The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-02-17
The Language OF Trade.

'rYour cloth is better than that" said
the tailor to the customer, placing TWO
pieces of worsted diagonal sue Dy slue'
What's the1IinerenceE' asked the Gus
We'll" said the taller. 1.-THE other is
good part cotton. -, -
Yours is mostly WOOL replied the
tailor looking at the customer with eV!-
dent surprise AT his innocence.
Tho cant phrase all wool and ydrd
wide" has come to mean half cotton ana
tWpnty-seVen inches wide. Some per-
sons believe that the difference between
phrase and fact is TO be attributed 10
the high tariff on woolens ana Wor5seu III
hut such discrepancies run through All
branches of trade, whether they are al
Cected by the tariff or not Every IeaI
thing has come through modern ingenuity
TO have an admirable couhterIell pedL ne
the real things name. and so meanlnSlesS
have names become IN trade thal Inc re-
taller sells the counterfeit under lhe
name OF the real with lttle or no coH-
seriousness of Uutruthfulness. Male GUS
toners usually fail 10 understand ms
and are OUTRAGED on discovering that the
thing does not correspond 10 It's hdlile,
but women who are born shoppers Iohs
ago accepted the situation anu adopleu
the false nomenclature. 1neY 90 not
resent as dishonest the conduct or the
grocer that offers fresh eggs at so
much and strictly fresh new laid eggs
knows that the shops sell for silk ma
terial that has a cleverly made surface OF
pure silk Oh a back OF cotton. women
Judge not by the name, but by the price
the feel" and other indications TO Whlch
men are blind. 1t was DISCOVERIES rev
years ago that many imported silks were
made with only a small percentase oi
real silk along with clay FOR weight anu
soap for lustre, while American manu-
facturers were turning out the real thing
and finding II deSpiSed.
There is a regularly recognized set OF
substitutes i'm every department OF tIauc'
inst as the druggists have substitutes
that are made 70 serve when some un-
important ingredient I'm a prescription is
not at hand. The word porcelain has
actually lost its true sgnihcance, save.
perhaps in the fine arts, and cooking
Utensils are glibly sold as porcelain
lined" that have merely an inner surface
of coarse glazed clay. Phlladelphian
invented a good many years ago a sort
of white glass for lamp shades and called
il hot-cast porcelain, and now many
forms of white glass are sold as porce-
lain. 1t has ceased 10 he lie, because
all the world knows that the term Is
purely conventional.
The phrase antique oak" has gradually
come TO mean, In the language OF the
cheap furniture makers. stained ASH or
even poorer material aud the rug IN
porters have contributed 10 trade the
verb Ito antique" with its past paru-
cIhe "antiqucd." the form commonly
used. |MdhOgdH% VIII soon HfdHt ~
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 mahog-
any. and is sold as such. Cclluloid has
become a counterfeit for almost any
thing, and its prOtcan devices are I'M
measurable II goes as often as not as
ivory and doubtless there are shop
keepers that sell it as such with no sense
of fraud.
The Technology of the hardware trade
is in a chaotic state by reason of the
way i'm which counterfeits have obtained
steel hatchets.' made of
cheap iron, are sold at - cents, and the
substitution of iron for steel runs all
the trade. The merchant guages
his customer. and offers the counterfeit
or the real. as the case seems 10 demand,
any sense of dishonesty. Electro
plated iron goes for bronze and cast iron
goes for wrought iron. The fraud is 50
transparent TO any one buying with his
quarreling about. The merchant ac-
knowledges the nature of the counterfeit
when passed. and takes no shame in the
Perhaps some of them l
never see the real thing, and are limo
cent of even constructive fraud.
When il comes to leather goods, the
same system of counterfeting prevails.
You may get what - 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 1t an innocent trick to please per-
sons in search of what they cannot buy.
Hou find the far east-side shops a gro