The herald., 1896-11-25
MARKETS OF THE WORLD
Local, Eastern and Foreign
Commercial Dealings
WALL STREET SPECULATION
Maine Corn Pack Short and Rapidly
Absorbed
Cost of Doing Grocery Business-Will Cam
phor Be Dearer? Glass Bottles to Be
Superseded by Paper Bottles.

Tho Maine correspondent of the New
England Grocer estimates the sweet corn
pack of that state at far snort OF 4oo,oOV
cases. and states that the demand Is active
and certain to soon absorb the whole OF IT,
At a. recent meeting of one of the gro
GERS associations of New England discus
sion of the cost of doing business sprang
IN and as usual, no two of the members
seemed to agree as to the proper figures.
Estimates made by grocers themselves
rarely fall as low as ten per cent and' II Is
probable that the average actual rate is
nearer 10 per cent, if indeed it is not fully
that much. How many grocers really know
what it costs themselves to do business?
An answer to the question:: What does
it cost me to do business? would simplify
the problem of how to compete with cash
stores of the cutting order and depart
ment houses. Having once established the
percentage in his own case. the grocer
time and see whether he was making mead
way in the endeavor to reduce expenses
For the first step in successful comp,etltion
with able rivals Is the reducing Of the per-
centage of cost of doing business, so that
the rate of profit may be liberal on low
range of prices. And hav,lng mace 1i e, up ms ms
sential is an accurate statement OF the eX-
isting percentage OF cost.
With that obtained he has something to
cessful competition, or, 1t may be, even g
bright one. which it is doubtful II he would
have had if he had not been able to learn
what it was costing him TO 40 business at
the start.-Merchants' Review.
The advance abroad in refined camphor
at a time when demand is the dulest is ac-
cepted here as the beginning of a move
ment to higher prices. 1t is reported that
the syndicate in crude is in better trim for
aggressive operations, and that another
campaign of speculation and concentration
of recovering lost ground. The two mem
bersspf the syndicate who were left to regu-
late the market after the death of Col
disgust them with the market. but they
cannot release hold of the stock of crude
in warehouse except on regular demand.
uG ey haye NJ wond 5G ke
know how much crude camphor Is stored
in London. The official figures on October
/ were II .496 packages, against 16,2o2 at the
same date last year. but no reliance is
placed in warehouse statistics of London.
1t is understood that they are manipulated
to suit the occasion. The extent of supply
controlled by the combination in other
markets is unknown, but it is believed to
The attempted corner is on Formosa
camphor, and the trade may expect to
insurrection, outing down of camphor
trees, the imposition of additional taxes by
Japan, etc.-New York Shipping List.
They are to be superseded by unbreakable
paper bottles. Paper bottles can be man.
ufactured for about half the cost of glass
| bottles and can be made watertight as well
as alright. AS brewers well know, it is
no easy matter to make a glass bottle that
is .airtight when beer is the LIQUID it con-
made to accomplish this result. but none
| have succeeded. With paper bottles the