The Washington herald., 1915-10-28
AS SEEN BY A WASHINGTON WOMAN
MORE FOR YOUR. MONEY HERE.


Now and again we meet an old
resident of Washington who goes
semi-annually or oftener to New
York to shop.
We always wonder why. For the
shops of Washington offer the same
thing in style and workmanship for
less money.
Yesterday a saieswoman in the
suit department OF one of the smart
shops here said that New York
woinen-nany OF them-send to
Washington for their frocks, their
coats, their suits and their blouses.
This shop makes no special appeal
to out-of-town trade. 1t has no cat
alogues, no mail-order department.
But, naturally, It is perfectly willing
to let New York women take advan-
tage of its lower prices if they wish
to do so. And many well-dressed
New York women send back day
after day, season after season, to
buy.
The shop mentioned is only one
of many. The merchants of Wash
ington, almost all of them, give bet
ter value, for the same money, than
the merchants of New York. The
tremendously vexing problem of
overhead" charges is greater in New
York-store rent, delivery over the
whole of the huge city and that sort
of thing; so the prices have to be
higher.
Why, again we wonder, does any
body from Washington go shopping
in New York?
Perhaps the answer to the ques-
ton is psychological A young
woman with voice thinks she must
60 to Paris or Dresden to develop
it. A young man with talent for
painting feels that Italy is his nat
uraI environment. The thing that can
be obtained away from home always
possesses the possibility of untold
wonders.
Another thing-when anybody
goes to New York on a shopping
trip she goes with pockets full of
money. She makes pleasure jaunt
of the trip. She goes from shop to
shop until she finds what she wants.
And she buys several frocks or suits
all at the same time.
Try going on a shopping trip
here in the same frame of mind.
Start out with given sum to buy
your winter wardrobe-and then
wonder over the values you get.
Sometimes you will save as much as
ten dollars on a suit. You will have
the last detail of French fashion for
your money. too. On Fifth avenue, to
be sure, you may see women who
wear their skirts little shorter than
Washington women do, who adopt |
the extremes OF Paris in dress. But
you don't want these extremes, your
self. And as for the really up-to-date,
smart fashion from Paris, it reaches
Washington as soon as it reaches
New York.
Some OF us, when we notice that
the price of gasoline has gone up, |
glow with thankfulness at our luck |
in not being able to afford an auto
mobile
A Washington hostess the other
day was lamenting the fact that her
butler, an Englishman, had been call
cd to the colors and that she was
finding it difficult to replace him. The
war has caused a great scarcity of
high-class men servants. Many men
of this class arc of foreign birth, and
gradually the great war is calling
them back to their various father
lands.
Those of us who have to put up
with the very indifferent services of
the general houseworker can now be
thankful that we must run our
houses on a simple scale. We can
pat ourselves, fguratively. on the
back for our laudable economy in
not employing highly paid men serv-
ants. MARY MARSHALL.