Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1907-02-21
THE MAIL ORDER BUSINESS.

There will always be two views
about the policy OF patronizing mail
order houses. \ customer who is sat
isfed that he can do better by trading
with them than by dealing with home
merchants will continue to do so, and
will find reasons to justify himself,
/ Those who have tried it with different
results will disagree with him, rs will
also those who, from business princi.
pies, have not and will not transfer
their trade to these distant concerns.
Frankly, if we were satisfied that
all things constructive should be
better off by sending our orders for
goods to catalogue houses, we should
do so. Mind we say "all things con.
sidered." This does not mean that to
save, apparently, a dime, or even a
dollar, in a particular instance, we
should deem it best. We should want
to know that the kind and quality of
goods we were buying was up to the
standard of those purchasable at home,
even at higher figure. The cata-
logue might tell us they were-but the
catalogue might be mistaken.
Even were it true that, value for
value, we could do better by sending
away, we should still hesitate on other
grounds. Our local merchants and
stores are an important, a necessary
part of the business lite of our COM
munity. They must have trade to ex-
ist, to prosper, to grow. The better
they thrive, the more they add to the
enterprise and we'll being of our town.
The more the town improves, the bet
ter off are we, are you, is everybody
living within it. Let trade slacken:
let the dollars coming to the local mer-
chant 90 elsewhere, to distant cities.
and everybody here will, sooner or
later, feel the effects. So it is selC.in-
terest that still inclnes us to give the
local dealer the dollar, rather than the
tar-away house the ninety-fve cents.
Still further, it is essential that our
small towns maintain stores of some
kind in order to dispense the many ar
ticles that never could be bought of
the order houses. But if we buv
everything we can of these houses,
the only way the home merchant can
live, if his patronage consists merely
of such purchases as cannot be made
elsewhere, is to charge abnormal prof
its on these, so whatever we might
save in one way would be lost in the
other, besides the no less actual
though indirect. loss to ourself as a
part of this community. 50 long as
we encourage the keeping of plenty of
stores in our town, we are providing
the means OF protecting ourselves
from excessive charges, through the
competition that results. The fewer
stores, the less competition and the
more we suffer.
Another feature the merchants are
our friends and neighbors, and we pre-.
ter to hand over cur dollars to them
than to strangers, on anything like a
fair comparison. We depend on them
for taxes, tor pecuniary support for
this thing and that. and for that ccner-
al helptulness which prosperous, pub
lic-spirited men always exert in a
community. We depend on them for
credit, too, sometimes when credit is
worth something to us. We get none
OF these helps, none of these friendly
services, none of these personal IA
vors, from the book houses. 1t is cold
cash with them, and nothing your due
for all the orders you send them. You
couldn't get trusted for apenny worth
beyond their general rule, open to all.
even il you sent them thousands of dol
lars. They have no regard tor you; all
they want is your money, and they are