The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-30
SHIRT SLEEVES BRIGADE.
SAVANNAH MEN Oh THE EVE OF
REVOLT AGAINST SUMNER COATS.

A Movement Is AfoOt by which the
Young Men of the city Bind Them
selves to Go without Their Coats
When SOILS Rays Are Hottest-The
Summer Girls Appearance of Ease
and Comfort. When CARRIED in a
Shirt Waist, Has Inspired the Idea.
How Some of the Advocates of the
scheme Discuss It The "Mere
Men" to Make a Fight for Their
Rights.
An uprising of the mere men, of Sa-
vannah. this time in indignant protest
against the heat and discomfort of coats,
when worn in the summer is among the
signs of the times, probably a reaction
from the ceaseless clamor for woman's
rights.
Though the organizers of the move
ment have cast around and about them
veil of secrecy, it is understood that a
petition is in circulation. wherein men
are besought to affix their names to an
agreement not to wear coats in summer
time, certainly not when Old Sol is in
the ascendant and the asphalt more close
II resembles the pavement of the neither
region than that designed for the use of
the Inhabitants of this fairly respectable
and civilized portion of the terrestrial
sphere. The agreement of the many is in
tended 10 lend the sanction of approval
to the faltering courage of the few, and
so induce them to discard an article of
summer attire, which has no other rec
ommendaIion than that custom prescribes
it and that it is uncomfortable and ugly.
well, why shouldn't we go without our
coats?" said one of the leaders in the en-
terprise yesterday. The girls do, don't
they and since they are pleading for their
rights, why can't the men be allowed the
right to be as comfortable as the weather
will permit? If custom prescribeS that
shirtwaistS are proper for them, why can't
custom be made to sanction shirts, with
out coats, Tor us? What have we done
that custom should discriminate against
us in this particularly unpleasant fash
ion? Why, oh, why, are we to have a
maximum of discomfort and temperature
and a minimum of ease and freedom from
sartorial restraint? Eh?p
There was no answer to this string of
questions and the young man continued:
l.
ever witnessed was that of an office full
of large, overgrown men, earning their
daily three squares by the sweat of their
brow and every other portion of their
anatomy, jumping hurriedly behind desks
and safes and hustling into uncomfortable
coats, when some dainty bit of femininity
CHANGED to wander in, in the middle of
hot summer day. Her ladyship
would be wearing shirtwaist of
the ightest material and would be
looking as cool and debonair as if there
had never been such a thing as a rise in
temperature. Every idiotic clerk in the
Office would be signing for an ice box or
the seashore and listlessly wondering If
the future punishment for his sins would
be any worse than that he was enduring
And yet every empty-headed one of them
would jump for his coat as though to be
without il were a crime. Now, on the
level, doesn't that sort of thing jolt you?''
These and other arguments are in vogue
with the prospective members of the
"Shirt-sleeves Brigade" They claim to be
in earnest and two or three of them have
already demonstrated their sincerity by
making the trip down town with their
coats on their arms, instead of on their
backs.
However, Savannah is a staid and con-
sentative old town, and The innovation is
somewhat pronounced. 1t may be that
even the most enthusiastic of the MEM
bers of the brigade will lose interest when
he finds his beaming bow received with
an icy stare by some fair maiden in whom
he takes an interest, yet who, perchance,
Is wearing one of the identical shirtwaists
whose appearance of comfort has fired
his determination.