Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-08-20
BOOK W|LES
How the Catalogues Lure Buy
ers With Deceptive Cuts.
ARGUMENT FOR HOME TRADE

The Man Who Sends Money Away For
Goods He Could Buy at Local Stores
Strikes at the Very Root of His Own
Prosperity-Hints to the Wise.
The head, the hoof and the hide of
the mail order business is the cata-
logue, and the meat Of the catalogue
is the picture. In these voluminous
books the larger catalogue houses pic
ture everything from a hog ring to
portable sawmill. They picture things
which they have and which they have
not. Everything goes ia this great book
of books. If they have not the real
thing that the picture represents, they
have something Gust as good and
cheaper" says a writer in Maxwell's
Talisman.
They invite you to send in your
money, for this is strictly a cash in ad-
vance proposition. If they have not
what you order they will send you
something else, but be sure to send
your money in with your order. That
is important. You will have no oppor-
tunity to examine the goods and COM
pare the quality with other grades, but
what of that? 1t is such an exciting
moment when you come to open the
bag and see the color Of the cat.
The catalogues are sent to every fam
lily where there is a possibility Of Sc
curing an order. And these picture
books, supplemented by persistent adj
vertising in the agricultural and reli-
gious journals, keep a constant stream
of money flowing from the legitimate
channels of trade into the Golfers of
these catalogue concerns.
The business policy of the old grange
movement was shortsighted, and the
results proved it to be impracticable.
It was born of prejudice and miscon-
ceptiOn Of the organic laws of trade.
The country needs the town as much
as the town needs the country. And
the middIeman is an essential cog in
the wheel of everyday trade. To cut
out the retail merchant and business
men generally in the country town is
to destroy the small trade and social
centers, the prosperity and growth of
which will always determine the value
of farm property in their vicinity. The
nearer a farm is to a consuming mar
ket the greater becomes the earning
power Of each acre and consequently
the greater its value in the general
market. The catalogue mail order idea
If carried out to it's ultimate conclusion
would wipe out every village and small
town and leave nothing but individual
farms and a few large distributing
centers, with a complete monopoly on
the essential commodities. Local cen
tiers of consumption that now furnish
the market for a large per cent of the
farm products would disappear from
the map, and the social and educational
advantages afforded in a large com
munity could be found only in a cata-
logue center, and there would be no
need for more than one of them. The
greatest trust in the world is the ideal
catalogue mail order combination. 1t
covers every possible field Of trade and
brooks no competition.
Civilization as we know it is based
upon reciprocal obligations. In the or
binary course of trade the local mer-
chant furnishes a market for the small
er produce of the farm and also pro-
vides a reasonable assortment of goods
for the use and convenience of the
community. For these accommoda-
tons the community is under a re.
cfproca1 obligation to give him the
preference of trade-at least to give
him fair chance to compete for that
trade. This principle is recognized by
the community when it demands that
peddlers take out license.
The man who sends his money away
from his home town for goods that he
can buy at the local store loses more
than he can possibly gain. He strikes
at the very root of his own prosperity,
It is a penny wise and pound foolish
business. Every hundred dollars sent
out Of the county reduces the work
ing capital of the county just that
much. A prosperous country town in.
dicates q prosperous rural community.
II your towns look seedy and unkept
Il the For Rent" signs in the store
windows stare you In the face, if the
merchants are discouraged, what is
the effect on farm property-what does
the stranger the investor, If you
please, think of the community in gen
eraI? VIII he invest his money in
community that is not true to itselft
The thinking man knows that the price
of farm real estate depends as much
upon its nearness to a good live town
as it does upon the producing power
Of the soil