HOW CARRIAGES ARE SOLD OUT WEST
The following article was transcribed and donated
by Fran Warren
Van Buren Press
August 9, 1879
HOW CARRIAGES ARE SOLD OUT WEST
New Haven Journal: A New Haven commercial traveler reports one
way the
western men sell carriages. He says a man will start out from
some large
carriage manufactory with one or more freight cars loaded with
buggies. He
will stop at the country towns along the route, and hold an auction
sale-
the town having been previously billed and the auction advertised.
The
bidding is spirited, and the carriages will be knocked down at
first as high
as $60 or $65. After these large bids are harvested, he will take
lower
ones, until the bids drop as low as $33, when he retires from
the field and
goes to the next town. The buggies cost the manufacturer just
$24 apiece,
and at the selling price three can be bought for $100.