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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1908)
TIIE OltEGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER, IS, 1903 7 'A Vt. A. vL:aTuse iiDn JDiairai: an & 2v 'ff''. 1, , J. Mi r 3 i VV GW i fir ttomw of the United States engagcA in a ma& riot f extrava' gancef Are they leading the women of the earth in a wild pace of reckless money spending? Are the sermons preached about their excesses, are the books published of their ex travagances, spending feats and the warn ings of danger justified? Are the fair women of wealth infected with a spending mania? ' ' The world has been told . thaU Afiss Giuh a Morosini, of New York, spends $200,ooom year for dress; that Mrs. Clar ence H.'Mackay bathes in a $$0,000 bath room; that Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr., of $0,000 garden-party fame, wears a new and costly cloak with every costly opera dress; that Mrs. Burke-Roche Batonyi was charged by her father with spending $375 a day, of which $50 was for flowers. These instances are typical of many less known cases of extravagance. "Who can estimate what the women of America spend recklessly?" a writer asked re cently, and added: "As well try to count the sands of the sea or the hairs on one's head." lowing Item will give you an Idea of what Mn. Multi-Milllonaire pay or la supposed to pay-for her clothei: Blue cloth jacket and skirt, style of bio Francis mTan 'velvet wit. ityl of Claudlna, from Doaulll.t. I10 Black taffeta and velvet ou1 dren, atyla of Faquln black, point de France laco, 2o0. White velvet, with nold and aablo fur pwn, 1410. Real lace dreai over pink, high neck, transparent alrcves, endlna- at elbow, ItlS. , .... Blue faille drees, style of Doeulllet s blue, $110. Tellow radium silk embroidered dress, style of beer yellow, embroidered with sheaves of wheat and silver ralloon,, real antique laoe, orchid pattern, 1420. Blue rope Mlgnon blouse, $70. Imported wMte flannel blouse, (95. Blue white flannel blouse, flOO. Black spansled and Jet dress. Callot waist. r?a Irish lace, large des.sns. spangles on skirt, )43i. Blue chiffon velvet dress, f!S0. Mauve taffeta and velvet dress, tllO. f7 i Sfrs. IS??'' If v if . . i . J I I K sk 5. All ttl.O 1 III ' t 111 "Us rvtv i n - : . .S J VrtMvitym 1 SPEAKING upon th! aubject not longr ago, Mn. Hetty Green declared! "The women of America have helped to make hard time. All they UVe for, all they care for It clothes the latest ahapes in hats, the newest fangled sHlrts. And they are none too particular how they get what they want or who paya for It. "I am not saying the American women are not moral. But I do aay that they do not care what price their husbands and fathers and brothers pay for the luxury and finery they demand. More men are driven to dishonesty by the white hand of the woman stuck ail over with jewels than by their own love of horses, rich food and gay times," Some time ago the wife of a New York millionaire selected a string of pearls at her husband's request. Without demur he paid $286,000 for the gift. Another millionairess, returning from Paris, brought $55,000 worth of clothing with her. There was Included $13,000 worth of underclothing. There were $5000 worth of parasols and many thousand dollars' worth of wraps. Evening dresses there were galore, costing from $1000 to $2000 apiece, not to speak of the silk stockings, lace lingerie, fairy frou-frous of adornment all running Into the thousands. What does she spend for her clothes the lady of wealth? It Is difficult to tell. Shoes may average $25 s pair. Hatpins, $2000, $3000, $5000! Tiara, $50,000. Necklaces, exceeding $100,000. Possibly every few weeks something In this line may strike her fancy! REVELS IN LUXURY Let us peep into her apartments. The walls are hung with tapestries 'and priceless brocades. Paint ings costing many thousands are there, as well as rare bric-a-brac and china. Jeweled brushes, mirrors, manicure articles and other toilet articles worth a small fortune. And then the bathroom, a marvelous place, with the tub sunk in the marble floor a small swimming pool. The fittings are of gold. Palms sur round the room warm In winter as a summer day. But this Is not all. We peep into the closets. There are 120 feet of deep clothes-presses, filled with thou sands of dollars' worth of dresses, lingerie, hats, wraps, etc Such a sight would, perhaps, deprive you of speech, madam, you, who spend less than f 100 a year tur your dress. ' 'There Is Miss Morosini, for Instance, who wears a dress harmonising in color with every vehicle she drives. Naturally she is the sensation at the Horse Show. She drives a tan horse In tan harness. Then, you mar be sura, her costume Is of tan. Or the har ness Is pigskin, with blue satin rosettes and gold mountings. She wears .tale blue silk trimmed with Irish lace. It hat been stated that she spends $20,00 a year for dress. Have you ever been to the grand opera In New - Tetkr ltls In New York that the women go to excess In dresa. Last season Mra Cornelius Vanderbllt, Jr, was the cynosure of all eyes. With every as opera dress she wore a cloak to match. One evening she would be seen wearing a gown of white satin, with a rloak of the same material lined with ermine. The next performance would see her la blue-green velvet, with a blue-green velvet cloak trimmed with chin chilla. Again 1e would come hi white velvet, with trim ming of pink ross. Her atnek would be wonderful creation of brerade, with pink roses en a white sur face. Mrs. Vanderbllt set style. Caa row Imagine what others srnt. imitating her on cloaks alone T About a rear as Mrs. Mower Oould Is said te have rtt)tract4 a debt of for Jewels. Whea he rerelred the bill. Mr. Ooald declared he'd aer rsy ft. Mrs. Oeald Is aotod for her reeklee expendi ture on drees, and enme rears a so, when she refused a sr a bUl ef $170, it was made public. The fel- Lone black velvet coat, Francis tan. $220. Mauve cloth coat, 1145 Tan cloth and velvet coat. I ISO. But dress la not all of milady's life. She must run her household. Mr. Moneybags allows Mrs. Moneybags, perhaps, $350,000 a year for this. She and every member of the family must have their personal at tendants. There Is a secretary, there are maids, mas seuse: there are tutors, governesses arid valets for the children; the housekeeper has a staff of servants; the butler another staff, the chef a staff, etc. She pays her chef $160 a Jnonth. a butler $75. She Is a good housekeeper that is, her friends think so. "She sets a fine table" with peaches at $4 apiece, strawberries at 60 cents each, grapes 10 cents apieoe. For wines, food, etc., she may spend $350 to entertain a few friends at dinner. Mrs. Burke-Roche Batonyi was declared by ber father a few years ago to be one of the most extrava gant women alive. He said she spent $375 a day, without any part of it going toward her maintenance, since she lived with him at no cost. "Of course, I do," she said: "flowers alone cost me $50." Her father declared that he gave her an allowance of $60,000 a year, and that she regularly ran beyond it. Mrs. Batonyi thinks anything less than a diamond collar for ljer spaniels decidedly unworthy. And speaking or writing of dogs, for blue-blooded ani mals. Miss Multi-Rich may spend thousands of dollars each year. She may pay $1000 for a tiny mite of a Pomeranian. Or she may show horses, ownlntc a dozen or more valued at $5000 each. She may enjoy $10,000 turnouts. Or, if she races, she will employ a trainer at $10,000 a year and a Jockey at $5000. And don't forget the social race. Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish may give a colonial ball. It is the talk of society the most splendid success -of the season! What -Is Mrs. Cornelius VanderbilC, ' Jr.", 'Ao do? Excel her, of course! What must she do but revive colonial dress for her footmen, three-cornered hats, powdered wigs, and all! Quite easy. But another leader does something extra ordinary. What can Mrs. Vanderbllt do next? Why, bring a theatrical troupe to Newport and give a $50,000 fete. And so the merry-go-round goes round. "In Boston there Is an Immense amount of wealth and luxury," writes Gertrude Atherton, "but there are traditions behind a great deal of genulue culti vation, pursuit of art and literature, high American ideals, and the simplicity that characterizes well-bred people everywhere. In the language of one of the cleverest men In America, money in Boston does not 'stink," but it does In New York. "In Philadelphia, the South, San Francisco, money, although rated at Its proper value, has never assumed the brutal Importance that It has in New York. The millionaire society of the middle West may be vulgar or absurd, but it is In the main Kood-natured and gen erous; its principal defect is that It envies and emu lates New York that frigid manner and cool aloofness peculiar to those of the seven generations, the suc cessful mask and lordly arrosrance of those whose millions have becomo Its bulwark. The real thing as It may be seen in England would only excite their scorn, and, for the matter of that, It Is little enough understood In New York." " 'T In New York several "seasons" ago It was an nounced that one society matron spent $100,000 for an opera dress and its equipment of gems. Foreigners coming to this country stand amaxed at the extravagance and dominance of the women. Dr. Emll Reich after a visit declared: "The American woman Is not womanly; she la not a woman. The whole of the United States government is under petticoat government. She commands tha men. Men do not count In America. The last man that came to America was Christopher Columbus." Exaggerated and distorted, of course, but that Is the view of many foreigners. Bridge Building While You Wait AN UNUSUAL- feat in pontoon bridge bnilding- has been accomplished by a company. 100 ... strong, drawn from four cavalry regiments of the BerUa garrison. Arrived at a point where the Spree is very wldex the guardsmen, assisted by a dozen pioneers, constructed in forty minutes a bridge of steel boats and plates, 108 feet long and ten feet broad. -A squadron of cuirassier guards was the first to try it. riding twice across. Then a loaded baggage wagon, drawn by SU horses, traversed the bridge repeatedly. , The New. Alaska Bano-fie Dance Haiaji I f 1 V -rr; i II I I dtC - - y ill it n hv '-!5v ' ra? in mi hit.ti i js:-. mm II V ... ' w" ' -- . BBBJJ. - W- F JR I J i. V . . . 1 II MM skk zl?J nw-i i IlCSf WWWIS il.W B Bt i t L.-:?-i-'. i'l M t , t . eV m-i nil t y I m THE broad-shouldered man with the full beard and the nugget watch charm handed his eminently proper silk hat to' the man t the dining-room door as he passed into the brilliantly lighted, richly furnished show apart ment of one of New York's swell hotels. The dap per 2few Yorker who accompanied him smiled a superior smile, and observed, as he noted the kin dling glance his companion vouchsafed the sur roundings: "Some different from your Alaska dance halls, ehf The quick resentment of the Alaskan could not have been exceeded by the New Yorker himself if j4 JTeTnerYi or fre an Englishman had smiled superior in conceited London. "Dance hall!" exclaimed the gold finder, in proud surprise. "We have comparatively few dance halls in Alaska now, at least, of the pioneer day kind. W have been past that atage for years yes, a whole couple of years now. We talk about our gilded haunts of vice as complacently as you do and there's more gilding to them than you fellows put on here. Why, we have our own home grown celery and lettuce, our own fine wliest bread, our own potatoes julienne. If our summer would last only a little longer, we'd raise our own bananas and oranges." THAT, ef course, was stretching things a little. But the Alaskan, was moderate enough In his claims as te everything except the bananas aad eraagea. The day ef the daoce ball is shoot ever la the inest populous part ef Alaska. Within a d"n yar fsfore the boy bera whew Alaska warmed te the flush ef its first Americas geld fever could ja1t e I) oel the transformation of the wilderness has come about. oU)lag like that transformative, has ever ltew Im the world s tivtltsatloa. Ia the art West. Its facilities enhanced b limitless vlstae el arable plains aad vast areas of the most anagalOceat climate ever awaltiag the adveat ef man. halt a century elapeed, before the crude p leas s res ef the camp were replaced by the tides ef aa ordered elvUlaalloa an the oncosts, crude dance hall, that srrnbot aad em bodlmeet ef the rerklMS freeuer. la odd plara. linger yet fT the pointing ef merals by the ecerafuU sore elegantly et-aa-bd Cast. Bet Alaska with Its ersee terrttery that wso!1 bury half the Dakotas. all ef Kaseaa, the better pert of Nebraska, nearly all of Wisconsin,' Illinois and Missouri, the whole of Minnesota and Iowa, and have enough left over to aide Sew Kngland Alaska, with Its 5SS.40L square miles, and Its scant 100,000 scattered people, has rusned on to civilization within a decade. In fact, with this sudden leap Into the world's eijr of living. Alaska is now closing, probably for all time, the dance hall era. that most picturesque feature of American frontier existence, with dime novels, the bang of the six-shooter and the toe of the dancers punotuatlntc their pages, serving as the swan Song of the dance hall's ending. only three years ago Alaska rose in its pride to demand of Washington that it be dealt with as 4a Integral part of the United States, and that its popu lation he accorded their rights as American cittiena. Today. It Is preparing to show the world how thoroughly modern and advanced It la. In Its prepara tions for the Alaska-Yukon Paclflo Exposition of 10, In Seattle. Then the territory which was bousrht from Russia In 1S7 Its J7S.26.40 acres for 17.200,000 wfll show how. within thirty-six years, the government has re ceived in revenues. S2.SOJ.O0S more than the original purchase price; how. If its productions be grouped with those of the Canadian Iskon adjoining, the world has received riches amounting te tlTS.e00.0O0; how there Is ever llfS.OOO.OOS capital Invested; hew Alsska alone baa an annual eutpnt ef gold la excess ef I! 1.004 eOO. The ambitious little community that so etideavltself opoe Including the few score thoaaande ,luk. who are basiling there today. Is destined te embrsie the millions of the state tt will be, a few declared President he are la this aodi- eet be eld swa eerore tnery ee ees cr mm f Vtf V ) if L tin mm,.: mi Ii f i ".--iseVv.--:---, -i.- mii. ssl veers to corse. -The me ef any fteeveH U a recent rrpp. "w ... .id before tl rnateet aad seost populous states ef the entire I'nlee IWAlTske: lredet that Alaslca. within the .est i--t.V wCI sarport popmlatioa as large Is sup ported "by the entire Scandinavian peninsula ct i: rope." There are IS. 004 miles ef railroad already rnd co instruction, or dednitely projected, a ml lease greai than the combined Union faciao. Northera lacte Erie systems. CnsrsMiai coal areas, sucfi as will r rlakr relieve the world of its dreaded coal fair, have been disclosed by the geological survey i searches, while iron and copper are making rra-.v dispute with the gold the pre-eminence te efiica t have attained In ether etatee. ... , ,. . The fallacy of imagining that Alka Is wr land of snow and le has Tees "uwrtij ' ' promises evee rreeter rh-e In f t" " tneasared espaseee ef territory lie tee rt. ! tiae ef truck farms umVlnt la swre te -., eeeds ef any popelatioe wht-h te ' of the territory, snay BP1-.. ,.fc ... The farnser Is eiread there, at " ' the fanner, wit fe his eseaoca i iiiorblng hnsbendry. clr er.'t . The 7af.ee baB. e-el f tee r-H i fpale emir lwve in is-rei m-n. is Is about grew-a ap. f
