The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1915-01-11


Live-In the End It's More Salts
factory to Buy of Local TradeEman.
Cash Versus Credit.
Copyrighted. 1874 by Thomas J. sullivan.l
Men are seldom more innocently EN-.
/, ployed than when they. are honestly
making money.
| The value of dollar is to buy just
| things. A dollar goes on increasing in
value with all the genius and all the
virtue of the world. A dollar in
I university is worth more than a dollar
! In Jail; in some industry in a tenn
perate. law abiding community than in
some distant mine. oil well or prob
lematical fruit farm In distant terri
tory.
The lack of money has brought many
/ community to a state of oblivion.
/! and the community's pauperism is In
variabiy the result OF unpatriotic resi-
dents sending their money away to
/ the large cities for supplies.
Catalogue Houses Sow Discord.
4 The retail mail order houses. as
leeches in the side OF rural CONNER
cialism, work day and night. in fair
weather and in foul. They gnnw at
a community's substance with invisi-
BILE teeth.
They bind industry with their film
as a fy is bound with a spiders web.
They sow crop OF discord and the
\ harvesters reup thistles instead OF dol
lars.
Mail order buying builds up the large
cities at the expense Of the smaller
! cities and towns. Every dollar used
in this way by the residents of a COM
| munity takes dollar out OF circula-
ton ut home and puts 1t into circula-
don many miles away.
Result Of Violated Contracts.
/ The dollar spent with the home
grocer, dry goods dealer. hardware
merchant. druggist or other business
man upbnilds the community In which
! you live.
I These merchants pay taxes to sup
/ port your town, repair your streets.
maintain your schools and build up
/ and sustain your churches and main
tain your markets.
| III the people must have inferior
I goods, such as many mail order houses
4 carry. the local merchant no doubt can
arrange bis stock to correspond with
! their wants. both in quality and prices.
\ In some instances the lower prices
I quoted by the mail order houses are
| the result OF violated contracts and
/ chicanery, which have no place In an
honest merchants business.
Adopts In the Art.
/ The mail order houses are adopts in
! the art and science Of preparing inter
esting and readable catalogues. II
/ read critically the skill with which
I plausible sentences are put together
/ and words made to say what they real
ly do not is apparent
/ When purchaser goes to his re-
taller he can examine what he wishes
! to buy. He can look 1t over carefully,
| test 1t and IL he wishes receive n guar
antee from the merchant that the ar
/ dcie Is satisfactory. The guarantee
/ Is good because the retailer intends to
| remain in business among his friends
and he cannot afford to deceive
Substitute Goods az Original.
/ The catalogue houses, however. may
| offer to replace unsatisfactory goods.
! but there Is the annoyance of writing
claim letters. packing the goods found
/ not satisfactory and shipping them
back and waiting for the new ship
ment.
| And there is the chance that the sub
stftute goods will prove to be no more
satisfactory than the original. and all
| the trouble will have to be experienced
! again.
When the consumer learns that 1t Is
not only easier. but much more salts
factory, to buy of the home merchant
than OF the catalogue house then the
latter will have much more stony
path to travel than today. and 1t Is be-
coming more rough with the passing
Of each day because the consumer Is
becoming educated to its ways and
methods OF business.
Cash Versus Credit Business.
All that has been said Is predicated
on the theory that the farmer wants
to do cash business. He can do no
other kind OF business with the mail
order houses.
Any man who accepts common de-
cency as standard will tell him that
he has no right to send his cash to the
big cities and ask for credit at the
small local store.
That is not business. While such n
practice is not forbidden by statute
law, 1t is nevertheless immoral, unjust,
mean. No fair minded man would
have the consummate impudence to at
tempt defense Of such conduct
Entitled to Cash Business.
If the local dealer is good enough
TO deserve the credit trade OF his COM
munity he is entitled to the cash bust
ness as well. II he is not honest
enough to entitle him to the patronage
of the cash customer he will take ad-
] vantage of the credit customer