Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1907-01-28
IALE DRESS REFORM
T is HOPELESSlY hAMPERED BY THE
STIFF WHITE SHIRT.

the way This Garment Interfereo
With Both Health and Comfort.
Some Of the Absurdities Of the Pres-
emit Masculine style of Attire.
The necessity by which men feel CO.
reed Of proving to the world that they
wear white shirts lies at the basis of
IL the difficulties of the dress problem.
Until the garment becomes extinct
t is hopeless to attempt the reform Of
mems dress on the lines of health and
comfort.
1t will Of course ultimately dSap
pear, for it Is but the mark Of stage
IN the evolution Of dress, just rs the
.'ermiform appendix is useless evolu-
ionary remnant in the body. But the
question is whether we ought to await
he slow course of evolution or to use
,ur common sense and abandon the
,ncient garment at once.
Why do we wear white shirts? Ages
,go it was only the wealthy who could
ford to clothe themselves in linen.
The possession of linen underwear was
hen a mark of social position, and
here was an obvious advantage In
making public display Of 1t.
We may put down thrce-fourths Of
he discomfort of the hot summer to
he account of the starched shirt. 1t
prevents the very process devised by
nature to keep the body cOol-the evap
ration Of sweat In so far as it him
lers this natural process in summer.
the white shirt favors disease. But In
winter it Is fruitful cause Of illness.
In winter the mere wearing Of Il
white shirt would no doubt leave
nan no better and no worse II he were
content to Wear it for his own satsfac
tion But the curious law Of evolution
comes in and cOmpels him to wear 1t
n such way as to do himself physical
injury.
Wherever evolution is at work 1t
caves ENTHUSIASTICALLY footprints.
Probably it is millions of years since
he vermiform appendix became USE
less organ, but it still survives. All
evolutionary survivals appear to be
harmful. The appendix is the seat of
appendicitis. In the inner corner Of
the eye there is the remnant of once
useful third lid. which now only lodges
lust and causes irritation.
The lord chancellors wig was once a
comfort in ancient drafty legislative
chambers and now merely serves to
make a sensible man look ridiculous
md give him headaches.
People who drew UP laws were long
lgO paid according to the number Of
words, but the multiplicity of words
now only causes confusion. So the
white shirt that WIS once a badge Of
wealth and culture, beiii, no longer Of
value for that purpose, il only cause
Of discomfort and disease.
1t Is necessary to cut a piece out of
the vest and the coat, just over the
most important organs of the body. in
order to prove to our neighbors that
we wear white shirts. Consequently
III the winter time we expose the lungs
and the air passages to the cold wind
lad the cold rain.
From the point Of view Of health
nothing could be more stupid. Bron-
chits is one of the most deadly of ali
diseases in this country. Bronchitis is
simply inflammation of the bronchial
tubes. This Inflammation is excited
by Il chill, chilling of that part of
the body left exposed in order to show
that we wear white shirts
The white shirt, in fact, might ap-
pear in the tables of the registrar gen
eral as the cause of SO many deaths,
perhaps 100000 year.
And does II renllv imurove n mans