The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1882-10-18
Unnecessary Oei"y IN Business
m

l. SNfAtENAffE- #0~~ W.
in business transactions has laieiy beer
sect ami lrlt ~ the people Of Athens
GA The New York Of Davenp'ft. J hn
,on & Go. DECIDED to invest 81 5uo VS
in a cotton factpy ~ Athens, and viii
that view purch .>ri the SI"uhi '"'
quite a !arce sum. >lme trouble at'oui
the title aro>e and, after waiting u Ntl1
for il 10 tie settled. the puTcha'ers sen
their own awvtrlo harrs up the matter
bu: DELAY after iylaN Wa asAei Tor uhtit
N last patience Va exhausted AMI e.
titles were forthcoming. The MONEY
vas Withdrawn and the pan aban-
doned. Thus the Gag 81 Athen>
lost the opportunity Tor being
the seat of the second largest cotton
manufacturing concern IN the SoUfh
which would probably have glv'n IN
ployment 10 from 1900 20 1000 hands
Nessrs. Davenport, Johnson X - then
turned their attention TO Atlanta, and,
finding the advantages Of that citt very
good. decided 10 build their cotton uaili
ID that thriving town. Work upon the
building viii. it Is said. he commence
this winter. Thus another great manu-
factory will be added 10 Atiantas IN
dustres. Baltimore journal Of toHl-
merce.
We copy the above t. add our earnest
seconding thereto. Puuctuality Is one OF
the most serious lessons that Southern
ers. as 2 mass. nave to learn; and des
patch Of business, at the earliest posi-,
DE moment, is another. There are, 81
course, many excellent business men IL
the South, and you will often hear the
remark f old so-and-so tells you a
thing, or promises you a job by = CERTAIN
hour, You can count on II to the very
minute even if he have TO work all night,
or sell his shirt, to keep his pledge.
Unfortunately The very fact that such
men are pointed out as examples snow,
tina they are special cases, or "exceP-
tons instead OF being ''the rule.
Yet there is no people IN the fec" OF
the earth who take more pride in Their
honesty, their truth, and their persona
honor, The KEY to this seeming para.
dox lies in the easy habits Of our people
who have not been educated to regard
thine" as .'money." Few persons re-
fleet that it is dishonest to promise a
thing, and her break their promise, be.
cause it was not altogether convenient
to keep it, Few persons reflect that even
ifthey could excuse themselves, they have
no right to make another man lie. Yet
very often A. tells b - will c~eftutniD
pay you Saturday night" He counts
on the promise of G, who re-
lies on d, who perhaps mas the money
in bank, hat being busy, doesn't care t.
Inconvenience himself to draw a ctcck.
Thus 4. b and e, are each made to lie
to one another and possibly some pooI
soul whom y was to pay on Saturday
night i left without a penny to buy his
SUNDAY food, and fuel.
There are many similar illustrations
We could name numerous instances
within the last SIX years in our own bls-
mess, small as it IS. A paper~maker
may promise to keep us supplied with
paper. We rely upon him, until some
day we are told hat another editor want
ed a big order, and all the paper on hand
was sold to him WhereupOn we are
forced to spend several dollars in tele
graphing, freight, etc in addition to the
loss Of time and detriment to our bust
ness. Yet the manufacturer would think
very hard of our telling him that it was
dishonest to take five dollars out of our
pocket by his broken promise.
a pressman may engage to do our print
ing, and We rely upon him, until some
day he wishes to see a show, and by hi,
delay makes us lose the mails which a
but once a week, aud thereby damage
us to the amount of perhaps $40 (for
| when a subscriber has ridden II miles t.
the post office to get his paper, and is
obliged to return empty-handed, he l.
apt to conclude that he will try some
other which can be relied upon to come
regularly this Iressman would be sur
prised to be tol that it was as bad to
steal time" as money"
There are hosts of such cases, in every
day life. And 5 for keeping engage
ments ITO the minute, hup,"-n not one
Southerner in five hun red cver does it.
We have served upon hundreds of com
mittees' of one sort or another, and
never yet knew of a punctual assembling
of all the committee at the hour named.
Generally when the work is about hall
done, two or three members s~traggle in,
and after excusing themselves by saying,
1--WE stopped to chat with a friend OF
81 was taking a nap or II wanted &c
finish a letter, they request to know
what has been done," so the whole plo
ceedings must be gone over again
thereby wasting the time Of eight or ten
gentlemen, and perhaps making them
break engagements elsewhere.