The Washington herald., 1911-11-18
WOMAN'S ILLS DUE
TO FOOLISH STYLES
Is Assertion of Prominent
Washington Physician.
By JULIA CHANDLER MANI.

asked prominent Washington
physician yesterday what was the most
frequent cause Of death among women,
expecting to be answered with some
terrible disease. ~
Silk hose and low pumps" was the
reply he gave my question.
The health of woman depends more
| upon keeping her warm and dry than
| upon anything else 1t is impossible for
any woman to retain her good health
| who trots the streets in all sorts and
conditions of weather in cobwehby hose
and low shoes, her ankles exposed to
| the cold winds of winter. High-heeled
slippers, gauzy waists, and silk stock
ings are responsible for the larger part
of the illness among fashionable women
| during the winter months" he went on
| to assert, gravely and hopelessly.
In following highly fashionable fads
and feminine fancies, we deal with
| factor of more seriousness than the
economical side of the fashion game,
which we discussed yesterday.
Many Of the styles for women have an
| influence on her health that is even
more serious than the drain upon her
pocketbook.
Danger in Narrow Skirts.
Take the narrow skirt as an example
The Pennsylvania Railroad has asserted
that high-heeled shoes and hobble skirts
have been responsible for a large num-
Der of accidents on its line Because
| their skirts were too narrow to permit
them free use of their limbs, women
have stumbled and been mortaIly injured
In a suit for damages brought against
this company the skirt of the woman in
the case was measured, and proved too
narrow for her to have one foot on the
lower step of the car and the other on
the ground without drawing her skirt UP
to her knees.
Aside from the danger of tripping in
trying to get about In skirts that bind
every free action of the limbs, there is
nothing that so quickly tires a woman
as her enort to push forward against
the impediment of tight skirts about her
knees and ankles.
Fashion that Caused Disease.
A few years back the extremely high
collar was all the rage. They were
worn so high and so tight that a woman
could scarcely turn her head, and that
so interfered with the operations of the
throat that goiter became almost an
epidemic in fashionable circles.
From this injurious fashion we jumped
to the Dutch neck, which is very youth
full and pretty and comfortable in the
hot months, but which Is Injurious to
women in rough weather.
Why will they wear high-heeled Slip
pers that tip the heels up and throw
every sensitive organ they possess on a
strain?' asked the doctor.
Why will they subject themselves to
the bleak winds of November, wearing
about half enough clothing to keep them |
warm and dry?
Inviting Pneumonia.
why do they go about with uncovered |
arms and chests, inviting pneumonia, |
from which. If they recover at all they
run the risk of never regaining their
normal strength?
Why will they practice the beastly |
custom Of wearing corsets that eliminate |
the hips almost entirely? There is moth /
Ing lovely in a hipless female. Surely |
God knew what He was about when He |
made woman with the broad hips which |
generalization and years Of fashion |
have diminished almost to deformity.
No woman may go through the process
of hip elimination without serious injury
to her health, criminal injustice to her
motherhood. and to the children she
bears, and a positive Disagreement to her
figure Yet, just let some noted fashion
dictator get up and proclaim a hipIess
season and every fashionable woman in
the land sets about training down i'm
mediately.
Once upon a time the hour-glass f1g-
ure was the fashion. Women laced in
their waists, depressing their Tvers,
crowding their lungs, forcing vital or
gans out of position, and devitalizing the
whole system in order to obtain a wasp
waist. Then came a decree from the
fashion center allowing the larger waist,
but demanding no hips, and Immediately,
like an army of brainless idiots, the
feminine world rallied around the hip
less flag and accepted the means pre-
sented to them to procure the disired
figure.
And what 1 want to know is why
human beings who are intelligent and
reasonable along other lines lose every
vestage of common sense when 1t comes
to fashion," the doctor ended.
Can you answer himE |,