Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1888-09-18
MISCELLANEOUS.
Monthly Auction Trade Jour-
nal for September.

One day an old personal friend of the long
ago. Aaron Clafin. who had uown tho ritter
thro al the terrible adyersities of the ireciaima-
l.ble past. stoodso the bottom floor of 4G6 and
aGS looking uptbzast he imeass, SIS ysiofssa aiuta
heaven. uncoDsciously whispered: "Grcat
God How did you do ID. CharleyS' gave
him the four mamoth mercantile monarks. ad-
ding that the little man in the brown coat was
always therc-usually 16 honrs a day. often a.
Once in the blak hours of the darkest days.
had ask him for twelve hours time ON u bill Of
II 600 The silk buyer had hot at the great
sale. He had been heavy sufferer in the
great disaster Cfpnt like nil others got the 100
cents uftcrwardsl. aud pat in plain and simple
language this pertinent question. "Are you
going to pull out?" Once in long while we
meet and he always quotes my memorable
anser then. 1t in thcs words " Uncle
Aaron. You stand at the million mark am
$50. 900 below the dcd level. l shall pass you
on the great comercial hiway in less than u
dozen years" AND DID.
The day before we Opend our masked bat
teries in 20. ! cald on my old friend of Dun's
Comcrcial Agency. Erastus Wiman, and tho
cud ask for no rating then, [ hoped he would
give his fair and candid opinion of my chances
for succs. aiding. ''The day will come when
shall have attained your hiest figures inside of
ten yeaIs." All me That cold steel eye
turned upon me mercilessly as he ansered,
% Then you will be one of million" over
shot the mark by nearly year, but it was a
close and desperate and audacious CUES stand
ing as did then the lower tier Of pandemo-
Mum, scorched by the fierce glare Of ten
! thousand birthstone furnaces.
| Thcs parallels and Illustrations arc not prompt
cd in any selfish spirit of egotism. for it is no
pleasure TO this ritter to dwell upon the hideous,
monsuous, melancholy memories of the ire
claimable past. thro the ages and agony of
that mercantile hel. Tha ar presented to yon
simply to show you what you can do if you
will arm yourself with grim resolution to folio
the short, sure. quick paths to the top.
! viii lead you from the crossroads to the vii
! Iage-and the town-and TO the city, and on TO
, the worlds scthing, whirling Metropolis-if
you viii. If not. then I will make you the au-
tocrat of that crosroad country among your
natiy hills and eternal mountains. ] viii lead
you to the gidy heights as his Satanic Majesty
did the meek and lowly Naznrcnc. wher with
| yOur uuanserablc artillery you will sweep the
! field of competition and slawter the hundred
percenter after the fashion of the ancient As
syriaDs in the Valley of Tophet.
It was slcdgehamers and triphammcrs to
meet impending disaster-in a word. it was
thes iron laws and thes unanserable arguments.
and not CHARLES BROADWAY ROUSS and
the desperate but unyieIding. unwavering and
unflnching band that followed. never looking
back or counting the ods-it was audacious
pink alOyed with single ounce OF gold a2enst
unlimited credit on regular terms. This in 4
nutshell is the story of 12 years from 23l
Church to 466 and f6s.
! II al lag in the iron law and not in the iron
band. and the same fxf. unaltcrabIe. unswcrv-
I ing rules will always win. You may boil it
down into four mercantile leviaihan--under-
! buy. underseI. cash down. This will COM
mand and demand success 90 ont of 100. OF
cours there exceptions-lazy people, like
sawdust. cloggiBg the savage circular saw
the blue gras chivalry and the Spectator. the
uncertain, unreliable. cratic riff raf wud newt
ably swamp under any and all conditions
! But the mcrest mercantile cOnscripts, with
ont an hour of experience. who can fgrre
( 25 per cent. and faithfully folio the cash before
delivery steel trak. viii crowd beyond the dead
line al competition. no matter what capital OF
zperience. under the old ded codes Of big
profits and long time.
The story of the Apple Pie Ridge Robinson
boys is iIlustrativ. Tha cam from the pIow 70
the Metropolis with $500. candidIy admitting
that tina had never stood behind the counter.
and wanted a year or two xperienc in hand
| ling goods. This ritter then told them that nc
xperienc was necessary-that the old Winches-
ter rule of p per cent. spot cash wOuld lead
them to top almost in day. Tha whirled