Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-11-03
Daily Sirnnrbrc Sournal.
AU CT L = Il a.
THURSDAY MORNING, NOV. 3, 1870.
PUSHING BUSINESS.

a Phlladelphia paper having propose"
a conundrum recently as to selling cheap
y, finds the following solution in the
New York Bulletin, which it thinks is
good and ought to be hung up prominent
ly in every counting house in the city;
..When sales are made more frequently,
and capital turned monthly instead OF an
nuallv, the annual interest and other eX-
penses may be higher, and still leave
larger profit"
This, says the Philadelphia paper
.enunciates II sound business maxim and
no doubt cmanatcs from Il practical mer-
chant. The lesson it inculcates is this:
that if one house makes but quarter OF a
cent yard profit on dry goods, and
another house half cent on the same
goods, the former may make more money
than the latter 10y forcing sales to an I'M
mense amount. In this mode OF doing
business it is deemed of far more value to
keep the capital constantly active than to
hang on for profit and make tardy sales.
In this system Il great firm, doing 4 large
trade. has tar more chances of profit than
a firm doing a limited business. What is
called 50 comfortably here u small, safe
trade means nothing more than slow
business, coming along of itself, without
pushing, without enterprise, without add
vertising or solicitation, and with an I'M
consciously large profit to atone for the
paucity of sales"
The paper from which we quote goes
on to say that this close listed way is. not
the true trading spirit OF the age but
ought to be set down as relic of the
past. Ii in any particular line OF trade
the business has fallen into well worn
rut, and joys along there without active
impulse, or evidence of progress, there is
manifest need there Of encouraging new
men to start, with young, fresh, vigorous
minds and high hopes; for some OF them
will develop the native capacity fer sue
cess; and experience has proven that
competition forces Il heavy increase of the
aggregate of sales. Trade is the prize OF
any community having the energy, the
means, and the capacity to take it.
Activity is the only avenue to success
in commerce. We must constantly be up
and doing. Merchandise is kept to be
sold, and the rule should be to sell rs
fast as possible, and to consider time quite
rs valuable rs the goods OF the money.
Ii the market rule low, and no profit can
be made on goods, ii is better to pocket
the loss and run Off the goods, trusting TO
ensuing purchases to net profit, than to
keep the stock idle and borrow money to
carry it. Cash ought at all times to bring
IA low margin Of profit, for cash is pow
er.
There is never any use in waiting
patiently for better times. The only true
and safe rule in mercantile business is to
take the markets as we find them, sell a.
fast as possible, and to consider the
money always better than the goods. To
men Of enterprise and ambition there are
no such things as dull times. All seasons
have for such persons their appropriate
labors, and bring in their several returns.
The man who does not advertise because
times are dulr ought to be regarded as a
curiosity. Dull times are exactly those
when trade should be most stimulated by
advertising, and by commercial travellers,
and 50 forth.
In all these remarks there is true practi-
cal wisdom born OF experience and care
ful observation The man who puts his
goods into his store in these times and
waits for trade is behind the age and must
change his policy Or fail. The man who
adyertises, eXerts himself to draw custom,
pushes his business, can and will under
sell him who does not seek trade, because
by his extended custom and rapid and
large sales his frequent small profits
amount to more than the large bat slow
profits of his neighbor. This is trnc the
world over. In this is the secret which
traders of the Rip Van Wrinkle order, in
their sleepy places Of business, have not
yet discovered, as they sit and wait for
customers, and wonder how their wide
awake competitors pay their advertising
and other bills to attract custom. These
thing, which tight-iistcd high profit,
slow-coach dealers consider eXtrayagant
and useless to nobody bnt the newspaper
men, are the very means to prosperity
and wealth to those who know how to use
them and OF such there are many in the
country, and they will be sure to come to
the front sooner or later. The rule in
trade is to push business, enlarge the
field. turn the stock into cash us rapidly
as possible
The illness of Chief Justice Chase was at
first partial paralysis of the right side, from
head to foot, 50 affecting His speech that it
was scarcely ineligible. From this he was
recovering when, at a dinner party, he in
dulgcd too freely, and was severely sick again.
From this last attack he is now recovering,
bur his complpfp restoration IN hpalfh must no