Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1921-08-05

| tailers the most Inefficient
That assertion has been abso-
lutely disproyed.
LET me ask you this:
How many people would
live in this community ii
they had to go to Spokane
or depend on the mail or
der houses for all their
materiais?"
When we began TO tight the
mail order houses in North Da-
k0ta. they ve uoing one
third OF the retail business in
the state; >5O,o fFU annually
out OF s50.0Op0 being spent
III the retail trade. our state
1 association sent four men over
( the state to canvass every busl-
ness house. investigate the ap-
! pearance OF the stores. both in
side and out: find ont who was
advertising. how much they
were advertising and why To
investigate the vaFiOns systems
of bookkeeping and check up
how the retailers hmriled their
/ insurance. These are serious
problems.
Advertising most Important.
n think that advertising i
the most important Of Them
all. Vet YOU would he SIIg-
prised to hear the report
We got on this phase OF the
merchandising game. Out
of 500 stores visited By OIlr
men i'm the state of North
Dakota. 1870 Of them did
not believe that advertising
paid. l5qc OF them adlcr-
Used because they thought
it VAS a good thing to have
a newspaper in the town.
and bbut 1870 OF them did
any real constructive adj
Vertising.
.Ns against this general APP
athv towards advertising, the
mail order houses in 1913 sent
1000 car loads Of catalOgs into
the state of North Dakota. They
spent S30.G00O00 in national
advertising and it i estimated
that l09c of this, or 100000
was spent in North Dakota.
This against the advertising
competition Of iUSo Of the meP-
chants.
Can Meet Mail Order Prices.
Many of the merchants in
our state said they could not
meet mail order prices. and
most Of them lost out because
Of that belief. Mann's depart
nent store advertised that it
would meet the prices Of any
mail order house commodity,
quality for quality, and we have
never had cause to regret it.
Three years ago, IN response
o a call for aid. I gained the
promises of merchants in the
Twin Cities. at Duluth and 9th
.r places. to write to their job
,ers the minute they were trOu-
lied By mail ordeer competition
md ask quotations upon which
hey could meet competition.
lualitv for quality. and still
make a profit. I told them that
f their iobbers would not stand
With them I couldn't stand with
hem to send their orders to me
nd I would take up their cases
or them. In the three years
ince. I have not heard Of
single complaint. and the mail
RIDER competition is being met
uccessfuliv.
Now we Viii come back to
le matter Of advertising. lOu
iuSt advertise If YOU want to
e successful. You must put
ITO the hands of YOUR cuSi0-
lerS aS MUCH and as GOOD
IteFiiSing rs the mail order
0useS.
The retailer is bat the agent
ihe iObber ana the manufact-
rers In this matter Of eiistei-
ltion. and unless they support
8 .ihey die The better they
We as, the better we give
.em The question 0f The irav
ing salesman is another
'Oblem &c importance to the
taller Nv idea Of q success
2 travelling salesman is one
no benefits the merchants
1t merely an order taker or
le who sells vOu dead COM
ff'.9rfff-reaI an faet ,rnea1