The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1916-05-11
TIE NATIONAL CAPITAL.
Washington Correspondents In
tereSting Letter.

ness growing out of the serious con-
dition of foreign affairs. the mem
bers of Congress have been taking
care of appropriation bills and rou-
tine work just as though there were
nothing unusual in the present stu
alton. There continues to be con-
sistent demand from all parts Of the
country favoring early action at the
present session with reference to the
Stephens-Ashurst bill. This measure
is intended to protect the merchants
in the smaller towns against the pl-
ratical methods of metropolitan mer-
chandising that have resulted so
much to their injury. The trading
stamp. coupon, mail order and cut
rate department store establishments
have come out in the open and are
no longer hiding their identity in at
tempting to defeat the efforts to
clean house" at their expense. All
of the biggest well-known manufac-
t.-~-s and national advertisers. and
almost every country storekeeper IN
America are demanding fed 'rsl su-
pervision, such as the Investigations
of the Federal Trade commission
show to be required in the interests
of honest dealers. The Bureau OF
Corporations together with the De-
partment of Commerce reached the
same conclusions. A majority of the
members of Congress have committed
themselves in favor of this legisla-
ton. However, there is always too
much politics" in Washington dur
ing a Presidential campaign year.
Particularly for this reason the let
ters pouring in on the Congressman.
demanding legislation. are having
their stimulating effect-and there
ought to be more such letters.
Under the theory that might
makes right, and misapplication of
the doctrine of the survival of the
fittest" the system of merchandising
in America has been completely rev.
olutionized within the past quarter
century. The metropolitan stores
that have sought to maintain the
high standards in the quality of
merchandise have been forced to
compete with ever-increasing un-
scruplous methods on the part of
stores that catch tne public by
means of bargain sales, and by an
occasional cut-rate on standard arti-
cles intended to keep the crowd NOV
ing along their aisles. Ely these
methods unprincipled dealers grab
off sales and profits that would not
be possible were there any laws IN
the way of supervising dishonest
merchandising. The country mer-
chant is the worst sufferer of all,
and the ever-increasing amount of
trade that is logically his. and which
goes to mail-order houses and sensa-
tional department stores in the city,
would stay at home were there some
new legislation to effectually fegu-
late the price.cutters. The trusts
and public-service corporations have
all been before the bar of public
opinion, and Congress and the State
Legislatures have made rules for
their government. The present at.
tempt on the part of Congress to
permit the manufacturer of nation
ally advertised merchandise to fix
the resale price is in the logical line
Of progress, and is intended to save
the condition of the manufacturer,
protect the newspapers and other
periodicals with their advertisers,
and to relieve the small merchant
who has built up his business in a
narrow circle among people who deal
with him because they know him to
be honest, against that class of mer-
chants and mail order men who have
been fiim-hamming the public for
many years.
Secretary Daniels has admitted to
q committee of Congress that ne
finds it very difficult to get sufi-
cient number of recruits for the
navy. He says that it would be SIM
ply marvellous if the navy could get
as many as 10000 new men in a
year, and to keep up the number of
men needed to provide for the loss
resulting from $4,000 expirations of
enlistment annually requires a con-
slant effort on the part of the de-
partment. A few years ago the pay
of soldiers and sailors in the service
of the United States was ridiculous
ly low, but even with financial in
ducements such as are offered blythe
Government, the. opportunity for
more lucrative work outside of the