Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1888-03-06
MISCELLANEOUS.
February Auction Trade Jour
nal, 1888.

February Auction Trade Jour
nal, 1888.
How short and sure the straight paths that
lead to success and thro' this faithful sentinel.
that never sleeps and never utters n false ALARM,
has pointed Out the irou rules in u single sen
tence. yet how few will follow the inHcxiblc
lines,-in cold steel language about half u
dozen words: under-buy, under-scll, cash be-
fore delivery, twenty-five per cent. That's all
The old veteran has made up his mind that
he will try it one year visits one of our Rouss
Rebel Rackets and spends one day here in this
wilderness of auction values. then home again.
and his first days sales gives him forecast,
of his future triunpths. But many items Of
his bill are too cheap to give way upon that
advertising margin. He would be obliged To
let it go at thirty-two when 1t would be cheap
enough at scYenty-fve. 1t would be rattler
at fifty; to give it away thirty-two would be
suicide, and his broken resolutions render him
food for any close cash concern; atwenty-five
Per cent mercantile autOcrat would simply use
him us an advertisement. At thirty-two he
wouI have u World or Herald advertisement.
at seventy-ive he would drift down with tide
and the pledge that We wrung from him once
broken in his fatal aVarice his chances were
gone forever. The crowds that throng the
wareroOms of our successful close cntters
speak volumes of the advertising force of real
bargains. and prove beyond question that n
thousand close quick profits, money down.
will choke 10 death the ledger nan with his
dozen sales at a cruel, cold-blOOded ODc-huu
dred-one attracts. and the other repels; sim
ply matter of a year at the outside, then. the
only drop Ia the buekgt. tiit;S o make upths
annual story Of the years losses by the Credit
King which in 1887 was nearly zoo. .OOO. 600.
And even suppose you make big profit by
giving time. the fifty or one hundred per cent
does not enhance the final value of the ledger
on the inevitable day ut the paper mill Whose
best figure for old paper is one cent a pound.
The Bullion Gladiator has in the meanwhile
swept the horizon. Those who could not get
out of the way he rode OveI. His carpenters
are tearing down and building ny. he Is mnv-
ing from the lnipution r"t-trup to the iron
building. from his native town to carve bis
fame and fortune in the city where his admir-.
able nerve of steel and catgut. his real values
and his aggressive system would have full
scope and pIay-where population would be
where opportunity wonld be matched by chiv-
ralic genious and stern iron will power. II
was the metropolis that perfectly fitted the
lofty aspirations of Stewart. the throb Of Whose
fearless heart was always in unison with hi.
peerless brain. The world would: never have
heard of him had he lived aud died in the lit
tie. fast asleep. patriotic old Winchester hc
might have been n Jacob Senscney, or u Jacob
Baker. only n Charlie Rouss. Nothing
more. Here he stood ut the crossroads O
the worlds great highways. the centre Of com
Incrcc. at the gateway Of the American Con
tinent; he had n fair. square. even chance n
every business man amid civilization every
where. Aud there's many genius Of entIu
siasm in many 4 little town throughout Oul
land who might achieve vast fortunes 10y melt
ing his assets into coin and launch his craft il
the old blue ocean and hase full. free fair PLAY
with the intrepid giants Of the age There
many an eye that reads these words, in tho
! hard lines of whose furrOwed face can be reaC
the record of a hard and weary life. who feel
his own superiority in mimic, in trugic auC
pathos and in all that goes TO command sue
cess over the mediocre and liliput. but lack
the iron resolution to pull up stakes and junIl
D -A@@1
even illimitable chance with ten thousan'
other busy brains.
Mediocrity aud the bamboozing inIitator fol
low the emasses-ambitiOn and aspiration aTu
in arm with aggression march whole hcartc'
with perfect uucOncern forever. straight owe
every mOnstrosity that lay in the way-One
SUCCESS-and the other is FAILURE.
Where would Ridley have stood had he soil
his hard hitters upon the old way Of get al
! yOu eau - Macy fell twice upon that infernu
barbarism. and then turning upon the clos
spot cash It was but the nhirliDg revolution q
the great wheel of time. and the whole Enrl
had heard Of Macy. The very corner stone
of the Lord and Taylor boy in Catherine stree
was underbuy. underseIl WOuld these mag
nifcent fellows have ever touched the miIliO
line on the fifty per cent. ? Never ON Jebo
Vah's green earth. The same II true Of all tb
modern. progressive. popular. successful bus
iness men of this eventfuI age whose iron Wil
de6es the very thought Of fear or fail. and ye
intelligent merchants of vast abiIIty-men VIII
are perfect masters of :he profession in all it
detail. will buy and cell on time, they will pa
wild and c9ld-bIooded prices. charge eternit
profits aud go down after years of meHta
torture. leaving nothing bat a legend of ineX
orabIe fate "Poorer than poverty :" and hos
perfectly this awful picture matched the lif
long friend of this author-the peerless. unsul
| lied. faithful John W. Rice. We both emerge
from the ruins of the great rebellion PuIveI
lied beyond recognition. his credit was as goo
for his wants as the Bank Of England tn
writer had none. king credit pursued him meI
6lessly and we as unfinohingly followed tn
almighty dollar The liliputian of Churc
street in that black year of panic. 1875 Cwhei
more than 250.coO.OOO Of values were blOtte
ont believed that per cent. was at whOlesal
what 25 per cent is at retail-tbe short cut {
the top, flung around that little rat-trap hi
auction bargains of Iess than one hundred dol
lars The pedler aud A T Stewart stOo
upon the same footing there, both had .