The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1885-02-05
MARIETTA, GA. THURSDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY s. 1885,
MODERN BUSINESS METHODS.

1t must be confessed that the diff
culties of doing good, square bust
ness in good, thorough, squar,
style are becoming greater and hard
er than ever to combat. Honest an(
honorable competition has given way
largely to series of petty shifts tt
gain mean advantage, and the bust
ness man who wants to do an honest
business has frequently to encounter
bold and INSCRIPTIONS lying among
his rivals. If young in business and
needy, he must solicit favors from
men he despises, and have transac-
tons with others whom otherwise
he would scorn to associate with
that it is a matter of difficulty
to be his plain honest self; but it
seems as if he must go on the Ex-
change or into the business world
with a set of actions, pretenses, and
even expressions that does not belong
to him but is assumed for that partic-
ular purpose, and all too often the
assumption gradually absorbs other
and better qualities of mind and
heart and becomes his real character.
Is he disposed to sell pure and una
dulterated goods, he finds his rival
taking his trade by an inferior arti-
Gle, offered at lower price, but af-
firmed to be its equal in every par
ticular does he do his work faithful
ly and use the best materials, he
finds himself underbid by a skillful
competitor, who cunningly works in
inferior material with careless and
cheap labor, and, worst of all, the
buyers will give the cheap bidder,
even when the quality of his goods
and workmanship are suspected, a
reader hearing.
Then what an immense advantage
the squarely dishonest man of to-day
possesses; he who does not mean to
pay, who buys on credit without cap
ital, and contents himself with mere
fractional profit, or no profit all, max
ing a failure, and being considered
rather honorable because he pays 80
cents on the dollar to his creditors /;
creditors who allow him to 90 on
with his stock of goods in direct com
petition with the honorable men
on the same street, selling the
self same goods bought of them at
the self-same first price, which they
expect the solvent party to pay in
full for. Does he originate a popu-
lar article, a method in business, OF
any invention that promises a profit,
let him be prepared for imitators who
boldly claim his ideas as their own
and others who will dub worthless
article with the title he has origina-
ted, and thereby bring the name into
disrepute.
We know that this keen race to be
rich, in the fierce struggle for the adj
vance in the fight for success, it will
be said that every man who enters
the business field must expect the
above to be the rule and not the ex.
ception, and the amount of praise
given to smart rascals, and the knowl
edge that the worlds first question il
not how man got his money, bu
has he got it, would seem to indoors,
this conclusion. But in spite of this
men have proved that it pays to com
bat all these obstacles, which ar,
principally efforts for a short road t.
wealth, and stick to sterling, sturdy
old fashioned honesty in trade, which
tells in the long run, notwithstanding
it may take a long run to make it tell
But there is a large class that will
pay for it, and pay handsomely
hence, though confidence may be o
small growth, the labor of rightly ac
curing it proves it's value, so tina
besides the conscientious satisfaction
enjoyed in the possession, it will b,
acknowledged, even as a business
move, that "honesty is the hes
| policy. > Boston Commercial Bulletin