Show HOME TOWN BUILDING 1 in last weeks issue we commented upon the decrease of population during the past ten years in the smaller towns of a majority of states in the middle west and invited correspondence bearing on the subject the following is the first contribution from a well known writer whose name is withheld by request dear editor in your last weeks article you put the question what is the matter with the country towns in the middle west why are they going backward w ard and showing a decrease in population ula tion in this you have certainly hit upon a live issue the question is one that should have the serious consideration of every business and professional man of your town as well as every merchant and manufacturer fac in the united states when the smaller towns go backward as they are new doing the industrial and moral welfare of the country will suffer the cause of this condition must be established before we can prescribe a remedy the writers opinion is that a good share of the trouble originates with your local merchants who are not contributing as much as they should do toward the industrial welfare of the town that spells lack of op 1 port unity for the young people now then suppose for the sake of argument we put the question the other way and ask what is the matter with the merchants in the towns of this country we all know that the country counti y business man represents the very best in american manhood that is the prime reason why th the e nation is not benefited by the migration of the country boy to the city your average storekeeper in the country town is invariably healthy strong and intellectual hit unfortunately as a merchant he simply will not get out of the rut made by his predicts sors this is plain talk but it is what the average country merchant needs especially especial jy those who imagine they can handle their business on tile the same plan as that employed by their predecessors twenty or forty years ago they have new conditions to face new forces to contend with almost insurmountable obstacles to overcome the interurban car the automobile good roads and other forms of rapid transit to the larger towns are conditions which are here to say so is the parcel post all of this means that the country merchant must in order to be successful cess ful work along entirely new lines he must meet city competition with the city mans plan of getting business that is his problem easy to say but difficult to do is the thong thought h t which enters the mind of the country merchant who reads this but that sort of reasoning will not make headway think it over here is the question how do the big stores in the city attract buyers the te anaw answer er is ls they do it first by full page dis display p ay advertising in the daily papers these are almost a complete catalogue of each of the various departments of the entire store thi think of it a daily issue of a well illustrated catalogue with catchy descriptions and skillfully phrased talk about cut prices spread out before thousands of women who have money to spend and who need the goods gaoa there can be but one result which which means sale H how aw long could these big stores exist if they did not use these advertising pullers bullers to draw trade the answer is self evident their expenses would eat them up and put them out of business inside of ten months of course it would be nonsensical a to suppose that the country town merchant could afford to issue a big catalogue but he has his local newspaper and its working force at his disposal and it is the greatest best and cheapest advertising for force cc in the world mr merchant just store this thought under your hat bat every country town that has a daily or weekly newspaper dews paper is missing its harvest if its merchants do not make it a mail order catalogue every inch of its advertising space should be used it is a gold mine it should be your cut price catalogue with a good illustration and catchy description of every article of merchandise car carried in stock in your town no matter whether it be a package of onion seed a gas engine a hay scale or a flannel shirt and every article shown should have a price attached dont be afraid to advertise your prices that is the whole secret of successful merchandising price first last and all the time should be the big feature your name in big letters will not pull trade prices ces and plain figures will do so this article will be continued i in n next weeks issue later the writer tern will have something of interest to say doctors lawyers householders and retired farmers |