Few, if any, merchants will, we ebould think, endorse the sweeping dictum of Herbert Spencer that a scrupulously honest dealer cannot but become bank. rupt within a very short spnco of time, The proposition is, however, laid down by the great thinker with start bolduese, and Mr. Spencer is not nian to commit himself to a position which is in itself untenable, Many of the practices be condemns, though un. questionably dishonest in themeclves, are recognised as trade-custome, the existence of which is known to every. body; and a man who sells a reel of cotton marked 1760 varda but which really contains only 1700 yards is excused on the ground that (he mark is only a legal fiction and Ubat dealers and customers both know it, Whether this sort of dishonesty is actually criminal or not is a question which. every sensible man can decide for himself; bat the mere fact that such acknowledged frauds form part of a commer. cial system does not speak very highly for those under whom such a system has grown up. Agaiv, to buy in the cheapest market and cell in the dearest is a principle of commerce all over the world; there is no altruism in trade, and it seems impossible, on the fave of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.