ANOTHER REPLY.
The reply
of the agent of the Red Cross Stoves in this place to the challenge of Buck
& Hubbard to "a competitive test" as to the comparative merits of
the Red Cross and Howe Ventilating Stoves, seem to make it necessary that the
Howe Ventilating Stove Company, as a company, should reply to some of the
charges made by him.
We have
read the challenge of Buck & Hubbard, and must say that we did not
discover anything like a personal "attack" on any one, nor a
single word as to the merits or demerits of the Red Cross stoves; but on the
other hand, a perfectly fair business proposition and the best possible opportunity
for the agent of the Red Cross stoves to demonstrate in public all the points of
superiority which the Red Cross possesses, if it has any.
As to the
first charge that the company are masquerading under cover of Buck & Hubbard, their reply is sufficient answer. To the
second count in the indictment we plead guilty. "Fresh Air and Ventilation"
is our hobby, and we claim to deal more largely in these two important elements
in sanitary heating than any other company manufacturing stoves. As to the question
of leaking gas, we will simply say that we will give Buck & Hubbard the privilege
of making that one of the points to be considered in the proposed test, as an actual
test will go much farther to prove the truth or falsity of any such claim
than a waste of words.
To the
third charge, that a similar challenge appeared in the Metal Worker, and
also in Stoves and Hardware, the two leading trade papers published in the interests
of the hardware and stove trade and used as advertising mediums by nearly all
the leading manufacturers of stoves, we also plead guilty. In this challenge,
no particular stove or manufacturer was mentioned, but it was "free for
all," open to all comers, a challenge to "any manufacturer claiming to
make a Ventilating Stove, and so far no manufacturer of stoves has signified
his willingness to meet us in it test.
As to the
question of patents, we claim to-day as we always have claimed, that the Howe
stove is the only stove made that is a ventilator, in fact, and that we
own and control the patents which cover the only successful application
of the principle of ventilation in stoves known to-day. What the inventive
genius and wisdom of the future may develop, we do not know. That we make no misrepresentation of fact in
this statement is proven by the great ventilating capacity of our stoves as
shown by actual scientific tests, conducted by experts whose reputation and
integrity are so far above reproach that no one dare question their reports,—and
secondly, that neither any stove manufacturer nor the agent of the Red Cross
dare meet us in a test.
In
relation to the next charge made, we deny most emphatically that this company ever
threatened Mr. Smith with prosecution for selling, or any person in Cortland for
using a Red Cross stove, and this company will bring no action against Mr. Smith or the manufacturers of the
Red Cross stove until they make a ventilator and this we claim they never have done. We never have known or
heard of the manufacturers or the Red
Cross stove making any claim whatever that their stove was a ventilator, except
through their agent in this place, when it became necessary to do something to
meet the competition of the Howe Ventilator. If the Red Cross is a ventilator, the opportunity has been given its
representative to prove it and is
still open if he wishes to accept it.
As to the
misrepresentation charged in relation to the premium awarded at the Jefferson
County Fair, we submit the following: We sent Mr. E. M. Davis, a traveling
salesman of the company to Watertown to take charge of an exhibit of Howe stoves
at the Jefferson County Fair and on his return to the office he stated that he had
taken the first premium at the fair, and it was on his statement that it was so
reported in the Standard.
On
writing to Mr. D. A. Wait, our agent in Watertown, we find that while Mr. Davis
made his report in good faith he was mistaken. Mr. Wait reports to us that the
society did not give, and never has given, premiums for stoves, but that all
the stoves exhibited had "First Prize" cards placed on them on the
last day of the fair. Mr. Davis, having our exhibit in a building removed from
all other stove exhibits, did not see the card placed on other stoves and took
it for granted that "first prize" meant "first premium."
With testimonials such as we have from some of the highest scientific authorities
in the country, we certainly would not claim a premium at a county fair which
we did not believe had actually been awarded us.
In
relation to the stoves in the Odd Fellows' Lodge, the answer of Messrs. Buck
& Hubbard is sufficient.
It will
probably be amusing to most of the people to be told that the Howe Ventilator
has nothing to lose in case of defeat, for if our trade in Cortland has been
ruined as the Red Cross representative asserts, it will be very hard to make the public believe that the
manufacturers of the Red Cross stoves, and all other manufacturers of stoves,
would not use the report of the test against us in every town where the Howe
stoves are sold. If, on the other hand, we should be the winners in a competitive
test such as proposed, we are frank enough to say that we should use the fact to
as good advantage as possible. We presume it will also puzzle the public to see
how the Howe Ventilating Stove Co. could "lie" Mr. Smith—to use his own
words—"out of the reputation which the Red Cross Stove has," whatever
it may be, in a test conducted by a wholly disinterested person whose integrity
could not be questioned. It would be the report of the expert in charge and not
any claim of ours.
In conclusion
we will only say that if the gentleman believes that the Red Cross is a
"perfect ventilator," and the Howe stove is not; that the Howe stove "leaks
gas" and the Red Cross does not; that the Howe stove requires "a coal
mine to feed it," and the Red Cross does not, we shall expect to see him
attempt to prove these statements, as these are exactly the points which the
proposed test is to cover; but if he does not believe his own statements on these points he probably will
persist in his refusal to accept the challenge of Messrs. Buck & Hubbard.
THE HOWE
VENTILATING STOVE CO.
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