THE " V.AILS " ABUSE.
Tire Times Money Market usefully anticipates us in opening a question on which we have for some time had our eye. Our con- temporary -reports a very curious investigation which has just ter- minated at the City Club. On a searching inquiry into various items of expenditure, it was discovered that the liveries sent in for the servants of the Club were in fact old suits which had been paid for in. the previousyear and which were again charged as new clothes. The liveries had been obtained, from a very respect- able establishment. A correspondence ensued, in the course of -which, according to our contemporary, the head of that establish- ment first denied that any such practices could have been adopted ; but afterwards, on being told that the clothes had actually been marked by the Committee of the Club, he said that it was done against his order, and he laid the blame upon his foreman. The foreman was called in, and "on being told how matters stood, turned deadly pale and fell on the floor in a faint." Subsequently it was proved that this system had begun about eight years back under a former partner of the firm; and the present head of the house persevered in averring that he had always set his face against such practice.
"He had found, on investigation, that instances had occurred against his will. He always cl eputed his foreman to manage with servants, and that functionary had told him he could neither -fit them nor please them,' un- less allowed occasionally to connive at such arrangements. Under these circumstances he had left the point to be managed as might seem best. It had been 'no benefit to him, or injury to the club, but simply to satisfy the men.' Finally, he purges his conscience by the revelation that it is in- variably done by all tailors who make a lot of liveries periodically,' and that without sometimes satisfying the servants in this respect it would be
almost impossible to retain the custom of their masters. * *
"The inquiries of the committee incidentally brought facts to their knowledge showing the general character of such offences. Among other Nunes, they were told of a servant in a nobleman's family, residing near Inverness, having recently sent up to London, in a box labelled currants,' a suit of hvery, which suit was sent back again by mail train the same even- ing as a new suit.' It was added that a certain West-end club eould be
named who had just paid for fifteen suits of livery, of which only two had been made and delivered, the rest having been returned clothes."
"The plea of all traders thus implicated will of course be, that if they were to resist the plan the servants would-ruin them."' " This," says the Times, "is a mere subterfuge " • but if our contemporary will himself pursue the inquiry a little fur ther he will find that the plea advanced by the tradesman has a solid basis of truth.
We are only stating facto when-we inform our readers—and it may interest some of them more nearly and extensively than they know—that such practices, instead of being confined to tailors, extend not perhaps to every trade with which the householder can deal, but to almost every trade. There are abuses in the present relations between tradesman .and customer, especially at the West-end of the town, amongst the highest and wealthier classes of society, which have the effect of confiscating an amount of property belonging to the lordly and "distinguished," which might, we are convinced, be roundly estimated at millions ster- ling. The practice of taking very lengthened credit, which seems for a short time a convenience to the customer, necessarily ends in his paying interest on the capital which the tradesman has locked up for those years, and, what is more, interest on the in- terest, with a further allowance to the tradesman for the general "style of doing the thing." The practice of allowing perqui. sites to servants is applied in a great variety of ways ; but there are always these two fundamental principles. The servants, who to a great extent guide the customer, must have their fees ; and although the tradesman actually makes the allowance to the ser- vant, he does it out of the master's pocket. The commercial editor of the Times has already explained two or three of the modes in. which that may be done by the craft of tailors. One of the commonest modes pursued by smaller tradesmen is a certain periodical allowance made to servants, principally on Christmas Day; perhaps a still commoner mode practised in large establish- ments which deal with large customers is to allow the servants something like a percentage out of the bill. Our West-end read- ers are deeply interested in this fact. Let -us by the way note that what we are saying ought not in any manner to militate against the substantial and proper interest of servants. The whole class is not treated in English households with too much consideration ; though in the sort of household to which we are more especially referring the service required is of the highest character. An English nobleman or "distinguished person" requires his household to be conducted systematically, and with good taste. He -wants a liberal style of living, to be honestly administered. He, therefore needs about him men who are prudent, judicious, and proud of their integrity, but such men have a right to expect that out of their present earnings they should be able to lay by a provision for the future. Liberal wages and handsome treatment, therefore, wd believe to be the interest of the master of the household. as much as of his servants. If he begins the game of coin-clipping, he may chance to find that he surrounds himself with knaves instead of honest men, and that he is losing in the sport.
This fact, however, 'does not nullify the moral and economical use of "the master's eye." We can mention an instance where the losses of the master amounted to a sum sufficient to be ap- preciable. A partner in an extremely respectable firm, which supplies articles of the most constant household consumption, wag called upon, by a servant paying. a large account, to make "the usual" allowance to domestics. The tradesman independently de. dined; and was informed, as if it were the natural consequence that the custom of that valuable household should be removed tc: some more complying firm. He was not alarmed, nor did he demurely acquiesce; the tradesman determined to bring the question to a practical issue. He put on his hat and went straight to the master of the house, stating to him, 'without reserve or compli- cation, the case as it stood. Instead of removing his custom, the master of the house saw at once that the robbery which would fall upon the tradesman in the first instance, would necessarily fall upon himself at last. He resolved henceforward to deal ffirect with the tradesman, and pay all bills himself. What was the amount that he saved annually, by thus looking after the honesty of his own 'establishment? We believe it was 3501. The same tradesman had to deal with a club at the West End ; he found the same demands, and made the same appeal, in the first in- stance, to a managing man, without success ; for the managing man rather thought it necessary to do "the usual thing," and at all events was cool in his reception of the appeal. The intimation, however, that the appeal would be carried to the Committee, threw a new light upon the matter; and in. that instance the sys- tem of club veils was abandoned.
If one gentleman in London can save 360/. a year by paying his bills himself, and seeing that all his money reaches his trades- men how much does all the West End of London waste by "the uswil plan " ? If- the West End has time or industry for the la- bour, that sum is really well worth working.
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