Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-09-24
MAIL ORDER BUYING IN THEORY.

like him.
MAIL ORDER BUYING IN THEORY.
In a letter to the T.-R. a veteran
farmer of Hardin county raises the
whole question Of social economics In
volved in the growth Of patronage for
the catalog houses. The arguments he
advances are all well taken. 1t is true
that the farmer can buy best In
competitive market, and the presence
of the catalog house gives him such
market either in the catalog prices for
a small mail order or in better prices
which the catalog house forces the To-
cal merchant to make.
1t is also true that the growth OF
mail order business is the evidence OF
the problem of distribution being solv-
ed. In an early day when .transporta-
ton was almost impossible dressed
hogs in Iowa were hard to sell at S2
per hundred weight, eggs went beg
ging at so cents for a wash tub full,
while boots cost $12 per pair, and gro
ceries were almost forbidden luxuries.
People voted taxes on themselves to
build railroads, they sent their con-
gressmen to Washington to levy tar
If duties with which to pay postal de-
ficits for the carrying of package mail
and today eggs and hogs bring very
nearly as good a price on the Iowa
farm as they do in the eastern mar
ket, and the Iowa farmer buys at his
door or his nearby store just as
cheaply as he could in Chicago. The
problem of distribution has been solved.
But there are exceptions to the cor
rectness of economic theories even.
For instance the doctrine Of free and
unrestricted interchange of goods
makes of every student of political
economy free trader, yet this coun-
try has learned by experience that pro-
lection contributes to it's prosperity.
Why does it do it? Simply by COM
polling Americans to trade with Amer
leans first, and thereby build UP home
industries which, in turn, deal with the
American public and increase the home
demand for American products. Reas-
enable protection which will keep the
bulk of our interchange of products at
home and among ourselves, is good
thing for us. 1t is a reasonable re-
striction upon free interchange of
goods. The moment it allows the pro-
tected dealer to exact an unreasonable
profit, or places upon the American
public an unreasonable cost, then the
exception to the economic theory has
overreached it's benefits.
Likewise is the presence of compe-
tition by the catalog house perfect in
theory. 1t offers the American farmer
all the benefits of free and unrestrict-
ed interchange of goods promised by
the free trader, but every thousand dol
lars worth Of patronage that goes to the
catalog house tears down the pros
ptllIy VI liC iOl1lS CONh ny Joos SAeas
much. Every farmer knows that eggs.
butter, milk, and poultry are all worth
more in Marshalltown than they are
at a small village, and it is due to the
greater home demand at Marshalltown.
The produce consuming factories To-
Gated under the vests of many thousand
people are brought closer to the farms
as the protectionist would tell US, hence
farmers should hesitate before they
buy away from their home merchant.
Farms near Marshalltown are worth
more than near the small town. The
competition Of the catalog house is q
healthy regulator of prices, but the
patronage should go to the home mer-
chant. He builds churches, opera
houses and comfortable towns for re-
tired farmers to move to, while on the
other hand, as our Eldora farmer adj
mits In his letter, purchase from an
outside house is seldom saving, quail
ity of goods considered. Trade at home
cries the protectionist, and his law
makes us do it. Buy at home is the
same wise counsel for ninety-nine out
of every hundred patrons of catalog
house.