The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-09-03
Politics in BusineSs---The Old Threat
81 - Revived.

is heard upon the approach Of every
election. The black mailing process,
which has been attempted upon the
business men Of this city, in various
shapes, is again being revived. The
public are grayely asked whether the
people Of Evansville are going to rui in
the business of the city, by voting to
sustain the Congress of the United
States, which must result in driving
away the Southern trade. The Mo-
Fart Hall speakers seriously predict
that if the merchants of this city per-
Esist in voting their true political
sentiments, in three months Evansville
will not be worth five dollars an acre
And IL a perfect paroxyism of alarms
the question is asked, /" What would
the trade Of Evansville ultimately.
amount to, if there was no Democratic,
newspaper published in Evansville at
this important ftime?p Well, really,
these things are enough to upset the
most cautious and conservative of our
mercantile community Just think of
it; : five dollars an acre for these piles
of brick and stone, and no Democratic
newspaper to save us from all the sad
realities of depopulation and ruined
commercel It is fearful to contem-
plate gs4o a-e.g anfan.r 81.
! But, seriously, the threat has lost its
force with thinking men We had
it in its worst. form in 1860, when this
city voted for Lincoln and Hamlin by
/. a decided majority. In 1864 it was
repeated and followed up with all the
persistence and ingenuity the copper
heads possessed, yet Evansville again,
by still larger majority, voted for
Lincoln and Johnson And notwith-
standing the Vaccinations of these
democratic seers the trade of. our
city fourished and its, business
extended, until now we are in the en-
tjoyment of the patronage of the South,
even down into the very heart of the
Cotton States. And it is not because
of any political predictions of the
people, one way or the other, but SIM
ply ON the broad and unvarying prin-
ciples of commerce, which obeys its
own laws, almost as surely as material
things are subject to the law of grav1-
tation. Evansville is a, commercial
city, in part because Of its loca-
ton making it SO; because its
merchants are enterprising, ac-
tive, and public-spirited because
they offer inducements to customers
| in large stocks, low prices, and honest
and correct dealing; because it is to
the advantage of dealers to buy here
rather than elsewhere. Business is
business, and politics is politics.
I When a. trader comes to this city to
buy goods, he does not ask the politi-
cal views Of our merchants, buthe as
certains their prices, examines the
quality of their merchandise, satisfies
himself as to their honesty and BUSH
ness integrity It is their commodi-
ties, not their principles, which are
for sale. The trader goes home and
votes as his inclination or political
views dictate, and the Evansville mer-
chant does the same thing. The
| duty of the business man TO- his
country is an entirely distinct and
separate one from that which he owes
to his customer. Both are sacred OBJ
legations which every honest man will
Isreligiously observe. None but dema-a
gogues and the worst kind Of politi-s
cal charalatans would seek to blend
them. and make dependentthetone on
the other. It is time these falla-
cies were exploded, and cease to an
noy our mercantile community.
While we should all treat, with the
greatest consideration, the men who
come here to trade, and extend to
them our business hospitality, it is
not expected that we should ask them
how we should vote. That is an in
dividual matter which every citizen
should decide for himself. Our Gus
toners from the South would have
little respect for us, did we make our
political principles hinge upon the
| patronage which they give us. 20
Is any Southern merchant deferred
from going to St. Louis, Cincinnati,
or Baltimore, because these cities are
represented in Congress by Republic
cans, and because Republican papers