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Show Not BuSlnss. The only ruanou why boiho of these utorpiin iiK job priulers do not become be-come linpulc-sly bankrupt sooner is H that the competition is so yreat that they cannot get unouli to do. We have beard it ttaid, as an illustration of humau folly, that "ii a pig sticks his nose in tho fire, the first pig that sees him do so will go and stick his nose in the same place." We suppose sup-pose the porcine exemplar of man's conduct thinks that if the other pig could stand it there is no reason why he can't. If a job printer hears that' a rivl is doing work for aboat the coat of while paper, he comes to the conclusion that he can make money in that way as last as his rival, aud so tol'ows suit. The most singular evideneo of in-' capacity lor ousiuess tuai tnese compel com-pel i lord display is iheir eugernoss to obtain moro work upon these ruinous ruin-ous terms. One would suppose that a sagacious business man, who wished to break down his rival, instead of contending for business at ruinous rates, would endeavor to throw as much of such trade as possible into the hands of bis competitor. But, instead of this, they scramble and importune for such patronage as eagerly as though they thought that if they could only get euough work to do at priceo below its cost, and then collect about half their bills, they could make it profitable. A man who knows no belter than to undertake under-take this, merely because be Bees some one else trying the same experiment, experi-ment, is incapable of doing business for himself or any one elso. It is just as impossible for any ono to make money at job printing, who does not receive for his work more than the cost of labor, material, rent, and wear and tear of type and implements, imple-ments, as it is lor him to taice two from two and have anything lett. The queerest feature of the whole ihiujr is that they all know and acknowledge ac-knowledge this, theoretically; but they don't know, or won't acknowledge it at all in practice. There is no necessity for this. No condition of financial embarrassment, no stringency of the money market can excuse such heedless folly. A man can never be extricalal from bis difficulties in this way. It is the broad and siue road to insolvency aud bankruptcy. When matters hive come to such a pass that a course of this kind seems necessary in order to keep on in business, the best thing to do is to suspend or shut up shop entirely. en-tirely. Better even to 'ail with the white paper and the unused ink on band and worth their coal prices, than to go to smash atler having squandered squand-ered the most valuable portion of their Etock, aud with nothing to settle set-tle your accumulated indebtedness but a lot of worthless accounts. Remuuer ate pricea can be obtained from prompt paying customers if the work is well done, and the nrinter has the nerve to stand out for what it is reasonably rea-sonably worth. |