Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1913-11-07
EACH AND EVERY lNHABiTANT
SHOULD PATRONlZE LOCAL
BUSINESS FIRMS.
YOU MUST REAP where YOU SOW
Towns Greatest Enemy Is the Mail
Order Concern-What Does It Do
to Build Up the Town? Not
Darn Thing.

town or community is as essential to
it's life and well-being as is the blood
within the veins of a human being.
Give any community commercial pros
perlty, and there can be little doubt
that intellectual, moral and physical
progress will follow. The reverse of
this is also true: Where there is bust
ness stagnation the town is bound to
be limp and lifeless in all it's activi-
ties.
1t naturally follows that each and
every resident of the town and district
should patronize the business houses
of his locality, as such support bene-
fits not only the entire community
but the individual himself.
You don't plant oats upon hill
A hundred miles away,
And somewhere else your corn to drill
You know would never pay.
You plant at home to get the yield,
Whatever crops are grown
For planting in some other field
Will never help your own.
And it's the same with dollars, too
For dollars, too, are seed;
The cash today away you throw
Tomorrow you may need.
Don't send your wealth afar to roam,
But wiser learn to SOW
Just plant your money there at home
And watch your dollars grow.
Don't XIII Your Home Town.
The greatest enemy that the coun-
try town and small city have today
Is the mail-order house. In the last
ten years, eight of the greatest states
in the union have lost in small town
population. OF this number Pennsyl-
vania leads, it's towns being depleted
the fastest. This fact is significant,
the Keystone state is the largest buy
er of mail-order goods among the
commonwealth.
These facts and little logical de-
duction make it apparent that the
country merchant will go out of bust.
ness if the local market gets in the
grip Of these foreign concerns. That
| the closing of the mercantile estab.
lishments of town is detrimental tc
its interests, is evident. Another eco
nomic result is the Objectionable tend
ency of concentrating population and
industry in the already overcrowded
and congested cities.
It is no secret to business men that
the success of the "cat" houses does
not depend upon the quality of the
goods they handle. It depends, rath-
er, upon shrewdly drafted catalogs
and cheapness of goods irrespective
of quality. The mail-order concern
dictates its own purchasing price.
Their buyers approach the manufac-
turer of an article and tell him that
they must have the goods at q GER
tain figure. It Is not question of
quality but one of price. The manu-
facturer gives the mailorder concern
an article he has cheapened until he
can sell it at margin Of profit in
spite of the price stipulation. If II
happens to be an article made OF
metal, then an inferior grade Is used
Paint is often used as a substitute fol
enamel, and there are many other ex
pedients used to force the cost of man
ufacturing down to meet the mail
order buyers price. The outward ap
pearance of these articles, If exam
ined specifically, may compare IA
vorably with those carried by the local
merchant, but
The merchant paid more; and he
got more for his money. He buys
standard brands of goods and gets the
quality he orders. The careless con
sumner compares the local dealers
price with that of the catalog house
and because the former may be a
trifie higher, jumps at the conclusion
that he can do better by trading al
the latter place. But the careful buy
er realizes the paradoxical fact that
cheap goods are usually the most ex
pensive.
Aside from the comparative prices
and quality of the goods handled by
the local merchant and by the "cat'
houses, there is another question
which has a direct bearing on the wei
fare of the community. The eastern
concerns have no interest whatever In