Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-03-02
BANE OF HOME TRADE
Lack of Confidence In Your Own
Town.
HOW 1T KILLS OFF BUSINESS.

Do you believe in your own town and
community? If you do, what do you do
for your own town and community?
1t may be that you have observed a
gradual falling off in business. Things
have not been going along at the lively
rate which seems to be justified by the
present general prosperity. Expert stat
istictians and close observers declare
that never before has the United States
been SO generally prosperous as it is
at this moment
How does your own home place
stack up with this declaration? Are
you and your neighbors getting your
share of the prosperity? If not
there's a reason" as a certain adyer
tiser says.
What is the reason?
A recent writer on the revival of the
local spirit as the only remedy against
the ruin of the small town and the
overgrOwth of the big city presents
some pertinent opinions on this topic.
Read what Richard Hamilton Byrd
says anent the lack of confidence found
in many communicable lack of
belief in your own home place:
The Mail Order Business.
ct is that lack of confidence, or. per
haps better, a lack of a knowledge of
familiar things, which has enabled the
mail order business to gain such head
way In the rural districts.
ut is a recognized fact that the re-
tail business of the country village
and the large towns, for that matter,
is being destroyed. Year by year the
once prosperous merchants are being
forced to the wall-driven out by the
mail order business. And this is tax
ing place in face of the fact that the
population and purchasing power Of
the country districts are ever on the in
crease.
what is the matter?
'The mail order houses are drawing
the cash retail trade from its natural
channels to the cities.
THE growth Of this octopus has been
phenomenal From ielly-like idea,
without form, an experiment fifteen
years ago, it has grown to proportions
that threaten the determination Of the
retail country merchant
"An idea of the way the money of the
people is being drawn into this mail
order trade may be had from the re-
ports of some of these houses. 4 GER
tain mail order house of Chicago which
began with few thousand dollars fif-
teen years ago now carries a capital
stock of S5.OOO.OO0 and has arranged to
increase that stock to S40000,000. The
monthly business amounts To $5,000,
600 with a yearly net profit of more
than $3,0OO.000
'This, mind You, is the record of but
one institution. There are dozens of
them in Chicago, little and big and
hundreds Of them in the various cities
OF the United States. They are spring
ing up like mushrooms every night
All that is necessary to start mail or,
der business is Il place to receive mail
and money enough to get out the first
batch Of printing and for the first adj
vertising campaign.
Like the patent medicine business,
the mail order business depends on the
gullibility of the general public. Thou
sands of people every week send in
their hard earned cash to some mail
order house in payment for goods that
could have been bought cheaper at
their home store.
"Why do they do it? 1t is owing par
TALLY to the desire of the average per-
son to be humbugged and partially to
the effect Of persistent advertising.
The mail order house sends out its at
tractive literature 10 every family in
the country. In this literature, com
posed of we'll illustrated catalogues
and cheap magazines, known as mail
order papers, the goods are set out in
the most attractive manner 1t is
tempting bait, and the fish bite.
"All of these millions come out of the
legitimate trade Of the country mer-
chant the man who has invested his
capital. built himself home and been
active in building up the town with
the expectation that he would be al
lowed to do a legitimate business i'm
legitimate way. lie is entitled 10 the
trade Of his town and the country ad
jacent. He pays his taxes and contrib
utes to the support of the community.
That community owes him a reciprocal
duty-the duty to give him the prefer
ence Of trade. everything else being
equal This is the theory of all or
gained civilized communities, begin
ming with the family and going on up
through every organization to that OF
the state. Home protection from for
eign robbers is the first duty Of every
good citizen. If the village and town
life that has grown up under natural
laws of trade is to be maintained, the
retail business must be preserved
against the unfair inrOads Of the mail
order business. And this can be done
only by organization and education.
Let the people know the facts about
the mail order business and the offer
,1A Of sTrnlf fHr vii