Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-05-17
OUR NEW Y0RKLETTER.
The Sewing Machine Drop -siacy-The Dog
Show Fashions.
New York, May IA, 1877.
THE SEWING MACHNE DROP.

New York, May IA, 1877.
THE SEWING MACHINE DROP.
The most interesting thing that has
happened for many years, is the drop
in sewing machines. The business has
been controlled for years by a ring
organized by two or three of the
largest companies, who in the early
years OF the business succeeded in
getting control of the points without
which no machine can be made.
These companies compelled all the
others to pay royalties, and really
kept great many out of the field by
refusing to license them at all. Last
Tuesday all these patents expired,
and now the trade in sewing ma
chimes is free and unincumbered.
That the burden imposed by this
ring may be understood, | may say
That one company has paid in the
last ten years nearly million of dol
lars But the great trouble with the
business has been the credit system
and the enormous expense of selling.
The commissions paid to agents
amount up terribly, and then most of
the machines have been sold on two
years. creditor what are called leases,
the companies owning the machine
till it is paid for. There was the loss
of interest on the vast capital this sys-
tenn necesstated, and there was the
enormous expense of detectives, coli
lectors and processes to recover, all of
which made the business of selling
machines, the first cost cf which was
perhaps $40, for $40, not very profit
able. All this changes. The Weed
company reduced the price of ma
chimes nearly one half, the day the
patents expired, and all the other
companies who make machines com
peting with il, were forced to follow
suit. They intend as far as practical
bic to bring the busihess down TO a
cash basis, and the people who can
pay will have the benefit of the re-
duction inasmuch as under the old
system a woman who couldn't get
credit for loaf of bread could get
possession of $40 sewing machine,
This change of base will work to the
disadvantage Of the poor, but the
really paying people will be adj
vantaged by it.
Macy.
One of the richest merchants in the
city was r. IL Macy, who died few
years ago. Mr.. Macy made will,
and to the establishment Of his friends,
he left his only son an income of only
1000 a year, and gave for reason
for it that the young man was hope
lessly depraved and totally unfit to be
trusted with property. AS it happens
to be entirely true, it is q striking
commentary on the uselessness of hd-
man calculations. Macy's ambition
was to have his son gentleman, and
TO have him spend the vast estate he
was gathering like one. Accordingly,
he was all his life furnished with all
the money he could spend, and he
went through the usual routine of a
fast young New Workers. life. He
had high company, drank expensive
wines, drove fast horses, etc, all of
which pleased the old gentleman well
enough till he woke one day TO the
bitter knowledge that his boy had
contracted habits which he could not
throw off. And that made a black
guard of him instead of a gentleman.
He made the old mans life unhappy
I, md he ha1
the bitterness of seeing the boy who
had been his pride, degenerate into a
debauchee, who could not hold the
respect of any one, and who was the
laughing.stock of his acquaintance,
and the disgrace of his family. Now
for the moral. The immense business
of the Macy establishment will here
after be controlled by man who
entered the store a friendless boy, and
who worked his way up slowly but
surely, and who, ten years ago, would
have been glad to clean his employers
sons boots. This is only one case in
thousands though very few make
known the delrqueneies of their chill
dren as freely as did Macy. The aver
age young men of rich parents in the
city is not reliable being.
The Dog Show.
The preitiest show of the last six
teen months, not excepting the big
Centennial, and the one most COM
pletely carried out. is the dog show
under the auspices of the Westminster
Kennel Club, which is composed Of
sporting gentlemen fond of fine dogs
who wish to awaken interest in inn
proving their breeds. About fifteen
hundred entries of handsome dogs
of almost every degree, from the
great St. Bernard and Siberian watch
dogs to Toy Terriers makes collec-
ton as interesting as it is possible to
name, to anyone having a common
liking for the noblest kind of brute,
hardly excepting the horse. The Rev.
Mr. McDonna. the celebrated English
authority on dogs, kindly crossed the
ocean to attend the show. and brought
dogs with him Of the highest breeding
known in the world. Other English
lovers of dogs sent their pets. and
noble animals they were though not
handsome to the uneducated eye, and
not moro Intelligent looking, than
many not valued so highly, belonging
to American owners. Contrary to the
general idea, the St. Bernards of pure
breed are not black and white, but
red, and fawn and yellow, with not a
black hair among them. The larger
part of entries were of sporting dogs,
some of which were sent from Michi-
gan, Missouri and Virginia. The dark
Irish settlers, and field spaniels were
the handsomest exhibited. The pugs,
which nearly draw scream of dis
gust at their horrid ugliness. terriers
bred in and in till there is nothing
of them but enough black coat to
shiyer with, and greyhounds that
looked like skinned chickens, blue and
starved. The pets lay on satin