American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-04-12

And the old Lady sheathed her knitting
needles, and danning shawl and hood, de
parted, screaming out, "Liddy, Liddy.
! want tew see you a minnit. - Wood
Household Magazine.
| Number One.
Our article on the "egoistic and altruis
\ tic theories" has drawn out q number O
communications from our readers, show
| ing the hold which the discussion has
| taken of the public mind. One of thes,
| writer's claims to have been startled b,
| our announcement that hristianity anc
sound. political economy alike require
every man to love his neighbor as him
self, and he asks how this is possible ii
sists that he consults his own Interests
alone in every bargain. and that mar
| who does not look after number one
win soon go to the wall.
To this we reply that every mans OWL
| interest, and a due regard for the initia
number indicated, require an equal con
| sheraton for the interest of others. Ii
the only consideration of bcotmaker- is
| to obtain ten dollars for pair of boots,
and he has no consideration for the inter
est of the buyer, he will soon lose his
custom. He must see to it that if he asks
ten dollars for his work he gives the Gus
toner ten dollars worth of boots. There
is no aAtagonism of interest, but a mutual
profit. The best workmen are evermore
| looking out for customers who will APP
preciafe their skill and faithfulness, and
every honest customer is in quest OF a
workman who will gixe him the value OF
his money. The buyer who is seeking 10
cheat the maker by employing him at a
price too low, and the maker who is seek
ing to obtain his price without giving the
buyer good article az an hofest equiva-
lent for the money, are each acting on
the segoistic" theory, but not in a true
seh-inteFest.
This is the great mistake made by those
who, through artificial means, endeavor
to circumEent the laws of trade and Sc
cure for their calling an undue relative
price. Tho journeyman who makes the
$40 boots insists that 81 is not enough
for his labsr, and atrikcs for 80, or re
fuses to work. If his employer gives 50
and continues to sell for $40 he is ruin
ed, and the workman loses his place. If
the employer raises his price to s12 the
extra cost diminishes the demand. The
old boots are worn longer, shoes are sub
stituted, some go with bare feet, and in
various ways the sale is diminished. In
addition, the extra cost of boots, increas-
them, augments the cost of everything
the journeyman has to buy, so that his
selfish effort has resulted to his absolute
disadvantage. 1t is for the interest of all
who have anything to do with production
TO give the consumer his fair equivalent
in good article at reasonable price.
Any other course, however sagacious it
may appear, is really injurious to its
"egOfstic" author.
In oI, ~
pie in the direct interchange of this class
of services. They can see far enough to
recognize the fact that the doctor for his
patient, the lawyer for his client, the ar
tisan for his customer, must act on the
principles we have stated. and best con
suits his own interest when he works for
the interest of his patron. But they are
often blind to the evidence, ebundantiy
offered TO one>of quick discernment, that
the same law holds true in The mere dis
tribution of products. 80
An old merchant Of this city once told
us that he thought more tradesmen faile1
through lack of interest in their Gus
toners welfare than for want of devo-
ton to what they selishly considered their
own advantage. This merchant was
noted when in the retail trade for his
candor in advising his customers against
any purchase which he thought would
not give them permanent satisfaction.
He would always forego sale if he be-
lieved the article under examination was
not the one which the buyer really
required. When he left the retail
trade, and engaged in a large wholesale
business, he continued to practice upon
the same principle He did it conscien-
tiously as matter of duty; but he al
ways insisted that it was also the true
mercantile policy. His customers could
pay him because they were enabled to
sell everything they bought of him at a
profit. They liked to trade with him be-
cause he sought their interest, advised
to clear out his own stock, transfer to
their shelves any article he did not be-
lieve they could turn to advantage. he
would often take back to his own present
loss, some fabric which proved unstable.
He called such dead stock ''shopkeepers,
and he often declared that he would
ratker dig hole in the ground anc bury
them than to have them lie year after year
on the shelf of his patrons, continual
reminder that they had made bad bar
gain in the purchase. 80
This may sound strangely to some of
the fast young merchants of our day, but
it is the true theory of business. The
distinguished writer we quoted in our
last article may sneer at this as an "altru-
IstIc" method, IuinOus to enterprise, be-
cause 1t seems more outgoing than self
seeking; but we can assure him and all
others who will listen, that He who wrote
for every subject the grand requirement,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy
self, has with the same hand established
the irrepeaiGble laws Of trade, and
breach of one is a violation of the other.
He who seeks his own interest in loving
regard for the well-being of others viii
find the rule OF Christian ethics profita-
bic for the life that now is, as well as for
that which is to come.-H. y. journal q
Commerce..
Prof. Levi, of London, in a paper
which he has published on British taxa
ton makes the estimate that of the ninety
million pounds sterling of taxation, i'm
peIial and local, paid BY the whole peo-
PIE, the working classes pay one-third
and the middle and higher classes two
thirds. The average taxation of the
working classes is set at 2Ss Cd ner head:
and out of every pound sterling of taxa.
ton borne by the working classes IL is
that ~. sd. is paid on spirits,
3s. on beer, and IS. on tobacco, leaving
only thirty-four per cent. of the whole to
he derived from the actual necessa-ies OF
life.
The gentleman SO often spoken Of in
novels, who riveted people with his gaze,
has obtained employment in a boiler MANI
factory, with extra pay, on account of his
peculiar faculty.