The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1913-01-09

try paper the New York Journal has
the following very sensible things tc
say to editors and small merchants
on the subject:
1--WE want most earnestly to i'm
press upon editors throughout the
country, and upon the storekeepers in
small towns, that the problem OF
prosperity for newspaper or for store.
keeper, cannot be solved by opposing
modern successful methods.
when the steam engine came
along, and threatened to wipe out the
stage coaches and the little inns along
the stage coach routes, many plans
We're formed in villages and in the
offices of the stage coach owners to
oppose the railroads and overcome
them.
"They were foolish plans. You can
do nothing by opposing progress. You
NoA SAN AoLA1AlS Ny l6uLlu6 dSdluSl
it. You must appropriate it and
work with it.
IF the editors throughout the
country and the storekeepers through
out the country will combine, if they
will use the parcels post instead of
opposing it, they will soon find them
selves possessors of new prosperity
and competitors on real and sue
cessful scale with the great mail or
der houses that have done so much
injury Of late years to the prosperity
of the local merchant.
''No mail order house can possibly
succeed in a community as we'll as
the local merchant, if the local mer-
chant plans his business as intelli-
gently and economically as is done by
his big distant competitor.
Hitherto the great mail order
houses have had the advantage in
buying and distributing.
Manufacturers We're compelled to
deal through jobbers and mail order
houses. They could not reach the
consumer direct.
HBut with the parcels post and
through the parcels post, and with the
aid Of the country newspaper and the
country storekeeper, manufacturers
hereafter will be able to deal direct
with the consumers, and the great
mail order houses will find that they
have real competition-an excellent
thing for everybody.
mo little merchant can possibly
carry the enormous stock carried by
the mail order house. And being I'M
able to carry the stock under the old
system, he could not deliver it. The
mail order houses had the advantage
of sending their goods by freight at
a low price.
IF the farmer ordered something
light that>did not make it worth while
to ship by freight, he increased his
order by adding to it nails, or a plow-
share, or something heavy enough to
bring the weight of his shipment up
to the minimum of freight shipping.
He got the goods delivered very
cheaply by the mail order house.
Under the parcels posi-, which will
constantly improve, the light article
can be shipped to the consumer at
minimum charge for shipment.
This will increase incidentally by
tens and hundreds of millions an
nual1y the income of the railroads,
although the presidents of such rail-
roads, who are largely in the pay of
express companies, do not realize that
as yet.
With the parcels post working, the
local merchant will have his cata-
logues instead of great stock in,
trade. The manufacturer will adver-
tise through the local newspaper,
and create trade for the local mer-
chant.
"The merchant will have the cata-
logue. He will be the agent. He will
be on the spot, knowing the citizens.
He will know the. quality of goods
and be able to guarantee them. And
he will be there to be questioned and
to answer if the goods are not salts.
factory.
"The customer will come to him,
give his order for the goods very
gladly, and have the dealer make his
profit, as he should make it. And the
dealer will be able to have the goods
shipped direct from the manufac-
turer, to his own individual custom
ers, and the country dealer can have
the goods sent, if he chooses, through
the parcels post, with his own name
fastened upon the parcel.
In other words, the local mer-
chant can be, if he chooses, as big
and as complete a merchant in his
own community as any mail order
house in the world.