The Redwood gazette., 1937-06-17

even longer distances, to make purchase.
Naturally storekeeper takes pride in hav-
ing merchandise, prices and service which
attract from such long distances.
But the bulk of the trade for most
stores in city so fortunately located as
Redwood Falls comes from a considerably
more concentrated area the outskirts OF
which, at best, are rs miles in some direc-
tions, perhaps 40 in others. Most of the cir
cular advertising done by stores employing
that method reaches out ten miles into an
area naturally tributary to the city and not
solicited in most instances by other cities.
In effect the merchant is not asking that the
residents of that area buy in Redwood Falls
but in his store. He is not building the
city's gross business, merely that of his own
business.
The Gazette's circulation is concentrat-
ed in Redwood county and southern Renville
county, an area considerably larger than
that reached by the merchant who mails a
limited number of circulars. Gazette read
ers are contacted every week by Gazette
advertisers, the stores which take advantage
of the fact most regularly naturally deriv-
ing the most benefit.
A still further out area is covered by
circulars of a few institutions occasionally,
although such circulars do not have the easy
entry to home, or the reader interest, of
the newspaper which the subscriber has Or
dered and paid for. They are discarded as
nuisance In so many cases as to cut the
total number of actual readers to that of the
newspaper or less, although they are far
more costly. Since they are read in some
homes where the newspaper is not a weekly
visitor, they are of some value in building
the city's trade area, however.
The peculiar part of the picture is that
the person from SO or rs miles away, about
which you remember the merchant was
Dragging, was not solicited either by the
newspaper or by the circular. He came on
the advice of friends who live closer or be-
cause in some other way he happened to
know of the shopping advantages offered.
His business is "cream" so far as advertis-
ing budgets are concerned.
The area any city must battle for and
protect with fine service, warm welcome
and quality merchandise at the right price
is that district which normally trades with
it, including the edges which other cities aim
to entice away. The one way to reach that
group economically and regularly is through
the newspaper.
clal security program as it is set up at pre-
sent is that only certain wage earners are
protected while a considerably larger class
pays the bill and gets no direct return.
Most directly affected in this way is the
small business man who very often reaches
old age with little or nothing laid by. Under
the plan he will have paid in the money
necessary to keep his employees in comfort
IN their late years, yet may very easily be
dependent on charity himself
Also outside the favored circle are
farmhands and domestic servants, who GER
tainly have as much right to the protection
as their cousins in town. In the class with
the small merchant is the farmer Many
retire and move to town to live in comfort
off savings but not few never achieve this
independence and others lose their savings
in one manner or another. Like other con-
sumers, they bear the cost of social security
for others yet are in no position to benefit. |
Probably social security laws for their
benefit would be difficult to devise, harder to
enforce and likely to result in more confu- |
sion. Perhaps they are not even wanted, al |
though it is probable that the majority of
workers who now come under the law resent |
the deduction from their check each pay day. |
If social security is to produce the Uto- |
pia in which no elderly people depend on
charity or their children for support, it |
should be all-inclusive.
NO LESS A PERSON THAN ]. P.
Morgan is quoted as saying that Taxing is
legal question, not moral one. Anyone
has a right to do anything as long as the
law does not say it is wrong"
While we cannot agree that violation OF
the spirit of the law is any less immoral
than violating the letter of the law, it is
fact that most people feel anything they can
''get by with" in the matter of tax evasion
is legitimate, if not something to brag about.
The disadvantage of the small corpora
tion as compared with it's rich uncle is that
the big outfit can hire experts to figure out
loopholes in the law. If the small group tries
it, the fees amount to more than the tax.
What is needed is a law without loop
holes, or to be more fundamental, someone
smart enough to figure one out.
In one office the following encouraging
notice to ambitious young employees is on
view: "Work hard for eight hours day and
don't worry; then in time you may become
a boss and work 18 hours day and have