The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-09-24
mh.Apaof oompetltlon.

ware promulgated to the bewildered puDho 10
ssGet the best" In these latter days. the
,ovioocrapbioal duel having a little abated, we
- tbo War of the Sewing Machines and /
the War of the Piano -FOrtes. Inc contests
of trade have assumed almost the bitterness
of relipious controversy. eve keeps apoet,
said the wife of the proprietor Oh an lncom-
narable blacking, a remark which uckled
lord Byron so much that for some time he
was continually alluding to 1t IN his let
fers. Il Is notorious that the age has pro |
dnced no great epical production; and after |
rnminating for many hours, we have deter
mined that no poet of the day could desire |
n better subject for twelve books OF heroic !
verse than the War of the Piano-FOrtes. !
We could easily frame an argument. The
poem would begin with the customary call
npon nine well-known ancient ladies, and one
frisky old gentleman by the name of Phmbus
ApoliO. Twenty lines would follow upon the
time when Music heavenly maid, was young.
Invention of the ancient Tyre, contests OF the
Grecisn poets with faint illusions to the con-
tests of Steinway and Chickering. Six lines
about St. Cecilia, for which the writer might
read up in Dryden's ode. Mention OF the fact
that Orpheus had no piano-forte description of
the Playing of Marsyas, in which the author
might exhibit great anatomical knowledge, for
which he would read up in Sir Charles Bell.
General view of the History of Music, for
which see DR.. Burney, Sir John Hawkins, and
the advertisements of Max Maretzek. This
would finish the First Book. Hints for the
remaining eleven may be had cheap by apply
ing in the proper quarter.
We don't know why we thus indulge in
banter. The competitions of trade have already
assumed serious aspect, and resulted in an
ink-shed which we may fairly characterize as
profuse. The time has gone by when chapmen
Cfo in fboir uyco uin nUt oil
"What dye lack what dye lack 2" The
modern advertisement has taken the place of
this shop rhetorio and, for aught we know,
the fsh-wives of Billingsgate now advertise
their herrings and haddocks in the London
Times. Formerly, it was quite enough for
man to keep his shop, and his shop would
keep him; but, nowadays, whoever would
sell anything must make known his wishes
by proclamation. 1t would be ungrateful in
us if we were to find fault with this state of
things, by which we live and thrive; and so
long as tradesmen keep good-natured their
ardOrs and activities are not merely pardon
able, but honorable. The old adage has found
a new significance. The devil will most GER
tainly take the hindmost.
1t would be quite frightful if the explorer
were of lugubrious turn of mind to think of
all the "Wants' which the pages of a daily
journal present. So many people out of place
and anxious for work-so many emitting q
little four-line appeal for employment-so
many with something to SELL which they must
sell or financially perish-so many defending
for dear life the excellence and the cheapness
OF their wares-so many conflicting interests
and rivalries apparently desperate-so many
deadly antagonists, making their worst COM
mercial faces at each other-so many wishing
the very things which so many other people
are burning to furnish-in short, such
general medley and mixture, and crowd of
cross purposes Nothing under the sun that
may not be had for a little money-eXcept
peace, contentment, and happiness The
world a great market place in which we may
buy every rything-except truth, and honor, and
success Swarms of men mutually dependent
upon each other, and all living in a state of
chronic antagonism
But this view, however natural to the man
of dyspepsia, or to the man of bilious leisure,
would, as is usual with all low and despairing
views of human life, be an unjust one. The
philosophical truth, we take it, is that if the
average of men did not crafty their wishes
and find fulflment of their purposes in ad-
vertising, instead of increasing and rising
almost to the dignity of fine art, advertising
would long ago have gone altogether out of
use. AS practised at the present day, it has a
claim to be considered as an invention or dis
covery. 1t is almost certain that those who
use it as means fail only in small minority
of cases to attain their ends. There is only
one class of advertisements arranged as
WANTS." but really all advertisements indi-
cate want of something, which it is for the
interest of somebody to supply. But after all,
Notwithstanding the great success of the
system, we hardly think that its prodigious
economy Of time and money is sufficiently
appreciated. Wall street broker may
run up, and down that quiet and pastoral
thoroughtare, with his stock of goods in his
hand, and his very presence advertises his
merchandise; but nobody can meander from
mouse to house with large and valuable as
sortment OF anything on his back When
peddhng-went out advertising came in; three
centuries ago the intallbe pills and pain ex-
tlnguishers would have been sold from a stage
IN the middle OF fair. No doubt, if the
truth were known, Paracelsus himself vended
MS panaceas in that ignoble way We have
changed all that, and advertising having made
competition possible we have it In its sharp
SSI, most eager, and most adventurous form.
an; me VINE has not come for refining and max
Ing ohlValrous such combats in these columns;
anu we 90 not therefore advise our warriors to
Keep their tempers. The field which they
purchase OF us is their own for all save inn
moral purposes; but as we have several small
toIs IN the neighborhood which we reserve
tor our own exclusive occupation, we trust
that our knightly tenants will not tilt more
noisily than is necessary.
EceUGsuIRtiOn OF Gold tn London and
Paris
FFom 1.e ~ Y. Times.
There is an extraordinary accumulation o
e,o1d AT present in the Banks of England and