Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1919-06-13
Never Satisfied With Those
Things With Which They
Are Familiar.
INCLINED 10 TAKE CHANCE
Curious Traits In Human Mature Have
Made Possible Growth and pevel-
opment Of the Great Mall
! Order Houses.

Copyright. 1917. Western Newspaper Union
A curious trait IN human nnturt
makes i,self apparent very frequently
That Is an inclination to trust In the
unknown rather thnn In that with
which one is familiar. A person II
very apt to take chance. even though
ne may know that the odds are 100 C
one against him, instead Of being salts
fied with lesser rewards about which
there Is no possibility Of doubt.
II is, possibly, the flaring up Of the
ever-present gambling instinct but
there Is something more In II than that
There IL In It the unexplained ten
dency on the part Of most people 70
reach for the chlmerIcal and ignore
the tangible and substantial thing
which is near ut hand. Man. is sell
dom satisfied with those things that
are within his grasp but Is reaching
always for the unattainable. Too Of
ten, he loses TINT which he might cas-.
lily gain by bllndly pursuing that which
Is always just out Of his reach.
Why @con" Man Thrlves.
Coupled. In q way, with his faith In
the unknown is the tendency on the
part Of so many people to place con-
fidence in a stranger In preference to
one who is known and has been tried
and proven. II Il this tendency which
makes possible. the operations Of the
ICON" man. the. get-rich-Quick artist.
the INSCRIPTIONS promoter and the
salesman Of worthless mining stocks.
The man who would not think OF
trusting Bill Jones, his next-d0or
neighbor and fellow church member,
will cOnfldlngly turn over his LIES
savings to q stranger who unf0lds q
tale Of riches to be won. Bin Jones
might talk his head off In behalf Of q
legitimate proposition without getting
a dollar where the slick stranger with
the worthless proposition Gun get thou
sands.
II Is these two tendencies which, ap-
parently, are 80 widely prevalent
among oil classes Of people that have
male possible the success Of the great
mall order houses In the big cities.
A knowledge Of psychology is as Inn
portant to the mail order man as q
knowledge Of business practices. He
plays upon these tendencies Of man
TO take q chance, to trust In the UNI
known rather than the known. to place
confidence in the stranger rather than
the friend.
Hope to Draw Prize. 't.
Those who buy merchandise from q
mail order house are moved partly,
whether they realize It or not, by that
trait In their nature which prompts,
them to trust in the unknown rather
than In that with which they are IA
millar. They are hoping, II may be I'M
consciously, that they will draw q prize.
They do not know what they viii get,
for II is impossible for one to know
what he is going to get when he or
ders merchandise from a picture and
q highly colored description in a cata-
logue. He is taking q chance on the
unknown.
Buying merchandise from the local
merchant, on the other hand, contains
none Of these elements Of chance that
enter into the dealings with the mall
order house. When one buys stove
from the hardware store in his home
town, he may get none Of the thrills
that come from taking a chance but
he will get a stove that win last longer
and keep him warmer than the one
that he might get from theSmail order
house and to the average individual,
these things are likely to be more I'M
pOrtant than the thrills.
Using Your Eyes.
When you buy from the local mer-
chant you see the thing that You are
buying, You inspect 1t carefully. ex-
anime the workmanship and the quail
Ity OF the material Of which It is made
and in many cases you have the privi-
lege of testing It before paying for 1t.
You have not only your own eyes and
knowledge Of values to rely upon. but
you have the advantage OF the advice
Of the merchant who has an expert
knowledge Of the merchandise which
he Is selling and who. IN 90 cases out
of 100, can be relied upon to tell the
truth about II. Then You have the
guarantee that Is backed not only BY
the retail merchant. but In many cases
By the manufacturer. II the article
which you buy does not prove satisfae-
tory after It Is given a fair test, you
can take II back to the store where
you bought II. IN most cases. and get
your money back. The retailer may
get his money back from the manu-
facturer but II he doesn't, he stands
the loss. In any event, you are pro
tected.
Why a person win place his conf
dencs IN q stranger rather than q
friend or VIII trust IN the unknown
rather than IN that which q tangible
Il something that q hard % under
stand. Even the mail order house does