The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-06-21

'"This tinae. instead of ordering any thing in March,. he said. put tn them through free of duty, none of my friends at that time haying given any signs of going abroad When one man n went in Aprn st art short nSties ~sn .a ! f0,S m1 measures ard get me three suits of fiannels and two tweed suits of the usual kinds He was tq pick out the the as for the iakt ten years the suits had not varied more than a dollar or two in price He brought back the clothes; came in 1t was nearly twice as much as have been in the habit of paying.
 Of course I put up kick and the frank answer came back to me that the me had said nothing as to the price or the suits. It had apparently been only luck that during all these years l had been dealing with the firm that I had happened to ask the man they sent over what he charged for the suits It seemed perfectly settled in the mind of the London tailor that my failure to stipulate limit over which wouldnt go had put 1t within the right of the tailor to charge whatever he wanted. hesitated for a while and then decided to stick by that tailor. Perhaps it was perfectly human weakness 10 make all he wanted, and he was generally cheap and fit me well. Then l was an American. That marked me out. 80 paid the bill, and have only to be care full in the future not to fail to ask the price in advance"
 A New York woman. who had friend bring her back three white linen shirt waists of the kind for which she had never paid more than $50. when she bought them herself, found the bill was Ss0, although the friend nad ordered an exact duplicate Of the same style. The tTadespeople In such case know that they have the best of the situation. A friend who has done sucn favor may be put into very em- barrassing position when the tradesmen says that the friend ordered goods 10 | cost a certain figure.
 Other methods that London tailors l in particular consider to be character | istic of Americans, and therefore ex- hibit that they are not to be taken lp by any stranger, have recently become | noticeable in London. An instance or
 this proved irritating lately to visitor | there. =
 arhe time has passed" he said. in | relating the Incident. when one has to i be introduced to a London tailor. know of but one establishment in which | that rule prevails. In the others T | suppose they look up your credit IT
 you want to run up big account or | they 20 to your banker, or find out
 through rating agency what you're
 good for. But there are. or course | many New Workers who are not in any
 of these rating books and Of all the
 vast number of men from out Of town who buy clothes in London during the
 summer. I suppose that very few or
 them are down in the accounts of any | of these agencies. This is what hap
 pened to me when I went to a tallor | whom knew as the maker of all tne smart clothes that a friend of mine wore. I mentioned his name. told the salesman that took my order that l wanted to pay cash for the goods ana
 would give him my cheek when they | were delivered. My object in doing that was to avoid paying interst and get the cash price.
 "The clothes were cut out, had two I or three fittings and then I got a let- l ter from the tailor, saying thar ne was
 very sorry, but 1t would be impossible for him to proceed with making the
 clothes unless I sent him check Tor | at least two-thirds of tho amount. as
 tha garments were two-thirds finished.
 q had no Idea allowing anything ot
 that kind to pass without protest, SO
 jumping into hanson, l, rode directly
 around to the shop. I asked for the
 proprietor, showed him the letter and
 asked him what in the world 1t meant l Rather impolitely. although with
 show of immense ceremony to cover his Il fnsolencc, he told me that It. meant I what 1t said. I did not Intend to lose | my temper with an underbred London
 tailor, but 1t was hard for me to keep tk-t-.
 saeTnere must be some reason for any
 such step,' said. and insist upon
 knowing right now what 1t is. 1t ts
 possible for me to throw all that order
 on your hands. and shall feel rath CT like doing that In spite of the tncon' venience 1t will cause me.
 | With an air of triumph he nsheo II out of his desk copy of a newspaper l containing an account of the money J troubles of a man in New York who II bore a name almost identical with Fl mine He produced it with such pride Fl and seemed conscious of having nc I complished such a triumph of detective
 work that he was ludicrous. He point | ed with dirty finger ornamented witt a diamond ring to a line. saying thai
 the person was thought to be in Lon
 don, which suppose accounted for thu
 telegram being sent there.
 "'You would write me this insulting II letter, run the risk of losing this order and my custom merely on the strength of that telegram said, without in vestlgating at my bank, writing to my
 friend. whose name mentioned, oi
 taking any reasonable precaution tt | protect yourself without insulting me Only the consideration for my owr
 convenience prevents. me from refus'
 ing to take what have ordered
 htu