Michigan Artisan; 1908-06-25

Notes:

Issue of a furniture trade magazine published in Grand Rapids, Mich. It was published twice monthly, beginning in 1880. and Twenty-Eighth Year-No. 24 JUN!: 25, 1908 Semi-Monthly PJDS Auf I[ The "ROYAL" Push B tton Chair .' 11,000,000 readers will see Royal Chair ads every month. Has 4,500 satisfieddealers. We want 6,000. Will you be one of them? Our national advertising campaign will help you to Il Royal Push Button Chairs. Write us for our proposition for your town . Royal Chair C . STURGIS. MICH. I"THE BEST" One Motion, Al Steel Go-Cart FOLDS WITH ONE MOTION NO FUSS. NO FOOLING FOLDS WITH ONE MOTION • CHICAGO SALESROOM; Geo. D. Williams Co., 1323 Michigan Ave., "rst Floor, Chicago, Ill. AU Steel; Indestructible. Perfected Beyond All Competition. Frame of Steel Tnbing. Will Carry 200 Lbs. Over Rough Pavements. The Only Perfect Cart With a Large Perfect Quick Action Hood. FOLDED CATALOGUE UPON APPLICATION. STURGIS STEEL GO-CART COMPA Mich. ... I• h --' Our New Colonial Line THE HIT OF THE SEASON! No. 1674 Our new Colonial line of Medium Grade Furniture has made an even greater hit than did our artistic dining room suites two years ago. It is the re-orders that tell the story, and they have been coming in in a most surprising way. considering the fact that this line has been before the trade barely four months. It is really filling the want that could not be furnished with extremely high grade goods. The designs are artistic in the extreme. The workmanship is the best that we, the largest manufacturers of furniture in the world, are able to turn out. This entire line, together with hundreds of our other items, will be shown at the Furniture Exposition at Grand Rapids during the month of July, beginning ] une 22, and in New York on and after July I 3· • You are cordially invited to attend this Exposition. We want you to make the personal acquaintance of our sales force. They will give you the furniture news of the country and advise you honestly and frankly just what pieces YOU will find quick-sellers. Our motto is ever the same, "Sell only quick-sellers." Or drop us a postal card for our complete catalogue, showing our Colonial Line and all our other items. Northern Furniture Company Sheboygan, Wisconsin MICHIGAN ARTISAN 1 GUNN AGENTS These were the figures April J, 1908. Our next report, July Ist will show a gain 01 over lour hundred new agencies in the United States. This remarkable showing is the result 01 the high quality 01 Gunn products and the extensive advertising we are doing lor the benefit 01 our agents. Our new creations which attract the attention 01 the consumer are shown below. No.501_M No S06·M The Popular and Salable Gunn Sanitary Desk. SELL ON SIGHT. 80 PAGE CATALOGUE SENT FREE. NEW GUNN MISSION UNITS ~~t~I:~:e"Dtfree. The Gunn Furniture Co. Grand Rapids, Michigan 2 MICHIGAN ARTISAN • Luce-Redmond Chair Co., Ltd. I BIG RAPIDS, MICHIGAN High Grade Office Chairs Dining Chain Odd Rockers and Chairs Desk and Dresser Chain: Slipper Rockers Colonial Parlor Suiles III Dark· and,- una Mahogany Bird's Eye Maple Birch Quartered Oak and Circassian Walnut We have moved-New Exhibit Location Fourth Floor, East Section, MANUFACTURERS' BUILDING, North Ionia Street, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN IN III Exbibit in charge of J. C. HAMILTON, C. E. COHOES, J. EDGA.R FOSTER. • • JlIICHIGAN ~._---- ARTISAN CHAIR CO., Richmond, Ind. DOUBLE CANE LINE See Our New Patterns 3 •II I Catalogues to the trade. ._----..I. ------., ..---_._---_. I HAND CIRCULAR RIP SAW No. <1 SAW (ready fo(cross.cutting) No.2 SCROLL SAW "'----- .. • 0 -----_._--- MORTISER COMBINED MACHINE No.3 WOOD LATHE Complete Outfit of HAND and FOOT POWER MACHINERY WHY THEY PAY THE CABINET MAKER He call save a manufacturer's profit as well as a dtaler's profit. He can make more mOlley with less capital invested. He can hold a better and more salisfactory trade with his customers. He can manufacture in as Rood style and finish, and at as low cost as the factories. The local cahinet maker has been forced into only the dealer's trade and profit, because of machine manufactured goods of factories. An outfit of Rarnes Patent Foot and Hand-Power Machinery, reinstat~s the cabiud maker with advautaF;es equal to his comp~titors. If desired, these machines will be sold on trial. The purchaser can have ample time to test them in his own shop and on the work be wishes them to do. DescrilJtiv6 catalo(J1teand p1'ice list free. W. f. &. JOUN BARNES CO.,654 Ruby St., Rockford, III. II ---·---------- • . .l FORMER OR MOULDER HAND TENONER No.4 SAW (ready for ripping) No.7 SCROLL SAW , White Printing CO. GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN HIGH GRADE CATALOGS COMPLETE ~--- l MICHIGAN ARTISAN 55 Per Cent. INCREASE IN OUR BUSINESS FOR THE FIRST FIVE MONTHS OF 1908 OVER THE SAME PERIOD FOR 1907. OUR LINE ROCKERS ROMAN CHAIRS MISSION SUITES MORRIS CHAIRS MISSION PIECES TURKISH CHAIRS IMPERIAL RECLINING CHAIRS Prompt Shipments. There's a Reason If you are one of our cuftomers you will know. If you are not and ate "from Missouri," we would like an opportunity to show you. OUR PRICES FROM $3.00 TO $30.00 Prompt Shipments. No. 120 Our July Line consisting of one hundred twenty-five different patterns is larger and better than ever. Don't Forget to call, shake hands with our salesmen and look over our showing. It will mean increas~ business for you. CHICACO -3rd Roor Fwniture Exchange, 14th and Wabash. GRAND RAPIDS-2d floor New Auditorium. NEW YORK-l~ Roo" 155 E. 23m 51. ST. LOUIS-6th 800r Manufacturers' Furniture Exchange, 14th and Locust Sts. Full line shown in our new catolog ready for distribution July Ist. TRAVERSE CITY CHAIR CO., Traverse City, Mich. , MICHIGA:'-J ARTISAN Small Prices - - Good Values Large facilities enable us to turn out medium priced Bed Room and Dining Room FURNITURE in quantities and at prices that make our .how rooms attractive to those in search of quick • ell er. The Luce Fumiture Co. GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 5 .. 6 MICHIGAN ARTISAN i THE UDELL WORI\S is now ready with THE MOST COMPLETE LINE OF SAMPLES THEY EVER MADE. Shown in GRAND RAPIDS only July, 1908, Exhibit FUl"niture Exhibition Building FOURTH FLOOR LINES Piano Player Roll Cabinets Library Bookcases Ladies' Desks Sheet Music Cabinets Disc Record Cabinets Cylinder Record Cabinets ReprestJItntifJtI Daniel G. Williams Fronk L. Billings Get). C. Dyer Paul M. R,th Waller B. Lang Geo. F. Riley No. 355 Library Bookcase. Mahogany. Golden Quartered Oak. "Such an array Not seen every day" The Udell Works O£ficeand Factory, INDIANAPOLIS, IND., U. S. A. We want YOU to ha.ve our NEW Catalog. Send U8 your name • • , .._--_._------- • No. 911. 26x42. CHARLOTTE MAKES GOOD CHARLOTTE MFG. CO. FORTY NEW PATTERNS READY JUNE 20th GRAND RAPIDS EXHIBITION BLDG. FIRST FLOOR. NORTH TABLES CHARLOTTE, MICHIGAN • ._------------- 28th Year-No. 24. A Great Deal of Good out of Expositions. -Y:Villiam Spiegel, the manager of the General Stores com-pany, Evansville, 11](1., (lec!ares that he gains many adY~\11t-ages by attending furniture expositions. "One sees the samples of several hundred firms and gathers many fresh Porch Attractively Furnil$hed. and v;,luablc ideas to be used ill the transaction of business," remarked :\1r. Spiegel. "He is enabled to keep in totlch ''''lth all lines of goods be might "vant in his store. Going to the markets is like going to a college to get the proper train-ing for work in after life. A man is beuc!" prepared to dis-charge the duties of life than the man who has faile.l or \vho has not held the opportnnity to attend college, and taught to \,vork Ollt problems for himst:'lf when he tah~s a place in the ,vorld of business. The huyer who attends thc furniture eXJlositions is as much allead of the mall ,·vllo does not as the college man is ah(:ad of tile m;111 who has not gOne to college. TTt has a big ad V ,,1 nta;;;e over him. Be knows marc about the tr;l(k than the Dlher fellow, for the J:C;l.";O)] tl];)t he bas Jud the opportunity of sc leeting from a big assortmellt of goods" Too much importance can not be attached to the furniture expositions; the quicker the merchant realizes the 1H'neFlts to be derive,] from attending the exposiliolls the hetter it '''''ill be for him in mally H·nys. Will Enforce an Important Law. 1Ianag'ers of department 510res 81Hl other employers of labor have received warning from the lahar cornmissioner of the state of l\Iichigan that an act of the legislature passed in 1907, prohibiting' the employment of women, abo males under 18 yt:'ars of age more than ten !lours pcr (lay, will be rigidly enforced. The act docs not apply to stores Of factories in 'which less than ten persons afe employed. The department stores will not be permitted to keefJ employes $1.00 per Year. classified as ahove at 'work from twelve to Gfteen hours per day, as in the past. Baving driven the independent manufacturers 011t of busi-ness, the Harvester Trust has advanced prices 25 per cent. }Tcrchants \",ill be compelled to pay more for delivery .V8g011S in the future. A por"ell chair, resembling the 1I.f orris, :dthotlg:l it is unprovided with an adjustable back, and is much smaller, is called the Fonnosa. The arms arc hroad for holdillg a book or {or me as a writing desk. Opera chairs of steel, protected under letters patent, are manufactured quite extensively in Grand Rapids by the Steel Furniture company. vVith six furniture expositions open durillg the coming flJOllth, the 5,000 market buyers will hod ful) employment fOt" their time and money. Enameled rattan is favored considerably by owners of country homes. The colors gellcrally used are buff, blue, white or pearl. Chippendale designs were in favor until late In the eigh- Rustic Porch in the Adirondack Mountains. tcenth century. Empire styles came to Amcrica gra.dually. :\ o\"cli:ies in cane furniture, imported from Germany, arc finished in buff, rc.:l and variegated colors. 8 MICHIGAN ARTISAN 1883==1908 Michigan Chair Company henlr five lears • GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN MICHIGAN ''The Foremost Chair Factory" (;;T wenty-five yearll chair making has given us a long experience in which to obtain knowledge of trade. wanis, and it is with honorable pride we look back upon good results accomplished, and in extending thanks to our customers throughout our country we wish to assure them that the future will be equally well guarded in their intereStsas the past. "A square deal" has alway, been our motto from the beginning. The best ever will be ready for Trade inspection at out Factory Warerooms. June 24th, 1908. EAST Chas. H. Cox Robt. E. Walton Chas. F. McGJegor REPRESENTATIVE SALESMEN, SOUTH W. R. Penny WEST Chas. B. Parmenler Robt. G. Calder Michigan Chair Company Trenlr five 1ears MICHIGAN A]{TISAN Berkey & Gay Furniture Co. Grand Rapids, Michigan I Reproductions of Colonial and Period Furniture for the Bedroom, Dining Room and Library We Guarantee Our Prices Against Decline Until December 1, 1908 Our Line will be Ready for Inspection , JUNE 24th, 1908 I• 9 • 10 MICHIGAN ART IN THE BREAKFAST ROOM. Fine Specimens in the Country House of the Day. The increasing magnificence of the country house has made it necessary to add one more room to the already long list of special apartments. It is out of the question for instance, for the family to enter the format dining room for coffee on a summer morning. So the breakfast room has come to be the inevitable adjunct of the large country hOLlse. Its purpose is to the meat better, for afford a instance. room that suits the hour and than an elaborate Louis XV. Clock and Magazine Rack Combined. or an Empire apartment. From its vcry nature the breakfast room must- be a light, cheerful apartment designed to put into a good humor for meeting the questions of the day the persons who eQt there. "V\'ould it he possible for any man who took his break-fast in this room," asked a man who had been in the silvery room overlooking the Jersey hills from the highcst peak of all of them, "would it be possible for him to do anything wrong after he had started the day so beautifully?" The \vriter bas forgotten what the answer was. Maybe the question was merely rhetorical. At all events it sug-gested that the purpose of the breakfast room is well under-stood even by the lay mind. The seashore breakfast room shown here is part of a house standing back possibly half a mile from the ocean. The house is white stone, and even in its formal apartments the colors are kept as light as possible. The colors of the various rooms never shade much in tone. from this white stone, which is the keynote of the house. This room is panelled throughout in ivory colored wood and there is an ARTISAN effect of very bright and sunny yellow, although that color is to be found in reality only in the carpet-a French rug woven especially for this <lllartment-and in the brocade cushions of the white enamel chairs. All the light for this breakfast room comes through a large round arched window at one end. Pale ivory silk curtains are behind the crystal doors of the built in porcelain closets to conceal their con-tents when desired. Four consol tables to serve as side-boards are built in this room, two of them standlllg in front of the closets and the others on the opposite side of the room. These are finished in Louis XVI. carvings and the top of each is covered with a slab of marble. These tables are in ivory enamel and the reliefs are picked out in gold. The centT<'.of each is a dosed compartment with shelves, with two rounded shelves at each end of the table. The heavy central light is of bronze, while. the five pen-dants are supplied with shades in opalescent yettaw glass. Then the morning effect of summer sunlight may be re-tained if the room is used in the evenings, as it occasionally is when the approach of autumn reduces the size of the family. The darkest shade of yellow which the room offers is to be found in the yel[ow carpet. It is made up of stripes so narrow as to be almost of ivory and yellow. A masked door in one corner opens on to a stairway leading to the upper floors. The problem of the mountain breakfast room was wholly different. From the windows of this room one looks over miles of hill and' valley toward the lower ranges of the Orange Mountains. Falling froUl the terrace is a straight descent down the hillside, up which there climbs a marble edged road. So the persons using this room look over the terrace into a view that almost is wholly green. It \-vas the inspiration of the decorator to make the tone of this room green. The broad silk surtains that close out the windows are lustrous grccn brocade and they open on several other shades of the same color. The green laurc:\ bushes set in pots are more vivid than the green on the terrace outside, where the trees have attained a l,arger growth. The walls are pale gray with green and gold in the trcllises about the mirror, and in the arch that opens into the bay wit1Clow. The mantel is of gray mottled marble and the mirror's fht gray frame is finished with garlands of gold. The square panels above the doors are decorated with flowered borders in gold and green on the gray back-ground, and over the doors is a basket in relief bearing clusters of grapes. This same design is carried out in the electric lamp suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the room im-mediately over the table. It seems to be suspended by a pale gray silk ribbon and from the gilded basket overflow bunches of pale grecn grapes. Through these falls the light. ill a shade of green delightfully appropriate to the col01; scheme of the rOom. The other lights are on the walls ano.:l are in dull gold, elaborately wrought in the form of a scro~ with pale green globes. . The furniture is in dull gold, the cushions being of th~ same material that hangs in front of the bay window, whil4 the wicker backs and sides of the chairs are also gilded'. Thc table, which is carved in the same design as the furn-iture, is also entirely in dull gold, It is large enough to allow only fOUf covers to be spread there. The serving table on the side of the room is also in dull gilt and harmo-nizes with the rest of the furniture. The polished wood floor is laid out in design in two shades of brown, and the bay window is provided with ,a marble Hoor, there being no carpet on the floor at alL The use of rugs was avoide~ in the bay window in order to give it the appearance of 1 conservatory. It wlll be observed that these rooms are destitute ef furniture. The rooms in houses by Carrere & Hastings, architects of the New York Public Library, ,-"ould not be MICHIGAN r ------_._-------- I II ARTISAN 11 Do not fail to see Our New Fall Line of Medium Priced Bedroom Furniture (jJ We have added a large number of new patterns that are both beaut-iful and low priced. The greateSl line in America. Made in live woods and all the popular finishes. (jJ Shown in the same place, 3rd Roar, south half, Furniture Exhi· bition Bldg., Grand Rapids. Woodard Furniture Company owosso, MICHIGAN Catalog ready July 15th . ...---------------------------------_. improved by any pictures on the walls ])ut tbose painted hy masters of the period. This is especially true of the Louis XV. breakfast room at Xe\ypot"t, which is 511O\Vn here. The walls [Ire ill white marble, This lack of -':0101" is ato11ed for by the rich orna-mentatio11. The flat Corinthian colum\ls appear at frequent intervals. Over the windows is the elahorate:' cornice with ;l m;l.sk as its central hgllrc ;111':] its detail consisting of the IL horns of plenty. The ceiling- is supported by a cornice lillislwd wiLh <l moulding. Below the ceiling is <l deep moulding of fruits and flowers. So rich is this relief that the white ..v.alls impart no ser,se of bareness. The gold side lights are in the fonn of t11 ree candlesticks, each of which is protected hy a white and gold screCll. Thc mantel is of \vhite marble flecked with yellow and brown. It follows the genuine fonn of the mantels of the day of Louis XV. and ~ll(]s vvith ;\ shelf barely wide cllol\gh to hold the IH1S.tof the great monarch which surmounts it. • Color in full measure is supplied by the hangings and furniture. The chairs are genuine specimens of the furni-ture of the days of Louis X V. and mounted in tapestry in two shades of red. The woodwork is gold and so is the frame of the large screen opening into the pantry. The larg-c vase of Howcrs on eycry panel is in mally colors. The curtai1l.''i arc of the same two red brocades as the furniture and benc8th them fall lace curtains. The velvet rug cover-ing' tbe floor shO\vs the samt two shades of red. On the two side \"ialls arc buffets in the same white and yellow marhle of the Inantel. The Hoor is of \vhite marble striped ·with brown and that is visible beyond the. rug. The only ornament on the walls is the gold dock-SUllo The Lowell, Mich., Furniture Company. This comp811y has recently started in business with a capital stock of $20,000, all paid in, and a fl1le factory donated by the town. The officers are F. G. Seydewitz, president, VViliiam Cappell, vice-president, C. 'vV. \Visner, secretary, R. Van Dyke, treasurer. The line comprises one hundn:d pieces of mission furniwl"C-chairs, settees, ll(dl trees, tauourdtes, parlor tables, and an entire line of dining room furniture. Tbeir first line is on the market. J n January, lOOD, they expect to sbow in Grand Rapids and Chicago. Specialties in Dining Room Furniture. A line of suites anti odd pieces for the dining rOOll1 in oak and mahogany, has been placed on sale in GranJ Rapids by the Grand Rapids Furniture company, at their factory warer00111. It is said by the trade to excel in qu:}lity as regards construction and design. E. \\T. T rv.-in and \V. S. Emery are showing the goods to callers. 12 MICHIGAN ARTISAN Sligh's Select Styles Satisfy Dealers MANY NEW FEATURES ADDED FOR FALL SEASON. • EVERYTHING FOR THE BEDROOM (Medium and Fine Quality). Office and Salesroom comer Prescott and Buchanan Streets. Grand Rapids, Mich. Line now ready for inspection by dealers . • J. C Wi~man3 Co. DETROIT, MICHIGAN DINING ROOM SUITES HALL FURNITURE CHINA CLOSETS and BUFFETS in Domestic and Imported Woods CHICAGO: NEW YORK: ON SALE, 1319 Michigan Avenue. 428 Lexington Avenue. • • The ford s.. Johnson Company The line includes a very complete assortment of Chairs, Rockers and Settees of all grades. Dining Room Furniture, Mission Furniture, Fibre-Rush Furniture, Reed and Rattan Furniture, Go-Carts and Baby Carriages. No, 805 C 2 Our complete line of samples are displayed In The Ford &. JohnsOn Co. hulldlng. 1333·37 Wabash Ave., Including a special display of "olel furniture. • AU Flt'l'niture Pealers are c01dialll/ invited to visit our building, .. MlCHlGA'J ARTISAN 13 in Odd Dressers Chiffoniers Sideboards Buffets and Bachelors' Wardrobes COMPLETE LINE Shown at 1319 Michigan !~~HICA60, 6th floor. Call tlmi see a 'warm [·"I.dl. MAnISm Mra. co. M4NISTEE, MIC". No. 332 Dresser Top 24x48, Glass 22x40, 1'<0.333Dresser. Top 23x45. Glass 28x34 . • -----_.-.... 100 New Patterns •In Dining Room Furniture SEE THIS LINE! IT'S STRONGER THAN EVER! Show foorns at factory, 107 Canal Sto, two blocks north from Panllind Holel. GRAND RAPIDS, GRAND RAPIDS FURNITURE CO. MICHIGAN I _ , 14 :MICHIGAN I!$TABLISHED 1880 PU.I.ISHII:D II!IT MICHIGAN ARTISAN CO. ON THI! IOnr AND 2!1TM OF EACH MONTH OFFICE-lOB, 110.112 NORTH CIVI510N ST., GRANO RAPIC5. MICH. ENTERED 0'.8 M...TTf:R OF THE SECOMD CLASS Hlntelligent competition among a number of dealers in a. large city, selling the same article, increases its popularity, with resulting larger aggregate sales."-Ex. Intelligent com-petition is not cut price competition. The dealer whose salesmen are most active as well as confident, but not bump-tiOttS, in adhering to prices will obtain the largest share of the total business. Competition among the dealers is directed toward increasing sales and building up a healthy business at reasonable profit, instead of toward :finding out which salesman can shave profits the closest withottt throw-ing his employer into the court of bankruptcy. vVhat applause is to an actor, sales are to salesmen. \-\Then they are difficult and infrequent, suffering results. Hamlet, pelted with over-perfumed eggs, would be in a joyous mood compared with a salesman suffering from con-tact with devils painted blue. The big, strong man suffers as greatly as the small, nervous one. Absolute repose, abstinence from the bottle and long black cigars, will effect a cure in twenty-four hours. °tO °tl,lO A customer's complaint about goods is sufficient to de-stroy the peace of mind and the good intentions of the average salesman, and when this is supplemented by the cancellation of an important 'order, the receipt of bills from tailor, butcher, grocer and the landlord, his usefulness for the day is destroyed. A day or two in the country, far from the maddening marts of trade, will usually restore his mental equilibrium. °tO "to It is human nature for a de~ler to ·nurse a pers\ll1al grudge against the man who will not buy of him~ But it i~n't business, and if a dealer will but employ hi:; ff~aS0n he will acktlowleuge that the rebuffs to his efforLs are impersonal. lIe will save himself much worry an,l anlloy-ance if he disciplines his mind to cut out all unplt:aS<111t recollections. I 't' Charles Rohlfs, who makes furniture in Buffalo. was formerly. an actor. IVIany of h'is pieces (all suggest stage-craft), are as dark, gloomy and unattractive as the char-acters he played in tragedy. His wife, Anna Katherine Green, the novelist, is popular and will keep the wolf out-side the door. "t" "to The national association of retailers of furniture will convene in Chicago on July 8th for a two days' se3s;on President Foster will deliver an address, A. F. Shelcol1 will lecture on salesmanship; and Gov. Eberhardt ~Yl]] discuss better legislation. "t" "to If a dealer's business is so poorly organized that he dares not leave it for a week or ten days .for the purpose of visiting the furniture expositions, he should lose no time in making application to the court for a receiver. ARTISAN The average "self-made" salesman had a great deal of help outside of himself in his making. He would not have progressed very far if he had not availed himself of the help that came within his reach. In the furniture ,,",,'arid the market buyer is compared to the limited passenger train of a railroad. The office buyer is like the gravel train. It arrives at a station long after the limited has passed. "to "to Special sales of articles of every day use at cost seems to bring strangers to the store, who often find other things than the article offered at cost, in the stock, which they need. 0..". "..0. I I Having taken accounts of stock and figured up the losses of the past nine 1110nths the manufacturers of furniture look with hope alld confidence to the future for recoupment. Doubt and gloom closely to his work. from the desk or the assail the merchant who sticks too Life is prolonged by breaking away factory oc;.casionally. Many a salesman is level-headed until he sells the Ot1tput of his factory during a month spent at an exposition town, when he hecomes s\lvc1l-headed. °tO °t" Notwithstanding the prevalence of the idea that a presi-dential year is an off-year for business, furniture exposition enterprises continue to sprout. °t" "t" Unless there is something to kick about, many salesmen would prefer to remain on the road rather than be trans-ported to hea.ven. "t" "t" Manufactured articles are 110t the only imitations. There are many veneerings among the people. °t" "t" The loudest noise is not made by .salesmen; the best line for the money is heard farthest. °t" °tO To change the subject. "Are you a market buyer? If not, why not? "t" "to The things that do us no good to remember, memory retains. °tO "t" \Vithout constant practice, no dealer can be honest. Forty New Patterns. The Charlotte :vIallufaeturing company has added forty patterns of tables in mahogany and walnut, which are set up in their showroom in the 1.fanufacturers' Exhibition building in Grand Rapids. Somebody will "sit up and take notice." It's a bunch of warm members that will necessitate the use of electric fans night and day. Retailers of Indiana. On June 30th a convention of the retailers of IncFal1<L will be held at Indianapolis. Among the topics on the pro-gram for discussion are "Co-operation of Retail Merchants," and "How to Compete with Catalogue Houses." The manu-facturers of Indianapolis will entertain the crowd. :vr I C I-I I G A N Good Furniture at Moderate Prices. It has beell truly sOlid that it ;s an art to furnish a house properly at a moderate price. There is no >:i;der guide in buying than ;J rcli<1blc tradC111ark It js :I guar<111tcc oj quality. Furniture makers of high grade would be unwilling to place their names on an inferior piece of goods, just as silversmiths ..v..ould be mHvilling to affix "Sterling" to sp~triOllS silver. The principle is the same in both cases. Such a Shop-111;,rk as that of the Berkey & Gay [<'urnitme company of Grand Rapids, is an indication of highest work-manship. Their name carries ·weight, whether the furniture be simple or elaborate. They have but one system; the same methods, the same machinery, the same careful in- Made by the Berkey & Gay Furniture Co. spection pertains to their fllrniture~lnakitlg in all its branchcs. One piece of furniture has to be as good as anothcr so far as material ,\11(1 cOnstruction go. \Vhether a piece be plain or ornamental, it stands for good work and lZlsting vZllue. ITow is it possible, it may be asked, for tbis firm to nuke good furniture at Zlslight advance over tbe price asked for inferior work? Because they have reduced ftlrniture-making to a science. Because they have the best equipped furniture plant ill the coulltry, and because their name is a guarantee of excellence. The purchaser of Berkey & Gay furnitme can rest assure,:l th;11 he is getting the hest possible retum for his money. and before buying for his home, no matter how modest, it would be well to take this fact into consideration. Every piece of furniture that comes from the Berkey & Gay factory represents time, skilled labor, the best material, and the highe~t type of equipment. This is an age of specialization, and each department has its expert. A cus-tomcr buyillg Derkey & Gay furniture can purchase for a lifetime for it is made to last. Anything worth buying is ,vorthy of that you can afford, and take care of it. grandchildren ,,,,ill treasure yOur Berkey as heirlooms. The Berkey & Gay Furniture company makes many costly pieccs. Carving, inlay, and a great deal of halldi~ work necessarily render furniture expensive. But the pamt we would emphasize is this-that they do make simple furniture also, and at a remarkably 1m", figure considering the quality. Such furniture is a great boon to people of limited means, for it is both beautiful and economiral. -Country Lif,~. care; buy the best Then your great-and Gay furniture Rustic furniture appeals to the man who is seeking rest and recreation in the woods. ARTISAN 15 New Things Brought out at Sturgis, Mich. The Royal Chair company surprises the market ,,,,ith GHeen styles of davenport sofa beds, ,,,,ith Royal push button attachment, never before seen. The styles are very fine, and these sofas work as easily and perfectly as tbe Royal push button IVIorris chair. The Royal Chair company will also add thirty styles of Royal 1\Jorris chairs to their li11e, whieh ·will be on show in the Furniture Exhibition building, Grand Rapids, and with the Geo. D. \Villiams compauy, Chicago. The Sturgis Go-Cart company will make an extensive display of their one motion, all steel go-carts, in charge of P. 1\1. Roth and A. B. Tennant. These collapsible all steel go-cans were exhibited in Grand Rapids in January for the nrst time, and created quite a sensation, as nothing like them had ever been seen in this market, and they will doubtless create still greater interest in July. The Stebbins- \i\,.iillhdlll Furniture company will brillg OUt more than fifty patterns of directors', library, parlor, pedestal and sewing tables, in mahogany, quartered oak, birch, Circassian, walnut and birdseye maple. This is the finest line of tables this company has ever placed on the market, and will be shown on the sixth floor of north half of the Furniture Exhibition building, Grand Rapids. The Anlsbrook & Sturges Furniture company have not completed their line of higher grade ·work but will be on thc market in tl1c fall ,vjth a linc of goods that will make a hit. New Location. The Grand Rapids Fancy Furniture company have moved from the Blodgctt building to the fifth floor of the Manu-facturers' building, Grand Rapids. II]" Have you received: our New Catalogue"? If nol, write for it at once. There's money in it for YOU, q Buffets. China Closets, Dining Room Suites. Music Cabinets, Pianola Roll Cabi. nets. Phonograph Record Cabinets. Disc Cabinetl!. de Permanent .ale6rooms, 1319 Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. S J. LeRoy and L. 0, Fosse in charge. New York Furniture Exchange, 43d and Lexington Ave •• 6th floor. James p. Hayes in charge. MECHANICS FURNITURE CO. ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS 16 MICHIGAN ARTISAN • From the Line of the Nelson-Ma.tter Furniture 00_, Grand Ra.pids, Mich •. • MICHIGAN ARTISAN 17 .~------------------------- ----------.---------_. • Stebbins- Wilhelm Tables Office Library Parlor A Fine Buncll of New Patterns Quartered White Oak, Mahogany, Circassian Walnut,Bird's-eye.Maple See the Line Top Floor North, Furniture Exhibi. tioD Building, R. W, Alles in charge. No.388. l'op 2Bx44.Qtd. WhiteOak. Solid Mahogany. GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. SALESROOMS: First Fl()or, Furniture Exhibition Building -Geo D. Williams in charge- 1323-1325 M,chigan Ave" CHICAGO, ILL. - CATALOGUE TO THE TRADE ----- _ Stebbins-Wilhelm Furniture Co., Sturgis, Mich. tt • --------------------_. ...- ----.., I UNION FURNITURE CO. II III II,• ~---------------------_._-~ I! FOldino Gndir~ II • We Manufacture the Largest Line of ROCKFORD, ILL. China Closets Buffets Bookcases in the United States, suitable for Sunday Schools, Halls, Steamers and all public resorts. We also manufal.:ture Brass Trimmed Iron Beds, Spring Beds, Cots and Cribs in a We lead in Style, Construdion large variety. and Finish. See our Catalogue. Our line on permanent exhibi_ tion 7th Floor, New Manufact. urers' Building,Grand Rapids. Send for Catalogue and Prices to KIIUFFMIIN MfG. GO. ASHLAND, OHIO I._---._-----_._--------' • ~ ~ Morton Housel (American Plan) Rates $2.50 and Up. I ~- 1 : MANUFACTURERS OF I I I HARDWOOD t~~~~~~ II SPECIALTIES: ~1"i'fE~QUARO.AK VENEERS MAHOGANY VENEERS Hotel PantJind (European Plan) Rates $1.00 and Up. GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. I! HOFFMAN I I BROTHERS COMPANY I 804 W, Main St" FORT WAYNE, INDIANA I >- • The Noon Dinner Served at the Pantlind for 50c is THE FINEST IN THE WORLD. J. BOYD PANTLlND, Prop. • 18 MICHIGAN SPIEGEL A PHILANTHROPIST. Proposes that Food be furnished Children of Poor Attending Schools. M. ]. Spiegel, the chief of the big furniture establishment bearing his name, located at 182 vv~abash Avenue, Chicago, has a heart filled with human kindnes-s, and his movement in the board of education for furnishing food to poor children attending the schools, is characteristic of the man. His plan is to obtain an annual appropriation whi~h will enable the board to properly feed school children who do 110t receive the right nourishment at home. It has the approbation of almost every charitable society in the city and is now being worked out in a school by one of these organizations at it~own expense. Mr. Speigel advances the belief that if the board could afford to furnish some of the children with nourishment they do not get at home the entire educational plane of this class of pupil would be raised. A resolution setting out these ideas, presented to the board members, was referred to the school management committee for consideration. "I believe if these children were given good, substantiai food such as milk, bread and butter and wholesome meats a great deal of good could be accomplished," said Mr. Spiegel to-day. "It is among the poorer classes where low mental conditions are found. It is the lack of nourishment of the proper kind that causes this. This plan is now being prac-ticed in other large cities and I believe it should be installed here. The backward children are not only harmful to their own advancement but to the advancement of children who have to asssoeiate in the class rooms with them." The preamble and resolution offered by Mr. Spiegel follows: Whereas, In certain sections of our city the educational work in the public schools is very greatly hampered and the progress of all the pupils is seriously retarded, because of the impoverished condition, mental and physical, of some of the pupils (entitled to public school advantages), due to want, lack of nottrishment, and the absence of proper care; and Whereas, It is the opinion of those expert in the conduct of public educational systems that to alleviate such conditions is to promote the efficiency of the schools in a most far-reaching and beneficial manner; therefore, be it Resolved, It is the sense of this board that it cause to be made a thorough and exhaustive investigation into such con-ditions, together 'with the best remedies to be adopted to remove or relieve them, including what has been donc in other large public school cducational centers, and -also what legal restrictions and powers apply to this board and con-cern this subject matter. A Handsome Chamber Chair. Harry Jordan, president of the, ~'lichigan Chair Compal1y, is a chair maker by instinct and inclination. He has been engaged in thc business of making and marketing chairs so many years that their making is the easie.st proposition imag-inable. It is said that he would rather make a wood seat chair with a pocket knife than to dig ten acres of potatoes on his very productive fa.rm on Walloon lake. Some weeks ago a husiness engagement brought him to the plant of the \Vhite Printing Company. The fast running machinery used for many purposes in the printing art attracted incidental at-te, ntion, but when his eyc rested upon a Colonial wood seat chair, worked out by hand by a mechanic of 1830, other things in the factory interested him no more. He read the history of the chair and its maker at a glance.. Its impe.rfect con-struction did not conceal a beautiful idea in its design, and Mr. Jordan developed a longing for the chair that nothing ARTISAN but its possession would satisfy. The chair was seen in his carriage one morning and the roadster l-1r. Jordan drove was headed toward the factory of the Michigan Chair Company. Designer Nash joined President Jordan, Treasurer Garrett and the selling force of the company then in the city in a discussion of the qualities of the chair, and then it was placed in the room of the. designer. A new chair was brought out in whit;::hthe best features of the old were incorporated. The sample is a beautiful specimen of the, chair makers' art and when the fall season opens in the latter part of the current month it would l;>e safe to wager the company's factory against a dilapidated box car that it will be a hot seller. Mechanics of the Future. In an address, delivered at ::t meeting of the Manufactul'- ers' Association of Grand Rapids, held recently, R. W. Butt..::r-field, president of the Grand Rapids Chair Company, re-called the years when furniture was made at home, when the trade of the father was taught to the sons from generation to generation, \Vith the advent of wood working machinery the village cabinet shop of ycars gone by disappeare,d, like-wise the apprentice system. In the main the managers of the great plants of the, present learned the trade of their fathers or under the apprenticeship system. Specialization prevails in the factories and the managers of the future will be products of foreign lands unless a general movement shall be inaugurated at once having for its purpose the train-ing and preparation of young men for positions of responsi-bility and trust. Mr. Butterfield advocated the adoption of manual training and trade schools as a part of the educa-tional system of this country in order to provide the mechan-ics and managers of the factories of the future. Government Testing Shops. In several countries of Europe public testing shops, estab-lished by the government, serve a good purpose to invention, science and the arts. When the builder of a machine com-pletes his task be sends it to the testing shop, where it is put into operation under the observation of skilled mechanics. After it has been perfected in construction it is returned to the builder to be marketed. When it shall be installed in a factory the purchaser knows he can depend upon it. In like manner articles compounded of various materials (wood fin-ishing goods, for instance) are tested by the government and sales are easily made thereafter. • • STAR CASTER CUP CO. NORTH UNION STREET, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. (PATENT APPLIED FOR) We have adopted celluloid as a base toroac CastC'TCups, makinK the best cup on the market. Celluloid is a great improvement over bases made of other material. When it is necessary to move a piece supported by cups with celluloid bases it can be done wItb ease, as the bases aTe peT· fectly smooth. Celluloid does not sweat and by the use of these cups tables are never marred. These cups are finished in Golden Oak and White Maple. finished light. If you wiU try a sample order 0/ tMse yoork 1/0'/& will desire to handle them in quantities. PRICES: Size 2U inches ....•• $5.50 per hundred. Size 27.( Inches .•.•.. 4.50 per hundred.; '. o. b. Grand Rapids. TRY A SAMPLE ORIJER. • l MICHIGAN ARTISAN •, "Valley City Desks" The present season demands exceptional values in medium and low priced desks. It is to your advantage to call on us during June and July on top lIoor, Furniture Exhi-bition Bldg. We have the largest and the strong-est line of Sanitary and Standard desks in the market. Write for new complete Fall catalogue. VALLEY CITY DESK CO. GRAND RAPIDS MICH . 19 f I • GEO. SPRATT & CO. SHEBOYGAN, WIS. Manufacturers of Chairs and Rockers, A complete line of Oak Diners with quarter sawed veneer backs and seats. A large line of Elm Diners, medium priced. A select line of Ladies' Rockers. Bent and high afm Rockers with solid seats, veneer roll seats, cob~ blerseats and up~ holstered leather complete. High Chairs and Children's Rockers. rou will gd in on tlu ground floor WhM you huy from liS, No. 542 Oak, Solid Seal. Price, $17~:;. No. 540% Sameas No.542 on I y Quarlered Dak Ve nee r Seat, $18 ~~;. No. 542 i Dining and Office TABLES Large new line ready at the opening of the Season. We gua.rantee the prices put on our goods June 24th through the Fall Season. Stow &Davis Furniture Co. GRAND RAPIDS. MtCHIGAN Fourth Floor Blod~tt Bldg. • I 20 :\1 I CHI G A N ART I SAN , Made by Stebbins-Wilhelm Furniture Co, Sturgis. Mich. ____. ~ l MICHIGi\ N AJ<TISAN 21 10D. 110. 112 "orl~Division ~1.I Orand Ka~ids I IOD./10.112 "orl~Division ~1. Qran~Ka~Ms Michigan Engraving Company :: White Printing Company Michigan Artisan Company i" ! OUR BUILDING EN G R A V ER S PR I NT E R5 B I No E R5 Erected by White Printing Company. Grand Rapids. 1907. ~------_._-----------_. PRINT E R5 B INo ER5 EN GR AV E R5 •• 22 MICHIGAN COSTLY FURNISHINGS OF AN AMERICAN PALACE. Former Senator Clark Spends Millions in New York. The French palace that Senator W. A. Clark of Montana and New York has erected at the corner of Seventy-seventh street and Fifth avenue has so far been a house of mystery. The portals have been assiduously guarded from the outside world. "Wait until it is flnished," the senator has always said when appealed to for permission to inspect it. Recently, however, the writer was permitted to spend a half day in the most costly private mansion in America. The house has been called "An old man's fad," and so it is. Every piece of ffi3:rble,.every piece of granite, every piece of wood, every piece of bronze, the work of every laborer, every art object, and every purchase and contract has had the per-sonal attention of the O\Vller. The house represents the man, carries out his ideas, reveals his tastes. When in New York Senator Clark spends days within its walls, watching its pro-gress, giving his opinions, passing upon or rejecting pieces of work or bids for work. In conception and interior the Clark house reflects the best examples of French architecture of the period of Louis XVI., and in construction and appointments it combines the comforts of home and the conveniences of the most luxurious hostelry in the world. Viewed from the street the building strikes the observer as too big, too massh.'e, for its ground space and its residential surroundings, but when one's point of view is from within, the street and the immediate neigh-borhood are forgotten. The vista that opens to the vision is over a woodland of trees and a chain of miniature lakes. Central Park lends itself admirably to the occupants of the Clark mansion and supplies a foreground not excelled by any palace in Europe. The architects must have taken this into consideration, as did Senator Clark when he conceived the idea of expressing his ambition by the erection of the finest private residence in America. It is nine stories, each story ranging from heights of nine to sevcnteen feet, from the Turkish baths beneath the ground to the laundry under the eaves. Kine stories, massed with every conceivable adjunct of convenience, comfort, lux-ury, and possession dear to the heart of man; nine stories of storied wealth and mechanical device unsurpassed in the mod-ern construction of house building. "When Senator Clark throws open this house to his friends it. will take all his time to show them through it," the writer remarked, after half a day's pilgrimage. "It will not be necessary," replied the escort. "He may touch one of a hundred buttons and call a servant to do his bidding." The masS of wires that assemble in the headquarters of the service room is so large that one can scarcely touch hands around it. Five millions of dollars is the estimated cost of the house, irrespective of its furnishings. Some of the items may be roughly set down as follows: $400,000 for bronze. work on the roof. $140,000 for plumbing. $140,000 for the heating plant. $1,000 each for Greek marble columns, of which there are scores. $2,000 for a single ornamental dcsign on a mantelpiece. $15,000 to $40,000 for the woodwork and gildings of many of the rooms. $12,000 for the entrance gates. $10,000 for a freize. $20,000 each for the furnishings of the bathrooms, of which there are fifteen. $50,000 for uncut and unmined marble of a single quarry. But cold figures give only a relative conception of the lav- ARTISAN ish structure and its appointments. The mere expenditure of money was far from the thoughts of Senator Clark when eight years ago he dreamed of the palace now a reality. His conception was of a home that would be a treasure house of his art works and a fitting expres-sion of his love of the ar-tistic and architecturally beautiful. He planned elab-orately, turned his ideas over to practical men, and scoured the world for in-terior decorations, whole rooms, ceilings, tapestries, statuary, porcelains, paint-ings and bronzes that would be a delight to his eye and a joy to his senses the rest of his life. Step through the bronze gates and enter this stupendous residence. It is well worth the trip, even though the courtly halls are not completed, nor the great galleries hung with paintings, nor the white marble statues in place in the rotunda. The. porte-cochere that over-hangs the entrance has been compared to the upper set of a pair of false teeth, and the simile is not ill chosen, though the resemblance is lost in the immensity of the sheer walls that rear themselves 100 feet from the ground to the top of the granite tower. An iron stairway leads down to the kitchen floor, the basement, and the sub-basement. To the right, set below the floor, are three 250 horsepower boilers, drawing from an eighty-ton storage vault, five to seven tons Sketch by Otto Jiranek. Sketched by OttO Jlranek, Grand Ra.pids. Mich. of coal a day, to light and heat the entire house, run its ele-vators, its eighty-ton cold storage plant, its dumb-waiters, its ventilating fans, its pumps, its laundry, and propel three sev-enty- five-kilowatt dynamos, furnishing 4,200 lights. Eight men on night and day shift is the crew of this department. The pasenger elevator is as large as you will find in a big hotel. It will carry twenty people, and is of the plunger type its shaft sinking into the ground ninety-eight feet. In the MICHIGAN dynamo room is a marble switchboard GHeen by eighteen fect in size. in this sub-cellar, facing Fifth avenue, along the entire front of the house, is a Turkish bath, steam rooms, shampoo haths, sprays, showers and dressing rooms, lined with Carrara glass, witb tiled ceilings and glass mosaic borders, and orna-mentations of artistic design. J tlst outside these spacious rooms is a filtration plant, the air from the street percolating a screen of cheese cloth filtered through iron tubes to every part of the bouse to be finally drawn off by a huge fan in the rooL Senator Clark could gIve a house party of half a hundred people, entertain them in his four completely equip-ped dining rooms, and extend to the m adequate facilities for en-joying the great swimming pool and Turkish ba tb. Tho:: great ban-quet hall is on the second hoor and completely occu-pies the w est wing- of the house. The room is fifty by thirty-five feet and s(:venteen feet hig-h. Its atmosphere is one of massive ele-gance. It is a "",700dy" room, a characterization peculiar to many of the rooms of the house. The walls are paneled with English oak and heavily carved in the style of the Henry IV. period. The ceiling is a solid mass of carving, and the: huge mantelpiece, set off by life-size figures of Diana and :Neptune in Numidian marble, is an art work in liseH. A hClze of Normandy stone, ten feet wide, encircles the room, close to the ceiling. The stone lends itself beautifully to carving, representing sc~nes it1 hunting and fishing, with an underlying net-work beneath figures of fi s h, gamecocks, birds, guns, oxen, horns, bows and ar-rows, roebucks and Sketch by Otto Jiranek. deer, deftly worked 1J110 the design so that no particular figure assumes protrusive importance. There are eleven disks of plain Sienna marble set in the frieze, which are severely beautiful in contrast. Over the door is a pand that may be ntilized as a coat of arms of the owner or perhaps of King Henry V1., frol11 whose reign the room takes its character. The breakfast room is on the third fioor, opening west-ward, and is a solid ·mass of English oak carved heavily of the Francis r. period. It is a veritable cabinet of 170 panels, no two alike in dc,sign, but all harmonizing. Directly above the breakfast room upon the third and fourth floors are pri-vate dining rooms, belonging to the complete apartment ARTISAN 23 suites that occupy the \vest wing of these floors. All of these dining rooms have individual pantries and china closets, and are connected directly \vith the serving room, off the kitchen on the ground floor by individual electrically propelled dumb-waiters, speaking tubes, telephones, and a service ele-vator. The two apartments 'were originally intended for the use of Sen.ator Clark's married sons a.nd daughters. These apartments contain every convenience and luxury known of the model, up-to-date New York apartment house. The reception rooms are octagonal and of solid mahogany heavily paneled. 'The salons are of satinwood, paneled and exquisitely carved. The entire suites are finished in wood, walts and ceilings, each room of differcnt design and charac-tcr. Opening off the main dining room on the second floor is a rotunda, which Senator Clark has called a sculpture room. This circular vestibule, which is some thirty-six feet from Hoor to vaulted ceiling, is set with eight Bresche violet col- U1l11E" unpolished. The walls are of creamy white Mary-land marble. A balcony cove, at the top, is accessible from the third floor and the organ 10ft. The statuary room is paneled in lHaryland marble and sct 'with Chippolano pedes-tals. The room opens to the south into a conservatory of solid bronze and glass, thirty feet high and twenty-t" .·.o. feet wide. Opening to the north from the statuary rotunda is the main picture gallery, ninety-five by twenty feet, two stories high. The walls are of plain Istrian marble and Norman-deal1x cornices. A western wing of this gallery is sixteen by forty feet, and is the second fioor of still another art treast1r·~ house, which will be devoted exclusively to Senator Clark's collection of Faience pottery. In the loft, at the south end of the main gallery, will be placed the largest chamber organ in the COUll try, the instrument having sixty-two speaking stops. Out from the east side of the main gallery extends a superb promenade, ninety-five feet long and twenty feet "v1de, a classic hall ornamented by twelve Chippolano columns unpolished. The ceiling of this splendid room is of carved American oak, a large space being left for a canvas which is yet to be put in place. It is said that this canvas will be the work of an American artist, 110t yet selected. Broad panels along the walls will be set with six priceless tapestries that Senator Clark bought abroad. vVhen completed this central promenade will equal the stately hall of any palace in Europe. The colonnaded hall makes a direct communicating prome-nade between the main gallery and the grand salon facing Fifth avenue. It is impossible to enter this lovely room without feeling the masterful impulse of the old world artists. The eye ir-resistibly rests upon the immense canvas of Fragonard that forms the entire ceiling-the largest canvas, it is said, in America. Cupids, blue sky, and garlands embellish the Greek figures at the sides and ends of the ceiling. The tex-hue is soft and the coloring old and rich in tone. Age is imprinted upon the work of art, and beauty of color and del-icacy of expresslon stamp the canvas a masterpiece. 'V\lhat it cost the senator to pluck this old world piece of art from some grand salon of France is merely conjectural, but if he were to divulge the price. it would startle the imagination of even this money-mad town. The ceiling lIas an appropriate setting, for the entire room is "lifted" from a French palace. It is a salon of the type of Versailles, of the Louis XVI. period. Chaste in design, the pilasters, moldings, and cor-nices are embellished in gold leaf, and the curtain brackets are exquisite molding of gold bronze. The heavy white enameled doors fairly breathe their old world art, though in state of perfect preservation. The gold bronzed furnishings are art works in themselves, conceptions of Bircard of Paris. ' The mantel alone is the product of Senator Clark's Maryland quarry, but to the uninformed has the appearance of pure Carrara marble 500 years old, so soft and satiny is its texture ( Concluded on page 26. ) EVANSVILLE LINES MANUFACTURERS' FURNITURE EXCHANGE Corner Wabash Avenue and Fourteenth Street The BOCKSTEGE New Superior Line, Evansville. No. 957%Parlor Table. The BOCKSTEGE FURNITURE CO., Evansville, Ind. The Metal Furniture Co. EVANSVILLE, IND. MANUFACTURERS OF Metal Bedsteads Fulliine of Samples on exhibition during the entire year. on first lIoor of the Manufacturers' Furniture Exchange. comer Wabash Ave. and 14th St.. Chicago. THE WORLD FURNITURE CO. (Member of Big Six Car LoadinR" Association) EVANSVILLE INDIANA Manufacturers of Folding Bed .. (Mantel and Uprillht). Buffets, Hall Trees. China CIO$et8. CombhUltion and Library BookelUes. Full line of samples on exhibition during the entire yeai', on first fIoor of the Manufacturers Furniture ExchaD1te. comer Wabash Ave. aDd 14th St., Chicago, . Globe Side' Boards and Hall Racks Are the best for the money. eel our Cata-logue. Mention the Michigan Artisan when writing. Full line of samples on exhibition during the en-tire year. on the first floor of the Manuradurers' Furniture Exchange. Cor. Wabash Ave .• and 14th St.. Chicago. Globe Fumiture Company EVANSVILLE, IND. ON SALE IN CHICAGO MANUFACTURERS' FURNITURE EXCHANGE Corner Wabash Avenue and Fourteenth Strut The Karges Furniture CO. EVANSVILLE, INDIANA Manufo1l::luien of Chamber Snites Dressers Wardrobes •n. Chiffoniers ;, PLAIN OAK QUARTERED OAK AND IMITATION QUARTERED OAK F uti line of samples Oil. exhibition during the en_ tire yea(, on first floor of the MaDwaCluren' Furni_ lure Exchanlle. ~orl1erWa-bash Ave. and. 14th St,. ChialllO· Cupboards Kitchen Cabinets and K. D. Wardrobes . Is all we make but we make lots of them. Get Catalogue and Prices. The Bosse Furniture CO. EVANSV1LLE. JND. FI~tl Une of Ball/ples 011.s;ekibUio!l ditl'in(1 flu entire year onji.J'fltjlooT of !he .J1{aJl.'uJacturers' FurnitUl'( E:J.:chan(le, COTner Wabash At}e. and 14th 8/., Cldea(lo. No Stock complete witIlOll1 the Eli Beds in Manl~l and Upright. ELI D.MILLER & Co. \EVvriatensfovrmcu.t,slnadndlnpnraices ON SALE IN FURNITURE EXCHANCE, CHICAOO. and so exquisite and chaste is its sculpture work. whole room is a drcam in creamy white and gold. The petty salon be-yond is an elliptical room of white enamel and gold of the period of Louis XV. There is still another room in the suite, styled the morning room, which has a heavily carved ceiling of American oak and will be set with four immense tap-estries. Paralleling the great corridor and di-rectly connectiong tll\~ statuary room wi.th the petty salon is the main hall, sixty feet long and ten feet wide, set with pilasters of Maryland marble and Norman-deaux vaulted ceiling. Opening into this hall is the grand stairway, which comes up from the ground floor. A sweeping staircase of Istrian marble, apparently unsup-ported, makes the ascent a leisurely climb. In this spacious stairway are blended almost every known marble from the world's quarries. The balustrade is of bronze and gold and is rich in character. The main elevator is at the side of the stairway, and it is highly probable that the stairway corridor will be hardly more than an abode. of statuary-a thing of beauty in itself. The third floor is devoted to Senator and Mrs. Clark's suite, the large library and one of the complete housekeeping apartments mentioned, besides two guest rooms. The private suite of the senator and his wife are not os-tentatious rooms, although large, light and beautiful. Sena-tor Clark's bedroom is finished in English oak with delicate-ly carved, wainscot and cornices. The walls are satin lined. Mrs. Clark's room is similarly finished, with a connecting boudoir and spacious bathroom and wardrobe closets. The ,bathrooms, both of the senator and his wife, and of all the guests, are exceptionally large, entirely tiled jn Carrara glass and the ceilings, and the showers are incased by plate glass inclosures. The library on this Hoor is a spacious room some forty feet long. An antique fireplace, taken from an old Kormandy castle, is a disti,nctive feature, as is the antique ceiling, transported from an old castle in France, It is dark and rich in design, -though severe and classical in line. It is the senator"s idea to make this one of the most at-tractive rooms in his house. The walls will be lined with bookcases and fllled with the choice volumes he has collect-ed, whic-h are at present stored in his spacious apartments in the Navarre flats. Directly above the library on the fourth floor is a room of almost equal size, which the senator has set aside for an "Oriental Room." This room is yet in an embryonic state, but in it the senator will gather his choicest specimens of Oriental art. The nursery on the next floor is a most com-plete establishment. It consists of two departments, a "night" and a "day" nursery. The rooms are spadous and will be, lighted by large windows, and contain every modern and hygenic appliance known to modern equipment. As the senator and Mrs. Clark have but two small children, the fa-cilities of these spacious rooms will not be overtaxed. There is an adjunct to the nUrsery department in the tower, where there has been set aside a room which can be used in the event of a quarantine, The rest of the fourth floor is devoted to guests! rooms, 26 Sketch by Otto Jiranek. MICHIGA.N ARTISAN The of which there are twenty-five in the house. Nearly all of these rooms have spacious baths connected and are finished in either American or English oak, heavily carved and pan-eled, There is also a ~omplete housekeeping suite, before mentioned! on the fourth floor. The fifth and sixth floors contain the rooms and aCCOl11O-datioDs for thirty-five servants. The eastern wing of the house is devoted to the men's quarters, and the western wing to the quarters of the women servants. The laundry is on the sixth floor, and is as large as many public laundries. The freight elevator makes all of these rooms accessible to the basement. But perhaps the pride of the senator is his own suite on the ground floor. This princely group of rooms includes the senator's· office, a reception rOom, and a library and a magnificent lounging room, the latter of which is a veritable old style English hall. It is ninety feet long and twenty feet wide, and is done- in the domestic Gothic style, as dis-tingUished from the ecclesiastical Gothic. The room is sev-enteen feet high, and the most notable fature in it is an im-menscfireplace in the Gothic style of French Norrnandeaux stone. The ceiling is heavily beamed, and the wainscoting is carved oak. One-half of this room is devoted to a billiard room. Opening from the lounging room is a small hall lined with mirrors, which connects it with Senator Clark's private suite. This suite is done in heavy St. Domingo mahogany, embellished with a gold bronze frieze and fixtures of the Em-pire style. It would be hard to imagine anything more impressive than the conception of design in this ground floor suite and its approaches through the corridor of solid niarble from the massive vestibule of bronze, facing the colossal vaulted stair-way at the entrance. This corridor on the first floor leads !itraight across the house to the entrance by the pOI"te-cocherc. Beyond the driving entrance is a vestibule large-' enough to accommodate several teams while their occupants are de-scending prior to their entrance to the house. There is also room in this vaulted vestibule for several automobiles, To a man with $12,000,000 a year income the construction, furnishing and maintaining of such an establishment is not such a very large item after all. As a matter of fact, Sena-tor Clark maintains at present four complete establishments-one in Los Angeles, Cal.; one in Butte, Mont.; one in \Vash-ington, D. c., and his present home in New York. Stored in these houses and in various art galleries are his 'c.ollections of paintings, porcelains and tapestries, which he has assid-uously gathered for the last ten years. In order to carry out his plans and reduce the building of this house to a businesslike proposition, Senator Clark eight years ago organized a realty company, and made his house an incorporated concern. On Long IslaIid he built a com-plete woodworking and marblecutting establishment at a cost of $150,000. This establishment has been in operation c.on-tinually for eight ycars, and it is probable that it will require two more years before the work is completed in all its de . tails. Senator Clark's expenditures have run as high as $2,- 000 a day for months at a time, and there has seldom been a week when there have been less than 200 skilled laborers at work upon the various details of the structure. In order to continue the work unhampered, Senator Clark purchased out_ right a large granite quarry in !I'faine and another in Mary-land. The vast quantities of copper used in the construc-tion of the house were taken from Senator Clark's mines in Montana and brought on to his plant ou Long Island, where it was cast. So the house itself is practically the product of American material and American workmen, an achievement that in it-self is creditable to Senator Clark, and adds materially to the public's interest in this· all-American palace-the highest expI"ession of American artisanship in the building of a pri-vate residence in New York.-Times. MICHIGA:\' AlZTISAN 27 ~SPIYS.l R.ad T...... o' Sak CAREFULLY. " . . . .. Owing t.o Ollr .mall commissiolUJ there 915-!m'91ll. -Del . will he No Conce88io~8 From Plibli8hed PENN AVi>NUE • T...m.. . CONSIGNMENT SALE of a Train Load of FURNITURE From L. F. GREEMAN FURNITURE MFG. CO., . Tf'i:-.f=---q·A);~"·.W"'.~_~~~~ '- of SEYMOUR ,IIND I Great COntij'Rmel1f Sale Begins ~ Tomorrow. AU ...Good. (It Whote.ak Factory Prices. Read euery word of tlan uniqRe annoan«'ment~ "THE PITTSBURG STYLE" 28 MICHIGAN ARTISAN Made by Woodard Furni.ture Co., Owosso, Mich. • :lIICHIG,\N ARTISAN 29 r, -------------------- -------_._-----------., I • 30 MICHIGAN FURNISHING THE BUNGALOW. The Plainest of the Plain the Rule to Follow. I<As plain as poverty!! is a simile quite out of date. As a matter of fact, persons with full pocket books are now among the most eager purchasers of house draperies, furniture :.l.nd wall coverings of the plaine,st description. Yor the moment the plainest of the plain is the fashion in the country houses more or less removed from the beaten routes of travel. Also cottages, camps and bungalows mor~ or less secluded are, tremendously in favor. So far as appearance goes a man of fortune and a book-keeper earning $2,000 or less a year are now housed alike in some, parts of the north woods and in nearer districts of )lew England. The former uses his primitive-apparently primitive-habitation for perhaps two weeks in the year; the latter sends his family up for a three, months' stop. That's one diffexence betwe_en the two cottages. Another difference is in the, cost of furnishing-the two with apparently the- same results. In one instance a force of men from a New York establishment noted for fitting out COUIttry places in suitable and picturesque fashion arrived on the scene and did up the job; did it well, too. There was no glitter, no silk-en tapestry, no gilded furnitt.tre, no pink and blue French effect in drawing room or elsewhere in this two story bungalow situated six miles from a railroad station, near a mountain lake and surrounde.d with first growth trees. The furnishings of the house matched the surroundings as perfectty as though the turf, the water of the lake, the h'aves and -bark of the trees, the mould of the wagon road had been carried to New York and matched in the shops. The latest fad, the decorator told the owner, is to furnish mountaineottages so as to give the effect of severe simplic-ity. "Rough finish, brown tones, materials of coarse fibre, woods showing the nat-ural grain and all absence of paint are considered more styl-ish than convention-al fabrics, polished \-'\loods, satin papers and the like," the decorator said-said it doubtfully, knowing his customer, when he took the job. "Go ahead," was the answer he got. He went ahead, \-vlth the results de· scribed, which were obtained at a cost of several thousand dollars. Visitors to that bungalow last summer raved about its artistic furnish-ings- when told who the decorator was. -The same effects, fortunately for the man who sends his family to the wilds for economy's sake and is in the habit of giving high priced decorators a wide berth, can be had at comparatively small expense if one knows what to buy. l\Ia-terials heavy, durable, qUlet toned may be had in the shops for half a dollar a yard which challenge in style goods costing half a dozen dollars a yard. The effect of the one is mostly stylish as the effect of the other, although the one is mostly flax, the other mostly raw silk. Here is the story of the furnishing of a bungalow set up by a young married couple handicapped by having an income which would scarcely be enough to keep the wife of the wealthy bungalow owner in hats! The bungalow, in the first place, was not built by them or for them. They lighted on it one day in taking a trip across lakes in the Adirondacks. At one time, they were told, it ARTISAN was the headquarters of the foreman of a lumber camp. By building an extension kitchen and servants' rooms the house would have enough space to accommodate half a dozen persons, they decided, and for a nominal sum the young husband got a lease of the house for three years. Early the next spring he and his wife appeared in the vidnity and pro-ceeded to make the house one 01 the most admired in a neighborhood of rich men's camps. \Vhat they did anyone can do. An astonished workman was engaged to rough plaster the walls. He was hurt when his suggestion of smoothly plas-tered white walls was waived aside. "The roughest plaster you can mix, and only a trifle light-er in tint than common mortaL" was the order. When finished the color was a cross between a brown and a gray, and the rough uneven effect was attractive. Common wood stained in a dark oak color. was used in all the rooms in crossed four inch wide strips in the ceilings to give a lat-tice effect, through which could be seen a smooth white plas-tered ceiling. There was not orie inch of wall paper in the house. Floors <lnd doors were stained in an oak color. In the rich man's bungalow much of the furniture was full of angles and had an unpolished surface. Dull finished, angular furniture predominated in the bungalow of the young cottple, much of it made on the spot. Thus in the living room there was a three and a half foot wide and six foot long settee finished with a high back and arms, which the owner knocked together with the aid of a vv:orkman, and which is a joy to the eye. It harmonizes perfectly with three or four massive, well made pieces of mis-sion furniture sent up from New York, and is more picturesque than any settee shown in the New York shops. The seat cllshions arc of dull green arras cloth, rough and stylish, which can be purchased fat $1.25 a yard. It is fifty inches wide. So judicious is the mixture of heavy well made pieces of furniture from good shops with heavy roughly made pieces made on the premises that the average visitor puts the entire. outfit down as having come from a city establishment. "\~rhcre one can go out and cut down saplings without saying 'by your leave,' the possibilities for putting together ar-tistic bits of furniture are immense," the tenant explained. "I was lucky enough to find a pretty good carpenter in this neighborhood who would and could give me a couple of hours work now and then." The underpinning of his table is made of young trees strip-ped of their bark and stained walnut color. The top is made of smooth board fitted by a carpenter and then stained. The table was built in the room and can't ever be -taken out. The dining chairs came from a city shop and arc of dull fin-ish, walnut tint. vVindow seats, small settees, odd benches and stools made on the premises are in most cases an improvement onthe best grade mission designs from the best shops. In all the sleep-ing rooms WOven wire metal cots sent from New York were chosen by the young couple instead of iron bedsteads. When these arrived they were reinforc.ed with a headboard and a-footboard made of lattice work of small branches stripped of bark and treated with a white varnish. Even after paying a carpenter to do most of the work the money saving was con- Sketch by Otto Jiranek. :YIICHIGAK siderable and the results were far and away beyond what the be-st iron bedsteads could give. Chairs and settees and divans had plenty of cushions, but there were no upholstered pieces of furniture in the house. The cushion materials, couch draperles, portieres and rugs were selected with an eye to the strictest economy compati-ble with style. Shaiki rugs with two-toned color effects in plain designs are not expensive although the suggest oriental rugs of ten times the value. These and other makes devoid of decided patterns, presenting rather mottled effects in greens or in golden browns, or dark browns, or dull reds, or any other subdued tint, ,,,,'cre chosen simply because such designs are among the latest styles for country retreats of persons of means and artistic leanings. Then as to draperies. r-,'fonk cloth-a heavy, rather rough, loosely woven material, fifty inches wide, in all sorts of fol-iage greens and browns, is among the best of the fabrics which combine hemp and wool in the weave and are popular for portieres and couch covers, and it costs only $1.50 a yard. Then there is heavy burlap in cents and browns and greens, which costs $1 and less a yard. There is 1\:Iocha canvas at 50 cents a yard and Guildhall tapestry at 75 cents, both of which are fifty inches wide and can be had in all sorts of art colors. Caracas cloth, a variety of ,,,.'hich is a soft ecru drab color, is among the best and most stylish of the 50 cent, Gfty inch wide materials for either couches or doors, and among the ""'indow amI door draperies of newest design is Maracaibo lattice in green, brown, old blue, red and other shades at $1.75 a yard. Similar to this is Castlebon lattice, fifty inches wide and costing 75 cents a yard. In the cottage referred to the l\Iaracaibo lattice was used almost entirely for sofa pillow covering, the mesh of the weave, not unlike the old fashioned sampler canvas, offering a chance to introduce coarse fancy stitches of contrasting color.-1\ ew York Sun. A QUEEN THROWN IN THE DISCARD OWNER OF DEPARTMENT STORE WEAKENS HIS HAND. Beauty a Valuable Asset in Trade. Millions of dollars are spent by merchants annually in the effort to draw people into their stores, and yet it is stated in the ne,vspapers of New York that the managers of the depart-ment stores of that city have entered into a combine to keep people out of their cstablishments. It is hardly necessary to state that a woman is the cause of the commotion, and the incident is related as follows: "Rosa Timhle, seventeen years old, 84 Lenox avenue, is so beautiful that her attractive face threatens to deprive her of a chance to earn her own living. Discharged from one of the largest department stores in New York after working only a few hours, today she sought in vain for employnpnt as a salesgirl, but the story of her disastrous beauty seemed to have blazed her way to disappointment. Furore among employes and turmoil among customers crushing to the lace counter to view the beautiful face of the girl drove the su-perintendent of the department store to discharge her because the pushing and surging of the curious crowds delayed the transaction of business. The story of the experience of this dazzling beauty reached the ears of superintendents in other department stores and with a regretful but admiring glance and tone she was bowed from each store where she sought employment." Miss Timble should not worry over her future. With ARTISAN 31 the right kind of management fame, wealth and position are within her grasp. Any live merchant of the west would en-gage her serviccs to draw people to his store. Her em-ployment would depend upon her ability to preserve the beauty nature has endowed her with. To the merchants of the west and south the attitude of the merchants of New York toward l\Iiss Timble is amazing. Such stupidity should be rewarded by the attainment of the end sought-empty stores. HAWAIIAN MAHOGANY. O. J. Barker Approves of Its Quality for the Making of Fur-niture. "The Hawaiian Mahogany Company has the goods," was the. terse remark made by O. J. Barker of the firm of narke~' Brothers of Los Angeles, the biggest furniture firm of the west, when asked what he thought of the Hawaiian wood for the furniture trade, and what prospects the company had. "The Hawaiian Mahogany Company has the goods, all right, but they want to get busy. TIH:re are furniture makers , Grand Rapids Caster Cup Co. 2 Parkwood live .•Grand RapIds, Mich. We are now putting out the best Caster Cups with cork bases ever offeree to tbe trade. These are finished in Golden Oak and White Maple ill a light finish. These goods are admirable for polished floors and furn-iture rests. They will not sweat or mar. PRICES: Size 2U incbes $4.00 per hundred Size 2ji inches······ 5.00 per hundred Try a Sample Order. F. O.B. Grand Rapid8. in Chicago and Grand Rapids waiting for that material. There are piano makers all over the Union who will want lots of it. Quarter-cut oak is bringing $92 a thousand, and the experts figure that there are only thirty years' supply in sight. Af- ]'ican mahogany brings $96, and the dealers are glad to pay that for it to get it. A Seattle firm has just made a contract with mahogany mcn in the Philippines at $96, and glad to do it. The Hawaiian company has the goods to sell, just the kind the cabinetmakers are scouring the earth after. "Now, they want to get in modern machinery and put their wood on the market. They ought to get some experts to point out where they arc ,..-asting valuable material, too. I saw material that they are going to sell by the foot that is generally sold by the pOUlld, the finest kind of wood for ve-neers. I don't want to talk too much, but you can say that that company certainly has the goods." Mr. Barker is enthusiastic in his praise of the quality of the cabinet material being taken out by the koa lumberers of Hawaii. He is an expert in ,..-oods and from what he has to say regarding his trip to Hawaii it is probable that he has closed a contract for a supply of koa. He would not con-firm this, however, referring the interviewer to the company',.; managers.-Pacific Advertiser, Honolulu. 32 :.vII CHI G A N ART I SAN 1!:Fll.t~ZRATOIt&I .8.'0 To'7:5'00 ~ohn' M Co~ A SAMPLE ADVERTISEMENT. '---- - >l 1 C II 1 G A i\ ,\ 1, TIS A N ~-----_._----------,----- -----------------------.,• NO-KUM-LOOSE FASTENER is the only device that makes it absolutely impossible for the Knob, Pull or Toilet Screw to get ioose or come off. Made in glass, brass and wood-mahogany walnut, maple, oak or birch. As they cost the manufacturer absolutely nothing at all; no manufacturer can afford to trim his furniture without using these fasteners. Manufactured under the Tower Patents only by the GRAND RAPIDS BRASS CO. GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ___________ -i • •I Cabinetmakers' Co. Manufacturers of tine lIDDADT an~DININO ROOM rUUnlTURf in MAHOGANY and CIRCASSIAN WALNUT Will exhibit its New Line in Mannfacturers' 'I3uildin~, Grand Rapids-first floor, sonth side. Salesmen: L. D: Berry, W. r. Welch, Roht. E. Baxter, A. T. KingJhury, A. JenningJ, M. D. Blum• • 33 34 MICHIGAN BACHELOR HOME BUILDING. Shy ~idding Gives a Clue to a Sympathetic Man and Woman. A somewhat dandified old chap-not so very old-has been a regular attendant for the last month or so at Mr. Slam's auctions of elegant furniture and household effects. His assiduous buying has puzzled the women amateurs and his shrewdness in picking up bargains has made the pro-fessionals sore. Mr. Slam soon segregated him from the crowd of triAcrs as "one 0' them that means business," and often favored him by drawing his attention to desirable lots and giving him time when he seemed to be fluttering on the brink of a bid. But Mr. Slam actually knew no more about him than any bne else knew. "I swan, ladies," said he, when a bevy of the most in-quisitive tackled him after one of the sales, " I know no more about him '11 some of yoU do about bridge whist. Yes, I've a name for him, I call him Mr. Whiskers because 0' them jug handles he wears on the rims of his mug." This delicate allusion referred to the straight up and down ridge of short, cris'p white whiskers which the pur-chaser wore, extending just the length of his cars. His moustache. was white like the "jug handles," but his hair v,..'as only iron gray, and many a woman in her twenties would have envied his clear, smooth skin, his pink and white complexion and his bright blue eye-a genial, even a merry eye at times, but keen withal In spite of the gold rimmed glasses which he hooked on his nose when he desired to consult the catalogue. Just here, perhaps, it will be as well to withdraw the word "flutter" used above to describe the pose of Mr. \~Thiskers on the. brink of a bid. It is a word that does not apply to any proper motion of his. In the first place, he was sjx feet tall; in the second, he must have been an athlete in his youth; to clinch the argu-ment, he had assumed that welt filled outline which indi-cated perfect health and feeding. Mr. \¥hiskers was a little timid at first, but his presence in a scene that gathers aU sorts and conditions of men at-tracted little attention. His first bids on a statuette, a few drawing room ornaments and a rug or two indicated notbing out of the common. They seemed quhe natural. He emerged into the limelight when some handsome dining room furniture was put up and he won out in a sharp skirmish with a dealer, a regular frequenter of the place. V\Then the things were his at about half the price the dealer would have asked for them in his store the latter leaned over and remarked con:fidentially: "You've got a bargain there, boss." 1I0h, thank you," replied Mr. \Vhiskers politely but irrelevantly. "Yes," the man went on, "you wouldn't have got off as cheap by $75 at another season. But, you see, I couldn't give up much for such things right at the opening of sum-mer when they'd lie on my hands tiJI the folks come hack in the falL" "Quite so. Very kind of yOUtal tell me. Thank you very much," Mr. \Vhlskers repeated and then turned his attention to the next lot put up. As he went on buying, a lot here and there it dawned on a woman who had taken an interest in him as a charaGteristic specimen of the old schOOl that he was engaged in furnish-ing a home. She said so to the man with her, and as they were only picking up a few rugs and ornaments themselves and had plenty of time they took to watching his operations. They were soon impressed with his sound sense and self· command. Everything he bought was good and a bargain. When things went a little high he dropped out of the bid-ding early. ARTISAN And so they saw him capture a couple of large rugs and a couple of middle sized ones, and a lot of small ones and some handsome draperies and chairs and a fancy table or two and a couple of bookcases and a very fine piano, and so on down to the day when a superb brass bedstead, as the catalogue called it, with all sorts of upholstery to match, was carried in sections through the curtains, and Mr. Slam directed attention to its excellences .. Neither of the couple was looking <\t Mr. \Vhiskers when he made his first bid, hut the man turning his way a moment later suddenly whispered into the woman's ear: "\Vhy, he's going to be married." "Konsense," snapped the woman. Then she took a glance- at him. "\"Thy, so he is," said she. A delicate pink flush had crept all Olrer the face of Mr. \Vhiskers; he was glancing right and left au[. of the corner of his eye to see if he was observed, and fidgeting uneasily 011 his camp chair so that it creaked a warning. He usually :Made by the Udell Works, India.na.polis, Ind. spoke his bids out in a clear full voice, but this time he merely motioned them with his eyeglass, and thus he nearly lost the prize, for :\'lr. Slam, expecting to hear his voice, didn't look his way at the crisis. Slam was just all the point of knocking the cot down to a fat woman in a 1:Ierry vVidow hat when his eye accidentally caught that of 3.1r. Whiskers and read the desire and the hesitation, the reason for which he mistook. "It's dirt cheap," said Slam with his best air of con-viction. "Well, ten more," rapped out Mr. \¥hiskers, sitting up very straight. "Oh, what a shame!" squawked the fat woman. ..T..hank you sir"-this from Slam, with a nod that was intended for a bow. I'Now, I ain't going to waste any more time on this piece.· Make up your minds, ge'ntlemen and ladies! Any advance on-" and the usual rigmarole. But Mr. Whiskers had frightened the crowd. The antes had been $5 and it was because he lost his head for once that he offered $10. This, however, dId the business and his was the last bid. As he looked around a trifle sheepishly after his victory the woman gave him a little nod and smile of congratu-lation. So did the man. He blushed some more, but was evidently pleased. Then he went ahead quite courageously to complete his bedroom equipment, and as one article after another was knocked down to him the nods and smiles of congratulation :'vII CHI GA N became a regular thing. At the close of the day"s session a fev·... words \-vere interchanged. It ",7as at the next sale, one day the following week, that he conGdcJ his secret to the ,,,",oman, who was the sort of woman who wins confidences easily. She was alone and he sat near her ''lith just one empty chair betvv·ccll. Tt was a vcry handsome silver backer! hand mirror, with an elaborate stand on which it rester! when not in use, a curious foreign sort of lady's toy, Ttalian perhaps, or French. It started at $150 and ran up to $250 and he bought it. It had been passed around for inspection during the bid-ding and he happened to be holding it as the contest closed. The woman, \vho hadn't bid, had refrained from interfering Made by Valley City Desk Co., Grand Rapids, Mich. with the real buyers. but she was curiou~ to see it so she leaned over and asked [eave of its new owner. He was most happy. \Vhen it went back behind the curtain to await settlement he leaned over and began to talk. "It was quite all extravagance for a man of my means," said he. "I am not wealthy--just comfortable. But couldn't let it go Then after a pause he went on: "I am going to be married soon, about the end of the month. That is why I am buying all the;;e things. You may have wondered at it. You see, I must have a home properly J1tte<1 nJl for my wife. "I am not a ..v..idower. I have never been married. I have led a bachelor life for many years-'-'~a sigh-"since my mother died. I have lived at hotels and boarding honses and abroad. So I had to begin at the beginning and buy everything." Then there was another pause. "You may wonder why I come here instead of going to the stores--tbc furniture places-and ordering everything new. I have two rea~ons. "I mentioned that I am not rich. That's one reason. 1,fy time is not occupied and I can get better value for my money. You knO\v, I hate cheap imitation stuff. "The second reason is that not being a~"'iel1, not being a very young mal1, I have thought that some of these things being a little of the old style and showing some slight sign of use will look more dignified in my home than brand new things with the varnish shiny on them. "But there will be plenty that's new and bright to please my wife. She'll see to that. I'll see that she sees to it when we're married." The woman hillted that she hadn't seen the bride elect helping to pick the furniture of her future home, and broached the theory that she lived out of town. "No," said Mr. \Vhiskers, "she's 'here, but it is not con- ARTISAN venicnt for her to corne." He said this l,vith some embarrass-melH. "But she sees everything when I have it sent to the apartment I have rented. If she disliked anything it could easily be SCl1t baek alld resold. But I am happy to say she has becn satisfied so far." "'She'd be hard to please if ~he wasn't," said the woman. "You're very kind to say so. And I believe she is. She is the daughter of one of my oldest friends-who is dead-and I feel she docs me great honor by marrying me. "I .yould not have ventured to aspire if circumstances had not seemed to make it all for the bese-Mr. Whiskers seemed to forget he waS talking to a stranger; he seemed almost as if speaking in a dream-"and I am encouraged to think she is doing her feelings no violence, for she says so and she is the soul of truth. ';Besides 1 am not really wealthy, and everything she can gain by marrying me she could have had equally with-out doing so, so great was my regard for her falher-and her mother." His voice dropped on the last word. The, next day the man and woman were together and ~1'r. \Vhiskcrs was in the row behind them. They had discussed the bride and wondered what stage of middle life she might have reached. Toward the end of the sale a sweet voice behind them said: ;'Here I am, Harry." They turned sharply in time to catch the lithe, graceful figure of a young woman-a girl not over twenty-two at the most-standing behind rvIr. \Vhiskers and resting her hand 011 his shoulder. He was on his feet in a second, welcomed her with courtly warmth, and they sat down together. She had a pale oval face, ~traight nose, reel lips and soft chestnut hair. The man thought: "Hovi' beautifully dressed she is!" The woman thought: "Evidently poor, but has excellent taste." A few minutes later at the cashier's desk outside Mr. Whiskers asked for a pen to \'v·rite a check. The girl opened her reticule and produced a fountain pen. As she did so a stenographer's note book fell out. Mr. \Vhiskers stooped and retul'11ed it to her. "Some \vol'k I must finish tonight," said she. ;;\\7hy, I hoped you could dine with me. I think it would be all right." "So I will," said she with a merry smile, but it 111USt be a little dinner and let me go home early." They stood silent waiting for 1'11'. vVhiskers's bill to be receipted, just exchanging one look. The man and woman watched them from the background. ;;Yes, indeed," said the woman. "Romance," said the man. "'Vill they be happy ever after?" Thc woman just then caught the changed. "They will," said she. asked the man. look the couple \\Jillow !l-Iorris chairs costing $15 each arc greatly enjoyed by sojourners by the sea, and in the mountains. Henry ScLmit 8 Co. HOPKINS A~D HARRIET STS. Cincinnati. OLio makers of UpLolstered Furniture fo' LODGE aod PULPIT, PARLOR, LIBRARY, HOTEL and CLUB ROOM 35 ex- , r The T.B. Laycock -Mf~.Co. 36 GET OUR p R I C E S MICHIGAC>I ARTISAN • ~ tu ,. No. 662 IRON BED. No. 778 IRON BED. We will appreciate your consideration of our line of Brass and Iron Beds, Springf't Steel Couches and Davenp~rts. Cribs, Cols, etc. There are many features differentfrom the other fellow's. That's why dealers prefer our goods, quick sellers-good profits. Write for lIIustrated Catalogue. We Make 100 Other Nos, in Sprirgs No. 222 Our reputation fo' Vernis.Martin finish is acknowledged superior 10 all others. We know how and guarantee it not to turn dark, Order a sample bed. CALL AND SEE US. Continuous Exhibition at Our Factory Salesroom. if No. 625 IRON BED. No. 1300 BRASS BED. The T. S. LaycockMfg. Co. Indianapolis, Ind., U. S. A. • .--._---- 'criCHIGA)J ARTISAN . • _- ._--------_. __.__._--., Royal Furniture Company GRAND RAPIDS. MICHIGAN m "Colonial" Style Dining Library Bedroom Suites HALL CLOCKS FACTORY SALESRooM NEW ADAPT ATIONS Ready for Inspection JUNE 24, 1908 SHOWN AT 37 !I II ~------ ---------_._-~ 38 MICHIGAN The Posselilts Brothers Furniture Manufacttuing com-pany will show forty new patterns of dining tables in ad-dition to a large number of their most popular styles, in July, on the second fioor of the Furniture Manufacturers Exhibition building, 1319 Michigan avenue, Chicago. This will make the strongest exhibit this company has ever made and the visitors, backed up by so many round tables of solid worth, will make a display you cannot afford to over~ look. The exhibit will be in charge of F. A. Kuney, H. J. Armstrong and J. O. Kemp, salesmen 'who have been representing this company for several years, The Palmer Manufacturing company witt show a fine line of music cabinets in gold, roakwood and mahogany, of about fifteen patterns, and a few new patterns will be . added to their large line of library and parlor tables and pedestals, in their showroom, second floor 1319 11iehigan ?venue, Chicago. The exhibit will be in charge of \TV. A. Newman, H. L. Doed.erlein, R. Vi. Doederlein and Ellis Pine. The Pioneer Manufacturing company will not make an exhibit at any of the furniture ex.positions in July. Busi-ness is rapidly picking up with this company, every month's business showing a handsome increase over the preceding ARTISAN one; their May business was nearly three times that of January. They havc added a line of reed couches, which sells well. These are very fine for porches. An illustration of one pattern is shown on another page of this issue. C. H. Haberkorn and company have issued a catalogue, and will not show at any furniture exposition. ]. C. Vv'jdman and company will show a full line of dining room furniture in Chicago and New York in July. 'While their liue of hall furniture will be kept up to its full size and exceHencc, the addition of complete dining suites make this one of the strongest exhibits of the year. "The Smile that Won't Come Off:' Is the smile of the furniture merchant when a cust'm~e; comes into his store and a'sks for furniture fitted with the Hknobs that won't come off," the No-Kum-Loose knobs, made by the Grand Rapids Brass company. The fact that so many attempts to produce something just as good r.l\·c been made, is 'the, highest compliment that can be paid to the manufacturers of the No-Kum-Loose knob. The Tower patent fastener is what makes the No-Kum-Loose so popular, and it is safe to say that more than two million blObs ;uve been fitted up with this device since it was patented by Daniel \v, Tower, the president of the Grand Rapids Bras~ company. These knobs are furnished in glass, brass anti wood-mahogany, walnut, birch, oak, and maple, or any domestic wood desired. The fact that knobs fitted with the Tower patent fasteners-the famous "No-Kum-Loose," do 110t cost the manufacturers a cent more than the old style knob, almost makes it a sin for the dealer not to de-mand them of the manufacturers. Nothing detracts from the beauty of a piece of furniture so much as a front marred and scratched by loose pulls and knobs. EspeCially is it deplorable l,vhen the furniture is made in figured or crotch mahogany, Circassian, walnut, birdseye and white maple, and fine Quartered oak, and since the "No-Kum-Loose" pull is to be had just for the asking, there is no longer any excuse for marred fronts by the use of knobs and pulls "that wiII come off." Murphy Chair Co. MANUFACTURERS D~TROIT, MICH. A COMPLE.TE LINE. • "I I C H TG A ?\ ART I S A K ~---------------_._--_. 39 • , Largest line to select from, and quality and _work~nanship can't b~ beat. Come and see the line and We have the (ASSORTMENT )STYLES be convinced. \ PRICES Three Piece Suites in Loose Cushions can'tbecoIl1- pared, they are the best. Leather Rocker line is very large and prices right. Couches from the cheapest to the best. 0.-.. . . THOS, MADDEN, SON & CO" Indianapolis, Ind Show Rooms, 35 to 41 N. Capital Avelllle. ROCKFORD NATIONAL FURNITURE COMPANY ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS Larger and Better Line Exhibit One Hundred Patterns of Up-to-Date Sideboards, Buffets and China Closets (In Oak only-••from $12.50 to $50) Fifth Floor, 13 19 Michigan Aven ue, CHI CAGO In charge nf YOHNNY YOHNSON, JohnnY'J got the fluff this time) Jure enough . Dawllport Bed tine is the talk of the country from coast to coast; don't fail to visit 1ff! or 'write for cuis and prteNi. • ..--._---------------------'----------~ • • 40 MICHIGAN OF INTEREST TO FURNITURE SHIPPERS PROPOSED NEW CRATING AND PACKING SCHED_ ULE FOR FURNITURE MANUFACTURERS. As Submitted to the Western Traffic Association by a Com-mittee Representing Manufacturers' Associations. There have been so many claims made against the rail-roads by shippers of furniture for damages in transit dOting the past few years that the roads constituting the vVestern Traffic Association, through Chairman Becker of the classifi-cation committee, early in April sent communications to the various furniture manufacturers' associations asking them to send delegates to a convention called to meet in Chicago on April 22. The convention selected a committee consisting of the following delegates: Charles F. Miller of the Scarritt- Comstock Furniture Company of St, Louis, Mo., chair-man; George A. Davis of the Stow & Davis Furniture Com-pany, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Louis Froelich of A. Dlctz & Co., Cincinnati, 0.; C. H. Hill of" Haywood Bros., Chicago, Ill.; H. \V. MalleIl of H. Z. Mallen & Co., Chicago, Ill.; C. B. Gregory, traffic manager for Rockford (Ill.) Shippers' Asso-ciation; Joseph Deimel, National Parlor Furniture Company, Chicago, Ill.; John Hoult of Luce Furniture Company, Grand Rapids, :.\tIich.; M. '''.'uipi, 2'lational Table Manufacturers' As-sociation committee, and P. D. Francis, secretary. The gentlemen constituting the committee, after many tests, submitted the following schedule as a minimum standard for crating and packing the different articles of furniture list-ed under each heading for open freight shipments. At a meeting of the committee with I\.'lr. Becker and his associates, held early in June in Chicago, all of the committee's recom-mendations were agreed to with the exception of the section known as Standard Crate No.2 and the section applying to chairs. Mr. Becker was of the OpiLiOll that nfty per cent of all exposed surfaces under standard crate No.2 should be cov-ered instead of one-third as recommended by the committee. The committee Gnally conceded forty per C211t. Mr. Becker refused to accept this until he could investigate further. The section referring to chairs also awaits Mr. Becker's approval. There is to be a meeting of the trafiic managers of the as-sociation in Denver early in July at which titre Mr. Becker's recommendations will doubtless he aCCEpted, to become oper-ative, possibly, the 1st of August or September. l-fakers of medium and fine furniture will not be affected by the adop-tion of the new schedule, as in the great majority of cases the makers of this class of goods, and especially the Grnnd Rapids manufacturers, pack and crate their goods in a highly satis-factory manner to railroads and far above the requirements of the schedule no",\, proposed. The manufacturers of the lower grades of furniture will likely find that the adop-tion of the new schedule will increase the cost of crating a dresser about Jiftcen cents each. The failure to crate aud pack goods as per schedule will result in their being trans-ported at the next higher classification of charges. While the schedule in its enforcement will only apply to open car shipments, it will nevertheless indirectly affect many full car shipments, for the reason that the jobbers will insist Upon goods being packed in such a way that they 111ay be re-shipped without necessitating repacking. This l.vill also ap-ply to those manufacturers who sell goods to the mail order hotlses. LESS THAN CARLOAD. STANDARD CRATE No.1. Crates to have locked corners and made of strips not Jess than three inches wide and to be §i-inch thick, if hardwood, ARTISAN and };i-inch thick if soft wood. The whole top ·of the ar-ticle, if finished and flat, to be completely covered with lum-ber not less than )4-iuch thick, if hard wood, or ~-inch thick, if soft wood. Front and ends to be at least one-third cov-ered with lumber not less than }4-inch thick, if hardwood, or %-inch thick jf soft wood. The bottom and ba'Ck ,should be covered fifteen per -cent. The above crate to be STANDARD for the following ar-ticles, if crated: Folding Beds Bureaus Car Seats Chtffonlers Commodes Desks }Jesks, LaboratoQ' Furniture Easels Han Stands, set u!I Hal! Stands, knocked down Hat Racks, set up Hat nacks. knocked dOwn Kt:tchen Cabinets 'Iypewriter CabInets Wardrobes, set up lNardrobes. knocked dOwn Vi'ashstands Bed Enils Over $20.00 Book Cases Sectional BOok Cases Book Cases and Desk Combined China Closets, set up ChIna Closets, Knocked dOwn Cabinets, Music Cabin-ets, 'Parl(lt' RevolVing Book Cases Sideboards and China Closets Combined T::tbles, Bedroom Tables, Toilet Tnbles. Side Ta bles. Parlor 'robles, Library Tabl.e\>, Extemlion, Pillar, K. D. STANDARD CRATE No.2. Crates for all glnss and toilets. At least one-third of all exposed surfaces to be covered with };i-inch lumber. The above crate to be STANDARD for the following ar-ticles: Sideboard and Bu:l'l'et Tops. Dresser, ChIffonier a.nd Commw\e ToHets. TolI8t Ta.ble Tops. CansoI Table Tops with Glass and all other Glass Tops fOr furniture N. O. S. STANDARD WRAPPING No.3. All finJshed surfaces of articles that arc wrapped shall be covered with seven-otlnce. forty-inch burlap or its equiva-lent weight, and shall be protected with padding at least one inch thick, and in addition front posts or corners shall be fully protected with pads. The above wrapping shall he STANDARD for the follow-ing ¥\-rtides: FOlding Beds Car Seats COmmodes Desks Desks, Laboratory Hall Stands, set up Halt Stands, knocked dOW1\ Tables, ParlOr Tables, LIbrary Tables, :fo.;xtensionPillar, K. D. Sofas Tete-a-Tete Bureaus Chiffoniers J<'urniture Easels Hat Racks, set UP Hat Racks. knocked down Kitchen Cabinets SIdehuard, Typewriter Cabinets Wardrobe,~, set up Wardrobes, knocked down 1,Vasnslands PACKING BEDS INVOICING $20.00 OR LESS. BED ENDS. When packed singly, pack with slats, with pads to pro-tect at bearings. When packed in pairs, no slats to be required. Pads at bearings and securely tied at the corners. BED RAILS. Face together and fasten with cleats or rail hooks. CHAIRS. The definition of the terms <lYVrapped," "Crated," and "Boxed," as noted in \;Yestern Classification No. 44 and ap-plying to chairs, rocking chairs and settees and to grass, wil-low, reed and rattan chairs and furniture, was decided upon 3S hereinafter stated, and the following method of packing adopted as STANDARD. WRAPPED. Set up chairs, rocking chairs and invalid chairs, to have at least the back posts, top slat and outside edge of seat wrapped with paper. Applying to chairs valued at $1.50 each or less. Knocked down chairs, rocking chairs and chair tops. If -----------~-------------- --- -- - - MICHIGA':\ in bundles, nested, two or morc in a bundle, the seat of the top chair and tlIe top slats to be .,vrapped with paper, Chair tops with high arms to have top slats, back posts and arms wrapped with paper. Camp and folding scat chairs to have top slats and scats \"'Tapped with paper. Settees N. O. S. set up, knocked down or folded. To have top of back, end and arms and front of scat wrapped with paper. The above mctlJOd of ""rrapping" chairs is the minirnl1ll1 method and is applicable only to the cheaper gr:-tde of chairs. High priced set up chairs or the tops of high priced knocked down chairs must have the exposed parts further protected hy excelsior pads 0/. paper pads securely tied with twine. Grass, Rattan O('\'\'llJO\\' C}lairs and HlJC)H"l'S,set IlP, Grass. ref'd or ,"Vi:low (~hai..s and Hocl{els, kno"ke'1 down. To be CiJnJPldely wl'app"d "'Hb paper. Grass, Hanan 0\' vVillow Wurnit\lre, 3rt up. OrnB):;, Heed 01' \-Villow }<'uf'nitun", sH up, Gf'ass, Reed or \Vil1ow li'unliture, knockf,d down. Top::; to be "omplel.('ly \\"l'alJped with papel". It is understood that the term "Paper" means good com-mercial wrapping paper. "Kev,/spaper shall not be used in wrapping the articks above described. CRATES. The mininllHl1 size of stock to be used in making a stand-ard chair crate shall be % x 2-inch hard \-vood; said crate to consist of not less than sixteen slats so distributed in con-struction of crate to offer best protection to contents of same. It is understood that one-inch merc1ull1table lumber, split, he accepted as one-half-inch crating stock. Ii soft wood is used, it shall be at least three-Fourths-inch thick. BOXES. /\s descrjbed in \,Vcstcrn Classification No. 44, Rule 14. Prices Guaranteed by Manufacturers of Extension Tables. The llatiollal association of manufacturers of exten,;ion tables had its allnual meeting at 1Iinneapolis during the first ..v..eek of June, The members assembled at Chicago and jour-neyed to the "Twin Cities" in drawing r(lom coaches chartered for the purpose, During their stay the members were royal-ly entertained by the Northwestern Club, an organization of manufacturers of tables affiliated with thf 'national associa-tion, The only business transncted of general importance was the passage of a resolution guaranteeing the price to re-tailers horn June 24 to December 1, and maintaining the prices now charged for goods.-There may be J. few small close out lots on h;md, but these will be disposed of bdore the op-ening of the regul<'lr season. Reports uoon the condition of trade sho\,-ved that the factories had betn o,:,erated during' the past six months forty-five bOllI'S pC'r week, causing a redUC-tion in the output of twcnty-Evc per cent. Stocks in the hands of retailers arc low and the prosp;::ct" for business dur-ing the remainder of the year were very encouraging, Op timism prevailed in the ddibcrations of the asSOCiatHHI. Con-siderable time was devoted tn t'lJtntainment. Tours to 1Iinnetonka and Lake Harriet by alltomobilc, banquets at" the Lafayette Club, a ride through tl1c city of St, Paul, and other pleasures n:ade the occasion a memorable one, F. Stuart Foote of the Imperial Furniture Company, Grand Rap-ids, tendered the thanks of the association to the Northwest-ern Club and their fricr.ds for the pleasures enjoyed, in felici-tous remarks a11(1invited the association to hold its meeting in May, 1909, at Detroit, Only three of the whole member-ship were absent. If yOll forget one~hali you hear ahout cut VricC.'i and do not believe the other lwlf yon arc on safe ground. In looking into the future mallY designers see too far. ARTISAN 41 .,..---- -., ! IT'S BE.TTE.R TO I BUY THE BEST I !,II II!III! IIf,I, Buffets, Combiuation Buffets, China Closets Rockford Chair and Furniture Company Rockford, III Combination Bookcases, Library Bookcases l_. Fu!llillC 011exhibitioll in July. 3d F/t)flT. BJ~Jgett B!()ck. Grt1nd Rapids. Mich. J 42 MICHIGAN ! ARTISAN ALASKA QUALITY Guarantees petfect insulation, circulation and the most econom-ical consumption of ice. They insure the dealer a satisfied customer every time. Zinc, White Enamel, Porcelain and Opalite Linings. ASK FOR CATALOGUES AND PRICES. The Alaska Refrigerator CO. EXCLUSIVE REFRIGERATOR MANUFACTURERS MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN Offerings by Manufacturers of Muskegon. A radical change has been made in the line of the -:I.'1us-kegol1 Valley Furniture company. Many fresh patterns in chamber suites and wardrobes, in Colonird designs, includ-ing fOUf styles of tall post beds are among the featl.l.res. Mr. Ertfest Vi.lernher will represent the company in the east, Charles G. White in the middle west and C. E. vVilbce on the Pacific coast. The line will be found on the third floor of the Manufacturers building, Grand Rapids. The Moon Desk company show their camp-lcte line of office desks (including typewriters) on the third Boor of the 11al)ufacturers building! Grand Rapids, Many Sp(~Claj features of great value are contained in this line, The Alaska Refrigerator company (the largest manu-facturers of reh1gerators in the world) have made heavy shipments of refrigerators to points in South America and Europe. The past year's dullness affected but slightly this prosperous corporation. The Grand Rapids Desk company is preparing for all active season of trade. The Bedstead Trade in Bagdad. Consul Magelssen reports: Foreign bedsteads made their appearance here some eighty years ago, when British merchants first came to enter into the commerce of these regions. At that time the beds 'rere not introduced to be sold, but we.re brought by these pioneer traders to add to their own comforts, of which Bagdad could at that time offer but few. The only bed then :known to the natives was a queer rectangular structure, which continues to be largely used. It resembles a bird cage with the top off and is very cheap, being built of the dry branches of the date palm. It has an opening on one side, into which a person seats him-self; then )::hrowin'g the feet up he turns until the Qody is properly inside. It is estimated that 20 per cent. of Bagdad's population, which is believed to be 200,000 souls, employs this style of furniture. Other bedsteads much in vogue are coarsely built of wood; they are called <ltakets" and are used by the better class; they range 111price from $1.50 to $7.00. It is interesting to report that a very large taket, some-times measuring as much as ten feet square, is found in the houses of. some of the notable families of Bagdad. Thcy are usually' heirlooms, built of expensive lumber, and in most instances elaborately carved. These old fashioned beds arc no longer manufactured. Their values range from $25 to $50. About 60 per cent. of Bagdad's population possess no beds. These poor people rest on blankets spread on the floors of their houses in the ·winter and on the roofs in the summer. i ... Twenty-Fifth Anniversary. The Michigan Chair company has completed the twenty-fifth year of its existence, during which time they have gained a firmly established footing in the estimation of furniture dealers, as manufacturers of medium and high grade work. Their line is one of the largest made in the United States, and embraces chairs for all purposes. On page 8 of this issue, Charles H. Cox, the author of much of the literature distributed by this company, utters a few felicitousre-marks in regard to the company and its business, which deserve consideration. The line is on sale at the factory warerooms on Godfrey avenue, in Grand Rapids. The sales-men in attendance arc: .Messrs. Cox, Parmenter, Calder, Penny, 'Walton and McGregor. The furniture manufacturing industry was largely rep-resented at the republican national convention in Chicago. Many favored Taft before the convention; all favor him now. IIMUSKEGON VALLEY FURNITURE COMPANY I MUSKEGON MICH•• , • 000 DreSSerS Chiffoniers Worarobes [oDies' mums Dressll1[J TOUIIlS MOl1Ouony Ini00d GOODS LODies' DllSks Music CODlnelS • Line 011 we in Manufacturer&' Buildioz. Grand Rapid&. • MICHIGAN ARTISAN 43 ._------_._-----' ._----- -------------- .. Desk No. 50=A Oak or Imitation Mahogany 52 inches long; 30 inches wide 45 inches high; weight, 240 pounds. Material-Selected. Writing Bed-5 ply, buill up. Pedestals-14 Yz incheswide. Raised panels; moulded drawer fronts. Drawers have movable partitions, deep drawer partitioned lor books, lock auto-matically and are fitted with our special device which prevents binding. Curtain - Easy ruoRing, noiseless. duSt proof. Pigeon Hole Case-Private compartment with lock;8 pigeonhole boxes. Center Drawer-With lock. Square edge, sanitary construction. Sa tin Finish - Golden oak, weathered oak, or imitation mahogany. MOON DESK CO. MUSKEGON, MICH. ~---------- ---,----~------'-' --' Rugs in Demand. The carpet and rug trade in this city is feeling much more encouraged and cheerful over the outlook than was the case a few ·weeks ago. \Vhik business with selling agents in this market is not large, nor are there many buyers here, road salesnH;n arc sending forward bettcr ordcrs every week, Made by Northern Furniture Co. Sheboygan. Wls, and report that the situation in their respect.ive territories is steadily improving. The fact that the business is being booked, and tbat statements regarding orders are not merely talk, is shown by the resumption of other mills during the P<lst ·week or so, and t.he placing of otber plants on full schedule. :\oJ anuiacturers aTe ]10t making up goods for stock, but arc tllrning out goods to meet orders only. Another indi-cat. ion that thc l11.ills are gctting more orders is the in-creased interest. that is being taken in raw material, and reports of fairly large transactions having been put through in a quiet manuer. Raw material vvould not be purchased if it werc not ·wanted, as the mills are not taking it to have the stlppJies lie idle and to tie up ready capital. From the fact that jobbers are beginning to eall for further supplies of rugs, it would seem that the goods purchased at the re,cent auction sales have not stuck on buyer's hands. Some vcry fair orders ilrc reported as having he en placed by some of the Chicago houses that \vere the. largest buyers at the auction. I• With jobbers here in this market, business shows a de-cided improvement. There is a good demand for small mats and rugs of various sorts, ranging from the cheapest grass rllat up to some of the i·Jner grades of impotted oriental goods. Larger rugs in 9x12 sizes ate also heing taken in .1xminstcr, machine printed tapestries, smyrnas and a few wilton1:i. Brussels rugs at the new low prices are also be-ginning to move more freely, while the new designs and TUgS brought out are also proving better sellers than was at 1i.rst expected. Bath mats and porch rugs for summer use are in good request. The ne ..v blue and green shades in cotton bath 111ats 811(1 rugs have taken well, and some of the mills handling these goods are now well supplied with orders for some time ahead. Porch mats of grass and jute are good in green shades in solid cotors, and also in the new J apa-nese ,-\ud Chinese designs. ),lediurn priced domestic made smyrna rugs are also being taken {or the same tlSe, and are claimed by some to wear better than the grass rugs and mats. Some good orders for hotel and off-Leepurposes are also reported to have been secured during the past \\reek for large sized rugs, at good prices. Carpets arc moving better than they were a week ago, but the yardage taken is not as large as sellers would like to see.-N. Y. Commercial. Big Rapids Furni. ture Mfg. Co. ==~-~~=-- B(G RAPIDS, MIoH, SIDEBOARDS BUFFETS HALL RACKS In Quartered Oak, Golden and Early English Finish. No. 128. Price $12. 2 off 30days f. o. 9, Big Rapid8. • 44 MICHIGAN THE GRAFT AT NETTLETON'S. Showing How a Despised College Youth Got Next to a Rot-ten Game in a Furniture PI;-nt. When blonde young Bennett Nettleton was graduated from college, his father stuck him up on a high stool in tl1o'.': back office of the Nettleton Furniture Company, and told him to keep books. Bennett didn't like it. Where was the use of getting on the college football team, and incidentally taking up a few studies, if he was to spend his life with a set of books within an inch of his head? Bennett thought this over, and coudn't find the answer. But that didn't make any difference in the viewpoint of the old man. "I've got to have some one here who can perform an op-eration on this concern," he declared. "\11." e're making money, all right, but when I go to grabbing for some of it I find that it will be next week, or next month. There'll come a time some day when we'll be up in the blue sky if something isn't done, I've put my good money into a stock of brain food for you, young man, now se~ \vhat you can do in the line of extracting a little currency out of the landscape about this milL" "What is the matter with the mill?" demanded Bennett. "1 didtlt graduate as an expert financier, but I'll give you the best I've got in my cocoa if you'll put me wise as to the diffi-culty." "That's what I want you to find out," replied the old man. "Go ahead and put the plant under a microscope." Bennett did. He wanted to knO\.v so much about every-thing that Jones, the superintendent, Scott, who bought most of the supplies, and \Vall, \'>'ho ran things at the yards, told the workmen that little Clarence had rained down. and would keep them busy with foolish interrogation points. "He's come here to show us how to make furniture," said Jones, "and we'll give him a run for his money. Hazlett, the man who was fired to make a place for him, was of the salt of the earth, and made most of the money that paid his way through college. The first thing we know the old man will be innoculatillg the whole plant with highbrows, and we've got to teach this youngster what for." Bennett didn't appear to mind the enmity of the three men or the snickers of the other employes when he went into the shops. He got a little hot under the collar when the boys began throwing sticks at him, but he said nothing. However, he was seeing a lot of vacancies in the force in a short time. The young man dug into the books, asked questions, in-vestigated supplies, and looked Over shipping bills to no pur-pose. There was something wrong, but j l1e something- was not so easy to find. If the ptant was making $10,000 a year, as the books showed, he couldn't find the currency. He found that the company was paying stiff prices for everything it ,bought, and sent out to other houses for 4uo-tations, but return mails brought the same old llgures. The young man scratched his nose and pondered. There was a leak somewhere, but he couldn't find it. "They've got to show me!" he mused. That is just 'what those in charge of the workiup' force wanted to do. They wanted to show him tnat he wasn't thp only man about. the shops with a lead pencil behin,.1 his nght ear. Bennett inventoried everything in the plant and made note of every article shipped. No use. He kept track D~ i1Je cash for a month. Not a cent got away from him. "They've got me going," he said to the old man one night. "I can figure tip how much money we are m:tking, all right, but I can't find the money." "Haye you looked out for rebates?" "Sure I have. Kothing doing there." "vVell, you keep on going. When you diagnose this C0111- ARTISAN plaint y011 go to Europe in a steam yacht with niggers to keep the brass work bright. See? When you don't, we hike across country some cloudy night and take a job in a shingle mill. Now get busy," Now, there was one spot where the young man had not looked. He had never compared the raw material purchased with the output. So much lumber, so much veneer, so much glue, so much vamish, ought to make so much furniture: All right. He studied over the reports all night, and discovered that so much material didn't make so much furniture. He went over the labor books and found..:hat the fault was not there. So much payroll did make so much furniture. He went around the. plant for a week or two with a bee about the size of a prize ox buzzing in his cupola. V\rhen sales-men came in he looked over the orders and cut them down. This created a breeze in the shops. The superintend-ent came into the officc and said that he couldn't make furni-ture without lumber and things, and the amputated things ha~ to be ordered by wire and shipped on in special cars, which made the expenSe account look like a swelling on the books. As .<1 last resort, Benllett took some of the salesmen out into the town at night and changed the skyline for their bene-fit. But they lapped up his cool bottles and talked like ur-chins fresh from some Sunday school picnic. They told him that the Nettleton company was buying its materials at lower rates than auy other firm down the line, aud ended by hinting that last month's bills hadn't been discounted. One morning Freddie, a young man who was trying to rUn a shaper without clipping off most of his fingers, came into the office with a fired slip in his haud. He looked ugly, and had evidently been mixing it with some one out in the ma-chine shop, for a dark monument was skillfully hung Over his right eye. "What's the trouble out there?" asked Bennett. "It's that Jones," replied Freddie. "Ht'. thinks he's the whole shop, and he's so crooked that he couldn't fall down a well. He gave me a bum steer about sor~e work and then fired me because I did it as he told me to. I got i~ one wol-lop, anyway." "You say he's crooked," said Bennett. "You go ahead and show me that he is, and I'll put you back on the job with more pay." "You're on," said the amiable Freddie. He'll find that he's bumped up against the Wrollg gazabo this trip. Watch me for a week orhvo." It is said that John R. V{alsh would never have failed, nor have becn indicted, if he hadn't cussed out a prominent rail-road man who called too early in: the morning, also if he I Why Not Order? Say a dozen or more Montgomery Iron Display Couch Trucks sent you on approval? If no! satisfactory they ean be returned at no expense to you whatever. while the price asked is but a triBe, com-pared to the eonvenience they afford and the economy they represent in the saving of 600r space. Thirty~two couchts mounted. on the Montgomery Iron Display Couch Trucks occupy the sante Iloor 8p&ol:. as twdve dis-played in the usual manner. . Write for catalogue giving full descrip_ tIon and price in the dilferent fini,hes, to-gether with illustrations demolll!ltrating the use of the Giant Short Rail Bed Fastener for Iron Beds. Manufactured by the H. J. Montllomery Mfl!. Co. PATENTEES Silver Creek, New York,. U. S. A. • • ~l 1C III C A;'; llildn't hopped unto an crnplo:yc who ;\fterwarus became a bank examiner and did him up. This may be all talk, but certain it is th:1t Superintendent Jones would never have got the high bump if be hadn't hung something oyer Freddie's C)N~ that "1NOllldll't \i"ash off. Ollr night "..hen Benuf'tt \va~.; just thinking of going to bed Freddie came '0 the house after him. "Come 011 down to the without asking questions. fire r00111. The gas ..v..as not turned 011, but there was a ltug'c ./lre under the boilers, and Jones, Scott and \Vall "vere sitting comfortable in easy chairs with a four-quart pail of beer within reach. They wcre having a [l11e talk ahollt factory politics, and, incidentally, burning up v(:neer! A lot of maple lumber lay ready for sacrifice as soon as the veneer was out of the way. "I've becn ~vntching thcm for a vveek." whispered Freddie. Wrhey burn up veneer, fine maple and walnut, and varnish. I don't kno"v "dlal they do \vith the glue, but tl1(',y get rid of it in some way ';All right, Freddie," replied Bennett. the briny on my yacht." The next morning ..v..hen tlie thr'ee men reached the office they were placed under arrest for the m,dicious destruction of property. Of course, they raved and t;:tlked suit" for false imprisollment, but they \vere finally compelled to rnakc con-fession and \vhat restitution they could. For years they had been receiving a twenty-lIve per cent r;-Ike-off Oil all the stuff thcy ordered, and when the factory didn't use up enough material in a legitimate way to give them all the money they needed, tbey add(",d to tlH~ir incomes by burning up stuff. They had eaten up all thc prollts of the concern. It ,'vas estimated that they had l:O~;tthe company $25,C(0 a ye.ar ior five years. ::\0 \vonder so much material \-voudn't make so much furniture! Old man Nettleton locked like he was going to stand 0,1 his head when the heard (ibout the discovery. HIt's just try luck,' 'hot howled. "There isn't a factory ill the world where three such thieves hang out, except mine! I had to get it! Of course t ,",Vell,,yot! gc to Europe, young man, and -we'll prolong the time of these three in prison with one complaint after another.'·" The graft at 1\ettleton's is probably an ~,xaggcratcd case of disloyalty and larceny, for furniture \-vorkers are notably on the sqtwre, but it is just as well that manufacturers, and employers everywbere, keep a sharp loolwut for the little rake-off a good many buyers think that they have coming to thCl11. The little per cent is not so mud1, but one never knows -what (i thief may attempt once he gets his hand into his employers' pocket. ALFKED B. TOZER. factory," he said, <,lid Dennctt went The boy led the way back to the "'lUll go across Fakes and Real Antique Furniture. The test of antique furniture, as (i dealer remarked. is not the look of it, but the difficulty of breaking it Hp. The most conscientious imitator would hardly have the patience to put furniture together so permanently as our ancestors did. Even the current high prices would hardly Sllffu.:eto pay him for his trouble. Kevertheless, since the test of breaking up cannot readily be applied, much faked old fumitnre exists iI" this coulltry and abroad. Sir Purdon Clarke, director of the 1Jctropolitan 11nseum at ~ew York, explains the matter in so far as Elizabethan oak is concerned, and be speaks here partly in his prover profes-sional character as architect. According to him gossipy Horace \Valpole, lle-arly 150 years .ago, \-YflS responsible for the first revival of Elizabethan furniture_ Horry set up imita-tion got/lic fashions at Strawberry Hill. and all England went hunting for Elizabethan furniture. As it was discovered that the village cabinet makers still knew how to build furniture .\ 1, T 1 ::3 ,\ N altCI- the fashion thcy had followed in good Quecn Bess's time, rnuth new Elizabethan furniture wa!; made during that revival to supply the deficiency in the original stock. Then came Sir \A/alter Scott. threescore years ago, and [\'al1hoe started another gothic fashion-a fashion, says Sir Purdon, which led in religion to Ritualism, in painting to Rossetti and Burne-Joncs. and in furniture to "restorations." Likewii'ie all England went hunting for Elizabethan furniture again, and the process of time l1<lving impaired the supplement-ed stock left over from the earlier revival, and the village cabinet nInkers be-ing still hand "yorkers and some of them still quite Elizabethan in their meth-ods, a deal mOl-e Eliza-bethan furniture was made then. Some years ago Sir Purdon went through England for the government upon this matter and paid domicil- Iary visits in the shires north, west and south. In any number of cases it \vas quite impossible to tell Elizabethan furniture of thc rH-st and second revival from Elizabethan furniture of Elizabeth"s own reign. Often but for the latter date marked on it you would have sworn that a given piece was of the original vintage. The supply of Elizabethan furniture seemed amply pro-vided for. But this is not the end. Unscrupulous persons bribed underlings and attendants, and got photographs of characteristic pieces. Then these unscrupulous persons set up a factory across the seas in Holland for the making of more Elizabethan furniture. They are still making it there. It is shipped to dealers in London who ply a discreet but tidy trade. They plant the stuff bit by hit in rustic rural places jn the north ;ll1d west of England. The respectable people who take lodgers in summer give house room also for the season to a piece of Elizabethan furniture made in Holland. It poses as a family piece, and is duly provided with a pedi-gTt~ edating hack one kn

Date Created:

1908-06-25T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Grand Rapids Public Library (Grand Rapids, Mich.)

Collection:

28:24

Subject Topic:

Periodicals and Furniture Industry

Language:

English

Rights:

© Grand Rapids Public Library. All Rights Reserved.

URL:

http://cdm16055.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16055coll20/id/164