The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1912-06-14

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Contrast These Two Pictures.
Enthusiasm, inspiration, love of
home, are the principal virtues In the
upbuilding and successful progress OF
village. Take away the pride of
good stores, Of good schools, the pride
We all have no matter who conducts
them, and We strike a blow at the
very vitals Of the country town. Shall
the United States be great tract,
populated by mere squatters on the
soil, as In foreign countries, far from
the ennobllng influences of social and
educational life, who secure their
goods in the city, from men they never
know, from men who have no sym
pathy, no interest in the farmers ex-
cept to get their money? Or shall we
build up on the plains and through
the forests, happy little villages where
hearts are simple and sympathetic and
sweet, where the ennobling things of
life come to the jewellers, where edu-
cation can be secured by the poor boy
as well as by the rich mans son?
Shall We dot this country with towns
and villages and small cities like this,
or shall we wipe them out and send to
the great, immoral, oyerburdened,
filthy, dishonest city all our business,
all our money, all our income, for the
necessities of life? Shall we get our
education and our religion from the
mail order houses through the medium
Of the parcels post? For when there
no longer Is a prosperous village,
there can no longer be the church, the
school, the library; and when the mail
order houses have succeeded in OBJ
literating the towns, who will be the
champions of the people of the great
country?
Who viii Champion Farmers cause7
The business men and the profes-
sional men who make up the country
towns Of this country Will no longer
be the representatives Of the farming
class. Will the farmers then look to
the men in Chicago or New York who
are running the mail order houses to
assist them in affairs, or will they
take the time themselves to thorough.
ly post themselves as to the nations
affairs and paddle their own canoes?
Will they be their own lawyers, or use
city lawyers?
The community life in which we
help one another is the natural life
Anything that interferes or weakens
this life is an enemy of the real peo-
pie. The parcels post and the mail
order houses are twin juggernauts that
would roll ponderously over the peo-
pie of the country. The parcels post,
If it becomes a law, will drive the
people from the peaceful villages and
hamlets Of this country to the already
congested districts of the cities. Real
estate in and about deserted towns
and villages will materially lessen in
value. Farm property will go down
in the scale. And right here l want
to warn the farmers against certain
farm papers, filled with advertise
ments of the mail order houses. These
papers are, to a large extent, subsi-
died by the mail order houses. In
other words. they are Influenced by
them because the owners can sell
large allotments of advertising space
to the mail order houses.
1t is a matter of business with the
publisher. Make it a matter of bust.
ness with you to protect yourselves
against this evil. You will find that
a letter to the editor protesting
against this sort Of advertising will
have little result. The editor, like
every one else. is a selfish individual
He has his own troubles getting bust,
ness and making a living. He will
hang determinedly to the advertising
of the mail order house. You will
find it difficult task to rid the jour
nails of this class of advertising: but
you and your brothers should beware
of this. You should not patronize
such firms, nor have confidence in
them because their advertisements ap-
pear in the papers and magazines you
have taken for long time into your
home.
Your RiehtfuI Expectations.
When you bought your farm you
had a right TO expect that it would
increase in value. and it viii do so as
the years go by IL the parcels post
and the mail order house do not sap
the vitality of the town near which
you have located. 1t is to your inter
est financially as we'll as morally to
see to it that the mail order houses
do not get your business. Trade with
your home merchant He may not al
ways meet the prices of the mail or
der houses, but if you get anything
from him that is not up to standard.
you can Immediately return 1t and he
will make 1t good. It will not be nee
essary to go through long series Of
correspondence. sending the rejected
article miles and miles away to have
the error rectified. On the whole,
believe you can buy at home to much
better advantage and at as small cost
as you can buy of the big mail order
houses. The mail order catalogue
works very much with the country
woman as the big store windows do
with the city woman. Many and