The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-05-03
SELLING DRY GOODS.
ITS PLACE IN AMERICAN TRADE

I,
the subject of the dry goods business: The
eclat which has attended Mr.. A. I. Stew
arts death was, of course, due in a consid-
era bic degree to the popular notion of the
size of his fortune. The man who has sue
ceeded in accommodating more money than
any other man 10 8 commercial commun-
ity in which nearly every man is striving
for money with great eagernees, is neces-
sarily man of distinction, and his death
is sure to cause more or less sensation. But
1t may we'll be doubted whether MIR.
Stewart would have achieved nearly as
much distinction had he made his money
In any other way than the way in which
he did make it. The riches of a great real
estate speculator, or railroad man, or con-
tractor, or miner, or iron master, or China
merchant, would not impress the popular
imagination nearly so powerful IS his have
cone. He not only made in his lifetime an
enormous fortune, but be made it in the
M st conspicuous, best known, and, to the
large body of American traders, most fasci-
mating OF pursuits-the sale of the COM
modify known IS ''dry goods" THERE'S
probably no other business in the country
on which so much ambition Is secretly fed,
which furnishes the material for so many
dsy-dresms, and to which the bulk or the
young men who ecgsgs in commercial
pursuits are SO powerfully drawn. The
percentage of those engaged In all branc ne s
OF business who have begun their career
by "elerklrg it" il a dry goods store
would, If statistics could be collected on
the subject, be found curiously large. So
also would the percentage be of those who
have tried dry goods at one period or other
OF their lives as capitalists, and only turned
to other csllings after they had irretriev-
ably failed it. The
NUMBER OF TRADERS"
in dry goods was crater by far in 1870
than those in any other branch of distribu-
ton, exc pit groceries, numbering in round
numbers 10000 the grocers reached "A, OOO).
and this does not include the statesmen
and ssleswomen and travellers and collec-
tors, who may be set down at least at two
to one, or about eighty thousand. No
other traders or dealers number half as
many. There were in the country in 1870,
100000 farmers and planters, to say no l.
ing of the same number of agricultural Ia
borers. We shall not attempt to guess
how large a proportion of the young men
Just entering on life, belonging to this class
are eager TO exchange the dull and monot-
onous and exposed life of tiller of the
soil for the shelter, cleanliness and excite
ment, and even remote chance OF great
wealth, offered by almost any kind of ex-
change business in city. 1t is undoubt-
eddy very large, and TO most of the IS
youths the dry goods store seems to offer
the most attractive and easy path to the
new life, and is undoubtedly the most
familiar one. Most of the villsge heroes
the name of whose mansion" and dia-
monds and fast horses. church and college
donations, aud large Operations" comes
back to their birthplace, have started in
this way. Every village boy, in fact,
thinks If he is quick at figures and can
get behind counter he may rival Stewart
or CIafiin, and more than this he does not
look tor in this world. The loftier dreams
OF intermsrrisge with counts and dukes,
and familiar intercourse with effete
monarchs and princes OF the blood, come
later in lie, and are put into his hf sd by
his wife AND daughters. This pre-emi-
trade in this country are due mainly TO the
great purchasing power and varied re-
quirements OF American women.
IN ALL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
the country population are mainly pea
SAINTS, and even when well-to-do, wear
clothes of exceeding simplicity and OF a
stereotyped fashion. They make next to
no demand for styles, trimmings and great
diversity of material, and but little for the
finer qualities of goods of any kind. Con-
sequently, there is but little field for enter
prise or taste, or Ingenuity in furnishing
them. The dealer who depends on them
is satisfied if, like the grocer, he lays in a
few great staples, and is able to tell which
of his cotton prints have fast colors. Here
in the country the tastes of the city wo-
men are spread everywhere by the fashion
papers and mage zines, and cultivated b.
the passion for equality, and the absencs
of class distinctions, and the secret social
ambition brsd by the common schools and
academies. The country boy aspires to
sell dry goods in Broadway or
Washington street, and the country
girl expects a city dry goods nan
to come out and marry her, and
give her sbawls and lsces, or the oppor-
tunity Of couture" in picture galleries
and libraries. The consequence is that The
dry goods man has sphere of &C ivlty
opened to him such as is presented to nc
other trader. Women are his principal
customers, and their wants are innumera-
BILE, whether for use or ornament, and
their fancy is harp of athousaud Strings
on which skilliul salesman may play an
endless variety OF tunes. The chances for
great hits, too, In coiors or patterns o.
fashions, give the business come of the at.
fractions of gambling and the changeful-
ness Of the popular Taste furoisbes rest
less, eager nature with an inexhaustible
stimulus to activity and enterprise. There
is no business Ia which trader is brought
into such constant contact with the public
st large. and into such close relations with
family life, and into such near perceptions
of its wants and weaknesses. Mr.. Stewart
was the first to perceive the opportunities
1t offered in this country, and to avail him
self of them, and
HE DERIVED his SUCCESS
from two things-in the first place, he saw
the advantage, In dealing with timid
non-commercial class like women, who
are, nevertheless, eager for new and t.
them unknown and untried commodities
OF having fixed price, which would con