La Grande evening observer., April 20, 1914, Image 2

MAIL ORDER HOUSE SCARE
AGAIN FELT IN NORTHWEST
Adjustment of Price Vital Factor For Retailer to Learn.
On the preceding installment the ,
conclusions of the factory cost expert
were given, as the comparative buy
ing power, of different classes of mer
chants. Ed. .
' (Publication rights for this 'series
is hereby granted to the La Grande
Merchants Association.
Powell.)
David;
, Comparing the advantages of the
selling methods employed by catalog
houses with those employed by the I their cost of doing business is less
regular dealer, he says: "The first than the local merchant's. From
item of expense the local merchant j many sources it has been learned what
has to consider in fixing his selling different merchants figure their cost
price is freight charge, and the next j of doing business and it very readily
is his cost of doing business. In exceeds 20 per cent. It would simp
freight charges the local dealer has 1 lify matters very much if a few of the
a little, if anything, the best of it. i big catalog houses would' publish the
All of his goods are shipped direct' same information. As of course they
from the factory by freight and much won't, in order to make' a comparison,
of it in car load lots that gives htm a j it 'will be necessary to estimate it.
still lower rate. Against this the For example, take one of the large
mail-order merchandise must stand mail order houses situated in Chicago,
the initial freight charges from the! "Such a concern has an immense
factory to either the central or branch ' overhead expense entailed in maintain
house, and a second transportation ing a large office force as well as a
charge from the distributing house to ! corps of high salaries advertisement
the consumer. This second charge writers. These are the men : 'Who
averages very high, and a large part paint in such attractive word pictures
of it is either express or postage. the virtues of the goods sold 'by the
That the catalog house has no advan- ' house. For this work they secure the
tages here is quite apparent ; ' .' best men they can get, paying salaries
"Upon a merchant's ability to prop- ranging from $5,000.00 to $50,000.00
erly regulate his cost of doing business per year. Did it ever occur to you
depends his ultimate success or fail- what it cost to put in your hands one
ure. To tihe consumer not versed in of these beautifully illustrated cata
eommercial terms,-the true meaning of logs? In their literature you are in
this expression is often not . qnite formed that they are generously giv
clear. It is determined by totallying ing you something free, postage pre
all items of express connected with the paid, hope you will appreciate their
running of a 'business for a certain efforts to aid the . oppressed and
period, say a year, and the percentage downtrodden in reducing the high cost
this month is of the total salaries for of living etc., etc. Now each of their
the same period is known as the "cost books each year costs them far
of doing business." This however, is :
entirely separate and apart from the
percentage of profit a merchant adds
SYNOPSIS OF THE ANNUAL STATEMENT OF THE
German Alliance Insurance Company
of New York, in the State of New York, on the 31st day of December,
1913, made to the Insurance Commissioner pf the tate of Oregon, pur
suant to the law: '
Capital.
Amount of capital stock paid up ? 400,000.00
Income. (
Net premuium received during the year $ 628,326.85
Interest, dividends and rents received during the year 81,807.89
Income from other sources received during the year 58.69
Total income ...... . $ 710,193.43
, Disbursements.
Net losses paid duriner the year $ 336,748.22
Dividends paid during the year on capital .stock 60'K.o'or
Commissions and salaries paid during the year , 220,538.96
Taxes, licenses and fees paid during the year 19,426,82
Amount of all other expenditures 34,890.01
Total expenditures ....$ 671,603,01
Assets.
Value of stocks and .bonds owned (market vnlue) $1,639,013.00
Loans on mortgages and collateral, etc 55 'JJ00.00
Cash in banks and on hand ' 33,352.59
Premiums in course of collection written since September 80,
1913 , 109,501.15
Interest and rents due and accrued 9,146.50
Total assets ,..$1,846,013.24
Total assets admitted in Oregon ' $1,846,013.24
Liabilities.
Gross claims for losses unpaid .' $ 'W'j'JJ
Amount of unearned premiums on all outstanding risks 487,667.05
All other liabilities 10,000.00
Total liabilities exclusive of capital stock $ 595,539.67
Total premiums in force December 31, 1913 $ 925,858.42
Unfitness in Ore iron for the Year.
Total risks written under the year
Gross premiums received during the
T ..... i , jl. ..
Premiums returned during the year.
Losses paid during the year
1Oskcs incurred during the year
Total amount of risk outstandinir in
1913 334,759.00
GERMAN ALLIANCE INSURANCE COMPANY
By WM. KREMER.
Statutory general agent and nttorney for service: Harvey Wells.
City Agents Security Land & Savings Company, Inc.
4-18-14
WENAHA LUMBER COMPANY
to the cost of an article to determine
his selling price by better methods and
stricter economy one may do business
at a less expense than his competitor,
and still make exactly the same per
centage of profit on it. '
"It is plainly evident that if the
large city stores and catalog houses
have no advantage over the small
dealer in buying an article it is man
ifestly impossible for them to sell it
for less than the small dealer, unless
more than twenty-five cents,
"Taking a catalug issue for this
season by one of two largest mail-
$2,651,217.00
year 39,634.75
7RR8 98-
10',802.l3
,
Orcsron December 31,
10,937.43
WE EXPECT A
RUSHING SEASON
in the lumber line. All indica
tions point to Irisk building bus
iness this Spring, and we take
this opportunity to suggest ear
ly orders. We know our stock
and are sure of it. We want
you to know, and so print this
short notice.
order houses of the "country as a
sample, and, the same . number of
copies the same house sent out last
year, a careful estimate shows that
just for printing and mailing the cost
would exceed sixty cents, , Add to
that pro-rata the enormous sum it
costs them for their staff of "AD"
writers and illustrators and the total
would very probably exceed a dollar.
Many people receive a catalog who
do not buy a cent's worth throughout
the whole year, so it is very apparent
that the statement given out recently
by a former employee of the house in
mind was very near the truth when
the said the expeiise . of publishing
their catalog for the 1912 amounted
to 8 2-3 per cent of their total sales
for the year, with their immense oft
fice force, high realestate values,
general advertising, etc., it is reason
able to suppose that their cost of doing
business could not by any possibility
be less than 20 per cent probably
more. t '- .- ,
"If it costs the the catalog and
large city houses as mijch to do busi
ness, and they can buy their goods no
cheaper, there is only one way left in
which you can sell under the local
merchant, end that is by being satis
fied with a smaller rate of income on
income on the capital invested in the
business. How many of your nrer-
merchants make more than 10 per cent
on their invested capital? Not very
many. Yet the mail-order house re
ferred to above declared 'a dividend
last year of a trifle more than Z2 per
cent."- t, '.' ; v
The town :n which this campaign
was carried oh was situated near a
large city that could be reached quite
easily many times a day by electric
car and the big department stores
loca'ted there had also been getting a
large share of the trade from that
cQnmunity. Referring to this he
says: '
"A very natural mistake is made
by many people in thinking" them can
buy goods cheaper from stores doing
a business in a large city than they
can from their own home town mer
chants. There are many reasons why
this belief exists among dwellers in
small towns and rural communities,
but the main one is because people
simply take for granted the state
ments made by such concerns in their
advertisements and in catalogs with
out taking the time or making the
effort of investigation themselves.
Many go to the large nearby cities
to make their purchases 'because they
think they have a larger and more
varied stock of goods to select from.
In a measure that is true, but bear
in mind the fact while you are con
sidering this question, that the large
city stores cater to the extremes of
society, the millionaire, as well as to
the dweller in the alms. The suc
cessful city merchant who owns such
a store, you can depend upon it, has
made a most exhaustive study of his
trade, and knows that he has to
gather his stock from the four quar
ters of the globe to meet the demands
made by his wide range of patrons.
Just so with .the merchant in the
smaller towns. He has neither the
"millionaire nor the slum dweller to
consider and naturally does not
burden his shelves with goods that he
knows there is no demand for but
within the range of the demands of
his communil his stock is just-as
varied, and just as large, ns that of
his brother merchant in the large
city."
In addition to preparing and at
tending to the circulation of the liter
ature sent out by the club, this man
also Jpnt out among the farmers as
a "Home trade" missionary. Though
he was strong for home sentiment he
always went straight to the point of
the farmer's pocketbook, and stood
ready to show the customer of the
mail-order house that, month in and
month out, he was actually losing
money by not trading with the home
merchants.
In his figures he left nothing out
of his calculations not a postage
stnnip of an express toll escape his
eye. He was up on brands and qualities
in every line of merchandise. He took
samples of food-stuffs from the local
store and made side-by-side compari
sons of them in the farm kitchen
with the foods bought from the mail
order concern.
When he found that a housewife
had bought a large quantity of semi
perishnblo goods from the mail-order
house in order to secure a low price,
he asked her if part of it did not spoil
before she was able to use it Often
she confessed that this had been the
case; and then he figured out for her
just bow much cheaper the transaction
would have been for her had she
bought the goods, in convenient quan
tities, from her local merchant.
The club was made a social center
for the entire community, especially
for the farmers and their families.
Gradually a testing laboratory of a
crude sort was built up in the club,
and here many an argument as to
quality of goods mas settled. The
consumer and the storekeeper were
both taught to be judges of quality
in almost all lines of goods.
Today In mail-order trade in that
community is on the decline, the cata
log is on the run; business and resi
dence real estate in the city is slowly
advancing in price: the old town looks
good to some of the high school boys,
who are not so eager s were some
of their immediate predecessors to
shake the dust of the town from their
feet; and the social and religious life
of the community has experienced a
decided revival.
!;'.' (End of Article II.) -. ."
T LIFE IS ALWAYS DY!M
And Just ai Soon a Wo Ceaoo Dying
Wo Cease to Live.
Living is n continuoiM process of dy
ing. When we cense to die we cease
to live. One can readily understand
this by means of a very concrete ex
ample. Suppose ynn arise Home cold
morning and find the Are In your fur
nace has "gone out" It will do no
good to utter malicious Invectives
a Sit Inst the poor furnace. Just philoso
phize as follows: "My furnace baa
ceased to die. In other words. It bas
ceased to consume thnt very expensive
article called coal. The continual con
sumption of coal Is tire or life In the
furnace. When the consumption or
iyiug ceased the Hre or life ceased."
Accordingly you proceed to make the
furnace '"die" some more.
What is true of the furnace Is true
of ourselves. All organic life exists Id
a state of continuous decomposition
and rebuilding or a continuous state of
dying and, living. As soon as decom
position ceases reconstruction ceases,
or. In common terms, as soon as we
cense dying we cease living. Certain
poisons. If swallowed by a human be
ing, destroy life by annihilating the
decomposing or dylug process which
Is necessary for life. When they enter
the system a chemical compound Is
formed which resists decomposition.
Upon examination of the dead bod U
will be found thnt putrefaction does
not take place. Wltb these poisons In
the body there Is no process of dying:
hence there Is no life.
The snme truth holds In regard to
our mental and moral existence. If
we cease to struggle or think and are
content to live a purely animal life the
activity of our brnln powers quickly
ceases and we nre mentally dead
Struggle, action, aspiration. Is dying,
but It means living. Introduce the poi
son of vice and there is a cessation of
mental life as fntal as that caused to
the body by arsenic New York Amer
lean.
ONE OF OUR LITTLE GUNS.
i
It Is In the War Department and Hal
an Interesting History.
Visitors to the war department In
Washington may see a little old fash
loned cannon occupying n position at
tin right of the god of war standing
near the mnln entrance of the depart
ment. x
The chances are, however, that the
majority of visitors will paBs It by
with only a superficial glance, for It Is
a mere pygmy In comparison with
some of the , modern guns, being a
Snuize six pounder, a little less than
feet in length and with only a
three and a half inch caliber.
But If visitors suspected even part of
the gun's Interesting history they
would not pnss by it without pausing
to pay it more respect The little gun
was built In Holland In 1741 for King
George of England. It was brought to
America to be used In quelling the re
bellion of the king's subjects here and
from that time has been closely con
nected with our national history.
Tradition tells ns thnt Benedict Ar
nold led a tin mi of American riflemen
up Lake Chnmplnln, Invaded Canada
and captured the British post of St
otitis ,
' Among the spoils he took was this
cannon, upon whose barrel Arnold had
cut the story of Its capture, which may
be read to this day. Because of the
scarcity of guns of this kind among
our fighting equipment in the Revolu
tionary war it is very probable that
this, the first gun captured from the
British, was used by our army In
fighting against Its former owners all
through the war. Thus the gun which
was made by the Dutch for the king
of England to be UBed In fighting
against the French and Americans,
then captured and turned against Its
former owners, bss come to occupy a
place of honor and respect at the very
throne of war In our national capltol.
-Wisconsin State Journal.
I ' - ; : ;
CLASSIFIED DIRECTORY
FRATERNAL ORDERS.
A. F. & A. M. La Grande Lodge No.
41, A. F. & A. M. holds regular
' meetings first and third Saturdays
at 7:30 p. m. Cordial welcome to
all Masons. ' ' '.
C. W. NOYES, W. M.
A. C. WILLIAMS, Sec.
B. P. O. E. La Grande Lodge No 433
Meets each Thursday evening at 8
o'clock in Elk's club, corner of De
pot street and Washington avenues.
Visiting brothers cordially invited
to attend;
M. B. DONOHUE, E. R.
ADNA B. ROGERS, Sec.
WOODMEN OF. THE WORLD La
Grande Lodge No. 169 W. O. W.
meets every first and third Fridays
at I. O. O. 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 PYTHTAS Red Cross
Lodge No. 27 meets every Monday
night in Castle hall, (Old Elks' hall)
A Pythian welcome to all visiting
Knights.
H. E. DIXON, C. C. ,
R. L. LINCOLN, K. of R. & S.
O. 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. .
LOUISE HILARY, G. N. v
LILLIE ALLSTOTT, Clerk.
UNDERTAKERS.
W. H. BOHNENKAMP CO., Un
' der taking and Embalming. Strictly
'modern. Day phone, Black 241.
Night phone Red-8971 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
8181.
The Union Nurseries, Union, Ore.
Roses. Order your roses now for spring planting, strong two
yr. old plants, will bloom profusely this summer. Hardy, hy
brid, perpetual, hybrid tea, $3.50 per doz. The wonderful new
Climbing Mad Caroline Testout, Climbing F. K. Drnskl, Dor
othy Perkins, pink, red and ; white. Crimson Rambler, Thous
and Beauties. All on their own roots. Also a genera line of
Nursery Stock . Send for Price List.
I a WEAVER, Proo.
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.
A. L. RICHARDSON, M. D. Physi
- clan and Surgeon; over Hill's drug
store. Phones: office, Blk. 1862;
residence, Main 730.
DR. R. E. L. HOLT Physician ana .
surgeon; successor to Dr. N. Moii-
' tor; corner Adams avenue and De
pot St Phones Office Main 68;
Residence, Main 780.
DR. M. K. HALL Physician and sur
geon, Office- West-Jacofcson Bldg.
Phone Main 53. Rooms 11-12-13.
DR. H. L. UNDERWOOD Physician
and surgeon. Diseases of the eye
a specialty. , ; ,
DR. DORA' J. UNDERWOOD (Dis
eases of women and children. Of
ficesAdams . 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
i erinarian Hospital,., 1409 Madison
Ave. State Stallion Inspector
Stock inspector for shipment Home
Independent Phone, Black 41.
Farmers Co-Operative Phone. Main
17. .
CHIROPRACTIC PARLORS.
DR. GEORGE T. DARLAND, J5R.
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 Grandd National
Bank Bldg., La Grande, Oregon.
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-Jacdbson 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.
Notice.
My wife Nellie Walls, has left my
bed and board. I will not Ibe respon
sible for any bills contracted by hw.
LEWIS J. WALLS,
4-15-10tp.
V4