The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1921-01-21
Number Two
They Didn't Get
Editor The Times:

read with a great deal of interest
the article in your valuable paper in
answer to observer" and zone They
Didn't Get" / might be in the class
of zone They Didn't Get" as ! have
had many opportunities to buy va
rious articles, stocks and bonds from
every kind Of "peddler" who has been
on the road.
The first one that called on me was
the lightning-rod man whom we all
remember so well. But some of my
M Bsff-hs,ogs were NOT. so fortunate As 4
in turning him down. Then tlse next,
[ believe, was the man with the organ
and I'll admit he was quite a sales
man as he tried to convince my wife
and that he had the only instrument
that could play "Nearer My God to
Thee" to the tune of "Where'd You
Get that Hat. The Old Lady said to
me: "Tnat's some organ"
Then there was the stove man. |
remember an occasion of the visit of
one of these. A glittering rig drawn
by magnificent team caparisoned in
harness of silver and brass drew up to
my place. The outfit had every ap-
pearance of being the advance noise
for Barnum and Bailey's circus. We
all went out to see what it was and,
to our yreat surprise, when this oily
tongued individual removed the can
vas from the "Camel's hump, there
was a great big range cook stove,
polished SO that any woman would
fall in love with it on sight. We were
soon informed that, if ! would sign
here and lilly would sign there, he
would put this beautiful stove in our
kitchen. But fortunately neither of
us signed so he drove on down the
road where he stopped and my neigh
Dor, carried away with the brightness
of the range stove, signed here and
his wife signed there and the stove
was put in the house.
Then few months passed and the
collector appeared on the scene, want
ing the money for the new range. Re-
suit was that he took the range and,
more than that, he drove away with
the last two milk cows the poor man
had. Ny advice to my neiglAbors is
to let tl.ese peddlers alone. If you
do business with them they'll get the
money as they are experts in profit
eering, and have been for twenty-five
years or more.
Another thing that amused ME was
the cause for the sudden drop in sugar
given in one of the articles. Anyone
with thought above an oyster knows
that that is all bunk. The country
merchant has no more control over
the price of sugar than has the Sun
day School teacher over the traffic in
white Mule. The sugar market is
controlled by the sugar trust and they
make the prices. have found out
that wien / want range it is better
to go to the local hardware dealer and
get one as good for about half the
money and the same thing applies
when want a musical instrument or
anything else. have found it paid
in the long run to patronize the home
merchant, no matter what you wanted
! to buy.
"A prophet is not without honor
save in his own country" Many in-
inerant prophets" would be without
honor in foreign lands if Old General
Public were less unsuspecting and
would apply the test of reason to the
prophets promises. Too, too often
they are vultures who have neither
the intention nor the desire TO give
value received. tits to be hoped that
some day public sentiment win be Sc
lcrystallized against questionable "easy
tmoneyp schemes that they will all die
a natural death in their infancy
/ aAa r. j. x.