The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1857-01-02
SENSIBLE REM

Commerce. Our tonVrnuhns Wteh u'aVu"'
lis necessities, and adjourn. Propositions
for the removal of difficulties nre without
number. But no plaThasyrt met with gen
eral approval. With some direct Taxation by
the g'ueraI government is sure remedy
with others il is to be iouud in dis'rlm.
inaiion IN State taxes between direct aud in-
direct Imports; and again, "" are told 10y The
Mobile Register, "that tie difficulty lays more
in the cOasiing or round nbout trade of the
Souh than any political interirrencs IN the
course d general commerce." There IL
much to b.. said in favor of all thrse propo-
siiionS At present We do not proPose TO
discuss the merits Of any of them. But we
desire Ia call the attention of our merchants
lo the following remarks from the Register;
"'rhe success OF Southern trade must de
pend upon the Intelligence OF Southern mrr'
chants. The game is in their own h .nds,
and il will be won or lost, according tn the
moves they make upon the board of the
world. II is n pre- requisite thai they should
BE- accurately informed Of the resources,
nraiIs, powers, drawbacks Of their commerce.
Demand aid supply is The problem they
mnst solve. Consumption of foreign pro.
ducts must BE- equivalaled by foreign i'm
pOris nj the sm HEST cosi and domestic pro-
duets exported II the highest advmtages.-
I he ruercha is the in!ermedia:or between
the product and consuupii"n of c"n,muni
". 1t is his BUSINESS to exchange the for
,,I n ha laff.
e"n,. quentlv he must know the relations
tnat THESE terms bear to each other. He
must know, aud should know, accurately,
" hat commodities are wanted and how that
want cm, be supplied in the chrnprsL spec
dirst and most c"nirnodi"us way. Ills
knowl,dar ought to be Tree from coujec.
ture-posilive and not suploSitiOus, or the
enterprise founded upon it will also be un
certain. Negotiation, upon doubtful data,
would tail in all probability, either from ex.
cess of supply or n deficiency Of stock. In
either cass the community would suffer. ln
the former, the merchant would iail for the
want If market; aud in the latter the com.
nuniiy would be imnodetatey taxed from
the scarcity at conm"dliy.
ali is obvnus the merchant must provide
for these neces,iti,s 8. To do il wisrly is to
d. il well. 1t is his highest business to
adopt system that would minister in the
Just middle ui the extremes and the more
nearly he could approach exacti,ude of line
b,twe,n supply aud demand, the more excel
lent would be the policy and more flourish
ing thu tru,le. Ign"rance IN statistics is fa.
tai to regu ar counmcrcr, aud no man with
ordinar, prudence would invest his capital
~ goods Tor sale in n community of whose
wants he was unarQnaintrd. Should he do
so, h., would become an inordlhate ndvrn'
tnr, Z; and willIpul Information "i tie man.
n-rs and customs, avucatiOns nnd interests 81
its people, the chances wound i,e largely
against his succrss Ii would depend upon
hazard az luck. aud consequently be danger
Gus aud improbable.
"But to give our thoughts n practical cast,
let us nsk our merchants, without invid"us
nrss, What they have done tor this prere.
qu,itc know edge IL our remarks have any
sIgnitcancy, they will apply ny well to oIi''
southern community M mother. We wish
them TO be CONSIDER, d general.
"Cau any uf our m"lchanis tell us what is
the consumption of the interior territory
tributary t" { city at Mobile! tan they in
fern Us of The quantity, quality and cost of
thr commndties used in Clarke, Wilcox or
Dallas cn,hties. viii they answer this
question 10 themselves? d" they know who
supplies them-how The supply is afforded,
and the prstil %. oss of the trade in supply
ing them? These questions are important to
the commerce Of Mobile. The wants of the
interior is the basis of her trade. We fear
that they cannot be answered according to