Bisbee daily review., 1914-12-08
REp TRousERs ANp euLLErs

RED TROUSERS AND BULLETS
 The most conspicuous feature of the military land. scspe in the present war is the French soldiers neither sarment Those trousers are of sach brilliant red that bull would charge them half mile away They of such basginess that each leg would suffice for pair of pants of ordinary dimensions
 But the red do not tell the whole story of he Frenchman's fighting clothes He wears a blue coat with long, Tapping skirts that are always getting tang led up with his legs. He is crowned with an absurd itte toplotoh of kepi after the fashion of our own Union soldiers at the beginning of the civil war
 That cap is always wrinkled and sagging and ugly. The never Gts and the trousers could never be iraped artsticaly about the legs of any mortal man The French infantryman, fighting like a hero in this tern business sartoria earcature There is noth- at all heroic in his appearance As far as his uni orm is concerned he belongs in a buresaue show.
 And yet the French army clings to this antiquaed etup that has been superseded in other countries y more practical It brings the Frenohman idcue but he only smiles Perhaps he enjoys the very osurdity of it. The French have a sense of humor
 It doubtless natural for the to adopt those carle breeks in the first place as it was for the British adopt the scarlet Red is the fighting color stir is it the color of gorgeous dspay It is the hu, 'ar excellence for flashing Gascons. Cyrano de Der 'erac might have originated those red trousers.
 But while pair of red pants may inspire a soldiers martial ardor 1t is hard how they can be of muct .se in present day fighting As long as they are red hey peril to the wearer from their very bright ess. Notice is to for a markaman to draw bea/ m flaming patch of red Maybe that is the reason he Germans aim low. If the Germans were good shotf French soldier would be shot in the legs-or at leas the trousers nine times of ten.
 But present the red trousers have lost their cha enge Rain and mud make sorry mess of those rec ass in the trenches and the observer orges their colo nd wonders how much mud and water they hold
 Military uniforms have changed nightly in late Nearly every nation has adopted seryiceabe an6 eusibe fighting clothes. Khaki has replaced moro ragle cloth. Freak styles have disappeared Garment- onform to the body that they cover Bright colors have gone
 The Germans have evolved a greeu,gray khaki tha' 90 blends into the landscape that an army quarter mile away is almost invisible The British field uni orm is gray khaki almost as inconspicuous
 The German uniform is altogether the most admirable
 
 do the trousers, reaching beow the knee in micker booker style and terminating leggns stout naf 'tudded shoes And every pair Of brooches has two cts of suspender buttons.
 The dscordant note is the helmet Of spiked steel That be loving reminiscence of the medieva lays when the helmet protected the wearer from tn, flashing downward swordblows that stin survive in the Herman university duels. The Germans ultra-uoderr they must have a medieval touch
 It hardly possible that those helmets are really seful today They would not stop a bullet from high bower modern rife. And they must be uncomfortable articu'arly for baldheaded
 One garment that would be more useful to a soldier Ian any other bit of apparel whatsoever is tho Amer an sweater Every American athlete hunter or camper that no such useful outdoor apparel was ever de isod. Imagine the comfort deriyabe from a thick. sweater while fighting in a wet trench or byoucb ug the cold ground marching the rain or snow.
 They will come to it in time Before the war is 1yer may be deluged with orders for sweaters-in neutral coors Of course. But will the whimsical and leroic French wear them? Probably not France takes 10 fashion hints from the rest of the world.