The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1903-07-10
w. CT. U. N.
CONDUCTED BY MRS. n. L. HOBBS.
Good Times for The Merchant.
How 10 Make Them Better For The Busi'
ness Man and Insure Their
Permancy.
BY A. A. Hopkins,
in The Defender.

III uc bClcuuCL.
The merchant is the man who
sells-no matter what
The man who sells is dependent
on the man who buys-no matter
who.
The man who buys is generally
the man who works for the money
he buys with-no matter where.
The amount of money he has to,
buy with will depend upon the the
work he has to do, the skill with
which he can do it, and the steady
habits back OF the skill.
Ihe merchant sells little to the
man who earns little; the man earns
little Who has little skill, or whose
habits discount the skill he has.
So it follows that the man who
sells has vital interest ia the man
who buys-in the kind Of man
he is, the kind Of habits which con-
troll him, the amount Of his wages,
the steadiness Of bis work.
An able writer has said:
The amount OF wealth produced
in country will depend not merely
upon the number of laborers, but
on their physique, their intelligence
and skill, and their moral charac-
ter
The wealth Of nation is handled
largely by its merchants. From it
their gains are gathered. Upon its
producers they depend. The ply
sique Of these producers, their in
|telligence and skill, and their moral
character, directly concern every
merchant 10 the land. Whatever
affects for i'll these attributes Of the
producer, the wage-earner, will at
feet the merchants profits, what
ever be sells. His good times will
depend upon the good habits Of the
wage e-earner-upon the wage-eaTn-
er's ability and willingness to work.
Even when times are hard the
wage -earner's good habits will help
the merchant immensely. This
fact was once demonstrated plainly
enough in Ireland. In 1909 10 and
iSl3-14 that country saw hard
times, indeed. Those were four
ears OF sore want, as compared
with 1911 Il and 1916; and be-
cause Of it the distilleries were large
Iy closed, by wise action Of the au-
thorities. And in those four fam
inc years the Irish people bought
and paid for haberdashe.y, iron,
hardware and cotton goc ds to the
amount Of f253, ,657 OF about ST.
I26S, ,2S5, MORE than in the four
years Of plenty named they bought
and used 1881 pounds Of tea and
sugar MORE than in those good
years; they used ,356,070 MORE
yards OF d,apery, and they slept
under 33, ,4Ol MORE wooden blank
cts.
Why and how could this be?
In those famine years, because
the distillieries we're largely closed
by sLch wise action OF the aui bori-
ties, the consumption Of spirits fell
of in Ireland almost one-half-from
IA million Of gallons, yearly aver
age. to barely more than 4 millions
Of gallons.
The habits OF the wsge-earner
we're correspondingly improved, and
the mer, hant had better times in
these years Of famine than in those
years Of plenty-he sold more
goods. The distiller did not -four
iish; the barkeeper grew poor and
made complaint; but the merchant
was vastly better.
1.-The more q man wants Of con-
.sumable wealth." said the Hon.
Thomas B. Reed, in famous con
gressional debate, 1.-THE more his
wages are likely to be-"
"Consumsble wealth" is what
1.-The merchant has to sell. The
more men want Of it, the more pro-
Ift in the merchan.' till. The more
wages men earn, the more ICON
sumable wealth" they will want.
The better their habits the more
their wages will be. The fewer dis
ltilleries, breweries and bars the bet
ter the habits Of workingmen.
This very simple chain Of reason
ling has been illustrated in many
places, many times, until every
merchant should admit it, and act
upon il. In the interest Of legiti.
l mate trade, Atlanta, Ga, banished
jail places Of liquor sale for one year