Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-02-04
From the Atlantic Monthly for February


the community we hear much and sharp
censure Of all speculation. Spectators, one
and ali, are forthwith consigned to an abyss
ofobloquy. The virtuous public outside Of
trade washes its hands of all participation in
the iniquity This same virtuous public
knows very little Of what it is talking about.
What is speculation Shall we say, in brief
and in general, that it consists in running
risks, in taking extra. hazardous risks, on
the chance ofmaking unusually large pro6ts2
Is it that men have abandoned the careful
ways of their fathers, and do not confne
themselves to small stores, small stocks and
cash tIansactions2 And do you know who it
is that has compelled this change2 That
same public who denounce speculation in
one breath and in the next clamor for goods
at low prices, and force the jobber into large
stores and large sales at small profits as the
indispensable condition of his very exist
ence.
Those who thus rail at speculation are gen.
erally quite unaware that their own inexora-
bic demand for goods at low prices is one of
the principal efficient causes of that of which
they complain. They do not know that the
capacious nav of the Unsuitable public is
yearly filed with millions on millions of
shirtings and sheetipgs and other articles of
prime necessity without one farthing of
profit to the iobber. The outside world
reason from the assumption that the jobber
might, but viii not, avoid taking considera-
BILE risks. They do not consider, for they do
not know, how entirely all is changed from
the days and circumstances in which a very
small business would suffice to maintain the
merchant. They do not consider that an
immense amount of goods being of cumpul-
sion sold without profit, yet other huge
amount must be so sold as to compensate for
this. Nor do they consider that the Dossi-
bility of doing this is often contingent upon
the buyers carefully calculated probability
of O rise in the article he is purchasing.
Many time is the jobber enabled and in
clined to purchase largely only by the assur-
ance that from the time of his purchase the
price will be advanced. t.
The selling of fdry-goods is another depart
ment in high art about which the ignorance
of OUT isiders is ineffable. / was once asked
in the way of courtesy and good neighbor-
hood, to call on clergyman in our vicinity
which did. DESTROYS of doing his part in
the matter of good fellowship aud smooth
conversation, he began thus:
swell, now, Mr.. Smith, you know all
about businf IS; | suppose, if | were to go
into store 10 buy goods nineteen men out
of twenty would cheat me if they could; !;
wouldn't tbeyW
mo, sir p 1 answered, with a swelling of
indignation at the injustice, a mingling Of
pity for the ignorance, and foreboding of
small benefit frem the preaching of a min
lister of the gospel who knew so little of the
world he lived in, mo, sir; nlneteen. men
in twenty would not cheat you, if they
could for the best of all reasons-it would
be dead against their own interest"
Not day passes but the question is asked
by our youths who are being initiated in the
routine of selling goods-"Is this honest? Is
that honest? Is it honest to mark your
goods as costing more than they do cost2 Is
il honest to ask one man more than you ask
another? Ought not lhs same price to be
named TO every buyer? Isn't it cheating to
get twenty-five per cent. profit? Can a man
sell goods without lying2 Are men com
PEELED TO lie and cheat a little in order to
earn an honest living?
What is the reason that these questions
will keep coming up2 That they can be no
more laid than Banquo's ghost? Here are
some Of the reasons. First and foremost,
multitudes of young men whose parents
follow the plough, the loom or the anvil,
have taken It into their heads that they will
neither dig, hammer, nor ply the shuttle. To
soil their hands with manual labor they can
not abide. The sphere of commerce looks
to their longing eyes better thing than ly-
ing down in green pastures, or than peace
ful life beside still waters, procured by labor
ious farming, or by any mechanical pursuits.
Cleap linen and stylish apparel are insepara-
" b6SOCldltu III lutlI VIII easy
and elegant life, and so they pour into our
cities, and the ranks of the merchants are
filed, and oyer-flled, many times. Once,
the merchant had only TO procure an finvit-
ing stock, and his goods sold themselves.
He did not 90 after customers; they came to
him; and it was matter OF favor TO them to
supply their wants. Now, all that is changed.
There are many more merchants than are
needed; buyers are in request; and buyers
rlargda Il Nhah hnuk 70,
tent, dictate the prices at which they will
buy. The question is no longer, How large
a profit can | get? but How small profit
shall i accept? The CONS SetSion for custom
ers is so fierce that the seller hardly dares
ask any profit, for fear his more anxious
neighbor will undersell him. In order to at
tract customers, one thing after another has
been made "a leading article" bait to be
offered at cost, or even less than cost-that
being oftentimes the condition on which
alone the purchaser will make a beginning
of buying.
"Jenkins," cried an anxious seller, "you
don't buy any-thing of me, and / can sell
you 9s cheap as any. Here's a bale of sheet
ing now, at eight cents, will do you good"
"How many have you goR
'Oh, plenty"
"Well, how many2'
Fifteen bales"
swell, I'll take them"
"Come in and buy something more"
"No, nothing more TO day"
There was loss of $75, and he did not
dare buy more.
1t will be obvious that the selling part OF
ones goods at less than cost enhances the
necessity Of getting a profit on the rest
But no" TO 90 this, under the sharp scrutiny
OF buyer who knows that his own success
not to ssy his very existence, depends upon
his paying no proht possible to be avoided
no profit, at all events, not certainly paid by
some sharp neighbor who is competing will
him for the same trade2
"Bpt is there anything in all this" yol
are asking, ito preclude the jobber's telling
the tIuihl" Nothing. Anything to pre-
elude strict honestly" Nothing. "Why
then, do the questions you havequoted con
answer: In order to get his share o
the best custom In his line, the dry good
jObber has taken store in the best positio
in town, at a rent of from So, 900 to $50, 90
a year has hired men and boys at all price:
from $50 to s., 000--and enough of these I
result IN an aggregate offfom 50 to 5000
a year for help, Without which bis bushes
can not be done, Add TO this theusual ave.
sge for store expenses OF every name, 40
for the family expenses Of two, five or seve
partners, and you find dry goods firm III
der the Becesssiiy Of getting out of the
Years sales somewhere from $4,000 to
Slst, t,,S0 pio6t, before they shall have save