The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-05-21

manufacturers were asked. When they
said the number the firm offered them a
contract for sons months ahead that
would keep them busy all the time.
When the great demand came and
every harness dealer was clamorlng for
saddles It was found that this one firm
had appropriated large part of the
market. Rumor says that 1t made n
fortune over Its smartness.
Caterers Suffer Heavily.
At the beginning of the war jewelers.
did very well. They were largely pat.
ronized for keepsakes and the like. But
their boom is now over and trade is to-
day exceptionally dull with them.
Caterers for the luxury OF the wealthy
have been the heaviest losers. In West
London almost every trade. apart from
that of optlcian, is now suffering. So
ciety entertalns very little this season,
and all who depend on society lose a.
cordlngly. The many firms which cater
for great functions are not doing 9th
Of their former trade.
Art, literature, and acting have borne
the brunt of the commercial upheaval.
About art can do best by reproducing
the purport OF conversation with tho
head of Messrs. Goupil & Co., the well
known picture dealers. 81 have no hes.
itatlon in saying that the picture trade
has suffered very severely because of
the war;" was told. AT first the cam
palgn did not seem to have any result
on art, but when the first news arrived
of General Buffers defeat the sale OF
pictures came almost to u standstill.
was obliged to cancel two exhibitions
had planned for early in the year, and
have only opened my present exhibit
ton as kind of frontal attack on buy
ers to force pictures on their attention.
1t is now difficult to get people to enter
an exhibition, and when they do they
are not eager to buy"
Bad for Authors and Publishers.
The publishing business has lost rs
must as art. Trade In works of fiction
has almost wholly ceased. Many pub
fishers now refuse even to read manu-
scripts of novels submitted to their.
Books that were planned and set up
last autumn are still being held over, In
the hope OF better times. Within the
past autumn and winter there have
been only three successes, and each of
them was published before news came
Of our defeats. They are Fitzpatrick's
"Transvaal from Within" Red Pot-
tage," and "a Double Thread" Sew
eral books on South Africa have sold
fairly well, but book publishers, as q
whole, have not done worse for ten
years. AT the beginning OF the war. Sir
Walter Besaut anticipated that 1t would
have a favorable effect on literature.
Had here been only a brief walk-over to
Pretoria, this might have been so; but
our long and arduous campaign has
killed lnteres. in new books.
The periodical market has suffered
but not in the same fashion. 1t mas
been bad time for sixpenny magazines
ana the market is still full Of reminders
Of Christmas numbers.
The boom in the periodical market
has been in newspapers and in illustra-
ted weekIles dealing with the war. Most
illustrated weeklles have gone up at
least % per cent; many daily papers
have enormously Increased their cirsu'
Iation. For war papers of any kind
there is an endless demand, The best
Of these, like the daily papers find their
expenses so largely increased by the
war that the extra sales do not recou9
the outlay. To morning paper grea!
war is a curse. 1t means vast expense,
a dlsarrangement of routine, and a
largely increased strain on the workers
The stage has suffered from the war,
though not to the extent that some sup
pose. Really popular shows, like The
Messenger Boy" the Hlppodrome, and
San Toy" cannot hold the crowds tina;
flock to them.