The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-12-19
SCRIMPING TIMES, THESE.
NEARLY arr BUFFERS ARE slTINo,
AND ALL SELLERS FEEL IT


AND ALI sELLERs FEEL IT
Little Thisw. . Reporter saw >-s Hssrd n
Day thst show ths Pineh-sspsrir.
tendsst Byr-ss Calls n = Poor Mass
Pssie-Doetor. hatcher. Grocer, Barber,
waiter. Beotbiseh, ssa Railroad All
K.ow ~ o-es when Ns- Feel Poor.
Verify. verify these are hard tlmcs There
are probably many readers Of The Sun who
haven't felt them. but truth compels the pre-
dlction that II you haven't felt them yet. you
are VERY likely to before the winter is over.
The tariff agitation seems TO have brought
things to standstill and work and wages
are scarce.
This column contains the evidence that one
man gathered on Saturday without looking
for It. IL is what he overheard while going
about his business. The unseemly hours he
Keeps brought him homo when the milkman
was delivering his milk in the morning and so
the day he tells OF may begin when his day
ended, for the milkman was the frstto declare
himself
How are times, boss p demanded the milk
man. as he changed full bottles for empty ones
on the doorsteps. Il swanee. ! never see
such times in my business. Why l sold 300
quarts OF milk and averaged fifty quarts OF
cream day o few months ago. ! sell only
200 quarts OF milk now and hardly ten quarts
OF cream and I haven't los. q customer either.
The peoples saving. saving, and I'm likely to
atsrve to death II It keeps on. / don't know
how It's. unless all the babies have grown up
and the people are uting water instead OF
milk"
At noon the writer set out from his home for
the offlce and he stopped at Washing ton Market
on the way. His butcher he found in an argu-
ment with a woman about the mount OF beef
suet abe was entitled to with n roast She lett
the stand winner. and the butcher said: 4.
1t beats all how folks are saving. Now.
that woman month ago bought the finest
m eat that could get. and she would no more
think OF asking for suet with II than she would
think OF flying. She still gets what we call the
best. but It Is cent and n half apound
cheaper than the finest. and she wants the
suet to try out and use in the place Of lard.
I'll guarantee she never used anything hut
lard before. but times are hard. She isn't an
exception by q iugful. You wouldn't think It.
but there lie difference OF from S25 to $40 a
day In my receipts. and so far as I can see
have about the same run OF customers. The
difference represents what the customers
save"
"Phiiadelphia prints7" the butter man was
saying when the writer got around to the
butter stand. No. ma'am. We haven't had
call enough for them the past two months to
make IL an object to keep them"
To the reporter the butter man said:
Tho creamery tub butter is almost as good
as the print. and it's from Ave to seven cents q
pound cheaper We did sell q couple OF cases
OF prints day. but since the people began to
save We haven't had call for q case In two
weeks; SO We have dropped them altogether
great many people who used to buy the
finest creamery tub now get the next TO the
finest and save two cents pound. 30 It is all
the way down to the bottom grade. Whore we
sold one tub OF the cheapest month ago we
6 ell two or three tubs now. People are not
using butter to cook with as they used to. and
what we did call our cooking butter is now
sold for table USE"
The next stop was at the Grocer's. which Is
on vesey street The clerk.opened ND in this
" Good morning. sir. Hard times struck you
yet2 How does It affect us 2 Well 1t makes a
difference In our recelpts. We sell as much in
quantity as We ad but there's been ssrs drop
Instance. We did sell nearly case a
day. We don't sell a case week now.
We sell more OF cheaper grade than
we did. The business In fancy crackers
potted meats, canned good. especially pre-
grade teas and the best cofiees don't sell so
well. Is everybody saylngr Well. maybe not,
hut most people are. This will show you how
IL 10 done. Here's an order got this morning
from a customer who has dealt here for years.
weeks supply some time last winter"
The orders were as follows: