Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1889-04-23
MISCELLANEOUS.
Monthly Auction Trade Jour.
nal for April.


We hny stated that 25 per cent at retail will
command the same measur of success that 5
per cent vii bring at wholesale-but to attain
that speedy prosperity thes lines must be fol-
lowed with the same fidelity that points the
nedle to the pole. Many merchants avaricious
of grcdy profits have piled it on until the run
and rush was theirs no longer and people had
found ont that they were twenty-five per
ccnters only in name, who's valus wer esily
matchtby clos and cutting competition. Then
insted of getting back to first principles, tina
blamed the Lord for the rain and mud aud
cold. The first big rush had dumbfounded
them aud an extra percentage was stuk on
and the eagle of victory no longer poised over
the unfortunate counterfeit. That thes un-
level headed fellows, who crowded in regular
goods AZ regular prices, and who would not
stick = the letter of the iron law, failed to
score tie hi ineasur of prominence, is no fanlt
/ OF tic systeni: b mite as tyell expect the con-
cern to prosper whose proprietor was always
on the run and jump for the theatre, circus
and horsrace-for the quintesencof corn, hops
and apples, or the still moro fatal, faro. The
system must be perfect in its integrity, the
rules followed uuhiuchingly and inViolatc-
and success, speedy, solid and sure will reward
U. And because other concerns here in the
metropolis and other large cities who have
copied our net spot five per cent. went down.
| stood still, or faltcred in the fight, it don't
prov that our steel trax ar not strait or tru.-
The falt lay with the man and not the system.
Instcd of selling at per cent. tina askt 10 and
10, and keen competition gathered them in,
and the red flag concerns butchered them in
the great comercial slawter pens. The ten
per center can't live much less prosper in the
great mercantile centres wher competition is
us keen MS the litenings edge, and wher the
grim fantom of panic faces every felo who is
not rite down to roclIbotom. The desperate
audacity of Church street had taut the giants
of Broadway. tenacious of ther faith in regular
goods, atregular prices on regular terms, new
ides of quik work, upon loftier planes-it had
proven that the farther tha wandered from the
low water mark. the NOR desperate their
chances. and tina saw too, that thirty days
was simply another name for eternity
Wide awake men find it more profitable 70
shave it close at even four per cent. than to
run the risk of closer compeer pOketiug this
cool cash. Then agen. the streets ar crowded
with old timers fling fate and staving off the
| inevitable who not only cut close. but sacrf1ce
rather than surrender, and in these shifting.
changing, evry day batlefelds, the ten per
center is rapidly driven beyond the ded line.
The mercantile master minds of this age Iiav
red arite the Lessons of xpensiv xperienc, and
hav watcht with intens ernestnes the march Of
the I.iliput without credit or capital, from the
''hole in the wal" at 231. 10 the monumental
landmark of the grand old thorofarc Tha
hav felt in every fibre the force of the strups.
gle between this unarmed five-per-centcr, and
the rich, proud, aristocratic tcn-per-center.-
These intellectual giants have witnessed the
Transformation scenes in twelv eventful yeari
wher pluk unaided but undaunted, crept from
the ashes ofrnin, nuful and utter. and sweptur
TO the awful hites alone. Thcs comercial
titans hav not slept, tho in many a rnidnite
battle in dreamland tina thaut tina saw in the
magnificent panorama, behind whatever thei
was of genius and ambition, and ability, ar
iron law that had wrought such marvellous re
suits.
o ask the pertinent question why do { bid
and advise us to rent-why do you invest
million in iron and brix. and tel US 10 boil dow
everything into hard coin" Let me tell u
III Church street we cud not have bilt her
coop, to-da we ar erecting "shanty" that wi
cost solid million. One of the wonders o
this wonderful age. The-net-spot-hve-per
cent had driven us with terrific comerciui spee,
and marvellous momentum beyond the limits o
any biiding in the metropolis. and ther face,
us the two alternative stand stil, or march OF
with stil intenser rapidity. A fire on Broad
way. between Spring and Prince Mercer street
a year ago, had left space "a feet by zoo
running thro to 12s to 1s2 Mercer street. w
got two of thes lots for a quarter of million
the other cud only be leased, and we got thn
for 99years, so that our iron palace will towe
fifty feet abov the magnificent marble bid
ings alongside, and vii eclipse all the gieanti
structures that have so long adorned th
worlds great thorofare-Will oYershadow tb
boasted architecture Of down town heaYe
: towering spleudors- From the bottom blok {
: granite to the iron railing on top viii he Is
feet-twelv stories-this vii hold the net spC
cash for hv years longer, and then-ah then
Prom our bisnes we take notbfng-we az
EeTtised for one million at four per cent.-nir
millions we're offered It vii take a year tocre,
this modern babel. The largest. not on th
continent only. but in the world