Judith Gap journal. [volume] (Judith Gap, Mont.) 1908-19??, 1910-11-18
WHERE DO YOU BUY?

We are face to face with the fact
that the commercial strength OF the
country town. the natural social and
business center OF every rural com
munity. so says the Great Falls
Leader. is being undermined 10y the
''peculiar" competition Of the so-call-
ed catalogue houses in the larger cit
les. Last year at least aO.0o0. 900
that should have gone to the retail
merchants of the middle west was
sent away from home to these mail
order concerns. This is serious. 1t
is doubly serious because it is a
cash business and a continual drain
on the finances of the whole rural
community. for none of it ever comes
back. The money that the farmer Or
the wage Garner spends with the re-
tail merchant in his home town re-
mains in circulation in the neighbour
hood, but the money sent away is like
so much lifeblOOd lost to the COM
munty. 1t cannot even be reached
by the tax collector to be made to
bear its share of the cost OF public
improvements and public protection.
Every citizen owes allegiance. first
to his family: second, to the com
munity in which he Iives. and third,
to the nation. This is the theory,
according to Richard \. Haste, Il
we'll known writer on home trade
topics.
But when the nation is in peril and
calls for help men sacrifice both fam
lily and friends for the nations good.
We call this patriotism. And the
first duty Of the loyal citizen is to the
nation. for it embraces both the com
munity and the family welfare.
We don't think much OF the men
who ran away to Canada to escape
their duty during the days of the
Civil war; We don't think much
OF the woman who neglects her fam
lily that h q may entertain her
friends. Spltishness. when home is
the object. Is almost Il virtue. What
are we to think Of people who pass up
their own town and do their trading
in the cities in the hope Of saving
few cents: If they live in the town.
if they be lawyers. preachers. teach
-rs. bankers. doctors. or common
wage earners. it is from the town
they get their living, if they he farm
ers. it is the town that affords them
markets and the good things of mod
ern civilization. and. more than that,
it is the town that gives value to their
farms. What shall we think of such
people if they deliberately ignore the
allegiance they owe to the community
for protection and the very bread
they eat and send their money. some
Of which may come directly from the
public purse, rs in the case OF school
teachers, to the cities for the things
they can get ut home? What shall
we think OF them:
This IS what William Allen White
thinks of them i'm Em"ria, Kan. 1t
is straight talk. but it has the ring OF
of good sense in it:
"Tle man who buys his goods of Il
mail order house and expects his
neighbors in Emporia to buy goods OF
him or to buy labor from him is eco.
nomically leech. He is sucking in
dustrial blood ont of the town and
gives none back. lie sends his pro.
fits out OF town like Chinaman ant
has no more right to Il standing in the
community than Il foreigner. Wear.
all neighbors industrially in thi,
town. and the man who sends ava,
for his goods is not one of us. lie i.
OF another industrial system and de