The Seasonal Slump Hits Seattle’s Commerce

For the past few weeks we have been experiencing quite a lull in that business activity which has all along characterized this as one of the liveliest towns on the Pacific. This is easily accounted for by the simple facts that the months of July and August, on the Sound, are always the dullest ones in the year, and that for some time back the demand for lumber and coal—our great articles of export—has been greatly reduced, in no small degree due to the hard times and the stringency in the money markets which have been for a long time prevailing in the Eastern States, and even in California. While it is very natural to notice and to complain about the scarcity of money, or rather the difficulty of getting it, and of a slightly relaxed trade at this unfavorable season of the year, it may not be inopportune to congratulate ourselves upon the fact that we have had better times here than anywhere else on the coast for two years past. That trade should slacken up is to be expected, and it can be borne with perfect equanimity by our business men who understand how soon this section recovers from any depression.