Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-05-01
FALSE NAMES.
Very Misleading Language of
the Trade.
MIMlCRY OF FASHIONABLE SHOPS.
words and Phrases that Don't Describe
the Thing They are Applied
to-Dlshonesty.
MIMICRY OF FASHIONABLE SHOPS.

said the tailor to the customer. placing
two pieces Of worsted diagnoal side by
side.
whats the difference?" asked the
customer.
well" said the tailor, "the other
is good part cotton. "
And mines all woolP" asked the
customer.
"Yours is mostly WOOL" replied the
tailor. looking at the customer with
evident surprise at his innocence, says
the New York Sun.
The can't phrase "all wool and n
yard wide" has come to mean half cot
ton and twenty seven inches wide.
Some persons believe that the differ
ences between phrase and fact is to be
attributed to the high tariff Oh woolens
and worsteds. but such discrepancies
run through all branches of trade.
whether they are affected by the tariff
or not. Every real thing has come
through modern ingenuity to have an
admirable counterfeit bearing the real
things name. and so meaningless have
| uuLlcS DtCOluO III tIdttt tHdU tuC lO-
taller sells the counterfeit under the
name of the real with little or no con-
seriousness of un.ruthfulness. Male
customers usually fail to understand
this. and are outraged on discovering
that the thing does not correspond to
it's name. but women who are born
shoppers long ago accepted the situa-
tion and adopted the false nomenola-
ture. They do not resent as dishonest
the conduct of the grocer that offers
fresh eggs" at so much and strictly
fresh newlaid eggs at 80 per cont. more.
Every woman knows that the shops sell
for silk material that has a cleverly
made surface of pure silk on back of
cotton. Women judge not by the
name. but by the price. the feel, and
other indications to which men are
blind. 1t was discovered few years
ago that many imported silks were
made with only small percentage of
real silk, along with clay for weight and
soap for luster. while American manu-
facturers were turning out the real
thing and finding it despised.
There is regularly recognized set
of substitutes in every department of
trade. just as the druggists have sub
-stitutes that are made to serve when
some unimportant ingredient in pre-
scription is not at hand. The word
porcelain has actually lost its true
significance. save, perhaps. in the fine
arts. and cooking utensils are glibIy
sold as porcelain-lined that have
merely an inner surface Of coarse.
glazed clay. A Philade.phian in.
vented. good many years ago, a sort
of white glass for lamp shades. and
called it hot-cast porcelain, and now
many forms of white glass are sold as
porcelain. 1t has ceased to be lie
because all the world knows that the
term is purely conventional.
The phrase antique oak" has grad.
ually come to mean, in the language of
the cheap furniture makers. stained
ash, or even poorer material. and the
rug importers have contributed to trade
the verb "to antique" with its past
participle "antieued." the form com
monty used. Mahogany" will soon
mean in the language of the cheap.
furniture trade any wood stained into
distant imitation of new mahogany.
OF course the latter, in turn, is stained
to initiate old mahogany. and is sold
as SUCH Celluloid has become a coun-
terfeit for almost anything. and its pro
team devices are Unreasonable. 1t goes
nc af ttn iunru ond 6nnht1ncc
there are shopkeepers that sell it as
such with no sense of fraud.
The terminoloRy of the hardware
trade is in chaotic state bv reason of
the way in which counterfeits have
obtained currency. "Steel hatchets," "
made of cheap iron. are sold at 90
cents, and the substitution Of iron for
steel runs all through the trade. The
merchant gauges his customer and
offers the counterfeit or the real, as the
case seems to demand, without any
sense of dishonesty. Electro plated
iron goes for bronze and cast iron goes
for wrought iron. The fraud is so
transparent to any one buying with his
eyes open that it scarcely seems worth
quarreling about. The merchant
acknowledges the nature of the coun-
terfeit when pressed, and takes no
shame in the acknowledgment. Per
haps some of them never see the real
thing and are innocent of even con-
structive fraud.
When it comes to leather goods the
same system of counterfeiting prevails.
You may get what is technically called
an alligator skin" travelling bag at
any price you wish to pay, but no man
with an eye in his head is ever deceived
by the transparent device. and the
dealers deem it an innocent trick to
please persons in search Of what they
cannot buy.
You find the far east side shops a
grotesque mimicry Of fashionable shops