; a story that has
to do with (let us say, to avoid hurting any susceptibilities) the sale
of tin-tacks to Japan. And whether the story is true or not, it is at
least well found.

England, then, had had for years a monopoly of the sale of tin-tacks to
the Japanese, when a trader in Japan became impressed with the fact that
the traffic was badly handled. The tacks came out from England in
packages made to suit the needs of the English market. They were
labelled, quite truthfully of course, "Best English Tacks," and each
package contained an ounce, two ounces, or four ounces in weight, and
was priced in plain figures at so much in English money. The trader had
continual trouble with those packages. His customers were always wanting
them to be split up. They wanted two or three _sen_ worth--not four
pennyworth; also they did not care about ounces. So the trader, starting
for a visit to England, had some labels written in Japanese characters,
and when he arrived in England he went to the manufacturers and
explained matters. He showed them the labels that he had had written and
said:

"The Japanese trade is worth considering and worth taking some little
trouble to retain; but the people dislike your present packages and I
have to spend most of my time splitting up packages and counting tacks.
If you will make your packages into two thirds of an ounce each and put
a label like that on them, you will be giving the people what they want
and can understand, and it will save a lot of trouble all around."

But the manufacturers, one after another, shook their heads. They could
not read the label. They never had put any such outlandish stuff on
anything going out of their works, nor had their fathers before them.
The Japanese ought to be satisfied with the fact that they were getting
the Best English Tacks and not be unreasonable about it. And the trader
exhausted himself with argument and became discouraged.

He returned to Japan _via_ the United States, and stopped to see the
nearest tack-manufacturer. He showed him the label and told his story.

"Looks blamed queer!" said the manufacturer, "but you say that's what
they want out there? Let's catch a Jap and see if he can read the
thing."

So a clerk was sent out to fetch a Japanese, which he did.

"How' do, John?" said the manufacturer to the new arrival. (Chinese and
Japanese alike were all "John" to the American until a few years ago.)
"You can read that, eh?"

The Ja