Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-03-10
UPS AND DOWNS or LIFE.
why II IL Easier to Govern Than to Run
Grocery Store.

E,CSANN+s 1t was an ohServa-
tEf tion quite worthy Of
him, and one Of general application, for
there are many men who find it very difficult
TO get a living on their own resources. to
whom it would be comparatively easy to be
very fair sort of governor. Everybody
who has no official position or routine duty
on salary knows that the most irving mo-
ment in the twenty-four hours is that in which
he emerges from the oblivion of sleep and
faces life. Everything perplexing tumbles
In upon him, all the possible vexations of the
day rise up before him, and he is little less
than hero # he gets up cheerful
1t is not to be wondered at that pccSle
crave Office, some salaried position, in order
to escape tn" anXietieS, the personal response
bilities, of single handed struggle with the
world. 1t must be much easier to govern an
fsIand than to carry on almost any retail bust
ness. When the governor wakes in the morn
ing he thinks first of his salary; he has not
the least anxiety about his daily bread or the
support of his family. His business is all
laid out for him; he has not to create it,
Business comes to him; he does not have to
drum for it. His day is agreeably, even if
sympathetically, occupied with the troubles
of other people, and nothing is so easy to bear
as the troubles of other people After he has
had his breakfast, and read over the Con
stitution," he has nothing to do but TO
govern for few hours, that is, to decide
about things on general principles, and with
little personal application. and perhaps about
large concerns which nobody knows ANYTHING
about, and which are much easier to dispose
of than the perpleXing details of private life
t.a- 1.,,
a decision is really casting vote: hut that
Is much easier than TO scratch around in all
the anxieties of a retail business. Many men
who would make very respectable prcsi-
dents OF the United States could not sue
cesSfully run a retail grocery store The
anxieties Of the grocery would wear them
out For consider the varied ability that the
grocery requires-the foresight about the
markets, to take advantage of an eighth per
cent. of or on here and there: the vigilance
required 10 keep a full line" and not over
stock, TO dispose Of goods before they spoil
or the popular taste changes; the suavitv
and integrity and duplicity and fairness and
adaptabillty needed TO get customers and
keep them; the power to bear the daily and
hourly worry; the courage to face the ever
present specter of failure" which is said to
-.
the tact needed to meet the whiElS and TIC
complaints Of patrons, and the G.iTicui.y O;
getting the patrons who grumble most 70
pay in order to satisfy the creditors. Whcl
the retail grocer wakens in the morning be
feels that his business is not going to como to
HIM spontaneously; he thinks of his rivals,
of his perilous stock. Of his debts and deln-
quent customers. He has no Constitution
70 hv r,n+hsDor hut
Set against the world that day, and every
day the struggle and the anxiety are the
same What a number of details he has to
carry in his head CONSIDER, for instance
how many different kinds of cheese tlurS
are, and how different people hate and love
tie same kinCl. and how keen must
be his appreciation OF the popular
taste! The complexities ard annoy
Gnces OF his business are excessive and
he cannot afford 10 make many mistakes:
il he docs, he Will lose his business, and when
a man fails in business honestly, he loses
his nerve, and his career is ended. 1t i,
simply amazing, when you consider it, the
amount of talent shown in what are called
the ordinary businesses of life
1t has often been remarked with how little
wisdom the world is governed. That is TIC |
the head that wears q crown does not refer |
to the discomfort Of wearing it, but to the
danger Of losing it, and of being put back
upon ones native resources, having to run
grocery or to keep school Nobody is in such a
pitiable plight as n monarch or politician out
Of business. 1t is very difficult for either to
get living 4 man who has once enjoved
the blessed feeling of awakinG every morning
hat ho l,,s
despises the idea of having to drum up a
business by his own talents. 1t does not dis
turb the waking hour at all to think that a
deputation is waiting in The next room about
q poStoffice in Indiana or about the Goldfish in
Newfoundland waters-the man can take
second nap on any such affair; but if he
knows that the living of himself and family
that day depends upon his activity and intel
lgence, uneasy lies his head There is some
thing so restful and easy about public bust
ness! 1t is so simple! Take the aver
age congressman. The secretary of
the treasury sends in an elaborate
report-a budget, in fact-involving
complete and harmonious scheme of revenue
and expenditure. Must the congressman
read itl No; it is not necessary to do that;
he only cares for practical measures. Or
lHdnCldl Dlll IS DIOuEuJ III DpeS ne sluuN |
that bill! He hears it read, at least by title. |
Does he take pains to inform himself by
reading and conversation with experts upon
its probable effect! Or an international
copyright law is proposed, n measure that
will relieve the people of the United States
from the world wide reputation of sneaking
meanness toward foreign authors. Does he
examine the subject, and try to understand
it! That is not necessary. Or it is a ques-
ton of tariff. he is to vote "yes" or mo"
on these proposals. 1t is not necessary for
him to master these subjects, but it is neces-
sarv for him to know how to vote And how
does be find out that! In the first place, by
inquiring what effect the measure Will have
upon the chance of election of the man he
thinks will be nominated for president, and
in the second place, what effect his vote will
have on his own reelection. Thus the prin-
ciples of legislation become very much SIM
plifled, and thus it happens that it is com
paratively so much easier to govern than it
is 10 run a grocery store.-Editor's Drawer
In Harpers Magazine. -
STORIES OF MEN.