Arizona republican., 1898-04-14
FIGHTING DEPARTMENT STORES.

In Chicago, where the department store has attained very notable de- the small dealers are still busily engaged, despite previous fail ures, in the attempt to push it to the wall. Their efforts to legislate it out of existence having proved futile, they have now conceived the idea that they can successfully antagoniZe it by com bining with each other and underselling it. The scheme has it's attractive fea- be in some degree with these modest merchants. They are the representa- tives of an old and familiar mercantile era, which seemed, until recently, per chasing class was concerned. The thought of any kind of oppression, whether in business or politics, is dis tasteful to us, and we are inclined to applaud any effort that may be made to put the small merchant on an equal ity with his bigger rival.
 We must, not forget, however, that the department store is a natural pro- duct of the times, and that no amount of opposition on the part of the small store keepers or anybody else will ma terially hinder it's spread. It has all the advantage of the situation. Its goods are under a single roof, it is directed by a single executive head. No matter how closely the small shop keepers associate themselves, there will come times when their views will not coincide and when dissatisfaction will crop out. It will be a loose con- federation of mercantile interests against commercial autocracy. In the one organization the opinion of many dealers will have to be con- suited; in the other what is done will be done in accordance with the de- sires of a single responsible head There can be little doubt of the ulti- mate outcome of a war of this sort The department store will flourish like the green bay tree; that is, so long as it obeys natural laws and serves the majority of purchasers.
 It is because it has served this ma 5ority up to date that it has expanded to its present stage of importance If it were an unnatural growth it would have been cut off before now. But it is only the old fashioned country store modernized. The rural emporium where everything needed by the com munity could be obtained, from a pa per of pins to a barrel of molasses, was the unconscious forerunner of the department store of these last years of the century. We are disposed to speak scornfully of the country mer- chant who has everything on his shelves, from nutmegs to note paper, but he is running department store as actually as any great firm in our cities. The community recognizes the advantage of centering the various branches of business under his roof.
 The very sparseness of customers, which compels the concentration of all these branches of trade in a single building has it's advantages. It is more convenient, for one thing, just as the department store is frequently more convenient than the separate shops it has supplanted.
 In Denver an effort is being made to legislate the department store out of existence, by putting an exorbitant tax upon it. For every extra line ot
 goods it carries it must pay revenue in geometrical proportion, if the pro- posed regulations are imposed. But ii is not likely they will be. Sensible people see that the department store has come to stay and that so long as it deserves the good will of the public
 by furnishing supplies at lower prices than the small shop keeper can afford 1 to furnish them, and by making shop ping more convenient than 1t used tc
 be, so long IL will remain, an impor- tant and benefcent factor in the com munity. If the small shop keeper feels
 aggrieved, he must make the best oi the inevitable. But it is not his in- l dividual interest that must determine the matter in the end, but the interest l of the community, and that, in effect
 is the community itself.