Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 86, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1907 — HOME TRADE NOTES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME TRADE NOTES

LITTLE GLEAMINGB THAT POINT MANY MORALS FOR ALL. Carefully Revised by the Catalogue Houses —Mail-Order Houses and i Pure Food#-—The Local .__ __ Dealer. ; ■ ..VC ■■ ' . The ten-commandments a#-revised to fit the mail order catalogue house plan: I First —You shall sell your farm products for cAsh whenever you can, but not to us; we do not buy from you. _ _ _ ' _____ J Second —You shall believe our statements and btiy all you need from us because we want to be good to YOU. although we are not tattonally acquainted with you. Third —You shall send the money in advance to give us the chance to get the goods from the factory with your money; meanwhile you will have to wait patiently a few weeks because that is our business method. Fourth —You shall apply to your nearest city to aid you In building good roads bo you may' conveniently' get the goods from the depot which you buy from us, for we do not buna country roads. Fisth —You shall buy church bell#

ana interior fixtures from us and forward the money in advance, for that is our business method, and you shall collect from the business men in your vicinity as much money as you can for the benefit of your churches. Although we get more money from you than they do, still it is against our rules to donate money for building country churches. Sixth —You shall buy your tools from us and be your own mechanic, in order to drive the mechanics from your vicinity, for we wish it so. Seventh —You shall induce your neighbor to buy everything from us, as have room for more money—the less money there is left in your community the sooner we can put your local merchants out of business and charge you any price we please. Eighth—You shall look often upon the beautiful pictures in our catalogue, so your wishes will increase, although you are not in immediate need of the goods, otherwise you might have some money left to buy necessary goods of your local merchants. Ninth —‘You shall have the mechanics who repair the goods you buy from us book the bill so you can send the money for his labor to us for new goods, otherwise he will not notice our Influence. Tenth —You shall. In case of accident, sickness or need, apply to your local dealers for aid and credit, as we do not know you.

The secret of how It has been that some of the eastern mall order houses which have done business In Montana and elsewhere were able to undersell local merchants on some lines of groceries has been revealed. The revelation has come about through the operation of the national pure food law. One of the big mall order concerns, Which has done a great business In Montana, makes the announcement that it has closed its grocery department, giving In a circular its reason for doing so "because its maintenance has been made Impracticable by the pure food laws Just pssssd by conIf that Is not an acknowledgment that the consumers ha vs been fur- •'*»*--* 1 I": p'*—’ *3(l f'cl (I**l "**

when they ordered groceries, then the English language is not understandable. By selling the stuff that ha# been put under the ban because of its impurity, the mall order concerns have been able to undersell the local merchants livfng hundreds of miles away from the great centers of supT>ly.~ ■’ —" —— In carrying on this trade in Impure goods, the mail order houses have done the greatest Injury to the consumer. While the local merchant has lost some trade, he has had at least a part of the business of the ranchman and miner in his vicinity, bnt the consumer, who has been caught by the "cheap- prices offered, jia# not got what he has been paying for by a long way, and there- is no way tot him to get even. As it has proved with the groceries sent out by the eastern mall order houses, so it is with the other lines they work off in Montana. The saddles and harness offered at phenomenally low prices, the buggies and wagon6,at-pr4eeß-whiGbseem-Alffioßt like giving the vehicles away, the kitchen utensils which are priced in the voluminous catalogues at figures that indicate the local merchants are highway robbers, the dry goods that are offered at such infinitesimal cost as to compel the ordinary woman to believe the mail order man is a public benefactor, all of these eastern mail order house offerings are on a par with the proved quality of the groceries they have been selling —fraudulent and put out to sell and not for service. The confession on the gro-

ceries should make the eastern mail order house patrons think before they send off another order for "cheap goods.”—Helena Record. Your local dealer stands ready to duplicate every offer so seductively set forth in the catalogues of mail order houses and more, says an exchange. He will trump the best trick the mall order house ever played if you will put down the spot cash and accept from him a class of goods devoid of respectable ancestry, and upon which no reputable manufacturer will place his name. He can sell cheap goods, too, If you will buy them from him with your eyes shut. He can meet the best price ever made by a mail order house if you will plank down the money and accept what he gives you without question and without recourse —but you must not expect him to be in his place of business every day in the year ready and willing to furnish expert help when you are in trouble, ready and willing to stand back of everything he sells with his own reputation and the warranty of a responsible company. Honest, now, don’t you really pat yourself on the back when yon spend your money in such a way that In supplying your own wants you help build up the neighborhood In which you live? Of course you do, and you act on that idea yourself, but the trouble Is that you don’t talk It enough to your friends. —Streator (Ill.) Press.

Send the lifeline of home trade to your local merchants. When you do so you are not only helpinfl him, but you h?lp your community and yourself. If you permit the competition of the mail-order houses to engulf him, his de» struct ion means the destruction of your town and your interests. Keep your dollars at home.