“This thing worries me,” he said. “I can’t see through it. I think I’ll take a run over to Oshkook and have a talk with Barker & Smith.”
“I wouldn’t,” said Joe, his pride up in arms. “We don’t want to go begging for their business. We quoted ’em a good rate. If they don’t want our stuff at that let ’em go to the devil.” He was sore and stiff-necked, as is the wont of youth when things go wrong.
But the older man persisted:
“I don’t care so much that we lost the contract; I want to find out, if I can, why we lost it. I know we weren’t underbid, and I want to know why they lied about it. It isn’t a case of soliciting business; it’s a case of finding out why we don’t get what’s coming to us, and that’s a mighty vital question to any concern. We’ve sold Barker & Smith before, and never had any friction. We can’t afford to ride the high horse just now. There’s something behind this, and it’s up to us to find out what.”
Kent recognized the force of the argument. “I was wrong. Go ahead and find out all you can.”
Wright took train for Oshkook and dropped into Barker & Smith’s office. Barker was out, and he saw Smith.
“I called about the lumber we quoted you a price on,” said Wright.
“Oh, that?” said Smith, who was plainly uneasy. “Yes. Let’s see! We didn’t come to terms, did we?”
“No, we didn’t.” said Wright. “We quoted you a price that left us practically no margin. I don’t see how any one could give a lower quotation. In fact, I wouldn’t have believed it possible if your letter hadn’t said so. I tell you whoever underbid us will lose money by it, or else you’ll get poor stuff.”
“We won’t accept poor stuff,” said Smith. “As to whether the other people lose money or not, that’s their affair. I presume they know their own business.”