The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1853-03-08
mislellanfons.
MaximS Of Trade.

number. was keen man at bagga!n-perhal's
too sharp for one whose affections Were set on
heavenly things. His biographer devotes several
paoes to an examination of the maxims by which
he justified himself, from which we extract the
fo]lowinp. We commend it to the attention of
our readers, particularly to those devoted to busl
ness.
"Thc buyer must not pretend to be judge of
the sellers business. He knows at what price
it will answer his purpose to sell; the buyer
knows at what price it will answer his purpose to
buy. Every man can take care OF his own III
tcrests" This seems fair; and when two men
meet on equal ground, it is fair. The manutac-
turer ought to be the best judge how many shil-
limos bale of cotton is worth to him. Tie cot
ton merchant ought to be the best Judge how
many shilIurs are worth his bale of cotton to
him. The buyer may take it for granted that
the seller will not take any sum but one which
Is, lust then, Of more value to hm than the so IDS
The seller may take it for granted that the Day-
er will not give any sum but one which Is, Just
then, of less value 10 him than the goods. lhe
argument, then, seems complete: Il may buy
as cheap as | can, and sell as dear as l can; for
every one with whom deal Is the best Judge OF
of his own interests Its not always that piece
of reasoning leads one to CONCLUSION SO com
Portable. But it is not to be wondered at, that
many an honorable man should be perfectly sat
iSf.d with reasoning which seems so far, when
the conclusion is SO inviting.
Admit two things; that the parties are equal
" solvent, that the parties are equally shrewd; ;
and then, as mere piece OF dry mechanism,
YOUR principle may stand tolerab!y upright. But
TWO nlan do not meet us two machines; they
are two brothers. Each one IS bound 10 look
not only ION his own things, but also on the
thiuos Of another" You cannot dlrest yourself
of this duty. God has ordained ii, aud while
God is love, the law is ullalterable. In your
neichbor YOU arc bound to see brother, whose
feeling, whosercpatstion, wh"sol'operty, "hpNe
family, are all as sacred as your own. Let no
man seek his own, but every man anothers
wealth." is precept weightier than all the edicts
of the exchange 1t is highly convenient to
eyade this preeept by assuring yourself that eve
~ man will look to his own Interests, and that
therefore YOU may just gripe all that others Will
let YOU cripe. But, in doing 50, You let yourself
down from the level of Christian to the level OF
q scramb!er. Even amongs men WHO meet on
equal terms, commerce, OH your principle, is not
srstem Of mutual services, but a system Of mu-
.ual supplanting. But among men VINO meet
upon unequal terms, that principle VIII bear you
out in cruel oppression. A cloth maker offers to
a cloth merchant parcel Of cloth. LIS man
ner or something else, tells the merchant that
he is under tie necessity OF finding money. lie
..ls fair rr;ca. According to the best Judg-
,nept Of the merchant ihat price would afford
afford
himself a fair proEt But he knows, or he guess
es, that money happens to be, at that moment
of exorbitant value to his nelghoor Oh 'hiS
conviction he refuses the fair price, and offers one
that would double his own profit, but would
leave the other without any profit, or WI loss.
The other hestates, reasons, cntreats, but at last
reluctantly yields. The merchant cSuIts in "a
good bargain A good bargain is that what
You call it9 Why, the thing you have done /,
re,ther more nor less than taking advantage of
YOUR neigbor's necessity to deprive him of the
lust reward Of his labor, and to put it in your
own pocket. "But am not bound to look after
another mans interests" Yes, you are. God
has bound you to it. He has bound all other
men to do the same to you. but, If my money
were not Of more value than his goods, why did
he accept it? did not force him" Yes, you
did: as far as in YOU lay. You saw you had
him in position where he must either submit
TO the loss YOU imposed upon him, or risk hea-
vier. You took advantage OF him ou be-
lered that the whole profits, fairly divided, would
leave him share and you share. You saw
chance of getting his share for yourself, and you
seized it. 1t was not fair 1t was not brothcrly.
It was not after the will of God. All the mer-
camille maxms in the world will not consecrate
it. You have deprived the laborer OF his hire.
You have denied your brother his equal rights.
Had YOU done your duty tw hearths would have
been the better. BY foregoing this opportunity
of excessive gain, your own heart would have
gathered fresh strength to do justly and to love
mercy by seeing your consideration, your neigh
boris heart woald have gained fresh esteem for
his fellow men, and fresh courage for his strug-
ole. But now, two hearts are worse. Yours is
Contracting around its ill-begotten profits; his is
soured and distrustful. "Hearts," you say, "what
have | to do with hearts! Hearts are neither
hounds. shillings, nor pence" Very true they
are not; and if all your arguments lie within
those three columns, | have no chance of con-
y;nc;pr YOU. But you will soon be in world
where there are neither pounds, shillings nor
pence.
As REGULAR matter of business it can never
be your duty to sell on terms which will not
weld YOU a "living profit" This would be to
prepare ruin for yourself and loss for others.
It is certainly incumbent upon you to use all
your tact and foresight to make each transaction
pay. True, case may arise wherein YOU would