The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-02-18

where they Get their Delicate Informa
tiOH.
JFrom the New York Post 7


Each country merchant or shopkeeper who
with q capital of five thousand dollars and an
unlimited quantity oil energy, does business
of u hundred thousand q year, fin 8 it neces-
sary to bay more goods than he can pay tor
Immediately in cash, aud comes to Now York,
Offering to Stewart, Claflin, or to any body who
will trust HIM, his notes at three, six or eigh-
teen months for the silks and calicoes he
needs. It is, therefore, Indispensable that his
| character for industry and integrity should be
| unimpeachable; and to the Office OF rec ord
goes the city merchant Tor informa ION con-
cernlng the country gentleman who asks cred
it, Here he is told that Potter Smith, of Yuba
Dam, New Hampshire. is thirty-five years
of are, married, and has two children; has
been engaged in the trade seven years, and is
believed to be honest, has Il working capital 0
$4,000, owns homestead worth $1,000 and has
''great expectations" that his wife's Uncle
Billy, who is old and pasalytic, will soon visit
his ancestors, leaving to Peters wife the nice
little sum OF $40 600 in United States bonds
Smiths credit is, therefore, pronounced to be
''good," and MI. Merchant let's him have a
| thousand dollars worth of calico, tape and
spool cotton, to be paid for ut the end of SIX
or n,ne months. Or, it may be that Mr.. Smi! h
| is not known to have any money, except that
which bis wife holds in her own name; that
he is extravag ant and immoral, and so, of
course. may not be recommended as q buyer
on tune. Smith is therefore politely bowed
out OF the warehouse, to.seek credit where
the secrets OF the ''record" are not known.
But in what way is information concerning
traders in distant places obtained, and how do
we know that the Office of Record OF Mercan-
tile Agency contains true and trustworthy
register Of the characters and property of our
country cousins ? There are two ways of
compiling the register-a thorough ono, such
as thai adopted by Broadway & %. and Done
Brown; and another, much used by the iufe-
rlor offices Of Ketchum & Cheatham and llni-
him IL Sprat. In each village or hamlet, how
ever small, there are, Of course, O blacksmith,
q liquor-dealer, and an attorney, and these are
the men who furnish the material for compil.
ing the records Of second or third-class Offices.
The attorney is appointed correspondent, re-
ceivng as wages Harper's Magazine or tho
Ledger. with the promise OF any legal
opinion, with a medley Of the gossip obtains
ed at the smlthefy and tavern. This state
ment OF facts'is sent t, New York, and on it.
depends the reputation of the shopkeeper and
the amount OF credit that he may command.
But the better class OF agencies are conducted
by their proprietors with liberality, and aim at
comforta bleness, intelligent clerks being en-
ploy d and paid handsomely. Instead OF de-
pending on the letters of ''shysters," the super
intendents send educated men OF skill to every
village, and to each of even the most retired
crossroads; and application is generally at
first made to storekeepers personally, wno sell
dom refuse to give accounts of themselves,
which aEe afterward verified or modified by
bank presidents, county clerks, men of known
wealth. DC. BY this means record is made
up as accurately as it is humanity possible to
ulHko duy nlDS.
To conduct q first-class agency properly, a
large number of clerks are necessary; report
ers, canvassers, recorders, cOpyists, readers,
&C.. being numbered by scores aud hun 1reds,
whose salaries range from twelve to sixty dol
lars week, according to their proficiency:
while the picayune imitators ordinarily pay
five to eight dollars to their penmen, or little
more to those who write from a. NJ, till II
r. NJ, and do not too often fall asleep over
their work. Subscribers to these agencies pay
| from seventy five to three hundred dollars o
year, according to the number Of inquiries
each may make. Prominent merchants, as
| Clafll or Stewart, may have private ''agen-
| cit g" OF their own, where lists of their GUS
| toners, with biographical sketches, are kept,
| with black-books containing the names OF
bogus firms, Of those who arc likely to go up
in balloon, and Of young men of promise
| who never pay.