The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-05-04
A. T. Stewards Business FOrethOught.

On the day that the war began, clerk
who first got the news, frightened out of
his usual awe of his employer, came rush
ing into the inner shrine of Stewart, pale
and painting. g MIR. Stewart they are
fighting at Fort Sumter-the wars COM
menced." Mr. Stewart sent him to call
the heads of his business together. "How
much blue cloth have we got in the
store?' They told him. eco and buy
all there is in the market, and order all
you can hear of in the factories" The
men stared. How many shirts and
stockings have we got?" So many.
Well, buy up the whole stock in the
country that you can find" His people
thought he had gone crazy, but he went
on to give the same order about other sup
plies tor an army-and, when, a week
atterward, every Northern State was in
the market buying blue cloth and army
shirts and blankets, it was found that
Stewart had " cornercd' that whole class
OF goods. OF course he made fortune
out OF it. and he used to say that he could
afford to charge off all his southern debts,
after that little operation in the spring Of
1851. Such strokes show the nature OF
rolling in upon him. He never f lied in
ouoAuScoy hAA OAlS ouSC CduC LII ~ CdI
danger of tin 1887, when the panic
struck him. But he was prepared for it
instead Of going under, he rode on the
top of the wave, and increased his fortune
when most men lost theirs.
Stewart was not the inventor of the
lone price system" in selling goods BY
retail, but he forced it upon New York
dealers, and if he had not found it in use
somewhere he would have invented it.
His sales were made upon an absolute
basis Of three elements courtesy
and good bargain. He gave the buyer
all the advantage of his own skill in
selecting goods and his command of the
market-he let the buyer know politely,
and not obstrusively, what it was he was
buying. and then he took for himself the
fair profit, which he always meant to get.
He had great difficulty in compelling his
statesmen to be as civil to poor Bridget,
who bought nine. penny calico, as to
Mrs. Knickerbockcr, who spent 81 600 in
a single visit-but he did secure that equal
civility at last, and he profited by it. He
did not set up for a benefactor, but his
customers found out that they could RELY
upon him-he would neither cheat nor be
cheated. Nor would he speculate, in the
common sense Of that word; he confined
himself to bis own business, though he
extended that from retail to Wholesale
then from merely selling to importing,
then TO- manufacturing under his own
warehouse roof-and finally to large mill
manufacturing. All this was legitimate
and careful business extension, governed
by the soundest rules of political economy
IA science which he understood and
practiced better than most men. He
wished to be remembered for something
more than mere riches-and he had GER
tain taste both for literature and art, which
lie INDUCED without meanness and with
ont much ostentation. He did actually
admire. his own pictures. and read his
own Homer and Virgil in the original
which is much t0Tsay Of a New York
merchant. William B. Astor was a better
scholar, no doubt, but lie probably cared
less for it.-N. Y. Ger. Springfield (Aass.)
Republican. -.4.