The morning times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-01
SMELLS MHlRED SUITS
Renting Of Clothes for Full Dress
AfffaIlls-a Specially.
GOOD DEAL OF IT DONE HERE
Impecuniousl But Socially Ambitious
Young Government Clerks Among
the Best Observation-Disclosures Do
Their Principal Business in This
Line During the Social Season.

HOW many dress suits 40 you guess
there are in that room that don't belong
to the wearers?r asked a young man Of
his companion as the two came out of a
ballroom few evenings ago. The compan-
ion had not calculated the subject and con-
.sequently didn't know.
The query caused Times reporter to in
vestigate and he learned that there was
much truth In what the gay dancer had
said. 1t has now become so common to
| see the advertisement, Dress suits 10 hire
| in the newspapers that people no longer
| take loops in their breath as they read over
the column The sign over shop door may
be seen In half dozen places in Washing
| ton.
OF course, very much depends upon the
| locality of the BAH or function whether
there be many or few rented dress suits on
the backs of the male aggregation. There
are indeed, few places where at least one
| full dress suit, not the wearer's property.
cannot be found.
The dress-suit-renting industry is profit
able one. When the reporter stepped un-
der one of the signs mentioned above, and
| found himself in a not overclean nor over
light and cheerfuIlittle room, the proprietor
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. todispense informationa
ne would have been to try on dress suit.
SHORT SEASON FOR BUSINESS.
''Oh, business is pretty good, pretty
good he said, but you know, we must
make hay while the sun shines. There are
only about four months of the year when
there is any considerable demand for dress
suits. There are few weddings in the fall
and weddings and commandments in the
| spring. III the summer there Is no demand
at ALL
A dress suit rents from $3.50 to So
night. The price depends upon the suit and
upon the occasion. There are times when
neither the realms currency nor any guam
| tity OF affection will secure the services of
| a suit because the demand is too great.
Some OF the Washington dress-suit renters
VIII, during the busy season, dispose of half
"a dozen suits Oh anaverage during night.
| A [ times, however, the demand will run up
like the mercury in aahermometer in the mid
die OF a day in August. The most opulent
dealers carry stock OF from fifty to seven
| ty-fiye suits. sG
Where do you gather the suits you rent?"
! asked the reporter!f
"Ah, that's PERSONAL" replied the man
| ager of the enterprise with a shrug of his
| shoulders.
1t happens almost every day that some
man resolves TO go into "A perpetual Lent
and bid the tful-dress- wearing pleasures
Of the world q long farewell. He Will fold
his dress suit away neatly with the thought
that somebody w4H come along and give
him $50 for the garments he paid $50 for
and did not wear more than eight times
altogether.
A year will probably pass, during which
the owner of the suit will have packed that
dress suit in the trunk and in some other
place at least three OF four times and he is
ready to take SO or $50 less for it than
he was year ago. a few months later
his only ambition is Ito get rid OF that
suit at any price.
SEEKS THE OLD CLOTHES MAN.
Then it is that he sees the advertisemen
of the second hand clothing men who are
glad to pay almost any price for a few
cast-off garments. The result is that the
secondhand dealer gets the suit for the
very lowest figure he can. 1t would prob
ably be uDheard of to think of his pa wing
more tIan $12 for a suit while the avera ge
price will hover about So.
The secondhand dealer then sells them
to the man " no rents dress suits at an adj
vance of from So to SO. A few suits are
probably bought from bankrupt clothing
sales, but they are very few, for dress suits
as a rule are not disposed OF in such guam.
titles.
You see, balls are the places from which
we derive the greatest revenue" went on
the man, after skipping he financial END
of the business. 1T is a poor social af
fair, indeed. and especially i'll Washing
ton. where most OF the men. anyhow, dc
not go in full dress. There is scarcely a
night during the winter that there ISM
at least one ball
THOSE WHO RENT SUITS.