The sun., 1897-12-10
GROCERY TRADE rs GOOD.
a MARKED REVIVAL or <CTIVLrX
HAS Set IN.

Tho Veiuuao OF Trade for Thts Wear hueh
Greater Thsn That for RrecedisE YEAR,
but the Most Notable improvement u
That or the Fast Two Three Henths
An increased volume OF trade in 30 staple
business as Wholesale groceries is the latest re-
ported evidence OF the healthy revival OF gen
ernl prosperity The activity in groceries 10 90
widespread that IL Is shared by firms whose
business is chiefly in tho East, by those who deal
largely with the South, by those whose repro
sentatives canvass the Mississippi Valley, and
by those who project their inducements TO
patronEe with special effort among tho poo
pie OF tho far West. Not all feel the impetus
OF the increased demand for goods to the same
degree, but houses of each class visited ycster-
day testified to the noticeable botterment In
general conditions in the trade, extending par
ticularly over tho past two months. and 10
lesser but still an appreciable degree over the
whole of the current calendar year. The en-
lareod volume of business during October and
November was conceded to be greater than
could be accounted for by tho increased orders
naturally incident to the Christmas holiday
season. Further than that, even men not will
ing to admit q business boom Of large enough
proportions TO be acknowledged, declared their
belief that all the increase Of activity was q
healthy and genuine one-not in any sense spec
ulative-and their conviction that the augury
was good for the coming year.
Sun reporter visited firms whose names arc
known in every household well as those
whose reputation 10 chiefly in the business
world. those who do wholesale and retail
business we'll as those who manufacture and
job. Said one: "Our trade has increased most
satisfactorily during all this year. particularly
within the last two months. The business has
come from all parts OF the country, as well as
New ork city and vicinity. II there has been
in any one section It is in those States visited
and affected by the yellow fever and the fear OF
IT, which may show less than the average in
crense. / believe the excursions of the Mer-
chants Association helped business with US
The publisher Of the american Grocer said
| that his observations confirmed MIN In the be-
lief that the increased activity was widespread;
th is t, with nc @ said HS 9sSripSa l 9Sa
| improvement. he said, having followed upon Its
enactment and been continuous and increasing.
He believed that 1t preseged very much better
| business next year
| One of the members of q concern doing q very
| large Western business as well as steady local
business that has continued so many years as to
| make the name q familiar o-e, said that his
firms business this year, and especially during
try a. well as from New York city and md
Gently we have not done and what we do not
| like to do, for II is an added expense: we are
Of doubs WITCH
| are watched on the street until morning
and then are driven away the first thing. q
| the only way we can deliver our orders. We
| think that tho Merchants Association excur
sions have been of immense benefit. We had
men in here on those excursions with whom We
| have been dealing for twenty five years, but had
| never before seen in our store. l make trips te
| Maine and the Gulf cities. the central West, and
| the cities Of the Pacific slope. and find thai
everywhere there Is the disposition to look to New
| York as the business centre and headquarters o.
| the country, Notwithstanding any prediction
| for Chicago or st. Louis or local pride in th'
| cities near home. Beyond all things they !ik'
| to visit New York personally. and when they
| see the way business is done here they ike nj
| city better. These people take advantage of sucf
"Certainly another year will show us how
| much of the increased business was due to thes,
excursions" said another grocer, who put
| this fall to the credit of the Merchants
| Association movement He pointed ont, as dit
| others. that manifestly there must be an I'M
| provement in the condition of the people gen
| in groceries, as the retailers bought only wha
| their custom demanded or warranted thei
, buying
| affairs reflected in the interviews among tn
| trade tho reporter asked Cashier Frank s
| Hyatt Of the Clinton Bank, which ia In tn
| wholesale grocery district what his observation
had been IN t the matter r, He replied nho
| a marked increase this year over year or tw,
| previous, and that the transac ctions OF the pas
| two months were very much In excess OF tn
| usual antc-h holiday business in the wholesale
grocery line. He had been unable to see tina
| there was anything speculative in the increased
| volume OF business. 1t seemed to him that th
| grocery market was n healthy one, and that th
| favorable conditions were likely to continue