ffir " i.. , wp?jiY:BWPmi-r: ' , jh .v f; qm'J& lY, M i . - tiu iaa' .JLt. '. , '-s to r t h ,w v . ' i - i J. . . . ' - - " - r r i ' I -"F"'". " '""" J ' : . : r" - ,M , i " s - "- ' " i f n a i - A . . .' '. . ' t V . ,V 4 faff .rinn i- n i r rnn .in i. -i 4 i We Have Kept the Faith Today and Monday wind up the month of May, during which the campaign that wesct a-going on that memorable Monday, May third, to the astonishment of the people that read the morning papers, giving away one-fifth of our prop erty to purchasers of it, has swept all over the United States to the Ibenefit of the buying public. We have the proofs of that in many records. The large turn-over of money and the purchase of supplies-to take the place of articles sold, the relief to makers of goods, who were holding them for higher prices, when they found they could turn them into ready money, has affected the money market, and interest rates have fallen in some of the money centers. A Notable Incident is that the pressure to sell Liberty and Victory Bonds has lessened, and the prices for them have risen. Food prices in many instances followed the lower rates for wearing apparel and manufactures. People see that some influence has been brought to bear to do this, and many people who write us attribute it to the example that we set of a willingness to serve our patrons for a timo with little or no profit to ourselves. It was this that led us to say that it was a patriotic movement, just as ft was when we sent 1490 of our boys into the war from Philadelphia and New York, and helped to take care of their parents in many instances while their lads were at the Front with the flag. m One of our family turned over his residence on the Champs Elysees, Paris, at the beginning of the war as a hospital; so did we also in turning over the Rue Royalc workrooms where some of our fashionable millinery was made to be the headquarters of the Emergency Aid for the Pennsylvania soldiers. The Country That Has Been Saved Was Worth Saving and to help the people to save on their Liberty Bonds and to erect a Delaware breakwater against the surging of higher prices which, were beginning to loom in sight, we made the plunge in spite of the risks of misunderstanding, criticisms, or our own personal losses, We have not only parted with immense quantities of our goods without urging people to buy them, but we have used the money that came into our hands during the four weeks of the past month and brought into our stocks new goods amounting to a total of $9,539,568 (Nine million, five hundred and thirty-nine thousand, five hundred and sixtyeight dollars) at usual selling prices. We are not hurrying people to buy. We are simply going on as we started, for a short time, allowing our goods to go at one-fifth off their usual prices. Of course, there will be isolated cases where some one is marking down articles left over from what was brought in a year or more ago, when we bought low and sold low. It is easy for a storekeeper to pick out an article here and there and reduce the price as though that were an evidence of a cheaper store, but we do things differently. We stand for the qualities of our goods and the certainties of the just values of them. And so we are keeping the faith day by day. QMfhmfa Signed May SO, 1.020. the WanamaW Store Will Be CIosedAll iJky Monday, Memorial Day I 1 ,v; 2 ie Month of June at Waiiamaker's Will Find Us Still Selling Goods at One-Fifth Off 4' THE Wanamaker 20 per cent deduction has already saved the people of Philadelphia a vast sum of money. And having been taken up all over the,country, the plan has been instrumental in saving millions of dollars, during the month just ending, to the people of the United States. Next month will start, at least; with the one-fifth deduction still in operation at Wanamaker's; How long we can continue this we prefer not to say just yet. But you can start the new month with the same privilege of buying anything in the Wanamaker Store (with the exception of a small lot of patented and restricted articles) at a saving of 20c on every dollarone dollar in every five. Or one cent in every nickel, for that matter, "the saving is on everything, from pins to pianos: ,3 Next month the Summer shopping begins in earnest. All the cool clothing and house furnishings not already purchased will come up for consideration then. Vacation supplies have to be obtained and June wedding gifts selected. How fine to know that you can get all these thingsthings you really need at 20 per cent less than the regular prices if you do not delay! And in many cases the prices marked on the goods are less than the prices of similar merchandise elsewhere, for we have not let up on our inflexible rule of making advantageous purchases wherever possible and passing the sav ing on to our customers. The following editorial was printed in the Pottsvillc Journal of May 25: A Great American Have you noticed how reluctant we are to imputo good Intentions to a man and, particularly, a business man? When there is shown what appears to be evidence of unselfishness we scrutinize it cynically, seeking for the esoteric design. "He's up to something," we say sagely, "now what is it." That he may be actually acting unselfishly is a thought we put bo hind us with a showing of something almost like irritation. When John Wanamaker announced his twenty per cent deduction sale in order to bring down the price of wearing apparel tho cynics and the scoffers smiled knowingly. "Late season," they said, "the old fox wants to turn his goods into money; he needs the money for next season." These same people made no effort later to account for the fact that stores almost as large as Wanamaker's did not fall in with the sale, but continued to sell their goods at almost the former high prices. If tho lateness of the season affected Wanamaker would it not be a natural presumption that it would affect these stores also? If Wanamaker had not started the thing would there have been such a sweeping reduction at this time or would it have been held off until some time in early summer, after many, many people had been forced to buy clothes at high prices? Wanamaker Bays he acted in order to break high prices. Why should we not be lieve him? Sir. Wanamaker has done many fine things in his life; he has been muni ficent in his gifts to charity; he has stood always for a high type of citizenship; dur ing the war his purso was wide open for Uncle Sam to reach in and take out gobs of gold. Why should we not suppose that Mr. Wanamaker was actuated by the highest motives in putting on his sale? It is the belief of some people, too many people we fear, that this is a time to make money by hook or crook, and that the man who does not do it is a dub, or something of that sort. We sincerely believe that Mr. Wana maker's big purpose was to stir up the con sciousness of the people who would turn business into a sort of a raid on the means of the citizen. From the reports that come from all over the country we should say he has succeeded in his purpose. Let us with hold from him not an iota of the praise he deserves. Would to God we had more Americans like him. In other words, there is a host of specially priced merchandise in this Store now, and will be next month, just as there always has been, and we hope- always will be. But we make no special virtue of that, other than to give the people the plain information about it. The big point is that on all these goods there is an extra saving of one-fifth. jjrr' We are in the market each week with a million dollars cash for the purchase of new goods The above statement was made by the Founder on the day he announced the 20 per cent deduction. Some people scoffed. Goods are scarce, they said, and a million dollars' worth are not to be picked off the bushes, except at much higher prices than the last lots of the same articles. Well, no doubt some people do find goods hard to get, but from the beginning of this movement our difficulty has been not in buying the goods- and buying them at old prices but in getting them delivered. Freight embargoes have been a much more serious obstacle than the reputed scarcity. The fact is that we have spent several million dollars this month for new merchandise and we got that merchandise at right prices. Manufacturers, as well as retailers, recognized the necessity for calling a halt on high prices, but the manufacturer felt that it was up to the retailer, who came into personal contact with the consumer, to make the first move. The move has been made and is still gathering momentum. You can begin your June purchasing on the same 20 per cent deduction basis. But don't wait long. JOHN WANAMAKER Philadelphia wf.jf rt .4 ,v.&&iu,.a. t h'r l M 1 itii v73 On " M f M jti&'A .&
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers