The evening times., 1898-09-05
CUBAN FLAGS AT A DISCOUNT.
Old Glory the Only Hammer TO En-
thuse Americana.

New York, Sept. 5-There are others
besides the soldiers of the American ar
my who suffered the pangs of hunger and
even died for want of medical atter-tion.
who have come to grief because of the
war with Spain. They belong TO a class
of spectators and manufacturers who
remembering the fortunes made during
the civil war in flags and bunting saw
visions of wealth in the manufacture and
/ sale OF flags or rather fiag-the Cuban
flag. The lone star emblem, however, did
not prove popular and in a very short
while the single star emblem as a fad
went down the toboggan slide with a
rush which there was no resisting and
( then there was a slump in the Cuban
/ flag market which brought grief and
great loss TO many.
II. Z. Bloch. of the American Flag
Company says that his concern was kept
I busy for weeks making millions of these
/ emblems. Cuban flags" he said were
4 worth a good price. We made them in
( all sizes, from the wee things that retail
/ ed in the candy shops for one cent each
to large beautiful silk flags. We ship
ped them to all parts of the country and
J
and put as many people to work as our
machines would accommodate we could
not deliver the goods fast enough. Every
day brought dozens of telegraphic orders
/ for Cuban flags, and in order to keep all
/ our customers satisfied we had to reduce
many large orders SO that smaller pur-
! chasers could be served. But il was only
! the first orders that our customers made
a fuss about, and l dare say that, with
I t,o -fr,, Of oh La,
! tenths of the Cuban flags are still in the
hands of merchants who would be willing
| to sell them at 50 cents OH the dollar
| The merchants who only short time ago
| telegraphed to have their goods rushed
! now write asking us to exchange the
| Cuban flags for American colors, and the
average proposition is ten Cuban flags
Tor one American.
But the Cuban flag is less hopeless as
a piece of merchandise than the Ha-
waiian colors. All flag concerns had to
keep them because the Hawaiians used
flags to decorate their houses quite ex-
tensively. But the annexation of the
islands made the flags even less valua-
BILE than the Cuban colors.'
The unpopularity of the Cuban flag was
demonstrated one day last week in a lit
tie saloon on Staten Island, where sailors
from the warships gathered to wash the
santiago smoke out OF tnelr thr0atS. The
place was crowded with sailors, and cir
culating abong them were catchpenny
traders who offered all sorts of articles
for sale. Among these was a young man
with a stock of handkerchief boxes. The
top box was open, and showed q neatly
folded silk handkerchief. The salesman
| called attention to his wares, and in true
huckster style told of the superior quail
! ty of the handkerchiefs. And look al
that" he said, holding one up to display
an embroidered corner, "a Cuban flag or
| every one
What yelled a barefooted sailor
| who had evidently washed his throat oft
/ en- and thoroughly to judge by his voice
and his somewhat unsteady step. What
a Cuban flag! Not for us. Give us {
good American flag and well go you, bu
| none of that A chorus of voices indors
ed the sentiment. some of the remark.
being more sailor-like than parliamen
tary. The salesman insisted on adver
| tising his Cuban flag handkerchiefs, anC
presently large glass of beer got mix
ed up with the stock of goods, and tn,
salesman gathered up his beer-soaket
stock of goods and departed, fully con
WINGED that all American sailors are no
enthusiastic admirers of the Cuban flag.