The Tupelo journal., 1908-03-27
IMPovERIsHiNG THE COMMUNITY
Constant Drain of Money Certain to
Have Depressing Effects.

1T is surprising how little the peo-
pie of towns consider the way that
communities are impo rsrished by the
money which is sant away to other
cities for goods that might as we'll be
bought at home. In one of the live
western towns, a county seat, and
having a population of more than
l,5o0, a banker who is in position to
know said that in a single day he
knew of more than $500 in money or
ders having been sent from the town
to retail order houses. Just think Of
this! There are about 20 business
places in the town, and this amount
going away daily keeps the place
from advancing. 1t is hardly that the
merchants cannot meet catalogue
competition, but the farmers and 9TH
ers who send away for supplies never
give the storekeepers in their home
town an opportunity to give prices OF
the articles wanted. They get their
money order at the express or post
office or their draft at the bank and
send off without a word to any mer-
chant as to the goods they need.
Such people are not good citizens in
every sense of the word. They lack
love of home and good will toward
their town. The total store bill of
the average farmer does not amount
to more than $500. Say that he could
even save 10 per cent. on the goods
he orders-and he does not save a
cent, in fact-it would only be $40 a
year. But the money sen away from
many communities aggregates mil
ions of dollars to the wealth of the
big houses and injure their own town
to just that extent.
A western banker met by the writ
er, in conversation as to the extent of
the business done by catalogue
houses, said that the exchange paid
his bank for drafts was nearly enough
to pay all the ordinary expense of
he institution. Just think of this!
Are the people losing their senses?
Are there conditions in any town that
justify that the ones who are making
their living from tie country, who
have a share of the taxes to pay, who
should have pride in seeing their
home town and the country around
advance, shall send their dollars to
far-off cities for supplies? 1t is a
sorry condition. There is nothing to
justify it only the ignorance of the
ones who think that they may save a
few dollars in the curse of a year by
sending away for their goods. One of
the misleading things in the advertis-
ing of the big catalogue houses is the
claim that goods are sold just as low
as the merchant buys them. This is
not SO. The merchant must have a
legitimate profit in his business. 1t
is just that he should. The farmer
would consider a man unreasonable
who would ask him to sell the prod
ucts of his farm for just the cost to
produce them. The good farmer makes
on all his crops, after good wages are
allowed for himself, a percentage for
interest on his investment, a greater
amount by many per cent. than does
the grocer, the dry goods or the cloth
ing man or the implement man. Still,
how many begrudgingly patronize
home stores, and only when they wish
accommodation, and their ready cash
goes to the ~out-of-town concerns that
handle prison-made goods and sec
onds' and shoddy stuff. 1t is too bad;
the people need more pride in home,
more ideas of equity, and need much
more education in economic matters.