The profit is so small that stocks must be turned many times a year in order to make the net earnings of a year's sufficient to secure to the business merchant and his family a good living. Often overhead expenses are so great in the kind and amount of service given that profit in many transactions either disappears or is reduced to 2 percent or 3 percent. One of the most successful merchants in the west has a fixed policy for his wares, prices that will return to him a net profit of 4 percent. What person in the west would be willing to lend his money at four percent securities that are not more stable than a retail business? The public mind in this matter is entirely wrong if it has been influenced to believe that retail merchants do not pay in the Portland Evening Telegram. A fellow wants to fight when his wife tells him she found a dollar when she was pressing his trousers. Liberately give short weight, poor quality, niggardly service at exorbitant prices. Meat, shoes, suits, and other commodities are supplied by the retail dealer in the best of quality at the lowest prices at which stores can be kept open. We do not believe that anywhere people can dress better, eat better, and get better service for less money than in Moscow. 