Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1880 — Mercantile Risks. [ARTICLE]

Mercantile Risks.

The risks of mercantile life are hinted at in a notice of John Shillito, the late Cincinnati merchant, published in the Neiv York Timex. It maybe that farmers’ lads will ponder on the facts suggested, and conclude to stick by the old farm :

The late Cincinnati merchant, John Shillito, had been the leading retail drygoods dealer there for more than forty years, and in all that time, it is said, had never failed, suspended, compromised or asked to compromise with his creditors. He always paid dollar for dollar, always did business on strict business principles, and was almost the only merchant in that city who had so long weathered the financial storms said stress of a verytrying period. Merely to reason about it, it would not seem remarkable that a merchant should, for forty years, carry on business with uniform success. But facts and statistics show that such instances are extremely rare in any part of this country.

Few business men in the. United States go on, it is said, for fifteen or even twelve years without failure or suspension ; these, on an average, get into serious pecuniary embarrassments every ten years, most of them being hopelessly crippled thereby. One might easily count, we suspect, all the merchants, even in this great city, who hold together forty years, half that time being sufficient here to give a firm the reputation of age and extended credit. Mr. Shillito attributed his unusual prosperity to dealing in cash wherever it was practicable, and to giving personal oversight and attention to his affairs. Unless out of town, he spent a certain number of hours every day at his establishment.