The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-03-29
LOCAL DEALERS
WILL MEET TODAY
Definite Action to be Taken Concern
ing Trade With Goldfield.
A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
SALT LAKE MERCHANT DEGREES
TiMIDiTY AMONG FELLOWS.

At noon today there will be a meet
| ing of the representatives of the lead
/ ing business houses of Salt Lake at the
/ Commercial club for the purpose Of
( considering G. l. Marshs proposition
relative TO the sending in of merchan-
/ disc to the GOldheld district from Utah
points over the San Pedro route as far
as Caliente. and thence by team over
] the new wagon road to the leading
! towns Of the district.
This subject was taken up some time
ago by the Commercial club and Mr.
Marsh was requested TO make a de
tailed report TO the club as to the OPP
portunitieS presented for the upbuild-
ing of trade i'm the district, but more
particularly to submit to the club the
minimum rate at which goods could be
/ laid down at each of the interior towns.
Mr.. Marsh arrived i'm town Sunday
and. after interviewing several of the
/ leading business men Monday. went to
/ ogden yesterday to submit his views
! TO merchants in that city
To what degree Of favor the mer-
chants Of Salt Lake may look upon Mr..
MarShS plans at tOddy'S meeting Is
! something that can be determined only
after the persons attending the meet
ing have made a thorough canvas of
( the situation That there Is u lack of
enthusiasm among Salt Lake business
Z men i'm connection with the future mer-
camille development of the CIOldfield
! district is evident from the fact that
few houses have thus far sent repre-
SentatiVeS into that country to job for
( trade. other firms, while admitting the
possibilities to be afforded as soon as
the San Pedro line is in full operation,
are chary of sending men in at this
time. because they do not believe the
trade down there viii warrant the eN-
peuse. Meanwhile Los Angeles. San
Francisco and Reno merchants are get
ting the cream of the business.
Says Merchants Are Timid.
Referring to this matter yesterday.
| the head of one firm which has a rep
rtSentatiVc in the district said:
The whole trouble with Salt Lake
merchants is that they are timid. I'll
admit that there is such a necessity
as conservatism in business. but do
not believe that q business house
should always be conservative. There
IL such "a thing as OVERRIDING 1T, and
that is the trouble in this city. Now, I
am as conservative as most business
men, but / think 1 know good thing
when / see it, and 1 think this Gold
field project is a good one. GOIdheld,
to my mind, is going to have a great
future, not today or tomorrow, but by
degrees | always look aSkance at sud
den bOOms and am wary of them, but
Gold6eld appears to maintain the sound
predictions made concerning it when
it was first discovered. and for that
reason I believe it viii have a firm,
steady growth. and the towns out
there viii continue TO flourish long
after 1 have passed away. For that
reason | believe. much as do many
eastern merchants. that if you want
business you must go after il. You
wont always find people coming into
your store 10 trade OF their OWH Volt
ton. You must go out and show them
the goods and convince them that you
have the real thing and that you can
uudersell any of your competitors. That
Is why ] sent one OF our best men down
there three weeks ago. The initial ex-
peuse amounted to $780, and, of course,
! ran a chance that the business would
not warrant that expenditure, but I
am glad to say that from the day my
representative got down to work he
has picked ND many good sized orders.
and / haven't the slightest doubt that
during the next month he Will build up
an extensive trade which ] think we
viii be able to hold against competition
from the coast.
Low Freight Rate Obtainable.
There is 10 use for Salt Lake mer-
chants being slow about this matter
for If they DO they VIII find the ground
cut from under them by foreign mer-
chants. we have the goods here and
we can lay them down at Calientc over
the San Pedro road at a low freight
rate, and from there to the end Of the
wagon road Mr.. MarSh's teams will
carry them at a nominal cost, SO that
they can be laid down at any point
from Caliente to the terminal at a price
far below that which now obtains by
way of Reno. Seven local merchants
have already contracted with MI
Marsh 10 haul their goods over his
wagon road. but none of them has
made any effort thus far TO get the
business in the district so as TO as
sure him Of success i'm his enterprise.
He is a first class business man and 1
de- not blame him for not expanding
$4,000 or $4,000 i'm the purchase of
teams and horses and the hire of men
until ne sees that Utah business men
are willing 10 meet him at least half
way. I think. however. that when
all hands get together today the sub
jet viii he fully discussed and the
more conservative merchants viii see
l,,-