Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1897-05-15
AN OLD CLOTHES EXCHANGE:
One of the Queerest Institutions In
New York City.


New York City.
1t Is estimated that 10000 old hats. |
coats, vests. shoes, pants, dresses.
wraps. babies and cliildren's belong
ilgs are discarded every day in the
week by the 5000 of people who make
up the population of Greater New York
and vicinity. and % per cent. of the
cast-offs find their way eventually into
the dirty and dingy quarters centering
on Bayard street from the Bowery to
Mott street.
Only a small proportion of this dis
cnr,lcd clothing is wasted. Most of II
Is redeemed from ash barrels or pur-
chased by the old clothes men. and !.
then finds its way to one Of the queer
est of New York's institutions, the old
clothes exchange.
The seller is Il very sharp parsonage,
indeed. He Is the gentleman who PODS
industrlously through the uptown
streets with large bag on his slloul-
der or under his arm, according to the
extent of its holdings. Ills far-reach-
ing cry, Cash for Of clo'e," Is pleasant
music to the ear of the iinanciering
servant girl to whom the cast-Oifs Of
the family have descended. She haults
out her worn valuablcs. and beats the
price up while the buyer beats II down.
Naturally. 1t would seem that they
| would be getting further away from
| each other all the time by the exercise
| Of this process, but eventually their
! views reach the trading point. and the
| collector gets mass of garments
which. perhaps, originally cost $50 or
$50 for IS cents.
Two or three visits of this kind III
his bag. and then he is ready for the
trip downtown. The Stock Exchange
opens ut 10 o'clock and closes ut 3. but
the Hand Me- Down Exchange does not
open until 4. and business keeps up un-
til 3 or D mt night.
Uptown the collector devotes his clio.
puencc TO picturing the many faults of
the clothing; downtown he Is n regular
Chauncey NJ. Dcpew In his OratOrlcal
ability to uphold their virtues. But the
buyer long agO graduated from the col.
lecting school, and he Is not to DC fooled
by eloquence. He has little to say; In
fact, he says nothing.
The collector places his bag on the
ground ana tells what he has to sell
The buyers face Is as mOtiOnlcss as the
wooden table on which he leans. re
even look ut the bag would be II sign
Of weakness. He gazes steadily ut some
object on the wall. never allowing hi,
eyes to shift In any other direction
All the time the collector Is talking the
buyer has the look Of wooden man
even when the price Is mentioned not q
culver Of interest passes over his face
Five minutes may have passed and thu
dealer has given no sign Of life.
The collector picks up his bag AM
walks to the next buyer. Then tin
same performance Is gone over. From
buyer to buyer the collector goes.
Finally he strikes n man who say
Lets see them" The bag Is opened
and piece by piece the treasures ar
produced. Over each one there II
tremendous amount Of hnggling. Som
OF the other dealers cluster around
and they Join forces to beat the price
down. The actual process Of sellin
consumes a good hour. while consider
ably more than that time was spen
: In the preliminary work. Each buyc
stacks up his purchases In a separat
heap. The collectors troop In one b.
one. ana each goes through the sam
performance.
The profits Of the business are not t
he sneezed at. The clothes which tn
collector gathered may have cost hin
81 and he sells them for about 81. tn
buyers are mostly the second ham
dealers Of 1.-THE Bay" otherwise Baxte
street. a suit of clothes for which tn
collector originally paid 10 cents, an
which the dealer secured for 70 cents
IL finally sold for $3.50 or -. after
has been furnished up at an expense q
z 80 cents for material and labor.