The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-04-26
ANGLOMANIA.
WHAT A NEW YORKER SAYS OF ITS
INCREASE.
The Way the Craze Has Slipped into
Trade@=PeOpIe Who EndeavOr to
= Look English Absurdities of
Tradesmen's Signs.
New York SUM-

IL
A New Yorker who has Just returned from
a five-years' sojourn at an English university
said recently:
Il doubt very much if people who have
been living here for the last few years real
ize the woderful strides Anglomania has
taken in New York of late. The hansoms
are the latest and the most conspicuous ex-
amples of it, bat they are only one
feature. What strikes me as being the most
curious element Of it is the way the craze
has slipped into trade. Every tailor Of
any consequence in New York seems to
think it necessary to get the word English
on his sign in one way another, and the
shops that succeed in establishing a reputa-
ton for following the English fashions most
carefully have apparently the most trade.
The juxtapositiOI of words il often odd over
the tailors' shops; for instance, 'O'Shaughn-
essy, English Tailor One never sees a sign
which announces that the owner of the shop
is an Irish tailor. Besides this, there are
thousands o. men in New York who boast
that their cl.thes come from England. 1t is
enough to say that they the worst dressed
men in New York. as English tailors do not
compare in fitting with the tailors here"
"That reminds me, by the way, that am
continually startled at the appearance men,
who profess to be professional. present in the
streets of New York. They are apparently,
in fact palpably, endeavoring to look Eng
Gsh, and yet assure you that nowhere In
England will you find men who at all re-
semble the society and club men of New
York in the way of attire. The other day
l was on Fifth avenue and three members
of the Knickerbocker club, confessedly the
most fashionable one in New YORK, swung
out of the club house and started up Fifth
avenue. they were almost precisely similar
in the matter of dress; each wore mixed
trousers with big squares dimly outlined in
texture; their coats were long-tailed and
spade shaped, which was the fashion among
cockneys III England several years ago; they
walked with the curious and affected gait
which is characteristic of a dude, and to the
practiced eye they were very meagre and
unsatisfactory imitation of the genuine ar
ticle.
"Many of the tailors in London have agen-
cies here, and it is a saying among them
across the water that anything will do for
New York That is one reason why men
who pay heavy prices for their clothes are
seldom fashionably dressed according to the
English standard. BY the way, the climax
has been reached in the sign of tailor in
upper Broadway, who announces that he has
the distinguished honor of being patronized
by his royal highness the prince Outside
of the tailoring business find that trades
men are using the royal arms of the ruling
house in England on their bills with quite as
much JUNCTION as their English brethren. The
other day / came across a dancing masters
bill which was headed by the coat of arms of
Queen Victoria. 1t was a note explaining
that the dancing master had once taught
under the patronage of the Princess Louise,
when her husband, the marquis of Lorne
was the governor general of Canada,
and he thus considered himself patrOnized by
the queen-if not personally, at least by
proxy-and held that he was entitled to place
her arms at the head of his circular. l
wonder, by the way, if he succeeded in get
ting any pupils by this little devicel Prob
ably, for Anglomania In New York is very
widespread.
"OnIy a few days ago l amused myself by
reading the signs on the windows of a wine
sellers place in Fifth avenue, near the
Brunswick hotel One of them was emilia
zoned 'Purveyor to her Majesty the Queen
On all the windows were set forth the fact
that the wine-seller's goods were purchased
BIZ Englishmen of title. The names of nearly
all the members of Queen Victoria's
immediate family, and even the remote
branches of her family, appeared in big
gilt letters. This is a nice state OF
affairs for d Democratic city and a Demo
cratic country. isn't it, There is a grocery
shop on the avenue little further up which
has its own crest over the door, under which
hangs a tiny gilt sign bearing the words
'faTOnIZeu Oy my ANY ~ - "Ol VI hOOAhS
that on none of these signs is it stated that
it is the queens OF England or the prince of
Wales: it Is assumed at once that the only
queen and prince that ous knows Of are those
of England.
Il have been living at hotel since my re-
turn. and have had nothing TO do but to
wander around the streets, so am tolerably
familiar with the spread OF Anglomania,
and See it creeping in everywhere, from
the shops which advertise that they are
English Haberdashers to Gentlemen all
the way up or down to Her Majesty's
Opera company"