The Redwood gazette., 1902-07-09
SAMPLES COST MONEY.

OuI CFC1y JCd1 A-O,oOO y al Uo VI
wooden dress goods, represent
ing retail price of 75 cents a
yard, and only that an individ-
ual customer may satisfy her.
self as to what is being worn,
or-in one case out of tive-that
she may order dress pattern
from one of these samples.
Eighty thousand yards of silk
cut into minute triangles,
squares and parallelograms,
meaning retail loss of $4,000
a year to these ten stores.
And, on top of this, nearly ev-
cry line of goods in house
suffers from the shears of the
sample cutting department, ag-
gregating in these ten stores
more than $15O,OOO a year.
These totals amount to $317,-
900.
And in the face of these fig
ures it may be said that the
"sample craze" as it existed in
the time of the crazy quilt, is
virtually dead fad.
Few people realize the ex-
tent of the sampling depart
ment of the modern retail dry
goods house. Fewer still real
ize that when a bolt of dress
goods comes into the house and
is unpacked, the first thing
done with it is to snip off full
yard from the bolt ranging
from % to 80 yards, and per-
haps two yards from the bolt
that runs longer than this. AS
much of this goods is 81 to go
inches wide, the average of one
yard to the bolt is low, as is the
price at Is cents. From15 to 70
a yard of this clipping goes di-
rectly to the sample room. In
sending up these clippings
they are punched according to
values and without reference
to colors or shades.
There may be ten strips from
as many pieces of goods, the
whole bunch held together by
a tag on which the cost price
is marked. The manager of
the cutting department re-
Ceives this, and with some gen
eral 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 is IA inches,
and the average length of the
samples cut from these strips
is three inches. Before cutting
into sections the strips of cloth
perhaps six deep, are stuck
through with the pins of the
price tag and at the interval of
three inches. Then the strips
are cut across just above the
tag.
Thus the manager OF the de-
partment has on the table be-
fore him the little punches of
cloth of various shades and
colors, but of uniform price.
They are classed as to mater
ial, also, so that a person famil-
lar with goods may explain
just what kind of goods she
wants, and out of the selection
of shades and Colors sent to
her she may chose something
to suit her. Cutting these
goods on another scale for
dressmakers. the samples sent
out are 3 by 6 inches, and fire.
quently in some goods of pc
Culiar pattern in the weaving
the shape of the sample must
be altered in order to show the
novelty. Sticking a pair of
pin points through six or eight
thicknesses Of WOODEN dress
goods is easy, but to stick them
through as many pieces of cot
ton goods is another task, and
in order to make this easy the
cutter jabs the pins into a
cake Of soap before him, the
soap acting as lubricant with
out greasing the samples. The
tag which is pierced by these
pin points and SO held to place
bear the name of the drygoods
firm in miniature, and on it
are marked the price and width
of the goods.
There are Chicago houses
which have steady call for
these samples from Maine to
California and from Canada to
the Gulf of Mexico. In filling
these requests, too, envelopes
weighing from one to eight