The times., 1900-12-19

month Oriental stores. They delude the
people into believing that thsy are selling
first class goods and as usual thing they
obtain prices out of all proportion 10 the
value of what they sell. They gull the
people, iniure the merchants, and then
slip away with their profits, paying no
one for the privilege, contributing moth
ing to the city"
The Houghton Company: There iE just
cause of complaint against these people.
both on the part of the public and on the
part of the merchant. At present the
auction rooms are full of antique" mi
ture and Oriental rugs. AS far as the
auctioneeers are concerned the business
of selling these goods is legitimate, per-
haps. but il there is any way OF keeping
them out of the city. or of making their
owners pay heavily for selling them, it
should be adopted. Naturally the people
are deluded when they believe that they
are getting first-class goods at ehl ap
prices. There wouldn't be any money in
the business if the goods were sold for
less than they are worth. all the time. In
the case of the auction furniture the ods
are frequently season-cracked' and fire.
quently seconds" 1t is another dodge
to advertise a sale of goods of certain
well known house. and to begin with
these goods. but later to replace them
with worthless limitations. To most peo-
pie limitations in these classes of goods
are beyond detection. l would be glad to
see these fakirs driven out of town, but
do not see how it is TO be done"
The Present Law Ineffective.
W. H. Martin, of Dulin. Martin & Co.:
''The imposition is real one and it works
great injury to the legitimate merchants.
am a member OF a special committee of
the Board of Trade which is seeking for
the proper remedy and 1 believe it will be
found, but it may be some time before the
relief is received. Legislation will be re-
quired. apparently. We do not believe
that these fake merchants can be reached
under the present laws. When a man
comes to the city at holiday time and
rents a vacant shop for a month the in
ference is very strong that he intends to
stay only a month. There should be
law to fit his case exactly. daily in
spection of his business should be pro-
vided for in the same way that pawn
broker is looked after. He should be
taxed so much on the aggregate of his
daily sales. Otherwise he contributes
nothing and has an unfair advantage over
the merchant who does a legitimate busi-
ness"
Julius Lansburgh: "The merchant who
does business in this city in a legitimate
way is supposed to pay an annual tax on
his stock in trade. 1t is an imposition to
collect this tax and allow the itinerant
fakir to do business without paying a tax.
The system is neither just nor equitable.
Some way should be found to remedy the
evil
]. D. Kaufman: "The itinerant mer-
chants have an unfair advantage over the
legitimate houses. l do not believe there
is any way to reach the evil. however, ex-
cept through the newspapers. II the news
papers will refuse to advertise them they
will not find the business profitable
Business Mems Association to Act.
Mr. Dyrenfcrth, President of the Busi-
ness Mems Association: II shall make
every vf.ort to bring this matter to the at
fention of Congress. 1t has already been
considered by the Committee on Mercan-
tile Interests OF the association, which
body. confidently expect, will frame a
bill providing license for firms and in
dividuai merchants transacting business of
a transient character. Through the Dis
trict Commissioners such a measure can