Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-02-07
SHE MADE A FORTUNE.
Originator of Silk Skirt Scheme is
Mrs. John A. Chambers.


Mrs. John A. Chambers.
A remarkably clever woman, who
has made a fortune by the exercise of
her own ingenuity and ability, has
been visiting in Syracuse. She is
Mrs. John A. Chambers, known in
every state of the Union as the origi-
nator of the coupon silk skirt chain.
Only a few years ago Mrs. Cham
bers was a Syracuse dressmaker She
went out to sew at $1.25 day, and her
husband was an employee of the Electric
Light Power company. Now she is
worth in the neighborhood of $4,000,
and is rated in Bradstreet's as a bust
ness woman of recognized standing.
The astonishing feature in her story,
too, is that her money was made in
less than year. OF the coupon silk
skirts almost every woman has heard,
If she is not herself wearing one. Mrs
Chambers started them. 1t was in
about 1893 that she removed from
Syracuse to Watertown. There she
was at first employed as a forewoman
in a dressmaking shop, and later
opened an establishment of her own,
where she employed number of girls.
Only year age last spring the in
spiration for the silk skirt scheme
came to her. She got her coupons
printed and put them on the market.
The thing took like wildfire, and
hundreds of women in Syracuse and
oil he al
There was the maddest sort of rush
after the skirts. The coupons came
in books which contained five apiece.
You paid $1.G5 for a book and sold its
coupons to others at 25 cents each.
The holders of these coupons were
selves. When they had fulfilled that
requirement Mrs. Chambers was in
receipt of 1925, and your silk skirt
was promptly forwarded to you. 1t
had cost you only the % cents which
you paid for your first coupon, as the
s1.25 which you advanced for your
book was reimbursed for by selling its
contents to other coupon buyers.
There was such a demand for skirts
as the unpretentious little dressmaker
had never dreamed of An immense
volume of business poured in on her
and she was obliged to open branch
headquarters in Chicago and Kansas
City. By and by, also, she started
silk waists on the coupon system, and
they went almost equally as we'll In
some of the western states there was
an attempt made to prove the scheme
illegal. In Chicago they tried to ar
rest her manager, but all efforts to
break the chain that now reached
across the continent failed. 1t was
within the letter of the law.
IN the few months from May to
September Mrs. Chambers mad been
fairly coming money. She had made
thousands more than she had ever an
ticipated earning in a whole life
time before.
Just about year ago she had an
offer from a man who wanted to buy
out her business. She thought it
over and accepted She sold out her
silk waist system for $4,000 and her
SAAN ohAAN ~ III R-VtNNNs AheAhAAo
clear $4,000. She then signed a
contract with the man TO work in his
employ as manager of the business at
$4,000 year.
But the wonderful boom was past.
So many women from Maine to Cali
fornia were clothed in silk skirts and
silk waists that coupons ceased to sell
as rapidly as they had at first. Some
bought books and couldn't dispose of
their contents and so the enthusiasm
waxed cold. The industry was no
longer the gold mine that it had once
been.
Mrs. Chambers got out of it and
took her fortune with her just in
time. She remained in the employ
of the man who bought it just six
months. Then she and her husband
went west, where they are now en-
gagged in starting a syndicate of and
10-cent stores.-Syracuse Post-Stand-
ard.