Morris tribune., 1906-09-01
MAIL ORDER BUYING.
Another rlerchant Replies to Mr.
Wiilie's Letter
Morris, Mimi. August %, 1900

Morris, Mimi. August 29, 1906
Mr.. EDITOR MORRIS TRIBUNE
In your last weeks paper appeared
letter signed by John Willie, one of
Stevens County's best farmers calling
the attention of his fellow farmers to
the mail order buying. If you will
allow me little space in this weeks
Tribune will try to prove to our
farmer customers and friends, that to
buy your goods out of a catalogue is
buying cat in the bag. You have no
recourse like when you buy them at
home. Mr.. Willie speaks of the country
merchants monopoly. To my know
ledge no trust exists in Morris. We,
the local merchants, are always trying
to undersell each other. He says we
! put up distressing howl. 1t is not
so, we are simply trying to convince
you are in the wrong by trying to run
down your own town and merchants.
What'would your land be worth with
it located twenty to thirty miles from
town and market, yet this is just what
you are doing by sending your cash to
| the mail order houses. You speak of
shelf worn goods; if you knew the
facts wheul they buy goods by the
| carload, some of them are sure to get
| more shelf worn, more so than when
goods bought in small quantities and
kept onFmoving all the time; new
goods coming in every business day
in the year. Mr.. Willie says he can't
blame the small country merchants
! for high prices as the merchant has a
family to support and needs the money
Any one would Judge from this that
at the mail order house all you need
to do is to mail them your order and
your goods would come down and all
F. O. B. Cars. On the principle drop
nickle in the slot and the machine
plays you tune and tells your fortune
and prints it with your correct weight
on a ticket. Here below will disclose
few sworn to statements of Sears,
Roebuck g. Company, a Wall Street
New York corporation located at
Chicago,.,ss Illinois. S. R. & Go. sold
during 1905, $3S, ,7Os, ,526.oO, in general
merchandise. Their profits were over
Sc 200, 100000. This you see is 16 per-
cent profit and in addition to this you
have to pay the freight, and speaking
of country merchants, supporting a
family, it costs Sears, Roebuck &
Company over $1,000, 100000 to put up
these goods and get them to the rail
road company depot, yet after they
have paid all expenses they put in
their pocket a clear profit of just
s., 1868, ,O61.OO Or nearly $4,000, 100000
To give you an idea of the magnitude
of their business, they state their daily
incoming mail averaged last year over
seventy five thousand letters each day
1t will require practically an office
force of over three hundred people
Just to attend to the office work say
ing nothing about the hundreds of
people they employ throughout their
entire plant which covers nearly
thirty seven acres of ground and we
really are surprised to hear man like
Mr.. Willie to become so completely
hypnotized and allow his name to a
letter like the one just referred to
trying to make the impression on the
Stevens County farmers that they are
being robbed by their home merchants
and further that the mail order house
sells goods at wholesale prices, such
bosh--I have gone into details and
I could furnish enough easily to print
your entire front page of the Tribune
setting forth the facts pertaining to
the quality Of the mail order house;
their groceries and general merchan-
disc. We have at times in our ads in
the Morris papers, shown up the adul-
terated and unlawful goods too
much so for any country merchant in
Minnesota to sell at any price and also
some of their goods have been con-
fscated by the pure food commission.
We at all times do as we advertise and
we will sell you for cash in advance
(the same terms as the M. O. tHouse)
any sized bill of merchandise you will
allow us to figure on at 10 percent less
than any M 0. House can sell you, if |
you will consider quality. Trash like
ground oyster shell containing only !
10 percent pure pepper, and sell it to
you for pure pepper as the M. O.
House does, we will not and cannot
10. Mr.. Willie tells us the farmers do
lot have to swap butter and eggs for