The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-06-01
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, ID. G.
THE WILD BUYERS.


in our national makeup. Nothing
seems more ludicrous than the prole-
tartan suddenly turned plutocrat. HUI
morous accidents of this kind run
| thru all our most popular fiction; they
fill our comic-Sheets, and they occur
with unceasing regularity on our stage
So what is more natural than to make
| the newly rich responsible for the
high cost Of living? Here IS some
thing that everybody is familiar with
and which does not have to be laborl-
| ously figured out like the initiation OF
currency. Here also is splendid ex-
cuse for the profiteer, for what can
poor profiteer do against the loud de-,
| mands of new crop of millionaires.
insisting upon the privilege of buying
goods at high prices?
| There are the retailers of feminine
luxuries, for example. They complain,
that they cannot put their prices up
| high enough to satisfy many of their
prematurely wealthy customers; while
manufacturers tell you with tears IN
their eyes that they cannot think up
| enough useless Injuries to meet the
demand Never have the shops been
so crowded with purchasers of costly
novelties. Never have the small &C
/ cessories of feminine apparel played
such an important part in the fashions
of the moment. The newly rich like
to wear as many brilliant badges as
possible to proclaim their wealth.
The Umbrella Magnificent.
Thus, the humble umbrella has be-
| come a thing of great resplendence,
with fragile bones, a fine siiken body
and a proud handle as profusely cary
| ed and painted as a totem pole. Some
umbrellas even bear the carved por-
| traits of the favorite domestic pets
| of their owners. While the plain,
! sturdy, cotton-cloth umbrella is still
| greatly in evidence upon rainy day,
it is steadily losing out in the depart
ment stores, which under the domina-
ton of the newly rich, are handling
| almost wholly the elaborate twenty
| five dollar varieties.
The feminine handbag, also, is no
longer a simple, utilitarian article,
built upon practical lines. but a gor-
geously beaded and bejeweled thing
designed chiefly for ornament There
may be many women who still pay no
i more than SIS for a handbag, but
I there are also many who pay one hun
bred dollars and more 1t is simply
amazing to stand at a department
| handbag counter and-observe what
women will pay. and are eager to pay,
for little bits of tortoise shell >and
satin.
In a Fifth avenue store, the other
| day, a brilliantly arrayed and copi-
ously perfumed woman stood finger
ing small purse resembling an old
! fashioned card case, one side of which
was shell and the other suede.
How much is this?' she asked
weary salesgirl at last.
twenty-five dollars" replied the
girl
oh. said she of the brilliant
feathers, haven't you anything better
than that?'
mo, this is the only thing of its
kind We have" explained the girl.
ut is really a very great bargain.
You see, the inside is divided into two
compartments; this one of suede Is
used for money, while this one. of
white Kid is intended for jewels"
For jewels" repeated the customer.
much impressed. ''WeI, I'll take it. -
High-Priced History.
At this same counter was displayed
q novelty designed solely for the ira
ditiona1iy credulous newly rich--a
folded purse in bill book form, made
| of leather or of fine satin, with inset
| panels of what were supposed to be
bits of rare needlework tapestry, OBJ
tanned from historic pieces which were
damaged in the war. For a purse of
| this type, as we'll as the story of the
original tapestry which goes with it,
women pay over a hundred dollars.
But the department stores are not
! the only institutions which suffer from
the prosperity which the newly rich
insist upon sharing with them. There
\ seems to be a general epidemic of it
among all kinds of merchants. Only
the other day, it was an interior decor
| ator who lifted up his voice in loud
lament that he should be compelled
to make SO much money from selling
atrocious antiques to the uncultured
| wealthy who crowded his studio. Ac-
cording to him, the newly rich are
still running true to type.
'"They always want furniture freely
decorated with gilt. and it must be
French hhe complained bitterly.
They get the Louises all mixed up.
Louis XIII and Louis XVI are all the
same to them, Moreover, they can see
no reason why they should not have
a congiomeration of all kinds of fur
ntture in one room, SO long as it is
expensive. And loom never is fur
nished in, their estimation unless it
is well filled with furniture, orna-
ments, pictures and bric-a- brac. They
usually refuse even to look at a-suite
of furniture which costs under 81, 900
however great a bargain il may be.
They ask for something around $1,000.
but they don't begin to get interested
until you add another cipher to the
figure.
I'VE had one case of az socially
ambitious young woman from Texas,
whose husband had just made his
money thru a fortunate oil venture.
This woman was SO anxious to make
her home rank with her bank account
that she changed her decorating plans
each week, after visiting her favorite
moving picture theater and noting the
details of the various movie SETS until
we had to throw up the work to keep
t&ur sanity, despite the money she
WIS handing over to u.s."
The automobile agencies also per
init themselves occasionally to be-
come indignant over the tremendous
orders they are receiving from people
who are FESTIVE under the burden IF
large bank account. Altho the de-
mand for the lower-priced cars has IN
no way fallen off, that for high-pricsd
machines is greater than it ever was
before. The clamor is always for the
best, but fortunately there is a wide
difference of opinion as TO which is
the best car on the market; which
Keeps all of the automobile compan;t S