Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-01-18
Con IION ADJOURNS|
Continued from Page ~

Dunch OF farmers out III north Dakota
freezing for sheepskin coats and
for other things from Montgomery
Ward & Cos I thought also that that
very thing is helping the home tller-f
chant II has come to me within the
last few days, that quite a number Of
men who have been addicted to the
catalogue habit have been more steadily
holding fact to the home merchant be-
cause they can't get the stuff from the
catalogue houses when they order it. III !.
am glad that my first trip into your
state brings me into such a place as
4 this. / longed to- see the state and
I came up because | wanted to see the
boys here, all Of them husters and
workers Ill
would also like to have been in
South Dakota, where your brothers: are
waging a battle which I am sure they
are going to win. T hey have been fight
ing against Montg omery, Ward & Co,
who have filed proceedings down there
against the association, against their of
fcers and against commercial paper
published there, charging them with
boycotting, and I think that perhaps they
will be beaten to a cinch, and that
will be good news for the merchants. 4
Where a merchant leaves out the
name Of the catalogue house there is
not the slightest possibility Of getting
into trouble, and I think it is rather
unwise perhaps TO mention them when
you are doing business. Make your
own price and get a sproht and stand
by it ]; sell better quality Of goods and
talk quality.
We have hardware merchant in
Wisconsin who gets all of Sears, Roe
buck stoves and puts them on exhibi-
ton He marks them up ; this stove
for $11.50; this stove for $3.50.
We have another man in Wisconsin,
in Oshkosh, whose name is Geo. Smith,
who does the same thing, but he does
not sell the cheap things. He uses
craftsmanship to win the battle. He tells
his customers, here's a stove you can
have for SO much, and you don't have
to send to Sears Roebuck for it, but
here is another one with better price
and another one here, and explains the
difference. and invariably they will take
4 the better stove. I think that you can
always afford to lose fifty cents, if by
doing SO you can make profit OF
/. So on something else.
The. catalogue house is the only
enemy there is any use talking about
It is the; only enemy you have except
the; dead-beat, and he is easy in com 81 I.
! parison.
II desire to say, my friends, and
think you are all friends Of the Bull
] letin, that we have been advocating, per
sistently and insistently, the cash sys-
TEN. It may not be possible for you
merchants to do business on cash
\ basis but You can get pretty near IT
Z One North Dakota merchant told me
that he had $4,000 out on credit, and n
made about $1,000 a year, and ! asked
him why not close his doors and put
his money in the bank and draw 4 pei
cent interest and not run any risk o.
loss. ~. 81
Returning again to the catalogue
houses. You yourselves and your pre-,
decessors have been responsible for the
coming Of the. catalogue houses. Y g
would trust your friends, good, bad Of
Indifferent you allowed them to pay II
three months, six months or year
whenever they got ready, or not at all
+ You bought butter from Mrs. Jones
and eggs from Mrs, Jones and butter
and eggs from Mrs. Smith, slx ;te',
ounces to the pound, and twelve to the
dozen. There was no difference between
the butter; it was all butter and eggs
and you pitched it into packing al bar ar
rel and sent it on and allowed them &C
skin YOU in Grand Forks. Fargo q
rs l 1f1nedpOllSyO OIL llldl. Ii ~
that up you have to boost prices arle
your prices were 50 high compared witt
the possibilities Of the big mail houses use.
that you brought Montgomery Ward IN;
to the field, and they brought some '
others. The cheap watches drought
n Sears, Roebuck into the field sg .
think that the only possible way
that a merchant can keep his head
above water and compete with tbs
catalogue houses is by getting his
money at a certain specified date. i
you cannot do that, shut down, and
do not try it any more. Il they can can
not pay in thirty, sixty or ninety days
they cannot pay at some other time
From inquiries among the leading
iobbing houses of Minneapolis, st
Paul, Chicago and Omaha, I ascer
tanned that no over an average o.
I thirty per cent took their discount
that not over twenty per cent more NOR