Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1906-08-16

| ed afflicted with poor eyesight when :.
bat and handful of thumbs wben at
tempting to take hold of the ball. liner,
are off days, It's claimed, with every
player. but it was unfortunate that al
should be thus handicapped at the same
hour. Here's betting the like doesn',
occur again tins season.
IN. X. vanMatre received by tele.
gram Saturday the sad news of the
death of his grandson Ebert, at Oklo-
homa. 1t is understood to have been
accidental, but no particulars are known
up to the time of going to press. Bert
learned the blacksmith trade with Geo.
Treweek, and left here last spring in
good health and spirits.
In beautiful meadow between this
city and Linden a terrible ball-and- bat
battle was fought to finish last Sun
day afternoon between representatives
of the Linden Ross mine and the Tri-
poll mine. Ten innings were required to
settle the combat, the Lindenites leav-
ing the battlefield with victory inscrib-
ed on their banner. Score to 5, which
figures are said to be quite insignificant
in comparison with those representing
the errors by players and umpires.
About a score of young ladies',
ranging from Is to Is years of age,
mostly all from this city, the others
visiting guests, picnicked at Castle
Rock Monday afternoon and evening.
A good time was all there was to it,
what made it intensely so being the
feat of one of the party, who, upon be-
ing chased by COW, ran in circle I'M
til she overlook the bovine and caught
it by the tail The animal quit the
frolic in disgust.
We want to say a good word for
the man who meets his small obligations
promptly. They are not as plentiful as
they should be and the man needs en-
couraging. Most men will pay but few
er will pay promptly. Almost any firm
will testify that, counting the time,
postage, booking and the like, it costs all
some accounts are worth to collect them,
and still the man owing it to them is
perfectly responsible in financial way.
1t very often happens that the worst
sinner in this particular is the man best
able to pay.
Country merchants have no realiza-
ton of the strength of the combinations
that have been formed against them by
the great mail order houses. The con-
ditions are startling in the magnitude
of the menace to the prosperity of the
retail merchant that is created by the
rapid expansion of the mail order bust
ness. Sears, Roebuck & Co. of Chicago,
has recently Incorporated with capt.
tai stock of forty million dollars. Mont
gomery Ward & Co. are about to erect
huge, new building with fifty acres
of floor space. The trade of these two
gigantic establishments, it is said, will
this year approach closely one hundred
million dollars. Their success has stim-
ulated many other concerns to enter
the same line of trade and enlarge its
scope and increase the efforts that are
already being made on such large
scale to draw trade away from the re-
tail merchants, until the total of all the
mail order trade of Chicago alone prob
ably equals two hundred million dollars
year. The lines of this great conflict
between commercial interests are clearly
drawn. The .etail merchant and the
country publisher are struggling against
one of the most powerful combinations
of money and influence that ever exist
ed-the mail order houses and the pub
locations which have made their success
possible by carrying every year mail
order advertising aggregating many
millions of dollars.