Business English Part 86

12. Trace the steps in making a piece of glazed pottery.

13. Trace clay to bricks.

14. Trace flax to a tablecloth.

15. Trace the steps necessary to make a five dollar gold piece.

=Exercise 252=

Subjects for Themes, Oral or Written

The following are suggestions for theme subjects on manufacture. Develop one or more as the teacher directs.

1. Household uses for asbestos.

2. Making turpentine from wood.

3. A convenient electrical device.

4. The advantages of the fireless cooker.

5. The advantages of concrete as a building material.

6. The way to make a plaster cast.

7. How iron castings are made.

8. Artificial flowers from feathers, paper, or cloth.

9. How a suction sweeper works.

10. The safety match.

11. The uses of wood pulp.

12. Patent roofing.

13. The manufacture of plate gla.s.s.

14. Utilizing cotton seed.

15. The advantages and the disadvantages of using baking powder.

=Exercise 253=

Suggestions for Debates

1. The average young man has a better chance to succeed in business than in a profession.

2. A manufacturing business offers a better opportunity for a young man at the present time than a mercantile business.

3. Manufacturing industries would suffer if immigration were restricted.

4. The labor union should be abolished.

5. The labor union has no right to restrict the number of apprentices.

6. The profit-sharing plan produces greater efficiency in the working-force.

=Exercise 254=

Imagine that you are Stanley M. Benner, 171 South St., Buffalo, N. Y., proprietor of a factory making men's s.h.i.+rts and collars.

1. Write an order to The American Printing Mill, 1038 Ca.n.a.l St., Pa.s.saic, N. J., for several bolts each of percale, madras, corded madras, and silk striped madras. Use catalogue numbers.

2. Write another order to The Trescott Silk Mill, 976 River St., Paterson, N. J., for several bolts each of No. 62, No. 14, and No. 20 s.h.i.+rting silks, No. 62 being a striped silk and the others figured. Be definite in ordering the colors that you wish.

3. You have received an order from Spencer & Mitch.e.l.l, 1925 Pearl St., Albany, N. Y. Write a letter, thanking them for the order and explaining when and how the goods will be sent.

4. You have received an order from William F. Atwood, 590 Jackson St., Wilmington, Del., for a certain style of collar on which there has been a run. Write a letter, explaining that it will take about three weeks to fill the orders that you now have for this collar and that you therefore cannot send Mr. Atwood's goods before the end of the month.

5. The goods have arrived from The Trescott Silk Mill.

You find, however, that two bolts of No. 14 are badly soiled. Write a letter, saying that you are returning the bolts and asking to have the matter adjusted.

6. A. W. Trescott, President of The Trescott Silk Mill, replies, expressing regret that the goods were soiled and saying that two clean bolts of No. 14 are being sent at once. Write his letter.

7. You have on hand about 50 gross men's striped madras collars, for which there is no longer a call.

Write to Markham Bros., wholesale jobbers, 1765 Greenwich St., New York City, asking what price they will offer for the lot.

8. Accept their offer of $1.50 a gross for the collars.

9. A customer sends a cash order for goods at last year's prices, 10% below present prices. Write a politic reply.

10. Owing to the mildness of the winter, you fear that you will not sell your stock of men's flannel s.h.i.+rts.

Write a circular letter, offering the s.h.i.+rts in lots of 25 dozen each, a.s.sorted sizes and colors, at a 35% reduction in price. Address one letter to. Frederick H. Howard, a dealer at 775 Cedar St., Harrisburg, Pa.

11. A teamsters' strike has delayed your s.h.i.+pments.

You have received so many complaints of the non-arrival of goods that you decide to prepare a form letter that will answer all the complaints. Address one letter to William A. Spaulding, 2937 Waterman St., Providence, R. I.

12. Miss Sarah MacComb has a small dry goods store in Norwich, Conn. She has owed you $125 for six months.

You have been lenient with Miss MacComb because you know that she has had difficulty in meeting her bills.

However, you feel that she should pay at least a part of her indebtedness to you. Write a courteous letter, longer and more persuasive than if it were to go to a man, demanding payment but retaining the customer's good will. This is a difficult letter to write.

Prepare it carefully.

=Exercise 255=

1. You have been manager of the Forsyth Furniture Co., Grand Rapids, Mich. You have financial backing for $25,000 and are looking for a location for a factory of your own. Write the same letter to the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of Great Falls, Mont.; Memphis, Tenn.; Houston, Texas; Indianapolis, Ind. Ask the Secretary to tell you the prospects for such a factory in his city, and what inducements the city will offer you. (By writing to different cities, the teacher can obtain their booklets and their special offers to manufacturers.)

2. Investigate the conditions in one of the cities mentioned above and reproduce the letter that the Secretary wrote.

3. Of the four cities, Great Falls appeals to you as the best location for your factory. Write again, asking the Secretary especially about the water power facilities offered and the rates charged for electrical power.

4. He replies that Great Falls has the most extensive power in the United States, the hydro-electric power being ready for delivery in any quant.i.ty at exceptionally low rates. He tells of the many factories that are already located in Great Falls because of its water power facilities.

5. Great Falls is your choice. After your factory is built and your machinery installed, write to the Secretary of the Sand Point Lumber Co., Sand Point, Idaho, asking him to submit figures for a contract for supplying all your fir lumber. Tell him you think you will use about a million board feet a year.

6. The Secretary replies, offering you a contract on the following terms: For all amounts under 250,000 feet a year, a rate of 12 cents a foot; under 500,000, 11 cents; over 500,000, 10 cents. All goods are to be billed at the highest rate and rebates made at the end of the year, terms of payment being 90 days, 5% for 30 days.