The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1920-08-10
BUYERS SELDOM
SATISFIED WITH
VISIBLE THINGS
Copyright, 1917, Western Newspaper
Union.)

copyright, 1917, Western Newspaper
Union.)
A icurious. trait in human nature
makes itself apparent very frequently.
That. is an inclination to trust in the
unknown rather than in that with
which one is familiar. A person is
very apt to. take chance, even though
he may know that the odds are 100 to
one against him, instead of being sat
isfied with lesser rewards about which
there is no possibility of doubt.
It is, possibly, the flaring up of the
ever-present gambling instinct but.
there is something more in it than
that. There is in it the unexplained
tendency on the part of most people
to reach for the chimercal and ignore
the tangible and substantial thing
which is near at 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 that which he might cas-
lily gain BY blindly pursuing that
which is always just out of ibis reach.
Why 'Con" Man Thrives.
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 = stranger in preference to
one who 10 known and has been tried
and proven. II Is this tendency which
makes possible the operations of the
con" 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-door
neighbor and fellow church member,
will confidingly turn over his life's
savings to a stranger who unfolds
tale of riches to be won. Bill Jones
might talk his head off in behalf of a
legitimate proposition without getting
a dollar where the slick stranger with
the worthless proportion can get
thousands.
It is these two tendencies which,
apparently, are so widely prevalent
among all classes of people that have
/made possible the success Of the great
mail order houses in the big cities.
A knowledge of psychology is as inn
portant to the mail order man as a
knowledge of business practices. He
plays upon the tendencies OF man
to take a chance, to trust in the url-
KNOWN IdtuCI Than TIC NHOWA ~
place confidence in the stranger rath-
er than the friend.
Hope to Draw Prize.
Those who buy merchandise from
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
miliar. They are hoping, it may be
unconsciously, that they will draw a
prize. They do not know what they
will get, for it is impossible for one
to know what he is going to get when
/. he orders merchandise from a picture
and highly colored description in a
catalogue. He is taking chance or
the unknown.
Buying merchandise from the loca
merchant, on the other hand, contains
none of these elements of chance tina
enter into the dealings with the mai
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 . chance bu'
he will get stove that will las
longer and keep him warmer than tn.
one that he might get from the mai
order house and to the average IN
dividual, these things are likely to b.
more important than the thrills.
Uains Your Eyes.
When YOU buv from the local mer
chant YOU see the thing that you ar
hmv;nc. YOU inspect Il carefully, ex
anime The workmanship and the quail
;tv Of the material Of which it is mad
and in MANY cases YOU have the priv
iece Of TESTING Il before paying for i