The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1916-07-14
THE WORM TURNS.

T,hs business is TO succeed lit"tpiy n'
ane thing has caused NOR Wor,N az.
o ''.,,' for the country merchant than tn,
sun sI"' order houses. How is '"r country
ms.abant MAJ 10 get the business and what il
more important, keep the business wheN
he gets itY - IN. sama an ,v,.r ,h.
u,antry' IL is not confined u Oroville
Usa,avar one goes he hears tie cry
s-ainst the mail order houses
Vonr article in the issue OF July ,tt
.stes this an opportune tirie to GIVE
sorne of the reasons why we natrCn'Hr out
~ Arms 10 a small extent II others have
IA ike experiences one h1s not tar to j
.s as iaarn why or how the locol mel chants
AVE- hought on themselves the predica
rsnt in which they now INA themselves.
\ chanee In methods here .ni there may
nelp solve their problem. Ns Won VII sec
A Il not always excessive Pii'' 'hat '''Ses
when We arrived in Oroville We were
=. rreiudiced as any one cou.l be agains I
,he mail order houses. The local merchants
ssd our trade entire. why did they no.
ssso n? II was their business 10 hO'd il.
- believed In fair profits and were Will
~ n pay a little more than outside
a-?ces Mus freight | understand one of
aur merchants expressed himself once by
ieciaring that after the new arrival was
seted in his new home tne d,ty al 'he
a. Of us was performed" and our aim
ShouId be to land another one Don I
you believe II. Keep after those who are
here, You may lose them as certainly as
though they had moved away.
Some merchants have way of treating
sach transaction as though Il We're the
~ opportunity to sell to that customer so
make as much as he can on that oppor
unity" We were once sold an Implement
composed of parts of several machines.
We were tenderfeet and pretty green. We
Al not mention this with any great degI ee
- 40 hnt VIC haan Al tA
rye that man much patronage since. Had
he explained that in some way tha' ma
chine got mixed up but that 1t would do
The work just as well as any other, We
would have felt more kindly.
Again, We were particularly obliged to
have an article Immediately. There was
none TO be had new that we could fnl.
Finally a merchant said that he had such
"a article that he had been using and that
We were welcome to use il until he could
iend for new one for us No he didn't.
He said he would let us have it. naming
price more than double that quoted in
: The despised catalogue for new goods. We
could take 1t or leave it, and decide
quick too" This merchant Dragged about
low he had pulled a good one over on us.
y Such methods won't do. l could mention
many more but these are sufficient.
About the first thing our merchants
should do to keep trade at home is TO fol-
get that goods were ever freighte1 IN hy
V4m9, lue SOuS dUOut HlSu ldltS
has too many verses. Freights are high.
but they are the same for all. And do not
Cve us freight rates as a reason for chaIg-
hS two prices for paper of needles.
Have the same price for all. DO rot take
a1vantage Of the youthful youngster TO
4alUa tive bits for five cent article and
6pect to get away with 1t for long. The
parents may get on to it. and one mans
money Ia as good as another's.
i must be confessed that the price prop
oston Is the hardest to combat. One
country merchant In the east a1vertises
70 meet any mail order catalogue prices
On goods In his line and goes them one bet
ter BY offering to pay the freight. | can
not say how he is coming along except
that he has done this for several years
ABOUT IT, when customer springs a cata-
Neue price the chances are there viii he
other articles wanted. Articles on which
egitamate profit can he made. Articles
that the customer would include in his
order simply because while he is about
Il he might as well get them az together
and save carrying charges" When l say
lesiumate profits / mean just that. 1t Is
loo late In the day to rely on the ignorance
Of tne customer. A merchant cannot reas-
On tnat a customer will conclude that the
merchants profit is 25 cents and mark up
40 article from $1.00 to SIPS. thinking il
easy to make so cents as 25 cents, the
eost having been % cents. But | am in
ioImed that this actually happens in
place not far from Oroville.
As 10 the article mentioned in your is
sue OF July 9TH. 1t cost us $4.35 laid down
nere Orovile merchants price $500. Do
wv reh1e that this was a saving of 81
pG cent Mr. Editor? The few cents"
y 1oa more to US than to you perhaps. This
Y Per cent Is more than most financial in
nltutions in our cities make in a whole
!eai. hgnt here let me say that the enor-
mous pr0fits made by the large city con-
csIns are not large when compared to the
Mp'tai invested. l venture to say that IL
s.u pale dividends or profits of per cent
psr annum, then at the end of five years
ne nao put $4,000. he would not be so
wsy ssy wen pleased with his business. Yet
mst. prop0rtionate business would make a
ss{ ssse Ty Te,ty concern feel nightly well salts
~ ann WMeh mel looked at from this angle the
nvvVO,00O, distribution made some time
~ 0y mail order house, was not so re-
markable after all.
ma 40 return to the $500 article; is it the
,hheIy,nant H. ,at or we who pay that donation to
~ "cal Improvement? II he takes that
,aSs taoo away from us is he paying those
to.,a .vs or us? Why not use the sl65 to go
S-S paying our own taxes? Is it alb
.u msratu ,or US TO say to solicitors 'go to the
nau,nM u,,Eaant Ior your subscriptions as we are
soytE nE nm extra in order that he may
s,'a va'IiDute! ~. Is 1t not just as absurd to ar
cs'.s cS~ snat one should trade at home be-
'"tss Wt ne merchant does contribute?
dos. Sa S we take produce to the merchant
%rchap vc ne pay US little more than he can
spurenase for elsewhere. because we pay
i,ns Htes o mere and help support the commun-
edgs only? e u oe S''a'pe"e' o'' one
ave, We are IN business also. We offer you
n iyvs Wal at S.0O box when you can send
tharr Cnee or somewhere else and get
We en na', ,or sz.o0 Do you then remember that
Mac pay taxes here. Speak a little louder
''Svrse, va'e, we did not just hear you.
hon.e. mention the fact that mail order
Ana ~. some times are manufacturers also
a. az ,,,a mus eliminate jobbers profits. That
fore Iian thn tne usual wholesale price. there
kno,,u uie merchant cannot compete. We
man. ~ experience that one can buy
and srnngs lungs at retail stores in Seattle
TSis rnss .as cost Is less than the local prices
or tban n'ner .s takes the edge off the cheap.
A coin.It.ne tne wholesale argument. There is
somswSs. gentleman in the wood pile
ths "nen the Orchardlst is getting down in
i"i,,rm1o %S mouth and feeling blue over winter
actna,l,,a ana other troubles the merchants
hate" nave the nerve to tell him "YOu
feed tbipp ipu,i up your trees. grow alfalfa,
rlrh, e''s 70 stock and then you will be AL
same dHIippose we give the merchant the
tho ram amnVlce, II he cannot compete with
ons n,or. om oruer house try another line. Is
4 i"re iare presumptious than the other?
has a,se ars concern under our observa ton
one that thnong Its instructions an emphatic
customu.it ta. its employees must not joke with
Ions n.et. about money. Money is SER
ed matter and one who saves it is prais-
b,e ;ns.s.ar are for business and not charita.
proner'u,t nears't,tntions. lts. Exorbitant profits may be
nerchaTp. called form of charity. If the
them mani ant is unable to keep going withou.
siSIsaa S.a would sod 1t not be good idea to sub
poseS ..nem! II the merchants were dis
'S1 " scale their profits would not the