USA > Kentucky > Jefferson County > Louisville > The city of Louisville and a glimpse of Kentucky > Part 17
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N. L. Varble was born in Louisville in March, 1855. He was employed variously before forming a partnership with Mr. Stratton. For one year he was with the commission engaged in improving the Mississippi river. He now has ex- clusive charge of the rents looked after by the firm and has the reputation of collecting rather more promptly than any one else in Louisville.
In 1883 these two young gentlemen organized the present firm. When Mr. Stratton first went into the business . Louisville property was low in value and the market was almost nil, but few sales being made. The rise commenced in 18So, since which time prices have increased in some localities 200 per cent.
Mr. Stratton estimates that from 1881 to 1883 his business increased 600 per cent., and that it has increased 100 per cent. every year since that time np to January, 1887. During the first seven months of 1887 his sales amounted to between $600,000 and $700,000, 300 per cent. more than the total of 1886, with the autumn trade still to come and every indication of renewed activity. In the city of Lonisville the real estate sales for July, 1887, always the dullest month in the year, amounted to $500,000. These sales were made to investors and consequently are not speculative. No fancy prices have been paid for desirable locations in any special line of business.
Mr. Stratton assigns as the first thing that caused Louisville property to appreciate in valne, its extraordinary cheap- ness. Another prime cause has been the recognition by so many railroad companies that the South does not afford a better terminal point than is fonnd in Louisville. Since 1879 the number of roads centering here has been more than doubled. While, as a consequence of this, many manufactories and other industries have been located in Louisville, still land here is comparatively much cheaper than it is in many country villages in this and other States.
Besides other important con- siderations heretofore mentioned, Louisville offers the following in- ducements to persons desiring to locate business enterprises : low freight rates to all sections, cheap fuel, cheap iron, abundant supplies of raw materials, and, finally, cheap living, both in food and honse rent. There has been remarkable free- dom from strikes, wages being good and living easy. A nice frame cottage of four rooms with a lot 30x150 feet, on a line of street railroad, within a mile and a quar- ter of the center of the city, can be bought for from $900 to $1,300. There is scarcely any point in the
N. L VARBLE.
city which is not within three blocks of a street railway. There is no city in the United States, and scarcely any village, that can offer snch inducements to work- ingmen to own their own homes, and there are more laborers in Louisville who own the houses they live in than there are in any city of like size in the country. A cottage such as already described brings the investor a rental of from $10.50 to $12.50 per month. The taxes on such property would be about eighteen dollars a year.
Messrs. Stratton & Co. offer the following references: Bank of Kentucky, City National Bank. Bank of Louisville, Masonic Savings Bank, German Bank, Merchants' National Bank, West ern Bank, and others. 91
Bamberger, Bloom & Co.
0 NE can not obtain any where in Lonis- ville a finer idea of commerce than in the great dry goods establish- ment of BAMBERGER, BLOOM & Co., Nos. 644 to 650 West Main street, and 215 and 217 Seventh street. The house is the most important and largest in its line of trade in the South or West. excepting only a few houses in Chicago and one in St. Louis. Other- wise, it can scarcely be said to have a rival west of the Alleghenies. It has a branch house in New York, Nos. 115 and JULIUS BAMBERGER. 117 Worth street, and has LEVI BLOOM. even founded a junior house in Louisville. The business was established in 1852 by the late Messrs. E. Bamberger and Nathan Bloom, and bas ever since occupied a most influential position in the trade of the South. The firm name was E. Bamberger & Co. until 1865, when its present style was adopted. During its entire career the house has been known for high integrity and commercial soundness, having weathered all the storms that in the intervening years have caused so many wrecks. The business was at first limited in character, but its spread was rapid, and under Mr. N. Bloom, for years the head of the house, its prosperity was remarkable. This gentleman was a native of Hesse-Darnstadt. He received a good business training in Germany and came to this country when he was twenty-two years of age, landing in New York in 1848. He came to Kentucky and established a business in Daviess county, where he remained until he came to Louisville in 1852.
It was under the management of this able financier and merchant that the name of the firm became celebrated, and that the business assumed its large proportions. Mr. Bloom was the head of the house for many years. His per- sonal character, his public spirit, generosity and kindness to all with whom he came in contact made him an ideal merchant and contributed to his success quite as much as did his mercantile ability. He died January 14, 1887.
N. Bloom's estate is still interested in the business. The firm is composed as follows: Julius Bamberger and Levi Bloom, general managers of the Louisville house ; Levi and J. F. Bamberger, New York partners. Julius Bamberger has charge of all the office work ; Levi Bloom assumes the remainder of the business, being the Gen- eral Superintendent. Mr. S. C. Lang is cashier and head book-keeper. The business is divided into departments which are organized as if each were a distinct business. Each is presided over by its chief of department, and all these report to the General Superintendent. W. Schwabacher is the head of the furnishing department; Gus Dinkelspiel, of the notion department ; A. Bierman, of the dress and white goods department; Levi Bloom, of the domestic department. In the store there are over one hundred employes. In New York there are two resident buyers who constantly watch the market and buy for cash at any time and in any quantity, when they get an opportunity to buy at prices that they deem a bargain. In this way the firm is able always to meet the lowest prices in the market, as in New York the oppor- tunities to buy cheap for cash are sufficiently numerous.
BAMBERGER, BLOOM & Co. have the largest trade in jeans that is done in the world. They absorb the entire ont- put of several large mills and buy all the goods that the Louisville mills will let them have of their production. This trade is the firm's specialty, their jeans being sold over the length and breadth of the land. In this branch alone the firmi does a business of three-quarters of a million a year.
They keep the fullest line of stock in all other branches of the dry goods business. The trade of the firm was originally limited to Kentucky and Southern Indiana, but the energy with which the business has been pushed has extended it all over the South and South-west. It is largest in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, Alabama, Missis- sippi, Arkansas, Georgia, aud Texas. The firm imports large quantities of linen goods and handles the entire product of several cotton mills, as well as that of the woolen mills, already referred to.
The great growth of the business of this firm rendered its old quarters too small, and in 1872 it moved into the building it now occupies on Main street, the structure having been built by the firm. It was then the handsomest business house in Louisville and is still one of the finest. It has five stories above ground and two below. It has a frontage of seventy-two feet on Main street and runs hack 179 feet. A wing, or L, fronts forty-eight feet on Seventh street and runs back sixty feet. Yet this splendid structure is already too small for the constantly growing business. In addi- tion to the building already mentioned two large warehouses are always kept full of stock. One of these is the old Newcomb-Buchanan warehouse, on Fourth street between Main and the river.
92
Hess, Mayer & Co.
"HE wholesale furnishing goods house of HESS, MAYER & Co., of No. 708 West Main street, does the largest business of its kind in the South, its trade extending throughout all the Southern States, as well as through Kentucky and portions of Indiana aud Illinois. Although the house is yet a young one, the members of the firm have had a wide experience in the trade that enabled them at once to build up a business of the first importance to the commerce of Louisville. The members of the firm are B. Hess, E. Mayer, and E. B. Hess. The senior member, Mr. B. Hess, was for eighteen years a partner in the house of Bamberger, Bloom & Co. ; Mr. Mayer came to Louisville from Chicago, where he was in the wholesale clothing business ; and E. B. Hess was formerly an employe of Bamberger, Bloom & Co. The house was founded in January, IS82, and since then the flying mercury, which is its trade-mark, has carried its name and fame far and wide. He has also filled another of his important ancient offices ; for he has gathered gold together for the lucky merchants who constituted him their patrou di- vinitv.
HESS, MAYER & Co. keep a general line of men's and women's furnishing goods, white goods, etc. They are direct importers of certain of these and they have a resident huyer in New York whose office is at No. 40 Thomas street. Thus they are always abreast of the times, and B. HESS. their stock is always complete and filled with the latest novelties. Their store, which contains five stories, is always packed from cellar to roof and many husy clerks give the place that attractive air of activity that makes a mercantile house seem something more than a mere machine for the acquisition of wealth. Here are piles of cloaks, great stacks of them that might keep a whole town warm. Here are tiers of boxes containing handkerchiefs enough to equip all the hay-fever sufferers in the world. On another floor are piled up no end of muidershirts, drawers, hosiery, etc., and on the last floor are suits of clothes, house furnishing goods, flannels, etc.
One of the specialties of this firm is the Atkinson lanndried shirt, for which they have the sole agency for the South. These well-known shirts are carried by representative city retail houses, as well as by country merchants. The make has been on the market longer than any other, having stood the test of thirty-four years, during which none better has been found. The firm's stock of these shirts is proportionately the largest stock in the house, as they are in very great demand.
Another specialty is men's and women's underwear, which consists of plain white goods, stripes, scarlets, mixtures, and, in fact, all novelties and staple goods, both of foreign and domestic manufacture, and of all grades from the coars- est to the highest priced. The line of hosiery is equally complete, consisting of domestic and foreign makes and going from a cotton sock to a fancy silk hose. The firm supplies many city houses with the finer grades of men's and women's underwear. The fact that the house does not carry staple dry goods, or the " domestics " sold hy the large dry goods houses, enables HESS, MAYER & Co. to keep a fuller line of these furnishing goods than is kept in any of the large dry goods establishments, and to run their grades over a broader range of prices, from the cheap articles to the expensive. They are large importers of gloves, hosiery, laces, etc.
In the department of house furnishing goods the stock embraces damasks-fancy, bleached, unbleached, and red- napkins, towels, curtains, comforts, blankets, and all other articles generally included in this department.
The cloak department is one of the largest in the concern, which is always up with the latest of the ever-changing styles in ladies' wraps. This season the loug Newmarket is still to be much in vogne, while tight-fitting jackets and short wraps will also be generally worn. The stuffs used are plushes, plaids, diagonals, stripes, checks, and kerseys, in the lighter colors, while astrakhans, brocaded and plush goods will be in good demand. The leading styles will be jackets, Newmarkets, raglans, wraps, and plush sacques. There will be a great deal of trimming on the various garments, especially the wraps and sacques, jet and passementerie being most fashionahle, though fur will hold its own. The wraps are generally longer in front than behind. Jackets of beaver cloth, braided, and raglans are supplanting the Newmarket in the larger and more fashionable cities. Richly-adorned wraps will also he very stylish, the trimming being especially heavy about the shoulders. A seal-plush jacket is expected to produce a happy effect, and jersey jackets with tinsel trimmings will become a good figure. Checks, plaid goods, and light shades generally will be pop- ular. Girdles and belts will he almost universally worn.
All this, and a great deal more, one may learn of that mystery called fashion by spending half an hour in the cloak room of HESS, MAYER & Co., where the feminine freaks of a season are anticipated, just as the clerk of the weather declares for rain or shine; except that the clerk of the cloaks is rather more to be trusted than the other.
Of men's goods the firm carries a full and complete line including gloves of all varieties, suspenders, neckwear. hosiery, rubber coats, gossamers, jeans trousers, and clothing. Of women's goods there is as full an assortment, the leading articles being corsets, laces, rihbons, embroideries, shawls, underwear, woolen and knit goods.
HESS, MAYER & Co. offer the lowest prices to the trade, as they are large buyers and have the advantage of obtain- ing the hest cash rates. They are courteous to customers, fill orders promptly, being always able to fill any order in their line of business, and are merchants of the highest commercial standing.
93
The national Collecting Company.
7 THE NATIONAL COLLECTING COMPANY is an institution not yet two years old, hut it has already demonstrated its utility and its popu- larity. It was iucorporated under the laws of Kentucky in ISS5, its capital being $100,000, and the business at ouce undertaken. . Its object is the collection of claims against debtors, no matter where located. In order to accomplish this a very perfect system has heen devised, wbile the company has extended its usefulness beyond the mere collection of debts, giving its subscribers a list of delinqueut debtors against whom claims have been received iu auy of the company's offices. At present there are offices iu active operation in Louisville, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Chicago, aud as fast as possible other offices will be organized. Iu addition to the above-named places, the company is now represented in New York, Bostou, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleaus, aud St. Louis, which will be headquarters of the chief departments, the country being districted. The plan is to operate in the United States and Canada about twenty-six offices in the largest cities. At all of these points attorneys will be retained, managers appointed, and a competent subordinate force employed. It was originally intended to make this, as a collecting con- pany, what R. G. Dun & Co. and Bradstreet's are as reporting agencies, and this intention is being carried out. The position of Louisville being central in relation to population, that city was selected as the most con- GUY C. SIBLEY. venient point in the United States from which to develop the business and to obtain the easiest co-operation on the part of the several offices. It is the purpose of the company to have its regular attorney at every county seat and important town throughout the United States and Canada. Thus a very perfect and comprehensive system will be secured. Subscribers to the company are guaranteed against any loss from the mis- appropriation of moneys collected by the company's agents. They are also furuisbed a delinquent list which will show where credits have been strained or where debtors are behind hand in their payments. In this feature, however, the only reports made are as to parties against whom the company holds claims.
The gross earuings for the year ending January 1, 1887, the first year of the company's existence, were about $12,000 and on that date a dividend of five per cent. was declared. The revenues are derived from three distinct sources, the first of which is a regular subscription fee of $25 charged merchants aud manufacturers for the use of all the facilities of the company. The second is the annual fee which is paid by the company's attorneys in the smaller towns throughout the United States and Canada. This fee is paid in consideration of the large amount of law and collection business which is concentrated through the uumerous offices of the company. The third source of revenue, and much the largest, con- sists of fees and commissions from collections. The office making the collection gets two-thirds of the commission, while the office sending the claim receives one-third, in cases where the collection is made through two offices. Claims are classified and uniform rates of commission are charged for collecting the various classes of debts. These rates range from one to ten per cent. The banks consider the company a very important adjunct to their business, inasmuch as it takes out of their hands a great many claims that are not strictly first-class aud many that are collected by the com- pany at a percentage much less than an attorney would charge, and a little greater than the bauks themselves would charge. These are claims that a bank would find difficulty in collecting without the employment of a lawyer. A large part of the revenue is derived from the handliug of local claims that are strictly first-class, the company and its employes taking the place of the regular collector for business and professional houses. The fact that a claim is in the hands of this company raises uo presumption that there will be difficulty in its collection, as many claims are placed in the hands of the company before they become due.
The organization is also of great assistance to the lawyers, since it takes out of their hauds hundreds of small claims which can be manipulated by the employes of a corporation like this at a much cheaper rate to patrons than that at which reputable lawyers could afford to haudle them. While the company protects its patrons by being respon- sible for the work of its agents, it is itself protected by requiring its local mauagers to execute bouds of from $5,000 to $15,000, according to the amount of business done by the branch office.
The general officers of the company are Guy C. Sibley, President ; C. C. Taylor, Secretary aud Local Mauager ; David J. Davis, General Manager. The directors are Clinton McClarty, Samuel Russell, I. L. Schwabacher, Harry Stucky, and Guy C. Sibley. Among the principal stockholders are the foregoing and George Davis, President Fourth National Bank, Louisville ; Jas. A. Leech, Cashier City National Bank, Louisville ; Jacob Kreiger, Sr., Presideut Masouic Savings Bank, Louisville ; Louisville Banking Company, Louisville ; Louisville Safety Vault and Trust Company ; J. T. Gath- right, Surveyor of the Port of Louisville ; Charles S. Sibley, Wholesale Lumber Dealer, Mobile, Alabama ; Eugene Sibley, Brownson & Sibley, Bankers, Victoria, Texas ; Robert Clarke & Co., Publishers, etc., Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mr. Sibley, the President, is an attorney of ten years' practice at the Louisville bar. The formation of the company was partly the outgrowth of a collection business formerly done by Duke & Richards, attorneys, who, when their firm dissolved, left a large collection business to Mr. Sibley. He employed clerks to attend to this, but his legal practice was so much interfered with that he conceived the idea of forming the company, and as a corporation the business has been thoroughly reorganized, systematized, aud enlarged. This was done, the incorporators iusisting on his becoming President.
94
Western Cement Association.
R. A ROBINSON.
6 THE WESTERN CEMENT ASSOCIATION is the selling agent of all the celebrated brands of Louisville hydraulic cement. The officers of the Association are : R. A. Robinson, President ; J. B. Speed, Vice- President ; Charles W. Gheens, Secretary and Treasurer.
The manufacture of Louisville Cement was begun in 1829 by John Hulme & Co., at Shippingport, a small suburb of Louisville, located near the foot of the Louisville and Portland canal. The greater part of the product of this small mill was used in the construction of the canal and in the improvement of Green and Kentucky rivers. From its first introduc- tion as above, Louisville cement has been recognized as the best natural article manufactured in this country. Notwithstanding the rude process of manufacture used by John Hulme, the work on the Louisville aud Portland canal, after a period of over fifty years, exposed to a variation of temperature of fully one hundred degrees, is in a perfect state of preservation, while much of the stone used in the masonry plainly shows the effect of age and exposure. The process of manufacture has been greatly improved and the capacity of the mills has been largely increased to supply the great demand for Louisville cement. In ISto, the product of the mills was 320, 150 barrels, while in 1886 the sales amounted to 925,210 barrels. The Louisville brands comprise the Star, Diamond, Anchor, Acoru, and Fern Leaf cements, two of the mills being in Ken- tucky and six in Indiana.
The uses to which good hydraulic cement may he put are numerous, including the construction of masonry of all classes, foundations, brick walls, subterraneons structures, concrete street foundations, floors, the walls of cisterns and wells, the interiors of fire-proof safes and bank vaults, in fact in every work or structure where a constantly hardening mastic is required, which is impervious to water and fire. The Louisville brands have received the highest testimonials from engineers and architects in all parts of the United States, and in every instance where tests have been made to show the relative valne of Louisville and other cements, the former has been awarded the preference for intrinsic merit. There is hardly a State or Territory west of the Alleghany mountains, where large works of a public character have been constructed, in which Louisville cement has not been largely, and in many cases exclusively, used. This includes bridges, water-works, railroad buildings, government improvements on rivers and harbors, custom houses, and large buildings of every description. One of its principal features is its economy (as compared with other brands) in the proportion of sand it will carry in the preparation of mortar. This feature, together with the fact that Louisville cement sets promptly and hardens regularly and persistently, has given it such an excellent reputation that the consumption of the Louisville article west of the Alleghany mountains is larger than the aggregate sales of all other cements.
In setting, Louisville cement is prompt and energetic, which renders it valuable for work which must be carried on in running water, or in positions where new foundations must carry heavy superstructure as soon as they are finished. Tests of Louisville cement show that this induration begins as soon as the mastic is deposited in place, and that it will resist a tensile strain of from seventy to one hundred pounds per square inch of section in twenty-four hours. In the preparation of concrete for street foundations, where large areas are covered by one mass, and where traffic is to be re- sumed as soon as the paving material is set, the rapid induration of Louisville cement has given it the preference over all competitors. For special purposes, the manufacturers make a slow-setting cement, which can he furnisbed at any time and in any quantity. The latter is generally used in works where large quantities of mortar are required to be transported some distance to the site of the work, and where very high temperatures prevail. In extremely hot weather the tendency of all cemeuts is to "set " rapidly, so that a slow setting article, which may be mixed in large quantities without fear of crystallization commencing before the same is deposited in the work, is very desirable. By specifying "slow setting cement " in ordering, this class of cement will be delivered.
The grinding of Louisville cement is carefully and evenly done. This is a point too frequently neglected hy cement manufacturers, and one which seriously affects the utility of the article, when mixed with sand. Coarse particles of cement are, to some extent, inert and when mixed with sand have no contact. The Louisville manufacturers require their cement ground so that at least eighty-five per cent. shall pass through a screen of twenty-five hundred meshes to the square inch.
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