believe that if I had done that I would have made a failure of my enterprise.

"In July, 1886, I went to New York to open an office-a sort of purchasing agency. I first took desk room at No. 104 Chambers Street, for which I paid $25 a month. I did without a stenographer or assistant. I did all the work myself; bought the supplies and arranged for the shipping of all the goods for my stores in Lancaster, Reading, Harrisburg, Scranton, and Newark. While doing this I was learning, learning all the time, and pretty soon I began to see that I was devoting the time of a high-priced man to details that should have been entrusted to clerks. I was the high-priced man.

"No one ever had more to learn than I, and as I look back on my business experience it seems to me that sometimes I was mighty slow in learning my lessons. I knew that it was necessary to have the right location, if a five and ten cent store was to succeed, yet after various failures I permitted a store to be located in Newark in a part of that city where success was impossible. That store never paid, and after a little time it was transferred to Erie, Pa. There everything went well, and a few months later stores were opened in Buffalo and Lockport, N. Y.

"By that time the five and ten cent field looked so large that Mr. Knox, my partner, desired to enter the field for himself. I sold to him the stores in Erie, Buffalo, and Lockport, and he associated himself with Mr. E. M. Charlton as a partner. They soon opened stores in Fall River and Taunton, Mass. Later on they took the five and ten cent stores to Canada and to the Pacific Coast.

"In the meantime my brother took over the store in Scranton, and later took in Mr. F. M. Kirby as his partner. They opened stores in Wilkes-Barre and then spread west and south so that the field was pretty well occupied.

"We were all doing business on the correct principle, buying goods legitimately, paying cash for them and selling them for cash at a small profit. The result was what it always must be in such circumstances: we all prospered, and though little attention was paid to us for a great

many years we were building up a business of wonderful proportions.

"One of the most fortunate moves that I ever made was in opening my first Lancaster store. Any one who can succeed in Lancaster, or particularly any one who could have succeeded in Lancaster at the time I went there, could succeed anywhere. From the American point of view Lancaster a quarter of a century ago was the deadest town in the country, but no panic ever scotched Lancaster.

"During the panic that swept the United States from 1893 to 1896 Lancaster did not know that business conditions were in any manner disturbed.

"Yes, from the American point of view it was a dead town, but from a sane, human point of view Lancaster was the safest town in America.

"Dutch farmers moved into Lancaster and went into business the safe business that is characteristic of their race. They ran their stores on the same policy for more than half a century; they did not progress, except as a tree progresses in size. They grew wealthy slowly, but surely. They never went into debt; they always paid for what they bought, and paid with cash. They bought at the lowest price, and they bought not a cent's worth more than they actually needed. When they put money in the bank salted it away — it was put away to stay. There were no liens on anything they owned.

"These Dutch farmers taught me to manage my own business and never to let my business manage me. It was from them that I learned to make the branch stores stand or fall according to their own value. Every town had to support its own store. I never permitted my system of stores to bear burdens that should legitimately fall upon a single store.

"My first establishment in Lancaster was opened in Queen Street. Now Queen Street, like every other street, has two sides and, as often happens, one side of Queen Street was regarded as a far better side than the other. Most of the prosperous stores were on that side. Most of the customers walked on that side. Rents were higher over there. I got a fairly good location on the right side of the

street, right among the crowd, and I had to pay a high rent. The store caught on at the start. The crowd could not get away from that enticing sign —"Five Cents." "All the time I had my eye on the 'wrong side' of the street, where property was cheap. There was no good reason why that side should play second fiddle, if only it had fair treatment. The sidewalk was just as good, and it caught just as much of God's sunshine as the other side of the street.

"After my general business had become almost immoderately successful I began to have designs on the wrong side of Queen Street. It became an obsession with me. Without saying much to any of my friends I bought enough property on a corner to erect a building that would overshadow everything, not only in Lancaster, but in that part of Pennsylvania. Now, I had been indulging myself in a dream. Lancaster had done much for me, and I intended to do something in return for Lancaster.

"Modern America was growing up all around Lancaster, and it just had to move forward. When my thrifty Dutch friends learned of my plans for a great building, they wagged their heads and assured me that it would never pay. They regarded it as a most daring speculation. One of my oldest and best friends suggested that my mind had given away under the stress of too much work.

"The thing that most pleased me was that the business immediately swung over to what had been the wrong side of the street. The wrong side of Queen Street was now the right side it was the fashionable side and it was the prosperous side. Things grew so rapidly over there that I had to add to my new building before it was completed. I did that to accommodate a restaurant that the public demanded.

"I was unknown when I first came to New York, and none of the wholesale houses seemed to be particularly anxious to do business with me. They seemed to expect that I would want a long line of credit. On my first visit I bargained for a big bill of goods, and afterward learned that the salesman who served me was

roundly berated by the head of his firm for wasting his time. I was called upon to pay for the goods before they were shipped. I was ready for that bluff, and handed to the cashier a certified check for the full amount. After that this same firm tried at various times to press credit upon me, and it was a long time before they learned that I did business on a cash basis.

"Even in those early days I was turning over an immense amount of goods, and as time passed the volume of business multiplied, and simply because I continued to do business on a cash basis no one but myself had any adequate idea how the five cent store was prospering.

"No longer ago than 1911, and even after several New York bankers were trying to bring about a consolidation of all the five and ten cent stores, nothing was known of our methods. At that time I was much amused by some auditors who had been engaged to investigate the affairs of the Woolworth stores. They asked to see my office force. I pointed out a bookkeeper and his assistant and a few stenographers.

'What!' said one of these auditors. 'You don't mean to say that you do a business that runs into millions with a force like that?'

"'Yes, sir,' said I. 'That is my business force.'

"Show us your bills receivable,' said one of the auditors.

"I have none,' was my reply. They .were amazed.

"Bills payable?'

"'None,' I said. 'I have no bills payable or receivable.'

out, 'There must be something wrong with a business of that size that doesn't owe anything.'

"However, the report of those auditors made the capitalists all the more willing to do business with us.

"In the proposed combination were Mr. Kirby, Mr. Knox, Mr. Charlton, my brother, Mr. C. S. Woolworth, and myself, besides a few owners of stores of less importance. When I first suggested to Mr. Knox and Mr. Kirby that it might be a good idea to consolidate all the five and ten cent interests, they could not see the advantage. They were all doing well enough. It had been an unwritten law with us, and one that was never violated, that we should not invade one another's territory. The country was big enough. We kept apart and prospered, and so they could not see what advantage there would be to them in a consolidation. I attempted to explain that our heirs - and we must all have heirs sooner or later - would have no fixed valuation upon which to base our holdings. They saw my point and it was not long before we were all in conference in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Our first hitch came over the capitalization.

"I was opposed to any suggestion of water in the stock; refused to consent to a capitalization of $100,000,000, and suggested that we call in some bankers to fix valuations. The others thought that we could run things better without any outside interference. We went back and forth, and finally it was decided to make it a $50,000,000 corporation, based on business done in 1910, which, by the way, had reached that amount.

"In the meantime I had been sounding bankers and some of the downtown financial leaders. Several big banking houses knew enough of the business we were doing to be anxious to get hold of the preferred stock. Goldman Sachs & Co. were among the keenest. Mr. Pierson, president of the Irving National Bank, a warm personal and business friend of mine, thought that the new corporation should be floated by Mr. J. P. Morgan.

"I told Mr. Pierson that Mr. Morgan would not look at our five and ten cent business. Mr. Pierson thought otherwise,

however, and with my consent called on one of Mr. Morgan's partners, asking him if Mr. Morgan would be interested in a new industrial.

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'Mr. Morgan would not be interested in an industrial; but what is it?'

"Mr. Pierson briefly outlined the plan for the consolidation of the five and ten cent interests of the country. Mr. Morgan's partner laughed.

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'Well,' said Mr. Pierson, 'if you will meet me at luncheon to-morrow I will tell you something about the five and ten cent business that will astonish you.'

"Mr. Morgan's partner was too busy. Several days later, however, he caught the scent. He called Mr. Pierson by telephone and attempted to make a dinner engagement, telling him that Mr. Morgan might be interested in the industrial after all. Mr. Pierson came to me, but by that time I had practically promised Goldman Sachs & Co. that they might have the first option. That is how Mr. Morgan failed to float our securities and Goldman Sachs & Co. took it up.

"Much has been said about the Woolworth Building, and though that structure had been taking form in my mind for a great many years, and though it is, as I have said, the result of one of my day dreams, I must in all honesty admit that it did not exactly originate with me.

"While in Europe a few years ago, whereever I went the men with whom I came in contact asked me about the Singer Building and its famous tower. That gave me an idea. I decided to erect a building that would advertise the Woolworth five and ten cent stores all over the world. I kept thinking about it, and finally, when the opportunity seemed to be right, I went ahead with my plans."

Mr. Woolworth did not wish to speak at greater length about the Woolworth Building and the manner in which it was brought into existence, but from another source I heard its story.

In 1910, the Irving National Bank, of which Mr. Pierson is president and in which Mr. Woolworth is interested, desired to strengthen its position. Negotiations were entered into looking to the absorption of the New York Exchange Bank which

was, in a sense, its competitor for business. The deal see-sawed back and forth until one day Mr. Pierson went to his friend Mr. Woolworth, much dejected because he feared that the consolidation of the two banks could not be brought about.

"What is the matter?" was Mr. Woolworth's quiet inquiry. One who was present at this conference says that Mr. Woolworth at the time reminded him of a countryman sitting on a cracker barrel in a cross-roads store, whittling and talking neighborhood gossip.

"What is the matter?" he inquired in the softest, most matter-of-fact manner.

"Why," said Mr. Pierson, "one of the largest stockholders of the Irving National fears that we are not strong enough to shoulder more than we are now carrying. This consolidation startles him."

"Well, now," said Mr. Woolworth, "I don't blame him much. I know his kind very well. Lancaster is full of just such men. Probably that fellow is all right, he just needs someone to put a little strength into his spine."

Mr. Woolworth for years has made. "situations" serve purposes of his own. As he talked with Mr. Pierson the Singer Building tower was in his mind's eye. After telling Mr. Pierson that he would consider the matter and see him later about it, he went out into the street and began walking up and down Broadway. He looked at the crowds, watched them as they turned into side streets, and saw where the traffic was the most dense.

Mr. Woolworth noticed they were tearing down the old Tweed office building at the corner of Broadway and Reade Street. Then he walked on and, after standing for half an hour watching the crowds turn from Broadway into Park Place, called up a real estate dealer and found that he could buy the corner plot, 75 feet by 125 feet, for about $750,000. He directed his real estate broker to obtain an option, returned to Mr. Pierson's office, and told the banker that he would take the additional stock necessary to make the consolidation of the two banks a success if the bank would move up to Broadway and take quarters in a building that he proposed to erect at the corner of Park Place.

That sounded good to Mr. Pierson, and the details were quickly arranged. Mr. Woolworth proposed that the bank should carry a mortgage for $1,000,000 on the new building; he would furnish the remaining $500,000. The building was to cost $1,500,000.

The deal was taken up by the board of directors of the bank. Now Mr. Woolworth doesn't believe much in boards of directors. In his opinion they always complicate matters and kill more good business deals than they put through.

The board of directors of the bank was grave, exceedingly grave. Some of its members were timid. The mathematician figured that if the bank moved up to Broadway it would lose about a million dollars in deposits from those who did business on the West Side. Mr. Woolworth figured the bank would gain about two million dollars in deposits by moving to Broadway.

Meanwhile he moved right ahead with the plans for his new building. He obtained an option on a small piece of property adjoining that which first came under his control, and then tried to purchase the second Broadway corner of the plot, fronting on Barclay Street. The owners of that corner demanded $1,500,000 for it. Mr. Woolworth refused to pay the price. A little later he added a third piece of real estate to his holdings, a bit of ground that fronted on Barclay Street, and in this manner isolated the corner.

Mr. Cass Gilbert was employed to prepare the architectural drawings. While these deals were being made the Metropolitan Tower had been run into the air, overtopping the Singer Building. Mr. Woolworth, determined to have the advertising value that would come with the highest structure in Manhattan, hired an engineer to measure the Metropolitan Tower. He reported that it was exactly 701 feet 3 inches high. Mr. Woolworth instructed his architect to prepare plans for a tower that would overtop the Metropolitan.

The United States Steel Corporation wanted the advertising that would result from the Woolworth Building. It bid to furnish the completed steel structure at a price that was astonishingly low. The entire transaction was carried through on

a mere letter of a few words, written by Judge Gary, chairman of the board of directors of that corporation. Mr. Woolworth says that his building is the cheapest big building of its character ever erected in New York City. Competent engineers say, too, that it is the most substantially built structure of modern time. Had a hard and fast contract been drawn, it is quite probable that the Woolworth Building would have cost much more than it did. Its steel work is based upon a "gentlemen's agreement."

Meanwhile the directorate of the Irving National Bank was afraid to take the chance that was offered by Mr. Woolworth. The bank would shoulder $500,000 of the burden, but no more. With his usual cheerfulness Mr. Woolworth picked up the other $500,000 and added it to what he had taken on before.

Just about this time the owners of the lower Broadway corner met Mr. Woolworth's figures, and so the architect was

compelled to reconstruct all his plans. The tower, which was to have been erected at the Park Place corner, and for which a foundation had been built 125 feet into the ground, was shifted to the centre of the Broadway frontage.

"How high do you want the tower now?" asked Mr. Gilbert.

"How high can you make it?" Mr. Woolworth asked in reply.

"It is for you to make the limit," said Mr. Gilbert.

"Then make it fifty feet higher than the Metropolitan Tower."

Mr. Gilbert ordered the foundations that had been set for the centre of the building to be drilled out, shafts were sunk far deeper into the ground, heavier foundations were put in, and the Woolworth Building to-day stands fifty feet higher than any other building in the world. Thus another of Mr. Woolworth's dreams has come true.

A

BY

LARGE, completely equipped laboratory for soil analysis and pot culture is housed in the conservatories of a private home in St. Paul, Minn. It contains all necessary apparatus for making a chemical study of the farm soils of the Northwest, to determine what treatment, if any, they need to raise them to maximum productivity; and 1,200 metal pots filled with experimental plant growth, by which these analyses may be verified or corrected. This modern plant is a concrete answer to the demand for a more intimate application of scientific methods to the farm.

The Great Northern Railway Company began some time ago to plan practical measures for the improvement of agriculture in the Northwest. No agricultural college or experiment station within reach. was equipped for such comprehensive investigations as it desired to make. The facilities of the Wisconsin Agricultural School are near enough to be available, but the work could not have been done there in time to apply its results to the coming season's crops. To avoid delay, Mr. James J. Hill placed the greenhouses of his residence at the service of the company's agricultural extension department. In them have been under way, for months