St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-06-20
ONE BIG COMBINE
FORCE OF MAIL-oRDER PRESS
AGAINST COUNTRY TOWNS.
ADVERTISING THAT COUNTS
How Money and Trade Are Central.
lied In Great Cities to the Loss
of the People in Agricultural
Sections,

| These are the days of trusts anC
this is an era of trusts" writes w. D
Percival, late publisher of the Stan
ton (Neb.) Picket. "It is contendeG
that there are some good trusts, but
when the X-rays of investigation have
been turned upon them it has beer
impossible to locate the good points
To-day the most menacing trust in the
world Is the commercial combination
that is intended to destroy the retail
trade Of the country, diverting it into
the great money centers. This has
reference to the catalogue houses that
nave grown up in the large cities with
In the past few years. We can all re
member not long ago when there was
a country store at every crossroads
and at the same time there were pros
porous towns every few miles along
every railroad. In each one of these
towns there were from two to half a
dozen general stores, besides the
other stores that were handling spe.
cial lines. They all enjoyed a good
trade and sold goods at reasonable
profits.
To-day, in every agricultural and
Industrial section of the country you
can notice, the results that have been
brought about by the catalogue houses.
The crossroads stores have gone, and
in the towns business houses have
been vacated, their windows boarded
up and the former occupants driven
into bankruptcy or other occupations.
Not that the catalogue houses have
sold cheaper than the small mer-
chants, but they have flooded the coun-
try with catalogues and advertise
ments, alluring away the trade that
rightfully belonged at home. These
catalogue houses are owned and man
aged by able business men, built upon
the broad gauge plan, who realize the
benefits to be derived from advertis-
ing. They have organized an advertis-
ing campaign and each year they are
spending fortunes, not only publishing
and sending out catalogues, but they
have built up combination of news
papers that are nothing but mail-order
journals. 1t is shown that the COM
bined circulation of these sheets ag-
gregate 100000 copies per month.
These they send broadcast over the
country at their own expense They
do not stop at this, but go into every
magazine, agricultural, religious and
other paper that will accept their ad-
vertising. They pay the top price for
this advertising and in this way they
are enabled to reach about every
farmer in the land. They set aside
each year millions of dollars for ad-
vertising.
"Thus it will be seen that the cata-
logue houses and certain classes of
publishers are in g combine that con-
stitutes one Of the most damnable
trusts ever known. So far the coun-
try press, although frequently ap-
preached, has turned a deaf ear to the
siren voice Of these destroyers of
home trade. In return for this, the
country merchants should be liberal in
their patronage of the local papers,
which have demonstrated that they
are true friends in time of need. The
mail-order houses are in the business
for money and the only way to CON-
bat them is to agree upon a line of
action. The country press and the
country merchants must get together
and start a campaign of education.
The country press is on the right side
and by all working together and for
one purpose, the grip now enjoyed by
the catalogue houses can be broken
and trade turned back into it's legiti-
mate channels"