The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-03-28
tBy student of the Economics Dept.
Junior College,.
The Local situation.

Hows BUSINESS! rs as seherai
question as is asked in todav's BUSH
ness world. Ely's Regular" retail
er's answer is usually as general:
Fair. but could be better" But how
SO. we begin to inquire. Indeed. your
small city seems quite prosperous,
quite alive with industry, steady,
year-round industry at that. paying
good wages and large share of the
taxes. You possess a sound educa-
tional system, equipped second TO
none, TO induce the married man TO
settle here. Yet. in the midst OF
these conditions of general prosperity
the retailer tells US that a diseased
business situation exists. situation
which to outward appearances should
be sound and prosperous.
Man never gets enough, enough
is usually not enough to satisfy man.
1t is more and more that satisfies.
We smile at this thought, but our
friend, the retailer. insists that this
does not apply here. Quite like man,
we agree ne manipulates and ration
alizes to suit his own supposed i'll
ness. Yet, it is only fair that we
give him a fair chance to right him
self before us. He still insists that
business is not what it could be, busi-
ness is not what il should be. The
germs are there and are quickly eat
ing away the regular retailers bust
ness. We become interested and lis
ten,
On. cen.r~l oyertauuinx Of stocks
First. he tells us there exists in
Ely among the respective retailers a
general overlapping of stocks, that is,
the grocer has dry goods for sale.
some clothiers have jewelrv and con-
fections, the hardware store tires and
garage supplies and so forth. Most
local groceries, in addition to their
regular line of groceries, have meats
for sale, thus conflicting with the
local meat markets. The grocer fig
ures that as this is only an addition
to his regular stock and being side
line, will net him additional profits;
consequently, he figures that by SELL
Ing meats at a smaller profit than the
meat markets, he will be none the
worse off, for some profit is better
than no profit. While if he sold his
meats for the same price as the meat
market, in all probability. these meats
would be bought there instead of
from the grocer. Several grocers also
carry a small stock OF shoes. rubbers.
and clothing, which they sell on a
smaller basis, thus running amuck
with the clothiers and shoe men,
while the stocks of the latter collide
with those of the ladies' apparel
shops. The business relationship be-
tween locaI> hardware stores and the
garages has been unusually bitter in
that the latter protest against the
hardware men intruding into their
lines in the way of tires, oil, gasoline,
and auto accessories in a similar man
ner as the grocer does. Some of the
automen become so provoked that
they began to order furniture and
hardware wholesale for their custom
ers in order to show their opponents
that they did not intend to let this
overlapping of their stocks go on.
The relation between the electrical re-
tailers and the. hardware men is not
much better, as is the same between
the latter and the plumbers and heat
ing men. Some hardware men have
intruded into this field to the extent
OF making 1t a regular practice to in
stall plumbing and heating systems.
Thus, this overlapping results in a
lack of specialization and emnity be-
tween local business men,. These re-
taiiers, fussings with lines of trade
that are not their own, are expendins
which could be more profitably used
in making their own businesses a
greater success. And consequently,
these same men, when it comes to
make any decision for the good of the
business interests of the city, are
unable to come to an agreement on
account of. their emhity and selfish
ness. For instance, local retailers
have not been able to come to an
agreement when time. and time again,
they have tried to unite in the mat
ter of closing ali shops at certain
hour in the evening, in matters con-
corning the propagation of propa-
ganda against mailorder houses. or
in advertising our beautiful forests
and lakes 10 the tourists and thereby
obtain a better tourist trade. So.
this general overlapping has resulted
in a lack of cooperation, for. as the
shoemen say. 'ff we don't keep open
until nine and the grocery men do
they will sell the shoes"
Defects of the Local Credit system.
BE patient, says our friend. the
retailer. Il have just begun to tell
you what ails business in Ely" Next
comes the credit cancer, which an
nually eats away a good share of
the local retailers income and pro-
fits.
Don't misunderstood me, credit is
all right, but it must be systemat G,
otherwise il is liable to abuse In
other words. credit in Ely lacks
system. During the past few years
we have had several bankruptcies
among our local retailers. 1t was
found upon investigating that the
original capital OF these failures
had been eaten up by number of
professional deadbeats who bought
on account with no intention of pay
ing, and what is perhaps not so
strange, always by the same ones.
Now the first defect of the local
credit system is evident. 1t fails to
show up and to acquaint local mer-
chants as to just who are the pro-
tessional deadbeats OF the community.
the wolves in sleeps clothing.
Now. the second defect and diff
Guilty. that OF collections. The fact
that by far the greatest part of the
retail business in the city is done on
ineffieiency OF this system. as far as