The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1860-09-08
COUNCIL BLUFFS,

8, 1860.
| HISTORY or DRr eoeDs FMlNcR.
/ lFron the He~ York Lssasr.I
/ Probably the most stupendous success il
q mercantile career, Of no axtraordinary
length, has been thai Of A. T. Stewars, thu
lpresens great Wholesale and dry good.
dealer.
i A. T. Stewart is counsryman Of OsCon-
nell, Brien the Brave, Curran, the late
Duke Of Wellington, Powers, the actor.
Grat;an, the Emmetts, and Teddy, the Tiler.
Eorty-one years ago he landed on the west
ern side of the Atlantic alone and unfriend.
ed. He came from the county Tyrone. near
the bushes. When be reached New York IN
1919. Mr.. Stewart must have been twenty
four years old, and coon after be could have
beeh found At SO Rose street, directly oppo.
site the Quaker church, where he s.taught
the young idea how TO shaot,s nr in plain
Irish kept school. How long Mr.. Stewart
vas occupied in q tass that would have tried
the patience OF job, | dare not say, but /
have 10 doubt it was most excellant pre-
paratory school to teach patience, to the
! future immense favnrite, and successful
waiter upon the caprices Of lady dry goods
| pure hasers.
Mr.. Stewart is nov about the age Of sixty
lfonss Aaxine Asaa harn il lnalnnA in l795 %
90. After the yellow fever in 1872. Mr..
! Stewart opened = retail dry goods store in
! Broadway, in an old wooden tenement di-
rectiy opposite TO where his great marble
palace now stands. Stewards store may
have been twenty feet wide and twenty feet
deep. lie kept. hosiery. laces, silks. gloves,
ribbons. and the more costly fabrics. lle
attended the great auction sales regularly,
aud never missed sale OF dry goods u. p.
& j. Homes John Hone 4 Son's$ liagger,y.
Austin & C,.'s, Mills 4 Min,nrn's, Adee.
Timpsan 4 Co.'s, and David Adee's.
He invariably upon these occasions bought
what was called 'tumbled lots," or, more
properly speaking, "sample lots" At
great '.shelf sale," samples would he flung
upon the long table before the autioneer.
The buyers would handle them, stretch.
pull, try on the goods if gloves, and tumble
them in fine style.
1t was curious % n philosopher to watch
the rapid transition over Stewards face.
He always stood close to the auctinneer.
and rs he invariably bought the sample lot,
his face expressed anxiety, bis hands reach
ed out and grasped as many of the articles
as he could con pass. especially laces, and
he drew them near himself. 10 prevent more
tapgling. When lot Of goods was closed
up, then the samples would be sold separ-
ate. and rarely brought half price. Then
4. I. Stewart was in his glory. He bought
all, conveyed to his little store, and as he
was very ex ert in redrcssing up gloves.
aces, hosiery, etc., he would soon make his
sample lots equal to the original goods be-
for they were mussed at the auction sales.
Then followed the triumph Of the patient,
humble little tradesman. He could under
sell anybody in that trade, Of course, and
the ladiss of fashion were not long in finding
out that fact. Ia this modest way be
worked along slowly, but surely, from 1922
to 1928. Then he found his business great
Iy increased. lie was the best judge OF
!aces in New York, and he sold the
best at the lowest prices--lower than
the great dealers, Fountain 4 Co..
and Vnndervelt & I anden. Stewart,
By rractcing economy, industry and abso-
lutte devOsion to his profession and business,
soon came alongside of his great and some
times overbearing rivals. lie was humble.
at tentive. sold very cheap and the best OF
goods. He neither tried on lodges or
gouges. lie was regarded as a worthy
young beginner. and very snon the fash
ionab!e Misses Mason, Jones, Prime, Jay,
Homes, Oracle, Crosby, Stuyvesaut, and
others Of their set became his constant pat.
rons, and he soon had all that profitable
trade. ..
His business increased so rapidly that he
had to enlarge his store by deepening it
twenty feet, and raised it to three stories.
In the course Of five years more be was
obliged to deepen it thirty feet more, and
put on two more stories, making 1t five
story store.
About this time Stewart adopted the plan
of employing, as clerks, the handsomest
young fellows he could pick up in this
country or even in England. HIS custom
ers were the most dashing and fashionable
Young women in the city and from the
South. lie hired handsome Boyle (after
wards Boyle & Ilumphries) and Durham.
They were great fellows among the women
in 1888 and 1884, and drew crowds to
Stewards already fashionable store. ~.
In 1881, Mr.. Burroughs was book keeper.
Stewart took him in as partner, and gave
him one eighth in 1888. He died last year,
and his share was just one million OF dol
lars. -..a.. - .
In the year 1898. when all was gloom
and confusion in the commercial world.
| Stewart reduced his stock to cost, md sold
| for those prices. Ginghams and such stuHs
that had been retailing for 81 cents per
| yard, he sold at 20 cents, calicoes in the
same proportion. What was the conse.
ouence? Old women who had stockinged
their god and silver, marched to Stewards
to take advantage OF the awful sacrifice
that unfortunate merchant WIS making,
and though they did not want the goods,
yet, like Mrs. ToodIes, they might want 'em
one Of these days." when they could not be
had at such unheard of low prices. Stew
art was overrun with cash. He took the
same money received for goods sold at cost,
went into the market, and bought the
same style Of goods, calicoes, etc., that be
had sold, for 40 per cent. less than he bad
obtained! In one purchase he bought
/ $4,000 worth OF silks, half cash, and half
for sixty days, at sixty per cent. less than
the cost Of the silks to import. On this
| transaction be realized $20, 200. During
all that disastrous panic Stewart retailed
every day S5 900 worth Of goods. While
Others all around him were breaking, he
was coming money. He was the father OF
the .sSeling off a, Cost" He was the
originator Of an idea among retail dry
good. dealers that has saved thousands ut
men from ruin, and made fortunes for tens
of thousands Of humbugs, by selling OF
at cost.
10 1913 he removed to his present marble
palace. He had bought Washington Hal
Of Young John Co.fer, for $50, 900 and for
q few thousand dollars more two additions
buildings and lots, on Broadway, corner OF
Chambers street. Upon this magnificent
site be erected the present store. Th'
whole cost Of the ground and the palace
erected did not exceed 100000. To day
il would sell at auction for from $S00, ,0OS
to 81, 900 900.
i lie paid PATRON Van Rensselaer, $40,
600 for the Melsropolitan Hotel and out
buildings. Il is now worth and pays ~
interest Of ten per cent on 81 .0o0,0 ans
. would bring Mt auction $S,000,Uoo. III
owns nearly all Of Bleecker street, betweei