The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1916-11-09

VallQ reason CudC any McTCNdHC Gall
give for soliciting patronage is that
he is in position to give equal or
greater values for the same money
than can be obtained elsewhere. In the
matter of shoes, alone, Kennewick is
paying big tribute to many an east
ern city and if our dealers expect to
hold that trade they must be in a
position to satisfy exacting demands.
And that was brought to my atten-
ton the other afternoon while waiting
for the opening Of "The Birth of a
Nation" Nearly a dozen of Kenne-
wick people came together for a few
minutes in front of the Pasco Hotel.
Two-thirds of the crowd were ladies,
including three members of two bust
ness firms in Kennewick. And there
were ranchers from down the valley.
Almost Immediately the ladies began
to swap shopping experiences in Pasco
and bystander not knowing any
thing about conditions in either town
would say at once that while not one
of this crowd would go as far as Spo-
kane to trade, yet they all would go
to Pasco quite often both to relieve
their feelings and their pocketbooks.
And women's and children's shoes
were the particular articles upon
which all thought centered.
If it were not sad commentary on
how we keep our money at home, it
would be amusing to hear them tell
how Mrs. Let-It- Go-At-That always
goes to either Pasco or Walla Walla
to buy shoes for herself and girls.
When / read that Mrs. - visited
in Pasco, wonder if her best shoes
were getting shabby, too.
Now, money spent in either place
is as dead to Kennewick as tho it
was sent to distant city, but as Pos
tum says: There's Reason" And
if our shoe dealers would spend more
time in plugging up this leakage and
less in telling Mr.. Rancher where to
spend his money they would be in a
position in the course of time to hit
the bull's-eye at least once in a while.
1t is quite natural that the local
dealer should look upon the mail or
der catalogue as an interloper in his
special territory, but the consumer
must be the Judge. A former president
has aptly said that publicity ours or
kills multitude of evils. A consum-
er who keep from three to six mail
order catalogues Of different houses
in his home all the time has stand
ard price for almost every salable
commodity under the sun, and he
knows to what tune he is being goug-
ed by INSCRIPTIONS and out-of-date
dealers. The mail order house has
come to stay and their number will
soon be legion and we may expect to
see both the express and parcel post
perfected to such degree that the
lady on the sandy road in the Finley
district can well afford to let Uncle
Sam attend to both buying and selling
for her, tho it will likely rob her of
the pleasure of shopping over bargain
counters, where values are marked
down to any figure but five or its
multiples.
For five seasons we have been yell
ing ourselves hoarse over our grape
carnivals because we live in the "Ne
Plus Ultra" fruit district of the
Northwest, but up to this season car
load upon carload Of various kinds of
fruit would not sell for enough to pay
cost of picking and boxing and yet if
a rancher came down from the hills
for supplies and should ask to see the
"K Brand" of dried and canned fruit
and vegetables he would not get a
smell for ''there amt no sech animile."
A short time since I saw shipping
case that had once contained timed
sweet corn, packed in Portland, Maine,
and shipped to Portland, Ore. That's
keeping our money at home with
vengeance.
Now, if we know what we want to
buy and know the price of the article
and can buy it just as cheap as our
dealer can, why pay commission to
someone else to do for US what we
can just as well do for ourselves? And
old Jump Off Joe sends back the echo,
why, why, why.
IN. ELY.