Eastern Utah advocate. [volume] (Price, Utah) 1895-1915, 1913-11-06
THE COUNTRY MERCHANT AND
HIs BIG COMPETITOR
Amazing Figures Compiled by sta.
ustician Reveal striking Develop
mCnts Ia Regard a. Commercial
Duel uf Modern Times

That the mail order houses ar,
doing annually 20 per cent OF OBJ,
aggregate business OF 400 tn, ,ouu-
Try stores OF the United States. is
one feature Of a striking report ro.
Gently submitted To- the American
Fair Trade league by its research
bureau. According to- this report
the country stores do total yearly
business OF abou S2.5O0. uU0. 700. |
while the business Of the mail order
houses is estimated at 100000.
900. In a careful analysis OF the
causes Leading to this state Of Am
orican trade conditions. Il il point
cd out that the small town Is losing
ground everywhere. more especially
Ia the middle west
The constant and persistent cA-
ploitation of branded and trade
marked merchandise IL assigned 40
one OF the most powerful levers
used by the catalog concerns to cur
~ favor with the consumer In
numbcrloss cases these nationally
advertised goods are offered for
sale at prices known TO be below
the jobbor's cost.
Almost invariably. Il IL reported.
these standardized goods are feat
ured IN prominent type on the first
pages OF the catalogs. the inference
or attempted implication being that
these "bargains" are typical Of
other bargains" enumerated In all
other pages OF the volume.
The point is made therefore that
these concerns. by sacrificing their
profits on well known goods. have
been able to convince great part
OF the population. especially In ru-
raj districts. that other unknown
goods are available In their stocks
at an equally great saving 10 the
cnosumcr
IL Ia predicted that this merchan-
dising development will constitute
one OF tho points to be urged IN
Washington at the coming session
OF congress In the course ~ discus
sions relating 20 proposed lcgisla-
lion bearing ON the right OF manu-.
iacturcrr OF standardized goods TO
set uniform retail price for their
wares.
Another potent reason for the de-
crease In the business Of country
stores. according to the report, ia
the dishonest advertising OF retail
stores In the larger towns This
advertising tends to convince the
reader that the larger city stores
offer extraordinary bargains, great
reductions from the regular retail
prices, unusual quality az extreme
ly low prices. and 80 on. Ncinalll'
OF course, most OF these bargains
are such only on paper 4 certain
number OF articles are sold for one
reason or another al lover thih
usual prices The average custom
er. particularly the woman, upon
whom is often the heavy burden Of
spending a small income in such %
way AZ 20 supply great needs 10
misled by the gliutoriug array "l
"bargains." Her bargain hunger
is constantly played upon and 7N'
\ finally becomes dissatisfied Win
everything not so described. ''HA
goes 20 the city stores, and nome
purchases are confined almost en-
,irely to staples. and those are very
often bought for credit, anollh'I
element weakening htc small s."I
II the local stores desired 10 r'lal.
ate IN kind and attempt dishones.
advertising. It's stock and iis cap'i'l
are usually so limited that II ~oul'
be unable TO do so effectively ~
has neither the resources nor iac''.
tiles for piratical warfare.
The report continues;
while the large concerns refer
red TO obtain every possible eone'S
sion aud reduction In price u iHN'
not be supposed that these gains %
costly in the long run 10 the manu-
facturers, are passed on 20 the con
sumer who patronizes these big 'S
adjustments. Price cutting is '
sorted to only for the purpose ''
attracting trade away from o'ne'
stores. Every effort has been u
make the net profit for the eoneeF'
as high as possible. The trade o
other stores is attacked In ils mos
vulnerable points. Standard wei
known articles, sold everywhere q
well known prices. is the field u
which price cutting has the s'rohs