THE CONDITION OF THE GUN TRADE. 



BY OUR STAFF CORRESPONDENT. 



The present bic}'cle craze has com- 

 pletely demoralized the trade in low 

 priced guns. Manufacturers are all 

 agreed upon the one point, that thou- 

 sands of young men fond of shooting, 

 but carried away with the pleasure of 

 wheeling, have given up the first for 

 the sake of the last. Guns have to be 

 paid for outright, no matter how small 

 the cost. Wheels, on the contrary, can 

 be purchased on the smallest monthly 

 payments. Thus, while one trade suf- 

 fers, the other benefits. And right here 

 comes a hint that should be profitable 

 to those who have delayed their pur- 

 chase of guns. Never in the history of 

 the gun trade in this country has so 

 much been given for so little money. 

 The opportunity, then, to obtain a good 

 as well as handsome weapon for a few 

 dollars was never so great as it is at 

 present. The great manufacturing 

 houses, such as the Parker Brothers, of 

 Meriden, Conn., the Hunter Arms Com- 

 pany, of Fulton, N. Y., the Baker Gun 

 and Forging Company, of Batavia, the 

 Syracuse Arms Company, of Syracuse, 

 and others, have made for many years 

 guns which have commanded both com- 

 mendation and astonishment. Abso- 

 lutely perfect in their shooting quality, 

 handling delightfully when used, and 

 at so low cost to the sportsman as to be 

 a matter of wonder. Talking with one 

 of the best of the traveling representa- 

 tives of one of these firms, he said to 

 the writer in response to an inquiry : 



" Trade, there is no trade in anything 

 but wheels, and that is a-humming. I 

 haven't sold this season a thousand 

 guns, where I should have sold five, 

 and it was harder work to sell that one 

 thousand than it is ordinarily for me to 

 sell the greater number. How long 



will it last ? Until every man, woman 

 and child in the United States is pro- 

 vided with a bicycle ! When that is the 

 case, then trade in guns will revive, and 

 not before !" 



The writer disagrees with these views. 

 He does not think that because there 

 has been depression in the gun trade 

 for a couple of years, that everything 

 is going to the "demnition bow-wows." 

 Far from it. These periods of stagna- 

 tion come at times to every manufac- 

 turing trade, no matter where located. 

 What causes them ? No man can say 

 truthfully what or why. One will tell 

 you, the silver question ; another, over- 

 stocked trade ; another still will swear 

 that it is looked for changes in tariff 

 matters ; and still another that the 

 question hinges upon the results of the 

 coming presidential election. 



Who can decide when doctors dis- 

 agree ? is an adage as true as it is trite 

 We know that stagnation exists and not 

 one gun, whether low or high in price, 

 is sold now, where two years ago a hun- 

 dred times that number was disposed of. 



This state of affairs is an anomaly, 

 for more shooting is being done and 

 more has been done during the past 

 year than was ever the case before. 

 And that shooting has been done where 

 the greatest strain has been made upon 

 the purses of those taking part in it, 

 and the greatest tax on the wearing of 

 shot guns, i. e., the continuous work de- 

 manded by the big tournaments which 

 have been held throughout the country. 

 Let one go into a little detail regarding 

 these affairs. The great meeting held 

 at Guttenberg Park in early ^lay, under 

 the auspices and management of the 

 American E. C. Powder Company, 

 proved to be one of the successes of the 



