The times., 1899-12-31
PEOPLES POCKETS FULL.
Christmas BuyinE Outran the Record
for Nnny Nenrs.
tFrom thc View York sun.

| More money was spent by the people last
| week than in any corresponding week for
! many years. In spite of the money panic
! the people had more money to spend than
! they have usually had, even in times of
| prosperity. The prosperity of the past two
! years had put money in their pockets I9'
| Injuries. and the retail merchants everS
! where reaped q great harvest. Here il
! New York and in Brooklyn and in the
| nearby cities the merchants who advertised
report the argest crowds that their stores
| have ever held and an increased demand
for better grades Of goods. The New York
Commercial" has gathered reports from the
| merchants OF the chief cities in the coun-
| try. which il prints this morning.
! San Francisco reports a magnificent
! Christmas trade by retail merchants" The
| people. the report says. were well supplied
/ with money. BY way Of explanation the
! report quotes statistics showing the enor-
nous shipments from the city OF California
| staples, The shipment OF canned fruits to
| Great Britain was the largest ever re-
! corded
The report from st Louis says the
! wholesale trade vas dull because the re-
/ tail merchants we're too busy attending to
] customers to waste time replenishing
stoci,s. Ia the Wholesale dry goods trade
there was a practical cessation of business
! and the employees did more playing than
up FOR it nov because We holiday buyers
have practically deDle5ed the stocks of
| the retailers and every retail house viii
| have TO restOck. So in other branches. In
the drug trade the increase in business
over December a year ago was 50 per cent,
| Many Of the wholesalers have already be
gun 10 feel the result of the holiday in
crease. and the factories manufacturing
| certain lines have orders that will make
| them work overtime for some time to
come.
New Orleans reports: ''The demand for
| Christmas goods has been enormous.
Stores were packed and jammed ali the
week and the country order business as
sumcd enormous proportions"
Omaha says: The closing OF the holi-
! day trade marks a period of greatest ac-
tivity in commercial circles in this section
Of the West. The volume of business is
the heaviest known in this section for
years"
Cincinnati reports: Retail business in
Cincinnati the past week has been phe-
nomenal. Not in many years have retail
| ers Of holiday goods had such a harvest.
Prices were Of the best. too. Dry goods
men OF course, experienced the full force
of the rush Of buyers. Toy merchants re-
port he heaviest Christmas trade On rec
ord Expensive novelties found ready pur-
tAenSiS ,. III LHttg the 0tulduG IGf all ulRHeF
priced goods was surprising to retail deal
ers''
Boston reports: "The week ending Sat
Urday has been one OF the busiest in the
history OF the Boston Christmas trade Re
ports from all varieties of trade show q
! phenomenal volume transacted: the best,
/ in fact, for years, while the financial side
OF the city's business has been shaken al
most TO its foundation. the commercial side
has been uniformly pros porous -
! Chicago sends the same story. The re-
! port from there says: The holiday trade
| ia all wholesale lines has been unprece-
dented during the past week. The fancy
goods departments of the wholesale dry
| goods houses were overwhelmed with or
deTs, and employees had to work nights.
Jewellers experienced the same thing to a
larger extent, and were unable TO get out
! their orders. There has never been such
} a general call for jeWelry OF better grade
1 as during the past few weeks. Many houses
1 will be kept busy several days after Christ
mas in getting out the last Of their sales
! Kansas City says: The past week as
/ been a fitting climax TO the best business
/ year in this sections history. In every
/ line the merchants report unprecedented
/ sales, Notwithstanding stif advances in
prices"
Throughout the South the story is The
| same. Richmond, Va, says: The
/ retail trade for the holiday sea-
son was larger and more satisfactory
( than for a quarter Of q century Every
/ body seemed to have money, and spent il
! freely. AS evidence OF the big holiday
| business the postofhce was absolutely over
! run, and had TO employ au extra force 10
I handle the business. The express compa-
/ mics also had to secure extra quarters for
! shipping goods"
Louisville, Ky, reports: December has
! been an unusually prosperous month in al
most every line. Nowhere Is this better
I shown than IN the dry goods trade. The
! jObbing houses report an increase Of more
/ than 40 per cent over a year ago Retail
! dry gooGs men say the holiday trade has
/ been the best they have ever had. 1t is
/ far ahead even Of 1892"
Houston. Texas. reports practically the
same. Toledo. Ohio says: Holiday trade
/ in Toledo has been unprecedented. Sales
/ have been large and the most satisfactory
] part TO business men is that articles run
ming higher in price have been in better
/ demand than for some years. The dry
! goods men, clothiers and other staple deal
! ers have had a remarkable trade. A year
/ ago their sales ran away ahead of the pr
! yious two or three years. and they harmy
| looked for a record breaking season this
! year, but they have been happily Gisap-
! pointed"
PIttsburg reports: Never in the his
tory Of the Smoky City has there been
such holiday trade as closed on Saturday
evening Merchants in every branch Of the
holiday trade say they never experienced
such a crush as they have had for the past
two weeks. The big department stores
have been almost cleaned out Of stock and
a number Of their buyers are already in
New York placing orders for many of the
regular lines"
There are reports from many other cities
! in the middle ard the Far West and with
out exception the story Of unprecedented
trade IS told. IL no instance is the situa-
tion in the money market said to have had
any effect