Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-02-26
Home NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. and Pro-
tect it is the Sentiment of the
Tribune.
"a Citizen Makes a Vigorous Kick
About the Condition of Our
City Hall.
The Pupils of the City Schools
Will Mach Through the
Streets To-Day.
PatrOnize Home M erchants.

Patronize Home Merchants.
The TRIBUNE believes in home institu-
tions and protection to legitimate home
industry. This is a good national plat
form and a good local platform. The
business men of Bismarck, who pay
taxes, support families, give employment
TO laborers, and spend their money in
various local Industries, are entitled to
protection against unjust competition of
outside institutions that pay no taxes in
the state, county or city and bear no
burden of local government whatever.
The TRIBUNE has been reminded of the
fact that its W advertising columns IN
dictate a woeful lack of 'home patron
age" but this lack of enterprise does
not in the least discourage the TRIBUNE
IN it's advocacy of local reciprocity. The
merchants of Bismarck are entitled to
the trade of the citizens and farmers of
this vicinity, especially are they entitled
to the cash trade of those who, in the
Gays of adversely, have been obliged to
ask for, and been granted, timo. It is a
mighty mean man who will run a store
bill for two or three years, and then, as
soon as he obtains a few dollars, go
somewhere else to trade instead of pay
ing the man who has carried him
through the. ''hard times" The TRIBUNE
has in mind n instance of a farmer
who traded for over two years with a
certain firm in Bismarck and could not
and did not pay one cent on the account
in all that time. Last fall he threshed
out a good crop, and received a good
sum of money. He paid the Bismarck
merchant what he owed aud was not
charged n cent of interest. He then
bought of a travelling man $50 worth of
groceries on the representation that he
could buy cheaper in St. Paul through
the agent, because the St. Paul FIRMS
Expenses were light and the goods acre
sold for cash, sc nothing had to be added
to make up for losses on bad accounts"
Afterwards this farmer found he had
effected a saving of only SLIGO. AS he
Thought back owe the past two
II years - how accommodating the
Bismarck merchant had been to
him and how impossible it would have
been for him to keep himself and family
from want but for the merchants kind.
ness-and how mean it was to desert
him when he got in af1uence-he became
conscience smitten and a few days after
came in and told the merchant what he
had done, expressed his sorrow and de-
clared he'd never do such a mean thing
again.
It is possible that this case is only one
of hundreds where farmers have deserted
their friends in adversely" and only one
in a dozen where the guilty confessed.
Farmers who think their own lot an un-
happy one, little realize the vexations
and difficulties frequently encountered by
the merchants. They buy their goods
on sixty or ninety days. In seasons like
the last four in this section 80 per cent.
fOf the goods retailed are "trusted out"
Can the farmer figure out how the Bis
marck merchant can meet his obligations
with "book a~ccounts?" He can't pay
with promises. but must give notes and
mortgages secured by real estate and
stock to the bank and raise the money.
He has to pay his taxes and insurance,
NJ pay for help and miscellaneous running
expenses.
The farmer wants and expects q
market for his products. The relations
between the farmer and the merchant
must be mutual and fair. It is not right
for the farmer to 'stand Off the mer-
chant a couple of years and then take
cash, when he gets it, and go somewhere
else to trade. Such a policy is demoraliz-
ing and will prove disastrous in the end.
The farmer a buy his goods in St.
Paul but he can't load up his hogs, eggs,
81 chickens, etc, and go to st. Paul for a
market. If the farmer will treat the
merchant right the merchant wi. treat
the farmer fair. OF course there may be
exceptions to this rule but the TRIBUNE
il speaking in q general sense.
The TRIBUNE believes that every es-
tablished and legitimate firm ought to
have protection against non -t%ax-paying,
4 irresponsible concerns through a system
of prohibitory license tax.
In Favor of a New City Hall.
gEDIToR TRIBUNE: It has for some
d time been a fact patent to every Bis
marcker that the city should and must
bake steps before long to secure a better
city building. The old city hall building
has been gradually going to decay. The
upper floor is rapidly sinking until at
present it is unsafe to hold meetings in
the hall, and it is only q matter of time be-
fore the building will collapse, in which
event the fire apparatus on the first floor
would be damaged-perhaps ruined