The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-17
STRAINS IN
 TIE TRADE WINDS
Chicago Business Men lnau-
 gurated Trade Excursions
DEMAND FOR DRAFT I HORSES
Craze for Antique Furniture Brings Forward the Fakes-Abyssinia Good Field for Silk
 Hat Makers.
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

BY FREDERIC J. HASkIN.
 The business mems excursion is a popular institution nowadays, and it | Is an interesting fact that Chicago was | the first city to conduct a junket of this kind The merchants and manu- | lecturers of the Windy City planned | a trip in 1869 to celebrate the com pletion of railroad connection with San Francisco. The first stopping place was Salt Lake and the tourists went
 to the Mormon Temple to hear Brig ham Young preach. After the sermon Mir. Young entertained the party at a hotel As the proprietor had just mar | ried a second wife and the first
 helpmate refused to cook dinner until
 urged to do so by MT. Young, the en- tertainment was somewhat delayed. When San Francisco was reach ed fea- | ture of the programme arranged for the entertainment of the guests was a speech by a Chinaman who was chief clerk fin a large hotel. The tour in- cluded the Yosemite valley which was new to most of the Chcagoans be- cause until then the only means of going west was by stage.
 Prosperity in the north west has caused famine in draft horses. Ore gon, Washington and Idaho are almost
 unable to get draft animals even at the prevailing prices which are 30 per cent in advance of those of last year. New settlements in the north west, and San Francisco building operations, are cai to ha ba ated a drain upon the supply. No less than fifteen horses have been killed or injured daily since the earthquake and fire. The ruins are full of nails glass. sharp pieces of steel, iron and other things dangerous to horses and as the work must progress the lives of many horses are forfeited. Alaska Is also using a great number of draft animals. In Portland many livery sta bles are unable to keep enough teams on hand to run tn cir business and many sprinkling carts are unused for want of horses.
 1t is indeed an i'll wind that blows nobody good. The effect of the earth quake and recent strikes in San Fran cisco has been to stimulate the vehicle trade to marked degree. Boycotted street car lines create a need for more wheeled conveyancs for passengers and everything from buckb cards to victorias is in lively demand. The great disater at the Golden Gate has created de- mand for vehicles unknown before. The work of rebuilding the city has caused every available vehicle to be put to use and shortage has resulted. Be- cause of lack of cars railroads have been slow in delivering freight to the Pacific coast, and some firms have lSqd their stocks of vehicles sent by ex- press. The Panama route and the line across the lsthmus of Tehauntepec have also been used.
 Not long ago an American firm de- cided to introduce It's line of talking machines into China. shrewd trav- cling representative shipped for the Flowery Kingdom with number of samples and a lot of advertising mat ter. One of his sings pictured a little dog looking into the horn of a ph ono- graph with a quizzical expression upon his face. The legend below was His Masters Voice." But all attempts to sell the phonographs to Chinese mer- chants failed. One wealthy old China man who refused to handle the ma ch ines finally told the salesman that the Chinese were not animals and would not listen to noises made by machines evidently designed to amuse dogs in America. The agent went back to his office to think 1t over. As a result of his thinking he wrote his firm to send forward immediately an advertising card representing very wise looking old gentleman listening at the horn of talking machine, the inscription to be Gaining Wisdom from the Living and the Dead" He then sat down to wait. In due time he received the new advertisements, and upon the next tour of the shops he laid the foundation for a good business in photographs.
 The modern craze for antique furni- ture has long since made a good busi- ness for manufacturers who initiate old styles and candidly acknowledge them al limitations. Since the collector of antiques has offered good prices for mahogany dating back to the time of Louis XIV a thriving trade of another kind has sprung up. A bright Ameri- can woman has gone regularly into the business of "ransacking the con tinent" for old fashioned furniture that will attract persons who decline to buy limitations. Her method is to go to Paris where she has a regular ar
 rangement with manufacturer to make all sorts of exquisite pieces of furniture. She puts these out in an open court where the rain and snow fall upon them, and when the weath CT has made the finish sufficiently "an- tique" they are shipped to America. The Vender then goes to fashionable sea side resorts where she meets persons to whom money is no object. and quiet ly disposes of her made to order curios at enormous prices. The swinde is made more complete by furnishing bogus data with each bed or table.
 The business of selling insurance in this country is one of the most highly de- Veloped industries. New features are constantly being added. and there Is all ways a novelty to offer the purchaser. insurance against loss of property and personal injuries from the explosion of fly wheels has been in existence for sometime, but recently a company has lr,Aa flaa rnf mill,