunerative; this is the
reason so many are applied for, and so many millions of capital invested
in their workings. There is scarcely an article for amusement,
convenience, or necessity, in use to-day that has not at some time or
other been the subject of a patent either in whole or in part. The sale
of every such article yields the inventor a profit. If we purchase a box
of matches a portion of the price goes to the inventor; if we buy a
bicycle the chances are that we pay royalty to a dozen or more inventors
at once.
There are gold mines in every walk in life. There are fortunes hid in
the smallest and meanest of things. So far from the field being
exhausted, more inventions are now being patented than ever before. The
world is inexhaustibly full of nuggets for him who can find them. Every
sphere of enterprise is like the children’s play of “hide the thimble.”
Friend, shall you be the first to spy the golden rim? The cost of a
patent in the United States is about $60. This includes the government
fee, and that of a patent attorney. The way to get a patent is first to
think it out; then make the design and take it to a lawyer who makes a
business of procuring patents. The government does not now request a
model, but it requires a drawing and a specification, and these must be
prepared by some competent attorney, in the legal form prescribed. The
following are a few suggestions in the various departments of toil where
inventions are needed, or where the pry of the brain will disclose the
flashing ore.
_Section 1. Money in Bicycles._
372. A NON-PUNCTURABLE BICYCLE TIRE.--Any improvement in the universal
wheel means a fortune to the inventor. The Dunlap tire sold for
$15,000,000.
373. A BICYCLE-HOLDER ATTACHMENT.--One that will make it stand upright
when not in use. There is a fortune here.
374. THE BICYCLE UMBRELLA-HOLDER.--It should not be difficult to fit to
the wheel a small attachment for holding an umbrella. The device should
be made so as to allow the umbrella to turn at an angle. Most bicyclists
would want this invention.
375. A BICYCLE CYCLOMETER CLOCK.--A small clock or a watch to be fixed
to the front part of the bicycle with cyclometer attachment, so as to
give the time of day, the number of miles traversed, and the rate of
speed.
376. THE DOUBLE-POWER BICYCLE.--One in which the hand or the foot may be
used in propelling, to be employed alternately, the one as a rest for
the other, or jointly, as when pedaling against the wind or uphill.
377. THE FOLDING WHEEL.--One that can be carried lightly on the shoulder
and packed in small space for storage or shipment.
378. A BICYCLE SUPPORT.--A contrivance for holding the wheel in place
when the rider stops but does not wish to dismount. A large sale
guaranteed.
379. THE CUSHION SADDLE.--The chafing, painful experience of many
bicycle riders would be obviated if some one would invent a saddle top
as durable as leather, and yet affording a much softer seat.
380. A BICYCLE GUARD.--One which will enable a lady with a long dress to
ride without fear of her skirts being entangled in the wheel. Almost
every lady in the land would ride a wheel if this difficulty could be
obviated.
381. A COMBINATION BICYCLE LOCK.--One million bicyclists want a cheap
lock which can be operated without a key and fastened to any object.
382. A BICYCLE TRUNK.--One made of light material and adapted to
carrying on the rear of a wheel.
383. THE UNICYCLE.--The wheel of the future will doubtless be single.
The man who is the first to invent a practical unicycle will reap a
gigantic fortune.
384. A BICYCLE COVER.--One which will protect the frame and handle bars
when the rider is overtaken by rain, and one which can be packed into a
very small compass.
385. A PACKAGE HOLDER.--One adapted to be kept on the bicycle frame. As
all bicycle makes are nearly uniform in size, this invention should be
an easy one.
386. HANDLE-BAR CYCLOMETER.--Let the indicator or dial face be fixed to
the handle-bar instead of the wheel. Every bicyclist would want it.
387. THE ALL-SELLING WHEEL.--A pneumatic bicycle tire with a
non-puncturable coating would easily bring a million, and might even
rival the popularity of a Dunlap.
388. TOE-AND-HEEL CLIP.--An appliance to the bicycle pedal which would
hold the heel as well as the toe, and which would not increase the
difficulty of mounting, would have immense sales.
389. THE EXTENSION BICYCLE.--A wheel which may be made as convenience
requires into a tandem or single wheel by addition or removal of parts
would be in great demand.
390. A BICYCLE SHOE.--A sole adapted to be attached to an ordinary shoe,
and with means for retaining a hold on the pedals.
391. THE STIRRUP PEDAL.--A pedal which is shaped like a stirrup, holding
the foot and doing away with toe-clips.
392. THE HOME BICYCLE.--The use of the bicycle in certain hours every
day has become indispensable to the health of thousands, but there are
many rainy and inclement days as well as weeks and months in the winter
when it cannot be used. Invent a home bicycle by means of which one can
have all the exercise of the ordinary wheel in all kinds of weather.
_Section 2. Money in Building Contrivances._
393. THE ORNAMENTAL FLOOR.--Ornamental floors, for ballrooms, summer
hotels, and all rooms where carpets are not indispensable.
394. THE SECURE WINDOW BLIND.--The present appliances for holding back
the window blind permit it to shake to and fro, giving unpleasant noises
in the night. There is needed a device that will hold it securely in
place.
395. THE SELF-LOCKING WINDOW.--Doors are made self-locking; why not
windows? Who will invent a means by which the shutting of a window at
the same time locks it?
396. THE ADJUSTABLE BLIND.--A mechanism by which a blind or shutter can
be worked from within. A toothed wheel with crank inside the window, and
a connection by an iron rod with the shutter whereby the blind or
shutter can be held wide open, can be closed, or held in any position
whatever, by simply turning a crank.
397. THE DOLLAR DOOR CLOSER.--The automatic door closer made the
inventor rich, but it is expensive; we want a door closer that can be
fastened to every door and sold as low as $1.
398. SECTIONAL WINDOW.--A window built in horizontal sections of two or
more with a spring or casing to hold it up--much cheaper than weights.
399. ADJUSTABLE STORM DOOR.--Devise a simple door which can be readily
brought into place in time of storm, and which will be unnoticed or not
seem unsuitable when not needed.
400. A HINGE LOCK.--A hinge which operates as a lock, when the door is
closed, and can only be opened by a key. Operated the same as a spring
lock, but with less mechanism.
401. THE DOUBLE WINDOW.--Here is a plan for window ventilation. It is
the idea of a French physician, but he has not patented it. Have a
double window with openings at the bottom of one, and at the top of the
opposite one through which the air comes in freely without any one
feeling it. The plan is said to possess simplicity, efficiency, and
cheapness. Let the American carpenter take notice and profit thereby.
402. HOT-BLAST FURNACE.--A small hot-blast furnace for drying walls.
Builders who have to wait days for walls to dry call for such a machine.
403. THE WEIGHTLESS WINDOW SASH.--When the window can be opened the
desired width and kept there without the aid of a rope that finally
breaks and involves trouble and expense, a great want will be supplied.
404. A FLOOR COVER.--Carpets are expensive; matting is not elegant.
Discover something in place of both, cheap and ornamental, and you will
reap one of the richest financial harvests of the century.
405. SASH BALANCE.--A system by which the force which holds the lower
sash up may exactly balance the force which holds the upper sash down,
both sashes being opened at the same width, and thus insuring both the
outflow of impure air and the inflow of fresh.
406. PAINTING MACHINES.--Why may not painting as well as so many other
modern arts be done by machinery? Something on the order of the
garden-hose and spraying nozzle could do the work of the painter more
rapidly, cheaply, and with less risk of life and limb. Inventors, give
us a painting machine.
407. THE PNEUMATIC WATER TANK.--Instead of the unsightly water tank on
the top of isolated buildings or country dwellings, with its liability
of leakage and destruction of property, why not have a water tank in the
cellar operated by means of compressed air? By being placed in the
cellar or underground, there would be the additional advantage of having
the water drawn cool and fresh. In winter also, it would be much better
protected from freezing than when placed on top of a building. Some one
will find money in a pneumatic water tank.
408. THE WOOD-PULP FLOOR.--Floors have been accused of great sins. If
the timber is not thoroughly seasoned they warp; if the boards are not
properly laid they creak; and the cracks are all at times filled with
injurious dust and dangerous germs. Why not invent a wood-pulp floor
which shall have no warps, and no cracks, and no creaks? Dry the pulp to
powder to facilitate transportation, mix with a small amount of cement,
to increase the resistance of the floor, and then after making it a
gelatinous mass pass it between rollers. When dry, paint it to imitate
oak or other wood. Besides avoiding all the inconveniences and
annoyances of the ordinary floor, it will be soft to the foot, and
though somewhat more expensive than the entire boards, it will yet be
the floor of the future in all comfortable homes.
_Section 3. Money in the Kitchen._
409. THE CHEAP WASHER.--For all the many washing machines, most of our
women in middle-class and lowly life are still bending painfully over
the old tubs. What is needed is a cheap washer that everyone will buy.
410. A MEAT CHOPPER.--One which has a large number of small blades
dividing the meat ten or twenty times with one stroke, where now the
large blades divide it only one-fourth or fifth that number of times.
The scroll bread-knife netted a princely revenue to its fortunate
inventor.
411. AUTOMATIC STOVE-DAMPER.--One to take the place of the heedless
servant, and close when the state of the fire warrants it. Thousands of
dollars’ worth of coal could annually be saved to housekeepers by this
device.
412. POTATO EXTRACTOR.--Apply the principle of the glass lemon-squeezer
to the raw potato and you have not only a new invention but also a new
preparation of the common vegetable. The potato in the form of the raw
pulp can be cooked in various ways, and will have a decidedly new and
agreeable flavor. As a salad or a dressing it would be invaluable.
413. KNIFE SHARPENER.--One for the kitchen use, that could be sold for
twenty-five cents; almost every housekeeper would want one.
414. COLD HANDLE.--A separate handle which could be instantly applied to
utensils on the stove and remove them without burning the hands waits to
enrich the inventor. The cold-handled smoothing-iron brought much money
to its inventor.
415. THE ELECTRIC STOVE.--Cooking by electricity will be the domestic
feature of the next century. There is a rich field here awaiting some
inventive brain.
416. FRUIT-JAR HOLDER.--A device for holding fruit jars during the
preserving process so that the can will neither burn the hand nor spill
the fruit.
417. CAN OPENER.--All the women are crying for an effective can opener.
Those on the market are not satisfactory. They must be made to sell very
cheap. A gold mine in a can opener.
418. ODORLESS COOKING VESSELS.--An attachment whereby the odors of
cooking will be carried into the chimney instead of out into the room.
419. COAL-FILLED FLAT-IRON.--Construct a hollow flat-iron so that it can
be filled with live coals, and thus keep in proper heat much longer than
those now in use.
420. AUTOMATIC SOAPER.--A washboard so arranged that the soft soap is
fed to the clothes by the simple act of rubbing.
421. DISH-WASHING MACHINE.--A dish-washing machine which can be sold for
$5. There are plenty of machines on the market, but they are too
expensive for use, except in hotels or in rich households. A cheap
machine could be sold in every house.
422. A STOVE ALARM.--Proper cooking requires the heat of the stove to be
kept equable. Invent a contrivance by which when the heat exceeds a
certain degree an alarm will be sounded.
423. THE ELASTIC CLOTHES LINE.--Save washerwomen and housekeepers the
nuisance of tying and untying of hard knots by inventing the elastic
clothes line.
424. COMBINATION LINE AND PIN.--If the old-fashioned line is to be used,
why not invent a cheap clasp which remains permanently on the line, and
is capable of being moved in either direction. Clothes pins are lost,
broken, or not at hand when required.
425. A FRUIT PRESS.--A cheap press which will be as much a part of every
furnished kitchen as a range. Every housewife needs one for the
extracting of juices.
426. THE CAN-SLIDE.--The opening of hermetically sealed cans is one of
the difficulties of life. All can openers so far invented are more or
less ineffective. A vast fortune awaits a man who will invent a
can-slide which will effectually keep the food air-tight, and which at
the same time may be easily opened.
_Section 4. Money in the Parlor._
427. THE CHAIR FAN.--A slight vertical motion of the foot is much less
tiresome than a lateral motion of the hand. An ingenious man could
attach a fan to a chair so as to cool the face by the action of the
foot.
428. ROCKING-CHAIR FAN.--A fan to be attached to the top of a
rocking-chair and operated by the motion of a rocker.
429. CHRISTMAS-TREE HOLDER.--A device for holding the tree upright in
any spot without further support. Would sell once a year by the million
if made for twenty-five cents.
430. PICTURE-FRAME FASTENER.--A device such that every one can frame his
own picture, the parts of the frame being attached without hammer or
nails.
431. ADJUSTABLE HEAD REST.--One that can be attached to any chair and
adjusted to any position.
432. IMITATION COAL FIRE.--The asbestos back-log was quite a hit. Now
let some one invent a fire where gas may be used in the same manner, but
the representation be that of red, live coals.
433. MUSIC TURNER.--A piece of music has only a few leaves. It is easy
to arrange a series of markers between each leaf with a handle for
turning. It may be an ornament as well as a convenience.
434. ROLL-FRONT FIRE-SCREEN.--It is to be constructed on the principle
of the roll-top desk, with the difference that it rolls sidewise from
one side or from both sides of the fireplace.
435. REMOVABLE ROCKERS.--A chair with rockers easily adjustable, so that
it may be a rocker or an ordinary chair as desired.
_Section 5. Money in the Bedroom._
436. A NOISELESS CLOCK.--Many nervous people are annoyed by the ticking
of clocks. Who can invent one which will perform this work silently?
437. A NARCOTIC PILLOW.--Will not some one give us a pillow composed of
the dried flowers or leaves of soporific plants? The nervous, overworked
persons who could thus get a night’s sound sleep would bestow upon the
lucky inventor the money which he now expends in drugs.
438. THE ELECTRIC FIRE IGNITER.--In almost every household some one on a
winter’s morning shivers over a cold stove and suffers much till a fire
is well started, but if the fuel were laid over night and the stove
equipped with an electric wire running to the bedroom, one could press a
button with the satisfaction of soon entering a warm kitchen. Such a
device would pay the inventor well.
439. BEDCLOTHES FASTENER.--A clamp or clasp which shall fix the cover to
the board so that children shall not kick or pull the clothes off in
their sleep.
440. THE EASY-WORKING BUREAU.--Who will contrive some device by which a
bureau drawer will open readily and evenly at both ends? The present
working of these drawers is a vexation of the soul.
441. THE EXTENSIBLE BEDSTEAD.--A bedstead that can be extended to
accommodate two or three persons, or when room is wanted contracted to
the use of one person.
442. MOVABLE PARTITION AND FOLDING BED.--Some one should invent a
partition that will form a part of the wall of a room, and which will
inclose a bed when the latter is not in use. In the economy of space
which forms so important an element in the construction of city houses,
it is strange no builder has not yet thought of this.
443. AN ATTACHABLE CRIB.--A combined bed and crib so arranged that when
the crib is not in use it may be folded in or under the larger bed of an
adult.
444. PULSE INDICATOR.--Hardly one in a hundred can take the beats of his
own pulse. The first thing the doctor does is to feel your pulse. Invent
an instrument so delicate that its clasp on the wrist will accurately
tell the pulse.
445. DRESS-SUIT HANGER.--The device for a dress coat should be extended
to other parts of a gentleman’s wear. Give us a dress-suit hanger which
will cause the suit to appear when not in use very much as it does when
on the body of a man.
446. THE ANTI-SNORER.--It should not be difficult to invent a simple
mouth or nose attachment to prevent the intolerable nuisance of snoring.
447. THE VENTILATED MATTRESS.--Housekeepers take pains to air their
beds, but the mattress remains for years a mass of unventilated feathers
or hair, and a fruitful soil for the deposit of disease germs. A kind of
honeycombed mattress might be constructed, through the holes of which
the air could circulate freely. It might be possible on this plan to
have the spring and mattress in one piece.
_Section 6. Money in the Cellar._
448. A FURNACE FEEDER.--Every householder would buy an automatic feeder
for the furnace, thus saving the arduous labor of shoveling coal. There
should be a bonanza in the right invention.
449. ICE MACHINE.--The study of the large ice machines now in use, with
a view to produce one on a scale so small and cheap as to be introduced
into every household has boundless possibilities of wealth for a
fertile-brained inventor.
450. STOVE ASH-SIFTER.--The waste of coal in unsifted ashes is enormous,
but the process of sifting is disagreeable. What is needed is an
attachment beneath the grate by means of which the ashes will be thrown
into one pan and the unconsumed coals into another. An immensely paying
invention.
451. JOINTED COAL CHUTE.--Much time could be saved in unloading coal if
some one would give us a coal chute jointed so as to be swung at an
angle, thus avoiding delay where the driveway is too narrow to permit
the straight chute to be inserted properly.
452. COMBINED PAN, CAN, SIFTER AND ROLLER.--A useful article would be
the pan beneath the grate of the furnace, which could be used also as a
can containing a sifter and provided with rollers so that it could be
easily transferred to the street.
453. ASH BARREL.--Much annoyance is caused, especially on windy days, by
the blowing of ashes from the carts of the ash gatherers. This might be
avoided by the construction of a patent ash barrel which could be
transferred to the cart and exchanged for an empty one, on the same
principle as oil cans are exchanged by the venders.
_Section 7. Money in the Library and Schoolroom._
454. A PAPER BINDER.--One that will bind newspapers and other
periodicals, and which can be sold for twenty-five cents. Those on the
market are too expensive.
455. THE CORRESPONDENT’S DESK.--A desk with compartments specially
arranged for correspondents would save much time and annoyance on the
part of letter-writers. Paper, pen, ink, envelope, postage stamp,
answered letters, letters requiring immediate reply, and letters which
require time for consideration, would then be relegated to the most
fitting place, and be available when wanted.
456. BOOK DUSTER.--There is needed some simple attachment to a bookcase
whereby the dust which has gathered on the books may be quickly removed
when one wishes a volume without soiling of the hands.
457. THE PORTABLE LIBRARY.--A useful device would be a combined box and
bookcase, so that in packing for removal the books need not be
disturbed, the doors of the bookcase serving as a lid for the box.
458. POCKET LUNCH BASKET.--A lunch basket which can be folded and put in
the pocket when empty. Ten million school children want this article.
459. THE MULTIPLE-LEAVED BLACKBOARD.--A blackboard attached to the wall
and opening outwardly with several leaves so that it can be used by a
number of pupils at once, and when not in use can be folded back so as
to occupy a small space.
_Section 8. Money in Meals._
460. BUTTER AND CHEESE CUTTER.--A device which cuts butter and cheese
into small square blocks. It should be shaped like a caramel-mold with
sharp edges, cutting ten or twelve blocks with a single insertion.
461. PAPER TABLE CLOTH.--The constantly increasing use of paper for new
articles is a feature of the times. We have paper napkins, but why could
not a paper be manufactured of a little better quality so as to serve
for a tablecloth?
462. SCROLL-EDGE MEAT KNIFE.--The scroll-edge bread knife is being
manufactured as fast as possible, the factories running night and day.
Construct a meat knife on the same principle, with difference only
sufficient to secure a patent, and a fortune is yours.
463. CARVING-KNIFE HOLDER.--A small wooden or wire frame with
depressions for knife and fork when not in use would conduce to
cleanliness and save much vexation on the part of those who carve.
464. LAMP COOKER.--A wire frame with hooks on the bottom for clasping a
lamp-chimney could be placed on the top of a lamp, and would make an
excellent patent cooker for light dishes. Think of the convenience of
cooking your supper on your lamp chimney!
465. WINE TABLETS.--Here is an idea for the trade. We have lemonade
tablets; why not those of wine? The grapes should be pressed in the
ordinary way, and then by means of a knife transferred to an apparatus
where they can be evaporated in a vacuum, the vapor to be drawn off by a
pump and condensed. As soon as the mass has the consistency of a syrup
it is to be mixed with the pulp. Thus a sort of marmalade is produced,
containing eighty per cent. of grape sugar. Makers of the lemonade
tablets have done well, but the inventor of the wine tablets would have
an immensely larger market.
466. EXTENSION TABLE.--Difficulty is experienced with the present
extension table. The boards are not at hand when wanted, and frequently
will not go into place readily. A table is needed in which the boards
fold underneath, and can be readily brought into place by the turning of
a crank.
_Section 9. Money in the Business Office._
467. THE KEYBOARD LOCK.--A combination lock on the principle of the cash
register. Instead of carrying certain combinations of numbers in your
brain, you simply remember a definite order of keys, and push them in
turn as you would in playing a light air on the piano. This patent would
be a great improvement on the present system, and contains barrels of
money.
468. AUTOMATIC SAFE OPENER.--Run by clockwork, and set so as to open
automatically at a certain hour of the day, and impossible to open at
any other time.
469. PAPER BINDER AND BILL HOLDER.--A flat stick, concave at each end,
so as to hold a large number of elastic bands. Slip a band over each
bill, and you may have a hundred or more papers preserved in compact
form.
470. BOOK LOCK.--A pocket contrivance which can be attached to the edges
of a book. Notebooks, diaries, and private correspondence, could then be
guarded during the momentary absence of the writer. A great sale
predicted.
471. THE PERPETUAL CALENDAR.--A calendar which will show on what day or
month any event fell or will fall for all time.
472. THE LIGHTNING ADDER.--It is possible by a system of keys to invent
a machine which will set down almost as quick as lightning the sum of
any column of figures, thus dispensing with much of the service of a
bookkeeper.
473. COPYHOLDER.--Typewritists want a copyholder capable of being
adjusted to any size of manuscript and which can be sold as low as
twenty-five cents.
474. ENVELOPE MOISTENER AND SEALER.--Construct a narrow brass or iron
plate, one-fourth of an inch wide and shaped like the flap of an
envelope. A shallow vessel of water is placed underneath, into which by
the manipulation of a screw, the plate is occasionally dipped. Above the
plate is fixed a second plate which acts as a sealer, and which operates
with a screw-head.
475. MULTIPLE LOCK.--A device for locking with one movement all the
drawers in a desk or bureau.
476. OFFICE DOOR INDICATOR.--One to be operated instantly and easily,
showing that the occupant is out, and with a dial face to indicate when
he expects to return.
477. AUTOMATIC TICKET SELLER.--It is entirely feasible to have an
automatic ticket seller which will both date and deliver tickets. A
machine of this kind has been fixed in the Hammerton Station at North
London, and is said to work satisfactorily. But there is room for
improvement on the part of brainy inventors.
478. PERFORATED STAMP.--The chief of the London Stamp office said the
government was losing $500,000 a year through the dishonest practice of
removing stamps from official papers and using them again; and he
offered a large sum or a life office at $4,000 a year to any one who
would invent a stamp which could not be counterfeited.
_Section 10. Money in the Packing Room._
479. NONREFILLABLE BOTTLE.--Such a bottle is an absolute necessity to
beer and liquor manufacturers, sauce and patent medicine makers, yet no
one has yet supplied the demand. Here is a chance, and there are
millions in it.
480. THE COLLAPSIBLE BOX.--A box that cannot be refilled for fraudulent
purposes. Must be so built that it cannot be opened without destroying
it. It would be purchased by every maker of confections.
481. BOTTLE STOPPER.--There are mines of wealth in a cheap substitute
for cork. An inventor will some day make a fortune by the inventing of a
paper stopper.
482. COMBINATION CORK AND CORKSCREW.--A bottle stopper which can be
removed by simply turning it around like the top of a wooden
money-barrel made for children. Must be made to sell cheap.
483. THE COLLAPSIBLE BARREL.--A barrel arranged in a series of parts
each one above smaller than the one below, and so contrived that when
not filled the parts sink into each other like the pieces of a field
glass. A barrel of such convenience for reshipping would be bought by
the hundred thousand, and would be full of gold for its inventor.
484. SELF-STANDING BAG.--A device whereby bags will stand alone with
wide-open top while being filled, thus dispensing with the services of
an extra man. All shipping merchants would pay largely for such a bag.
485. BARREL FILLER AND FUNNEL CUT-OFF.--Barrel filling by the ordinary
funnel is slow. Provide four openings at the bottom instead of one. A
small rubber hose will connect the opening of each barrel, and a cut-off
or a string attachment at the end of each hose cuts off the flow when
the barrel is full, and permits the contents of the hose to be carried
back to the barrel and thence into one of the unfilled barrels, thus
avoiding waste.
486. FOLDING CRATE.--The transportation of fruit and other produce would
be greatly facilitated and cheapened if some one would invent a folding
crate. An empty crate occupies as much room as a full one.
487. PAPER BARREL.--Who will invent a paper barrel which will be as
serviceable as the present wooden one, and have the advantage of being
light? It would have a universal sale.
_Section 11. Money in Articles of Trade._
488. THE TRADESMAN’S SIGNAL.--An automatic device for letting the
grocer, butcher, baker, etc., know when he is wanted, saving time both
to the household and trade. Sure to sell.
489. BARREL GAUGE.--A dial with hands to be attached to a barrel or keg
to indicate the amount of its contents.
490. ELASTIC CHIMNEY.--An elastic glass chimney which will expand with
the heat and not break would sell by the million.
491. AIR MOISTENER.--A apparatus for moistening the air in the room. It
should avoid the objectionable feature of all present devices which
sprinkle minute drops of water to the damage of goods. All large
manufacturers and proprietors of large stores, where many workmen and
clerks are employed will pay handsomely for such a machine.
492. AUTOMATIC LUBRICATOR.--Every wheel, axle, pulley and joint, in
labor’s great beehive needs oil. A vast amount of valuable time is
consumed in the work. Invent an oil-can which will work automatically,
and you can name your own price.
493. SHORT-TIME NEGATIVE.--A process by which the negative of a
photographic camera may be developed almost instantly instead of
consuming the time now required. An immediate fortune is assured to the
discoverer of this art.
494. DRYING APPARATUS.--An invention by which dry air could be produced
in abundance so as to dry clothes or be employed in the preservation of
fruits would make its deviser independently rich.
495. ROTABLE HOTEL REGISTER.--A revolving frame for a hotel office, so
that the register is alike accessible to the clerks within and the
guests without.
496. GLASS DOME.--The inventor of the little glass bell for hanging over
gas jets made a fortune, but as the gas fixture is commonly attached to
a movable bracket it does not always occupy the same place. A glass dome
which shall be a part of the gas fixture would be a great improvement
and bring much money to the inventor.
497. ROUND CUTTING SCISSORS.--A scissors or shears that will cut round
as well as straight. It would be bought by every one who uses a needle.
498. CASKET CLAMP.--Three thousand people die every day in this country.
Undertakers want a clamp which will keep the casket from moving in the
hearse either laterally or longitudinally.
499. SELF-WINDING CLOCK.--An arrangement such that when the weight of
the clock touches a certain point it will set in operation a mechanism
which will wind. The prize for perpetual motion has never yet been
awarded. Possibly the solution is in the self-winding clock.
500. DOSE STOPPER.--A thimble-like contrivance which shall act both as a
bottle-stopper and a cup to contain the exact dose.
501. FAUCET MEASURE.--A device for measuring the quantity of liquid that
passes through the faucet. Invaluable for store-keepers.
502. AUTOMATIC FEEDER.--A feeding rack so constructed that the hay or
grain will be fed automatically with a cut-off when the proper amount
has been given.
503. COUPON CASH BOOK.--At present persons who pay cash are charged the
same as those who trade on credit, a practice which is manifestly wrong.
A cash-book should be made so that those who pay immediately for goods
should receive a rebate. Every merchant would purchase a quantity of
these books, since the great bane of merchandise is bad debts.
504. GAS DETECTIVE.--A device to be placed on a gas fixture to ascertain
instantly whether it leaks. Often there is an odor of gas when it is
difficult to tell whence it proceeds.
505. PAPER TOWELS.--Paper towels having the quality of cloth, yet
designed only for a single use, will doubtless be a feature of the near
future. They will “make” their first maker.
506. WATER FILTER.--A cheap device for use in every household, one which
could be attached to the water faucet, and which would insure pure
water. It would sell enormously.
507. PNEUMATIC FREIGHT TUBE.--If small packages for store and post
office use can be sent by tubes, why may not the principle of compressed
air be extended so that grain and fruit may be transported thereby, thus
saving the great expense of handling and of car freightage? Some day the
greater part of our freight will be carried by this means, and he who is
first in the field will coin a mint of clean dollars.
508. STORM WARNING.--Apply the principle of the barometer to a large
glass globe, placed on the top of a public building, by means of which
the contained liquid shall be colored red on the approach of a storm; or
construct an instrument which will give forth a sound when bad weather
is to be feared. Such an invention would be wanted everywhere.
509. HEAT GOVERNOR.--If a regulator could be placed upon heat pipes so
as to keep the heat at a desired temperature, the inventor would reap
untold millions. Florists, poultry raisers, and in fact every
housekeeper needs this device.
510. AUTOMATIC OIL FEEDER.--An invention which will feed oil to a lamp
at a uniform rate, and which is provided with a cut-off whereby the
supply can be stopped when the light is extinguished.
511. PAINT BRUSH FEEDER.--A brush with a reservoir of paint so that when
the painter finds the uplifted brush growing dry he has but to reverse
it in order to have it replenished.
512. INSIDE FAUCET.--The outside faucet is awkward and interferes with
cartage. One which could be worked on the inside by a button on the
outside is demanded. Improvements in faucets have made two or three
inventors rich, but the right one is yet to come.
513. HOUSE PATTERNS.--Thousands of people like to plan for themselves
the building of their homes. At present the only means provided is that
of pencil and drawing paper. Wooden blocks adapted for the purpose, and
ready-made joints would fill a long-felt want.
514. EXTENSION HANDLE.--A handle which may be applied to any kind of a
brush, and which will enable painters, window-scrubbers, and others who
have to work at high elevations, to do their work from the ground.
515. WIRE STRETCHER.--Thousands of tons of wire are manufactured
annually, but the wires often are slack. Invent a cheap, simple device
which will keep spring beds even and wire fences taut.
516. PRICE TAG.--A price tag which can be instantly attached to a piece
of goods. Merchants would buy it by the thousands if made for a trifling
cost.
517. THE HANDY VISE.--In the course of time a hundred things need fixing
in every house. What is needed is a small vise which can be readily
attached to a kitchen table, and which would not cost over fifty cents.
518. FOLDING LADDER.--A light ladder which is portable and extensible
would pay well.
519. SMOKELESS FUEL.--A kind of kindling which will be as ignitable as
wood, but which will not smoke. The inventor will have money to burn.
520. FINGER-RING GAUGE.--A cylindrical piece of metal to which are
loosely attached a number of rings of the same material, serving as a
gauge to measure the finger, each ring differing from the others by a
slight fraction.
521. LAUNDRY BAG.--Hotel keepers want a bag adapted to the carrying of
washing, so as to avoid the unsightly baskets of washerwomen. A large
ornamental bag should be constructed with apartments for different kinds
of wearing apparel.
522. SOLE CEMENT.--A cement which could take the place of pegs, nails,
and threads in the manufacture of shoes would revolutionize the trade
and make money for the patentee.
523. GOODS EXHIBITOR.--On an upright column attach a number of steel or
wooden rods radiating like the spokes of a wheel, and made to turn by
clock-work machinery.
524. SHOE STRETCHER.--A metal frame made adjustable to any shoe by
having its parts extended or depressed and worked by a tiny crank. The
extension of the frame when the crank is turned stretches the shoe.
525. CORK EJECTOR.--A simple means by which the cork can be ejected from
within would supplant all prevalent methods and bring wealth to the
inventor.
526. LEMON SQUEEZER.--A squeezer of a new type, having a tongue to
pierce the fruit, and making a hole just large enough for the juice to
be extracted by the squeezer, but not large enough for the pulp to
escape. The only squeezer which presses the lemon without cutting it in
half. The inventor of the glass lemon squeezer made a large fortune.
527. SPRING WHEEL.--A wheel with inner and outer rim, and the space
between filled with springs would afford much easier riding than the
present method.
528. THE PLURAL CAPSULE.--Capsules made so as to be divided in order
that one-half or one-quarter the quantity can be taken.
529. THE DOSE BOTTLE.--This might be called the neck measurer. A bottle
whose neck holds exactly the dose, and an arrangement for closing the
lower end of the neck when it is full.
530. FISHERMAN’S CLAW.--A large, steel claw somewhat on the principle of
a net, but with many advantages, might be invented. The claw when opened
should cover three or four square yards of water. It closes with a
spring attached to the handle. Quite as much sport in this as with the
hook and line. The right article ought to have great sales.
531. POCKET SCALE.--A little scale capable of being carried in the
pocket, so as to be instantly at service in weighing small articles
would be appreciated and purchased by almost every one.
532. TOY BANK AND REGISTER.--There is needed for the holding of
children’s money a bank with a device attached for registering the
amount which it contains. A cheap device of this kind would be a great
improvement on the present toy bank. The inventor of one of the
principal banks for children now in use is said to have made half a
million dollars out of his invention.
533. THE PAPER MATCH.--“The time-honored scheme of rolling up a piece of
paper and using it for a lighter could be utilized by an inventor in the
manufacture of matches,” says the _National Druggist_. “The invention
would revolutionize match manufacturing, because the wood for this
purpose is constantly growing scarcer and more costly. The matches would
be considerably cheaper than the wooden ones, and also weigh less, a
fact which counts for much in the exportation.”
534. ILLUMINATED TYPE.--Here is an idea which if properly worked ought
to put the inventor on the high road to fortune. Why could not our
newspaper-type, by the use of phosphorous, after the manner of the
illuminated watch dial, be illumined so that the print could be read in
the dark? Illuminated type may be a newspaper feature of the coming
century.
535. PAPER BOTTLES.--If a paper bottle could be made as serviceable as
glass, its many other advantages would make it an El Dorado for the
inventor. Its lightness in transportation and its freedom from breakage
would cause it to come into general use. Especially on shipboard, where
bottles are constantly broken by the roll of the vessel, would such an
invention be hailed with joy.
536. THE PAPER SAIL.--“Paper sails,” says the _Railway Review_, “are
meeting with considerable favor. They are cheaper than canvas sails,
and they are soft, flexible, and as untearable as the original article.”
There is room for invention here. Treated with the proper solutions, it
may be that paper will entirely displace cloth in the wings of our
ships.
_Section 12. Money in the Street._
537. STREET SWEEPER.--A device like the present carpet sweeper to be
used on paved roadways will command a large sale.
538. PHOSPHORESCENT STREET NUMBERS.--Who has not been vexed in trying to
locate an unfamiliar house in the dark? In many streets not one number
in a hundred can be seen in the night. Contrive some means of
illuminating these numbers, and you will confer a boon to others and
reap a reward for yourself.
539. BUGGY TOP ADJUSTER.--A contrivance for raising or lowering the
buggy top so that it can be readily operated from the buggy-seat.
540. SHOULDER PACK.--Men persist in carrying in their hands that which
could be borne between the shoulders with much less strain. Who will
give us a convenient pack to be carried upon the back?
541. ADJUSTABLE CART BOTTOM.--A cart with device for lowering the bottom
to the ground or nearly so, for the easy reception of the goods, with
jack for raising the same when loaded. Every merchant, carter, and
expressman would hasten to possess himself of this invention.
542. NAILLESS HORSE SHOE.--A rubber shoe, which can be easily adjusted
to a horse’s foot without nails. The advantages would be many and the
sales numerous.
543. ELASTIC RING.--An elastic ring for hitching horses. One with snap
buckle for opening so as to receive both the bridle and the object to
which it is to be attached. As the ring is elastic, it will fit any
hitching post or tree. It would be welcome to everybody who owns a
horse.
544. HEEL CYCLOMETER.--An indicator fixed in the heel of a boot or shoe
so that each step records itself, and by which the pedestrian is enabled
to tell the distance he has covered.
545. WHIP LOCK.--A cheap device to be placed in the whip-stock of a
carriage for securing the whip against theft. If it could be sold for
ten cents every driver would have one.
546. REIN-HOLDER.--A contrivance attached to the dashboard and which
holds the reins securely in position and prevents them from being
switched under the horse’s tail.
547. AUTOMOBILE.--The horseless carriage is sold at prices ranging from
$1,800 to $3,000. Josef Hofman, the great pianist, says he is confident
he can build one for $300. Here is a great opportunity for mechanical
electricians.
548. THE LOW TRUCK.--It would be a great advantage to carters if a truck
could be constructed whose body would be much nearer the ground than the
one in present use. Great expense as well as expenditure of muscle
would be saved if by some arrangement the cart body could be as low as
eighteen inches from the ground.
549. AUTOMATIC HORSE-FASTENER.--The man will make a fortune who can
devise some means whereby the rider can fasten his horse and unfasten
him without alighting from the vehicle.
550. THE FOOT-CYCLE.--Persons who know the ease and exhilaration of
skating as compared with walking will be interested in an effort to
invent a foot-cycle which will do for the foot on the ground what the
skate does on the ice. The roller-skate does this in a measure, but it
is adapted to hard surfaces only. What is needed is something in the
order of a miniature bicycle--a machine capable of going over surfaces
hard and soft, in fact, a sort of bicycle skate. Here is vast room for a
fertile inventor.
_Section 13. Money in Farming Contrivances._
551. A CORN CUTTER.--A machine to run between the rows and cut the
stalks on each side would sell to every farmer; and there are 4,565,000
farmers in the United States.
552. FROST PROTECTOR.--A chemical combination whose product when ignited
is chiefly smoke. All farmers suffer from late and early frosts. They
would pay liberally for a smoke producer which would protect their
crops, for it is known that a very little smoke acts as a mantle to keep
off the frost. They should be made cheap so that half a hundred might be
placed to the acre. Farmers are the most numerous class of people, and
fortunes await those who can invent anything for their benefit.
553. A FARM FERTILIZER.--Wanted--a fertilizer more powerful and less
bulky than those in use. We have condensed meat extracts for the table;
why not better condensation of food for the farm? Chemists will find no
better paying employment for their brains than in this direction.
554. A POSTLESS FENCE.--For posts substitute a windlass at each corner
of the field so as to keep the wires taut. If the field is large or
irregular, more windlasses would be required, but they could be
manufactured at a cost much less than that of posts.
555. AUTOMATIC GATE OPENER.--Fix an iron bar or rail with a spring
contrivance in such a way that the pressure of wagon wheels on one side
of the gate releases a spring and causes the gate to fly open, while the
pressure on the opposite side causes it to close. The arrangement of the
contrivance on one side is of course the reverse of that on the other.
556. CORN PLANTER.--A long, hollow cylinder filled with seed corn and
having rows of holes placed at regular intervals for dropping the
kernels, and wedge-like or plow-shaped pieces of iron between the rows
so as to throw up a light covering of soil, would plant easily
twenty-nine acres a day. Such a simple contrivance would cost only a few
dollars, and would command a ready sale to agriculturists.
557. THE ALL-SEED PLANTER.--A device like the above, the wheels and
gearing remaining the same, but with the cylinder fixed so as to be
readily detached, and other cylinders substituted, having the rows and
sizes of holes adapted to the planting of any kind of seed. These sets
of cylinders would make the machine much more expensive than the one in
the former article, but it would be much cheaper than separate machines
for different seeds.
558. FERTILIZER DISTRIBUTOR.--One constructed on the plan of the
street-sprinkling cart would make much of the farm labor easier than it
now is.
559. BONE CUTTER.--Farmers want a cheap bone cutter--cost not to exceed
$5--by which bones and sea-shells can be cut into small bits for fowls.
Bone is an egg-producer, but no cheap means has been invented for
utilizing this kind of refuse.
560. BUCKET TIPPER.--A bucket with an attachment at the bottom
connecting with a finger-piece at the top, so that the bucket can be
tipped and its contents emptied without the wetting of the hands.
561. POST HOLE DIGGER.--A four-sided metal casing is driven into the
ground by a sledge-hammer. A small handle sunk in one side of the casing
pulls a metal plate through the earth at the bottom, thus making an
earth-filled box. Two more stout handles on the top are for lifting the
digger and its contents. A digger which could be made for $5 would sell
by the ten thousand.
562. WELL REFRIGERATOR.--Farmers often keep articles in the well; but if
an accident to the rope occur, the articles of food are often spilled,
thus spoiling the water in the well, and entailing great annoyance and
expense. Invent a way by which a well may be a safe ice-box.
563. MULTIPLE DASHER CHURN.--A churn which is constructed on the
principle of the common egg-beater, and which is operated from the top
instead of the side or end. A fortune in this.
564. FRUIT PICKER.--An open bag fixed at the end of a long pole with a
shears operated by a string in the hand of the picker.
565. PORTABLE FENCE.--A fence in which the posts are made of steel or
iron two inches in diameter, and tapering at the end so as to be readily
driven into the ground. Such a fence may be carried in a wagon and set
up anywhere in a few minutes.
566. POULTRY DRINKING FOUNTAIN.--A round wooden dish with a large cone
occupying the central space, except the narrow channel near the rim.
This will prevent the fowls from getting their feet in the water and
fouling it, while at the same time the cone is a reservoir of supply.
There should be a faucet allowing the water to drip slowly so as to keep
the channel filled.
567. POULTRY PERCH.--A movable perch, with an erect post and numerous
projecting arms. It has the advantage that it can be removed and
cleansed.
568. MOLE TRAP.--One of the greatest pests of the farmer, and the most
difficult to catch is the mole. Invent a trap whose upper part shall be
somewhat like an old-fashioned hetchel, full of sharp spikes; the under
part is a platform, and releases a spring when the mole steps upon it.
569. SEED SOWER.--Apply the principle of the revolving nozzle in the
lawn sprinkler to a machine for the sowing of seed.
570. MILKER AND STRAINER.--Construct a pail in two parts, the upper part
to receive the milk directly from the cow while a strainer separates it
from the lower part. Thus the milk can be taken from the barnyard
already strained.
571. PAPER MILK CAN.--In time milk cans will probably be constructed of
paper. The saving in cost of transportation would cause every farmer to
hail the construction of such an invention.
572. PLANT PRESERVER.--“A German chemist,” says _Merck’s Report_, “has
prepared a fluid that has the power when injected into the tissue of a
plant of anesthetizing the plant. The plant does not die, but stops
growing, maintaining its fresh, green appearance, though its vitality is
apparently suspended. It is also independent of the changes of
temperature. The composition of the fluid is shrouded in the greatest
secrecy, but as the process is not patented the secret may be discovered
and utilized by another investigator.”
_Section 14. Money in the Mails and in Writing Materials._
573. THE REVERSIBLE PACKAGE.--There is needed a package or paper box in
which legal papers or merchandise sent for approval can be turned inside
out and remailed to the sender. Such a device would have a large demand.
574. COPYING PAPER.--A paper used for duplicating manuscripts would
command a ready sale. The carbon paper now employed is very expensive.
575. WORD PRINTING TYPEWRITER.--Some typewriters have as many as fifty
keys. A small increase in number would cover the words in common use.
Many words can be omitted, and yet the sense be conveyed. Letters or
postal cards, consisting of one, two, or three lines could thus be
written in one moment.
576. TRANSPARENT INK BOTTLE.--Produce an ink-bottle of which the glass
shall not be so opaque as the one in common use and in which the depth
of the ink is clearly seen, thus avoiding the too deep dipping of the
pen, with the result of blots on the page and stains on the fingers.
577. DOUBLE POSTAL CARD.--The United States Government would no doubt
consider favorably a postal-card made double, so that one part could be
readily torn from the other and remailed, the one part containing the
message and the other left blank, save for the sender’s name and
address.
578. THE SAFETY ENVELOPE.--An envelope such that it is impossible for it
to be surreptitiously opened without the fact being discovered. The
government seeks such an envelope.
579. COMBINATION COVER AND LETTER.--An envelope to which is attached a
half-sheet of paper which folds in the cover, thus making only one
piece.
580. ALWAYS READY LETTER PAPER.--There is room for a device whereby
letter paper can be fed out to the writer as desired, so that the pen or
machine may travel continuously without stopping for new sheets.
581. INK REGULATOR.--An inkstand provided with a tiny wooden disk which
floats on the surface of the ink. The slightest touch of the pen
depresses the disk and permits the pen to be filled, and at the same
time prevents it from dipping too far, and thus making an unsightly daub
on the holder and fingers.
582. THE PEN FINGER.--Might not a device be attached to the forefinger
which could serve the uses of a pen? Think what ease and speed would be
gained if one could write directly with one’s finger instead of
employing the entire hand.
583. PEN REST.--There is room for a device which shall rest upon the
paper and support the pen while the latter is writing. Those who do
every day a vast amount of writing would appreciate this invention.
584. PERPETUAL PEN SUPPLY.--On a slight elevation have an inkstand with
an opening at the bottom to which is attached a small piece of hose, the
other end being connected with a hollow pen holder, thus insuring a
perpetual flow of ink. A saucer on the writing table containing a tiny
cup or several tiny cups holds the pen or pens in an upright position
when not in use, care being taken that the pens in that position are
higher than the reservoir, so as to cut off the supply.
585. LETTER ANNUNCIATOR.--Constructed on the principle of nickel and
slot. The weight of the letter in the house letter box pushes up into
view a red card, thus announcing the presence of mail matter at a
distance, and avoiding the opening of the box in vain.
586. ENVELOPE OPENER.--Most people open envelopes at the end, often with
trouble and awkwardly, but almost every envelope has one of the flaps a
little loose near the corner. A small flat piece of steel with ivory
handle such as could be disposed of for ten cents, would be salable.
587. MAIL STAMPER.--A stamper constructed upon a letter box so that it
would be impossible to insert a letter without at the same time stamping
it. The United States Government would pay a large sum for such a
device.
588. ROTARY STAMPER.--A wheel broad enough to contain the name desired,
and which is operated by taking the handle and drawing or pushing the
wheel over the matter to be stamped. It would be ten times quicker than
the ordinary way.
589. INVISIBLE INK.--An ink which is invisible, and must be treated by
some chemical to make it appear. It would be invaluable to those
carrying on a secret correspondence.
_Section 15. Money in Dress._
590. BACHELOR’S BUTTONS.--Invent an eyeless and threadless button,
somewhat on the style of the envelope-clasp. The million or more
bachelors would surely buy them.
591. SHOE FASTENER.--Some device is needed for the quicker and surer way
of fastening shoes. The button is inconvenient and the tie is
unreliable. The Foster kid glove fastener made the inventor a man of
millions.
592. A TROUSERS’ GUARD.--One which will effectively prevent the wear at
the bottom. Trousers commonly give way first at the end of the legs. The
trousers-wearing world is vexed by garments frayed at the bottom.
593. TWENTIETH CENTURY SHOE.--It will be one without laces or buttons.
The upper can be taken off or put on instantly when desired, and yet be
waterproof. There is a gold mine in that shoe.
594. COMBINATION TIE AND COLLAR.--A time saver which can be adjusted
instantly, and yet be separable when desired. You would not have lost
the train but for the delay in fixing your collar and tie. Thousands of
minutes saved every day mean as many thousands of dollars in the pockets
of the fortunate inventor.
595. SPRING HAT.--Not a hat to be worn only in the spring, but a hat
with a padded spring on each side, so that it will fit closely in all
kinds of weather, and whether the hair is long or short.
596. THE REAR-OPENING SHOE.--A shoe in which the foot could enter from
the back instead of from the top would have the double advantage of ease
of adjustment and elegant appearance. The buttons or lacings would then
all be upon the sides. There is a possibility of much money here.
597. DETACHABLE RUBBER SOLE.--An invention whereby a rubber sole may be
attached to an ordinary shoe in wet weather, or to the shoes of base
ball and tennis players to prevent them from slipping.
598. THE INSTANTANEOUS CEMENT.--For the last-named invention as well as
for hundreds of other cases, there is required a cement which will set
in a minute. The man who will produce it can live at his ease the rest
of his days.
599. ELASTIC HAT PIN.--A flexible pin provided with a clasp at the head
so that the pin may be bent around and secured, thus lessening the
danger from that formidable weapon.
600. STARCH-PROOF COLLAR BAND.--Shirts first wear on the collar.
Millions of otherwise perfectly sound garments have to be thrown away
because the collar band is worn out by the use of starch in ironing.
Here is the inventor’s opportunity.
601. DRESS SHIELD.--Ladies are often inconvenienced in keeping their
dresses out of the mud, both hands being occupied. A dress shield
attached to the dress does the work.
602. SLEEVE HOLDER.--An elastic cord passes between the fingers with a
grip at each end for holding the sleeve of a coat while an overcoat is
being donned.
603. THE CONVERTIBLE BUTTON.--The button which can be so contrived as to
be made into a flower holder when required would have an unlimited sale.
604. PAPER CLOTHING.--Many of the Japanese wear paper clothing. The idea
might be extended to warm climates, and in the summer season to our own
climate. Will not the time come when we shall hear of “Moses’ Patent
Paper Trousers,” and “Isaacs’ Patent Paper Coats?”
_Section 16. Money in Personal Conveniences._
605. THE POCKET UMBRELLA.--Few things are in more common or universal
use than the umbrella, and yet what a cumbersome, awkward thing it is.
Who will invent one that can be folded, packed and pocketed? A Mr.
Higgins, by the invention of the sliding thimble for umbrellas received
$100,000 cash as royalties on his patent. A pocket umbrella should
realize for its inventor much more than that.
606. THE MILLION MATCH.--A slow-burning match, which will burn four
times as long as the ordinary one. Such a device contains a million
dollars, for it would drive all other matches out of the market. “A
Hungarian named Janos Irinyi, the inventor of the lucifer or phosphorus
match, sold his patent for $3,500.”
607. FINGER-NAIL PARER.--A fine blade, especially adapted to the rounded
shape of the finger-nail. It may be attached to an ordinary penknife.
608. THE WATCH PAD.--A small watch set in the center of a square pocket
pad, so that the engagements for the day may be marked upon a paper
opposite the time fixed. The pad should have a sufficient number of
leaves to last a month or more. When all have been torn off, the watch
can be attached to a new pad.
609. POCKET BILL HOLDER.--Within a flat, leather case, suitable to be
carried in the pocket, construct a device for holding bills for
collection on one side and for bills for payment on the other. Every
business man wants it.
610. EXTENSION UMBRELLA.--An umbrella capable of extension in one
direction so as effectually to shelter three persons. It must be made on
a radically different plan from the kind now in use.
611. PORTABLE DESK.--A desk which can be conveniently carried under the
arm, hung upon a nail when it is not desired for use, and in unfolding
presents a stand and all the materials for writing.
612. FLOWER HOLDER.--A spring between the ends of pieces of wood will
cause the opposite ends to press firmly together. These ends will press
firmly to the lapel of the coat, and the coil of the spring will hold
the stem of the flower.
613. HAT LOCK.--A device for securely locking a hat in a public place so
that it can be removed only by the owner; a coat lock also would be
useful.
614. SPRING SHOE HEEL.--A spring inclosed within the leather of the heel
so as to facilitate walking. It would be of special aid to the sick and
the feeble.
615. SELF-IGNITING CIGAR.--Some day an inventor will make a stupendous
fortune by a cigar which can be ignited by simply rubbing the end, as a
match is now rubbed in lighting.
616. SPRING KNIFE.--A pocket knife in which the blade can be opened by
touching the spring, thus avoiding the vexation of broken finger-nails.
617. PHOSPHORESCENT KEY GUARD.--A device which will serve the double
purpose of covering the hole when the key is not in use and for finding
the hole when the key is inserted.
618. KNOT CLASP.--An effective clasp which will securely hold a knot.
Parcels are constantly becoming untied and shoes unlaced when an
effective clasp would prevent it. It must be very cheap.
619. SINGLE MATCH DELIVERY.--A penny-in-the-slot machine for use in
cigar stores, but operated free of cost. The machine should deliver but
a single match at a time.
620. WATCH HEAD CANE.--A small watch fixed in the head of a cane would
be a great convenience to walkers.
621. BOOK CASE CHAIR.--An easy chair, provided with a small rack for
books on each arm. Specially adapted for invalids.
622. COIN HOLDER.--A device by which coins are in sight in a traveler’s
purse, and by touch of a spring he can cause to fall the exact coin he
wants. Very convenient for ferries, cars and cabs.
623. THE POCKET PUNCH.--A simple punch by which with a pressure on a
pocket one could secretly make a record every time he paid out money,
and thus keep an account of his daily expenses without resort to
bookkeeping.
624. MOUTH GUARD.--If you can invent a mouthguard which will be both
simple and ornamental and prevent contamination when drinking at public
fountains or in partaking of the communion cup in churches, you will
confer much favor upon the community and reap large funds for yourself.
625. PARCEL FASTENER.--A hook and eye capable of instant insertion in
the wrapping of paper parcels would be sold by the million.
_Section 17. Money in Household Conveniences._
626. THE WARNING CLOCK.--A clock which will give notice of its wants
when it is nearly run down. A simple device which it should be easy to
contrive and quick to sell.
627. A SLOT GAS MACHINE.--One which will operate a certain length of
time by the payment of a nickel and automatically close when the money’s
worth is consumed. It would be invaluable for small consumers.
628. REVOLVING FLOWER STAND.--A clock-work device so that all plants in
a cone or pyramid could get their share of a sun-bath.
629. WINDOW SHADE SCREEN.--The inventor would make a fortune who could
devise something for windows which would be a shade or screen or both as
occasion required.
630. BABY WALKER.--A light frame, mounted on four casters, partially
supporting the baby and permitting him to propel himself in any
direction. Only the four posts need to be made of wood. For the rest,
two or three light pieces of cloth are sufficient. It should not cost
over fifty cents--better at twenty-five cents. Every mother with a baby
would want one at the latter price.
631. DETACHABLE SHOWER BATH.--Every house should be equipped with a
shower-bath, but few have one which can be readily attached to and
removed from the supply pipe of the bath room. A cheap article would
have an almost universal sale.
632. CARPET BEATER.--Every husband would buy a machine that would beat
carpets and thus save himself that drudgery or the expense of hiring a
man.
633. CARPET STRETCHER AND FASTENER.--Unite in one device a stretcher and
fastener, thus doing away with the mischievous tack and the damage of
piercing the carpet.
634. STEP-LADDER CHAIR.--A chair so contrived that it may be thrown into
a short step-ladder. A greatly needed device for the house.
635. A WINDOW FLY-GATE.--Apply the principle of the fly-trap to the
window screen. In this way the flies in the house may pass out, but
those without will not come in.
636. DOUBLE WINDOW SHADE.--It is often desirable to shade the lower half
of a window for the sake of privacy, while the upper half is left open
to let in light, but the present window shade covers the wrong half of
the window. Construct a shade which will be fastened to the bottom and
work up to meet the other, or else a single shade which works
exclusively from the bottom.
637. FOLDING BABY CARRIAGE.--One which will occupy no more room than an
ordinary chair. Perhaps your ingenuity could make an article which would
be a chair and a baby carriage combined.
638. A SCRUBBING MACHINE.--The handle just above the brush passes
through a cylinder holding two or three quarts of water, the bottom of
the cylinder being pierced with holes so that the brush is supplied with
water.
639. CATCH-ALL CARPET-SWEEPER.--A sweeper with an appliance for running
into the corners of rooms would supersede the sweepers now in use.
_Section 18. Money in the Saving of Life and Property._
640. SAFETY SHAFTS.--A device for separating the shafts from the body of
the carriage in the case of a runaway, and thus insure the safety of the
occupants.
641. POCKETBOOK GUARD.--Nearly all ladies carry the pocketbook in the
hand. A device should be invented for fastening it securely to the hand
so that it could not be snatched by a thief.
642. CHEAP BURGLAR ALARM.--If you can invent an effective burglar alarm
which can be sold at ten cents per window, you will have a monopoly in
that article.
643. COLLAPSIBLE FIRE ESCAPE.--One which may be folded or rolled and
kept beneath the window-sill, and which, when occasion requires, may be
extended by throwing the unattached end to the street.
644. AIR TESTER.--We have a barometer to test the vapor and a
thermometer to test the heat. Who will make a contrivance that will test
the quantity of pure oxygen in our rooms, and also detect the presence
of disease germs? Vast possibilities of wealth and fame open in this
direction.
645. LIFE BOAT LAUNCHER.--The two ends of the boat should be attached to
the arm of a crane, one chain of which swings the boat clear of the
ship, while another releases it from its fastenings. To the inventor
this will be Fortunatus’ boat.
646. SAW-TOOTH CRUTCH.--Provide a crutch with teeth on the under side
so that it can be used on ice or sleety pavements without slipping.
647. ELEVATOR SAFETY-CLUTCH.--Such a clutch has recently been invented,
but it acts too suddenly; what is needed is one which in time of
accident will bring the elevator to a stop slowly.
648. GUN-GUARD.--A rubber guard for guns which will prevent their
accidental discharge.
649. POCKET DISINFECTOR.--One has often to go into unhealthy
neighborhoods and places where disease germs lurk. A small flat can,
filled with some disinfectant which could be conveniently squirted,
would be not only a killer of offending odors, but also a saver of life.
650. AUTOMATIC FIRE ALARM.--Procure some substance easily melted by
heat; which, when melted, releases a spring which operates an alarm
bell.
651. KEY FASTENER.--A little thought properly applied will invent a
device whereby a key in a door will be proof against a burglar’s
nippers, it being impossible to turn the key until the device is
removed.
652. LIGHTNING ARRESTER.--Why has there been no improvement in the
ancient, unsightly, and expensive lightning rod? This is the more
remarkable since electricity is so much better understood now than
formerly. Invent a cheap means of arresting the deadly fluid, and of
turning it into a harmless channel.
653. A WINDOW CLEANER.--One which will do the work as well as human
hands, and at the same time do away with the peril of life and limb
while cleaning the outside of high windows.
654. SAFETY REIN.--A third rein attached loosely to the others, but
capable of being drawn tight under the horse’s chin, thus throwing his
head back and stopping him when disposed to run.
655. THE ROPE-GRIP.--A grip which will take a firm hold of a rope of any
size and not abrade the hand as in the ordinary method of descending by
a rope.
656. SCISSORS GUARD.--An attachment to the scissors which closes over
the parts when not in use, and thus prevents accidents to or by children
by their unskilful use.
657. THE DOUBLE POCKET.--A pocket in two parts, the lower part easily
opened by the owner, but of sufficient difficulty to baffle pickpockets.
658. FIRE EXTINGUISHER.--Now we will give you the secret of a fire
extinguisher that will do more with the same amount of chemicals used
than any patented fire extinguisher in the world. A small demijohn is
filled with a substance that looks like water, but sells for the price
of brandy. Half a dozen of these demijohns scattered about a building
will protect it from conflagration, for it contains a liquid which is
the most inimical to fire that is known. A gallon of it thrown on the
flames will subdue any ordinary fire, and yet--here is the secret--it is
nothing but aqua-ammonia.
_Section 19. Money in the Laboratory._
659. FLY-KILLER.--There is needed some powerful chemical that will
destroy flies the moment they enter the house, and yet be harmless to
man. He will become richer than Crœsus who shall give us the much
needed boon.
660. ARTIFICIAL EGG.--The art of chemistry is now so far advanced that a
clever student of the science ought to compound an egg which will be so
cheap and such a clever imitation of nature, as to enable him to make
money by his skill.
661. SEDIMENT-LIQUEFIER.--Find a chemical substance that will liquefy
the residual substances in barrels. There would be an enormous demand
for a composition that would do the work effectively.
662. FIRE KINDLER.--A material which will kindle both wood and coal
without addition of paper, shavings, or any other article.
663. EGG PRESERVER.--No process has yet been found for preserving eggs
for months and keeping them as fresh as newly-laid ones. Here is the
chance for the practical chemist.
664. MOSQUITO ANNIHILATOR.--The greatest pest is the mosquito. If some
chemical could be found which could be squirted liberally upon the
marshes, which are the breeding place of the mosquito, and thus
annihilate the pest, a long suffering public would shower its benefactor
with gold.
665. ARTIFICIAL FUEL.--There is needed a fuel that can be produced as
cheap as wood for use in the spring and fall, when the weather is too
mild for the use of the furnace.
666. THE FLAMLESS TORCH.--There are hogsheads full of money for the man
who will invent an igniter which will cause combustible matter to burn,
but will not itself flame--a device which can ignite a lamp instantly by
a thrust down the chimney, or light the gas without the usual hunt for a
match.
667. CHEMICAL ERASER.--Some chemical should be produced which will
effectively erase the marks of a pen and leave the paper the same as
before.
_Section 20. Money in Tools._
668. THE INSTANTANEOUS WRENCH.--A monkey wrench, the jaws of which may
be adjusted instantly, instead of by the screwing process now in vogue.
669. THE DOUBLE CHANNELED SCREW HEAD.--A screw in which the head has two
channels instead of one, crossing each other at right angles.
670. THE DOUBLE POWER SCREW DRIVER.--The last invention requires
another, a screw driver, also double at the end, by means of which twice
the power may be acquired in the insertion of screws.
671. THE MULTIPLE BLADE PARER.--A knife with several blades so arranged
as to cut the skin of the fruit on all sides at once, and with a gauge
to fit it to any size of fruit.
672. KNIFE GUARD.--A knife with a guard for peeling fruit, preventing
the fruit from being pared too deep.
673. THE ALL-TOOL.--A pocket device on the principle of a many-bladed
knife, except that instead of blades the things which open from the
handle, besides the single blade, are a saw, gimlet, file, cork-screw,
screw driver and other useful tools.
674. A NAIL CARRYING HAMMER.--A device for holding nails to a hammer.
Carpenters would work twice as fast.
_Section 21. Money in the Cars._
675. A SPEED INDICATOR.--A contrivance for determining the speed of
street railway cars. The speed is governed by law, but there is no
practical means for determining how great it is. The laws of all our
cities will insure the success of such an invention.
676. AUTOMATIC CAR-COUPLER.--A device is needed whereby the simple
impact of one car upon another will cause a coupling-pin to be inserted
in place. If you can contrive a system by which cars can be coupled by
the same mechanism now employed for air-brakes, every one of the million
or more cars on our railways will be equipped with it.
677. THE FENDER CAR-BRAKE.--A fender so constructed that when it strikes
an obstacle a brake is released which binds the wheels. Hundreds of
lives would be saved every year. Companies which now pay heavy sums for
loss of life and limb would buy such an invention on most liberal terms.
678. FOLDING CAR-STEP.--To avoid the difficulty of alighting from a car
or of climbing into one when a car is not at a platform, invent a step
which folds up when not in use.
679. CAR SIGNAL.--A device for signaling would-be passengers when the
car is full. The law will soon require such a device, and then there
will be a rush of inventors to reap the reward. “The early bird catches
the worm.”
680. AUTOMATIC WATER TANK.--Here is a valuable suggestion to railway
engineers and mechanics. It is believed that it is entirely feasible to
construct a railway water tank that shall work automatically. It is to
be done by utilizing the waste steam of the engine. It is a new
application of the old principle of the forcing of water into and out of
a steam-tight chamber by the alternate admission thereto and
condensation therein of live steam. The condensation produces a vacuum,
and the pressure of the external atmosphere forces water into the tank.
It is only necessary to locate the tank within suction distance of its
water supply, and there is the saving of wages, fuel and repairs. It has
been recently stated that the cost of pumping at the railway stations of
the United States last year amounted to $7,000,000, or an average of
$700 per station. Who will put these millions in his pocket by devising
an automatic water-tank?
_Section 22. Money in Making People Honest._
681. THE HOUSEKEEPER’S SAFETY PUNCH.--We want a device which will do
away with the need of trusting to the honesty of the ice-man, grocer,
baker, and others who supply our daily wants.
682. THE UNALTERABLE CHECK.--Invent a small, flat leather case with lock
and key, into which the check or checks will securely fit. Only the
signer of the check and the officer of the bank have the key. The
latter, after paying the check, holds the case for the depositor. This
would make it impossible for the check to be raised, or, if lost, for a
dishonest finder to have it cashed, as he would be unable to give either
the name or the amount. The cases should be made very cheap so that a
depositor could possess a number at a trivial cost.
683. EGG TESTER.--One which will test eggs by a new method and grade
them according to the length of time they have been laid, such as three
days’ eggs, three weeks’ eggs, packed eggs, etc.
684. UMBRELLA LOCK.--A small attachment to an umbrella which will serve
as a lock when in place, and will do away with the intolerable nuisance
of stolen umbrellas.
685. THE GUARANTEED BOX.--There is sore need of a patented box
guaranteed to hold exactly one quart. Not only do present measures
differ, but the custom of dealers is not uniform with regard to a
heaping or an even measure.
_Section 23. Money in Traveler’s Articles._
686. THE ADJUSTABLE TRUNK.--Some kinds of traveling bags can be adjusted
to suit the degree of baggage a traveler needs. Some similar arrangement
should be supplied for trunks. A half-filled trunk is more apt to be
broken than a full one.
687. THE HOLLOW CANE.--One which will contain many small articles for
the use of travelers.
688. THE ELASTIC TRUNK STRAP.--Avoid the hard work of strapping trunks
as well as the unsightly straps by inventing an ornamental band which
will do by elasticity what is now done by the buckle.
689. THE SLIDE BAG.--An extension handbag in which when required the
ends may be slid out so as to treble the space, and when empty may be
slid back, making it very small.
690. THE OUTFIT TRUNK.--There should be a trunk with various divisions
for the reception of articles, like the drawers of a bureau or the
compartments of a writing desk, in which everything can be properly
placed.
_Section 24. Money in Toilet Articles._
691. CURLING IRON ATTACHMENT.--A wire frame attached to a lamp. The top
part, which is fixed on the lamp chimney, should have a depression for
holding a curling iron. May be sold to every lady for ten cents.
692. THE HINGE BLACKING BOX.--Invent a blacking box with a hinge top,
and thus avoid the difficulty of opening it in the old way, and also the
nuisance of soiled hands.
693. THE MIRROR HAIR BRUSH.--A combined toilet article for travelers,
the handle of the brush being enlarged so as to hold the comb, which is
released by a spring, and the end of the brush containing a small
mirror.
694. THE SOAP SHAVING BRUSH.--A shaving brush with a tin casing
containing soap. Turning the brush makes a lather all ready for
application to the face. Very convenient for travelers.
_Section 25. Money in Amusements._
695. THE DUCKING STOOL.--A game for seaside resorts. Bathers would like
a large pool or tank where, by a system of planks fastened to a central
post, two bathers could go alternately up and down, one being in the
water while the other was in the air, an arrangement like the see-saw
which children are so fond of. It should have sufficient capacity to
accommodate a number of bathers at once, and should be as near as
possible to the sea, so as to be available by persons in bathing suits,
who have already had a salt bath.
696. THE DOUBLE MOTION SWING.--A swing or scup, in which the swinger can
raise himself up and down at the same time he is being carried backward
and forward.
697. THE FOLDING SKATE.--The man who will invent a skate which can be
folded and put in the pocket will not only confer a boon upon millions
of skaters, but will also put a snug fortune in his own pocket.
698. BICYCLE BOAT.--A boat in which the pedal movement, as used in the
bicycle, is employed for driving power, and the boat is propelled in the
water somewhat after the manner that the bicycle goes upon the land.
_Section 26. Money in War._
699. THE SLOW EXPLOSIVE.--A shell that will penetrate the armor of a
vessel before exploding and not, as now, at the instant of contact. A
military officer in France says that a fortune awaits the man who shall
invent such a shell.
700. THE TRANSPARENT CARTRIDGE.--A mica cartridge would have the
advantage of being transparent, permitting the slightest chemical change
to be detected, and the danger of premature explosion avoided. Mica has
the peculiar property of withstanding intense heat.
701. SHIP’S BOTTOM CLEANER.--Here is an invention that would be cheap at
any price; one that would clean the bottom of seagoing vessels without
the necessity of docking. Even if it cost as much as docking, it would
still be a great invention of immense utility, because it would save the
time of a long voyage. It is believed that the road to this invention
lies in the direction of electricity, whose industrial applications are
so rapidly multiplying. There is more fame and fortune in this than in
the much-lauded revolving turret.
702. SELF-LOADING PISTOL.--There is room for improvement in small arms.
A pistol ought to be invented which will fire eight or ten shots in
rapid succession, the discharge continuing simply by the holding back of
the trigger. In many kinds of fireworks the balls are sent off in
succession in this way, while the piece is held in the hand. Apply the
same or a similar principle to the pistol, and your reward will be that
of a Mauser or a Maxim.
_Section 27. Money in Minerals._
703. GALVANIZED IRON.--If you can discover a process for galvanizing
iron which will save one-tenth of a cent in its present cost, you will,
figuratively speaking, sink a shaft into an endless mine of gold, for
the amount of galvanized iron now in use is enormous, and the range of
its usefulness is constantly increasing.
704. METAL EXTRACTOR.--A solution which will precipitate gold or silver
from the ore, and thus save immense sums now expended in the crushing of
the ore. Such an invention would revolutionize the mining industry, and
make the inventor enormously rich. Mr. Edison says: “I am convinced
there is not a single abandoned gold claim in the world, where gold has
ever been discovered, from which the precious ore cannot be extracted in
quantities to pay a big margin of profit over the cost of operation.”
705. GOLD PAINT.--Henry Bessemer invented gold paint, which remains a
secret to this day. At first he made one thousand per cent. To-day it
yields three hundred per cent. Here is a chance for the man of brains,
as the monopoly lies in a secret and not in a patent.
_Section 28. Money in Great Inventions Unclassified._
706. STORAGE OF POWER.--No man with brains need go to the Klondike.
Diggings that pay infinitely better will be found in your own little
workshop. Vast fortunes await those who can think out some means of
utilizing the natural forces, such as tides, winds, wave power, and
sunshine. These forces can be and soon will be stored compactly, so as
to respond promptly to sudden drafts of power. The future of the entire
world’s work lies along these lines, and there will be inventions and
enterprises that in importance will dwarf the discovery of steam power
and revolutionize the world’s commerce.
707. PICTORIAL TELEGRAPHY.--One of the greatest fortunes ever made by
inventors will be realized by him who succeeds in making a perfect
picture by means of the electric wire. Already inventors are at work
trying “to send pictures by telegraph,” and some have nearly succeeded;
but the first in this hot race will go to the head of millionaire
inventors.
708. SOLIDIFIED PETROLEUM.--Here is a fuel which, if possible--and it
seems entirely so--will turn the world upside down. It is said that
petroleum can be compressed into a solid, and that three cubic feet will
represent the bulk of a ton of coal, and will last combustible as long
as fifty tons. Think of the immense saving to our merchantmen,
steamboat, and war vessels. Instead of five thousand or six thousand
tons of coal, they will have only a few petroleum sticks. No invention
of early or modern times contains such possibilities of economy in
commerce, of revolution in means of transportation, and of limitless
fortune to the lucky discoverer, as this one that promises or threatens
to displace coal, as yet the greatest factor in the world’s progress.
Here is a prize alluring enough to call out the keenest and most devoted
powers of the scientific inventor.
709. NON-INFLAMMABLE WOOD.--The vast benefit of a non-inflammable wood
has long been realized. As long ago as 1625, a patent for such a process
was taken out in England, but the old inventors labored under the
disadvantage of being ignorant of the chemical and physical qualities of
wood. But the time is now ripe for a successful invention of that kind.
The difficulty is to get rid of the combustible gases in the wood
without at the same time destroying the cells. This difficulty could
probably be overcome by placing the wood in a vacuum, admitting steam,
and thus, vaporizing the moisture of the wood, drawing off the product
of the vapor. Then, if the wood should be saturated with certain salts,
it would doubtless be found that the combustible gases would be
destroyed, and the carbonization of the wood under high heat prevented.
If the process should be successful, the demand for the wood would be
enormous, as it would be immediately required for all vessels, and
indeed, for all buildings. The possibilities of wealth from such an
invention almost surpass the limit of the imagination.
710. SUCTION PIPE.--There are many delicate operations in manufacture
which are now performed at great expense by hand, but which could be
done better and cheaper by a gentle air pressure. The inventor of a
device of this kind for spreading and shaping the tobacco leaf in cigar
manufacture has his patent capitalized for $2,000,000, and it is paying
sixty per cent. interest.
CHAPTER XVI.
MONEY IN THE SOIL.
Relation between Soils and Skulls--The Secrets of Successful
Farming--Why go to Alaska when there are Gold Mines at the
Home--Jute, a Keyword to Fortune--A Million Dollars in this
Suggestion--What Ignorance Costs the American Farmer--A Rival of
King Cotton--Doubling One’s Money in Fowls--How to get a Big Apple
Crop every Year--$6,000 a Year to go to South America--Or, If you
want to Go West, Uncle Sam will give you a Slice of Land--Onions
the “Open Sesame” to Fortune--Breaking Records with
Potatoes--Yankees and Hickory Nuts--How “Plunger” Walton made a
Fortune in Two Years--The Great Elmendorf Stock-Farm.
We often hear it said that there is no money in farming. On the other
hand, there are few occupations in which there is so much money, if the
work is carried on in the right way. The trouble is that people often
think it takes little intellect to be a farmer. The truth is just the
reverse. To get returns out of the soil there must be brains in the
skull. We know a farmer on Long Island with less than sixty acres of
land who has acquired a fortune in fifteen years of close application to
the problems of the farm. He has found the secret of knowing how to make
Nature give down her milk. Every foot of land is under cultivation, and
although he employs often as many as two score of men, he gives every
part of the work his personal inspection. Further than this, his three
secrets of success, he tells us, are, What, When and Where--What to
plant, When to plant, and Where to market.
Do you know it is a fact that $500,000,000 more was received from the
sale of crops this year than last? What do you think of that, you
Klondikers who suffer hardships in the Alaskan mountains for the sake of
a little gold which, after all, you will probably never get? If the gold
output of the newly discovered regions of the far North reaches this
year $10,000,000--a most liberal estimate, and probably two or three
times the actual yield--remember that the soil right here at home, with
one-half the labor and none of the risk of life, has yielded fifty times
that amount. And this is not the actual yield, but only the surplus over
and above what the fields gave the year before. Five hundred millions of
gold more than last year dug out of the soil--think of it! In the
following examples we only give the byways of farming--that is, what can
be done, by the cultivation of a single product, and not what may be
accomplished in the regular way. Of course, much more can be made by the
raising of several staples, and by a systematic rotation of crops.
711. SUBSTITUTE FOR SILK.--Send to the Department of Agriculture for
jute seed. Jute will take dye as a sponge takes water, and it has a
gloss which makes it capable of being used in combination with silk so
as to defy detection. Remember that when a thing can be made to look
like some other thing at one-twentieth the cost, it opens the way for
mines of wealth. A word to the wise is sufficient. Jute needs a warm
climate, and you must go to the Southern States.
712. WASHINGTON PIPPINS.--They are known as Newtown Pippins, but let us
give you a secret. The soil of the State of Washington is so adapted to
this apple that you can raise from one-fourth to one-half greater crops
than in any other State. Apple raisers, remember this.
713. DORSETS AND DOWNS.--Fancy breeds of sheep! Two hundred million
dollars worth of wool from these breeds were imported last year. That
was what we paid for a name, and for our ignorance in not knowing that
we can raise just as good sheep here. Reader, if you want a share of
this $200,000,000, study a good book about sheep farming, purchase a few
of these two famous breeds, and put the wool on the market as the
genuine Dorset; for so it is. The place counts for not one atom--only
the breed.
714. AMERICAN CHEESE.--Here again we are foolishly playing into the
hands of foreigners, paying $1,500,000 every year for that which can be
produced equally as good and cheap at home. Everybody should know that
there is no better spot on the globe for the kind of pasture that makes
delicious cheese than Delaware County in the State of New York. We pay
these millions to foreigners because we do not produce enough at home;
but here, within two or three hours freightage of the metropolis of the
Western World, we have the best cheese-producing country on earth.
715. BUSINESS APPLES.--We call them Business Apples because they will
mean a good business for you if you are wise enough to undertake their
culture. Go to Missouri and try the Ben Davis variety. The soil of that
State is the best for that kind of apple. A man there set out two
hundred trees, and last year sold $450 worth of Ben Davis apples. At the
same rate, one thousand trees, covering about five acres, should bring
you $2,500.
716. FORTUNES IN POPPIES.--Here is another new idea. France has caught
upon it; why may not the farmer of this country? Five hundred thousand
pounds of opium are sold every year in our drug stores, but it has been
thought that the drug could only be raised in the East. This is a
mistake. The French farmers sold 5,000,000 francs worth last year. It
yields a net profit of $25 an acre and requires little culture. It may
yet become a rival of King Cotton in our Southern States, but those who
are wide-awake enough to be the first in the field will reap the lion’s
share of this new bidder for our enterprise.
717. THE CAPON FARM.--One hundred per cent. capons! This is the actual
experience of a raiser. He operated on forty, sent them to market and
realized $39.24. He estimates the cost of keeping at less than fifty
cents each. There are few investments in which the gross proceeds are
double the cost. In addition, the raising of capons may be carried on
with the ordinary poultry farm.
718. BARRELS OF BALDWINS.--The home of this market favorite is Northern
New York and Northern New England. It is a hardy tree. Apple trees
commonly bear only every second year, and often cease to bear
altogether. The secret of success is to stir the soil and add a little
fertilizer. Good Baldwins, commanding from $2.50 to $3.50 per barrel,
may be raised every year with the certainty of clockwork, if the owner
only exercises proper diligence and care.
719. RARE RODENTS.--Money in rats and mice! In killing them? No, in
raising them. At the pet-stock department and appendage of the poultry
show in New York recently, rats and mice, white or finely marked,
brought all the way from $1 to $12, according to the fineness of the
colors. It will be a revelation to most farmers that there is money in
creatures which they have hitherto regarded as pests to be put out of
the way.
720. MORTGAGE-LIFTER OATS.--So-called because a man developed a
particular variety, and with the sales, advertised as fancy seed and
bringing more than double the ordinary kind, lifted a crushing mortgage
from his farm. You can develop a variety as well as he. Give it a taking
name, and advertise freely.
721. RECORD-BREAKING DATES.--A date plantation of five hundred or six
hundred acres, and capable of holding thirty thousand trees, can be
bought for $500. The fifth year after planting the trees should bear
sixty thousand pounds of dates, worth at least $6,000. Pretty good
return for $500! Dates are raised chiefly in South America.
722. DOLLAR WHEAT.--Western farmers have contended that if they could
command $1 a bushel for wheat they could get rich. This year their hopes
have been realized. If it is, as many believe, the beginning of better
times for the wheat-raiser, and the cereal can be kept at that price,
you have but to follow the advice of Horace Greeley, and “Go West” to
become a rich man. The government will give you the land, and industry
and economy will do the rest.
723. LEAF TOBACCO.--Where tobacco can be raised, farmers have abandoned
nearly every other crop. It needs a rich, warm soil, and some experience
in order to insure success; but if you “once learn the trade,” you will
hardly try to raise anything else. North of Virginia, it must be raised
it the “bottom-lands” of the rivers. Price, $8 to $10 per one hundred
pounds.
724. TREE NURSERY.--The expense of a tree nursery is almost nothing
beyond the first investment. Small trees before transplanting may be set
one foot apart, and hence an acre will hold about forty-four thousand.
At nine cents apiece--the average price--this means $3,960. Deduct for
labor and expressage. The success of the tree merchant depends almost
solely on his finding a market.
725. ROUND NUMBER ONIONS.--The round number of one thousand bushels to
the acre has been done, and can be done under favorable circumstances.
In a certain district in Fairfield County, Conn., nearly all the men are
well-to-do farmers. Ask them the secret of their success and the one
reply will be “onions.” Here, surely, even in rocky Connecticut, farming
pays. They get from seventy-five cents to $1.25 per bushel. The crop is
not always a safe one, dependent upon weather conditions; but, taken one
year with another, the farmers do well, and steadily add to their bank
account.
726. POTATO PROFITS.--Let us see what can be done with potatoes. In a
prize contest recently the average per acre was 465 bushels. The highest
was 975 bushels. The price per bushel was from sixty to sixty-six cents.
The next profit was on the average $260 per acre and in case of the
highest was about $500. Of course this is vastly above what is
accomplished by the ordinary farmer, but it shows what can be done with
good soil, liberal dressing, prolific variety, and thorough tillage.
727. GOLDEN GEESE.--Here is one man’s experience: “I bought a gander and
three geese. From the geese I received yearly forty eggs each in two
litters, or a total of 120. I find that from this number of eggs I can
safely count on seventy-five per cent of matured chicks, or ninety
goslings. The weight when fatted is 855 pounds, and at twenty cents a
pound I receive $171. Cost of keeping is $46. Profits, $125. Of course,
the sum varies one year from another, but this is my average for five
years.” At the same rate the goslings from 100 geese would pay a net
profit of $4,125, but if they paid only one-quarter that sum it would
still be a profitable investment.
728. CALIFORNIA PRUNES.--This great state has now 85,000 acres planted
with prunes, and produced last year 65,000,000 pounds. The crop has
grown from nothing to this enormous amount in the last few years. People
do not rush into an enterprise in this way unless they are pretty sure
it is a good thing. The “good thing” in this case is that prunes costing
one and one half cents per pound to raise sell for six and seven cents,
and the prune raisers are all getting rich.
729. A BEE FARM.--Here is another California bonanza. Says a man in the
southern part of the State: “Last year I marketed ten tons of extracted
honey, and three tons of comb honey, all from 154 colonies. I received
on an average ten cents per pound, or a total of $3,600. The space
employed was 1,386 feet, or somewhat less than an acre.”
730. THE APPLE ACRE.--A man in New England said that after forty years
experience, raising all kinds of crops, he found that his apple orchard
averaged $55 per acre, which was better than any crop on his other 200
acres of land.
731. THE SUGAR BEET.--Purchase a farm within a few miles of a sugar beet
factory. With proper cultivation you can grow nine tons to the acre, and
the factory price should be $4.50 per ton. The thriftiness of the beet
makes little trouble with weeds, and hence the expense of raising is not
one-fourth that of onions.
732. GILT-EDGED BREEDS.--The sum of $5,100 was recently paid for a
Poland-China boar. A litter of pigs of this breed brought $3,500. These
sums seem almost incredible, but when people have both the mania and the
money they will pay any amount to gratify their taste. There are persons
who take as much pride in pigs as others do in horses. The best way to
succeed with new breeds is to cultivate a strain for yourself. It
requires time, patience and experience, and some outlay in risk, but in
the end it pays, especially if one has the gift of knowing how to
trumpet his stock.
733. DECEMBER LAYERS.--With a trifling expense you can have eggs at
Christmas as well as at Easter. The price is often more than double at
the former season. Connect with hot water-pipes and keep your hens warm.
A cold hen never lays an egg. A poultry expert says if a flock is well
cared for the whole year round, it should pay annually for each hen $1
net. At the same rate a flock of four hundred would bring a net income
of $400.
734. FLORIDA CELERY.--In Florida the first growers made from $500 to
$1,500 per acre. Competition has reduced the price, but at present rates
men with six acres are getting a comfortable support, and those who have
the means to cultivate a large farm of this popular vegetable are
rapidly growing rich.
735. ONEIDA HOPS.--It takes a good many hops to weigh a pound, but
growers in Oneida County, New York, have raised 1,400 pounds per acre,
receiving therefor $112. Probably this is somewhat better than the
average, but profits in even low-price years are better in that section
of the country than for any other crop. Hops are a safe and easy crop.
736. BOSTON BEANS.--They are not raised in Boston--only baked there.
They are a hardy crop, and will grow on any properly cultivated soil.
One year with another they bring $2.50 per bushel. Beans are the surest
of all crops, and if the price were only as certain, you could figure
out your income in advance almost as accurately as if employed on a
salary.
737. CHRISTMAS TREES.--Buy for a few hundred dollars an abandoned farm
too poor for culture, and pack it with small evergreens. Christmas trees
command from fifty cents to $5, and you can grow a thousand of them on a
single acre. There are fortunes in what is called worthless land if you
know how to improve it.
738. THE GUARANTEED EGG.--A great business can be done with a guaranteed
egg. Success depends upon the absolute perfection of your egg. Have a
stamp made, and stamp every egg with the name of your farm, and offer to
replace any one found faulty. Also stamp the date on which they are
taken from the nest. In this way you will absolutely protect your
product from the frauds of dealers, your eggs will attain a wide
reputation, will have an unlimited demand, and you will grow rich. There
is a mine of gold in this suggestion.
739. DOUBLE VEGETABLE CULTURE.--Here is an idea of a New Jersey farmer.
He has conceived the notion of grafting tomatoes on potatoes vines, or
an air crop on a root crop, and thus raising vegetables at both ends.
There is nothing impracticable in the notion, and it is doubtless
entirely feasible, if only he is liberal enough with his fertilizers.
This is an idea for growers who have only a limited space, and where
land is high.
740. ENGLISH SHIRES.--Colts from Lord Rothschild’s stud farm last year
averaged $875. It costs little more to keep a good horse than a poor
one. There are great possibilities in the raising of fine-blooded
horses. The colt that won the great Futurity race this year could have
been easily bought for $700 before the race. Now $20,000 will not
purchase him. “Plunger” Walton made $350,000 in two years on the turf.
At the Elmendorf stud farm near Lexington, Ky., a short time ago
thirty-three yearling colts were sold at prices ranging from $150 to
$5,100, the average price being $1,460.87 per head; at the same time
twenty yearling fillies brought an average of $676.50 per head, the
forty-three yearling colts and fillies being the product of one breeding
farm and selling in one day for $47,130 or an average of $1,095.80 per
head.
741. FORTUNES IN NUT SHELLS.--Land too poor for meadow or even for
pasture may be utilized for nut-growing. The trees require little
attention, but will produce bushels of nuts if the soil is properly
stirred and fertilized every year. One man in Connecticut raises each
year 100 bushels of hickory nuts from ten trees, and sells them at $2 a
bushel. The rocky, waste lands of New England can grow millions of these
trees. Chestnuts can be grown cheaper than wheat. The standard price is
$4 to $8 per bushel, but large chestnuts, early in the season, that is,
in September and October, bring from $10 to $15 per bushel. Judge Salt,
of Burlington, N. J., says he has a chestnut tree in the middle of a
wheat field that pays more than the wheat. The average is about $19 per
tree, and twenty trees have ample room in an acre. This makes $300 per
acre with but little cost for cultivation. Here is something of
importance about the pecan. The chief pomologist at Washington, D. C.,
says: “The cultivation of nuts will soon be one of the greatest and most
profitable industries in the United States, and there is no use in
denying the fact that the Texas soft shell pecan is the favorite nut of
the world.” The average yield of these nuts in North Carolina is $300 to
$500 per acre. Some pecan trees in New Jersey are producing annually
five to six bushels of delicious, thin-shelled nuts.
CHAPTER XVII.
MONEY IN LITERATURE.
Profits of the Pen--Ten Cents a Word--A Millionaire
Novelist--$3,000 for a Short Story--How Hall Caine Won a Fortune--A
Pilgrimage of Publishers--“One Thousand Times Across the
Atlantic”--$5,000 for a Song--Suggestions to Writers--What It Pays
to Write.
Literature requires the least capital of any enterprise with the
possibilities of rich reward and wide renown. A pen, a bottle of ink, a
ream of paper, and--_brains_. These are all. There is no occupation so
discouraging to the one who lacks the last-named quality and few so
alluring to those who possess it. Authors are supposed to write for
fame, but fame and fortune are twin sisters which are seldom separated.
Hack writers are indeed hard worked and poorly paid, but in the higher
walks of literature rewards are generous. In London, the rates to
first-class writers are $100 per 1,000 words. In one case $135 was paid,
and in another $175 demanded. Amelia Barr, the famous novelist, receives
$20,000 a year from the sale of her books. There is a great deal of
subterranean literature unknown to the critics and the magazine writers,
but which, nevertheless, pays handsomely. One Richebourg, of Paris, has
4,000,000 readers, and often receives $12,000 for the serial rights
alone, yet he is unknown to the magazine public. In this country the
“Albatross Novels,” by Albert Ross, sold to the extent of a million
copies, and the author acquired such a fortune that he was able to
engage in charity on a magnificent scale, yet the author is unknown to
fame.
Among the instances of the pecuniary rewards for single works are “Les
Miserables,” by Victor Hugo, which brought $80,000 and “Trilby,” which
netted the author the princely sum of $400,000. “Quo Vadis,” by
Sienkiewicz, sells all over the world, but its author had already made
half a million dollars with his pen before he wrote that popular book.
It is not our purpose in this chapter to treat of books requiring
transcendent genius to create, but rather to suggest titles of works
which may be composed by less gifted authors, books, which if written
with fair ability cannot fail to be of interest and profit.
742. THE POPULAR NOVEL.--This is the best paying form of literature. The
pen that can touch the popular heart may not be a gold one, but it will
bring gold into the pockets of him who wields it. Amelie Rives received
$6,000 for “According to St. John.” Lord Lytton received $7,500 for some
of his novels. Of the “Heavenly Twins,” 50,000 copies were sold in 1894;
of the “Bonny Brier Bush,” 30,000 in five months; and of the “Manxman”
50,000 in four months. Of Mrs. Henry Wood’s “East Lynne,” 400,000 have
been sold, and her thirty-four books have reached altogether over
1,000,000 copies. In France, there are sold every year of Feuilleton’s
works, 50,000; of Daudet’s, 80,000, and of Zola’s, 90,000. Hall Caine
received outright a check for $50,000 for “The Christian.” He had struck
the popular chord with the “Deemster.” There was almost a pilgrimage of
publishers to the Isle of Man to make engagements for the pen of the new
writer when that book was launched upon the market.
743. THE SHORT STORY.--The short story is very popular in this country,
and has attained a perfection reached nowhere else in the world. The
rules of success in this department are briefly these: First, to be
strikingly original; second, to write simply and naturally; and third,
to condense into the smallest compass. Be brief. This is the age of
electricity. Many a story of 10,000 words has been rejected when if it
had contained half that number it would have been accepted. Publishers
pay liberal rates for short, good stories. The New York _Herald_
recently paid Mollie E. Seawell $3,000 for a short story. Within a very
short time a magazine has offered a price of $1,000 for the best short
story; another has made the same offer; and a third one of $500. Among
the publications that pay the authors the highest rates are _Harper’s
Magazine_, the _Century_, _McClure’s_, the _Youth’s Companion_, and the
_Ladies’ Home Journal_. There are several others that pay nearly as
much.
744. THE VILLAGE REPORTER.--Write up some event that occurs in your
neighborhood. Any leading newspaper will pay for it if well written. It
must be spicy, but not ornate. Put in strong, nervous adjectives; color
well. Take care not to make it libelous. If you succeed you can try
again, and if you show aptness at the work you will doubtless secure a
position as a reporter.
745. THE TRUTH CONDENSER.--Facts for the million! Do you know that a
cyclopedia of the most useful information can be written in a single
volume? The “Britannica” has twenty-five volumes. The “International”
fifteen. Here is needed the faculty of condensation. Use facts only, and
you will be surprised to find how many articles consist only of words.
Make use of the great cyclopedias, the newspaper almanacs, government
reports, and all books in which knowledge is condensed. Pack the book
full of the things the millions want to know.
746. TOWN HISTORY.--Write a short history of your native town or of some
other town. Publish the portraits, and residences or places of business,
of the leading townsmen. Mention in the book everybody in the town whom
you can. Even for the most humble can be found a place in a work of
genealogy. The wealthy will give you large sums for the illustrations,
and the vanity of the poor will cause them to buy a book in which their
name appears. Cost of issue of book, $1,000. One thousand subscribers at
$2 apiece, $2,000. One hundred of the wealthier class who will pay you
$10 apiece for their portraits, $1,000. Profits, $2,000. If you are
satisfied with the result, go on to the next town, and so on _ad
infinitum_.
747. THE SHOPPERS’ GUIDE.--A small book could be issued in paper covers
for twenty-five cents, giving an explanation of every kind of goods, the
difference, and the best kinds and brands. Not one person in twenty is
posted on these things, and must take the clerk’s word. It should show
what firms make a specialty in any line or department, and on what days
they make a discount. Merchants would no doubt pay you at advertising
rates for such a notice of their places of business. The book should
include dry-goods and fancy stores as well as grocers and meat markets.
Such a book should sell by the million.
748. A BIRTHDAY BOOK.--We have the “Shakespeare Birthday Book,” the
“Tennyson Birthday Book,” the “Emerson Birthday Book,” and many others.
Add one more, the “Richter.” The writings of Jean Paul abound in
felicitous and eloquent passages, just suited for such a work.
749. A CHURCH-WORKERS’ BOOK.--A man had a half-written book on
church-work, dividing it into twenty branches with one thousand working
plans to be given by the most successful ministers and other Christian
workers in the land; but owing to a pressure of other duties he was
unable to complete it. This lead is still unworked.
750. HOUSEHOLD ECONOMICS.--A book can be written by one who understands
the subject which it would pay every housekeeper to buy. The kitchen
alone should supply at least one hundred examples of waste. The care of
servants would employ another important part of the book. Every room
would afford a chapter. Such a book, telling the inexperienced
housekeeper what to buy and how to economize would save money for many a
beginner.
751. THE PLAIN MAN’S MEAL.--A book with this title should have a ready
sale. All cook books are for persons who can keep a butler, or at least
one or two servants. The recipes are expensive. Write one by means of
which an economical housewife can get a meal for four at an expense of
fifty cents. A regular _menu_ for each meal for every day of the year
would be appreciated. Plain food and simple cooking at cheap cost. The
book should not be over 300 pages, and should not sell for more than one
dollar.
752. PRESENT CENTURY CELEBRITIES.--Nothing in history is harder to find
out than the lives of persons in the last generation. History tells us
the remote past, contemporary literature tells us about the present, but
there is no book that tells us about the recent past. The men who were
prominent in statesmanship, commerce and literature, two or three
decades ago are not heard of now. A new generation has come upon the
stage and knows them not. This is a want felt by every one who takes the
slightest interest in times and men. Get out a book with a short chapter
devoted to each of the prominent men who have lived in the last half of
the nineteenth century. If this work seems too voluminous, then let it
comprise only the leading men in our country since the Civil War. If
well written it should command a great sale.
753. READERS’ GUIDE BOOK.--A guide book for good reading which can be
sold for $1 is a desideratum. Enumerate a few of the best books of all
the great departments of literature with a short critique upon each. The
list of the books as well as the critiques can be condensed from any of
the ponderous reference lists in our great libraries.
754. AMERICAN ELOQUENCE.--There should be a book published which would
preserve the different types of American eloquence. If it could be made
a kind of text-book on oratory, it would have an immense sale. Tens of
thousands of young men are fitting themselves to be lawyers, preachers,
elocutionists, and public speakers in various capacities. They want a
book which will give them the rules and models of effective speech. A
book written with so much care as to make it a kind of standard of
eloquence and oratory would pay well for the painstaking task. Our
standard schoolbooks have proved mints of money to their authors.
755. RACERS’ RECORD BOOK.--A book which should be a reliable record of
the fastest times made in horse races, bicycle meets, and sporting
matches, ought to have a ready sale. It should consist of condensed
tables of all the records of all the great races, interspaced with blank
leaves for the jotting down of new records. There are at least a million
men interested in racing, and at a very moderate estimate one-quarter
(250,000) ought to buy your book, which, we will say, sells for
twenty-five cents.
756. YOUR OWN PHYSICIAN.--We want a book on health, written from the
latest point of view of hygiene and physiology. Get a symposium of
physicians to write on such topics as dress, diet, exercise, sleep,
medicine, baths, etc. Most physicians would regard the advertising
benefits of these articles as sufficient remuneration, while at the same
time their names would help to sell the work, but if necessary pay them
for their services. Entitle the work, “Your Own Physician,” and sell it
on subscription, the canvasser showing how much cheaper it is to keep
well at $2--the price of the book--than to get well at $200--the charge
of a physician for services in a long spell of illness.
757. THE BOY’S ASTRONOMY.--A small book about the sun, moon and stars,
made attractive for beginners. It should teem with illustrations, and
the youthful reader should be fascinated as he follows the sun and moon
in their courses, learns how eclipses occur, and understands about
meteors, comets, and nebulæ. There should also be directions for
finding the principal stars on any night of the year. Such a book should
command a ready sale, for he who writes for boys and girls has the
largest market.
758. RECREATIONS IN CHEMISTRY.--A bishop of the Methodist Episcopal
Church once wrote a book entitled “Recreations in Astronomy,” which has
had a very large sale. But there is just as much room for “Recreations
in Chemistry,” if written with as much imagination and skill. It should
contain such fascinating chapters as “Chemistry of a Candle,” “The
Dynamics of a Dewdrop,” “The Evolution of an Oak.” The chief points in
the authorship should be accuracy and a charming style.
759. THE CURIOSITY BOOK.--A book packed with the curious things in every
department of human research. People like to read about the rare and the
curious. A hundred chapters, short, spicy, and containing each a few
wonderful things in a special field of learning, would be very popular
with both young and old. As a gift book it would be unexcelled. There is
money in it.
760. THE CHILD’S BIBLE.--A Bible which shall contain the numerous
stories so connected in narrative form as to make a continuous history
from beginning to end. It should be very simple, and in no way do
violence to the sacred record. If properly written, this book could be
sold by canvassers in almost every home, and should bring much gain to
the author.
761. GUIDE TO TRADES.--A complete guide to all the important
professions, occupations, callings and trades. This work should show
the opportunities in each trade, the comparative chances of success, the
remuneration, and a few simple rules for guidance. It should bristle
with facts, and should also give one or two examples in the form of
stories--short autobiographies still better--of men who have been
successful in each department of work. The advantage of this book is
that it has no competitor, covering an entirely new field in authorship.
762. THE PLEASURE BOOK.--Here is a unique idea for a book. Let there be
three hundred or more sections, one for every week day in the year, and
let each section contain a different form of amusement. Books on games,
riddles, sports, etc., can be drawn upon for supplies. As you must
provide enjoyment for all kinds of weather, it will be well to have a
short alternative for rainy days in each section. The amusement should
be of the greatest possible variety, from the fox-hunt in the fields to
the thimble-hunt in the parlor. As a large number of people have leisure
only at night, perhaps a work entitled, “Three Hundred Happy Evenings”
would be better than the suggestion above, though it would necessarily
have to leave out most outdoor sports. Holidays should have a more
elaborate programme.
763. THE SOLDIER’S BOOK.--There are 750,000 survivors of our Civil War.
It would be too much to publish in one book even the briefest account of
each. The work should be published in several parts, a volume to a
State. In a State like New York, three lines only could be given to the
record of a private, but even for the briefest mention of himself and
his comrades nearly all the old soldiers would buy the book. In smaller
States more space could be given to each man’s record. Considerable
capital would be required in the collecting of facts and records, but
the publication of such a work would certainly pay, if accurately
written and thoroughly canvassed. We have estimated the cost of
collecting the information at twenty-five cents for each soldier. It
would be much less in great cities where a large number of men could be
seen in one day. Cost for 100,000 soldiers, $25,000. Such is the vanity
caused by seeing one’s name in print that the book would sell at least
to every second soldier. Fifty thousand copies at $2.50, $125,000.
Deduct one-fourth for cost and getting out the book, $31,250. Discount
for canvassers at one-third the price of the book, $41,666. Total cost,
$72,916. Profits, $51,084 for 50,000 copies.
764. BOOK OF STYLE.--A man well versed in books could write a small
volume on literary style which could be sold to advantage for $1 per
copy. The number of literary men is constantly increasing. More than
10,000 young men and women are graduated every year from our colleges.
At a very low estimate, 25,000 would want a work of this kind.
765. SCIENCE OF COMMON THINGS.--A book of great interest to everybody
could be compiled from the vast body of matter contained in the last
quarter of a century in such periodicals as the _Popular Science
Monthly_, the _Scientific American_, etc. It should contain a number of
chapters about the heating and ventilating of dwellings, about clothing
and food, about road making and house building, and many other things,
and be written in such a fascinating style as to make the work
attractive, even to persons who ordinarily take no interest in such
discussions. The success of such a book depends entirely upon its style.
It is possible to write one containing a fortune for the author.
766. POPULAR SONGS.--If you are a musical composer there is another rich
field which invites you. Many a man in the making of bars and clefs has
braided strands of gold. Daniel Emmett wrote “Dixie,” and it ran like
wild fire all over the country. Stephen Foster made a fortune with “Old
Folks at Home,” Charles K. Harris wrote “After the Ball.” Its sales were
over a million copies, and it made him an independently rich man. H. W.
Petrie wrote “I Don’t Want to Play in Your Yard.” Its success was
phenomenal, and is likely to prove a bonanza to the author; 50,000
copies were sold before they were fairly dry from the press. Edward B.
Marks, a young writer of New York, wrote “The Little Lost Child,” which
netted him $15,000. Sir Arthur Sullivan received $50,000 for his famous
song, “The Lost Chord.” Mr. Balfe got $40,000 for “I Dreamt that I Dwelt
in Marble Halls.”
767. FOREIGN TRANSLATIONS.--Another very wide field is that of the
translation of foreign works. There are vast numbers of foreign works
upon which there are no copyrights in this country, and others upon
which the copyrights have expired. This is a profitable field and
comparatively unworked. Even of such transcendant works as those of
George Sand and Balzac only a few have been translated. Publishers pay
for translations about the same as royalties on original works. Dryden
received $6,000 for his translation of Virgil, and Pope received $40,000
for his rendering of the “Iliad.”
768. CHILDREN’S STORIES.--There are bags of money in children’s stories.
Every child at a certain age wants to read or be read to, and there are
seven million of this age in the United States. The stories should be
short, bright, simple and original, and the book should contain a number
of illustrations. Whoever pleases the children pleases the world. “Alice
in Wonderland” brought a fortune to its author, and every year Christmas
stories for the children bring much money into the pockets of the
writers.
769. CONDENSED STORIES.--All the popular and standard fiction of the
world could be condensed into a dozen volumes by a master hand. It has
never yet been attempted. Some omnivorous reader and ambitious writer
may yet try it. He must get the heart of the story--the plot--without
regard to side issues, by-plays, or ornamentation. See in how few words
you can tell one of the Waverley novels without omitting any of the main
features. Then publish the entire series in one volume. It is a new
idea, and ought to take.
770. THE MANNER BOOK.--How to Act, How to Behave, How to Eat, How to
Talk, How to Write Letters, How to Propose--in short, the correct way to
get on in life. A book consisting of pert, witty chapters upon good
manners ought to make a fast-selling work. Many have been written, but
none as yet quite meet the demand.
771. THE GEORGE REPUBLIC.--Something entirely new. Do you know that in
the village of Freeville, Tompkins County, New York, there is a republic
composed of many hundred persons ruled entirely by boys, and these the
worst of boys, taken mostly from the slums of our cities, a class which
could not be governed in the ordinary way? It is hardly too much to say
that it is the most suggestive experiment in self-government in all
history, and it awaits the pen of a practiced writer. The movement is
doubtless to be permanent and popular, and the first one to pen it in
graphic style will doubtless gather a good harvest.
772. ONE THOUSAND TIMES ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.--Here is a capital idea!
Many sea captains have crossed the ocean as many times as that. Get an
Atlantic veteran to tell you some of the most thrilling stories of his
forty years’ sailing. He may not be much of a writer, but you can put
the matter into attractive form. For a small compensation, or perhaps
for the love of the thing, he would tell you many exciting tales of the
sea. The title is taking.
773. THE MAN HUNTER.--Few writings are more fascinating than detective
stories, and no one has more interesting matter to relate than one of
the sleuths of the law. Think of “Sherlock Holmes,” whom Conan Doyle
created, and who has made piles of money for his author.
774. STORY OF A RAGPICKER.--It is a new idea. Did a ragpicker ever write
before? But he must have had many interesting experiences. Transfer the
stories from his tongue to your pen. Paste these uncouth patches into a
literary crazy-quilt as an experienced writer knows how to do, and you
will have a book whose title will advertise it, and whose unique
contents will make it sell.
775. STORY OF A DIVER.--Under the ocean! Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand
Leagues Under the Sea” actualized! No one can have more thrilling
experiences than a diver. Catch the homely words from his lips, gild
them with a lively imagination, color them with an expert pen, and you
have a book whose sales will astonish you.
776. STORY OF A CONVICT.--Here is another new idea. The under side of
life is seldom if ever told. Who knows what the convict thinks, feels,
and suffers? Let a narrative be written from a convict’s point of view.
Let him tell how he committed the crime, how he was induced to do it,
how he felt when he was doing it, his motives and hopes, the account of
his arrest, what his lawyer said to him, his trial, condemnation, and
sentence. Then his long imprisonment. A convict who is a good talker
could easily give you material which you could skillfully work up into
an attractive book, as novel as it would be interesting. Much of the
success of “Les Miserables” was due to the vivid portrayal of the
sufferings of Jean Valjean.
777. THE STOWAWAY.--Another unique idea! Stowaways are constantly
crossing the ocean. Get his story. Tell pathetically his motives for
crossing the water, and the account of his privations on shipboard. Here
is matter for another Robinson Crusoe.
778. WHEEL AND WORLD.--“Across the Continent on a Bicycle!” “Around the
World on a Wheel!” These are attractive titles. All wheelmen--there are
300,000 in New York alone--would read it. If you have not made the
journey yourself, get some one who has, for a small sum, to tell you the
story.
779. STORY OF A FIREMAN.--A fireman dwells in the midst of alarms. A
veteran fireman has been to thousands of fires. Let him tell you twenty
or thirty of them in his own way, the thrilling adventures, the
hairbreadth escapes, the heroic rescues, and the magnificent and
appalling scenes. Every fireman would buy the book, and, if well
written, all the fireman’s friends, which means about everybody.
780. IN A BALLOON.--Here is a most attractive field which has never been
occupied. Edgar Poe’s “Journey to the Moon” is celebrated, but it is
only a phantasy, while we may have an equally interesting reality--not
indeed of a journey to the moon, but through the clouds. If the
narrative could be combined with a romance, this might be made the book
of the day, which, of course, means many thousands of dollars in the
pockets of the author.
781. STORY OF AN ENGINEER.--Another man whose life is worth relating is
that of an old engineer. Fill the book with an account of his wonderful
runs and his thrilling adventures on frontier roads. Of course, there
must be horrible accidents, daring “hold-ups,” bold train robberies,
stalling in snowbanks, fleeing from prairie fires, and racing with
engines of rival roads.
782. STORY OF A MURDERER.--Let the criminal give his version of the
affair. Not every murderer has a story, or is willing to tell it; but
out of hundreds of convicts you should be able to weave a tale as lurid
as Blackbeard among the pirates or Bluebeard among the fairies. If it be
a recent and celebrated case which has cut a large figure in the
newspapers, so much the better.
783. STORY OF A TRAMP.--New interest is being taken in this erratic and
omnipresent individual. And the time is ripe for a facile pen to
portray his vagaries and his wanderings. The “Story of a Tramp” affords
an almost unparalleled scope for an author, and there is no phase of
civilization which may not be drawn upon to make the story interesting.
784. STORY OF A LUNATIC.--A very thrilling story, somewhat perhaps after
the manner of C. Brockden Brown’s “Weiland,” could be worked up from the
ravings of a lunatic. There are a vast number of persons who have wild,
harrowing tales. In fact, the audience for such stories is larger than
the number of readers of the finer quality of literature. A writer in a
recent newspaper says: “The masses do not read the magazines, but they
do read sensational literature in the form of dime novels and weekly
story papers, and this flashy fiction earns far more money for its
writers than is made by more ambitious authors and more pretentious
publications.”
785. STORY OF A CRIMINAL LAWYER.--A retired criminal lawyer might make
money by the narrative of his most extraordinary cases. If he does not
care to write the narrative himself he might in odd moments give it to
you. With the pen of a Doyle you might reap that author’s immense
royalties.
786. STORY OF THE KLONDIKE.--Many stories of adventure and hardship will
doubtless be written about the new land of gold, but the harvest will be
reaped by the keen pen of him first in the field. If Alaska has been
unkind to you, you may revenge yourself by digging gold from her bowels
with the pen.
787. THE EXPOSITION OF FRAUDS.--A very interesting book might be
written with this title. Take a few national scandals, like the “Panama
Fiasco,” “The South Sea Bubble,” “The Grant-Ward Swindle,” “The
Tichborne Claimant.” These subjects when handled with a skillful pen are
very interesting to business men.
788. SERMONS OF MODERN PREACHERS.--We have volumes of collected and
selected sermons, but no volume which contains various specimens of the
preaching of the present day. Have one sermon each from the very newest
of pulpit celebrities, such as S. Parkes Cadman, Hugh Price Hughes,
Wilbur Chapman, together with one each from such well-known preachers as
Phillips Brooks, T. DeWitt Talmage, and Sam Jones. There are over
100,000 ordained clergymen in the United States, and at least one-half
of them would want this book.
789. THE WONDER BOOK.--A book describing briefly and graphically a few
of the great wonders of the world, such as London the greatest city,
Niagara the greatest cataract, Monte Carlo the greatest gambling place,
while other chapters would be headed, “The Greatest Picture Gallery,”
“The Longest Railroad,” “The Tallest Pyramid,” “The Deepest Well,” etc.
The book would have a vast sale among young people, and would be popular
among all classes.
790. HEALTH RESORTS.--Their number is legion. Select a few of the
principal in all parts of the country, and write charmingly of their
peculiar merits. Especially impress upon your public the specific
diseases for which they are beneficial. The 500,000 invalids of the
country would want the book.
791. THE ALL-CURE BOOK.--A book which treats thoroughly the newest
systems of cure, such as the Magnetic, Water Cure, Massage, Barefoot,
Christian Science, etc., giving a history of the same, and an account of
the alleged cures.
792. SUCCESS.--A book for young men. Get twenty business men in
different lines to tell you each in a few pages how he was successful.
It would be very popular if you could secure as authors such men as John
Wanamaker, George Gould (for his deceased father, Jay Gould), James
Gordon Bennett, Murat Halstead, etc.
793. HOW TO SEE NEW YORK.--Not a guide book, but one far more beneficial
to strangers who want to see the great metropolis. It should contain at
least three sets of directions for persons preparing to visit the city
for the first time. These methods and order of sightseeing should be
radically different, giving the intending visitor the choice of the
three. The million or more people who come every year to New York for
the first time would want the book, and half of them would doubtless buy
it if freely advertised and sold for not more than fifty cents.
794. MAP MAKING.--There is money in the making of town, county and state
maps. For this you need the services of a good surveyor. Go to a map
publisher and get his estimates of cost; he can inform you where to get
a surveyor, and give you much other valuable advice. As a rule, maps
sell in proportion to the smallness of the territory portrayed, people
being chiefly interested in their immediate neighborhood. It is with
towns as with boarders--there is not much money in one or two, but he
who has the capital to work twenty towns at a time will do well. Jay
Gould got his first start in this way.
795. STORY OF THE POLE.--A score or more of great captains have tried to
reach the pole, and many of them have told their story in captivating
books, but we want a book in which each man’s story shall be condensed
into a single chapter of fifty pages each. The thousands of people who
like comparisons and admire hardy adventures would like a book of this
kind.
796. THE MAKING OF A MIGHTY BUSINESS.--We have spoken of the men who
made the business, but this book deals with the business itself. What a
great book could be made of a few chapters each, one devoted to such
themes as “A Great Railroad,” “A Great Sugar House,” “A Great Banking
House,” “A Great Steamship Company,” “The New York Post Office,” “The
United States Patent Office.” This book would appeal for interest to all
classes, and ought to be very profitable to the author.
797. HEROES OF LABOR.--Now let the laboring man tell his story. A book
to consist of chapters written by such labor leaders as T. V. Powderly,
Samuel Gompers, Mr. Sovereign, and other Knights of Labor, relating the
story of their struggles with capital. Technical matters, such as
interviews with directors and tables of wages should be made as brief as
possible, while strikes, scenes of violence and suffering, should form
the chief matter of the book. Here is a chance for a gifted writer to
make a second “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” a book whose sale in this country has
eclipsed that of any other thing ever published.
798. THE ELITE DIRECTORY.--Some cities like New York have such a book,
but other cities have not. Here is a field for the talent of the
reportorial variety. It will be a delicate matter to decide who shall be
included in the gilded circle and who shall be excluded, but if you are
discreet and discriminating, careful to make your book contain the names
of only the recognized people of society, these will in nearly all cases
buy your book, and will not be afraid of a good round price.
799. POPULAR DRAMAS.--These have made the fortunes of their authors. A
playwright often receives $100 per night while the play runs. More
frequently the manager pays a sum outright for the rights of the play.
The sum of $10,000 was paid recently for the right to dramatize a
popular work of fiction, the author having already received a fortune
from its sale as a novel. Eugene Scribe, the French dramatist, left at
his death the sum of $800,000, mainly his earnings as a playwright.
800. FURNISHING A HOME.--A book on home furnishing, treating the subject
from an artistic point of view, would doubtless find a market. Each room
should have a separate chapter. The furnishing should be considered from
the standpoint of expense, comfort, color and harmony. A book entitled
“Inside a Hundred Homes” had a large sale.
801. PRETTY WEDDINGS.--Here is a field entirely unoccupied. Select
twenty of the most stylish weddings of modern times, and give a full
account of them. They should be, of course, weddings among the bon ton.
The book would be a kind of fashionable wedding guide, and would be
eagerly bought by every lady who expects to be a bride. The book also
might contain hints and rules for weddings among all grades of social
life.
802. QUOTATION BOOK.--One not classified in the old way, according to
subjects, but in relation to occasion. Quotations for the business mart,
the theatre, the church, the political arena, the dinner party, etc. If
made to be sold very cheap it would have a good sale; or it might be
combined at a higher price with a book on manners. See No. 770.
CHAPTER XVIII.
MONEY IN NEWSPAPERS.
Fortunes in Printers’ Ink--Value of the New York _Herald_
Plant--Story of Mr. Pulitzer’s Struggles--From a Park Bench to a
Newspaper Throne--Alfred Harnsworth, the Greatest Paper Man in the
World--Serving the News Hot--Secret of the Springfield _Republican_
Success--A Prophet as Well as an Editor--How Reporters Earn Big
Salaries--Motto, the Penny Reform--Seven Papers in One--Some New
Advertising Schemes--Magazines for the Million.
A newspaper undertaking is a great financial risk, but at the same time
it is one of the richest lodes of success if the proprietor has the
capital and the qualities needed. Mr. Whitelaw Reid has amassed a
fortune in the New York _Tribune_. James Gordon Bennett, proprietor of
the paper originated by the senior of that name, estimates his plant as
worth $22,000,000. Mr. Pulitzer, of the New York _World_, was a poor boy
who slept on the park benches. He got an idea, a little money, formed
new plans, and struck out on an untrod path. He rattled the dry bones of
his contemporaries, and he is to-day a millionaire many times over. Dana
made his fortune on _The Sun_ by his fearless, outspoken editorials,
using the plainest Anglo-Saxon. Hearst, of the New York _Journal_,
succeeded by his sensationalism. Alfred Harnsworth, an Englishman and a
very young man, began the publication of a paper called _Answer_ with
very small capital. Before the age of thirty he became a millionaire.
Now at thirty-two he is the chief proprietor of seven dailies and
twenty-two other periodicals, and is the head of the largest publishing
firm in the world, with a total weekly output of more than 7,000,000
copies. The author of this work has formulated over 200 plans for
newspaper success. He is sure that the majority of these plans are
absolutely new and perfectly feasible, but the scope of the work will
not permit of the insertion of more than ten. The following ten are
selected with the firm belief that if they are followed up with ordinary
zeal and skill the paper cannot fail to have a very large circulation.
_News and Editorial Department._
803. THE NEWS IN ONE MINUTE.--We live in electric times; men must have
their news served hot. We want to swallow the day’s doings while we
cross the ferry. Have an index on first page containing every item of
news, and showing in what columns it can be found. Then, one can get the
summary in a minute, while if he likes he can spend hours in the
details.
804. NUTSHELL NEWS.--You may be sure that the paper which can give the
news the quickest and neatest is going to the front. Some people care
more for quantity than quality. A vast variety of news from all parts of
the country, and each item condensed into a few lines, makes more
impression on many people than a page devoted to a single tragedy. The
Springfield _Republican_ owes its success to its remarkable number of
small items.
805. THE BULLETIN FORECAST.--Most daily papers give out a bulletin.
Thousands stand on the street and read the free bulletin, but do not buy
the paper. Have a forecast bulletin to read, “To-morrow’s News.” Then a
speculation or prediction of what it will probably be. Put it in a
sensational and interesting way. Thus: “The _Bugle_ will tell you all
about it to-morrow. Buy the _Bugle_.” In the paper, conclude each
important item of news with the editor’s forecast of how the matter will
turn out, thus giving it the interest of a continued story. Editors
often treat a news item in an editorial, but a vast proportion of the
readers never look at that page. Put the cream of the editorial, and
especially several pointed questions, after the news item, with the
information that the paper will try to solve the problem to-morrow.
806. BOTTOM FACTS.--Readers want facts, not reporters’ fancies nor
embellishments. It is well known that in many papers reporters are
allowed to invent when they have no facts in the case, and as they are
paid by the piece it is for their interest to make as much of an item as
they can. Hence, our news is adulterated, distorted, and often
falsified. We know some reporters who have invented columns of so-called
“Facts;” others who have made sensational, highly-colored stories out of
the most insignificant occurrences; and still others who have invented
fake reports of sermons, lectures, and other public utterances, when
they had not time to obtain the originals. Have it clearly understood in
large headlines as a part of the policy of the paper that no reporter
will be allowed to invent or exaggerate, that he will be instantly
discharged if it can be shown that he has in any way distorted the cold
facts. In this way tens of thousands who are now disgusted with what is
dished up for them as news but know not where to turn for better
service, will be drawn to your paper, and you will establish the
reputation for absolute truthfulness of statement and bald exactness of
form.
807. THE PEOPLE’S PAPER.--Let it be understood that your sheet is
distinctively a people’s paper, and is not the organ of any party,
class, or corporation. Announce that you will publish letters from
anybody, regardless of grammar, sentiment, or position, with the only
limitation of decency and personality. Advocate persistently cheap and
honest public service. Let one of your mottoes be: “A penny a letter and
a penny a mile,” that is, the conviction that a letter ought to be sent
anywhere in the United States for a penny, and that a man ought to be
able to travel all over the country at the rate of a penny a mile. Have
such mottoes as: “All the People Well Off,” “Equal Rights for
Everybody,” “No Nepotism, no Partiality, no ‘Pulls.’”
808. THE BIG SEVEN.--We have heard of the “Big Four” in railroading. Let
your paper be seven sheets rolled into one, having one comprehensive
name. Let the seven sheets each have a distinctive and peculiar title as
if of a separate paper, and let each be devoted to a particular field.
The _Art Mirror_ will contain the pictures; the _News Bureau_ will
contain the crispiest news; the _Sword and Pen_ will contain the most
pungent editorials; the _World Joker_ or the New York _Clown_ will
contain the comical things. Then there should be a “stock paper,” a
“sporting paper,” etc. Let it be known that when a man buys _The Earth_
for three cents, or for a penny, as the case may be, he really gets
seven papers.
_Advertising Department._
809. FREE WANTS.--In establishing a paying paper you lose nothing by
what you give away. You can well afford to give away space that costs
you nothing. Before your circulation is large enough to attract
advertisers, you must devise some other means of attracting them.
Advertise that on a certain day you will insert everybody’s wants free.
This will introduce your paper to a large number of persons, who will
not only buy the copy in which their want appears, but will in many
cases be ready to pay a little when they next need the services of your
sheet.
810. BARGAIN BUREAU.--Have a bargain bureau on the first page or in some
other prominent place, and let it be understood that you will each day
in this bureau call attention to the bargains especially advertised for
that day, and to any new or special feature contained in the advertising
columns. You will thus please and draw advertisers, and at the same time
attract readers who want to know what, where, and when to buy.
811. RESERVE SPACE.--Have a large blank square or rectangle with the
announcement that “This space is reserved for ---- ----.” After two or
three days people will begin to wonder who will fill the great blank. It
becomes by far the most prominent and valuable advertising space in the
paper, and should command a good round sum. Make a profitable bargain
for a month or year for the filling of the space. If withdrawn,
announce, “This space will now be filled by ---- ----.” The first
advertiser’s rival will pretty surely want it, a result which No. 1 will
hardly permit if he can help it, and so between competitors in business
your blank will always be filled and you can raise your price if
competition becomes sharp.
812. THE PAGE CONTRACT.--When your advertising patronage becomes large
and you find it necessary to employ assistants, you will find it to your
advantage to let the advertising out in contracts to your subordinates.
Instead of paying your helpers a salary, you tell them that they can
have a page for $50 or $500 (according to the size of the page and the
number of the circulation). They then secure the advertisements
themselves and make what they can. _They_ and not _you_ take the risk.
Many assistants would not be willing to do that, but others would prefer
the opportunity to work for themselves in this way.
CHAPTER XIX.
MONEY IN CLOTH.
Capital in Cloth--How Uncle Sam Helps Linen-Makers--The Mistake of
Stocking Manufacturers--5,000,000 Sales if the Maker will get the
Right Thing--Better than Starch?--A Chance to Become a
Millionaire--Another Eli Whitney Wanted--Go South and Get
Rich--Secrets About Silk Manufacture--Startling Suggestions About a
New Process of Making Wool.
In the materials for making cloth and in the improvement of garments
there is an unlimited field for development and fortune. Here are a few
of the roads in which capital may profitably move:
813. LINEN MILLS.--The schedule of the new flax tariff was framed
especially to protect linen manufacturers by cheapening the imports of
the raw material so that they can compete with foreign rivals. Money put
into linen mills ought to reap a bountiful harvest during the next few
years.
814. TRIPLE KNEE STOCKING.--Why do not stocking makers give additional
strength to the parts which are the first to wear out? Five million boys
and girls in this country are wearing their knees through their
stockings and yet makers go on in the assumption that the quicker the
wear the better the trade. It remains for some sagacious manufacturer to
put a double or triple thickness on the knee, get a reputation for his
stocking, and command the market.
815. THE UNFRAYABLE COLLAR BAND.--Shirts, perfectly sound elsewhere, go
into the rag-bin because the collar band is frayed. The man who will
give us a substitute for starch, which does all the mischief, will earn
both gratitude and greenbacks.
816. THE RAMIE PLANT.--A few years ago the ramie plant was introduced
into this country from China. It was reported to yield three crops a
year, a total of 1,500 pounds to the acre, and that the fiber would
produce a cloth equal to cotton or even silk. Great things were
anticipated, but the hopes of the raisers were defeated by the lack of a
process for separating it into fine filaments. The slow hand press of
China makes it too expensive. Here is a chance for some brainy man to do
for the ramie plant what Eli Whitney did for the cotton, reaping even a
larger fortune than he because of the present greater demand for cloth.
817. COTTON MILLS IN THE SOUTH.--About 9,000,000 persons in the United
States and England depend for their livelihood on the cotton trade.
Until recently New England had a monopoly of the cotton manufacture in
the United States, but of late it has been ascertained that, owing to
the cheaper cost of iron and fuel, the business can be carried on more
advantageously in the South. The coal and iron in the mountains and the
proximity to the raw product will cause New England soon to be distanced
in this important enterprise. For those who seek cotton manufacture for
a livelihood or for a competence, and especially for those who are
beginning the business, the northern parts of Georgia and Alabama
present unrivaled opportunities for the carrying on of that industry;
and to such we would say, paraphrasing Horace Greeley’s advice to the
young, “Go South, young man.”
818. ARTIFICIAL SILK.--The man who can invent or discover a substance
which has the glossy luster and wear of silk so as to counterfeit the
real article can name his own price. Four processes have recently been
patented, but the results are a fiber too coarse, too stiff, too weak,
or too expensive. The Chardonnet process makes a quality at a cost of
$1.23 a pound, and it sells at $2.70 a pound, a very good profit if only
it was enough like real silk to command the market. Put on your
thinking-caps, cloth manufacturers, and obtain the rich prize which is
already almost within your grasp.
819. MINERAL WOOL.--Here is something new. Experiments have proved that
rocks, or at least certain kinds of them, can be made into wool. The
wool is made from sandstone, and from the waste slag of furnaces.
“Mineral wool” is already being used for packing and fireproofing; but
the inexhaustible field for the industry in the millions of tons of
serviceable rocks, and the unforeseen possibilities in the use of the
“new wool,” make the subject a startling one and well worth the
consideration of money-makers.
820. LEATHER SUBSTITUTE.--The high price of leather and its fluctuation
in price have caused many substitutes to be devised, but thus far they
have been inferior in quality, and will not stand the test of rough
usage and exposure to heat. Imitation leather has always been made of
two pieces of cloth pasted together, which are bound to separate or
blister. Here is a secret worth a fortune. A single thickness of either
drill or duck, with a heavy surface coating, will stand every test that
leather can endure, and is every way as good, and can be produced at
one-third the cost.
CHAPTER XX.
MONEY IN FERTILIZERS.
Wanted, a New Fertilizer--How “Golden” Forests Drop Gold--Why the
Fields Near Berlin are so Productive--How We Lose $5,000,000 a
Year--The Peat Treasures of New Jersey--Fortunes in
Phosphates--Millions of Fish on Land as well as in the
Sea--$1,000,000 for Him Who will Pick It Up.
We are yet in the infancy of this important product. The desideratum is
a fertilizer that will do the best work in the least bulk. The 4,565,000
farmers and vegetable growers of the United States will make
independently rich the man who can produce a good fertilizer at small
cost of transportation. The field of chemistry is particularly rich in
suggestions; experiments in this line are constantly going on, and there
is reason to hope that an agricultural Edison will soon arise.
Meanwhile, there is money in the following fertilizers:
821. GARBAGE.--Every truck load of garbage is worth at least a dollar
for manuring purposes, and yet thousands of these loads are dumped every
day into the water. Instead of the city paying a round sum for the
removal of garbage, it ought to receive a bonus from a contractor who
knows how to turn it to account.
822. LEAVES.--Rotted leaves form the rich base from which nearly all our
forests, and indeed nearly all the vegetation of the earth, springs. The
number of loads of leaves that fall from the trees in the autumn are
entirely incalculable. The keeper of a country livery stable could add
one half to his compost heap, and thus double his sale of fertilizers.
823. URBAN SEWAGE.--The best of all fertilizers is allowed to float out
to sea and is lost. The Germans are wiser. They utilize all these waste
products, and the surprising fertility of the soil near Berlin is the
result of this wise employment of nature’s richest fertilizer. There are
fortunes for those who will study the foreign system and apply it to the
large cities of this country.
824. ASHES.--We lose at least $5,000,000 annually in the waste of ashes.
In the cultivation of gardens and city lots, where the expense of
transportation is small, there is a field for the profitable use of this
fertilizer. It could be combined with some product rich in phosphates,
as, for example, bone dust, and then put up in barrels for sale. An Ash
Fertilizer Company would pay.
825. PHOSPHATES.--The phosphate rocks of North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Georgia contain fortunes for the men who will develop those
industries. The quantity is practically unlimited, and the price of
phosphate is $18 a ton. Cheap freights will make these rocks mines of
wealth.
826. COTTONSEED MEAL.--This sells for $20 to $25 a ton, and being a
waste product the cost is light. Its sale could be made more general
among the farmers if they knew its value.
827. CITY STABLES.--Much of the product of city stables is carried to
the country in barges and sold, but more is wasted; especially is this
the case with single and small stables in the suburbs, where the
accumulation is light, and the law does not require its removal. But a
systematic collection of these products would pay any one who should
undertake it on a large scale.
828. PEAT.--New Jersey has more than 1,000 square miles of peat lands,
for the most part undeveloped. The peat is from three to six feet in
depth. When phosphates are selling for $18 a ton, there ought to be a
market for peat at $5, which would still leave a good margin of profit,
if, as seems entirely reasonable, the labor and freightage could be
covered for $3.
829. MENHADEN.--The farmers of the eastern end of Long Island have found
this an excellent fertilizer. The fish are strewn whole upon the land.
More than 1,000,000 of the tiny creatures, or upward of 100 tons, have
been caught by one vessel in a single day. The industry is chiefly
confined to the vicinity of Gardiner’s Island, but it might be made
profitable along other parts of the coast.
830. FISH SCRAP.--The chemists’ valuation is $41 a ton, but it
ordinarily sells for $35 to $38. It is admirably adapted for plant food.
One of the largest producers of dry ground fish claims that the farmer
gets more for his money in this than in any other fertilizer.
831. SOOT.--For some crops soot is one of the most powerful of all
fertilizers, and yet it is allowed to go to waste. The total amount of
soot produced in London twenty years ago was 1,100,810 bushels, and is
probably about the same for New York to-day. The average price was five
cents a bushel, and the total worth $109,165. Probably in this
country--at least until its worth is discovered--it could in most cases
be obtained free by any one who will take the trouble to pick up this
$100,000.
CHAPTER XXI.
MONEY IN ADVERTISING.
More Money in Ink--Millions Paid for it Every Day--New Devices to
Catch the Eye--Exposure of Advertising Tricks--Cupid on the
Counter--What “Bargain Day” and “Below Cost” Really Mean--How an
Advertising Agent Made a Fortune in a Day--“Delivering” 5,000
Customers--A Line that Every body is Sure to Read--A Great
Advertising Success--Playing With Mystery--A Sure Way to Draw a
Crowd--Novel Ways of Advertising in Paris--Almost a Street Fight.
Do you realize what an important part advertising plays in trade? The
men who succeed are those who let the public know what they have and at
what price. The great newspapers contain every day vast mines of
advertising matter. There are many merchants who pay over $100,000 a
year in letting the public know the cheapness and value of their goods,
and one enterprising company, the proprietors of a celebrated baking
powder, expend $1,000,000 a year in advertising their product. These
merchants are constantly seeking the best means to get their wares
before the public eye; also manufacturers, builders, real estate agents,
railroad companies, and in fact all persons doing business on a large
scale, are seeking to let men know how and what they do. Owners of
proprietary medicines have been known to expend $10,000 in a single
advertisement in order to secure the attention of ailing people. All
these persons will pay you well for any ingenious suggestions whereby
they can increase their patronage. The following are some of the methods
suggested:
832. MONEY AND THE MUSE.--Select some liberal advertiser and note what
he has to sell or what he has to do, and embody his peculiar merit in a
poem. The poem should be short, spicy and humorous, and not be more than
eight or ten lines in length. Let it hit off some of the fads of the
day. If it be headed by some catch-word of the hour, so much the better.
An ingenious person who can write a verse or two of this kind will find
a ready market for his muse.
833. CENTS IN NONSENSE.--If you have artistic talent instead of poetic,
you can do still better with a drawing. Let the cut be as original and
humorous as some of the cartoons in our daily papers.
834. WORD PUZZLE.--A puzzle to some minds will be still more effective.
Many will be disinclined to use their brains to work it out, but those
who do will remember it, and that after all is the merit of an
advertisement. A puzzle which may be patented and sold to the advertiser
promises much greater profit. See the “Chinese-Get-Off-the-Earth
Puzzle.” A puzzle of this kind is commonly sold exclusively to one firm,
and ought to bring quite a sum of money to the inventor.
835. TRACKS TO WEALTH.--The inventor who can produce a scheme to cause
the customer to become his unconscious advertiser has found the very
highroad to success. Such a scheme might be a word in raised letters on
the heel of a shoe. Thousands, especially in country towns where there
are no sidewalks, would constantly be leaving impressions in the mud,
and people would be astonished to find advertisements stamped on the
very earth.
836. THE STORY ADVERTISEMENT.--Write a short story which ends in an
advertisement. This is one of the best methods to gain the reader’s eye.
Everybody likes a story, and will read it if it be short. The narrative
should lead up gradually and naturally to the advertisement. This
requires some ingenuity and skill in writing.
837. THE FICTITIOUS BANK BILL.--A piece of paper which at first sight
looks like a ten-dollar bill, but turns out to be a clever
advertisement, would be picked up and read by everybody.
838. THE POCKETBOOK FIND.--A clever imitation of a pocketbook would be
picked up by every pedestrian, and when it is opened with the
expectation of money, one finds instead an advertisement of Pluck &
Company.
839. EVERYBODY’S EAGLE.--A gold (?) eagle with the name of a firm in the
place of the usual inscription, will be readily pounced upon, when the
lucky finder will learn that “all is not gold that glitters,” but will
also learn where and what he can buy to advantage. The firm’s name, of
course, is not stamped until the sale of the golden bird is effected.
Millions of such eagles could be sold.
840. THE WITTY DIALOGUE.--Few things in literature are more attractive
than a witty dialogue in which the questions and answers are very short
and the denouement is a surprise. If the last word is the magical one of
a certain kind of business, such as “Ozone,” “Electrophone,” “----’s
Baking Powder,” “----’s Stove Polish,” etc., the maker or merchant will
be sure to appreciate it and pay for it.
841. THE STEREOSCOPE BULLETIN.--It pays to give a large sum to the
proprietor of a paper who makes a practice of flashing election returns
on screens. There is commonly a long wait between the reports, and the
vast crowds will meanwhile have nothing to do but study your
advertisement flashed between the successive returns.
842. THE ARC REFLECTOR.--Have a reflector with an electric light
arranged to throw a bright, round light, like the dial of a clock, on
the depot platforms, the pavements of crowded streets, or other places
where many people congregate. On the background of this strong light let
your magic word appear. This is an expensive but very effective way of
advertising.
843. THE LAST SCENE.--Tens of thousands of persons every night are
looking upon scenes depicted by the stereoscope. After the “Good Night,”
which generally closes the entertainment, immediately, and before the
lights are turned on, have your advertisement flashed upon the sheet. As
the programme is concluded, the manager would doubtless for a small sum
grant a privilege which would be worth many dollars, as no one in the
audience can fail to see the display.
844. THE RED-LETTER BAT.--For a consideration, the manager of a baseball
team would probably let you furnish the players with an excellent bat
stamped with your design in large red letters. Your advertisement would
flash with every stroke of the bat, and even if many in the crowd were
too far away to read the letters, their curiosity would incite them to
inquire, and curiosity is the very emotion advertisers seek to arouse.
The idea might perhaps be extended to the ball, which is the center of
struggle in football matches.
845. THE RESTAURANT FAN.--Waiting men will read anything to kill time,
but a fan with your enterprise stamped upon it will attract attention,
whether one is inclined to read or not. By the hundred thousand these
could be produced extremely cheap, and should be presented free to the
restaurant keeper. They might also be used in theaters and music halls.
846. THE CIGAR WRAPPER.--It is estimated that 3,000,000 cigars are
purchased in New York and vicinity alone every day. For a small sum, say
five cents a box, you could doubtless prevail upon most dealers to
permit you to wrap each cigar in a piece of paper; especially if the
latter were pretty and very attractive, as in the latter case it might
even help his sales. The wrapper might contain an alluring picture, but,
of course, it contains your advertisement. A small additional sum must
be paid a boy for the work of wrapping. As an advertisement, the method
would be exceedingly effective, and the idea is certainly a novel one.
847. THE GROWING WORD.--In a reserved space of a daily paper begin with
a single glaring letter. Over the letter announce, “Watch this space
to-morrow.” The next day another letter is added, and curiosity is
excited. If you can get a name for your advertisement similar to the
name of a man in the public eye, the success of the scheme is assured.
For example, the first letter is G. Is it Grover Cleveland or Garfield?
Two letters are given--GA. Is it Garfield or Gage? The third day GAR
appears. Is it Garfield or Garland? But in the end it proves to be
neither; it is GARLOCK, the name of your invention or brand of goods.
Ingenuity can play endlessly upon words in this way, and the curiosity
aroused makes it one of the best forms of advertisement.
848. THE POLITE STRANGER.--This is a French idea. In Paris a lady is
astonished to see a handsome, faultlessly dressed man, generally an
elderly person, step directly in front of her, make an extremely polite
bow, turn and walk away, when instantly the mystery is solved. On his
back appears an advertisement.
849. THE FUNNY QUARTETTE.--This also is from Paris, with adaptations.
Four odd people--a little, shabbily dressed old woman, a splendidly
attired and pompous gentleman, a country youth in blouse and overalls,
and a man in the garb of a priest, make up the queerest quartette
imaginable. They at once attract attention, but when they begin to sing
a crowd gathers instantly. At the conclusion of the song, one says in a
loud tone, “Where?” All reply, “At ----.” “When?” “To-night.”
850. THE STREET BRAWL.--This is on the same line and even more exciting.
Readers of “Sherlock Holmes” remember the detective’s ruse to gain
entrance to a forbidden house. In the same way, let two men engage in a
wordy quarrel. Nothing draws a crowd more quickly than the prospect of a
fight. Of course, on a city street the quarrel must not come to actual
blows, and the participants must keep an eye open for policemen, but the
climax should be the advertisement in the mouth of one or both of the
disputants, and the crowd should be dispersed with a hearty laugh.
851. THE BOX-KITE.--The box-kite presents almost unrivaled opportunities
for advertising, and the wonder is that it has not been utilized for
that purpose. By a clock-work arrangement and at regular intervals,
while the eyes of all are turned skyward, the box releases a host of
white leaves, which, floating to the earth, are caught by the crowd.
Every leaf contains your advertisement. This method would be especially
effective at ball games, horse races, and before election bulletins,
while the crowds are waiting for returns or exciting events.
CHAPTER XXII.
MONEY IN THE POWERS OF NATURE.
Vast Forces yet Unknown--The Human Form a Key to unlock Nature’s
Caskets of Gold--The Storage of Air--The Waste of Steam--The March
of Electricity--How One Company saved $50 a Day--Sunbeams for
Sale--Winds and Waves awaiting Man’s Sail and Wheel--How a Western
Man Invented a Sand Mill--Enormous Power of Sea Waves--A New Use
for the Artesian Well--Eureka! The Right Kind of a Storage
Battery--Opportunities for Enterprise and Wealth.
The finding and unlocking of the forces of nature have been sources of
some of the world’s largest fortunes. Steam and electricity are to-day
among the earth’s greatest contributors to wealth. It is not, however,
the simple discovery of a new force, but its ingenious application, that
brings financial reward, and there may be a hundred, or even a thousand
ways of applying a new power. These powers are perhaps all known at the
present time, but many of them are little utilized, and some have never
been harnessed. It is probable that we have as yet only begun to unlock
the secrets of nature.
852. COMPRESSED AIR.--There are vast possibilities in the use of this
power. In a few years lightning expresses will fly over the land, swift
vessels will skim the deep, monster passenger eagles will soar in the
air, and tons of mail matter will be blown through tubes from sea to
sea, all driven by this powerful motor, compressed air. These things
only wait for money and brains.
853. STEAM.--In the application of steam about ninety per cent. of power
is lost. This is an enormous waste. Here is room for a second Watt. In
the race for primacy as a power, steam need take no second place if only
its unutilized forces be turned to account by some inventor. Here is a
field worthy of the noblest powers of man.
854. ELECTRICITY.--At present electricity sends our telegraph messages,
projects our voices through the telephone, propels our street cars,
lights our streets and dwellings, and in some States executes our
criminals. But it is altogether likely that this as yet comparatively
unknown power will be extended into a hundred untried fields. Here is a
single example of the economy in its use: The Baldwin Locomotive Company
discovered that they were losing eighty per cent. of steam power in
shafts and belts. They installed electric motors and reduced the bill
for power immensely. Hundreds of large establishments waste from
one-fourth to three-fourth of steam in the same way. If electricity can
save from $14 to $50 per day, as in the case just quoted, it is surely
well worth a trial.
855. CALORIC.--The time will come when the billions of cubic feet of
sunlight that fall upon our earth will be utilized and will doubtless be
the cheapest and most efficient of all the motor forces. If you can only
focus this widely distributed energy, you can obtain any amount of heat
and consequently power. It has been proved that you can boil two pints
of water with the heat of the sun falling upon one and one-half square
yards of surface. One square yard of sunshine represents one horse
power. The problem, therefore, is to concentrate. This will be done some
day by the use of immense convex mirrors. Already experiments are being
tried, and the first promoters of this scheme will have the power of the
world at their feet and its wealth in their hands.
856. WATER POWER.--The time will also come when the thousands of
cataracts and rapids that now waste their energies will all be harnessed
and set to work. It is estimated that the water power of Niagara is as
great as would be the steam power produced by 226,000,000 tons of coal a
year. This one cataract has power enough to make a thousand
millionaires, and there are hundreds of smaller waterfalls running to
waste.
857. WINDMILLS.--Steam is costly and water is not always available, but
the wind is everywhere, and costs little or nothing. It has the
disadvantage of inconstancy and uncertainty, but it is invaluable for
storing up force for future use. The windmill is susceptible of great
improvements, and waits for another Morse or Watt.
858. A SAND MILL.--One ingenious man out West has equipped his windmill
with an endless belt provided with buckets, like a grain elevator. These
dip into a box of dry sand and discharge it upon a large wheel like an
overshot water-wheel, which it turns as water would. The sand is
discharged again into the box and thus is used over again endlessly. We
think the man has not patented his invention; he has missed a fortune
which somebody else will pick up.
859. SEA POWER.--Next to the power of the sun is the power of the ocean.
An experiment with a dynanometer has shown that the pressure exerted by
the sea waves during a storm often exceeds 7,600 pounds per square
foot. Multiply this by 1,393,920,000,000,000 feet, which the surface of
the ocean presents, and we gather some little notion of the
inconceivable power that is running to waste. When will come the
inventor who will harness the sea and set it to lighting our cities and
carrying men and mail-bags? There is said to be millions upon millions
of gold strewn on the ocean’s bed as the result of wrecks, but there is
vastly more gold for the daring inventor in the waves that forever pound
upon the beach.
860. ARTESIAN WELL.--The artesian well plant is coming into prominence.
Formerly the well was only employed as a means of getting water to
drink; it is only recently that it has occurred to people that here is
an immense and unused water motor. Water power from running streams is
only available here and there, but with the advent of the artesian well
there is no spot on earth that may not have as much cheap power as it
needs, the cost being almost nothing when once the power is obtained.
Here is another opportunity for enterprise and fortune.
861. LIQUID AIR.--This is a new discovery, and one very rich in promise.
Here is doubtless the long-sought-for method of the storage battery. It
has been found that the same force of liquid air as applied in the
electric storage battery scores from one-tenth to one-twentieth more
than the electric fluid is able to do. Here we have a power whose
application will result in such unknown quantities of usefulness and
wealth as to defy the power of figures and even the imagination itself.
CHAPTER XXIII.
MONEY IN BUILDING MATERIALS.
Boundless Wealth in Brick, Wood and Stone--Farmers Who have
Untouched and Unknown Mines--A Man With 2,000,000 Acres--How a
Farmer Astonished a Lawyer--A New Way to Measure Land--Men Who
Don’t Know They are Rich--Are You One?--More Money in the Builder’s
Stone than in the Philosopher’s Stone--Secrets of Brick Making--The
Exploits of “Lucky” Baldwin--A Man Who Lives in a Glass House--The
Floor of the Future--Time is Money, but the Shorter the Time the
More the Money.
It is certain that nearly all the structures now upon the earth will
have to be rebuilt during the next half century. When we consider the
immense cost and vast number of these buildings, aggregating thousand of
millions of dollars, the demand for building materials surpasses all
computation and imagination. During the next few decades untold myriads
of persons will get rich, either in this discovery of new fields for
these materials, exploiting the old ones, or in the invention of new
building matter.
“How large is your farm?” inquired a lawyer of a verdant farmer whom he
meant to guy. The man of the law winked at his companion as much as to
say, “See what sport I will have with the old fool!” “Well,” said the
haymaker, “I reckon I have about 2,000,000 acres.” “Two million acres!”
gasped the attorney, gazing round; “pray, where is it?” “Down yere,”
replied the farmer, pointing his long, skinny fingers at the ground. “I
have got a hundred acres on top, and I reckon I own about down to the
middle of the y’arth.” The man of the soil spake wiser than he knew. He
was rich, but not exactly in the way he imagined, for a granite quarry
of the finest kind was found on his land, which caused him to realize a
large sum.
862. STONE QUARRY.--Says a recent publication: “A man who has a quarry
of good building stone, easily accessible, is richer than if he owned a
gold mine.” But there are immense numbers of such quarries unworked and
even unsuspected. It is not too much to say that there are at least a
thousand farmers bemoaning unproductive land which contains beneath the
surface that which can make them richer than anything they can possibly
grow from the soil.
863. ARTIFICIAL STONE.--Many kinds of artificial stone are now employed,
such as Ransom’s concrete, Portland stone, etc. They are made by a
mixture of cement, sand and gravel, and are molded into blocks. The
value depends upon the kind of cement. No really good lime for this
purpose has yet been found in the United States. The man who can
discover a calcareous deposit capable of making a good, silicious or
argillaceous hydraulic lime will have the market for manufactured stone
practically in his hands.
864. BAKED BRICK.--Late improvements in baking brick have reduced the
time required to bake 100,000 bricks from fourteen to four days, and the
amount of fuel from forty cords of wood to sixteen. The following
suggestions by a brick-burner will show the path of fortune to those who
can reduce the time still further. Mix a little charcoal in the clay.
Double the length of the brick. If by either of these ways you can make
the bricks a trifle cheaper, while retaining their qualities, you have
acquired a fortune. “Lucky” Baldwin, a man afterward famous for his
mining and real estate speculations, made his first large money in
brick-burning. “I had no experience whatever then,” he said, “but I
studied up the subject, thoroughly mastered the details, and cleared
$1,500 in a month.”
865. GLASS BRICK.--Another new idea! Why not make a brick of glass,
partially hollow, so that, filled with rarefied air, it can be a
non-conductor of heat? Such a brick would be a great improvement on the
present method of constructing conservatories, greenhouses and the walls
of winter gardens. The plan is being tried in Europe, but there is no
patent on the introduction, and nothing to stop an American from
introducing a new kind of hothouse. The adage about the “man in a glass
house” may be realized yet.
866. RUBBER FLOORS.--Why do we go on in the old way, employing
rough-sounding and creaking flooring, when there is a material which
meets every want for a desirable floor? India rubber tiles prevent
slipping, emit no sound under the foot, and have the additional element
of an agreeable elasticity. It is a positive pleasure to walk on an
India rubber floor. It is, of course, more expensive than wood, but the
time is surely coming when every elegant dwelling, all expensive halls
and public buildings, as well as the saloon decks of our first-class
steamships, will have these improved floors. A man, ambitious to be rich
and possessing a few thousands of capital, could hardly do a better
thing than to manufacture rubber interlocking tiles, advertising them
extensively and exhibiting models to builders.
CHAPTER XXIV.
MONEY IN AMUSEMENTS.
Money in Fun--Salary of a “Star”--A Fortune in “A Parlor Match”--A
Pianist Who Got $2,500 a Night--How to Get a Start on the Stage--A
New Field for the Amusement Artist--Humor and Hard Cash in
Shadowgraphs--What Max O’Rell Earned on the Lecture Platform--Money
in the Traveling Show--The Greatest Money Burning in the United
States--Fortunes in Fireworks.
People who cater to public amusements are so many, their entertainments
so diverse and their talents so unequal, that no general statement can
be made about the remuneration for this kind of work. There are “stars”
at the top who receive from $200 to $1,000 per night, and there are
“mediocres,” or worse, at the bottom who barely eke out a living at $7 a
week. No one should enter this field unless his talent is equal to his
ambition. Here are a few of the prizes taken before the footlights:
867. THE FARCE COMEDY.--Evans and Hoey purchased a comedy entitled “A
Parlor Match.” Mr. Evans says: “We played it over 3,000 times, and at a
rough estimate I think we must have cleared from $300,000 to $400,000.”
868. INSTRUMENTAL CONCERTS.--The possibilities of dollars in
instrumental music are seemingly unlimited. Celebrated pianists have
received almost fabulous sums. Rubinstein’s six months’ tour in America
is said to have netted a profit of $60,000, and a second engagement was
made for him at the rate of $2,500 per night.
869. STAGE STARS.--The stage, like every other profession, is crowded at
the bottom, but has room at the top. Beginners seldom get more than $15
per week and commonly they receive much less. Leading people in road
companies get $50 per week. Stars receive from $100 to $500 per night.
Madame Celeste made $50,000 in this country. Edwin Forrest never
received less than $200 per night. Edwin Booth sometimes played for $500
per night.
870. POPULAR LECTURERS.--These are richly rewarded for their hour or two
of entertainment of an audience. John B. Gough’s price was $200 per
night. Henry Ward Beecher, Wendell Phillips, and Bayard Taylor averaged
the same figures. The receipts for Professor Tyndall’s thirty-five
lectures in this country were $23,100; and Max O’Rell earned $5,290 by
his lectures during a single week in Johannesburg, South Africa. Says a
magazine note: “Money-making’s most promising field is that of a popular
lecturer.”
871. HAND SHADOWS.--Here is something new: Some amusement artists in
England have conceived the idea of entertaining audiences with hand
shadows. A candle, an oil lamp, or an arc light is used, and the beam of
light passes through a small circular opening upon a sheet of
ticket-writer’s holland. Sometimes a pipe or a piece of cardboard is
used to heighten the effect, but for the most part the artist employs
his hands only. With diligent practice the most comical effects, such as
“Dressing for a Party,” “The Dog Fight,” etc., can be produced. Mr.
Devant, the originator of the shadowgraph, convulses his audiences and
reaps large profits for himself. America, where the humorous is quickly
and keenly appreciated, offers a large field for this new kind of
entertainment.
872. MUSEUM AND CIRCUS.--The vocation of the popular showman is a highly
paying one. It appeals to two of the most powerful motives of human
nature--the desire to be amused and amazed. P. T. Barnum made and lost
two or three fortunes; Bailey, the successor of Barnum, and Dan Rice
have also conducted highly successful shows. Dime museums in large
cities often pay vast sums for curiosities and monstrosities, and still
conduct a very profitable business.
873. GYMNASTS.--Athletes need to begin early in life in order to acquire
suppleness of muscle. There is no profession that demands a severer
training or regimen. A vast number of performers are constantly
traveling through the country. Engagements with companies are made on
exhibition of skill. Managers are always on the alert for something new.
Some equestrians receive as high as $500 a week for self and horses;
clowns often receive $100; rope walkers, $50.
874. OPERA SINGERS.--Voice, gesture, grace, and beauty are the four
qualities of success in the opera artist. Those who succeed receive
princely sums for their services. Mario got $400 a night in
Philadelphia. Tamberlik every time he sung a high note demanded $500.
Piccolomini cost her manager over $5,000 a month. Madame Perer received
$14,000 for the season. Genius and hard work are nowhere better paid
than in the opera.
875. MIMIC BATTLES.--Pain’s fireworks at Manhattan Beach, reproducing
the “Capture of Manila” and “The Fall of Santiago,” have been immensely
popular, sometimes drawing crowds numbering 10,000. A thousand dollars’
worth of fireworks and _papier maché_ are burned in a single night
during the season, but enormous as are the expenses we are informed that
the proprietor seldom makes less than $500 a night. There is no patent
on these exhibitions, and they may be repeated or imitated anywhere. A
man who dares “burn money” in this way, or a stock company where the
individual risk would be comparatively small, exhibiting these fireworks
in all our great cities, would certainly reap handsome gains. Especially
at this time, while the fervor of patriotism and the glow of enthusiasm
over our recent victories are still at white heat, the enterprise could
not fail to be paying. We would almost guarantee that a company which
could set up as brilliant an exhibition as Pain’s in fifty leading
cities would realize twenty-five per cent. on the investment.
876. THEATRICAL ENTERPRISES.--Running a theater is risky business; it
has its ups and downs, and the downs are as swift as the ups. Oscar
Hammerstein, who has just lost all by an unsuccessful venture, says that
once during the short period of four weeks he made $60,000. Daly,
Frohman, Lester Wallack, and many others, have grown rich in the
theatrical business.
877. DANCERS.--Members of the vaudeville are not so well paid as in many
other arts for amusing the public, but special dancing “artists”
sometimes receive almost fabulous sums. Famous dancers have received as
high as $10,000 in the course of a season. Freda Maloff, the Turkish
dancer, has just returned from the Klondike, where in the course of a
few months she has made $62,000 in her profession, the miners literally
showering her with nuggets.
878. MOVING PICTURES.--This latest and most popular form of amusement is
coining money for the owners of the cinematograph, biograph, vitascope,
or by whatever other name the instrument is called which causes the
scenes portrayed on canvas to be instinct with moving life. The charge
for an evening’s service is commonly $50.
879. BAND PLAYERS.--Band players get from $1,000 to $5,000 a year,
according to proficiency. Sousa, the leader of the celebrated band by
his name, received $6,000 a year. There are always openings for good
band players.
880. IMPERSONATORS.--Dickens will probably always be the great resort
for this class of entertainers. Of seven leading impersonators now on
the platform, four portray his characters almost exclusively. It is a
fine field for the elocutionist who has talents for mimicry. The average
charge is $25 per night.
881. ANCIENT BURLESQUES.--There are at least three forms of this
amusement which are having great success. They are “The Village Choir,”
“The Old Folks’ Concert,” and “Aunt Polly Bassett’s Singing School.” The
last named has often cleared $100 in a single evening.
882. RECITERS.--Reciters and readers, from Dickens to Hall Caine, have
always been popular. The highest paid are well-known authors, who read
from their own writings. Charles Dickens seldom received less than $200
an evening. But the majority are glad to get engagements at from $10 to
$25 a night.
883. BELL RINGERS.--The discovery that many objects in nature could be
made to give forth musical sounds has vastly widened the field of
entertainment. Rocks, steam pipes, tumblers, and dinner bells have been
drafted into service, the last named with notable success. In one
company four young ladies have charmed the public ear with the melody of
a score of hand bells. They have reaped rich harvests all over the
country.
884. MAGICIANS.--This field has been somewhat overworked of late years,
but the phenomenal success of such men as Blitz, the ventriloquist, and
Hermann, the prestidigitator, show the possibilities in this line. Both
these men bewitched the public for a whole generation, and made great
fortunes.
885. STORY TELLERS.--This is a late revival of a form of amusement as
old as the times of Homer. Those succeed best who are authors as well as
elocutionists, making their own story and telling it fresh from the
heart. We predict that this kind of entertainment is going to have a
great run, and persons who have talent in this line will do well to
furbish up their weapons.
886. CARTOONISTS.--Cartoonists and crayonists receive high figures for
their work, as this kind of talent is rare. The chief of this class of
artists received from $50 to $150 per night. Since his death, no worthy
successor has been found, but there are many young fingers that are
clever with chalk, and there is room for more. It is a very inviting
field for persons who have the right gifts.
CHAPTER XXV.
MONEY IN ROD AND GUN.
How to Combine Profit and Pleasure--Some Truths About
Trout--Stories of the Wild North--Fortunes in Furs--Nearly Five
Million Skins a year--Cost of Birds for Ladies’ Hats--$25 a Day and
Your Own Game Keeper--An Elephant Hunt in Africa.
Happy is the man who can combine pleasure and profit. Most men use the
rod and gun for sport, but there are a number of persons who follow the
business “professionally.” Especially in the great forests of the north
are found thousands of men to whom the skins of wild beasts may be said
to be meat and drink. Some of them even attain a competence and retire
on their savings from the sale of furs. This is less surprising when we
remember that people in the great northern wilderness spend little
beyond what is needful for the bare necessaries of life.
887. FAT QUAILS.--The quail has been called the game bird of America,
because it is found almost everywhere. Some of the best shooting is
found in North Carolina and Maryland, where a hunter of average skill
can bag fifty birds a day. Price, $1.75 per dozen, or $7 for his day’s
sport. Hunters must consult the game laws, which differ in various
States of the Union.
888. TROPICAL BIRDS.--It is estimated that the number of birds it is
necessary to slaughter annually for the decoration of ladies’ hats
amounts to the enormous number of 9,250,000. These are mostly tropical
birds, and are shot in the forests of Brazil, Central America and
Mexico. Some are natives of our Southern States, especially of Florida.
On account of the great difference in the worth of the feathers, no
estimate of the value can be given, but it is said that a skilled hunter
of these bright wings can easily bag $10 worth of the birds in a day.
889. IVORY.--Elephant hunting in Africa is very profitable for those who
have the courage and taste for the work. Seventy-five thousand elephants
are slain yearly to supply the world’s knife-handles, billiard balls,
and piano keys. There are a number of persons engaged in the killing of
elephants for the sake of the sport, but most hunters do so for the
profit. Ivory is worth about $1 a pound, and the tusks of a male
elephant weigh about fifty pounds. The average of one elephant a day is
considered a good day’s work, although five or six have been taken under
the most favorable circumstances. The safest plan is by means of a
pitfall, as then the enraged beast is unable to attack his aggressor.
The elephant hunting business is worth about $5,000,000 a year.
890. THE TROUT POND.--In New England there are hundreds of fish dealers
who own ponds which they have stocked with trout, and which they sell
for $1 apiece; and this price they often receive even when the buyer as
sportsman catches them himself. The profits of fish raising lie in the
fact that fish are prolific to an extent vastly greater than any other
creatures used for human food, the female sometimes laying as many as
150,000 eggs. There are owners of trout preserves who receive as high as
$25 a day from sporting clubs for the exclusive use of their ponds.
891. FABULOUS PRICES FOR FURS.--Hunting and trapping in British America
and in the North Woods of the United States have always been very
profitable. Here is a list of the number of furs taken, with a few of
the prices obtained: A good sable skin brings from $20 to $150,
according to quality; 15,000 are caught yearly. Almost as valuable is
the fur of the pine marten; 200,000 skins taken annually. Another
high-priced skin is that of the mink; 250,000 are taken every year. The
ermine is another choice fur, of which 400,000 are taken yearly. A
beautiful material for robes, ladies’ sets, trimmings, etc., is the fur
of the Canada lynx, of which 50,000 are taken yearly. The fur of the
otter is much esteemed for caps, collars, and gloves; 40,000 taken
yearly. Almost the same number of beavers are captured every year; the
fur is used for caps and mufflers. Three million muskrat skins are in
demand every year. Of all kinds of foxes some 200,000 find their way
into our markets or are exported to Europe. The skin of the silver fox
of Labrador has been sold in London for $500. The raccoon furnishes us
yearly with 500,000 skins, and the badger with 50,000. We have as a
summary 4,745,000 skins marketed every year, affording employment for
thousands of hunters and trappers.
CHAPTER XXVI.
MONEY IN THE FOREST.
Unappreciated and Unappropriated Wealth in Trees--$5,000,000 Burned
in Florida Forests--Reckless Waste of Timber--An Opportunity to
Make a Fortune in Paper Cane--Chances in Cedar--Small Spools Help
to Wind Great Fortunes--How Some People Throw Away $50,000 a Year.
There is doubtless more money in the forests that clothe the mountains
than in the metals that are buried beneath their granite and limestone
backs. Much of this wealth has been squandered through lack of knowledge
of its worth and because of meager facilities for its utilization. In
the State of Florida alone more than $5,000,000 worth of timber has been
ruthlessly burned in order to clear the ground for orange plantations.
Forest wealth in the future will probably be obtained in the following
ways:
892. WISCONSIN PINES.--The merchantable timber in the forests of the
Wolverine State, according to Government estimate, reaches the enormous
amount of 41,000,000,000 feet. There are many fortunes yet to be carved
out of the endless pines of this State.
893. NORTH CAROLINA TAR.--Eight million dollars is the sum earned
annually by the people of North Carolina from the making of tar. The
pine forests that yield tar are not costly, but a large amount of
acreage is required.
894. VERMONT MAPLE SUGAR.--The people of Vermont last year earned more
than $12,000,000 by making maple sugar. It is one of the surest sources
of revenue. The work is light, pleasant and romantic.
895. ALABAMA CHESTNUTS.--Thousands of acres of chestnut timber are
wasted in Alabama because its worth is not known. The timber is felled
for the tanbark, but the Commissioner of Forests estimates that in a
single region $50,000 could be made annually by cutting this waste wood
into railroad ties.
896. IDAHO CEDAR.--The finest body of red cedar on the continent exists
in the State of Idaho. Red cedar is one of the most valuable of woods.
Endless tracts can be purchased now for $10 an acre. It is probable that
in ten or fifteen years, with better railroad facilities, the standing
wood alone without the land cannot be purchased for $100 per acre.
897. MAINE BIRCH WOOD.--Nearly all the wood used in making spools for
thread in this country and in Great Britain is supplied by the Maine
forests. So great is the demand, and so profitable the work of felling
the trees that the birch wood of this State is being rapidly consumed. A
good, though long-time investment can be found in the setting out of
birch trees on the waste lands of New England. A thousand acres of land,
not worth $10 an acre at present, may be stocked with birch trees, which
can be sold in from twenty-five to thirty years for $40 per acre.
Profits, less taxes, $30,000.
898. SOUTHERN CANES.--One of the most important factors of modern
civilization is paper. The United States consumes yearly about
$75,000,000 worth of paper. From rags, which once afforded all the
material for paper making, but which are now entirely insufficient,
manufacturers are experimenting with all kinds of vegetable growth in
search of the best paper pulp. Paper is now being made of the fiber of
trees. In the Southern States there is a kind of coarse cane which
affords an inexhaustible supply, with a peculiar adaptation for the
purposes of paper making. Here is a hint for the benefit of the one
first to seize it. A buyer who should purchase a thousand acres, or even
ten thousand acres, of paper cane would soon find a profitable market.
CHAPTER XXVII.
MONEY IN THE SEA.
The Magician who Makes Gold Swim--$30,000,000 in a Shoal of
Cod--200 per cent. Profits in Salmon--How French Sardines are Made
in Maine--Vast Money in Bivalves--John Bull, Brother Jonathan, and
the Seal Fisheries--Chasing a Greenland Whale--Old Salts who Have
Made their “Pile”--Why Salt Fish is Worth More than Fresh--The
Greatest Reservoir of Wealth--A Leaf from a Business Ledger.
Gold floats in the air, swims in the sea, springs up out of the earth,
and lies deep hid in the mountain bed. How can gold swim? In the form of
millions upon millions of tiny creatures whose destruction brings gold
into the pockets of their captors. Literally, the ocean is the biggest
field of revenue on the planet. It is a reservoir of wealth which all
the ages are not likely to exhaust. Further, the ocean, unlike the land,
has not been and cannot be partitioned out among individual owners. Any
man can enter upon any body of water not actually occupied by another,
and appropriate all that he finds there. The following are among the
most profitable of the fisheries:
899. OREGON SALMON.--The female salmon lays a thousand eggs for every
pound of her weight. For salmon profits go to Oregon. Immense factories,
making enormous profits, are already in the field, but there is room for
more.
900. MASSACHUSETTS COD.--Professor Huxley estimates the number of cod
in a single shoal at 120,000,000. What do you think of that, you who pay
twenty-five cents for a small codfish? A shoal of fish worth
$30,000,000! Go to Newfoundland if you want to catch cod.
901. FRENCH SARDINES.--So-called French sardines are put up in Maine.
They have a foreign label, and command twice the price they would if it
were known that they are a native product. The deception, however, is
only in the name, for they are in no way inferior to the foreign brand.
As an example of the enormous profits, we have it for a fact that
herrings worth when fresh not more than $50,000, were put up as sardines
in cans holding one pound each, and in that style they brought $770,000.
This is the secret of the way some people get rich.
902. SEA OTTERS.--These are not so plentiful as formerly, but the
increased price of the skins partly makes up for the less number of
furs. A few years ago a schooner sailed from Boston to the Northern
Pacific in quest of these slippery sea tenants, and in the course of
three trips netted $75,000.
903. ARCTIC WHALES.--Rivals of whale oil have reduced the price of that
lubricant, but there are yet many vessels engaged in the enterprise.
When we consider that the whaling industry has contributed $680,000,000
to the wealth of England, Holland, and the United States, we can see
what enormous profits have been reaped by those engaged in the business.
From Sandy Hook to Cape Cod, all along the coast, there are retired sea
captains who have “feathered their nest” with the sales of
whale-blubber.
904. BEHRING SEALS.--Go aboard a sealing vessel. The business is very
profitable. Above 1,000,000 seals of all kinds are taken yearly, a
single vessel sometimes catching as many as 5,000. As these seals are
taken by vessels owned and manned by legalized companies, the profits
are not so subject to fluctuation as in what is called individual luck.
To be a member of a sealing company you must have some capital, but the
business is so profitable that it pays at least twenty-five per cent.
John Bull and Brother Jonathan have had many disputes about the right to
catch these seals. They are undoubtedly United States property, but
England bases its rights in old treaties. However, if the catch is not
restricted, the indiscriminating slaughter will soon diminish the number
so that there will not be enough seals worth fighting about.
905. SEA GOLD.--Though this product of the sea has no fins, it falls
more appropriately under the heading of this chapter than any other. The
South Sea Bubble has had a parallel in the recent excitement over golden
sea waves. A clergyman, a Connecticut Yankee by the name of Jernigan,
together with his brother, after many experiments, announced that they
had discovered a process for extracting gold from the sea. A stock
company was formed, a large capital raised, and a mill erected. But the
bubble exploded with loss to all except the reverend projector of the
enterprise, who is said to have made $100,000 out of the scheme. At
least, a loose leaf from his ledger, which he left behind in his flight,
indicates that about that sum was inveigled from the pockets of the
deluded members of the “company.” However, some of them still have faith
in the enterprise. It has been known to chemists for a long time that
gold is contained in sea water. The only question is whether it is in
sufficient quantities to pay for the cost of its extraction. It may yet
be found that what is at present regarded as a gigantic swindle contains
the seeds of a profitable industry.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MONEY IN WASTE MATERIAL.
The American People Waste More Fortunes than Other Nations
Make--The Shoreditch Experiment in England--The Tonner System of
Germany--Millions in Ashes--Coal Fortunes Waiting to be Picked
Up--Astonishing Possibilities in Irrigation--Tons of Tin Thrown
Away Every Day--$5,000,000 Lost in Sulphur Every Year--A Fortune
Waiting a Stovepipe Inventor--Enormous Waste of Gold and Silver.
The American nation is a wasteful one. Every year by neglect, poor
economy and extravagance, material is lost which if saved would be
enough to make many people rich. There are fortunes in ashes, garbage,
sewage, and cinder piles. Why explore new fields when the old is yet
unworked? Here are a few ways in which capital can be expended with a
certainty of quick and large profits:
906. WASTE OF SEWAGE.--The wasteful methods of civilization cause the
destruction of by far the most valuable of all our fertilizers, which
passes out of our sewers into the sea, and is lost. It is estimated that
the amount in New York City alone is worth over $5,000,000 yearly. In
Germany, what is known as the Tonner system saves this richest of
fertilizers; and the time is ripe for some one in this country to save
this enormous waste and make himself many times a millionaire in the
Book of Wealth.
907. WASTE OF COAL ASHES.--Two hundred million tons of coal are
consumed annually in this country. About one-half of this amount goes to
ashes. It is safe to say that, after all the cinders and slag have been
sifted out, there are still 100,000,000 truck loads which are worse than
wasted, as they threaten to hinder the free navigation of our harbor.
Coal ashes have a value as a fertilizer. Even at the cheap price of
twenty-five cents a load, we have an aggregate of $25,000,000 lost by
this careless waste. The time will come when some enterprising firms,
with means for collecting and distributing this refuse, will make
fortunes by its sale to farmers and gardeners.
908. WASTE OF GARBAGE.--Shoreditch, population, 124,000, a borough of
London, by a new system for the disposal of garbage, called the Dust
Destructor, saved in one year $11,000, or enough to defray the expense
of its electric lights. What formerly cost eighty cents a ton for
barging, is now done by the new system for thirty cents. In New York
City (not the Greater New York) the number of truck loads last year was
1,582,287, and it is estimated that a similar system, in place of the
one which now costs the city ninety-four cents per load, would save
$712,132, equivalent to the interest at six per cent. on a capital of
$11,868,675, or more than sufficient to light the whole of Manhattan
Island.
909. WASTE OF SULPHUR.--Attention has recently been called to the
enormous waste of sulphur which is going on in the copper furnaces of
Western mining towns. It is said that the annual waste is 128,000 tons.
The price of sulphur is $32 a ton. Where is the man who will stop the
pouring out of this vast quantity of poisonous vapor upon the
atmosphere, save the enormous waste of valuable material, and make for
himself a gigantic fortune? The lists are open.
910. WASTE OF TIN.--Thousands of tons of tin cans are daily thrown in
the rubbish heap. It is believed that by treatment of sulphate the tin
may be recovered and again utilized. It is a question whether the same
amount of money now invested in tin mines, if put to this novel use,
would not be the better paying investment. It is estimated that there
are two cents’ worth of tin in an average-sized can. Cans could be
collected at a cost of fifty cents per hundred, or $5,000 per million.
If we estimate the chemical process of recovering the tin at as much
more, the total cost would be $10,000 per million cans. Worth of the tin
recovered at two cents per can, $20,000. Profits, 100 per cent.
911. WASTE OF HEAT.--In our present systems of heating, from one-fourth
to one-third of the heat passes up the chimney and is lost. Could not
some method be perfected by which this could be saved? It would be a
great boon to the poor, who need to save every pound of coal, if this
could be done. We suggest as one plan a stovepipe radiator--two pipes,
open at top and bottom, traversing the vertical leg of the smoke-flue,
by means of which the air of the room shall be taken in at one end and
sent out at the other. There are at least 100,000 apartments heated by
steam. A system which will add one-fourth to the heat of these rooms
will be a material blessing. There should be millions in the invention.
912. WASTE OF LAND.--Judge Emory, at a recent irrigation convention,
stated that the arid and semi-arid lands of the United States are
one-half as large as all our domain, except Alaska. It is estimated
that good homes, fit for 75,000,000 to 150,000,000 people, could be made
by irrigation. This system is yet in its infancy. In a few years
hundreds of millions of dollars will be invested in making our desert
lands “blossom as the rose,” but like all other enterprises, first on
the field will be the first in fortune.
913. WASTE OF GOLD, SILVER AND IRON.--The present clumsy methods of
extracting the ore of metals must soon be superseded by a more
economical system. To say that there are $100,000,000 worth of gold and
silver in the refuse piled up around the mines would be much beneath the
actual figures. The loss in iron and other metals, owing to the same
cause, is utterly incalculable. The recent discoveries in magnetism
point to the solution of the problem and the utilization of the waste.
It is not impossible that the electro-magnet contains more gold for its
fortunate inventors than all the mines of the earth will yield to
operators during a single year.
CHAPTER XXIX.
MISCELLANEOUS WAYS OF MAKING MONEY.
Odd Ways of Making Money--Millions for Cents--How to Live Without
Paying Rent--X-Rays and X-Bills--Fortunes in Old Iron--Newspapers,
Like Wine, Increase in Price With Age--High Price for a Wig--900
per cent. Profit in Old Books--What the “Old Furniture Man”
Makes--The Five-cent Millionaire--Profits of Peddlers--Why
Pawnbrokers Get Rich.
The ways of making money are as multifarious as the diversity of human
industry. Some men earn a fortune, some discover it, some win it, and
some marry it. Every year new schemes are developed for the earning of
one’s bread. Many of them are unpromising and even startling, and yet
all the great industries that to-day pour wealth into the pockets of the
capitalists were once derided as the folly of unpractical dreamers.
There is not one of the thousand or more methods of making a living in
which there is not the possibility of a fortune. The following methods
are sufficiently out of the beaten track to be novel to most people,
while some of them are absolutely new and untried:
914. THE NATIONAL ADVERTISING COMPANY.--Form a company of live,
energetic, intelligent young men. Ascertain the extent of circulation of
some of our literary magazines. For every subscriber and buyer there are
at least three readers; some estimate five. Bunch together the
circulation of some of the leading periodicals, and when you are sure of
a million readers, begin operations. Divide the country up into
sections, with a central headquarters, and let one of a pair of your
young men work each. One member of the firm remains to control the
office. The magazines should be those whose circulation covers the
entire country, and the advertisements you seek to gain should not be of
a local but of a general character. Then you can work your field,
promising that for so many cents per thousand or dollars per million,
you will place the advertisements before the eyes of that number of
people. Have circulars headed “Millions for Cents.” The power of numbers
has a charm for most people, and few advertisers will be able to resist
your array of figures.
915. FREE RENT.--Get your rent free on the same plan that some men get a
building lot free. Take a large house, which, we will say, costs you $75
per month. Such a house should have at least twelve rooms, six of which
should be bedrooms. These rooms should be readily sublet for $3 a week,
which, allowing for the fractions over the even weeks in a month,
exactly pays your rent. By means of folding-beds you can readily convert
some of the remaining six into sleeping rooms. If your family is small,
a parlor can be so used.
916. X-RAYS AND X-BILLS.--The fluoroscope is a new thing. It is a great
thing to see the bones of one’s hands, or keys imbedded in two inches of
solid wood. You can invent many other ways of making the novelty
interesting. People pay to see what is novel. With proper advertising, a
really good fluoroscope exhibition should net at least $10 a night.
917. GOLDEN SAILS.--Cleopatra’s barge may not have had golden sails, but
if you live along shore, especially near a summer resort, you can turn
your sails into gold, and make the wind waft you money by taking parties
for an outing on the water. You should get $10 for a party of six; $15
for a party of ten, etc. The requisites are a good boat, made attractive
by awning and colored cushions, fishing tackle, bait, etc., and a
pleasant, obliging disposition.
918. GAME PRESERVE.--If you live far inland, you can buy at cheap rates
a wild mountain or a large tract of wilderness. Around this construct a
high fence and stock your purchase with game. All this will require
capital, but you will find ample returns for your investment in the
rates which you will charge city sportsmen for a day’s sport. These
hunters care little for the money if they can have a good day’s sport.
After your game preserve becomes well known, through liberal
advertising, $25 a day on your investment during the season should be a
very modest expectation.
919. THE JUNK SHOP.--One of the things most in demand to-day is iron.
This is the iron age. It is displacing brick for building and wood for
ships. And yet how much goes to waste! Stoves, pots, kettles, rails,
machinery, wagon springs, car wheels, pillars, girders, and a multitude
of other forms of this valuable metal go to waste. The junk shop is a
mine. Manufacturers will pay you fifty cents per 100 pounds. The fact is
not generally known, but many junk dealers have become rich.
920. OLD NEWSPAPERS.--Newspapers should not be sold to the ragman until
they have been scissored, and perhaps not then. In New York there is a
man who makes a business of preserving newspapers. You can get almost
any copy of any paper for a number of years back. Copies forty years old
bring as high as $20 apiece. A copy twenty years old will bring $4 or
$5. Copies more than one year old and less than five sell from fifty
cents to one dollar. If salable, every day increases the value of your
stock.
921. THE BOOK STALL.--Where come the books on the street stalls that
sell for such marvelously low prices? From the cellars (would-be
sellers) of publication houses. These are the books that will not sell
at rates profitable to the publishers, and are bought up by the thousand
at small rates. Many of them come from the libraries of persons
deceased, and from the bookcases of men tired of carting them around in
this moving age. Sold at fifteen, twenty or twenty-five cents apiece,
there is a large profit in these books, for they are often bought at $10
per thousand--that is, a penny apiece. Profits at ten cents, 900 per
cent. Bought at $50 per thousand, you have still 400 per cent. Pretty
fair profits indeed! Let us no longer despise the old dealer in
second-hand books.
922. OLD FURNITURE.--Furniture made of the best material brings large
prices. Only slightly marred, chairs and other kinds of household
furniture often made of costly woods, are stored away as useless in the
attic. These could frequently be purchased at very low prices, the
owners being glad to get rid of them as an incumbrance. Yet a little
money would make them as good as new. Five dollars expended on a chair
that originally cost $50 and was repurchased in a dilapidated state for
$10; it was sold by the adroit second-hand dealer for $25; and the
purchaser considered it an excellent bargain. The dealer’s profit was
$10. Time consumed in repair, one day and a half. The man earned
$6.66-1/3 per day. Some in the same line have done much better. With
competent helpers and with industry in hunting up old furniture, these
figures should be trebled and quadrupled.
923. PUBLIC CONVENIENCE ROOM.--Establish it on some prominent
thoroughfare. It need not be very large. Suppose the rent to be $25 per
month. Let it be understood that for five cents you will furnish
materials for correspondence (pen, ink and paper), a writing desk,
brushes band lacking for shoes (not the services of a bootblack), a
whisk broom, a mirror, the use of a daily paper, a city directory, a
large map of the city, information on points of interest concerning the
things worth seeing, directions how to reach any part of the city, sofas
and easy chairs for resting, and the use of a toilet room. All for five
cents! You should have at least 200 patrons a day; receipts, $10.
Besides, you could sell stationery, confectionery, cigars, magazines,
and many other small articles in common use. The place could
advantageously be established in connection with a restaurant. Do you
know that some of the largest fortunes have been made from just such
five-cent charges. A millionaire street-railroad magnate, being asked
recently what his business was, replied: “Oh! just a five-cent
business--that’s all.”
924. GENERAL ADVICE.--Here is something entirely new: Thousands of
people want information, but do not know where to get it. Some write to
the newspapers, some ask friends. It would be of great advantage if such
persons could consult people who have more time to look into their
affairs than a newspaper editor, and who are more disinterested than
friends. Let it be known that you will give tips on horse races, inside
information about stock, points about the purchase of real estate,
advice about law matters, suggestions about the investment of money, or
any other information that may be required. Have on hand a stock of
dictionaries, gazetteers, directories, encyclopedias, and world books of
general information. You may charge ten cents for a simple consultation
of five minutes. You can give a great deal of information in five
minutes, if your questioner knows how to ask and you how to answer.
Fifteen cents for ten minutes, twenty-five cents for twenty minutes,
thirty-five cents for an half hour, and half a dollar for an hour. This
business might be combined with the Public Convenience Room in the last
number.
925. LANGUAGE CLASSES.--Here is one on a new plan. A French teacher has
hit upon the idea of combining work and play in a novel manner. The
classes form a club, which meets as in progressive euchre. The game is
played after the old style of authors. Upon blank white cards are
written the words to be used in sentences at the table. One table has
cards containing the names of clothing, another of furniture, and so on.
The players remain a certain length of time at each table, and then pass
to the next, each player visiting every table during the session of the
club. Afterward light refreshments are served by the teacher, and the
subjects announced for the next meeting. The idea is a taking one, and
capable of great elaboration. An up-to-date teacher ought to have
immense success with this plan.
926. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES.--The business opportunities advertised in
a single New York paper average 25 a day, 200 on Sunday, or about 17,500
a year. One man claims that $10,000 can be realized in two weeks by the
opportune venture of $1,000 in real estate. Another offers stock in a
$10,000 mine which he is sure will shortly be worth $100,000. A third
offers $5,000 for the use of $3,000 one year in mining operations. A
fourth wants a backer for a new power, in which $5,000,000 will be
easily realized. Most of these “opportunities” are doubtless illusive,
while many are bare-faced frauds; yet among the myriads there may be
some genuine chances for money-making. A shrewd man might find a bonanza
in this mine of opportunities.
927. MINE OWNERS.--Mr. Demullers, of Jefferson County, N. Y., a few
years ago went to El Paso, Mexico, as a workman. To-day he owns the most
valuable turquoise mine in the world, and is known as the “Turquoise
King.” One recent shipment netted him $10,000. Another man in South
America is known as the “Nitrate King,” and is said to be the richest
man on the Western Continent. He also was once a poor man.
928. CATTLE RAISERS.--Six years ago Grant Gillet was a station agent in
a small town in Kansas, working for a bare living. He made an engagement
as cattle feeder, and from that position worked himself up into wealth
by buying and selling cattle. He actually made half a million dollars in
four years, and was known as the Millionaire Cowboy. Another man this
last year bought Texas cattle for $432,000, and sold them for $540,000,
making $108,000 in four months. This simply shows what opportunities
there are for shrewd men in the cattle business.
929. STUMP SPEAKERS.--Men of oratorical ability have an opportunity
during two or three months of every year to earn considerable money in
political campaigns. Both of the great parties employ the best talent,
the pay depending partly upon one’s convincing logic, but mainly upon
the celebrity of the speaker. The lowest compensation is $5 a night, but
noted speakers have received $100, and even more, for one short speech.
930. ARTISTIC HOME BUILDERS.--These are not speculators, but men who
have built homes for their own occupancy, yet have been induced to sell
by the high prices offered. We know of no less than three persons in
this present year who have made $3,000 to $5,000 each in this way.
931. CEMETERY OWNERS.--Cemetery lots have proved good paying property to
those who know how to manage it. Land which costs from $1,000 to $5,000
an acre is divided up into parcels one rod or one-half rod square, and
sold for from $100 to $500 a plot. Mr. Th. E. Tinsley became a
millionaire through graveyard operations in Texas.
932. GLASS BALL SHOOTERS.--The names of Carver and Bogardus have become
continental by reason of their skill in hitting glass balls shot out of
a trap. There is hardly any kind of sport more exciting, and there is
always a large class who will patronize a rifle contest. These men
pocketed fortunes by the exhibition of their skill.
933. ENTERTAINMENT BUREAUS.--A Lecture Bureau in Brooklyn has the names
of over 500 persons, embracing all kinds of talent, booked to interest
and amuse its patrons. The manager, by having several engagements on
every night of the week, and charging five per cent. of profits, is
growing rich. There is room for a bureau of this kind in every large
city.
934. ICE-CREAM MANUFACTURERS.--Ten million quarts of ice-cream are
annually sold in New York, 65,000 quarts a day being the average
consumption in warm weather. “It is nothing,” says a prominent maker,
“for a great establishment to dispose of 35,000 quarts in one day.” An
idea of the money in the business may be formed from the fact that the
value of the annual output is about $3,500,000, of which fully one-third
is profit.
935. GOLD HUNTERS.--F. E. Simmons, of Montana, went to the Klondike less
than a year ago. He suffered every hardship and nearly lost his life on
the journey, but he returned with half a million dollars. There are a
few prizes there, as in all mining districts, but the majority of gold
hunters do not succeed. Yet Mr. J. Partridge, a mining expert, who has
thoroughly examined the region, says the wealth of the Klondike is
inexhaustible, and he predicts that $30,000,000 will be taken out next
year.
936. ASPHALT COMPANIES.--Here is an example of the enormous profits made
by these companies. In one city the mayor, suspecting the charges were
exorbitant, forced them to a lower scale, when the company actually
agreed to do for $1.50 per yard what they had hitherto received $2.25
for laying. This last was a living profit, but the profits over and
above a fair compensation were seventy-five cents per square yard. This
is the way contractors for the government get rich.
937. HORSE JOCKEYS.--Small men weighing not over 100 pounds have an
opportunity to earn money by riding horses on the race track. As the
race often depends upon the judgment, skill, and balance of the rider,
the owner wants the qualities of a man in the body of a boy. Jockeys
receive on different tracks from $10 to $25 for their day’s work, but
riders of winners often receive presents of $10 and even more. Tod
Sloan, a rider for the Dwyers, it is said, received $1,000 for a trip to
the English Derby.
938. WIG MAKING.--In a large city where there are several theaters, you
can do a good business in wigmaking. The trade is easily learned, and
the goods will command prices varying from the mustache of fifty cents
to the court wig for which you should receive $7 or $8. A location near
a large theater is desirable. Actors are very fastidious about their
make-up, and willing to pay good prices. It is said that Edwin Forrest
once paid $300 for a striking wig.
939. BOOK REPAIRING.--Almost everybody has books that are out of order,
and yet, strange to say, we have never heard of any one making a
business of repairing books. For your outfit you need several sheets of
paper of different sizes and thickness, a few strips of leather, some
stout pieces of cloth, a bottle of glue, a penknife, and a pair of
scissors. These can be carried in a small hand bag. Practice on your own
and your friends’ books before striking out.
940. THE HOUSEHOLD PACK.--Select twenty-five articles most needed in a
household. They should be compact, so as to go in a small box or bag.
They should be such things as soap, starch, shoe blacking, shoe polish,
stove blacking, cement, mucilage, matches, bluing, yeast cakes, baking
powders, etc. These are articles in constant demand and consumption.
They can be sold from door to door, mostly among people of limited
means, and if sold cheap there is profit, because they are articles
which every one wants, and many sales, even if the profits are small,
mean large results. There are many peddlers who are foreigners, and
having made a competence, go back to their own country to enjoy it.
941. PAWNBROKERS’ PROFITS.--The pawnbrokers’ business has been largely
given up to the Jews, but there is no good reason why it should be.
Pawnbrokers make immense profits. The amount of the loan is not above
one-third the value of the article. The goods are frequently not
redeemed. Then there are the pawnbrokers’ sales, at which the articles
command at least one-half their value. The pawnbroker gets ten per cent.
or more on money loaned, and if the goods are sold he gets the
difference between one-third and one-half values; that is, if an article
be worth $100, the loan is $33.33-1/3. The amount realized at the sale
is $50. Pawnbrokers’ profits, $16.66-2/3. This is the reason most
pawnbrokers get rich.
CHAPTER XXX.
MONEY IN SPECULATION.
True Stories that are Stranger than Fiction--Fortune’s Great
Army--The Rise of Jay Gould--The Meteoric Career of James
Fisk--Ferdinand Ward, the Napoleon of Finance--How Vanderbilt Made
a Million in a Day--A Man who was Devoured by both Bulls and
Bears--Some Rules for Timid Investors--John C. Eno, the Free-Lance
Operator--The Wonderful Success of James R. Keene--How Daniel Drew
Spelled “Door”--The Great Leiter Wheat Deal.
This is a dangerous sea, strewn with wrecks, but the fascination in the
thought of making a fortune in a single day ever has and ever will cast
its spell upon the human mind. Some men will take great risks in the
hope of glittering gains. We give a few of the most promising forms of
speculation, with examples of those who have been successful with the
dice of fortune.
Jay Gould was employed as a map-maker at a salary of $30 per month. He
trudged over whole counties in New York State as a surveyor. A lucky hit
brought him into Wall Street, where he made over $70,000,000 in forty
years.
James Fisk came down from Vermont a penniless boy, but getting into the
company of Wall Street men he soon amassed an immense fortune.
Ferdinand Ward, called the Napoleon of Finance, had an unequaled gift
for shrewd speculation, and might have excelled all contemporaries had
he chosen to stick by honest methods. He made a fortune before he was
arrested for “crooked ways.”
Cornelius Vanderbilt at twenty earned a living by rowing a boat between
Staten Island and New York. At sixty he was proprietor of a fleet of
sixty-six steamboats and owner of several railroads. He made his money
in stocks. In the fluctuations of the Erie, on one occasion he made a
million dollars between rise and set of sun.
John C. Eno was called the free-lance operator. He was one of the
boldest manipulators of stocks, and acquired an immense fortune.
Perhaps the most striking success was that of James R. Keene, who made
$9,000,000 in three years.
Others who have won their fortunes in Wall Street are Russell Sage,
William Belden, George I. Seney, Henry Villard, William H. Vanderbilt,
William R. Travis, C. P. Huntington, and Daniel Drew.
Of the last named it may be mentioned--to show how little a college
education has to do with success in business--that he was very
illiterate, possessing only a scanty knowledge of grammar, and even of
spelling. It is related that on one occasion he told his cashier that he
would set the safe lock on the word “door.” When the cashier wanted to
open the safe, he tried “door” in vain. Knowing his employer’s queer
methods of spelling he tried varieties on “door,” such as “dore,”
“doar,” etc., but all in vain. At last he was obliged to go to the hotel
and awake his employer, who had gone to bed. “Uncle Dan’l” was quite
crusty at being awakened, and told his cashier again that he had set the
safe on the word “door.” “But how do you spell ‘door’?” inquired the
cashier. “Why,” said “Uncle Dan’l” tartly, “any fool can spell ‘door.’
You’d better get out of the business if you can’t spell, and I’ve a
mind to discharge you on the spot. How do I spell ‘door?’ Why,
‘d-o-a-r-e,’ of course!” The next day, however, on reflection the old
man relented, and concluded not to discharge his trusted employee for so
trivial a blunder.
A rule for speculators is: “Don’t invest on professional advice.” Your
advisers have “an ax to grind.” A man once ordered a broker to buy 1,000
shares of Erie when the price was 94; it immediately dropped, and he
ordered it sold when it was 92-1/2. In half an hour he returned and
ordered it bought again. It had then gone up to 95. After consulting
again with “friends,” he again ordered it sold. The market then was down
to 90. He came back the fifth time and said: “I consulted one man who
told me to buy; then another who told me to sell. I understand that one
is called a bull and the other a bear. I don’t know much about these
names, but I do know that I have been a jackass.”
A much safer plan is to follow the lead of shrewd speculators. In Wall
Street you should reverse the advice given to the disciples concerning
the Pharisees. Christ said, “Do as they say, but not as they do.” But
with speculators the direction should be, “Do as they do, but not as
they say.”
The chief form of speculation is in stocks. These stocks may be
railroads, mines, wheat, corn, cotton, wool, tobacco, oil, gas, coal,
and, in fact, almost any industry where capital has constantly
vacillating values. We have room to mention only a very few:
942. CITY BONDS.--These are generally among the best securities for
investment. The element of speculation comes in when they are bought
below par in the belief of an early rise. A sharp Yankee bought $100,000
of defaulted bonds of the city of Houston, Texas, forced a settlement at
par, and doubled his money.
943. COLONIAL TRADE.--We have the very best authority for the
information that the trade in our newly acquired territory, the
Philippine Islands, will be worth one billion dollars annually under
American development. Here is an immense opportunity for every form of
profitable speculation. Cuba, Porto Rico, and Hawaii, also, are inviting
fields, and there is no doubt that the next decade will witness the
making of many fortunes in those islands, and the foundations of
hundreds of others. Now is the time to begin, as those earliest in the
field will have the first chance to buy up depreciated stocks and
lagging industries.
944. THE AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY.--One of the most vacillating stocks
lately has been that of the American Tobacco Company. In January of the
current year--1898--Mr. J. R. Keene purchased 80,000 shares at $90.
September 26th, fearing the market was about to decline, he began to
sell, and in two days had completely unloaded at figures ranging at $145
to $139. He cleared about $1,500,000 in the two days.
945. COLLAPSED RAILROADS.--For a capitalist there are few more promising
fields than the buying up of collapsed or run down railroads. Mr. George
I. Seney accumulated a large fortune by purchasing at a little more than
nominal figures bankrupt or embarrassed roads, and by thorough
equipment, and by connection with more prosperous roads, soon put them
in a paying condition. If you can get one end of a small road into a
large city, or if you can arrange to make it the feeder instead of the
rival of a large road, it will be almost certain to yield abundant
returns.
946. WHEAT MARGINS.--Fortunes are daily made and lost in wheat.
Everybody has heard of the great Leiter deal. Joseph Leiter often made
$100,000 in a single day. In ten months he rendered things lively in
every great center of the world, and in this period of less than a year
he actually made $4,500,000. True, he lost it again, but the fact that
one could corner such a fortune in so short a time shows what may be
accomplished with courage and capital. The safest rule for small and
timid operators is to follow in the wake of these bold speculators, but
not too far. It may be laid down almost with the certainty of a logical
premise, that, when a man of vast resources and thoroughly familiar with
the field enters the market, he is bound to win at first, but bound to
lose if he presses things too far, because the tremendous stress
produces at last reactionary conditions which no manipulator and no
combination of speculators are able to face. It does not matter so much
whether you are a bull or a bear, if you can perform the difficult feat
of holding yourself in.
CHAPTER XXXI.
WHERE TO INVEST MONEY.
What Shall I Do with My Money?--Enormous Profits in Trust
Companies--The Most Costly Bell in the World--The Bell
Telephone--Edward Bellamy’s Vision--The Best Paying Stocks--$11 per
Day in a Lodging House--How a Young Man Made $10,000--How to Start
with Nothing and Be Worth $100,000 when You are 40 Years Old.
The first question is, How to get money? The second, How to invest it?
The general distrust of money concerns is seen in the enormous deposits
in the savings banks--a disposal of savings which yields the smallest
returns--and also in the readiness, not to say rush, to take government
bonds when only three per cent. or even less is offered. We give a few
of the best paying investments, but the list is by no means exhaustive.
The first four are in a section (Brooklyn Borough) of a single city, but
there is no reason to doubt that other cities, and other sections of the
same city, can make an equally good showing. Indeed, many Western
concerns pay much higher dividends.
947. ILLUMINATING COMPANIES.--Of the ten illuminating companies of
Brooklyn, not one last year paid a less dividend than five per cent.,
and one paid ten per cent.
948. TRUST COMPANIES.--Of the eight trust companies in the same borough,
only one paid less than eight per cent., and that paid six. The highest
paid sixteen per cent.
949. BANKS.--Of the twenty-three banks of Brooklyn, State and National,
one paid its stockholders sixteen per cent.; one fourteen; two, twelve;
one, ten; and four, eight; only one paid less than five per cent.
950. INSURANCE COMPANIES.--Of the four local insurance companies, one
paid its stockholders twenty per cent., and the others twelve, ten and
five.
951. TIN PLATE COMPANY.--All the tin manufacturers of the country are
about to be associated in one great company, to be known as the American
Tin Plate Company. The stockholders expect to double their profits.
952. POTTERY COMBINATION.--Under the laws of New Jersey, the pottery
trust has just been organized with a capital of $20,000,000. The price
of the stock is rapidly advancing.
953. CONSOLIDATED ICE.--An ice company, to be called the Consolidated
Ice, will soon control all the trade of New York City. Prices are to go
up, and profits, instead of a meager four or five per cent., as at
present, will, it is expected, be eight or ten per cent.
954. FLOUR TRUST.--British and American stockholders have combined to
form one of the biggest trusts in the world. The capital of the new
company will be about $150,000,000, and the output 95,000 barrels of
flour daily. Should the profits be only twenty-five cents a barrel, the
net earnings will be nearly $25,000 a day; but it is expected that with
the increased price, the profits will be at least double that figure.
955. FURNITURE COMBINE.--This is a new trust which is soon to be
floated, and which proposes to control the manufacture of all the school
furniture in the United States. The capital is to be $17,000,000. Some
idea of the enormous profits awaiting the stockholders may be formed
when it is stated that the present output is more than $15,000,000. The
combination means decreased expenses in operation, higher prices for
customers, and, of course, greater incomes for stockholders.
956. TELEPHONE MONOPOLY.--One of the greatest monopolies of the country
is that of the Bell Telephone. The company has increased its capital
stock in eighteen years from $110,000 to $30,000,000. In that time it
has earned $42,903,680. It pays dividends of eighteen per cent., and
could pay more, if allowed to do so by its charter. The surplus is used
to increase the capital stock, so that in addition to its enormous
dividends, every little while it presents its stockholders with new
blocks of this exceedingly profitable stock. The present price of shares
is about $280.
957. A GREAT ELECTRICAL COMPANY.--Another of Bellamy’s dreams is to be
realized. New York capitalists, with millions of dollars at their
command, have united in a great scheme to supply electrical energy to
run the elevated and surface railroads and the factories of the
metropolis. They propose to do away with steam entirely, except for
heating purposes. They will control more than 1,000 square miles of the
watersheds of the Catskills, and the mountain streams will be harnessed
to furnish electricity for New York. The company claim to have the
names of such well known persons as Thomas C. Platt, Silas B. Dutcher,
and Edward Lauterbach as interested persons in the scheme, and it is
said that the undertaking will be on a much grander scale than the
similar one at Niagara, to which the Vanderbilts, the Webbs, and other
famous manipulators of finance have furnished backing. If this scheme
should materialize, it will undoubtedly be one of the best paying
investments.
958. INDUSTRIAL STOCKS.--Here is a partial list of the best paying
stocks. Of course, where the interest is large, the price of the stocks
is correspondingly high. The investor, before paying the high prices
asked, should use his best judgment in considering whether the present
rates are likely to be maintained. The highest dividends on industrial
stocks last year were as follows: Adams’ Express, 8; Consolidated Gas
(New York), 8; Peter Lorillard (tobacco), 8; American Tobacco, 9;
Diamond Match, 10; American Sugar Refining Company, 12; American Bell
Telephone, 18; Standard Oil, 33; Welsbach Light, 80.
959. RAILROADS DIVIDENDS.--Stock in such railroads as the Pennsylvania,
Lake Shore, Michigan Central, New York Central, New York and New Haven,
are safe and profitable investments, if you can get them. The last-named
road has paid ten per cent. for many years, though recently the figures
have dropped to eight. The railroad stocks paying the highest dividends
last year were as follows: New York, New Haven and Hartford, 8 per
cent.; Great Southern (Alabama), 9; Manchester and Lawrence, 10; Norwich
and Worcester, 10; Boston and Providence, 10; Connecticut River, 10;
Georgia, 11; Northern (New Hampshire), 11; Philadelphia, Germantown and
Northern, 12; Pennsylvania Coal, 16.
960. LODGING HOUSE.--A man leased an abandoned hotel, containing 100
small rooms, and fitted them up with single beds. He charged a uniform
price of twenty-five cents a night. The location was down town in New
York, the congested district where congregate travelers, tradesmen,
workingmen, and the vast class of floaters. His rooms were nearly always
full. Income per day, $25. Daily expenses: Night clerk, $2; two
chambermaids ($15 each per month), $1. Rent, $5; lights, $1; laundry,
$3; sundries, $1. Total expenses per day, $13. Net profit, $12 per day.
He says, “I am sure I could double these profits if I could double my
accommodations.”
961. REAL ESTATE.--A young man twenty-one years of age, and possessing
$500, bought a tract of land in the outskirts of a suburban city for
$1,500. The tract contained twenty acres, and he paid $500 down and gave
a mortgage for the remainder. He had the property surveyed and divided
into lots, eight to the acre. The tract was located on the bend of a
river, and he called it “Riverside Park.” Lots were advertised for sale
at $100 each. The first year he cleared off the mortgage by the sale of
lots. He had remaining 145 lots. In five years he sold all these lots at
an average price of $85. Total amount received for lots, $13,825. Price
of land, $1,500. Taxes, $625. Surveying, grading, etc., $762.
Advertising and other methods of booming the property, $1,272. Total
cost and expenses, $3,534. Net profit, $10,291. By repeating this
process on a larger scale in another city, this young man, who started
at sixteen years of age with nothing, and by hard work and economy had
save $500 at twenty-one, found himself at the age of forty with
$100,000. The secrets of his success were four: Shrewdness in foreseeing
where property would be likely to advance; energy in quickly changing
the property from a farm into building lots; taste in making them
attractive, and giving the place a pretty name; and, most important of
all, the knowing how to create a market. We have known this process
repeated by others with almost equally marked success. In all our large
cities there are land companies developing suburban property and making
money rapidly.
CHAPTER XXXII.
MONEY IN SPARE TIME.
Fortunes in Spare Moments--Millions Missed for Want of Economy of
Time--Stories of Famous Men.
Lost! somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set
with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone
forever.
962. FIVE MINUTES A DAY before a box of paints or a bunch of finely
shaded ribbons will make you expert in colors, a position of great
importance and large salary in many stores.
963. TEN MINUTES A DAY practicing stenography after you have learned the
system from a good text-book, will fit you in a year’s time to take any
place where the services of a short-hand writer are required.
964. FIFTEEN MINUTES A DAY cutting out of newspapers data in regard to
persons of note and classifying the same, will give you in a few years
an accumulation of material which you can dispose of to advantage to
reporters and publishers on sudden demand of such matter--as the
occasion of the death of the men in the public eye.
965. TWENTY MINUTES A DAY drumming on a writing machine should give you
an expertness with the keys that will insure steady and profitable
employment.
966. TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES A DAY will enable you to master any language in
a year, then tutorships, professorships, and translations of foreign
works at good prices, await your energy.
967. THIRTY MINUTES A DAY running rapidly over figures will make you an
expert accountant, if not even a lightning calculator, for whose
services business men are willing to pay liberally. Time is money.
968. THIRTY-FIVE MINUTES A DAY writing up some incident of news will
give you a facility of the pen in the course of one or two years, so
that you can command a good salary as a reporter. Success in this
department depends upon a writer’s imagination and skill.
969. FORTY MINUTES A DAY over reading selections will make you an
elocutionist. Readers and reciters receive all the way from $10 to $100
for an evening’s work.
970. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES A DAY will give you a knowledge of bookkeeping
in all its branches. Let the spare time be spent in acquiring a plain,
round business hand. Then master a book on the subject. After that you
should offer your services free to a friend for three-quarters of an
hour every day. Bookkeepers command from $1,000 to $3,000 salary.
971. FIFTY MINUTES A DAY divided into periods of twenty-five minutes
each, should make you a good singer, even if you have only a mediocre
voice. One quarter’s work under a good teacher should give you the
rudiments of the art, together with foundation practice, and from this
you can go on by yourself. You can always get a friend who will correct
your faults _gratis_, and it is the elimination of faults, with steady
practice, that brings success. Singers in churches command all the way
from $100 to $5,000 a year. And the work is done chiefly on Sundays,
when it does not conflict with other employments.
972. FIFTY-FIVE MINUTES A DAY with a book containing teacher’s
examination questions, will give you such a command of the branches
taught in our public schools as to insure you a position on the
educational staff. You should master not one book only, but all you can
procure which have a list of questions asked at examinations. Teachers
get from $500 to $5,000, according to ability.
973. SIXTY MINUTES A DAY imitating the styles of our best story-tellers
will give you, as it did Stevenson, an easy command of all styles, and
an ability to write stories netting thousands of dollars.
974. SEVENTY-FIVE MINUTES A DAY will make you in the course of four or
five years an engraver or painter in all the fields of the increasing
application of those arts. Prices for this kind of work are so varied
that no figures can be given, but they are always high, and some persons
have made fortunes with pen and brush.
975. EIGHTY MINUTES A DAY placing letters in pigeon holes and in
learning such other knowledge as any handler of the mails will willingly
impart to you, will give you such deft fingers and such quick brains
that it should not be difficult for you to secure a well-paid position
in a large postoffice.
976. NINETY MINUTES A DAY will enable you to master the intricate and
almost infinite details of the insurance business in all its branches.
Knowledge of the business and ability to persuade men are the two
requisites of highest success in this occupation. There are insurance
agents receiving as high as $10,000 a year, and presidents of companies
$25,000, and even more. There is no reason why you should not reach the
top. The horses, Plod and Pluck, will draw you there.
977. ONE HUNDRED MINUTES A DAY will initiate you thoroughly into the
banking or brokerage business. Read all books on the subject, classify
your knowledge, repeat it over and over in your spare moments, ask some
friend in the business about any point you do not understand. After
three years of hard study, offer your spare time free to a banker or
broker, informing him of what you have done. You will have to begin at
the bottom, but the salaries grow fat as you rise, and are enormously
rich at the top.
978. ONE HUNDRED AND TEN MINUTES A DAY will give you for each year of
your study a knowledge of a separate branch of the Civil Service. Five
years will give you five branches. Appointments are now nearly all made
by competitive examination. Salaries in some departments rise as high as
$10,000.
979. ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY MINUTES A DAY should enable you to master
any musical instrument under the sun. You will require a teacher for a
part of the time, but the most important thing is steady, persistent
practice. The field for good music is constantly widening, the demands
for good musicians are steadily increasing, and the remuneration is
correspondingly advancing. Money is literally pouring into the lap of
persons who can captivate the human ear.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
MONEY IN ODDS AND ENDS.
How a Family Saved $100 on a Salary of $700.
Economy is quite as large a factor as industry in the gaining of a
fortune. With people living on small incomes, it is often the one
element that determines whether they “make both ends meet,” or run in
debt and ultimately fail. The following example shows how one family,
whose income was only $700 a year, actually saved $100. Mr. ----, of ----,
found himself getting behind in money matters, and determined to
practice rigid economy. He found a great many leakages in the household.
Perhaps some one who reads this will find the same or similar leaks, and
learn why he is not prospering:
980. WASTE.--Scraps of meat thrown away, making loss of dinners worth,
$12.50; puddings thrown away, $6; waste of coal in not sifting, $5;
one-half barrel of apples from not sorting, $1.50; wash tub fell to
pieces because left dry, $1; one-fourth loaf of bread every day thrown
away (90 loaves at 10 cents per loaf), $9; ten dozen preserves,
one-fourth lost at twenty-five cents per can, $7.50; twenty barrels of
ashes, five cents per barrel, $1; waste of bones which could be used for
soup, $1.50; waste of heat at the damper, one-tenth in a ton of coal,
ten tons per year, $5; waste of gas in not turning down lights when not
needed, $12; canned salmon, one-fourth spoiled because can was left
open, twenty-five cans, $1; cheese (one-half used, the rest thrown away
because hard), twenty-five pounds, $2; potatoes, for want of sprouting,
one barrel, $1; clothing, for lack of attention, $15; milk, 375 quarts
at eight cents per quart, one-fifth allowed to spoil, $6; umbrellas
which could be mended, $1; shoes thrown away when they could be used by
having heels fixed, $3; kitchen slops, $1; waste of vegetables, $5; wear
of carpet for lack of rugs in places most used, $3; Total waste, $100.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
STRANGE WAYS OF MAKING MONEY.
A Thousand Ways to Make a Living--The Humbug of Great Names--The
Mania for Old and Rare Things--The “Relic” Manufacture--The
“Imitation Enterprise”--The “Box Office” Clique--The “Cure”
Fad--The “Fake” News Agency--The Museum “Freak”--The “Treasure”
Excitements--The “Literary” Bureau--The “Watered” Stock.
There are ways of making money that lie so far out of the ordinary
channels as to warrant this chapter. Some of them are only strange
because they are new, as the telephone and the wood pulp were strange a
generation ago. Others, being decidedly odd in themselves, will
doubtless always be pursued only by a few, and considered by the many to
be curious ways of making a living.
Success is easy when once you succeed. This is the case with goods which
have achieved a name. Frequently the founder of the name is bankrupt,
retired or dead; but the goods continue to be manufactured and sold
under the original trade-mark. Countless thousands of dollars are paid
every year for shoes, hats, hardware, groceries, and innumerable other
articles, at rates above the average price when the goods are not a
farthing better. The deluded buyers are simply paying for a name.
Others have a mania for the collection of all kinds of bric-à-brac--old
coins and rare books are seized and hoarded as eagerly as if made of
gold. This mania is harmless in itself, and gives its possessors no
doubt much pleasure, but they are made the prey of Shylocks who carry on
a regular trade of manufacturing “old” articles.
So also with the “relic” craze. There are actually manufactories where
relics are made. Conscienceless persons take advantage of the curiosity
and piety of travelers to palm off all sorts of “relics” upon them at
preposterous prices.
Then there are the limitless imitations that are on the market. Some of
them, such as patent medicines, brands of groceries, oleomargarine,
etc., are imitations pure and simple; others are adulterations with more
or less of the genuine. So vast and profitable are these methods of
deception that the government has been compelled to interfere to protect
its citizens from fraud.
The box-office clique is only a less pernicious, but equally barefaced,
means of getting money. When a Bernhardt or an Irving is to perform, an
announcement is made that the box-office will be open at 9 o’clock on a
certain morning, as early as 10, or even 6, on the previous evening you
will see a solitary man wend his way to the theater and silently square
his back against the door. In time he is followed by another, and yet
another, so that by midnight perhaps a dozen or twenty of these
grim-faced men are lined against the wall. Not one of them has the
slightest idea of seeing the play. It is simply their way of earning a
living. For the next morning they will sell their places in line to the
highest bidders.
Of the “cure” faddists there number is legion. We do not mean the makers
of patent medicines, of which we have treated elsewhere, but the men who
profess to believe they have some unique and original way of ridding
mankind of evil. Thus we have the gold cure, the barefoot cure, the
mind cure, the faith cure, the cold water cure, and the hot water
cure--in fact the whole great family of ’pathies. Many of these curists
no doubt are sincere, but whether so or not, they have reaped large sums
of money.
Equally industrious is the “fake” news agency. There are agencies that
manufacture news to order. Papers, they reason, must have news. If there
is any subject concerning which the public is eager to read, and for any
reason the reporters cannot give the facts, the “fake” news agency is a
welcome resort. These bogus news agents are paid a certain amount a
“stick” for their false news.
Museum “freaks” too, are manufactured to order, and sometimes are made
beforehand in anticipation of a market.
“Treasure” enthusiasts are not quite as common now as formerly, and yet
the hot Klondike fever is but a “Kid’s Buried Treasure” under another
name, and on a mammoth scale. Of the 100 who attempt to get to Dawson
City, seventy-five will reach the place, fifty will earn a bare living
under all manner of hardships; twenty-five will make about the same as
if they had stayed at home; ten will bring back a $100 worth of dust;
three will do tolerably well, and one will get rich.
The “literary bureau” is a more ingenious means to make a living. A set
of bright young men advertise that for a “consideration” they will send
a sermon, lecture, address, or after-dinner speech, to any person who
may suddenly find himself called upon when unprepared.
Of the “watered” stock and other incorporated swindles, almost every
investor has purchased his experience at a dear rate. This is a method
of increasing one’s capital stock in a company without the contribution
of any new funds, and it is one of the most common of frauds.
These are but a few of the many curious and ingenious ways by which
people attempt to make a living. In many cases, especially the
last-named, there is no doubt that the promoters of these enterprises
often do get rich at the expense of the public.
Other strange ways of making a living are the catching of butterflies or
canary birds at a penny apiece, and the sifting of ashes and collecting
of cinders. In London sand is sold on the street for scouring and as
gravel for birds. Then there is “the curiosity shop.” In Genoa, there
are marriage brokers who have a list of names of marriageable girls,
divided into different classes, with an account of the fortunes,
personal attraction, etc., of each. They charge two to three per cent.
commission on a contract. In Munich there are female bill posters, and
in Paris there are women who make a living by letting out chairs on the
street. Also, in the same city, men are hired to cry the rate of
exchange. Then there are the men who gather old clothes, and the street
sweepers. There are 6,000 rag gatherers in Paris. Then there are the
refuse cleaners, and the glass-eye makers, the latter furnishing you
with a crystal eyeball at rates from $10 to $20 when the physicians and
oculists charge $60 or $70 for similar services. Then there are postage
stamp gatherers and chair menders. In fact the ways of making a living
are legion. We formulate a few of the best of this class:
981. EXPERTS.--There are many kinds--accountant, color, handwriting,
etc. Any one who confines his life-work to a very small and special
field can command a large price for his services. Experts often receive
$10 a day.
982. DETECTIVES.--Besides the men in the employ of the United States and
local authorities, there are many who work in private agencies. The pay
depends upon the nature of the work and the wealth of the employers. In
celebrated cases where suspected parties had to be shadowed for months,
a detective has received as much as $5,000.
983. TRAVELING POETS.--Since the days of Wesley, the traveling preacher
has been a familiar figure, but who since the time of Homer has seen a
traveling poet? yet one called on the author the other day. His patrons
are chiefly obscure people who pay from $1 to $10 to have their history,
home, achievements, or virtues lauded in verse. It is hardly necessary
to say that the poems are not published, but kept as household treasures
for coming grandchildren.
984. OLD COINS.--Some have found a profitable source of revenue in the
hunting and hoarding of old coins. One numismatist recently sold a
dollar coin of 1804 for $5,000.
985. PURVEYOR OF PERSONALS.--A Russian named Romeitre started this
enterprise in a small way. Now we have press-clipping bureaus so large
as to employ seventy persons each. In some of these places from 5,000 to
7,000 papers are read every day, and the weekly clippings amount to more
than 100,000. There are now press-clipping bureaus in nearly all of our
large cities.
986. GOLD ON SEA BOTTOM.--Another class of men make money out of other
men’s misfortunes; that is, by stripping wrecks of their valuables.
Others secure the services of divers and search the bottom of the
ocean, where vessels containing treasures are supposed to have gone
down. A few years ago a company from England went with divers to a place
near Bermuda, where a vessel had been sunk a long time before, and
secured from the wreck the sum of $1,500,000.
987. RARE BOOKS.--The art of book collecting has been pursued with
profit by some persons. It requires no capital, if one simply confines
his efforts to book-stalls, though, if pursued on a large scale, money
is required for advertising and correspondence. Mr. Charles B. Foote, of
New York City, is a veteran bibliophile, and has made a specialty of
first editions. Recently he made three auction sales of his stores, and
realized more than $20,000, and his home is full of treasures.
988. OLD ITALIAN VIOLINS.--They sell at prices ranging from $500 to
$5,000, when you can buy them at all, which is seldom, for they are
mostly in the hands of wealthy collectors. Now we will let you into a
great secret. It is not the kind of wood or the form of the instrument
alone which produces the rare quality of sound, but it lies also in the
kind of varnish used. By experimenting with varnish, you can produce a
“Stradivarius,” which will sell for almost any amount you choose to ask.
989. MAGIC SILK.--It seems like the trick of the magician to speak of
turning cotton into silk, but it can actually be done, or at least
cotton can be made to resemble silk, so that discrimination between the
two fabrics is impossible. About fifty years ago, one Mercer, a French
chemist, showed that cotton when subjected to the action of concentrated
acid or alkalies, contracts and has a greater affinity for dyes, but it
has only just been discovered that “mercerization” gives also a
brilliant luster to the cotton. The cotton is stretched violently during
the operation, and when an energetic rubbing is added to the tension the
tissue receives a permanent luster. It thus replaces silk at a fraction
of its cost, and offers a splendid chance for financial enterprise.
990. THE GOLD CURE.--If the gold cure for which so much is claimed can
really take away the appetite for liquor, there is an immense field for
its exercise and room for the making of many fortunes in the cure of
America’s drunkards. In the United States alone an exceedingly moderate
estimate makes the number of this unfortunate class 1,600,000. At the
very modest calculation that only one-tenth of these can be induced to
try the cure, and if each case nets the proprietor of the institution
only $25--and the estimate should probably be doubled and even
trebled--there are $15,000,000 in it for the public benefactors who can
thus curb the evil of dram-drinking.
991. THE TELEPHONE NEWSPAPER.--Here is an idea for newspaper men: In
Budapest, Hungary, there is a telephone newspaper, the first and only
one in the world. The main office is in telephone communication with the
Reichstadt (corresponding to our Congress), and it often happens that
important speeches are known to the public while the speaker is still
addressing the house; the latest reports from stock exchanges as well as
political news are heard before any paper has printed them, a short
summary of all important items is given at noon and again in the
evening; subscribers are entertained with music and literary articles in
the evenings, the latter being often spoken into the telephone by the
original authors. The cost is only two cents a day, and the company are
said to be making money even at that figure.
992. RACE AND STOCK TIPPERS.--In addition to the regular brokers who
supply tips to their customers, there is now a set of professional
tippers who profess to have “inside information,” and make it a business
to give tips to anybody who will pay for them. They receive in some
cases a fixed sum from their patrons, and in other cases they take a
liberal percentage of the profits.
993. PROMOTERS.--This is a new vocation. The promoter “promotes”
anything and everything that will pay. If you want to accomplish
anything from the launching of a railroad enterprise to the selling of a
penny patent, you pay the “promoter” a certain sum to do the work. He
buys influence, lobbies legislators, controls newspapers and hypnotizes
the public generally. Not all promoters come as high as Mr. Ernest
Tooley, whose own price can be imagined when he claims to have paid
$250,000 to English peers for their influence; yet we learn that the
American Tin Plate Company gave the promoters of the Trust $10,000,000
in stock for their work.
CHAPTER XXXV.
HIGHLY PAYING OCCUPATIONS.
Some Golden Plums--What Electrical Experts Get--The Confidential
Man--Rapid Rise of an Advertising Agent--Editors in
Clover--Railroad Presidents Come High--A $25,000 Engineer--The
Paying Berths in Medicine--Some Astonishing Lawyers’ Fees--What
Vanderbilt Paid a Steamboat Man.
There are some positions in which enormous salaries are paid. They are,
of course, places where great responsibilities are incurred. Strange as
it may seem, however, occupations where thousands of human lives are
imperiled are not compensated at so high a rate as those where great
finances are at stake. Here are a few of the golden plums:
994. ELECTRICAL EXPERTS.--The use of electricity has so increased in the
last few years, and so many new uses have been found for it, that there
are to-day nearly fifty different departments of human labor where it is
employed, and naturally these have differentiated as many kinds of
electricians. A young man in a New York establishment says “I am in
receipt of a salary of $4,000 as superintendent of the dynamo building,
and recently I had an offer of $7,000 to go with a new company out
West.”
995. THE CONFIDENTIAL MAN.--Another man in New York began his career in
a store at wages of only $7 a week. He is now the firm’s confidential
man, who decides on all important purchases, and receives a salary of
$8,000 a year.
996. THE ADVERTISING AGENT.--The advertising agency is from a financial
standpoint the most important department in the make-up of a paper or
periodical. On one of our most popular magazines there is to-day a young
man hardly over thirty years of age who has advanced through the various
grades of work until he is now superintendent of the advertising
department, receiving a remuneration of $7,000 a year.
997. GREAT DAILY EDITORS.--Editors of leading departments in our great
dailies receive from $2,000 upward. Managing editors and
editors-in-chief receive many times that sum. One man in the New York
_Sun_ office has for his services a salary of $15,000, and besides this
does outside literary work to the amount of $5,000 yearly.
998. MEDICAL SPECIALISTS.--There is still “room at the top” of the
medical world. The largest harvests are reaped by those who devote
themselves to particular parts of the human framework, and at last are
able to set up as “consulting physicians.” One doctor, whose apartments
are crowded daily, informed the author of this work that he was treating
eleven hundred and fifty patients. The celebrated Dr. Loomis for some
time before his death made $50,000 a year.
999. LEGAL COUNSELORS.--What is true of medicine is equally so of the
law. Specialists in such branches as real estate, legacies, insurance,
etc., are in receipt of immense revenue. Celebrated bar-pleaders also
have grown rich. The names of Rufus and Joseph Choate, of Wm. Evarts
and Ben. Butler, are examples of men who have received single fees of
$10,000. One young lawyer says: “I began seven years ago and during this
period my earnings, with their investments, amount to $200,000.” Legal
talent is also liberally paid for by the great corporations, all of
which employ at a regular salary one or more attorneys.
1,000. CORPORATION PRESIDENTS.--Presidents of banks receive from $5,000
to $50,000; of insurance companies, there are at least three which pay
their presidents $50,000; of railroad presidents, one receives $100,000,
three receive $50,000, eight receives $20,000, and twelve $10,000.
* * * * *
In other occupations, deep-water divers are paid at the rate of $10 an
hour and fractions thereof; circus managers, $5,000 a year; and the
buying man of great mercantile firms about the same. Bank cashiers get
from $4,000 to $7,000; custom house officers from $3,000 to $7,000;
judges of city courts (New York), $6,000; lecturers from $10 to $200 per
night; preachers, from $20,000 in John Hall’s pulpit to a pitiful $300
in some country town; school principals from $1,500 to $3,000. Among
exceptional salaries may be mentioned that of a steamboat manager of the
Vanderbilt lines on the Mississippi, who once received $60,000 a year;
also the engineer of a large manufactory, who is paid $25,000. “Is not
that high?” inquired a visitor at the works. “He is cheap for us,” was
the reply, illustrating the truth that talent and skill are everywhere
and always in demand. The concern could not afford to lose him to rival
firms who wanted his services, and so found it cheaper to retain him
even at that high figure.
APPENDIX.
We subjoin a table showing the average salary or wages in one hundred of
the leading occupations. In most cases the figures have been compiled
from government reports, but where no reports could be obtained an
estimate has been made by taking the average receipts from certain
districts. In the latter instances, of course, the table cannot be
considered perfectly reliable; this is especially the case with the
professions of the lawyer, the doctor, and the clergyman. Still, as the
sections of the country taken may be considered as fairly representative
of the whole, the figures will probably be found not far amiss.
Some persons will be surprised to learn the average lawyer and physician
receive respectively only $1,210 and $1,053, but they should bear in
mind that while the pay in these professions is sometimes as high as
$25,000 and even $50,000 a year, a great number of beginners and
unsuccessful men are toiling--or not toiling--for a mere pittance. Were
it not for the ten per cent. of very successful men in these professions
who are making fortunes, the average receipts would be even smaller by
two or three hundred dollars than they appear in the table.
Other cases where the figures may not have as much value as could be
desired are under the headings which really comprise a group of
occupations instead of a single one, as that of the journalist and the
electrician; yet others where the general name is that of a genus
comprising many species, as that of the engineer; and still others where
there is a great difference in the value of the work performed, as in
the case of teachers and factory operatives. Again, in business
ventures, such as those of storekeepers, bankers, brokers, and others,
many have actually lost money, and this reduces immensely the average,
while among the so-called working classes, days of idleness, willing or
enforced, operate in the same way.
Yet, on the whole, if any one consults the table as a general guide to
the pecuniary rewards of the various trades and professions, he will
find that they have been placed in their relative financial standing. In
the occupations named, employees are generally meant, employers and
independent workers being printed in capitals.
AVERAGE PAY IN ONE HUNDRED OCCUPATIONS.
Engravers (wood), $1,684
SURGEONS, 1,616
THEATRICAL MANAGERS and
SHOWMEN, 1,605
BANKERS and BROKERS, 1,601
Electricians, 1,560
SALOON-KEEPERS, 1,475
Designers (textile), 1,383
Decorators (china and stone ware), 1,248
HOTEL-KEEPERS, 1,245
LAWYERS, 1,210
Architects, 1,206
Teachers (all kinds of schools), 1,153
DAIRYMEN, 1,152
MERCHANTS, 1,149
DENTISTS, 1,115
Engineers (all kinds), 1,092
Draughtsmen, 1,090
Furniture-Workers, 1,087
PHYSICIANS, 1,053
Dyers, 1,040
Furriers, 1,036
Engravers (metals), 1,014
Actors, 989
LIVERY-STABLE KEEPERS, 981
Journalists, 979
CLERGYMEN (house-rents not
included), 963
MEAT-DEALERS, 951
Painters (house), 936
GROCERS, 935
Gunsmiths, 930
RESTAURANT-KEEPERS, 924
Masons, bricklayers and plasterers, 919
Plumbers, 919
Electrotypers, 911
Hatters, 910
Musicians, 899
Miners, 892
Bookbinders, 884
Goldbeaters, 858
Watchmakers, 832
Door, sash, and blind-makers, 780
Glass-workers, 778
Boot and shoemakers, 773
Blacksmiths, 750
Carpenters, 750
FARMERS (including living), 749
Conductors and motormen, 728
Telegraphers, 720
Cooks, 720
ARTISTS, 713
PHOTOGRAPHERS, 702
Typewriters, 690
Cigarmakers, 676
Coopers, 675
Printers, 660
Millwrights, 650
Harness-makers, 648
Soapmakers, 646
Upholsterers, 642
Quarrymen, 635
Sawyers, 630
Tailors, 626
Locksmiths, 624
Machinists, 624
Press-feeders, 624
Firemen, 624
Sailmakers, 623
Coachmen, 620
Barbers, 619
Clerks, 608
Cutlers, 598
Moulders, 595
DRESSMAKERS, 593
Boiler-makers, 584
Cabinet-makers, 572
Tinsmiths, 571
Carriage-makers, 572
Draymen, 520
Butchers, 517
Soldiers, 514
AUTHORS, 502
Agents, 496
Millers, 495
Waiters, 494
Lumbermen and raftsmen, 482
Brewers, 480
Tanners, 468
Farm laborers (besides board), 456
Factory operatives, 450
Weavers, 450
Peddlers, 440
Bartenders, 425
HUNTERS, TRAPPERS, and
GUIDES, 416
Gardeners, 390
Laborers, 390
Sailors, 375
Confectioners, 347
Stevedores, 336
Nurses (besides board), 285
Hostlers (besides board), 180
Servants (besides board), 162
*/
THE END.
* * * * *
THE
Abbey Press
114
FIFTH AVENUE
NEW YORK
ANNOUNCEMENTS
May be ordered through any bookseller or will be mailed free for the
published price....
* * * * *
AUTHORS AND ARTISTS
[Illustration: text decorations]
Collins, Wilkie.
Cruikshank, George, Jr.
De Mezailles, Jean.
Dickens, Charles.
Drummond, Henry.
Flattery, M. Douglas.
Gardner, W. H.
Graham, Marie.
Hamilton, Sam A.
Hamm, Margherita Arlina.
Hartt, Irene Widdemer.
Howard, Lady Constance.
Jennings, Edwin B.
Johnson, Stanley Edwards.
Jokai, Maurus.
Kaven, E. Thomas.
Kearney, Belle.
Kent, Charles.
Mankowski, Mary D.
Martyn, Carlos.
Miller, Andrew J.
Munn, Charles Clark.
Napoliello, R. R.
Palier, Emile A.
Parkes, Harry.
Pash, Florence.
Rideal, Charles F.
Runyan, N. P.
Scribner, Kimball.
Stevenson, Robert Louis.
Tabor, Edward A.
Tolstoy, Count.
Walker, Jessie A.
Winter, C. Gordon.
ADVERTISING AGENTS’ DIRECTORY, THE.
Arranged alphabetically and in States, including Great Britain and
Canada. Nothing of this kind has ever before appeared. All who for
any reason wish to know who the advertising agents are and how they
may be reached, will find the desired information here. The
Directory is brought down strictly to date. Cloth. One Dollar.
AMERICAN ELOQUENCE.
Characteristic Types from Colonial Times to the Present Day. A Text
Book of Oratory. By Carlos Martyn.
AMERICAN MEN OF THE TIME.
Being a Dictionary of Biographical Records of Eminent Men of the
Day. Revised to date and edited by Charles F. Rideal, Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature.
AMERICAN WOMEN OF THE TIME.
Being a Dictionary of Biographical Records of Eminent Living Women.
Revised to date and edited by Charles F. Rideal, Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature. It is the first time a book of
reference of this kind has been compiled in the interests of any
women in any country. The efforts of the publishers will be
directed towards the end of securing a standard work, founded on
reliable data, and which will be a suitable addition to any
bookshelf.
CHARLES DICKENS’ HEROINES AND WOMEN FOLK.
Some Thoughts Concerning Them. A Revised Lecture. By Charles F.
Rideal, with drawings of “Dot” and “Edith Dombey,” by Florence
Pash. Third Edition. Cloth. Twenty-five Cents.
“A delightful little book.”--_Institute._
CHARLES DICKENS READER AND RECITER, THE.
For the Home, School and Platform. Compiled with an introduction by
Charles F. Rideal, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Formerly member of the Council of the Lecturers’ Institute of Great
Britain. Author of “Wellerisms,” “Charles Dickens’ Heroines and
Women Folk,” etc.
CHURCH WORKER’S BOOK.
One Thousand Plans. By as Many Successful Clergymen and Other
Christian Workers. By Carlos Martyn.
CONTINENTAL CAVALIER, A.
By Kimball Scribner. Author of “The Honor of a Princess,”
(twenty-third thousand), “The Love of the Princess Alice,”
(fifteenth thousand), and “In the Land of the Loon.” The author
writes here in his well-known popular style and contributes one
more (and not the least) to the eagerly awaited historic novels of
Revolutionary times. His characters are resurrections and in them
the past lives again. Mr. Kimball Scribner is rapidly becoming one
of the most popular of the younger writers of to-day. With four
illustrations on copper. Cloth, 12mo. One Dollar.
CURIOUS CASE OF GENERAL DELANEY SMYTHE, THE.
By W. H. Gardner, Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. A. (retired). Not in
many years has a more interesting or mysterious story appeared than
this. Those who follow the fortunes of General Delaney Smythe will
certainly corroborate this statement. The book will have a wide and
permanent sale. With four illustrations by Miss Lowenstein. Cloth.
One Dollar.
[Illustration: THE SALESLADY. From “Some People We Meet”]
CROSS OF HONOR, THE
A Military Dramalette in One Act. By Charles F. Rideal and C.
Gordon Winter (Jean de Mezailles). Very daintily printed and bound.
One Dollar
DANGER SIGNALS FOR NEW CENTURY MANHOOD.
By Edward A. Tabor. Is a masterly discussion of the dangers that
confront the individual as well as the society of to-day in the
United States. It is also a beautiful portraiture of the young
manhood which should exist in the 20th century. Including
photograph and biographical sketch of the author. 12mo, cloth
bound, 316 pages. One Dollar.
DEVOUT BLUEBEARD, A.
By Marie Graham. This is a keen, satirical story which hits off
foibles and humbugs in religious administration; not in an infidel
spirit, but by a friendly hand and from the inside; one is kept
guessing who’s who. Cloth 12mo. One Dollar.
DRY TOAST.
Some Thoughts upon Some Subjects not generally dealt with. By
Charles F. Rideal.
Contents:--A Piece of the Crust; Brains and Black Butter; On the
Mending of the Bellows; On Backbone, or rather the Want of It; Some
Phases of Modern Honesty; On Giving Advice--and Taking It;
Concerning “Hums”; On Flap-doodle--the Thick and the Thin; On
Cranks; On Pouring Cold Water; On the Art of Making Oneself
Uncomfortable; On Always Doing Something; Some of the Advantages of
Being Religious; On Playing One’s Cards; On Living it Down; On
Friendship; On Fame, etc. Cloth. One Dollar.
DIRECTORY OF MEDICAL WOMEN, THE.
Being a List of those Ladies who have Qualified in Medicine and
Surgery, and who are Officially Registered as such, with
Statistical and General Information of Universities, Colleges,
Hospitals, etc.
FROM CLOUDS TO SUNSHINE;
or, The Evolution of a Soul, by E. Thomas Kaven. Author of “A Duel
of Wits,” etc. Cloth, 12mo, 200 pages. One Dollar.
GEMS OF JEWISH ORATORY.
A selection from the finest specimens of Jewish oratory; together
with an introduction. By Madison C. Peters. Author of “Justice to
the Jew,” etc.
GEMS OF JEWISH PROSE.
A selection from the finest authors of Jewish prose; together with
an introduction. By Madison C. Peters. Author of “Justice to the
Jew.”
GEMS OF JEWISH VERSE.
A selection from the finest authors of Jewish poetry; together with
an introduction. By Madison C. Peters. Author of “Justice to the
Jew,” etc.
GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD, THE.
By Henry Drummond.
HAUNTS OF KIPLING.
Fully illustrated. A complete history and description of all the
localities described by Rudyard Kipling in his works. By Margherita
Arlina Hamm and Charles F. Rideal.
HOUSE OF A TRAITOR, THE.
By Prosper Merimée.
[Illustration: SAM WELLER. From “Wellerisms.”]
HOW AND WHAT TO WRITE.
A book for authors; with some practical hints on Journalism;
together with a chapter on illustrating for the press. By Charles
F. Rideal, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
HOW SUCCESS IS WON;
or, the Fight in Life. With Celebrated Illustrations. Drawn from
Life by Carlos Martyn. In this book the author has produced a
number of stirring illustrations written in a style and manner that
command the attention of both the young and old. It is an essential
book for everybody.
INTELLECTUAL PEOPLE.
By William Adolphus Clark. Since most readers belong to this class,
all such will find their lineaments reflected in these pages “as in
a looking-glass.” Many surprises await those who gaze herein;
whether of mortification or of gratification, we must read to see.
Cloth, Fifty Cents. Japanese paper, Twenty-five Cents.
INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORY OF AUTHORS, THE.
With a full list of the titles of their works, dates of
publication, etc. Compiled and edited by Charles F. Rideal.
LAST OF THE MUSKETEERS.
A Novel founded on the Romantic Career of General de Gallifet,
French Minister of War. By Carlos Martyn.
LITERARY LIFE.
The most popular magazine for authors, publishers, booksellers and
every one interested in literature, issued. It is a thoroughly
impartial journal, readable from cover to cover, Five cents per
copy or fifty cents per annum, mailed free.
LITTLE SCARECROW, THE.
By Maurus Jokai.
LODGING IN THE NIGHT, A.
By Robert Louis Stevenson. This is the first time that this
celebrated story has been produced in a manner worthy of the
reputation of its talented author. It will be fully illustrated and
issued in a most dainty binding, forming a dainty and unique gift
book.
LOVE AND PRIDE.
By R. R. Napoliello. This novel admirably portrays the play and
counterplay of master passions. The hero, an Italian, bares his
soul to inspection, so that we see and participate in the struggle.
A rare psychological study. Cloth, Fifty Cents. Japanese paper,
Twenty-five Cents.
LOVE’S RANDOM SHOT.
By Wilkie Collins.
MAGISTRACY, THE.
Being a Directory and Biographical Dictionary of the Justices of
the Peace of the United States. Compiled and edited by Charles F.
Rideal.
MASTER AND MAN.
By Count Tolstoy.
MORE PEOPLE WE MEET.
By Charles F. Rideal. Illustrated by Mark Zangwill, etc. A limited
edition of signed and numbered copies at One Dollar.
NURSES WE MEET.
Some piquant Pictures. By Charles F. Rideal. A limited edition of
numbered and signed copies. One Dollar.
OLD SCHOOL DAYS.
By Andrew J. Miller. This book should have a wide reading. It is
healthy and breezy with youth and sport. In its pages the
experiences of all of us are laughably and vividly recalled. Cloth.
One Dollar.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN D. T. ROOKER. From “People We Meet.”]
ON THE CHARLESTON.
By Irene Widdemer Hartt. The smell of the sea and the odors of the
woods and fields of Guam are in these pages. The tale sways, like
the ocean swell, between Jack Tar and the soldiers in the
Yanko-Spanko War. Cloth, 12mo. One Dollar.
PAIR OF KNAVES AND A FEW TRUMPS, A.
By M. Douglas Flattery. The literary quality of this fascinating
novel would alone call attention to it. When to this are added
plots and counterplots, dramatic contests and dénoûments, the book
presents a combination of attractions quite unique and
irresistible. Mr. Flattery’s books are always readable and
interesting. Cloth, 12mo, illustrated. One Dollar.
PEOPLE AND PROPERTY.
By Edwin B. Jennings. An animated, logical discussion of the
question of corporate rights versus human rights. Lincoln said that
“when a dollar comes in conflict with a man he sided with the man.”
This book is timely, able and interesting. Cloth, Fifty Cents.
Japanese paper, Twenty-five Cents.
PEOPLE WE MEET.
By Charles F. Rideal. Fully illustrated by Harry Parkes. Third and
Revised Edition. Twenty-five Cents.
“A collection of characteristic sketches drawn with much humor and
crisply described.”--_Scotsman._
PICTURES FROM A NEW YORK BOARDING HOUSE.
Fully Illustrated. By Charles F. Rideal. One Dollar.
PULPIT ELOQUENCE.
Characteristic Types, with Brief Prefatory Sketches of Illustrious
Preachers. By Carlos Martyn.
POCKET ISLAND.
By Charles Clark Munn. A story of country life in New England. A
remarkably attractive book written in a remarkably attractive
manner. With frontispiece. Cloth, 12mo, 200 pages. One Dollar.
QUAKER SCOUT, A.
By N. P. Runyan. The contradictory title adopted by Mr. Runyan
piques curiosity, which, upon investigation, will be abundantly
rewarded. Incidents without number succeed one another in rapid and
romantic succession, making the reader hold his breath and pant in
sympathy with the recital. Cloth, $1.25.
RIDEAL’S ELOCUTIONIST.
A Book of Readings and Recitations for the Home, School and
Platform. Selected and arranged, together with a chapter on Reading
and Speaking, by Charles F. Rideal, Fellow of the Royal Society of
Literature, and formerly a member of the Council of the Lecturers’
Institute of Great Britain.
SERMONIC SILHOUETTES.
Three Hundred Outlines of Sermons by Three Hundred Distinguished
Clergymen on Various Themes. With index. By Carlos Martyn.
SLAVEHOLDER’S DAUGHTER, A.
Full of Southern life and character, and readable from cover to
cover. By Belle Kearney. With 11 full-page illustrations and
frontispiece. Cloth, 12mo, 270 pages. One Dollar.
SOCIAL SINNERS.
A realistic novel of to-day. By Emile A. Palier. Portrays a number
of Sinners and a few Saints in the modern social order. Certain
passages hold the reader spellbound. There are several heroes and
heroines, all true to life after their respective kind. Cloth,
12mo. One Dollar.
TEMPER CURE, THE.
By Stanley Edwards Johnson. In the guise of a novel, the author
gives a fanciful account of a cure for bad temper. There are no
dull pages in this book. Cloth, Fifty Cents. Japanese paper,
Twenty-five Cents.
TEN YEARS IN COSSACK SLAVERY.
By Mary De Mankowski. This is a graphic, thrilling description of
the personal experiences of a patriotic Pole, condemned to Siberia
for loving his country “not wisely but too well.” The book explains
the existing hatred of the Russian government and gives the reasons
therefore. Cloth. $1.25.
VENGEANCE OF THE MOB, THE.
By Sam A. Hamilton. An exciting story of Florida, in which the
characteristics and the effects of “Judge Lynch’s” rule are
exploited. A thrilling love story runs through the novel, with
which the vengeance of the mob comes into collision. Cloth, 12mo.
One Dollar.
WELLERISMS
from “Pickwick” and “Master Humphrey’s Clock.” Selected by Charles
F. Rideal and edited with an introduction by Charles Kent, Author
of “The Humor and Pathos of Charles Dickens.” Fourth Edition. With
a new and original drawing, by George Cruikshank, Jr., of Mr.
Samuel Weller. Cloth. One Dollar.
This book has met with remarkable success. The original drawing of
Sam Weller, by George Cruikshank, Jr. (a nephew of the original
Cruikshank), is alone worth the money, for the reason that it shows
a mastery of fine work and detail, in pen and ink not possessed by
any other artist of the time. It is a unique and acceptable
addition to Dickensiana and every lover and admirer of Charles
Dickens should possess a copy.
WHEN AT HOME AND SOCIETY GUIDE.
Giving Days when “At Home” of the Upper Classes. Compiled and
edited by Charles F. Rideal. To which is added a chapter on the
Etiquette of Calls and Calling. By Lady Constance Howard. Each
Season.
WIDOWS WE MEET.
Twelve of Them. Brief, pithy characterizations by Charles F.
Rideal. Fully illustrated.
YOUNG GENTLEMEN OF TO-DAY.
Eighteen of Them. By Charles F. Rideal. Fully illustrated.
ZENITH MEMO-PAD, THE.
Designed by Lady Constance Howard and Mr. Charles F. Rideal.
Containing Seven-day Tear-off Sheets and Cover, in convenient form
either for laying flat on the desk, or suspending from rack, etc.,
a Complete Calendar for the Year, Postal Information, Chief Events,
Lessons for Sundays, Quotations from well-known Authors, and Spaces
for Memoranda, Appointments, etc. Indispensable for every one who
writes, makes notes, etc. Twenty-five Cents.
“This useful addition to the writing table is nicely got
up.”--_Princess._
“Is very well arranged, with suitable quotations and memoranda for
every day in the year. It may be kept on the table or suspended
against the wall or bookshelf, whichever may be most convenient,
and in either position it is handy, and takes up but a small amount
of space.”--_Queen._
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "One Thousand Ways To Make Money" ***
Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.