The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-11-25
ID

Yes. I have been in the mail order
game for a long time, so long that
hate to admit how many years Old
Father Time has taken way from
me.
The years have been busy ones. l
lave been in the harness SINCE way
back in the early '"8o's," hen L
started as errand boy for a little con-
Germ that sold merchandise over the
counter and occasionally shipped a
package to some irregular customer
who lived out of town.
I have found 1t profitable. MY wages
finally were transformed Into a a
airy, and the salary was increased
gradually at first, and then with In
creases and additions from percent
ages of profit from the business un-
til,-well 1 have never had any COM
plant to make.
The man who can make good in the
mail order game practically al name
his own salary.
Who pays the salary? Why, you
do, Of course.
Probably ninety out Of every, one
hundred readers of this newspaper
have sent money to a big mail order
house after reading n of my bright
and optimistic catalogue descriptions
or after receiving one Of my carefully
written form letters beginning with
Dear Friend"
Dear Friend-of course you have
been a dear friend. You have paid
my salary without a whimper, you
have built up for various big concerns
which have become wealthy through
your orders containing CASH magni-
fcent. buildings. You have bought
automobiles, bonds, stock, real estate
elegant homes, trips all over the
world, oceans of champagne, ana
everything else that the most exact
ing person could mention.
You have done all this by sending
your orders with the money! to the
big mail order houses.
I know this, and you will believe
that I do know it after you have read
what l am writing-my Confessions
Of a Mail Order Man"
My work has covered the whole
United States. For many years l
have written catalogue descriptions,
handled the making Of the not-always-
honest illustrations, as you know to
your cost and chagrin; written attrac-
lively worded letters urging you to
send your orders with the CASH.;
gone into the market to buy merchan-
disc with your money, which you
kindly sent in advance, and, in fact,
I have gone through the entire mill,
from office boy to general executive,
and have a modest block of stock,
Upon which you are paying me divi-
dends right now, and which you will
continue to make very profitable for
me for the rest Of my life, unless you
wake up and quit sending orders
with the CASH. to the mail order
concern which issued the stock.
= No, you won't stop sending your
money to the big mail order houses
for several years to come. Some of
you will stop, when you begin to real
ize how you are opposing your own
local prosperity and interfering with
your own prospects, but enough OF
you will keep on sending your money
to the big cities, SO that / will never
know the difference.
Besides this, If I see that you do
begin to realize just what you are do
ing against your W town and your
own friends and associates in bust
ness, and if I think the country Is
waking up to a realization Of the ut
ter foolishness Of cutting your own
threats by patronizing out-of-town con-
Germs, then I shall sell my stock. l
can get a big premium for it. There
is enough of it to insure me from ever
being troubled about money affairs
again. You have een to that. So In
the classic words Of the modern Aris-
totle, II should worry"
In an attempt to analyze my own
reasons for writing these "confes-
sions" and exposing the whole
mail order game, and showing how
foolish it is for the people in the small
towns to continue to stultify their
own prosperity by sending their cash
away, I am puzzled. Frankly and
openly I must admit that I cannot an
swer this question even to myself.
I have no kick coming. I have
been we'll treated. I have been we'll
paid. l am prosperous.
Perhaps after all these years /
have discovered a conscience.
HOW LOCAL BUSINESS is HURT.