Year: 1872

Country merchants have an advan-
tsge over those of the city that we
think must be modified, or else re-
suits disastrous to the latter viii fol-
low. Memphis business men buying
in the east or west, have to pay cash
those to whom they sell claim time
from thirty to ninety, and even one
hundred and twenty days-and often,


when that expires, seek and obtain
extensions, much to the disquiet and
Inconvenience Of their creditors. This
is hardly fair. or course, we know ev-
ery man will get what he can and
take all the advantages of money and
time he can secure. But, If the cOun-
try merchants will reflect for a mo-
ment that their interests are so close
akin to those Of the city, that one can
not be affected without injury to the
other, they will see that it is to their
ultimate profit that the cash basis
Is that on which, in the future, Mem
phis and the country are TO rest a secure
and solid prosperity. We must come
to "cash, or its equivalent" II not,
we are certain sooner or later to have
a crash in which country as well as
CITY will find disaster and ruin. Our
limited capital and rapid growth, the
increasing demsnds upon our energies
and resources all enforce cash or its
equivalent" Our banks have as much
as they can do to'carry the cotton crop
and answer the ordinary demands Of
trade. They cannot do more. Hence
we must have " cash, or its
equivalent I" for what we sell
Of dry goods, groceries, clothing
or anything else. The most pros
porous, and the most indepen-
dent of our merchants sell for
leash, or its equivalent" and sell as
.iiueh as they have Of stock every sea-
son. By selling for leash, or its equiv
alent," /" they are enabled to sell cheaper
than their fellows who sell on "time,
with the promise of renewal" Their
example isa continual protest against
"tme bills" and is of itself enough to
awaken the whole mercantile fac
nlty of Memphis to the necessity
for 4" cash, or its equivalent" Suppose
that Memphis merchants had in their
hands to day the fourteen or fifteen
millions they have tout" and are
trying so hard to collect, who can
doubt that this spring and summer
would witness the erection of many
more splendid business blocks and
handsome residences than have yet
been projected? And does not every
man with an ounce of sense know
that If We traded on a cash
basis the "street harpies" "
and "gutter snipes," who gobble so
much of the hard earnings Of cur
business men, in the shape OF "two
Der cant, would be forced to enter
more legitimate fields Of enterprise?
We must come to 'casb, orits equiva-
Ient." There is nothing to be lost by
it, but everything TO be gained. Gin
cinnati, Chicago, st. Louis and Lou
isviIIe have tried the credit busi-
ness at a cost Of many mil
lions entered on the "proft and
loss" side Of their ledgers, and now
insist upon "cssh, or its equivalent"
We, too. have lost by this time busi-
ness, and largely. Who does not re-
member '67o We are now in good
condition. Atno Il me in her history
was Memphis so prosperous, and at
no time could she better afford to press
upon her customers the leash, or its
equivalent" policy. Our most solid
and prosperous merchants are those
who deal only on this basis: and all
must come to it, or failure viii sooner
or later be the result.