River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-04-02
THE HIGH COST OF LIVING
A FEW PERTINENT REMARKS
ON PRESENT CONDITIONS
Extravagant Habits to Blame
in Many Cases
in Many Cases

A large percentage of the real
reason for the high cost of living
that is so much talked about at
the present time is really caused
by the buying of many things that
are not only luxuries and unneces-
sary to a happy existence, but
are really harmful in their effect,
in that the pursuit of the brief
pleasure that comes from their
purchase is a very costly luxury,
as often time is wasted and ex-
pensive habits formed that are
very difficult to correct.
Many things that were, very
few years ago, considered Injuries
and out of the reach of the man
of ordinary means, are now con-
sidered by him as absolute neces-
sites. Not because they are real
ly necessary to his happiness, but
because of these habits that have
been fostered, perhaps unconsc-
iously, by him.
Mail order trading is a very de-
finite example of this formation
of expensive habits as in turning
over the pages of a catalog, the
pictures, which are never photo
graphs, but are hand drawn and
embellished to not only catch the
eve but also arouse the cupidity
of the reader, tend often to make
the order twice as long as was Or
iginally intended.
Trades on Human Weakness
In fact, one of the secrets of
success of the mail order houses
has been this weakness of human
nature whereby anything that the
eye perceives is Immediately COW
eted.
The mail order catalog is the
most insiduous and insinuating
salesman ever invented. and the
deceptive illustrations with the
misleading statements prln tie q
about the article, together with
the price, which, while it would be
low for an article of as good quail
ity as your home merchant would
carry, in reality nearly always
Yields the catalog house fully as
large a profit as your home mer-
chant would make on the goods
he sells you because the quality is
lacking.
That this low price is very sell
dom due to the large buying pow
er of the catalog houses, as they
would have you believe, is evil
denced by the fact that the big
mail order houses of Chicago ana
other large cities have scores OF
wagons running all over the city
throughout the entire business
day making what they call pick
ups, "that IS, filling orders for
goods which they have not IN
stock or of which they carry a
very small stock and replenish
from day to day as orders are
made. They carry very little stock
on hand as by SO doing they save
on taxes.
Another point which is we'll TO
bear in mind is that these goods
are seldom trade-marked. This
point, however, will be treated IN
another article.
The First Price Not The Final
Price
Now, as a matter OF argument,
as one business man to another,
suppose you do pay your home
merchant slightly greater prices
for an article than you would pay
to the catalog house. You have
to pay the freight, or II the
freight is paid, you have to stand
the breakage, which is often a con-
siderable item. If the article does
not prove satisfactory or is de1ec-
tive in any way, even If the cata-
log housedoes replace or repair It,
YOU are out the use OF your
money, you are put to cons Ter
able cost of time (and cert..lnly
your time is just as valuable as
anyone else's) and when all these
expenses, which oftentimes not
figured, are added to the catalog
house price, you generally flnd
you have paid actually more
money for the goods receive d
than you would have paid at home.
These are facts worth consider
ing, and affect you not only from
a moral and ethical standpoint,
but, as stated in the first part OF
this article, if persisted in, actual
ly affect your pocketbook; and
the prosperity of the whole COM
munity is just as much yours IN
dividually as if you were its own
er