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Page 24
24INTERIOR DECORATING
elements and combining new features with the best already there. Then he returns to the office to select what seem to him suitable articles from stock, or to consult one of the designers about drawing up sketches for new things. He may submit for consideration fabrics from the shelves, or he may take his client to the fabric houses for selection. In either case, his judgment is relied upon for the determination of .what is " right." The head of the large establishment is cheerfully oblivious to what is going on, for he, like old King Cole, is busy in his counting house, counting out his money, or at any rate, making out bills, looking up credits, examining profits and the rest of the important routine. He only becomes interested in Mr. Salesman A when that accomplished person turns in his order.
It is for this reason that when Mrs. X comes to me at a late stage, or after she has spent one or two or five thousand on her room, which remains unsatisfactory and unliveable, and tells me that the man from So et So's told her this or that, I meekly inquire: " My dear madame, when you buy dress goods at Altaian's do you follow the advice of the twelve-dollar-a-week saleslady? Then why ask a salesman pure and simple for advice on decorating? "
The system is obviously wrong. I have tried to show that big business in decoration must exist; that it is right and beneficial to the client, that it should exist; that in order to manufacture profitably and reasonably, large orders and numerous orders must be forthcoming. And I have been trying to fathom how this can be accomplished without completely commer-
Page 24a
A living room with furniture suggestive of the Italian Renaissance. The library table is backed by a sofa on either side.
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