In the city of Boston there is a soda fountain outfit in one of the leading stores which has been in constant operation for more than ten years and over the counter of which, during the summer months, there has been dispensed an average of 100 gallons of ice cream daily.

Yet the working parts of this outfit, despite the heavy use to which they have been subjected, are apparently in as good condition as when first installed. The reason for this excellent showing is due, not to the fact that the fountain is of better construction than ordinary, but to the excellent care which has been given it. All exterior portions such as the slab, the workboard, the drafts, and the pumps have had a daily and complete cleaning, while the interior or hidden parts have been cleaned out thoroughly each week.

The subject of sanitation is, perhaps, a

hackneyed one, but its importance cannot be overestimated. Not only does cleanliness attract the discriminating but it also enables the dispenser to serve better drinks and to prolong the life of his apparatus.

CLEANLINESS THE BEST POLICY.

Syrups or ice cream stored in poorly cleaned containers in an improperly cared-for outfit cannot help but be contaminated. A fountain where dirt is allowed to accumulate, where syrup jars are refilled without washing, and where ice-cream packers are subjected to a cleaning only once in a season, is of necessity short-lived. But a fountain where the inside and outside parts are kept free from dirt, where jars are washed with hot water before filling, and where the packers and outlet pipes are flushed out once a week, is good for an almost indefinite period.

The manifest advantages of a sanitary soda fountain has awakened druggists to the necessity of giving the best service possible and has led to a general improvement all along the line. According to the consensus of opinion of leading fountain owners throughout the larger New England cities, ice cream forms the basis of the majority of combinations put out over the present-day fountains. This means that the dispenser can command ten cents or more for each dish served and that he can give his patrons clean, wholesome products, properly made and of good quality.

Ice-cream soda is, of course, the most popular of fountain concoctions, and alert managers feature it in many different forms. Chocolate is the year-around favorite flavor, but since the tar-barrel strawberry has been displaced by the natural article, the latter finds strong favor during the season. Other freshfruit combinations also meet with ready demand.

SPOTLESS SERVICE.

It is significant, perhaps, that along with the advance in the quality of ingredients used there is also evident an improvement in service.

At the better fountains nowadays one never sees a nicked glass or a silvered holder with the plating worn away. Neither are flyspecked straws in evidence; all straws are thoroughly protected from contamination, either by being stored in glass jars or packed in paper wrappers.

In many stores where ice-cream sodas are served, a paper napkin is inserted in the holder before the glass is placed therein. By so doing, dripping of the contents is prevented and the disagreeable cold or wet feeling of the glass itself is not noticed. Napkins for this purpose may be obtained from any dealer in fountain supplies, or they may be prepared by dividing the ordinary paper napkin into four pieces of equal size.

A fountain owner in a Maine city who enjoys the best and the most of the trade in his locality says that he has built up a reputation for his ice-cream sodas by instructing his dispensers to always prepare the drink in one way. There is nothing new in his method, but he claims that a rigid adherence to it has brought him much business. To make the drink, he first pours into the glass the required

amount of syrup and sweet cream and then draws on the carbonated water, using the fine stream, until the glass is about half-filled. The ice cream is then added, and the glass filled with a rich, creamy foam, by means of the fine

stream.

The drink made in this manner is completely mixed, so that the customer who takes it with a straw does not get the cloying effect

There is no slop or dirt behind this fountain-Baileys, State Street, Boston, Mass.

of the syrup which is common when the soda is made by dumping in the syrup, cream, and ice cream, and then shooting in the coarse stream to fill the glass.

COMBINATIONS LIMITLESS.

Next in popularity to the ice-cream soda is the sundae or the college ice. Here the number of combinations of ice cream or sherbet with various dressings, toppings, and sauces is almost limitless. The progressive dispenser can work out an endless variety of mixtures and sell them at prices ranging from 10 to 25 cents, according to his location and the worth of the ingredients entering into them.

Sundaes are served in various shaped dishes, depending upon the whim of the dispenser and the nature of the combination. A low, flat dish of liberal size is generally preferred, however, as it shows off the confection to better ad

vantage and eliminates the danger of slopping or spilling common to tall or narrow dishes.

At a number of the busier fountains in the East silver-plated dishes are used. With them there is no chance for breakage, the silver gives a touch of richness to the service, dish washing is easier, and in the long run they are decidedly economical.

Considerable care is taken at most fountains with the preparatic is of the dressings and toppings used on sundaes. Fudges are kept warm in steam-jacketed holders, and whipped cream and fresh fruits are placed on heaps of crushed ice to insure their sweetness. Chocolate syrup, used as a dressing for sundaes and in chocolate sodas, is quite commonly dispensed from small silver pots rather than from syrup tanks. By using the small pot the syrup may be kept thoroughly mixed, a procedure which is impossible when the syrup is kept in a regular fountain jar. In addition, chocolate syrup, because of its heavy character, is not readily dispensed from a plunger tank. The small pot obviates that difficulty.

JUST DRINKS.

Five-cent drinks-phosphates, plain sodas, cream sodas, bottled beverages-are featured at but few of the larger fountains, as the tendency is to push the combinations which bring ten cents or more. The reason for this, as stated by the manager of three large fountains in the city of Boston, is that any attempt to push the five-centers takes the trade away from the larger-profit ones. He says that most customers buy sodas or sundaes not as thirst quenchers but as confections.

When, however, there is a demand for the cooling drinks, as during particularly hot days, this manager features a special such as lemon and lime, orangeade, cherry phosphate, or a similar beverage. He serves these drinks not in the small phosphate glass, but in twelveounce containers.

The extra cost is slight and the dry patron long remembers the fountain where a real thirst-quenching drink is served.

On especially hot days all solid drinks are made with half a tumbler of chipped ice in the glass.

Egg drinks, as phosphates, egg-and-milk, malted milk-and-egg, meet with a ready sale in New England, and particularly so in Massachusetts. Prices for plain egg combinations

are ten or fifteen cents when eggs are cheap, and fifteen or twenty cents when they begin to hit the 50-cents-a-dozen mark. It is a not uncommon sight to see large bowls of eggs on soda fountain counters with each egg stamped with the date of its laying. The customer has only to look at the date on the egg to be sure that he is getting a "strictly fresh" product.

AN ABSENCE OF SIGNS.

One noticeable feature of many of the larger fountains is the lack of a profusion of signs. Instead of covering every bit of available space with announcements of specials, only a few--sometimes no-cards are displayed.

The causes for this departure from old-time methods are several. A number of the fountains have built up enviable reputations on a few profitable specialties and they push these to the exclusion of all others. A profusion of special combinations requires a considerable amount of ofttimes perishable products, taking up much valuable space, to be constantly on hand. With a large number of complicated mixtures it is quite often hard for the dispensers to remember the various combinations.

Elaborate mixtures, too, require considerable time for their preparation—an objectionable feature during rush hours. And, finally, a heterogeneous collection of confections is likely to bewilder the patron and cause him to order a five-cent drink.

PRIZE PAPER: BY LOOKING AFTER EVERY POSSIBLE SALES OUTLET.

BY HARRY E. CASSADY.

My success in the drug business I attribute to these things: location, the proper kind of advertising and window displays, a large and varied stock, judgment in buying, keeping my store and stock well arranged, and holding down overhead expenses to a minimum.

At the start I was lucky enough to get a lease on a store next door to the post-office, in the center of town, and on the transient side of the street. After having the front of the store remodeled according to my own. ideas, and arranging the show-cases, shelves, bottles, etc., according to a systematized layout, I commenced to advertise by featuring an "Opening Day."

I had previously managed to buy an old foot-power press and had installed it in one of the rooms over the store. With a few extra fonts of type, besides those I already had, I proceeded to set up a handbill advertising the opening. An invitation was extended to every one to call and receive a souvenir-for the ladies, guest-room packages; for the men, pocket note-books. In addition I used a half

Monthly Department of

PRIZE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

page ad in the weekly paper, and I obtained splendid results from both mediums. People came from far and near to attend the opening.

In one of the windows I had an excellent display of a line of preparations for which I held the exclusive agency; in the other I arranged a nifty show of rubber goods, as the opening took place in the fall of the year.

HANDBILLS USED FREELY.

From the start, I used plenty of handbills advertising specials, calling attention to new lines added, feature sales, and the like. I contracted for a five-inch space in the local paper, and I have maintained a regular position there throughout the year ever since.

I tried a number of schemes to stimulate business, such as giving coupons good for premiums with each purchase, guessing contests in which I gave premiums to the lucky ones, free tickets to the "movies" with each dollar purchase, and numerous other tradeinducing plans.

In order to compete with mail-order houses and wagon venders I decided to go them one better. Accordingly I had twelve preparations that are commonly used in the home put up under my own name. These consisted of

"Cassady's" cold cream, tooth paste, talcum powder, headache tablets, relief balm, corn. solvent, liniment, shaving cream, etc. After getting these preparations in proper cartons I placed them in pasteboard boxes just large enough to contain the twelve packages. I sent a case to each one of a select mailing list, with a letter of introduction and explanation. The letter explained that the case was to be left for two months on approval. At the end of that time the case was to be returned, used packages being paid for at the rate of 25 cents each. If the whole case, or the equivalent, was purchased a discount of 20 per cent would be allowed.

This scheme advertised my store and gave it individuality, creating many new customers. Here is an outline of another successful plan that I employed: The company whose line I had the exclusive agency for had a catalogue scheme whereby coupons were given with purchases, and these coupons were to be applied as cash on the purchase of nationally-advertised articles listed as premiums in the catalogue.

This plan aided me wonderfully in overcoming to a degree nail-order competition.

NO SUBSTITUTION.

I have always aimed to carry a good clean stock at all times, and have usually been able to give my customers what they called for. I am a firm believer in salesmanship, provided the best judgment is used along with it, but I do not believe in substitution or in attempting it, except when the very best of judgment is exercised and when the substitute is by far the superior article.

Being familiar with my trade, the buying proposition is not such a serious one. I know exactly what preparations I can buy in quantities, thereby saving a discount or getting free goods; and I also know those which, owing to the small demand, I cannot well afford to stock in quantities.

I have always made it a practice to give new preparations a great deal of study before stocking them in large amounts.

One of my best advertisements has been the inside arrangement of my store. I keep the cases shining and the articles on them well arranged, thereby giving the store an attractive and pleasing appearance.

Rent, heat, light, clerk hire, and other gen

eral expenses are charged to "overhead." These expenses are figured so that I know the cost of doing business, and my selling profits are figured accordingly. Some preparations have to be sold at profits large enough to overcome smaller margins on other items, but I try as near as possible to keep a uniform scale in marking selling prices.

SIDE-LINES TO THE FRONT.

I push side-lines to the front as they are business getters and also pay long profits. Cameras and camera supplies pay me a nice profit and I have developed the field by advertising them along with other side-lines. Being

a musician, I have had a piano placed in my store, and I handle a popular line of sheet music. The stock takes up but little space, as I have cabinets which carry over 1500 pieces. I put out catalogues listing all pieces carried in stock and have a nice business on this line.

My biggest and best side-line, however, is the soda fountain. I advertise quality, cleanliness, and service—and I deliver the goods. Of course candy can be handled so nicely in connection with the soda fountain that I couldn't overlook it. I always give my trade specials on certain days, and as a drawing card for the children, I give them toy balloons with every five cents' worth of bulk candy on the same days. Once getting the trade started my way I have been able to keep it coming, and this business is increasing right along.

I feel very proud of my stationery line and to stimulate trade I have had small letters printed from time to time featuring a special fibre carried in stock. I mail these, with envelopes to match, to a select list of women

customers.

By giving two women the same percentage that they had been receiving from another manufacturer for canvassing from house to house with a line of toilet articles, I have succeeded in getting my own line of preparations into many homes, creating new business and keeping out unfair competition.

I always discount all my bills and find that the amount saved in a year's time is no small item.

Recently I had installed on the curb in front. of my store a gasoline pump for automobile trade. I have already sold enough gasoline to more than pay for the outfit, and it has brought me a great deal of transient trade.