Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1921-09-22


him-forsaking him to do their buy
inging from a soulless, heartless en-
tity that is no more concerned with
the growth of Happytown than it is
with the fate of the ex-Kaiser. Mr..
Pioneer Merchant soon learns what's
/ the cause of this wholesale loss of
/ customers. At first, he says to him
self, ooh, why worry, they'll be back
soon" But they don't come back at
all-not because they are satisfied
with the goods received from the
mail-order house, but because they
think that they have saved few pal
try pennies. Then our merchant
friend begins to worry at the loss of
/ trade and wonders where the end will
be. Soon he loses his affable dispo-
sition, and he commences to decav,
so does the town start to go to seed.
And before we know it, what was
once a thriving, prosperous content
ed community, enjoying a healthy
and steady growth, enlivened by that
subtle influence for good-eommuni-
ty enterprises now a struggling,
weak, half hearted town, bound
straight for obscurity and desolation.
And the end is inevitable, unless
unless some Give wire" gets into
Happytown with publicity cam
paign designed TO "show up" these
business vampires-show UP their in
sidious methods and their conmuni- |
ty-killing conduct. And therein lies |
the hope and salvation of thousands |
OF small towns the country over. May
the light of unfavorable pubic opin- |
ion be thrown on the activities of ev-
cry mail-order house in existence
they are all alike engaged in the ne
farious business of destroying small /
towns and the many worthwhile |
things in life that go with ones ex-
istence in a small town.
But let us remember, always, that
the country storekeeper has some
other problems to meet. His store
must be kept up to an efficient stan
dard; it must have a personality and
distinctiveness that will make it Just
a wee bit more CHEEKY and popular
and better stocked than his rivals |
store in the adjoining county. The
storekeeper must not rely wholly on
the willy travelling man. The drum
mer, to use rather mixed metaphor,
may have his own axe to grind. The
stOrekeeper should make at least an
annual trip to some large city where
he can view for himself the ever
changing kaleidoscope of cosmopoli-
tan department stores and their a.
chievements in the way of sale and
display, both of staples and the more
elusive vagaries of the mode.
The time is coming when mail-or-
der houses will be legislated out of ex-
istence. Several of them are in bad,
SO to speak, with legislative and in
OG0G1A la OOutSS at Tie present Time.
The more that the unfavorable light
Of pitiless publicity is thrown on
on their wicked ways and means of
getting business, the more strong
will become the movement designed |
to secure their abolition, and the day |
is not far distant when the three
great "ex's" will slumber side by |
side, each in an unholy grave, Union
ored, unloved, unmourned- the ex-
Kaiser, ex-Booze and ex-Mail-Order |
houses. They are equally Ubiquitous.
Two have already passed on, the 9th
er will soon follow. Let us all put a
shoulder to the wheel, and fight this
monster-fight because we love our
home town, because we love our COM
munistic spirit of right, justice and
the fellowship of man. Put the claw
into the vampires hack by doing all
your purchasing at home, and your
reward will be plentiful.