The Washington herald., 1917-07-13
MAN AND HIS CLOTHES.
By DOROTHY DIX.
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.

| Suppose the next man who came
along looked like a patch work quilt.
| that he had on a red necktie and a
| pink shirt. and a brown coat. and a
blue yaistcoat and gray trousers, and
| his necktie was coming united and his
| shoes half laced. l wouldn't hire
him for any position requiring ac-
curacy nor quick thinking. 1 should
know him to be the sort of a man
who never notices things and who
never sees an opportunity until some
/ body else comes along and points it
out to him. He'd never catch on to
what a rival was doing-or else he
would know that up to date men were
matching their shirts and ties.
And Id know that he would make
the kind OF bookkeeper whose ac
counts never balanced. or a stenogra-
pher who would spell half the words
wrong. or a shipping clerk who would
| bill goods to Mass. when they should
go to Miss, because his clothes would
| show that he was inattentive to de-
| tail. Otherwise, he wouldn't have
considered that just any sort OF a
miX-up of suits was good enough, and
he would have taken the trouble to
have tied his necktie properly and
laced his shoes securely. and worn the
coat and vest and trousers that be-
longed together.
Suppose the next man was flashily
dressed in plaids that you could hear
coming a mile off, and a red waist
coat, and wore much cheap jewelry.
Suppose his clothes showed that the
money that should have gone in quail
| ity went in gaudiness and that his
! feet were clad in cheap patent leath-
ers with no wear in them instead OF
good leather. Not for me. / would
know that he lacked judgment, and
was a tinhorn sport. who would be
! more interested in prize fights than he
| was in the grocery trade, and that
his thoughts would be occupied with
| figuring out the chances of some
white hope instead Of how to raise
himself and become an employers
hope.
Suppose the next man was i'm
maculately dressed. Suppose I de-
| tected at a glance that his scarf
never cost a cent under $3.50, that
| his clothes were cut by a very fash
ionable tailor. and his hat was the
very latest expensive block. Suppose,
IN short, he looked like a millionaire
instead of man applying for a s25-a-
week job. I wouldn't hire him be-
cause I'd be afraid OF what he would
| do to the cash register. The clothes
mania can be just as demoralizing as
the drink mania, and I wouldn't trust
man too far whose vanity made him
dress above his station.
Suppose the next man came in
was shabby. but clean. Suppose his
clothes showed hard wear but they
were brushed and pressed, and the
very best made of them that could
be. Suppose I saw that he trimmed
his cuffs and linked the seams in his
| coat where 1t had worn white. I'd
consider him because I'd know he'd
be energetic and resourceful, and that
he would do the best he could under
hard stress Of circumstances.
Or l would hire the man who had
dressed his part. as they say on the
stage, who was clean and neat, and
spic and span, and had bought clothes
suitable to his person and his station.
! Always II / were hiring men, I'd
give the preference to the we'll
dressed man. because any man bear
ing some accidental hard luck story
In these days can be well dressed IL
he's got energy enough to get out
and hustle. Ninety-nine times out of
a hundred the down-at-the-heels man
is the man who is afraid Of work"
Copyright, 1917. by the Wheeler syndicsts Inc.