The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-18

From the Louisville Courier-Journal. ~ HE National Association of Mer- chant railsrs' in convention assem- % bled in St. Louis, decides that to dress as a gentleman man must have, as an irreducible minimum 14 suits of clothes. If he is ambitious to be known as well dressed gentleman he may or der 600 pairs of trousers at time, as Count Boni de Castellane did, or was
 reported as doing, when he was newly rich as a result of marriage. Or he may adopt the lIngly custom of wearing suit of clothes once, characteristic, so fashion writers said, of the late Edward VII of Great Britain. Of course, there are men who would try to break the head of anyone who should make bold to sug-
 gest that they are not gentlemen who would never know where to find any thing they possess if they had IA suits of clothes each with 15 or 20 pockets, and to whom a silk hat is 8 thing to keep on shelf for use on state occasions, as 1t was to Emperor Menelik of Abyssinia after he acquired one as a gift from the head of a delegation of diplomatists and business men who visited his capital in the interest of trade treaties. But while it is futile, even dangerous, for tailor, unattended and unarmed, to try to con vince such persons of erroneous estimate of themselves, an association of tailors armed with authority and addressing it self to the abstract question what is a gentleman?s can render & decision that will be a safe guide for those who would tl,A Foil Inrd d A tailor-made getleman must have
 $2o6O worth of clothing, exclusive Of what 1 the haberdashers call gents furnish ings" It must include an $SO white TUX edo suit for warm months, when multi- 1 tudes of common persons content theHi- selves with blue serge and defy anyone
 who suggests that dog days temperature 1 and .dressine', in the evening are to pc considered in conjunction by persons out 1 side of a lunatic asylum. It must lnc'uoe 1 a blanket coat to be thrown over tne 1 shoulders of the golfer-by his Valet pre-
 sumably-as he is making the nlne'eehtn
 hole. and at a time when scrubs ana iusn- CTS are thinking of going into the cup l after a drink. Such coat can De had l .t ses if one must needs be economical A man who would be a gentleman in Win I fer must have a top coat lined with mink 1 skin or Persian lamb. Hoi pol'oi wear coats lined with "mukrats," coon or
 pretty nearly anything else with hair on | if at from $40 to s100. gentleman's fur coat costs $500. If it were sold at $2s9ss he would not buy it and hope to remain a gentleman.
 | A gentleman must have morning rid ing suit and an afternoon riding frock
 He would be a man" merely, or per | son. if he should be seen in the riding | suit at 12:15 p. m. or in the riding frock
 | at 115s. But a gentleman knows that ! instinctivey, and is in no danger of mak- | ing mistakes.
 | A gentleman has 10 overcoats. Should
 !! he not have also a light raincoat for light
 rains, a mist coat for mists and cloud
 burst coat for cloudbursts? But. as the
 tailors do not particularize in the matter
 of the raincoats, it may be that gentle
 man remains in his club or in bed when
 it rains Or does he wear shower bath
 robe?
 "A part of the day was devoted to dis
 cussion of the advisability of recommend