Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1916 — The Merchant and the Community [ARTICLE]

The Merchant and the Community

The small town merchant is a necessity, and that.-.which is necessary should be protected. The community needs his wares as much as (he needs the community cash. But not every small town merchant is alive to his opportunities and his obligations. Many of them fall by the wayside

because of their ignorance of or indifference to the rights of the public. Fifty years ago the town merchant sat in his store and waited for business to come to him. Today the successful merchant is a hunter—he must go out gunning for customers—and his ammunition is his stock in trade and his gun is the local newspaper. Country people of today are as intelligent and up-to-date as their city cousins, and they guage the merchant by his own actions. If he is a hustler —if he keeps his store clean, his goods neatly displayed, his advertisement running regularly in the local paper—he attracts the public eye, and the public follows its eye. But a clean store, neatly displayed goods and newspaper advertising are not the only requisites to a successful mercantile career. The country merchant should not bank too much on the fact that he is a necessity.- 1 • He should be progressive—constantly bidding for trade—devising means of bettering the condition of the epnsumers, and acquainting them of the fact. He should consider their welfare, as well as his own. 1

The merchant should have one iron creed, and that creed should never be broken: He should treat all customers alike, never misrepresent his gbods, and keep his shelves well stocked with truth. He should be considerate of other business men in the community, for their rights are as great as his own. They do not own the town, and neither does he. He should join wholeheartedly in movements for building up and expanding the business interests’ of the community, for success is only found on the topmost rounds of the ladder. The merchant who has built up a reputation as a public spirited man, as one who labors for the well being of the whole community, never lacks tor customers at his store. They migrate toward his door as naturally as the birds fly south in winter. Such merchants gain the confidence of the people, for the people know that the same intelligence and fair mindedness which he exerts in behalf of the community will be extended to* his customers in commercial life. Most country towhs have a few such merchants in their 'midst, and the community i s the better off for their presence. You invariably find their advertisements in the local papers, telling of the merits of the wares they have to sell, and giving the people that information to which they are clearly entitled. Such business men are successful, because their methods of business and their very attitudes breathe success. They have many customers, because the people admire a hustler. This totVn is located in a splendid community, and it should have a bright future ahead of it. But it depends upon us alone. We have some good business men in this town. »

They afe well supplied with brains, and those brains are capable of accomplishing great results. Individually they can do much, but collectively they can revolutionize rading conditions of this community. , '

The money that is being daily sent away for goods might just as well be spent at our local stores—and would be, if the merchants arose to the opportunities before them. It is the easiest thing in the world to keep the money at home, for consumers are not fools.

Just keep the goods the people want, and of the quality they want. Sell those goods at a fair margin of profit, thereby competing in quality and price with the outsider. Then advertise persistently—keep the home goods constantly in the mind of the consumer—awaken him to the fact that it is as m-nch to his interest as to yours to keep his money in circulation at home. When you CONVINCE the consumer that you HAVE the goods that he wants, and that they be purchased here JUST AS CHEAPLY as elsewhere, he will keep his money at home BY TRADING AT HOME.

The people WANT a live community, and are willing to SUPPORT live business meh.