OCR Text |
Show I GEitiiAN Merchants. Joseph iledill, editor of the Chicago Tribune is writing some letters from Germany to that paper. In a recent communication com-munication he says that a failure among German merchants, especially among retail dealers, is a rare occurrence. occur-rence. The reasons are, aa before stated, an almost total absence of the speculative, reckless gambling spirit 1 which actuates American business men, aa is shown in purchasing comparatively little on credit, selling goods for cask, and hence avoidance of bad habits and many unnecessary losses; and lastly, close psraonal attention at-tention to businesa. strictest economy econo-my in expenses, and a style of family , living and expenditure in exact con-! sonanoe with their net profits and ; income. The German merchant i borrows much less than the American Ameri-can from the banks in proportion to the extent of the stock of goods he carries, because he puts a larger per cent of his omi capiUl into the business busi-ness and sells comparatively little on credit; hence he has but little interest inter-est to pay. Hi3 standing rule is, either to have the goods on the shelves or in his pocket in the shape of money. Firea are so rare in Germany, Ger-many, on account of the careful manner in which houses are constructed con-structed and stores are watched, that insurance is merely nominal, and a merchant ia rarely burned out or disturbed by fires. Insurance companies com-panies in Germany make it a rule not lo pay more than two-thirds to three fourths of the value of the property pro-perty consumed the object being to secure the utmost care and vigilance on the part of the insured, and to prevent and repress all tendency to incendiary fires. This limited liability lia-bility is a stipulation in the policies. It works well. |