Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-04-27
WOMAN'S WORLD. .
SOMETHING ABOUT SILKS.
They Were Never So Cheap and There
Were Never So Many of Them.

| SOWG HOOOi SlGNSs
They Were Never So Cheap and There
Were Never So Many of Them.
"It is a funny thing about silks this
season, said the silk man. cat one
time you could say that such and such
silk was in fashion because all the
women were buying that kind, but it
isn't that way now. Women are buy
ing everything under the sun in the
way of silks. There are brocades,
small patterned silks, stripes-every-
thing; we can't say that we are selling
more of one kind than another, be-
cause we sell them all.
"Women like something different?'
Well, I guess you are about right
there. I had woman come in the
other day and say that her sister had
bought such and such kind of silk
at another shop, and she wanted q
silk, but that it must be entirely diff
ferent. Well, showed her everything
there was in the shop, but the trouble
was she didn't know what she did
want, except that 1t must be different
from anything she had ever seen.
That is the way it is. At one time a
man had his regular customers, who
would always come to him for what
they wanted, and he could always sup
ply them. But it is not so now. A
woman comes in and looks everything
all over, and then-takes q sample. 1t
is hard on man who is Judged by the
sales he makes, and the firm thinks he
is no good if he can't sell.
"Why, / can remember the time.
when L went into the business as a
boy, that women were perfectly well
satisfied if they had only few kinds
OF silk to select from, say brown and
a green and blue and few colors
like that. Now you can't get up new
things fast enough for them and they
are not satisfied at that. With the
competition, it means a great deal
You can't have few pieces of GER
tain kind of silk on hand, and where
there is greater variety and larger
stock there is more danger of loss.
"Take light silks. At one time
silks that were used for house wear in
the winter would do for outdoor
spring and summer wear But there
is nothing of that kind now. We have
special variety of silk for the spring
trade. Silks never were so cheap
Last year they were cheaper than they
ever had been in the history of the
trade. If woman doesn't have a silk
gown nowadays, it is because she is
too particular to find anything that
suits her. Women are doing less of
their own shopping now than they
used to. They leave more of that to
their dressmakers now. Think of e
girl letting any one buy her wedding
gown few years agol She and all
the members of her family would make
a business of shopping for it, but
there is nothing of that kind now
Perhaps there is just as much senti-
ment, but the bride simply tells her
dressmaker what she wants, and she
gets the goods, possibly sample
first, if the girl has great deal to say
! about her gowns, but more likely she
will not see it until the material is in
the house. Things are different,
and we all feel it. The competition is
so great that the salaries of the clerks
are not half what they were, and now,
where man would number of years
ago have had a small shop of his own
and make enough to support his fam
lily comfortably, he has to take half
the money in the employ of some one
else. Oh, yes, women spend more
money than they did, but they have
more things for which to spend IT,
New York Times.