The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-21


Among the important pecularities OF business
life in San Francisco is the Steamer day custom,
which has arisen from the necessities Of our COM
mercal and financial connections and relations,
has made the day prior TO the departure Of the
steamers Of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company
for Panama day ofuniversn liquidation be'weon
debtor and creditor, and hence is called steamer
day" an irrepressble conflict chat is ineXOrl5e
and sure regular and unreleniing, is wagod on
this evenlful day between those who have bills TO
pay and those who have bills 10 collect. A per-
siseIt hunt made for cash Is the order OF the
day, and the whole community seems absorbed
with the state Of the money market at this time.
Money easy, money tight, high rates or low rates
How much will the steamer carry away are
the II va ling salutations that meet you every
where the street. at the exchange, IN the
counting house, the topic Of your dinner conyer-
ration. even your barber scarcely commences his
Tor serial attentions before his youble tongue
in.errups you with comments upon the money
market and reminds you that collections are
dill to-day, and that the little amount Of your
&C cunt OF soaT-suds and personal attentions n
dIte will be very acceptable. The "steamer
day, although periodically sure as death and
the T. xes Especially the Internal revenue tax,
has been suseepuby changed during is historical
record among California inst tutious, and each
change tends more and more 70 reduce things
down 10 a strictly cash basis The steamer day
OF earerl times was once month, then semi
monthly aud at present Fri. monthly.
The steamers now leaving the Sd, l3th AMI
23d of ca, h month makes il necessarily the day
previous " the steamer day" for business men,
as increased facilities have been furnished for
tween the great metropolitan and commercial
marts of the Atlantic and Pacific States (and the
rest of mankind), so has the number of our
steamer-days increased, and the time of credits
reduced. Experience in the early days Of san
Francisco business-liie made it essentially
necessary that some general and universal day
of settlement should be established and reCogr
ni2ed among them, and as the bulk OF thei-
payments were foreign in their nature, drafts
and exchange had 10 be purchased, and ship
mtnts msde onsCquently the day before the
sailing of the steamer for Panama was adopted
ss the commercial steamer day, and for years has
been recognized as such, and has been attended
with all It's peculiar epOchs interests, aud Incl
dents, and had the record been preserved Of what
has transpired on this important day, CONNER
eially, financially, politically, and soci1lly, il
would fill volume OF huge dimenLnns of inCr.
estfr e reading matter. Indicative or - 1870
progress of a new country and of American civ :
hzatOn, unexamped in the history Of the world.
In tb connection we give place to an amusing
descr pion Of mer-day in Sad Francisco, fur
nihed by contributor, an Old resident OF San
Francisco
beams on the morning of the %, 18th, or 22d of
the month, book keepers and clerks are husily
engaged in making out bills and memoranda; at
0 O'Clock shower of collectors is poured forth
on the drowned town. From every counting
house, every store, every shop they pour forth,
rushirg around in eager haste in search Of that
which is to form somebody's quota Of the regu'l T
tri-monthly contribution Of California to her
p0uUre relations Of Orient Helter- skelter these
gatherers-in rush around from pillar to post IN
scar h of the yellow gold BIS collector rushes
IN frantic haste TO Cs shop for the little balance
due,' while C's man wildly uashes into BS ONCE
for tbe amount of that tTihing bill Thus the
collectors go through all the mazes of the dance
forward and back 'cross over 'al hands
around etc, until the hour of arrives, and the
weary limbs have rest. Happy then is the man
who finds on footing up accounts that he Is
easy
al is amusing sometimes to watch the pro
uess of collections on seamer-day' and it Il
also instructive, as afording a striking iustra
tiOn Of our dependence on each other, owes
bill OF $780, which he has to meet on Steamer
day > he depends on B (who owes hm) for tht
money must collect from c. and from ID
and so on through the alphabet 1t reminds u
Of a row Of bricks set up on end-if one falls
counterpart in collections on 'steamerday.' w
refer TO the pig which wouldn't 60. 'Ihe nous
began TO gnaw the rope, the rope began to han
the butcher, he butcher began 10 kill the OK an
30 on, i'll the pig began 10 CO. So with tea a
day' bills M pays L. l. pays X, X pays }, au
80 on to A, when the steamer begins 10 60, an
our State is left nearly two millions in gold poore
than 10 was when the army Of collectors c1W
menc.d their raid upon the commercial world c
the city,
UAsIhe dawn Of 'steamer-day' brings anxlet
and expectation, the sailing of the steamer pro
duces quiet and repose. The people having sci
off all their cash, feel that "a weight is OIL the
minds as well rs OF their pockets and that scaso
of relief which comes over him who has noIhiu
10 care for, takes possession of their minds, slti
fed with the conviction that We, who stand In
lutte need Of money and capital, are paying O
regular trtmOnthly devotional shrines t0war
erecting marble and brOwu-stOne fronts on q
avenues of New York, and increasing the bulk
treasure reposing in the vaults OF the Bank
EDglRnd. &c sley's Pa Fo Mo' HJr.