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Show BUY AT HOME ALWAYS "Buy at home" is an empty slogan unless the merchant practices what he preaches and not only sells at fair prices, but by advertising and other means lets his townsmen know they can do as well at home as in neighboring neigh-boring cities. Such are the conclusions of Paul W. Horn who presents the "pro and con" of community loyalty in tihe December Rotarian magazine. He writes: "It seems to be perfectly clear that when all things are equal, it is better bet-ter to buy your clothes and groceries and hardware and the other things you need from the folks at home. Certainly to discriminate against the folks in your own home town is not ' wise policy. I would go even further to say that if you can do even approximately ap-proximately as well by buying goods from the local merchants, it is well for you to patronize them. "On the other hand, it behooves the local merchant to see that you can do just as well at home as you can do elsewhere. He cannot reasonably reason-ably expect you to patronize him if by doing so you are making a con- j siderable sacrifice. "For instance, if you are willing to pay fifty dollars for a suit of clothes, it is far better to pay that amount to your local clothier than it is to pay it to the merchant in a distant dist-ant city, provided, of course, you get a suit that is in every way just as desirable. de-sirable. "I would go even further and say that I would rather pay fifty-two dollars dol-lars to the local merchant than to buy the identical article from a man in a different place for fifty dollars. "But, on the other hand, if the local lo-cal merchant asks me fifty dollars for the suit and if I know that I can buy the identical same suit in the neighboring city for thirty dollars, I should be very much inclined to pay the thirty dollars. Wouldn't you? "And, if the local merchant really can sell me any clothing at as good a price and as good a quality as can anybody else in the world, I think it is up to him to make it perfectly clear to me that he can. In other words, advertise his wares. |