Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-09
PEOPLE WHO BORROW MONEY.
Ihey Find the Dressmaker and the Sa-
loon Keeper Very Useful.

They Find the Dressmaker and the Sa-
| loon Keeper Very Useful.
| HOW SOME WOMEN PROVIDE THEMSELVES WITH
POCKET MoNEY-MEN WHO STINT THEIR WIVES
| BUT PAY THE MoDIsTE's BILL-How THE SALOON
| KEEPER SUFFERS.
| There are two classes Of people who are ex-
pected to lend money in small sums as a matter
OF course, without interest" said the man Of
business. They are dressmakers and saloon
| keepers"
"Dressmakers!' exclaimed THE STAR re-
porter, in surprise. II never heard of their
lending money"
Probably not, inasmuch as it is a part Of
their business to keep the matter quiet They
do 1t all the same. l am speaking of these
ultra-fashionable dressmakers, Of the sort only
rich people can afford to patronize-who get
rich themselves by charging fabulous prices
| for the stitches other women make at starva-
| ton wages. As rule they are not unwilling
to lend money to their patrons, and the latter
| apply to them pretty frequently for such pecu-
mary accommodation"
| PAUPER WIVES OF RICH HUSBANDS.
"But why should rich customers want to Dor
row money!"
at is very simple. Women may have rich
husbands and yet be in perpetual want of ready
cash themselves. Your wealthy man is exceed
| lngly apt to keep his wife short of pin-money.
| There seems to be a notion very generally held
| by masters OF families that women have no
heads for the management of money. and so
| they begrudge their wives even a few pennies
| to spend as they like. while often willing to ex-
pend upon them thousands of dollars a year. A
meaner form of niggardliness it would be diff
cult to imagine, lnasmuch as the woman in the
apaIl
| directly by her labor, does produce value in
another shape, and she therefore has right to
| some control of the family exchequer. But the
husband of the sort speak of, chooses to con-
sider that he makes all the money, and that, if
he gives his wife any, it is almost
charity. In fact she has to as
sumo the role of beggar when
ever she wants a dollar. 1t is astonishing that
any man who calls himself gentleman should
place his wife in such a position. As a matter
of fact however, q millionaire will often deny
his wife money, giving her at the same time
carte blanche at the milliner's, the dress max
| ers. the dry goods shop, the confectioners and
elsewhere. Her bills, when they come in, are
paid, though perhaps with a growl, and-from
her husbands point of view-she is supplied
with everything she can possibly need. All
this, nevertheless, will not content woman, if
she have not few dollars of her very own to
buy things with; and it is working too hard for
the dollars if her request for them is met by her
| husband with an astonished query as to what
she did with all that silver he gave her last
month tits much easier to go to the dress
maker and say: just let me have $40, if you
will be SO kind. and add the amount to the bill
for my winter wrap when you send it to my
husband"
QUITE NEAT LITTLE FRAUD.
$50 that's the way it's done, is it?"
Exactly. The women who are able to
employ these swell dress makers are apt to
have, with their husbands consent-for the
men like to have their wives appearance do
them credit-large running accounts for gowns
and such things. The ignorant male has no
technical knowledge of matters of the sort; he
casts his eye over the charges for materials
trimmings, Innings and all kinds of mysterious
fxings when the bills come in, but as to the
meaning of the details he is almost entirely in
| the dark, having no information whatever as
ing save the likeness said bills bear to
plumbers accounts in their manner of climb
| ing up to almost any point by an ingenious
addition of small items. 1 know a New York
| woman. the wife OF very rich man, who draws
| on her dress maker every year, by special ar
| rangement, to the extent of 5000 in quarterly
sums. She gets half that amount also from a
dry goods merchant with whom she deals
| largely, and it is added to the bill. charged as
'sundrIes.' From other tradesmen she OBJ,
| tains cash in the same way, and 80 she always
has plenty of money to spend as she chooses
1t Is not very nice, nor very honest. admit,
| but it is the stingy husbands fault chiefly. and
her case Is not SO painful as that of another
| woman know of, whose spouse is compelled to
kneel upon his pantaloons while he says his
prayers before going to bed, SO that she shall
not get at his pocket book"
II should think that the dress maker and
other trades people would be afraid lest some
embarrassment to them result from such an
underhand performance"
why should they be? They are all right.
whatever happens. The dress maker-and it is
xvffl %hA al haa@
her power under such circumstances She
makes herself in this way sure of her patron
age and can charge what she pleases. Her
bills are paid promptly, including the cash adj
vances, and she risks nothing, for the customers
husband is always legally responsible for the
money debt. 1t has come to be part of the
fashionable dress makers business to accom-
modate ladies in this way and it is exceedingly
profitable. If she chooses to add interest, in
one shape or another, to bill there is nothing
to prevent"
PITY THE POOR SALOON KEEPER.
'And the saloon keeper-does he find it
profitable to lend money likewise?"
'Hardly. From what some gin-mill pro-
pretors have told me 1 should draw the con-
clusion that they are victims to borrowing. 1t
would seem that nearly every regular customer
of a saloon imagines that the fact of being q
patron gives him o right to borrow money of
the proprietor He will not hesitate to walk
in and say, as he leans over the bar and puts
down his empty beer glass: Billy old man, I
want an X until Friday, let me have the saw
buck, will you? If the accommodation is re-
fused the customer is angry and withdraws his
patronage; il. on the other hand, the request is
acceded to, both patronage and money are
almost surely lost, for 1t is ten to one that the
latter is never paid pack, and in such a case
the borrower is sure not to put in another ap-
pearance. He finds 1t more convenient to go
to another place for his drinks from that time
on. This is happening all the time-for every
one appears TO think that q saloon keeper
makes his money easily out Of what other
men earn and is necessarily loaded with wealth
and 80 the victim is driven at length to adopt
an expedient which all proprietors Of bar
rooms should have recourse to. He goes be-
fore notary and makes sworn affidavit, at
tested by an impressive-looking seal, that he
| will lend no money to any one nor sign any
obligation for another person during period
of five years This affidavit he has framed;
when il runs out he renews it at an expense Of
30 cents and hangs 1t upon the wall Of his
saloon. And, when any one asks him for
loan, he simply points TO it He can't do what
is asked without breaking his oath and that
settles it. II il q scheme that has saved many
q man lots of cash. You see the borrower
would never think Of going to the grocer or
the butcher for money loans, but with the 81
loon keeper he is on convivial terms, az 1t were;
there is q sort Of artificial intimacy Of Q bib
ulous character between them and he feels
hat he 1.ooo ,~s~lxk 49, ab fov< md ivo