| OCR Text |
Show INCLINED TO TAKE CHANCE Curious Traits In Human Nature Have Made Possible Growth and Development Devel-opment of the Great Mail Order .Houses. (Copyright, 1917, Western Newspaper Union.) A curious trait in human, nature makes itself apparent very frequently. That is an inclination to trust In the unknown rather than ia that with which one is familiar. A person is very apt to take a chance, even though he may know that the odds are 100 to one against him, instead of being satis-fled satis-fled 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 tendency ten-dency on the part 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 his grasp 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-rich-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 tale 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 mail 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. |
