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About Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1905)
1kg Watch For the Red Letter Days THURS-, FRIDAY. SATURDAY Sept.. 28. 29. 30 m ft Don't Forget the Red Letter Days THURS.. FRIDAY. SATURDAY Sept.. 2S. 29. 30 VOL. XXI. GRANTS PASS, JOSEPHINE COUNTY, OREGON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1905. No. 26 "Best Values-. Your Money's Worth or Your Money Back" OUR FRICE5 ALWAYS THE LOWEST E. C. Dixon FALL ANNOUNCEMENT QIYERJ F THE DE5T YALUE5 We believe we have surpassed our very best previous efforts. We can only extend to you an invitation to come and figure with us for your Fall and Winter supplies, and we feel confident that we can please you. DRESS GOODS TIIE VERY NEWEST STYLES . The qualities, the designs and prices have been care fully watched. In our stock you will find. ENGLISH BROADCLOTH -all colors. WOOL VENETIANS A popular fabric. FRENCH PRUNELLAS-one of the seasons favorites. PAMELA--A very fine Panama weave suitable for either house or street wear. MOIIAIRS-A large assortment of the Popular Mohairs, in small neat scrolls and pin dots, very pretty for fall and winter waists. Walking Skirts A new lot of Tailor made skirts, very latest idea. Ma terials are Panamas, Cheviots, Broadcloth and Covert. Correct style and finish that no home tailoring can produce. Boys' and Children's Clothing CLOTHING Does your boy need a school suit? We are ready with the largest and best line of boy s and childern s cloth ing in Grants Pass, we can save you money. New Outing Flannels Extra Quality at 10c We are showing a splendid lino of new outing flan- light, medium, dark and plain colors. nels in quality at 10c Unusual Wool Blankets This season we show all sizes in mottled, silver grey and white blankets at the lowest woolen mill prices. Cot ton blankets, all sizes, all prices. See our 50c. blankets. SHOES Our Specialties "QUEEN QUALITY" The famous shoo for women. UTZ and DUNN One of America's best makes for women and children. ISAAC FERRIS School shoes for children. The "CROSSET SHOE" Makes life walk easy. For Men Our lino of miner's and working men's shoeB aro the best that money can buy. New Fall Underwear For men, women and children in wool, wool fleeced, cotton fleeced and plain cotton ribbed. UNION SUITS For men, women and children. WE WILL OFFER SPECIAL BdRQlINS JEPTEHBER 28, 29, 30 YOURS FOR BUSINESS E. C. DIXON Shoes, Dry Goods and Furnishings. 3-Days Sale OF- Solid Gold Rings At Letcher's I have 300 olid Gold Rings set with Diamonds and other precious Stones and for 3 DAYS ONLY I will give 25 Per Cent Off the Regular Price Also a very large line of Ladies' Gold and Gold Filled Long Chains and the best I 1 9 makes of Vest Chains. Now is the time to buy Remember the 25 Per Cent off on Hings and Chains. I have the largest stock of Ladies' and Gents' Watches in Southern Oregon. in Nickel, Gold Filled and Solid Gold Cases, and my prices are riglit. You will also find a large assortment of Emblem Pins, Sleeve buttons, Neck Chains, Ladies' Brooches, Cuff Pins, Blouse Pins, Gent' Fobs in Woven Wire and Ribbon. The above goods will be sold as cheap as in Chicago, corn-id ;ring the quality. Remember the Place, Letcher's Jewelry Store COUNTRY MERCHANT VS. CATALOGUE HOUSE The Catalogue Houses Do Not Sell Cheaper Tho-n the Home Merchant. We hear a good deal these days about the Retail Catalogue houses being able to tell goods cheaper thau the couutry merchant, aud some of the ar gument presented sooud so plauttlble that one is half Inclined to take It as a matter of course without Investigation. We are told by the- advertiaiug liter ature of tbe retail catalogue houses that they buy, we will say (or example, shies direct from the nxuufactorer, cut out the jobber, sell direct to the oonsonier, save two profits, operate at less expense aud ghe the publio fifty per oeut more for its mouey thau it can get from the country retailer. This is an absolute, barefaced, uuuiodified lie, as investigation will prove. In the first place the retail catalogue house buys its shoes from exactly the same soutoe from which the retailer buys his from the manufacturer. The manufacturer uinkus a profit on the shoes he sells to the mail order house, aud he makes a profit on the shoes he sells to the retailer. How much does lie make on each? The science of shoe making has beeu brought down to such a Hue point that it is not possible for one manufacturer to score much of an advutsge over an other. It oosts them all mighty near the sainn to make tho sume bIicp. The shoe manufacturer is satisfied with a mighty close margin of pioflt, for it U tu a great volume of busiuexs only that the n.ouey is made. Any manu facturer of any magnitude is well sat isfied with a uet profit of 3'u per cent after all selling expenses are paid. He will demand this, however, from the mail order house the samu as he will from the retailer. The only thinir the lolail catHlnuiiH house can save, then, is the difference in the cost of selling them, ami the cost of selling to the retailer. In or- ler to give them a fair show we will aKHume that it costs the manufacturer nothing to sell to the retail .catalogue house. How much does U cost tu sell to the retailor? A good traveliug man is willing to sell good shoes for a gocd house in good territory at 2' per cent His road expenses will not add 1 per cent to this if ho is a good mau doing a good business. This make a total expense of less thau 4 per cent. To cover "poor" territory this ratio will be dif ferent averagiug uearly 6 per cent. Takitig it all through, though, the average will be about S per oeut. The retail catalogue house iu buying, thou, saves the selling expeuse of the manufacturer, which as can be veri fied by examination of the books ol any St. Louis uiauufaoturer, tarely ex ceeds fi per cent. To a man's slue that costs the manufacturer, ray, $3. 10 to put up he will add his selling expeuse of 5 per oeut, and his profit of 2, pr oeut, making it cost the retailer about Theietail catalogue house will save this selling expense of 6 per oeut, making it cost them about $2. IS. We are not Juggling with figures. We kuow this absolutely to be.the case. Now, about lie selling expense of the oatalogne house as compared with the selling expeuse of the oouutry retailer? Every oue who has uiado a study pf merchandise kuows that the couutry retailer does busiuens at less expeuse thau auy other retailer iu the world, j B. Nugent admits that wheu lie was a oouutry retailer he did business at a total expeusu of, inducting olerk hire, advertising, rent, light, taxes and in surance, of 6 per oeut, but that it now costs him uearer 2A per cunt to do bus iness in the city. His is an excep tional cane, for few couutiy merchants can do buxiucss at an expense so low. From the figure oompiled frcui wide ly scattered sections of the United States we place the average expense at 12 per oeut of gross sales, and we think this is marly right for the aver age country merchant. A shoe which costs $3.!M, the aver age couutry inrechant will soli for 1.00. Dcductiug his nelliug expeuse of 13 per ot-ut, or say 40o, plus the cost of the shoe $3.25 or a total of $3.5 from the selling price, we have a nut profit of 3(io, which is about what the average couutry merchant makes. What does it cost the retail catalogue house to dn business? The figure is not easily arrived at, but we have rouw figures on which to base our estimate. The bead of the advertising depart ment of Montgomery, Ward & Co. has admitted that it costs them $1000 per page to print the two million copies of their sixteen hundred page cata loguesay a million and a half dollars twioe ayear or $11,000,000 for catalogues alone. Supplement this with news paper and .magazine advertising, spe cial circulars aud booklets, postage, expressage (of catalogues), salaries, and the nsual expenses of rent, taxes. insurance, etc., and $.", 000, 000 would be a conservative estimate of the an nual expeuses of this oouoern. n How much business do they do? They are generally credited with a business of $25,000,000 a year, so it evidently costs them somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 per cent to do bus iness, aud we are reliably informed by a man who has speut years In the mall order business that 20 per cent is nearer the actual figure. If they sell this same shoe for $3.00, we must de duct flOo for selling expense and $2. 15 for cost, leaving a net profit of 2,"c, which li less than they make. The catalogue .bonne does Jiot sell goods oheapor thau the "oouutry merchant. It sells some things cheaper as baits." Ou the whole, it sells the ordinary run of drygoods (from 8 to 15 .per ceut higher thau the prices obtained by the rank aud file of the oouutry stores throughout the laud. Hardware, stoves, baoy buggies, ma chiuery aud implements they undoubt edly sell for lower prices thau the av erage country merchant Is able to tell them for. Just why or how this is doue, we are uot riglit now prepared to say. It may be due to jthe organi sations which exist among the manu facturer of these lines, which enables the catalogue house to obtain its sup plies at lower prices than the country merchants, but when expressage, freight aud the usual incidentals are all iuoluded the advautage is uot great, eeu in these lines, while In the gen eral run of drygoods the couutiy re tailer oau foe assured that he has them beat mile. The Drygoodsman and Uoueral Merchant. Calnuiet and Hocla, a copper mine ou Lake Superior, Mich., has paid in dividends $!)3,000,000 iu 30 years. DURING THE THREE ..Red Letter Days.. Wli WILL GIVE YOU J -jflr 1 One-Third Off on All Our Ladies and Misses Wraps and SKirts 'iiiiiirMauttayiii Sept. 28th, 29th and 30th GARMAN-HEMENWAY CO. W IB mm 1 1 I I If 4n I I