Eureka post. (Eureka, McPherson Co., S.D.) 18??-19??, 1906-12-14
Silver Lining 10 the Catalog
House Cloud.

After a.prolonged p riod of dark
ness and overcast sky of increased
catalog house extension and infu-
rnce, there is visible today a rift Of
light that bids fair to spread over
aud iltume the horizon. We vii
call the warming rays of sunshine,
the agitation which has been com
menced 10y the retailer TO cast off
those man nufactLrers and jobbers
who persistently refused TO listen
to the voice of the trade throug hout
the country and who persisted 10
selling their brands of merchandise
to tie mail order concerns.
When this agitation was first in
augurated, very considerable pro.
portion of not only jobbers and
man ufacturers, but retailers and
travellers, "poh poohed at the idea
being within the limits of possibil-
ity. They seemed to think it an ab
, souteIy insane and preposterous
proposition that any jObberor manu-
iacturer would be foolish enough,
! apparently, to turn down an, order
from most anybody having the
money to pay the bill Gradually
these jobberS and ufacturers
committed themselves TO the policy
of refusing to furnish goods even in
large quantities TO these parasites
in the world commercial. One by
one they placed themselves on
record as being opposed TO the mail
order house and one by one they
Signiiied Iheir intention of being
with the retailers first, last and all
the time.
Some of these had in the past un-
Willingly sold, directly or indirect
ly, cataIog houses but when they
found their best customers deter
mined to buy of 20 jobber who thus
permitted himself to be used as a
supply house for these cut throat
concerns, they resolved that in the
future they would oe good. No
ammunition would be henceforth
furnished to the enemy.
Even with this evidence of loyalty
on The part of the western jobber
and some Of the eastern oEes, we
did not look for results SO early in
the game, but it is a pleasure 10 be
able to say, that the battle is being
won
Practically all Of the smaller cata-
log houses are on the toboggan slide.
MANY of them, as our readers we'll
kuow, have gone into liquidation.
Others, such as the T. NJ Roberts
Supply Co., Minneapolis and the
little affair at Sioux City, we pre-
dict will be off the earth inside OF
twelve months. They simply can
not hold out. Imagine the predlca-
ment of concern, with good finan-
cial reputation, getting its supply
ofsoap from a manufacturer in Sioux
City, not the regular brands, mind
YOU, and in order that no damage
may be done, TO any OF the firms
Supplying the goods, we're compel
led TO resort TO the underhanded
scheme Of billing their goods thru
another house, Franklin MacVeagh
q Co., Chicago. This little incident
demonstrates, quite clearly, that it
is no snap TO under take to carry on
a mail order house business today.
1t is related that in the city Of
Omaha, gentleman who had plenty
of capital, the proper disposition aud
the business ability was forced to
give up the idea of instituting a
catalog house because the jobbers
refused absolutely TO sell him goods.
To some extent the same condit-
ions apply to the larger catalog con
Germs. While they have millions
with which to buy goods, there are
certain lines which they cannot
procure except through a third party
causing additional delay and added
expense Sioux Falls Commercial
News.