The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-02-21


I that many a housewife asks
IA when she reads thes almost daily
wv record of some corner in this OF
that staple, some advance in one
or another of the necessaries OF
the kitchen The causes of industrial dis
turbsnces are Of little interest TO the
housewife.
Whether the reports of the coffee crops
In Brazil are doctored by ambitious job
bers, or the scarcity Of raw cotton is magni-
fed by Mr.. Sully's press agent, or the Meat
Trust holds back the winter supply, is not
the question in her mind. The vital prob
lem L. How much shall We have to deny
ourselves TO supply the usual necessities?
Prices have been creeping up for the last
seven years. The Meat Trust had its in
nings in 1902. The coal strike brought
hardships home last winter; coffee. kero-
sene, eggs sugar and other things are
threatened by corners at the present time
and the gathering Of armies in the Orient
means dearer bread for the workers Of the
Occident. No one class alone is feeling
the pinch Of the times, corners or no cor
ners. There is one important class, com
posed Of those who rose on the crest of the
wave of prosperity that began in 1896 and
which has been rolling on toward extrava-
Rance ever since. The industrial stocks are
tho rocks upon which this wave has
broken
II Is not the fashionable set that feels
these new conditions the most. but the
men and women who a few years ago sud
denly learned TO spend In a month what
they used 10 spend in year. They have
set a pace that has been the JOY of Fifth
avenue retailers and the despair of the
steady salary getter.
Pay of Servants
In their struggle for personal comfort
hA
established scale Of wages for domestic
servants that has driven thousands of the
less fortunate to the boarding house or
apartment hotel They have made theatre
r tickets twenty-five per cent mora expen-
give than formerly, winter flowers beyond
the reach of moderate incomes. and nave
closed the fashionable restaurants to men
who are cursed with good taste and sal
ary
1t was too hot pace TO last. 1t has al
ready begun TO slacken.
Incomes built upon speculation have
dwindled Their owners are asking. How
can we live? rather than. VIII it cost us
more TO live during the coming veal?
The theatres were the hrst 10 feel the
stringency of the wealthy. Florists, livery
stables, bric-a-brac dealers, beauty par
lors" came next. That people are curtail-
Ing their luxuries is evident on every hand.
year ago madame thought her skin,
her hair, her finger nails needed a per
fumed specialist. To-day beauty doc
tors are trying hard to keep their signs
on Fifth avenue.
Since Steel shook Wall street pimples
are repaired at home and auto-facial mas
sage is the rule. Even the hairdressers
are beginning to feel the signs OF the
times, and a return to the good old fash
ion Of drying your hair out of a back win
dow is noted, even in the houses where
buttons still answers the front door
bell.
Dressmakers who have gradually edu-
Gated their patrons to pay $50 for a waist
that ten years ago would cost Sl2, to con-
slider $50 as the minimum for an ordinary
house gown, find their customers studying
the Sunday bargain columns of the de-
partment stores. The ready to wear"
hat seriously troubles the millinery art
lists who sell no creations q less than
$40 creation"
WORKING OQer Old Material
NIilliners who never made over hat
except under protest are deluged with
last years wings flowers. fruits. velvets
and ribbons in anticipation of Easter.
A palmist on Forty-second street. who
900 oE>oN % % oNc