The Middlebury galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1848-1850, 1848-06-13
REFORM IN TRADE.
BY HORACE GREELEY.

The year draws rapidly to close; its Com
; mercial transactions on large scale, are end
ed: Merchants are settling up their books, ia
| king account of stock. and just beginning +,
prepare or to plan for the coming season. ]
is just the time to rectify mistakes and to a
dept improvements, and we trust the follow
ing crude suggestions though by no mean.
novel, will be pondered by many.
We have too many Mercantile establish
ments-eyery body is aware of that That i:
to say, business of exchanging the products Of
industry could be well performed by less than
half the number now employed in it, thereby
securing cheaper exchanges to the producer
with more ample or reliable reward to the
exchanger.
| To illustrate this, we may roughly estimate
the average sales OF Dry Goods Jobbing
house in this city at 100000 per annum, at a
medium advance upon the cost of ten per
cent. Out of this must be paid rent, clerk
hire, Insurance, tho support of family, and
losses By bad De5ts-the latter item probably
averaging $4,000 per annum, or five per
cent, on the gross amount OF sales. Ofcourse.
we do not say there has been five per cent
lost on the collections Of this year; but we do
say, with perfect assurance of its accuracy,
that on all the goods sold on credit from our
city within the last ten, twenty, thirty or forty
wears, the loss cannot be less. The general
result is that bad Debts work the downfall of
two-thirds of all who embark in business, while
extravagant expenditures, tempted by the Gp-
parent rapidity and facility of money-making
Counting the advance in price on Goods sold
but not yet paid for as Profit, ruin a large
portion of the residue so that of every humid
red who embark in Trade with sanguine hopes
of achieving a competency If not a fortune,
nincty-nine come out bankrupt, and not more
than five ever find themselves able to retire
upon an independence.
The system cannot go on. tits already I'M
dermined and lettering to its fall. The next
Revulsion will very probably sweep away the
wreck of it. But if not, the naked fact that
under the system Of general credit for goods,
the country is always in debt and paying in
terest to the city, and the good, prompt pay
masters are laid under contribution to dcfray
the prices of goods consumed by the large
class who pay at the end ola law suit or not
at all, is gradually working a revolution. So
fast as those who pay promptly and certainly
come 10 understand the matter, they will back
out of so unequal partnership, leaving the
credit business to bad payers alone, and that
will soon wind it up.
Not many years can elapse before the large
commercial dealings Of the country will con-
centrate in the hands of one-tenth the present
number of Jobbers, in proportion to the a.
mount Of transactions, and the general features
of the business will be there.
Instead Of selling 100000 worth of goods
on credit at ten per cent, advance, Jobbing
House will sell S2,0OO,00O worth at l to 3 per
cent advance for goods unaffected by time OF
fashion, and to per cent, on fancy fabrics,
averaging per cent, advance or $4,000 on
the years business, out Of which rents, clerk
hire, &C. are to be deducted, leaving fair
living profit TO the trader. His expenses for
Ledgers, "Shaves," Bookkeeping, Dunning
Expeditions &c, will be comparatively much
less than now, as he is turning it once month
instead of once 4 year.
The means By trhich hi> great and Jencfcent
chanqe is 10 be effected are raTiOuS INT chief a.
mona them is ADVERTISING-not in tco or
three papers, nor even in all those of the ctg
where the business Is done, but in the most
widely circulated Journals of the whole region
whence custom is desired. Nothing has yet
been done in the way Of Advertising compar-
ed with what can and inevitably will be. No
merchant who knows how to advertise { for
money NAV be thrown away in this as in any
thing clsej ever need sell less than he chooses
always provided that his fabrics are dcsira-
bic, of good quality, and sold as cheaply as
others will afford them. There Is no assigna-
bic limit to the application Of this principle
Here is a merchant whose very existence Is
knowp to fifty thousand people at most, and
he sells Just enough to live by; suppose he
could make his business as well known to q
million persons, why should he not sell some
thing near fifty times as much as he now does:
And then, if he could introduce himself to the
whole 100000 composing our people, why
not have a corresponding increase of business.
Of course, we appreciate the limitations Of this
principlc-that it is idle and a waste for any
seller TO advertise his wares in section which
can more adYantageously produce such wares
for itself or obtain them from some other quar-
ter this should teach discrimination and cir
cumspection in Advertising; but the Annual
imports argue that the goods consumed by Ten
Millions of people are purchased IN this city
and no merchant has advertised thoroughly
until he has made himself known to those who
purchase here for the consumption OF these
Ten Millions. Every new cash customer Sc
cured, increases his ability tobuy in large
quantities and sell at lower rates so that ultI-
mately he might afford to sell cheaper than he
can buy at present. And the merchant VINO
has reasonable amount Of capital and his
business in good shape, can far better afford
to advertise to the amount Of $4,000 year
than any less sum. He cannot throw away
money in this way, as he can in buying new
stock or in selling on credit. There IS nc
friendship in trade y and the buyer Will trade
with stranger in preference to his own orotn-
er, if he can thus obtain supply one per
cent cheaper.
1t may be said tina. We are interested IN TINS
matter-and SO we are; though we generally
have more advertisementsthan we can publish
often great many more: Had we still
more. we should be compelled to enlarge our
print supplements at heavy expense, to give
place to them, though we should still welcome
and hope to profit by them. But We are con,
cerned to see business conducted on souno
and economical principles, so that consumers