SEE WHAT YOU BUY DO NOT TAKE THE CATALOGUE STATEMENT FOR IT. CASE OF A MAIL-ORDER DUGGY The Purchaser Was Ashamed to Use it and Sold It to His Hired Man—lt Pays to Buy at Home. (Copyright, by Alfred C. Clark.) The East End of lxjndon is an ex ample of what the city does for hu manity in creating poverty, misery, disease, drunkenness and crime. Jef ferson was right when he said: "Great • cities are great sores upon the body politic." Is it any wonder that lovers of their kind are horror-stricken at the grinding of these gigantic mills whose grist is the bodies and souls of ■men? But there is another movement, con nected with this current setting city ward which, like it, is full of grave menace to the welfare of humanity. This is the dry rot now invading thou sands of villages and towns. It is not lack of capital or business energy in the towns, or discrimination in freights or exhaustion of the soil in the surrounding country that Is bring ing about this change, but a new and •dangerous form of competition, and the caprices of those who buy. Go into these towns and you will find them at a standstill or going back ward. Inquire of their business men ■or commercial travelers and you will learn that business is not as good as •formerly and that the prospect is for a continued shrinkage in trade. An observant commercial traveler said to the writer: "1 believe the day of the village and town is over. The big fish are everywhere eating up the lit *le fish. A few small lines of business vchat cannot be done by mail, such as The mail-order habit will cut tha limb of local prosperity from the tree of national life and drop you and your community into the bottomless pit of business si gnation. Are you wielding the saw that means certain dis aster to you and your community? barbering, blacksmithing or the serv ing of soft drinks and ice cream may ■survive, but such lines of trade can not sustain a decent town." The • cause of this widespread loss of busi ness is ..he aggressive and destructive competition of the catalogue houses in the big cities. It has been possible for 40 years or more to buy of some houses in the cities, if one felt that the merchants of his town were ex acting too much profit, but this effort of the mail order houses to cut the retailer altogether is a new thing, the growth of the past few years. Start ing with a few lines of trade, this •form of competition has come to cover almost everything that can be sold in a country town and it is even asserted that a savings bank department is to be added by one of the catalogue houses. The claim that the mail order houses of Chicago are doing an an nual business of over $200,000,000 may seem large, but one house alone has sold goods to the amount of? 29,000,- 000 in the past six months and is now incubating a new plan to increase its • enormous business by selling shares of stock to thousands of people in the hope of making them regular cus 'tomers. The skillfully worded advertisement and the big catalogue, with its pic tures of articles in a hundred lines of trade, are very alluring to buyers, most of whom are not familiar with prices and qualities. Some of the articles below the usual prices are of an inferior quality, while the average price is usually fully up to what would be paid to the home dealer. As was shown last winter in a speech in con gress, articles for the mail order trade are often misbranded at the request of the mail order people with delib erate intent, to deceive. One of the instances given by this congressman was of some thousands of linger rings .'•stamped "fourteen carats" when they were in reality only ten. The buyer who orders from his •catalogue, or from an advertisement, does not see the articles til! they come and is of ten disappointed in the quality of the most, of them, but there 'is no redress as there would be if he bought at home. He does not like to own that he is disappointed, so he I makes the best of it and tries to per suade himself that he has saved monsy. In many instances he is not : cwell enough informed in values to! know that ho could have bought as cheaply and selected much more sat isfactorily at home. On a rural route with which I am familiar and over which most of the incoming letters are from mail order houses and the outgoing ones carry back money or ders, lives a friend <n mine who bought a watch from the catalogue at what he considered a rare bargain. The walch came, to be sure, but it did not go, that is at the right speed, and, although money enough was spent on it to bring the price up to a good figure, it was no better as a timekeeper than that famous watch of Capt. Cuttle's. Another friend bought a buggy at s.'!•! and was elated over his purchase until it came and he saw that the was a very ordin ary article of oil cloth, instead of leather, and he was so ashamed of it that he sold it at a loss to his hired man and bought a better one in a neighboring town. A lady and her two daughters bought shoes from the catalogue and when asked why they had trouble with their feet said it was because of ill-flttlng shoes. But such instances of the bad efTects of buy ing "sight unseen" are daily occurring all over the country. It is only natur al and inevitable that such things should happen. Let. us see what will be the effect of this formidable diversion of trade, if carried to its logical conclusion. Nearly all the business houses of the smaller towns will become bankrupt, the value of town property will de cline, churches and schools will re ceive a feeble support and the towns, instead of being centers of business and social activity, will almost cease to exist. The country in general will become like many portions of the south where the large plantations, by getting their supplies in the cities, have kept the neighboring towns down to the cross-roads type—dreary, unpainted little places of a half dozen ramshackle houses. The evil effects of this loss of trade and destruction of the value of town property will re- | act upon the value of farm property | by cutting off the home market. They j will add to the taxes on lands by re ducing taxable values in the towns. Surely it is not to the interest of any body, except the bloated corporations | carrying on the mall order business, to see the towns and villages fall into decay. A live town is not only of value to the lands surrounding it, but its well stocked business houses are a convenience and a benefit to the buyer. Even if money could, in the long run, be saved by ordering every thing from the city, the inconvenience and uncertainty of it would always make such shopping unsatisfactory. Ordering from a catalogue is a leap in the dark, except in the case of a few articles whose color, shape and quality are always the same. To the man who can soberly look on both sides of the question aud who can put, himself in the place of"the other fellow" the query will come: Is it best from mere whim, or even for a certainty of saving from one to half a dozen dollars in a year to turn my back on the old, convenient ways of doing business, and to do my part toward ruining the business of my old acquaintances and friends, and of destroying the value of property in the town where my friends live? P. B. MILLER. Didn't Suit Him. People who patronize the cars run ning out to Forest Hills are familiar with Conductor Crowley, the man who wears six service stripes on hi 3 sleeve, says a writer in the Boston Herald. On the afternoon of election day in November one of his passengers was an old man who had been imbibing enough to make him goto sleep in the ce.nor of the car. Just before it reached Dudley street the conductor announced with his usual rich roll of the r, "Cir-r-cuit and Guild." "Yer a liar! It's John B. Moran!" shouted the sleepy one, waking up suddenly. New Metric Chart. A new metric chart representing geographically measures of the inter national metric system of weights ana measures lins been prepared by tti«j bureau of standards of the department of commerce and labor, and will be furnished free to any school te<ic&n£ the system. CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 1907. Fund Raised to Prosecute Frisco's Grafters. FEW Will ESCAPE. Every Branch of City Government to be Probed —Attempt to Rescue Ruef Would be fatal to him. Sau Francisco, Cal. —Rudilph Spree kola, financial sponsor of tlio Investigation of municipal corruption now In progress, told the press Friday that he would guarantee the expenses of the inquisition to any amount. "Contributions from citizens to the fund of SIOO,OOO guaranteed l>y me before the commencement of the bri bery graft investigation are coming in steadily," said Spreckels. "They are in amounts ranging from S2O to $.1,000. "In the event that the tola! sub scriptions fall short, of the SIOO,OOO guarantee I v.-i 11 mako the deficit good, and if it costs more than SIOO,OOO to complete this prosecution that will make no difference. Those engaged in its furtherance will never be ham pered by lack of funds, no matter what the bill may be. "The work of investigating will not be suspended until every bit of rot tenness has been fully exposed. We fully expect to land behind the bars of the penitentiary every River of bribes, and the "higher up' the of fender, the more vigorous will be his pursuit. "We do not, hoyvever, expect to send every bribe taker to prison. Some of the men who sold themselves to the corporations should be granted immunity for their testimony, which is worth a great deal more to us as to the guilt of high corporation officials than their own incarceration would be. "Every department of the city gov ernment will be thoroughly examined into before the investigation Is com pleted, the police department along with the rest. No one will be neglect ed; no set of officials will be over looked." Since the arrest of Abraham Iluef a month ago rumors have been rife that an attempt would be made to rescue him by force from Elisor Biggy, either during a session of court or while Ruef was going to court. An officer prominent in the bribery investigation said Friday: "Every man openly Identified with the prose cution of the bribery charges is armed and some of the more promi nent are employing bodyguards." TOWN SWEPT BY EIRE. Ten Stores and 22 Dwellings De stroyed at Newberry, S. C.— Loss $500,000. Laurens, S. C. Driven by a stiff wind, fire on Friday swept both the business and residential sec tions of Newberry, a town of 8,000 population "JO miles southeast of here, and caused a loss that may reach $200,000. Twenty-two dwellings, two churches and ten stores in the heart of the town are In ruins. The conflagration started in the rear of the Newberry hotel. A gale was blowing and the flames spread with great rapidity. Appeals for as sistance were telegraphed to Colum bia and to this city, but engines could not be sent into Newberry on account of the destruction of the railroad tracks. The Newberry fire depart ment exerted every effort to check the flames, but the fire was beyond control. Two hours after the fire broke out the entire city water sup ply was exhausted and the town was left, practically at the mercy of the flames. BUSINESS BULLETIN. Easter Retail Trade Surpasses Expec tations—lron and Steel Industry in Fine Shaae. New York. —R. G. Dun & Co.'s Weekly Review of Trade says: Easter retail trade surpasses expec tations, favorable weather bringing out a very large volume of business during the last week, while activity was not confined to specialties, but extended to all seasonable lines of staple merchandise. Wholesale and jobbing houses received many supple mentary orders, especially for dry goods and millinery, and further im provement in collections was re ported. Announcement by some railways that retrenchment must curtail plans for extensions has had no perceptible influence on the Iron and steel indus try, owing to the scarcity of stocks in all positions. Prices were held within reason dur ing the season of greatest pressure when big premiums might have been charged, and the conservatism of the loading interests is now bearing fruit. Four Boys Killed. • Buffalo, N. Y. Four boys were run down and killed by a light, engine on the Pennsylvania railroad tracks at Indian Church road, noar the eastern city line last, night. They wero returning from a hunting trip. Passed a State Primary Bill. Lincoln, Neb. The senate on Friday passed a state-wide di rect primary bill with ani£ndin~uts which the house concurred in. The bill does away with state, county and city nominating conventions. A CRISISM HAND. FORTY-FIVE THOUSAND TRAIN MEN ON "WESTERN ROADS READY TO STRIKE. DETERMINED TO ENFORCE DE MAND FOR MORE WAGES AND SHORTER WORKDAY. Chicago, 111. The 45,000 train men of the western railroaus seemed nearer a strike last night than at any time since the negotia tions were begun two months ago for an increase of 12 per cent, in wages and a workday of 9 hoars. The con ference Wednesday between the rep resentatives of the men and the rail road officials lasted for hours, but was a failure in bringing about a solution of the trouble. The railroads offered the men increases of 7 per cent, to passnger conductors and 10 per cent, to brakemen, firemen, baggagemen and allied workers. When the railroad officers declared their offer was the best that could be made the confer ence came to an end, as the men by a referendum vote had decided not to accept anything less than their origi nal demands. Immediately after the joint con ference broke up the representatives of the trainmen met to consider the advisability of calling a strike in or der to bring the railroads to terms. •Just what decision was reached is not known, as the union men declined to discuss what had taken place at the meeting. They were a unit, however, in de claring that a peaceable settlement of the controversy could be reached only by the general managers offering con cessions. Another meeting of the union men has been scheduled for to day and the outlook Is that a strike will be called within the next 48 hours unless the railroads request an other conference. P. H. Morrissey, chief of the Train men's organization, said: "We have been instructed by the men we repre sent to call a strike, unless the offer of the roads was satisfactory to us. The vote by which this attitude was reached carried the strike proposition by a tremendous majority. We are not satisfied and the men are not sat isfied. We are not going to ask for any more conferences with the gen eral managers. It is up to them to prevent the men quitting work and the only way they can do this is to accede to our demands." A. R Garretson, chief of the con ductors, also declared that no further conferences would be held with the general managers. EX-JUSTICE O'BRIEN RESIGNS. He Refuses to Serve on the Thaw Lunacy Commission—His Succes sor Is Appointed. New York. After the jury "which has been trying Harry K. Thaw was excused Wednesday until next Monday, and the members of the lunacy commission named Tuesday by Justice Fitzgerald to Inquire into Thaw's present state of mind had been sworn in, there came the sudden announcement late in the afternoon that ex-Supreme Court Justice Mor gan J. O'Brien, the chairman of the commission, had resigned. In a let ter to Justice Fiugerald, Judge O'Rrien stated that upon reflection he was forced, because of the condition of his health and professional engage ments previously entered into, to de cline to serve as a member of the commission. Justice Fitzgerald immediately ap pointed David McClure, a well known attorney of this city and a member of ex-Police Commissioner McAdoo's ad visory committee of citizens, to fill the vacancy. Mr. McClure met the other members of the commission in the af ternoon and was selected as chair man. Later he announced that the first session of the commission will be held this afternoon at 2 o'clock in the court room where the trial has been in progress. The commission's in quiry in general will be an open one. ONE ' LLED; TEN INJURED. Explosion in a Fireworks Factory was Very Disastrous. New York. A spark caused by a blow from a hammer Ignited a quantity of set pieces in the finishing room of the Consolidated Fireworks Co. at Graniteville, S. 1., Wednesday and in the explosion that followed one man was torn to pieces, a boy and two girls were probably fa tally injured and seven other persons were burned. Henry Paul, a boy, was nailing the wooden bottom on a "geyser" piece when a spark from his hammer start ed a fire that almost instantly filled the room with shooting stars and blaz ing magnesia balls. There was a rush for the door and six of the em ployes had reached tne outside when a terrific explosion rent the building and enveloped it in flames. Arnold Huff, aged 30 years, was killed Instantly. His head was torn from the body. Paul burned from head to foot, as were Helen Decker, aged 17 years, and Margaret Koski, 19 years old. These three, it Is thought, cannot recover. Hazel Decker, twin sister of Helen, was the ntost serious ly burned of the others. Died from a Broken HVart. Pittsburg, Pa. —John Hrislin, 73 years old. blind and well known inventor, died here Wednesday from a broken heart alleged to have been brought on by reverses sustained by litigation brought by him to control his patents. Offers Rewards Aggregating $5,500. Phll:idelnhia, Pa.—The Pennsyl vania Railroad Co. has offered re wards aggregating $. w >,iiUo for the ar rest. and conviction of the person or persons involved in tli«s wrecking o* Its trains near PittsburK. j Balcom A Lloyd. | tji WE have the best stocked U y general store in the couoty 8 P and if you are looking for re- jjp || liable goods at reasonable Hj I? prices, we are ready to serve * fJ: you with the best to be found. =| pj Our reputation for trust « worthy goods and fair dealing Hj ' Is too well known to sell any .? but high grade goods. | 8 I Bg Our stock of Queensware and Ohinaware is selected with B great care and we have soma p of the most handsome dishes 0 g ever shown in this seotion, H both in imported and domestic 8 If makes. We invite you to visit j| | us and look our goods over. !| | 1 I 1 l | Balcom & Lloyd. I ' " « ' i=Baeeggae=. ii nm .m jj| LOOK ELSEWHERE BUT DON'T FORGET 14 THESE PRICES AND FACTS AT I || LaBAR S I 11 MH- H H N || We carry in stock * „ fc| |g the largest line of Car- _ • t i pets, Linoleums and fi/ IVSBUBfTjTnTfiTfnB * ti £3 Mattings of all kinds . ?I ?3 ever brought to this io^2ll^o■ 0 s^ 4big,iM mm SS A very large line ot FOR THE H r? Lace Curtains that cau- ™ M I* x r e to\hf P Hce aay COMRMUABLE LODGING li Art Squares and of fine books in a choice library M P? Rugs of all sizes and select the Ideal pattern of Globe- M M kind, from the cheap- Wernicke "Elastic" Bookcase. r* est to the best. Furnished with bevel French ||| M . . plate or leaded glass doors. I N Dining Chairs, | »°» d* I gg M S oc l a f ld GEO. J. LaBAR, ** tk* Jtiigli Lliairs. Sole Agent for Cameron County. I ||3 A large and elegant L—' J line of Tufted and N Drop-head Couches. Beauties and at bargain prices. * M li N|3o Bedroom Suits, OC £4O Sndeboard, quar- COH Z* / solid oak at 3)/0 tered tak 4>dU ** C? |2B Bedroom Suits, 01 |32 Sideboard, quar- CIC ** solid oak at 3)ZI tered oak |25 Bed room Suits, COfl |22 Sideboard, quar- CIC W solid oak at 4)<IU tered oak, * lO *1 M A large line of Dressers from ] Chiffoniers of all kinds and 14 $8 up. all prices. fc# ** M || The finest line of Sewing Machines 011 the xnarket, ft 4 hj the "DOMESTIC" and "F.LDRIECE.' All drop- |!S k - heads and warranted. A fine line of Dishes, common grade and China, in? 2 £2 6ets an d by the piece. Pi As I keep a full line of everything that goes to N make np a good Furniture store, it is useless to enum- M erate them all. M H Please call and see for yourself that lam telling fcg y you the truth, and if you don't buy, there is no harm done, as jt is no trouble to show goods. rjj » GEO. J .LaBAR. » k *as m, m- ** m a*.SL 3k »■& 4 i **s **. mm, J 3
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers