The French political economist, Trepreau, characterises the development in the following words:
“ This change is causing the taste for what is good and beautiful, which formerly obtained such a good reputation for French trade, to disappear, and is substituting for it the mass-production of rubbish, which is degrading our industry, and the sequel of which will be the disappearance of all specialities of artistic handicraft in the immediate future”.
In the case of jam and preserves, for example, the factories were compelled, in consequence of the pressure, to reduce prices and to produce special lines of preserves for the “Stores” alone, whereby not only did the quality suffer but the difference between gross and nett weight was increased by improper filling.
Many textile fabrics are reduced, not only with regard to the quality of the yarn and the closeness of the mesh, but actually with regard to the breadth, customary in the trade. Thus velvet was woven 42 centimetres instead of 50 centimetres broad — a fact which quite escapes a hasty inspection. To what an extent the contents of the balls and skeins of yarn, thread etc, mostly stated in English yards instead of in metres, differs from what it ought to be, is seldom ascertained by our thoughtless women, although, in this case, the difference in money is considerable.
But enough; the manufacturers, whether they like it or not, are compelled to help the “Stores” to deceive the public, although they destroy their own business in doing so.
3. The overpowering and monopolisation of all economic means. A further danger menaces our economic and social relations, arising from the circumstance that the “Stores”, by gradually concentrating the retail trade into their hands, have almost obtained a monopoly of the same. This can make it as bad in the future for the purchasing public as for the manufacturers.
[Page 128] As soon as the “ Stores” have driven the majority of competing shops out of the field, they will not find it necessary any longer to entice customers with cheap prices, because the public will simply be compelled to buy many things from the “Stores” on account of the total disappearance of the sound old businesses, which confined themselves to one kind of trade and specialised in the same. When this time comes, the “Stores” will raise the prices as high as they like, and this will be made all the easier for them, as they have already formed themselves into a trust, and are codifying their rules and regulations. And there is no doubt that the purchasing public will eventually have to pay the reckoning for the apparent favours which it enjoys today.
At the present day the great “ Stores” exert a kind of monopolydomination over the manufacturers. They claim the right to take all kinds of discounts — special “Stores” Bonus etc — which the manufacturers are powerless to resist, as they are placed more or less at the mercy of these great undertakings, who can give or withhold orders. When a special tax of 2% was imposed on the “Stores” in Prussia, the “Stores” immediately passed it on to the manufacturers and merchants, by deducting 2% from all their accounts, even before the tax actually came into force. Thus it is clear how the monopolising nature of these great “Stores,” which is steadily increasing, is creating and inflicting a state of servile dependency upon the manufacturers, which, in its turn, will gravely endanger not only the economic but also the civic freedom — to say nothing of objections from the moral point of view. And it is not only the employers, who suffer, but the employees are threatened with the same evils and to the same extent. All those, who patronise the “Stores”, should make a note of this.
As a matter of fact the “ Stores” and the great Banks, which work in close alliance with them, are obtaining, in consequence of the continually progressing concentration of the economic life, a dominating power, which gives cause for the gravest apprehension.
[Page 129] They have the power to crush every smaller competing business, and to make the manufacturers and producers absolutely dependent on them. This means nothing less than steering a direct course towards an economic “right of the fist”, which is an end to every conception of justice and morality. Every kind of compulsion, which hurts the feeling of justice and wounds social sensibility, must of necessity lead to an undermining of public morality, and finally to anarchy, and consequently cannot be tolerated in any well-organised community. Since the great “Stores” already form an international trust, they are in a position to subject the citizens of any country to international machinations, and to interfere to such a degree with the means for upholding authority that they seriously menace the economic freedom and independence of the inhabitants.
This calls for objection and opposition. The state cannot sanction that private persons or companies should have a monopoly of commerce, and consequently of profiteering. But this is precisely what any further development of the “Stores” system will lead to.
Least of all, however, can an economic predominance of such a nature be tolerated, when it endeavours to attain its ends by questionable means, when it makes use of trickery and deceit, and thereby endangers public well-being.
4. Moral and Physical Harm. The great “ Stores” endanger not only the economic existence of the smaller and moderate-sized businesses, as well as the steady and regular production of goods, but are harmful to the public morality. It is a well-known fact that, side by side with the evolution of the great “Stores”, certain new and disquieting features have made their appearance in the moral attitude of the public. A new category of offences has come into being; the seductive influence leading to an improper appropriation of goods, the pathological appearance of that class of theft, which is peculiar to the “Stores”.
[Page 130] Experience shows that this particular type of larceny is not confined to the poorer class of people and professional thieves, but is practised by individuals drawn from all stations of life, and more especially by females, even when the latter belong to the most prosperous grades of society. The phenomenon is accounted for by the peculiar nature of business as conducted in the great “Stores”. Everything is designed to excite cupidity, to bewilder and to ensnare. The whirl of business and the multitude of impressions raise excitement to such an extent that the senses become quite confused. Weak characters succumb entirely to these influences, and lose control of their will-power. They are tempted, when they feel that they are not observed, to appropriate something, and steal occasionally even from their fellow-customers. They are, however, nearly always caught, for the proprietors of the “Stores”, well aware of the insidious charm of their “shows”, keep a special staff of detectives to watch those whom they attract. Numerous cases have already occurred, where ladies of good position have been escorted into a private office, and have been subjected to the indignity of a personal search. It is easy to imagine what scandals develop out of such incidents.
But even if it does not lead quite so far as punishable offences, the influence upon the character of the public of the peculiar method of trading introduced by the “Stores”, is altogether bad, for the simple reason that it induces many to buy more than their circumstances warrant, and to spend money on useless things. The whole system connected with this method of trading is designed to create the impression on the customers that they are guilty of neglect if they do not at once recognise and utilise the opportunity to make a cheap purchase, or, in other words, a bargain. The cheap rubbish also, made to look like something better, seduces simple people into buying articles quite unsuited to their position in life; by so doing they accustom themselves to a mode of living, which far exceeds what their circumstances and means justify.
[Page 131] One of the great “ Stores” advertised for a considerable period with reference to one of their brands of cheap Champagne: “Champagne must become a popular drink!” — a phrase that one of the SocialDemocratic members of the Reichstag actually made his own particular slogan.
The demoralisation, which arises out of the peculiar method of trading adopted by the great “Stores”, extends not only to the purchasing public, but even more to the staff or pers
onnel of the “Stores”, to the salesmen and saleswomen who labour under the steady und unvarying influence of the lax morale prevalent in these establishments, and who are compelled to help to deceive and overreach the public. To the above remarks may be added some foreign criticisms, in order to show how the objectionable features referred to have already acquired an international significance.
The physical injury caused by the unceasing strain of the service is considerable, and this reacts on the character. D Paul Berthold says concerning it:
“ The assistants live in unhealthy surroundings, in badlyventilated apartments, which are crowded with people. In most of the great ‘Stores’ the number of cases of illness and of actual death is appalling, so much so, that those, who work for several years in these establishments without acquiring tuberculosis, form the exceptions.”
In addition moral perils arise from other causes. Dr. H. Lambrecht, Director of the Ministry for Public Works in Brussels deserves recognition for having published in a memorandum concerning “Stores and Cooperative Societies”, a number of facts dealing with these matters — facts which are all the more striking for having been scientifically corroborated. He makes inter alia, the following remarks with reference to this subject:
“ This penning-in of a number of young females, and making them absolutely dependent on a person of the opposite sex, whether the latter may happen to be the shop-walker, inspector or manager, constitutes already a gross moral danger, which is all the more marked, when one takes into consideration that the saleswomen are drawn from the very class, which is most susceptible to the enticement of luxury and social pleasures”.
He goes on to express his opinion about the questionable “friendships”, which the great “Stores” offer both sexes so many opportunities of making, and which are utilised, not only by the salesmen and the saleswomen, but also by the customers.
[Page 132]
We have neither space nor time to refer further to the chapter dealing with this delicate subject. Lambrecht continues: “ The danger, however, is still further increased by the inadequate payment of the young girls employed, by bad advice, and by bad example. In these great businesses, in each of which several hundred people are employed, some of the older ones always find the means to dress themselves better than the others, and to visit the theatres and the restaurants after business hours, and soon the little girl apprentice, with her salary of 20 marks a month, allows herself to be deceived by what she imagines to be the brilliant prospect in store for her”.
J. Hennigsen (Hamburg) after portraying the questionable moral relations, which evolve out of the “Stores” system, remarks: “ I am convinced that if all this could only be published, far and wide, no German woman, who still preserved a spark of sympathy with her fellow-women, would ever set foot again in one of these ‘Stores’”.
And Baroness Brincard, after describing the same conditions, observes: “ Generally speaking, women are sympathetic beings, whose hearts are touched by all suffering. Therefore they do not act intentionally when they profit grossly from the misery and distress of other women, but unfortunately it is just the women of the wellto-do classes, who know nothing of these matters, who neither see nor think . . . .”
The great “ Stores” are responsible for the production of a new nervous disease, a fact which Emile Zola has portrayed in his book “Au Bonheur des Dames”. The French physician, Dr. Dubuisson, has chosen as a theme for his book (“Les voleuses des grands magasins”) the injurious effect which the “Stores” have upon neurotic people; he says therein:
“ It is impossible, even for people of the strongest constitutions, to spend any considerable time in these gigantic establishments without experiencing a peculiar feeling of nervous debility — of mental langour and bewilderment”.
In the case of neurotic people this condition amounts to a complete confusion of the senses, which, to a certain extent, deprives them of the control of their actions, and brings in its train mental and moral disaster.
[Page 133]
Dr. Laquer in “Der Warenhaus-Diebstahl” (Thieving at the Stores) says: “ Thieving at the great ‘Stores’ is very extensively carried on, and it is a matter of urgent importance that this fact should be made widely known, especially as children are taking a large part in it. The unguarded display of goods without any compulsion to buy, is a great temptation to those, who are deficient in will-power; for this reason alone it should be restricted. Whether this deficiency in will-power (notably in the case of women in an interesting condition), when brought face to face with the allurements of the great ‘Stores’, is to be regarded as a malady, must be decided by the evidence of medical experts in the Law Courts . . . .”
In any case, the “ Stores” contribute to an enormous extent to undermine the morality of a generation, whose conscience is already blunted, and to multiply to a serious extent the already numerous social evils. The determining factors in the State ought to seriously consider, whether the trivial advantages of making one’s purchases under these luxurious conditions are sufficiently valuable to be placed in the scales against the economic and moral welfare of the population. And, before everything else, if it is consistent with the duty of those, who are in authority, to see that justice is enforced and that the interests of the commonwealth are guarded, that the brute force of money, combined with boundless selfishness, should be established as a system to enslave the whole nation. The evasion of our social politicians, who maintain that these results of modern life are inevitable, and must be “surmounted”, is equivalent to the consolation, given to a man, who is unable to swim, that, in any case, he would also have to learn how not-to drown.
5. Premiums for those employed and the cost involved in carrying on this method of trading. How thoroughly unsound the business principles are in the great “Stores”, is shown by the evidence of Dr. Josef Lux, who maintains that many of the “Stores” have different prices for certain customers and for certain times of the day.
[Page 134] A salesman, who had been employed in a “ Stores”, informs us that the employees were instructed to exploit the weaknesses and inattentiveness of the public. A leading principle was that, if possible, no one should be allowed to leave the building without making a purchase. If a certain article was too dear for a customer, after several ingenious attempts had been made to persuade him or her to take something else, the same article would be produced again at a lower price under the pretext that it was of a different quality. Further, that salesmen and saleswomen were instructed, if the opportunity presented itself, to charge more than the goods had actually been priced at. In this case they receive special premiums for the excess profits, which they have been instrumental in obtaining.
How often the employees at the “ Stores” are tempted to purloin the goods is only too well known. The Law Courts are incessantly engaged with cases of this kind*. Several years ago in the Berlin Courts, in one case alone, 54 salesmen and saleswomen as well as the head of a department out of the same “Stores”, received sentences.
The idea, that the working expenses of the “ Stores” are lower than those of other businesses, is erroneous. The peculiar conditions, under which these great businesses are worked, call for all kinds of arrangements, which can be dispensed with in sound businesses.
In order to protect themselves in some measure against thefts, both by employees and customers, most of the great “Stores” engage and maintain a number of detectives, secret agents, inspectors and searchers, whose business it is to keep both the public and the staff under continual observation and control; and daily a number of the staff, as well as of the customers, are detained at the exits, and are conducted to a room, where they must divest themselves of their clothing in order to be thoroughly searched.
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* In No. 182 of the “Hammer” there is an article entitled: “34 Summonses in one ‘Store’, and in No. 239 an article under the heading: ‘Morality in the ‘Stores’”.
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[Page 135] The moral effects of this bodily examination need only be hinted at. It is by no means excluded that a perfectly innocent customer might have suspicion deliberately directed against her, and would consequently be exposed to a search of this kind.
In any case, the “ Stores” are bound to maintain a large staff of people, whose sole duty consists in dealing with the moral damage, which follows as a matter of course in the train of this novel method of conducting business, and this, of course, increases the expenses enormously. If one also takes into account the continuous and costly advertising, which the “Stores” are quite unable to do without, it ought to be sufficiently clear that these modern undertakings cannot spell progress from an economic point of view, and that they are not at all in the position to deliver genuine goods at lower prices than other businesses. They are only able to keep themselves going by deceiving the public, and by lowering the quality of the goods.
Moreover, they have a devastating effect upon the economic existence of the middle-class, and, in this respect also, bring again a whole row of social evils in their train.
Trepreau ascribes the appalling falling-off in the number of marriages in France to the herding-together of the unmarried of both sexes in the enormous business barracks, which are called “business emporiums” or “stores”.
It is just the women and girls, who never think that by supporting the “Stores” they are sinning against their own sex. If one only pauses for a moment to consider that, owing to the growing power of the great capitalistic “Stores”, the possibility of a man of the middle-class ever establishing himself in a business of his own is quite precluded, marriage becomes more and more remote for many men, and more and more women are consequently driven to seek some means of making their own livelihood, one is finally bound to admit that, by reason of the development of the “Stores” system, the womanquestion has become considerably more acute.
The Riddle of the Jew's Success Page 15
