The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-17
PLANT OF THE OLD BARBER
CHANGES IN THE TRADE That HAVE
HIT HIM HARD.
The Reduction In the Size Of Tips, the "Cheap
Shave" and the Increased Number Of
Men who Shave Themselves-Thinga He
l,a.za..lala. IL

Complains of - Italians and Germans
Now Have n Monopoly of the Business.
Newspapers seldom mention us tonsorial artists
except " have fun with u.s." complained the re.
Elective barber and yet some changes have taken
place within the last twenty-five years which are
worthy Of serious consideration"
Name en-" gruntcd the fat man In the chair
We'll, 70 begin with. there was an artist in New
York who maize a fortune" continued the re0ec-
tive barber. That surely, is a departure from
tho old order Of things scrious and startling enough
70 pass beyond the palo OF ridiculc. Your hairs
getting thinner ON top. Better try q rub with
our Edlorescont Hair Compeller oh, about the
man who got rich. lie was Bavarian and
spoke no English He owned shop Of his own
downtown. not far from Wall street, and because
everything was clean although the shop was
modest enough, great many Of the swell crowd,
which IL 70 say, brokers and such, used TO come
To him for the removal Of their suporaous boards
and hair. lie was nice looking young fellow,
extremely quiet and reserved as are most all
tonsorial artists, although your comic papers
won't have Il 20; and as he did not speak English
the popular supposiuon among his customers
was that he did not understand it All he spoke
was German. and very little Of that
Nov. down in Wall street. there was a man
who never had tmc or money enough to 60 10
an ordinary tonsorial parlor and have his face
manipulated. because time money with him
and tho necessary fifteen minutes for q shave
he could cash In at about 800. So he was pleased
with modest no neutrality-suspicious. Fritz, ard
used 70 have him around TO his Office every morn
ing TO keep his beard under. II was snap for
Fritz, for the trick was worth 81 q shave, so he
made no moons about being called away from
his shop and paid great heed 70 tho Wall street
mans patronage
AS Fritz spoke no English the great Wall
street mans confidential clerk. or rather junior
partner. ] believe he was, used to come In at the
time appointed for shaving 70. a chat with the
boso about the business Of the day; and so tinan-
c!al schemea and transactions which meant thou
sands of dolara to those who understood English
were fully and freely discussed before Fritz But
Fritz had ears for the English language, even
II he couldn't express himself in that tongue.
In fact he understood English better than many
OF his countrymen who think they express them
selves fluently, but he was retcent on this point,
and the great Vail street man never knew one
day Fritz showed his modest savings into flyer
in the street. which flyer was founded on infor-
nation that had passed between his Wall street
patron and the Junior partner. 1t was a success,
50 he followed il up the next day. Within
year Fritz announced that he would abandon
the shaving OF others to allow others the pleas
TO Bavaria, he said, taking with him the s45, 900
OF $50, 900 he had accumulated in Wall street
And he did. l understand from the letters he
occasionally sends back to this country that he
is fairly adored millionaire, and that all the
tonsorial artists in Bavaria are trying 10 raise
the price of passage in the storage in .ordef
to come here and do Fritz did"
Anything else" enquifed the fat patron.
Il should say So but cheer up; the worst is to
come as they say in the vaudeville performances,
responded the reflective barber Just gaze upon
me You wouldn't think there was anything
remarkable about me. would you, at casual
glance But there is. am an American, and the
Americans in the tonsoral business in New York
40 few and far between that Our lot is a lonely
one. Formerly II was just the other way All the
business was In the hands Of the Americana
black and white. and the foreigner who tried TO
get in had mighty herd time Of it Perhaps
you have remarked this yourself How many
tonsorial parlors con you find today with an
American al their head. or even at the foot You
count them all on your fingers. III warrant,
and not bother the thumbs IN the calculation. It's
the same way with the oolored folks it is with
the white Formerly the great majority of white
tonsorial artists came from New England Native
New Workers and Western men never took kindly
to the art for some or other which is worth
chusetts and Connecticut came nine out of every
ten white tonsoral artists who worked in the
metropolis From the South came the colored
BARRIERS Down there IT was and is still a great
distinction for a negro TO be barber, and he was
elevated by his calling 10 high social plane
But presto like the swift extinction Of candle
in breeze both coIored and white artists have
disappeared Hardly outside of those sections
Of the CITY most frequented by negroes can you
find culcred tonsorial artist, and for shop
composed Of nothing but straight American ba r
bers that is something which positively does
not exist in New York to- day"
How many American BARRIERS do you think
there are here now
''Not NOR than two in every one hundred. and
as thsr. ar. $500 toasorial artists in New York
that estima,. gives only ninety Americans in
the entire lot Yes the tunsorial business has
radically changed in the last two decades Sev
enty five per cent OF the trade is in the hands
Of the Italians and Germans The Jews divide
the rest with the Frenchmcn and the handful
, Of Americans"
Can you explain the change
Well | don't know whether my own ideas
on the subject sufficiently lucid to convey
dirsct msaning to another mind" answe red the
reflective baro.., slowly. You see, the ton
sorlel business Is the only trade in which fol
tlcsshp A monkcy barber, as the beginner
Is styled in the vo-aacular, receives from So tt
| So O week and his grub, At first his duties are
to rush the towels around keep the chop brlgh
! and neat learn how to TEX, cars OF the razors
and strops AMI how TO latheI customers on busy
days After he has bsen in o shop for six months
| hc begins 70 shave customers Razors are pu
in his POSSESSION ard he is allowed to lie in wait
| for unsuspectng customers who wers never ex
| pectsd to com, in and who will certainly nevel
como again after tbs tyro has completed his full
course OF atrocities Neve. 60 into a strange
touso.el pa-lor and permit very young looking
and eager taced man to lay your face under con
| trbutlon Al the end Of yea! ard after he
has learned - shave without mutllating his
victim beyond rspaiE, ths novice bsg.ns to Gu
! hair, and within two years II he Is capable o.
learning anything h. should be finished ton
serial artist Then he begins to earn good wages
"How much does nc receive? From $40 10 ST.
! week, Tips are always 10 be counted on, a!
though they sometimes turn ort lie the chicken.
which are counted bc!o.s they are hatched Blu
! us,,ally Y r,I1 nj nat-opnlitap In,