The Winchester news. [volume] (Winchester, Ky.) 1908-19??, 1908-12-28
PICTURE BOOK WLES
How the Catalogues Lure Buy
ers With Deceptive Cuts.
ARGUMENT FOR HoKE TRADE

Jhs Man Who Sends Money Away For
1seods He Could Buy at Local Stores
Strikes at the Very Root Of HE Own
Prospsrity-Hints to tho Wise.
The head, the hoof and the hide of
1ogue, and the meat Of the catalogue
- the picture. In these voluminous
AoOSks the larger catalogue houses pic
fnre everything from a hog ring to a
portable sawmiIl. They picture things
&hich they have and which they have
not Everything goes in this great book
, sf books. If they have not the real
ching that the picture represents. they
Aaye something "just as good and
cheaper" says writer in MaxwelPs
Talisman.
They invite you to send in your
money. for this is strictly cash in ad-
nance 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
- important. You will have no oppor
funity to examine the goods and com
pare the quality with other grades, but
what of that? 1t is such an exciting
noment when you come to open the
bag and see the color of the cat.
The catalogues are sent to every fam
fly where there is a possibility Of Sc
curing an order. And these picture
books supplemented by persistent ad
Hertising in the agricultural and reli-
81Ous Journals, keep constant stream
~ 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
Fe0ults proved it to be impracticable.'
It was born of prejudice and a miscon-
eeption of the organic laws of trade.
The country needs the town as much
- the town needs the country. And
me middleman is an essential cog in
TIE wheel Of everyday trade. To cut
sout the retail merchant and business
men generally In the country town is
~ destroy the small trade and social
eenters, the prosperity and growth Of
which will always determine the value
~ farm property in their vicinity. The
nearer farm is to a consuming mar
net the greater becomes the earning
power Of each acre and consequent!
Ne greater its value In the general
market The catalogue mail order idea
- carried out to its ultimate conclusion
would wipe out every village and small
aoWn and leave nothing but individual
farms and few large distributing
nsnfers, with complete monopoly on
- essential commodities. Local cen
tDeS Of consumption that now furnish
the market for large per cent of the
darn products would disappear from
ahe map. and the social and educational
advantages afforded in a large com
Nnnnity could be found only in a cata-
1ogue center, and there would be no
need for more than one Of them. The
&Featest trust In the world is the ideal
catalogue mail order combination. 1t
rcoYers every possible field Of trade and
bEo0ks no competition.
Civilization as we know 1t Is based
4pen reciprocal obligations. In the or
binary course of trade the local mer-
chant furnishes market for the small
- produce Of the farm and also pro-
S1des q reasonable assortment Of goods
Cor the use and convenience Of the
community. For these accommoda-
lions the community L. under re-
eaprocal obligation to give him the
peeference of trade-at least to give
him fair chance to compete for that
trade This principle is recognized by
the community when 1t 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
1t the very root of his own prosperity
1t Is a penny wise and pound foolish
business. Every hundred dollars sent
ont Of the county reduces the work
1ng capital Of the county Just that
much. A prosperous country town in
dicates prosperous rural community
II your towns look seedy and unkept.
if 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.
-eral? VIII he invest his money in
community that is not true to itself?
The thinking man knows that the price
of farm reel estate depends as much
upon its nearness to good live town
as 1t does upon the producing power
Of the soil