St. Paul daily globe., 1885-12-16
THE JOBBERS' YEAR.
Sales in the Straight Jobbing Houses for
Eleven Months Amount to
$60,479.000.
An Estimated Increase in Receipts of
Over Two Million Dollars
for the Year.
The Wholesale Merchants Satisfied
With the Year and Hopeful
for the Next,

merchants are balanced on Dec. 81, they
will show that the amount of business done
in the twelve months preceding has been
largely increased over the previous year.
Interviews with the representative men IN
dicate this. The story of the JobbIng busl-
ness for the past twelve months Is pleasant
reading for any and all who have banked
on the future OF the city. The volume OF
the business has been much larger than last
wear, and with reduced prices in many lines
the receipts from sales will be somewhat in
excess of 1884. The first place, as a job
bing center for the entire Northwest, has
been maintained, and the strength Of the
great houses that have been built up has
been augmented by widened reputation
and a flattering showing in COM
petition with the jobbing centers
South and East The opening of
new lines of railway, especially
the Minnesota & Northwestern during the
past summer. and of the Watertown branch
of the Minneapolis & St. Louis has brought
! towns and cities, hitherto somewhat iso-
lated, into direct communication with st.
Paul, and the accessibility has brought to
the wholesale merchants of st. Paul larger
field in which their goods have been dis
tributed. There has been, too, in some
lines of trade an extension Of the field on
the old lines and the representatives OF st.
Paul houses cover the entire Northwest
almost to the Pacific coast and to the South,
penetrate Wyoming territory. Much OF
the
GENERAL PUSHING OUT
of the trade and the continued strengthen
ing of it is due to the unity of effort OF the
.JobberS' union, an organization made up of
the leading men in nearly every line OF
wholesale business, for the general advance
ment Of the wholesale trade of the city.
The trade of the past year has been as
rule satisfactory to the jObberS; better than
was anticipated one year ago. In many, in
tact in most lines of business, there has
been something Of a drop in the prices of
staple goods. This varies in the several
lines from to 15 per cent. Naturally,
with the drop, it would not be surprising if
the receipts from sales showed decrease
rs compared with the preceding year. That
this has not been the fact is the testimony
of nearly every wholesale merchant in the
city and the books of many are opened to
c0rroborate their statements. There has
been an increase in the amount Of sales
that viii foot up some millions. The gen.
eral condition of the country tributary to
st. Paul may also be pretty correctly deter
mined from the testimony Of the st. Paul
iobberS on the question of collections and
losses. The general picking up OF business
after the period of semi-depression that
prevailed in the two years preceding Jan. 1,
1885, the good crops and the con-
ssauent condition Of the agricultural
community have conSpired to reduce losses
at the supply points to minimum. Col
Iections have been unusually good. More
buyers in country places have discounted
their bills than for two years. Consequently
fha will bQ
and predict in the coming year larger in
crease in business and generally healthy
state of trade.
IN LEADING LINES.
Groceries must always be had; for peo-
pie must live and when once used there is
, no repairs, or use at second hand" said
, representative wholesale grocer in speaking
of the condition of his line OF trade a couple
of days ago. In this branch there has been
very noticeable decrease in prices. From
II to Is per cent. in many of the heavier
staples, while the actual increase of re-
ceipts has been from 10 to 90 per cent, in
dicating in the volume of business done 25
per cent. or thereabOuts. Trade has been
better than at any time since 1882. In this
line the increase has been due in part to the
additional territory covered. One of the
sections opened up this year has been the
regularly made. The trade is in condi-
ton better than ever before, since st. Paul
! has been recognized as rival with Chicago
for the trade in the Northwest.
! Sales have been large in the hardware
! line Prices have declined somewhat, but
I less than during the preceding year. In
! the first half of the year there was some
| complaint at the condition of the trade.
!, Gradually this has worn away and of late
: firm and satisfied feeling has been growing
; Business during the year has been more
profitable than III 1884, though in no
; specially marked degree. The bulk of
| goods handled, it is estimated, has been
ebout 10 per cent. greater than last year.
| The boot and shoe trade has been un-
! usually and almost unexpectedly good, the
! increase being placed by representative
! firms at from 30 to 40 per cent. over last
year in the bulk of goods handled, with
| values somewhat less than last year. 1t is
asserted by leading dealers that the bottom
has been reached on prices and that an in
crease is predicted in the next twelve
J months. Collections are reported as being
, good. In this line the competition with
Chicago is felt as strongly as III any other
line, perhaps more than any other. Some
| new territory has been invaded by the rep
resentatives of St Paul firms and the houses
here assert that they are recognized as the
proper supply point more than ever before.
In dry goods there has also been about
; the same record. Increased sales with de-
! clining prices, generally satisfactory bus-
ness good collections and favorable cut
! lock. A single firm does business in the
clothing line, though two others do a suffi-
cient amount of wholesaling to allow them
to be classad as jobbers in this line. A
1nnrnhnr of tho f,,IO fret oIIudad fO coid in
q recent interview that two more houses in
this line were needed in st. Paul. All
could do paying business, for with COM
peting firms customers could compare
prices, and would be far more inclined to
come here, where this would be done, than
they are so long as there is but a single one.
Agricultural implements of nearly all
kinuS have sold more readily than during
the previous year. and collections, especially
during the past two months, have been
easy. This branch of the wholesale trade.
more than ever, is assuming an important
rank in the list of ST. Pauls jobbing indus
tries. The trade in drugs, oils, paints, ETC.,
has been rather heavier than last year. and
with prices that, except in few lines. have
been comparatively uniform and steady.
TIE SHOWING.
A canvass of the wholesale houses Of St.
Paul and careful collection and compila-
ton OF the figures as given by the mer-
chants, as the sales for the first eleven
months of the year. $50, 473, 900. In this is
not reckoned the general commission bus-
ness. which is sometimes classed as straight
jobbing. Some firms have refused to give
any figures whatever on their business and
in some branches, mostly minor ones, such
firms, have not been reckoned, as any esti-
mate, even by men in the same line of busi-
ness, would be mere guesswork. In some
lines, where wholesale and retail business