The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-04-19
fcoHHERcE AS A PURSUIT.


: than that of merchant. They are q
follows:,
L. Trade is already enormously ovel
done. We have at least twice as man,
merchants of all grades and varietie
now soliciting custom and seeking +
live and thrive by traffic as we need o
can well afford to maintain. Com
I nlefce iepies q heavy tax on industry
u yet thousands of merchants fail, be
7 cause there is not room for so many.
A hundred farmers i'm middling cir
cumstances cannot afford to pay thre,
! or four divers mercantile concerns fo
selling and sending away their surplus
produce and supplying them with dry
goods and groceries, seeds and imple.
ments, in return.
i In short, the machinery of trade i
already. too complicated, cumbrous
costly. 1t must be rendered less so. In
other words, we do net want more eX-
changers of products, but fewer. We
want the necessary work of buyers
and sellers for grain done at far less
cost than we are now paying. We
want to dispense at once with half the
now existing mercantile concerns, and
| ultimately with at least half of the
/ residue. We want to increase produc-
ton by making at least nineteen out OF
every twenty able-bodied men actual
producers of wealth; whereas, not
fifteen of every twenty are such.
Hence / say, No more merchants! We
| have far too many, as. we haye too
many seeking to live by theprofessions
Theology, Law, Medicine.
IL Let no one say that disparage
either trade or the professions. We
need merchants, as we need lawyers,
doctors, clergymen; we could not well
do without them. Many cf our pres
ent merchants are among our best and
most useful citizens. The question I
raise is not, "Do we need merchants?"
but, "Do we NEED more of them than
We already havos Could not q con-
siderably smaliR number effect our
exchanges for us far cheaper and more
to- our advantage than the present
or a larger number do or caa render US
that service? ?" Let US keep to the
question.
Ill. Forty years ago, when j first
came to New York, every third or
fourth intelligent youth in this city
aspired to achieve wealth and position
by selling dry goods; now, not one in
fifty OF that class cherishes any such
aspirations.
Far more dry goods are now sold here
than then were, but by far fewer per-
sons in proportion to the amount sold.
A. T. Stewart, it is current assertion,
has sruined the dry goods business by
monopOlizing q large share of il. In
plain terms, more goods are sold and
distributed through one immense con-
Germ now, than were in 1881 by any
twenty or thirty of the heaviest dry
goods houses of that day. The con-
sumers of dry goods are better served at
lower charges than they We're forty
years ago A thousand. persons now
effectthe exchanges that then required
from five to ten thousand: and this is
called the ruin of the dry goods trade.
/ regard it rather Is an Improvement of
that trade, whereby the public is re-
ally gamer. MIR. Stewart is the
master spirit of a great reform which
he will not perfect, but which will be
taken up where he leaves Ii, and ear
ried much farther. 1t may perhaps be
said of him as of many others, "He
builded better than he knew" but
that is immaterial. The coral insect
does his work as perfectly as though
he were assi6uously intent on the for
nation of lie " islands; which we know
he is not.
". / have a little farm thirty-five
miles from the heart of this city.
whereOn grow choice apples for sale.
They bring me one year with another,
less than fifty cents per bushel, though
am. but two hours ride from one of
the greatest markets in America
propaoly the largest apple market on
the globe. If any one would response
bly, contract to take for the next ten
years all would grow at fifty cents
per bushel, should be glad to make
the contract; yet those who consume
these very apples in this city pay at
least thrice fifty cents per bushel for
them i'm the average, and thousands
do without who would glad
ly have them at u price based upon
that which L should be glad To take.
But the existing machinery of ex-
change and distribution is SO imperfect
and vicious that thousands of bushels
Of the apples growing within fifty
miles of our City Hall rot under the
trees or are fed to swine, while those
who should eat them go with.
put apples, being unable to pay the
prices at which they are held and re-
.ailed at city stalls and groceries. Add
\ thousand to the number who now
seek to live by buying apples in the
country and selling them in the city,
aud you would probably increase the
average city retail price rather than re-
luce it.
W puauI bry xra aahou tr,,af hax,o
! better system. Perhaps, great
stock company, raising or construct
ing the very best storehouses for fruit
and vegetables of all kinds, will buy
Them of the growers so fast as they are
fit to harvest and garner them in vast
of low, uniform tempera-
ture, until the moment shall have ar
rived for throwing them respectively
Dn the market.
This company may send its laden
carts to every citizens door each
proffering him an assort-
ment of its seasonable products in
small quantities at not more than fifty
per cent. i'm advance on their cost by
he car load or the boat load when
bought of the farmers; or the farmers
may organize system of proffering
heir products to the citizens at their
several doors at prices which will
,nly assure them o fair remuneration
or their labor; and the new system
nay differ radically from either and
rom both of these. / care not for the
means so that the end be honestly at
aimed.
All that seek to show here and now,
3 that the true, beneficent system will
require and employ far fewer hands to
achieve results substantially identical
with those attained at such heavy cost
lnder the present management.
vi. i will not pursue these illustra-
ions. To the observant and thought
ul, two or three will suffice. To the
needless, prejudiced, or shallow, hum
ired would be wasted. trust you by
his time understand why do not adj
1ise young men to embark in COM
nerce. That craft is overmannned
already. We need to diminish, not to
Increase, our burden. We shall yet ac-
through the best efforts of
fifteen or twenty, ultimately of four or
i've persons, more beneficent results
han now tax the energies of hum
1red. Hence, counsel young men, in
tent primarily on making living and
get ting rich, not to engage in conn
merce.
~ HORACE GREELEY.
The Huntsville, Ala, Reporter"