Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-01-15


week, we find the following questions and an
swers:
Query:-Whatar are the necessary ingredients
+ for a thorough business man!
/ Ansarer: Definitions would vary according to
i temperament. Some would give the foremost
place to activity, others to decsion: and others
j to prudence. We suppose that the leading quail
| ties required in good man OF business are
forecast and circumspecion-the ability 10
''iay OUT his plans in advance, and to look all
4 round to see that the.way is clear and that no
fatal Instructions can present themselves; that
he should be honest, particular IN appointments,
! faithful TO his word, and clear IN all OF MS
agreements and undertakings, SO that he and
j those with whom lie deals may know exactly
what is engaged to be dOne-these points are
matters of course. The greater his intelligence;
provided at is of practical cast, or is brought
4 to bear in practical way, the greater ousl-
ness man he will be. In fact, whatever accom-
plishes one for the real pursuits oflie and the
elementary employments of men, is available to
the man of business, and gives him higher
| grade in that character. Tho number of such
business men is, however, small, and to the
lack of some one of the qualities we have named
and liberal and thorough mastery of the cal
lings in which they are engaged, are to be ascrl-
bed most fnot all, of the miscarriages, failures
and disappolntmcnts which accrue TO numerous
persons who embark in business.
Query: SIT is my intention to commence the
new year with course of reading for mental
| improvement us INV educationhaS been limited.
| Will you tell me what looks l should commence
with, which will give inc general knowldge
of the history and literature of all countries r
Also, shall read for the purpose of obtaining
practical knowledge ofmen. manners, and things
in generaR"
| 4nsuer:-In cases similar to your own, We
have uniformly Recommended the reading of
the Bible, and diligently following out the col
lateral lines ofhstory, biography, and literature
as they arise. When you have reached the
more modern eraS, you will not so astray, II
you select from any good library works OF
known reputation on any such branch OF
the subjectas may have interested you. You
will also find your interest increased and your
improvement not little facilitated by peru
sal of the standred authors of each country and
period. If we were to give you brief and di-
rect answer to your last question, We should say
MEN! A practical knowledge ofmen man
ners and things in general" can only be acquir-
ed by actual intercourse with the world There
are certain writers supposed toibe more wise and
knowing than others in the ways of the world,
such as Chesterfield, Rochfocault, Lord Bacon,
'Iacon," (COlton) and others; but no amount of
book-reading can supply the place of direct ac-
quantance with your fellow men and study of
their manner and peculiarites for yourself. You
will, however, from any or all of the good wrl-
tiers in your language, derive valuable hints and
suggestions cspecally in the novelists and dra-
Wllee
may look for the imaginative or poetical viaY
in Fielding for the satirical; IN Walter Scott for
the romantic; in Sheridan for the brilliant in
Goldsmith for the central; and so with the 9TH
ers
CIRCULAR has just been issued by the Mer-
camille Agency, 314 and BIG Broadway, n. Y,
conducted by B. Douglas & Co., containing
great variety of statistics in regard to the mer-
camille business of the United States. The re-
suits of the recent financial crisis are summed
/ up, so far as the necessarily imperfect know
ledge of facts at this date will allow, and we
learn that,
+ "The number of firms in the United States
| California excepted) by our records-and they
embrace all but II class of small retailers in the
larger cities--is 2O4 06l; or estimating the pop
ulation at 25,OO0,0OO, that there is store to
every 1913 of our inhabitants, or to every 20
| families
'There has been lost by 337 swindling and
absconding debtors, 1929, 800, and by 5l2
firms which will pay nothing, their losses and
i confidential debts absorbing everything, $780,
100000 There are 8, $50 concerns owing $l97,
0SO,5OO, and they are such cases as usuallay
average 40 to 90 cents; and there are 435 houses
owing ST., 1000, which will pay inful If the
times ahead prove 10 be ordinarily prosperous.
Of The 1913 Sias aiiSFe. rs. down at s2oosOo0O
but there Will be realized, from those
who will pay In full. $IIilS9,OOO
and on the amount OF "srdnaryt
failures Si9T URO at 40 cents. S2 00O 21 eco
Leaving analIoss of...............$ I4s, 10000.
"If the country storckecpers' general debt is,
las herein before estimated, $2,282, 100000 it
would be fair to infer that ordinarily the years
business would amount to all of double that
sum- or 81, 564, OOOOO0.l From this we would
deduct for light trade last Spring and the injury
to sales this Fall, rs per cent, which wo'Iid make
the business for S57 with the country merchant
amount to s., 73S, 100000, and as tn, asses for
the year by this trade were $41 ,S3S, 80, the
/ per centage is about one and half"
TnE SUGAR CRop-It is stated in thu New
Orleans Crescent, that the sugar crop of Lousi-
ana for 1857, will be from, 225, 900 to 100000
hhds against about "a, 900 hhds in 1856. Pri-
ces are, of course, much lower than last yeas
but nevertheless, planters will realize about
81, OOO, 900 more from the crop of this season
than from that of 1856, while consumers will
also gain largely.
i TuE Bank of the Valley in Virginia, has, de-
I r. 3