The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-12-20
Big Purchase Of Fllss, Fabyan & Co.
Of New York City.
PRESENT BUSINESS UNCERTAINTY
Duo tn Mr.. Cievsland's Foley or Tariff
Reform what n Practical business
Man Has to Say About it-senttment
No Factor In Commercial Enterprises.
Special TO The News.


NEW YORK, Dec. 2O.-'It was simple
business transaction, was the offhand way
Mr.. M. c. ID. Borden, of the dry goods firm
OF Bliss, Fabyan * Co., spoke, referring to
recent purchase by the house Of
100000 pices OF gray cloth from
which to make calico prints and for which
~ ,000,0 900 was paid. In explanation OF the
effect of this 81 ,0O0, 900 purchase, Mr.. Bor-
den, who conducted the operation, con-
ceded, however, that 1t was matter of
vital interest to nearly 25,000 mill hands
in Fall River alone; that II meant for
these employment and prosperity instead
OF idleness, want and suffering and that 1t
would revive the calico making
industry not alone in New England,
but in the calico print manufac-
turing centres throughout the country
The immediate effect of the operation,
he further conceded, had been to relieve
the overstocked market OF print cloths;
to give a new lease Of life to the trader,
which, in dread of tariff changes, had be-
come stagnant, and the sending OF orders
to the Fall River mills to such an extent
already as to insure their running
all winter, and uninterrupted en-
ployment not alone to the twenty-five
thousand mill hands, but a livelihood to
fifteen thousand, there being in all about
forty thousand persons depending for
support upon the mills.
Conditions Of the Market.
at was an operation" said Mr.. Bor-
den, rendered necessary by the condi-
tion of business. The print works of the
country have been sharing the general
depression that has followed the advent
Of a congress pledged, as Mr.. Cleveland
has said, to radically reform the tariff
laws.
"From either of these issues the only
escape was the creation OF a new market.
This was done by buying up the surplus
and enough more to create an active de-
mand for the goods"
/" Has the result been such as you antici-
pated 2" inquired.
production continued, while demand
fell of and goods on hand began to pile
up. This meant overproduction, which
necessarily would be followed by de-
creased prices, when the mills could only
be run at loss or be shut down until diff
ferent business conditions prevailed.
"Just exactly" he replied, "what we
looked for. The mills are now printing
more cloths than at any time for several
months, and the orders already sent i'm
will keep them in full operation until
spring"
Politics the Cause.
"You have alluded to the present busi-
ness depression as though politics had
something to do with it. Is there any
political aspect to your recent purchaser
at is not done for political effect. OPP
erations upon that scale are not carried
out for any sentiment, political or other
wise. They are governed by strictly busi-
ness methods, and legitimate business re-
suits are all that are looked for.
The fact that a philanthropic act
was accomplished is merely coincidence.
do not hesitate most emphatically to say
that the alarm and depression from which
not alone the calico print industry, but
every other industrial enterprise is now
suffering, is due almost entirely to the
policy Of President Cleveland and his
party toward the tariff.
"We have had for months and years a
continuous reign of business and com
mercial prosperity and financial security.
Directly upon the advent OF our present
national administration the opposite con-
dition prevailed 1t may be a consequence
or an accidental circumstance, but
the fact remains the same. Busi-
ness men generally, / think, believe that
it Is the change that has brought about
the present alarm and depression. In
many sections of the country suffering
and distress are surely going to prevail
this winter, but am glad to know that
Fall River will know very little OF either -