The Alaska daily empire., 1914-09-03
MAIL ORDER HOUSES
 OR LOCAL MFR CHANTS

What if we Sh0ulu go lO Ohe SA VuA ] local storekeepers and say; Here IS n ten.dollar bill; want you to buy for me such.and.such an article, made so- and.so. this color. that size. and deliy- CT 1t to me at your convenience-say 30 days"
 Along comes another townsman, and another. stin another, until 50 of us, all living here in our community shall have placed in the hands of the store keeper a sum amounting to a thous' and dollars, with similar instructions.
 We would then have treated our To- cal storekeeper with the same liber- ality as we, who have been buying at the mail order houses, have treated these monopolistic concerns. We would have then supplied him with cash capital sufficient to buy what we ordered and give him fair profit on his deal
 Yes, we would thus enable him to take a trip to the city. buy from the manufacturers the articles desired, ship them to us, spend day or two enjoying himself if he so pleased, and leave him a fair percentage of profit over and above the cost of the articles and his expenses.
 Do we do this? Yes, we do--not!
 But this Is exactly what we do with the mail order man in the big city. We send him the money in advance. He has the use of your cash for the pur- chase of his merchandise. He sends us whatever he chooses and If we do not like it can whistle for our money.
 He takes our money and buys that which we have ordered. Then he may take a trip to Europe If he so wishes, all at our expense,
 Few of us realize that we, the peo. pie outside the big cities. furnish the capital for the conduct of the big mail order houses. We do not stop to think that it is our money which is build ins those great structure which are the pride of Chicago and some other cities. We do not stop to consider that we are the capitalists who are supplying the sinews of war against our own local business men.
 Just thinks of it!-dividends of flf- teen Millions of Dollars paid to the big men in the mail order business as a profit each year on our money!
 We sent the cash in advance to them. They require practically no in- yestment except for the printing of their catalogs and other stationery. They are doing their business On the money which we, poor, deluded coun- try dwellers, send to them. when we are only cutting oru own throats and helping to diminish the prestige and strength of our local tradesmen.
 What would be the result if we should hand our dollars. in advance to our local storekeepers and give them the same chance to make pro- fits. without investment? What would be the effect on our community?
 It would mean prosperity for us all It would mean more taxes to be paid by our business men. improvements of a municipal character. better school facilities, better street lighting, better streets. etc.
 or course our local storekeepers do not expect us to do business in this way Yet why should we not? We do 1t with the mail order houses and when we are fooled we take our medi. cine because We are ashamed to let our friends know how we have been buncoed
 But We should do this-we should give all of our business to those men who have made their investments in our town, who are trying to build up the community, who are paying the taxes and who are helping us to in. crease the value of our real estate holdings. We all know that the value of our houses and lots, here in town. will be increased as the community advances in prosperity, and the only way for the community to advance is for our business men to do an increas. ed business.
 We should patronize the men who are trying to help ourselves. We all hope to advance. We all hope to be. come prosperous.
 When we buy from the mail order house we are helping monopoly to put out storekeepers out of business. When we send a dollar to the big city. in. stead of spending it at home we are deprivlng our children of some of the opportunities for education which they are entitled to.
 Let us spend our dollars here at home, with the merchants who are trying to keep up the schools and oth. CT local advantages which we cannot have for our children unless we have a prosperous community.
 Let us not forget that the mail or der man does not pay any of our taxes in this town. The taxes are paid by the local business men, at, least the greater portion. and the more business we do with them, the more taxes they must pay.
 Let us wake up to a consideration of our best interests.
 Let us support those who help us, and our children Fairbanks News Miner