The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1858-04-21
MISCELLA AN E0US.
From the Prairie Farmer.
Why Merchants are Liable to fail in
Business.

From the Prairie Farmer
Why Merchants are Liable to fail in
Business.
Few things are SO prccarious rs COM
mer.ial credit. Men who have borne
up under repeated losses of thousands
of dollars. have. in the end, gone down
before So informidable a thing as a
doubt. First surmise, then a suspi-
cicn. next pressure. at last a protest
followed by failure-such is the brief
history of the downfall Of many deal
er in foreign fabrics. whose dau yhters
went forth arrayed in purple and fine
linen. and whose houses were furnished
like unto the parlor Of king.
There is sad lack of manly honor
and integrity among commercial men.
They set up for themselves strange
standard of morali,y-a combination
of punctuali;y which must pay debt
the very hour in which it becomes due.
and license which sanctions any bust
ness that brings gain, whether by fiat
terins the vanity Of women. by crafty
ing the appetities men. Or BY rasping
gold from The dry bones of poverty
Almost all merchants and bankers who
fail know beforehand that their business
is very uns .fe. Most Of them toresee
that failure is inevit BILE but. instead
Of bowiny al once, they continue to Dor
row money. try to make a show of
wealth by increasing their business.
stake the money of Others on uespe-
rate cast. where success would simply
postpone the ruin. miserably fail. and
in their fall drag down hundreds of hon
est men who placed implicit confidence
in their honor and business capacity
10 this method Of transacting business
there are noble exceptions; bat they
are distinguished for their singular.
ity.
We never believed that there was,
necessarily, more hazard in the mercan-
tile or the banking business than in far
ming. Farmers rarely become bank
rupt, simply because they keep their
expenditures below their incomes, and
do not try suddenly to get rich by boz
rowing money and engaging in hazard
Gus speculations. Suppose a man
should attempt to borrow a hundred
thousand dollars. in order to bet at a
horse.race, or at faro bank: would
any prudent man furnish him with the
means? Would any upright man give
him money for such apurPose Gam.
blers can borrow money only from gam
blers or from fools. AMI if borrowing
money to speculate in sugars, for ex-
ample, be not gambling. by what name
shall We call it? The principle is just
the same. whether we stake money on
the swiftness Of horse. the turning of
a card. or the failure of crop. Sup
pose man should borrow money for
che ostensble purpose Of buying vast
quantity of sugar. and awaiting an ex-
pec,ed rise in its price, and should,
without consulting his creditors. bet
the whole sum on a decrease in
the next sugar crop; would not the
lenders charge him with violation OF
faith, Il reckless misuse Of their money.
and appeal to the law for restitution -
And yet there would be scarcely shade
OF difference between the morality OF
the two transactions. The one would
be like buying the horse to win money
on his speed, the other would be simply
betting on the race. In truth, the
most striking difference between the
commercial gambler and the horse
jockey gambler is this the one cheats
scoundrels like himself. tho other cheats
honest men. And it is this cheating
and overreaching, this unmanly impa-
tience that will not await for the reward
of honest industry, this eagerness for
sudden and unmerited wealth, this reck-
less hazard of borrowed money, which
strews all the paths af commercial life
with the bleaching bones Of bankrupt
oy. and robs the unsuspecting poor
man of his small but well-earned sub
stance.
A young man just liberated from the
apprenticeship Of a common clerk. con-
ceives the idea of becoming immensely
rich in few years, aud resolves to open
wholesale store or perhaps large
banking house. From his late employ
ers he receives fattering letters Of
recommendation. just rs quack rnedi
cines receive puffs from newspapers !;
and from his mercantile acquaintances
he begs testimonials, just as bad actors