The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-23
OPPOSED TO SHIRT WAISTS.
MAYOR MYERS DOES NOT VIEW THE
MOVEMENT WITH FAVOR.

Would Detract From the Dignity OF
the Police to Permit Them TO Go
About with Only Blue Flannel
shirts and Trousers, He Says-DOes
Not Think There Is Any Demand
for such Departure Amy Way.
Saw Comparatively Few Shirt
Waists while Mt the North and
Thinks the Movement a Fad Which
VIII soon Die Out.
Mayor Myers does not regard the shirt
waist movement with favor, either for
city employees or the male public general
ly. The Mayor was asked yesterday if
he would approve a movement to permit
the police to dispense with their coats
during the remainder of the heated term
and to appear simply in blue flannel shirts
and trousers
Not in my present frame Of mind" said
the Mayor. Il have heard no complaints
on this score from the police or other city
employees and I doubt If the discomfort. if
any, is such as to warrant such a de-
parture. II would detract somewhat from
the dignity of the police TO appear without
their uniforms. and it might encourage lax
methods in other directions"
Did you see any police in the shirt
waist garb during your stay at the
North?" the Mayor was asked.
Il did not" he replied, land doubt
if there are any. Neither did 1 observe
any great tendency towards the shirt
waist business anywhere. In New York
city the business men and their employees
took off their coats, if so inclined. while
at work in their Offices, but put them on
again when they went on the streets.
Neither did l see many people on the
principal thoroughfares without their
coats. There were some few with very
nice taIormade shirts, and, of course,
the workingmen were to be seen in their
shirt sleeves, but this is no new style
with them"
Il was down at Manhattan Beach sew
erai times, but the shirtwaists were de-
cidedly in the minority there. over At
Coney Island I have no doubt that shirt
waists were quite the fashion, but l did
not 90 there"
You don't think much of the shirt
waist movement them" he was asked.
mo. l think it will die out like any
other fad. 1t will probably be forgotten
DN next SuIlIuti
There are a great many people in Sa-
vannah who do not agree with Mayor
Myers on this question. On the contrary
some of them are firmly convinced of
the future popularity of the shirtWaist
that they would be willing to wager
something that the members of the next
board of aldermen will sit around the
Council table in their shirtwaists a year
hence. The shrtwaist might be made an
r1f,aira ZION
but for the fact that the mayoralty fight
takes places during the overcoat and not
the shirtwaist season.
The Mayor is up against a popular de-
mand in nearly all of the news papers of
the country for shirt waists or some 9TH
err reform in mems dress for hot wealth
er. The shirt waist movement is less than
two months Old and yet it has reached
in a modest way nearly the entire coun-
Try and shirt manufacturers are already
preparing 10 put on the market next sum-
mer an attractive garment that will meet
the demand of en- who are ready to
brave the anti-shitt waist sentiment and
make the movement a successful one.
Half a dozen cities in the North, accord
ing to reports, have sanctioned reform in
police uniforms by allowing the police to
wear p.o erly regulated blue flannel
shirts in place of coats Numbers of So
cial EN- ertaiuments are reported over the
country among the best eople where the
men have appeared in SHIFT waists. Just
now the movement is being agitated in
the University of Chicago and by popu-
lar consent of both the men and faculty
CT the university, the shirt waist or neat
negligee shirt has been sanctioned 1t is
row in good form for a man to wear a
negIigee shirt or shirt waist and
belt in the classic precincts of Chicago's
center of learning.