Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-05-18
THE HARD TIMES

As Illustrated by interviews WIN a Wv"
saIer in One Trade and Retailer In
Another.
Business said wholesale grocerymsn,
Yesterday as he and a REGISTER reporter
seated themselves side by side in an Elm
Grove car, "is showing no appreclable i'm.
proyement. The demand for goods is still
light, except for such staples as coffee,
sugar, -four, etc., and collections are fright.
fully hard to make. AS an illustration OF
this, take our Pennsylvania man. He
made the trip through Greene county, last
week, with $4,000 of outstanding bills in his
pocket, and only brought back $69l in cash
with him. That was pretty good average
collection, too-sbout ii per cent. Some
times they run as low as per
cent, whereas, in the old flush
times of two, three or four years
ago we would get 25, 80, and even 80 and
rs per cent. of our outstanding bills on
single trip"
lis there any decided change in the char
acter of goods called for"
"Yes, indeed. There is heavy falling
off in our shipments of what are known as
fancy lines. French canned peas, French
and Turkish prunes, fine bottled pickles and
sauces, fancy cheeses, and such delicacies as
canned tongue, soups, jelles, asparagus, and
all thai class of goods are very dull. Peo-
pie who used to buy that class OF goods, are
putting up now with something not so
choice, only buying the high-priced goods
on extraordinary occasions, while those
who, year or two ago, would
order the very choicest Of retailer 8 ware for
Sunday or company now buy moderately
priced goods, and content themselves with
the bare necessaries for every day.
THE demand for staples is good, them
"Yes, they are selling fairly on close
margins. People must live, you know, and
there is no preceptible abatement in the
consumption of flour, molasses, sugar,
coffee and tea There is little money IN the
trade, however, at present
IF any class of men are suffering from
the hard times and business depression, 1T Is
the saloon keepers" said prominent Mar
ket street dispenser Of drinks, yesterday
evening. The demand has fallen Oft, taxes
have either been increased or retained at
| the old figure, rents are about as. we usually
find them-that is higher than other bus
mess men would pay for the same property,
and a good many saloon keepers are having
a hard time of it. Why, just think oil it:
There is city tax of 5000, then a State
tax of 800, and government tax OF SIT.
Then I'm paying thousand dollars rent,
you can't get bar keepers for nothing, and
liquor at wholesale is cash on the nail. L
really don't believe I'm $50 ahead on the
last Six months businest.
Then the business issnot bonanza at
PRESENT.
well hardly"
Wont the hot season bring larger de-
mand, say for beer aud iced drinks gen.
orally"
THAT works this way. There is larger
demand, but there are more places to sup
ply it, or rather, some Of the old places
draw very heavily on the trade of others.
The places | refer to are out the pike. In
the winter the city trade is supplied BY the
city saloons, but Just as soon as the Park
opens up, and people begin to swarm out OF
town on a summer afternoon they blow
in their money between here and
Elm Grove in way which makes
the city saloonist swear. A couple Of fell
lows, Of warm afternoon, will 60 out to the
Park, for instance On the way out and
back they will spend twice as much as though
they had remained in town, which is money
lost to the city trade, and then, when they
come home, they economic for two or three
days to make up, and there is so much more
lost to us. Then multiply this example BY
twenty-five or fifty day for the three or
| fonr months of summer, and YOU will see
where one cause of our weeping comes in.
Then our trade is like all others just now, l
fancy, in that the demand is very much less
than it used to be. People, too, are
very careful and economical, as a rule.
The mint:julip and brandy-smash young
man finds beer good enough this year, and
the ten, fifteen or .twenty.glasses a-day
are cutting their allowance down at a rate
which is positively painful. The fellow
who invites the house up, too, is couspicu'
Gus by his absence in this baluy month Of
May, and altogether times are dull.