Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1838-02-07

/ ~ appreciated, by any except those
who have suffered the consequent in.
Juries. But, If i, be but supposed that
any other business--no matter in what
department of industry, and though
now It be among the most prosperous
and proftable--were placed on the
like footing, as to the small amount of
each customers annual purchases, the
great number and small amount of the
debts so.made, and the general absence
OF any real accountability Of the debt.
ors, or Of means Of enforcing payments
Then it will be readily understood
and conceded, that the previous pros.
porous and safe condition OF the sappo.
sed business, would be speedily and
certainly changed to loss, embarrnss.
ment, and finally to bankruptcy.
| Owing to such causes, the hereto.
fore usual and average losses Of SUBJ
scription money sustained in conduct.
ing newspapers and other periodical
publications, have not been less than
one. fourth Of the whole amounts sub.
scribed and legally due. Many publ.
cations, with subscription lists promi.
sing fair profits, have lost much more
than a fourth. But this former and
usual rate Of loss has been greatly
augmented by the recently produced,
and still existing disordered state Of
the currency, and general deprecia.
ton of bank paper, and the pecuniary
endorsements Of the country in gen.
eral. Every trade, and indeed every
individual, has sustained enough Of
difficulty and loss from tins condition
OF the currency, to form some concep.
ton OF the enormous addition OF loss
that it must make to whatever was be.
fore imposed on printers and publish.
ers Of periodicals. The greater and
irregular depreciation, within this State,
OF the Bank paper Of most other States,
has opposed new and considerable
difficulty in making payments for sub.
scrlptions, even to the most punctual
and conscientious of remote debtors !;
and it has furnished plausible excuse
for delay and failure OF payments,
which has been fully awaited of by
many of different character.
The general credit system which
has been established in the printing
business, and the long extensions of
time for which debts for subscriptions
have been permitted to remain unset.
tied, and without the debtors being
even heard from, have served to give
Importance and great increase TO ano.
Their class of losses. Many poslmas.
tiers, alike dsregarding the acquisitions
of the law and the instructions under
which they act, their oath OF Office,
and the plaInest moral obligations,
suffer publications to be sent TO their
Irrespective Post Offices for times of
considerable length, and sometimes
evcn for years together, directed for
persons who have moved away, or
are dead, or who otherwise fail or re-
fuse TO take the numbers sent to them.
In many cases subscriber is thus
made, by the misconduct Of the Post.
master, to appear 20 be an uniaithful,
or fraudulent debtor, when, in fact,
he has been guilty of no fault, save
the carelessness Of trusting to Post.
master to discontinue his subscription,
who fails to do so--or afterwards to
give to the publisher the proper legal
notice, strictly enjoined in every case
Of a publication being addressed to a
person who refuses or fails to take it
from the Office. Without such notice,
and under the existing lax credit sys-
tenn, in oil such cases the journal is
continued TO be sent and it is only
perhaps, after one or two years, that
the publisher learns, by chance, or by
a tardy notification from the delinquent
Postmaster, or his successor in Office,
that he has been SO long defrauded If
his labor and property, and has no
means of redress worth restoring to.
Before the discovery is made, perhaps
the supposed (and unconscious) debtor
has been long resident of a distant
State or is dead-nnd even the Post
Office directed to, may have long been
discontinued, and the continuation of
the neglect or fraud be then carrying
on at some other place, and by another
person.
Many of the losses incurred, belong
to and are inseparable from the bust
ness ofpublishing journals on subscrip-
ton. But there are many others which
may be mitgated, if not entirely guar
ded against. Among the causes ofIoss
the mos, important and injurious is the
very blameable and absurd facility
with which publishers have permitted
debts for subscriptions to be contract.
ed by remote andunknown individuals,
and TO remain for years before payment
is made-if ever made. So universal
| in this trade has become this loose sys-
tenn of giving and continuing credits,