Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-11-21
BAYARD STREET CLOTHES.
BIZ FREDERIC ]. HAsKM.


BAYARD STREET CLOTHES.
BIZ FREDERIC J. HASKN.
Especial Correspondence to The Argus).
\ New York, Nov. 1s-The New Yorker has
many sources Of relief from the high cost Of
dressing They are fthickly scattered through
and completing the odd picture Of Third ave-
nue. in others. but the principal ones are on
Bayard street.
Bayard street is dinlcult to ind. unless you
happen to b familiar with that section which
borders on the Bowery. but it u we'll worth
finding. for It !. the greatest old clothes mar
ket in the world. London's old clothes dis
trict 10 famous. but It cannot compare to this
narrow. grimy, densely populated street, with
IT. rows and rows Of small stores and push
carts, featuring all types and conditions Of
second hand masculine wearing apparel. You
can buy anything you want in the mems wear
line in Bayard street from . 50 cent pair Of
shoes to $50 overcoat
We buy evsrating der 10 to buy" declared
. Bayard street dealer - he pointsd to his
curiously assorted stock the other day. I'VE
refuse noding-noding ID 20 old or worn We
don't take It, repair It and offer for the sale
again" 80
And certainly an investigation Of the shops
On Bayard street corroborates this testimony:
NVWUVG0 0100 UA9 UUC0 y u010IVB0uOU8 CO4-
lection Of masculine apparel been fsathered to-
gether. nowhere such an erratic scale Of values.
and nowhere such contrasts between shops
and shops Many Of them have heavy. brightly
polished glass windows, through which may
be seen imartly clad. headless mannikins and
9 carelessly placed willowy cane or two b.
way Of snappy effect. Next to one Of these
glorious establishments 10 one of the old type,
with its trousers. vests and coats exhibited on
q stand or on giant hooks nailed to the front
Of the store
Tho latter are the type which make . trip
through Bayard street an embarrassing expe-
rience for one who does not desire to buy In
the first place, the east side has an unsuitable
curiosity concerning strangers, 20 that II you
you are apt to have a crowd Of children fol-
lowing close ct your heels with the hospitable
purpose of seeing that you don't get lost. With
this battalion Of young neighbors docking to-
their support the storekeepers who sit outside
ostensfbly to guard their open-air stock, will
60 to any lengths, short Of murder, to get 70,
to buy. Their campaign usually starts with .
polite Can sell you something's but rapidly
grows more and more aggressive until all Of
their American explosives are exhausted and
they have to resort to Yiddish, which causes
the old, be-wigged Jewish ladies to rush to
their tenement windowA
Believe me-" said q reporter who had this
experience recently. III you are going to ex-
plore the shops IN the vicinity OF the Bowery
do 30 with the idea of buying something You
don't really have to buy anything. you UNDER
stand, but carry the idea with you. When one
Of those Yiddishers offers you Q pair Of trous-
ers-excuse me. they're always pants in That
llocality-fof . dollar. tell him you'll give him
IS cents. Stick to 1t - II you really meant It,
and he'll get 20 insulted at the reflection cast
upon his stock that he'll let you 20 with moth
ing more awful than few swear words.
Tho Bayard street merchants are not stub
born, however, and are always quite willing
to listen to reason, % long ~ they are doing
the reasoning. Their first price is always
twice as much as they expect you to accept,
even when there is q crowd Of customers to
be waited upon. and they are using valuable
time for their descent to the real price.
The other afternoon, q well-dressed man
entered a Bayard street shop, and began exam
lining It's stock Of overcoats. Finally, he picked
one out-a slightly worn dark biue one Of very
good cut.
"A fine overcoat," said the owner, immedi-
ately coming forward. and holding It for him
to try on. "Only ST."
The customer quickly withdrew his arms
and started for the door.
whats d. matter; what's d matterf' shout
ed the dealer Indignantly, running after him.
How much you want to pay for . overcoat? r
Mot cent over 49," replies the customer
nrmly.
well. wait till look at my books" said
the dealer, and going behind the counter he
made great show Of finding the cost price Of
this particular overcoat on his ledger. AL
right" he agreed, eheerfully. II let you have
It."
Almost ~ many different types of people
come to buy IN Bayard street a. there are dr.
ferent types Of apparel In it, shops
Some Of the men are already we'll
dressed and do not appear to be in need OF
anything this old-clothes mart has to offer
Many, on the other hand, come dressed in
overalls and shirt sleeves, a. they leave theiI
Jobs in the nearby warehouses, and many 9TH
ers are obviously hoboes. The foreign ele-
ment at tho bargain sales would be hard to
assert and classify, but to oil appearances
every nation in the world is represented
Cinnamon jostle Roumanians and Roumanians
crowd Italians, Ind Italians shove and push
Greeks and SyriAns-in an effort to get to the
most attractive tables and finger the bargain
offerings.
There used to be several saloons in THU
neighborhood where the old clothes men held
convivial and often dramatic sales, while they
bought cheap drinks, ate free lunches and
bartered for floor space in which to DISPLAY
their goods, but II these saloon sales still n
on. they are kept dark secret from tho casual
explorer.