Document GX2VRRaVyGOepVVEja49No7V

any years of. effort an the 'Art of the He tied* 1 Le^ci Com\ny ir. the production and sfle of"White Leed-in-Oil have resulted ir. our "Dutch Bey White Lead" beoaolng a standard product in the painting trade. Extensive national advertising has made it well known to practically every painter In the Chi ted States. Without restrictions of any sort it has been marketed through all Jobbers end dealers who desire to sell it. The trade in every locality is fmiliar with the dealers' resale price, as is natural with any article so universally acceptable and so generally used. "IXitch Boy White Lead" has all the neoeasery qualificr ti-'ns of what is called a "sales leader", nd has been used p i such in some sections of the country as far back as most of us cm remember. The price has bean cut by one dealer then another to the point that lead is soae timea sold `-vec belov the cost to any dealer. During the pest few years this prectioe hr s spread to so saay aetropolitan centers that it can be s*id to exist in alaost all enmalties where any considerable volume of business is done. It has becoae so prevalent that it is veil known to all sellers of White Lead. Otader such conditions every dealer is forced to meet the cut trice or allow his competitor to take awey not only his business an lead but also on other Beterials that usually accompany its sale. It Bakes no differeaoe hear anxious be aay be to nerket his goods on a basis th-1 will provide a reasonable return for his effort and his investment. Bov to carrvot this situation has been a problem that has given our company serious concern for years. Many suggestions have been rarde ty cur customers and all thrt held any hope of success have been tried. Hone of these has proved effective with the exception of a plan to sell through sgencies, which was introduced In a limited territory at the beginning of this year. Bbder this plan cur lead is pla ced in the bands of our agents on a consignment basis, remaining our property istil it is sold. This .permits us to control the iricma at which dealers* sales are nade. The terms of our agency agreement require that our price schedule be obeerved. Dealers operat ing under it have been practically unanimous in anthusiastickily a oproving the change from the conditions which formerly prevailed. Their eargin of profit Is not large when compared to other products they handle, but this margin has bean assured and they are no longer losing money on their White Lead sales. During the past few months nearly tmo hundred letters hsve been re ceived at our Bev lark office frae dealers wishing to express their appreciation of our assistance in their effort to establish a more sound business structure by eliminating imfair practices from the trade. These letters tell their own stoxy far better than ve can do it so copies of r few of them are attached. Qnr experience with the agency plan In the lev lark sree since January 1st, and In Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington over a slightly shorter ;>eriod, has convinced us that it would be desirable to extend it to other territories. With this intention we notified our branch managers early in September to cake arrangements to put the agency plW* into effect an October 1st in the sections where Viy thought it would be beaeflelsl. About September 20th representatives of tbs cased,ttee which drew up the code for the manufacturers of paint, varniah Sheet g. ad lacquer advised us tir t they would consider such am extension of this method of sailing as a violation of the clauset in their code which prohibits the establishment of consignment accounts sot in eadstance at the time the code beeoaes effective. Ontil this was called to our attention we had not given any particular thought to their eoda. le took no part in the discussioca which were held while it was being Bade up because our sales of resdy-for-uae paint are comparatively snail and we shall be very glad to confers to the practices referring to such products agreed upon by those whose interests are auch greater than ours. As soon as ths Iational Industry Recovery Act was passed we started work* lag on a code for the lead industry with ths daeri, smelters, refiners and manu facturer# of all lead products of any Importance. Our Beatings ware held under the supervision of the lead Industries Association, an organisation functioning for the members of the lead Industry for several years in the sane wanner as the American Paint and Yandafi^association doe* for its aaabers. Our eoda eoverlag wages and hours of labor was filed sons tins ago and we have almost eonpleted ths supplsasntazy oode covering fair practices In ths various branches of our industry. Regulations for tbs sale of White Leed-ia-Oil have been included with the other lead produets where is our belief it properly belongs. We are convinced that the consignment of White Lead-in-Oil differs from ths consignment of mixed paint both in purpose and in affect. It haa been intro* dueed to give the dealers an opportunity to sell at a reasonable margin over coat. Ofader our agency agreement they ere not restricted to handling our lead but nay oarry as nany brands as th^ choose, lo other manufacturer*s products are excluded. laturwlly we do not want to take any step that will be injurious to any branch of the paint industry? for that reason we have postponed further extension of our plan until we have had tine to give eareful consideration to the objections expressed by the eoda eoartttee of the paint, varnish and lacquer manufacturers. It is our desire to get all the Information we can to help us decide whether or not the benefits of the agency plan to the trade as a whole are greater than the dis advantages that nay aeoonpeay it* We shoald life to hevu a fkwmk expreeaiac of epfeian from the dealer# themselves, end the purpose of this letter is to tile you to get suoh an expression from several representative jobbers end dealers in your territory. All types at bayere, large end Mall, should be included, ee we are anxious to aake tfe'smrfey as oomplete as possible* Anything they wish to toll us will be of interest tet it is particularly important that AfegP loam (l) the effect of our agency method of selling White feed la its relation to the general problem of merchandising, that is, is it a real influence lm eliminating abuses that tend to meekM and dsetrqy Mud praetioee in the eomduet ef business} (t) the opinion of the trade as to whether the Sale of White fend, through ageneiea not exclusive, has resulted la sar is lifely to bring about, because of the oonsigmmMt feature, a further extension of the undesirable conditions which the fexed paint manufacturers tell us aeoonpeay the canelgamant of their products imder the various plane tfey employ* 0000-NLI-000020483