The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-05-24
The FURNITURE TRADE.
CaDinet-M Making Runs to Specialties and
Little Il Handmade.

Little Ii Handmade.
Referring to recent developements in
cablnet-making manufacturer said:
changes in style. coverings and woods
are not the most observable in the bust
ness. Furniture naturally falls into
classes. such as parlor furniture. bed
room sets, upholstered pieces, and the
like. and the whole business is conse-
quently running to specialties. One
factory makes only chairs; another
only tables. One manufacturer makes
speciality of bedroom and another of
of parlor furniture. The matter is even
carried to the manufacture of the
parts of an article. Many men who are
ostensibly cabinet-makers are nothing
more than frame-makers or finishers.
The bulk of the furniture now used is
machine-made, and the men who make
it are in nowise cabinet-makers in the
old sense, but machine tenders.
Whether or not TITS is for public
benefit may be subject to question. 1t
has certainly gradually been reducing
the cost of making, but it has also in
trOduced a number of evils which for
merly were little known. Factory work
is largely machine work, and machine
work is far more likely to be crude or
imperfect in make and finish than that
which is turned off by hand. On all
our best goods machine work is minim-
lied. The cheap stuff is simply thrown
together, with scarcely the Intervention
of manual Labor. Thus many of the
smaller concerns which to all appear
ances turn out work with which ma
chimes have little to do are in reality
nothing but finishers for the big fac
tories"
''Have not the patent room-saving
lar trade?"
Yes, largely, especially in city
trade. Living in small o;;arters for the
purpose of saving rent has made the
folding-bed and various combination
pieces of furniture very popular.
These, of course, are made by but a
few manufacturers, who thus have a
very good thing in the sale of their
goods. Relatively to the gross number
of our population don't think the sale
of bedroom Gets compares now with
what it was a few years ago, before the
fOlding-bed came into vogue. People
now use their sitting-rooms and even
parlOrs as sleeping apartments, a thing
utterly unknown formerly. To make
things harmonic, combination pieces,
or rather pieces of bedroom furniture
in disguise, are used. This sort of
| thing, of course, does not obtain among
people who own their homes and are
not limited in space, but in place like
Chicago, where the influx of people is
so great and regular, there is bound to
be a large percentage of people who
have to take rooms, and with all renters
the patent furniture is more popular
than the old-time styles.
There is another noticeable change
in the furniture business, that, how
ever, affects the retailers more than
| the manufacturers, and that is the plan
so popular of late of selling on Install
ments. Many dealers who continue to
do business in the old way are unwill-
ing to own that the monthly payment
plan affects their business. 1t does
not with wealthy and well-to-do peo-
pie, but the great multitude OF working
people are gravitating toward the pay
ment stores. They are able to pay a
little more for the privilege of paying
this way. and the experience of men in
that kind of business has shown that
the risks are really very light. Ger
tainly the greater risks assumed by
store-keepers are not out of keeping
with the larger profits they make on
what they sell. 1t is also undoubtedly
true that many people in moderate cir
cumstances buy much more than they
would were they obliged to pay cash
for their goods. Chicago News.