The New York herald., 1869-04-05

the IactS II ne has rival In business VINO Is 10 Do
credit OF his rival in the New York market, and
trusts TO Providence or the bridge at Stirling TO carry
MIN sale over In completing what he has thus be-
gun. Yet information, or something called, gath
cred by these means is gravely retaled IN the New
YORK MARKET as authentic by nrIns, the heads OF
cranums, OF rs utter unreiiaoiliiy and Of is
T OF Ioftier Jss preteace funied % ~ manner ss more
beggarly the annals OF business Barnumism
anord no example. Even the quackery OF the quacx
doctor Is innocent compared with the workings OF
this mighty engine OF Misrepresentation ana hu-
endo, which assassnates commercial regulations IN
secret leaving avenue OF redress TO the injured
party. NCbody-neither agency nor agents. re-
sponsble for tnaccuracy OF inforlnation; aud yet
couple OF nrms a. T. Stewart and II. B. Clanin q
Coz pay 5000 year each for Information thus
collected and thus Irresponsible
INTERNAL ORGANIZATION.
A visit TO the spacious and many-deSked rooms OF
Jenny Yardstck 4 Son, or OF Dunn, Brown d Co.,
or OF McKillem Plague or OF Hurt, Gallows Co.,
results IN about the same budget OF memoranda
An issue regular weekly sheet, strictly connden-
tial, and regular semi yearly almanac Of CONNER
cla ratings. Ponderous tones line the walls at IN.
teryals; mutitudnous pigeonholes are stuffed
mercal reputatons; busy bees Of clerks
on small salaries nit to and fro, and
agent with valuable item for the books. A fee Of
$l6o year entities the city customer to the bcneht
OF all these ponderous volumes OF libes misnamed
information though for certain special priyileaes
large firms pay from $500 to the mentioned maxi.
mum OF 81, 600 as an annual stipend.
One OF these firms has q European agency I'm
Strasbourg, France,) besides confidential agents in
leading European cities; and laiterIy numerous LII
dependent organizations have sprung up IN Euro
pean centres, Jenny Yardstick's discovery having
thus laid the foundation OF long enduring fame 70
that gentleman as the originator OF the system or
Cromwell In POpe's verses, finds himself damned
10 everlasting Iane-the everlasting fame OF having
been the nrst to make business OF commercial
eavesdropping.
has been invented for the use Of these firms, or,
rather, q new method OF cipher writing. Figures
are used to represent capital and letters to Indicate
moral standing-the figures only appearing In the
confidential sneet Of weekly corrections and both in
the publication Every subscriber receives
o key 20 the system, hts name having been booked,
and is consequently able TO decipher tnat which
would be worse than hierogyphics to hls next door
neighbor. The sheet OF corrections is also mailed
weekly TO his address, and serves with the aid OF
the key, to keep MIN posted as to the standing Of
agent OF the firm issuing the sheet. with the key,
however, agents are not necessarily entrusted, nor
are they in receipt Of the weekly sheet unless actual
riddle is kept profound secret between the agency
and the customer who avais himself Of its rather
fancifully valuable services.
The general substance OF the descriptions upon
the books may be summed up in o few phrases
Safe to q certain amount; dong business on small
capital; not Of good record addicted 10 ailure in
clined TO evade payment; living beyond income; not
OF good habits; wanting In business tact; good Tor
this amount or that. These are some OF the notes
ehu "ih~.A oPPS@A eeoAA.s WV Alaiic' VI
rms, heads OF which have not, perhaps, treated the
agent with sufficient pecuniary politeness, and are
therefore, to be damned with faint praise and that
sort oil faint praise, too which is destructive
OF business reputation than downright blame could
be. These are they who must be rated above the
dreaded A. but who, nevertheless, are unwilling 10
pay Literally for first class reputations-for firm
nowadays need not make q reputation. That is old
and paSse, and belonged to an age when Affairs
not driven at 2:2l, ere Jenny Yardstick was dev-
cred Of his idea and set UP business IN the
cozy old kennel in Nassau street. In full sight
Of that dromedary Of q building, the New
York Post Office; for ever revoutonist ex-
isted that lean, lank. latnlike Jenny Yardstick
has been one and 30 will Continue to be, probably,
until at the last he shall post his books and balance
his accounts, only to find himself vitally lns0lvent
Poor Jenny 1t cannot but be very hard fOr the
originator OF O new IDEA TO ole and leave all his
glory behind him, though there are those who aver
that Jenny has lived the life Of q vampyre-that is
by sucking the blood OF his fellows their pOckets
which Is about the same; aud to die unappreciated
Is certainly worse than not to be permitted To die at
all. Poor Jenny 1.-The thermometer OF his credit
with life at his own fortysix-he may hereafter have
occasion to remember how that cabaistic forty six
was death to the credit Of many struggling tOier
after fortune more honest by far In act and intention
than Mr.. Yardstick ever dreamed OF being.
Meantime, that gentleman Will probably continue
to label regulations and lbels, and tuck them away
pigeOnholes for use until the grim old freebooter
of the skull ana crossb0nes labels him and tucks
MIN away in pigeonhOe, never to be taken out
again. Only word remains: 1t "a to be hoped that
the institution he founded may be ptgeonh0led
with him.