To compensate him for capital invested, for the expense of doing business and for the losses he incurs in bad debts and declining markets, the jobber probably obtains a gross return of fifteen cents on each one hundred pounds of sugar he sells. The next important link in the chain is the retailer. It is roughly estimated that there are three hundred thousand retail grocers in the United States, many of whom handle and distribute almost as many articles as the jobber. Their lot on the whole is not cast in pleasant places, because of the severe competition they meet in selling their goods. Competition is a word regarded almost with affection by the buyer, but for the seller of goods it is probably the most unpleasant one in the English language. There is an old axiom which reads: “Competition is the life of trade.” It may be so, but the expression was no doubt coined by a buyer. Among sellers, competition is in direct proportion to the number engaged in any particular business. It therefore follows that as there are three hundred thousand retailers in the United States, and hundreds in each of all the large cities, the struggle to keep on their feet and continue their various enterprises must be severe. The number of failures occurring every year amply substantiates this assertion. Reckless and unscrupulous men engage in every business, and the competition thus forced on all others in their line is not only unfair, but positively dishonest. Any individual can break a price or introduce new and expensive experiments in selling terms, which must be followed with equally attractive terms by the other sellers, thus resulting in great loss to all. It is no satisfaction that such men finally fail and go out of business, for the losses sustained in the interim can never be recovered. Another grave difficulty with which the retailer has to contend is the fact that the average individual to whom he delivers his wares is apt to be rather callous when pay-day comes around. It is sad, but true, that those best able to pay are sometimes the most unsatisfactory customers of the retail grocer. A retailer’s expense of doing business is proportionately much greater than that of the wholesaler, and his losses, due to bad or uncollectible accounts, are much heavier. The cost of delivering goods to the consumer’s door is high, and a fact that should be remembered, but which is frequently overlooked, is that it costs the grocer just as much to deliver a five-pound package of sugar as a wagon-load. Householders are proverbially careless, and telephone calls for late and urgent deliveries are a source of great annoyance and expense.