Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-04-12
NAIL ORDER HOUSES.
PatrOnizing Home Industry Shown
to be the Best.

Here is true story which it be-
hooves every one interested in the
growth of this country to read ant
ponder. 1t applies to our business
and professional men as well as tx
the farmer here mentioned.
A man went into one Of the Ian
caster stores the other day, anC
asked if the merchant would oblige
him by exchanging pair of shoes
that he had bought from a mai
order house, for a similar pair OF
another size from the merchants
stock. The merchant almost tainted
at the mans gall, but he was an OBJ.
liging merchant, and SO he did not
get angry. He asked the man why
he did not return the article to the
mail order house and have it ex-
changed.
because | have to return it at my
own expense" said the man, "and even
then l stand change of not getting
what | want. The cost of returning it
would be considerable, and it might
get lost on the trip and just thought
maybe you could sell it to some one
else, and could let me have pair that
fits me from your stock
The merchant looked sharply at
the man to sect he was joking or
didn't know any better, and seeing
that it was only the latter, he told
him he would exchange the article
for him. And he did, and the map
was very profuse in his thanks for
the accommodation.
And then the merchant told the
man in a gentlemanly. way, just
what he had done. He said:
my friend, you live in this COM
munity. You owe farm that cost you
S. or $40 an acre, and it is now worth
$50 to SIS an acre, and yet the land is
not as good as it was when you bought
it. What has made it worth more!
Tt is because it is near to good town
to this town that you and your
neighbors helped to build up by your
patronage. While you were helping
the town with your patronage, you
we're unconsciously doubling or trebl
ing the value of your farm. The rule
works both ways. The growth Of the
town increases the value of your farm
If you buy goods in Lancaster you
help to make larger city, and help te
make your land worth more. If you
buy your goods in Chicago, you help
to make Chicago larger city and you
leave to other people the burden OF
building up your home community
and increasing thes value of your land
If you help to build up Chicago
how much will it increase the value OF
your farm?
You are interested in this town as
much as are the people who live in it
You trade your produce here for
things that you want, you sell your
stock and product here Tor at some
other town near here,) if you are un-
fortunate and need financial help, the
business men here, and no one but the
business men, are solicited to raise a
purse for you. And they always do it
When your crop or stock are not yet
sold, you ask for credit here, and you
get it, which is favor to you, though
you may not know it. If you buy
something at any store here that does
not prove as good as was claimed fol
it, you can bring it back and exchange
it or get your money back. In these
and a hundred other ways you are
under obligations to the town and the
merchants here to trade with them
and yet you have sent your cash to
this mail order house to buy what you
want, and have not gotten what you
wanted after all.
The merchant paused for breath
and the man mumbled something
about getting cheaper prices at the
mail order houses.
If that were true, said the merchant
/ wouldn't complain a bit. If yor
could save money by ordering of tht
mail order houses, which are the
bitterest enemies of this town,
wouldn't say a word. Not counting al
the things that ] have said-the fac
that you are hurting the value of your
own farm when you hurt this town
the fact that the. merchants here Tor al