Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1851-10-30
Sc L ECT TALE.
p" Anything over To-day"
.1fltNGt4 n--T To G~-fgr
BY T. S. ARTHUR.

little versed in the ways of the world. Being
without capital, and having salary as clerk
in a mercantile house, only sufficient for the
support Of himself and those dependent on him,
no thought OF going into business entered his
mind. A clerk he was and a clerk he expec-
ted to remain. One after another of his fellow
quill-drivers had broken through their cere-
ments, and arisen into the station and dignity
of merchants, but he was still at the desk, and
anticipated no such change for himself One
day, young man named Tompkins, who had
started ont in life, two or three years before,
- Jenkins my old friend, why don't you go
into business, You are wasting the best years
of your existence .
Jenkins shrugged his shoulders, and half
sighed the word. .,
Capital
= You don't need any capital replied Tomp-
kins.
Jenkins elevated his eyebrows with look
Of wonder.
Z Credit is capital, said Tompkins
Oh But where is the credit 10 come
from!
There are plenty of men who will sell you
goods. I've never found any difficulty.
started with hundred dollars, and am now
doing business to the amount OF fifty thousand
dollars year.
So much .
Yes, every dollar OF it; and if my good luck
goes on, II do seventy thousand dollars worth
next year.
- And your only capital was your credit =
: l hadn't dollar in hard cash..
~. Possible 4
a.' It's truth
You bought on four and six mon,hs,'
Yes
t' But stock of goods can't be turned in six
months. That's admitted on all hands
A good deal can be turned, if a man pushes
his business
Suppose sixteen thousand out of twenty
are iurned-and that's liberal calculation
how are the four thousand dollars to be made
upr
You must borrow
Borrow q
sYes'
It's easy enough to say borrow, but who's
to lendp
Everybody lends. You are short to-day,
and your neighbor is over-he lends you. To-
morrow he's short, and yon are over, and you
lend him. Hundreds of thousands of dollars
circulate in this way
But suppose my neighbor isn't over when |
happen TO be shortr
Go to another neighbor. Somebody will
be over I've never found any difficulty.
'All that is too temporary, and little too
risky for me. The borrowed amount must 90
on increasing until the sum becomes unman-
ageable.
By that time,' replied Tompkins, your
credit will be so well established that you can
get an accommodation in bank. Money in
business, you know, is always worth lis inter-
est'
Yes, am aware of that
Borrowed capital is therefore, just as good
as if it were your own, for all business pur-
poses.'
jenkins assented to this, although he didn I
exactly feel that it was true
Can this be readily done!' he inquired
Certainly, was the confident answer. can
do it, '
I'm afraid couldn't said Jenkins.
Why not =
Oh, don't know but that's nv impress
sion.' n
Nonsense, you can do it as well as any one
else. You're too timid. Nothing venture,
nothing gain. Here you are wearing out yonr
life on a salary of Thousand dollars, when
you might as well be making two or three
thousand. Use your abilities for your own
benefit, not for the good of others, to be turn
ed out to die, like an old horse, when you get
DID,
A few interviews like this with Tompkins,
who manifested a warm interest for his old
friend, finally overcame all objections in the
mind of Jenkins and he became possessed Of
go-in,o-business-and-get -get-rich spirits. Credit
was capital. That was an admitted axiom
And, with capital, any fool could make money.
That was its twin brother. Jenkins found less
difficulty in obtaining goods on six months
credit than he had anticipated. He had quiz
ct, thoughtful air about him; and his old en-
pleyers gave him credit for being man of the
most honest purposes, and good knowledge
of business. ar4
During the first six months, Jenkins was
able to discount many of his own notes. This
made his credit A No. with good many Of
the wholesale men from whom he bought, and
they congratulated him that be was getting or
SO well but, at the expiration of SIX months
when about six or seven thousand dollars tel
due in the course of couple of weeks, Jenkin:
found his vessel passing from smooth sea in
to troubled waters.
Anything over to-day!' had been sounded
in his ears half dozen times daily for the last
three or four months. And he had made tenn
porary loans of small sums again and again Il
his neighbors. Tompkins had been liberal
borrower. He was on the street daily. Ii was
now jenkins turn to ask reciprocation Of
favors, which had thus far been all on one
side.
For the first notes which fell due, to the
.lo,-,nJ fvo bno1roI Joll.-~