Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-02-16
THE SPRING TRADE.a
The New York hotels Crowded With
Merchants and Buyers - All Parts
of the Country Represented - The
Prospects of business.


of the Country Represented - Tn
Prospects of business.
The metropolis of large country i
naturally the centre Of commerce. TIT
Empire City stands in the position of al
immense warehouse to the other parts o
the Union, and to it the buyers of al
goods must flock in order to purchase the
articles wanted for their respective
businesses. Goods can never be bought
SO well away from this city as they can
in it, as when at distance the business
IS transacted upon representations, while
upon the spot it is matter of inspection.
Competition nowadays is so great that
a business man can never tell where he
can get the best value for his money un-
less he can make tour of the various
warehouses where the particular class OF
goods which he may need is offered for
sale. The old fashioned days when
dealers reposed so much confidence in
merchants as to write them for goods,
trusting to the honesty of the sellers to
treat them fairly, are fast fading away,
and in their place the time has come for
stOre&eepers to select their own stock at
such houses as can afford to sell the best
articles at the most reasonable rates.
AT this season of the year the city is
always full of merchants and traders who
have come to the metropolis to provide
goods for the spring trade. This year,
owing to the unusual mildneSs Of the
weather and the prospect of an early
spring, the merchants are somewhat
earlier in their visit than usual. They
have already gone through their stocks
and have formed an estimate of the
quantity of goods which they will need,
and have come here in order to inspect
the stocks of our wholesale houses and
make such purchases as they may think
advisable. As a consequence the hotels,
and more especially the down town ones,
are filled with strangers from all parts Of
the country, whose visits are of bust
ness character. Entering one of these
hotels and looking over the register of
the names of the visitors one cannot but
be surprised at the large number of towns
and cities which are thus represented by
business men. The Yankee and the
Western man, the Southerner and the
dweller in the provinces, the inhabitant
of the Club" and the single storekeeper
of some little mushroom town in the
territories may all be found regis,
tered on the pages Of the same
hotel book. In fact, from East
and from West, from North and from
South, from cities and from villages, from
all parts of this broad land, the mer-
chants have come to see how they can
best expend their capital In early morn
ing and in the evening the corridors of |
the houses are filled with men represents
ing all sections of the country and all |
branches of trade, some busily engaged |
in scanning the columns of the daily |
newspapers, some wrapt in deep thought |
pacing up and down upon the floor, and |
some diligently consulting memoranda,
contrasting prices and quotations. During
the middle of the day the hotels are de-
serted by these visitors and they may be /
seen walking along our business tho
or popping in and out Of the |
wholesale stores TO be found upon them,
busily engaged in the transaction Of their
business. The number of persons of this
class now in the city is said to be larger
than has been known for many years, and
some Of the hotels in the lowor part of |
this island are crowded by them in every
part. Ofcourse where SO many men meet |
there must necessarily be frequent recOg~
nitions of friends, and it is amusing to |
witness the greetings which sometimes |
pass between persons who are thus acct
IDENTIFY brought together. The friends of |
course inquire about BUSINESS, and the
prospects for the coming season
are eagerly discussed. From what
,an be gathered from the OBJ
ServatiOns of the merchants from various
parts of the country, the spring trade it
S generally considered, will be very
good. Most of the gentlemen complain
hat they have been passing through
lull time, but almost all seem sanguine
or the future. Western men are conf
lent that if the weather continues fine
business will be unusually good as the
prospects for the crops, etc, are very
1atteriDg. Eastern men also state that
he general settled condition of the coun-
ry will have a beneficial effect upon
heir business. In fact, on all hands
here is hopefulness which speaks we'll
or the briskness OF business during the
coming months, and there can be little
loubt that, to use the phrase of Boston
Try goods merchant, things are on the
mend" The up town hotels are Just
low tenanted by few persons who have
ONE to this city to purchase goods, but |
y far the majority of the traders are to
re found in the hotels below Canal
treet. A continual stream of statesmen
nay be seen entering these hotels, anx-
os to find out gentlemen personally
.nOwn to them, with, of course, an eye
o business; but friendship has not as
much to do with such matters now as it
lad in days gone by. y Herald |
FEB IL.