St. Paul daily globe., 1884-07-21
THE DRY GOODS TRADE.
New York Merchants Express the
Opinion That There Will be
No More Failures.
Especial Correspondence of the Globe.

New YORK, July 20.-Rumors reporting
further trouble in the dry goods district are still
in circulation. As in previous cases, however,
these reports were traceable to Wall street, and
and no confirmation was obtainable among the
merchants. The failures already occasioned
were explained by causes outside of mercantile
policy Halsted, Homes & Co. were quoted as a
case of dry rot. 1t was admitted by all that the
firms business had simply crumbled away, leay
ing them without profits for several years and
leading to the ultimate collapse. OF
the other suspended firms, one was
wrecked by the extravagant living Of
its members, while another firm was dragged
down with it by Endorsements of the fallen firm g
paper The failures have, however, excited a
good deal of interest in the present method Of
managing the wholesale dry goods business. In
speaking of this and the reported troubles
among merchants, Mr. H. B. Clafin said Sat-
urday.
81 do not see any extended troubles in the dry
goods districts. Down in Wall street one hears all
sorts of rumors, while up here the merchants
know nothing about them. The houses that
have fallen have gone down for ontside causes
and there is no reason why any conservative frm
should suffer- Now about this matter of mercan-
Tile pOllCy. WIN UlOsG IHeICuduts tuo PioEOht
methods of selling goods have put business on a
much less stable tenure. The majority OF them
have given up the old practice of selling on
the note of the buyer, and are consequently
obliged to obtain money by selling their own
single home-paper. But it is not the oatlng
ahead of bills that causes the trouble. You can
see that makes practically no difference whether
you sell at sixty days, dating Sept 19, or at four
months, dating to-day. If the buyer were to give
his note there would be no difficulty i'll either
case. The trouble is that the note is not re-
quired, and consequently the only way for the
merchant to raise money is by sale of his own
paper and in a pinch he has nothing
to show for his resources but his ledger.
You ask what is the remedy for this! L cannot
see any universal remedy. The only possible
rule is for every firm to carry on its own busl-
ness according to its best judgment. Any agree
ment among merchants to give up the practice
of dating bills ahead would be out of the ques-
ton, for competition would soon render the
agreement Intellectual. In spite of this trouble,
l must say again that see no reason to expect
any further failures in the dry goods district"
prominent commission merchant said !:
ssThere is good deal of pinching among dry
goods men just now and the cause Of it is this
abominable system of dating ahead. Customers
will buy Of houses that accommodated them In
this way and not Of others. Many Of MS tried to
break loose from the system without avail
Speaking on the same subject, Mr.. Martin j
Cooley, of Bates, Reed & Cooley, Broadway, said {:
81 cannot and will not admit that there is any
general trouble in the dry goods trade. The
failure which recently occurred In this trade was
simply one of dry rot. The life of that business
died out some years ago. To-day every dry
goods house is in sound condition according TO
my opinion. 1, therefore, do not look for any
more failures. The plan Of dating bills ahead is
certainly very vicious, and has had very bad
effect. The banks willing to accommodate
legitimate houses, as thereby they know the mis-
hap which they wish to avert will be avoided"