El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-10-19
LIVING LESS EXPENSIVE HERE
THAN IN MANY OTHER TOWNS
H.. )

18th the possible exception Of Los Angeles and san
NJ Diego living less expensive here IN FL Paso than
any other place IN the southwest Some food prod
here than in the places where they were
grown comparison Of the prices IN various southwestern
newspapers viii prove those assertions to be true Close
competition and economical selling methods here tell the
story.
This close competition Is fosteTed by advertising Con
suit the newspapers of town before considering moving
there and beware the town whose newspapers carry no
grocery advertising whose grOcers, dry goods and cloth
ing merchants conne their advertising such generaes
he best the market affords without getting down to
Where prices are not quoted its for the reason that
there in quoting prices And that generally means
agreement among the merchants to maintain uniform
prices and prices uniformly high That means no comPe-
tition.
FL Paso tradespeope compete with each other Generally
they reduce prices attract trade and advertise those
prices TO present the attraction to the attention Of the pub
lie. Prices too high here. They too high every
where But they about low here most things at
least the distance from producing points warrants They
are lower than those New Mexico Arizona towns
whose papers carry advertisements of prices
In the towns where prices not advertised, where It
Is fair assumption that an agreement to maintain high
prices exists hears most complaint that the people
patroning mail order houses for their clothing furniture
and staple groceries.
People don't patronize mail order houses except for good
reasons At least they find themselves deceived into buy
ing inferior goods at great saving, they viii not
tnue patronng mail order houses If they do patron1ze
mail order houses year after year. 1t is because they
ceive satisfactory goods such great saving offset
the high freight OF express rate and the long lapse
between the placing Of the order and the receipt Of the
goods any suffers extremely from mail order
petition time for its merchants to examine their ways
Of doing business Appeals to local pride don't the
public feels It being Overcharged Merchants must
competition 90 to the wall People VIII buy IN the best
and cheapest market always mindful that the merchant
buy cheapy than they and that he pays lower
freight great bulk of goods than they their small
shipment and that he pays local taxes and contributes
TO local enterprises, they do the in proportion.
Fortunately very little complaint is heard in FL Paso Of
mail order competition In fact, number Of firms
themselves conduct mail order business Of nconsdeT
able proportions They able make prices low enough
to do that Competition and advertising, the of good
merchandising contribute greatly TO their they
not able to furnish wider selection Of goods and at
better prices than their competitors in the southwest they
could not expect the business they advertise
their goods and prices they could get the orders
Comparison Of prices and distances from producing points
viii show that the cost Of living here very moderate
sdng that prices throughout the whole country gen
orally outrageous.