The Mena weekly star., 1913-07-03

After viewing the social evil and
 white slave conditions as we find
 them in our country today, our next i thought must be as to the causes
 that are responsible for these con
 ditions. In fact, we must establish | the cause before we can decide on a prevention or prescribe a remedy.
 "A few years ago the retail mer-
 chant of the village and cross roads,
 was the commercial sChoolmaster o1 his neighborhOOd. It was here the | boys and girls from the farm. the
 shops, the mines and the homes, with a natural inclination for a commercial life, received their first instructions in the rules of com merce.
 The village general merchant, | hardware and implement dealer, clothier, boot and shoe dealer, etc, were constantly looking for ap- prentices and help to conduct their business from among the boys and girls of their patrons.
 From these local stores they were finally promoted to positions of trust and importance in the larger cities, or become partners with the local merchant he worked for. or succeeded him. If the young man entered life in the large city, he did so with valuable knowledge of the arts of trade and the prin- ciples of honesty and square deal ing instilled into his very heart by his friend, the retail merchant. His character had been formed and de- veloped under the very eyes of parents and boyhoOd acquaintances.
 This class of recruits for the great centers of population grad ually developed into princes of finance, into merchant kings. into the very bulwarks of the city and nation. This pure, clean blood; firmly established characters from the country has ever been the sal Vation of the city.
 These village stores not only furnished a ready market for the produce of the farm. but they also furnished a market for the surplus boys and girls with natural incli- nations for other than lives of az riculture. mechanics, etc.
 To-day this condition is rapidly changing, but we seem to be almost unconscious of the change. The little village and country sotre iS fast disappearing. or sinking into "a nonentity. Annually thousands are either driven into bankruptcy or less desirable occupations. Many .of those remaining are SD limited in their trade capacity as to not re- quire either hired help or appren- tices. No longer is there any envy or jealousy because some boy has pro- cured a position with a local retail merchant desired by many, as was the case a few years ago. No long CT is the village or country store the center of social activity. No longer are the stores the schools in which were founded great business characters. Why this change?
 Let Us look for the cause. We go to the great centers of popula- tion and we find colossal fortunes being accumulated through man. moth retail concerns. We see the orders for the farmers. mechanics and miners needs piled high on these mail order desks. We see the business that at one time made the local merchant prosperous now making the great, sOulless corpora tons more prosperous. That the consumer may save a few cents on some manufactured or imported ar ticle. he has sacrificed dollars by trading through the mail in the great city. He has not only de- stroyed his local market for his products, but also destroyed the op- .portunities for his boys and glrls.
 Boys are born with natural in- .clnationS for commerce.. transpor- tation. mechanics. agriculture and inc higher professions. and thcr highest success lays in the path .of their natural inclnotions. True. schools have been established for the purpose of us.rlcting youth for these various caliings. These instructions are all based on the .ory. and but very little of the prac- .tjcal lS contained in them. All the books in the world on mechanics committed to memory would not make a carpenter nor m engineer. He must do the actual work under la master. The same thing can be said of agriculture OF any profes- sion, and this principle is doubly true in the great science of con- merce. When the farmer. the me- .chanlc, the professional man. by his act of patronizing a great retail cor poratiOn of a foreign land instead .ot his home merchant. thus cripples or destroys the latter he is robhing the boy or girl of his neighhOrhOod who wishes to follow a commercial pursuit, of the privilege of acquir- ing the Knowledge and practice which these local institutions alone .can afford. What is the result of this change? The hoy desiring to follow commercial pursuit takes a commercial course in some local or correspondence school. and with out any actual experience in hand ling goods, of meeting people in a business way, and without a char acter established, he is at once de- prived of the influence and restraint of home and friends and finds him self in a great city surrounded by strangers and the cily's alluring temptations. The stranger's face