, 1872-12-27
THE HOLIDAY TRADE.
What Our Merchants Have
Done, and Who are Their
Customers
Chicago and the Buyers Of The Nort.,-
West~--Hhat is to Support Cur
Elegant Places Of Trade.

Elegant Places Of Trade.
The intelligent observer who has taken m oc-
casion to look through the stores Of our leading
dealers IN the goods most allied to tho holiday
trade has this year been struck with the most
prominent fact. astounding both to citizens and
visitors from abroad. It is only q few months
since waste of broken bricks and rubbish
awaited the building operations Of spring, on the
sites now occupied By these trade palaces And
yet the holiday season Of the same year fnds
these palatial places Of business completed. fit
ted III metropolitan style, surprising, many Of
them any stores known or dreamed of in Chicago
before the ire. Even the maryela OF Book
sellers Row are more than restored in the lace
OF the prediction Of veterans in the trade that it
would be years before Chicago could again SEQ
restored tho great book sa!esrooms that were the
wonder Of olden cities and the great publishing
centres. It was the augury, also, that VIC were
to become and remain for years q plain and
humble brick-built city, IS regarded the accom-
modations for our leading lines Of trade, and yet
the close Of the year finds cur great retail houses
in all lines superbly appointed with plate glass
and fine carved woods, better stocks than ever
before, elegant and costly wares meeting the eye
7n an sides, and in quarters unknown to even g
medium class OF business before the great trans
formation Of the fire.
Our wondering citizens have seen "openins"
sitter t'opening" announced, and have brought
their wives and daughters again and again and
get again to marvel at the great jcwelry prem
ises that have astonished and outrun every ex-
pectation and would to-day be m2rvels on Broad
way or Chestnut street. Our great dry goods
houses have We'd with one smother in the display
OF silks and velvets, and 1aces, and shawls.
Our toy dealers have made all the children OF
the town, we fear, permanently round-ey ed o.
the wonders Of their premises surprising the
necromancy Of the story books. Our millinery
establishments occupy with their flashing wares
some Of largest and most elegant
stores. In fac, the irrostible tendency seems to
be to carry the aesthetic quality even to the
decoration Of every resort of trade, and the cpl
demlc Is abroad among our saloons, and their
propTietors are rieing with one another to ascer-
tain whether the best effect is to be produced
by outlay of 515, 900, or whether a little more
taste cannot do better with $4,000. Lcav-
ing these last to eettlo their accounts with the
devil, where VIC fear they will find all too many
Of their patrons, as Witnesses Of such finaIty
Of adjustment, VIC are hero only to refer to the
distinctive features Of our restoration OF trade
to old quarters.
And thus, therefore, have re come down
to tho holidays of 1872. Now
all this preparation will be miz-
understood By those who take too narrow view
OF this subject, and apply the morale of all this
business preparation to tho state OF affairs in
our city, and turn to our OWL community for the
sole answer to the inquiry, "Wbo is to buy all
these nne goods ?" Everybody remembers that
o year or so ago we we're ali burned up and
burned out. We have found only two mea who
did not lose over twenty-five thousand dollars
in that fire. One man tried to keep up faceto
appear among his fellow-citizens with q loss Of
less than fifteen thousand, but gave it up, and
has moved to IN obscure country town through
very shame. But the serious fact is
and remains, and it will tako years OF recupcra-
tion, economy, and careful buainess to bring
back matterR to their former position. And yet
II IL only to he done By going strongly forward,
ana tho splendid nerve with which our mcr-
ch.:nts nave done tlnn is the key-fact to the
restoration OF this city. Put that down, and
put it as the foundation stone Of the solid
structure that is rising, has risen again, and is
marked on the roll Of magnificent destiny, Chi
ceso.
And thus coming down to the holidays with
elegant stores and full stocks, it was
a fresh marvel to find them full of
purchasers. For several days before
Christmas it Was uncomfortable to mako
quick purchase in most of our lending stores.
You had to find soma friend behind the counter,
throw him 4 wink solid enough to start mule,
and then as a special favor bo shown your arti-
Gle and make hasty trade over the back OF some
earlier conner absorbed in tlnts, and settling the
solemn question 'f whether this would suit Jane,
after all" And this in city. burnt out, burned
o'er' han -..-'i1t- in debt, holding unF,id poll
funds perhaps some banker nn- +nrnod into h;a
own pocket IS an Offset. There you e, aoa;n
Sir Croaker, all because you are to-
near-sighted. Why, don't You know that these
very merchants in the holidays Of last year.
hurried into seyen-by-nine apartments, into
sheds, into parlors and basements, and, with
fresh stocks, did q rushing business in choice
wares, even while $4,000 house1ess people had
been freshly sheltered in shanties to be fed bv
the Relief Society and splendid outside charity !?
Did you believe last year our citizens were buy
ing holiday goods? And yet the goods were
bought. And do you look to Chicago of this
gear as the sole, or even the principal customers
Of our leading merchants? Last year, Sir Grum-
bier, you had October smoke in your eyes and
could not see. Take better look at tho situa-
We have taken some pains to inquire OF OUT
merchants in these great stores whence were
their patrons in the few days preceding Christ
mas. And, SO far as these scattered statistics OF
an unusual sort could be collected, it WAS aston
ishing to discover how largely the great North
west has sent in the buyers. One merchant
gave US the name of twenty-three points whence
customers had come to buy notable orders (the
smaller could not have been remembereD over
his plate-glass counters. Look at the North
vest tributary to Chicago, over score
u direct railway lines reaching every prin-
:ipa1 point. From these points came largely tho
holiday trade OF 1871, done under circumstances
hat will mako its annals marvellous in our
:rade, whatever its future; and thence have
some hundreds Of buyers this year. One lead
ng (eweller, whose trade has reached thousands
# dollars daily for the period known to bo
Effected by the approach OF the holidays, says
nat many Of his best sales have been made to
parties from abroad Another has, within tho
past two or three weeks, opened Beventy-three
aew accounts with dealers in the interior. Not
one OF our leading houses in this
Ind other ehowy. lines but adds
TO the proofs OF this samo GLASS;
When sou have looked through the new Chicago
palaces of trade. lift your gaze Immediately