The Washington herald., 1921-01-03
RETAIL STORE
MERGER RUMOR
IS UNFOUNDED
EVANS
Sears, Roebuck Not to Be
Affiliated With Mar
shall Field.
DO NOT HARMONIZE
r.
Some Willing, but Whalen, of
United Retail Stores, a
Stumbling Block.
DO NOT HARMONIZE
BY C. b. EVANS.


circulation here recently. that Mont
gomery Ward and Company is to be
taken over by Marshall Field and
Company is probably as true as it
has been when it has been in cir
Culation in the past but not more
so. Such statements in which Sears,
ROebuck and Company was the
party of one part and Fields the
party of the other part, have had
equally little substance in them.
True, oil and water may exist in
the same vessel, but they do not
mix; each keeps severely to itself.
In this case the lines and methods
of business are entirely dissimilar
Il Is likely enough that a good many
people who hold the Ward stock
would be glad to sell, but there
appears to be a clique in New York.
of which Mr.. Whalen and others
Identified with the United Retail
Stores are members; they largely
control the company c. D. Norton,
formerly of this city. but now of
the First National Bank. of New
York, is presumed to be interested.
Much dissatisfaction with Mont
gOmery Ward and Company has
been expressed in this city because
Of the price of $45 per share at
which the stock was placed with
the public whereas the present
quotation is between 16 and II, but
such a change in value is so COM
mon now that an innocent mail
order house ought not to be picked
out as a special object of objurga-
ton.
Chicago a "Rumor" Factory.
We have in Chicago a rumor fac
tory which is almost as big a pro-
ducer as the one they have in Wall
Street and it has turned out reports
rejecting on some of the most sub
stantial houses here, but persons of
good poise have paid little or no
attention to them. The motive of
these stories is a desire to pick up
properties of one kind or another
at low figure. One might sug-
gest to the man who is turning the
crank Of the machine that the time
is not yet ripe for such a perfOr-
nance. A good many things will
reach a much more purChasable con-
dition within a few months. Per
sons who remember 1873 and 1898
will say that not enough time has
elapsed since the top prices were
quoted to justify the policy of buy
ing cripples with a view of making
well-formed men out Of them. Wait,
anyhow, till the first of March.
Situation Is Suggestive.
Nevertheless, the situation is sug-
gestive. Orderliness has gone on
strike, and confusion is running the
works. Citizen is ,butting against
citizen, but more particularly the
citizen is butting against himself
and does not know what hit him.
True those who have laid up a lib
eral surplus have confidence that
they will get into good shape event
ually, but the next few months will,
they know, be a trying time.
There are two classes of interests
that one finds specially in a state
Of destruction. One of them is the
merchants. Recently there were
rather marked signs of more liberal
purchases Of fabrics by the jobbers,
but the reports of their present ac-
tivities still have a drab color. Es-
peCially are producers and met-
chants in this city and in those
Eastern manufacturing districts
that serve the West troubled by the
efforts of small jobbers and retailers
chases at high prices. There are
some buyers that will not cancel,
but most of them squeal. They want
rebates and various considerations
which cannot be granted except
through the good will of the con-
Germ which sold the goods. In many
cases such consideration is shown,
but the position of the applicants
must be extremely humiliating to
them. Under these conditions re-
coYery in business cannot be rapid
to say the least.
Farmers on Selling Side.
The farmers are not of this class
because they are on the selling side,
them is grand in its minor strains.
They are still trying to form com
binations in restraint of trade at
low prices.
The building trades are farther
lost in the forest of doubt and in
decision than any other, perhaps.
Again and again efforts have been
made to restore living conditions
for all, but they have failed. The
framework of one agreement on
which a vast amount Of work has
been expended is now so old as to
be wormy. Also some of the tim
bers have been sawed off at con-
cealed points, and are certain to
break under any strain. No, it is
not the working man altogether that
has perpetrated this deviltry There
are several savings at several
points, by several parties to the in