Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-05-22
a SECRET or ouoeooM.
why Come "f The Gilded Youths Dres. So
Wen on small Salaries

why Come ~ The Gilded Youths Dress so
Well on small Salaries
There is a permanent Interrogation
point IN grea, many peoples minds.
anu 'iiat Is how young men earning any
where from $40 to Sls a week can dress
an well as men earning five or six times
as much fet they manage to do il. and
nave enough money left to make 10
lite little ripple in the society in which
they move.
The early elevated trains and horse
cars are crowded with well dressed
young men, who gaze about as com
placently and self satisfied as if they
were part owners in railroad and lived
only TO cut coupons and draw dividends.
They are dressed well. and their cloth
ing from the cape coat to the light cloth
CATERS over their shoes, woul compare
favorably with the latest fashion plate.
Yet IT you follow them you will be pretty
sure TO learn that they are simply clerks
In brokers offices. and do not receive
more than Si5 in a majority of cases
How do they dress so well, then? Do
they borrow from their EMPLOYERS, or
do they speculate in bucket shops? They
do not borrow" ard, as for speculat-
ing, they do that sometimes in small
( way Their clothes are bought honestly
enough with the money they earn every
! week and the way they do it is very
easy.
Most New Workers have heard of that
class of people known as fences, whose
business is TO buy stolen goods from the
thieves direct at ridiculously low price,
/ and sell the stuff to small dealers at a
/ small profit a fence" will buy any,
thing that is stolen. from silver spoon
to suit of clothes or an assortment of
clothing, and thereby hangs part of the
tale. Every time there is big clothing
robbery the stuff is fenced and immedi-
ately passed to the sacred precincts OF
Baxter street. Sometimes the better
| portion of the thieves work find their
way into clothing stores in better neigh
! borhoods, and because of the extremely
reasonable price at which it is bought,
the suits are sold very cheap Now. you
would not suppose brokers' clerk would
go to Baxter street for clothes Neither
does he He sends the clothing mans
calls on the clerk and is told what style
of clothing is wanted Then the young
man is measured. and when the clothes
come home they need very little altering
The cost is comparatively nothing A
good Prince ALERT coat and vest can b,
bought for from s. to $50, while cutawayi
and sack suits are to he had for price
ranging from s. to SIS. OF course
great deal of the stuff is second hand anC
a great deal is stolen. The second hanC
clothes are easily fixed up" and til,
merchants of Baxter street have SO deli
cate facility for this fixing up pro
cess that they will change the who'll
complexion of a suit The stolen good
are sold just as they are bought with tn
exception of a slight change in tn
makers tag on the inside of the collar
Still there is another, more legitimate
way of obtaining clothing that is fash
ionable, new and costly. There are
great many young men, rich and fash
ionable, in New York, who spend mos
Of their time buying and giving clothe
away after wearing them once or twice
This may seem strange to men who hav
but two suits. and wear them until the
are absolutely too threadbare to wear an
longer, vet nevertheless it is the case
Suits of clothes costing all the way fror
$50 to 500 each are made for thes
wealthy young men, and are worn prot
ably three or four times and then give
to Wallets. To follow the course of tn
clothes from this point would be prett
heavy undertaking. Sometimes they ar
sold to second hand dealers on Sixth
Fourth and Third avenues, who make
handsome profit on every suit bougl
and sold. Out of the clothes given t
him the valet keeps the best for himself
of course. and manages to make consiC
cradle money out OF what he sells. Thu
it is that so many young men earnin
small salaries can dress so lashionabl
and live honestly. The Clothier.