The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-06-02
HONEY IN UMBRELLAS.
WHAT 1T COSTS NEW WORKERS
EVERY YEAR TO KEEP DRY.

4 Dealer Estimates That $4,000. 900 Is
Spent Yearly for Umbrellas by the Poo
pie of the Metropolis-A Strange Fact
About Umbrella Stealing.
"They cost New York good deal of
money every year." said the fat umbrella
man as he deity rolled a silk umbrella
and placed it back in the case. 1.-THE
amount must run so far up in the thou
sands it would seem an exaggeration to
one who didn't know anything about it.
If the amount was expended in charity no
one in this town need go hungry.
1.-The ratio of people who carry umbrellas
is larger in this town than in any other in
America 1 suppose it is because we have
so many rainy days. Probably so per cent.
of the adult population of New York carry
umbrellas, and 10per cent OF the children
over twelve years of age. l have been in
the umbrella business for twenty years,
and 1 have watched it pretty closely.
''The average life of a good umbrella is
about year. Sometimes an umbrella
will wear four or five years. You can tell
nothing about them. There is nothing
more uncertain. The man who will guar
antee an umbrella is foolish. The severest
tests will not reveal anything, because
every good umbrella is carefully examined
before it is put on sale. Every part of it
passes through the hands OF an expert.
The silk is passed upon, the framework
and the stick. If anything is found not
up to the standard it is sent back, and yet
it is very common thing for an umbrella
to go all to pieces inside of three weeks.
The best umbrella expert in this town can
tell nothing about them.
PRICES OF UMBRELLAS.
GAS said before, the average life of an
umbrella is about year, if the owner can
keep it as long as that, which is seldom the
case. There seems to be many men who
make it business TO lose umbrellas as
fast as they buy them, while others never
lose an umbrella. The average life of an
umbrella and the average service of an
umbrella are two very different things. |
suppose that the latter is about six
months. As nearly as l can arrive at it
from close observation about zoe, 600 people
in New York carry umbrellas.
THAT is good many, but think the
innate is under rather than over the exact
truth. For, mind you, there are many
who have two or three umbrellas at once
You can buy an umbrella for almost any
price. The average of the good cheap ur
brellas is about two dollars. The averaa
of the good silk umbrellas is five dollars
The general average is about three dollars.
Now you can readily arrive at an esti-
mate of the amount of money which New
Workers spend for umbrellas every year.
You will remember that l said that the av-
erage service of an umbrella is about six
months, so that every one Of these 700,000
people have to spend six dollars every year
to supply themselves with umbrellas. Just
multiply that and you will find that this
big town spends 1920, 900 year. Mind,
that is not exaggerating in the least. And
the umbrella habit is growing. There is
one firm in Philadelphia alone which turns
out 10000 umbrellas day.
There is something strange about UNI
brellas. To begin with, is their general con-
trariness about wearing. Then they have
a curious effect upon human nature. |
wouldn't trust my brother with an umbrel-
Ia, and he is as honest man as ever lived
He could have all the money have, but
not my umbrella. A man cannot be honest
about them. don't know what there is in
the things, but do know that is the effect
they have upon people. There is not day
passes but a man comes in here and wants
the stick and handle in an umbrella
changed when both are perfectly good. We
know well that the umbrella belonged to
somebody else, but, of course, we never say
anything.
MEN AND UMBRELLAS.
81 remember once that man bought an