Year: 1866




On this bedims my sight.


once knew a man who quit the mer-
camille business because he said it was i'm
possible to buy and sell aud be a chris
tisn. I do not believe his philosophy, al
though it does seem to be rather camel
trough-a-needle' s-eye sort of business
But, then, we are all consumers aud, in
some measure, must be dealers. The man
who buys to consume and the man who
buys to sell are both alike looking for the
best bargain But the man who buys to
sell is very apt to be shorpened By the
tricks of trade so that he will not 4" trade"
unless he has as he thinks, a I" bargain. y
He is not aiming so much to gain a COM
petence as he is to secure, by his specu-
lation, a vastness Of wealth. Whilst he
is buying he argues with his lips to the
disadvantage Of the seller and his ware,
but his best judgment decides honestly
yet with unspoken language. After the
bargain is made We often hear the lips
declare boastingly, "it is good thing. [
have bought aud won" Then again we
hear of good sales, ""grand speculation"
at was not worth half so much but [
made hundred per cent" Such char
acters are styled "business men," They
are considered ''smart," "keene,'
sharp" These terms, as applied to
men in their business, have a Specification
not very creditable to man Of character
and uprightness. They smack too much
of trickery and deception, and as these
eerms are so frequently applied to those
who are called = business men, those who
deal with them, whether on'a large or
small scale, are doubly cautious, because
they believe they are dealing with rosucs.


What. in the eyes Of such business
men," constitutes good clerk, a good
salesman Is it not an all-important quail
ication that he knows just how to de-
ceive and delude a customer into II pur-
chase? No matter if the article prove
worthless to the buyer, it is his business
to SELL 4 clerk who had not thrown
away all his manhood when he entered
his employers establishment. was once
showing some silk to a lady custc mer.-
She selected piece which he knew was
damaged but the lady had not detected it,
He pointed it out to her. OF course she
did not take it, nor did she suit herself
with another piece. Soon after she had
left, his employer Informed the clerk that
he had heard the conversation and told
him he did not wish his services any lon
ger as that was not his style Of doing bu-
siness. This young man could not stoop
to the tricks OF trade, and who docs not
love him for it? Cannot we deal with
men as men and honorably Must
there be game Of cheat in every trans
action Will men sacraiice honor to gain
wealth, clear conscience for mammOn


[ don't mean that this game Of cheat is
confined to mercantile business, it is in
everything that is bought and sold. The
larger the wholesale transaction the great
er the rascalty. a few men, with con
siderable money. will sometimes find that
they can buy up and monopolze the mar
ket on certain article. They buy aud
! buy, and hold till want compels men to
buy at the sellers price, which is three
times the value Of the article and four
! times the price these rascals paid. In
our country, during the last ten years,
this game has been played on almost eve
ry article bought in our markets. These
are "smart" men who oaccumulate prince.
ly fortunes" who are fattered by the
rich and hated by the poor, as they de-
serve to be.


From this high point down to the We
man who sells her butter from her churn
it is not so much what an article is worth
as what is the most that can be obtained
for it, The butter-woman keeps posted
as to what the spectators pay by the car
| load and she wants more for her single
pound. Often she will not retail at all
believing "the price must SO up.
Whilst waiting for this she is often
compelled to sell at lower rate. SO with
some avericious old farmers. L know one
of them who might have had Sl.S5 pei
husbel for his corn last winter. which he