The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1906-08-02

10 IL not an OBJECT LOT US 10 DullQ
up our market town and make our
markets for our products? Does it
not add to the value of our LAM to
be able to point to some thriving
nearby town with a ready market,
with schools and church advantages?
Is not land SO situated worth more
than If it is isolated and distant from
everything and everybody?
About the only thing the catalog
houses have left us for ourselves is
the production Of babies, and l shall
not be surprised to see them opening
founding hospitals and furnish ready
made babies at reduced rates, avoid
| ing medical expenses and the pur-
chase Of barrels of Mrs. Winslow's
Toothing Syrup.
"If my farmer friends would unite !
would be glad to refuse the catalogs
table room in my house. want my
family to have all the finery and gew-
gaws we can afford, but want them
to go to the home merchant to buy
them, and not give their trade to
some one who has no other interest
than to take our money.
"By standing by our home mer-
chants we are standing by each other,
we all thrive and prosper together.
"Is it to our interest to build up
great houses in distant cities? |
make the broad assertion that while
some things on the surface may seem
cheaper than the prices of our home
merchant, after we have scrimped
ourselves to get the cash and paid
freight and other charges, and pad
for things we do not need because
they seem cheap, we are actually out
of pocket; we are simply gulled by
our cormorants.
'If we keep depressing and Destroy
| ing our home merchants, we will find
after lifetime that our farms are in
an isolated region and have not in
| creased in value as they would if we
had made market at our very door.
81 know too well the selfishness of
human nature to imagine for NOM
ent you would join in a crusade
against catalog houses if it did not
appeal to your cupidity. When you
can make and save more money by
dealing with your own merchants
than the catalog man you will buy at
home. 1t is fine thing to cut your
neighbor's throat if it puts money into
| your pocket, but when it comes to
cutting your own throat the induce.
ment is not so tempting.
Mary CHATS my wife) came to me
about Easter time and said, "Tom,
wish you would put money order
for So in this letter and mail it for
me; 1 want a new hat So took a
few dozen eggs and sold them at a
cut rate to the country merchant to
get the IS.
1T is true my wife made the butter,
and thus in way was paying for the
hat, but she had not laid single egg,
and the overworked hens and roosters
were the victims of a fragrant conf,
dence game.
"And when the hat came it was a
caution to snakes. The ribbons and
| flowers were not in harmony with my
wife's complexion, and she was mad
enough when she saw it to turn al
most any color. If it had come from
a home milliner it would have been
rejected at once, but the catalog
house had the IS and there was nc
help for it.
"The whole family agreed that il
was money thrown away.
Even the dog barked his dissent
when he saw the thing and was fright
ened into a noisy protest. Of course
this is only one instance, but there
are many others even more distress
ing in their results.
81 know farmers who are always In
debt to their local merchants, while
their cash has gone to the railroad
for freight bills and to the cataloa
houses for articles which do not rank
as either luxuries or necessities, but
simply as leg-pullers to gull the un
sophisticated.
How would you appreciate selling
your stock and products on credit and
the purchaser using his money to
buy similar articles in a distant mar
ket for cash? ...s..
unless we can stand together and
refuse to build up and develop this
cormorant which preys upon US we dc
not deserve to have thriving town:
for markets or the advantages which
always come from being surrounded
by a business community. We have
it in our power to help ourselves oil
to help the other fellow. So far the
other fellow seems to have the advan
tage while we emulate the role Of