The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-02-15
Cause Of Mans Degeneracy Stated
by Miss Reppher.
ABANDONED HIS PRETTY CLOTHES
SHE SAYS MANS PLAIN DRESS Is
THE CAUSE OF WOMANS
RAPID ADVANCEMENT.

CHICAGO. Feb. 15.-That the pas
sage of the days of doublet and jer-
kin and the incoming of modern trous-
ers and Derby hats marked the
downfall of man as the lord of crea-
ton and the beginning of the ascend
ency of woman was the conclusion
of Miss Agnes Repner, essayist and
club woman of Philadelphia, in an
Chicago. According to Miss Reppher,
mans adoption of ill-becoming and
inartistic dress revealed his real ug-
illness and weakness and in the liglt
of the revelation woman has begun
to assert herself and will eventually
have complete ascendency. She
spoke on The Temptation of Eve"
Il sincerely believe" said Miss
Reppher, that in much of what is
now called the 'Womans Movement
most of the audacious and unwar-
ranted self assertion of the sex is
due to the clothes which men have
elected to wear Men have rasnly
abandoned those details of their cos
TUNES which enhanced their lowell
ness and charm.
All Went Well Once.
LAS long as men Wore costumes
which interpreted their strength, en-
HANGED their responsiveness, and
concealed their shortcomings, women
accepted their dominion without de-
muir They made no idle claim to
equality with creatures not only big
ger and stronger. not only more capa-
BILE and more determined, not only
wiser and more experienced, but as
beautiful, bewildering and impressive
as they themselves.
With the loss of his fine trappngs
man has found a corresponding loss
of illusions on the part of the women
who saw them. Black broadcloth and
derby hats are enough to destroy tne
most robust illusions in Christendom
Men have refused to keep single ar
ticle of dress which can assist in any
way an imperfect ideal of how he
should be clothed.
Mans Charm Gone.
The whole attitude of women in
this matter is fraught with signifi-
canoe. Men have abandoned rashly
those details of costume which en-
HANGED their comeliness and charm.
but women nave never in all the long
centuries abated one part of their
concentrated and anxious interest in
clothes. They dare not if they would;
too much is at stake and they play
into natures hands by following
whether instinctively or intelligently,
the great principle of self adornment.
The flexibility of their dress gives
them every opportunity to modify, TO
enhance, to conceal. 1t permits them
to express mental as we'll as physi-
cal attributes. 1t is in the highest de-
gree symbolic and interpretative. 1t
is their unfailing weapon and it is
their universal language in which
they assert the great triumphant prin-
ciples of femininity.
Now the Men KNOCK"
The adoption of ugly sameness and
the regard for utility in mans attire.
has brought another unlovely result.
Since men nave ceased to wear
pleasing clothes they have devoted
more time than is strictly necessary
to the counseling and censuring of
women
I'm their lamb-ike obedience to
fashion, men have been Indifferent to
the kind of clothes they wear; just Sc
they are like every other mans
clothes. 1t does not matter if a hat
is perfect marvel of ugliness: if it
is hot, heavy, and disfiguring, it is all
right as long as it IS like the hats of
fifty other men which he will meet on
his way to business"