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