The times., 1898-08-15
THE GOOD TIMES.
Buyers I'm New York From Every
where and All Happy

Those who feared the war with Spain
would ruin the business of the country
have all confessed their mistake. as in
deed they were bound to do in the face
of the proofs. The New York Sun makes
this report OF the business situation at
that place:
There is very little pessimism in evil
dence here. . said an officer of the Mer-
chants Association. Merchants are com
ing into our, rooms and registering from
all over the United States, and with
scarcely an exception they tell the same
story of prosperous times and predict a
better season than they have had in years,
or perhaps ever before IN their lives
Nearly every section of the United States
has been represented thus far. Merchants
have come from the agricultural districts,
the mining regions, the lumber regions,
from the section where cotton is king and
from the manufacturing districts. These
men are all hopeful. They feel that the
bad times are behind them. AS a rule.
they are glad that the war came. It hurt
their business in the Spring. but they say
that the ultimate results will be of great
benefit to them. They are also glad that
the war came from sentimental reasons,
in that it has served to bring their por
ton of the country nearer to the other
portions.
"A merchant from the South said here
the other day that for the first time since
1861 the term Yankee" was received as
an apDellation by the Southerners with
out arousing any of the old feelings, and
that down in his section of the country
they were all glad to be classified as one
with the North and with the West
These merchants are here buying
everything one can think Of They are
laying in larger stocks of goods than they
have done since 1892, and say, as a rule,
that they feel inclined to stock up to the
utmost extent of their ability to purchase.
The wholesale establishments are filling
up with purchasers; and in the wholesale
district a much more cheerful feeling is
prevailing than prevailed last Spring.
One of the interesting features of
the excursions of merchants to New
York tnaugurated by the Merchants AS
sociation last year is the large number of
ladies who came and registered. Having
in view the influence of the fair sex in
the country communities the Merchants
Association asked the railroads 10 grant
to the wives and daughters ,t merchants
the tOuHLry lIe SiIne cODcSS-
sions they granted to the merchants
themselves. This the railroads did AS
the result many a. merchant -ook advan-
tage of the saving in his fare to bring his
wife or daughter. in many instances bcth
along with him. 1t goes without saying
that the members of the fair sex VINO
came were pleased with New York Thew
visited its great retail stores hotels, roof
gardens. museums. parks; took in near
by trips to points of interest on Long
Island, down the Jersey coast, up the
Hudson, up the Sound. and each one be-
came a missionary for New York
through the pleasure she had obtained in
visiting the metropolis. Many women. too
who were employed by stores through
out the country came on during the pe-
rfod when the reduced rates were in eff
feet. These were principally buyers in
millinery goods and ladies' apparel of
various kinds. Some of them said that
they had never been in New York be-
fore, and were coming again, and this
year the number of ladies accompanying
their husbands and the number coming
by themselves as buyers is very notice.
able