People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1896 — CLOTHES IMMORTAL. [ARTICLE]

CLOTHES IMMORTAL.

Hade So For Economizing People by m Gotham Industry. It's easy to be a well dressed man nowadays. If one saves np his old clothes nntil he accumulates a few suits and then follows the example of his rich friends here, he will soon find out how they pose as howling swells at comparatively little ontlay. It oosts only $25 a year to look like a man who owns a valet, providing one has the costumes to Btort on. In a skyscraping strncture a suit of sumptuous offioes is oocupied by the clerical staff of a concern which is engaged in keeping the clothes of some of our worthiest and most influential citizens in repair. A large factory down town, employing a small army of scourers, pressers and menders, is kept in constant operation, and the wagons of the oompany may be seen daily covering regnlar rentes in the best parts of the city. So sensitive are the patrons of the concern, however, lest their economical proolivities become known to neighbors that nothing more than the ambiguous title of the firm is painted on the vehiole. A lady with a pronounced French accent manages this part of the business. From her it was learned that a yearly subscription fee of $25, payable in advance, entitles any ordinary American oitizen to membership in this concern, by means of Which bis clothes at least oan jostle up against those of the Four Hundred. On paying the fee the members are entitled to all the services required to keep their wardrobe in repair and presentable condition. The chests are allotted to him, upon which his name and address are printed. One of these remains at his home, while the other is at the faotory. Wagons call at the houses of patrons of the company twice a week, if necessary and collect the oiohes which have been placed in the chest, at the same time leaving a chest full of clothes, oarefully mended and pressed ready for wear. One young man who has been a patron of the novel establishment for some time says that it works like a charm, and his apparel bears out his statement Of course the tailors, the old clothes gatherers and the servants who have strutted in the cast off garments of their masters don’t like the innovation, but it is a necessity of the times. Keeping np appearance is a great business here, and this new clothes fixing scheme is a regular boon to lots of men who travel on shape and style. —New York Letter in Pittsburg Dispatch.