The record-union., 1892-06-18
WHERE THE DIFFICULTY LIES.
Freight Rates Have Nothing TO Do
With Business Depression.
Too sharp Eastern Competition is What
Bothers the San Francisco der-
chants and Manufacturers.

asked the proprietor how the Chinese
competition was affecting the cigar busi-
ness. lie answered that the influence OF
the Chinese factory on the cigar business
was ruinous to white labor, but he added,
the chief difficulty with the industry is
the tenement cigar from the East, where
upon he showed me a cigar which had
been manufactured for s. a thousand by
white labor in tenement houses in New
York;
Our informant continued: 'The fact is,
we are inviting a foreign population to
the United States. We are not only equal
lzing the conditions on the Pacific Coast
with those on the Atlantic Coast, but we
are equa izng Europe and America. The
rapid influx of European population is
giving the labor market a great shock.
There is a surplus Of labor and very soon
We are going To have a very large num-
Der of unemployed people. High protec-
tionists have been contending that the
protection afforded on tin was bringing
the tin manufacturers to this country.
Likewise the protection on boots and
shoes, cigars and every other article
brings the manufacturer here.
lie Is attracted by the higher rate of
wages and SO he comes. All this is a pro-
cess OF equalization. The Italians who
are coming 10 this country by the tens of
thousands are the worst element this
country has ever received, and they are
coming in greater numbers than from
any other portion of the world. The
cigars manufactured in New ! Ork by the
cheap white labor Will take the place OF
manufactured tobacco everywhere in the
united States. San Francisco has lost its
fright over cheap Chinese labor and
hnding Eastern competition to be even
more damaging than any competition
ever offered by the Chinese"
Another gentleman, recently from the
East, recounted his experience as to mer-
camille profits in San Francisco. He
said: i desired to purchase q bottle of
NonpareIl blackIng. | visited boot and
shoe establishment and asked for it. The
clerk informed me that they had none for |
sale. Observing package Of the mate
rial on the shelf l said, That is what I |
want Oh said the clerk, IF that is |
what you want, we have plenty of it,
lie set down jug in which the material !
Is packed, and upon being asked the |
price, replied, Fifty cents per bottle.' |
objected on the ground that 1 could buy |
the same commodity in New York for
twenty-five cents per bottle. The pro-
prietor, passing at the time, inquired into |
the nature OF the dispute between the |
scotsman and myself, and upon being |
told by the salesman that l objected TO |
his booksand returned to say that he could |
not afford to sell for less than fifty cents. !
because the article cost him 81 40 per
dozen. / said DO you expect to make |
- 90 on an investment of 81 40? The |
San Francisco merchant justified this |
profit upon the theory that everything in
California was high; that when he came
10 convert the profits Of his transactions
into articles he did not sell, he had to pay
other merchants an equal rate OF profit. !
He was therefore obliged to make the
percentage he was demanding.'
a gentleman said to RECORD-UNIoN |
reporter recently: Il wanted to buy
some Nlcuna underwear. | went to sew |
elal retail stores for the quality I desired, |
and found that l could purchase four |
pairs Of Nicuna drawers of the quality | !
desired, for $50. Through a mercantile I
friend, L was admitted TO the privilege of |
purchasing at wholesale house. l went !
10 the wholesale house and purchased the |
four pairs OF drawers Tor $40. Now / |
tried to purchase these at four or five diff
ferent establishments and found the !
price to be the same-four pairs for $50. |
/ bought them without the slightest diff |
fculty - a wholesale house for $40, thus |
showing a mercantile profit of 30 per
cent"
A drummer, who travels through the
State selling goods, said to a reporter of
this paper:
offering goods in this market at Eastern
prices. y large Eastern tailoring estab- |
HShment has established an agency
III san Francisco. You go to this |
agency, get your measure taken, |
select your cloth from the samples |
shown you, and the measurement |
is sent East with a statement Of
the cloth selected. In due time the suit /
OF clothes, tailor made, and eXcellently
made, is returned. If they are not per-
feet fit the establishment Keeps tailors for
the purpose OF making q better TT. In
this way a suit of clothes can be pur-
chased for Sl7, which at the ordinary
tailoring establishments of this country
will cost SI0.n
The drummer continued: "This is
true of other lines of goods. The Eastern
manufacturer has drummers in the field
selling to the retail merchant The
wholesaler and jobber is thus cut Oft !
The best commercial agents are taking
employment from Eastern houses. East
ern manufactures of all kinds are being
forced upon the people of this State at
lower rates than goods can be produced
IN this country, at least at lower rates
than the goods have heretofore been pro-
duced for"
Being asked how the railroads were re-
sponsible for this, he said: THE rail-
roads have nothing to do with il, except
that railroads afford the means of the in
ttpuuCbAOu VI EASTERN wares AT Eastern
manufacturers profits. These profits are
lower than heretofore obtained by manu-
facturerS in this State"
1t being suggested that the high rate of
freight might operate as protection, the
drummer answered: THE higher rate
OF freight would simply let the merchan-
disc in by sea; that would give
San Francisco an advantage over
interior merchants; but on most
articles the freight cuts no figure
4 pair of shoes or boots or q suit of
clothes can be sold at practically Eastern
prices, even if the freight rates were
double. The cost of freight on a pair OF
shoes does not exceed q cent, and if it was
two cents the Eastern manufacturer
would offer his wares at a price which
would secure their use IN this country.
II is not the rate of freight; it is the fact
OF intimacy of communication"
What is the remedy for all this ?'
asked the questioner.
Il see no other remedy than TO find the
way TO produces wares and merchandise
here as cheaply as at the East. Failing in
this, we must meet the competition
which will eventually overwhelm US.
They talk of competing roads. II COM
petition means anything, it means the
reduction of freight rates, and any reduc-
tion in the rate OF freight means to facili-
tate the introduction of Eastern manu-
1actures ana Eastern merchandise. 1t is
q question OF competition between East
ern cities and the City of San Francisco,
between Eastern mercantile methods and
the methods OF California. 1t is a ques-
ton of competition in the cost of produc-
ing certain wares and merchandise, and
the cheaper the freight the greater the adj
vantage The Eastern merchant and manu-
facturer Will have. /, however, do not
believe that any change of freight rate,
either I'D or down, would arrest the ex-
lr,r,sa to nns,l. .