Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1921-08-25
few small towns that have failed to

few small towns that have failed tt
measure up to the standard set BY
their fellow communities. Their way
wardness generally is. predicated or
the mania of it's inhabitants for mail
order buying. Every now and ther
some town finds itself engulfed in a
wave of "buying from a catalog" A
few influential men and women start
on wild panicky orgy of buying all
their goods from the out-of-town-
frop'-the-city merchandise shysters
ard like the sheep on the plains who
follow their leader knowing not why,
all the other townsfolk "go crazy
as we'll. Unless this uncalled for, un-
necessary and thoughtless draining of
the towns finances is soon checked,
tie see the sad spectacle of ruined
community, with the best merchants
leaving the town, public improve
ments at standstill, banks on the
ragged edge, civic consciousness gone
on a vacation, all business in the
dumps and a discontented and unhap-
py citizenry.
And the sad part about this disin-
| tegration of towns is that the poor,
deluded home folks "get stung" in
two directions. Not only do they see
their town and their business crum-
BILE before their very eyes, but they
find that they have been paying ex-
orbitant prices from the catalog
sharks for an inferior lot of merchan-
disc. They find that when the town
has been bled white by these big-city
money-grabbers, the town is aban-
doned and left to die or be restored
to life and prosperity by the influence
of some community doctor who knows
how to put ruined town back on it's
feet.
This doctor often succeeds because
he makes the town people see the
error of their ways and impresses on
them in strong terms the significance
of community loyalty, of communistic
cooperation and unified home-loving
activities. He makes them see be-
yond the result of one days trade
and makes them appreciate that there
is something else in life besides mon
ey-making and money-saving. He
makes them see the significance of
buying all their goods from the home
town merchants and of bettering COM
munity conditions from a moral, So
cial and educational as well as a fl
nancial standpoint.
He makes them understand that
there is no good reason why they
shouldn't purchase all their needs
from the home merchants. He talks
through the towns newspapers and
from the public forum in the follow
ing fashion:
every community in the United
States contributes to the prestige
that Uncle Sam enjoys among the ma
tions of the world. No class realizes
this more than the big manufacturers
of the country, who are also the ma
tional advertisers. They sell their
trade-marked products to the small
town merchants and they back him up
in his selling efforts by advertising
literally in the leading magazines and
papers. They send the very best
goods that they are capable of turn
ing out to the shelves of the small
town merchants because they know
that the success of small towns means
their success. The reason is too OBJ
national advertising done by them is
with view to fixing in the minds of
the people certain brands of mer-
chandise so that they ask for them,
and not accept cheap substitutes The
/ shelves, counters and bins of the
home town merchants are universally
stocked with tested, nationally-ad-
vertised goods that have back of them
the name and guarantee of the coun-
try's best and largest manufacturers.
They are priced at the lowest posi-
BILE figure consistent with quality.
Why then, in the name of all logic,
should you people send your cash in
advance, out of town, for non-adver-
tised, low-quality, dear at-any price,
stuff? You gain nothing and you
lose all You hurt your home mer-
chants which reacts in hurting of
other home institutions, which fur
ther reacts in hurting your own per-
sonal business.
"The cost of branded, nationally
advertised products is uniform. STAN
dard trade-marked articles sell for
the same price the world over, so you
can positively know that if the mail
order f1eecers tell you that they have
something just as good at a lower
price, they are "stringing" you and
are garbling the truth.
Buying at your home town stores
is not only good business judgment
but it makes for the future growth Oh