Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1890-02-04
MISCELLANEOUS.
Farewell Eighteen Eighties.


Farewell Eighteen Eighties.
With yor comedies and tragedies. shadow
and sunshine, yor c1lRmities and triumfs, and
smiles and tears-F AREwELI. Ten years ago
ther wer hi and onOrd names adjoining old
Broadway that hav disapcard forever. Then
we had grapled the credit barbarian and wer
struggling for xistence, aud our armies of mer-
a dollar da, In the cornfield at fifty cents, or
facing fate with uufltncing determination to
win in the first battle. With rare RECEPTIONS
another race lined the great thorofare, and
time in its relentless whirl has driven beyond
the oblivion line the big majority. One by
one, year after year, our Church street desper-
ates hav fallen from the rank and others In
turn hav jumpt into line, pressing on to still
crater attitudes, and sum da into the unnowu.
How many will stand up in line of battle ten
years henc in 1892 Whether the ritter live il
matters not; the solid, agresiv and prOgresiv
principles of net spot cash will 1urish and the
tyrany of credit and tariff and monarky viii
disappear forever. The yung beginners of todn
with wheelbaro Of sledgehamers viii then be
the mercantile autoCrats of evry trade centre
of the continent. and the grim fantoms of the
ledger. and partnerships will have vanisht
adown the dim arcOdes of eternal time.
1t is brains that rules the world, but the
hard cash is n terrific tooi to fife with-it
smashes the four month veteran before he has
time to yel. In the giant auction quartz mills
wher the lulIes credit victims ar pulyerized,
it's the Almity Dollar that rings and dcounts and
talks, and not the ledger's WORTHLESS names, the
gresy VEGETABLES, the mules and mines and
mills.
Tru genius must be ther bakd by nerv and
skill and judgment, but of what avail ar thes
to him who's assets ar unavailable as the ham
mer fals Genius and backbone and pluk
count little against the pard who insist that the
old credit toepnth ia the quiII wa. and he al
ways has his sa. Volumes have been written
about the good natured old timers waiting for
delinquents to pa, for the partnership to Xpire
and hard times to change.
Then like thousand cyclons n raqueter
struck him, and the time for talk was past.
the hOnr for action was at hand.
Ten years heuc. mercantile story viii be
Net Spot Cash-after the style of the great
successful masters of the age who bid palaces
commensurate with their vast and increasing
trade. As Stewart and Clailin did, so do the
agresiv cash-befor-deliyery champions whose
boundless ambition is Unsuitable.
,,,isi Flye years ago we We're about to occupy
the city, smashing records and earnestly
pressing on toward the top. We had to
bid, and we own aud occupy the greatest
storeroom in the world.
A little NOR bred aud meat, and the dark
waves of times will bury thes tired bones and
brains along with Topping. Peake and
kobbe--Omo. Opie Frank and Lee.
But between then and now-in this brief
stretch aud scope of time, the author of Net
Spot Cash will go for all records. ftc for the
lofty altitades, and lead the unflinching fall
apEes to the Hery-greatest measure of success.
Tha lily mastcrd the possible tha shah taiiie
what mediocity pointed ont to this ritcr--the
impossible In the vicisitudes tof the hitter
past, 1t was Waterloo, | mean that In ther flu
ture struggles it shall be. Manassas.
Yes, ut last it is simply bred and butter
whether adversely faces us in the ''hole in the
wall of Church St." rent one dollar or with
millions in EledghameTs crOwding the Great
Shop, rent FIRE. From the cornfields of Runy-
mnnng toy no la. from,
to $40 was harder. but it was victory; from
the great landmark to Greenwood l-ah me
who can tel what la in the hiden path rite be-
fore the longing wistful look of al!
If the iron band of 231 made q broad marx
pcros the pages of the past, the invincible aud
fearless ruf riders hav made broader and
briter one acros the history of thes eYentful
times, and the author of the Monthly Auction
Trade Journal has n right to feel proud of the
marvellous sncces of his magnificent and brill
liant Representatives We are filling up every
place of importanc al over the States with men
cf determinations in order that people of evrv
short profits upon the cash down principle will
pay. Planking down the bullion, u save
quarter on every dollar.
Peple naturally avoid the long winded con-
Germs wher tina ar xpected to pay cash down
the identical prices charged the people who
never pa. The reprcsentativ of our system
who no wei enuf the vast difereuc between
small share of patronage at so per cent aud
the lions share at 20 or 25 per cent.-tha place
in plain fgurs one price that competition can
not match, and in n single da the cash con-
Germ knows and feels its Supremacy. One in
a while an iresolutc fellow is persuaded that
he is selling too cheap, aud he piles on,
thinking the public wi, not motifs the chang,
and he drops into insiguifcanc at ono. Peo-
Pile ar wide awake and generally well posted
when tina nr paying out the hard cnsh-tha
can tel at ono the twenty-five percenter from
the old regular who has no argument save un-
limited time
Walk down Broadway sum pretty morning
with an Old, well posted veteran and he vii
recall as you pas thOs who had held hi and
onord position until the calamity King had
eTusht them-ouc past the million line. no
insuranc, book. patents. samples and thou
sand other Improbable items comision.-
Tho gra with the frost of years. all the vim,
brains and drive still ther. but the chance
and time and opportunity have left them
Only yesterday ther walked into the offs a
man whom had not met since 1866, he was
then ava up. and ] about as far belo zero
as man cud go. His name. welth and mag
nificent face were al goue-he was waiting
Tor the hnal senes. aud quarter was all he
had the curage to ask fur. The same infer
nal credit monster had swept him from his
xalted position.
Everywhere, in all the walks of life o viii
sc thes same pictures-great merchants of
the long ago. now on the bottom round redy
to take the last plunge.
OF cours. tina had it ono. but tina Termed
bOO AhLG III INC WsutfI Oh illE Lue Fallu OF
goods scattered over the ledger's worthless
pages. After the goods have gone it IS easy
enuf to form resolutions and anser the EN-
fatic no, but the time for thes decisions is
while you still own these values. 1t was not
in tie time, place OF circumstance. but la in
the resolution to hold the stuff, or get the
cash.
Yes. VIC ar ali the while looking Or these
fellows of brain and nery, of dash and aecis-
ion; the fn who make history who's every
day is an advance over the da befor-whos arI-
bition leads them mp and on until, the hnal
hour. The great world is fnl of ded lumber,
choking up the avenues and arteries of life
mediocrfty that wud fail If rent. clerk hire
and goods wer fre-iTesOlutiOn that JTud FILE
out before sundown. King credit ignoble
stuf, but reaches for genius and generally
gets this lofty game.
Theirs many a master following the pIow
NOR perfectly 6ted to comnud suces than the
armies that annually perish for want of that
grim resolution that always reaches the TOP
and many of the great barted nest biIders OF
the Metropolis at one time OF life folo1ed the
humble paths of agriculture; ambition led
them forth, purfued them releEtlesIy, and
never let go-and in harnes tina rose, durisht
and fel, leving records hard to rival.
We corted and won popularity because our