The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1895-09-26
PROCTOR TALKS IT PLAIN.
Inc Racket Grocer Discusses The
Question Of The BEAT.
HE WRITES THE TRUTH

The REcoRDER's Talk has. Com
menced the Agitation Of a Mat
ter Which Has Long Needed
Agitation in Durham
In its talk last week concerning
the professional beats who hay,
worked the honest business men
Of Durham 80 successfully for iii,
last fifteen years, the RECORDER
as usual, voiced the sentiments 81
. large majority Of the decent
citizens Of the place and struck a
sympathetic chord in the heart d
every merchant who has been i'm.
posed upon--and what Durham
merchant has not bceA2-by these
iastidlous fakirs and tinseled
frauds.
To show that the RECORDER
was not talking through its hat,
Or that i was not conjuring up
evils which did not exist, Colonel
W. II. Proctor, who is known in
and out Of Durham as one Of the
most enterprising, progressive and
successful men who has ever sold
goods in the town, and whose
large and growing trade affords
him ample opportunity Of iudg-
ing, writes d letter to the Morn
ing Herald in which he comes
out boldly and confirms all and
more than the RECORDER charged.
Colonel Proctor says, and says
truly:
There are people who look up
on merchants and clerks Il put in
clerks for they are human also,
and some of them made Of far
better material than the customer
who tries TO cast slurs at them
and think il witty as nothing
more than Il lot Of horses 10 be
ordered about by themselves and
their servants and keep their
mouths closed and never resent
anything that is said or done.
These people, We think, have been
neglected IN their early training,
and should be put back in knee
pants and short dresses, for We
don't expect anything much from
children until they arrive at the
years Of accountability.
Now this il tot written for
people that il don't hit, but If you
have been guilty Of any Of the
above things, please, for the sake
Of yourselves and the old gray.
haired merchants and clerks Of
this town, state and county, turn
over q new leaf and don't do 50
any more. Now, in conclusion
| viii touch as lightly as posi-
bly, can on the class Of people to
whom ! referred in the beginning
and that l. the people who do not
pay their bills. This il what
makes the merchants hair pre-.
maturely gray. This Is what
makes him burn the midnight.
oil and toss bis head sleepIess up
on his pillow. This il what sends
his wilc and children hungry and
cold out in the world after the
sheriff has closed his doors. This
i what has caused many a good
man 10 despair and take his own
lite NJ q relief from his sorrows
and troubles. This il IL that has
caused many men TO be counted
with thieves and robbers and all
because Mr.. A. or Mr.. Il. took
the money he should have given
his merchant for bills ho owed
him and took q summer trip or
built him d house or bought him
4 horse and buggy-perhaps while
the merchant whom he owed the
bill 10 was living in a rented house
or walking about in tho mud,
snow, sunshine and rain trying TO
raise a fow dollars with which
70 stay his creditors until his Gus.
TONERS return. expecting 70 have
his bill paid whcE presented.
But 10 his surprise and disappoint-
ment he il greeted with, 'ohl |
have spent out, don't bother me
with bills now or ~ will take |
tho bill and bring IL around, and
that Il The last you see Of him or
her until you leave your business
% hunt them up again 70 be put of |
with u will pay you the first of
the month"; = and al that time they |
make II convenient 10 be In the |
country or Of on q wild goose trip |