Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1877-02-22

ana cOmpaSseS my DAYS.
I'm not in love, my love, oh, no!
But thou art held there tight.
Send ME 1.-THE poor 0utsider) dear,
One little ray oflight.
Bid me approach, and enter in,
So, both our lives may shine,
That may also be in love
Like thee, my Valentine.
Tales of My Grandfather.
A Trade With John Jacob Aston.
From the y. Y. Times.
"You see in those days. said my
grandfather, 1--WE knew nothing at all
about telegraphs. am sure that with
your ideas you will not think as do,
and fancy we must have had no end Of
trouble to obtain information about
the markets of the world.''
"Why, grandfather, the world must
have been really small in your time, at
least for business-there was. tor IN.
stance, no Australia, said one Of the
grandchildren. "Granted, my son,
but there was no end of countries
which then had no manufactures or
goods. and we used to supply them.
Five or six great cities in Europe and
two or three in America used to be
the great depots, and distributed the
goods. But, as I was saying, we got
along quite we'll without telegraphs,
for 50 years ago a merchant was one
in every sense of the word, and always
had his eyes and his ears open. We
got up early in the morning and went
to bed late. Now, no one OF you goes
to his ottics before 10 O'Clock, and you
come home ut or i o'clock, and com.
plain of a hard days work! am GER
tain that most of the money made
was earned before 10 O'Clock in the
morning. Special knowledge, to re
turn to the merchants of my time, ex
listed quite as much as it does to-day,
but the general acquaintance with
mercantile matters was much more
universal. A merchant knew about
the products of every country, and
could carry out the whole business for
himself. No middlemen were wanted.
l could buy anything I wanted because
/ could rely upon my own judgment as
to price and quality. If wanted to
sell, I knew the wants of the purchas.
ers, or could wait for people to buy
from me. l wonder if didn't know
as we'll as the next man what
my cargo of sugar, or coffee. or
tea, or Of hides was worth.
I know, again, that there is not
one of you who will agree with me,
but middlemen are just eating up the
substance Of the country. Brokers are
worse than ship rats, for they keep
nibbling and nibbling until all the
profits are gone. Let a lot of goods
pass half dozen times between whole
sale purchasers, when a speculative Pc
Rod comes on, and just add the differ
ent brokerages, and see how much it
comes to. I never used a broker in
my life save when l wanted to pur-
chase some money securities in the
market. When l did big business
and rented large store on Water St.,
saving my insurance brokerages, which
l attended to myself, paid my rental.
I went out of business many years be-
fore the present system of collecting
duties was imposed. am not going
to argue with you about free trade or
protection, though, upon my word of
honor, with all your boasted science,
we old fellows-or young fellows then
used to study our Adam Smith,
which is something more than either
your smart traders or sagacious legis-
lators do nowadays. Now you tell me
that we couldn' get along without a
Custom-house broker, because the
whole system is so complicated. 1t
seems to me crying injustice when
the simple clearance Of box, or bale,
or a barrel through a Custom.hous
becomes 50 difficult thing that a
special man has to be hired. It is
against common sense. Is aman, be.
cause he imports single case Of goods
to be considered as law.breaker ?
And must a Custom-house be held as /,
court, and the simple act Of making
an entry, require the services of Gus.
tom.house lawyer! It is an absurdity,
and one which am told does not ex.
ist in any other country in the world.
don't want to think that the men of
the present day are all thieves and
rascals, intent on swindling the Gov.
eminent. Good, sound common sense
must come round some day, and the
system of collecting duties or clearing
goods, will have to be simplilied. The
money from customs was not made to
benefit brokers, but the country.
Most of you smile," said our GRANDPA.
Their. as he lifted up his spectacles !;
"for aught l know, some of you may
be brokers, but l have always regarded
yeu as the Delilahs of trade. Tbere!"
'But grandfather, you had a limited
market in those days, you know.and''-
"Stutt, nonsense; you young fellows al.
ways bring forward that argument
like that new tangled idea of other
worlds. Was there no business done
in Philadelphia, New York, or Boston
50 years ago! Jput Philadelphia first,
because, before the big fire, she did
more business than New York. You
take and study the population of those
cities half a century ago, the popula.
ton Of the country, and the amount
of business done, and you will see at
once what nonsense you are talking.
The ratio of business was larger.
Trade was more constant and more sat-
isfactory. We wero not in any awful
hurry to get rich. We knew we'll
enough that fortune gained in a day
was lost in minute. Things did not
tumble down to nothing in an hour
time. Coffee might shade off quar-
ter Of a cent in a month, or tea adj.
vance a half cent and nobody hurt.
When we made importations we could
rely on something. Freight, exchange,
value of money, were not at skies and
sevens. The telegraph did not come
in every five minutes and completely
change things. We didn't tinker with
tariffs" The old gentleman was evi.
IDENTITY losing his temper.
"But, grandfather, what about your
first business transaction with Astor -
one Of US asked. Now, our much be.
loved grandfather had told this story q
hundred times, but as it gave him
pleasure to repeat it, he regained his
good temper at once, and thus com.
menced:
"Oh, about John Jacob Aston! l