Year: 1869

Traders of New York.


The shameless effrontery exhibited by a
local newspaper in libelling the fair fame of
the grocers and traders of New York has been
somewhat abated in view Of the prospect that
the authors of these outrageous calumnies are
likely to be punished by due process of law.
It would certainly present q remarkable spec
tacle if the probity of the principal traders in
New York should be wantonly assailed and
there be no recourse for those who are made
to suffer by such malignant attacks. Whether
these libels are actuated by motives Of politi-
cal jealousy or personal spite, or whether
they spring from the natural instinct Of Bohe-
milan iniquisitors to levy blackmail or to obtain
an ephemeral notoriety by startling the com
munity with some dreadful but imaginary
apparition, the instigators of them are equally
to blame, and should be held amenable, not only
opinion. An inquistion so outrageous and
abominable should not be tolerated in any
community. If allowed to be continued there
is not trading house, store, counting room
or any other place in which business is trans
acted, or even private dwelling, secure from
the visits Of these poke-nose Bohemian libellers.
Having moused out the fact that grocers'
scales are not to a fraction, the same in all
parts Of the city, and ignorant of some Of the
commonest laws and usages OF trade, by which
triaing Irregularities may be readily explained,
these fellows proceed TO the congenial employ
ment of smelling out and testing adulterated
liquors, taking good care to speak well Of
those places where they are dead-headed and
injuriously of those where they are not.
Why don't they carry out their espionage by
going into private carriage houses, and ascer-
tanning with what materials vehicles are lined,
whether the cushions are not filled with some
deleterious stuff, whether the harness is not
oiled by some poisonous compound, and
whether the poor horses are not suffering from
eating hay that has been tampered with, or
oats that have been doctored, or bran that has
been adulterated? Perhaps they would were
it not from the fear that if they went into
some respectable stables the horses would
kick them out for their impudence Just
now they seem to have the confectionery busi-
ness under ban, and are making great hue
and cry about what has been well known ever
since bon bons became an article of COM
mon use-namely, if you eat too many of them
you are likely to suffer-. the same as you
would by indulging to surfeit in any other
commodity Of questionable benefit tQ the human
system. No one can tell into what hole or
corner these Bohemian inquisitors may not
next enter. We may find them penetrating
into the boudoirs of ladies and testing the
composition Of their perfumery and cosmetics;
or spying into family refrigerators and larders,
smelling out the age and wholesomeness of
launches Of venison or rounds of beef; or
scrutinizing the feathers of the bed upon
which you sleep, or the soap with which you
perform your morning ablutions; in short,
peering into and snufing out every little
movement of your domestic life. No place is
secure against their audacions visitations; no
Threshold too sacred over which they, in their
unparalleled assumption dare not tread. Having
themselves no reputation to lose, they do not
care how many honest men they bring down
to their own level, and in this infamous cru
sade against our merchants they not only
assail private regulations but the credit
Of the city ITSELF Merchants from dis
tance will not come to New York to make
their purchases if these mendacious Bohe-
mians keep up their infamous attacks. The
country press is filled with reports of these
libels, with comments which show that the
impression is beginning to prevail that it is
dangerous to buy certain articles in New
York, and it viii, no doubt, be made to
appear before long that it is dangerous to
come to New York at all. This feeling the
merchants in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Cincinnati, Chicago, st. Louis and other large
places where the dealers strive to keep the
trade Of their own country districts as
much to themselves rs possible, viii IN
doubtedly encourage, so that the business Of
the city is in great danger of being per-
manently injured by these libels. Therefore
it is the duty Of those who have the honor and
prosperity of the metropolis as well as the
private regulations of her merchants sincerely
at heart to see that these atrocous libels are
suppressed and the libellers punished accord
ing to law.


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NIinnesofnn-Other Human Fossils.