The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-06
RATHER THAN FOREIGN MADE
LIGHT ON A VITAL SUBJECT SHE'D
AT MEETING, OF MANU-
FACTURERS
HELD AT THE COMMERCIAL CLUB
Exposition of Homemade Articles
May Eventually Result From
the Agitation.

attended meeting Of the manufacture
ers of the city which was held at the
rooms of the Commercial club last
evening. The gathering was IN line
with the home trade ranquet given
by the club recently. President Gregg,
of the club, welcomed the mauuiac-
turers and extended a cordial invita-
ton to those not connected With the
organization to join and become ide MT
ned with the interests of the city, which
was what the club was working fer.
IhomaS A. Abbott was elected chair
man, and Secretary Slime, Of the club,
was duly installed in his capacity fer
the meeting.
II. M. Temple, representing the home
trade committee of the club, explained
that the object of the meeting was
to discuss the best manenr Of getting
the goods Of the st. Paul manufacturer
before the people of ST. Paul.
E. A. Paradis questioned if the first
obstacle to be contended against was
not that the manufacturers were 10th
to help themselves. One thing was to
produce an article and another TO rlace
1t on the market. Between these was
the work to be done Lines of goods
T..
equal in quality land satisfactory in
price with those of foreign make. The
trouble was they nwere not placed in
the nanos OF the consumers, and it
was nara to reach them. st. Paul
manufacturers could not afford to adj
Vertise' as had been done by the East
ern manufacturers5fo for the past twenty
1Ve years, as 1t would require too mucf,
Sapltal. and the question was what
would be the best plan to put in force
one OF the first things in his opinion
was to have manufacturers realize that
they must be satisfied with small pro-
hts. He suggested that an exhibit
winch would give the citizens an idea
OF what was manufactured in ST. Paul
would be of greatobenefit.
chairman Abbott thought in order
to supply the home market with goods
OF nome manufacture the articles
should first Of all contain the stuff. or
be of merit.
Z. r. Croft suggested that the
proper method would be to have q
committee from the manufacturers and
une Club investigate and report at a
Of procedure f"--
John G. Robb. of the Minnesota Soar,
company, said there were many. in
lerests to consider. and the question
was a complex one. The tobbers were
oIten the strongest competitors Of the
manufacturers. .. Frequently in going
ABOUT the city ne f6uad retailers sell
ing goods bought from Eastern firms
at a larger price than he could sell the
same to them. In all cases when the
attention of the storekeepers was call
ed to the fact that the same goods
could be purchased here for the same
or even less money, they were only
too glad to buy home goods He did
not think there was any question as
to the loyalty of St. Paul and Mime
apoi1s people as to the purchase Of
home made goods; they were simply
asleep and needed waking up What
was needed was to have the people look
out for their own interests and for the
interests Of the Twin Cities. The manu-
facturers Of the Twin Cities had to
compete with extensive Eastern manu-
facturers and the citizens should help
out home firms. This would be done
If the matter was presented to them .
Samuel Brant, manager of the cigar
department at Yerxa's, said nine
tenths of all the cigars sold by the
firm were Of home, manufacture. The
customers would, he said, accept home
made goods rather than those of out
size MANUFACTURE fIf7uItSlf dItSnllOn WAS
called to the fact Three-Quarters Of
the cigars sold by st, Paul dealers
were, he said, made In. the East. 1t
seemed impossible to impress the
wholesale dealers that just as good a
cigar could be made in st. Paul as at
other places. If the jobbers would or
could be made to realize this. en-
ployment could be given to 5000 more
people in this branch of trade.
William Church, of the Church Ce-
mentico company, thought the manu-
facturers had before them quite prob
lem. It was hard to- decide on any sys-
tenn for Advertising He had been en-
gagged in business for eight years and
agreed with Mr.. Abbott that the arti-
Gle must have merit. His line of goods
was shipped to the coast and South
as far as the gulf. The firm sold more
goods In Minneapolis in one week than
in ST. Paul in two months. The Chi
cago public institutions patronized
them. but it was impossible to get the
goods in st. Paul public buildings, al
though very recently he had, after
hard work, managed to make a sale
to the city He suggested the forming
OF a manufacturers union. Such an
organization had been formed in Oma-
ha. and in less than four weeks an in
crease of rs per cent had been no.
ticed.
F. J. Waterous, Of the Waterous
Engine company, said there was no
doubt but that the citizens of st. Paul
did not buy homemade goods. He
had been informed that nearly 81 ,000,-
O0C worth of boots and shoes were sold
in st. Paul yearly and of this amount
not more than $780, 900 worth of ST.
Paul manufactured goods was sold.
The manufacturers were, he thought
to blame. He was in favor of securing
the auditorium for g. week or so and
having an exhibition of goods Of ST.
Paul manufacture. Ii
Editor Hall, of the Trade. Journal.
said the general public had no idea Of
the goods manufactured here, and some
Of them that did refused to buy and
help the manufacturers along.
J. Adam Bede, onrbehaf Of the home
trade committee of the club, wanted
the manufacturers to 5oin the Com
mercial club, instead cpf forming 4
union Of their own. In these hard times,
in order to hold home capital, it was
necessary for the people to get closer
together. It was net because the peo-
pie did not want to patronize home
made goods, but because they did not
know about them. Vie favored a per-
manent exhibition In the rooms of the
club or in rooms in the building
Chairman Abbottdwasf dfrected to APP
point a committee of twelve, six from
the manufacturers and like number
from the club, to whom the matter of
devising some plan to forward the OBJ
ject sought for would be referred. AS
soon as the committee, which will be
announced today, has prepared a re-
port, the chair will call another meet
ing.