Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-12-22

|commercial factor ranks MS one ex-
tremely interesting and actually impor-
tant.
1t Is of grent interest TO study the
rapidity and varied manners In which
personal adornment has changed and
tdvanced with time. In the early dawn
Df the world we ure told that an un-
couth garment of fig leaves was con-
sidered sufficient By our common for
bears whercwlth to hide their naked
ness. With the necessity of striving
arduously for his living came the de-
velopmcnt of mans ingenuity, and the
line of general Improvement Included
dress In It's scope. For many centuries
In the region Immediately surrounding
the birthplace of man long, flowing
| garments were in use, TO be changed
later on by the enterprising Romans TO
the graceful tunic, toga and peplus
These changes in the course OF time
penetrated into the northern countries
and gradually displaced the rough gar
ments of hides and loln cloths which
were at first typical OF the inhabitants.
| SO has the mode Of dress changed
and improved itself with the passage
of time. and by the aid of that same
potent factor its Importance has in
creased and perhaps has not yet as
sumed its destined proportions. There
( can be no doubt In the mind of the
average reasoning man that the matter
| Of dress does exert vital influence on
| the success or failure of the man or
woman of today. A well and neatly
attired man everywhere has the ad-
| vantage of one who takes no pains
| with his apparel and whose clothes
\ might be shed annually like the skin
of the snake II 1t were not for the in
vioiable customs of the age. 1t Is IL
fact, perhaps lamentable, but never
I theless patent. that business man
prefers dealing with another who is
nttractiveiy dressed. whose face Is
clean shaved and who is in the habit
of wearing clean collars, to his brother
with whom dress is less than sec
ondary consideration and who contents
himself with the reflection that "hand-
some Is as handsome does"
There are n great many men who de-
cry this tendency to personal adorn-
ment in others and whose lips take q
scornful curve when they refer to the
I "dude" or his equally frivolous sister.
Is it crime or a fault to accentuate
personal beauty or neutrallze the ef-
feet Of natural LONELINESS by tastiness
Of apparel? Is there any reason to
censure the man who wears lighter col
ored OF some more fashlonably shaped
garments than ours because we prefer
for ourselves the more somber and
conventional garments? To be sure,
there Is distinction between the man
who dresses for love of dress and the
one who does so from principle or from
business reasons, but 1t is distinction
with which the average critic of the
well dressed man seldom bothers him
self. We are always taught to look at
the brightest side of life. Then why
ridicule those little niceties of dress
which certainly please the eye and
which much more certainly give man
a feeling Of self possession and satis-
faction, which, too, is far removed
from the ever to be condemned fault
of conceit or dandyism?
At any rate, the man who is not too
philosophical to pay some attention to
the manner In which he appears before
the world can rest convinced that bis
little quality is good policy. 1t is, In
fact, so much capital, and any one who
doubts 1t can satisfy himself by using
his eyes and his reasoning powers on
things that are transpiring around him
daily and hourly. Constitution.