The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-20
THE POOR RELATIONS NOSE.
SECONDHAND CLOTHES BUREAU
PUTS 1T OUT OF JOINT.


Are Slightly Damaged, and After
Refreshing Them n Bit, Sell for
Moderate Prices-It Has Grown to
BE Big Business in All the Big
cities, and Thousands of People in
and Out of Society Are Enabled to
Dress Well Through These ASen-
cies.
New York, Aug. 1S.-The poor relations
nose is out of joint. The Secondhand Bu-
reaus agent scoops in everything worth
while, and the simple folks down to the
Vineyard or up to Cooperstown never get
50 much as a Whit or a shifting of their
fine relations wardrobe Business peo-
pie of perception, keen for the main chance
and alive to possibilities, have got hold
of the secondhand clothing trade and are
fast altering its repute. The junk deal
ers and cheese pairing lack-wits still carry
on their picayune commission business in
back alleys and smeared window shops,
offering crumpled up, bedraggled garments
to an unknOW1ng and easily pleased Glen
tele, but the backbone of the trade that
has big profit in it. has sone up into Eek
elusive accommodation fats and biz
mirrored business parlors in nice locations,
where nobody need be ashamed to go, or
feel conjunction at buying. If the poor
relation and his tribe could visit some Of
these establishments, they would realize
that they were out of il once and for all
Now. there are art galleries" went on
the auctioneer. 1--WE sell rare mosaics.
Carracca marbles, OIL paintings Venus
Martin cabinets and rich brc-a-brac. But
this morning ! sold fifty hats and bonnets
the stock of a retiring first rank milliner
and twenty-five lots of secondhand silk
lined gowns and wraps, dinner, ball and
street costumes, the real creations of
wOrld-famous modistes You saw that
tail, rather Observation-Disclosures woman
who went out a moment ago? She wouldn't
strike one as a secondhand clothes deal
err would she? But she BID in nearly the
whole consignment, and she'll make
pretty figure out of it. and make a num-
Der Of clients happy as the result of her
mornings work. That woman has as many
staff assistants at her beck and call as
any systematic business plant In Chicago
or Philadelphia, or any Old town. She
doesn't confine her operations to one To-
caity or to two or three. She goes about
things in a dignified, matter-of-course way
that allays scruples and assures her
trade
" Transactions confidential is prefaced
with an asterisk at the foot of her an
nouncement cards-cards that she sees to
it reach the right people, and she has
dressmakers, cleaners and remodelers ali
ready and at hand, and strategic ways for
disposing of her goods that
would do credit TO great gen
eral or a skilled diplomat 1 know
of four or five other notably successful
secondhand dealers in various parts. The
l.. l-e4s.x
with people too wide awake to be taken
in. The rising mark of luxury has put
a distinct commercial value on clothes.
A dress made of the best silk or cloth
that can be found and lined, trimmed
and fitted out with costly material, has
always value. The same thing with good
| iewelry that is a little old-fasniOned, with
| dimity, linen and fine white goods only
needing making over TO be as serviceable
| as ever; with shoes a trite off the latest
| Zip, but scarcely worn, with opera cloaks
| and furs only needing the cleaners and
| remodeler's good gracc1 with flannels
| slightly shrunken and worn bun good for
a long time stiu All these the dealer
| turns to good account, putting the best
| foremost and choosing the right clientei
| TO show them 10. a fashionable woman
| now has to have so many and varously
| assorted appointments for different func-
| tons, and must needs comply so strictly
]
| a chance 10 wear out before being thrown
| aside, and. moreover, they are so costly
| and those that must replace them are SO
| costly, that any hard cash put in the
| owners hand on their account is not TO
| be shifted at The second hand dealer has
| evolved from these conditions; and TO
bring the people who could use these cast
offs in sight and touch of the bargains
is easy enough to those who know how"
How They Advertise.
"a 6ady suddenly called into mourning,
! having distinctive new costumes, made by
! first-class artists. will dispose of same at
| half value seen between 9 and D. second
moor apartment, No. 5l9 Blank street" viii
be the announcement in the For Sale"
column of a prominent daily. No. $40 is in
| a good neishboIhOod; the lady called into
mourning must be fashionable person.
| with things worth seeing, the readers con-
| Guide They go to see and price; madame
! knows how 10 display her goods. The lady
in mourning does not, of course, appear,
and the cleansed and remodeled costumes
from the art galleries sale find buyers.
Lady gong abroad for a year will sell
her scarcely used outfit of costly wraps
and gowns all bearing trademarks of well
known Makers .. is another private sale
announce meut issuing from the same
source. The address in this case proves
to be the parlors of well established dress
| maker. the dIIG-ue-cblflD WHO GSSiS t6l IN
the refurbshng, refining and putting in
order of the garments.
In the Sales Rooms.
That's an Arnaud gown worth $500. The
price now 800, says madam as the fine
figured young woman model reVolves slow
ly in order to show off a superb peach
blow satin, en- train and trimmed with ef-
= leQtve lace and floats of ribbons. Madam S
customer knows good stuff when she sees
it. She knows when dress is built on good
rnes, and although she may not swallow
the entire $500 fable, she realizes that when
madam has dropped $25 off the $95, she
will be getting the worth of her money
She sits down in a rocker to think il over
while an attendant brings her a p,ck-me-
up and gets ready to show off other bar
gains. The women who go 10 overhaul
price and size up madams wares are Of
the sort who would never buy cheap things
in a shop and who never wear cheaI
clothes, however plain, but who, although
ambitious, are limited in means and have
10 exert alla heir energies in making out