Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-01-25
TRADE AT HOME.
Why Farmer Should Give His
support to the Local
Merchant.

bility of the nation is to stand.
And the solution of this great prob,
lem lies in the hands OF the people OF
the towns and villages and the farms,
especially the farms.
The people of the rural communities
have everything to lose and nothing
to gain by sending their money to
the catalogue houses, by passing by
their local merchants and sending
their dollars to the concerns who have
absolutely no interest in their COM
munities.
These catalogue houses do not pay
taxes in your town: the local mer-
chant does. They do not build side
walks in your town: they local mer-
chant does. They do not contribute
to the building Of roads over which
the crops of the farms are hauled to
market; the local merchant does.
They do not help to build school
houses for your children; the local
merchant does. They do not assist in
the support of your churches; the
local merchant does.
But there are some things the cata-
logue houses do for you and the
first and greatest of them is to assist
materially in bankrupting your COM
munity. The dollars they take away
never come back to you. They will
never help to make a city of your vii
lage. They will never increase the
value of your real-estate holdings by
making local improvements.
Let US look at the subject from the
standpoint of the farmer, for it is the
farmer who is the greatest patron of
the catalogue houses.
The town or village one, two or
three miles from his home is his mar
ket for the butter and eggs and other
produce of his farm. The half dozen
or more merchants of the town, each
anxious to obtain his full share of
the business of the community, main
tain competition that affords to the
farmer at all times top prices for the
products of his farm. 1t is these half
dozen merchants that make farm
profits possible; the profits are in no
way due to the catalogue houses Of
| the cities.
But the farmer persists in sending
his dollars to the city. He wants a
buggy or set of harness, or a pair
of stockings or any of the necessities
or luxuries of life and to get them he
takes out his mail order catalogue and
looks at the finely printed cuts, reads
the we'll written description and pass
ing the local merchant by, the mer-
chant who has purchased his produce
at the best marked prices, the mer-
chant who has helped to build the
immunity, he sends his dollars to
the catalogue house in the city and
takes what they choose to send him.
| What is the result?
One after another the doors of the
local stores are closed, and where at
one time there were half dozen mer-
chants, each bidding for his share Of
patronage by Offering fair prices for
that which the farmer had to sell,
there is now but one merchant who
has monopoly, not only of the sell
ing, but of the buying as we'll and he
pays what he pleases for the farmers
produce.
The farmer can continue to send his
money to the catalogue house in the
city for his supplies, but he cannot
send his produce to the same place,
In disposing of that he is absolutely
dependent upon his local merchant,
and his patronage Of the catalogue
houses he has killed competition, and
must now take whatever is offered for
what he has to sell.
Mr. Farmer, are you helping to kill
the goose that is laying your golden
egg?
Are you sending your dollars to the
catalogue houses and by so doing kill
ing the local industries of your town?
Are you putting your merchants out
of business and creating a monopoly
that will pay you what it pleases for
the products of your farm?
If you are doing these things it is
time for you to stop and consider the
future. You will have to look but
little way ahead to see the result and
it will not be an attractive picture
that greets you. The prosperous COM
munity of which you are now part
will fade like the summer flowers be-
fore the winter winds, and almost as
quickly.
1t is the fact that there is market
within close proximity to your farm
that makes your acres valuable. The
men who maintain this local market
for you are the men who cause the
railroad trains to stop at your town.
Take them away and soon the town
will be wiped off the map. The
churches will close for lack of support
The schools will cease to be pride,
and your sons and daughters will lack
the opportunity that is theirs by right
of birth. and your acres, that are now
valuable because they lie in close
proximity to market, will show a
depreciation that will astonish you.