Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1906-06-27
CLUBLIFE ECONOMIES
POOR MEN IN THE SWELL oRoANl-
CATIONS OF NEW YORK.

POOR MEN IN THE SWELL OR0ANl-
CATIONS OF NEW YORK.
A Democracy Where All, Regardless
of Income, Are Notwithstanding
In a First Rate Club Regarded as q
Profitable IAvestmens.
A good many country visitors are
disappointed when they learn the sober
truth that New York has no clubs com.
posed exclusively Of millionaires II
Is harder still to make country folk
believe that hundreds of men Join 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 $780, year, and
almost every one Of these clubs In
cludes some scores Of men with incomes
well below $4,000 and a good many
with incomes we'll below $4,000.
There is a real democracy of New
York club life. Youths In their early
twenties and just beginning their ca
reers on very moderate salaries fire.
quent truly palatial clubhouses, break
fast In rooms such as few princes ever
use and lounge before fireplaces that
are to be matched only in the most
splendid buildings of Europe.
The poor mans credit at the club Is
as good as the rich mans, and both are
impartiGlly posted when they neglect
to pay their bills in good season. There
are good many Instances also In
which the monthly bills of the poor
man are higher than those of his rich
fellow member, for the frequenters of
clubs are apt to be the poorer rather
than the richer members
Many man of small means regards
his membership In a first rate club In
the light of a profitable investment.
Such man, II a confirmed bachelor
has probably lived for twenty years
within half a block of the club, paying
few hundreds year for small
bedroom and finding all his Injuries In
the apartments of the clubhouse.
Without being In the least mean he
makes OF the club money saving In
stitution for himself. Its comfortable
iounging rooms save him annually
from $500 to $1,000 year In rent, &C.
cordlng to the location In which he has
his modest lodgings After that he
saves fair percentage on everything
he eats and drinks at the club.
His simple breakfast costs him per-
haps 10 per cent less than 1t would cost
at any restaurant he would be likely
to frequent, and the same is true of his
dinners. If he takes three-fourths Of
his meals at the club he saves annually
about 500 In tips.
III he drinks wine at dinner he saves
from 10 to 20 per cent upon every bot
tie. If he permits himself the luxury
Of a cab he saves a handsome per-
centage by ordering II through the club |
and avoids all possibility of a row |
with the cabby over the amount of the |
fare Many a man writes all his let
ters of a social character and some Of |
a business character at the club, and
thus saves from $40 to $40 year In |
He need buy no books, nor need he |
subscribe to a library, for there ja the |
,lub library free for his use. He never |
need buy a periodical or even news
paper save when he travels, for all
that he reads are freely supplied by /
The club. And the enjoyment OF all
hese things imposes upon him no con-
siderable expenditure for extravaganza
uxurles. He Is sure, especially In the
college clubs, to find plenty of men
with like modest incomes and simple
astes as himself, and he may sit for
hours with cronies over the cafe table
without spending money that he can
lot afford and without giving offense
o the servants of the house committee.
Most club members probably do not
Keep a debit and credit account with
he club but the man Of modest means
Ind moderate habits would find the ex-
of such an account matter
If great satisfaction. Such a man,
paying $3.50 as an entrance fee and $50
year in dues, Is likely to find himself
It the end of twenty years long way
head Of the game The club In TWEEN
y years has cost him rather less than
2, 900 for entrance fees, dues and con-
rlbutions to the Christmas box, and
lis savings by reason of the club have
,een from $4,000 to $16.000.-New
FORK Sun.