Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1907-10-21
WHEN A
WOMAN
WON'T
The Girls Stood BY Their Rights and
POmpadOurS andthe Bosses Quit

There are some things that can
be done and there are some others
that cant, and one of the latter is to
make a woman or a lot Of women
comply with any order concerning
their dress to please the whim OF
their employers. IL has been tried
time and again, and time and again
IL has failed. In that respect they
are like the ocean, so wildly and so
beautifully described by Byron. He
said that mans control ends at thy
shore" II also ends, and ends
abruptly right where woman's pre-
rogative TO look pretty or at least
as pretty as she can begins. A de-
partment store in Pittsburg needless
OF the experience OF others, and not
prompted by wisdom but puffed up
with pride and vain glory, issued an
apparently harmless edict that its
female employees should no longer
appear in the store with their hair
arranged in that somewhat lofty
roach known as the pompadour.
Now this does not appear at first
glance as working any particular
hardship. The girls wages were not
reduced, nor their working hours
heightened, and yet in less than no
time there was things doing that
were aptly described by Robinson
Crusoe in that somewhat profane
but highly descriptive phrase, HI
TO pay and no pitch hot"
Race their pompadours at the be-
hest OF a department store boss? q.
Not on your tintype!
BE dictated TO as TO their coiffures
by the bifurcated stipendiary OF a
measly corporation?
Never!
They didn't stop TO argue the
proposition but notified the mana,
ger, instanter, that they wouldn't
do H. Forty of them were dis
charged. The balance several hun
dred In number quit and quit at
once.
The manager laughed.
His hilarity was short lived
There we're plenty OF girls, OF
course, but for once. advertising
didn't pay. Girls were plenty, but
II they didn't wear pompadours they
affirmed a right so TO do, II they de-
sired. and gave the store the go by.
Solicitors were sent out. but the
only answer they got from the Pitts
burg girls was an elevated chin and
n nose turned skyward The man
ager was advised TO try men and
bald-headed ones at that. Then the
girls laughed. Who wouldn't at the
idea Of the bargain counters looking
like the front row OF a theatre with
n comic opera on. Or a lot OF pom
padourless men with waist lines like
a prize pumpkin handing out corse.s
and paving over dainty lingerie. II
was the girls turn TO laugh and the
proyerb proved true in their case,
for they laughed last. and best,
The managers had ceased laugh
ing, ana were doing not only some
hard thinking but some pretty pro.
found swearing.
The girls stood pat, and were not
four-nushing,
There was only one thing the
managers could do and they ala it
They hung out the white flag, They
said they liked pompadours. or any
other old style OF hair gear even the
Merode
The girls We're not yindictiye they
were only irm, Their battle was
won without the loss OF a pompadour
or the turn OF hair, They would
30 back provided the discharged |
girls were all taken back. which was |
agreed TO SO soon as suggested.
Next day some hundreds of girls
resumed their work-they filed IN |
at the opening hour each one with |
n pomp0dour Those who had worn |
them wore biggers ones. and those
who had not, got one for the ocoa-
sion. when everything was run
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