Telegram-herald., 1891-11-15
TRADE is ON THU BOON
Our Merchants Feel the ouicksnsd
Impetus
GIVEN By THEIR FRIEND JlcK FROST
Asd Report unassai - Well - orastfy.
lag sympteuns Of . csstisasd Exciss-
meat In Hssinsss-W " has sszas ss
the Leaders Say Abost Ia

Almost every merchant in town il
giad that the clouds have rolled by. and
that people come into the stores shiver-
ing with the cold, and with blue hands
and red noses. Cold weather in No
venlber means . review of trade. Con-
tinued cold weather means good lmos
ali srounc--except. perhaps. for the
poor, whom I've nave always with us.s
Grand Rapids merchants are generally
confident that business is gong TO be
unusually brisk this year. Prices are
hower IN many lines than ever before.
and there n decided absence of any
''panic" fears that were 80 general .
year ago. Some OF the leading ner-
chants, in answer 10 questions As 10 the
present tone of trade. and the outlook
for the winter, expressed Themselves a
follows;
Henry spring-"our trade ever since
the first OF September has been exoep-
iionally good; il never was better. And
this statement of trade Is not confined
to Grand Rapids. hnt IL true of all the
northwest. The whole country is IN Q
better condition than any time befsce
IN ten years, and every branch of fs1A
IS rffected by tins good condition. The
prosperity of the farmer il the very
basis of trade"
Mr.. Jameson. of the Boston store
Trade is very brisk. IL started Ia un-
usually well in September, but Was put
hack a little by the warm spell We had.
Then il revived. and Was excellent un-
I'll the wet weather of the first
of the week. IL is much better
this year than any year since we have
been here. The good conGlnon OF the
country has had much TO do with 1t,
but think our spring trade will re-
ceive more benefit from the farmers
than We are now receiving"
n. Friedman, of n. q NJ. Friedman:
sour business is growing every dav.
and consldering the wet westher we
have had lately II is very good. The
crops of last season were 90 good that
every one anticipated a wonderful IN
crease in trade. For some reason, how
ever, il has fallen far short of expecta-
tions; Il il not nearly 20 good as il
oOSnt W tt III We lt0kt tt tstf Nottli~
ton of the country. Thus far our
trade has been mostly city trade; farm
ers always put IL OF 30 long az they
can"
A. B. Wykes. of wykes meat market:
This cold weather helps our trade. be.
cause more meat is eaten IN cold
weather than IN warm. No. wet
weather doesn't have much effect on
fra r.at ~ ~
bulk of our retail business Is a. large as
any time in ten years"
Ira c. Hatch. grocer. OF Monroe
street.-"Trade is fair. Even With the
rainy days we have had THE month.
our average has been better than IL was
q wear ago. Our business is largely
affected bv bad weather. IN that people
can't get down town 20 hny groceries.
but get enough 10 last them from day
TO day At the little grocery stores near
their homes. five only hsce nee cold
weather, the prospects for good trade
are excellent"
Mr.. LYON, of Eaton. Lyon & Co.,
bookeellers--"B Business with ne il much
better than il was last year, which was
q very quiet year. We are beglnning
TO feel the effect OF the Christmas trade
already. especially IN the wholesale de-
partment. Our business Is not affected
bv the weather Ia the degree that some
other branches Of trade are"
Wilder u. Stevens of Foster. Stevens
4 Co., hardware:-"Tradei 10 fully up TO
the usual sianderd of :his time OF the
year. The warm weather OF the early
part Of the season retarded rs sonie-
what. but we hardly know the copdi-
ton of the weather from day TO day.
we are e, little effected by IL. We often
find that the causes that make the
wholesale trade fall of will produce q
gain IN the retail department. Prices
IN our business were never lower"
Born. the hatter-"We have had .
very handsome business ever since the
season opened. along IN oetober. III
We have continued cold weather. We
wall have continued good business. L
attrlbute the increase m trade - the
confidence among people of The vzree
resources throughout the country thit
year"
Alfred Baxter. of Gardner A BAXTER
'Buslness - very satisfactory just now.
Whether il is due 10 oar own efforts or
TO natural causes. ] cant ssv. bot u -
certainly away ahead of previous years.
We need cold weather 20 make our
trade particularly brisk. and tie
weather awhile back was a little too
warm
j. w. Rossnthsl. of The Tower cloth
ing house--s'Sincs we EMERGED from tie
clouds Of the fore part OF the week
tusins 50 has been unusually good.
The natural gro~th of our trade = very
satisfactory. Weather affects us very
materially, but we wern't fpfsrded ~
the warm fall becsuse ~ pushed s-sst
all the more. believe the good status
OF trade depends more ON cur rwn