The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1911-12-02
SPEND At HOME.
Don't GO Outside Of Your Own
Town For Necessaries.
STAND BY SMALL DEALERS.
"Person Who Buys From the Mail
Order House Should Have No Right
to q Standing In the Community"
Says William Allen White.

Order House Should Have No RICH,
I. to . Standing In the Community
Says William Allen White.
The commercial strength Of the coun-
try town. the natural social and bust
ness center Of every rural community
is being gradually undermined by the
peculiar" competition Of the so called
catalogue houses In the larger cities.
At least $250,0OO.OOO that should so to
the retail merchants of the middle
west is sent away from home to these
is serious. 1t Is doubly serious because
II is a cash business and continual
drain on the finances of the whole ru-
raj community, for none Of 1t ever
comes back. The money that the
farmer or the wage Garner spends with
the retail merchant In his home town
remains In circulation IN the neighbor-
hood. but the money sent away is like
nifty. 1t cannot even be reached by
the tax collector to be made to bear
its share of the cost Of public improve
ments and public protection.
Every good citizen owes allegiance.
first. to his family: second. to the COM
munity in which he lives. and, third.
to the nation. This is the theory, ac-
cording to Richard A. Haste. well
known writer on home trade topics.
But when the nation is In peril and
calls for help men sacrifice both family
and friends for the nations good. We
call this patriotism. and the first duty
Of the loyal citizen Is to the nation, for
II embraces both the community and
the family welfare.
We don't think much of the men who
run away to Canada 10 escape their
duty during the days of the civil war.
We don't think much Of the woman
who neglects her family that she may
entertain her friends. Selfshness. when
home Is the object, Is almost virtue.
What are we to think of people who
pass up their town and do their trad
ing in the cities in the hope Of saving
n few cents? If they live in the town,
II they be lawyers, doctors, preachers.
teachers, bankers or common wage
earners. 1t Is from the town they get
their living; II they be farmers It Is
the town that affords them markets
and the good things of modern civiliZa-
ton. and. more than that. II is the town
that gives value to their farms. What
shall We think of such people II 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. as In the
case Of schoolteachers, to the cities for
the things they can get at home? What
shall we think of them?
This Is what William Allen White
thinks Of them In Emporia, Kan. II is
straight talk. but 1t has the ring Of
good sense In It:
1.-The man who buys his goods Of n
mail order house and expects his neigh
bors In EmpOria to buy goods of him
or buy labor of him or to buy profess
sional service of him is economically n
leech. He is sucking Industrial blood
out Of the town and gives none back.
He sends his profits out Of town and
should have no right to standing in
the community. We are all neighbors
industrially in this town. and the man
who sends away for his goods is not
one Of us. He is Of another Industrial
system and deserves no mans support
In Emporia."
What Is true of Emporia, Kan. Is
true Of every other town In the United
States. One Of the primal obligations
any good citizen owes to the communi-
ty In which he lives Is that of recipro-
cal trade. 1t is only thus that the com
munity interests Of the country can be
maintained.
This buying Of catalogue houses and
through soap clubs is fad that has
grown up In the commercial garden
like n rank weed. 1T grew and -four
ished because there was no attempt
made to keep the garden clear of such
growths. People have been so busy
about other things that they simply for
got the obligations they are under to
their neighbors and to themselves as
community. And even since there has
been n marked awakening to the need
for civic Improvement. for building up
the Industrial and ethical interests OF
the home town. the workers seem 10
have overlooked the most importan MT
feature Of It all-the protection Of the
retail trade of the home merchant.