The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-01-22
THE PRESIDENTS INA UGURA TIoN
SUIT.

SUIT.
Our esteemed and usually oomplacent
contemporary, the Newport News. relieves
itselt OF some quite remarSablo thoughts
with regard to the President elects in
augnration suit OF clothes and declares
that "the most silly thing that Major
McKINIEY has dono" (pray, has he been
making it practice to do silly things?)
sis the ostentatious announcement that
he has ordered new suit OF clothes for
inauguration day and that they w ere to
be American as to both material and
/ make up" And furthermore, ''it is
doubtful II any other high public func-
tionary within the bounds OF civilization
ever condescended TO sueh smsll poll
tics"
We very much doubt II Major McKIN-
LEY was at pains to promulgate the infor-
nation as TO the Inauguration salt about
which so much has been written. In
these days OF trivial journalism IL was
not at ell possible that we should be per-
mitted 10 inaugurate President without
being fully Informed as to the kind of
clothes he wore and the complete details
as 10 his hat, shoes, necktie, the cut OF
bis hair and the cut of his jib, generally
speaking. AS to this particular suit, made
OF cloth from an American factory and
built by Cleveland tailor-by the way
what's the matter with the Canton |
tailors?-it is more than probsh shle that |
the early information has come from the |
manufactures or the tailor or most any
body that you can imagine rather than
from the PreideDt-elect who is proven
bially close-mouthed as to anything
pertaining to his own personality and
has, before now, given evidence of the
possession OF the utmost good taste in
talking about himself, though some
seventy millions OF people betrsy vast
deal of interest in everything about him.
And it is furthermore probable that the
information secured, resulted from most
eager and persistent research on the
part OF the newspaper men in response to
a general public demand TO know all that
there Is to find out about everything
that has to do with the President-eIeot.
We doubt IL any press bureau has been at
all necessary for the dissemination of this
news.
But aside from the question of good
taste, charge against which our Newport {
namesake lays at the door OF the Pres,-
ii strikes us as emineltly right
and proper that the President-elect
should rig himself out upon the impor-
tant occasion, and upon all other occa-
sions, in American built clotn and
clothes, providing he can find anything
n.the country at all wearable, as he un- )
ioubtedly can. There was time when !
American statesmen and prominent citi-
ems were proud to wear the homespun :,
Ind for the public good took pains to /
nave it known that they did not 20 a
broad for their togs. or late years, al
hougn American homespun has vastly
in quality. there has developed
mother class who have boasted that their
lothes are made in England, and quite o
considerable number Of our fellow citi- :
ems are quite willing to have it known
hat they select only English cloths at
heir tailors, while the tradesmen, incIud- 81
ng the custom tailor and the "ready to a.
rear" dealer, flourish their trumpets in
ehalf of the imported material that goes n
ITO the outfits they produce. Public
sntiment has been much confused and
isturbed thereby and we have no doubt n
hat the loss to American manufacturers ~
lrough the cultivation of the foreign c
lea in wearing apparel has amounted to
undreds and thousands OF dollars. We J.
lay be called silly TO associate any idea OF @,
atriotism with the matter of clothes but
be practical business factor involve1 is -
rely not to be jeered down. After all. +!
striotism usually has a more than senti. in
entsl basls, as il had when the revolu- III
onary leaders wore homespun to snub v.
he mother country, to deprive il OF
venue and to encourage home industry. ]
nder the Wilson-Gorman teriB, the ready co
ade clothing trade, at least, has been
ooded with shoddy and we know one
gh-minded clothing dealer in this ye
wn who was anxious to lead move se
ent to inspire his customers to buy IN
llv al Of 4 In