The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-09-03
DULL TIMES.


ent time, is under the ban of what
commercial men are accustomed TO
deignate as dull times. And dull
times are generally but conven-
tional phrase for short sales, few
buyers and a universal weakening of
the purchasing power of customers.
Dull times is not, as some people
broadly assert, mere ghost of the
commercial Imagination. 1t is to
business men q veritable entity
whose existence meets them in what
ever enterprise they are engaged.
Wares and statesmen are as abundant
and accommodating as in good
times, but they won't draw custom
ers because the latter are held back
by contrary and more potent forces.
Under the good times regime, buy
ers multiply in number and develop
much weight in orders, and the
trade, catering to these flush de-
mands, lays in heavy stocks, stimu-
lates production, and reaps the first
fruits of what seems to be but the
beginning of golden harvest. The
buyers exhaust their resources, the
harvest is blighted, and the next
announcement on the boards is
"dull times" Lying like an incu-
bus upon enterprise and industry
and seemingly an unmixed evil,
"dull times" nevertheless constitute
very curious and interesting pro-
blem in social economy.
In times when society existed
under more primitive conditions than
nowadays, the people floated on the
crest Of the topmost wave of pros
perity when the products of land
and sea supplied them plenty food and
clothing. Their wants were few, and
when moderately supplied, they re-
joiced in "good times" Nothing
short of famine or pcstilence was
pronounced "hard times" In the
conditions of modern society, it
would be very difficult to measure
the quantity of prosperity necessary
to produce good times. The ''wants"
of mankind are as a general rule in
satiable. To crafty them would
require unlimited resources. And
with respect to the buyer, ''hard
times" prevail to greater or less
extent in proportion as the Unsuitable
remains unsatisfed. The trader feels
the pressure of hard times in bur-
densome accumulations of unsal-
able wares, but at what point the
purchaser draws the line between
good and hard times is the most diff
ficult part of the problem to solve.
We read Of period in the history
of an ancient country when silver
was plenty as the pebbles in the
streets, and the Kings treasures
had gold enough to redeem all the
silver certificates, and yet enough
left to finish the rooms of public
buildings with golden lumber, but
that era of good times eliminated in
a bloody political revolution, fol-
lowed by centuries of bloodshed.
Periods of great prosperity are not
times of the greatest happiness,
either to the individual, the family
or the nation. II is when the shil
has every inch of canvas spread tina,
she may be in most imminent dan
ger. Fair weather and smooth seas
make careless seamen. And in the
same manner, booming prosperity
has, in the history of communities
been co-extensive with the wildes-
recklessness, both in business ant
in morals.
Dull times are not an unmixet
evil. They are often useful it only
to show what our real needs are
People are compelled to discriminate
between the real necessaries of life
and the Unsuitable demand for luxu