, 1890-11-20
BUSINESS OUTLOOK
The Commercial Situation for Spo-
kane Is in the Best Cond!-
ton Possible.
The Fall and Winter Trade
Promises to Be Better Than
Ever Before.

Spokane's trade so great rs right
now. Many firms are doing twice
the business they handled n year
ago, and new firms are coming In.
In conversation yesterday with Mr..
j. Barclay, who has written n num-
Der of articles for the REVIEW, he
said:
~ can scarcely In the hurry of
business affairs give you time, but as
l recognize the importance of the
matter, | will try to tell you the sit
uation briefly. Business to-day with
the leading firms Is three times as
large as 1t was one year ago, and 1t
keeps us employed day and night,
trying to keep up to the require
ments.
"The rapid growth Of our city,
which Is wonderful even to our
selves, has called for an immense
supply of goods, and with all our Of
forts we have sometimes been una
BILE to meet the demands upon us.
sour city now covers an area prob
ably three times greater than before
the fire, and our buildings are met
ropoltan. With the rapid influx OF
population, business has, of course,
kept pace and sales of $4,000 per
month, made by firms one year ago,
have been succeeded by a total of
from 100000 to $50, 900 per month.
"rhe wonderful crops which were
reported some months ago in the
REVIEW have been to some extent
harvested, but the expected results
have not vet been attained. The
great difficulty, and Ii Is one which
every new country experiences, mas
been that we could not obtain trans
portation facilities and the result Is,
we find the great wheat crop lying
i'm the warehouses throughout the
country awaiting cars to carry 1t to
market.
consequent upon this we are
unable to realize, but with the ad-
ditional facilities which our railroad
lines are hurrying forward, we
may reasonably expect the great
some time during the next month.
But in this interval, while we can
not censure the country merchant,
we are obliged to carry him, and
this, too, ut II time when our pay
ments are very heavy.
"The fact that money Is scarce,
adds to the difficulty. Our bank ks
are amply supplied with capital,
but the great panic of London, un-
equaled since the days of the
South sea bubble followed by
the sympathetic feeling Of New
York, tends to make even the most
careful more cautious. The recent
reports from the moneyed centers
are more assuring, and the proba-
bilities point to an easier market
during the remainder of the season.
"I find upon inquiry that busi-
ness in the various lines Is very
satisfactory, and while l am too
busy to spend much time in looking
into any business but our own, 1
am told by Mr.. Seitenbach, of the
White House, one of our leading re-
tail dry goods stores, that his sales
are far i'm excess of anything hither-
to attained.
"The prospects for the winter are,
upon the whole, most satisfactory,
but more caution is necessary in
dispensing credits, both for the pro-
lection OF the wholesale merchant
and his best customers. If ire
sponsible persons are permitted to
buy goods on the chances, the result
is easily seen. The stable retailer,
who is not doing business for his
health, is met by prices at which
he can not afford to sell his goods,
and his trade suffers temporarily
from this. In the result the small
dealer fails, owes the wholesale
merchant, and has caused both loss
and dissatisfaction.
"Collections owing to the reasons
above given, have not been quite up
to the mark during the past two
weeks, but as the pay days of the
various mines are very near, / ex-
pect remittances to be large during
the remainder of the month. viii
regard to our future, L will only say,
1t needs no prophet, we have our sue
cess assured,and Spokane Falls with
in five years be n second Denver,
with many advantages which Dem
yer can not have.p