The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1912-07-05

De more conservative. Take your own
case. for instance: you would be salts
ned TO continue living In the town in
which you now reside. You have your
home. and II you could be paid we'll
for your work and have plenty OF II,
you could not justly find much fault
with your location. But If the mail
order house Slapped the vitality OF the
town and deprecated 1t until there
were few people who desired to build
homes. then you would be forced into
the city. What would you do in the
city with your large family to sup
port? Can you look forward now and
see your children in the sweatshopsf
Can you see yourself and your family
living In a tenement surrounded by
people OF all nationalities, with habits
and tastes far inferior to yours? Do
you want to leave the free, open coun-
try, the flowers, the running brooks.
the birds and all rural life means to
you, to go into the squalor and filth
and sorrow and disgrace of great
city? Do you want to ride ten and
nfteen and twenty miles every morn
ing to your work and back again at
night? Do you want to feel the teeth
OF the cold, heartless, cruel life Of
the city? Do you want to live in a
community where you do not know
your nearest neighbors? Do you want
to exist selfishly for yourself alone.
where no one has any interest in you
and where you are the merest iota in
the great plan OF things?
Get Into the Fight.
In your town there is not at the
present time more work than there
should be. Does 1t not stand to rea-
son that the mail order houses work
ing under the proposed parcels post
law will work an injury and make
even less work for you? 1t Is your
duty as an American citizen who loves
his family. his home and his fellow
business man to stand with these.
shoulder to shoulder. in this fight for
preservation-a fight in which no man
should enlist without a full under
standing of the evil. and with no false
notions of the enemy he has to COM
bat?
The Bill Far Reaching In EVIL.
Too many people In talking about
the parcels post evils refer to them
only as affecting the merchants The
result of this is that the average in.
dividual disregards the merchants pc.
sition in the matter and announces
that he will buy where he can buy for
the smallest amount of money. He
does not stop to realize that the bust
ness of the merchant is an index to
the entire community. If the mer-
chant is prosperous the people are
prosperous and vice versa.
People who would vindicate the
parcels post refer to it's workings In
the old countriesl
But watt
Instead of this being an argument,
for parcels post, it is exactly the re-
verse
What is the average small town In
France. for instance?
A hamlet of sordid, clod-like people
who group themselves about tavern
and the government tobacconist who
sells tobacco and stamps. They buy
by mail. Their very ignorance is
biting reflection upon the parcels
post Their schools are joke, their
markets are beyond their reach, they
have no gas, no electric light, no mod.
ern convenience of any sort. Would
you raise your children amid such
stultifying influences?
| And yet this is exactly what the
parcels post and mail order house
will bring to America in time, if the
people of the country towns do not
arise and crush the evils
See Your Editor About It.
Talk with your local editor about
the situation. He will be posted
Work up feeling against mail order
houses and parcels post. This is your
fight. Do not be afraid to go to the
war, just as your fathers have, In
times gone by. and perhaps you your.
self did when your country called. All
wars are not fought with powder and
shell.
In my humble opinion, country life
| III luS Oullcu OldlCo ID Tie IllOI6 nat
ural life, by far. 1t is the life to be
most desired If | were to have my
way | would take the people out Of
the sordid. weakening. slavish life,
the dirty, hooking, cold and cruel city
and set them upon the land, around
the villages of this country. ! would
make them happy. free and noble
because the great stretches create
freedom and nobility. | would make
1t possible for those now growing up
to unhappy lives. possibly to criminal
lives. to become free and independent
citizens of representative American
towns. l would give them work at
reasonable wages, according them op-
portunities to have little homes, to
rear families in Gods pure air.
would tear down the cities instead OF
tearing down the country towns.