, 1873-01-02
BEHIND THE CURTAIN.

An Instdo G1fnrso Of tho Mercantile Agency
Business.
Tho dotni1s OF tho rocont gront fro In Cdntro
Btrcot Now York, by which q vast amount OF
properly wan destroyed, and at lonat ak llvos
Bacrinced, aro familiar to tho roatlors of TIE
Tn,BuNE, hui It may not be generally known
that ono OF tho mercantile institutions OF
thls city was among tho autrorors. In
tho liat Of tho establishments which
woro destroyed appeared tho nanos of the woll-
known proprietora OF Tho Mercantile Agency"
MoaBrs. Dun, Harlow & Co., who aro mentioned
aB loserB to tho o1tont Of Mt loaBt $3.50 900. Tho
Agency has M important branch In this city,
and desirous Of soeing what object tho loss Of a
quarter Of million dollars had upon IN inst-
tuition Of this kind u representative Of THE
Tn1nuNE callol ut their Office, mud had m inter-
Wow with Its manager.
The branch of1lco in this city, situated at tho
northwest corner Of Fifth avenue aud Madison
Rtroet, like tho majority Of tho othor branch
of1icos throughout tho country, does business
uudor tho firm namo Of N1oHHru. r. G. Dun &
Co., and iss management has boon auch as to
impreHa Its Claims strongly upon tho favor
and support Of tho mercantile community.
Tho olfico was first established hero about twcu-
ty.two years ago, and is, therefore, ono ct tho
oldeat husiucsa louaea In tlle city, Though
jority Of olr business mon, it had many difficult
tioH to contond with, md both time and patience
wore noodod to buIld It up to tho tho9ouglly reg
nces woro destroyed By fro, onco on Wabash ave-
nuo, and again III tho great *conflagration, by
which all It's valuable records woro destroyed.
To most institutions this would hayo beon almost
! death-b!ow. Not 30 in thiB caso. Tho heaa
oflce in Now York kept among it's archives du-
| plicato records OF ouch branch In tho
country, and, regardless Of tho immonso expense,
tho Chicago records were reported and even i'm
proved upon within two months from tho date
! Of their destruction. Tho records thua restored
| aro now secured each night In q largo hro-proof
vault, twenty foot square, situated In tho rear
Of tho spacious Offices tho company occupy.
Passing tho Office, which has an unprotonding
exterior tho pedestrian on Madison street las
little idon Of Tho hivo Of industry within. It e
largo spacious Office, we'll Lighted, crowded
with clerks, and apparently excolloi1t]y nun
mon, the departments being divided into country
travelling roportora,, city. reporters, counter
clerks, reference book clerks, copyisfs, rating
clerks, and tho collection department. Tho Of
fico Is In npp[o-pio orlor, and judging from d
stngle visit is conducted In a manner to merit
the confidence it has secured.
From conycraation with tho manager of tho
Chicago Office, the following general facts, which
cannot fail to DO Of intorost, woro obtained. Tho
Agency has now about hfty-four branches, ono
being located ut each Of tho contros OF trado ID
the United Statos, Canada, Europe, and Austrc~
ill.,. The force OF ,corros f'ondonts employed IL
in the neighborhood Of ifty-two Thousand, this
In allition to tho travelling agents OF tho Arm,
who vlHlt each town nnl village throughout tho
country twice oaoh year. and collect reports
ments made by tlo local correspondents.
The expense OF maintaining such an ostab-
lishmons will easily bo Imagined by bueinosa
mon, and when tho public aro informed TINT tho
simple tom Of rents averages over s1oo. 600 Q
year, and that the postage account for tho past
| year Has over 1000 some idea Of tho mag