Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1917-12-01
MAIL-ORDER HOUSES.

Inc large mall-order houses III
Chicago, New York and other big
cities are constantly harping on
cutting out the middleman," and
claiming that the middleman is the
cause of the high cost of living.
If we cut out the so-called middle
man-the retailer, the wholesaler or
the jobber-what would become of
your city? What would your prop
erty be worth? What would become
of your business?
What does it mean to send ten per
cent, twenty per cent, perhaps fifty
per cent of the money in your city
to mail-order houses catalog con-
Germs?
The most devoted buyers, the most
persistent patrons of catalog con-
Germs want local stores for their con-
venience; want goods that they can
see with their own eyes, that they
can examine into, that they can COM
pare and try on, that they can take
home with a guarantee that guaran-
tees.
But all the while these self-same
customers know that in sending
away their money they are hamper
ing the local merchant, killing his
possibilities of success compelling
him to charge more for his goods.
and indirectly injuring their own in
terests.
The retail merchant, the jobber,
or the wholesale dealer is present be-
cause of a demand, because his pres
ence is needed, because business re-
quires him.
Your city could exist but a short
time without it's main business thor
oughfare without it's merchants.
The manufacturers in your town
would give up in despair if they were
compelled to rely on the narrow
margin of profits offered by a mail
order house; for catalog concerns are
acknowledged to be close buyers.
But are they close sellers? Let
US see!
1t is estimated that the average
mail-order catalog costs to print and
distribute, one dollar a copy. Fig
ure what it means to distribute mil
lions of these catalogs each year
tremendous expense.
Then add to this total the cost Of
mailing, and the cost of express
charges on orders. Ofttimes the ex-
press charges or the postage is a
large percent of the actual cost Of
the goods. Then again, if the goods
are sent by freight, think of the
time, the delay, the almost sure dis
appointment, and eventually the
bother to get the goods from the
freight house to your home.
= 1t is true that mail-order houses
often sell goods cheaper than the To-
cal merchant, but it is equally true
that the local merchant can and does
sell goods cheaper than the catalog
houses.
Value considered, real worth
weighed, it is doubtful if any con-
Germ can pay postage or express
charges and the tremendous printing
cost and deliver real worth, genuine
values, cheaper than your local mer-
chant.
This picking out fancy goods on
which there is large profit, and
buying them by mail from catalog
stores in other cities, asking your To-
cal merchant to sell you salt or sugar
at about cost, and carrying your
credit for thirty or sixty days, is not
fair.
One man bought some goods at q
house last summer, and
when the station agent notified him
that they were at the freight depot,
he was actually ashamed to go and
get them personally. He hired a
one-horse truckman to deliver them
at his residence. The man was a
prominent manufacturer and he did
not realize, until the goods had ar
rived, the narrowness, the littleness,
the smallness of building up the
great cities of this country at the ex-
pense of his own town.