The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-15

WV 4" "a"."-' .s.'i' stimulation sa'a tic. to tn.
 clothes industry. The dress makers were not in happy frame or mind during the spring They felt as if ill luck were hitting them all along the line There was an offensive against the center and the ends. First. there were the enormous prices that had to be paid to the French de- signers for the gowns that were sent to this country as inspiration for new work Added to the prices, was the serious danger of not being able to get the clothes that were ordered, through the lack of transportation that came < after this government dismissed the German ambassador.
 The renewed activity of the submarine campaign was liable to make McGinty and French gowns comrades On the sands of the sea. One of the women buyers who, during the spring, was spending thousands of francs in Paris for hel shop was asked by 1Fe house of l,aquin why she did not feel sule or 4 the frncks she was choosing. She an swe!ed that it was the first time she had to think of what mermaids might like to wear. The retort made by man buyer who was standing near her, was that if sne felt that most of her cargo would be sorted out by mermaids, she had better go to Callot for her frocks.
 The new costumery shown by that house. consisting as it did, of metallic \ brocades, gleaming fish scales short swllling tails and a variety Nt beaoed necklaces, would have appealed to those creatures whom we always think fl as combiag their hair as they float and sirg.
 When the prices had been paid by the dressmakers for the spring gowns ana the transportation had proved secure, America declared war, and the economy | cry was raised.
 \ The ,iressmakers and the shopkeepsrs who sell clothes had not had sufficient time to realize a profit on then vast expenses for French gowns in March, ana lhe majority of them decided, pos sibly unwisely, that they would ho'd sweeping sales -~in order to c-eaf out whatever they had before economy brought about a crash in commerce. Ihe \ shoas were also compelled to pay lheii salaries during this trouolous time. arc thet- televed that they could 'io this more easily hy holding sales. They would get cash, and they wou'i keel the workrooms busy by alseratlc~s.
 CLOTHES FOR QUIET PEOPLE
 By the time great many people WI deal in womens apparel considere> themselves on the verge Of nervous prostiation through the strain ol tn spring, there came into the who'll
 clothes situation glimmer of light tha
 has broadened into a strong ray o sunshine.
 N If has created optimism in all guar
 ters It came through war relief ac tiyities That seems an astounding thn
 to have happened, but it is another phas
 of tre prov erb. Tt is an Ill wind tha
 blows nonody any good
 It makes an interesting chapter |
 the history of womens apparel durin
 the great war Something similar to
 happened in England, not in France, ht
 the entire thing happened where 1t onl # could happen, in this tremendously pro'
 porous country.
 A The beginning of the war has pee M written in chapters. of activity on tn
 side and fighting on the other side Li
 e~sily, millions of women insisted upe
 doing their bit. The drive of the Re Cross which was nationwide; the extr'