The weekly true Democrat., 1906-11-23
THE PIER CHANT AND
THE HOME PAPER.
Ne Tive TAinss That 1uila q TOwu
Mere TAsn Live Merchants
and NewspaRsrs.

=
citation. Il is worth the perusal anC
consideration Of merchants everywhere
When this subject, ''The Duty Of the
Home Merchant to the Local Paper, y
was given me I avowed ] would not
take it'll never addressed a conven.
tiOn Ike this in my life-but, owing tc
obligations which nearly every mer.
chant owes to his local paper, I con-
sented.
Now, there are always two sides to
. question, and I presume II you as an
editor were to discuss this YOU would
find many more duties that the mer-
chant owes to the local paper than
can. In fact, 70 be honest with you,
believe IL the question were reversed,
the duty Of the local paper to the home
merchant, could hnd q great deal
more TO talk about However, there
are s0me duties that the merchant
surely owes to his local paper or papers,
and think first Of ell / would put good
will. It goes without question that we
would al rather have the good will Of
any person than his ill viii, and the
more influential q person Is the greater
the value Of his good will Why n Il
that successful merchants wishing TO
retire from business not only get hun.
dred cents on the dollar for their goods.
but bonus for their good will3 It e
because that influence or good will Is
actually worth something to their sue
cesSorS.
Now, there are four things that GER
tainly enter into the building and max
ing Of . successful city or town. Those
four, In my opinion, are the churches,
newspapers and merchantB.
! would not care 10 live In town
whore either was minus quantity.
Looking Rt Il from the secular point OF
view, there are no two things that can
hulld mp the town 90 the Newspaper
and merchant. In fact, the CONNER
clAl life Of the town denands almost en-
ttrely on them. Therefore the rela-
tions between them should be very cor
iial.
II you will pardon me for a personal
Illustration, this Is what / mean, par
italy at least, by good will. Last fall for
The first time we devoted our store
exclusively TO Christmas toys
and novelties. We advertised the fact
generally in the local papers, but one
lay ! saw one OF our regular customers
coming in with lot Of toys. asked
1er II she could not find what she
wanted in our toy department. why"
'he exclaimed. 'have you a toy depart
nent? Where Ia it," ! asked her IL
she did not see our Ad. in the papers,
and she said she did not take any
papers. / said to her: my good lady.
4 were you the first thing I would do
would be TO go over and subscribe for
me and then read the ads. You wall
ave your subscription many times
'ver." And the best Of 1t is she sub
icribed.
Another duty the merchant owes the
ocal paper is his patronage. IL has
,een said by those who have watched
he order Of events that no merchant |
an succeed without advertising In one |
way or another, and up to this day and |
ge OF the world no medium has been |
ound 80 satisfactory as the newspaper |
O convey information to the public.
And what Is advertising but inform
ng the people what you have to sell
say II Is the duty Of the merchant, and
would also include the professional
1en and mechanics who have business
( their own to patrOnize the local pa
er not only by their own subscriptions,
ut by advertising as well. II we help
D build up the papers they will help 70
uild up the town and bring to US in
reased trade and greater Opportuni-
les.
l firmly believe that II a place Is good
nough for q man TO live in and 20 make
is money Il IL good enough for him TO
pend his money in, be he an editor,
lerchant, farmer or anybody else.
ONE merchants have tod me they
On't believe people read their ads, for
ley don't zee that they get any bene-
{. Well, suppose for the sake Of ar
1ment, people don't read some ads.
those fault Ia 1.-THE newspapers
ot much. 1t Is the man behind the
It IL q rare exception for the public
Ot To read anything that 10 interesting.
erhaps we ought TO dress up our ads. |
little. For example, hfty men can 20
Dwn our streets on a hot day IN their {
lirt sleeves and YOU would hardly no {
&c them, but Just let one man 60
,wn dressed in the height Of fashion, !
ID III tell you everybody will sit up :
ID take notice. WhyI Because there {
something about him that attracts.
hat ia what we ought 20 do--dress up
y ads. and make them attractive. It
Desnt take so much, after all, 20 at O
act. just let q man take q rope and c
mmenee 20 holler, Hang him r. and
, will soon have some one interested
I'D ! arm quite sure the editors win let