The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-19
SETH Low, BUSINESS MAN.
SURE he KNEW NOW TO SELL TEA
BETTER THAN HIS

Bure Also That re Knows Now to Govern the
City Better Than All Other Men-But' as
to Tea, Ho brought tho whole Trade. ana
not uis Fathers House Only, to WniIlnE.
Tho moro ono learns about the business career
Of Seth Low, the moro interesting that career Is.
Almost any Of the older tea merchants can
contribute Off hand a chapter or two to the
story Of that career. To 10 sure, most of the
contributions could hardly be considered by
Mr.. Low to bo tributes to his business ability,
but then, when one is running for office, ono
shouldn't DO too sensitive. A not unintcrest-
Ing thing about these "reminiscences Is that the
majority of those who furnish them live in
Brooklyn and have known Mr.. Low all his life.
Tho story published in TIKI Sun on Sunday,
In which was given an account OF some OF Mr..
Lows ventures in trade, was very generally
read among the tea merchants. One man who
read 1t had this to say yesterday:
1T isn't often that we tea men can, with
much unanimity, agree on anything. Some
how or another We like to dit agree with one an
other, and we get a lot of fun out of 1t. This
being the case, l was surprised this morning to
find almost every man in the trade i met agreed
as to the accuracy of THE SUNS history OF
Seth Low as u tea merchant. l met Some OF
his old Brooklyn friends, however, who said
that seth Low was as successful In the tea
business as any man who went in or was In 1t at
IL tilhc Mr.. LOW Hhuc 30 conspicuous u idii-
ure. They tried to mako out that nobody
made any money in the business at that time.
Now, l want to tell you something about
that. II the tea business fell Off materially
after Seth Low became Il tea merchant, he was
almost wholly responsible for that falling of.
When young Seth came down hero he had
some preconceivcd notions about how a great
wholesale and importing tea business should
be conducted. The methods employed by his
father. by the use Of which tho old gentleman
became many times n millionaire, were not
quite good enough for young Low. He knew
better methods.
"One Of his new ideas was to sell his goods
on credit. Up to that time tens were sold for
cash. No tea mcrchant-importcr or whole.
saler, or ~both-ever thought Of selling goods on
credit. Low concluded that, by giving pur.
ehasers, time in which to pay for their goods,
scheme was preached 10 old Mr.. Low he did
not think much of it. II the firm had grown
was tie use Of changing. Seth was full Of his
scheme, and he insisted that, by the adoption
OF 1t, the firms business would be doubled. The
new method was finally adopted;
Other tea merchants didn't know what to
that, II Il the largest y" drm in the business was
they wanted to compete. Not long after that
everybody was selling on credit. From that
time the tea business began to go to the devil.
and 1t has never come altogether back. There
Mho OLLlL IA IlhltNl Nilh llc Gil uLlNii
Seth Low began to sell tea according to his
new.fangled notions; After that he couldn't
any ono else. The only reason. believe, that
those now in the trade are able to. make a liv:
the counting room and put him in a library.
II any one person can be said to have ruined the
tea business, not only for himself but for hun
dreds OF others. that man is Seth Low
"All.this may seem strange when it Is re-
membered that all lines OF business are done on
crcditi' suggested THE Sun reporter.
All! You miss the point. III il had always
been the custom to sell tea on credit, Lows
advent wouldn't have made the slightest diff
certain way, and the way is a good one, he is
content to follow the custom. Every jobHer or
retailer was perfectly satisfied to pay cash for
his teas. because he always had paid cash for
them. He bought what he could pay for and the
out. though, that he could buy on credit, he
didn't want 70 buy any other way, What was
lot of teas, Customers came tiocking to him
from all points of The compass. He was de.
stfIh'Ha: N Now kn he ha aaeT rro %'f Of It. %ash II the
firm selling more goods than his father had
ever thought OF selling for two or three years,
OF the other merchants were also doing we'll,
The reckoning day came after a while.
ove:stocked, 1t was the old story OF buying
more than they could pay for, Nearly every
unr i~llcctible accounts. l wouldn't venture to
say how much the firm Of y: y. Low ~ Brother
lost. | do know how much lost, however, and
how much several other merchants lost. The
amounts were not small, and l know that the
Lows lost more than any of us.
IF | remember rightly, young Low put his
wonderful scheme in operation about 1850.
The tea business has never recovered from the
shock he gave II. II was like the systems of
these buckctshop fellows and their discretionary
pools. On paper il showed nothing but profit
for everybody who went into ii. When the
bottom fell out there was the bible phrase
wailins and much lamcntation. Many strong
houses were all but ruined. The millions that
Seth Lows father had slowed away years be
fore were all that saved the house from being
destroyed by the wildcat business methods Of
the man who now wants to be Mayor of Greater
New York, because, just as il was in the tea
business, he knows, how to run the city better