Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-02-24
Merchandising Mt Wholesale.

Sell 10 r~etalleIS, arc SUAeo 1300e'"
pose to write Of the influence Of this class OF
merchants, in building up cities.
| The retailer does not impart prosperity ~
the community in which he is located out MS
thrift indicates the prosperity OF the c0n'mu,
nifty, His sphere is a circumscrloed one, but
still one of great convenience and usefulness to
the community, and of profit to himself.
The jobJer, by his enterprise and energy
dosx ;,apayt prosperity to his locality. 10 in
sprc his own success, he is obliged to have
cspital and a thorough knowledge Of his busl-
ness-of the sources Of supply and values, as
we'll US a knowledge Of buyers and their wants,
implying the possession ola variety and amount
of intelligence, that scarcely any other depart
ment of mercantile enterprise requires Su-
peradded there must be great vigilance, indus
try and enterprise.
The iobber is the distribu,or-lis posi-
ton is between the manufacturer and pro-
Queer, whether foreign or domestic, and
the retailer. The Importance OF. this class
of merchants cannot well be orer-e<'lma'
ted-thcy are absolutely essential to the
prosperity Of any commercial city. II is the
presence Of strangers to buy as well as to sell,
that gives commercial vitality to any place
The iobber must have = large ~capital-keep ON
hand large stock-compctltion arises between
him and other jobbers-profits arc reduced to
a point which makes it necessary to ruiz up the
amount of sales very high; and this very Tact
irnpcis him to extend his acquaintance into new
sections of country, and the consequence is that
from wear to year, an increasingly large busl-
ness is concentrated, and u city is built up
| The importer comes, the commission merchant
comes. the manufacturer comes, each bringing
capital, industry and enterprise, and adding to
the substantial wealth Of the place. The sue
cess Of the jobber has a reciprocal influence
hupon every other branch Of industry-upon
the manufacturing, shipping and agricultural
interest.
The city Of Philadelphia owes her prosperity
chiefly to her ~jobbers, and especially to her dry
goods iob5ers. To them is she indebted for
the hundreds of manufacturers in the city and
neishborhood, giving employment to more than
100, 900 persons, in making apron checks, cot
ton plaids, jeans and other cotton and woelen
goods, widely known for their superiority, as
we'll as millions of yards Of inferior grades, and
also the many other manufactures incident to a
thriving, prosperous jobbinS city. There are
large districts in Philadelphia, where, in every
house. is heard nothing but the click of the
shuttle of the hand loom; and'other districts
are covered with large and small factories Of
wool, cotton, iron, brass, DC. 1t is a notorious
fact, that the iobbers of Philadelphia contributed
more money towards building railroads, in
Pennsylvania, and in other States, with an eye
always to building up the trade OF their city,
than all the other interests together, Ill that
CITY, have contributed for the Il purpose
The cities of Baltimore, New York and Boston
owe much Of their prosperity to their Joboing
merchants.
In Richmond, we have a number of large dry
goods iobbing houses, with ample capital, con-
Quoted upon liberal principles, who supply,
themselves with articles to meet the tastes OF
the most fastidious, or the wants Of the most
utilitarian, and at prices certainly as low
us CUn UC ltlQ IA my oh'NA N'p' T
Of their goods are imported direct, and the
others obtained from precisely the same sources
resortcd to bv the iobbers Of other cities. We
have also large importers and jobberS Of hard
ware, o~ueensware, drugs, medicines, shoes,
hats, books, &c. Our grocery market is very
large and cheap; the leading articles OF coffee,
sugar, molasscs, &c, being imported direct from
the countries producing them. Besides nulncr.
Gus smaller establishments, we have many job
bcrs of groceries and Try goods, whose sales
are FROM half million to one million OF dollars
each, and in other departments proportlonatcly
large. We claim for our jnbbers as 4 class, and
without an exception, integrity, uprightncSs
and fairness Of dealing, that no other city can
boast. There are no jobGcrs in any city in
whose hands the country merchant may so
safely trust himself, assured that he Will neither
be over.chargcd, nor have inferior goods pressed
upon him. as in ours. We have no adventures
who bait the buyer upon article, charge a
double price upon the next, and 10y n thousand
tricks, cheat their customcrs-al OF which the
buver is subjected to in other cities. Our ner-
chants are men Of such personal moral charac-
ter as as holds them above the tricks oi
trade rcsorted to by many in the larger cities.
BESIDES, the real capital embarked in mcrchan-
dising, which is very large in proportion TO the
trade, gives a substantial interest to the pro-
prietorS, and assures the buyers Of permanently.
Throughout the entire length and breadth q.
this Commonwealth the universal WIS.,. is to
free ourselves from raSSalage to NE."I tnern cities.
This cannot be done y: d r.lore ~effectual way
than to build up cities Of our own; and the
way to do this is to encourage our W jobblng
merchants. No laws OF non-intercourse can
build up cities-such laws tend rather to pull
down; for in the particular cases Of the three
largest Virginia cities, q Gerry large amount o!
their present sales are made to merchants OF
North Carolina and Tennessee; these buyers
would be driven from us by a heavy license
tax. No such laws can force ilnportations
directly into Virginia ports, nor compel the
country merchants Of our State to buy IN
Virginia cities. There are iars of'trade which
direct more than Legislative enact
ments, which it would be well for our lcgiSla-
tors to study.
The legislative enactmcntS requlrcd by our
commerce and manufactures are very lew and
simple; among these arc laws to regulate our
coastiug trade, in which there might be Il dis
elimination in favor Of Virginia aud Southern
owned vessels; to allow u bonus, for a limited
time, upon Virginia owned tonnage, engaged
in foreign III from our ports; 10 allo" Il
small bonus, for a li;nited time, upon goods ltl-
ported from foreign countries directly into
Virginia ports; to tax merchants only iUr inc
amount of capital invested in their business,
and not upon amount of salcs; to exempt capt
tai invested in certain branches OF manuiac'
lures from taxation, for = specified time; to pro-
hibit banks in the State from discounting any
paper payable cut Of the State, to go into elect
say on lSt January next. and to decline 10 re-