Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-04-18
THE END OF A GREAT HOUSE.
T. Stewart e. Co. Announce that they
Retire from Trade.

1
| AZ u. stewart a. Co. Announce that they
Retire from Trade.
| Mr. HILTON AND Mr. LIBBY REFUSE TO SPEAK
| coNcEBEING THE ANNoUNCEMENT-wHAT rs
SAID By THE TRADE CONCERNING THE AFFAIRS
| OF THE HOusE-BUsINEss UNDER Mr.. STEW
| ART.
| New York Sun. April Is.
| A. I. Stewart d Co. announce that they have
determined to discontinue their dry goods and
manufacturing business and offer their stocks
of merchandise and mill properties for sale
Mr.. Henry Hilton and Mr.. William Libby, who
constitute the firm, refused last evening to speak
relative to the announcement.
The retirement Of A. T. Stewart & Co. from
business has been expected for some time by
| those we'll informed as to the dry goods trade.
Since the death Of A. T. Stewart the business of
the house has, according to the assertions of
others in the trade, been steadily contracted.
The house first practically withdrew from the
jobbipg business, then from the importing. and
almost entirely from the wholesale business
For several weeks there have been many rumOrs
aioat concerning it. principally to the effect
that 1T was going out of business, and that it
| had been large borrower Of money. an expe-
dency that was never resorted to while A. L.
| Stewart lived.
| The best information obtainable last evening.
| In default Of any from Messrs. Hilton aud Libby
| was to the effect that when Mr. Stewart died
| there was at least so, 600 in the business
| of the concern. The house had on an average
| q balance of at least 81 OO0O 600 in the Mer-
chants National Bank, of which Mr.. Stewart
| was director, and about 100000 in
| each of the three other banks in which
| the house kept accounts-the Chemical and the
Mechanics National and the National Bank of
Commerce. The aggregate was about g, 500
| GOO. The stock and property of twelve mills
owned by the concern, the goods in the Cham
bers street and the Tenth street stores, and the
| stock In stOrehOuseS in Paris and elsewhere, as
well as in transit, made the estimated total
| mentioned. Up to within ten days of Mr. Stew
arts death the house bought for cash. Ten days
before his death it stopped buying. Hence it is
inferred that the business stood worth $22 OOO :
600 more or less at the time of Mr.. Stewards
death. Mr.. Hilton, soon alter the funeral of Mr.
Stewart, assigned to Mrs. Stewart the 81 coo 600
| cash to which he was entitled under the will of
| Mr.. Stewart for the entire business of A. 7.
| Stewart & Co. which was wled to her. Accord
! ing to the trade, Mr.. Hilton announced his in
| tentiOn OF proving that he could surpass Mr.
| Stewart in the conduct of the concern. One of
his first steps was to establish branch house i'm
Chicago. This was against the advice of those
| associates with him in the business. 1t is gen.
orally believed that this branch has been run at
a loss from the start. He also, it is said
from those established 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 proportions 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 dis
continued, and the entire business concentrated
| in the building at Ninth street and Broadway.
From that time the hOuSa has pan nidlv n
| out of the jObbing business. At about the same
| time Mr.. Hilton issued his edict against the adj
| mission of Jews to the Stewart Hotel at Sara
| tOga the Grand Union. That action is said to
have resulted in loss of at least so per cent of
both the wholesale 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. It's largest and in fact
nearly all of the invoices Of foreign goods. have
| been simply consigned to them for sales on &C
| count gentleman we'll known in the dry
| goods trade said last evening: 1.-THE business of
A. 7. Stewart & Co., so far as l can learn, has
simply shrunk 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 money, the President
| Of one of the banks in which it keeps
| an account said last evening that the
| firm had had some of it's paper discounted
| How much he did not know. but he was Of the
| opinion that it was to the amount of at least
| 81 ,OCO, 900. 1t is generally reported that the
amount is between 50. coo 900 and s.. 600 O0O
| 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
| endorsement of Mrs. Stewart. That the firm
ton, as it was the practice of Mr.. Stewart to
buy for cash. Of late, it is said, the firm has
purchased not only on the customary thirty
days time. but has had its bills dated ahead
When Mr.. Stewart, after few years expert
ence as school teacher, started in the dry
goods business In 1922. in Broadway near
Chambers street. he had between 81 200 and
81 500 capital and his store was % feet wide by
so deep. When on April 10, 1876, he died. his
retail store, which cost 50, 75O. 600, occupied a
city block and covered an area of * acres,
making, with it's eight floors total Of Is acres
under one roof devoted to the retail drv goods
business. The running expenses of the estab-
lishment were over 81, OO0, 900 year. 1t was
the largest store in the world. nothing in London
or Paris approaching the building in size or in
amount OF business dOEe in it, Besides this, he
had the wholesale store covering the Broadway
end of the block between Chambers and Reade
Streets The combined sales of the two estab-
lishments aggregated $50 GOO 900 q year. In
connection with the business, he owned num-
Der Of wOOllen, silk and thread mlls-the Mo-
hawk, the Elb1uf at Little Falls, the New York
mills at HOlyOke, the Woodward mills at Wood
stock, the Yantic mills in New Jersey, the Wash
ingtOn mills near Utica, the Catskll woOllen
Mills the Waterville woOllen mills the Glenham
woollen mills, and the Glenham carpet factory
He had also large factories at nottingham, Eng
land, and Glasgow, Scotland. He had branch
houses at Bradford, Manchester, Belfast, Paris,
Lyons Berlin, and at Chenmitz i'm SaxOny
This great business was built up by assiduous
attention to Details exact habits and rigid ad-
herence to fixed principles of conduct. When
he started out in his little Broadway store, he
and his wife lived In q room above it. He was
his own bookkeeper, salesman and porter. and
he worked from fourteen to eighteen hours q
day. He haunted auction rooms, picked up
cheap lots, and spared no pains to present his
goods attractively. Every article was carefully
examined, creases were sm0othed out, and goods
were neatly arranged and made to look fresh
and attractive. He bought for cash, sold quick
ly, and kept his money turning A principle
that lay at the foundation of his success was the
rigid honesty of his dealings. Goods were rep
resented to be exactly what they were The
price fixed was as low as possible, and there was