The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-12-06
NEW YORK CLUBS.
They Are the Most Expensive In the
 World.

c. B. Mallon, in Ainslee's.
 "There is no city in the world that has more expensive clubhousss than New York. and nowhere else are club dues so high. To man with a moderate income one good club is in many ways an economy. For the millionaire, dozen clubs are not worth their dues. He may find 1t convenient to use three or four of them, and he probably does not enter the others more than once a year. l know one man in New York who Is member of twenty-one clubs. He has paid dues to one of them ever since 1t was organized, nearly twenty years ago, and he has been inside it's doors but once. There are others in which he has not been during the past five years and pos sibly for a longer time. If one picked out at random a dozen young men or wealth and social position in New York he would find that they had at least i've clubs in common. This is both the weak ness and the strength of New Yorks club life The club does not identify man here as 1t does in London. Each club has a few men whose names are always associated with it, but the major ity of its members are also members of several other clubs which they use quite as much and their loyalty Is divided. Were this not the case, however, we should have many fewer handsome club houses, because there would not be members enough to support them. We could not follow a better example in selecting clubs for our millionaire bach elor than that set by the discriminating possessor of S20, 1000, 600, who devotes much of his time when here to his country place in New Jersey. He selected such clubs as he thought a gentleman should belong to, rather more from senHment than from actual need of them. Here is his list with the annual dues which he must pay: Union, $75; Racquet, Slo; Tuxedo, S100; University, s6O; Metropoli- tan, s100; Coaching, $35; Riding $l00; Country S75; New York Athletic, $50; Fencers', s30 New York Yacht, $25 He is also a member of his college fraternity club, of several New Jersey clubs, of half a dozen associations and of good club in London and another in Paris. The initiation fees of the New York clubs to which he belongs range from the $500 of the Metropolitan and the Union and the S20O of the University down to the $50 Of the Fencers'. If our bachelor hap pens to have strong republican convic- tions, we may add to this list the most influential club in the United States, the Union League, with it's initiation fee of $500 and 1t annual dues of $75 Or, he may have a fondness for arts and let ters, and join the Century club by pay ing $50 initiation and $50 annual dues, or the more frislxy Lotos, with it's en- trance fee of $200 and It's annual dues of S75. The Calumet. with an initiation fee of $2OO, brides itself, with some jus tice, on being a junior union club, and it's far more exclusive neighbor, the Knickerbocker, with an entrance fee of $500 and annual dues of S100, counts among its members some of the most popular bachelors in New York society. Nor should the claims of the Players club be overlook, if the bachelor likes to get as near the stage as did the man to pugilism who shook the hand that shook the hand of Sullivan. There are some actors still in the Players club, but for the real midnight-to-dawn flavor of the profession, he should join the Lambs club-and use it moderately. To his list may be added, if our bachelor Is something of a rover, and appreciates club comforts in the cities where he is likely to spend the most time, the Metro politan of Washington, at $50 year; the Philadelphia, in the city Of that name, $75 annually, and the Somerset, of Boston, at $75 a year. Then there are likely to be three. or four golf and hunt ing clubs If he be a sportsman. He may make a choice of ten or a dozen of these organizations already mentioned WllHOul DelHB eXlTdNdBdnL anu pos sibly without being described as a we'll known club man. should misfortune make him a target for the newspapers. But. when he has paid his initiation fees and his dues, his club expenses are not ended, even if he does not use them
 There are Christmas boxes for the club servants to which he is expected to sub scribe and an occasional subscription for other purposes. It would be fair to put his annual club expenses, exclusive of his restaurant and bar bills, at 5000 year. If he uses one or two of his clubs frequently his restaurant and bar bills may easily average him $5000 a year. A distinguished member of one of the clubs mentioned died two years ago, and a curious steward who went back through his accounts with the club, found that his bar bills alone amounted to $33000, and at that time the club was less than thirty years old. It is only fair to say that this mans case was an exception. There is very much less hard drinking in the best New York clubs now than there was twenty years ago. and in most of them gambling is prohibited"