"Well," here broke in Fellows quietly, "I may be mistaken, but I believe that trading stamps are an outgrowth of inefficiency and laziness on the part of retail merchants. Of course, the people who sell trading stamps get value for their money, but the retailer and the consumer both pay for it. The retailer pays for it by losing, let us say, three per cent. on each turn-over of his stock investment. Suppose Mr. Black here turns his stock over five times a year, he is really paying fifteen per cent. of his investment to you people for something which you must admit is not exclusively his. Do you think it is possible for a retail merchant to continue that and live? If it is, he might spend that fifteen per cent. in increasing the quality of his store service rather than to pay it to an outside organization to supply a substitute for it. One thing is sure--no merchant can pay fifteen per cent. on his investment and stand that expenditure himself. If he handles the stamps, why, up go his prices, wherever he can manage it, to make the consumer pay for them. "I am sure you will agree with me that in the end it is the consumer who pays the freight. This whole proposition looks to me like selling a man a sack of flour, and then making him pay for the sack of flour and a half dozen collars or a pair of suspenders besides. He doesn't want those collars or suspenders, mind you, but they are included with the purchase price, and, whether he takes them or not, he has to pay for them." Bulder leaned back with a patronizing air. "My young friend," he said to Fellows, "you talk _very_ interestingly, but the things you say are _mere_ generalities. You have not given a _single_ concrete fact showing where the trading stamps would hurt our friend here, while I have _already_ given Mr. Black a _number_ of cases, which he can easily verify for himself, of merchants who _have_ improved their business by trading stamps. "My proposition to Mr. Black is that he tries the stamps for a year, and if he does not find"--and here he tapped the table impressively with his fingers--"if he does not find that they have _actually_ increased his business, why then we will call the deal off. We will risk--_gladly_ risk--all the _heavy_ expenditures of working with Mr. Black. We will risk the lost prestige to ourselves of having a dealer give up our _splendid_ offer; and I do this, Mr. Fellows, because I _know_ from past experience--not from mere theories--that Garter stamps will mean an _increased profit_ to Mr. Black." "Would you supply any other line of business in this town, Mr. Bulder?" asked Fellows quietly.