336               frITHE WISCONSIN FARMER.


MECHANICAL        AND    COMMERCIAL. ner, ever ready to assist in any expenditure
                                            that will excite the envy of
her dear friends
                                        -  - and neighbors, indulges in new
carpets and
           Commercal loonomy.             mirrors and costly furniture. His
family ex-
                                            penses increase. But his luck
turns perhaps
            HY A. K. SHEPPARD.             after he has well "spread"
himself.    (An
                                            expressive term if well considered.)
His ven-
  Next in importance to the science of poli- |tures are not so successful.
His mind is
tical economy, or the knowledge of the reltures ar   t  so sucesfu. tHi mins
is
tions of society to government, is a knweg  lason the rack to provide the
means For
tionsof   socinetyto  upon   hich aknowledge carrying on his schemes. Afraid
of what
of the principles upon which comm ..erce is Mrs. Grundy will say, he dare
not reduce his
founded, and of the proper relations existing  Mst   livng. Thus he continues
under a
between it and the various interests of socie- hopeless burden, tili the
inevitable crash
ty.                                         buries him. This is no exceptional
case, but
  The most successful merchant is not always as statistics of business failures
abundantly
he who amasses the most money, but lie who prove, it is only a type of a
very large class
accumulates it in the proper observance of! of American merchants: the successful
being
the immutable laws which govern the commer- t  excioall
cial and social as well as the physical world.
The man who has neglected no other duties in ! The cause of misfortunes like
these is, evi-
the pursuits of commerce, nor suffered his i dently, too great facilities
for obtaining cred-
moral nature to become dwarfed by a slavish it. Probably nine out of every
ten merchants
subservience to money, is truly successful, a"carry' property to even
ten and twenty
whether his portion of worldly goods be great times the aiuount of their
capital.  Their
or small. That so few men succeed is a proof risks are enormous, and interest
is their bane.
of the prevailing ignorance or disregard of The young men of America have
a great les-
the simple but important principles of com- I son yet to learn, viz.; that
saving more than
mercial economy.                            gaining is the true course to
wealth. That
  Consider for a moment the operations of I prudence and economy (not meanness)
always
Wall street; the bolstering up of worthless result in competence, besides
leaving the
securities; the fictitious rise and fall of stocks, mind and body in a healthful
state; while a
uninfluenced by any real cause. An " opera- wild, speculative career
brings upon its vota-
tor," by putting up a "margin," carries stocks ry premature
old age, a decripit body, an
to many times the amount of his capital, exhausted mind, and, at the close
of life, gen-
enough to have the decline of a single day erally an exhausted purse.  Business,
as
sweep away his whole fortune.   Or if the most of our people practically
interpret it,
" bulls " are in the ascendant and a rise comes instead of being
a means to an end, is made
instead of a decline, he may become, as many the grand end and aim itself,
and every thing
have of late, a millionaire by the lucky in- else subservient to it. Scheme
is crowded
vestment of a few thousands. In neither case upon scheme, project upon project,
with no
is this right.  In the first instance we can relaxation, no intermission.
If recreation is
readily discern the wrong, but cau we as well sought, it is on the high pressure
plan, at
in the second?  Is it right that areckless some crowded Saratoga or Newport,
where
gamester, without the exertion of intellect, the motto is, "the greatest
excitement in the
industry, or even adequate capital, should be- shortest time," that
the treadmill may be
come the possessor of millions, with all the op- again set in motion. This
overdone business,
portunities for good or evil which wealth be- j this doing too much is eminently
the fault of
stows? Money, like any other good, (for it is our commercial system, or more
properly
good, and only ignorance or folly apply it to want of system and sound principles.
evil purposes,) should only be attained by  American society is a hothouse.
It forces
exertion.  The winning gambler is no more our business to overgrown proportions,
with
virtuous than the losing one. These suddenly no real strength; it forces
our men into (to-
acquired fortunes are the curse of this coin- bacco) smoke-dried dyspeptics,
while they
try.                                       should be still vigorous, and
it forces our
   Let a man of the most ordinary capacity, girls into used-up belles, before
they are out
 possessed only with the necessary recklessess, of their "teens."
 Conservatism is the ele-
 venture but a small "margin" in the stock ment which we now need.
We are like an
 or grain market. He makes his " calcula- overgrown schoolboy : leak
in the joints and
 tions" and thinks he knows it all. By chance chest, and lacking muscle.
We need to stop
 the market takes a favorable turn, (it might growing and to fitl in and
build up.
 as easily have gone the other way,) and he  In this duty the business of
the country
 has won. Behold his self-adulation and com- should lead the way. Too often
the merchant
 plaoency. He can never after take advice. is a man of one idea. He can grow
eloquent
 It is all through his " genius," " shrewdness," on the
price of New York Central or of corn,
 and "business talent."                     but will not attempt
to understand the science
   He builds a large house; his conjugal part- of trade. Hence he is often
faulty in his own