The Washington times., 1915-03-28
Speaking of legs.

Speaking Of legs
Be calm. Mr.. Censor. this has moth.
Ing to do with the Tired Business Man
or Il Grecian dishabille dansant. or a
new Iiegfeld show. 1t hasn't even to
do with that famous Wnsted geological
tale about tho little one-legged sparrow
that carefully affixed a twig to its
stump and chirpcd gayly on It's way. OF
with any literary illusions like the apt
alliterativc lady of George Meredith g
creation who won fame by. rcmarkins
Of the hero OF THE Egoist that "he has
leg"
Far from it. This Is g most serious
story of great industry. Of interna-
tlonal trade, and OF safety first"
Speaking OF legs. then. did YOU know
that. while Washington Is not touted
as an industrial city, here is sit
uated the factory that turns out more
legs than any other leg making. wood
Ell lcg-making, factory in the world?
Big Boom In Legs.
And did you stop to think that, what
ever war may have done for other in
dustres. it has created big boom
in the les-making business?
Legs be it known, have hitherto been
what the economist would term a
staple industry with no pun intended
by the stilted phrase). Tho leg makers
had the annua; consumption of legs
ers did not feel it necessary to ad-
vcrtise legs, or employ brcss agents,
for the demand for legs Was fairly con-
slant.
ness has been almost negligible. They
had the Safety First idea over there
first. And persons are. not allowed to
risk either life or legs by crossing rail-
way tracks. Vehicles in streets, and
great factories do not give rise to fire.
Now. all that has changed. The war
has Opened" Europe for the leg manu-
facturers. The Countess Maria Won
Dumrcicher has offered to provide 500
less soldiers. 4 philadelphia woman.
who has not allowed her name to be
used, has volunteered to provide 1000
more legs to ordef And all these legs
are apt TO be made right here in
Washington.
Legless Census Here.
The Capital. you know. is something
Of reference center, and here archives
on all conceivable subjects are to be
found, but hitherto few may have
known that here also is the most nearly
complete .one-leggcd directory in this
country. This census of the lcgless.
and the onc-lcgged, has been obtained
by canvass almost as thorough as
that BY which the United States Census
takers work.
l nthis directory arc the great mapor- :
ity of tho 25OU0O persons now estimated
to be wearing wooden legs In this Coun-
try. To this directory are added yearly
the names of the 1900 to 1900 persons
Who purchase wooden legs annually.
How about cork legs? There amt
no such thing" Leg manufacturers arc
at a loss to know how this idea orisi-
mated. The only explanation they can
offer is that the first wooden legs were
used in the city Of Cork. ireland, and
thus the wooden legs came to be known
as cork legs. -.a
All artificial legs arc wooden legs.
and nearly all the modern wooden ones
are made of willow. Only a year ago
the rumor that the willow tree supply
was almost exhausted erected q sort
of panis among leg-wearcrs. But since
then leg makers have COTTON control of
willow groves, in swamp lands. that
will supply legs enough for home con-
sumption for moro than twenty years
And the foreign demand, it Is said, Will
not make a serious inroad on this sup
ply.
So, the European war is the biggest
boon to the leg business since the civie
war 1t was after that war that the
modern methods of leg making devel-