What would Father's Day be without neckties?

 Silk Dress Shirt tie. My wife's brother - a retired sheriff's deputy - was talkingseveral years ago about about donating clothes to the SalvationArmy. "I've got all these ties I never wear when I've got to getrid of," I remember him saying. My eyes must have lit up because before I could say a word, my wifeinterjected "Bring them here. Jim will wear them." He did and I do.Some were a bit too outdated and tossed. Others were perfectly goodand appear firmly knotted around my neck to this day. I think this fascination with ties comes from when I worked for aclothing company as a youth. We were always selling ties and, ofcourse, we were supposed to wear what we were trying to sell.Showcasing our latest ties was simple. When Disney startedreleasing ties featuring their characters we wore them proudly.That was back in 1974 and I still have a Mickey Mouse tie from backthen. I even wear it from time to time. Never mind that it's7-inches wide at the base. Sooner or later it will be back instyle. About 15 years ago I was looking through a catalogue and saw a tiefeaturing a newspaper design. Immediately I reached for the phone."That's a real popular tie," the woman taking the order said, "Igot an order for that same tie a few minutes ago." The two ties arrived on the same day. My wife had seen the same tieand made the same call, knowing I would want it. I have cheap ties and expensive ties. The cheapest being one I gottwo weeks ago. It was on the desk of advertising account salesmen,Angel Alvarez. Angel just gave it to me after I said some of myshirts would look good with it. I'll pay him for it - sometimesoon. The most expensive tie to date was bought for $50 from theMetropolitan Museum of Modern Art. It's silk and it's gorgeous. I do have limits. While visiting Mendocino one time, I spotted somefantastic ties in a men's store. They cost $500. One day, perhaps, I'll stop wearing ties but only when my fingerscan no longer get the knots right. Geller writes that the tie business is nothing like the old days.In the early 1970s, when sales peaked, manufacturers sold between200 million and 250 million ties a year in the U.S. Today annualsales have dropped to about 50 million. A Gallup poll last year found just 6 percent of men wearingneckties to work each day, down from 10 percent in 2002. More thantwo-thirds of the men surveyed said they never wear a tie to work,up from 59 percent five years earlier. I understand the reasons, but find it unfortunate. To me a tiemeans business and professionalism with a touch of individualitythrown in. I agree with the thought that a tie is singularly irreplaceable,uniquely capable of sending a message about its wearer to women andto his fellow men. Amen to that. - Jim Smith is editor of The Daily Democrat. Write to him at TheDaily Democrat, 711 Main St., Woodland, Calif., 95695; or e-mailhim at news@dailydemocrat.com .