Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1878-08-10
THE MINING JOURNAL.
j. 3. ODER, EDITOR.
FROsTBURG, MD, AUG 10, 1878.

u
of much complaint among those Who
have the welfare Of our town some
what at heart:
/. The bad condition of the National
Pike.
2. The company store" business.
8. The diversion of trade to other points,
The first has driven away all our
valuable up-country trade, entailing
an immense loss upon our business,
and a serious falling-of in the sup
plies of country produce which came
from that quarter. Where, few
years ago, our streets were lined with
truck wagons, they rarely appear.
The direct results have been stated !;
the indirect are iucalculable, inVolV-
ing convenience, pleasure and health
all of which are more or less sadly
affected. Hardly a family but feels
it. Restricted by poverty, many are
out off from the purchase Of cheap
seasonable edibles, and compelled to
the monotonous use of costly articles
of consumption. 1t is almost impos-
sible to get pound of fresh butter IN
Frostburg. The people say they can
not afford to bring it in; they prefer
to put it up in old kegs and jars to
become sailed, stale, fiat, Improbable
and nauseous. A double loss.
Those merchants unsheltered and
unsupported by the vigorous patron :
age of strong corporations, find grlev-
Gus complaint against the abuse OF
chartered powers. 1t is a hackneyed
notion, perhaps, that charters are
granted by the people, somewhat in
the interest of the people. When,
therefore, some unwritten power is
used to the benefit of a business firm,
to the exclusion of all the rest, many
people instinctively rise up and IN
quire-"why is this?" The practice,
it is true, enables some men to collect
their wages in advance, but even this
concession has been reckoned ques-
tionable favor. At any rate, such a
lien is kept upon the laborers income
that he rarely sees cash, much less
dispose of a little outside. Now. it Is
claimed, that this concentration OF
patronage virtually destroys business
in its popular sense. If this be true,
and we have little experience which
yerifes it, something should be do1e
aggreesively to stop ii, or defensiyely
at least 10 mitigate the evil,
In the third place, are our COM
planning merchants doing .llthey can
to hold the trade, not appropriated
by company stores and which ere
while gravitated here from contiguous
points, We fear not. We have been
several times informed that the rush
from Pompey Smash. for instance, to
Ocean Mines, continues. More than
this, that people are still going there
and to Homecoming right out Of Frost
bury to buy goods. These people say
they can pay railroad fare to these
points and save money 1t is all hal
lucination to suppose that we cannot
furnish goods as cheaply as Ocean or
Homecoming, but it may not be to say
that we are not doing it, Perhaps
while complaining Of the company
store monpolies We have unconsciously
or otherwise adopted their prices as a
standard to reach or approximate. If
so, the logic Of lost trade is plain,
One of the beauties Of the free cash
buying system is, it is optional with
the purchaser as to where he buys,
that is to say, he is able to indulge his
fondness for buying where the cheap
est goods are sold. Whether this ap-
pearance is real or merely apparent,
the effect is.the same. 10 recover the
trade which naturally belongs to us
it must be drown here, and measures
should be devised at once having this
object in view.
Altogether, then, it is evident that
no more retrogradesteps should be TAX
en-, and that those whose results Cypress
us should be somehow recalled. We
need fair field, an open contest, no
favors, no prejudices liberated trade
and peoples rights. These are the
genius OF true republicanism-ot real
Observation-Disclosures always and ev-
erywhere popular among free people
IN tree countries.
The need Of summer hotel capa-
ole of accommodating several hun
bred guests was never more apparent.
r,