The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-12
WESTERN BUSINESS CHANGED.
Cowboys Clothes Do not sell-Sacrifce
 -- Auctions Not .POpular. ,,-.- VI

Cowboys Clothes Do not sell-sacrifict
 Auctions Not Popular.
 Western merchants are meeting new
 conditions. In no one thing more thai
 in it's demand on trade has the Wes
 changed of late. The methods and the
 oriea that once appealed to the resi-
 dents of the plains have so far become | antiquated and obsolete that business
 life has assumed an entirely new aspect and the merchants have ben compelled to cater to a different constituency It was only q short time ago when the tiashy cowboy suits with the wide brimmed hat and aggressive top boots were a staple feature of the ordinary clothing house west of the Missouri. The more they could assume an air be- ing bad" men, the higher they seemed to rise in their own estimation. This attitude brought to the stores a dis tinct demand for such apparel and for accouterments that were markedly attendant on the wild life of the plains, Even the dealers in more sober sorts of merchandise were affected by the assumption of recklessness, and there were sold more saddles than road wagons, though a good saddle costs as much as the average speed cart It was, in short, an era of rough rider hood, an impetus toward the appurte- nances of the ranch and the trail. The west prlded itself on being extremely western, and wanted to make the fact manifest in every possible manner.
 With the turning in the tide of prosperity, in the later sos, a change came over the methods of western people. There was a general movement to visit the eastern homes. For a de- cade the West had travelled little. It had, to a degree. forgotten what had taken place in the East, and had en- glected to compared the conditions and dmands there with those at home. Then came the change of feeling.
 T have sold more rubber tired bug gies and road wagons for use out in Kansas and Nebraska than for use in Missouri" remarked a wholesale deal CT the other day 'The settlers, or farmers-for there are no more set tiers in the old sense--are taking the best we have. When I went out through Nebraska and Kansas last month I was surprised to see so many rigs. At one livery stable on a saturday were over 60 rigs, and not one was a lumber wagon. Ten of the buggies had rubber tires, all being from the country districts"
 It is the same with pianos and organs. The country farm houses are we'll filled with musical instruments. The deal CTS say that last years sales of pianos to the West were the largest in their history A central Kansas assessor said | the other day that in his rounds in one township a section without any towns, he found 65 organs. Some of them | were worth $75, and none less than '3O.
 The era of the freak store is gone, | too. It was not so long that in every considerable town of the West there vas store that deat in oddities, | trousers, bows and arrows, eather caps and the other novelties hat customers have came to associate with the West Usually there was a oyote or a group of prairie dogs pen led up in the rear of the store for the of the visitors Such stores ailed to attract of late years, and most f them have removed to Oklahoma, where the semblance of the old West is to the newcomers. One of he largest stores of this kind in the Vest was located at Wichita, but that aS now departed. The home people rev weary of it, and the strangers did ot appreciate it's attractions. It was ot profitable after the better class of eople, with more money became the He.
 The little corner auction sore is sel- om seen in the western town. It used } be common. With stock of notions osting $50 a fakir could make a living cling to the ranchman and the farm rs. Now the stores do the business nd the bills are paid in checks. The ( raveling bankrupt stock of clothing nd boots and shoes is also practically { bygone. The western towns refuse to t elieve in the reported bankruptcy or in { ne railroad wreck or fire that caused 1is wonderful bargain in apparel, and ( eartlessly put on the dealer a tax that {
 prohibitive. For years these stores \ isposed of immense stocks of out-of- { ate and shoddy goods for the Chicago callers and were very profitable mak- l g business hard for the home dealers t One feature of the newer form of bus | less life that the towns cannot control V the mail-order houses. They are do- t g the largest business ever known in I e west. With the extension of the ru- Il delivery to the prairie sections and { le ease with which money can be sent II ese houses do good business. Thou 6 nds of farmers are buying every S ing, from windmills to blows and seed h rn, from these houses The cata- c gues are vast volumes of hundreds of h lges, and amply llustrated.-Kansas c ty Star a
 
 TAMENFSS AMONG ANIMALS f,