The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1911-12-16
USING PUBLICITY.
Advertising Is Method Employed
by Mail Order Houses.
OPEN TO HOME MERCHANTS.

otriko inc Oataio0uo IrAoe . otoW "
Adopting Their Means--TsII the Pso-
pie What You Have Through the
Columns Of tho Local Press.
The most serious problem confront
ing the retail merchant of the coun-
try today and the one that is giving
him the most concern Is that Of the
SO called mail order systematic retail
catalogue house trade.
This Is an era of combinations
trusts. both financial, Industrial and
commercial. But the most menacing
trust In the world today, says Max
wells Talisman, Is the commercial
combination that tends to destroy the
retail business of the country.
Not satisfied with the mercantile
field. these commercial trusts are also
seeking to become the financial deposit
tories for the rural districts by open
ing bank departments and as an in
ducement to the farmer offering G per
cent on deposits.
The retail catalogue houses are man
business men who fully realize the val
ue Of advertising. They have been
spending millions of dollars year in
systematic advertising campaigns. In
addition to- their elaborate catalogues
they sustain with their patronage hun
dreds of mail order journals. These
journals have combined circulation
of 100000 month. They are sown
broadcast through the country. Nor
do the catalogue houses stop here. Ev-
cry magazine, agricultural or religious
paper that will accept their advertise
ments carries them.
The lines Of this great conflict be-
tween commercial interests are clearly
drawn. On one side are the retail mer-
chants and the publishers Of the local
press, on the other the catalogue houses
and the numerous publications which
have sprung up in night, backed by
advertising appropriations that run
into the millions. The enemies of the
local publishers and the retail mer-
chants are allied as perfectly as Is any
other modern trust.
Many of the larger catalogue houses
now do their own manufacturing. In
the end the jobbers and manufacturers
who now sell to the catalogue houses
will be eliminated. When that time
comes, and it certainly will come I'M
less something Is done to prevent it.
few great commercial giants, mon
strous In size. influence and resources,
having practically no competition, will
combine to dictate the price the mass
Of the people must pay for every ar
ticle they sell.
This inevitable conclusion Is not n
pleasant one to contemplate. and it be-
hooves those who are already feeling
the heavy hand of this unnatural COM
bination for control of trade to bestir
themselves in their own defense.
The retail merchant and the local
press are entirely unorganized and are
in no concerted way making common
cause against n common danger. At.
tempts have been made by the mer-
chants in some localities to stem the
tide by refusing to buy from jobbers
who sell to catalogue houses. This is
good so far as it goes. but If the cata-
logue houses cannot get the goods from
one source they will get them from an
other and IL necessary will buy the
manufacturing plant to secure the out
put. So long as they can by n lavish
use of printers ink create the demand,
just so long will they manage to get
the goods to supply that demand.
Fight the devil with fire. Any plans
for the protection Of the retail mer-
chants and the jobbers and the manu-
facturers who sell to the trade must go
to the very root of the evil-must meet
the catalogue house competition ut ev-
cry point and on its own grounds, the
field.
The catalogue houses are conducting
the most comprehensive, systematic
and farreaching advertising campaign
that was ever planned. and they have
been at 1t for years, spending dollars
where the retail and wholesale mer-
chants have spent cents. They have
had the business courage to put their
money into publicity, knowing that
they would get 1t back multiplied n
They have created the
demand for their goods and educated
the people to look upon the mail order
business as godsend.
What has been done in an organized
way to Offset this avalanche Of mail or
der journals and catalogues?
Nothing.
Some of the local merchants have
advertised literally in the local press,
but much larger number have utterly
failed to keep up with the procession.
The people often do not know what the
local merchant has In his store; mel
Their do they know the prices. but they
do know what the catalogue house has
to sell. and the price is always before
the eye.
II the retail trade is to hold its
ground against the competition Of the
houses It must meet them
on the broad field of advertising and
publicity rs well as on the field of
prices. And this must be done through
the local press.
In almost every town the local pub
Usher has stood manfulIy by the in
terests of the community by refusing