Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-04-30
Anew swindie.

craze, which has had its day. We
have before us a number of the New
J England Grocer, published in Boston,
which by way of correspondence, and
, editorially, gives a very interesting
ventilation of the "Grange Store"
scheme as il was being woI ked in New
. Hampshire and elsewhere. 1t seems
from letters published in that journal
that great dissatisfaction existed among
the country customers. One cores
pondent at Deeriield, Mass, writes !:
Enclosed with the bill was card stat
ing that the goods would be at the freight
depot for delivery on a certain day, and
the goods not called for that day would
be taken to the customer the following
day and the expense of delivery charged
TO the customer. Everything passed off
quietly until the goods had been delivered
and paid for and then the kicking began,
the goods being of a poor quality and
i short weight. One stated that the raisins
brought were not fit TO feed the hogs. An
other that he bought ~ 1-2 pounds raisins
and upon weighing them found that the
box and all only weighed II 3-4 pounds.
Still another claimed a shortage OF II gal
Ions on keg of 80 gallons OF syrup, and
nearly all condemned the coffee. Later
some OF the customers learning that the
same parties were delivering goods at
Shelburne Falls, made a complaint of
4 fraud and had them arrested, also attach
ing the goods. They made a settlement
with the parties making the complaint on
4 the best terms they could and left. | un-
derstand this action made considerable
stir { / Shelburne Falls, so lmuch so that
they were prevented from delivering the
goods.
The same paper says that lady
from New Hampshire who had been
'stakeu in" had come to Boston to eb-
tain satisfaction, but could not find
the Farmers and Grangers' Whole
sale Grocery company's place OF busi-
ness. She left samples of her pur-
chases with the paper, and the cream
tartar for which she paid Al cents a
pound was found to be practically val
ueless. The tea forwhich she paid 43
cents pound was the very lowest
grade of English breakfast, not worth
over 10 cents pound. The coffee
costing "a l-2 cents pound was COM
posed largely of cereals. II contained
some genuine coffee, but not enough to
disguise the disagreeable flavor OF the
adulterants.
A correspondent from Kingston, n.
H., writes that there are many, who
bought these goods who would make it
''mighty interesting" for the agents
should they come again. Among 9th
er things +. A. Tilton, the correspon-
dent, says that "'they thought it big
thing to buy goods direct from Boston,
but l know OF one person who gave an
order and he says he would be glad to
sell his goods at one-half of what he
paid for them. Ten gallons of mo-
lasses turned out TO be eight gallons,
and bitter and black"
From what has been said, and we
have no reason to doubt the authority,
the nature of the Grange store in Bos-
ton will be understood. We are in
formed that there is another concern in
New York also doing house TO house
canvassing business, and in this region.
We know nothing of its standing, and
its reputation in this locality is yet to
be made. Our views upon business of
this nature have been frequently ex-
pressed and are well understood. The
retail dealer is a fractional part of a
community, and cannot be dispensed
with and leave the community system
complete. He helps to build up his
town, pays his taxes, and is a consume
er as well. As rule there is sufii-
cient rivalry in every town to insure
the sale of goods at fair retail market
prices, but if not in one town then in
the next.
The wholesale markets are flooded
with inferior and adulterated articles,
and the success of a local merchant de-
pends upon his knowledge of goods and
his honor in dealing with his custom
ers. He expects to be present to meet
all protests in cases of error and to
make matters right. In other words,
he is one of the community of neigh
bors, while the travelling merchant
may not come that way again, and, as
frequently noticed, does not. There is
no class of people that have been i'm
posed upon East and West so much as
farmers, as all reports go to show.
They should remember with others
that there is much that is not genuine
in the world and that it is not all
gold that glitters." To sum up the
matter what we have to say is this,
that the man who has proven his in
tegrity in business Is more entitled to
confidence than the transient person
St. Adams Messenger.
The St. Johnsbury Woman's Relief
Corps cleared $40 at recent domino
party