Omaha daily bee., 1897-06-27
CONDITION OF ONAHA'S TRADE
General Situation Most Encouraging Bob to
Retailers and Jobbsrs.
COUNTRY COLLECTIONS NEVER BtrrEF
Activity In building Trades Gives linz
petus 90 business RcViNnI-Mistnke
in Omnhn's Bank ClenrIngs-
Manufacturers busy.

The business conditions OF the past week
were, on the whole, quite favorable, though
they cannot be said 10 indicate anything
in the nature Of a boom, and in certain lines
OF trade the evidences of Improvement are
not SO marked as Interested parties would
like. At the same time a marked change
s. taking place in every portion Of terri
tory tributary to this city. and while the
process Is gradual, it Is nevertheless very
apparent TO all who come in contact with
business men or are themselves engaged in
business enterprises.
The jobbers have had a most excellent
trade, and what Is best OF all. collections
have been exceptionally good. 1t Is, in fact,
a matter of no little surprise that country
merchants are able to meet obligations with
such ~promptness and that the percentage
of loss for the past three months has been
30 small. 1t is safe to say that there never
has been a time when collections in this
section Of the west were any more satisfac-
tory than they are at the present time.
Local retail merchants have experienced
a very satisfactory business. but the dull
season of the year IL drawing near at hand
expected to soon settle down into a condi-
ton of mid-summer dizziness. The hot
%eather OF the past week or ten days
ings, and the retail trade may soon be ex-
pected to show effects Of the summer hegira
OF the well-to-dO people.
49, - 81 M =
Bank clearings have been of satisfactory
proportions. showing business to be in a
good. healthy condition, but owing to a mis-
take in transmission, omaha made a very
poor showing in the weekly report. The
figures as sent out by the Associated press
credited this city with clear!ngs amount
Ing to on,y S.O5i.43O for the week, whereas
the correct figures were A,3o6,ii3.
As noticed a week ago. there is a great
the number OF new buildings going up in
the city, IS really surprising, when 1t is
and that the general business revival is Of
such recent origin. When work is com
plans are now being made, there promises
to be a veritable building boom.
The large demand already developed for
building materials and the still larger de-
1nand that is sure to come a little later on
in the season, promises to give a fresh i'm
pstus to all departments Of trade. The
members of the Manufacturers assocta-
ton are already asking themselves where
the brick are to come from that will be
required in the construction of the Armour
packing house and other buildings under
Contemplation. and the fear is expressed
that unless local brick makers awake very
suddenly to the situation, IT will be neces-
sary to import a good many brick, which
would deprive this city of much of the
benefit to be derived from the construction
of new buildings.
one Of the most gratifying features of the
present business situation is the fact that 1t
Ia being noised all over the east that bust
ness in the west is r%eviving. and revtving
much more rapidly than in the east. Bust
ness men In the large distributing centers
are commenting upon the fact in Interviews
in the press, and 1t seems to be gradually
daN ming upon eastern capitalists that the
hard times through which the west has
passed were Of only a temporary character.
BEDROCK REACHED.
The United States Investor. with offices
in Boston and New York, in a recent issue
Gays: The farmers out there speaking
of the westD are paying up their debts in a
manner to excite the surprise of persons in
tho east who have been in the best posi-
ton to know the viciSSitudes through wGich
TsIga Fa -. laRgn .LGslnp the Last pNy
one investment company (by no means to
10 claSsed among the giants that used
TO occupy the western mortgage field, has
in the last few months remitted about $500
90 to its clients in the east, this sum repre-
senting not only interest, but also principal.
We mention this particular case because II
IS the last one TO come under our notice,
Other companies which have done a heavier
business would no doubt report common
surately larger collections at this time. The
ono aim Of the western farmer now seems
TO be to get out OF debt. and the nearer
hc comes 10 accomplishing this end, the
better customer he will become OF the east
TO every one who has kept eye and ear
open. that the west is in a more comfort
able position today than it has been for
years. Bedrock has been reached there. and
q new prosperity is beginning slowly to
spring up. The marked subsistence of the
wild west is the surest evidence of this fact.
The comparative silence of that section on
those peculiar subjects on which II formerly
so much loved TO dilate, ia not due TO apathy
growing out of despair, but to the fact that
Teviving hope is turning attention in new
directions and causing the old ismS to be
Bidetracked."
For the past three years the eastern ffnan-
cial press has had very little of a comp.i-
mentary nature to say regarding the west
would seem to indicate that sentiment has
undergone a change in the east.