Chapter III: Preface (2)

She talked the matter over with her husband that night, and he was very favorably impressed with the idea. The firm by which he was employed also thought it would be a splendid thing and offered him very liberal terms on whatever purchases of stock he might desire from them. What money they had they invested in stocks, improvements, rent, advertising, etc., the wife selecting every piece of gingham that went into the store, putting herself in the place of the woman who would want to buy ginghams for any purpose.

A handsome electric sign announced “The Gingham Shop”; as did the lettering on the windows, the bill-boards and in the street cars, and ads. in all the papers told the story of “The Gingham Shop.” They advertised a dolly’s gingham apron free to every little girl who came to their opening accompanied by her mother. That brought the mothers, and they kept coming, more and more of them every day, for they managed to keep the gingham idea before all the people all the time, in a thousand different ways, until every one who thought of ginghams at all thought of “The Gingham Shop.” Their store became the fad, so that they had practically all the gingham trade of the town and for many miles around. They sold strictly for cash, and thereby eliminated bookkeeping, collecting and bad debts.

PLAN No. 12. CROCHETING DOLL CLOTHES

Noticing a very pretty doll’s crocheted sack in a store, and hearing the proprietor say he feared he could get no more like it, as the lady who made those things for him had not been in the store for some time, a young lady who had ideas of her own decided to take up the work herself.

She bought some worsted, went home and proceeded to make a number of dolls’ sacks, hoods, capes, booties, caps, slippers, muffs, etc., put some baby ribbon on most of them, and, after figuring up the cost, put a price on each article and returned to the store. The proprietor was so well pleased that he gave her a large order, as did also several others in that and nearby towns. Then she learned where she could buy the worsted and ribbon at wholesale prices, and until after the holidays her spare time was all spent in crocheting dainty things for dolly, when she found she had made a profit of nearly $100 in odd moments. Later she began taking orders for crocheted scarfs, shawls, fascinators, etc., and made it a regular business for it continued to pay well. And it required very little time, capital or labor to make it a success.

PLAN No. 13. MAKING READY-TO-WEAR APRONS

Making and selling ready-to-wear aprons is the means a woman may employ to earn a good many extra dollars, without interfering very much with her regular household duties. She can turn her parlor into a work- and sales-room, where she can exhibit every description of aprons, in sizes and patterns, and offer them at attractive prices. A woman we know, now has a large list of regular patrons and has found it necessary to employ help in doing her housework, so that she can devote the larger portion of her time to this new enterprise.

PLAN No. 14. MAKING CANVAS GLOVES

Making canvas gloves would not seem to be a very good way to earn money, but a woman who lived near a small mining town, where the demand for canvas gloves was much greater than the supply, found she could live very comfortably on it.

She had a sewing machine, and having ripped an old pair of gloves open to get the pattern, found that it was merely a matter of sewing seams on the machine, so she turned them out very rapidly, and earned many dollars by doing so.

One need not live in a mining town to find a demand for canvas gloves, for they are used by thousands of other people--railroad men, mechanics, teamsters, lumber workers, gardeners--indeed, nearly everybody who works needs them, so why should not other women of slender means also improve this humble but better-than-nothing means of making a living?

PLAN No. 15. SPATS FOR COLLEGE GIRLS

A college girl with a limited allowance had just enough spare cash to pay for a new blue-gray tailor-made suit, but not enough more to pay for a pair of spats to match, which the tailor offered to make for $2. However, she had a small piece of the goods left over when the suit was finished, and by ripping an old pair of spats to note the pattern, she proceeded to make a pair of new ones herself; silk-lined, but with the old buttons. They were so well made, and presented so neat an appearance, that all the other girls in the college implored her to make spats to match their suits. She did so and earned sufficient to pay her college expenses.

PLAN No. 16. A CHILDREN’S 5c PLAY GROUND

It was the sound of children’s voices raised in shouts of glee, as they reveled in the delights of a six-passenger, hand-propelled merry-go-round in the back yard of a friend, that gave to a young man, temporarily out of a position, an idea which he promptly enlarged to the dignity of a community affair, and imparted a world of pleasure to hundreds of children, while adding very largely to his own bank account.

The small merry-go-round in the private grounds of his friend was operated upon strictly business principles by the hopeful scions of the household, and every other youthful pleasure seeker was obliged to contribute some toy or other article of small value in return for the privilege of a few dizzy whirls in the small-sized machine, while being regaled with music from a miniature organ that played certain lively tunes while the machine was in motion. The “admission fee” was a book, pencil, knife, rubber ball, or anything that represented value to the young proprietors, but it had to be something, and everybody was happy.

The young man who was a witness of the performance began at once to enlarge upon the idea of entertaining children for a merely nominal sum, but which in the aggregate would amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars; and, having a little available capital, he rented a vacant corner containing several lots, in a central location, and began systematically to equip it. He bought a 12-seated merry-go-round, three swings, four see-saws, three “Irish Mails”, two tricycles, two velocipedes, and $100 worth of awnings to cover the entire scene of gaiety, and protect the little guests from both sunshine and rain.

He constructed a sand pit, installed rag-doll games, etc., and built a board walk around it all for the racing of the tricycles, velocipedes and “Irish Mails.”

He hired a carpenter to build a fence around the property, with an arch over the entrance for the name of the play-ground, and considered a few booths for the sale of candy, soda water and other soft drinks. His entire expense, including advertising and incidentals, was $382, and he placed the price of admission, which entitled the visitor to all the attractions of the place at five cents.

From the day the gates were opened the place was filled with children, for parents were glad to have their little ones participate in the clean and healthful entertainment it afforded. Within the first three months the enterprising proprietor had taken in enough to pay all the expense of establishing and conducting the play-ground, and noted that he had earned a net profit of $210 besides. When winter came, he turned the place into a skating rink, and made a profit several times larger than it had brought as a summer play-ground for children.

PLAN No. 17. CO-OPERATIVE COOKING

The daily drudgery of cooking is a nightmare; the horror and the despair of the ordinary housewife. And no wonder; for no other member of the family would ever stand for it. Therefore, any reasonable and economical plan that will free the wife and mother from this thraldom, and at the same time assure equally satisfactory service in the matter of food, at possibly less cost, is sure of a cordial welcome.

The co-operative kitchen not only solves this vexed problem for the housewife in general, but at the same time it affords a comfortable living to the two or three or half-dozen women who have the energy to give it a start in almost any community, and the culinary skill to keep it going good after it is started.

If women have sufficient capital to establish such a business in the right way, so much the better, but if they have not, they may incorporate for that purpose, and thus secure the necessary equipment for making it a going concern.

As a private enterprise it would produce a handsome and permanent income for its originators, while as an incorporated concern it would greatly reduce the household expenses of its members.

What is known as the Montclair plan provides for the serving of hot meals at any time desired, in the homes of the patrons or members, and according to the menu sent in by each individual in each family. Thermos bottles for the liquids, and Swedish containers for the meats, solve the problem of keeping food either hot or cold for an indefinite period, and the plan, if properly worked, is certain to grow in popular favor wherever it is tried. There’s money in it for somebody. During the war England learned its practicability and great advantage.

PLAN No. 18. STARTING A TEA ROOM

To start a tea room, and start it right, will require an amount of capital ranging all the way from $500 to $1,000, according to the locality and the amount of competition, either of other tea rooms, or of the service offered by various larger enterprises that use this as a side line.

A lady in Denver gives her experience in the following condensed statement:

She was fortunate in securing a location where the advent of a tea room was joyously hailed as a much desired innovation, and where the conditions obviated the necessity for an extensive publicity campaign, so that her little capital of $500 was sufficient to launch the enterprise in fairly good shape.

She started with a limited menu, fully intending to extend it as she gained experience and patronage. To begin with, she served tea, coffee, chocolate, broths, toasts, muffins, sandwiches, salads, fresh eggs, cake, cold meats, together with simple desserts, such as rice pudding, tarts, baked apples and stewed prunes, with whipped cream. She made it a special point to see that every item was of the best quality, properly prepared, and served with delicacy and tact, while cleanliness pervaded every nook and corner of her dainty little establishment. At the same time she guarded zealously against waste, and showed excellent judgment in providing just the exact amount of each material that could be utilized to advantage. She hired a neat, pretty and attractively attired maid as waitress, who was tactful in her demeanor towards guests. The prompt, courteous and refined service of this maid proved a valuable asset, as she soon became a general favorite with the patrons of the place, through her earnest endeavor to please.

The taking and filling of large orders for outside affairs--such as sandwiches, salads, etc., as well as the renting of her china, table silver and other accessories, also proved a source of considerable revenue. Sometimes the tea-room itself would be rented out for social functions, such as card parties, church and lodge affairs or wedding feasts. On such occasions the proprietress did practically all of the catering, and was well paid for her services and accommodations.

During the first year she kept on display and for sale a line of antiques, art novelties, embroideries, confectionary, fine stationery, and other articles that commanded a ready sale, and thereby added considerably to her income during that trying period of making a beginning. As her regular patronage increased, however, she gradually discarded these side-lines, and concentrated all her efforts upon steadily and permanently increasing the scope of her trade.

She showed decided originality and talent in the preparation of her menu cards, and gave them an artistic effect which was at once striking and vastly different from the ordinary. Her prices, while extremely reasonable, afforded a satisfactory profit on every item, and at the end of the first year she had not only paid all expenses, but had a comfortable balance left over with which to begin the second year on a much more extensive scale.

PLAN No. 19. BREAD AND CAKE BAKING

Many men lose their positions, from one cause or another, but it isn’t every one of them who has a resourceful, skilful and determined wife to help him out. Here is one who had:

This man who had been a salesman was “let out” because his firm could no longer manufacture the goods he had been selling, and, as times were hard, another position could not be obtained. The family had never saved anything, and, their grocer changing suddenly to the cash system, left them with only half a dozen potatoes, a few pounds of flour, half a pound of lard, a cup of sugar, a little salt--and three hungry boys, to say nothing of the parents.

It was then that the plucky wife and mother rose to the occasion and saved the day. But it required a lot of grit and hard work. She peeled, sliced and boiled three of the six precious potatoes, adding water as the boiling went on. Then she put into a pan three tablespoonfuls of flour, one of sugar, and one of salt, scalding them with the hot water in which the potatoes had been boiled, and adding two quarts of cold water, making the mixture lukewarm.

Five cents from the small hoard of the family bought yeast one-half of which was saved for the next time, after moistening it with water and pouring it into the mixture. Covering the pan tightly, she set it aside until morning while the family went supperless to bed.

The hustling little woman was up at five o’clock the next morning and put twelve pounds of flour into a large pan, mixed in two heaping tablespoonfuls of lard, two of sugar and two of salt, then added the yeast mixture, which made an ordinary bread dough, and set it in a warm place to rise.

At eight a. m. she molded the dough into rolls, twelve rolls to each pound, two and one-half inches across and pressed down to an inch in thickness. These she put into a greased pan, not allowing them to quite touch each other, as they sell better when baked separately. By ten o’clock her eldest boy, who rode a wheel, had been excused from school, came home to do the selling. With five dozen light brown rolls in a basket, he started out to sell them at 10 cents a dozen.

In less than half an hour he was back for three dozen more, and returned in a short time with an order for the remainder, which the mother refused to accept, as she was keeping those for her own hungry family.

The next day she went through with the same program, except on a larger scale, and still was unable to supply the demand for her beautifully browned hot rolls that were ready for delivery just before meal time, and looked so tempting.

Her boy being out of school on Saturday, she mixed two pans of cake dough, one white and one brown, and spread them into a large bread pan so as to marble brown and white, and making a cake one and one-half inches thick, when baked.

Iced thinly, in plain white, and cut into two and one-half-inch squares, these sold readily for 20 cents a dozen, and were delicious. At the end of four days the little woman had made $10, and Monday morning her husband, still out of a position, offered to do the selling and delivering--greatly to her delight and the profit of both--for the sales increased until they had more demands for their products than they could supply.

She also began to bake delicious bread and pies, as well as rolls and cakes, and sold every article at a good price, that meant a handsome profit. This was the beginning of a successful bakery business for this family.

PLAN No. 20. PENCIL SHARPENING MACHINE FREE

The teacher who finds the sharpening of pencils for her pupils a large and disagreeable part of her daily duties, will welcome this plan as a perfect godsend: that the plan, when properly operated by a live man, is a money-maker, is demonstrated by the fact that a Chicago man made big profits out of it.

He bought a large number of that botanical wonder known as the Resurrection Plant, or Anasta-tica, which can be obtained at a cost of 2 cents each, or less, when ordered in large quantities, and even when retailed at as low a price as 10 cents each, yield an enormous profit. To those not familiar with this remarkable plant, it may be well to explain that, altho it stays green while kept in water changed often enough to prevent it becoming stagnant or rancid, when taken out of the water it dries and curls up and goes to sleep, remaining in this state for years, and re-awakening or being “resurrected” immediately upon being placed in water again, when it will open up and commence to grow in half an hour or less. When tired of seeing it grow, you simply take it out of the water, let it “go to sleep” again, and re-awaken or resurrect it at any time you desire. Many people would gladly pay several dollars for a simple plant, but in the operation of this plan you can well afford to sell them at 10 cents each, as you realize a profit of 8 cents apiece, and one in every schoolroom in the land will prove a constant source of delight, as well as of educational value.

This is the way the Chicago man works the plan to the pleasure of teachers and pupils, and his own profit of something like $300 per week: he not only buys thousands of these Resurrection Plants, at, say, 2 cents each, but also a number of the best pencil sharpening machines, which cost him about 90 cents each. He consigns one of these machines and thirty of the Resurrection Plants to each teacher in a public school and requests her to announce that the pencil sharpener will belong to that particular room, for the full use of all of them, if each pupil will take home one of the plants and bring 10 cents back to her the next morning, explaining to them the peculiar characteristics of the plant. Of course, every child gladly performs this small service, and the teacher then remits to the consigner, the $3.00 collected, and he has exactly doubled his money, as both the pencil sharpener and the thirty plants cost him but $1.50. If there are over thirty pupils in the room, that simply means more plants and more profits, for with the second consignment of thirty plants it is not necessary to send the pencil sharpener, and the Chicago man’s profit on that transaction is therefore $2.40 instead of $1.50.

As there are many thousands of public schools in this country, and nearly all of them have a number of rooms, anyone who is good at figures can easily make a reasonable calculation as to the probable profits.

PLAN No. 21. $5,000 A YEAR FROM 8¹⁄₂ ACRES

“The touch of a woman’s hand” is what turned eight and one-half acres of unattractive, idle land on the shores of Long Island Sound into a productive little farm that is now netting it’s owner a profit of over $5,000 a year! Don’t believe it? Listen!

To be sure, she had a few hundred dollars--just enough to buy it and improve it with a cheap little cottage, a small barn and some poultry sheds, and plant it to fruit trees, besides every sort of vegetable that enjoyed the greatest demand. She now has an orchard containing the best varieties of fruit trees, 1,000 apple, 500 peach, 100 pear, 100 quince, 100 cherry--besides one-fourth acre in grapes, one-half acre in raspberries, blackberries, etc., and still has plenty of room left for vegetables, planting them between the rows of fruit trees, thus affording ample cultivation for all. She employs one man regularly at $40 per month, and hires extra help in the busy seasons of the year.

To supply the immediate demand for the less common garden products she grew okra, French finochio, endive, chicory, etc., getting many ideas from seed catalogues, Government publications that are sent for the postage. She plants large quantities of all vegetables, and cultivates every foot of the ground, fertilizers are freely used, and crops changed from year to year. She finds early asparagus and peaches the most profitable of all the things she raises, and while her first garden was growing she wrote letters to her friends in the city, asking them if they would not like a few samples of her fresh vegetables. They did and said so, and each one became a regular customer. As she produced more, she kept increasing her list of patrons by the same means, and to these she ships her products in “knock-down” crates that cost her 2¹⁄₂ cents each, and, unless otherwise ordered, she fills these crates half with fruit and half with vegetables. The crates each hold six great basketfuls of produce, and cost the customer $1.50, besides 25 cents each for expressage.

By picking her products early in the morning, she has them delivered in the city for dinner, while they are fresh and much preferred to those bought at corner groceries. Having her own horse and wagon, the cost and labor involved in shipping is very small, and 500 crates easily net her $750.

Realizing from her own experience, the longing of city women for a quiet, rural spot in which to spend the week-ends, she informed a limited number of her lady friends in town that for $1.50 per day she would give them room, board and transportation, to and from the station, and so many of them gladly accepted her invitation that the capacity of her small cottage was soon taxed to the utmost. But she will not take regular boarders, and thus has the greater portion of her time to herself, to be devoted to such activities as best suit her. Those women who are given the privilege of spending the week-end on the farm not only cheerfully pay the moderate charges, but many of them render valuable assistance by working in her garden, as a pleasant means of relaxation and an agreeable change from the exacting requirements of city life.

The little 8¹⁄₂ acre farm wasn’t much to look at when she first took it over, but she has made it a veritable bower of beauty, a haven of rest, and a revenue producer to the extent of $5,000 a year, all set down in the column marked “net profits.”

PLAN No. 22. POLITICAL MANUAL

Politics is always an interesting subject, particularly to politicians, whether of large or small calibre, and the man who can formulate a plan by which to “aid the party,” and at the same time insure an income for himself has certainly “picked a winner.” We know of a man who did this, most successfully, and this is the way he did it:

His city, like all others, had political organizations of varying degrees of efficiency and influence, and desiring to assist in placing his own political party in the lead, while devising a good revenue from his activities at the same time, he hit upon the plan of a manual giving a resume of the main issues of the campaign, his party’s position regarding the same, the various ward and precinct boundaries, the names and addresses of all precinct committeemen, as well as those of the chairman and secretary of the central committee, the location of each polling place, dates of registration, of primaries and general election, and data of every character which would be interesting to voters.

Instead of leaving it to the secretary to compile and issue this manual, and having it printed and distributed at the expense of the committee, this man sought and obtained the authority of the committee for the publication of the same without cost to them, had them indorse it as the official publication, and proceeded to have it issued in attractive form. Most of the candidates for office on his party ticket were glad to give him half tone portraits of themselves, with a declaration of the principles for which they stood and pay him from $25 to $50 each for the publicity thus obtained. Besides, practically all the merchants belonging to that particular party also gave him large advertisements, as the manual reached all the voters of the ward or county, regardless of party affiliations, and proved an excellent advertising medium.

Finding the plan so successful in his own county, he extended it to other counties, and finally to the entire state.

PLAN No. 23. THEATRE-GOERS’ WEEKLY

In many cities the theatrical managers arrange in some way to compile a list of theatre goers, and send them, by mail, neatly printed postal cards announcing the attractions billed for their houses several days in advance of their appearance. This plan has proved successful in most cases, but a man in one city of the middle west improved greatly upon it by publishing a weekly that embraced all the theatres and amusement places, and gave them all very much wider publicity, at no cost to any of them.

He arranged with the manager of each theatre and motion picture house in his city to furnish him with all the data concerning engagements for a week or two in advance, obtaining details of coming attractions, with portrait cuts and personal sketches of the most prominent actors and actresses billed for appearance at each house, a synopsis of the play, or any other feature that would naturally create a desire to see it. Write-ups and notes of local interest were also an excellent feature in this weekly, and it was so well edited and printed that nearly all copies were carefully preserved by those receiving them.

Instead of going to the trouble and expense of mailing, these weeklies were distributed at all the theatres and movie houses at every performance, and thus afforded each patron an opportunity to plan his amusement program ahead.

Having saved the theatre managers the expense of a program for each house, they were glad to allow him all the profits of the extensive advertising he secured, and he soon built up a business that netted several thousand dollars a year.

PLAN No. 24. SPRAYING FRUIT AND SHADE TREES

Every orchardist stands in mortal terror of the multitude of pests that infest both fruit and shade trees in practically all parts of the country, and as but few really understand how to prevent or destroy these persistent plagues, or have the time to do it properly, it affords some one in each community an excellent opportunity to make a good living by doing it for them. All he needs is to know exactly how.

An enterprising young man in one of the irrigated fruit districts of the Northwest thought of a good plan along this line and proceeded to put it into execution, with entire satisfaction to the fruit growers, and a corresponding profit to himself.

The leading hardware merchant in his town was not only a good friend of the young man, but was thoroughly familiar with all the really effective methods of destroying tree pests through the spraying process. He sold him one of the best makes of spraying machine, gave him accurate instructions as to its use, as well as the various materials for spraying, and advised him to get busy at once.

He visited the principal fruit growers of that section and found most of them glad to turn the protection of their trees over to him, as he quickly demonstrated that he knew his business, and his charges were reasonable. In a short time he had contracts to keep him busy during the entire season, and found it was paying him at the rate of $175 a month. The next year he took more contracts, hired boys to operate several spraying machines, and is now clearing over $1,000 for a few months work each year. So can you.

PLAN No. 25. HOME LUNCH DELIVERY

A Michigan young lady, who had an invalid mother and a little brother to support, hit upon the novel plan of supplying the families of her neighborhood, as well as nearby cafes, lunch rooms, business offices, stores, and soda fountains, with tempting lunches consisting mainly of nut sandwiches made of shredded wheat biscuit, or bread, or buns, baked by herself.

Buying all the materials in large quantities, she secured everything necessary at greatly reduced prices, purchasing English walnuts at so much per hundred pounds, and removing the shells with a nut cracker.

Slicing a moistened shredded wheat biscuit in two with a sharp knife, she spread it with peanut butter and finished with a layer of crushed walnuts, or made the sandwiches from slices of bread in the usual way.

Having distributed cards throughout the neighborhood, announcing the form of service she was prepared to render, she kept a list of her regular patrons, with the day and hour when deliveries were required, and sent her little brother to fill the orders. Each sandwich was wrapped in wax paper, and sold readily at 5 cents. However, when a more extensive lunch was required, she supplied two ham sandwiches, one cheese sandwich with pie or cake all neatly packed in a small paper box, with paper napkin and tooth pick, which was not only cheaper, but also much better, than the same articles bought at a restaurant.

And still there was a fair profit on each item included in this service. Of course, the increased cost of materials, now makes it necessary to charge higher prices for the lunches thus delivered, her patronage has grown to such proportions that she now hires boys on bicycles to make the deliveries.

PLAN No. 26. REPAIRING LAWN MOWERS

Can you repair a lawn mower that is out of order? If not, you can soon learn, and if you have any mechanical ability at all, you can put it to a practical use and make a good business out of it.

An elderly man in a western city, who was regarded as “too old” to be given a salaried position, but who “needed the money,” turned his knowledge of lawn mowers to good account, and to-day has a profitable business that renders it unnecessary for him to ask anybody for a “job.” He made his own job.

Of course, he had no capital, but he needed none, except a few dollars for the purchase of certain small tools and lawn mower parts and a friend of his in a hardware store sold him those on time.

Starting out he was surprised to find how many lawn mowers in any given neighborhood were slightly out of order, the main trouble with most of them being that they merely needed sharpening, while a rusty bolt here, a missing nut there or a broken part almost anywhere about the machine was quickly replaced, and the mower put in fine working shape.

A charge of 50 to 75 cents an hour, or a flat rate for the job, netted him a profit of several dollars a day, and by doing good, honest work, he was usually called upon when anything else went wrong, as he left his card at every house he visited. After a couple of years he was able to open a little shop of his own, and had the work come to him, instead of being obliged to go after it.

He is making a comfortable living for himself and his family and doesn’t feel any longer that he is “too old” to be useful and self-supporting.

PLAN No. 27. THE INKLESS PEN

Never heard of an inkless pen? Well, you can make one, or a thousand, so easily, and sell them so fast, at a splendid profit, that you will wish you had known how a long time ago. A down-east girl learned how it was done, and she has made a lot of money out of it, just as anyone else can by trying.

She got some of the very best quality of violet aniline, and reduced it with water, to a thick paste. She added about half as much mucilage as there was of the aniline and water, and mixed it thoroly. Then she applied it with a toothpick to the inside hollow of several ordinary steel pens, above the split, and laid them aside for ten hours to dry.

Either a fine-pointed, ordinary or stub pen can be used, but as an advertising leader a fine-pointed pen is best, and to give it a neat appearance, the pen should be inclosed in a very small envelope, with directions for use printed thereon, as follows: “The Wonderful Inkless Pen. Put in a penholder, and dip it in water up to the split, when ink will flow from the pen. When flow ceases, dip in water again.”

She then placed a small ad in the paper, saying, “Boys and girls, send ten cents for three of our wonderful inkless pens. Write by dipping in water. No ink necessary. Better than a fountain pen.”

This brought hundreds of answers, all containing dimes, and the business thus launched in a small way, with practically no capital, finally grew into an enterprise netting nearly $1,000 a year.

PLAN No. 28. OLD BARN MAKES $600 A YEAR

How a plucky woman, with an invalid husband and two small children, utilized a rickety old barn on a run-down farm eleven miles from a city, is best told in her own words:

“The old barn had not been used for years, and was in a dilapidated condition indeed. I paid $1.25 for new shingles and 5 cents for nails, and fixed the roof so it would not leak. I found some old hinges around the place, and put on the doors in good shape. There were six windows, and I bought $1.80 worth of cheese cloth and made curtains for these, and paid $7.00 for a crex matting to put on the floor.

“From some old furniture we were not using, I selected some chairs, beds, a table, old cupboard, and other articles needed. The three stalls I converted into a kitchen, dining room and den, and paid $2.75 for an old oil stove, $1.30 for cooking utensils, and $2 for crockery ware.

“I converted the loft into two sleeping rooms, using cretonne curtains for partitions, made a dresser from an old packing box, and above it I placed a cheap mirror, 18x12 inches. I also purchased two hammocks for $3, and was ready to let “apartments” at $20 per month, the tenants to furnish their own bedding and silver.

“I planted morning glories all around this “house,” and put in several beds of California poppies, costing 65 cents, so that the total expenses renovating the barn and making it fit for human habitation were just $19.80.

“A small ad. in the paper quickly brought me a renter for the remodeled “apartments” at $20 per month for six months, and then I began to supply my tenants with home-grown produce, at good prices, such as berries, fresh vegetables, fresh bread, pies and cakes, cottage cheese, cream, milk, eggs, poultry, homemade soap, jellies, jams, etc., besides doing laundry work, renting horse and cart, making dresses and bonnets for tenants, neighbors and others. And all this without interfering with my regular work of growing and marketing my poultry, dairy and garden products, which I took to the city on the weekly market days, and sold for good prices.

“The first year on this place netted me over $500, the second year $600, and it will be more this year. My first tenant has re-rented the old barn from me every year since I started, and wants it again next year, so I am no longer worrying as to where the next meal is coming from.

“Besides, the country air and home-grown foods have restored my husband to perfect health, and my children are getting big enough to help me.”

PLAN No. 29. BAKING FRUIT CAKE TO SELL

Who doesn’t love fruit cake? And yet how few can make it as it should be made. A lady who really knew how, found that she could make a fruit cake at a cost of about 10 cents a pound, and make it so good that anybody would be glad to buy it at more than three times its cost. She used the following receipt. Two cups of flour, 1 cup of raisins, 1 cup of currants, one-half cup of lard, 1 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 1 teaspoonful of cloves, 1 teaspoonful of soda, ¹⁄₄ teaspoonful of salt; flavor with lemon extract. These, with the exception of the flour, the soda and the extract, she boiled for a few minutes in an agate-ware sauce-pan, then took it off the fire, and when lukewarm mixed in the flour and soda and added the lemon extract. This, baked one hour in a moderate oven, will make a 2¹⁄₂-pound loaf, and, requiring no eggs or butter, is not expensive.

She found her first customers were steady customers, and tho she had very limited baking facilities, she cleared from $25 to $30 a month. With greater baking capacity, added from time to time, and with the aid of a few small ads, she increased her profits gradually, until now she is realizing a net profit of over $100 a month, and expects soon to do even better than that. Just a simple plan, intelligently carried out, and the result was--success.

PLAN No. 30. LAWYER MAKES MUNICIPAL COLLECTIONS

In nearly all cities of 75,000 to 150,000 population, there are usually many thousands of dollars due the municipality in old claims, unpaid assessments, and all sorts of overlooked accounts in practically all departments. These have been allowed to accumulate until they amount to a sum large enough to materially reduce the tax levy for several years, but incoming administrations, having all the difficulties incident to their own tenures of office to meet, and having no disposition to overcome the shortcoming of their predecessors, pay no attention to these delinquencies, and the city’s debtors are thus allowed to escape payment of bills they justly owe.

It was under such conditions in a well known city of the Pacific Northwest that a young lawyer, just admitted to practice, discovered a field of activity that promised to bring him prominently into public notice, and at the same time to secure him a revenue that but few young attorneys are able to command in several of the earlier years of their practice.

He had previously examined the records in most of the departments, and thereby gained a close estimate of the enormous amounts still due the city on old accounts, which no effort had been made to collect for so long that many of them were outlawed and not legally collectable.

He then interviewed a number of city officials and submitted a proposition to collect these accounts, on a basis of commission dependent upon the relative difficulty of getting the money. His proposition was accepted.

A closer examination of the records showed that the amounts still due the various departments ranged from $13,000 to $60,000 in each, the aggregate being $200,000.

Having carefully laid his plans, his first step was to have himself interviewed by the city hall reporters of all the daily papers, in which he made it clear that he would bring suit against every one of those who owed the city anything on old accounts. This caused considerable uneasiness among the delinquents, many of whom came to the treasurer’s office and made settlements in full. Many of them, however, hung back, awaiting developments, and thereupon the young attorney brought a number of suits in the city’s name, in all of which he secured judgments against the defendants, and nearly all of them were paid.

In some special cases, where the debtors felt that they were safe, since the claims against them had been barred by the statute of limitations, the attorney, called upon the parties in person and gave them so fair an outline of the entire situation, laying special emphasis upon their moral obligation to pay even an outlawed claim, that more than half of those old claims were paid into the city treasury.

There are hundreds of cities in which other young attorneys can follow the same plan, with equally good results.

PLAN No. 31. BRIEF-WRITING FOR LAWYERS

A far-sighted young attorney in a large city, desiring to extend his acquaintance among the older members of the bar, and at the same time add materially to his rather limited income, figured that he could do both by writing the briefs of those lawyers interested in cases taken to the higher courts on appeal. He purchased a dictaphone and, having familiarized himself with a case, by reference to the files, and otherwise, he found it an easy matter to get the attorney’s consent to brief it in proper form, especially when he could do it for considerably less than it would cost the attorney to do it himself.

This plan brought him an immediate financial return, gave him a large acquaintance among leading lawyers, and vastly increased his knowledge of law, through frequent references to supreme court reports and other authorities. It also aided him in building up a practice which has become both permanent and profitable.

PLAN No. 32. RENTING WATER FILTERS

For more than three years a man in a western city realized a net profit of $225 a month, through the very simple plan of renting water filters, and then sold out his business for $5,000. Having a little spare money he bought filters by the gross from the manufacturers, at $12.50 per gross, or a fraction over 12 cents apiece. They were the reversible kind, filled with powdered charcoal and crushed granite, were nickel plated, easily kept clean, and caught all the impurities in the water leaving it clean and pure. He bought the filtering material, charcoal and crushed granite, by the barrel, at a cost of about $6.00 a barrel. These materials he mixed in equal parts, placed them in the filters and was ready for business.

An epidemic of typhoid fever broke out in his city about that time, the cause of which was found to be in the water supply, and the means of excluding the disease germs from the water that came from the faucets assumed the form of an imperative demand. This man had some circulars printed, calling attention to the efficiency of his filters, and sent boys to distribute them all over the city.

Then agents were sent out to the houses to show the filters and offer them for rent at 10 cents each a month, a fresh filter to be installed every month. The agents were given one-half of all the money they collected, and as nine in every ten households gave them contracts, both agents and originator of the plan realized a steady and handsome income.

At the end of the month the agent would call at each house, take off the old filter, attach the other end to the faucet, set a clean glass under it, turn on the water and show the lady a glass filled with impurities. That would settle it. She would at once hand over another 10 cents for a fresh filter, and the agent would proceed to the next house.

Between 5,000 and 6,000 filters were thus kept rented, the old ones refilled with fresh material, and the man who used this plan and a little money not only saved hundreds of lives, but cleared up over $13,000 for himself in three years’ time.

PLAN No. 33. CLIPS PERSONAL NOTICES FROM NEWSPAPER

Not the big press clipping bureau, with its elaborately furnished offices and scores of employes, but one which any energetic young man or woman may start in a small way, and earn more than a comfortable living, while increasing the scope and revenues of the business. Here is how a bright young fellow did it:

Realizing the pride and vanity many people feel in seeing their names in print, and calculating on their curiosity as well, he subscribed for a number of papers in near-by cities and towns, and pays particular attention to the personal paragraph columns of them all.

He carefully notes the name and address of any person named in these paragraphs and sends him or her a letter stating that their name was mentioned in a newspaper on a certain day, adding that it might be of interest to the person named, and that he will send the clipping for 25 cents.

Curiosity alone will impel most people to send the small amount required to obtain the article in question and this young man received seven orders and remittances from every ten letters he mails out. To mail fifty letters per day would cost him $1 for postage, and to fill the thirty-five orders received, $1.05 more, or a total expense of $2.05. He would receive $8.75, and his profit would be $6.70 a day.

PLAN No. 34. PUBLISHING A COOK BOOK

There are cook books and cook books, but we know of only one in which thousands of housewives, who contributed recipes to it, took that deep personal interest which made them feel that each one positively must buy a copy of it.

This one was thought out by a young man in a middle western state, and literally “takes the cake”--and the cash.

If there is any place where the ordinary woman likes to see her name in print, outside of the society columns of a Sunday newspaper, it is in a book, and especially in a cook book.

This young man was aware of this fact, and out of his knowledge he evolved a plan that paid him many thousands of dollars. First, he obtained from directories and mailing lists the names of several thousand women, and mailed to each one a letter, stating that he was about to publish a cook book, and asking them to send in such recipes as they personally knew to be exceptionally good. He told them that each woman so contributing would be paid a royalty, based upon actual sales of the book, and also have her name and address printed in it. The price of the book was to be $2.00 per copy, but those contributors willing to waive all claims to royalty would be supplied at $1.00 per copy.

He also offered each contributor a commission of 50 cents on every sale of the book she made. The letter was carefully written, and brought answers and recipes in a perfect avalanche, practically all the letters contained orders for a book, so that he knew it would require 10,000 copies to fill all the orders.

Then he got busy with the national advertisers, manufacturers of, and dealers in, kitchen specialties, household supplies, flour and yeast dealers, etc., and, having proved to them that his first edition would be 10,000 copies, he secured advertising enough to pay the entire cost of publishing the book.

PLAN No. 35. GOOD SAFETY RAZORS FOR 25 CENTS

You know, as does everybody else, that $5.00 is too much for any safety razor ever made. A western man who found himself a cripple for life, and had to earn his living or starve, perfected a plan for supplying the best kind of a safety razor for 25 cents, and made a permanent income for himself and family. He wrote a good circular letter, in which he asked the reader to send in his old safety razor, no matter what its make or condition, together with 25 cents, and said that upon its receipt, with 4 cents in stamps to prepay postage, he would send a new safety razor that would give excellent service and be durable, the handle triple-silver plated and highly polished and one Swedish steel blade, well tempered and hand-honed, while extra blades would be supplied at 15 cents for three, postpaid.

He bought safety razors of the kind described, for about 7¹⁄₂ cents each, and made a profit of 17¹⁄₂ cents on each one. A set of these blades cost him, with postage, about 7 cents, and his profit on them was 8 cents.

PLAN No. 36. LISTS OF NAMES FOR ADVERTISERS

Supplying reliable lists of names to magazine advertisers and others would not at first be regarded as a very profitable business, but here is the experience of an Illinois man who made it pay well:

Studying the advertisements in the magazines, he thought of how much these advertisers could save if they were only brought into direct contact with the class of people each one was trying to reach at so great an outlay as magazine space involves.

He thought of a way in which it could be done. He had learned that he could buy the 400-page edition of Webster’s dictionary for 11 cents each with postage of 4 cents each, or a total of 15 cents, in quantities. Then he inserted, through an agency, an ad. in all the country papers for quite a distance around, offering to send a handsome dictionary free in return for a little information which anyone could easily give.

The answers came so fast that he was obliged to send mimeographed letters to those who replied, in which he asked for the names and addresses of all those in the community who were suffering from rheumatism, deafness, or any chronic ailment; also the names of property owners, horse and cattle owners, people with lawns, fruit trees, porches; the names of mothers, prospective mothers, newly married couples, etc., and stated if the information so given proved authentic, he would later arrange to pay them on a cash basis for other names, though the dictionary would be sent for the first lists.

Thousands of names were obtained in this way, and he proceeded to typewrite them, making ten carbon copies of each list, fifty names to the sheet.

He then wrote to each of the advertisers to whom the lists would be valuable, stating that he had obtained the names through his own correspondents in various communities, and offering to send them 1,000 names of those who would be interested in the advertiser’s line, for $5, or 500 names for $3.50.

He invited a trial order first, in order that they might test his service, and nearly all of them responded. In fact, he received more orders than he could well take care of, and the usual result of one day’s work was a net profit of $70. He then branched out on a larger scale, using various articles as premiums.

And this man who had been a clerk on a small salary for years, had only enough money when he started to pay for his advertisement, buy postage stamps, and purchase a typewriter on the instalment plan. He “used his plan”--and won. He never sold the same list to two concerns in the same line.

PLAN No. 37. AUTO INSPECTION SERVICE

“I was a fair auto mechanic, familiar with the mechanism of every machine on the market,” said a man who is now a prosperous dealer in a western city. “But I was out of work, and could not get the kind of job I wanted, so I decided to make one for myself. And I did.

“I called upon some twenty well-to-do owners of cars who did their own driving, but who were not able to locate or remedy many of the little troubles that are certain to happen to all machines, and told them that for $1 per week I would spend an hour each week in their garages, inspecting their autos, adjusting such parts as were even slightly out of order, and doing all small repairs, but furnishing none of the materials required; that I would do square, honest work, and thereby save them many dollars. All but two of these men accepted my offer, and were so well pleased with the results that I soon had a list of fifty regular patrons, and was easily making my $50 a week and more, without the investment of a single cent, except what I had paid for my kit of tools.

“Of course, for extra work I made a reasonable additional charge, and later I arranged with a supply house to furnish me with extra parts of equipment, which netted me a nice little profit besides my regular income as auto inspector.”

PLAN No. 38. A 5c AND 10c GROCERY STORE

Of course, everybody knows all about the 5- and 10-cent notion stores that have made millionaires of their owners, but who ever heard, until now, of a 5- and 10-cent grocery store?