The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-02-27

ing brought forth all the ridicule of
which the ready tongue of the Senator
from Wyandotte is ca pable.
Il have gone out of my way to get
at the facts about this matter" said
Senator Schoch, II have talked for
hours with people on both sides of the
proposition. 1 have come to the con-
clusion that the green trading stamp
business is bad and that we should
pass this bill without amendment.
The coupon system of advertising
is bad thing, the man using it gets
+ his advertising for nothing and the
consumer pays for his premium on top
OF that The thing 1 object to most
is the insidious lobby that has been
and is being maintained here in the
interest of the trading stamps.
asked one of the lobbyists if it was
true the president of the green trading
stamp concern receives salary of
$65,000 year. He said, No, only
$4,000 We all know where that
money comes from; we know who
pays 1t. believe this lobby is attempt
ing to perpetrate trick by offering
this amendment.
Il asked VIII. Davis, wholesaler.
of the Davis Mercantile company
about the matter. He told me the
bill should pass; that it is good legis-
lation and should be enacted. l have
enough confidence in Mr.. Davis to
vote on lis judgment if 1 should leave
1t to any one individual
| Senator Paulen offered the state
ment that 1t is unreasonable to sup
pose that the purchaser can get the
same goods with a coupon at the same
price he can get it without the
coupon.
The senator from wyandotte waves
/ his hands and shouts, Save your cou-
pons and get tin SPOON" said Pau
len. Better buy soap some place else
and save your clothes"
Senator Getty secured the floor
! again and declared the whole trading
stamp trouble grew out of a fight be-
tween two Topeka merchants and that
now the whole state was asked to pay
the bill 1.-The fight started in Emporia
ana every part of Kansas scores of
retailers starting it, !
Senator Snyder of Leavenworth
| told how the stamp dealers work
| now they interested one merchant to
the extent that he adopted the stamp
/ system, how his competitor across the
! street felt himself slipping and put in
another kind of stamp, how the dis
ease spread until eventually the whole
/ town was giving and receiving stamps
| with everybody working for the stamp
| concerns"
What good does all this do the
1 consumer" he demanded, at helps
nobody except the concern putting out
making =
lions out of it. That's the reason the
| wholesalers want to get away from
it. And they're right
| Senator Malone of Rawlins who has
not been out in his northwest district
since the session started pic ked up a
/ sheaf of kilograms from his desk and
from them traced a representative of
| the stamp industry thru one county
| after another.
These stamp people know 1 am OPP
posed to anything that purports to
give something for nothing" he said,
land they have been using browbeat-
ing tactics They have sent a man
out into my district-in Ford 1
judge, from the rapidity with which
IL have received telegrams-to beat
up sentiment against this bill. BY the
time 1 answer the telegram of a mer
chant in one town, 1 receive one from
the merchant in the next town. AS
the Ford progresses SO l receive tele-
grams. Such tactics will not go with
me. No such browbeating methods
are going to change my vote one way
or the other. L am opposed to
stamps, coupons, checks and all other
similar devices. If the merchant real
ly wants to benefit his customers let
him give a discount in the form of
real money
The members of the legislature
| have been wired, written and person
ally urged to pass the pending bill
and pass it without amendment, for
| the bill as now recommended for
cate of the Washington act and has
stood the test of the supreme court
of the United States.
The efforts of the opponents of the
bill are to amend Thereby possibly
| making it unconstitutional.
The friends of the measure, includ-
ing the majority of the retail mer-
chants in Topeka and the various
| cities of Kansas want no amendment.
The bill is fathered by the retail
dealers and a half dozen ether organ
izations of Kansas with headquarters
at Emporia and other cities.
At O'Clock this afternoon a motion
was made in the state senate to strike
out the enacting clause of the anti
green trading stamp bill.
+ 1t was the first test vote since the
fight began this morning. The mo-
ton lost IL to 20 indicating a favor
able opinion toward the ultimate pas
sage of the measure.
few minutes later Sutton of Stat
| ford demanded a vote on his amend
ment which excluded coupons. TAGS.
etc, attached to goods by wholesalers
and manufacturers. This amendment
carried by a vote of IS to II.
A Slap at Crosby Bros.
Doerr of Pawnee, read a letter to
the senate early this afternoon alleged
to have been written to him by the
Crosby Brothers company of Topeka,
in which it was stated that the To-
peka customers of that store received
$4,000 in merchandise thru green
trading stamps last year.
IF this is true" said Doerr, this
store has been robbing the consumers
in this city beca use this is the amount
over and above legitimate profit. If
these figures are correct [, is store is
a slave of the green trading stamp
and is too cowardly to get away
from it,
Representative Doerr is, of course
very unjust to the Crosby Bros COM