River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-04-16


the Doubling Thomas Who Does Not
Remember the "Sight Unseen
Trades of Boyhood Days?
Copyrighted, 1914, by Thomas j. Sullivan.]
Of all the evil spirits abroad in the
land deception is the most dangerous
1t is the first and worst OF all frauds.
Exaggeration is a blood relative to
falsehood and nearly as blamable.
Some men and some business concerns
can never state an ordinary fact in
ordinary terms. All their geese are
swans till you see them.
There is no strength in exaggeration.
Even the truth is weakened by being
expressed too strongly.
A Gaping Monster.
Mankind in the gross is a gaping
monster that loves to be deceived and
has seldom been disappointed. They
say that idiots only may be cozened
twice, but how about the mail order
buyers? How often are they deceived
by the large catalogue houses?
In the art of deception the great
mail order houses excel the world. In
their greed for gain and rush to vic
timize the poor and unsuspecting they
paint their pictures of alleged bargains
too alluringly. They instill confidence
in the mind of the buyer, only later
ri
gust.
Who does not remember the sight
unseen" trades or swaps of boyhOod
days? One of the parties in the trans
action usually got the worst of it,
didn't he? And as a rule it wasn't
the one who proposed the deal, was it?
There is a lot of the same sort of
sight unseen trading going on to-
day, only nowadays it is called mer-
chandising by mail.
Catalogues Look inviting.
The illustrations in the catalogues of
the retail mail order houses look invit-
ing. The reading matter sounds nice,
and sometimes the deal turns out all
right.
But. even supposing it does, where
in is the buyer any better off than IL
he bought from the home merchant?
Take any article you choose from the
long list of things sold by mail and
you will fad upon investigation that
you can buy it just as cheaply and
Just as well at home. The expense of
selling it by mail is just as great as
the expense of selling it over the coun-
ter.
Your local merchants have rent, tax
es, clerk hire, etc., to pay, and the
mail order houses have the same ex-
penses, only rent and taxes are higher
in the large cities than in the country
town. And, in addition, they have to
maintain a small army of bOokkeepers,
stenographers, shipping clerks and 9th
er employees, besides the immense cost
of advertising.
How many of the rural consumers
know that advertising appearing in
what are known as mail order advertis-
ing mediums costs from $42 to $50 an
inch in single columns? 1t is true new
ertheless. Where does the enormous
profit come from out Of which these
enormous bills are paid? Out of the
pockets of the consumers.
Would Welcome Such Bargains.
The city people would go wild with
joy if these mail order houses actual
ly had values with style and quality.
They would not need to leave their
own large cities to sell at the prices
they quote. as the city people would
swoop down upon their bargains like
hungry hen hawks on green goslings.
But with style and value lacking they
TO not dare show their goods in the
city where the prospective customers
would have the opportunity Of COM
parison. but by cleverly worded and
exaggerated description they make the
country, people believe they are offer
ing more desirable wares than the
country merchant carries and at less
price. and, having no opportunity for
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