RAPID TRANSIT IN
(Copyright, 1903, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
kOSCUW, July o. special vorre
M
spondence of The lieo.) The hig
hest store In the world under ono
Lv5U roof la In Moscow. It is aituateu
V close to the Kremlin, under the
Shadow of some of the oldest and holiest
churches of this holy city. It Is a great
tone building with roofs of iron and gin Ha,
covering at least twenty acres, and em
bracing 1,000 different business establish
dents. I have called it a store. It Is rather
a. collection of stores, for each establish
ment hus its Individual owner, who rents
Of tho syndicate which constructed tho
building. It is a gigantic department store,
or bazar, under a thousand dlfteicnt heads,
selling all kinds of goods and carrying on
very kind of business.
I have seen the bnzars of Cairo, Calcutta
and Constantinople. Tho most of them are
rude sheds, or caves In the walls of narrow
streets, roofed with matting. This bazar Is
In ono of the finest buildings of the world.
It baa been erected within the last few
years, and with the ground upon which it
Stands has cost the enormous sum of 38,
000,000. This Is one-third more than our
National Library building at Washington,
and many times moro than any business
establishment of the United States.
I have spent daya In wandering through
this mighty bazar. The twenty acres repre
sent only the ground floor. The building is
Of three stories. It Is divided up Into
treeta, crossing one another at right
angles, with mighty arches of glass above
thorn. Along the streets are booths with
plate-glass windows, and over them two
galleries, representing the second and third
stories, each llnod with stores. The base
ment la a vast catacomb of stores, and the
Whole might be compared to a beehive,
each cell filled with the treasures of Europe!
Russia and the Far East. The stores are
not the little cave-like holes In the wall
which form the. Oriental bazars. Many of
them would be respectable In the great
Cities of the United States, and were they
situated on Broadway or Twenty-third
Street, New York, they would catch the at
tention of the passarsby for their costly
foods and fine window dressing.
I wish I could take you inside this bazar
With my Interpreter and show you street
after atreet of the great treasure house.
Tou would lose the Idea that the Russians
re a poor nation and sea something of this
normous market for our American goods.
The merchandise offered Is worth many,
many times the cost of the building. It
amounts to tens of millions of dollars, and
a vast part of It is made up of goods' from
Europe. The Germans, the French and the
English have contributed to fill It, and it la
only now and then that you aee anything
from America. I should like to show you
the prices. They are fur above those of our
country or the other countries of Christen
dom, and the goods are of the ooatllest de
Script Ion.
Indeed, one of the best openings for
American capital la In founding department
stores in Europe. I understand that John
Wanamaker. Slegel, Cooper ft Co., and
others ars thinking of establishing them In
London, but they would pay almost equally
well In all the European capitals. Paris Is
the only one that has any to spenk of. It
baa the Bon Marc he, the Louvre and Au
Prlnlemps. together with some amaller es
tablishments, all of which are making
money. I have written of the two Berlin
department stores, Werthelm'a and Tletz's,
both of which are doing an enormous busi
ness, but there Is room for more.
Russia la peculiarly well fitted for auch
stores. Ita people are rather oriental thsn
occidental. They are used to the great ba
ara, and a department store Is only a
baaar under one head. They are also ao
eustomed to do business by bargaining,
and they would jump at marked goods and
fixed prtoes. As It Is here, you dicker for
everything, from a ault of clothes to a
Ever pill. It Is bow much will you gtrsT
and bow much will you takat not only la
The World's
MOSCXW.
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MOSCOW'S
tho great establishments, but also In tho
petty markets found all over the city.
This bazar was filled with shoppers
when I visited It. Crowds of men In caps,
overcoats and top boots, of poorly dressed
peasant women In gowns and head shawls
and of tho well-clad, substantial merchant
class, moved to and fro. There were many
well-dressed men, women and chil
dren going from store to store, and also
many people resting and chatting on tho
scats which line the streets of the bazar.
This bazar Is only one of a half dozen
or more In Moscow. The others are
Bmaller, but some of them would bo con
sidered large anywhere. Moscow is the
commercial capital of Russia. Its business
Is scattered, and I have walked myself
tired In going from one commercial quar
ter to another. Many new stores are going
up, and In some American elevators and
others of our Inventions are being Intro
duced. There Is one store hero which sells noth
ing but American goods, and, strange to
say. It belongs to an Englishman, who has
made a fortune In dealing in our special-
ties. His name Is Block, and he has been
doing business in Russia for the last twenty
years. He started as an agent of tho Fair
banks scales, and pushed them so that the
government adopted them and made them
tho standard scales of Russia. Block then
took tho agency for other American goods,
and continued Increasing his business until
now ho handles American typewriters,
furniture from Cincinnati and Orand
Rapids, office desks and files, unit book
eases, cameras, bicycles, stoves, and, In
deed, everything American. He has big
establishments In St. Petersburg and In
other of the larger Russian cities. His
sales amount to tens of millions of dollars
a year, and the profits are so great that he
has, I am told, become a millionaire. It U
a pity he Is an Englishman.
Some of the biggest openings hero are In
the electrical field. Bt. Petersburg has
about 1,500,000 people and it Is still run by
horse cars. Moscow has 1,200,000 and has
gained almost 500,000 within the last ten
years. It likewise has horse cars, and poor
ones at that. Warsaw and other cities are
little better off, so that electric railway
concessions would be of enormous value.
There are several American parties who
are trying to get such concessions. Includ
ing 'the Westinghouso company and Mr.
Murray A. Verner of Pittsburg. A story
that Is going the rounds la that the Pitts
burg man has tho Inside track and that
owing to tho influence of an sx-aweetheart
of the czar. This story Is fishy at best and
I do not believe It, but It shows the kind
of gossip ono hoars at these European
courts. According to It the esar had an
actress sweetheart to whom bo was da
Biggest Store
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IN TUB OPEN
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$8,000,000 BAZAR.
voted while ho was crown prince, but whom
ho dismissed when ho ascended the throne.
She then became the sweetheart of one of
the grand dukes, who In time became in
terested In the electrio railway concession
and In connection with her procured the
czar's favor.
I asked Mr. Verner about this matter.
Ho replied:
"There Is nothing in any of the stories
about concessions being granted to myself
or to any other American through such In
fluence. I have been in Russia for several
years devoting my time to this matter and
I do not know the name of the man or
woman alleged to be Interested In this case.
Besides the Russians do not do business
that way. They -know all about street
railways and wl.at they are making in other
parts of tho world. They understand what
it costs to build and operate them and
what the probable profits will be. If they
give a concession It will bo on business
principles and In a business way. My
proposition Is that of a plain, business
Amerloan. It Is lor tho exclusive right to
build and operate electric roads In St.
Petersburg, the concession to run for 100
years. The csar has ordered a commission
of his ministers to pass upon the proposi
tion. I hope that we may get the conces
sion." Americana who are coming to Russia to
engnge In business should look into the
trade laws and taxes. These are peculiar
to the country. Any one can open a store
or factory with the exception of a priest or
Protestant minister who has a charge, or
a foreign Jew. persons employed In trade
or Industry have to pay a special profes
sional tax and all commercial undertak
ings are subject to tsx. The different
branches of trade are divided Into twenty
sections, each of which haa Ita own tax or
llcnnso, ranging from V)0 down. Every
trading establishment of the first section
pays I3C0 and every store about IIS. In
dustrial enterprises pay more.
' There Is a tax on capital amounting to 8
per cent of the profits when the profits ex
ceed 10 per cent of the capital. All persons
who engnge In trade are bound to keep cer
tain kinds of books and that without cor
rections or erasures. If there are any mis
takes tho entry must be bracketed and a
note made of tho corrections. Such books
are private, but they can be called for by
order of the court.
According to law a Russian clerk cannot
carry on any business of his own or that
of any other person except his master's. His
employment Is aftc special contracts,
which must be written, and If be breaks
them ha Is responsible to Ms master for
any loss or Injury through competition
caused by him. Tho clerk can be fined to
the amount of $50 and Imprisoned for three
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AIR MARKET.
months In such an event Every clerk
must within a month after the end of each
year give an account of Ma work to his
employer and he is responsible for all dam
age premeditated or brought about by care
lessness during his service. This includes
bookkeepers, correspondents, salesmen and
workmen.
A vast deal of Russian business Is done
by peddlers, who carry the goods from vil
lage to village In wagons and trade them
for grain, eggs, flax, hemp and wool. Thero
are many peddlers with packs on their
backs both In the cities and In the country
and there are open-air markets In the cities
every Sunday where these peddlers con
gregate, selling all sorts of things. I have
attended some In St. Petersburg and I find
large ones here In Moscow.
The Sunday market in Moscow begins
early and closes about 2 o'clock. It Is held
In a wldo street not far from some of tho
chief churches and extends along this
street for about a mile. Tho street, with
the exception of the car track. Is filled with
tents and sheds and tables, upon which tho
wares are spread. Some merchants lay
their stock on the ground.
I visited this market the other day. Thero
must havo been something like a thousand
merchants, each selling his own kind of
wares. Thero were hundreds of boot and
shoe stores. Tho goods were home-made
and most of them cheap. They were hung
from racks or placed on low tables. Tho
shoe merchants were long-coated, high
booted men with caps. They tried the
shoes on their customers out In the broil
ing sun and then dickered with them as
to the price.
The most of the men's furnishing goods
were sold by women. I saw them selling
men's caps, shirts, coats and even trou
sers. Women walked about with great
loads of trousers on their shoulders and
on their arms begging the peasants to buy.
Tho cap peddlers carried their wares in
four-bushel baskets. They had brushes
and kept brushing the caps to call tho
attention of tho crowd. The purchasers
tried on tho wares without the aid of a
mirror, the only question being that of fit,
for the same kind of cap Is used all over
Russia.
About the only things I did not see in
this market were corsets and underwear.
Only the ladies of Russia wear corsets,
and these markets are patronized chiefly
by the peasants, whose women have waists
of goodly proportions, unaffected by pres
sure. As to underwear, tho poorer Rus
sians do not use It. Many of them sleep
In the same clothes that they wear In the
daytime find some keep a suit on until It
falls to pieces.
One of the queer features of Russian
business Is tho use of pictures for letters
in making signboards. A large percentage
of the people cannot read or write, but all
can understand pictures. Every store has
on Its walls facing the street paintings
representing the goods sold within. If it
Is a shoo store, tho wall will bo covered
with painted boots and shoes; If a bakery,
there will be loaves of bread, and If a
butcher, all sorts of Joints of meats, sau
sages, etc. The usual barber sign has a
man shaving a customer, and a dentist a
representation of one pulling a tooth. Tho
dairy Blgns are cows with milkmaids at
work, and the tea signs are gaudy China
men sipping tea. You can see pictures of
graphophonea and sewing machines on tho
walls of some of the stores, and the Amer
ican bicycle and automobile are shown
forth In the same way.
The windows are filled with samples of
tho merchandise sold within, and some
kinds of goods ale hung outside during tho
daytime. There la little business done after
dark, but tho light lasts so long in tho
summer that It Is full day until long after
p. m.
The Russians aro babies as stock specula
tors. They hare Just begun to monkey with
tho buzz saw and aro afraid of Its teeth,
HCootinood on Pago Sixteen.)