THE STATE
Роде
Seven
The “Hill Billies” Made Good
TWO yon ii
Ц
nu*n were broke
in 1934. They engaged in a
line of work with whieh they
were acquainted and this
year they are doing a hun¬
dred thousand dollar busi¬
ness.
Ky C. R. ROSS
A portion of the workers who are employed in the handi¬
craft plant of Messrs. Liner and Underwood at Lake
Junaluska.
IT wn* in April. 1931. llanly Liner
nnd Chari» Underwood, of I<ake
Junaliukn. found themselves out
of work and broke.
Instead of
м
government re¬
lief. they made up their minds to rely
upon their own efforts, to they went
to work making handicraft articles.
They put up
я
little workshop in
я
comer of Jeriy Liner’s lumber plant,
using Jerry’» tools and machinery.
Jerry i* a brother of Hardy's.
The two — Hardy Liner and Charles
Underwood — bought their first supply
of lumber, glue, varnish nnd other
materials on credit and proceeded to
make their first lot of handicraft
articles. These Mr. Liner loaded into
hi* half-ton truck nnd | «-.Idled them
out in the surrounding country. With
the money thus obtained, he and Mr.
Underwood paid their debts nnd got
together a new supply of materials,
repeating the making ami selling pro-
Off to a Good Start
Thi* they did several times more,
and at the end of the month they had
done a five-hundre-l-dollar business.
Kneou raged by this success, the two
men worked harder than ever, confi¬
dent that they could make sum. real
money out of their enterprise. They
continued to enlarge the business a*
fast ns their money would permit.
At the end of seven months, tin-
business had outgrown the comer of
the lumber shop, SO they rented and
moved into a nearby vacant garage,
forty by eighty f«t in sire. They also
purchased their own machinery and
equipment and hired several workmen.
Mr. Underwood superintended the
work in the plant and Mr. Liner aeted
us salesman. The business continued
to grow, requiring more machinery
and more workmen. When the first
year ended in April.
1935, they discov¬
ered that they hail
done business
amounting to
thirty thousand
dollars!
The future of the enterprise appar¬
ently seemed assured and Mr. Under¬
wood nnd Mr. Liner felt that the busi¬
ness was now big enough to have a name
of its own, so they styled themselves
"The Hill Billies.*'
The second year found them «oiling
their handicraft articles far beyond the
territory in which they had started.
Mr. Liner had adopted a direct method
of advertising that brought immediate
results. Instead of advertising in the
newspaper», he «curs'd the names of
reliable firms in resort section» of sev¬
eral states and wrote them, tending
along sample* of work and prise list».
Out of forty-odd *ueh solicitations, he
•ccurcd thirty-seven good order*. Ho
and hit partner were SO well pleased
with this success that they have con¬
tinued this plan of advertising. Be¬
fore their second year had come to a
скис,
they had established a good busi¬
ness in many of the resort communities
of Florida, California, Xew York and
the Xew England states. Traveling
salesmen also were selling their wares
in a number of state».
Hundred Different Articles
Starting with a half-dozm different
article*, the Ilill Billies were making a
hundred during their second year. They
discovered, however, that the low-priced
ones sold the lest, so they began ma¬
joring in those, auch a* letter opener*,
educational ruler», boxes for household
articles, nut and fruit bowls, holders
for letter», paper*, candles, matchc» and
cigarettes and different kinds of tray».
They *old over two hundred thou¬
sand letter opener*, and educational
rulers for advertising purpose-.
When their second year oiled, the
Ilill Billies took stock and discovered
that they had done business amount¬
ing to sixty thousand dollar*. They
had consumed thousands of feet of
lumber and other materials and had
turned loose hundred* of dollar* in
wage* every month to be «pent in the
community.
The third year opened with the Hill
Billies extending their efforts in sev¬
eral directions. They built a finishing
plant to take care of larger order*.
Sometimes the plant ran fourteen
hours a day in order to keep up with
the ruih of work.
The plant was
и
perfect beehive of
industry nnd people were coming from
far and near to look it over. All were
interested in seeing the force of men
at work at their saw», sandpapering
and lacquering machines. The saws
were used in cutting the lumber into
various lengths, sizes and shape». The
sandpapering machine* then smoothed
these and made them ready for glueing
together. Then the lacquering ma¬
chine's pul on the varnish. Xo ham¬
mer» or nails are used.
Success in the Third Year
The third year has already brought
the Hill Billie, some big order* and
shown that the large business house,
of the country are rwogni/.iiig their
good*. For instance, the Montag Sta¬
tionery’ Company of Atlanta bought
(Continued on page fwcnly-fso)
