Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 March 1907 — PULLING TOGETHER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PULLING TOGETHER

HOME MERCHANTS SHOULD PATRONIZE EACH OTHER. KEEP DOLLAR GOING ’ROUND | i Do Not Let It Escape by Unnecessarily Sending It to the City—Set an Example to Others. The community that will pull together, that will work as .one man for the general interests, will, hud an abundance of prosperity. And working together means the spending of the dollars of the community within the community. Nor does it mean only that the farmer, the •naechanic, the doctor, the preacher, the editor must spend their money at home,"but it means also that the merchant must do the same thing. It means that you, Mr. Dry Goods Merchant, must patronize your neighbor, Mr. Furniture Dealer, when you want furniture. It means that you, Mr. Furniture Dealer, must patronize your neighbor, Mr. Dry Goods Merchant, when you want dry goods. It means that the groceryman must patronize the home implement dealer when he wants a new wagon, and the implement dealer must buy his groceries in the home town. It means that whether Mr. - Butcher, Mr. Groceryman, Mr. Dry Goods Merchant, Mr. Furniture Dealer, Mr. Hardware Man, or whoever it may be, that intends to

erect a new building they should buy the material for that building at home of their neighbor, Mr. Building Material Man. y And let us speak a word for Mr. Printer Man also. He is a part of this community; he contributes to its prosperity; he advertises it, and he is entitled to his place in the circle through which the community’s dollars are to circulate. When you, Mr. Merchant, want printing of any kind, give the job to the home printer. The dollar that you spend with him he will again spend with you, and both will make a profit on it. It is but fair that t.e have this, his legitimate portion of the home trade. He la as much a part of the community as yourself, and as much entitled to your support as you are entitled to the support of the farmer, the mechanic, the preacher, the doctor. The battle against the mail-order octupus can never be a successful one unless all interests are actively engaged in it. It can never be successful so long as the merchant wants it preached but does not want to practice it himself. The merchant who sends his saving account to the city bank for safe keeping is not entitled to the support of the community whose money he takes from it. The merchant who will not patronize his brother merchants, who makes his visits to the city an excuse for buying his own household supplies, supplies that are not carried on his own shelves, of the city merchants, is not entitled to the support of the community. Such a merchant wants to preach but not practice home trade. He wants to do with the community’s dollars what he condemns in others —send them away from the community. He would bankrupt the community for selfish interests. There are few, if any,-such merchants as this in this or other communities, but if there are any here it is not for their benefit that this paper is preaching home trade to Its readers. We hear much of the strength of trusts and combinations. In what does their strength' He? To a large extent In the fact that they control the trade in the commodities in which they are dealing. They make every dollar they spend an interest earning dollar. Let us form a little trust of our own. Let all- of us, merchant, farmer, doctor, mechanic, preacher, editor, spend our dollars at home, keep them at home, and we have organized a trust of our own that will bring to each of us our share of earnings on the capital Invested. This is not a hard problem to figure out for ourselves. The farmer, let us say, wants a dollar’s worth of sugar. He buys it of the home groeryman, and the groceryman makes

a profit. The groceryman buys » dollar’s worth of dry goods, and the drygoods merchant makes a profit. Thedry goods merchant patronizes the dentist, and the dentist makes a. profit, and the dentist buys butter and produce from the farmer and. the farmer makes a profit. So as the dollar goes around and around a community each man into whose keeping it comes makes a profit on. the handling of it, and the dollar grows into two. But what would have happened had the farmer taken that dollar to buy his groceries of the mail-order house, or the groceryman sent it to the city for his dry goods? The trust organization of the community would have been broken, that dollar would have ceased to earn profits for the people of the community, but wouM have began earning dollars for the city into which it was sent. It is the dollar that is spent at home that makes the savings deposits of the home bank grow; that in- , creases the wealth of the community, j and decreases the tax rate. Buying at -home means saving the community,' Wit, Mr. Merchant, do not preach this trade at home doctrine unless | you practice it. You must buy your ; stock of merchandise in the city to be sure, but aside from what is spent | for your stock of merchandise see ! to It that every dollar it is possible to keep at home remains in the com-1 munity. Keep them circulating among your neighbors, and they will j make money for you as well as for [ them; they will build the home com- { munity, and make- of it a prosperous j community in which your business ,

will grow, and your town holding will grow in value at the same tim the farmer’s acres grow in value. Th home trade problem is a many side one, and the home merchant’s side c the problem is not the least of there

The keen blade of trade reciprocity will divide the dollars of the community among the home people. Keeping the dollars at home will build! saving accounts at the bank and mak e for general prosperity. Sendinfl them to the city mail-order house wi II bring bankruptcy and ruin to all except the city.

WRIGHT A. PATTERSON.