The Brookhaven leader., 1890-04-24

JllS ESTABLISHMENT drops IN, ana usage
and generosity suggests that they
must drink. Business prospects are
talked over, and tho stranger is
warned against certain dilapidated
mercantile establishments that are
about to fail, and for such XII 1dness and
magnanimity of caution against the dis
honesty Of other business houses, of
course Il is expected they willard so
they do-they take drink. Other mer-
chants lodging IN adjoining rooms find
1t hard to sleep for the clatter of de-
canters, and the coarse carousal of
these ''hail fellows we'll met"
wakes louder. But they sit not
all night at the wine cup.
They must see the sights. They
stagger forth with cheeks flushed and
eyes bloodshot The outer gates of hell
open to let in the victims. The wings
of lost souls fit among the lights, and
the steps of carousers sound with the
rumblinQ thunders of the damned.
Farewell to all the sanctities OF home!
Could mother, sister, father, SLIM bering
| in the inland home, in some vision of
that night catch glimpse Of the ruin
wrought they would rend out their hair
by the roots and bite the tongue until
the blood spurted, shrieking out: GOD
save him!'
What, suppose you, will come upon
such business establishments? and
there are hundreds of them in the cities.
They may boast of fabulous sales, and
they may have an unprecedented run Of
buyers, and the name of the house may
be terror to all rivals, and from this
thrifty root there may spring up branch
houses in other cities, and all the part
ners Of the firm may move into their
mansions and drive their full-blooded
span, and the families may sweep the
streets with the most elegant apparel
| that human art ever wove or earthly
magnifcence ever achieved. But a
curse is gathering somewhere for
those men, and IL it does not seize
hold of the pillars and in one wild ruin
bring down the temple of commercial
glory it will break up their peace, and
they will tremble with sicknesses and
bloat with designations, and pushed to
the precipice of this life, they will try
| to hold back, and cry for help, but no
help will come; and they will clutch
their gold to take it along with them,
but it will be snatched from their grasp,
and voice will sound through their
soul: mot farthing, thou beggared
spirit!" And the judgment will come
and they will stand aghast
before it, and all the business
iniquities of lifetime will gather
around them, saying: DO you
remember this?" and "Do you remember
that?" And clerks that they compelled
to dishonesty, and runners and dray-
men and book keepers who saw behind
the scenes. will bear testimony to their
nefarious deeds, and some virtuous soul
that once stood aghast at the splendor
and power of these business men will
say: "Alas! this is all that is left of
that great firm that occupied block
with their merchandise and over-shad-
owed the city with their influence, and
made righteousness and truth and puri
ty fall under the CALLING fire of avarice
md crime"
While we admire and approve of all
acuteness and tact in the sale Of goods,
we must condemn any process by which
fabric or product is represented as
possessing a value which it really does
not have. Nothing but sheer falsehood
can represent as perfection boots that
rip, silks that speedily loose their lus-
ter, calicoes that Immediately wash
out, stoves that crack under the first
hot fire, books insufficiently bound,
carpets that unraved, old furni-
ture rejuvinated with putty and
glue, and sold as having been re-
Gently manufactured; gold watches made
out of brass; barrels of fruit; the big
gest apples on the top; wine adulterated
with strychnine, hosiery poorly woven,
clothes of domestic manufacture shin
ming with foreign labels imported goods
represented as rare and hard to get, be-
cause foreign exchange is so high,
rolled out on the counter with matchless
display. Imported indeed! but from the
factories in the next street. A pattern
already questionable and unstable
palmed off as new print upon some
country merchant who has come to town
to make his first purchase of dry goods
and going home with a large stock of
goods warranted to keep.
Again, business men are often tempt
ed to make the habits and customs of
other traders their law of recititude.
There are commercial usages which will
not stand the test of the last day. Yet
men in business are apt to do as their
neighbors do. If the majority of the
traders in any locality are lax in prin-
ciple, the commercial code in that COM
munity will be spurious and dishonest
Itis hard thing to stand close by the law
of right when your nextdoor neigh Dor by
his looseness of dealing is enabled to
sell goods at a cheaper rate and decoy
your customers. OF course, you who
promptly meet all your business en-
gagements, paying when you promise
to pay, will find it hard to compete with
that merchant who is hopelessly in debt
to the importer for the goods purchased,
and to the landlord whose store he oc-
cupies, and to the clerks who serve him.
There are hundred practices preva-
lent in the world of traffic which ought
never to become the rule for honest
men. Their wrong does not make your
right Sin never becomes virtue by
being multiplied and admitted at bro
kers' board or merchants exchange. Be
cause others smuggle few things in
passenger trunks, because others take
usnry when men are in tight places
because others deal in fancy. stoc ks, be
cause others palm of worthless in
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