Extravagance of the Day

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 21, 1875

Extravagance of the Day

Some interesting facts concerning the extravagance of rich Americans are given by a writer who takes New York as his field of research. He states that there are ten thousand New York ladies whose costumes, when in full dress, cost at least $1,000 each. Fifteen years ago the same number of fashionable ladies would have appeared adorned quite as attractively at an average expense of $250. Ten thousand children under ten years of age are elaborately arrayed at an expense of from $100 to $150 each, while the children of wealthy citizens fifteen years ago were simply, but appropriately attired at an expense of $20 to $25. And it is painful to reflect that in consequence of this lavish expenditure upon a class that never earned a dollar, there are other tens of thousands without employment and suffering for fuel, food, and raiment.