The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-01-29
AS The Editor Sees 1t


What do you know about the sub
ject of Competition? Is there any
thing left for you to learn? Is it
true that Competition is the life of
trade?
Let US see.
A merchant in a certain town has no
competition. He has everything his
own way. He thinks he has the peo-
pie right where he wants them and
that they will have to go to him or go
without.
He runs along nicely for a time and
then begins to get careless. You no.
tice that his floor needs sweeping, the
windows could stand soap and water,
dust collects on the goods and the
counters, and cobwebs are seen in the
ornerS
Soon he thinks he ought to make
more money with less work. He
pushes prices up a cent or two and his
pocketbook gets fatter. That looks
good to him and he shoves the price
up again.
He doesn't take the trouble to study
his customers, their needs, and the
conditions that prevail, because he has
no competition. His store gets din
gier and less inviting, and it lacks
that homelike appearance of welcome
when his customers call.
In time the customers beoin to get
tired, for they feel that they are being
stung. Some turn to the mail order
man, while others go miles out Of
their way to reach another town. They
want something for their money.
Soon the merchant notices a shrink
age and wakes up. He makes desper-
ate efforts to entice his customers
back to him. But it is useless. They
have had enough.
This merchants business has been
irreparably damaged by his indiffer-
ence, neglect and greed, caused by the
lack of competition.
But there is another side to this
picture-one that is brighter and is
seldom turned to the wall.
Where competition exists there is
life, and energy, and brightness, and
where these things are the people will
go.
Competition brings to the surface
and into use the best that is in every
man, where otherwise these qualifica-
tons would often lie dormant and
without avail. And these qualifica-
tions, when brought into play, attract
and draw and hold the allegiance of
the people.
The public asks no more than a fair
return for its money, and if there is
not sufficient competition in the home
town to insure this then they will look
elsewhere.
No man can expect to secure and
hold the trade of any class of people
just because he is himself. He may
look good to himself, but if his goods
are of nroper quality and the price is
right they will discount his personali-
ty a hundred per cent.
And competition forces every man
to keep the right kind of goods and
make the right kind of prices, and it
is mainly quality and price that keeps
the trade in the home town.
The more competition you find in a
town the cleaner and brighter the
stores will be, and the tastier the dis
plays, and the more attractive the
price. These things spell life, and
life is always appealing to the peo-
Pile.
1t is competition that has developed
our magnificent school system, and de-
veloped and b%roadened our religious
institutions, and our railway systems,
and the thousand and one enterprises
that are making this the greatest
commercial nation of the globe. 1t is
the outlet and overflow of unbounded
energy and ingenuity superinduced
solely by necessity and competition.
To compete successfully with an adj
versary a merchant must know his
people, and anticipate their desires,
and meet them half way in every step
they take. The people can be won,
but they can not be bought.
The most successful merchants the
world has ever produced are consist
ent and persistent users of advertising
space in their local papers. They adj
vertise because they know the people
demand it and insist upon having
what they demand.
The local merchant who uses the
advertising columns of his home pa
per, keeps the goods the people want,
and makes his prices right, need have
no fear of competition. 1t will make
him, as it has made others before him.
But failure to advertise when COM
petition is in the field is the best and
most effective means of sending the
buyer to the other fellow.