Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-07-12
CLOTHES FOR SOLDIERS.
How Uncle Sam Supplies His Army with
Good Goods at Cost.

How Uncle Sam Supplies His Army with
| Good Goods at Cost.
The largest clothing, boot and shoe
store in this country is run by the
United States though they sell things
down at cost prices and there is no
profit in it. Every army recruiting
station is branch store where supplies
are dealt out. 1t is different from Or
binary stores, in that the United States
treasury furnishes the money that buys
the boots, hats, blankets and clothes,
aud the money that buys from the
United States also comes from the
Treasury. Besides his pay each soldier
in the regular army has an allowance
for clothing which varies from S17S. IS
to 1928. 40 for his five years term. This
is only from $S5.77 to SO. SO year. If
the soldiers had to go around and buy
their own clothing at ordinary rates
! they would not have a new coat more
than once every other year, and they
would have to sleep in their under
clothes to keep warm.
So the United States have gone into
the business of supplying their ordinary
things to soldiers at the bottom price
at which the contracts for them can be
made. There is no rent Tor salesmen's
salaries nor insurance nor profit to be
paid by the Government. As a result.
the prices at which clothing is sold to
the soldiers are so low that many work
ing-men who are paid four times as
much wages as the soldiers are not
clad as well. The blue coats cost S3. 80.
They are made of good material, well
cut, and are better fitting than the
uniform of the average policeman, for
which he pays several times what the
soldier pays. His caps cost 40 cents.
His stockings cost cents pair, and
they are better than those the Bowery
stores sell for quarter, while the 49,
cent caps are as good as any man could
want. For his blue trousers the SOL
der pays S. They are so cheap that
he can buy half dozen pairs with his
months pay. which is more than many
young men who look down on soldiers
can do.
The two bits of extravaganza are the
flannel shirts and the blankets. The
shirts cost thirty-eight cents more than
the trousers, but they are as good
shirts as can be bought at any price,
and they do not shrink into a woolly
ball when they are washed. The
blankets are sold for $4.2S. 1t is easy
enough to go to almost any dry goods
shop and buy cheaper blankets than
the soldiers have. but these blankets
are wool and weigh six pounds. One
pair of them is enough in cold weather.
and they are warmer than several
pairs of cheap blankets. The United
States consider the health of their sol
diers, and though they economic on
the caps and trousers they supply the
best wooden shirts and blankets.
There are various kinds of shoes, that
sell from $l.76 to $3.04. Then there
are heavy stockings that sell for more
than the nine cents that the summer
bring. There are under
clothes for sale, that are of such good |
quality that the officers wear them in |
preference to the underclothing that |
they can buy in the usual way.
The United States go further and
supply all the necessities of the soldiers
at cost prices, and their cost rates are
lower than those at which
private storekeepcr could buy. as the
United States buy in large quantities
and are sure pay. 1t also tends to in
crease manufacturers outside trade
if he gets large garment contracts. and
a big manufacturer with a large stock
on hand, can afford to sell to the
United States at cost. If he sold at
the same rate to private sellers they
might cut retail rates, while the United
States sell to nobody but soldiers.
When a recruit is sworn in the SER
yeant takes him into the clothing-room
and fits him up with full outfit. The
cost of it is taken from his pay, though
1t the rates at which the Govern ment
sells it does not take him long to pay
10. No'one may buy clothing in this
way from the Government except sol
Tiers, and it is crime for any clothing
20 be given or sold to any one else. Ii
he Government were to sell to every
body at the same rate the business of
he furnishing goods stores in the
of recruiting stations
you'd be ruined.-N T. SIN.