The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-03-13
The Agitation Grows.

Inc Agitation GROWS.
I would like to know who "Bill
Simpson, is. but it probab bly, docs not
make any difference, for whoever
he is he has hit the catalogue house
business Just about right. T am fur
ainst these large cities controlling |
cvoryt ming. I believe we ought TO
business ourselves. The harvester
trust went to work to drive the small
Ter fellows out of the business and
have succeeded so well they have
really rorncrcd the entire harvester
trade. Then we have our nail trusts,
hardware trusts and trusts Of all
kinds. | an not exactly satisfied vita
this idea of shipping our cream to the
large central creamcrics where it
looks to NE like an effort to drive our
home crcamcrics out Of business AID
then they will pay ns Whatever they
please for our cream and they will
control the price Of butter as we'll as
the price Of cream.
There is danger in such things and
tor one 7 do not propose to harbor
HE mail order catalogue house trusts.
IT seems to me our home merchants
occupy the same relation to us as The
small manufacturer does to the diff,
fcrcnt trusts. If the big fellows once
get a hold of u.s., we are their meat.
The things "Bill Simpson," says
in his letter TO you are Just about
right. This nonsense about our home
merchants making too big a profit
| believe is all wrong. Tt seems to me
any man capable Of reading and of
comprehending the way business is
done nowadays. knows that COMPETE
tion in all lines is so strong that il is
pretty near impossible Ter a man TO
charge more tian he on"ht to for any
LENGTH Of time. Suppose one of the
merchants of our town should ask q
dollar profit on an article he ought
to sell at twenty-five cents profit,
how long would it be before the 9th
er fellow, selling the same thing.
would see his chance Of cutting I'M
der the man who wants such a large
profit and get the business?
remember once only a few months
ago, OF reading a lecture given by one
OF our professors of economics in one
OF Il large eastern colleges. in
winch he warned the people to look
ont for this mail order and catalogue
business, for it was only another
form Of the trust idea. He went on
to say that these concerns bought
what is called seconds or slightly
do a lattlo Of this %controllin"
in that way got a hold of stuff they
could handle. He said the most OF
their goods which were only slightly
damaged could not be detected by
the average person. He drew the H.
lustration Of a customer buying dried
fruits, or groceries OF any kind. AMI
said That if it was only a quarter or
half a pound short, the person buy
ing thought it was so small an item
as not to be worthy Of notice, but to
the catalogue house. handling thous-
ands of pounds it made a nice profit.
This he called robbery and guess he
is about right.
| once had the pleasure Of visiting
a large factory where they made
knives, forks and other things in that
line. The foreman Of one Of tire
rooms showed me a pile Of thasa
goods and said they were damaged. 7
examined some Of them. but ! declare.
until he showed me where the flaw
was. it was pretty hard TO detect it.
IT seemed to me a big waste TO throw
these damaged pieces away, and 7
asked him what thrv did with them.
He said that they had q contract with
Il large catalogue house 10 take all
damaged goods they had and showed
mo how they wrapped and packed
50 as to keep the Claws from being
seen unless the examination was pref