The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-02-25
Member of the Associated Press.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY %, 1915.
FALSE ECONOMY.

Once upon a time-and the time was
not so very long ago--there lived near
thrifty Iowa village a farmer who
was struggling to own his home. AS a
general thing he believed in patronizing
home industries, but every cent count |
ed in his fight to get ahead and so |
when he received a catalog from a /
mail order house he became interested |
in the idea of buying goods by mail,
even going to the extent of getting up
a club among his neighbors to do like
wise For a time the scheme seemed
to work well, but gradually business
in the village to which the farmers
went with their products began to
wane. Through lack of patronage the
merchants began to curtail their stocks,
and the farmers frequently found it inn
possible to get some article needed in
an emergency. One by one the meT-
chants. moved to other places Grad
ually the village went down, bearing
with it the schools, the churches, the
library and the hotel. There was no
business, and therefore no taxes to keep
it up. Farming land adjoining the vii
llage became a drug on the market, and
the farmers who dubbed together for
the sake of saving themselves a few
dollars awoke to find that they had
been robbing themselves of hundreds by
the same operation.
This is no fairy story. 1t actually
happened, and was used recently by the
president of the National Wholesale
Grocers' association as an illustration
of the influence of the parcel post as
it is now being conducted by the Unit
ed States government. Charging less
than it actually costs to carry pack
ages, the postoffice department is en-
couraging a system whose tendency is
i to destroy small business, ruin small
II communities and centralize the dis
II tribution of necessities in the hands
II of few millionaires in the large cities
II Merchants throughout this locality are
III not immune to these effects. There is
II not one who does not complain that hi.
II business suffers more every year from
II the competition of mail order houses
II that are able to secure an apparent j
II not an actual advantage by means o
II a transportation system that is run a
III a loss. And as the foregoing illustra
HI ton shows, the very people who are SUP
II posed to he the beneGciaries of the pan
II eel post system, and in fact believe the
III are the benefciaries, are underminin
II their own prosperity through use of il
II If patrons of mail-order concern
| could only he made to appreciate tina
. the saving this method offers is purel
- imaginary there would be less caus
to worry over the outcome, but tn
- rapidly mounting profits of those
,ot the mail-order business Indicate tha
en- en- little is being accomplished in tn
ov- direction. Only this week the director
ers of one such coronation have recommen,
our ed a 80 per cent dividend, representa-
the enormous sum of $4,000, 900 to |
distributed among the holders of $40
100000 of common stock. What II
. legitimate mercantile interests throug
out the country will be forced to do
to make a fight against the special pr
lection and encouragement which II
. federal government is giving the
Il gigantic mail-Order concerns through
lax and wholly unbusinessike oper
tion of the parcel post system.