New Orleans Republican., 1872-11-16
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SrFrIAL JOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS
Rostou Merchants Not Depressed.

A New York World reporter gives the re-
mul+ Of his interview with a member OF
New York house, the day after the Boston
fire. He says:
Er+oripo the wholesale store OF A: +.
Stewart Il Co and inquiTing for Mr.: W II,
lam Libby our reporter fortunasely iouhd
that gentleman, not at leisure, puI III 9 on9
ot the less busy of his busy moments, ana
brought up the omnipresent subject OF the
Boston disaster, when substantially the 1oI-
lowing dialogue ensued
Rrn6rfer-Do you not think, mr. LloDY,
that much of the alarm in TINS city ls
(rronudless, or at least extravaganza
Mr. Libby-I certainly do 30 lar as lears
are entertained in regard to the prosGrauon
nf business and the financial disturbances
which many are predicting are cohoeihe31l' Gu u
Rosfon ia a wonderful city, an immensely
ricb citv Its basis Of wealth and stability
and vitality is unsurpassed-it is not even
conaled-by that Of any other city on TINS
continent. if in the world. / can not THINK
that by a loss which to be sure IS large ana
was unforeseen a blow has been inflicted
from which. with it's immense resources lC
will not very speedily recover. we may
be too sanguine, but its recovery seems 10 70
us not at all a question OIL caPilai' puI oniJ
one of granite and labor.
PenoTter-A question of time, perhaps:
Mr. Libbv-Only of the time that will be
necessary to quarry and ship the granite,
and get The builders to work You see the
season il. if a fire must be had, the most
Dronitious pOssible 1t is, in fact, transl-
ion time of business if | may 80 speak.
The iobbers are through, or nearly through,
their summers trade, and the retailers, who
have not been the largest sufferers, have
NOT vet begun. They have time, then, to
-, 10 cova ba I1suaI Daripd uf their
greatest sales arrives. Apart from raw ma
terials, the stocks burned were only rem
nants of winter supplies, OF no great
comparative value, aud in no very great
ouantity-at least such ls my opinion.
The stock for next summer has not
vet been received, and there Will
be market enough for it when it does come
And in raw material | judge, the loss is
less than is commonly supposed. rake
wool, for instance as perhaps, the most I'M
portant Most of the wool is now in stor-
age in the neighbOrhOOd of the wharves and
entirely without the circle Of the fire. 1t is
impossible that fire like this, II 1t must
come, should have come at period when
the damage resulting to the business inter
ests Of the city, though great in itself CON
sidered would be relatively so small and SO
Immediately reparable.
Reporter-And in your own case sir; Is
EOllH loss Ol BuClL d udbulO JLub JSu Wiz "
able to speedily take fresh start
Mr.. Libby-Well, sir, in regard to our
own prospects, can say that we have in
all probability closed negotiations for an
other store today, and shall be ready to-
morrow Tuesday to open anew with an
exhibition OF samples
The reporter expressing his astOnishment,
as well he might, at so speedy and SO
prompt a resurrection. Mr.. Libby continued:
;r l,ot n1,o1l do AVn
were burned out on Sunday and shall start
again to-day, and | think many of the prln-
cpal stores in the city will not be slow in
following our example. Boston, even in
respect to pluck, and greatly in respect OF
wealth, is much ahead of Chicago, and
would surmount much greater disaster
than this rapidly and easily. See what the
fire has attacked-it is only the surpluses.
The great acquisitions of capital were out
Of its reach, Mems homes, too, have es-
capped, and this has spared them an incon-
ceivable amount, not Of money only, but OF
energy and vitality as well. When only
mans store is burned he is not in most
cases ruined nor necessarily displrlted, but
If his home goes as well, the mental
strain becomes terrible. | am confident
that it will not be long before many whose
stores have fallen before the flames will
be established and at work anew. In Jan
days large number of the burned out men
will be again fully under way in their busi-
ness and Boston will have almost forgotten
that she had a fire. True, the buildings de-
stroyed were the finest of the kind in the
world Some of the streets, DevOnshlre,
Federal and others, looked like lanes
hewed through a mountain of solid granite
and the fire made clean sweep Of them,
but | believe the losses have been greatly
I fhars pn
100000" turning to q set OF insurance ta-
bIesl. " No, $l60,000,O0O of insurance as
sets-assets, remember represented in Bos-
ton. How much Of this is represented in
the burnt district / can not say, but am
sure the losses are largely covered and
Judging from that 100000, 600 of assets, the
companies are very well able to meet them,
especially as | consider the reported totals
of loss to be very vague and very Tar
astray."
Reporter-Adopting the basis of $l2, per
square foot, they amOnnt to less than $40,
000 600.
Mr.. Libby-I think $4OOOO,OOO much
nearer the truth than the irrational esti--
mates have heard made; but | do not wish
to set the amount at any particular sum,
but only say that in my belief the esti-
mates commonly accepted are vague and
very far astray.'
Reporter-Will New York trade be af-
lccted, Mr. Libby
Mr.. Libby-Little, if at all, and for 10
extended period because, as l said, it is
the transition time of trade-a kind of
breathing spell between two seasons, and
Boston will be far on the road to recovery
before the business season sets in.
Reporter-Do you think the city will
stand in much need of help from outside !
Mr.. Libby-Why, the poor have not been
touched except IN very slight degree, and
Boston is too rich and too proud to need or
ask any help for them. When the alarm
subsidies the people will see this for them
selves, and then their sole cry, as their sole
need, will be, as l said at the outset, for
granite and labor.