MR RUSKIN ON THE WOLFISHNESS OF TRADE

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 206, 4 September 1873, Page 2

MR RUSKIN ON THE WOLFISHNESS OF TRADE

Wd have not the $ghtest jiiesitfrton in admitting tbat man ha* mnch.,if^-<<^ffimon with ifij>N \vbtf, but Mr Buskin is «*minpntljTJ^Tit m4jringpoin(«icixi)rf^fcion to the etatrment tb«i it iit'ifbcro Ihi wolfinti naraw endjphat (be b/>normbl/ human liegiris. l£j the ins!intt|<if mMpJf are autfioritatiye for a wolf j the instiiicts'of a'tnoit'tird aTOioritttive for ft man ; mnd the only question is what thesrjqirinet* are. This muit be, in push individual olift, i-,fllfitir~ of assertion. Brer/ man in to consult lijfl own consciousness, trusting that if hit reading of 'his own consciousness ia correct, the results irill be sympathetically responded to by other people. The clear utterance of our consciousness is that every selfish impulse is, in proportion to it* selfishness, ignoble. Where selfishness , terminates, nobleness begins. The ip"petit*s,jw^ in/lhemselves neutral, but when an appetite is indulged with tile and deliberate purpose of gratification, we instinctively feel that the enjoyment is divested of its humanity. That \l is in very many cases actually so divested — that there are powerful temptations which urge us to seek our own pleasure, and that alone — need not be disputed. But the fact is no justification of the fact; and the unsophisticated human heart cannot pay the tribute of respect to selfishness in any form. Kesprct in the sense of recognition of ability wilt no doubt be conceded where there has been great success, but respect in the sense of that warmer, deeper, more affectionate homage which is accorded to moral excellence is rendered to no manifestation of selfishness. Such a man you say, died a millionaire ; _ he defrauded no man ; but he was cold, greedy, self-centred ; and you mentally spurn his corpse. What a glow of cordial feeling, on the other hand, breaks over our memory of a stupendously rich man, when we learn that his wealth was won by kindly, generous toil, and that his chief reward as h» grew rich had been to know that be was diffusing happiness in a constantly enlarging circle ! The state of public, feeling with reference to Mr Brassey, as it gradually became k,nown that his wealth had been won unselfishly, affords vivid illustration of our remarks. At the same time, every man of experience and commonwnee will agree that trade is not the natural home of the affections. You cannot open your' eyes upon practical life with the smallest spark of intelligence! without perceiving that the introduction of the affections into business is perilous. The affections have to do essentially with giving and receiving. Love is the child of grace ana gratitude ; but trade proceeds upon a balanco of advantage. The Fall Mall Gazette is mathematioally correct when it says tbat " every bargain is regarded as an advantage by both parties. at the time when it is made, otherwise it would not be made nt all." Not love, but justice, is the presiding virtue .of commerce, and nature is austerely firm in enjoining a d'«ision of labour in social affairs between love and jusioM. They work best in alliance, but each has its distinctive task. There is probably no man living, who has been twenty year* extensively engaged in business, who has not seen bank* ruptcies, involving distress to hundreds or thousands, occasioned by the facility which permitted affection to dictatein commercial affairs. Mr Buskin will say that he detests weak or maudlin affection, and seeks for wise and just affection. If he means that he wants only such affection as shall be always prevented by wisdom and justice from going wrong, then there is no essential difference between our views, and there is no use in disputing about words. Speaking as practical men to practical men, we affirta that there are multitudes of cases in which affection urgesa man to put down his name as surety, or to lend a thousand pounds, or to yield a favorable answer touching somecommercial proposal to the eye which so earnestly implore* it, the tongue which so movingly pleads for it, when justice sternly says No, and when justice ought to be obeyed. Affection is here a deflecting force, which draws the needle awry, and tempts the vessel from, her course. Mr Ruskin,. howevrr, may pull us up with the peremptory reminder that he has not spoken a word for affection, as against justice, but only as against a wolfish hunger for gain. The illustration from the venerable community of wolves was not our*, and we dislike the Pall Mall's way of putting th# case still more than Mr Ruskin's ; but we maintain that since the affections, must be kept in restraint in sound and safe businesstransactions, it cannot be correct to speak, as if virtuous trading meant affectionate trading. To , twat the subject exhaustively would require many articles, and we havehardly broken ground upon it here ; but the sum is that the* affections have a secondary and not a primary place in commerce, for this plain reason, that what it due from one man to another in trade is " not of grace, but of debt." What is so curiously inttiesting, however,, as to compel remark is that Mir Buskin, in his mercantile capacity as at book-producer, howover affectionate in intention, is simply the hardest dealer we know. Ht sells his own books, a proceeding which, we are perfectly convinced, has so other motive than becomes one of the most generous and publicspirited of men, but the manner in which he . sells them renders the retailing of them practically impossible. Every customer, in the trade or out of the trade, pays so much per volume to Mr Buskin. If the purchaser wishes to sell again , ho is to affix on additional prioe, which, in Mr Buskin's opinion, ought to be about ten per eent-on the sum paid to 4 the author. Mr Buskin places upon, our breakfast-table any one of his book* for exactly the same sum uhich the bookseller, buying to sell again, has to pay., Under these circumstances, do m»Q can retail Mx ltuskin'a books. Every customer will go direct to Mr Ruskin. By dealing with Mr Ruskin, he saves time and ten per cent. Mr Ruskin has the singular notion tbat a jetail bookseller, by ottering thecustomer n choice of n>aay books, gives the customer such an* (advantage that he w ill be willing to par the additional percentage. But apart from all question of theory, this involves a misconception, of what,, as a mutter of fact, retail trade universally is. The retailor confers various minor advantages on the customer, but the essential principle of retail trade is that the convenience of the customer is consulted by it in respect to quantity and conveyance. M