Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-20
TIE OLD CLOTHES MAN VERY SAD,
While the Lender of Money on Jewelry
and other Valuables Speaks
Of Fairly Good Times
PAwESHOPS MISSING TIE GAMBLERS.
Diamonds Above Par, but the InstaIlment Plan Hnrts
Secondhand Dealers

these two classes in Numerically opposite
way. Those establishments where jewelry
is handled principally find their biggest
business when there is plenty of money in
circulation among the people. The shops
which deal most in cast-off garments are
more prosperous when money is scarce. The
city now is in a state of prosperity, and it
has its influence on the two classes of pawn
shops.
The pawnshops which make speciality of
negotiating all kinds Of jewelry and precious
stones are on Smithfeld street, while the
several clothing shops lie around Wylie and
Penn avenues and those immediate vicin-
tiles. DISPATCH reporters visited several
of both kinds of pawnshops, yesterday, and
found the proprietors of one class well salts
fed with the general increasing prosperity
which helped to fill their money drawers,
while the other class they found sitting
sround the doors of their establishments
waiting for something to turn up which
would send them a stray customer during the
day.
ALONG sMITHFIELD STREET.
The establishments that were first visited
Two seedy-looking sporting characters of
times gone by, one of them balancing big
glittering gem In the palm of his hand, were
coming out of the De Roy Brothers estab-
lishment, 307 Smitkfeld street, just as
DISPATCH reporter vas going in. Mr..
Israel De Roy, senior member of the firm,
said that his loans and sales of jewelry were
larger than for some time. Diamonds,
especially, he said, were in greater demand
than in former years, and that although
there was big advance in the price of the
gems The firms loans to business men,
he said, were larger than they used to be.
veryfew unredeemed pledges were left on his
hands, and the articles were generally taken
out before or about the time Of the tickets
expiration. Four-ffths of his business was
transacted with men. The firm handles
principally articles of jewelry and precious
stones. Mr.. De Roy thought the increase
of the jewelry sales must be attributed to
more general prosperity among all classes
of people and to an increased population.
FEW PLEDGES UNREDEEMED.
At Isaacs' store, 419 Smithfeld street,
where the same class of trade is done as at
the De Roy Bros. it was said that most Of
the watches brought in there came from the
laboring classes. Three young fellows were
negotiating for the sale of a murderous-
looking revolver while the reporter was
there, but they went out without making
purchase. At this place, also, very few
pledges, it was said, were left uncalled for.
'It is not always a sign that an individ-
r,al ;e how'd ~ ba makes loaD - said
Mr.. Isaacs 81 have seen men come in
with pocketful of money and pawn their
watches. Some people do that when they
have plenty of money and wish to get rid of
an old watch, so as to buy a better one We
make good many loans to people who are
going away, perhaps for a short vacation,
and wish to leave their property in safs
keeping" The number of articles that
were redeemed was said to be larger than in
former years, and that it was owing % in
- creased prosperity.
Smits establishment, 313 Smithfeld
street, had a large patronage from among
the laboring classes. One of the clerks said
that one of the reasons for this was the
monthly payment system, and that the peo-
pie near the end OF the month would pawn
some article to tide them over Until pay day.
But the pawns, he said, were
NEAhL1 ALh A1o AhEN OO1y
sometimes the next day Ind sometimes be-
fore the end of the time for the expiration
of the ticket, but it fFas very seldom that
an article was left there and never called
for. A good many bf the sales here were
made by the labOrifg classes, also, especially
At DeROy's, 6B smithfeld street, big
amount of the rfWning was laid to the sys-
TEN of montbE and fOrtnightly payments.
Also, the wo} ling classes, it was said, did as
much busi1ess with pawn shops when times
weregoou as they did when times were bad,
and sometimes more. Business men ire
quently pawned goods when their bank ac-
counts were light and they we're in need OF
financial aid.
Cohen's shop, 629 Liberty street, did
light clothing business, together with
trade In jewelry. For this time of year it
was said that business was remarkably slow.
The reason of this was said to be the scarcity
of money, but a further investigation
showed that the cry of poor times among the
pawnshops was only among those places
where the principal business was in second
hand clothing, almost principally.
The majority of the pawnshops where
secondhand clothing is taken in are on
Wylie and Penn avenues. There every
thing was said to be as dull as it could be,
and it was like ray of light for customer
to cross the thresholds.
FEW SALES OF OLD CLOTHES.
A young man was haggling over the price
of suit Of clothes at Witkowsky's, "a Wy
lie avenue, when the reporter entered. He
finally walked out with the uniform under
his arm, having paid down 81 90. ''That is
my first sale to-day" said Mr.. Witkowsky,
smiling all over his face when he learned
the reporters errand. BE went on to say
that the pawn part of the business was very
good. Loads of all kinds of clothing, he
said, were left there every day.
But it was very difficult to find
customers who wanted to buy.
Mr.. Witkowsky said he was unable to
give a plausible reason for this state of af-
fairs. He had pondered over it all last
spring and this summer, which were the
dullest periods since he has been in the busi-
ness. The people seemed to be just as
prosperous, If not more so, he thought,
than ever they were. But they didn't buy
SO much secondhand clothing, and they did
not want to give the prices for what they
did buy. His regular customers, he said,
brought in Just as much but
they didn't buy as they used to.
He said he could only attribute the falling
off in the buying Of secondhand clothing
to the cheap ready-made clothing establish
Inents, and to the system Of paying big in
stallments People went to the ready-made
elothing stores, where they could get new
clothes for Just the same price or little
more than In the pawnshops. Then, again,
the working people. he said, found 1t easier
to pay 80 cents or 81 at time than to pay
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