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Show WHEH. ORDER 1L I I By ton J. Haddock I There Is no practice moro subtly I destructive to ovory Interest of a I community than the practlco still bo I common In many of the Western I States of hu)lng through tho malls I a practice commonly called "the mall kl order ovll." Pouring water Into a iY slevo Is a most consistent occupation ' compared with It, and lighting cro- 11108 with ten dollar hills Is the acmo of wisdom by comparison, for while the process Just mentioned may servo admirably to while away a few leisure moments, tho mall order evil, "Like the Hook of Tennyson," goes on forover. For the purpose of discussion, let us dlvldo tho topic under three headings: head-ings: First, Its effect upon tho state; second, tho causes that havo con trlbuted to Its present growth; and, third, what can tho pooplo of Utah do towards its modification or elimination. elim-ination. From the best Information obtain able approximately two and a half millions of dollars annually aro being be-ing sent out of tho state in purchases purch-ases made through tho medium of the malls. Two million flvo hundred thousand good, solid, hard earned Utah dollars, withdrawn from our midst, as completely ns If retired by law, and sent out never to return! Consider what tho Withdrawal of such an amount means to ovcry county, eery city, and also to oery Interest of Utah! If this sum could be saved for but one year It would bo sufficient to pay tho cost of tho State Capitol building, or build a modern highway from Logan to St. George! In two years tho savings to Utah from the suppression of tho evil would bo sufficient to furnish the Items just stated and in addition 1'. would build a modern highway Into tho county seat of ovory county of the state, with enough left over to maintain U'o samo In good order for ten years to come. Two million, ilvo hundred thousand dollars, an amount exceeding tho nnnunl Income of twenty-flvo hundred of our averago citizens! Nor has this drain upon ' our stato's flnaricos boon of ono yeai3 duration only, but It has been going k. on for years. Think of what such Zjff n sum would amount to'1 In ton earsl y Twcnty-flc million dollars! In ro turn for which Utah gets absolutely nothing For tho mall order houso pn)s no taxes into the local city, county, or stato treasuries; maintains main-tains no store, warehouse or factory, on which to pay rent, Insurance etc., employ no local people; does not contribute a dollar toward tho erection erec-tion of churches and other worthy Institutions; has no Interest In tho maintenance of tho roadways In tho stute und In place of assisting In the states upbuilding, Us chief aim seems to bo to sap tho life s blood out of the community and In return give nothing. So much for tho damage done to Utah by tho mall order or-der house. Tho present development of the mull order business has been brought about by a number of causes, but Is due chiefly to first tho local merch ant, und second, the locul people. 'Ihe merchant on his part bus not always -been ns fully allo to his opportunities as ho might have been. It muy bo that ho only carried In stock tho things that ho thought the people wanted instead of the things they actually dcslrod to bu . t other oth-er times his stock was complete, but on account of Improperly dlsplavlng tho goods or not advertising them right, his customers wero not familiar fami-liar with tho wares ho had for sale. In somo instances ho was probabl) misled by representations of some distant jobber Into establishing u price on some article to protect the Jobber, under tho delusion that b so doing bo wns contributing to tho futuro prosperity of business Tho result, however, lias been Just the revorse, for this very action has opened op-ened the way for tho entering wedge of tho mall order houso and once en tered it has lost no opportunity for extending its advantages. It may be that the local merchants failed to appreciate the strength of their adversary. ad-versary. Is It to bo supposed that an establishment es-tablishment operating far from its base, a stranger to the people with whom It Is seoklng to do business; selling Its goods from pictures, demanding de-manding its "cash in udvanco;" and shipping Its Items by express, or, by freight one at a time can competo with any degree of success with tho local merchant? Consider tho advantage of tho hitter's hit-ter's position: Located Jn tho midst of his neighbors and friends; ac qualnted with their wnnts and circumstances; cir-cumstances; in a position to extend credit when necessary; carrying a stock from which they may select tho article desired; and shipping most of his goods In quantities, thus greatly reducing tho transportation charges on the samo, aro we not safo In assuming thnt tho local man has failed to nppreciato fully tho advantage advan-tage of his position? Tho arguments heard so often, that tho mall order firms havo millions mil-lions of dollars with which to fight his hundreds loses Its forco when It Is remembered that tho mail order houso millions aro not all centered on his particular section, of country but are scattered over the whole nation na-tion instead So that if tho relativo strength of the mall order houso and tho local man in the local territory, wero measured I question If It would not bo found to fnor tho homo man. Then, too, tho expenso under which tho eastern houso must labor Is an Item often overlooked by the local man. Maintaining Immense offlco buildings In tho congested ccntors of tho tountrj, under tho present high nluntioiis of city propert), Is In itself, no small Item In tho list of running expenses. Then comos tho Immense nriuy of emploees noces sary to carry on tho business. Mailing Mail-ing clerks, checkers, receiving clerks, moro checkers, order clerks, other checkers, packing clerks, shipping clerks, clerks for billing, wagons and tennis for delivering, witft a long list of other expenses. Now, in what way aro tho local people responsible for the success of the mall order business; In this, too often they aro deceived by the ono or two "leaders" put forth ns "bait" by tho cutulogtio houses, Into sending send-ing to them for ninny other articles that could bo purchased to better advantage ad-vantage from locnl stores. I have in mlml a recent experience of a local man who sent to Chicago for a pair of shoes marked at $1.05. When ho went for them to the local express olllco he found a bill for 35 cents for transportation charges which he paid ArrMng home he tried on tho shoes only to find that thoy wero too small 1 his mall order house had slgnltlcd Its plcasuie in mnking exchanges, however, so back went tho shoes to Chicago; another 35 cents being advanced ad-vanced to coer exprcssage. In the course of time another pair arrived, and after palng out 35 cents moro to the express company, ho again took tho shoes homo nnd tried them on. Result: samo as at first no fit. Disgusted, ho took them to a local store with tho request that they ox change them for li tin Ho was told, hoper, that ho would havo to do business with the house from which he purchased them, but incidentally the clerk showed him a pair of shoes similar to the mall order pair marked mark-ed $2 00; the fellow did a little men- tnl arithmetic about as follows, orlg liuil purchase price, $1 65, first ex press chargo 85 cunts; second charge 35 cents, third item of express 35 cents; total $2.70; prlco on local shoes $2.00, with satisfaction guar uutecd Loss, 70 cents, besides having hav-ing n worthless pair of shoes and not considering tho lime and effort wasted Tho mall order patron falls to appreciate ap-preciate the reduction in prlco made possible to tho homo storekeeper when cash Is paid In advance, or If the goods wero purchased In similar quantities; or if there wore no fixed responsibility for tho qimlitv of the goods purchased. Ho falls to appreciate appreci-ate tho value of tho local business house to tho community In tho Increased In-creased valuation of hltt own home, or fnrm or in tho Increased practlco made prsslble to his profession And that without the store very likely, there would be no community Ho loses sight of the fact that It furnish es n market for his garden truck, butter, eggs, etc , and thnt lt does Its shnre In turnplklng tho rond over which he must travel In going from nnd returning to his homo; and thnt later on In life his boy, or big girl will bo seeking employment nnd that Chicago Is n long, long ways to go to seek work Ami hero enters the work of tho Utah Manufacturers Assocla-' tlon. A work of education. Getting tho local people nnd tho local business busi-ness man together. Urging lovnlty nnd the principle of the "squnre deal" upon tho part of tho people Pointing out wherein the conservation of tholr resources Is mutually bcncflcl.il to all parties concerned. Getting tho local business man Into the Commercial Commer-cial Club nnd Manufacturers Association, Associ-ation, where he may hnvo the privl lege of discussing tho difficulties that beset him with "many men of many minds." Teaching him tho benefits to bo derived from advertising his wares. Encouraging him to cultivate culti-vate tho acquaintance of tho editor of his local paper. And In this regnrd permit mo to say thnt no papers on earth are moro willing and eager to assist tho local business men than our own Utah newspapers. Making understand that the editor Is not a "grafter," that ho Is not Becking to securo something for nothing, but that the vvhltn spaco In his paper Is among the best "goods" for which tho Utah merchant can bargain. With such an organization constantly agitating for patronago of "homo In stltutlons," encouraging tho peoplo to bii) from tho local stores, and tho stores In turn to bu whero conslty cut, from tho home factory, thus keeping the money In the stato Adopting Ad-opting envelopes and stationery, unl form In design and Illustrative of the "buy at homo" policy; to bo used by the Association and all the business houses of tho stato circulating lapol buttons s.vmbollc of the "homo dollar," dol-lar," and In short, destroying all the orrtical lines nnd boundaries nnd bringing tho man from Cacho into closer acquaintance with tho rcsl dent of Sail Juan, nnd giving tho cltl zens of Ulutnh a bettor understand Ing of tho fellow from Emory; bind lug together with bands of steel tho citizenship of tho stato for tho pur peso of making i better, a greater, and a moro glorious Utah, ns a result of the activity of tho Utah Manufac Hirers Association! |