The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-08-27
The, Fall tTrade.

The New York alesald has been inter
viewing the leadIng merchants Of Gotham.
Their views Of the fall trade, o.. co fse,
have a New York bias; butwlth this borne ne
iD mind the merchant may find instruction e1
ID what the Herald reports. The f ., wv
is d general expression Of the Herald upon
the views OF merchants
1t lis the prevailing, opinion among mer-
chur,ts In the dry-goods trade that t'
this fall will be better than IT mas Dees lor
yenrs. The notion that trade Is stagnaEt IS
laughed at in the leading commission ana
iobbing houses, ana It is the universal 1estt-
nony that il was never better at tins season
Of the year than IL Is now. During 1ne iast
few DAYS business has been depressed 10
some extent by the yellow.fever In the SoutD;
but 1t Is not thought this depression Wll'
have any marked effect upon the market u W
less the epidemic should spread toward tue
North and East. In the West the crops are
excellent, and it is believed by mercnants >
that the people will have money 10 Speno
for goods. On every hand there are .hope-
full signs OF prosperous season, and. IL Is
confidently expected that New York viii
hold her old rank as the distributing COM
mescial centre OF che country.
The Herald gives the following as the
substance OF the interview with WILLIAM
LIBBY, partner OF Judge HILTON, in the
house OF A. T. STEWART:
"We anticipate good business TINS ial',"
he said, .and, what is more, the traoe Is -
likely to be freer from speculation ttian IL
has been In many OF the past seasons:
don't think there has been any oVeIproduc-
tion in cotton or woolleu fabrics. Prices
are ON a lower plane than they were last
wear even, and there is not much prospect
Of an advance. They can only he advanced
by a scarcity Of the raw material, OF which
there IS no indication"
I" But O number Of merchants have tolu
me-" the reporter interposed, "that prices
have already slightly advanced in antlcipa-
ton OF brisk fall trade"
THE commission merchants to!d you
that. I believe they have forced prices up
n little in order to help the iobbers out.
This is only temporary, however, and low
prices will rule throughout the season.
Rut, as a rule, | do not believe in low prices.
Every honest man is willing to pay far
price to the manufacturer and allow fair
profit to the merchant. 1t would he well ii
our merchants, as class. learned this. We
need better modes Of doing business, and
more honor and fair dealing in trade. The
great curse from which business suffers In
this country is the constant effort OF GER
tain class OF merchants to break down the
market. There are so many fools i'll busi-
ness anxious 10 make name by selling
goods for less than they can be made ana
for less than they can buy them that it is no
wonder honest dealers trying TO trade In
legitimate way are often forced to fall.
Ninety per cent. OF our businessmen fail,
and it won't do to attribute their failure
either to incapacity or dissipation. The
oaly reason why they are not successful IS
because they are eating each other up. II
fifty per cent. of our merchants succeeded
we should hear nothing Of communism and
the other evils which threaten society and
menace trade"