Evening star., 1900-08-14
ANOTHER NINETY DAY
August Seems Determined to Make a
Relentless Record.
FHE COAF-OFF CRUSADE GROWING
Some Observations on the Subject
and News From Elsewhere.
RANGE OF ZERO q RY
HE COAF-OFF CRUSADE GROWING
ANGE OF NERO q R Y


count the days which must elapse before
school begins arrives at the age past ma
ture when his grandsons are doing the
same thing and he is regularly attending
the meetings of the Oldest Inhabitants As
sociation there will probably be warm
spell during some part of August. and then
the boy of today will have his friends on
the hip, so to speak. "Hot?' he will prob
ably say. yep. it's pretty peart in a tenn
perature sense, but this August, my dear
friends seems like an ice cream freezer
compared with the August We had way
back yonder in 1900.
That will be his starter, and those IA
miliar with old inhabitants whose mem
ories are retentive of "reminiscences can
pretty well imagine what will follow in that
remote but inevitable coming time. IL any
of us who are here now are here then ana
anywhere near the old gentleman we Will
be conscientiously able to back up any
thing he says regarding the heat of August,
1900
How long the month is going to show
such meteorological misery is. however, or
greater Importance than the way 1t Will be
looked at in 1858. for instance. How many
more ninety days are going to be piled up
in sultry succession is the question upper
most in human consideration.
The temporary halt which Sunday even
ings storm called in the advance of the
allied forces of the heat was grateful to an
intense degree but the march seems 10
have been only retarded instead OF sum-
mariIy checked, as yesterday saw the com
placent weather bureau mercury climb TO
~ at O'clock, and the less merciful quick
silver in downtown tubes several degrees
higher Affleck's standard thermometer re-
ccrding % at the same hour, while the lat
ter's mark of "a at midnight indicates just
how hot 1t was on the street level last
night when most people were In bed; Inc me
t,,ta lySfl a
morning had risen to 81 at II CLOCK ana
at o'clock showed 94la
I'm on the top of the weather bureau, pro-
tected by its Venetian blinded house. where
the air courses unres,rained and the spar
rows eaily twitter. the official thermometer,
which, by the way. sends its own record
down stairs by electric means, Jagged as
usual behind its less favored contempora-
ries AT s am it recorded ~ degrees. at II
o'clock 1t had reached Sc ard at pm rad
climbed to the now customary 30.
The Question of That Coat.
The coatfess men were again in evidence
today and there was considerably less re-
mark and rubber necking caused by their
cool and natty appearance. Envy, indeed,
seemed to have succeeded critical sneers
on the part of those of the more radical
opponents in the stronger sex, who either
did not have the courage or the requisite
assortment of neglige shirts to join the
army in good hard earnest.
There seems to be a general miSapDre-
hensiOn of the movement In favor of men
discarding their coats when on the streets
the same as they do in their places of buSi-
ness during hot spells.' said an ardent ad-
vocate of coatless comfort this morning
1T appears now as if the majority of OPP
ponents to the Highly sensible course pro-
posed imagine that we who favor comfort
and would sacrifice what some persons re-
gard as propriety to secure ii desire to
force the neglige shirt everywhere and in
fringe even on the perquistes of the Tuxedo
or the swallow-tail Nothing of this sort
/ am sure. is intended by any of us pioneers
in the movement. All We desire to do Is
to be permitted to mind our own business
when 1t comes to leaving off our coats dur
ing the hot part of the day, whether we
are in our offices or the streets.
"A neat man IS Just as neat without his
coat he is with it on. A dirty or vulgar
man is dirty or vulgar whether he is coat
less or is clad in ulster.
IL understand" he continued, that many
ladies who object to the stronger sex being
comfortable declare that the waist line of
the average man is not lovely. l am ICON
oclast enough to assert that the waist line
of the average woman is not lovely either.
The Venus OF Milo or of Med!ci either, and
/ believe they comprise in artistic consid-
Grafton the perfection of the female form
divine. would expire with connption fits
were they to come to life in this progressive
age of science, fashion and feminine physi-
cal distortion and see the waist lines of
their modern sisters.
1T is very true he went on, that GER
tain fashionable cafes in different portions
Of the country do not cater to men without
coats. l imagine the objection is largely
against the men themselves in most cases.
But am confident that no sensible bonface
would decline to serve a gentleman who
sought food or refreshment during the hot
hours OF the day. In my opinion, next year
will find most men during extremely warm
spells leaving of their coats, instead of
the few who are now showing the courage
of their convictions.
A Sermon In Shirt sleeves.
1t will doubtless be of interest to those
who are considering the crusade to read
the following. which appeared in the New
York Herald this morning, recounting the
conditions in Philadelphia's understudy
across the river:
CAMDEN. n. J., Monday.-This city has
taken the lead In recognizing the shirt
waist man. and today the whole city is In
its shirt sleeves, including the police force
and Mayor Cooper b. Hatch.
Supreme Court Justice Garrison started
the innovation. which was followed by a
shirt-wast banquet Then the Rev. Dr. j.
T. Stevenson preached a sermon from the
pulpit of the First Presbyterian Church in
his shirt sleeves and invited the male MEM
bers to take on their coats. About 100 ac-
cepted the invitation. and then the pastor
gave them a plain talk on rational dress
regardless of place.
Police Force Shucks Coats.
But the greatest surprise of all came to-
day when the entire police force appeared
on the streets without coats and with their
badges pinned on shirts that. If they were
rot uniform. were at least neat and clean.
and the men looked cool and comfortable
The police also wore straw hats and show
ed their appreciation of the departure from
the regulation uniforms by giving three
cheers for Mayor Hatch when his orders
were made known TO them by Chief of
Police Foster.
The preliminary orders were issued by
the chief yesterday. but not until this
morning did all of the men take advantage
of the mayors permission. When the
morning squad reported yesterday Chief
Foster walked out of his Office wearing an
DZ7RSSzET