Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1889-01-31
January 81 1850.
LcirOSprciion.

As we pass the mile>ionos of the years
hat uhirl by it is we'll worth while to look
hack over die irrrclaimahlc past to see
where and how we stand. Eighteen eighty
-i-ht has swept into eternity with record
that wi be hard to beat. and vet we slall
try Ia double it in eielty-ninc. We are
here within these walls yet another year
we offered one million for Ten years lease
If the uptown Slcw.rt building. We mu-t
louble our present quarters or quit To
stand It'll is impos.ibc We must increase
in volume and rapidity until there i no high
rr altitude. autiI the Great Lawgiver takes
this hand in Ills and leads out into the un-
known eternal Then come b 'ck with Us
through these twelve cventfrl years and
read again the recor l. us they fell from the
unaIlcred cast-iron system of five. percent
net spot cash.
Our little pile at he starting in Church
liecl has b,comc historic and is still re-
mcmb,rcd by many nld personal friend" Of
ihi- writer, among whom ON HAT evrnllul
day were three whose pathetic dust minges
with The countless dead in Greenwood and
Calvary. James Warllaw freely de clAr,d
that five per cent would never ray unless
in great aggregates, hut added that it would
he in,i as chose to make. John Rice look
ed hopel sly at the dozen little lots from
IIoyl and Topping and said simply iii can't
hr done" "Eut | will " He an-wercd.
You may because you have shown what
man can do after Appomnrtox. hut there's
ju-t one chance in milinn" Poor un-
happy Pcake gave glance aI the mpiy APP
pcarance of that unforgotten "liole in The
vail" they called it thcn) aud with q far
away look, asked where's your good>?" |
pointed around the floor In Il voice that
seemed To come up from his bnotlcg-. he Ut
lcrcd one solitary wprd-Nervc-and WAS
gone.
With that pile of less than $50 in that
ltllc rar.trap, we sold the fr-t year half Il
million! The landlord had run the rent
from one dol ar day rn 81 500 year.
We were crowded and chnked up, double
force day AMI night. There WAS but one
remedy. and we remov,d d to SOL Broadway
II 1878, where we Iun ahead of tie million
with case at The end of the year we occu-
pied $40 in addition; two years crowded u,
from these quarters into 3j6 Aggregates
had trcblcd and drove uS into 3il seven
floors. New York began to look at MS, be-
gan To follow our system, tu buy in hig bulk,
under the red flag, and the white and black,
10 cut close for the money down. tO call IN
their drummcrs aud mail price lists. But
few had the audacity to cul down to 4 MUIR
,lerou> five per cent and this WAS the divid-
Ing line between success and di-a>tcr. IT
was suou seen that Whit !. was easy
enough to mail circulars. behind theory and
logic and phinsply. there must he values
i, yond the reach and range of any conpc-
lilnn of course, the cash WAS not a ;, rinus
matter. the great thing wa~ SlrdgrlI mm,rs
Brains aud Experience and Judgment and
Nerve. These u,vcrizcrS we're scarce and
hard to get. and yet behind all these NUT
lay the iron rule. Barg,ins with five pr
cent. wn- success. with ten to twenty per
cent was simply oblivion Big quartz mills
s,ound them into powder between The ris
ing and the setting of ihc sun next day Dun
had them among the unknown. dead and
buried. Early in Eighiy-iive we cut down
nur stock Ia move into 4G6 and 4GS Sr,en-
teen hundred truck loads, eleven days, and
now after four wears still the old lrouh G.
mn room. What the five per cent has for uS
the twenty-five has done fir .urh of our sue
ce,,iul representatives ~ followed untlnch-
ingy the Rnuss system, ca-h before delir-
erv. Whre they stuck on the fifty Ih'y
fell Twenty-Five was victory from the very
lump. above that defeat. TIE introduction
nf these illustrations aud PARALLELS nocdr no
apology. il We cal save Il merchant who
i totl,ring about the hard lines ol desrcra-
tion we will do it Ii we can quo'e lower
prices and show neYrcr way and an easier
-ystem with Il lighter load we lave right
to point to proofs and To invite and chal
icnre attention and examination. Had lhe
desperate leader Of the desperate band IN
all tragic plays, ia tie Maralhons, Ma
rengos aud ManasSas-lhe Waterloos AID
Gctiy,hurss. from 29l To 46S SIMPLY made -
fortune ior himself, and not led others TO
the lrnnl and 10 fan anil the top. and made
them the inipcrial masters Of their native
hills. then indeed it would be a barren tri
uuph, unde>erving. of praise.
But lhou.and letters every day bring
back The ring Of popularity and prosperity,
some cuurhed in crude and homrly phrase
that touch the tend chord; others in
plain. blunt, earnest words that breathe and
hum-hcartbroken fellows that stood one
dav between heaven and hell, The next Il
message that thrilled and thrnibed G nius
that had been ,t gsrrej aud shattered and
sliv,rrd under tie oil hard way. now up
and on with i1agniicent commercial ,i'red.
Yesterday bending over The iil-iated ledger,
Camp w.In s~ezs and nsars, O. lay We aiu.