The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-03-13
CENTRALlzING TRADE.
MAIL ORDER GROWTH A NATION
AL MENACE.
Pertinent Facts Pointed Out ny q
Student of This Serious Problem
Population Follows Cash.

Population Follows Cash.
The Capitalization Of trade in the
great cities Of the country resulting
from the growth Of the mail order
business Is q national menace Of far
reaching proportions, says writer In
Ma1well's Talisman.
Population follows trade. II the
business Is done In the country town
and village Of supplying the needs OF
the countryside for merchandise and
manufactured articles Of all kinds, the
people who carry on the trade, the
merchant and his helpers will live IN
the town or village.
II, on the other hand, the trade is
done by mail, cutting out the country
merchant, the latter Is finally driven
out of business, his store ceases to ex-
ist, his village home Is abandoned, and
If he should continue in the trade he
and his assistants must move to the
city and become employees for some
great centralized mail trade instltu-
ton, fitting like cogs into one great
wheel, with which they must day after
day revolve.
The country merchant, with his self
reliance, his sturdy individuality. his
broad acquaintance, his knowledge OF
local affairs and needs, his support for
local institutions, his civic usefulness,
his neighborly offices, his public serv-
ices and his cooperation in movements
for local Improvement has been up
rooted and driven away. There Is no
one to take his place. The trade that
gave him his vocation has gone, and
with it has gone the prosperity OF the
town or village which was his home.
The mail trade has destroyed him.
The village life and the citizenship
developed by it constitute the only
hope of perpetuity for the free insti-
tutions Of this country. The most
grave and serious dangers that now
menace its future result from the over
growth Of our great cities and the con-
seGuent degeneration Of the average
citizenship Of the nation.
In the place Of the plain people
whose country environment has made
them stable, steady headed, self reliant
and independent in action, thought and
character we have the volatile city
multitude, a floating population, an
chored to nothing either mentally or
physically, and blown about by every
breeze of popular prejudice or passion
ready for any rash experiment, social
or political.
The adjacent village or the nearby
town which furnishes for the farmer
the social side to his life that the iso-
lation Of the farm denies to him Is
potent factor in the development Of
the fully rounded out. broad and pa
triotlc character that makes the Ameri-
can farmer the bulwark Of the nations
; stability. Not the farmer alone, but
the whole life and environment of the
community Of which he Is part, the
country merchant, the editor Of the
home paper. the preacher, the village
schoomaSter. the country doctor and
all the men Of many vocationS who
form the village community, bound to-
gether by ties Of close neighborly af-
fecton and friendly intercourse as
we'll as the feeling Of mutual regard
born of mutual interdependence in
their lives create q social circle weld
ed together by closer personal bonds
than are possible among dwellers in
cities. The whole circle Of citizenship
In the country village or town has the
same elements of quiet faith in the
final triumph of the good and loyal
devotion to country and the principles
for which our nation stands as Lin
coin declared them on the battlefield
Of Gettysburg.
The we'll stocked general store Of
the country town. which the mail trade
would destroy. is a great educational
influence in itself. with its variety OF
goods gathered from many places and
supplying many varied needs. The
mental interest Is awakened and stim-
ulated by the opportunity it gives to
see with ones own eyes the thing that
, will best supply 4 need and discuss Its
merits and cost with the merchant or
, his salesman. The social side Of hu-
man nature is developed by the per-
, sonal contact involved in such inter-
course and the trip to town or village
to make the purchase is oftentimes
one Of the most agreeable breaks in
the monotony Of farm life for the
farmer and his family. They meet
; there whole circle Of friends, whose
nelghborly greetings give an added
cheeriness to the homely happenings
Of the day. Blot all this out Of the
farmers life and you take from it
something that has human and So
cial value that cannot be measured by
money any more than family affec-
tion can be so measured.
Schools, churches, libraries social In
tercourse and entertainments and all
that is educational and social In the
rural liz" cluster around the village.
1t is -. social center Of the country
side. and it is the trade that comes to
it that supports the village or the
town.