This point of view is natural, perhaps, but not jus tified. When vaudeville first began to assume im portance as a form of theatrical performance, the older branch of the business arrogated to itself the adjective "legitimate." This did not keep the public from patronizing vaudeville, or actors from appearing in it. The oldest occupants of any field of activity are always inclined to think that they are the "legiti mates," and that any newcomer is an unreasonable intruder, without economic justification and to be fought by their united strength. Any marketing ac tivity is legitimate if it serves the people in an honest way. Change is one of the characteristics of our civilization. Nothing stands still. New times de mand new things. If the mail-order house deals in service, if it satisfies a real want, it is just as legiti mate as the local retail store, and no attempt of the lat ter to hinder its development by legislative enactment or by coercion of manufacturers can be successful; local dealers must accept it as a legitimate competitor ; they must make it the object of real competition in stead of complaints.
11. Anomalous attitude of retailers.—One peculiar feature of the retail store owner's attitude toward the mail-order business should be noted. Some retail dealers' associations have unanimously adopted reso lutions against the mail-order house, maintaining that it was- threatening the whole economic structure of the country and breaking down the local retail market which is the basis of most American business. And yet many of the dealers joining in this denunciation eagerly accept the mail-order business that comes to them; they realize the possibilities of developing their trade beyond the boundaries of their immediate neigh borhoods, and actively go out after business in the sur rounding districts. Some dealers would try to make us believe that it is an economic wrong for a large organization to do a successful business wholly by mail, but that it is not wrong for the small dealer who sells also over the counter, to do as much mail-order business as he pleases. Printers' Ink quotes tbe fol lowing incident : An enterprising and thrifty retailer in St. Joseph, Mo., has gradually worked himself up into the mail-order businesS and now issues 30,000 catalogs at a time. Formerly regarded as an enterprising, ambitious retailer, no sooner does he ex tend his "sphere of influence" than he is classed as a mail order concern, and per se, "unfair." Some wholesalers who have been supplying him have been notified that henceforth they must choose between him and the other retailers of that region.
12. Justification of selling by mail.—Does mail order selling really serve the people? We must start with the fact that the average mail-order business is just as honestly conducted as the average retail store; that its advertising is as believable, and its goods as fairly priced; that it is, in short, a fair and square mer chandising business, making its original appeal on the basis of good goods at fair prices, and seeking to hold trade by a policy in which the customer's satisfaction is paramount. This is the way in which most mail
order businesses are conducted, as it is the way in Nvhich most local stores are conducted. Some mail order advertising may be misleading, but this is equal ly true of some of the advertising of retail stores. There are black sheep in every business family; but the entire family is not judged by its dishonest mem bers. Honesty and the desire to give the customer a little bit better than a square deal are the character istics of the modern successful merchandising estab lishment, whether it sells its goods over the counter or by mail.
13. Is vtail-order selling a service?—Whether the mail-order business really serves the people or not is tested by whether the people patronize it, not once, but many times. 1\To business can continue to make large sales on a basis of misrepresentation, exaggera tion and dissatisfied customers. The mail-order houses continue to make large sales, and they hold a surprising proportion of their customers. An officer of Charles William Stores, a New York mail-order house, in 1916 made this statement: There must be some good reason why ninety-three and one half per cent of the people who have bought goods from us in a given state have ordered on an average three and one half times in the course of a year ; there must be some good, sound reasons for the overmastering success of the mail-order business. There must be something fundamentally sound about a proposition that sells itself and keeps itself sold.
14. Mail-order houses create business.—It is some times argued that the mail-order house is only a new competitor for old business, that it creates no busi ness, no new service. Were this true, it would be no argument against mail-order selling, compared with other forms of competitive marketing. Competition is free and everyone who uses honest methods is at lib erty to get as much of the business as he can induce the public to give him.
But is it true that the mail-order house is not a con structive factor in merchandising? Many commodi ties are bought by mail that are not carried in local stores. Thousands of expenditures are made which increase the pleasure of living in country homes and which would not be made if the mail did not offer an easy way to learn of new things and to make suitable selections from large stocks. The spreading of in formation about new kinds of merchandise by mail order distributors has raised the standards of living; it has put new comforts into countless homes; it has created new wants and then has satisfied them; it has opened minds and hearts and purses, and has resulted in unnumbered purchases that would never have been made except for its influence.