Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-11
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH,

NEW YORK, August 10.-Thirty dry
goods merchants from the West stopped last
night at the Hotel Albert. None of them
had his place of business nearer New York
than Chicago. They had arrived this morn
ing from Philadelphia, where they were the
guests of John Wanamaker. 1t has been o
common practice by the great Chicago job
bers to provide free tickets to and from the
Windy City for customers that were likely
to be profitable ones. But it was reserved
for the great Philadelphia clothes
seller to conceive the project of assembling
100 Western retail merchants at Chicago
and bringing them East in sumptuous pal
ace cars. Among them were such men as
o. d. Van Dusen, of the Jump River Lum-
Der Company, Wisconsin, which has a
merchandise account of more than 500, 900;
G. A. Goodyear, of D. A. 8 G. A. Good
with an equally large merchandise account;
r. S. Dodge, of Sparta, Wis; E. s. Girls
void, of Columbus, Wis; w. B. Shepard,
of Shepard. McFeyden & Co., Beaver Dam.
Wis; Chas. jackson, of jackson 8 Co., De
Pere, Wis; Ole Ericsson, of Zens &
Ericsson, Morris, H.; 81. j. Unna, Hast
Ings, Neb.; ]. j. Karges, Kansas City, and
r. L. Turnbull, Nevada, Mo.
BUSINESS SECRET.
The train, freighted with grist for Johns
Philadelphia mill, left Chicago last Satur-
day ten minutes before the "limited." 1t
travelled on Sunday, and is said to have
cost the Postmaster General 81, 800. With
return coupons and incidental expenses the
valiant band began to make purchases with
debit of fully "a, 600 to be recovered out of
profits of the goods sold to them by Hood,
Bonbright & Co., which is John Wanna
makers name as a wholesale merchant
The negotiations which led to the accept
ance of these hundred invitations were kept
as secret as if they had been for Cabinet
offices. Feelers were first thrown out az to
whether such an invitation would be favor
ably received. Then the proposal was
made in plain terms Next a free ticket to
Chicago was given to the acceptor, allowing
him to reach that city on last Saturday
morning. At the Chicago branch OF Hood,
Bonbright & Co. he was finally told to be at
the Baltimore and Ohio station before 2:30
o'clock.
A WIDE AWAKE DRUMMER.
1t speaks we'll for the manner in which
one man able to turn hisknowledge to prac-
tlcal account appears to have known Mr..
Wanamaker's thoughtful arrangements a
fortnight before they were carried out. He
represented large New York house in the
West. 1t seemed to this gentleman, whose
name is Williams, that it would be well to
post the intending travellers on New York
prices before they started East for Phila-
delphia.
So he spent the entire fortnight wandering
through the towns and cities in which the
hundred excursionists resided. Then he
followed them by the next ordinary train to
Philadelphia, where he gave them addi-
tional food for reflection. Then Mr.. Will
Jams got in his fine work. He did not hire
a special train, but merely showed them the
way to the railway station. Then the West
erners with one accord bought their own
tickets to New York, and started for this
city in patches. When they got here they
made the Hotel Albert their headquarters,
and since then the remaining members of
tine band keep dropping in off every Phila-
delphia train.
THEY WANTED BARGAINS.
OF course the excursionists were not neces-
sarlly expected to buy all their goods from
Hood, B0nbright & &c. OF course, also,
they bought from Hood, Bonbright & Co.
what they thought they could not get cheap
er elsewhere. For four days they rambled
over Mr.. Wanamaker's store. They found
what they considered bargains in hosiery,
for Mr.. Wanamaker owns hosiery factory
and so saves intermediate profits. Mr.. Rice,
too, who was lately engaged at a salary of
S25, 900 year to boom Wanamaker's whole
sale dress department, felt it incumbent to
make a show for his money, and sold a fair
quantity of dress goods at reasonable prices.
But beyond these two lines the buying
seemed somewhat to hang fire. There was
evidently no advantage in buying domestics
from Hood, Bonbright s. Co., for these goods
are notoriously sold on very slender margins
of profit everywhere. In other departments,
there was a suspicious upward twisting of
the Western nose when prices were men,
toned.
Mr.. Wanamaker did not relax his atten-
tions when his guests arrived in Philadel-
phia. His young men drove favored Gus
toners around the city in hired carriages.
He himself in his dual capacity of states
man and drygoods man, made them a speech
in which both his qualities were equally
blended.
ROUGH ON THE WINDY CITY.
By Wednesday afternoon the majority of
the excursionists had made the bulk of
their purchases. An enthusiastic Phila-
delpHia newspaper, whose reports chroni-
cled the movements of the party with great
minuteness, estimates the amount of their
purchases at $500, 900. Mr.. Rice personally
claims to have sold 100000 to mis- own
hand. Allowing for leeway and
other things, perhaps 100000 would be
the outside limit. On Thursday the
exodus began. That night half the party
slept in New York. The remainder are
daily arriving in detachments. Hardly one
of the entire party will go home without
visiting this city and purchasing goods in
it. BY the time the trip is over 1t is calcu-
lated that Philadelphia will have subscribed
81, 900 to bring 100 merchants East, in order
to get a third of their orders, while New
York, which pays nothing, gets the remain
ing two-thirds.
Naturally the Chicago jobbers feel sore
about The new method of drawing business
to the East. In the face of Pullman special
trains, the proud boast of Marshal Field
that Chicago held the Western trade in the
hollow of her hand, must evidently come to
naught. However. as Chicago began the
free ticket racket she cannot justly COM
plain.
In Search of Her Husband.