New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-07-03
THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FILM
MEL SHIRT.

II is now some seven or eight years, If
nomorv serves us. since Tho Ncw-York Sum
informed too coniiding public that the flannel
shirt was tho proper capcr for all citizens VINO
regarded personal comfort during the summer
months. Day after day it urged the flannel
shirt upon its readers 1t said it was not only
prc-emincntly comfortable but that it was be-
coming and ornamental and promoted health.
II eyhorted all citizens whether remaining ut
home or spending the summer at the seaside or
in tho country, to put away the easily wilted
linen and come out boldly in flannel. 1t was
rcported that the Editor Of "Thc sun en-
forcing prcccpt by example, himself set the
fashion, which was quickly followed. Very
shortly the town arraycd itself in flannel II
was worn a; the bar and in the pulpit, in news
paper Offices. on the stock Exchange, in the
haunts of business and lay men Of leisure. II
had as great n run aS the call for the Anti
Snap Convention: was a. popular a. Political
Reform. II was the principal article of dis
play in the habcrdasherS windows; everybody
wore il. and all through the first season every
body was delighted with H. II was all the
rage Its shrinking properties had been OBJ
served by but few, and these were content to
watch its gradual disappearance with curiosity
without making any cutlery
Tho following year along toward the close
Of tho season contempative persons viewing
the process began seriously to question whether
the flannel shirt was after all the great boon
10 pcrspiring humanity that it had been repre-
sontcd. Sccpticism crept into editorial treat
mcnt Of the topic, fippant photographers made
il the subject of frivolous jest and the comic
periodicals printed cuts representing the gar
mcnt in It's successive stages of shrinkage from
the original ample proportions OF loose ana
comfortable shirt ~ the narr0wncsS OF neck
tie. This has gone on year by year, until the
garment introduced and so highly commended
by THE Sun has become synonyme for
shrinkagc For the last season or two 1t has
been treated with positive diSrcspect in many
high quarters. No one ventured to say however,
that il ever shranli beyond the neck tie limit
The most vcnturcSomc Photographer had not
spollen Of il as ever entirely disappearing.
Meanwhile 1.-THE Sun has for several sea
SONS maintained silence on the subject. But
what must have been the surprise of the read
crs of that journal to find in the issue of last
Thursday an article entitled Whittier the
Flannel Shirt ?" in which, after describing the
process Of shrnkagc il states that the last
stage is when it comes back from the wash
ga mere spcck of wool that floats i'll the air
settles upon the coat-sccye, escapes the whsk-
broom, and finally is waited away by one Of
the four winds Of tho earth" Upon which it
asks. with what seems like lcvity, and in APP
parcnt forgetfuIncss of its own responsibility in
the matter: "What has become of the flannel
shirt" 1t asks this question, it says, 1" not
for the unworthy purpose of adding to the
mystifcation of an already sufficiently Devil
dered humanity, but in the. hope that it may
engage the attention Of specialists in the realm
OF scientific investigation and elucidation."
This is all very well. but there is also another
question which sticks in the crop" as it were,
OF bewildcrcd humanity, and that is, What
on earth did The sun introduce the flannel
shirt forT' As to what has become Of it. one
might as well ask What has become of the
Great Issue of the Ant-Snappers? What we
want to know is what "The SUM- set it a going