Baxter Springs news., 1919-05-09
Can Beat Man Order houses At
Their Own Game II They
4 /" Wlg peitr
ADlERTsIIG Only WEAPON


L. = sNp~D+
lcspysiShi. isiI. WssissA NOwpaesf uniOn.l
The forest, ranger and the prairie
farmer sbnve learned that thays mnsl
aght With Ere. TAey. know that when
me Rllseenb1ming forest or pseirie'lre,
are sweeping toward them their only
;hgps Of safety lies IN the 'backs6te."
~ kindIing ana carefully controlling
a-ArS, ,of their own they force the -blg'
ger IRE to bnsp Itself out, fndiug nc
further fuel on which to feed.
The merchants Of the amall cities
and towns are learning that In wagina
fhelr light for existence they must
ADOPT, the tactics Of the men Of the
west The great man order houses
Of the cities arc the consuming flames
which threaten to wipe ont the retail
merchants OF the small towns unless
the latter, realizing. their danger. take
steps to remove the menace. The 10.
tail merchants, a. q whole, are begin
ming to realize that they must fight
IRE with ilre and that to save them
selves they must build, q back fire..
Advertising IL tha weapon with
which the mail order. houses conduct
their warfare on the retail merchants
Of the small cities and towns. The
mail order houses do their advertising
through their own catalogues and
through certain publications which ara
known a. mail order advertising mo
dlnms. A big mail order house spends
hundreds Of thousands Of dollars mere
ly on the preparation and publication
Of In. bulky. catalogues.
Business Bullt Upon Advertising.
The catalogue houses also spend
Thousands upon thousands Of dollars
In advertising In the mail order publi-
cations which look for their circula-
tiOn to the people Of the small towns
ana the rural districts. Advertising In
some Of these mediums costs as much
% from $40 to S85 for q single inch,
yet the mail order houses 1nd It profit
able to pay these high rates. Their
business "a built upon advertising and
II they were denied the use Of the
mails for their advertising for Q single
month their business would be de-
stroyed.
In advertising: the local merchants
llnd the only weapon with which they
can beat the mail order houses at their
own game. This does not mean peces-
sarily, only Newspaper advertising. al
though that 10 the big gun In the bat
terry employed BY the successful mer-
chant In. his battle for trade. AdveF-
tisIng 10 q big word and It covers big
fleld. There 10 no longer to be found
the man who does not believe In ad-
vertising. Every merchant believes In
advertising Of some sort The placing
Of q display In q show window is ad-
vertising. The only difference between
that kind Of advertising and adyertis-
ing IN a newspaper II that where the
one reaches dozens the other reaches
hundreds. Attractive window displays
are, Of course, an important adjunct Of
any retail store. They serve their .pur-
pose but this purpose 10 only to attract
the attention Of those who may be
passing BY the store: There are other
forms Of advertising, such az personal
solicitation, but printed matter must
always. continue to be the chief rel-
ance Of merchants In attracting Gus
toners to their stores.
: advertising Deests Confidence.
The buying public has learned that
the store which takes the people Into
its confidence through its advertising
Il the one In which It may expect to
get the best bargains and the most sat
lsfactory treatment. Il knows that the
store which advertises consistently and
has tho best and most uD-tO-
date stocks because this store sells its
goods more rapidly than the one which
does not advertise and. therefore, is
not forced to carry over old stock from
one season to another. The public
knows that the store which advertises
can place lower prices on its goods be-
cause It turns over Its stock Oftener
than the store which does not adver-
tise and therefore does not have its
capital tied up In slOw-movlng mer-
chandige. 'ss.
The NAH order house does not get
Its business by merely letting the pub
lie know that It has dry goods or hard
ware or groceries or some other com
modify to sell. Il creates Q demand
DOritS goods BY placing Inlts catalogue
attractive pictures and detailed de-
Icriptions OF the articles which Il has |
10 sen. The lure Of the nail order
lies I'm the fact that the
merits. OF alleged merits, Of the mer- /
.handiss offered are placed before the |
prospective purchaser IN the most
Iraphie manner. Thp localFetaIl mer-
.hant has the same opportunity 20 DO /,
his that the mail order house has and
IN, % 4 much more effectively than
n nail order housa can. The retail
neachant can talk % the people q bis
,qnntdnifx fhrangA his home leEpa-