PATRONAGE SECTION
TO
K TRADES
COUNCILS
COLN.
VOL. 5
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, OCTOBER J5, 190S
XO. 27
HOME
mi
m n7 f? fo
V
IMT YOUR TRADE
Why Build Up Outside Concerns and
Tear Down Your Home
Trading Point.
By Buying Your Goods
Increase Your Home Values But
Reduce Your Taxes.
The
Home Merchants Want Your Trade and
the Best Grade of Goods as Cheap as
Mail Order House on Earth.
(OOl'YRIGn fEI BY D. W. RE3D)
In the past two decades many ques
tions have risen which are taxing the
ingenuity of the best Intellects among
the political and Industrial economists
i t the day to solve.
Kvlls that are gigantic in their
s-cope, which are far-reaching in their
fleci, and which are subtle in the
injury to the public and private weal
that they do, have grown up to tor
ment the people.
Anions these evils is one that is
r paramount, for the reason that it is
m Insidious la Its workings mat ita
tine Iniquity is concealed from Cia
yes of all except the most thought
full ' This is the Mail Order Houss
evil. It is like the consumption, a
-veritable white plague in the business
v.orld as an exposition of its detri
mental methods, policies and effects
will show.
Do you wish to sustain the legiti-
v tr.ate dealers and enable them to ra
main in business? If so, do you net
c . Vnitu- ih:it It Is imneratlvelv npcessarv
1 '9 tra.le with them?
uo you not snow mat u your raiuer,
rushand. brother or friend is in the
hoe business and you buy groceries
or furniture of & Mail Order House,
the wives and families of the grocery
end furniture stores are equally jus
tified !n buying shoes of a Mail Order
lionse?
If your husband or other relative or
tvlend Is doctor or a lawyer, and
the shoe dealer and other dealers are
creed to assign or retire because you
ltruuise Mail Order Houses, do not
these professional men lose patients
and clients?
rs the reliable dealer being properly
I-ciroaUo,! and thus encouraged to
r-ontiuue in business? If not, are not
ti.e members cf the household, or your
iriend's household, likely to lose their
I osi lions? Think of this and buy your
goods exclusively at home and not or
a Mail Order House.
PatrouUe the legitimate dealers.
1 hey 'constitute the backbone of the
t usiness Interests. Break It and you
destroy the bulwark of your town's
I rosperity. The home merchants con
stitute the tenantry of our business
blocks, but thoy are rapidly dimin
ishing because our people send thou
x.uus of dollars weekly to the Mail
Order Houses.
Remember Otis: Mail Order Houses
.ad Box Car Wholesale concerns do
not sell goods any cheaper than your
legitimate dealers, but they do sell
a line of goods manufactured espe
cially to swindle the people, and by
(-artfully reading ur argument wo
will prove to you that the line of
good they sett are dear at any prtcs.
APPEAL TO THE THODGHTf 11
That article on Mail Order Houses
1 devoted to a full and fair discussion
f a subject which we believe is of
vital importance to every one.
Right here, let us state that we do
wot dispute the rlgM that belongs to
every citiaeu that he or she has the
irivilege of spending their earning?
le whatever manner and where they
wish, as long as they keep within the
at Home You Not Only
Will Sell
Any
You
lsw. No one will dispute the farmer'
claim that he can send his money to
any place that he wishes, and buy
goods he needs wherever he wants to.
nut there is an economic side of the
question that . should not be over
looked. The resident of a conimunity
should be active in furthering the in-
terests of the place he calls home.
He is working contrarily to his own
good when he sends his money to the
distant city for supplies he knows can
be secured, in his own home town.
The dollar sent away goes out of cir
culation and ceases to be a factor in
the building up of the community from
which it is sent.
But do these Mail Order Houses pro
mote the prosperity of your town, or
are they injurious to its best inter
ests? Let us examine the facts: That
these institutions destroy real estate
values; bankrupt the merchant of
small capital; employ help at a pit
tance that will not suffice to keep
body and soul together and thus pave
the way for the ruin of many who,
wearied and discouraged by the hope
less outlook for advancement, fall by
the way; humbug and "sell" the peo
ple the way they do business, there
h no shadow of a doubt. Test the
truth of our statements. Question any
or every one with whom you come
in contact and you will be surprised
at the unanimity of thought upon the
subject all of those to whose atten
tion the question has been brought
fiom the humblest artisan or laborer
for a mere pittance to the small cap
italists with his empty store and resi
dence property unite in a testimony,
v hich, crystalixed. into one sentence
would in effect be a curse upon these
establishments.
Many have as yet given little
thought to this subject. We would
urge upon each reader their personal
responsibility in this matter and in
cite them to investigate for them
selves and weigh carefully the evi
dence of all sides of this subject, and
having come to a decision to- act con
scientiously according thereto. If, as
we claim, they are monstrous frauds,
humbugging the public and octopus
like, destroying whatever they can
reach, then surely it becomes the duty
of every humanitarian to aid the pub
lic to get rid of this "Old Man of the
Sea," who is riding upon its back.
We therefore make this earnest ap
peal: Read every line written upon
this subject, and act according to
your convictions. If you admit the
justice of our claims, don't say "Oh,
well! we cannot help it; nothing can
come of this movement Rather, let
each reader whose soul is not "fit
for treason, strategem, and spoils' bo
a committee of one and say, "I will
not spend another dollar with a Mail
Order House. Take this stand and
soon the monsters, like the Arabs, will
silently fold their tents and steal
away from your locality.
HONESTY THEIR TRADE
There was at one time a condition
of trade in which honesty was the
best policy. A man, in beginning a
mercantile career, said: "I shall build
up a reputation for fair dealing. My
goods shall be what is claimed for
them. My word shall be as good as
my bond. I am an expert in my line
and I shall personally buy every dol
lar's worth that enters my store I
shall sample and test everything that
I purchas?. Xot a snide article shall
enter here, and once I catch a manu
facturer attempting to substitute In
terior stuff I shall cease to deal with
Mm. Mine shall be the best store in
town. 1 shall hire good salesmen
men who know the values and qual
ities of different grades of goods
Buying keenly, taking advantage of
all discounts, I can se.ll as cheaply
as any other store, and my claim on
the public will be anything bought
from me has a guaranteed Talue.
In buying goods he watched the
n-arket with a keen eye. After buying
goods he inspected them personally,
and if inferior to sample threw them
back upon the hands of the maker and
closed his account with that man.
His high principles purified trade. If
he ever sold shoddy cloth ha called it
shoddy cloth, and did. not advertise
it as all wool. He played fair. He
prospered and when he died his son
took up the business and ran it on the
same principles as the father. It was
an honorable house wherein a blind
ROOT, " LITTLE HOG," OR DIE.
man could get as good value for a
dollar as could a man with ten eyes.
But now ! Of what value to a. house
io a reputation for fair dealing built
up by fifty years of resisted tempta
tion and unblemished honesty? It is
practically valueless and why? What
have we "got in return for that hon
esty that is passing out of the mer-
cttntile- trade? We have something'
like a Punch and Judy show with
every Mail Order House catalogue
sent out to amuse the buying public
so they will not notice that the nut
meg they get for half price is made
of wood-
Do those people who are not en
gaged in the mercantile line ever
I;ause,to consider the conditions under
which trade is now done? Those run
ning a legitimate store pause long
and seriously to consider the situa
tion, but do outsiders never see cause
for alarm in the conditions of things?
What is the condition? Is it not prac
tically true that the proprietor of a
country store can never tell Monday
morning whether he is going to do
$1,000 worth of business during the
week or $100 worth? The volume of
trade is - no longer regulated by the
necessities of the people. Orders are
Kot only sent to these Mail Order
Houses which are not their "natural
markets," but they hold themselves in
readiness to buy everything in their
catalogue that seems to be offersd
cheap. The housewife used to decide
that; she needed certain things and
that she could afford to buy them,
and then she would set out and buy
them. Xow she never knows what
she needs until she has read a Mail
Order House Catalogue. The result
is that there must be tons of sham
nnery in many homes of this coun
try where square meals are not ab
solutely sure. It is an old saying:
"He who buys what he does not need
will soon need what he cannot buy."
But trade is no longer regulated by
the necessities of the people. People
fco longer buy for necessaries, but for
the things that happen to be offered
at apparent or pretended reductions in
price. The honest store keeper who
adheres to legitimate methods is kept
ip hot water. The Mail Order Houses
keep ounding away with their tom
tom catalogues to attract the multi
tude, and the legitimate dealer does
not know what day he will be forced
to close out his business, which he has
conducted honestly for years.
THE HOME PRESS
One of the most powerful influences
er the country is the home press, the
local papers. The editor can do much
for his town if he only will, and if
he receives the support that he merits
from the business interests of the
i-lace where ha may reside. His in
terests are the people's interests; the
people's success his success.
YOUR REAL
The Home Merchants In Buvino-
mf O
Mail Order Goods You Deal
With Strangers.
By Buying Goods at Home You Are Dealing With
Your Neighbors Who Have Their
Capital Invested Here.
Your Home Merchant is the One Who Helps to Keep Up Yoar
Schools, Churches and Good Roads. Why
Not Treat Him Fair?
(COPYRIGHTED BY IX W. KKJ)
The great Mail Order House Is not
the friend of the farmer, nor anyone
else, as it pretends to be. It cannot
sell goods, on the average, at rates
lower than the retailer can offer the
same quality, when the item of freight
is considered. This has been demon
strated more than once, and can be
demonstrated at any time if the cus
tomer will take his catalogue pries
and the cost of transporting and then
compare the total with the home mer
chant's price. The catalogue house is
under heavy expense for advertising.
This expense must come out of the
profits. C;it afford to meet these
great advertising bills and also de
liver goods sold by the retailer? Be
sides this, it is under immense expense
for outlays in stock, for taxes, salaries
and other items which the retailer does
not have to meet. Obviously its ex
penses are enormous compared with
the retailer's bill. In addition, it
takes the patron's money and
does him no favors. The retailer
will, if requested lend one of
his reliable customers a sum s of
money for a few days. Will the
Catalogue House do this? The retailer
shows his goods before one bnys. The
Catalogue House does not. The retail
er's reputation is behind every sale
he makes. The Catalogue House is
beyond the individual cri'icisra. Tha
retailer pays the farmer almost as
much for his produce as the farmer
pays the retailer for his purchases.
The Catalogue House cannot do this,
and would not if it could. In short, it
is a cut throat institution, conducted
by shrewd men who are ont for money
and nothing else. The sooner these
FREW
facts are appreciated the belter th-
people who now deal with I hem will
be off.
The Mail Order Houses do not sell
any cheaper than yoar home mer
chant but they do destroy yoar home
town. m
Every good citizen who is opposed
to the evils cf capita!, commercial and
industrial concentration la the brg?
cities, and the building op of Illegal
businesses that work against, the la
te rests of the masses, should ealmlv
consider the fact that every system of
tusiness that depletes a section of
country of the wealth It produce
strengthens the so-called capitalistic
lower. One of ih meat baneful sys
tems that at the present is worlds
against the interests of the smaller
cities and towns, and is the greatest
medium of draining wealth from ag
ricultural communities, is Che box ear
plan of doing business. From rural
towns in the west from 40 to 50 per
cent of the trade goes to these con
cern. If this trade were confined to
the home town its business woolrf
be immediately doubled employment
given to many more people; the prof
its accruing from mercantile business
would seek investment, and withia a
few years the population of the towa
would be more than doubled and its
growth be commensurate with fndns
tries that would give the people em
ployment. WAYS AND KEAXS
Proprietors of Mail Order Hoose
tell us that in these mammoth con
cerns we witness the eroiatioB of the
times. That it is a survival of the
fittest, and that they have come to
stay. That might makes right. That
they hare got the small retailer laid
across the gutter, that they may pass
over withont soiling their shoes. That
they propose to keep him in his pres
ent precarious position. This and
much more is what they tetl as by
their arrogance. There was a, tfa
when we were taught to believe that
men were endowed with certain fa
alienable rights, bat a shadow of donbt
has been cast npon this declaration by
the advent of the Mail Orler Hons.
So great a menace has this become
that the whole country is aroused and
the citizens are organizing to protect.
themslves from the encroachment of
these cn ttlefish.
One of the means of defense pro
posed is by legislation. There has
been some doubts expressed as to the
constitutionality of laws regulating
private business, bat is there any saen
thing as a private business? A busi
ness most necessarily be public aad
exerts some, influence, either good or
bad, upon the community. This beiajc
true, it mast needs be amenable to
law. With laws regulating these pred
atory institutions mast also come a
public sentiment educated 09 to the
plane of the law. No law is operative
without public sentiment educated on
to the plane of the law. No law i
operative without public sentiment
back of it. The people must be shown
that it is not for their Interests to
patronize Mail Order Houses.