The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-05-15
RICHMOND
IN CLOTH HING
In This Line Has Held Back,
Bit Is Making New
Departure.
BREAKING OVER OLD RuTs.
Two Well Equipped Houses
Doing Good Business and
Room for More.
BREAKING OVER OLD RuTs.

il tl ~
What is Richmond doing? 1t must be
admitted at the outset that In the mat
ter Of wholesale clothing and clothing
manufacturing, Richmond is not now do
Ing what she Is In a position to DO, ana
what she is going to do in the early
future
The Southern people. as general rule,
partakc In a large measure OF the char
acteristics of house cat. They get use
to certain surroundings. certain customs
and get to running in a certain rut and
they are hard TO be changed. In the gem
beyond Richmond acquired the reputation
for manufacturing and wholesaling cloth
ing. They catered TO the Southern trade,
Obtained it ana for all these years and
generations have held it. 1t was just as
natural for the Southern and South
eastern retailers to look to those mar
kets for clothing as 1t Is for q miner
to go to the mountains to hunt for coal
In olden times Richmond Itself. being
a part of the Southern territory, recos-
nized the house cat pecul!arities and
seemed to simply take it FOR granted
that all clothing ought to be distributed
countablo reason Richmond never at
tempted until recently to do wholesale
clothing business. Up to five years ago
1t may be said no clothing was whole
sailed from Richmond.
Richmond Awakes.
However. some OF the live men of
Richmond begun about that time to look
into the matter. and they argued some
,f T.. n
a distributing point for the South for
meats, provisions, groceries. boots and
shocs tobacco and cigars. hardware.
farming implements, dry goods and pret-
ty much everything except clothing. Why
not clothing also? Her meats. groceries,,
dry goods and all these things mentioned
above. find ample railroad facilities both
for receiving and shipping goods. These
lines enjoy freight rates by which Rich
mond Is enabled to compete with any
market on the continent. and the un-
surpassed banking facilities of Richmond
are just as wide open and just as FREQ
to a clothing man as they are TO dealers
In the lines of goods enumerated There
Is no reason except the old fogy reason
hinted at In the opening OF THIS article
why Richmond Should not be great
clothing market as well as great gro
Gerry and boot and shoe market.
Putting Theory Into Practice.
Arguing thus these gentlemen deter
mined to begin an effort to make 1t SO.
The result OF this determination was the
formation OF strong company under
the firm name and style OF the Southern
Clothing Manufacturing Company. They
started out with ample capital and a
magnificcntly equipped store room, CONF
menced at once to push the business and
now their eleven travelling men are sell
ling immense quantities of clothing in
North and South Carolina, Georgia. Ala
bama and Florida, also In West Virginia
and East Tennessee. Their establish
ment is equipped with al the modern
conyeniences necessary to enable them
TO push business and their six floors are
crowded with a stock OF clothing and
mems furnishings that will compare fav-
orably with the stocks carried by any es-
Establishment North or South.
And Yet Another.
Another establishment that OF the Har-
ry Marks Clothing Company. lncorpo-
rated, has also branched out With the
determination of making Richmond n
wholesale clothing center. Both Of these
establishments are Invading the territory
SO long held by other markets and they
are rapidly getting the retail merchants
in Richmonds natural territory out Of
their old ruts. and attention is beins
drawn to Richmond as wholesale cloth
Ing market. II is made manifest to tho
merchants throughout the southeastern
states that the railroad and banking fa-
clltles of Richmond are Just as consld-
crate OF the clothing merchants as lhey
are of the shoe dealer, the grocer or
the dry goods man,
Room for More.
\ A.. -, rnom In this city f0r n
Number of Wholesale clothing and manu-
featuring establishments. y STANDS TO
rea ra son that they can do a better business
IL ,he south and Southeast from this
nolnt than from any point to the North
Of us, AS intimated above the same
that make kcmonu nm ene srsa 1rv
snods boots and shoes causes which
have been pointed out in this column for
| tna nast several Sundays. can make Rich