Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 284, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1914 — HOME TOWN HELPS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME TOWN HELPS

KILLING THE COUNTRY TOWS

Prosperity of Small Communities Men* aced by the Operations of the Catalogue Houses.

At a recent oonypntion in Chicago a paper was read by Capt. D. F. Dolan i of Western, in which relationships of the farmer and the country merchant were taken up and thoroughly discussed with the end in view of thoroughly impressing the gathered hardware men with the necessity of meeting the tillers half way. The paper has had almost a nation-wide circulation since that meeting, and comments have been very profuse wherever the trade papers in which it was reproduced have been read. A few extracts from It are of Importance to the public generally and indicate what several hundred business men are thinking about at this very moment. These outline the woof of trade transactions between country and town and show that there is a pronounced interdependency between both which to result in prosperity of the state must be adhered to by each in the belief that he Is meeting the other fellow half way, and that the other la doing the same to him. The paper, in part, reads as follows:

“Our business fears are enhanced by the operations of the catalogue bouses. These become menaces besause If patronized to the exclusion of; the rural trade they will kill the country towns which are the source and center of the best things In American fife. The future of the catalogue bouses depends upon the attitude of the people toward them. Every community must have some trading facilities, a place where the people can bring their produce and get needed merchandise and staples in return.”