Page 75 - Industries_of_San_Antonio

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COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES.

is admirably lighted for the purpose, having large windows on the north
and east; here they have on exhibition exquisite patterns in the most
famous foreign and domestic goods—English, Swiss, Saxony, Belgium
French, etc.—in all the popular colors and shades, in elegant and recherch
styles, of curtains and lambrequins, to the more modest and less costly
fabrics. This department is well worthy a visit. Another department of
interest, is their pattern department; Messrs. Blum & Koenigsberger are
agents for Butterick's Paper Patterns, which are true to measure. They
have these in all sizes, for all ordinary garments. The notion and hosiery
department is also a leading feature. The premises occupied cover an
area of 100 feet by 30 feet, two stories high. Four male and two lady
attaches are employed, who are always affable and polite, ready at all
times to wait upon the throng of customers, who patronize this popular
firm. The trade of this house extends throughout this state. The annual
business transacted will amount to $120,000. Messrs. A. Koenigsberger
and Albert Raas, general partners, and Leon Blum, special partner, com-
pose the firm. They have made their house a pleasant one with which to
establish relations, and profitable, for no parties understand better how to
secure for buyers lower prices or better terms. Cordially commending
them to the trade and to the public, and calling attention to their liberal
manner of doing business and their resources, it may justly be added that,
ranking as it does, among the first in the line of its cotemporaries, the
establishment of Messrs. Blum & Koenigsberger, commands the respect of
the trade, and the highest consideration of the community at large.

SAN ANTONIO ICE FACTORY-211 Losoya Street.
From the earliest times, ice and snow have been esteemed as luxuries
for cooling water, liquors and receptacles for preserving meats and other
viands for future use, in the warm climates of oriental countries. "As
the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them
that send him," Proverbs, xxv, 13. Its production in regions, distant
from those which must require it, has been, until the invention of ice
manufacturing machinery, a lucrative provision for the commerce of sec-
tions, far separated from each other. In modern times, from having been
regarded only as a luxury, the use of ice has extended, till it has become
almost one of the necessaries of civilized people. Its chief value perhaps
consists in its antiseptic or preserving properties. In the fevers of hot
climates, ice is frequently the only means of saving life, hence, modes for
producing it artificially, have been practiced in India for years. Radia-
tion from the earth under a clear sky, is a very active cause of cold, and
the Hindoos, near Calcutta, by a skillful combination of evaporation and
radiation, have produced ice artificially for ages. On an elevated plain
they make slight excavations in the ground and fill then with dry cane
stalks, which are non-conductors of heat. Over these they place shallow
unalared pans, which they fill at sunset with cool, boiled water. If the