Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1913-01-11
NOT PAYING
THEIR JUST SHARE
Valuable Article From Merchants
Trade Journal Pertaining
To Parcels Post

world, and, in TACT, not only on the
business world but the educational
world as well. This article goes in
to the question OF economics; it
touches every man, woman and child
in the United States; it deals with a
subject never before discussed in
public, at least not along the lines
outlined in this article.
Either we are a long, long ways
from being on an economic basis in
this article, or else we have touch
ed vital cord in the lives ofthe
American people.
In every community, in and around
every town, thousands upon thousands
of dollars aside from direct taxa
ton, have been put into improve
ments OF many, many kinds. A very,
very large portion of this money,
probably ninety-nine percent of it,
has been contributed by the retail
merchants.
We do not care at this time to
take any material credit to these mer-
chants. We are more interested
just now in stating facts that they
may be basis for what follows.
Leading from your town and thous-
ands of other towns, roads have been
builded, repaired and improved by
money donated by the business men
of the town. Usually, when bridges
have been builded or repaired it has
been done by the use Of money rails
ed by public taxation, and yet thous-
ands of dollars of money have been
donated by business men and gone
into building and repairing bridges.
Thousands upon thousands Of towns
have held within them, annual and
semi-annual sessions of farmers in
stitutes, short courses, corn shows,
and exhibits of different kinds. All
of this, or nearly all of it, has been
done at the expense of retail mer-
chants. In some instances farmers
have contributed to small degree,
but an investigation will show that
halls have been furnished, we'll known
lecturers engaged and so on, by mer.
chants.
Lecture courses of different kinds,
including the popular lecture course
and lectures on agricultural and
stock subjects and others, have been
promoted, and sometimes wholly and
entirely paid for by retail merchants
At other times the deficit arising
from the conducting of these courses
has been bourne by these same mer-
chants.
Wilson, White, Jones, Thompson
and many other families have met
with misfortune; their horses died;
their houses burned down; disease
came into tie family and som one had
to come forward as the big Brother
and be the good friend, and pay mon
ey into a public subscription fund
and keep these people from becom
ing public charges.
Again the retail merchant comes
forward in his generosity and puts
up the money and keeps these people
from becoming public charges on the
community, and thus helps lower the
expense of the community in this re
spect. The widow needs attention
she is out of fuel, out Of food, and
she needs clothing; the retail mer
chant either puts up a good share
of the money with which to buy
these things, or else he supplies then
out of his stock Of goods.
Sometimes there has not been suf
ficient funds in the school fund with
which to conduct the kind of schoo
IHdI Wdo WdAlcu, SpeCldl tedCuel
was needed, or there was something
needed to be done, and the merchant
has been the large contributor tt
these funds. The community needed
a railroad, possibly it had none, pos
sibly it had one, but it wanted an
other, and again the merchant car
ries his share Of the burden OF
more.
The church, the lodge, the com
munity organization wants to pu
on an entertainment, and thel merchan
is the first man approached for the
buying of tickets, furnishing prizes
and premiums, advertising in the
programmes, etc. And a large por
tion of all these enterprises are fl
nanced by fuds raised through ant
by retail merchants.
The merchants in one town IL
Iowa, last year, paid $1,100.00 intt
funds for these different purposes
Continued on page 81