The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-09-20
iSt4UUiP!rRagnos4 'h1'
FORTUNES SPENT eY the BIG
5 STORES M SUPPLYING THEM.

STORES IN SUPPLYING THEM.
+ ~,:t :rE "ii. L..u.-- HtHtiiN 3iI
Few People Realize The Extsns 6sf the
sampling Departments in the Modern
Retail Dry Goods shops - 1t Has Be-
como q Great Factor in the Trade.
Ten big retail dry goods houses IN
down town Chicago send out every
year 100000 yards of wooden dress
goods, representing a retail price OF Is
cents g. yard, and -enly that an indf-
vidual customer may safety herself
as to what is being worn, 0r-fn one
ease out OF ffive-that she may order
a dress pattern from one Of these sam
pies. Eighty thousands yards Of silk
aFernt in psmintEH tf1a94 zs4uares
apd i pafallstgran4. eahh 4 retail
bss tsa9o aEy@f,lz bel ten
stores. Aud on the top OF this. nearly
every line Of goods In a house suffers
from the shears of the sample cutting
department, aggregating In these ten
stores more than $3.50, 900 d year. These
totals ampAnt Of s3l5,o0GIn !
And in the face of these figures 1t
may be said that the sample craze, !"
as it existed in the time of the crazy
quilt. is virtually a dead fad.i :, ~. ! j
Few people realize the extent Of the
sampling department Of the modern
retail -dry-geeds-h house. Fewer still
realize that when a bolt of dress goods
comes into the hofst fnf s4f9hsf,
the first thing done with 1t q to snip
off full yarb from the bo1Tranging
faoF fYngevh f. sfg yd ids, and
runs longer than this. AS much Of
this goods . fifty-fQur II sixty inchls
Nfpd fkehterageSo4 III hrd ID t4e
bolt is f0w, as is the price fixed at Is
cents. . Frem one-third to sne-half
I1 nj yt't Rn:<9 6 ssns,n TO
up these. clippings they are punched
afcordiak SHvY and without ref
There may be ten strips from as
many xpisGss of goods. the whole bunch
bad ldkeE her by tag on which the
cost priceAs marked. The manager Of
the cutting depaFqRepl FeiaiEes et p!
and with some general directions the
goods are turned over to the boy. who
is to do the cutting, The average
width of the strips into which this cloth,
is cut us IA inches, and the average
length Of the samples cit from1these
strips is#tHes iecAeA- efore qtting
lnO sstaoAs AhsL Strips III cloth per-
haps six deep are stuck through with
the pins Of the price tag and at the In
terKal Of threesinchess Thsn the AeiR
are cut aerosssjdN a16vethe tag: =
Thus the manager Of the departmek
has on the table before htp the little
hpaehes qfrloth of various 16ates arp
eqlpfa bht1of uniformsrce: Th4k
ase Iai5ed as to uatkta, also. %
that a person familtf rTith goods ND b
{tplain just. what Kind of goods she
wants, anfsQut OF the AeectiQR u
shades ana cdrs sent to hYf ATmV
choose some ling to suit her. Cutting
these goods Oh another scale for dres b
makers, the samples sent ont are 3 1t
in1hes. and frequently in some good
she shape of the sxmbI, balt &c als
Tered in order to show the noveld
pa p$f pf Fin points through
xix or eight thicknesses of wooden dresl
goods is easy. but to lsttck then.
through as many pieces of cottoT
goods is an2tlhseff task. a1d ipIoqrer y
into a cake of soap before him, tffJ
loap iacting as lubricant withol
5reasfng the samples. The tag whicH
is pierced by these, pins points and a
held 10 place. bear the name Of the
Fry goods firm in miniature, and on ID
80 &c Ra IS r. r1ae 1ed Etd1e 9 ~
There are Chicago houses which
rave a steady call for these Samples
ROM AtsihF Eca4o1nis md from
1anadatoahk d4lf Il nenc6. i fill-
ng these requests. too. envelopes
Weighing one to eight -eunces, are sent
,t, fhs pfefaeg B4ng about four
ounces at one cent an ounce. AS a
reaction from the times Of
he crazy quilt" about one-fifth Of
heze sEmdesgseAtl qDti cgmG hh9lt6
fe hou e send ing tfepf ThreiS sell
Iom any request made that this be
lone, and there are few of these sam
lies that are of any use to the house
when they have come back. There are
wo reasons for It'll First, the sam
lies. have been tossed and fingered 20 j
p ldhI t4at. heys ard hta EDresinaible.
md, on the other hand, many pieces
by samples that my have
,one out four weeks Before, already {
lfve been spld QUIZ RI FRI |
A few hopS9f Man Sind cut silks 1
rrom "a saMhphfssc&t,fhs depaffths{t,
owever, ask for their return, on pain
+ not sending outlA III H48{it !
he he4ses next extkbSd4 SM A61t !
sAA hoyeYef. Wv. gamples are cut
t the retS RbH .1dfftfa and sent up
o the mailing room, and when SO cut /
As sSl6 snaan below cuts hiS max into /
he samples in such 2 way as not. only /
o idepufy it. but ~ 5foal 4 ppl ~ /
nv aY1lting bee. IN SPITE 81 the
arge piece Of goods. cut especially for /