Omaha daily bee., 1883-01-20
RENTED DRESS SUITS.
Something About the Tricks Of a
Novel Trade.

~ =. SeAssl u .
tell you," and the proprietor of a New
Montgomery street store relspsed into
a sort Of oomplacent Communicative
ness, while the reporter bit off the end
of a frenh cigar. "They are rented by
men in all kinds Of poHi;iona.-bank-
ers, Board. of. Trade men, merchants,
book-keepers, lawyers, doctors, clerks
and mechanics. Since I have been In
the suit-renting business l have
let suits to men in nearly every
prominent business. house In the
city, and to men who could buy out
my establishment and never miss the
money. One unscquainted with the
facts could hardly imagine the extent
to which / am %pstronized by society
people. There hasn't been q party on
Mob Hill for q considerable length of
time at which from n 20 twenty of
my suits have not appeared. Men of
wealth often come here and engage
suits for q certain evening. Each one
selects the suit that fits him, and you
will see by that wardrobe behind the
counter that I have about q hundred,
of different sizes and styles. When
the day arrives l send the suit up to
his residence by q messenger, and the
next day I send another messengef tc
bring 1t back. You see, there
are hundreds of men who attend
dress parties only once or twice in the
course of a year. They don't want
the bother of taking care of a full
dress suit and of taking 1t to a tailor
to have the wrinkles pressed ont every
time they wish to put 1t on; 80 they
come to me. My suits, as you will
see, are always pressed out, always
fresh. looking and, l may add, always
in demand. Then there are book
keepers, clerks and the like of them
who have the entree to good society,
but who feels unable to stow away
from $50 to $1o0 in a dress suit. Oc-
cssion lily they are invited to dress
parties, and wishing to keep up their
social standing, they come to me to
rig them out. Everything is done 'on
the quiet you know. Such things
have to be-"
IihlD
Glow do mon generally act when
they come to rent a suit"
swell, sir, you would laugh If you
could see some of them. When they
come for the first time they usually
begin by telling me that they have
Just come on from New York or Phil
adelphia to visit with friends, and
have been invited out to a party; ow.
ing to the nearness of the date they
cannot possibly get Gheir dress suit
through by express, and so they want
to hire mt Another man will say
I'm In a fix, and want you to help me
out. I've got to attend a party to-
morrow night, and my tailor, -
him, isn't going to have mysuit ready.
Have you got anything that will
fit met Another will say: I've
Just como down from Portland, where
I've been visiting, and / find that
there's TO be a party at my uncle's to-
night. l left my dress suit up in
Oregon, and il you a accommodate
me with an outfit for the evening I'll
be much obliged After a nan has
been here two or three times he will
come in with his head up and say: I've
got to go to party on Thursday even
Ing of next week; "a you let me
have the same suit I had at the H
party In December You see a man
gets used to it after a while and talks
business from the word go.
HIRING A WEDDING SUIT.
"Not long since a young lady came
In with her mother. She said she had
three brothers who expected to attend
a dress party a few days later. l told
her something about the kind of COS.
tunes I had, and tho old lady remark.
cd: It's all we'll enough for a young
man to hire a suit for a party; but
when he is going to get married he
ought to own his wedding suit
81 don't know about that, mother,
replied the dau shter. THE $50 OF
800 that a young man would have to
pay for a dress suit would buy many
little comforts that a young couple
would need In starting out In life.
After they are married he hasn't any
particular need for a wedding suit,
and 1t seems to me that he would be
wise in renting a suitf for the occasion.
A week later" continued the tailor
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