"We cannot adopt a tax policy that assists in wiping out small-town merchants," he said.

Without the legions of Rome to give him power, he would have made his money writing wills for small-town merchants and spent it in a brothel.

Another issue is the potential loss of business by small-town merchants.

Wal-Mart's "Buy America" campaign was a great success and helped to reduce resentment against the giant discounter for putting small-town merchants out of business.

It also changed "business and shopping patterns at the expense of the small-town merchant".

The automobile changed "business and shopping patterns at the expense of the small-town merchant."

Sam Walton preaches "think small" and writes, "Above all, we are small-town merchants."

As an old-time small-town merchant, I can tell you that nobody has more love for the heyday of the smalltown retailing era than I do.

What's happened to the small-town merchant isn't any different from what happened when supermarkets first appeared in the fifties.

General Boomer, for instance, has taken on some sacred cows, criticizing military commissaries for taking business away from small-town merchants in the United States.