The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-02-05

dred dollars. which would consume as
many weeks of a woman's time In Sc
lection, is made in as offhand a manner
as the purchase of a cigar.
Marshall Field is a bit hard to suit.
he says the London tailoTs can make
nothing except frock coats, and he buys
the greater portion of his clothing in
Chicago But he bestoWs more care
and attention upon the selection of a
suit of clothing than he often does upon
100000 purchase of dry goods. He
examines the samples carefully. dis
cusses their appearance and comparison
with his tailor and finally selects one
winch is sure to be in excellent taste.
Mr.. Field is one of the best dressers in
chicago and buys many suits of clothes
IN the course of year and on each one
ne expends considerable time and care
IN the selection of a pattern.
1t was the boast of General Terrence
mat he was the best dressed man in
Chicago and if quantity counted in the
comparison he doubtless was. 1t was
MS custom to order 10 or IL suits of
clothing at a time, and his annual tailor
PHI was between $4,000 and 81 900. He
too had a most rema rkable taste in the
selection of materials, and his tailor has
declared that he would with perfect
confidence have let General Terrence
select his stock in the London market.
The materials from which his clothing
was made We're selected from samples
sent by London houses and imported
especially for him, 50 that he always
had exclusive patterns. He was inordi-
nately fond of fine clothing and, of
course, wore several suits in the course
of day. He was not hard to satisfy,
owing to the arrangement made with
his tailor, as he selected his own pref
erences from the sample books sent him
as rapidly as they arrived from Lon
don
The hardest men to suit said a
fashionable tailor, ARE travelling men
for dry goods houses and in other lines
of trade, men whom one would think
would be easy to cater to. Their con-
slant experience with country mer-
chants who paw over a trunkful of
samples and spend all day talking be-
fore they buy $50 worth of goods should
disgust them with this manner of deal
ing, but 1T seems to me that when they
come into a tailor shop they want to
adopt the same tactics. They look all
through the samples, discuss the tex
ture of every piece of goods and take
up half hour or so of mans time
about the selection of a suit of clothing.
Men who have plenty of money are
usually the best customers. They leave
things largely To the tailor, having con-
fidence in his judgment of goods and
taste as to patterns. With firSt-class
trade, of course, this is possible. When
a man comes to know a tailor and has
his clothing made at the same place for
years he realizes that the tailor knows
a whole lot more about the matter than
he does, and usually accepts whatever
pattern the tailor considers suitable for
him.
But there are rules about it. Men
exhibit as many different traits in or
dering their clothes as in any of the
other avocations of life. 1t is not the
rich men nor the poor men who are
easiest to handle. There are some of
both classes who are hard to suit and
some who order clothing as they do
their dinner at a restaurant. Men who
buy but one or two suits a year. of
course, would be inclined to look little
more closely to the quality and price of
the goods than men with bank rolls,
who can afford to give a suit TO their
coachman if it doesn't happen to please
them after il is made up. AS / have
said. we have more trouble with the
class OF men you would expect the least
from--traveling mcmillan with any
others. They are more particular and
do more talking and examining of goods
and prices than men who have never
been bored by that sort of thing on the
part of country merchants"
Another tailor declared that the craze
for clothes made in England was not
at all shared by wealthy men who made
annual trips to the other side, as the
cheap clothing made in London is much
like the cheap clothing made here. He
declares that the suits of clothing and
overcoats proudly exhibited by amateur
tourists. which they got for SIS or $40 in
London could be purchased for trifie
over that price in Chicago while If the
higher class of goods is desired high
prices must be paid in London, closely
approximating those paid in this coun-
Try.
A story is told of Pierre Lorllard, the
tobacco prince, to the effect that he
once dropped into his tailor's i'll Phila-
delphia and said he wanted some trou-
sers. The tailor unfolded a card with
- samples of trouserings upon it and
asked him to make a selection.
"Oh, l don't know what | want, said
Pierre make EN- all up.
But they don't do that sort of thing
in Chicago. Unfortunately for the re-
tail trade the men who order a score of
trousers at a clip are few and far be-
tween and an order for half dozen
suits of clothing at a time is excep-
tional.