Jefferson County Online A part of the IAGenWeb and USGenWeb Projects The 'Madegood Family' William S. Cromer

"The Fairfield Daily Ledger"
Fairfield, Iowa
Thursday, May 21, 1925
Front Page and Page 3

NO. 15--WILLIAM SAMUEL CROMER

"Ah" you exclaim, knocking somebody's tire."

True, the gentleman has a hammer in his hand and he is undoubtedly making some remarks about the tire. But he isn't knocking it. Not William Samuel Cromer. He isn't that kind of a bird. Anyway, the tire chances to be a Goodyear, and it may be emphasized right here that whatever remarks William Samuel has to make about Goodyear tires are all to the good.

When it comes to selling his own tires William doesn't do anything so crude as to knock the other fellows; he's too canny for that. He will listen patiently to your bragging about your favorite brand of tires, agree with you on every point about them and admit they are a mighty good tire. Then he'll unlimber on his line of Goodyear stuff and show you where it's an even better tire than your favorite. In fact, admitting that your tire is 100 percent perfect, he'll go on to show that his Goodyears are 150 percent perfect.

From this you will gather that William Samuel Cromer is engaged in the business of selling tires. He is--and he sells 'em. He'll sell you a new tire just as cheerfully as he'll repair your old one. He's accommodating And if you look like a chap who had the money to buy new tires it will astonish you how many holes and weak places he can show you in your old ones.

'Twas five or six years ago Willian (sic) Samuel came to Fairfield and opened his tire store. Had a well equipped shoe repair business in connection--electric machinery and all that kind of new-fangled things. But the shoe business was to be merely a sideline; William's ambition was to sell tires. But, as the tire business didn't develop very fast he stuck to his shoemaker's last and kept pegging away. He kept pegging while he waited for the tire business to grow. Well, it grew and is now quite a healthy business, thank you. And it shows that things will come to a fellow if he keeps pegging away and doesn't get cold feet.

With his automobile tire business, and his shoe repair business you see William is rather playing both ends against the middle. Whether you ride or walk he makes it his business to make the going easier, and more economical. So, whether our life's walk is a trudge or a joy ride, 'tis all the same, he makes it easier for us.

Any time you are in the Cromer store and chance to get so excited about something that you begin to make some wild statements, and say things you can't prove, just count two and then shut up like an oyster. For it may be that William Samuel is over in the corner making seemingly idle scratches on a box nd (sic) or a scrap of paper. If he is, there is a chance the big talk you have made may some time later walk up and choke you. For it happens that this chap Cromer is an expert shorthand shark. Yeh, worked at the craft for fifteen years in some of the big factory offices at Nashville, St .Louis (sic) and over in Illinois.

William was born a Hoosier at quite an early age. That wasn't so bad but he made the mistake of going to Missouri. Opened a shoe store there and actually remained several years. He was more fortunate than Manuel Greenup however, who said he lived in Missouri fifteen years before he could "escape." William Samuel got his freedom quicker than that. He had the good judgment to come to Iowa where he is doing his best to live down his misstep.

As stated, the tire business was rather hard sleding for a time but William Samuel has the foresight to see that if automobiles kept on killing pedestrians his shoe repair subiness was going to be shot to pieces. So he stuck to the tires, firm in the belief that eventually there would be more of them sold than shoes, and that they would require ever so much more repair work. His judgement was good and he finds that the average man now uses five tires to one pair of shoes. Naturally he's selling a goodly portion of the tires.

'Twas only just a few months ago, however, that busines (sic) became so good that William Samuel could afford the luxury of a few months illness. So he's taking a vacation; incidentally, he's also taking about 57 varieties of doctor's dope. But he drifts down to the store about every day just to keep himself in practise talking Goodyear tires. At home he has a dummy rigged up in the basement to which he talks tires in idle hours, but he says there ain't much of a kick to that because the dummy never disputes him, so he prefers to come to the store and work on live ones. Now when a fellow who is that enthusiastic talks tires to us we're going to sit up and listen. And that's all William Samuel asks.