The Savannah morning news., 1902-09-28


OF Quaker thrift bears an enviable
reputation. It is the center of the old
clothes trade in the East and by far
the best old clothes town in America
Why Philadelphia is the mecca Of
every ambitious old clothes man is ex-
planned by one of the largest local deal
ers:
Washington used to be a good sec
ondhand town, but it isn't any more.
Every mothers son there is a clerk,
places that makes 1t impossible for the
trickiest busheler alive to make 'em
look like new 1 refer to coat sleey es
and seat. So the old clothes men have
deserted the haunts of diplomat and
statesman, for they, like clerks, waste
no shoe leather in transacting business.
Baltimore is worse. The men there
wear their clothes too long. We can't
make rags over into old clothes. de-
spite popular belief.
"Pittsburg gets its clothes filed with
CRIME from the iron mills. Securing
and cleaning eat up profits. And Bos-
ton, with its big, strange words-Waist-
coat for vest and trousers for pants
-scares away the supplemented and
simple-tongued old clothes man.
AS for New York-well, New York
erS live in flats, and all old clothes men
are kicked out by bellboy and janitor
before they've had time to sneak up
the first flight of stairs. So New York
ers get liberal and give their old stuff
to the poor and needy.
Philadelphia Big Trade.
fertile field. It's easy TO get at There
are no flats. You ring a doorbell The
servant has standing instructions 10
hold every old clothes man who puts
in an appearance. The lady Of the
house greets you, and you see at once
that she has the Quaker thrift anc
love of bargain in her. She leads
YOU to a pile of stuff she's been collect
ing since the last man came her way.
How much?' she says. You feel the
stuff-a good old clothes man depends
more largely on his sense of touch than
sight-and you say: One twer ty-flve.'
Good bye she says. The clothes are
a pretty good lot, and you want them,
so you say, One fifty and not cent
more She shakes her head. Then
you show her the stains and the moth
holes and such like, and swear by all
sorts of things that you'll lose money
if you pay cent more. She's uncon-
WINGED. Two dollars she says. You
look grieved. Silence. Then the lady
speaks up: We'll, I can't waste the
whole day standing here. You may
have them for one seventy-five, or
leave them
You want those clothes because you |
know you can make twice one seventy |
five on them, so after some more bick- |
H. L. kI.,A
good old clothes man, you pay her one |
seventy-fve. Then you hunt up the |
other victims in the block, while the |
one seventy-f1ve lady looks proudly at |
the money and says to herself: I'll |
just show this to John when he comes |
home tonight and convince him that
he's got a thrifty and economical WIFE
Ard every woman's John in this town
isn't a clerk and he doesn't sit so much |
as a Washingtonian.
Nov you are into the secret why |
is the best town for our |
business, why it is overrun with buyers |
from Canal Hester and Baxter streets. |
in New York and from other large |
cities of the East, and why we ship a |
lot of stuff all over the map"
Figures in Detail.
Figures of Philadelphia's old clothes |
ITdQe are interesting. Inc invested |
capital aggregates $500 900.
There are, about 1000 fourishing re-
tail stores, and the average value Of |
their respective stocks is conservative |
ly placed by experts in the trade at |
s., 900. Each of a half dozen stores |
carries goods valued at $4,000 and s20,- |
600.
On an average each store gives en-
ployment to three persons-the propri-
etor and his wife, who sell, and a bush
eler technical name for the man who
spends his life repairing rents in cloth
ing made by their first owners and
making the garments "as good as
new" In all there are three thousand
persons in the secondhand shops.
Then there are at least two hundred
men who year after year go from door
to door bargaining for and collecting
the cast-off raiments of householders.
These are the old clothes men proper,
the men celebrated in song and story
and joke for hours of pickering over a
flve-cent piece. Each man usually en-
ploys his own busheler to doctor his
purchases just enough to insure a sale
to the secondhand auction men.
The auction rooms number fifty, and
each keeps three men busy all day long
trying to get the better Of the retailers
who buy the greater part of the goods
offered. Each auctioneer carries mer-
chandise valued from $4,000 to s12. 900,
and nearly all run sort of wholesale
business to supply out-of-town trade
Last, but not least, there are the
buyers from New York. Baltimore,
Washington and Pittsburg. They are
represented the year through but es-
pecially in spring and fall when the
trade is at its height. Let moving
time come around and householders
begin disposing of all superflous STUFF.
1t is CHEAP er to sell for a song than
cart from place to place at the rate
Of IS a van. Then the out-of town
fellows literally flood the city. They
Lot only buy at the auctions, but go
from door to door pickering and bar
gaining. AS many as 500 and 900 out
siders ply their trade during the har-
vest times. In the dull seasons, sum-
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