The Daily Phoenix

No. 8.--The County and Town of Newberry to its Merchants: We are intensely progressive. As Leather Stockings boasted of the purity of his blood, we pride ourselves that not one fogyish idea ever enters or entered our minds. Progress is the order of nature--she is always advancing. The history of man proves uncontrovertibly that he has ever been on the advance. Nations may rise and fall, but the world goes on. In the language of Galileo, it moves.

It is nonsense, it is absurd, to say that Newberry or the State is retrograding. The clatter of the cars, the click of the telegraph, the march of science, the restless rovings of the wandering Ahasuerus of the age--the irrepressible Yankee--in search of the American eagle on a specie basis, will not allow it.

Newberry, to-day, is not what it was forty-five years ago. To-day we have a railroad; one of the best cotton marts in the State; upwards of 200 stores, of greater or less degree. In a brief period, we will have a telegraph, then another railroad. Forty-five years ago we raised comparatively little cotton, there were but few stores and indifferent stocks; the procuring of goods was attended with difficulty and trouble, as well as vast expense; there were few of the comforts and conveniences of life. Now the facilities of transportation are easy; we can obtain in a day what required a week, and at little expense.

The town of Newberry has been, next to Charleston, for years one of the best cotton marts in the State. Previous to the war there was sold at Newberry Court House as high as 27,000 bales of cotton in one year, while many of the merchants of those days had magnificent stocks of goods, and disposed of from $80,000 to $150,000 per annum. During the last year some of our merchants did a business of $80,000.

Such has been the success attending merchandising since the war, that stores have been opened all along the streets of Newberry, as if by the touch of some magic wand, and they still continue to increase not only in town, but all over the County. The metallic and mineral treasures that lie hidden in the hills and fields and valleys of Newberry are loadstones attracting the restless speculator from every point.

We are not of that class who fear the competition of other towns. It is what we like to see, because we wish the State to revive. Neither do we believe that you care; it is what you wish. If other towns prosper and flourish, then Newberry and her merchants are obliged to prosper in an equal degree. As the one flourishes, so flourisheth the other. Competition is the life of business. The town or the merchant which and who is not able to sustain itself or himself must fall, give way, like one hotel-keeper to him who can.

It is said that you should have better stores; more concentration of business; but this is all nothing at present. As water rises to its level, so time will correct all these evils. The child must crawl before it can walk.

It has been thought that probably you might do a jobbing trade. Now, no town in this State, outside of the city of Charleston, can do it to any extent. Merchants from the up-country, no matter how small, will ever and always proceed to New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia or Boston to lay in their stocks. It is to their interest to do so.

We would, our merchant friends of Newberry, call your attention to our special sin of the day--lawlessness or lawless selfishness. The reign of every man's special interest, or of whatever every man thinks his special interest, in antagonism to that of the species in general, and of all and every other man; this you are as likely to be affected by as others. Ours is a day in which every man does his work for his pay, and for no other motive, in which excellence has ceased to be desired or thought desirable: a day in which men no longer care what becomes of other neighbors, but centre all their thoughts on themselves; ours is the age of trades unions, of speculations, of societies which hold their members and friends down to a dead level; a day in which a man's ability to govern in any subject is proved by his making a charge and remembering a date; a day of fraudulent bankruptcies, of mercantile dishonesty, of rampant statesmanship. It is a day in which money swamps merit and falsehood; gets the better of truth. It was of such a time that the Roman satirist might well say:

"O! Cives! Cives! pecunia primum quaesita est
Virtus post nummos!"

It is difficult, we know, for men to lay aside this spirit of selfishness; but if you desire to advance your interest and build up the County and town of Newberry, consider the interest and welfare of the town, the interest and welfare of the citizens of the County. Your interests are their interests; it is identical with theirs. Lay in your stocks to the greatest advantage; be not over greedy or rigidly pressing; be moderate in your charges; extend every accommodation; afford every facility; offer attractive inducements; be courteous, affable, polite; make it to the interest of the farmer and planter to sell his produce--give the highest prices you can afford, which we well know you have and do; be dignified, straightforward and energetic, and mark, in a few years you will double your business, the business of the town and County, and always insure their custom and patronage.

LEARCHUS.