The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1875-10-21

| nOtlccd, and III TINS manneran nuur may
be passed. Then comes a walk down 10
: the main floor and il brief utterance 10
the chief of his assistants. No one seems
conscious that the master is nigh, for to
do this were u violation OF the regime OF
the place,
THE STAFF
Stewart goes through vast amount Of
labor in short time, and his carriage
generally calls for him before o'clock.
His clerks. however work till the bust
ness of the day be finished. In his ar.
ray OF managers may be found some Of
the ableSt dry goods merchants this city
ever contained. They have failed and
found refuge in his vast establishment
They need employment and he wants
their services, bur the advantage is chief
| " in his favor, for they have been educa.
ting themselves at an immense expense,
while he gets t.eir services for salaries
so small that they hardly afford more
than close living The partner, MIR,
! Libby, il % once broken merchant
who failed twenty-five years ago He
then got place with Stewart, who found
him very useful, and no rose gradually
| to an interest in the hOuse. A number
| of statesmen sell on commission, and in
good times make better rates than mere
salary, but this method is very unfavor-
able during the present depression.
PRICES.
Stewart has the most remarkably sys-
tematic mind of which we have any rec
ord, but his system is an expensive one
He has succeeded in making the public
believe that he sells goods at cheap |
rate, which is by no means the case |
His grand system requires large profits |
as good buyers both ut wholesale and |
retail will soon discover
There il, however, an attraction in the |
grand establishment which consists chief |
~ in the notion of going with the |
crowd and this does much TO draw
trade. The shoppers of this city say that
Stewart is not cheap" but they can get
all they want under one roof Here we |
see how his system brings large
profits, The place is grand center for
everything that lady can desire in the
way Of dress and customers need not 90 |
elsewhere for trhes. You can buy Il
$1,000 shawl or paper of pins.
SYSTEM.
Stewards system is so peculiar that il
would require volume to include its
details. It's operation in respect to the
clerks give them Il special door for com
ing and going, and no one is allowed to
carry off package This door is always
guarded, and none but clerks can pass.
Each clerk has access to the vast cloak
room in the basement where small
closet is furnished him. The variety of
checks in the sale of goods affords the
widest imaginable track to everything
that is sold, and the only fraud that is
practicable at all is direct shoplifting,
which il occasionally detected. At the
lower store there il but one entrance for
customers, and this is always guarded.
No parcel is allowed to pass out unless it
bears the proper check.
The rules OF the house are extremely |
rigid. have seen payment of a bill ten
dered to n clerk, who refused taking it.
This, said he, "is the collectors busi-
ness. should be discharged if took
it," Such general system was first in
troduced by Stewart, but has been gen
orally copied in all large cities.
ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY.
Stewart has shown peculiar turn Of
mind in the Use Of his wealth. He has
never been addicted to the purchase of
stocks, and has none Of that ambition, 80
common among merchants to bea bank
director OF President He has owned
little else than dry goods and real estate
or, i'll other words, he has purchased
ho,hing that he can not control in an /
individual manner. He has not gone
into real estate speculativeiy, but merely
invested his surplus cash. Hence his
purchases indicate the growth of his
profits. 1t is thirty years since he bought
the old hotel on the site of which his
wholesale warehouse now stands. The |
only point of interest in this hotel is |
found in the fact that Louis Napoleon |
stopped there during his s0journ In this |
city in 1889. Ten years afterward nc |
purchased the Metropolitan Hotel for |
Sj5,OO0. Then he acquired in the same |
manner the Depau Row in Blocker street |
to which he has added the Church of the !
Messiah in Broadway, the Baptist Church |
III Amity street. in his hands the for. |
mer has become theatre, while the lat |
ter has become a stable. Other purcha- |
ses could be mentioned, but In addition
to city property he has large tract at
Hampstead, where he 10 building y vii |
lage for working people; also the Saralo-
"a Hotel, which IS worth half million.
Ills surplus profits are thus placed in
shape subject to his control, and should
his life be prolonged, it may be expected
that he will continue to accumulate prop
erty III the best part of the metropolis.
1t is annoying to MIN that he can moi