Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1912-05-23
A Catalogue House Fighter.

plume is man chock-full Of gin
ger, mass of nerves and enery-a
fighter from head to foot.
Thus he has been characterized by
one of the men closely associated with
Edward G.. Plane, and it fully describes
the man who has taken up the work of
placing the merchants in the smaller
cities and towns in position to sue
cessfully combat competition and hold
their own against the invasion of mail
order houses.
So earnest was Mr. Plume in the
matter that he organized company of
strong, influential men and incorporat-
ed under the name of the Edward G.
Plume company of Chicago for the sole
purpose Of furnishing merchants with
an effective weapon with which to sue
cessfully withstand and put to flight
competition which seems ready to swal-
low up the smaller mercantile houses.
ITS a fight 70 the death, said Mr..
Plume the other day in an address to-
visiting merchants at Chicago. A
fight against a gigantic, well-fed octo-
pus whose Shiny arms stretch from
ocean to ocean, encircling and crushing
the life out Of merchants who are en-
deavoring to do an honest, legitimate
business in their respective communi-
ties, and destroying the home markets
for farm products as well as the farm
ers who materially help to make pros
porous towns and trade centers.
ut is a condition so serious, that UNI
less the people of the cities and towns
of the various states soon begin to
realize just what it means to them in
dvidualiy, and the merchants, them
selves, throw off their lethargic mac
ton, condition will confront us that
will disrupt and totally paralyze our
entire business system.
II say first the people, for every
man and woman in town is vitality in
terested in the welfare of that town.
The success of its merchants spells
prosperity for all concerned; so when
the people, the small and large pur-
| chasers, send their cash through the
mails to outside merchants for goods
they have never seen, they are robbing
themselves of buying advantages that
could be realized at home if they would
only stand together as a unit for home
patronage, and the money, which they
thoughtlessly send away, would remain
to be used for local improvements and
the betterment of local conditions.
4 speak particularly of the great in
roads being made upon your business
| by the mail order houses through a
systematic and well organized house to
house selling campaign, made by the
effective use Of well written and at
tractively illustrated catalogs. A cam
paign that is attracting trade that
legitimately belongs to you, and which
you are permitting to slip from you by
sitting idly by and making no effort to
even hold as your own.
But you ask. how can we combat
such unequal competition, how can we
convince our people that we have the
same goods and generally Of better
quality, that we sell quite as cheap?
i answer with just two words
newspaper salesmanship
Combat them by fighting fire with
fire, make your advertising attractive
so attractive that the newspaper
readers cannot pass it by without stop
ping to read all you have to say Fill
your space with craftsmanship, logical
reasoning mot mere publicity, for,
used in this way your newspaper is the
greatest salesman you can employ.
"Show the advantages in and reasons
for buying from you, tell of the goods
you sell and create in the readers mind
a desire TO have them That is sales
manship on paper. the kind that sells
your merchandise before the customer
enters your store, just as the mail or
der cataog sells goods before the Gus
toner has seen what he is buying.
Without it you cannot hope to win or
hold your own against such mighty
odds