The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-08-31

little better profit. Some distributing
centers which report big figures on a
years volume of business do that trade
on staple lines almost entirely. Mime
apolis sells good quality merchandise as
well as the quantity. The people in
a her big 5gy tsrrit9Ey buy good goods and
fasteners that there IS something
prompts people to spend money. The
young man who has been raised on a
farm in Posey county, Indiana, may
come west in pair of overalls and a
jacket to match. But If he has deter
mination and ambition he will go back
for, his first visit arrayed in a suit, Of
real cloth with latest cut, and change
llnghng IN his pocket. Likewise the
wife of the man who was a renter in
Pennsylvania, but who has in later
years become the owner Of a farm in
North Dakota, finds that she can afford
better wearing apparel for herself and
children and buys it. The tendency of
trade toward better and higher grades
OF merchandise has been a marked fea-
ture Of Minneapolis jobbing since 1896.
It was very noticeable. before that
time' but the making of thousands of
homeseekers into homeowners in Min
!toooCd, Wis DdAOtdS, W1scOuSlH anu
Montana has emphasized this tendency
in later years. Every line of merchan-
disc has felt this influence, and the bet
ter percentage of profit has been turned
into increased facilities for serving the
trade and reaching out into wider
territory. The merchant who attempts
to measure Minneapolis opportunity
with the measuring stick of eastern
trade is likely to miss this valuable
point in Minneapolis favor.
Better Goods in Demand.
wholesale houses will tell you that the
first year or two after any section of
the northwest has been opened up and
settled by the homeseeker from the
east, the demand is on staple lines, ne
eessities almost. entirely. After, the
settler gets past the uphill pull the
demand rapidly changes to the better
lines. Consequently "volume" is not
the whole story of opportunity in Min
neapolis jobbing.
the average easterner investigating the
possibilities Of this market is the Great
variety of products as well as the i'm
| mense production of EACH If one crop
fails in one section there is plenty of
other territory to turn your attention
to. You may be disappointed one year
in the crop Of that belt of territory
which grows. small grains entirely, but
you can make the difference in trade
| back by redoubling efforts in the tim
Der country, the corn belt, or that splen-
| Wisconsin and Iowa, in which the
creamery is such an important factor.
The northwest always raises a crop.
It may be thin in this small spot or
that, but it more than makes up in
the same or other products in other Sec
tions. Collections may lag in one guar.
ter, but at the same time they will be
| decidedly lively in another. No one
can appreciate this more than the man
| who has been wholesaling merchandise
| in a field less, diversified in it's prod
ucts, where the partial failure Of one
crop greatly reduces operations for that
! year.
A railway manager told an interest
ing truth a few days ago that will fit
right here. He said investigation
proved that central and southern. Min.
| nesota were at the top of the, list Of
sure-crop belts of the globe. No other
parts of the earth 8 surface. and espe-