Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-02-01
For the Bulletin.
The Conservative SOLDERING Again.

For the Bulletin.
The Conservative SOLDERING Again,
| Failure after failure, every day, and still the
government turns down the screws Conserua-
| the, Jan. %.
The above is the irrepressible wall of
kind and sympathetic soul, in view of
the crash that is visiting the trading
men and spectators of the country. In
its charitable heart it sympathizes with
every form of disappointment, no mat
ter whether the enterprise was possible
or whether it deserved success, if it
failed it is sure Of the commiseration of
the loving heart of the Conservative. If
man tries to lift himself by his boot
straps, or fatten his horse on one white
bean per day, or put salt on the tail of
a bobOlink, and fails, the tender Conser-
uatire will condole with him in his be-
reavement, and with the eye of seer
forthwith trace the responsibility for
the sad outcome to the very door of the
government!
If it had lived in the days of Mother
Goose, and had witnessed the embarka-
ton the three wise men of Gotham
who went to sea in bowl" it would
have tied up the ocean breeze that
watts the worlds commerce from port
to port, till the impious trio had made
a safe harbor, or, if their voyage mis-
carried them, would be never more at
peace till we had change in the admin
istration.
Failure after failure" "Who fails?
Has single farmer East or West,
North or South, failed who was indus
trious, prudent, and careful not to run
into debt? Not one. But those farm
ers who trampled common sense under
foot and disregarded every known nee
essary condition of success have failed,
are failing, and will always fail, and
would fail with any possible financial
system, unless Providence is so kind as
to work miracle for them every year,
or the country will adopt the currency
advocated by the gentle Conservative,
that will depreciate faster than their
folly can increase.
| The failures in the business world are
for another reason, namely: every branch
is Overdone to an idiotic and suicidal de-
gree. For example, there are three
drug stores in Jesup, and if we were to
have couple of cases of measles we
should double our number, no doubt,
though our present stock is sufficient to
keep all Iowa on it's back for a twelve
month. Now, the very truth is, there
is not drug business enough in this
town to support more than one man
and small sized one at that. Every
kind of business in the county is over
done about after the same proportion
Let us illustrate. Buchanan county is
a very good place to live in, the people
are honest, and it's traders will give you
the worth of your money. [ like Bu-
chanan countyFvery much. Now let us
| figure. This county has 100 stores of
various kinds and degrees. Some are
costly, spacious and elegant, and run at
a cost Of several thousand per annum
Others are humber, and cost only as
many hundred | think it is calling the
average low enough if we say $1,000
each for the lot, for it covers rent, clerk
hire, fuel, insurance, interest and re-
pairs. 100 stores at 81 300 each, $780,
000 There are 125 owners of these
stores to be supported from the bust
ness, and as they generally live quite
comfortably, $500 is a low average. 125
owners at $500 is an even 100000, add
ed to cost of running, we have the re-
spectacle sum of $23O,0O0, the cost to
the community of barely keeping the
stores, without giving the owners any
profit.
The population of the county Is H.
500, or, calling 5 to the family, $500
families; that is 35 families to the store
at cost of $65 to each family just to
keep these stores running, and when we
reflect that we must pay profit above
this to cover bad debts and shortage,
and allow the owner to make little
money, we see that the cost of the gen
teel class known as traders in our coun-
to is fully 500 to each family therein
an amount quite large enough, certainly.
But other counties have more stores,
and as you travel in some sections of
the Middle and Eastern States you will
find store" to every 20 families. This
excessive superabundance of business
is due in part to the inherent laziness
of men, but more to the imitation follow
ing the war. A few then in trade be-
Cdlllc IlllllOHdlIcS Ill a lew years anu
men grew wild. A. Il. Stewart made
fourteen millions in three years, and it
turned the heads of half the young men
in the land, and many doting father
who had laid by little money by hard
knocks on his farm, thinking he saw a
Stewart in his son, set him up in bust
ness and signed his paper; and now he
(the doting father is groaning under a
load of debt from which death alone can
release him.
SO there are three times too many
business men in the country middle
men. as the Conservative used to call
them-and it is fearful burden on the
producing class to support them. 1t
should comfort the Conservative to see
it's labors (when IL was young granger)
for the extinction of the middle men
now bearing fruit. 1t should talk no
more of government turning down the
screws-the government don't turn any
screws-it ahould cease it's lamentations
and dry it's weeping eyes, and wipe its
doleful nose, and take down it's Anti
Monopoly harp from the willow, where
it is hanging in melancholy silence, and
tune it anew to song OF triumph, be-
cause the work of the Lord is prosper
ing, and the burdens of the poor are be-
ing removed, and failure after failure"
is coming upon the oilers and drones.
Sing! O Conservative, sing with the gay
birds that send their warbling notes to
heaven; sing with the sainted Watts:
Relieving, we rejoice,
To see the curse removed
And sing with the inspired Ethiopian
on the camp ground:
Satan's Kingdoms tumbling down,
Hallpl,Iinhi