Baxter Springs news., 1919-07-25
Buying :ChsaU GQOds lust D.
cause FhsY trs Cheap Docs
Not Pay. !.
-sFIEH VVERle|elkHDI !el|lll !
lnslanoe. osen n Case q Mall. ordoI
lisVses which haaIsS Thsir ~.
peal .oelsly en- BASIS o.
,prloo.

NCoDytt1nN AUAte sWo1to1os NoWIIoDor UuioAJ
Ec6nomy IL one Of the, greatest Of
virtues but false economy Il no mnre
q virtue than anything else that n
false. To be able to economics Wisely
ii one Of the greatest blessinsS thht
one can have. for Il 70 the prereQuislts
to thrift and .Well-belng. Too many
persons. however. who think they have
found the secret Of, true economy pre-
practicing- q false economy Which y
worse than wilful waste. i p
For instance. the man who buys Q
stove from I mall order Acuss for %
because he thinks ne would hsvs to
pay 80 for one II he purchased II
from his home merchant, is practicing
q false economy. for tia chances. are
that he would save more than 81 In
the end II he purchased the 80 stove
from the local hardware ledder.
There are several reasons why this
is false economy. The 1lrst one - that
dollar, for dollar, the greater part Of
the merchandise sold By the mail or
der houses Ii Of less value than that
sold by the retail merchants OF the
smaller communities. The mall order
business. % q whole II built upon
cheapness. In order. 20 attract ,cus'
TONERS the catalogue houses must eoll
goods cheaply and in order 70 DO that
they must sell cheap goods. 1Neir
business u built up on price snd noe
on quality. Tho retail hardware hsal,
er. Ike retail dealers In other IInes.
probably can match the prices 0e 'tAe
mall order houses. He probably has
O % stove which he can. SELF 70 the
man, who wants to get q stove. for y.
The trouble Il that the man who buys
from the mail order house does not
distinguish between price and qualify.
ThlnIco Ne 70 GeoaOmlalRe.
The man who buys tho % stove
from the mall order house probably
would NOT buy q % stote fScm he
local merchant for in the latter caSe
ho would see just what he wAS buying
and might realize that th6 - 1tovo
would not meet his needs. He orders
q 90 stove from the mail order housA
however. Just because the price % %
and mot because he has any assurance
that the stove win meet his headA Re
thinks he is saving Q dollar Or two by
buying this stove instead Of paying
$40 or 91l to the home merchant TO-
one that he has seen and knows win
give him satisfaction. The chances
are that when the stove arrives and
he has used Il for . short time be
win realize that he has practieed false
ecOnOmy-that It would have been
more economical In the end for him to
pay q dollar or. two moro to his homo
merchant and get an article that .was
guaranteed BY the dealer.
The patron oR the mail order house.
also, often falls 10 take the matter Of
transportation charges Into eOnRiderA'
tion when making his purchase. He
sees only the price Of, the article ~
listed In the mail order catalogue ana
does not think Of the express or freight
charges, which with the cost Of q
money order and postage often make
the total cost Of the aFticlo gFeateF
than the price at which the same thing
could have been purchased at the local
store. Another case q GalS0 econOmy'
Buying merchandise q poor quality
because the price q low u often falSa
economy. when the purchase is mads
at the home stores but Il u dOubly %
when the merchandise q bought, from
a mail order house, When buying at
home one can be reasonably sure that
the article purchased ct Q low price
while there u no such assurance when
It II bought BY mall oD tha !"Sight an'
seen" plan.
Idea 10 GxpIOdOA
The idea that the NAH order houses
sell the same quality Of goods at lower
prices than the home merchants u
quickly exploded when one learns Of
the large profits that arr made BY the
majority Of the mail order houses and
the large selling expense % which tney
are subjected. The large mall order
houses spend hundreds Of thousand!
Of dollars annually EOr advertianG and
| the selling expenses 0e the smaller
concerns are propOrtiOnAtely - large
Their other expenses. such as rent
rnxes and labor. are a1so higher than
those Of the local retail naechants. u
| proportion to the business which theJ
do. In spite OF these heavy expenses
the mall order houses dlstFiDute NIL
Hons Of dollars IN diyidon61 amonl
thelr StOckholders. In one large mai
order concern the ptO0ts q tAe sock
holders, IN cash and stock olvioenoA
have aggregated - much - LOU -
cent on the capital Invested in ~
short period q nine pears Lhlg go
not indicate that The nah order honse.
are IN bualness for thsir health en-
are diving away nsrehandlsa - teell
customers.
- uoaIl ordsF housuS have carl