The Idaho Republican., 1915-10-15
We Approve of Buying at HON
FALSE CLAIMS MADE
BY BIG CONCERNS
FACTORY EXPERT EXPOSES QUESTIONABLE METHODS
Indiana Learn Truth

,sible price on his product. If, in
quoting John Smith his regular price
"a price kept down by keen competi-
tion. he is making only minimum
profit, how can he by any possibility
quote a lower one without seriously
affecting his dividends? You know
dividends are what factories are run
to make.
Factory to Consumer" Argument
Plain Bunk"
Many catalogue houses lay great
stress on their ability to sell an
article at a low price because they
"own their own factory" Is there
any good reason to believe that their
factory can manufacture an article
cheaper than any other factory SIM
ply because they own it? Catalogue
houses owning factories, and factor
les using the tempting phrase, 1--WE
sell to the consumer" in reality have
'but little advantage over the inde-
pendent retailer in so far as price
is concerned, because their product,
when it leaves the manufacturing de-
partment, must be charged to the
selling department at exactly the
same price it would be charged to
an independent retailer, we're they
themselves not in the retail business.
so you see that the great stress laid
on the factory owning feature by the
larger catalogue houses is pure, plain,
unadulterated buncombe with capi-
tai B.
Job Lots Of Out of Style STUFF Sold
Cheap
In explaining how such houses are
able to occasionally quote low prices
on standard goods of we'll known
makes he has to say: Catalogue
houses as we'll as other merchants,
often have opportunities to purchase
at reduced prices, what is known to
the trade as Job lots A factory
may discontinue the manufacture of
a certain stlye, and having large
stock of that particular pattern on
hand, will offer the entire lot at cost,
or even less. While, of course, such
merchandise is of standard quality,
it naturally must have lost it's desir-
ability in the eyes of the critical con-
sumer, otherwise there would be no
reason for discontinuing the manu-
facture of it.
Consumer Shown to be Losing Money
In addition to gathering the data
contained in the literature and circu-
lating it, this man also went out
amongst the farmers as home
trade" missionary. Though he was
strong for home sentiment he always
went straight to the point of the
farmers pocketbook, and stood ready
to show the customer of the mail
order house that, month in and
month out, he was actually losing
money by not trading with the home
merchants. ?
In his figures he left nothing out
of his calculations-not postage
stamp or an express toll escaped his
eye. He was up on brands and quail
ties of merchandise. He took samples
of foodstuffs from the local store and
made side-by-side comparisons of
them in the farm kitchen with the
food brought from the mail order
concern.
He kept pounding away on these
lines for little over a year, was
told, and during that time he put
the mail order catalogue out of over
a hundred homes.
Since then-1910 is was-the mail
order trade in that community has
been steadily declining, business and
residence property has been slowly
advancing in price; and the growing
young folks of the town are not so
eager as before to answer the mystic
call of the enchanted "over yonder."
Cnnuripht 1Q1h