The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-05-27

plus Iue oApcHSe OF ITelSEG anu manu-"
| ling. the bad debts which he has lost
during the year reduces his profits TO less
than living, if they do not, indeed,
change the balance from the credit side
of the ledger to the debit side, and one
or two repetitions of the bitter experience
forces him to the wall, and he in turn
becomes bad debtor upon the books of
the wholesale dealer, who is compelled
to figure upon such losses and to make
himself good by proportionate increase
of the price of his merchandise to the
retail dealers all over the land.
The burdens which this system impose
upon business are manifold; but there
seems to be no remedy found for them
The system has grown up under the idea
that it is enterprsng to engage in bust
ness without capital; that it is respecta-
Bile to live in advance of ones means and
to put on an appearance of being what
in reality one is not. There may be
and they often are-occasions and cir
cumstance which render the mourning
of temporary liability not only proper
but highly judicious; but to say that
those circumstances recur constantly
with every business man, and daily with
every family and private individual, is
certainly absurd; and the system without
any doubt covers multitude of respect
able dead-beats, who Systematically take
advantage of its opportunities to secure
that for which they never expect to pay,
and for which they know, in all reason,
they will never be able to pay.
If it were possible to bring the entire
business of the country to basis that
should sell strictly for cash, industry and
self-respect should be promoted, and the
means of the entire community enhanced.
1t is not impossible, even under existing
circumstances, for individuals and for
business men to conduct their affairs
upon this basis, and there are notable
examples here and there in private and
business life, where all transactions are
concluded at the time they are made by
and such a business man, when faced
with difficulties and with losses by reason
of a decline in the volume of business or
general decline in values, is able to
withstand the pressure.
A prominent business man, during a
period of continued financial depression,
was heard to soliloquise to the effect that
he was growing poorer, he was losing
money every day; as he watched the
course of business and the state of the
markets he could write off t he
reduction in the value of his stock to
profit and loss. and could see his assets
measured by dollars and cents gradually
dwindling away; "but,' says he, -
will never become bankrupt; because
all l have is mine and it is paid for, and
while it is worth less to-day than it was
yesterday, it is all there. There is as
much of it in quality as ever, and it is
mine.n While other merchants around
him, on the right hand and on the left,
succumbed to the hard times, compro-
missed with their creditors and disap-
peared from business circles, he COM
posedly' bided his time, and with the re-
vival of business found ample opportuni-
ties to regain all that he seemed for a
time to lose.
1t can not be claimed, however, uni
versal the credit system has become, and,
however, deeply the community may
become imbued with its fascina-
tons and its false assumptions of
advantage, that the idea of doing
business under all ordinary circumstan-
ces upon strictly cash basis is utopian
and impractical. But to accomplish its
adoption to any considerable extent,
probably requires more moral courage
and devotion to principle than is ordi-
narily possessed. darlington Ha'ok-Eye.