The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-10-18
y i ssstsss,segl------..-
BIC INTERESTS
SWAY OPINION
Residents Of Small COmmuni-
ties Main Sufferers.
MAIL ORDERS pERNICIOUS
One Chicago Concern Did S1oooo0,0oo
Worth Of Business In Year Just
Closed and Paid II Per Cent DiVi'
dend - Small Consumers Should
Unite.

copyrighted. 1914, by Thomas j sullivan.l
Commerce has made all winds her
messengers, all climes her tributaries,
all people her servants.
A statesman may do much for com.
merce-most by leaving it alone. A
river never flows so smoothly as when
it follows its own course without
either aid or check. Let it make its
own bed; it will do so better than you
can. Perfect freedom is as necessary
to the health and vigor of commerce
as it is to the health and vigor of citi-
zenship.
For years the men who sway the
minds and mold the opinions Of the
public-the magazine and newspaper
writer's and political leaders have
with all the power land invective at
their command pointed out the ne
farious practice Of what they termed
big business and the interests"
These titles were bestowed upon them
simply to designate them as concerns
which combined their capital for the
purpose of Illegally controlling either
one industry or another
Writers Should Look Further.
No man will dispute the fact that
residents of small prosperous com.
munities where a general business is
carried on do not enjoy pronounced
advantages over the people living in
cities where the population is con
gested.
But the publcists who are holding
the big interests up to the scorn OF
auman mind should look further, as
there is "A new big interest appearing
upon the financial horizon which
threatens to eclipse anything which
has yet appeared We refer to the
catalogue and mall order retail traders
AS an example we will take one OF
the large mail order houses of Chicago
and a little meditation will show wha,
its business means to the small town
II is capitalized at the enormous
amount of $50000,000 sold at 500 pei
share; 100000 is preferred stock
and 100000 is common stock.
Paid IL Per Cent Dividend.
We are credibly informed that this
concern did S100.O00,0O0 worth of bust
ness in the year 1913 and paid divi
dend of IL per cent. Wouldn't these
figures appall you: Ought that not to
be material for the pen of the muck
raker." or are the magazines silenced
by the counting receipts for advertis-
ing?
Where did this Sl00.0O0,000 come
from? 1t came from the consumer
everywhere between the waters of the
Atlantic and the shores OF the Pacific
from people who prefer buying cheap
goods" from a picture book rather than
good goods over the counters Of their
retail merchants.
And what return does the big cor
poration give the local town for the
money that it takes out of it? None.
1t delivers the cheap goods, and that
Is all.
Cash Controls Shipments.
1t sells only for cash. If money
does not accompany the order the
goods are not shipped. Your financial
reverses. sickness or other inisfortunes
do not concern it.
Mail order houses are merely teaches
in the side of industrial humanity
They drain the small community OF
its dollars. and. weakened by the loss
Of its financial strength. the local town
totters and falls n victim Of the greed
of the new big business"
Many persons lose sight of the fact
that business enterprise is not neces
sarily an octopus simply because it is
engaged in what is Sneeringly called
by many big business" or. because ii
n large amount of capital. ~
mammoth corporation may be conduct
ed on as correct business principles
ant can be as regardful of the rights
of competitors and the general public
as is the humbIest establishment own
ed and conducted by an individual. 1t
is the motive that inspires the manage
ment in each case and the methods
adopted in carrying out the controlling
policy that determine the morality or
the right or wrong. the
justice or injustice. of its claims to
public confidence and support
Should Unite Against Evil.
But the case is not hopeless one.
Let the business and professional men
the merchants. lawyers, doctors,
teachers. preachers. farmers and labor
ers-jOin in spreading abroad the evan
gel of ethics IN business. fair dealing
and rational cooperation, and great
progress can and will be made toward
the settlement of the veXing questions
that now confront the business world.
The evil which is bound to follow in
the wake of the new big business
ought to furnish food for thought and
cause the needless mail order buyer TO
pause and consider before again Of
Tending,