Mexico weekly ledger., 1904-10-13
LOCAL PRICES COMPARED WITH
THE NAIL ORDER HOUSES.
PRICES QUOTED 70 EIsLElD.
sszs Figures That Possibly win be
Surprising to Those Who
Have Been PatrOnizing
Mail Order Houses
Of Chicago.


Last Monday, Montgomery Ward &
o., OF Chicago, the largest mail order
house in America, threw on the door.
steps OF Brookfeld homes one Of their
little books, the frontispiece OF which
read as follows: "Four ways 10 get q
copy Of Montgomery Ward s Cos bis
catalogue No. 81 First edition now
ready Glancing over the leaves, the
reader comes 10 one Of the ways TO gel
one Of these big catalogues. 1t Is By
buying the following order Of grocer
les:
IS lbs grznulated sugar, best east
ern cane asa.
Five lbs snap roasted coffee, eoc.
Three-two ID pkgs fresh milled
rolled oats s7c.
Five lbs pearl tapioca. sess-
Ten Id. sack fine table salt, So.
One ID. can N. W. s. Cos. index
brand 1sssssz::-ss ssssz:-s powder, l5c.
One ID pkg. N. W. & Cos. index
brand b2king so0A, sc.
One-half 10. whole mixed picking
spices ls vsrities, lie
Oue-hzlf ID. can N. W. s. Cos pure
ground black pepper, Ice.
One-half ID can ". W. s. Cos. pure
ground ailspice, 15e.
One-fourth ID. can NJ. W. & Co.'S
English mustard, l0c.
Two oz bottle NJ. W. & Cos. pure
vanilla extract, 16c.
Two CT. bottle u. W. & Cos pure
lemon extract, &c.
Six e-oz. bars N. W. s. Cos. white
floating soap, 3oc.
Two lib. pkgs. NJ. W. s Cos. corn
starch, &C.
Two lib. pkgs NJ. W. & Cos laun-
dry starch, l2c.
Total, s426.
Adding the above figures will give
s426. This firm then states that the
regular selling price Of this lot OF
groceries, which could not be bought
at retail for less than s5.25, is 81 26,
but until October Is, they will send
the above list for $3.50 and throw in a
photogravure suitable for framing.
The reader must not forget that Mont
gumery Ward & Co.'S. regular price Is
u 26 and that ss 50 is special quota
tion.
For the benefit Of The Argus many
readers, as well as TO satisfy our own
curiosity about the wonderful cheap
prices quoted by these mail order
houses, the writer went 10 one Of our
grocery stores Thursday morning 70
duplicate the above list Of items.
Nothing whatever was said about
Montgomery Ward s. Co. or about
comparing prices. The list was copied
so the grocer would not suspect any
thing. Here are the prices:
Twenty-Five lbs. granuIated sugar,
sls7.
IlNt Jus. CDueef tDC.
Three 2-lb. boxes rolled oats, sc.
Five lbs pearl tapioca, 40c.
Ten lbs table salt, l0c.
One ID. can baking powder, l0c.
One 10. can soda, SC.
one-half ID. mixed spices for pick
ling, 10c.
one-half ID. pure ground pepper, l0c,
One-half ID. allspice, 1Oc.
One-quarter ID. mustard, l0c.
Two or. vanilla extract, 10c.
Two o. lemon extract, 10c.
Six bars 6-oz. white soap, 1sc.
Two lib boxes corn starch, l0c.
Two lib. boxes laundry starch, 15c.
Total, s3 05.
Comparing the above prices the
reader will be convinced that these so
called cheap prices by mail order
houses are fake; In fact they charge
you As cts more than the home mer
chant 70 say nothing Of the freight
charges the customer pays to have
them shipped to the town in which
you live. The home merchant deliy.
ers the above order to your door; Mont.
gomery Ward & Co.'S must be deliver.
ed by dray for which 25 cts more il
charged.
Is it any wonder this firm and Sears,
Roebnck s. Co. can print 1000 page
catalogues and print on the cover
that they capitalized for millions
when the consumers will pay them
more than they do the home merchant
and buy their catalogues besides?
Two local grocefymen Informed The
Argus that they would duplicate any
list Of groceries published by any mail
order house and further, discount
their price five per cent. IL is true
that eitherof these big houses will sell
you a Marlin gun for less than they
can be sold by the local dealer. Sc
will they sell you some article cheaper,
the price which is known the world
over.
These prices are quoted to mislead
the buyer. They presume that the
reader will naturally draw the con-
clusion that everything they sell IL
correspondingly as cheap. This 4
where they get you. Very few per
sons are there who want a gun, but
everyone must have clothing, furni.
ture and groceries.