Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-12-07
BUSINESSMEN SENSE
TRADE BOOM HERE
CONTINUED From First Pagel


is lost sight of frequently for no more
logical reason than the towns political
status. Being the State capital it is Il
storm center of political activities and
is rarely associated in the average
mind with anything else.
And yet Harrisburg, with its ada
cent towns, which are merely geogra-
phical combinations separated from
the main division by imaginary lines
is one of the leading cities of its size
In the United States, from purely
commercial viewpoint.
1t is one of the first to feel the
stringency when there is d stringency,
and 1t is one OF the last to deceive it
self with an artificially stimulated
optimism at the first sign of u revival
of trade. The business world of Har-
risburg is essentially a conservative
business world, and the business men
OF Harrisburg insist upon something
more tangible in the way of prosper
ity than mere prophesy of better times
to come.
1T means a great deal, therefore,
when virtually all the men of affairs
in the town agree that the worst is
over that the further point of eau
tion has been reached, and that the
time has come for greater productive
ness in all lines, iron, steel, textile,
cigars, silks and the hundred other
branches of industry upon which the
workpeople of Harrisburg depend,
with no thought of the shifting politi-
cal fortunes of Capitol Hill.
Harrisburg is shaking off the leth-
argy of a year, and every day since
early in November has noted the re-
Vival of some dormant factor in the
community's industrial life.
Gilberts Views
Henderson Gilbert, chairman of the
Chamber of Commerce, who is n MEM
Der of the largest Wholesale and retail
hardware business in this section, is
young and enthusiastic and all that,
but he believes in the steady methods
of the older generation. Mr.. Gilbert
is optimistic, however He voted a
dozen or more proofs that the time
for taking a step forward has arrived.
The Pipe Bending Works, a large
Harrisburg corporation, is putting in
new machinery, and it was learned
that it is about to begin the manufac-
ture of a large order of shrapnel for
the United States government in ad-
dition to it's other activities.
THE Pennsylvania Steel Company,
at Steelton, which is actually a part of
Harrisburg, is engaged in the construc-
ton of betterments to cost $4,000, 600.
In a few Pennsylvania cities the
SILK industry sagged after the war be-
gan for reasons already given in the
public prints, but there was no depres-
sion in Harrisburg. Indeed, the firm
OF Pelgram q Meyer, which also owns
silk mills at Paterson, n. j., have
found their facilities inadequate and
have just completed the installation
of forty new machines.
The Susquehanna Woolen Mills,
across the river in New Cumberland,
are running full time, and the same
is true of the Moorhead Knitting Com
pany in the city proper. The Moor
head Company. which markets its pro-
duct direct to the retailers instead of
through the medium of iobbers, has
much, and it expects to reap some of
the benefit. that are bound to follow
the commercial dislocation in Europe.
As an evidence of this. attention was
called to the fact that the company
had been asked If it could knit n GER
tain type of women's hosiery or half
hosiery" to be more precise, known as
the ladies Chinese stocking Bales
of these goods have been manufactur-
ed heretofore in Germany, but the
works there are no longer running.
The fact that the concern here can do
the work was cited as fair illustra-
ton of the perfect equipment of Amer
lean plants.
lit was also learned that the Har-
risburg Boiler and Manufacturing
Company has taken a large number of
orders recently for fire apparatus and
other products.
Another evidence of prosperity is
the steady increase in the business of
the Light and Power Company. When
trade reviVes businessmen resume the
use of it's power.
MIR. Herman an Optimist
Edward S. Herman, head of John
.C. Herman & Co, cigar manufacturers
and distributors of cigars, tobacco and
cigarets, is one of the active factors in
the business life of Harrisburg. He
is a director in nearly every bank in
town, in the Public Service Company,
in the Moorhead Knitting Company, in
the Pennsylvania Dyeing and Bleach
ing Company and in a few other cor
porations. He is also principal owner
of the New Cumberland National
Bank, where the bleaching plant
stands.
"I do not believe there is a doubt
said Mr.. Herman. that we are on the
eve of a business revival; indeed, l
believe tie revival is already here, al
though the winter may be little
tight. There is some disposition OF
wait until Spring for the greatest acti-
witty. but | find at directors tables and
elsewhere that the tone is almost uni
versally optimistic | have four fac
tories, and they may be cited as exam
pies of what causes a sag in business.
Manufacturers do not buy raw mater
ial on falling market. they wait and
wait for further decline; and mer-
chants do not stock up when there Is
even slight doubt about the future.
Merchants have been going light and
many of them, the vast majority I
should say. are pretty well sold out.
and must replenish. This will create
a demand that will stimulate manufac-
turing at once
lone trouble with our textile trade
is the uncertainty as to cotton. A
manufacturer hesitates to buy cotton
when his rival may be able to get it
little cheaper by waiting, and thus
be able at a later date to undersell him
in the market, but at that | believe the
cotton situation is clearing. Indeed
feel confident of the future. and in
my own varied enterprises 1 am acting
on that principle. l am only one of
thousands.
"'Of course 1t all depends in the
last analysis upon the buying capacity
of the public The merchant is the
reservoir. He orders the goods and
when he sells the reservoir has to be
refilled. If he does not sell he does
not order, and the factory shuts down
or runs on part time
"Other Harrisburg firms that seem
to be on the crest OF an advancing
wave of prosperity, from what your
correspondent could learn, are the