Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-01
TERRITORY INCREASED AMI BET
TER COVERED THAN BEFORE.
The Growing Importance of the City
as n Wholesale Market Is RecOS-
nized by Dealers ms Well
as by the Other
Markets.

ing that time the competition in the city :
territory has been stronger from the other
markets and the men who sell from Nam
sas City have had to meet the best COM
petition that has been found in the West
during the past decade. The prosperity
of the West has made the wholesalers of
all markets anxious TO get themselves into
the trade as sellers and they have spared
no pains whatever to accomplish their pur-
pose.
Still with that sort of competition the
Kansas City market has grown at a very
satisfactory rate and the year closes with
the wholesale trade showing a new figure
in totals and one far ahead of anything
ever seen in the West before. Kansas City
has won her distinctive identity as a mar
ket more than ever and with the new
standing she has will be better able to care
for herself and her interests in the future.
She can with ease hold all she has now
and can win more with the use of the
same zeal that has marked her career in
the past.
With the increase in the transportation
facilities of the city and the natural
growth of the markets here for Western
products comes a natural desire among
those who sell here TO buy at the same
place. This is one of the big advantages
secured by the city from its splendid live
stock and grain markets. The sellers are
nearly always purchasers and when they
find a good market in which to sell they
naturally expect TO find also a good mar
ket in which to buy and in this they are
not disappointed.
The wholesale business exclusive of the
products of the packing houses during 1S9.
was to have reached a total of
not less han Sl5O.OoD.OG0 and from the same
sources it is estimated that during 1928
the business made an advance of about
81. go and can be safely reckoned as
having been fully 100000 This makes
the city a market of decided Importance,
! for that anNnunf n 1ipSinpSC Distribution
through the scores of enterprises repre-
scented here makes a volume that will go
far in the supply of the demands of the
West. The best feature of the growth was
that only a small margin OF the advance
came from any extension of the territory;
purchasing abilities of the people in the
territory the city has always claimed as
hers. While the wholesalers spare no eff
mains that years ago they had their sales
men scattered well through the entire list
of states west of the Mississippi river and
covered the trade to the coast. This makes
a large field and it uses hundreds of mel
annually in travelling about through it.
The increased prosperity of the people in
that territory coming from the increased
volume of their products for sale and the
better prices obtained for them in the mar
kets made the field the best the whole
salers have ever found 1t. While there
are numerous demands that the people
have to satisfy no matter what the con-
ditions are. the fact remains that during
periods of prosperity the people purchase
more freely of both the necessities and
the luYuries than at any other time ana
in such times they fortify themselves for
the periods OF depression that are liable
TO come.
With railway lines now reaching to the
city is in position TO secure abundant
supplies Of imported goods at the lowest
prices found in the West and is able to
meet the competition of the Eastern cities
with an even chance for success. The
identity of the city has been so plainly
marked that all other markets now con,
watch its progress and development close
There has been some good territory
opened up during the year for the eNten-
sion of the city's wholesale trade in the
| portion of Oklahoma Territory made trib-
the Frisco road and the Choctaw. Okla
homa & Gulf connections. This taps a fer
tile portion of that wonderfully produc-
tive territory and gives it a direct connec-
| ton with the markets here on an equality
with those of other cities. While all Of
the territory that is supplied from Kansas
that Oklahoma is one of the richest and
most satisfactory fields that is reached by
the Kansas City trade. Its rapid improve
ment. its constant development. and the
almost unlimited purchasing power of the
dealers and consumers there caused by
their varied lines of income makes it one
field that will always he carefully cared
for by the dealers at this point. With the
settlement of that ana the Indian Territory
that is so rapidly being done, the number
of consumers is being largely increased.
the fertile hills and valleys. the forests
and the mines are being made productive
of untold wealth and the country enjoys
that wonderful prosperity that comes from
the outstanding of the natural resources
that are SO abundant there. Any eXten-
sion of territory there. any Improvement
in the railway communication with Kan
sas City is an importans matter; The peo-
and every added facility for reaching the
city more easily and getting their products
here and their purchases from here
makes the situation more satisfactory ana
valuable.
With the new year the extension of the
road at Roswell, y. NJ. will form a con-
nection that will add an empire to the pat
ronizing territory of the city. The whole
of the Pecos valley. fertile as the Nile
and wonderfully varied in its industries
and possibilities. will be brought into di-
rect connection with the city There are
thousands of live stock there for market
each year. a vast area of splendid territory
to be supplied with the goods from the
wholesale houses here and an enormous
to market and in all that the wholesalers
of the lines in Kansas City are directly
and vitality interested. The territory will
of the Kansas City houses and will form
a splendid field for the enlargement of
the trade for this year.
Freight rates during the year have not
interfered with any of the trade demands
that should center here. While wholesal-
ers always find something yet to be de-
sired in the matter of rates for their
sales. yet there has been as little COM
plant for the past year on that subject
as any past period of time. and the situa-
ton for the coming year promises no more
than the usual amount of annoyance in
that line. In fact. the railroads are pos
sibly more friendly TO the city now than
for many years. While the big through
lines naturally desire to get the longest
possible haul on the stuff that originates
along their lines and try to care for their
interests on that score. there has been but
the slightest discrimination against what
is considered the interest of the city dur
ing the year. The growing volume of
trade coming to the city that can not be
turned elsewhere and the large amount
that originates here for outside distribI-
ton makes the business here one that
challenges the careful consideration of the
traffic departments of the roads.
trade here is the very large amount of
business that goes out of the city for dis
tribution in carload lots. This makes IL
especially desirable stuff to handle for the
purchaser that is being taken advantage
of promptly.
For the past the wholesalers have a
feeling of satisfaction and pride and for
have met in competition the best from ali
other markets and have won the day more
than they have lost. There is a prosperous
condition e~xistant in the Kansas City terri
tory that promises good trade. prompt
settlements and satisfactory profits at the
close so that all now required is the hearty
endeavor that has always been the char
aCteristic OF. the market here.
TIL following estimates are secured from
the various lines of trade and give an