The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-12-28
M'he Gs'sil Ms1E!ht9
ELKTON, DECEMBER IS, 1872.
THE OLD AND THE NEW.

propose to take a more practical view OF
the flight of old time. There is great
amount of mans happiness and misery
especally the latter-mauufactured by his
own hand in the course of his daily bust
ness Many men aspire to conduct bust
ness who have acquired but an imperfect
knowledge of the whole, or the details of
what they set out to accomplish, and by
over looking some very important matters
in laying plans, that which has been over,
looked appears at the appointed time t"
claim it's due weight in the arbitration "f
affairs. and not unfrequently upsets the
whole business.
But the most fruitful source of annoy
ance to business men, and that which
brings untold disaster to thousands, is the
unbri,lled credit system which prevails i'll
our business transactions. There is
class of people who seem to possess very
accommodating code of morals, who make
themselves comfortable by getting what
ever they need or desire on credit from
every dealer in every commodity, who will
under any consideration trust" without
a thought as to future payment, and with
out an effort to pay at the time agreed
upon. These sort of folks can view with
the most undisturbed complacency, their
creditor struggling in his Strengthened Cir
cumstances, when, if they would pay him
his own, what they have been Withholding
from him for months, he could go forward
with his business i'll a prosperous manner,
and escape the exhausting struggle with
financial embarrassment, which consumes
his nerves and wears out body and brain.
People whose carelessness-nott to call their
acts by what would be a more appropriate
name,- dishonesty, afflicts the man who
has been mistakingly kind to them, by
trusting to their honesty and honor, COM
NIT most heinous offense against right
and Justice. The misery that such sys
tenn of business entails upon it's victims is
the same that would follow similar loss if
confronted by highwayman, who with
revolver in hand demands and secures his
victims purse. The man who gets the
same amount, and never pays it back, in
flicts like injury on his victim; and when
it is done through Indifference to future
results, the crimes do not vary in magni-
tude one iota.
Now Il great many exemplary people as
the world goes, great many pious people
as the world judges. lights in the church,
l.; Of Ing ia
no thought of the morrow, or what may
become of their friends on the morrow
whose substance they have consumed. and
which has brought down on those friends
and neighbors great amount of harrow
ing anxiety, frequently terminating in
bankruptcy and want. Lives which yield
such fruits as this will not bear the scrutiny
of the omniscient inspector.
There are some things which fall to the
lot of man that are very hard to do, and
others which are correspondingly easy
We will name one in each class. 1t is one
of the easiest things in the world to start
wrong in almos. every path of life and the
hardest thing 10 get right after a wrong
start has been made. An old prOverb says
that sin sticks between buying and selling
like snail between two stones. The man
who deliberately cheats his customer when
selling to him by lies and misrepresenta-
ton, is but little short of a thief. How
much better is he who buys with but
vague and half resolve to pay for the arti
Gle he is allowed to take on credit? This
want of integrity which disregards the
rights and property of Others, fills the
world with half its misery. When shall
thorough reform be achieved? Every man
can do something in the direction of re-
form, by sternly refusing to trust every
man who shows the least faint of this cor
rupt principle The complication of trade
make it impossible to dispense with credit
in doing business. Credit is really as val
liable as gold. and till stricter system of
doing business, especially by merchants is
established credit will not be appreciated
at its real worth To deal for cash, save
under some well defined conditions. is the
only road to reform of the great abuse by
which the drones of society live off of the
industry of their neighbors. Let every
man in business inaugurate this system
with the New Year, and he will find him
self at the end of twelve months better off
in purse and mind than he who has neg
lected it, is at the end of the present year.