Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-07-25
GOVERNMENT CLOTHING STORE )
United States Soldiers Supplied at Cos
Prices with Good Goods

Prices with Good Goods.
The largest clothing. boot and shoe
store in .his country is run by the United
States, though they sell things down a,
cost prices. and there is no profit iii it
! Every army RECRUITING station is a branch
store where supplies are dealt out. 1t is
different from ordinary stores, in that the
! United States treasury furnishes the
money that buys the boots, hats, blankets
and clothes, and the money that buys
from the United States also comes from
the treasury Besides his pay each sol
der in the regular army has an allowance
for clothing which varies from $17S So to
! S22S. ~ for hts five years term This is
only from $50. - to $45. 50 year. If the
soldiers had to go around and buy theil
own clothing at ordinary rates they would
not have new coat more than once every
other year, and they would have to sleep
In their underclothes to keep warm
SO the United States has 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, nor salesmens
salaries, nor insurance, nor profit to be
paid by the government AS result the
prices at which clothing is sold to the
soldiers are SO low that many working
men who are paid four times as much
wages as the soldiers are not clad as well
The blue coats cost SO. So. 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 dis caps
cost forty nine cents His stockings cost
nine cents a pair. and they are better than
the Bowery stores sell for quarter, while
the forty nine cent caps are as good as
any man could want For his blue
trousers the soldier pays 50 They are
so cheap that he can buy half dozen
pairs with his months pay. which is more
than many young men VINO look down on
soldiers can do
The two bits of eXtravagauce are the
flannel shirts and the BLANKETS The shirts
cost thirty eight cents mere than the
trousers, but they are as good shirts IS
can be bought at any price, and they do
not shrink into woollv ball when they
are washed The blankets are sold for
Si.2o, 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
soldiers, 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 81. 16 to $3-04 Then there are
heavy stockings that sell for more than
the nine cents that summer stockings
bring There are undefclothes for sale
that are Of such good quality that the
officers often wear them in preference to
the undertaking that they can buy in
the usual way.
The United States go further, and sup
ply all the necessities of the soldiers at
cost prices, and their cost rates are fire.
qUently lower than those at which a pri-
waite storekeeper could buy. as the United
States buy in large quantities and are
sure pay 1t also tends to increase man.
ufacturer's outside trade il be gets large
garment contracts, and q big manufact-
urer with large stock on hand can
afford &c sell to the United States at cost
If lie sold at the same rate to private
sellers they might cut retail rates, while
the United States sell to nobody but |
soldiers.
When recruit Is sworn in the sergeant |
takes him into the clothing room and fits
him up with full outfit. The COS, of |. /
is taken from his pay. though ct the rates /
1t which the government sells it does not
take him long to pay Up. No one nay
buy clothing II this way from the govern |
nent except soldiers. and it is crime for
my clothing TO be given or sold to any
'ne else Il the government were to sell
% everybody a. the same rate the bust |
ness of the furnishing goods stores In the
aeig hborhood Of recruiting stations would
De ruined.-New York Sun