FROM SMALL TOWNS HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOL LARS TAKEN ANNUALLY. THROUGH MAIL-ORDER SYSTEM Views of ■ Banker on the Situation During the Recent Monetary Stringency Well Worthy of Consideration. The president of a bank at Minne -apolis, during the recent financial stringency, called attention to one source of financial drain upon the country towns which should be taken into consideration, and a remedy ap plied. "In this remarkable situation," he said, "when everybody is prosperous and there Is not enough currency to go round, it is important that every dollar possible should be kept at home until the banking business is again on a cash basis. In the cities this is be ing done with a good deal of success, and the clearing-house certificates and cashier's checks prevent a Berious embarrassment. Hut out in the coun try, where there are no clearing houses, every dollar hoarded or sent away from home counts double. "At this time the patronage of the foreign catalogue houses is a factor that ought to be considered seriously. By their own reports two of these catalogue houses, which deal in almost every commodity of use to the home or farm, do a business of $90,000,000 a year. This is $300,000 for each of tho six business days of the week. Tills money comes largely out of the coun try towns. These catalogue houses do not sell to people in the cities where they are located. It is from the farm ers and residents of towns of less than 5,000 population that. 95 per cent, of their business comes and at least a third of it is from the northwest. And remember, too, that there are other catalogue houses, and that the com bined business done by them is at least $200,000,000 annually. "I am informed that all through the state of Minnesota this competition of the foreign catalogue houses has been very seriously felt by the merchants of small towns, to such an extent that some have been driven out of business entirely. "If this has been the case during the great prosperity of recent years, when money was circulated freely, what must the effect be now when the currency is needed at home? Money spent with the local merchant is dis bursed in the locality, at least the profits of his business are, but money sent away is lost from local circula tion. "Without going Into the home-trade question it seems plain to me that those who buy from a foreign cata logue house at this time are directly injuring themselves, for this question of keeping money in home circulation involves people of all conditions." Ideas for Market Days. That the "market day" idea is be coming decidedly popular in the coun try is indicated by the fact that the merchants of dozens of western towns have adopted the plan lately. Re ports from these places, which have toeen giving the "market day" plan a trial, indicate that It is giving satis faction to dealers and to their ■patrons. Like any other Innovation rthe success of the establishment of a market day depends almost entirely upon the interest which it evokes and the sustained energy that is em ployed in giving it a distinctive value to producers. The merchants will get •ant of the plan no more nor less than they put into it. If the arrangements made afford the assurance that pa trons will find improved facilities for ■the disposal of their products it is cer tain to prove a drawing feature. If it is employed simply as a plan foi* drawing a crowd of farmers to town to spend their money, it is equally certain that, the ultimate result will be unsatisfactory, if not seriously detrimental to future business rela tions. It is good policy not togo into a scheme of this kind until satisfied that conditions are right for its suc cess, and once undertaken, to push it. for all *t is worth. Make It worth while for customers to come from a •distance for the day, so that they will he ready to assist in the perpetuation of the plan. A great deal depends on "starting right," and, once having pop ularized the idea to keep up sustained enthusiasm by providing improved facilities for caring for the increased trade which it develops. Manners. Manners are not like clothes. It's a bad thing to have two suits of them -—one for best and one for everyday. Wear your best manners all the time. 'They suffer more by being put away than by constant use. If you keep your best manners for company they will fit you ill. and your visitor will suspect they were put on for him. Second best clothes may bo worn at home, but not second best manners. To whom Is it worth while to be courteous if not to the people you love best? —H«»ine • Chat. Immense Food Receptacles. At a recent municipal celebration in ,-wCovina, Cai., in which a barbecue was given to mark the advent of an elec tric railway, coffee was served from an urn holding 250 gallons, or 5,000 cups; beans were cooked in a pot holding 200 gallons. Heavy Imports of Foodstuffs. In 1908 the imports of wheat and wheat flour into the United Kingdom were 78 per cent, of the total supply. •In 1905 the Imports were 35 per cent, and in France three per cent. In the United Kingdom in 1906 the imported #U£plies of meat were 47 per ceat. LEARNED A LESSON. One Farmer Finds Out Something .Through Buying a Mail-Orde! Jtove. The Wayne (Neb.) Herald recites the story of a Wayne county farmer who was caught by one of the cata logue houses. He learned the lesson and paid dearly for it. Mr. Farmer had seen the stove picture in the cata logue and had sent on his good $29, adding $2.90 for freight. Then the stove came to the depot. The farmer came to town, loaded up the junk and drove up onto the business street. Then to some friends, he confided: "That stove cost me $29 and $2.90 freight, and I'll bet It ia half sheet iron. I have been waiting for It for over two months and my wife is near ly crazy about it. I could have done better by buying of the Wayne hard ware dealers. The catalogue fellows can goto hades in the future." This is a lesson that people of Ne braska and other states are being taught every day in the year and it is a pleasure to know that they are get ting their eye teeth cut in the most artistic and approved style. They are ordering from the catalogues and in return they are Retting a miserable lot of junk, paying much higher prices than they would have to pay for first class goods sold in the home stores. The catalogue houses live and grow fat off just such people as the man at Wayne. These men are constantly looking for the big end of the bargain. The catalogue houses are doing the same thing. It would look as though it would be "When Greek meets Greek," but its nothing of the kind. The catalogue concerns have all the advantage. They have gotten the money of the individual and then they send him out any kind of an old lot of junk, knowing that he has no recourse. These catalogue houses have been do ing this thing for years and find plenty of suckers, for you know there is something recorded about a sucker being born every second. Perhaps they do not get the same sucker a second time, but they catch some that came along in the new crop. HANDLING FARM PRODUCTS. Improved Methods Practiced in Many Agricultural Towns. Every farming community turns trade to the town where best prices are paid for the minor products which the farmers have to dispose of. Tho prices paid for butter and eggs, quite often, decide the business life of a town. The general practice in many places is for individual merchants to take produce in exchange for goods. The lowest market price is the rulo in these towns. Should one merchant pay a cent a pound more for butter, or a cent more a dozen for eggs, the farmers conclude that the difference is made up in the quality of goods or the quantity they receive in exchange. To overcome the annoyances occa sioned through unwholesome competi tion in the buying of farmers' prod ucts, the business men of many agri cultural towns, during the past few years, have undertaken the operation of co-operative produce establish ments. These establishments general ly consist of a commodious warehouse with cold storage appliances. The merchants of the town are the stock holders in the concern. A manager ia employed on salary and is Intrusted with the buying and marketing of all produce. The storekeepers refer all farmers who have produce for sale to the produce house and the highest market price is paid and due bills given which are payable in goods at the stores in the town. This method has proved highly sat isfactory everywhere it has been tried. Not alone have the merchants found it advantageous, but the farmers as well. Another feature worth consid eration is the fact that farmers are not compelled to trade at any particu lar store, but can make their pur chases In any store in the town. Then again much trade is saved to the com munity that might goto the mail-or der houses of the larger cities. During the Summer Months. The summer time is the time the re tail merchant must keep things mov ing at a lively pace in his store. Gen erally the warm weather season ia dull with retailers and the period from June to September is generally regard ed as a time when there is little doing. Here is where the retail merchant must not allow himself to take a wrong view of things. The fact that this stretch of three months has been generally regarded as a period of in activity is just the very reason why ho cannot afford to allow it to bo one. There can be no periods of inactivity for the merchant of to-day. He must keep a full head of steam tip all the time, and it is even more important that he should do this on the up grade, when he is working against the forces of gravitation than on the level, when the business rushes almost of its own momentum. The live merchant will make up his mind that there will bo no periods of inactivity in his store. He keeps things moving all the time; there is something doing every day and ho doesn't give people a chance to forget for a single day that he is selling the best merchandise at the lowest pos sible prices. It is these periods of inactivity on (he parts of retail merchants which have gleen the retail mail order houses their opportunity to make in roads on their trade. With the mail order houses there are no periods of inactivity, and during the summer months they will hustle harder than ever for trade, because they "need the money." The retail merchant must prepare to meet aggressive competi tion on the part of the catalogue mer chants and it is up to him to hustle ftiid see well to his local udveUicing, / CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE iS, 1908. Picked Up in -4Kb -^H^Pennsylvania ERIE.—The grealer portion of th»* Erie foundry was destroyed by fire, causing a loss of nearly $200,000. WEST NEWTON.—After eating his dinner in a small building in Marklc cemetery Jacob Gaffney, a sexton, fell dead. FRANKLIN. Leland Wareham, aged ti, son of John Wareh fell from a hay loft and broke hi- sck, dying instantly. HARRISBURG.—Dairy and Food Commissioner Foust ordered the pros ecution of 34 persons for sale of oleo In Allegheny county. BEAVER FALLS.—According to th« annual report of Secretary Sponcler it cost $74,000 to run the public schools of the borough last year. PITTSBURG.—Struck by a baseball thrown bv the shortstop to the second baseman, who missed it, Roy Bowser, aged 7, was almost instantly killed. POTTSTOWN.—Leroy Weining. 14 years old, attempted to swim across the Manatawny creek on a wager of 10 cents, but was drowned before half way over. UNIONTOWN.—Andy Mavosky was fined SSO by Justice Bierer for killing two robbins. The suit was brought by Fish and Game Warden Maurice P. Maitland. BUTLER.—That grand jurors shall not be compelled to ride three in a seat on the tour of inspection of coun ty buildings was held by Judge James M. Galbreath. CARLISLE.—Capt. A. J. Standing, widely known us an Indian educator and one of the founders of the Carlisle Indian school, died at his homo at Dickinson, aged B0 years. DUNKIRK.—AII the mines from Dunkirk to Acme in the Pigeon Creek valley have resumed in full, after pro tracted shut downs. Fifteen hundred men will receive employment. KITTANNING.—WhiIe the night clerk and porter at the Alexander hotel were dozing in a parlor the office safe was robbed of S."O, a gold watch and chain and valuable papers. HARRISBURG. —Reports from three meat inspectors who have been work ing in Philadelphia are said to indi cate unsanitary conditions in meat shops and slaughter houses there. ERIE. —Patrick Delacy of Scranton was elected commander of the Penn sylvania department. Grand Army of the Republic, defeating John L. Grim of Philadelphia by a vote of 21 to IBS. WILKESBARRE.—Adam Strach, a giant in size and strength, was shot and killed by his little and much abused wife at their home in Pringle Hill, near here, because he tried to beat her. BELLEVERNON. After a shut down of six months, during the greater part of which time repairs of some kind were in progress, the Na omi mine of the United Coal Co. has resumed operations. WASHINGTON. —A dynamite stor age building at Thomas Station, east of here, was fired by a spark from a Baltimore & Ohio locomotive. The building was burned. Exploding dyna mite did much damage. GREENSBURG.—As a result of a fight following a basketball game in Greensburg, January S, 1907, Freder ick Kelly of Latrobe secured damages of $275 from Jacob Welty, warden of the county jail, for striking him in the face. ALTOONA.—An unusual method of suicide was adopted by Miss Ray Mc- Quillan, aged 20, of Tyrone, after she learned her fiance had died in a Phila dalphia hospital. She smashed a hot lb' and then swallowed the fragments. She may recover. KITTANNING.—In the removal of the old Fox homestead in South Wa ter street the borough is losing a landmark. The building was erected 50 years ago and much of the lumber is in almost as good condition as when new. It will be used in the erection of a new house. ALTOONA.—An epidemic of measles in a most virulent form has made its appearance in this city, the mortality due to after-effects being about five per cent. The disease, which seems to be most common among children under 10 years of age, is a combina tion of measles, pneumonia and mumps. KITTANNING.—A broken shoulder, broken nose and fractured skull were sustained by James Conley of Ford City when he jumped off a rapidly moving trolley car. HARRISBURG.—According to a bulletin issued by tiie state depart ment of agriculture there were 1,190,- 296 people at the fairs and exhibitions held in Pennsylvania last year. This number is about 600,000 less than the number attending the fairs of the state in the previous year and is at tributed to the business depression. ROCHESTER.—WhiIe bathing in an ice-cold pond in a stone quarry, Frank Zupp Jook cramps anil drowned. WAYNESBURG.-A large wool and Brain house owned by Elmer Grinage at Woodruff was burned. The loss is ?.1Q,00l». The Are was incendiary. PITTSBURG.—CharIes S. Jenkins, pioneer railroad roan, one of the asso ciates of Robert Pitcairn and Andrew Carnegie in the days they rairoaded, died in this city. K ITT A N NIN G.—Burgess E. T. Hutchison of Wickboro cultivated 500 American Beauty roses for Children's day only to find that vandals had In vaded his lawn and stolen them. UNIONTOWN.—hying beside the West Penn street railway tracks near Brownsville the body of John E. An derson, aged 40, of Thompson No. 2, was found with a bullet hole in his skulL HARRISBURG.—The state depart ment of fisheries will place a large quantity of sunfish at the disposal of the state department of health to place in mosquito haunted streams this summer. MEADVILLE.—John H. Greif, .17 years old, proprietor of the Hotel Antler at Cambridge Springs, died suddenly from sunstroke while camp ing a few miles above his home with a party of friends. BUTLER.—Fires of mysterious orig in destroyed the residences of Charles Cranmer and James Y. Taylor in dif ferent sections of town. Both families were sitting on their porches and the fires started in the attics. SALTSBURG.—WhiIe plowing on his farm at Tunnelton, near here, seven years ago Albert Donahey lost a pocketbook containing $4.17. Charles NVissinger, a gardener, found the pocketbook and money recently. Donahey divided with Wissinger. STROUDSBURG. Wilson Busch was shot and probably fatally wound ed here by Dayton Osborne. Os borne and the wounded man were warm friends. Busch called at Os borne's home. Osborne claims he did not know who was trying to enter. GREENSBURG.—John Cornelius, 40 years, was probably fatally injured and his 6-vear-old son sustained a fractured leg when a Pennsylvania freight train at Larimer struck \ vehicle in which the two were driving, killing the horse and splintering the buggy. GREENVILLE.—Hundreds of men returned to work on the Bessemer & Uike Erie railroad when the ore hauling season was inaugurated. Every locomotive owned by the com pany was put into service an.l the forces in all departments greatly in creased. HARRISBURG.—An unusual order has just been issued from national guard headquarters giving notice that the commission of Second Lieut. Lewis A. McDermott, Company D, Ninth regiment, had been vacated be cause of his absence from his com mand without leave. BUTLER.—A. J. Smathers, 50 years, member of a grocery firm at Evans City and a j;.otice of the peace, was instantly killed and Mrs. Smathers was seriously injured at .Mars, when a southbound limited car on the Pitts burg & Butler trolley line struck a , buggy in which they were riding. NEW CASTLE.—A thousand homes were shaken, ">OO windows were shat tered and a fireworks plant and two dwelling houses were wrecked when two tons of powder and enough fire works for a half dozen celebrations let go, throwing people from their feet for three or four blocks and injuring a dozen persons, three seriously. PITTSBURG. The Tuberculosis league of Pittsburg, organized three weeks ago by the consolidation of the Pittsburg Sanatorium and the Pitts burg Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, has begun active work to give Pittsburg the most modern and one of the largest tuberculosis hospitals in the United States. WASHINGTON.—C. M. Carson of Washington and Fred M. Slater of Bethany found a huge blacksnake near West Alexander, hanging front a hole in a hollow tree. When Carson grasped the snake's tail to pull it out the reptile wrapped itself about his wrist and gradually pulled him from the ground. Slater severed the snake's body with a corn cutter to re lease his companion. GREENSBURG.—With their pro duct l'or the next two and one-half years already sold, the Stahl Glass Co., employing 350 men anil boys, which was destroyed by fire in Janu ary, has resumed operations and will run continuously during June. ZELIENOPLE.—CharIes Ilisner of Butler, a laborer employed in the con struction of the Pittsburg, Butler & New Castle trolley line, was caught 1 between the jointing machine and the j work train when they collided and [ Ms right leg was cut off. You Read tho Other Fellow's Ad; 3S ji 1 You are reading this one, n That should convince you I that advertising in these | columns is a profitable prop | osition; that It will bring | business to your store. P The fact that the other fellow advertises is prob ably the reason he is get ting more business than is falling to you. Would it not be well to give the other fellow a chance To Read Your Ad In These Columns Your Stationery Is yonr silent representative. If you sell fine goods that are up to-date In style and of superior quality It ought to be reflected in your printing. We produce the kind that you need and will not feel ashamed to have represent you. That is the only kind it pays to send out. Send your or ders to this office. *-» The Buyers' Guide The firms whose names are repre. sented in our advertising columns are worthy of the confidence of every person in the community who has money to spend. The f«t that they advertise stamps them as enterpris ing. progressive men of business, a credit to our town, and deserving of support. Our advertising columns comprise a Buyers' Guide to fair dealing, good goods, honest prices. v J G.SCHMIDT'S, 1 — POR FRESH BR£AO> || popular P;: ' Ncr rcU. (n Ls # ' V CONFECTIONERY Daily Dolivery, Allorders given prompt and skillful attention. Don't Use a Scarecrow tit Drive Away the . Hail Order Wolf You can drive him out order own weapon they didn't get the busi ness? Don't take it for granted that every one within a radiu3 of 25 mile* 1 knows what you have to sell, and what your prices are. Nine times out of ten your prices are lower, but the customer is influenced by the up-to-date adver tising of the mail order house. Every article you advertise should be described and priced. You must tell your story in an inter esting way, and when you want to reach the buyers of this com munity use the columns of this paper. A MOST TOUCHING APPEAI falls short of its desired effect If ad \ \ dressed to a small crowd of mtecested \ J listener*. Mr. Business Man, are 1 r-r"? y°u wasting your ammtrnftion on the 1 small crowd that would trade with \ you anyway, or do yon want to reach pV\ those who are not particularly intflr __ ested in your business? M yenr do, r -Ijp* —"" make your appeal for trade to the ® ® largest and most fntefllgeut —audience in your commun- Hy, the reader* of thi* 1 __ Y paper. They have counfc- I l ess W ants. Your ads will (y% v be read by them, and they will become your custoni- ers. Try it and S The Place to Buy Cbeap S ) J. F. PARSONS' ) jCTMsI IRHEUMATISMI ■LUMBAGO, SCIITICLL ■NEURALGIA and! ■KIDNEY TROUBLEI ■ "S DROPS" taken Internally, rids the blood H H of tbe poisonous matter and acids which ■ ■ are tbe direct causes of these diseases. ■ ■ Applied externally it affords almost In- ■ H slant relief from pain, while a permanent ■ H cure is being effected by purifying tbe ■ ■ blood. dlssolTlng tbe poisonous sab- |H H stance and removing It from tbe system. H DR. 9. D. BLAND , I Of Brcwton, Ga., writes* "I li»4 been a sufferer for a number of year* with Lumbago and Bhuumattsm la bi arrae j| and lege, and tried all tbe remediee that l oou Id H gather from medlnal works, and also consulted with a number of the beet phyelcJans. but found H nothing that gave tbe relief obtelned from H "6.DR0P8." I shall preecrlbe It In my praottoe H for rheumatism and kindred dlseasee." FREE! If you are suffering with Rheumatism. H Neuralgia. Kidney Trouble or any kin-■ dred disease, write to us for a trial bottl* ■ of DROPS. •' mad test It yourself. ■ "8-DROPS" oan be used any length of H time without acquiring a "drug habit." ■ as It Is entirely tree of opluis. oooalne, ■ alcohol, laudanum, and other similar M LargeSUe Bottle, "5-DROPS" D*ms) I 01.00. For Bale by Driigiete. BWAHSOI IHEUBWTIO SURE COMMIT, H HO. 160 Lake Street, Chloaco.^Bj 3
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers