Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-02
HoNEYMooNs NOT HUSTLE
Down in Tar Heel Towns Capitals
Jobbers Are Not Known.
WILLING TO TRY Us THOUGH
And Star Special is Disseminating
the News From Point to Point
With Much Publicity.

Special From a STAFF Correspondent.
HENDERSON, N. c.. October 2.-As seen
| through a misty gray curtain of slantlng.
| SCATTERING rain. this town of Henderson ap-
pears to be quite some shucks Of a place.
The local merchants. who, overcoated and
| golloshed. found their way to the Greater
Washington Special this morning, despite
| the cold and the wet. tell me so, and pro-
| pose to take their statements on trust. For
| my faithful raincoat sleeps under the hyp-
motto spell of Greater Washington moth
ball, and all the rubber shoes on the
rainbow are in active service. Nothing
could more eloquently bespeak the interest
| and enthusiasm of the missionaries of the
| Greater Washington Special than their ac-
| tivity on this scandalously o-sagreeable
morning.
1t was no case Of "up with the sum- for
| Solly dear must have turned over for an
| other forty winks. Six o'clock saw every
| body dressing by candle-light, the last
| flicker of gas having vanished under the
| continuous performance show in the ex-
| position cars and at 7:3O the work Of the
| day was begun. By 10 o'clock a good part
| of the business community of Henderson
had slipped its mornings and anchored. tenn
| porarily, inside the exposition cars
| Weather. even of this cherries brand,
| doesn't seem to interfere to any material
| degree with the furtherance of the Greater
| Washington doctrine of commercial expan-
| sion..
| Yesterday, by the way, witnessed new
development in the commercial system Of
the south We now in a field long
| since pre-empted by Richmond and Nor
folk, while in some lines New York makes
a strong bid for business Baltimore sells
| a few things every now and then, but
| Washington is unheard of, except, perhaps,
as a honeymoon objective point or as a
place through which il Is necessary to pass
en- route to cities of more commercial i'm
| portance.
i Question Of Rates.
The merchants of this vicinity declare
that we are mighty fair to look upon, but
that our beauty is only skin deep. OF
course that is just the North Carolina way
of saying that our broad avenues and spa
cious parks should be supplemented by
great wholesale houses and thoroughfares
damned to the cutters with heavy traffic.
All Of which we have heard many, many
we will probably continue to hear until we
return to Washington and after.
But here in Henderson and in oxford
where wespent the biggest part of yesterday,
| We seem to be Up against a pretty stiff
| proposition. The merchants buy goods
| manufactured in the north from Norfolk
| jobbers, and they buy goods manufactured
in the west from Richmond jobbers. The
| rate on heavy stuff is the same from Nor
| folk as it is from Richmond-21 cents a
! hundredweight, to which New York and
| Baltimore add a low water transporta ton
| charge, trans-shipping at Norfolk None of
| the merchants with whom L talked know
the rate from Washington, but that didn't
| prevent them from fully insisting that 1t
| was considerably higher.
Should Be Able to Compete.
| In the opinion of the merchants here
| abouts We should be able to compete with
| Richmond on all western products, and
with Norfolk on all northern products. 1t
was suggested that as Washington was
nearer the north than either of these cities
we would have to pay less freight to Wash
ington warehouses. and that in consequence
we could quote lower price +. O. b. than
either Norfolk Richmond. This would
give us an opportunity to even up on the
rate differential against us after shipping
| from Washington, and ought to enable us
to deliver the goods in this section of North
Carolina at approximately the same figure
as either Richmond or Norfolk.
| The same proposition seems to be logical
| with relation to Richmond competition, In
| 80 far as western products are concerned
If we sell the goods to the retailer we sim
ply have the western product routed
| through Washington, as it were, instead OF
through Richmond, and the merchants tell
me that if we cover the field adequately we
can get their business on proposition of
this sort.
Shoes are purchased from the manufac-
turer and SO is clothing, Lynchburg and
Baltimore holding the bulk Of this trade
A big hardware merchant in Oxford buys
most of his stock from Richmond jobbers
who, in turn, purchase in Pittsburg. He
does this largely because he doesn't re-
member ever having seen a salesman from
Washington house. He could buy Pitts.
burg goods through Washington as we'll as
through Richmond and he acknowledged
that in business he followed no course ex-
cept that of the best goods at the lowest
price.
Rather Come to Washington.
They all agree that they want the best
market In dollars and cents, but that If all
things were equal as between Washington
and Norfolk Richmond, they would
rather come up and leave their cash with
us. Whenever there is a chance to ring
in a sentiment we have every other city
beaten at the post.
| Some of our goods are shipped here by
way of Norfolk. The Southern Printers
Supply Company, the r. p. Andrews
Paper Company, the Semmes T. Kelly
Company and several other houses are able
| to compete In this field and this would
seem to indicate that a whole lot more
can be done.
ii The fault seems to be ours wherever we
go. Over in Oxford wholesale grocer
told me that up to two years ago he-a
notable exception--had been buying in
| Washington. But New York house sent
| q salesman around every two weeks, while
| the Washington salesman got around once
| a month The result was that the New
! York house kept him stocked up. and when
little bright eyes from our town drifted In
there was nothing doing. And then, in.
stead Of the Washington house sending it!
. | man around: every ten days, and thu.
blocking the Manhattan Island game. thei
salesman was withdrawn altogether Mod
| ern- up-to-date, progressive. Oh. chess.
The most encouraging feature OF the trf