Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-08-25
WHO ARE FASHIONS SLAVESi

above question by saying "Why, women, of course." Out of the depths of experience and neglect of having given the matter any thought beyond that experience, he will bother his head no more about it.
 But are women slaves to fashion any more than men! We speak not merely of fashion as regards personal attire, but in the matter of subservience to custom and observation of the covenances. In the matter of personal attire, man is ridiculously conventional and utterly lacking in originality. He may answer the ac- cusation by saying that busy men have no time to devote to the fripperies and frivolities of dress-that such occupation is for the opposite sex alone. But he is wrong The styles in mems clothes are as rigdly set by the leaders in such things-mainly consisting of tailors and their kindred-and the average man would no more run counter to the prevailing style than he would given women credit for independence of taste.
 The disnclination of men to make any rad ical changes in their dress is shown in the mat ter of wearing heavy wooden coats in summer. Several seasons ago the 'shirt-waist' man made his appearance and some few free-spirit- ed men undertook to walk abroad on hot days minus both coat and wastcoat A shirt of mod est texture and design, finished off with neat belt and natty collar and tie, struck the fancy of some as being solution of the problem of relieving mankind from swetering in coats made of materials that no woman would dream of wearing in summer
 But these hardy pioneers who adopted the suggestion and made themselves comfortable were soon laughed down, or the idea was in some other way overcome. Whether or not 1t was due to the influence of the taiors who if coats discarded altogether would derive considerably less revenue from the making of mems garments in summer, or whether the men missed the pockets so conveniently disposed about their coats, or whether they were unable to overcome the strangeness of being so uncoat- ed, is not known. Perhaps, after a it was the natural difference which the male sex bears to- ward the feminine-a difference which is inborn, as the result of mny generations of courteous and refined ancestors, to whom the politeness due to women was almost as sacred as holy writ
 At any rate the fact remains that the men were not independent enough to discard their coats, and they wear them to this day. They will not even have their summer clothes made of thin textures such as linen and duck, except in few isolated instances.
 Are women so abiectly committed to any one form of dress9 If woman wants to wear bifurcated bicycle garment she does so and the ridicule and ostracism of all the men in the world could not swerve her from her intention. Does she refrain from wearing Merry Widow hats because of mans gibes and sneers? No, indeed she does not She may be a slave to fashion dictates when it suits her convenience to be so but she is absolutely independent of man as regards what she wears.
 It is perhaps too much to hope that women will ever place comfort before grace and beauty in the matter of dress, but it seems that men lose their title to the designation of being the stronger sex when they will not break over the lines of conventionaity and be comfortable and happy.