OCR Text |
Show THE CITIES AGAINST HOME. The farmer has seen many changes In tho manner of tho controlling nnd tho conducting of business In the past few years, From tho tiller of the Boll being able to control the markets of grain, that power has slipped from him until it ia manipulated by tho grain operators of large cities. He is uncertain un-certain as to whether ho will receive adequate compensation for his efforts. The latest cfTort In tho concentration of business In cities ia to take from tho farmer and residents of tho smaller townB their opportunity to buy their necessities at home and require them, to Mend their money to cities. Perhaps tile strongest factor in this distinction of'homcmarkctsis tho concerns known as,cata!oguo houses. Their aim ia to, if'iKiMlblo, drive tho retail merchants located in tho towns of all states out of business. Tho home merchant ia repeatedly re-peatedly complaining to his patrona and asked them that instead of sending their money abroad for what they need, to give him tho opportunity of filling their orders and hoa offered to do bo at prices as low or lower, for the same quality of goods aa that offered by tho catalogue houses. Our members of Congress havo been aware of such conditions and every one of them are bitterly opposed to any change of our postol laws, which would give the catalogue houses a stronger hold on tho trade of tho country. Those Congressmen aro not narrow-minded men, but havo been drilled In tho relentless re-lentless mill of years of experience. One of the Iowa congrcsmen haa mado the remark that he Is opposed to tho encroachment of tho cataloguo houso on the homo merchant for tho good reason that In the Bending of money to an unseen un-seen and unknown merchant, gives that merchant un opportunity to practlco unscrupulous tactics upon tho unsuspecting unsu-specting customer. As we have Bald In the beginning of this article It Is the object of tho promoters pro-moters of the catalogue house to drlvo tho home merchant out of business and if they succeed in doing so, it means the ruining of our beautiful and homelike home-like towns. When you have deplete the home town you havo done mufl toward depreciating tho value of t)H farm lands. So this is a question than not only is it of vital interest to tho retail re-tail merchant, but its of Just as much interest to the citizens of our towns and to tho farmers. It would certainly certain-ly be a deplorable condition If we were obliged to send away, for tho most of what we need because our home merchants mer-chants havo been driven out of business by tho cataloguo houBca. These concerns must pay for their goods just the same as trio merchants at home, and someone must pay tho millions of dollars they spend every year in advertising their business. On top of this expense is tho thousands upon up-on thousands of dollars they pay every month for rent of tho buildinga they occupy, besides tho additional expenro of an army of clerks. Tho homo merchant mer-chant is not called upon to meet any of these expenses. It seems the most of us should havo Imbrcd pride enough to prompt us to trade at home. |