The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1912-04-12
not be hampered or restrained.


exchange of any undesirable article
could have been made by our home
merchants. There are various other
reasons why our money should be kept
at home and a good trade maintained
by our home town. One of much i'm
portance is the fact that a good town
enhances the value of farm lands
more than any one thing. You take
a radius of fifteen miles from Vinita
and see how the close proximity to
town enhances the price of farm lands.
THE first five miles out land will be
worth from $4,000 to $4,000 per acre,
while in the ten mile limit it can be
bought for $4,000 to $4,000 per acre,
But when you reach the fifteen miles
it is a drug at $500 to $500 per acre,
while the land is Just as good as that
within the first five mile limit.
Now there is certainly a reason for
this vast difference in values and one
of the main reasons is the town and
trading point is so much nearer the
first limit that farmer can make two
or three loads to town in the same
length of time that the other in the
third limit can make one load and do
it with much less effort to himself
and team Then again there are lots
of articles the mail order house can
not be expected to supply by Parcels
Post and which will have to be kept
by your home dealer such as wagons,
agricultural implements, hay balers,
threshing engines and machines of diff.
ferent kinds which come over the
limit of Uncle Sans eleven pounds.
Those articles say will be kept by
our home merchants provided he gets
trade enough from home patrons to
justify him in running mis- business.
If not well patronized he will prob
ably quit merchandising and go to
farming when he finds there is more
money in the farm than in the store
for we all are selfish enough to see
our own interest first regardless of
friends or acquaintances. If there is
nothing for the merchant to do in the
way of trade and he quits business
and goes on the farm, the farmer loses
a consumer and at the same time puts
him in direct competition with his
own business when the town is Grip
pied and dead his home market for
produce and perishable products van
ishes and the inevitable result is a
great depreciation in land values and
also his other marketable products.
The farmer needs an agent in the way
of The merchant and the merchant
needs the customer and should at all
times be ready to pay him the best
possible price for his products minus
a fair price for his services and ex-
pense of handling and risk of the bus
mess
Some have the erroneous idea that
the farmer is the producer and as such
is entitled to all that his farm com
modities are worth regardless of the
merchant or middlemen. In this in
stance the buyer or middlemen are
only the farmers agent or hired hand
and only gets his pay in little differ
ent way from the hand ON the farm.
The buyer has to furnish the market,
and see after the sales of grain, hay
or stock. arrange for best railroad
rates, commission house and trans
fers. etc, If the market goes weak
the buyer and not the seller stands the
loss. The farmer sure has everything
to be thankful for and his net profits
are far in advance of any other pro
fession or calling and is getting bet
ter every year Consequently he should
not dispise the marchant and the other
interests that help pay his taxes and
enhance the price of farm lands. that
help build good roads and sell him
goods at fair price. That pive the
advantage of a competitive market for
| NlAttA AN 1do All saw anu a hANNioit9
and good selection for what he wants
to buy The farmer needs the mer-
chant the consumer and the town just
as bad as the town and merchant need
the farmer and one without the other
works wreck and ruin to all concerned
Now then the marchant and business
man is under vast obligations to the
farmer and the general public in at
all times keeping a good selection on
their shelves and counters and sell
at a reasonable and far price at all
times and to all parties They should
see that their goods are the best and
as represented, that when the farmer
drives to town he should have a suit
able place to hitch and feed his team
without having to stable them before
some merchants dry goods or grocery
store, that there should be suitable
watering privileges for man and beast
land at convenient and suitable places