| Show MERCHANTS AND ING perhaps in no country in the world have men engaged in ordinary mercantile grading trading been able to accumulate fortunes so rapidly during the past ten or twelve years as in this territory th the 1 e causes which operated in their favor are very obvious A large population engaged in agriculture and kindred purs pursuits were dependant upon a fe few w for their supplies of many arti artl articles ples pies which had come to be looked upon as necessities I 1 and some which the claims of existence and improvement absolutely required A long iong longa a very long way from a market in which depleted stocks could be replenished with various hazards attending the freighting of goods hither and with hardly a nominal competition on the part of traders they found they could exact a very exorbitant percentage of profit on invested capital and if the dollar was not quickly turned it was turned to some purpose to accumulate a respectable fortune abr or these regions regions 0 in three or four years being the rule not the exception produce of every kind was almost looked upon with contempt con there was plenty of it for years no pressing demand for it elsewhere within a distance available for business transactions of such a nature and if imported goods sold for a price that would now bo be deemed very reasonable when the products of the earth were offered in exchange for them the quantity demanded from the producer made the price to him exorbitantly i high things have llave somewhat som changed in this latter respect produce is considered of greater value now because it is found to be a more marketable commodity man wan it was then I 1 but though the farmer does at the present time receive more in imported goods or cash for his produce it is not because merchants are any the less anxious to double the th e dollar and amass fortunes in a limited period of time time they are willing to pay vay a higher 1 price pric for produce became becat ase tse it can be sol soi readily and with good profit and because it cannot be purchased sopheap so cheap but the file interest received upon invested capital in the form of profit is still very high it is true capital is turned very slowly here about onca in a year bein being the rule and a heavy profit Is required to keep the business of a firm safely floating in u region where the facilities for replenishing stocks are so very limited yet in other places where such facilities do exist men engaged in legitimate mercantile trading are satisfied if they can acquire a handsome competence with the labor sf the best half of a lifetime not but what they would like to secure it in less time lime but competition is too powerful for the astl of their desires p the increased cost of goods in the wholesale markets and tie tle the depreciation of the national curr curf currency eney ency are the reasons advanced for asking the high figures for goods which are now demanded the reasons are cogent enough as far as they go but the heavy profits of the past might be considerably diminished and merchants become rich I 1 as rapidly as other othen portions of the com who toil toli atwith brains and hands equally as hard and are equally as meritorious we haab haye strong deaso reasons n s however for thinking that there Is still another cause and that is the probability of this years purchases being at much higher rates than even last years sears and to be secured agal agai against ast such a contingency tin gency the retail prices are raised correspondingly Is this just to the people or to the moral welfare of those who do oso so we think not the people arc are made to bear the weight of anticipated high prices which they will haye have again to bear if that contingency becomes certainty and if it does not the safes of the traders will become the repositories tories of means which in justice to the tile community should be flowing in other channels when NV 1 en a new establishment opened is the usual promises are made made of ithe the cheapest goods the best value etc etc which if honestly interpreted would read we only want to secure your custom and when we have got it and made a good start well pile it on as heavy as anybody else yet human nature with all its experience credits these promises and learns after a time that this incipient competition dies dis L away and the liros p prospect hect of the stock being disposed of before it can be replenished pleni shed induces the possessor to t 0 ask any price for his goods which he be rethinks bethinks thinks their prospective scarcity will enatale enable him in the end to obtain when men give themselves up to tb the spirit of trading it is nearly useless appealing to their philanthropy or placing before them the paramount claims of the welfare of a community yet ye csome sometimes a course similar to that we are treating t upon effects a public good and in the end defeats itself by forcing the people to dispense with many things they would otherwise procure and manufacturing articles for home consumption which they would have purchased from imported stocks if the prices had been reasonable we will not be sorry if the course pursued b by y some of the merchants here produces this result it will tend the sooner to bring about our independence from foreign markets and foreign commerce if our remarks give of mience fience in any quarter all we can say is we advocate the tile claims of the public and they are superior to private and personal interests te rests we recommend the people to import as much as they can themselves and bring along all the use useful ful fui machinery possible and the means mean s for manufacturing much of what we require lre ire among ourselves rs elves |
