Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-11-27

the tailor ana my various othoI u""o oon
n~ections would trust me. IL was ohiy
when they wanted their pay that had 10
fail. They precipitated the evll by thelI
senselcss behavior. II the IDIOTS hao nol
sent in their bills / should stlll be tradlng
with tnem-all would be gong on smootn'
ly. A panic is simply a want OF conn,
dence, brought on by finding out ina
people are insolvent sooner than is conVe-
nient for them-sooner than they them
selves had calculated on. So long as it is
not known that they're insolvept, every
things lovely. If nobody wanted pay,
there'd be no panics. This is a clearer
proposition by far than the cognate one
that a national debt is a national blessing.
What use, then, in beating round the
bush and devising long-winded plans
for preventing panics? just suppress the
people who want their pay, ana you hit
the nail square on the head at once. III 1t
were so arranged that everybody would
give credit to everybody, that goods, in
stead of being sold on time, were sold on
eternity, there'd be no panics, and finan-
cial waters would flow as rapidly and
nOiselessly as gravy over a clean table
cloth instead of with the gluck gluck that
comes when you try to get butter milk
out of a half-empty jug.
Sometimes it occurs to me that perhaps
too many are trying to be middle-men. If
| raised potatoes and another man raised
corn, or l made hats and another nan
made boots, | could buy Of him on credit,
and he could buy Of me on the same
terms; n if our needs OF the others
goods were about equal, it wouldn't make
nuch matter how long s~ettling-day was
put off. But if | and t'other man try to
make a living by trading Ck-knives with
each other, and run in debt all the while
for our board and clothes, some n must
suffer when accounts come to be handed
in all round. Is it rot about time that a
good many gentlemen begin to think Sc
riously of going to work and doing some
thing? For we can't all be merchants and
bankers, and brokers and dealers in real
estate. There's a good deal of square
work to be done about a country, and
some ones got to do it!
AS 1 was saying, though | had not been
worth a cent for some years past, and had
tlattered myself that l could by no posi-
bility lose by this crisis, the Unsuitable
rabble "fai ed" me the very day
that | arrived home. What man or what
men, what firm or what infrm, what
individual or what nation, could
stand a "run" if he or it had nothing to
pay with? | ask this in trumpet tones.
AS a matter of course | had to fail. And
! glory in it. That my creditors viii get
nothing causes me very little regret, for it
was simply their absurd action that caus-
| ed my suspension. And the losses which
they brought to my door, the sacrifices
entailed upon me by their stupidity, are
direful. My credit would have been good
for several months wear and tear had they
refrained from the fatal run | have lost
by this panic a chinchilla overcoat, velvet
trimmed, on which | counted to a certain
tv. AS it is, | have sent my linen buster
to an obscure tailor in the suburbs to have
a fur collar put to it; and having heard
that there is warmth in newspapers, that
| they make an excellent substitute for bed
clothes, | have ordered it lined with
Tribune supplements, so thai when called
to join The innumerable caravan that
move on in the hOrse-cars this winter, |
may wrap the drapery of my Evangelical
Alliance about me and sit me down to
scientific dreams,
K X x x K X X
You see, though, how I stand reverses.
The clothes on which | counted for the
winter are gone. But | do not despair.
| am not disheartened; the story of Bruce
and the spider is fresh in my recollection,
and | am buoyed up by the hope that l
may yet succeed in sticking some other
tailor. Other men have met with reVerses
equal to mine, time after time, yet have
struggled on, and by pcrsistently keeping
one object in view, have finally succeeded
in getting a good living and died rolling
in debt. | expect to resume and go on il
| can only find other people who are
willing to trust.
This may seem light and trifing on my
part. But | have an object in view. [
wish to make it plain to the public that
| did o fail because | wanted to; that
no business mismanagement can be laid
to my charge, insOmuch as my suspension
was only caused by the simple fact that [
happened to be owing a good deal
than | could pay; that it was only a stu
pid, senseless, idiotic, chowder-headed,
and wholly absurd run" that broke me;
and that mean to act honorably, and re-
sumo and go on, if | can find any new
customers-if | can find any tradesmen
who want a new customer, | mean.
They tell me down town that Commo-
dore Vanderbilt, Russell Sage, Daniel
Drew, Jay Gould, John Tracy-all the
big dealers-are nearly broken. regret
to hear it. To know that they are not en-
tiiStF " ID ~ NA'Sri vi bitlS lAtSoo III III wy
which | scarcely think | deserve at this
moment. For years these noble repre-
sentatives of the green bOards-if ever
there was a green-board it is certainly
this one of the Stock Exchange-have
divided their time between "watering'
and "milking." Not satisfied with ruin
ing the small operators of the street,
whose money has gone to feed their greed,
they nave ruined the roads under their
control, multiplying stock and scrip while
adding NJ real value to their property,
until a doubling Of the currency of the
country would not meet the need made
by their unwarranted issues. The inter
ests of stockholders have in no case been
represented or cared for. Every road has
been run as though Wall street was its
beginning and its ~terminus-as though
nothing was to be carried by it but their
own selfish ends And if, after sowing so
much wind and water, they have now
reaped the whirlwind and the deluge,
who shall sympathize with them, who
shall cry nay? To see their colossal
hulls lying stranded on the same rocks
where they have piloted and piled up
little craft without number, | would cross
from Hoboken or Brooklyn any day, and
lunch at one of the downtown dairies.
ACURIoUs discovery has recently been
-- = N.>~l ~--- l. II.