Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1905-07-26
A LETTER TO THE POINT.

Mr.. John p Bleec of Sioux Falls,
5. D., writes letter to the Argus
Leader which so tersely gives the
situation with reference to the mail
order house, the bone of contention of
the local merchants, that we gladly
give it space:
The mail-order business is the quack
doctor of commerce. 1t promises much
and guarantees nothing. Like patent
medicine, the directions are always
on the inside and You have to buy a
non-returnable package before you can
find out what they are.
No mail-order house helped to build
the little white school house in your
district or turnpike the road past your
door. No mall-order house ever took
you by the hand when you were in
distress, and told you to let that little
account go until after harvest next
year. No mail-order house ever sold
you vehicle and then spent every
cent of its profit right in the COM
munity where you and your neighbors
could get it all back again. No mail
order house ever showed its patent
leather shoes under your table and re-
joiced with you when You were glad,
nor spoke encouraging words to you
in affiiction, nor stood with uncovered
head beside the grave when your
children died.
No, the mail-order house is after
money. Every dollar it gets its hands
on will be jerked out of your neigh
borhood forever. The mail order house
may bear upon its face the semblage
of friendship, but no human heart
beats under its cloak of hypocricy.
Sentiment to it is unknown. The
whole institution is as cold and blood
less as a corpse.
All the niail-order houses in Christ
tendon wouldn't increase the value
of your farm cent. They are
parasites to whom life is only possible
as long as they can suck blood out Of
the communities, to the upbuilding
of which they contribute nothing.
They create no local market for the
products you have for sale. They have
no property in your county which can
be assessed to help bear your burden
of taxation.
Your local dealer needs neither ad-
vocate nor defense. His methods rest
upon principles that have built up in
this country a system of internal COM
merce which is the marvel and ad-
miration of the world His business
is legitimate because its success con-
tributes to the general prosperity OF
the community that built it up.
Your local dealer stands ready to
duplicate every offer so seductively
set forth in the catalogues OF mail
order houses and more. He will trump
the best trick the mail-order house
ever played if You will put down spot
cash and accept from him class Of
goods devoid of respectable ancestry,
and upon which no reputable manu-.
1acturer will place his name. He can
sell cheap goods, too, if you will buy
them from him with your evts shat.
He can meet the best price ever made
by mail order house if you will plank
down the money and accept what he
gives you without question and with
out recourse but you must not expect
him to be in his place of business
every day in the year ready and will
ing to make good any defect, ready
and willing TO stand back of every
article he sells with his own reputa-
tion and the warranty of a responsi BILE
company.
Honest, now, don't you really pat
yourself OH the back when you spend
your money in such way that in
supplying your own wants you help
build up the nieghborhood in which
you live? OF course You do, and you
act ON that idea yourself, but the
trouble is you don't talk it enough to
your friends.
Stand by your local dealer as he
stands by you with his time. his skill
and his money He helps build up the
community and he makes it a better
place for YOU both to live. His own
success depends on your prosperity.
He has no use for mavericks-un-
branded junk. He swears by the good
branded with the trademark of the
most skillful manufacturers on earth
goods the like of which no other
generation ever saw. and he has an
abiding faith in the theory that the
best vehicles in all the world today
are none too good for that major
general of all the industries--the