The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-09-03

ticle. The card, of course, gave the
same information for comparison as
was shown on the other.
The committee in charge Of the work I
was absolutely impartial In preparing
the exhibit, as il was early decided .
that for the work TO accomplish any .
result il would lie folly 10 I
DO otherwise, so such mail order arti- ,
cles that had the best Of the argument .
land there were many of theml were .
lust as prominently exploited as were /
those which favored the home mer-
chant.
In a printed summary OF the entire
exhibit, some highly interesting facts .
were shown. In every artlc,e secured I
from the home merchant the quality I
and the workmanship were superior .
to the mail-order article The total /
cost of the goods from local dealers !
was eleven and one-tenth per cent less |
than the cost of the mall-order goods.
Ii was shown that twenty-five and |
three-tenths per cent Of the number Of |
articles from the mail-ordeT house were |
cheaper than the same articles could |
be purchased at home. but 90 account |
ing for this it was shown that only l29
per cent of such articles showed a saw
ing of more than 10 per cent, and only
three per cent a saving OF more than 20
per cent. 1t was also shown that in
the mail-order lines in which this APP
parent advantage was gained, that the
quality was greatly inferior, and de
creased with the same proportion Of
the decrease in price.
The bureau was in charge Of the sec
retary of the League, who had been
hired from a distant city. While he
did not do much personal work out in
the country among the farmers, he was
constantly on the lookout for new ideas
in the way of entertainments, etc,
that would bring them into the exhibit
room.
The campaign lasted for six months,
and it was estimated that SO per cent
of the mail-order buyers had been con-
verted to the wisdom of home buying.
The spectacular finish Of the cam
paign was perhaps the most unique
affair ever contrived in celebration of
a glorious victory. Over ten thousand
dollars had been invested n mail-order
goods, and a great barbecue was held
in the fair grounds on the outskirts Of
the city, to which every man, woman
and child in three counties was invited ;
the big feature of the day being the
burning of these goods.
In the literature sent out advertising
the event the people were invited to
take advantage of the burning of those
goods to voluntarily express in most
convincing manner the effect the cam
paign had produced in the community.
1t was requested that those who con-
scientiously believed it profitable to
trade at home would bring mall-order
cataIog with them and make public
avowal of their convictions by person
ally throwing it to the flames.
There was a crowd of about $4,000
present and fully half of them had
brought ballots. When the word
was given to touch the match, the vast
crowd became hilariously enthusiastic
and as the people surged around the
huge bonfire hurling the books to the
flames stranger might well have
thought them engaged in observing
some mystic lite of the dark ages
rather than celebrating at the funeral
Lyre of modern monster that fat
tened on the ignorance and credulity of
Americas best citizens.
The writer had occasion to interview
one of the merchants who had taken an
active part in the campaign and in the
course of the talk was told the story of
| the conversion of the most obstinate
mail. order buyer in the community.
Cup to the time we started this
thing going" he said, Farmer x
had been trading with me off and or
for about ten years. His trade had
been mostly "off :" for whenever he
had money enough to buy from the
mail-order house he did not appear al
my store. Four years before he haC
had a failure. | know then that
should nave got his trade, and did gei
it. He was out of money and he had t
have some one to carry him through
the year.
al got all of his trade for two year,
but when he sold his first crop he cam'
in and paid me off and from that tint
until the day | converted him don
think he spent twenty dollars in m!
store altogether.
after we had the exhibit goinI
about a month found chance on,
day to invite him to our exhibit room
He didn't want to 60 Said it woult
be no use, that he had done all tht
comparative investigation he needed t
prove where he could get his good
cheapest. 1t certainly didn't set well
him saying that, so thought it was
pretty good time to say few things t
him had been waiting to say
mighty long time.
81 says: Look here K, you'v
been customer of mine for a goo
many years off and on, and I've been
mighty handy prop for you to lean o
good many times. OF course, it i
your privilege to buy your stuff wher
you want to, but it don't seem just fai
when know you can I save any none
by doing it. | think am fairl
good merchant; | buy close and Sc
fairly; work early and late. and NEE
my customers with smile instead of
crouch. not only pay taxes for tn
support of the local government an
every other community interest GOV
tTtu ny IdhdtiOilJ Dut NoItiIbulC l
every other cause for which popula
support is sought If you ever ha
any produce to sell, any butter or egg
or garden truck, always bought
from you and gave you the highe.
market price.
Now x | want to ask you
plain, straight from the shoulder que'
, tion. AS an honest self-respecting eli
} zen don't you think that this elemen
r of personal service that renders you an
every other patron Of my store, an
: for which ! make no charge, entitlt
! me to a little shade the best of it
, competition with a concern in Chicag
! who don't give a tinker's d. for an!
e thing you have, or are interested il
e beyond the dollar in your pocketf"
"WeIl, the result of it was he wei
e along with me to the exhibit room al
e | spent the whole afternoon going ovt
\ prices and things with him, and
g make long story short. before he lei
S the hall he put himself down as
member of the league and ever stint
Ia 1. L A..