Holden tries to make the point that people judge others on superficial things like the kind of suitcases they carry,
"...it's really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs - if yours are really good ones and theirs aren't. You think if they're intelligent and all, the other person, and have a good sense of humor, that they don't give a damn whose suitcases are better, but they do. They really do".
Holden recalls his roommate, Dick Slagle, who had bad suitcases, which he hid. Although he criticized Holden's suitcases for being overly rich and "bourgeois", he actually wanted people to think Holden's suitcases were his.