"Two dollars and ten cents per 1,000 for 22s."

"Why, I can buy here in town for that!"

"I presume you can; we make no money on cartridges; neither do the
jobbers here or anywhere else."

"Well, if you can't beat the houses here, how do you expect to sell
goods?"

"Oh, cartridges are but one item in a very long list, and, profit or
no profit, people must have them."

I always expect a retailer to tell me that I must beat his home
jobber, or he will not buy of me. But I know that this is not often
true. He will not buy of the home jobbers at the same price, for he
feels that he is building up his competitor. I have seen a great many
jobbers who had spent time and money trying to get control of all the
trade in their own city, but I never saw one who did not finally give
up in disgust. It is not human nature to be willing to help build up a
man who is in any way your competitor, and often you would rather pay
a trifle more elsewhere than buy of him. This may not be "business,"
but it is human nature, and there are many places where the latter is
by far the stronger.

I undid my sample roll and showed my revolver samples to Mr. R. Almost
every revolver reminded him of something, and I listened to his
stories with the interest of a man who wanted an order.

"There is no trade in the world so mean as this," said he. "People