Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-12
SsT END ME A DOLLAR, OLD MAN"

writer for The STAR the other day. These two
young fellows who had been ION leave" had
come back to the city without much
single dollar in their pockets and they were, it
was afterward discovered. running in debt for
their cigarettes. Why man should be poorer
in summer than in winter is hard thing TO ex-
plain and yet it seems to be fact
The expenses of q man in winter. If he is a
young fellow with fondness for ladies' society,
are not very light. He has to pay for his dane
ing clubs; he may sometimes send his best girl
q bouquet; he has his regular club dues to pay,
and last but not least he must buy clothes His
ordinary. everyday living is not by any means
the heaviest drain upon his purse. Now. let US
see what it costs for a winter in Washington to
IN ordinarily careful young bachelor.
WINTER EXPENSES.
In the first place his dancing club takes say,
ESQ. Then his own club for half q year is
about S25. To live for six months at a mod
erately expensive boarding house in a small
room il 30 q month, or s240. He smokes
cigars and cigarettes aud il he is generous
smoker this will amount to about $50. Sup
posing him 10 be a moderate club man, his club
bill for 'sundries Will be about $40 month.
or ESQ. Nowfor his clothes He may not need
new dress suit. so that can be left out, but he
will be quite certain to buy two good suits and
hats and shoes and various other adornments.
OF course he must go to good tailor and these
two suits will cost S125. He must have, say,
three pairs of shoes and, not being oyerex-
travagant will get them for S2I. Cravats,
gloves. hat shirts collars and cuffs may be es-
timated roughly at S106.
To add up. thea. gives a total OF Si17 for
what may be termed luxuries and $40 for
necessary living OF the S417 the dancing club.
the social club and the club bill for 'slndries'
are purely unnecessary. The smoking, if he
uses pipe. and only smokes moderately, need
not cost more than SO. and the clothes could
be bought. together with the cravats, &c, for
less than 800. II he chose TO do II, therefore.
he could live for $40 outside of his board. and
together with his board a winter would not cost
him more than $3.50
TIE ENDS WONT MEET.
How on earth does young bachelor who
only gets 81 200 year make two ends meet at
the end of the year? The estimate given above
Is a very moderate one and vet the six months
of the winter have amounted to 1857. without
taking into account a single ticket to the thea
ter or a single ''blOw out" There is only one
way to account for the expenses and receipts
II this case. 1t is simply 10 saw that the bache-
Tor doesn't make two ends meet and that he
runs into debt.
When his debts become pressing he stops
short. does not spend anything except for his
board for a few months. wipes out all his in
6ebtedness and then begins all over again and
contracts more debts. This mode of life
1ctually goes on with MANY Young men wear
obey sober down. get married and proceed to
practice economy
WHEN HE GOES ON LEAVE IN THE SUMNER.
The 81, 200 year swell is not really such a
hystery. after the above explanation. nor is it
strange that he should be in a state of abject
poverty after taking a summer vacation. In
the summer it is true that his clothes do not
cost MIN as much rs they do in winter; that be
has no dancing club to join, nor any bouquets
to send, but if he goes away on leave he
spends enough to make up for all his economy
while he stays at home. When he reaches the
hotel Of the summer resort he must hand out
his money in small change or in large bills all
day long. The result is that lie spends all he
has. borrows all he can and finally comes home
fiat on his back. far as his finances are
concerned He arrives at the summer resort
IN drawing room car, but he comes home In
the smoker. and thanks his stars that he was
able TO borrow the money that brought him
home.
COST OF LIVING HERE AND ABROAD.
Twelve hundred dollars a year is a great deal
OF money to some men and hardly anything at all
to others 1t means comfort and plenty in
some places and a hard living in others. The
writer recently met an American who lives in
Scotland and asked him whether living was not
cheaper there than here. Strange to saw he re-
piied In the negative and declared that a mod
crate salary would do more for a man in Amer
lea than In Scotland Actual living. such as
Il
cheap enough, but what Americans regard as
Necessities Scotchmen regard as luxuries and
charge for accordingly.
In point of fact there is a general misappre-
hension upon the subject of the cost of living
abroad 1t is true that a moderate income
goes further in many of the small cities of Eu-
rope than 1t does in the large cities Of America
but the cost OF comfortable subsistence in a
large European cry Is not very much less than
In this country. millionaire can certainly
hive for Lessor rather get more for his money
In London or Paris than he can in New York
or Boston. workingman. on the other hand
pays more for the necessaries of life in Europe
than he does here. and our workingmen regard
q necessaries many things that are entirely be-
yond the foreign wOrkingmans reach.
But taking the body of the people who are
neither rich nor poor and their incomes carry
them as far here as they would on the other
side OF the Atlantic There are plenty of Amer
leans, with small incomes who prefer to live
In Europe and who maintain that it costs them
less there than here. but If You inuuire closely
you viii ind that they don't live so well They
have suffered pecuniary losses, for the most
part, and have gone to foreign lands because
they were unwilling to reduce their scale of
Living at home.
wAsHIN6ToN AS GOOD A PLACE As ANY
On u 200 year a man can live as well in
Washington as he can in London or, indeed.
as he can anywhere. II he is swell with a
fOndness for clothes and clubs he Will have IN
plncn- III ne adds TO this a love OF horses he
Is simply swamped. The thing cannot be done
He may keep horse if he wishes TO. bu, to
buy the clothes and pay the club dues and to
Keep horse, too, Is too much and is beyond
the power OF SlOO a month.
WHEN MARRIED.
Can he get married? Why not? That depends
upon the man and upon the girl. too. Ii both
are satisfied with love in a cottage and their
definition Of n cottage IL not an estate at Bar
Harbor OF Lomax they can live on $1,000 a
year. At any rate they cant s5arve on IT. and
one thing can be depended upon-if ANYTHING
In the world Is going to make q man hustle
and get more than IL go a year it Is the con-
seriousness that some one besides himself will be
the better for it. young man, single. alone
win tastes that are not extrayagant NAV grow
gray on 81 100 a year, unless he happens to be
% situated that calls upon his purse which he
had not foreseen before arise. Then lie goes
% work and makes more.
IN NEW YORK
A middle-aged man who lives in New York
was encountered in a hotel lobby a few even
ings ago and in the course of the conversation
the cost Of bachelors living came uD.
"A single man cannot live in New York >,
said he, ION less than so. 900 year
"whatl Can'tlive on less than 10, 900 a wear?
You must be joking"
81 am not" he said, seriously; you can't do
It. lhave triedit."
What nonsense he talked But the sneaker