The Grit-advocate., 1900-08-10
the tendency Of buyers to depreciat

the tendency of buyers to depreciate
goods. He saw a man beating down
an article lower and lower and saying
it was not worth the price asked, and
when he had purchased at the lowest
point he told everybody what sharp
bargain he had struck and how he out
witted the merchant. ut Is naught,
saith the buyer. but when he is gone
his way, then he boasteth" proverbs
Xxx, 14). Society is so utterly askew
in this matter that you seldom find
seller asking the price that he ex-
poets to get: he puts on higher value
than he expects to receive, knowing
that he will have to drop. And If he
wants $50, he asks SIS. And If he
wants $4,000, he asks $500. ut is
naught," saith the buyer. THE fabric
is defective; the style of goods is
poor; can get elsewhere better ar
ticle at smaller price. 1t is out OF
fashion; it is damaged; 1t will fade;
it will not wear WE'LL After awhile
the merchant, from overpersuasion or
from desire to dispose Of that particu-
lar stock of goods, says. We'll, take it
at your own price," and the purchaser
goes home with light step and calls in
to his private Office his confidential
friends and chuckles while he tells
how for half price he got the goods.
In other words. he lied and was pIol /
of It,
Nothing would make times 80 good
and the earning of livelihood SO
easy as the universal adoption of the
law of right. Suspicion strikes through
all bargain making Men who sell
know not whether they will ever get
the money. Purchasers know not
whether the goods shipped will be ac-
cording to the sample. And what, with
the large number of clerks who are
making false entries and then alb
sconding and the explosion of firms
that fail for millions of dollars, hon
est men are at their wits ends to
make a living. He who stands up amid
all the pressure and does right is &C
complishing something toward the es-
tablishment Of high commercial
prosperity. l have deep sympathy for
the laboring classes who toll with
hand and foot. But we must not for
get the business men who, without any
complaint or hammered procession
through the street, are enduring a
stress of circumstances terrific. The
fortunate people Of to-day are those
who are receiving daily wages or reg
ular salaries. And the men most to
be pftied are those who conduct .
business while prices are falling and
yet try to pay their clerks and en-
ployes and are in such fearful straits
that they would quit business to-mor-
row If 1t were not for the wreck and
ruin OF others. When people tell me
at what ruinously low price they
purchased an article, 1t gives me more
dismay than satisfaction. I know it
means the bankruptcy and defalcation
OF men in many departments The
men who toll with the brain need full
as much sympathy as those who toll
with the hand. All business life is
struck through with suspicion, and
panics are the result of want of con-
fidence.
The pressure to do wrong is strong
er from the fact that in our day the
large business houses are swallowing
up the smaller the whales dining on
bluef1sh and minnows. The large
houses undersell the small ones, be-
cause they buy in greater quantities
and at lower figures from the pro-
ducer. They can afford to make moth
| ing. OR actually lose On soma stulas