The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1912-06-20

The parcels post. now being father
ed by the mail order houses, means
that the towns Of the United States
will be torn down at the expense Of
the cities. 1t means that every man
who has a piece of real estate,
whether suburban or town property,
will suffer from the workings of this
undesirable bill
Contrast These Two Pictures.
Enthusiasm. inspiration. love of
home, are the principal virtues in the
upbuilding and successful progress of
q 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 a great tract.
populated by mere squatters on the
soil. as in foreign countries. far from
the ennobling 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 dwellers. 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, overburdened,
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
mall order houses through the medium
Of the parcels pott7 For when there
no longer is prosperous village,
there can no longer be the church, the
school, the library; and when the mail
order houses have succeeded in oh.
literating the towns, who will be the
champions OF the people Of the great
country?
Who Will 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?
VIII 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,
II 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 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 matter Of bust
ness with you to protect yourselves
against this evil. You win 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 q living. He will
hang determinedly to the advertising
Of the mail order house. You will
find it difficult task to rid the Jour
mails 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.
When you bought your farm you
had a right to expect that it would
increase in value. and 1t will do so as
the years go by II 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 1t 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 II you get anything
from him that Is not up to standard.
you can Immediately return 1t and he
will make It good.
1t isn't what we make. it's what we
spend. that regulates whether or no
We shall have laid by something for
a rainy day. and the catalogue Ger.
o(pl u t. n hlcv xov, <}.>p IN v,,4ck 49,