Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1899-01-26

New York merchant prince, in his
January Auction Trade Journal, prints
the following leader
Farewell, Eighteen Ninety. eight.
The baner year of our eventful history
great in volume, grand in solid and
splendid success. Thes results in years
If depression and seasons Of hard times,
when great houses hav colapst and
crumbled, when giants hay stagerd and
fel, go far to bak us in the oft repeated
and ernest apesls to bisnes men to
adopt the system of MONY DOWN,
buying and selling only for cash, and
to abandon at one and forever the ia
tai, false and pernicius practice Of
doing bisnes upon the basis Of time.
What grim and teribl Lessons the past
year wud teach to them who wud stop
and listen The apaling list Of names
al over the land, of al claseS, from the
milionair Of unsulied and ireproachbl
record down to the periodical com
promiser that apear in the semi-weekly
sheet of the Mercantile a geucy, speak
volumes in favor Of the spot cash sys
TEN, and denounc with unsparing Sc
verify that relic of credit barbarism
that has palsied the finest intelects,
the cleverest champions and the most
talented children Of ambition, has de-
stroyed them as they stood by the
wheel, by regiments and legions, on
the hiways byways, scarcely one out Of
twenty left to tel the story. What
welcum relief to turn from thes black
and bitter pages to that other list of
men, but fu in number, who triumft
under the inspiration of bullion, who
rode ruf shod over King Credit, and
who feasted and fatened upon psnics,
failurs, endorsements and hard times ,
From the rank of thes yictors nun fel
save perhaps here and ther, speculat-
ing upon outside isues, shutting the
four kings, OF in the tusIe with John
Bar'eycorn-a fu may hav gon down,
but not one with that iucuia ! diseas
known as "the credit ledger on the
brain. With what ease and what
child's play to the real master who's
sterling values hav ben gathered under
the hamer or at hedqarters for cash,
to crush out of xistence that host of
competitors who's regular purchases on
long, easy time hav ben made at houses
who's buyers did not kno how to buy
rite or to sci cheap, and who cud only
cripple their customers with goods that
cud only be sold with the bait of pay
when L can, and in a twinkling the
debit and credit offs bibles ar flld
with peple who can't pay and others
that won't, and choked to deth with a
list of WORTHLESS asets and load of det
that canot be paid-it resolvs itself
into a qestion of how soon in the iEne-
date future the dark waves vii clos
over the rex To many a merchant
the time has not gon by when he may
escape impending ruin b. turning
from the credit paths if he has the
curage and resolution to say "NO' to
his faithles and perfdius trends, and
to boil down into bullion whatever Of
asets he may hav. If he hash t the
pluk, then heven help him; it Is time
to ask himself the question, whether
it be not better to do this than 60 down
in the disgrace, modification and hu-
initiation of defeat and tailur, ssden-
ing his hart, destroying his ambition,
auihilating al hopes of success. Life is
short and precius, and sooner or later
this qestion must be anserd far better
to meet it now in time like man and
when L can, than wait until the time
and chances hav gon by forever.
The great poet spoke Of hard and
stubborn facts in the languag Of poetic
imagery, but this ritter speak Of them
in the teribl ernestnes Of the pilot who,
in charg of precius ship and cargo, Sc
ing rox ahed, shouts in thunder tones
to the man at the wheel, "hard to
port" Evry merchant is captain,
great or small. Sum glide along smooth
" for lifetime in the Pacific ocean,
while others do battle with the tempests
of the stormy Atlantic. To nearly
evry one ther Gums time-a fud
tide-when instant decision has to be
made which cours to take. Two-ways
ar presented. Which shall be chosen?
is the qestion. Upon the choic hangs
the destiny of ship and cargo. For