The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-02-28
ImmenseAmount Spent
in New York
By Wives of American
MilliOnaires.
Pin Money Spent in Sums to Make
a Poor Man Stand Aghast esp
ecially in the Hard Time" Season,

Some fabulous sums, under the ficti-
tious title of pin money, are spent
yearly by the wealthy women of the
metropolis.
Pin money to most persons means
some Insignificant sum anywhere from
a few dollars up to five hundred a
year. The average young girl or
matron would consider herself richly
blessed were she certain of $500 pin
money per annum, and would willing
ly consent to furnish all her wants
with it, wardrobe included. To the
economically inclined woman $500 a
year would seem quite fabulous
amount for clothes and the trifes of
everyday life.
| But pin money to the tune Of sixty
| thousand a year-five thousand
month, or twelve hundred a week
barely supplies the needs of some of
| the fashionable women Of New York.
There are two score women in the
metropolis who have that much, and
great deal more, to spend upon pure
| ly feminine wants, and they spend it
so well that oftentimes they have
something unpaid at the end of the
year.
Others get rid of their money more
satisfactorily. These are the women
who accomplish good in a charitable
way, spending literally upon the poor
of the tenenents, and cheering the
sick in the hospitals with dainties
which only a Well-flled purse can pro-
cure.
| Mrs. Theodore Havemeyer, wife of
cne Of the sugar trust kings, possibly
spends more money than any other
woman in New York, although her
husband is not as wealthy as large
number of other men. In addition to
having what is generally credited to
be the prettiest house in town, Mrs.
|Havemeyer maintains it on a most
elaborate scale.
Aside from these expenses, says an
intimate friend of the lady, she dis
Iposes of fifty-five, and perhaps sixty
five, thousand dollars a year On purely
personal matters. The fashionable
modistes, furriers and milliners, and
all classes of tradespeople who have
dealings with the swagger set, would
rather see Mrs. Havemeyer enter their
places of business than a dozen ordi-
nary rich women.
She has the reputation of having
never been known to ask the price of
any article in store. If she fancies
it she says ''Send it home" Those are
golden words to the shop-keeper. 1t is
not only small things that she buys in
the way. She purchased a $1,000 fur
opera cloak without knowing or ask
ling the price and footed the bill with
out question. None of the trades
men impose upon Mrs. Hayemeyer be-
cause of this popularity.
Her custom is too valuable to jeop-
ardize it by overcharging.
Mrs. Havemeyer is fond Of flowers.
She buys lavishly, and has spent as
much as 5000 for great basket of
orchids. She also shows great ingenu-
ity in devising schemes for spending
money so that her friends will benefit
by it Last Christmas she had Santa
Claus party at which there were sew
enty five guests. There was dancing.
and Christmas tree hung with sew
enty-fiva gifts, every one being a
itrinket of gold. Some of these were
set with jewels, and this little fad did
not cost Mrs. Havemeyer much less
THAN $4,000.
Mrs Fred. Vanderbilt goes less into
society than any of the wives of the
Vanderbilt men. She enjoys pin
money to the tune of fifty thousand
q year. Comparatively little of it is
spent upon herself or in frivolous
Things.
Mrs Fred Vanderbilt is woman
who does a vast amount of good. in
the cause of charity. Unlike other
rich women. she does not conduct her
philanthropy through agents. She
does the work herself, and she has the
healthy satisfaction of knowing that
/ 1T is well done.
| Three afternoons in t''s week, when
she is in town, and lille her friends
are fitting from one fashionable func-
ton to another, Mrs. Vanderbilt drives
about the tenement-house districts,
with a companion, visiting the homes
of the poor and giving literally when
a really deserving case has been en-
countered.
Mrs. Willie X. Vanderbilt, whose
troubles with her husband have occupi-
ed the attention of the two continents
| for the past six months, is one Of the
heaviest spenders among the fashion
able women of the day. 1t is believed
that Mrs. Willie x. spends fully $780,
1000 a year ON trifes. 1t was her ter
rife extravaganza which widened the
breach between herself and her hus-
band. Mr.. Vanderbilt has fortune
of eighty millions and an income of
| four millions year. He spends more
than any other millionaire in the
country.
As an example of Mrs. Vanderbilt's
qualities as spender, the final straw
that broke the camels back-otherwis
Mr.. Vanderbilt's good nature-the fol-
lowing is timely illustration. 1t oc-
CURED when she and her husband
We're at the Continental hotel in Paris,
just before they separated. Mrs. Van
derbilt did not like her apartments or
the furnishings, so she engaged an
entire floor of the big hotel, and then,
to the surprise of all Paris, had it
completely refurnished at her own
cost. AS she was going to remain in
Paris only six weeks, this was regard
ed as one of the greatest pieces of ex-
travagance in the history of the
! French capital. The furnishings of
the floor cost in the neighborhood of
175,OOO francs, and the weekly hotel
bill of the Vanderbilt party amounted
to $1,000 francs.
When the troubles of the Willie X.
Vanderbilts We're being compromised
Mrs. Vanderbilt asked for an allow
ance of 100000 a year
Mrs. John Jacob Astor spends about
FORTY thousand year in pin money.
Mrs. Astor has a great fondness for
diamond jewelry, and she probably
Possesses the greatest number of dia-
mond trinkets of any woman in New
York society. She makes regular
tours of all the oraat iaueIr.v ,ssta h,