OCR Text |
Show STORES TO REOPEN SATURDAY NIGHTS. The action of the Salt Lake merchants in nullifying their agreement of a few months ago to close their stores on Saturday evenings and their decision to reopen has placed Ogden merchants in a peculiar position, from which there is only one way to escape and that is to keep open Saturday evenings. The business men who acceded most readily to the demands of the clerks to close at 6 p. m. Saturdays, are now foremost in admitting admit-ting that, with Salt Lake going back to late hours at the end of the week, their only protection is to do likewise. Merchants are complaining that late Saturday shopping at the other end of the electric line will prove a temptation which may rob them of their most profitable trade and they anticipate that Salt Lake business houses will not be slow to grasp the opportunity by offering to pay the round trip fare of Ogdenites who do a certain amount of buying. There are many railroad employes in this city who carry annual passes and others who, on request, can obtain trip passes. They may get into the very bad habit of running down to Salt Lake, even though prices there are higher than in Ogden, and doing their week's buying at the week's end. What the Standard here suggests may prove offensive to some of the union men, particularly those in the clerk's organization, but, looking at the matter from a business standpoint and even from a point of view not other than to the best interests of the clerks themselves, we are forced to state that, in our opinion, Ogden business bus-iness houses are driven, out of self -protection, to reopen their places Saturday nights. There is too much danger involved in inviting our competitors to reach out after the best trade of the entire week, and the business houses cannot afford to take that chance. |