The Irish standard., 1913-08-23
THE MODERN $01G,
Dk1u AND DRESS
Baneful Influence Upon Morals. Opinion
From Many Sources Directed Against
Mkern Evil.

Considering tho S1 . 0nncal
morals toward A OV OBJ
servers are eitho euo0 9 0itical
about the backuD QD 0hey
note in social HA 81 01na in
the kind of OA - q 0D
now most pG p 0Du1A
we are toad. songs pleasant and
healthy, whether sentimental, patri-
otic, or humorous. were heard in the
parlor concert hall or. theater now
we have in a tyranny of "ragtime" an
offensive and gross prostitution of all
sentiments that customarily form the
basis of the popular song. Many
months ago it was recorded in
these pages that plan had been sug-
gested for the censorship Of such
songs. but, although no such censor.
ship has been legally effected, the pri-
vate censorship OF the press, secular
| and religious,.is continuous. Likewise
there is abundance Of structure on
what is being gradually fixed in the
mind of the reading public as the Inn
modesty of woman's dress. and the
peril of the new dances whose pecu-
liar steps are more or less loosely rec
ognized by such names as the Tango,
the Turkey Trot, and half dozen
more. Against present day songs, a
writer in the New York Musical Oh.
server presents his argument In the
guise Of picture, saying:
"Is 1t not pitiful to look upon a lit
tie girl, perhaps or years old. snap
ping her fingers swaying from side to
4 side, and Justify singing a. II her
very heasf xsure Ii. every note. Hv-ry-
body's doin' 1t. dcin' It. She hears
her big sister sing 1t; her big sister
hears 1t at a Show and her beau buys
it for her. Glance at the sheet music
displayed on the psAno in the front
parlor' of nearly every home in the
country. Do you see any songs like
annie Laurie.' ben Bolt or The
Last Rose of Summer? No; you see
'The Devils Rall.' The Dippy Rag
The Baboon Bav Dance and The
Tango Twist each one with title
page picturing contortioned dancers
partly cs.thed, and the printed words.
THE reigning success Of the day.
And the worst Of it all is that these
songs appeal not only to the low and
vicious minded, but the great majority
of our church-eoing, pious-minded
people pay out their money to at
tend theaters In order to hear and
applaud them"
Drivet. II Not Worse.
Such songs should Be "banished,"
according to the Congregational Ad-
vance (Chicago). While the Chicago
Daily News, citing q statement by
Gaorge Hamlin. the tenor. that good
songs are produced in country where
tho people know and understand good
poetry shows a way out:
"The average American song Is
drivel. II not something worse. This
could not be true If 1t were not for
the fact that both composers and the
purchasing public will consent to ac-
cept drivel. The young people of this
country should be familiarized with
good poetry. II better songs are to
be the by-product Of deeper culture,
hasten the day."
Yet deeper culture" or a sense OF
the artistic, are not generally brought
forward in support Of the indecorum
of women's dress of the moment. For
example, a writer in the Wesleyan
Methodist (syracuse, N. ~ has this
to say on the subject:
IF girls had a faint idea Of the dis
gusting sight they presented. or could
hear some Of the unmanly, dissolute
remarks made about them as they
pass along tie street clad in trans.
parent waists, or one Of those short,
outlandish, tight-gripping, hobb'"
skirts they would feel so ashamed
that IL they had spark Of virtue left
in them they would go to their rooms
or get out Of sight somewhere till
}, they had a sensible dress to put on
/ How can they expect people to dis
tineuish them from the low and cor
rupt II they dress exactly like them?'
To impress his readers as he says
with the fact that he is not talking on
J, his own unsupported opinion. the
writer in "The Wesleyan Methodist
Il quotes a Catholic priest Of New York
city as having declared that