The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1906-01-11
and DEATHLURk
IN Mail ORDER GOODS

There is no question but what the
average country merchant, located
within the radius of the st. Paul trade
field, can sell goods as low OF lower
than the mail order houses of the
East. This applies to the regulation
the country. Back of the country
s~torekeeper's sale the purchaser has
the guarantee he does not get from
the mail order house. The mail order
house continually takes money from
the farmer; he sends none back. Com
pare this with the country storekeeper
who pays the farmer nearly as much,
in the long run, for his produce as he
receives from the farmer in the pur-
chase price OF goods. In addition, he
invests his earnings in the town that
he lives in, and the upbuilding of that
town tends to make farm property
more valuable and furnishes better
schools for the farmers children. The
growth Of the town furnishes en-
tertainment for the farmers children
and thus tends to keep them home,
safe within the good influence of the
home circle. Where such satisfying
town entertainment is not to be had,
through the failure Of a town to pro-
gress, children go to the large cities
to seek their entertainment. Once
there, in a great many cases. they
soon lose the home influence, and we
all know what the results are. The
country merchant helps pay the school
taxes and support township enter
prises; he contributes toward the con
s%truction and maintenance of good
roads. The Eastern mail order house
does neither. It is a wholly selfish
institution, enriching it's stockholders
through the h~ard-earned dollars of the
farmer at the expense Of the legiti-
mate country merchant.
Hard, Cold Facts.
These are hard, cold facts that
should be given careful thought by
every purchaser Of merchandise. In
themselves they are strong arguments
against patronizing a mail order
house located in New York Or Chicago,
but to them we must add the further
argument that the patron of a mail
order house is bound, sooner or later,
to find that he is paying two or three
prices for his merchandise, in addi-
ton to the freight. The mail order
house is conducted by the brainiest
men in the mercantile world. In the
infancy of the mail order business 80
per cent of it's promoters were sharp
ers and swindlers. Out of this mass
there grew a few immense concerns,
conducted by men with more brains,
even though they may have had no
more scruples than their competitors.
They foresaw that to make the bust
ness success they must at least show
the semblance of giving value receiv-
ed from the money extorted from
farmers through their ingenious, con-
tinued and costly advertising cam
paigns. They evolved the policy Of
advertising staples as leaders at a
price below that at which the country
merchant could sell. These leaders
caught the eye Of the farming COM
munity and they built up a large eli
entelle of patrons, giving them what
they call a mail order list, to which
they are constantly adding in every
conceivable way, their latest scheme
having been to induce the postmaster
general to number the farmers, ac-
cording to their rural route mail box
es, like the convicts of a penitentiary.
Once the mail order house induces
the farmer to apply for some article
advertised in their circulars and cata-
logues, they deluge him with circulars
and seemingly personal letters, offer
ing numerous prize packages Of goods.
They offer coffee that has been raked
out of the water and ashes of burned
warehouse, dried and CLOSED over
with a harmful glucose concoction, at
a price so far under that of the coun-
try merchant that it is impossible for
him to compete. The coffee looks
good. and if it tastes bad the patron
consoles himself with the fact that it
is cheap. 1t might not suit him so
well il he knew that 1t is also nasty
filthy in fact.
And so it is all along the line.
Sweat shop manufacturers make up
goods in disease breeding dens for the
mail order houses. They can do it
cheaper than the manufacturer work
ing under modern conditions, and
what the mail order house must have
Is cheap goods. The mail order house
buys its goods under conditions that
render them as cheap as possible. This
necessarily brings them to the dens of
the sweat shop, the filthy bins of
warehouse l%eft-overs, the salvage of
ires-the sweepings Of the reeking
gutters-for much Of the cheap to.
bacco sold is made from cigar butts,
half-smoked cigarettes and the dis
carded cuds of tobacco, picked up in
the cutters of the big cities by a class
of disease-burdened o~utcasts from the
labor world who can maintain exist
ence in no other way. Scarlet fever
and diphtheria germs Turk in the rags
that are made into the shoddy goods
that the mail order house sells in
wear for men, ONE and children.
These goods look we'll, but they don't
wear well, and they are the walking
delegates for disease and death. Their
groceries are filled with personalities
and GRO ini,lriouc to health Thoir