In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the community of Kraków merchants who were renting stalls at the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) constituted a unique micro-world in which some “built” the top of the social pyramid in the city, while others “formed the base thereof”. Owing to their political, social and economic activism, exceptional individuals linked professionally with the Cloth Hall deservedly found themselves among the people considered the elite of their contemporary Kraków. It goes without saying that the elite status of some of the Cloth Hall merchants derived from their involvement in politics, meaning the actual participation in the ruling circles. They would concentrate on the activity of the local government in the first place. None of them actually had the honour to assume the most prominent positions in the city (i.e. that of Mayor or Deputy Mayor), but they got to decide about the character of Kraków as members of the Municipal Council. Special credit for accomplishments in that field went to Ludwik Halski and Marcin Jarra. Along with other activists, such as Kazimierz Niesiołowski and Walenty Halski, they undertook to establish an institutional base and suitable conditions for the functioning of the merchant circle in Kraków – as well as, or in the first place, in Lwów (Lviv), the capital city of Galicia, as was the case with Halski. Among the wealthiest of merchants there were such ones whose social activism did not gain much publicity, which does not mean that they did not pursue it, as did for instance Rachela Holzer and Maks Glück. It is worth pointing out that the highest-ranking of the well-off were the owners of currency exchange establishments and the traders in commodities considered exclusive at that time (such as linen and fine textiles, underwear, and beauty products). In 1910, included in that group were also the proprietors of the W. Halski ironmonger’s shop. Aside from the select few, representing a scarce minority of some 6 per cent of the whole, most of the merchants at the Cloth Hall neither belonged to the local elite nor aspired for such affinity. The majority of stallholders had a low income, reflected in the continuous amount of the personal tax they had to pay, which oscillated in the region of 8 to 10 Kronen (korona). They usually traded in small household items (known as towary norymberskie, or Nuremberg commodities) and fashion accessories.