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Show I Sap Country I Of Wealth. (Hy .Toll 11 S. Potts.) Every year millions upon millions of dollars find tliclr way from tliu Ipwus, villages unil runil districts of tliu conn-try conn-try to tint coders of tliu mail order houses In tliu cities, and go to the. upbuilding of enormous institutions in the centers of population. Naturally, tlio sources from which tha contributions nro made sulfur accordingly. Figures ever tell a better story than words. Here arc figures which tell 11 story so stupendous tlmt Its full slgnllH-calico slgnllH-calico cannot bo grasped In a moment, but the mere sight of which nro nwcln-fl nwcln-fl spiring: In tho year 1005 two mall order houses, located in Chicago, did 11 business amoun-ting amoun-ting In round numbers to 180,000,000. In tho year 1001 these same concerns didn I business of nbout (02,000,000 n gain of H ' 918,000,000 or nearly 80 per cent in 11 , single year being thus exhibited. These figures represent tho snlo Inst yonr of ouo dollar's woith of merclmn-diso merclmn-diso for every man, woman and child in ' tho country by two catalogue houses alone, and thoso operating from tliu same central point. Dozens moro of varying size and importance nre operating all over the country from const to coust and from border to border. 1 A fact not generally known Is thnt H hundreds of concerns throughout the H country which now nre doing bnslness through tliu regular trndu channuh nre mf awaiting only a parcels post law to tin- loose literature; already prepnred In ninny H instances, which would project them In- H to the mall order Held, mid this docs not H tnko Into account tliu hundreds and per- H hups thousands of entirely new mall H order concerns which Inevitably would H spring into existauco under such friendly H auspices. H Tho two Chicago Institutions referred H to, already occupying Immense buildings, H found themselves cramped for room. H Ono of them expended about 1 ,000,- H 000, and probably moro, for a new homo. H Thu other lately hns secured a new lo- cation and nlso will expend at least tl,-000,000 tl,-000,000 for 11 u luimencu new building. Anyone who will reflect evon casually on thu subject must become Impressed tlmt thu influence of thu mall order business busi-ness is toward the centralization of wealth, and how enormous a part it is playing in this direction will be understood under-stood froinn second glnnco at the figures which have been given above. It is dnu to biinself tlmt every patron of the inall order house should Inquire honestly of himself what thu Ilnal outcome out-come Is to lie If the mall order business shall continue to miiku thu great strides which li.-tvu marked Its progress during thu last half decade. It Is useless tft repent thu well-worn nrgiimcnt of thu mall order concerns that they nro selling goods enough more cheaply than tho merchants in tho regular reg-ular channels of trade to leave their customers cus-tomers moro money than over to dovoto to homo enterpriser nnd Institutions, The fallacy of this statement tins been proved over nnd over ngiiln by actual and minute comparisons of goods, as to their quality and prices. To refute It finally and Indisputably by n simpler nnd moru direct method It is necessary only to nsk tho reliable business men of any of the smaller communities to show the evidence from their books nnd nc" counts of thu harm thu mall order habit is doing their communities. It is 11 truth us old ns the hills nnd as curtain hs tho rising nnd setting of tho sun thnt no country or section of a country con prosper unless the people ns a whole shall bo prosperous. Such general prosperity as may exist cannot bu retained if thu institutions of tho already larger nnd wealthier communities nre to continue to be built up by contributions thnt should bo spent at homo from thu thousands of smaller communities. The need of the country, n desperntc need upon which the welfare of thu In-dlvldual In-dlvldual depends, is for thu upbuilding nnd continued progress of tho smaller communities, so that the wealth of thu country may bu distributed over tho en-lire en-lire country, and not congested nnd controlled con-trolled In large amounts in n compnrn tivu fuw centers of population. Therefore, tho man who sends away from his own community money which hu might have spent at homo nnd permitted per-mitted a fuir profit to the home merchant mer-chant to be retained thcro for tho benefit of the community, is Injuring his community, com-munity, and thereby thu prospects for his uwu future prosperity. In a large number of Instances ho Is doing more than this. Unwittingly, or unthinkingly, perhaps, hu Is violating his own principles of right nnd justice, for, ntthu cxpenso of his own community, commun-ity, ho Is needlessly contributing protlts to tho capitalistic combinations which ho continuously cries out nro menacing the country. The mnll order giants direct their energies en-ergies particularly toward the peoplu of the smaller towns nnd tho agricultural districts. In hundreds of thousands of tho homes of theso the cataloguu of thu mail order bouse is as regularly received ns tliu homo paper. Tho man on thu farm last year tent a very largo portion of eighty millions of dollars to two of these institutions, In ono community, alone. In nil sincerity wo nsk: Admitting, purely for thu sake of tho argument, thnt tho farmer or tho resident of thu small community can sn'vo a few dollars on some of his purchases, or oven that ho could do so on all of them, cun ho afford to continue to impoverish his own community, com-munity, upon which his own prosperity, tho very ualuo of his Inud depends? If lie will ask himself this question nnd consider it soberly nnd fairly in nil of its phases, Including tho many which can- not bo touched upon within tho limits of a singlo article, we think his answer must be thnt hu cannot. Tho wonderful productivity of this country has been sufllclcnt to ovcrcomo tho various adverse economic Influences which have existed during the period of years In which the mail order business has accomplished its greatest growth. Everyone hns been "getting nlong pretty well." While tho Increasing flow of golden millions from their source in tho land of the country to tho nlready great centers of money nnd population hns held back thu growth of thu smaller communities, com-munities, it has not yet occasioned a gicnt disaster, Tho test will como with the first pinch of "hard times." a condition condi-tion which no country ever has been nblo to escape nt recurring intervals. When this time arrives those communities will best stand thu test which have best conserved con-served and husbanded their resources. Western Publisher, |