The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1909-09-09
GENERALIZATION OF TRADE.

| The Capitalization of trade in the
great cities of the country resulting from
the growth of the mail order business is
national menace of far reaching pro
portions.
Foundation follows trade. If the bus
mess is done in the country town and
village, of supplying the needs OF the
country side for merchandise and manu-
featured articles of all kinds, the people
who carry on the trade, the merchant
and his helpers, will live IN the town or
village.
If, on the other hand, the trade is done
| by mail, cutting ont the home merch-
ant the latter is finally driven out of
business, his store ceases to exist, his
home il abandoned, and if he should
continue in the trade, he and his assist.
ants must move to the large city and he
come employees for some great centraliz
ed mail trade institution, where men
are mere machines, fitting like cogs into
one great wheel with which they must
day after day revolve.
The home merchant, with his self
lance, 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 servic-
es, and his cOOUeTatiOn in movements
for local improvements, has been uproot-
ed 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 small city
or village which was his home. The
mail order house has destroyed them.
Reason and common sense will pre-
vail, however, in the mind Of the Amer
lean farmer after he has heard and
weighed both sides of the question, and
he will cease to be deluded into approx
ing false economic scheme, that in the
long run would do untold harm TO all
the rural interests of the country, mere.
ly to gain the apparent temporary ad-
vantage of ordering from n catalogue
house the various articles of merchan-
disc needed ON the farm; but little ser.
ious thought of consequence, of social
deprivations and lessened farm values,
that would eventually be caused by the
isolation that would ensue if the nearby
small cities or villages were hlOtted out,
would convince the most superficial
minded farmer that the growth Of the
mail order house trade meant lessened
value for his property and n loss of social
advantages still more seriously detrlm-
entail 30 the life of him self and family.
Schools, churches libraries, social in.
tercourse and entertainments, and al.
that is educational and social in the rur.
I'll life clusters around the small city or
village. They are the social centers of
the country side, and it is the trade that
comes to them that supports tn en-
w llllDlll lilhl llb'ltt cum N'ui'l NbBll bt-
come u Deserted Village" with all the
sad consequences 90 pathetically por-
trayed in Goldsmiths Deserted Village,
from which its closing words are quoted
Teach erring man to apurn the rage of
gain;
Teach him, that states of native strength
possesst,
Though very poor, may still be very
blest
That trades proud empire hastes to
swift decay
As ocean sweeps the labourd mole a.
way;
While self dependent power can time
defy,
As rocks resist the pillows and the sky.