The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-11-04
JUST TO KEEP DRY.
Now Workers Spend Four Million
Dollars Yearly.
Interesting Particulars of tho Umbrella
Trade by Dealer Enormous
Prices Paid for tho
Article.

They cost this city deal of money
every year." said the fat umbrella man
to n New York Recorder reporter as the
former deftly rolled silk umbrella
and placed it back in the case. 1.-The
amount must run SO far up in the
thousands it would seem an cXaggcr;,-
ton to one who didn't know anything
about it. If the amount was expended
i'll charity no one in this town need
ever be hungry. The average life of Il
good umbrella is about Il year. Some
times an umbrella will wear four or
five years. You can tell nothing about
them. There is nothing more unccr-
tain. The man who will guarantee an
umbrella is foolish. The severcst tests
will not reveal anything, because every
good umbrella is carefully examined
before it is put on sail Every part of
it passes through the hands of an c%-
pert. AS l said before, the average life
of an umbrella is about Il year, if the
owner can keep it as long as that,
which is seldom the case. The average
life of an umbrella and the average
service of an umbrella are two very
different things. l suppose that the
latter is about six months. As nearly
as l can arrive ut it from close observa-
ton about seven hundred thousand
people in New York carry umbrellas
That is good many, but l think the
estimate is under rather than over the
exact truth. For mind you, there arc
many who have two or three umbrellas
at once. You can buy an umbrella for
almost any price. The average of tho
good cheap umbrella is about two
IN 81
umbrella is five dollars. The general
average is about three dollars
'Now you can readily arrive at an
estimate of the amount Of money which
New Workers spend for umbrellas every
year. You will remember that l said
that the average service of an umbrella
is about six months, SO that every ono
of these seven hundred thousand 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 four million two hun
drcd thousand dollars a year Mind,
that is not eXaggcrating in the least
And the umbrella habit is growing
| There is one firm in Philadelphia alone
which turns out ten thousand umbrellas
day.
There is something strange about
umbrellas TO begin with their gen
cral contrarincss about wearing. Then
they have Il curious effect upon human
nature. l wouldn't trust my brother
with an umbrella and he is as honest a
man as ever lived. He could have all
the money 1 have but not my umbrella.
man cannot be honest about them
1T is hard work to sell umbrellas.
People always rebel against having to
buy them. They seem to think that
they arc being imposed upon and resent
it accordingly. You have to answer
more questions than man at an infor-
nation bureau and guarantee the
weather for the next ten years.
IF yon ever buy umbrellas yourself
let me tell You something as guide
You can buy the best umbrella that is
| made for six dollars and fifty cents.
When you pay more than that you are
paying for the handle or n name. If
| You want to spend lot of money you
can go uptown to one of the big jewel
| ry houses and spend anywhere from
twenty-five to one hundred dollars for
an umbrella, and the umbrella itself is
the same old six dollar and fifty cents
umbrella. And if you don't want an
umbrella of that kind you can get one
for three dollars, which will outwear
any silk umbrella that was ever made"