Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-07-27
lNROADS OF THE BIG
MAIL ORDER HOUSES
Merchandise Sold in This Way Said
to Aggregate $500. .ooo
Yearly.
INDUSTRY CENTERs IN CHICAGO
Thousands of Country Merchants and
Manufacturers in Middle West
Organize to Fight System.

There is to be war to the knife be-
tween the country stores in the Mid
die West and the owners of the mail
order business" which is centered in
Chicago, and the battle will be bat
tie Of giants. The mail order BUSH
ness has become a tremendous insti-
tuition. In Chicago two of these
houses do business aggregating $780,
100000 year and 1t is said that the
total of merchandise sold by mail in
the United States yearly amounts to
$500, 100000
Chicago is the great center of this
huge commercial industry. From that
city the catalogues of the mail order
houses go to every corner of rural
America. There is hardly a farm
house or a woodchopper's cabin, no
matter how remote, where you will
not find one. These catalogues are
bulky tones, almost as big as a fam
lily Bible They weigh about five
pounds apiece and cost their sponsors
from SO to 40 cents each for postage.
One house sends out 100000 of them
every year. and the other few thou
sand less. The expense of preparation
and printing is more than million
dollars for each.
Organize for Protection.
The mail order houses have almost
ruined the business of a good many
manufacturers and country merchants,
and these manufacturers and country
merchants are eager to take advan-
tage of anything that will give them
chance to fight back. And that oppor-
tunity came with the formation of an
enterprise, which is organized more
for the benefit of the small dealer and
the consumer than it is for purely
gainful ends. Already it has enrolled
on its side 5000 country merchants
and many manufacturers, some of
whom had grievances against the mail
order houses. The latter buy tremend-
Gus quantities of goods from manufae-
turers at very low prices. The first
year the contract is made the manu-
facturer is happy and INDUCES in
golden dreams. The next year the
mail order house comes along and
makes a yet bigger contract, but at a
lower figure. In order to cheaper the
cost of production the manufacturer
enlarges his plant, puts in more ma
chinery and greater capital in his
business with the expectation that his
orders from the mail order house will
continue to expand year by year. 1t
is then that the mail order concern
gets the manufacturer in its power. 1t
comes forward the third year with an
offer for a still greater quantity of
his product, but at prices that are
about equal to cost of production, or
at least so near it as to leave no mar
gin for risk or profit. If the manufac-
turer refuses the offer the order is
placed elsewhere and the manufactur-
er has to face the prospect of ruin ow-
ing to his having plant that Is too
large for his normal trade and which
will "eat its head eff" if not run to
its fullest capacity. In most cases,
too, the additions to the plant have
been made with borrowed money. The
result is that the manufacturer either
has to go into bankruptcy or accept
the mail order concerns terms, which
practically make him it's servant to
the end of the chapter.
How the Association Works.
Driven to desperation year or so
ago some of these manufacturers and
some of the smaller merchants in the
west got together and after expressing
their indignation at the big mail order
houses formed an association with its
headquarters in Sioux City. The plan
of procedure is simple. Certain spe-
cial articles that have been handled
by the mail order houses in enormous
quantities are selected. They general
ly are staple goods for which there is
a steady demand. The small store
keepers combine their orders, in this
way making them mount up to huge
aggregate. The manufacturers belong
ing to the association are thus able to
produce the goods and place them on
the small merchants shelves at prices
lower than the mail order people can
afford to sell them, but at a living |
profit to themselves. AS the mer-
chants and manufacturers connected |
with the association advertise in their
local papers, the enterprise is having
The solid support of the latter.
The result has been to cut down |
very appreciably the volume OF busi- |
hess done by the Chicago concerns and |
Ill over the Middle West merchants
Ire joining the association at the rate
81 10 a day mr. 200 month