Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-07-25
THE DRY GOODS TRADE.

% Prospect for the Fall SeasOn-Tl
e South In the New York Market
Credit of Southern Buyers-EHect I
/. the Conservative MOvement-Carpe
a Baggers as Commercial Men.
!, The New York Herald has an elabC
: rate review of the dry goods trade, frol
;, which we take the following:
8 AS q general rule buyers in tn
q spring trade bought only what the
wanted and would not buy more at an
J price. In a word the current of trad
r has been healthy, natural and non
| speculative; and unlike previous year
since the war, 1869 has recorded few
failures Of importance. The statistics o
suspensions thus far will not exceed one
hundred, small and great, and none o
them have been affairs either Of great
weight or of indicative moment. The
general stringency of the money market
has been met with caution equally
general on the part of the commercial
classes. The rule having been only to
buy what was wanted for the regular
course of trade, the dry goods auction
marts, which were exceedingly busy in
1867 and 1868, have been comparatively
deserted. For this, however, there has
been another reason in the prevailing
tendency Of holders to hold goods in
stead of thrusting them upon the market
for speedy realization at any price.
Manufacturers, who glutted the auction
maket with fabrics year before last,
have thus retained their gcOis in their
own hands, and in consequence trIde
has assumed firmer, less huctuative
and less speculative tone than has pre-
vailed for the past four years.
1t may now, for the first time since the
war, be stated that trade has got upon a
peace footing, having settled into normal
currents without uneasy and speculative g
| fiuctuation. The fluctuations was kept
| up longer than was necessary, however,
first by general resort on the part of the
holders to auction houses, under the i'm
preston, Of course, that rapid fall in
prices might be anticipated; and secondly,
by the undue forcing of sales under
peessure on the part of the auction houses
in question. The corrective applied to
the case has been exceedingly simple.
| The first work was to eliminate the auction
house from regular trade, to shear it of
its mighty influence for the depression of
prices, and this was brought about by a
general effort on the part Of jobbers and
wholesale men, seconded by the tenden-
cy of country customers to buy less and
more safely.
Thus several of the unhealthy ten
denotes pointed out in the annual review
Of trade and finances last January have
been corrected, and wholesOmely so, and
the spring closes with better prospects
for the fall season than has been the case
for four years. What September-when
the bees Of business come swarming into
their hives again after the summer hegira
may bring forth, remains to be seen;
but the testimony or leading men in the
trade is unanimous. The prospect was
never better for vigorous, brisk and
healthy resumption of trade. During the
year Eastern manufacturers have had
an opportunity to recuperate and establish
themselves upon a sounder and more
normal basis, in which respect the year
has borne good fruit, and the testimony
now is that the supply is little, if any,
in excess Of the normal demand. That
manufacturers everywhere, having learn
ed a wholesome lesson from the fluctu>
ations Of the past, will curb themselves
within the limits of just supply, is alto
gether probably. The past four years
have fallen too heavily upon New
England for the proyerbially money:
making Yankee not to take heed and
obey the manifest laws Of commerce.
The prospect of the crop for the COM
ing season is reported flattering from all
quarters, and especially from the South,
where the past year has wrought very
considerable metamorphOsis. Whole>
salers and jobbers testify that, generally
speaking, the Southern trade is shifting
back into the hands of old times South
ern customers, and testify to the fact
with kindly appreciation of the honor
able dealing of old customers. The
foreman of leading wholesale house in
this city remarked that losses for the
past four years to the New Yerk market
have been mostly at the hands Of the
class aptly dubbed carpet -baggers-men
WIN, iodN OOdAd Oillo ~
the North, went South without either
capital, morals or manners, to recuper-
ate, if possible, their deserVedly waning
fortunes Nine tenths of the Southern
failures in trade booked during the peace
period, have been at the hands OF this
class ofspeculators, who, being irrespons-
ible when they emigrated, mended not
their morals after emigration. 1t may
be added that this is the general testi"
mony of leading men in the New York
trade, and that to-day the credit of
the native SOutherner, other things
being equal, is better in New York
market than that Of the carpet~bag ex>
otic. Again, as a general rule, it is
stated that antG-war obligations have
teen liquidated with the utmost
readiness by the old time Southern
commercial class, and this has been pro-
ductive of an exceedingly friendly feel
ing on the part of the Northern dealer.
An eminent gentleman in the trade, who
did heavy Southern business before the
war, estimates that more than seventy
per cent. of the old liability has been
honorably arranged. In some Of the
Southern States very few claims remain
unsettled; while in others, owing to the
unsettled state of politics, the payment
has been very spasmodic. Virginia, Ala
bama, the CarolInas and the cotton pro-
ducing sections in general have very
nearly erased the old score, and the
prospect is that the whole South will
enter the market quite on the square next
spring. These are, Of course, facts for
the congratulation of all parties South
as well as North, and the kindly feeling
which has thereby engendered on the
part of Northern creditors toward the
| Southern debtor cannot be without its
effect. The carpet-bag commercial gue-
rillas of the South have been mostly up
| rooted, and business men in the city
speak Of the fact with most evident satis-
| action.
The Southern trader may this fall
GENE into the New Y York market with all
the privileges of the Northern customer
as to time, terms and the like-viz: ten
to thirty days on domestic fabrics and
three to four months on imported. This
metamorphesis has been mostly wrought
by the elimination of Northern adven'
turers from Southern trade, the resump-
ton Of business by old time buyers IN
| New York market, and the prevailing