Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1882-01-05

A correspondent of the Dover Del
GarGreGR makes the following peril
nent remarks on the subject Of home
enterprise
The great amount of clothing,
house-furnishing and Christmas goods
displayed in the store windows has
suggested thought or two about the
absurd custom of going to the large
cities to make purchase Of articles
which can be purchased as cheaply
and Of as good quality in our own
town. We say Of as good quality, be-
cause it is not the habit Of our mer-
chants to keep 3 stock of inferior
goods, neither il it for their interest
to do so-and on the other hand it is
bad policy to discourage them from
doing so by sending abroad for that
which they will sell at as cheap a rate.
Those who think that in order to get
a good carpet. or other article of fur
niture, or q serviceable coat, they
must 60 to the city, do not reflect
upon the probability that they will
fare worse in making their purchases
there than they would at home-for
the simple reason that they are not as
good JUDGES of what they buy as our
merchants are who make it business
and consequently are not as likely 10
be deceived in the quality of goods
We know. not long ago, an instance
Of this-of q lady purchasing a car
pet in Philadelphia and paying SC. a
yard more than exactly the same
goods was selling for in this town.
And when the time. travelling expen-
ses and freight are considered Il makes
q material difference in favor Of home
purchases.
"ln the one case you purchase Of
those who have no more interest in
you than to sell you the goods and
have to depend upon your own inex-
perience. In the other, you avail
yourself Of the experience of your
neighbor. whom you really make your
agent to buy your goods for you.
And in the majority Of cases you save
enough by this course to give him q
living profit. You are thus, to say
the least, as well of by your home
purchases, while you are helping to
build up the prosperity of your own
town. Besides, it does not seem quite
fair to expect our merchants TO keep
for our convenience what we are COM
pelled to buy at home, and not en-
courage them to do so BY buying 9th
er articles Of them which they will
sell usofas good quality at as low prices
as in the cities.
"Of course there are exceptions to
this rule. We frequently desire a
wider range of choice than can be af-
forded us at home. And some of us,
though not many. have the means Of
buying more costly articles than our
merchants can afford to keep. But
the rule, as such, Is good one for
ourselves. There is no one thing
which drains the country Of the pro-
ceeds Of our industry so effectuaIfy as
this sending money abroad not to re-
turn again.
"a ten dollar bill used in the pur-
chase Of goods in our own town will
sometimes come back to us in twenty
four hours in the payment Of some
debt to ourselves, BY the person TO
whom the merchant has paid that mo-
ney. The same principle applies to
the importation of labor instead oi
employing our own mechanics, whose
families viii expend here the wages
which they receive-while in the 9TH
er case it will be sent away. There
are other reasons which might be
mentioned for keeping in circulation
at home all the money that We can.
But not wishing to write an essay on
political economy We forbear.