Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1873-11-20

bed night afiernight TO toss on his pillow
thinking where the money is coming from the
next few days TO keep him from being driven
to the wall. Ayel with your bins full OF
cash wheat, even at sacrihce, pay your
debts Pay for what you have eaten and are
wearing out, that he owes for And then,
gentlemen, you will have a right (and not till
them to stand up in your Oranges and talk
about ELEvATING the position, socially, of the
agricultural community OF our country.
Yours, COUNTRY MERCHANT.
This is what "Country Merchant
has to. say to the farmers, and |
hope farmers will read it and heed
it, Now | have a word or two TO
say to Country Merchant" He
talks of "back bone" How much
backbone" has he? Let US see.
He says:
AS the poor merch ant who owes in Milwaukee,
Chicago, New York or Boston cannot sustain him
! self on this kind of commercial honor, he goes 10
protest, loses his credit, becomes bankrupt, or
near it. and all because he is afraid Of offending his
backbone constituents by insisting on what 10 only
Right here is the trouble. The
country merchant is "afraid of Of
Tending" his farmer customer, SO he
lets him drag in his payments, while
he goes whining to his creditor be.
cause he can't collect what is due
him. Does Country Merchant try
to collect2 Does he insist upon get
ting what is his just due, Just when
it is due2 Does he crowd Squire
Corncrib, and tell him he must come
to time or have the lawyers and the
sheriff after him ? In short, does
Country Merchant himself show the
least particle of "hack hone" in his
dealings with his well-to-do obstre-
porous farmer customer? No, sir.
Mr.. Country Merchant is "atraid of
offending" He begs and whines for
pay from Squire Corncrib, and goes
on selling more goods to that honest
yeoman who was never known to
sell bushel of wheat on O raising
market because he always expects |
1t Is going higher, and who never
pays Country Merchant until he
gets ready. When absolute want
and commercial dishonor stare him
in the face, Country Merchant per-
haps whines so hard that Squire
Corncrib gets mad and says swell
if Smith don't want to trust me,
Jones will" What does Country
Merchant do then? He sits down
and writes an eloquent plea to his
city creditor, placing all the blame
upon his farmer customers. | tell
you, Mr.. Editor, Country Merchant
is just as much to blame for the bad
business habits of the farmer as the
farmer himself. Tho farmer never
expects TO pay his dobt at definite
time because be has never been
obliged to. Country Merchant as.
sert his rights. Let him fight for
them. Let him determine not to go
TO the wall because the farmer ous-
toner who is richer than he won't
pay his just dues. Let him not be
"afraid of offending" Let him in
form Squire Corncrb that he shall
not get another yard of goods or a
gallon of kerosene on credit until he
squares his old account. Let him
tell Squire Corncrib to go to Jones,
or any other place, TO do his trading
until he can walk up and pay his
little bills like a respectable business
man. Let him place his account, it
need be, in the hands of young Law
Calf.
If Squire Corncrib is the man
take him to be, he will respect and
honor creditor who adopts man.
ly course like this. The farmer is,
after all, to some extent a rational
being. He is not much worse, if not
much better, than the rest of man
kind. He will bully and despise his
creditor if his creditor will let him,
and be will respect him if he won't.
The farmer is slow and irregular and
business-like about paying his debts,
because he has never been taught
any better. 1t is the business of the
country merchant to teach him that
debt is debt, and that it must be
paid when pay ment was promised,
whether wheat is two dollars or a
dollar FIVE. The country merchant
is, 10 my opinion, the man who
stands most in need of "back bone. "
Yours Respectfully,
CITY MERCHANT.
MILWAUKEE, Oct, 80.