ABSTRACT
It will be in place, by way of illustration, to show in some detail how the economic principles so far set forth apply to everyday facts in some one direction of the life process. For this purpose no line of consumption affords a more apt illustration than expenditure on dress. It is especially the rule of the conspicuous waste of goods that finds expression in dress, although the other, related principles of pecuniary repute are also exemplified in the same contrivances. Simple conspicuous waste of goods is effective and gratifying as far as it goes; it is good prima facie evidence of pecuniary success, and consequently prima facie evidence of social worth. The dress of women goes even farther than that of men in the way of demonstrating the wearer's abstinence from productive employment. The standard of reputability requires that dress should show wasteful expenditure; but all wastefulness is offensive to native taste.
