The druggists who went to the San Francisco meeting of the A. Ph. A. had an enjoyable trip going and coming. Here are C. H. Packard and E. H. LaPierre, both of Boston, at the beautiful Hotel Arlington in Santa Barbara, Cal. In this view Prof. Philip Asher of New Orleans is seen seated on the marble chair dedicated to the memory of the late lamented W. M. Searby, at the famous open-air Greek Theater in Berkeley, Cal. This picture was taken at the Alvarado Hotel in Albuquerque, N. M., and the party comprises Dr. A. B Huested of Albany, Messrs. Terrill and Root of Vermont, and some ladies of the Boston party. The visit made to the Santa Barbara Mission in California was most interesting. Among those in the view, reading from the left, are Dr. A. B. Huested, Mrs. Staple, Louis Emanuel, and E. H. LaPierre. On the Way to California. A view of a part of the interior of Loyer Hoyle's drug store, Trujillo. Peru, South America, a thoroughly up-to-date place which enjoys a good patronage. Goods manufactured in the United States are quite prominently displayed. Here we have a picture of the Hankow Dispensary, Hankow, China. This store is located on the Yang-tse-Kiang River, 600 miles from the sea, and is exceptionally well equipped. The room was recently fitted up in a building erected especially for the purpose. There is a tiled floor, beamed ceiling, and the fixtures are thoroughly modern. H. J. Livey is manager. We present three papers that will be of practical value to the druggist who is looking for a profitable side-line to fit in with his business. The writers are men who have made a success of optometry or eye-glass fitting. They tell how to obtain the educational training required. They describe various methods used to attract customers, and give an idea of the profits that can be made by a man who is thoroughly familiar with the business. Two additional papers are presented this month which discuss the desirability of a cash versus a credit business. PRIZE ARTICLE: A YEARLY PROFIT OF BY THOMAS KEEFE. In running a small-town drug store the proprietor generally has time to do just a little more business. That was my case when I started in the drug trade in a Nebraska town of 700 population, six years ago. length of time and that was what I did. I worked hard while at the college, and at the end of the three months I appeared before the State examining board and passed. CONSTANT STUDY ESSENTIAL. An optometrist, like a physician or any other professional man, must read and study con I found that the community did not support stantly or he will fall behind and become rusty. Thos. Keefe. a jeweler. I also found that most of the eye testing was done in larger towns. The field looked good to me. To-day I am a druggist, jeweler, and optometrist. First, I took a correspondence course in optics-which didn't advance me far. From it I learned to tell the difference between a convex and concave lens and a few minor points. By studying a trial case which I bought I was able to pick up quite a good many additional points. My next step was to spend three months in an optical college. Now three months may not seem a sufficient time in which to get an education in optometry. Indeed, no one can get it in that period, but a person by every-day attendance can obtain a good knowledge in that I take two magazines devoted to optometry, and I also have a good reference library. I use it, too. After getting back to the store my first step was to make a place in which to test eyes, and then to equip it thoroughly. I invested $200 in equipment, buying as a part of it a Geneva combined retinoscope and ophthalmoscope. This instrument is used to determine diseases of the eye and for testing bad errors of refraction, especially in children. I also have a phoro-optometer, an instrument to test and treat weak eye muscles. I made an electric test chart, and with the trial case and a stock of lenses and frames the equipment was complete. I do my testing in the rear of the store. Patients do not like to be tested in the public view. Then, too, customers coming in are likely to annoy the operator. PROFITS ARE GOOD. The profits from this branch of my business are good. I charge $2.00 for testing and then get from 100 to 200 per cent profit on the glasses. This may seem a long profit, but the price of course includes straightening and adjusting, and in most cases I earn the money. The charge for testing applies only to persons who have never worn glasses before or to difficult cases. In old people who change glasses every few years I charge only for the lenses and do not give a complete test. The advertising of the eye-testing and glassfitting department is kept separate from the drug business. By this I mean that it is dignified by appearing alone and not run in connection with ads devoted in part to drug-store merchandise. I place small ads. in the weekly newspaper and run slides at the "movie." The advertising that I have found to pay the best is the distribution of little booklets on the eye. I used three different ones in the last year and a half, distributing them by placing in circular letters and wrapping in packages. The booklets can be bought in quantity, already prepared. I advertise all the time that I am a registered optometrist. By so doing I am keeping a lot of people from going to other towns. REPLACES BROKEN LENSES. Many people believe that when a lens is broken they must go to the man who fitted the was a diploma which read that I was now a "Doctor of Optics," qualified to fit, recommend, and prescribe glasses. I studied diligently the lessons given, but finally decided that a correspondence course would not enable me to become a thoroughly competent and successful optometrist. However, really being interested in the science of optometry, I secured a position and worked for one and one-half years as assistant to a doctor who was an experienced, and successful, optometrist. While with the doctor I studied such books as "Hartridge on Refraction" and "Physio glasses to get it replaced. That I can replace logic any broken lens is a point that I advertise hard. I have made it pay, and I replace lots of broken lenses in glasses that I never fitted. But I had to show the people. I carry a good stock of journals. To build up a profitable business requires a thorough knowledge: an ability to recognize the more common diseases of the eye, and an different kinds of lenses and can replace, almost ability to know when glasses are prescribed any lens in a few minutes. I keep repairs for frames and can do soldering. This all brings in extra coin. I also keep a card index for each patient, which tells everything in detail: the strength and kind of lenses, the measurement and kind of frame and price, and also if there is anything peculiar about the particular case. During the year 1914 I tested 114 pairs of eyes, and from them received $346. I received $89.25 from repairs, which included replacing frames, temples, and soldering. The expense involved was $148.81; not including time. A profit of $286.44. Not at all bad. I consider optometry a good paying sideline. It is fascinating work, and I would advise any small-town druggist who has time to do a little bit more to take up the practice. THOROUGH KNOWLEDGE INSURES SUCCESS. BY WALTER A. REESE. After graduating from a college of pharmacy I was induced, by a friend already in the business, to study optometry. He said that I would find it to be an unexcelled drug-store side-line. The game looked easy to me, for I thought that any one with a few hours of practice, and the necessary amount of nerve could fit glasses. I at once bought a correspondence course in eye-glass fitting for $8.00. Included with it that they will be a benefit rather than a detriment to the patient. A pair of properly fitted eye-glasses is the optometrist's best advertisement, one that brings a financial return. SELLS QUALITY GOODS. The quality of the goods used is of great importance. If cheap frames and mountings are supplied it is only a short time until they are returned with a demand for new goods to replace the tarnished ones. Many times the patients do not return. They are lost customers. But if quality frames and mountings are used the patients are satisfied. They are boosters for the store. I do not know of any other line that more exactly fits in with drug-store business. The druggist-optometrist has the edge on the other fellow, for his business puts him in contact with the right kind of prospects. He has a talking point when a customer asks for eye-water, salve, or stomach medicines, for right then and there he can suggest the need of glasses by explaining some of the causes of eye troubles. If the customer is one for eyeglasses, the druggist can almost invariably make a sale of a bottle of eye-water. I have found that slides in the moving picture houses are great business getters. The slides should be changed weekly, and as the various optical companies will furnish them free of charge, the weekly change is inexpensive. The optical business is a profitable and almost ideal side-line for any drug store. I am convinced that if a druggist will learn the business thoroughly, adhere conscientiously to a few simple merchandising rules, and treat customers squarely, his success in the optical field will be assured. HOW TO OBTAIN THE TRAINING. BY A. E. NUREMBURG. The training required in order to practice optometry necessitates, of course, a knowledge of the use of several instruments for the detection of abnormal sight. To the reader interested in acquiring this knowledge I would suggest communicating with such schools as Columbia University, New York City; Rochester School of Optometry, Rochester, N. Y.; Massachusetts School of Optometry, Boston, Mass.; Philadelphia Optical College, Philadelphia, Pa.; and others which advertise in the various trade journals. The prospectus sent out by any one of these institutions gives a fair idea of the necessary subjects to be pursued in order that one may be equipped to properly examine the eyes. It is my opinion that instructions received from a man who has successfully practiced optometry for many years and is equipped to teach others will give a student better practical experience than he would receive at a college. None of the colleges conduct a clinical course, whereas the student, under the instructions of a private tutor, receives practical training examining patients that come to the office of the practitioner. To learn of the methods pursued by successful optometrists to build a profitable business, I would advise the reader to subscribe to several optical journals, including, preferably, The Optical Journal and Review, published at 11 John Street, New York City. I have observed that fully half the people that enter my store do not wear their glasses right, showing improper fitting. Others on being questioned as to where they obtained their glasses simply say they walked into some store and tried on several pairs of glasses, and bought the ones they thought best suited to them. The trained man can get part of this business, at least. A druggist who can interest the local school board by furnishing the children who have defective sight with glasses, at a reasonable price, has another field open to him. Cash or Credit-Which? CREDIT CUSTOMERS A VALUABLE ASSET. BY STANLEY M. SORLEY. Good-pay credit customers are one of the best assets a store can have. People are accustomed to receiving credit, and many of them do not want to be troubled with making immediate cash payments for everything they buy. They prefer to make monthly settlements, thus making it easier to keep track of expenses. Most working people receive their wages at definite times in the month and many of them find it very convenient to meet obligations on pay-day. A credit store attracts more trade than a cash business, thereby increasing the volume of trade. Credit customers as a rule give their entire trade to one store. Those who always pay cash are under no obligations and therefore can scatter their trade to suit their own convenience or fancy. The entire family will often do all their trading at the one store extending credit, and the amount expended will usually be larger than when cash is paid for each purchase. Credit, of course, should not be extended to extravagant, incompetent, idle, and intemperate customers, or to gamblers, speculators, minors, and strangers. Farmers, as a class, wage-earning workers, especially those who own homes, business and professional men, and all people with means can generally be extended credit. A thorough study of local business conditions, a careful selection of risks, a complete examination of credit information, a constant supervision of accounts, and a prompt collection service will tend to reduce the losses from extension of credit. A man who will not take the trouble to do all this is not qualified to engage in either the cash or credit business. If the community supporting the drug store is composed of a goodly portion of well-to-do families, home-owning wage-earners, or suc |