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Show INCLINED TO TAKE CHANCE Curious Traits In Human Nature Have Made Posalble Growth and Devel-opment Devel-opment of the Great Mall Order, Houses. (Copyright, KIT, Western Newspassx Union.) A curious trait In human nature makes Itself apparent very frequently. That Is an Inclination to trust In the unknown rather than In that with which one Is familiar. A person Is very apt'to take a chance, even though hejnay know that the odds fere 100 to one against him, Instead of being satisfied satis-fied with lesser rewards about which there Is no possibility of doubt. . It Is, possibly, the (flaring up of the ever-present gambling Instinct but there Is something more In It than that. There Is In It the unexplained teh; flency on .the par of most people to reach for the chimerical and Ignore the tangible and substantial thing 'which Is near, at hand." Man Is seldom sel-dom satisfied with, those things that are within bis fcrasp but Is reaching always for the unattainable, Too often, of-ten, he loses that which he might easily eas-ily gain by blindly pursuing that which Is always Just out of his reach. , : " ' 'Why "Con" Man Thrives. " ' Coupled, In. a way, with his faith In the unknown Is the tendency on the part , of so many people to place confidence con-fidence in a stranger in preference to one who Is known and has been tried and proven. It Is this tendency which makes possible the operations of the "con" man, the get-rlch-qulck artist, the unscrupulous promoter and the salesman of worthless mining stocks. The man who would not think of trusting Bill Jones, his next-door neighbor and fellow church member, will confidingly turn over his life's savings to a stranger who unfolds a tale1 of riches to be won. Bill Jones might talk his head off In behalf of a legitimate proposition without getting a dollar where the slick stranger with the worthless proposition can get thousands. thou-sands. .' ' , . It Is these two tendencies which, apparently, ap-parently, are so widely prevalent among all classes of people that have made possible the success of the great mall order houses In the big cities. A knowledge of psychology is as Important Im-portant to the 'mail order man as a knowledge of business practices. He plays upon these tendencies of man to ' take a chance, to trust In the unknown, un-known, rather than the known, to place confidence In the stranger rather than the friend. ..(..'. '-. ,... '. i t Heperto Draw Prize. Those who buy merchandise from a mall order bouse are moved partly, whether they reollre It or not, by that trait tn their nature which prompts them' to trust In the unknown rather than In that with which they are familiar. fa-miliar. -They are hoping, It may be unconsciously, un-consciously, that they will draw a prize. They 'do not know what they will get, for it is impossible for one to know what he is going to get when he orders or-ders merchandise from a picture and a highly colored description in a catalogue. cata-logue. He is taking a chaace on the unknown. Buying merchandise from the local merchant, on the other hand, contains none of these elements of chance that enter Into the dealings with the mail order house. When one buys a stove from the hardware store In his home town, be may get none of the thrills that come from taking a chance but he will get a stove that will last longer and keep him warmer than the one that be might get from the mall order house and to the average individual, these things are likely to be more important im-portant than the thrills. ,. , Using Your Eyes. When you buy from the local merchant mer-chant you see the thing that you are buying, you Inspect it carefully, examine ex-amine the workmanship and the qual-I qual-I ity of the material of which it is made and in many cases you have the privilege privi-lege of testing it before paying for it Yon heve not only your own eyes and knowledge of values to rely upon, but you have the advantage of the advice of the merchant who has an expert knowledge of the merchandise which he is selling and who, In 99 cases out of 100, can be relied upon to tell the truth about It. Then you have the guarantee that Is backed not only by the retail merchant, but In many cases by the manufacturer. If the article which you buy does not prove satisfactory satisfac-tory after It Js given a fair test, you can take It back to the store where you bought It, In most cases, and get your money back. The retailer may get his money back from the manufacturer manu-facturer but If he doesn't, he stands the loss. In any event, you are protected. pro-tected. Why a person will place his confidence confi-dence In a stranger rather than a friend, or will trust In the unknown rather than In that which Is tangible, is something that is bard to understand. under-stand. Even the mall order house does not pretend to know why it Is so but it accepts conditions as it finds them and makes the most of the opportunities oppor-tunities that they offer. |
