Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-04-17
HILTON LOSES HIS GRIP.
The Fame of a. 7. Stecart's Great Estab-
lisI.ment Departed-A Mammoth Bust
ness Destr0yed--The ErcluSive Order
Agdfust the JeUS Bears Fruit.

1t is announced that the we'll known firm of
A. T. Stewart & Co., have determined to dis
continue their dry goods and manufacturing
business, and thatthey offer for sale their
entire stock of merchandise and all their mill
properties. The announcement will cause
general surprise in the mercantile world, al
though it has been known for some time that
the sales of the firm were not as large as
when Mr. Stewart was at the head of the
house which he founded. Mr.. Henry Hilton
apd William Libby, who constitute the firm,
refused this evening to speak relative to the
announcement. Since the death of A. L.
Stewart the business of the house has accord
ing to the assertions of others in the trade,
been
STEADILY CONTRACTED.
The house first practically withdrew from
the iobbing business, then from the import
ing, and almost entirely from the wholesale
business. For several weeks there have been
many rumors afoat concerning 1t, principally
to the effect that it was going out of bust
ness, and that it had been large borrower Of
nioney-an eypediency that was never resorted
TO while A. T. Stewart lived. The best infor-
nation obtainable this evening, in default OF
any from Messrs. Hilton and Libby, was to
the effect that when Mr.. Stewart died there
was at least $4,000, 900 IN the business of the
concern. The house had, on the average,
BALANCE OF AT LEAST 81 100000
in the Merchants National Bank, of which
Mr.. Stewart was a director, and about
s5OO.O0O in each of the three other
banks in which the house kept accounts
the Chemical, and Mechanics National,
and the National Bank of Commerce.
The aggregate was about 81, 100000. The
stock and property of twelve mills owned by
the concern, the goods in the Chambers street
and Tenth street stores, and the stock in store
houses in Paris and elsewhere, as well as in
transit, made the estimated total mentioned.
Up to ten days of Mr.. Stewards death the
house bought for cash, Ten days before his
death it stopped buying. Hence it is inferred
that the business stood worth 500, 900, 600,
more or less, at the time of Mr.. Stewards
death. Mr.. Hilton, soon after the funeral of
Mr.. Stewart,
ASSIGNED TO MRS. STEWART THE MILLION
DOLLARS CASH
to which she was entitled under the will Of
Mr.. Stewart for the entire business of A. T.
Stewart & Co., which was willed to her &C.
cording to the trade. Mr.. Hilton announced
his intention of proving that he could surpass
Mr.. Stewart in the conduct of the concern.
house in Chicago. This was against
the advice Of those associated with him
in the business. 1t is generally believed that
this branch has been run at loss from the
start. He also, it is said, changed the methods
of conducting the business from those estab-
lished by Mr.. Stewart, in the belief that these
methods would result in an increase of the
business. He openly announced his intention
of building up the traffic of the concern to pro-
portions beyond those apparently contemplated
by Mr.. Stewart. The first intimatiOn of the
CURTAILMENT OF THE BUSINESS OF THE
-. HOUSE
was when the wholesale store at Chambers
street and Broadway was discontinued and the
entire business concentrated in the building at
Ninth street and Broadway. From that time
the house has been rapidly going out of the
iobbing business. AT about the same time
MI. Hilton issued his edict against the admis-
Sion of Jews to the Stewart hotel at
Saratoga, the Grand Union. That action is
said to have resulted in loss Of at
least so per cent. of both the whole
sale and retail trade Of the house. During
the last four years the house has become,
from one of the largest importers of dry
goods, one of moderate rank. Its largest,
and in fact nearly all of the invoices of foreign
goods, have been simply consigned to them
for sales on account.
A GENTLEMAN WELL KNOWN IN THE DRY
GOODS TRADE
said this evening: s'The business of A. I.
Stewart & Co., SO far as l can learn, has
simply shyunk and shriveled away" A few
weeks ago the firm offered eight or nine of its
mills for sale. Only one or two, it is said,
were sold. Relative to the rumor that the
concern has been borrowing NANCY, the presi-
dent of one of the banks in which it keeps an
account said last evening that the firm had
had some of its paper discounted. How much
he did not know, but he was of the opinion
thrt it was to the amount of at least 81 ,00O,-
coo. 1t is generally reported that
the amount is between 81, 100000 and
S3,000,000. So far as can be learned,
THE PAPER OF THE FIRM
has not been sold or discounted through the
medium of note brokers. 1t is asserted in the
trade, however, that the paper discounted by
the depositing banks of the firm bears the in
dorsement OF Mrs. Stewart. That the firm
has borrowed any money has attracted atten-
ton, as it was the practice of Mr.. Stewart to
buy for cash. Of late, it is said, the firm has
purchased not only Cd. the customary thirty
days. time, but had its bills dated ahead. A
gentleman who since 1876 has been intimately
connected with the affairs OF the Stewart
estate, but not directly with the business OF
A. 7. Stewart & Co., said: "This notice is
surprise to me, and the only explanation
which can give of it is that Judge Hilton
and Mr.. Libby
BOTH HAVE MONEY ENOUGH,
and do not care to be longer burdened by the
responsibility and care of details Of such
vast business. Mr.. Libby is very large own
er of uptown real estate, and. aside from
much real estate which Judge Hilton holds,
believe he owns the mills. The property Of
fered for sale consists of the two stores in
this city. There are three carpet and wooden
mills at Glenham, which are still running;
two mills at Leeds, Greene county, one each at
Stuyvesant, Columbia county; Utica, Wash
ington Mills, Little Falls, Woodstock, VT,
Ho,yoke, Mass, and Franklin, N. The
downtown store has been.f0r sale and for rent
for nearly four years, the price asked for it, l
believe, being 100000, and the rent asked
S225, 900 year.
THE VALUE OF THE UPTOWN STORE
is about the same. The house has branches
at Chicago, Manchester, Paris, Lyons, and
Berlin.
An old man who had been In the employ of
Mr.. Stewart since before the war, and who is
still in the employ of the firm, said: Gin Mr..
Stewards time about 1 900 men were employ
ed in the downtown store, 5000 uptown, and
in the mills all over 10,000. The business has
decreased steadily since Mr.. Stewards death.
the old clock stopped never to 60 again, sure
enough, when Mr.. Stewart died. The reduc-
ffor in fha yyork1np force hogan before there