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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1914)
1 LA GRANDE EVENING OBSERVER. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1914. PAGE TWO MAIL ORDER HOUSE SCARE AGAIN FELT IN NORTHWEST ... Writer Point to Buncombe Contained in Mail Order Catalogues. In foregoing installments, compris ing; article 1, the writer of this inter esting aerial on mail order houses, set out how one community baniihed mail order business, and how in another, women were made to see the futility of buying anywhere but at home. Ap pended is the third installment of the four-article series. Editor. (Publication rights for this series is hereby granted to the La Grande Merchants Association. David Powell) ' (Article IL) In a smtul city of western Neb raska the incoming flood of catalogues and the outflood of money orders had reached such proportions that the merchants became convinced . that their commercial extinction was near ' at hand; they saw their city dwindling in population and degenerating in ap pearance; they saw the young men of the town striking out for the larger cities; and they felt that the spirit of local pride was broken and that the breath of the local enterprise had de parted. Very fortunately however for the . future welfare of that community there was one man among them who till retained a spark of hope in his heart He organized the business in terest of the city into a "get together" Club for the purpose of fanning the dying embers of home feeling into a living flame. ' It was out for every thing that promised to help the home 'NATIONAL HtnO SlIUEJ NO.I BismardedieGreatestof the Germans BlSMAttCKJike all Germans, prized Personal Liberty asthe breath of life a NATURAL RIGHT to be guarded and defended at any cost. Among our millions of law-abiding German-American citizens there is not a man who does not consider it insolent tyranny "of the most odious kind for any legislation to issue this command "Thou shalt NOTeai this thou shalt NOT drink tli at?1 Germans know that there is no evil in the light wines and beers of their fathers. EVIL ONLY IS IN THE MAN WHO MISUSES THEM. Fifty-seven years aeo ANHEUSER-BUSCH founded their great institution upon the tenets of the Can stitution ot the United States, louring tnese nity-seven years tney nave nnnesuy urewea ui honest beer the kind that has added to the temperance of nations. Their great brand BUDWEISER is demanded throughout the world. Its sales exceed any other beer by "S&SdT8 h-fc. ANHEUSER-BUSCH A B. W. HUGHES Agent Distributor for Baker Union & Wallowa Counties town. But the man who had brought the organization together could think of nothing that would help the old town so much as to get back some of the trade it "had lost to the mail order houses. i He did not believe the fight was hopeless, and he refused to admit, even ! to himself, that, as a matter of dol lars and cents the mail-order house could supply that community with its necessaries of .luxuries more cheaply, , in the long run, than could its foeal I merchants. Consequently he looked around for a man who had a natural gift of figures; who could take a price apart and show what made it go; who could meet farmers on ' their own ground and talk to them straight from the shoulder wit ho at giving of fense. The man selected for this work had for many years been a factory cost expert and after giving the matter a great deal of thoughtful consideration he concluded that the most effective .way to convince the consumer or the . wisdom o" patronizing home mer chants would be to put before them in a plain and convincing manner . the basic and generally little understood principles of merchandising; the ob ject in view being to make clear the fact that it costs approximately the same to market an article by any of , the different methods of modern mer chandising whether from the shelves of the home merchant or from the PENDLETON spells highly centralized catalogue houses of the large cities. This man's ex- ' perience had fitted him to handle the ! subject in an exceptionally intelligent manr.er and the subsequent success of the undertaking proved the soundness ; of his theories in the literature sent out by the club, he begins with the manufacture of an article and foilowj it step by step to the hands of the ultimate consumer through both the mail-order and regular channels , of trade. In proving the fact that the large catalogue concerns have no advan tages over other merchants in buying their goods he says: "The modem factory, manufacturing staple prod ucts, enjoys keener competition, if pos sible than any other line of business. It must sell its produce to the retailer at a price that win return the smallest profit possible that will permit a rea-. eonatle return on the money invest ment. Such a factory put a price on its product that would return to its stockholders more than a fair rate of interest, either its competitor would undersell it, or new capital, of ! which there is always an abundance ' seeking investment, would enter the field and it would eventually bring the price of the article down to the point that would return to the stock- j holders a rate of interest satisfactory ! to investors in industrial securities. In industrial conditions the selling price of a manufactured article is de termined by its cost of production. Every modern factory now has a cost system which shows to the frac tion of a cent the cost of their pro duct when R leaves the shipping room'. . It must be sold at a certain figure to pay a certain percentage j of profit. It costs no more per case to manufacture the ten cases for lit ICE k C. S. CO., Distributor Pcwllctaa, Ore. Temperance tle John femith than it does per case the thousand for the larger buyer and if both offer the same terms of payment they will be charged exactly the same price. The little John Smiths scattered over the country are the takers of the bulk of the manu factured products of the country and i they are the ones the manufacturer! has in mind when he puts the lowest possible price on bis product. , If in quoting John Smith his regular price a price kept down by keen competi tion, he is making only a 'minimum profit; how can he by any possibility quote a lower one without seriously affecting his dividends? You know dividends are what factories are run to make." "Many catalog houses lay great stress on their ability to sell an ar ticle at a low price because they "own their own. factory." Is there any good reason for us to believe that their factory can manufacture an ar ticle cheaper than any other factory simply because they own it? Cata log houses owning factories nd fact ories using the tempting phrase. "We sell direct to the consumer," in real ity have no advantage over the inde pendent retailer in so far as price is concerned, because their product, when it leaves the manufacturing de partment, must bf; charged to the selling department at exactly the same price it would be charged to an in dependent retailer were they , them selves not in the retail business. So you see that the great stress laid on the factory-owning feature by the larger catalog houses in pure, plain, unadulterated buncome with a cap rtal 'B." In explaining how such houses (Continued on Paee Three.! 1 T IF "IS. Sh Sf 'Tl CLASSIFIED FKATEU.NAL OKDEKS. A. F. & A. M. La Grande Lodge NoJ 41, A. F. & A. M. holds regular meetings first and third Saturdays at 7:30 p. m. '. Cordial -welcome to all Masons. C W. NO YES, W. M. A. C WILLIAMS, Sec B. P. O. E. La Grande Lodge No. 433 Meets each Thursday evening at 8 o'clock in Eric's club, comer of De ' pot street and Washington avenues. Visiting brothers cordially invited to attend. ' L. F. LUNN, E. R. H. E. COLLIOGE, Bee Sec. : WOODMEN OF THE WORLD La Grande Lodge No. 169 W. O. W. meets every first and third Fridays at L 0.0. F. hall. All. visiting members welcome. T. J. ORMOND, C C. J. H. KEENEY, Clerk. MODERN WOODMEN OF AMER ICA La Grande Camp No. 7703 meets on the first and third Thurs . day evenings of each month in the K. of P. halL Visiting neighbors welcome. ' ' -H. C. BALL, V. C. W. F. LANDRUM, Clerk. ROYAL NEIGHBORS Meets every second and fourth Fridays every month. All visiting members cor dially invited.. NELLIE CHARBONEAU, Oracle. LILLY C. KIMMLE, Rector. REBEKAHS Crystal Lodge No. 50 meets every Tuesday evening in the I. O. O. F. hall. All visiting mem bers are invited to attend. MARY SIMMONS, N. G. EVA MONROE, Sec. . L. O. O. M. La Grande Lodge No. 850, Loyal Order of Moose holds regular meetings, each and every Tuesday night in Moose Home on Adams street. Visitors always wel come. P. A. FOLEY, D. E. J. MORRIS, Sec. KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS Red Cross Lodge No. 27 meets every Monday night in Castle hall, (Old Elks' hall) A Pythian, welcome to all visiting Knights. II . E. DIXON, C. C. R. L. LINCOLN, K. of R. & S. 0. E. S. Hope Chapter No. 13, O. E. S., holds stated communications the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. Visiting members cor dially invited. MRS. A. C. WILLIAMS, W. M. MARY A. WARNICK, Sec. F. O. E. La Grande Aerie No. 259 on each and every Friday evening at 8 o'clock in top floor of Foley building. Visiting members cordial ly welcomed. W. C. HANSEN, W. P. L. F. BELLINGER, Sec. WOMEN OF WOODCRAFT CIRCLE No. 47 Meet . second and fourth Tuesday nights of each month at K. of P. hall. All visiting neigh bors welcome. LOUIS HILARY, G. N. LILLIE ALLSTOTT, Clerk. UNDERTAKERS. W. H. BOHNENKAMP CO., Un der taking and Embalming. Strictly modern. Day phone, Black 241. Night phone Red 3971 or Red 3412. HENRY & CARR, Undertakers and Embalmers; 20 years in business; day phones, Main 62; and Main 95; night phones, Main 707 and Red 0131. j Complete Equipment for Resettingnd Repairing Rubber Buggy Tires ! LA GRANDE IRON WORKS D. FITZGERALD, Proprietor Complete Machine Shops and Foundry I DIRECTORY miSlUANS A.ND tiliHGEONS. A. L. RICHARDSON, M. D. Physi cian and Surgeon; over Hill's drug store. Phones: office, Blk. 1362; residence. Main 780. DR. R. E. L. HOLT Physician ami sorgeeo; auoeewor to Dr. N. Mob- tor; corner Adams venue and Ds ' pot St Phones Office Main 6&; Residence, Main 730. ' DR. M. K. HALL Physician and sur geon. Office Weet-Jacobson Bldg. Phone Main 53. Rooms 11-12-13. DR. H. L. UNDERWOOD Physician um eurgeuii. uiseases oi tne eye a specialty. DR. DORA J. UNDERWOOD Dis eases of women and children. Of fices Adams avenue, over Red Cross Drug Store. . ; OSTEOPATHS. GEO. W. ZIMMERMAN Osteopath physician. Over Lilly's hardware store. Phone Main 63. Successor to Dr. F. E. Moore. , CONTRACTORS & BUILDERS. HORSTMAN & OLIVER House builders, contractors and first class carpenter work. Telephone for ap pointments. Estimates given. , Workmanship the best, figures low est. Joe Horstman. G. L. Oliver. VETERINARY. DR. P. A. CHARLTON Veterinary surgeon. Office at Hill's drug store, La Grande. Residence phone, Red 701 office phone. Black 1361. DR. H. W. RILEY Graduate Vet erinarian Hospital, 1409 Madison Ave. State Stallion Inspector V Stbck inspector for shipment. Home Independent Phone, Black 41. Farmers Co-Operative Phone, Main 17. CHIROPRACTIC PARLORS. DR. GEORGE T. DARLAND, DR. MARY V. DARLAND. Calls ans wered night or day. All diseases. No. 4 Depot St. Phone Red 1751. ATTORNEYS AT LAW. COCHRAN & EBERHARD Geo. T. Cochran and Colon R. Eberhard Attorneys. La Grande National Bank Bldg., La Grande, Oregon. 9 T. H. CRAWFORD; ROBT. S. EAKIN CRAWFORD & EAKIN Attor- . neys at law. Practice' in all the courts of the state and United States. Office West-Jacobson build ing, La Grande, Ore., rooms 9-10. R. H. GREEN Attorney-at-Law Rooms 9-10, Sommer Bldg., La Grande, Ore. Practices in all state and federal courts. ENGINEERS INTERIOR ENGINEERING COM PANY, Inc. All branches of En gineering and Surveying. Investi gations, Estimates, Reports. L. D. Howland, local representative, La Grande National Bank building. CARPET AND RUG FACTORY 1802 East Pennsylvania Ave., be tween Cove and Island City avenues. Rag and Fluff work; scientific clean ing. Phone Red 741. . Your job printmg. the Observer office. Have it done at Rend rt advertisements too. V
