SILVER POLISH

There are a great many silver polishes on the market--pastes, powders, soaps and liquids, variously composed--and, unlike some other lines, most of them do their work more or less satisfactorily, but it is best to avoid laying in a large stock of any new brand, no matter how good it may be, unless it is manufactured by a firm financially strong. The reason for this advice is, that it is possible to enter the polish-making business with a minimum capital, and, as a result, new concerns are continually starting up, only to fail after a short period for want of enough money to work with--leaving the merchant with a lot of "dead" stock. It may be excellent polish, but the makers are out of business and no one is pushing or advertising it and consequently no one asks for it. Even those customers who have used and liked it, will probably order something newer which another house has commenced to advertise--and there is not much satisfaction in talking up a defunct brand with no future sales in it and with no special reward for the special effort required to get it off the shelves. These remarks may be adapted to quite a number of other items and circumstances! See also JEWELERS' ROUGE.