Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-07

another custom journeyman tailor employed
! in this city, soon followed Hanson to Maine,
and became a prominent clothing maker,
taking work from Hanson. Other Boston
clothing firms quickly followed Simmons
example. NV firm sent John A. Peters to
Augusta, Me-, and opened shop there.
Other concerns located men in Gorham,
Winterport, Bath and other Maine towns
and cities, and the journeymen strikers
found themselves hoisted by their own
petard.
s'From that time to this the good old State
of Maine has been a powerful factor, indeed,
an indispensable ally to the vast clothing
interests of Boston,"
"I presume that the various styles in
clothing which have been in vogue since you
began to manufacture, if depicted, would
make unique, not to say amusing, art
gallery ?" remarked.
FASHIONS OF THE PAST.
ST should say so," smilingly replied Mr..
Leland, as he seemed to be looking down
the long vista of the past. II recollect
that, about the year '4S, the style run to
swallow-tail coats, fancy vests and pants of
fancy cashmere. That fashion had big
run. Since then every description of style
that could be imagined has, in turn. come
and gone. In AS there was big trade in
cheap clothing sent to the South"
1 bade the interesting, kind-hearted old
gentleman good day, repaired to the estab-
lishment of another OF Boston's veteran
clothing men, Isaac Fenno, of Isaac Fenno
& Co. Mr.. Fenno, the head of the firm, is
a native of Canton. Me-, and has been in the
clothing business nearly 40 years. Besides
his great business responsibilities, he is a
Park Commissioner, appointed by Mayor
Hart. Although &c, he is as active and
FenDo smiled when I remarked that had
expected to find him an octogenarian, hob
bling about with his cane.
"It is a popular fallacy," said Mr.. Fenno,
''that the fashion-plares such as are pub
lished by John G.. Mitchell & Co., and
other noted New York gents fashion firms
are the creations of experts inicustom-made
tailoring establishments. The fact is, how
ever, that the men who get up these styles
are connected with big wholesale clothing
houses. The reason is plain: No custom
tailor pays his head cutter such large sal
aries as do the leading clothing concerns. I
mean no disparagement to the fine talents
and skill of the custom cutters, but don't
you see that of necessity a concern which
does yearly business o: hundreds OF
thousands of dollars must have the very
best that money can bring. 1t is position
of grave responsibility. We pay the fore
man of our cutting department a large
salary-treble at least that paid by any
custom tailor in Boston. One of the mob
biest tailors in Boston, George Randige,
does all the cutting himself"
IT REQUIRES SKILL.
SIN the large establishments not only is
good cutting sine qui non, but delicate
tints and fine fabrics have to be continually
matched or contrasted. In the processes of
manufacture the goods are first carefully Sc
lected and matched, then sponged and
steamed, to prevent subsequent shrinking,
then passed to the cutting department, after
which they are ready to be given out to be
made up. Employment is given in this
to thousands of women and girls in Boston
and within a radius of 200 miles, while the
amount of work done in Maine is almost in
calculable. One man in Springvale, Me-,
makes for Boston parties upward of zoe, 900
garments year.
sThere is a constant tendency toward hay
ing more work done In shops, and corre-
spondingly less in families, by reason of the
lessening demand for the very lowest-priced
grades of goods. Every leading house in |
this city, before placing its wares in stock, |
sees to it that each garment is carefully ex-
amined as to pockets, buttonholes, etc., as
one of the most annoying features in cloth |
ing supplied by some houses is their unre- |
liability in these respects"
A considerable number of Boston clothing |
houses were burned out in the great fire of |
'72. Most of them, however. rose from their |
ashes to assume even grander architectural |
and mercantile proportions.
CHARLES o. STICKNEY.