The record-union., 1897-05-08
Department Stores.

| the fairness your paper has shown in
| dealing with the movement relating to
| department stores l have prepared a
| short statement of the small dealers
| side of the case, which | trust you will
do me the honor to publish. l had in
tended to deliver them at the Business
| Mems meeting tonight, but that event
has been postponed.
paper treating generally of the sub
ject prepared by me and read by VIM.
B. Geiser at the meeting of the Mer-
chants Association last Friday night,
has called forth what is intended for
a general denial of all the allegations
made against department stores by the
head of one of these great firms, his
side of the case being presented in the
'RecOrd-Un several days ago.
Without indulging in personalities the
gentleman of the published interview
proceeded to turn numerous assertions
made by me to the credit of the depart
ment stores. To begin With he says:
! IF it is a sin to serve the public bet
ter than the public has ever before been
served, then the department store own
ers must confess themselves sinners If
1t is a sin to make the poor mans dollar
| buy more than it has ever been able to
buy before, the department store own
ers must confess themselves sinners" :"
l wish to state that the department
store owners cannot serve the people
better, nor make the poor man dollar
buy more than it has ever been able to
| buy before
| The department stores cannot buy in
the open market at a lower figure than
the single line dealers, except in the pur-
! chase of inferior goods which are made
up by manufacturers expressly for de-
partment store trade, and which the
single line merchants cannot afford to
| handle.
Even in the sale of these inferior goods
the department stores are careful to
sell but small quantity at time, all
of which leads one to the belief that the
special sale" is simply a catch penny
device to drag custom. They do not
attempt to hold even these inferior
goods at such low figures the year round,
hence they do not give the purchasing
public the benefit they claim to. 1t is
only when a systematic effort is made
to drive a certain dealer from this field
that low prices rule in the line offered
for sale. Then they fairly cut the heart
out of prices. This, l submit, is not pub
lie benefaction.
The head of one of these great estab-
lishments refers to the erection of mag
nifcent buildings by these concerns, and
adds:
If it is sin to erect magnificent
business structures, thereby adding to
the attractiveness of the city and in
creasing the taxable property of the
community, the department store own
ers must confess themselves sinners
Georgius Khan erected magnificent
monuments, built of the skulls of those
he had slain; SO these modern Tanner
lanes are building magnificent stores.
On what? They are sapping the business
life out of the retail trade and upon the
misfortunes of those who have sue
cumbed TO their invasion are now erect
ing magnificent monuments, to q pro-
gress that slaughters but does not Gre
ate; monuments to a progress which de-
stroys but does not revivify; monuments
| to an age when one man was king and
all the others vassals.
| Again the statement is made that a
hundred years ago there was similar ag-
itation against the Introduction of the
spinning jenny, which was later inten-
sified by the introduction of Arkwright's s
spinning frame, which revolutionized
the making of textile fabrics, and gave
employment to vast armies of operatives
and added to the comfort of untold mill
ions.
These are not parallel cases. While
the spinning jenny and the spinning
frame gave employment to vast armies
of people, the department store does
not The former were creators, while
the latter is not.
Continuing. the gentleman inter-
viewed, declares that the same charac-
ter Of agitation took place when Stew
ienson invented the locomotive, and very
truthfully says that this invention
lproved benefit to the world, and the
people in it. The locomotive, like the
spinning jenny, and the spinning frame
increased the number of employees in
its operation in a ratio far in excess of
those displaced by its use. The de-
partment store cannot claim the same
distinction.
1t is certainly surprising. if not
cheeky, for any one who drives people
out of business, forcing others out of
employment and by so doing reduce
wages to pittance, to call himself a
benefactor; yet we find in the article
have been referring to, this noble de-
claration:
The man who can at least bring
about conditions which are in the in
terest of the greatest good to the
greatest number is certainly a bene-
factor"
Attributing in a measure the depre-
citation in the value of the residence
property in this city to the modern
method of street railroading, the writer
says: IF it is an injury, then, to the
community as a whole to lower the
value of certain properties the cleo
trio street railway system must be a
curse and should be resoluted out of ex-
istence."
Not so. The electric railway is en-
gagged solely in the carrying of passen-
gers. 1t has not attempted to invade
any other field. 1t it did a general
freight and trucking business. ran
sprinkling carts, dirt wagons. hacks,
land carriages. dairies, raised chickens.
sold butter eggs, cheese, fruits and
vegetables, driving others engaged in
those lines out of business, it would be
gall TO call it public benefactor, and
it should then be "resoluted out OF ex-
istence.' But so long as it confines it
self to carrying passengers and giving
them an improved service it is operat-
ing upon legitimate lines and is a pub
lie benefactor
/ notice also that the defender of the
department store declares that it is not