The Portland daily press., 1890-10-17
THE PRICES WILL NOT ADVANCE
Before Next Spring and most Proba-
ably Nor Then.
Opinions Of Retail Dealers on the
Tariff Laws Effect.

Since the Mckinley bill went into effect
Democratic newspapers all over the country,
as well as commercial sheets, have been
making the claim that general advance In
price of all goods and merchandise covered
by the law had taken place. A number Of
the prominent dry goods dealers were seen
yesterday with reference to the matter and
the unanimous verdict is that no rise has
been made or will be made before next
spriog at least, by which time several of
them consider the furry incident to the OPP
GRAFTON Of new law will have subsidized and
old figures win rule the market. The major
ity have received notice of advance in sew
eral classes Of goods manufactured abroad.
but this contingency many anticipated by
placing large orders some time ago, not only
making the advance unnecessary on the mer-
chants part, but in dozens of cases the same
kinds of goods are now being manufactured
at home.
Following are some of the statements in
detail:
Mr.. ]. Henry Rines of the firm of Rines
Brothers, said: There will be no change
| In our prices as we have placed orders for
stock enough to last us six months or longer.
Our orders were placed at the old prices and
| we shall sell at the same figures as we have
done until these goods are disposed Of"
| When asked II he thought the next orders
placed would be at an advance, Mr.. Rines
said: 81 cannot tell yet and doubt IL the
importers can. An agent for linen firm
told me few days ago that his firm would
be obliged to experiment with the custom
houses before they could tell how their prices
| would rule. 1t may be-" said he,
shat by making cloth Of a little coarser or a
little finer grade than they are running at
present. Dy reason of the changes In classifi-
cation of imports 10 the new tariff, no
change will be brought about"
Mr.. Albert Rines said In regard to dress
| goods, Hamburgs and other articles dealt In
| by the firm, that no change would be made
for six months at least. Many dealers and
many importers, in anticipation of the enact
stocks. 'And," said Mr.. j. Henry Rines,
when they come to take account of stock in
January and find that they must reduce
| stock in order to make room for new goods,
the next movement Is likely to be dowL in
| poses of the howl about increase in cost of
| dress goods and fancy articles, and shows
that by inducing dealers to stock up in an
ticipation OF sharp advance which has not
| come, there may be drop when they come
| to unload to make room for the next run Of
| orders.
MIR. Fred Harrington. of the firm of Far
rington Brothers, said that there had been
no rise in the price of ready-made clothing,
| nor, so far as he could learn, in the cost
price of the cloth and other materials used
| In its manufacture. Like Mr.. Rines, Mr..
| Harrington said that the firm had stock
enough for their trade for some months, and
that when they placed their next orders the
! present furry would probably be over, be-.
cause people would see that In great meas
ure the rise is not necessary or natural but
| prices are put up arbitrarily.
Mr.. e. d. Eastman of Eastman Brothers
d Bancroft, expected a rise In the wholesale
| pushes In the spring He said that none of
his firms prices would be advanced until
then, because their fall and winter goods
had been bought long ago, and he had no
idea how much the advance would then be,
but he had no doubt but that there would be
a rise In all lines of imported goods.
Mr.. x. John Little was quite emphatic in
his opinion that the projected advance was
entirely matter of conjecture None of
his prices had been advanced or would for
some time, If at all. He had no anticipa-
tion of sharp advance In any line of goods
at any time, except in certain velvets and
pushes, and In linens. Mr.. Little was not
quite clear as to the precise effect of the new
law on the linen trade. He referred that
point to the agent of a Boston linen firm.
who was in the store. The gentleman was a
free trader of the deepest dye, and was loud
10 his denunciation of the robber tariff. "Its
the unevenness OF the thing that makes me
grades Of goods, such as workipgmen buy.
The rich peoples linen will not be affected
at all, but the advance on all of the cheaper
| grades will be enough to be noticeable to
poor people," Mr.. Little suggested that this
state Of things might lead to the establish
ment of linen mills in this country in the
near future. The agent knew all about this
too. That's just exactly what 1t will do, -
he said, land pll tell you what will happen.
Men will come over here from England and
will start linen mills, and men in this
| country will start them and there will be so
much made that they'll begin cutting each
other and underselling and -" "Why
wont that help the poor man then ?" asked
| Mr.. Little innocently, and the linen man
had never a word to say.
Mr.. johnson of the carpet firm of II. j.
| Bailey 81 Co., and Mr.. j. s. Marrett said
they expected rise on nearly all carpetings
In the future but neither had any idea when
or how much. No change would be made at
present nor for several months to come