Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-02-12
Factory price Factory price
+@TT - al ~ Enrnir,1

AS. Il W.., 12.i9 go
81 Winchester. ......... 1926 81
80 Winchester ........- II " 80
45 Colt ............. 1887 II. %
*
Lets see,'' said a iobber, didn't you
promise that new axe factories would
arise to fight the trust?''
Il did," I said land mentioned one
new one at Findlay, Ohio. Have you any
more?"
Yes, here is notice of ne>, one: The
King Axe company, of Cleveland, Ohio,
with ample capital, good backing and ex-
perienced men as managers.
what prices are they quoting?'
Its too early to talk abont next sea-
sons prices, but we will not have to buy
of the trust. just notice this bit Of phil
osopby: The factories composing the
trust made more goods than the demand
called for or the country needed. They
couldn agree On an equitable reduction
of their output, SO they formed trust.
As trust they run up prices SO high that
it is profitable for new factories to start.
These new factories, ADDED to the old. will
| increase the over-production, and then
prices must drop. predict that in three
or four years axes will be lower than we
have seen them before.
~
One OF the most respected and best
known hardware men in the middle states
is Mr.. O. A. Bostwich, of Bostwick, Braun
& Co., Toledo. All travelling men meet a
cordial reception from him, and the older
ones look upon him as personal friend.
His hair has whitened with age, and his
experience reaches back OYER 40 years; his
memory is exact, and he is d representa-
tive of the best class Of shrewd, solid up
right business men. NV business took me
| to see him when he happened to be at
leisure, and more than that, he was sitting
on key of nails. When | find a hard
ware man sitting on keg of his own
nails feel perfectly free to ask him ques-
tons Said [. ''What has the Mckinley
bill added to nails2'
Don imagine you can get any argu-
ments against Mckinley in nails, said
he; "better let them alone, unless you
want to produce a protection argument. ;"
WELL" said l, ''let US have the story
and the argument, lead where it will.
Everybody has an interest in nails; every
body buys them; everybody uses them;
what has protection done for tbem?''
Back in '55,' he said, ''those good cid
days of tariff for revenue only, we bought
orr nails in Albany, New York, and paid
So. SO per key for them. Ifyou will turn
to the prices paid for labor at that time
and the price of produce add farm crops,
you will see that So 63 in '55 was higher
price, proportionately, than S1O.06 would
| be to-day. Then add to the Albany cost
the canal charges to Buffalo, and the lake
charges to Toledo, and put on our profit,
and you will see that nails could not be
rstailed in this country then for less thar
cents, How was that for good old
times?"
when did you begin buying western
nais?"
Somewhere about 81 or SO a nail fac
tory in the Mahoning valley that had bank
rupted its former owners was offered to
two men for song. They had in ready
means between them exactly S7S. They
took the factory, first arranging with the
workmen to pay half cash and half in store
orders, the merchants of the town agree
| ing to take these orders as cash and carry
them six months before presenting them
for payment. Then one of the new firm
started out to drum up trade. He came
here; offered nails a trifle lower than Al
bany prices, and on six months time He
secured orders and kept his factory run
ming, but the net result of their first year S
business was a deficit of So, 500"
Pretty good fnancieripg on a capital
of s7S. y
They were not discouraged, for they
had nothing to lose; so they kept on. |
saw an old bill of theirs the other day,
dated 1859. Nails were S3.15. We all
thought this was very low figure, but the
pinching times of that ear sent tive out of
three factories to the wall. Our two
friends hung on, and by and by war came
on and nails went booming. They be-
came two very rich men. y
How high did nails 60 in war times?''
up to $3.50 per keg, and dropped down
very slowly In 1867 they sold at $40; in
1870 at S. The tendency has been steadily
downward in spite of all kinds of combin-
ations and agreements. Added to this we
now have steel nails, where we used to
have iron. and wire nails have become as
staple as the other; more so, in fact. The
wire nail factories have Jared better than
the cut nail factories. The cut nail bust
ress appears to be badly demoralized.
Some factories have closed down for good.
apparently. But to give you an idea of
what Mckinley has done for nails let Us
go to my invoice book"
Here is what we found, being the tue
tuation in price of both cut steel nails and
wire nails during the year 1890. Let it
tell its own story, bearing in mind the
price In the good old times Of 1856, So 81,
las against the 81. Is to-day: