The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-11-01

When The townships Of London and
Missouri were settled, the nearest place
ut which the inhabitants could pur-
chaseidry goods or. groceries was Dun
dxs. Ut may, consequently, be sup
posed that tbefr supply Of these conve-
nieocfs was NOT very frequently se-
plefiaFieo. ~ kgB n .oeG ,noiiaIs sfdm
Thib privation VAS however, partial
" relieved after . few years. TIN
About 1923, thelate Hon. @. j. Good
hue, then 3 young man just beginning
life, btought q small stock OF goods into
Westminster, aud opend q general
store in q log house on Westminster
street. Brick street, Various articles
for house hold nse, OF which there had
been for some time rather . rdearth
among the settlers, were there obtain
ed In exchange for black salts, grain,
maple sugar, or whatever else theyhad
to spare. q p aUiE9ed buE y1qm1IIrnE
But this agreestle change was found,
ere long, to have also its disagreeab,e
side. Almost every article that thay
were Required to buy was held ct q
high price, while every thing they had
to sell brought only low price. Prints
and f1ctOry cottons, such IS can now
be had at from II to IA cents per yard,
then Icost as cents.a Tea was So per
pound, and hutmegs6 cents each. For
q paiHof coarse shoes, Of very inferior
quality; they had to pay So, aud for
everything else in proportion. IttOok
twelve bushels OF wheat to pay for q
barrel of salt. s. bIal3jI n
|, Such prices for absolute necessaries
may seem exorbitant, and doubtless
| they afforded the dealer q high per-
copta8e on the capital invested; but,
perhaps, not so very high "a dealers
then Mad to buy at wholesale at much
highet rates than in subsequent year.
The Erie, Welland and Rideau Canals
were not yet sysilabie. The lack of
public facilities for the conveyance of
merchandise, and the wretched condi-
ton OF the roads, for q large part of the
yeOr, made the expense Of transpOrta-
ton from New York to Montreal enor-
nous. Then, the merchant wa. Obliged
to sell on credit, and the r,sjOriiy OF
his customers were poor; so that sick
ness, Or q failure of crops, would make
payment that year an impOssibi!ity,
and consequently 80 much OF his limi-
ted capital must be nnproductive
These disadvantages caused a great
diminht'On in the apparently very
large profits; and those who opened
shops in the woods did not do SO from
purely philanthropic motives. bnt for
their own advantage, they no doubt
nsde the retail price high enough to
yield them a handsome profit after
paying. sill expenses and providing
against probable loss. l,. .r-1.
| 2 The customer VINO did not keep a
very exact &C count himself, knowing
that during the year he had taken a
number of articles to the stOre, of which
he had-purcbased but q few small par
cells, naturally deluded himself with
the idea that his account must be near.
~, II not quite ba anced. But When
he came to see the figures that repre-
sented his cakes and maple sugar and
bis pOrkers, his bushels of grain and
his barrels of black salts, and 10 con-
trast their considerable amount with
the much larger one that figured on
the d. side OF the account. it was diff
cult for him to realize that the few
household necessaries that he had
bought should have 80 far exceeded in
monetary value the more bulky COM
modities with which he had supposed
he had paid for theM.-NeW Donain-
ion Monthly. ~