The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1939-01-19
Ito TIE CD
: &Mt
Dear Reader.

Dear Reader,
I was much interested in your
! letter of last week, and there is
a lot in What you Say-but I've
got to differ with you a little
on certain points.
There are a good many of our
local firms who hire local help,
as you know, and I'm sure that
most of the merchants want 10
do SO when possible.
You must admit though that
in a good many lines of work,
special training is required, and
if there is no one here who has
I the necessary training, then
! someone from outside must be
hired-but the person from out
of Hardin can become a good
an useful citizen in our COM
munity. and can become an as
/ set to the town.
1t is also true that when
someone from the outside is
hired, a good deal of his wages
must be returned to Hardin IN
the form of trade-juSt as mucn
as if local help were hired.
Not that I am arguing that
local help shouldn't be hired
whenever possible-but after all
in a successful business, a man
must have the most efficient
help possible. Surely you are
not suggesting that merchants
should send local boys and girls
to school so they will have ade-
quate training to go into the
work.
l really don't know, but I
think, that the city was max
ing an effort to save the local
taxpayers money in having the
work done by out of town
people. Frankly, I have to feel
sorry for the city council-lf
they don't hire local people,
they're jumped on, and if the
local people don't have the
training or equipment for the
job-or if their bid for a GER
tain piece OF work is higher,
then someone else is sure to
raise a howl.
I agree with you that it an
noying to go into a store and
be offered something else just
as good" when you have a def
mite article in a definite brand
in mind. But most of the ma
tionally advertised brands are
, on sale at one place or another
in town-not all of them, and
not every article in all of them.
of course, but still a pretty rep
resentative collection. And part
OF the substituting that is done
is our own fault. If we traded
more in Hardin, the merchants
would be able to carry larger
and more varied stocks for US
I have to admit that to be fair
minded.
A friend of mine complained
the other day that she couldn't
find shoes to fit her here. Prob
ably not-and there may be a
few other items on your shop
ping list that just can't be
bought here, but somehow ]
can't believe that these items
mount up to a very large sum
during the year.
AS I see it, the worst of the
whole business is that the
shopper goes out of town, and
buys really more than he or
she intended to when they
started out. Just a few weeks
ago a certain acquaintance OF
ours had a rude awakening
when she discovered that she
had paid exactly five dollars
more for a coat in Billings than
it would have cost her here,
Cut, style, material and lining
were absolutely identical. Once
I bought a suit in a nationally
known brand from a salesman
that was displaying his wares
at a local store. I have absolute
proof that prices on such things
are lower in small town stores,
because when I visited in a large
city I saw the same Suit-and
its price had been padded some
thing like ten dollars.
Look at it from this angle
when the business man in Har-
din employs local help he has
no assurance that his new en-
ployee won't take his first (and
his second, third and fourth)
paycheck and 60 on a spending
spree in Billings. On the other
hand, if everyone would shop
here, it looks pretty obvious that
soon local businesses would be
able to employ more local
people.
Anyway, Hardin merchants
are doing more for Hardin
people than Billings merchants
are. Maybe they could do more,
in fact they probably could. II
is just possible that if they got
more wholehearted support