The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-03-19

Baying for Cash.
A prominent business man Of Wheeling,
Of long experience and large intelligence,
sums up Lis idea Of the credit system by
saying that is the financial and CONNER.
cial gas that periodically explodoSthe bust.
ness Of the country and entails ruin upO n
thousands, live did business for cash we
should 90 slower but make moro real pro.
gress, and save the country from IN inf
mite deal Of distress and suffering.
There Is a great deal in this view OF busi'
ness. No doubt the credit system is the
explosive ingredient in trade. A people
doing business for cash never can have a
panic. Nobody can be spread outor get in
debt at any body else's expense. Every
thing would DO bought and sold on Its
merits, and not because It could be purchas.
cd on time. One reason why reCuperation
from panic is so slow is because people
afterwards avoid the creditSystem rs much
as possible. A panic destroys confidence
and confidence Is necessary to credit. The
present tendency Of trade is TO buy for
cash or on short time. The Chicago Tin'e'
says that the Country merchants are dis
covering that it pays to buy with cash in
hand, especially when they deal
in clothing, boots and shoes, hats
and caps, and the like. All these
lines make a reduction Of OF per cent when
payment is made within ten days, and s
per cent when made within thirty days.
A capitalist looks upon ner cent rs a good
investment, and II the country merchant
is able to pocket that to start with he has
quite a margin to fall back upon. II iSan
excellent sign that country merchants are
struggling forward to reach this point, and
It Is an ambition that should be encour-
aged. It's q sale business. Working on
cash basis the country merchant is his
own master. He can buy where he pleases
and when he pleases. He will he more
than ever sought, and having the "whero-
with" 1t will come pass that he can pick
up quite bargain every now and then"
This is not only true in regard to whole
sale but also retail business. The cash
system was never more popular than
now. People associate Cheapness with
the cash system, aud whenever they have
money they go to places where businessi is
done exclusively for cash, on the theory
that such places can afford to sell at
shorter profits than at places where credit
is granted and bad debts created. Com.
mon sense teaches any person Of intelli.
gence that merchandise sold en- credit Is
a form OF investment for four or SIX
months, and must be compensated for
either directly or indirectly, either in the
way Of interest or higher prices, saying
nothing Of the per cent. Of insurance that
must be paid 10 cover certain amount Of
losses certain to be made by any man who
does business on credit.
In Theirs account Of the credit system
created by John Law in France, he men.
tons the genealogy that tho satirists, after
the Mississippi bubble had burst, ascribed
to the system. 1t is one that has never
been forgotten by the French to this day,
and no people in the world have greater
horror Of paper credits than tile French.
Hence the comparative immunity from
disturbance and disaster with which
they have passed through the present
commercial depression in Europe. The
gcnealogy Of paper credits was thus traced
after Laws failure and fight.
"Beelzebub begat Law-Law begat Mis-.
sissippi-Mississippi begat tbcsystem-
system begat paper -paper begat the bank
tho bank begat notes notes begat
shares = shares begat stoCkbrokerage -
stockbrokerage begat the Register
Register begat the Account the Account
begat the General SChedulC-tlle Schedule
bcgat Zero, from whom all power OF repro.
duCtion was taken away"
This is an epltomc Of the history Of a
memorable epoch OF credit in France.
This country has passed through an era
strikingly similar. We have reached zero,
"from whom all power of reproduction
was taken away" and hence are forced to
create values anew, instead Of depending
onsomoanteceden stimulus. And this Gre.
alive process is slow. live could keep to
the cash system in business the youngest
child now born would not live long
enough to sec panic, but inasmuch as
VIC will in all probability launch out again
after the old fashion, as fast as circum.
stances will permit, it is altogether prob.
able that many now in middle life will
live to see another collapse.