The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-01-28
TIE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.


1919 &4a10 y ~ ElEnuiu NJ SHOIu
point the reputation Of some particular damsel I
whom they inclined. The Chevalier Cushing zoe
further. and enters the list to do battle for oil til
ladies' He declares that they are not at all respon
sole Tor the present financial revulsion that thei
nounces and furbelows are only a bagatelle in tn
question Of exports and imports ; that their crinolin
did not stop the Erie Railway that their silks di
not break the Ohio Life and Trust Company /; tina
then kid gloves and Lilliputian bonnets had nothing
to do with the stoppage Of the great dry goods houses
and, further, that their style Of dress is quite tn
correct thing in every way. And he, the said Che
vaiier, makes public proclamation that he will de
fend this issue after the good old chivalric custom
Hear We, all men /! the Chevalier, armed at all points
his yizor down, his lance in rest, awaits the combat
The Knight Of Salamanca again is in the field.
Now, we do not yield to any man in devotion t.
the fair sex, but We are bound to say that nearly al
our co-untryvomen who have money or credit, oil
could obtain either, have been for several years
shamefully extravagant; that they are almost entirely
responsible for the excessive imports Of articles Of
luxury, which imports have drained our specie re.
serve and losied down our warehouses with articles
which are of no earthly use and that they are even
row spending too much money for articles they do
not need, but which they buy simply on account of a
decline in price. Let us see the figures
The total value of the imports for the fiscal year
ending June 30. 1856, was S314,639 $40. of which
for articles If luxury consumed by women, we have
spent Sf3, 62f ,55S. Forty-three millions of dollars
That Is equal to the whole product of the gold mines
in CALIFORNIA; for one year. and that would have more
than suf1cc1 10 save us from the Crisis. Of this sum
S31 ,2IS, 766 were paid for silks and manufactures of
silks; S6.37G,S53 for laces and embroi1eries; shawls,
S2.529, III gloves, 81, 3H, $50 /; furs, 1854, 731 /;
jewelry, SS44 $50 silk and worsted piece goods,
S1-335,247- We expended two millions more for silk
than for sugar, and so on. We have omitted MANY
items which would tell against the women, as it may
be urged that men consume n portion of the articles
above enumerated The articles omitted-61outerie,
artificial flowers, French shoes and boots, fancy arti-
cles, and a thousand and one fripperies that make
nm that wonderful mvSfprv n fashionable vomap,s
attire-would more than balance the account. There
is a little item of S42, 900 for perfumed soap, which
il quite n good index TO the whole thing. Again, il
must be remembered that these figures are taken
from the treasury reports, and that the articles are
valued Il ct something under the wholesale rate, while
our fair countrywomei, are charged upon all such
matters as laces ut least 100 per cent profit. A see
of laces which cost in Paris $50 could be bought here
in flush times for less than $50. 1t should further
be remembered that 5000 or SO. 700 of our women
either reside abroad or go to Europe nearly every
summer. The amount of rich stuffs-silks, satins,
veivets, shawls, and jeweiry-which they run through
less than 81 100000 a-year ; and all Injuries of not
the slightest use TO anybody on the face of the earth.
We have seen on board one ship q lady enter as her
personal baggage 20 large trunks. No princess in
the world would have so much.
The travelled American cannot fail to have noticed
the marked distinction between the promenade dresses
Of our women and Of those abroad. The French
and English women 90 ont to walk in plain,
neat, serviceable dresses, while ours drag their
heavy silks in the cutters. American women are
gnilty of shameful extravaganza and bad taste in
wearing for walking dresses robes which are made for
the carriage OF the drawing room.
More We might allege, for the subject is Of the
importance /: but, statfstically, ouite enough
has been proved. The worst fact of all remains to be
stated Is far as the question Of "a hion goes-how
. robe shall be cut, or the exact size of n hat, or the
OF circumference to be allowed TO a skirt
that Is no great matter. IF women desire to make
q The rDn - 4c4-1. rAI.. - - -~&
to deny them that luxrry. But we will put to the
Cushing and those who think with him the
plain proposition that, as the women of America are
placed on a pedestal but a little below the angels, as
the women who toll not 1--WE mean the women who
IRE guilty Of extravagances such as we have noted)
neither do they spin, the men have to paw all the
billsLwhether 50 much money can be spent for luxu-
ries and be a mere bagatelle in the question Of ex-
ports and imports We do not know that crinoline
md kid gloves broke the Ohio Life and Trust Com
Dany-probably the president and directors can tell
better. But the majority of our women in good cir
are drags upon their husbands instead
II being h~elpmeets to them. If one does her duty
imply il is ~trumpeted through all the papers as
IN example of Spartan virtue. The inference is plain
hat such examples are almost unprecedented Wo-
men rarely throw away their own money no one is
more prudent and careful than a woman who has a
ortune in her own right but once her taper fingers
on anosher's check-book the grasp of Hercules
sou1d not unloose them
The Chevalier Cushing asks. Did the women
reak the dry goods houses:" Yes. The women. in
he flush times Of '5f-'55. spent twice rs much money
. they ought they were capricious and difficult TO
demanded new stviesAthe ungnsi1s of
'aris and the manufactures OF Lyons and Valencien-
les and Brussels were ransacked for them. The i'm
were double what they should hare been.
here was nothing to pay for them with. The crisis
anne. The houses broke, and their counters groan
With s'ufs for which there is no mlrket. Nowhere
n the world are the women dressed so badly and so
xpensively ~ in America. When we 90 abroad we
re fon..na tv The sirnp AZ
osfumes Of the daughters of the English nobility
men with rent-rolls to which an American for
une is n drop in the sea- A French Countess,
n fixed income % e100, 900 a-year. will not
pend halfso much on her dress as the wife of a New
fork merchant whose business may give him n profit
{ $1,000 a-year, and NAV bring him in debt to
Iouble that amount. Let not the Chevalier Cushing
ook at the vulgar display made at Saratoga, Newport,
r Cape May. and comrare it with the modest attire
{ the aristocracy at Baden, Brighton, or Biarritz.
he fact Is. cur women take French Lorefte fashions
Q second hand, and were they so attired in a Euro
city they would he taken for what they seem to
e rather than what they are.
We trust that both the women Of America and their
hampton will think seriously OF these things, for they
re tn truth, and just now we must drink the cup,
ewever bitter it may be. We do not believe that
is anything radically wrong in our women ; we
re wiling to believe, with the sage of Newburyport,
any one Of them, were she properly instructed,
would be AZ prompt tc please by frugality rs by lux
ny, and proud TO make any sacrifice of fashion at
he voice Of duty and and love" We believe that
many good women in the land will make this sacrifice
for the sex is quick enough in perception
nd prompt enough in action. We Hope they will
emember the lesson they are now learning, but we
onnot sincerely say that we believe in the working
( any such miracle. The eleventh satire of Juvenal
as true now as it was eighteen centuries ago.
-Nezc York Herald.
THE BANK OF ESGLAsD.-To understand the impor-
mt financial news we are now receiving from Eng
nd requires some knowledge of the currency system
Z that country. The Bank of England furnishes
early all the paper money used in the United King
ON; there are a number of local joint stock banxs,
aving a snail aud limited circulation-relics of a