“To Correspondents,” Boston Investigator, 25, 48 (March 26, 1856), 3.
“J. N.”—The “Boston House of Equity” (established for the sale of provisions and groceries at about wholesale prices or a small advance upon cost,) and the “People’s Paper,” (pledged to advocate the enterprise,) have both failed or suspended operations.—The principle, however, upon which the movement was founded was a very good one, and deserved to succeed; but in a city where rent and labor are high, such an experiment is doubtful, even if well managed, and this probably was not. It undertook to do more than it had means to accomplish, and broke down under its own weight. We are not acquainted with the particulars of the failure, except that we have seen it stated in the papers that the proprietor of the concern sunk in a few moths some $40,000. The affair, we have understood, was to be investigated, and a report made to the public; but we believe that this has not yet been done.
