The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1906-12-07
CLUBLIFE ECONOMIES
POOR MEN IN THE SWELL ORGANI-
CATIONS OF NEW YORK

Democracy Where All. Regardless
of Income. Are EqUnI-Membership
In FIRST Rate Club Regarded as n
Profitable Investment.
y good many country visitors are
disappointed when they learn the sober
truth that New York has no clubs com
posed exclusively of milliUnaires. 1t
Is harder still TO make country folk
believe that hundreds of men ion the
so called swell clubs in large part from
motives of economy.
There are scarcely three clubs in the
city that do not include considerable
number of poor men in their member
ship. The average income of the whole
membership of the ten best known
clubs in the city is probably nearer
$4,000 year than $4,000 year, ana
almost every one of these clubs i'll
cludeS some scores of men with incomes
well below $4,000 and good many
with incomes well below $1,000.
There is Il real democracy of New
York club life Youths in their early
tWentics and just beginning their ca
reerS on very moderate salaries fire.
quent truly pllatial clubhouses, break
fast in rooms such as few princes ever
use and lounge before lireplaces that
are TO be matched only in the most
splendid buildings of Europe.
The poor mans credit at the club is
ds good as the rich mans. and both are
impartially posted when they neglect
- pay their bills in good season. There
are Il good many instances also in
which the monthly bills of the poor
man are higher than those of his rich
follow member, for the frequcnters of
clubs are apt to lie the poorer rather
than the richer members.
Many Il man of small means regards
lis membership in first rate club in
The light OF a profitable investment
such a man, if a confirmed bachelor
mas probably lived for twenty years
within half block of the club, paying
Il few hundreds Il year for Il small
bedroom and finding all his luXuries il
The apartments Of the clubhouse.
Without being in the least mean ho
makes OF the club a money saving in
sttution for himself. Its comfortable
longing rooms save him annually
from $500 to $1,000 year in rent, ac.
cording to tie location in which he has
his modest lodgings. After that lie
saves Il fair percentage on everything
m MI - mt. Of In nv
His slni lc breakfast costs him per-
haps 10 per cent less than it would cost
at any restaurant he would be likely
to frequent, ana Jhe same is true of his
dinners. If lie takes tlrCe-fourths OF
his meals at The club he saves annually
about $1GO in tips
If he drinks wine ut dinner he saves
from 10 to - per cent upon every bot
tie. If he permits himself the luxury
of cab h. saves Il handsome per-
centage by ordering it through the club
and avoids all possibility of Il row
with the cabby over the amount of the
fare. Many man writes all his let
tiers of a social character and some of
business character at the club, and
thus saves from So TO $40 a year in
stationery
He need buy no books, nor need he
subscribe to a library. for there is the
club library free for his use. He never
need buy periodical or even a news
paper save when he travels, for all
that he reads are freely supplied by
the club. And the enjoyment of all
these things imposes upon him no con
siderable expenditure for eXtravagant
iuxuries. He is sure. especially in the
college clabS. to find plenty of men
with like modest incomes and simple
tastes as himself. and he may sit for
hours with crories over the cafe table
without spending money that he can
not afford and without giving offense
to the servants Of the house committee.
Most club members probably do not
keep Il debit and credit account with
the club. but the man of modest means
ami moderate habits would find the eX-
animation of such an account matter
of great satisfaction. Such Il man.
paving $3.50 as an entrance fee and $40
a year in dues is likely to find himself
at the end of twenty years long way
ahead of the game Tie club in twen-
ty years has cost him rather less than
$1,000 for entrance fees, dues and con-
trbutions to the christmas box, and
his savings by reason of the club have
been from $4,000 to $1G,000.-New
York sun.
Nnf Ton ResfrnI.