River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1919-07-17
Wholesale Buying
In New York Is
Some Job
G. NJ. Setwart Says Late Buyers
Are Out of Luck Worse
Now Than During
War Time

George NJ. Stewart returned home
Tuesday from New York where he
had been for the past five weeks
buying ready-to-wear and dry goods
for the $50 R. C. u. stores and ar
ranging for manufacturing lines to
be shown at the r. c.. u. buying
convention to be held in Chicago
next week.
Representative from each Of
these $50 stores will be present to
supply their needs from his dis
play for Fall, and it was up to Mr..
Stewart to have this immense
amount of merchandise secured and
ready for them.
Mr.. Stewart says cit was SOME
JOB" and that in his twenty-five
years experience he has never seen
the market in such a condition.
"War time was nothing compared
with present conditions. Many
manufacturers have already closed
their show rooms and selling rooms
as they have taken orders enough
now to keep their factories busy for
months to come, and when their
present supply of materials are ex-
hausted they do not know where to
turn for more.
ut was almost impossible to
secure such goods as shirt waists
and thin summer dresses, ETC.. for
immediate delivery, and whenever
there appeared quantity of these
on the market the buyers from all
over the country focked there like
bees.
For instance; one manufactures
brought in about 1000 wash dresses
from his factories to his stock room
one day, and there were ten buyers
waiting for them" (Among these
ten were Mr.. Stewart and Miss
Anderson, and also buyers from the
largest Chicago stores.)
1.-THE dresses were wheeled in on
racks. and there was regular
scramble for them-sort of a catch
as-catch-can-and every buyer
nabbed what he could get. In
thirty-minutes every dress was gone,
and the buyers got only small
portion of what they wanted"
Roady-to-wear garments for Fall,
such as coats and suits, are usually
purchased by the big stores in July
and August, after the styles are
settled on. Mr.. Stewart got into
the market early in June, before
the big rush of buyers came, and
was fortunate enough to cover the
needs of the Syndicate in good shape,
but if he had waited until now it
would have been impossible to hold
a buying convention for the r. c.. u.
this Fall. The merchant who
hasn't covered his needs by now is
out of luck says Mr.. Stewart.
1.-The first thing the consumer asks
is, why those conditions?" OF
course there are many reasons, but
chief among them is Labor and the
export business. The outside world
needs our goods and is getting them
1--WE met many buyers from South
America, who had to have inter.
prefers to make known their wants
Europe is taking quantities of our
goods. Labor is getting the highest
wages we have ever seen.
An illiterate Russian, who can.
not speak English, is getting S44 tc
$85 for 44-hour week, operating 3
sewing machine making garments
and $44 is the minimum wage fo1
the poorest operator-the more
efficient ones receive lots more: the
average wage is probably $50 to SIC
per week.
This is more or less true in al
manufacturing lines. 1t seems te
be the general belief that these
high prices will continue for from
three to five years at least.
Another big factor in causing
this scarcity is the unprecedente q
demand from the consumer this
Spring. 1t seems everyone had beer
'Hooverizing' for two or three
years, and after the war was over
everyone wanted goods at once
Buyers from all over the country
say that they have had the biggest
business in their history this Spring. =
Among other things, Mr.. Stewart