The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1920-02-26
MANY STILL Love
TO Be HUMBUGGED
Seem Not to Mind Having "Some-
thing Put Over" on Them the
Least Bit. 49,
PINK puAMAs FOR SHIRT
Mail Order Houses Find II Easy to
Make susstitutlons Because Of
the Cost Of Making
Exchanges
(Copyright.)

Exchanges
(Copyright)
1t was a famous American Snowman
who declared that the American people
love to be humbugged. That saying Is
many years old now but sometimes 1t
seems that there is about as much
truth in 1t now as there was when 1t
was nrst uttered.
People as q rule do not like the Idea
Of having something put over on
them, but from the way In which the
great mail order houses In the big
cities flourish 1t seems that great
many people do not mind 1t bit
The business man who. when he gets
q esIi for an article which be has not
In stock. attempts to substitute some
otheT article OF similar nature with
out telling the buyer of the substitu-
tion. is putting something over" on-
his customer. Few retail merchants
nowadays attempt 10 do u thing of that
kind. The great majority of merchants
do not do this for two reasons. One
reason Is that they wouldn't do II II
they could and the other is that they
couldn't do IL IL they would. The man
who buys an article over the counter
and sees what he is buying before he
pays for IL. is pretty sure {" get what
he wants
Ordered Shirt. Got Pajamas-
But there Is smother class OF mer-
chants, OF which the same thing can
not be said. A man who has been close
~ connected with some of the big mail
order houses is authority for the state
ment that the heads Of the various
merchandis departments of many
mail order houses have standing orders
to substitute with the nearest thing
they have II the articles ordered are
not In stock and available for delivery.
II Is related that In one instance as
result of these Instructions, man whn
ordered q dress shirt from a mail order
house received 4 pair OF pink pajamas
instead.
Il, is easy for the mail order house TO
get away with this substitution Of an
other article for the one that is or
dered for the reason that TO excha nge
40 article received from 4 catalogue
house Is costly undertaking.
Exchanges Are Costly.
IL msii order buyer is disappoint-
ed in hts purchase. as he Is very apt to
be when he compares the article upon
Its arrival with the picture and nowery
description which appeared In the
catalogue. the wisest plan is to take
what he gets and make the best OF IL
FOR every time he sends an article back
to he exchanged, he Is piiing up the eI-
press or freight charges aud even II
the article is exchanged as requested.
the buyer is not apt to fare much bet
ter on the second sttempt.
The mall order houses are we'll
aware Of the fact that the ma tority Of
their customers will not go to the trnu-
BILE and expense OF returning an ar
ticle II IL does not come mp to their
expectations and as result they eau
work the substitution game to their
hearts content.
The home merchant. however. can
not do business In this WAY and, as has
been said. the ma jority of them would
not do II IL they could. The home mer-
chant II he has not the article called
for may offer another with the expla-
nation that 1t is Of the same quality
as the one for which the customer
NShPu. rNtu INV even
| hesitate to offer something lust aS
good 10 the customer especially when
the article called for is one that has
| become well known and popular
through the advertising done by the
manufacturer. hut to attempt Ia make
substitution without the knowledge
or consent of the customer, Well. II
| isn't being done by the local merchants
\ today.
Substitution Made Easy.
/ Substitution is made easy for the
| mail order houses, also. by the fact
| that they do not sell much of what Is
known as advertised" goods-that Is,
goods that have been thoroughly ad-
vertised by the manufacturers and
| have become nationally known through
such advertising. A large part OF the
| merchandise which the mail order
houses sell purports TO be manufac-
| tured by them-although In most cases
| little OF Il is made In their own plants
Much OF this merchandise bears only
| the name OF the mail order house and
| Il is easy to substitute one article for
another without the customer being
| any The wiser