----------+--------------+----------------------+----------------------+-------------
| | Town. | Country. |
Garments. |Original cost.+---------+------------+---------+------------+Difference of
| |Duration.|Annual cost.|Duration.|Annual cost.| cost.
----------+--------------+---------+------------+---------+------------+-------------
| £ _s._ _d._ | Years. | £ _s._ _d._| Years. | £ _s._ _d._| £ _s._ _d._
Coat | 2 10 0 | 2 | 1 5 0 | 3 | 0 16 8 | 0 8 4
Waistcoat | 0 15 0 | 2-1/2 | 0 6 0 | 3 | 0 5 0 | 0 1 0
Trowsers | 1 5 0 | 1-1/4 | 1 0 0 | 2 | 0 12 6 | 0 7 6
----------+--------------+---------+------------+---------+------------+-------------
Total Suit| 4 10 0 | | 2 11 0 | | 1 14 2 | 0 16 10
----------+--------------+---------+------------+---------+------------+-------------
Here, then, it appears that the annual outlay for clothes in town, by
the classes I have specified, is about 2_l._ 11_s._; while the annual
outlay in the country for the same garments is 1_l._ 14_s._ 2_d._;
the difference of expense being 16_s._ 10_d._ per annum. I consulted
another tailor on the subject, and his estimate was a trifle above that
of my informant.
I should remark that the proportion thus adduced holds, _whatever be
the number of garments_ worn in the year, or in a series of years,
for the calculation was made not as to individual garments, but as
to the general wear, evinced by the average outlay, as shown in the
tradesman’s books, of the same class of persons in town and country.
In the calculation given in the publication of the National
Philanthropic Association, the loss on a well-dressed Londoner’s
clothing, arising from excessive dust and dirt, is estimated at from
3_l._ to 7_l._ per annum. By the above table it will be seen that the
clothes which cost 1_l._ 14_s._ 2_d._ per annum in the cleanliness of
a country abode, cost 2_l._ 11_s._, or, within a fraction, half as
much again, in the uncleanliness of a London atmosphere and roads. If,
therefore, any London inhabitant, of the classes I have specified,
expend four times 2_l._ 11_s._ in his clothes yearly, as many do, or
10_l._ 4_s._, he loses 3_l._ 5_s._ 4_d._, or 5_s._ 4_d._ more than the
minimum mentioned in the Report alluded to.
Now estimating 2_l._ 10_s._ as the yearly tailor’s bill among the
well-to-do (boys and men), and calculating that one-sixth of the
metropolitan population (that is, half of the one-third who may be said
to belong to the class having incomes above 150_l._ a year) spend this
sum yearly in clothes, we have the following statement:--