Volume 1

Practical grocer : a manual and guide for the grocer, the provision merchant and allied trades / by W.H. Simmonds ; with contributions by specialists, trade experts and members of the trades ; illustrated by a series of separately-printed plates.

  • Simmonds, W. H.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Practical grocer : a manual and guide for the grocer, the provision merchant and allied trades / by W.H. Simmonds ; with contributions by specialists, trade experts and members of the trades ; illustrated by a series of separately-printed plates. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    To quote the report on this subject by a committee appointed by the Edinburgh Merchant Company, the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, and the Leith Chamber of Commerce Scotland and . • • i i r , Commercial (who in 1902 instituted a class tor grocers assistants Training. at the Heriot-Watt College):— “ In the past, not a little credit for the commercial position among the nations to which Scotland has attained is due to the education which was available; but if that position is to be maintained, it is imperative that advance must be made in education commensurate with the requirements of the present time. The com- mittee believe that a sound and sensible education, both- primary and secondary, is the first requisite for the business man.” In the pages which follow an attempt has for the first time been made to construct, or at least lay the foundations of, what a Science of the may be called the Science of the Grocery and Grocery Trade. Provision Trades. In those trades the need of technical training has of late years been markedly shown and constantly insisted upon by leaders of the trades. That the food trade is of primary importance to the community, or that it should be carried on in a way to serve the public’s convenience and safe- guard its health, requires no argument. Almost equally obvious is it that the trader should be acquainted with his trade in all its details. Although his destiny may be to spend the whole of his life in one branch of his calling, he can never count upon this beforehand; therefore if a wise man he will be determined to make his trade knowledge as wide as possible, and, haying mastered his own special branch, to master so far as his circum- stances permit all the branches connected with it. The object of this book is to help him in that endeavour. Anxiety regarding the future is sometimes displayed in this or that branch of trade. “The Passing of the Grocer” has even The Grocer served as a relief from the sea-serpent and the mam- must survive. mot]1 gooseberry in the newspaper “ silly season ”. But a moment’s thought must convince the shallowest observer that in some form or other the trade of distributing food is bound to survive. The people must be fed. Those who distribute their food may or may not continue to be called “ grocers ”—the name is not very ancient and is not bound to survive—but assuredly they will continue to need trade knowledge, the knowledge of groceries and provisions, their qualities, origin, peculiarities of