The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1915-10-07

more prosperous the town becomes,
(, the more valuable is the nearby farm
The more prosperous the town, the
more pleasant is the farm as a home
for the whole family. Hence, it Is
worth more, and may be more easily
sold to advantage.
The truth Of the above paragraph ap.
plies as well to the whole county. AS
! the wealth of the town increases, the
| larger share of the county taxes it
must pay, thus reducing the rate of
taxation on the farm. The more pros
porous the town, the better market it
furnishes for the produce Of the farm,
the better are the outlying roads, and
the sooner will additional railways be
extended through the county. The
town and the county cannot be sepa-
rated in their prosperity or adversely.
They must prosper or fail together.
The failure to.recognize this fact, and
the consequent lack Of cooperation be-
tween towns and rural communities,
is the one sure way OF accomplishing
the ruin of both.
The cataIoe House Evil
The above discussion shows us what
part the catalog house, located in
some distant city, plays in this game.
Every dollar which is spent in the
county pays a profit to some person or
firm in the county, and helps to build
up both the town and country COM
munity. Every dollar which is sent
out of the county goes to build up the
place to which it is sent, and, just so
far, tends to bleed the town and coun-
ty of it's vitality. The dollar sent to
a far away catalog house does not i'm
prove the town; does not make the
farm pleasanter place to live; does
not help to pay the taxes; does not
improve the roads; does not increase
the value of the farm; does not build
better schools for the country children.
Misrepresentation
Most catalog houses do not misrep-
resent the quality of their goods, for
most of them guarantee to please or
refund the money. Where they do
misrepresent, is in their statements
that their goods would cost more if
purchased from local merchants.
These statements are not true and
cannot be proved. The catalog house
escapes the charge Of libel and mis-
representation by the fact that it care
fully avoids mentioning the name of
any particular merchant. The mer-
chants of every town will gladly meet
the catalog house price on any article
if given the opportunity to do so.
Many a merchant can tell of customers
coming into the store with catalog
house order blanks all filled out, and
later leaving the store with the same
goods at the same, or better price.
The catalog house misrepresents the
local merchant, and what he is willing
to do for his customers, something
which it knows nothing at all about
The catalog house does not extend
credit, but takes the money in ad-
vance: it does not pay cent of taxes,
but levies tribute upon the prosperity
of the county; it does not spend dol
lar in the county, but takes it's profit
from everybody it can; it does not pay
the freight or damage caused in ship
ping, but this amount must be added
to the price of the goods it does not
know a man when he is without mon
ey, without work, and in ill health. All
the catalog house wants is mans
money, and that in advance!
49,. Think it Over
If trade out of town, and you trade
out of town, and everybody else trades
out of town, what in the world is go
ing to become of our town-and
county? #& ..s