The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1895-09-27

chant, clothier, etc. who is making a
speciality in his respective line will
understand, and will he better able
to buy and judge of the goods in his
line that the man who is engaged in
all of these lines.
Now, in the large cities where the
rents are high and the ground floor is
more valuable than the upper stories
the department store having a large
capital will be successful in buildings
where they can use the upper stories
in connection with the lower. y
General stores called department
stores, as a rule deal in inferior goods,
"the riffrafl of creation" and by hold
ing out leaders on certain lines are en-
abled to draw customers and make
profits out of them on other goods.
AS rule the standard line If goods
are not found in those stores. The
managers know they cannot success
fully compete with stores handling
separate lines, SO they are compelled
to deal in cheap and inferior goods.
Gen. Pope presented some of the
ideas which Mr.. Hilger had given him,
which were to the effect that depart
ment sstores were in reality general
stores on a large scale; that many
stores which are called department
stores do not come under that head
with the meaning now given it. They
are simply stores in certain lines, like
dry goods, which have the various
lines of goods carried, divided into de-
partments, for greater convenience of
business.
Strictly he doubted whether what
is known as the modern department
store could be successfully run outside
of the large cities, as each depart
ment must be conducted by experts
who command good salary, and the
buying must be done by an expert in
each departments conducted, who COM
mands an equally good salary. He
believed that if it should prove that
they could be successfully conducted
in the smaller cities, they would prove
disastrous to the business interests
thereof, as three or four such institu-
tions could conduct the business of
the place, driving every one else out
of business.
The discussion was opened by Mr..
j. r. Brandrup, who discussed the
question from general standpoint.
Touching the matter locally, he said
that if what had been claimed as the
effect of the opening Of department
stores is true in that they twill drive
out of business the retail merchants
who have now an established trade,
and in general, check the progress of
our city, prevent the laborer from
earning his daily bread" then we
should fight against them by cOntinu-
ing to trade at our accustomed places,
and by doing so will beep everything
normal. The public in general, he
thought, liked to go wherever they
pleased, andgenerally went where they
could buy the cheapest and get the
best service, He then looked upon
the matter from a generalrather than
a local standpoint, and considered the
advantages which may come from
such institutions to the public at
large. OF course some must suffer
from them. That seems to be the
law of progress. The question of in
tereSt is whether the benefits will be
greater than the evils. If not, than
they must be considered a curse. If
much trade was drawn to Mankato
and it was diffused through the city
he thought the effects would be good,
is not, then it would not be SO good.
w. d. Willard spoke on the subject
in a general way and wondered what
our commercial system was coming to.
The tendency Of the age seemed to be
in concentration. We have always
been told that competition was the
life of trade but the whole trend of
progress today is to shut out cOmpe-
titiOn. 1t is to cut the number Of
those who are engaged in the distri-
button of the necessities of life, and
turn them to the production of
wealth. This he thought in the end
was beneficial. He severely con-
demned the evils which are connected
with such concentration of capital,
and thought the aim should be to
eliminate them to the greatest eX-
tent possible. He believed in the
greatest good for the greatest num-
Der, and believed it was best attained
in directing all those who were not
needed to serve the wants of society,
to the creating of new wealth.
E. M Currier looking at the matter
locally, or from the standpoint of the
small cities, thought there was only
about so much business to be done and
that if a department. store did large
portion of it, there was SO much less
for the rest, and some would be driven
out of business, and must look for
something else to do. However, the
advent of department. stores were on
ly in line with other advances in So
ciety. A few men with immense cap
ital controlled vast commercial inter-
ests. He did not like this. He liked