Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 172, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1914 — HOME TRADE BOOSTS [ARTICLE]

HOME TRADE BOOSTS

Paying; the Fiddler

wooE AIL realize that when there is dancing going on, whether it be the yWf/ new-fangled tango or the old-fashioned polka or waltz —some one ' UU must pay the fiddler. We cannot have music without paying for it, nor can we have much of anything in this world without paying for it. -If we expect any person to do something for us, we expect, naturally, to do something in exchange for such favors as we receive; If “we accept flavors, but evade the responsibility of making any returns for them it will not be long before we discover that the unpaid for favors- become curtailed. Probably we become provoked, after the favors have stopped, and acknowledge our own stupidity; It is generally too late when we wake up and then It is merely the old story over again,—of locking the door after the horse has been stolen. Many of ub in this community devote more or less of our time to the raising of produce of various kinds. We have vegetables, butter, eggs, milk, etc., to sell. , . ... .’7 We find it a convenience to sell such products in the local stores. Some of our business men buy up the small quantities, as well as the larger lots, and ship all together to the more central markets. This facility for disposing of such articles is a great convenience to ns. If the local storekeepers did not buy our produce it would be difficult for ns to find a market. In fact, there would be no market for small quantities except at ruinous pricey. Therefore we are favored, to a very considerable extent, by the fact that onr local storekeeper stands ready to buy from us. This places us under certain obligations. The local storekeepers are entitled to some consideration from us in return. ; A-j- - HOW MANY OF US APPRECIATE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THIS FACT? _—How many of us think of. this when wahavesotne cash to spend? How many of us consider that the local storekeeper is entitled to our trade and that we are morally bound to consider him as the proper repository for onr orders and the recipient of our trade? It is regrettable that many of os must plead guilty to an entire forgetfulness of any feeling of obligation. Therefore, we send our orders, with the cash, to the mall order honsee. to whom we owe nothing. We are enticed by cleverly written advertisements and neatly worded descriptions of goods and merchandise to that we deceive ourselves Into believing them to be true. We forget the local storekeeper and Ms favors; we forget that he la a benefit to the community and td every Individual In the community; we forget* that he Is affording us an opportunity to dispose of our produce—that he has hia money Invested In a stock of merchandise that he has selected because he believed'we would.need such articles and vjoulrf. wish to buy them at home. Every dollar we send away from home to the mail order houses brings ns closer to the limitations of <?ur local opportunities. Every dollar diverted from local trade adds to the restrictions of Our trade facilities at home so that we are not only permitting, but .we ire inviting, our local merchants to close up shop and go out of business; or to move to some community where By our lack of appreciation we are urging our local storekeepers to restrict their efforts to carrying only the linee of merchandise that are the most profitable for them and to cut out all goods that we can buy In the city. We a»w actually Inviting disaster. LET US AWAKEN TO A REALIZATION OF THE CONDITIONS WHICH CONFRONT US. LET US PLACE SOME LIMITATIONS ON OUR DISREGARD FOR EXISTING CONDITIONS AND LOOK INTO THE FUTURE. We can Bee what the consequences must be If we fail to do our share toward supporting the establishments'of our ( business men in town, for the handwriting is written plainly on the wall. Shall we read the writing and profit by the message or shall we continue to dance merrily and foolishly on until the time shall come when we must pay? And how shall,we pay? There will be only one way to pay and that will be with much more than the profit we «T»"Ti have derived from our dealings with the /nail order houses. WE WILL PAY DEARLY UNLESS WE AWAKEN TO A FULL SENSE OF OUR RESPfcNSIBILITIteS, AND AT ONCE. . We wish to dance, but let us change the tune—or the fiddler.