Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-17
TOO MUCH or WOMEN
BARE At \. '. DANCES
Slump in Feminine Modcsty Illus
tratcd by Costumes Worn
at Victory Ball.

Now York Jan. l7-MrS Ellen A.
O'Grady, fifth Deputy Police Cominis-
sionor, ~ meeting To discuss Tho thrl
Problem During Dcmobillzation day
ar two ago uuwlttinCly started move
merit that may end IN sending socially
prominent women 90 dances and dinners
IN highneckcd frocks with sweaters over
them.
II will II Mrs James Griswold Ncntz,
president of the Womcn's Republican
Club, continues on the path of reform
rs undeviatinglv as she set ont immc-
diatclv after the commissioner 3 words
died upon the shocked air Of that clolstral
amphitheatrc which the club lets out for
meetings.
Mir Wcntz said the reason Nr.
O'Grady's words about the fearful slump
IN feminine modcSty hit her so hard vs.
that the Victory Ball was stll fresh ~
her mind
There were women there she told the
earnest audience who take her word tor
IT, might ~ we'll not have had ou any
thing at all the sum total oi thCr ap-
parcl was 81 pcrilously near the quantity
represented IN arithmetic hy a noucht
WHY" She sand. there was one glrl
there who just had little narrow strip
at filmv sllk across the front ot her here
" Mr. Vent placed a hand upon
her hcavlng hoSoml and IN the back Il
came down IN point To her belt she
was practically harhackCd These thlngs
cannot hut shock The male spectator.
And not only grls dress so-wOmcn
old as | am appear AZ public functions
shamrlesslV uncovered Cannot We
cried the speaker earnestly, cannot VIC
persuade socIcty women 90 put some
o1o hes on
r was not socictv women Commissioner
O'Grady venturcd 10 Crticisc, or, rather
u wss the sort 81 socicty that dIsports
itself IN last Side dance houses and on
thr Conc, Island beach, where she AMI
her assIstants have been making Inv,~-
,lgatiune. and have found conditions
Which led her IL state Yesterday that one
~ the most alarming features Of modern
III, Was the lack ~ modesty n girls and
Young women.
What tie Commissioner sayR has
moved me deeply. exclaimed Mrs Ncutz,
jumping up Isn't thus absence of mod
t~ty In the prls due - the example ~
socicty women who 20 about with hardly
any clothes on Whats tho matter with
these women
Ilasnt the war taught them anvthinc'
Women w have goi ~ gct together and
selves up a little. and vc have got 10 do
something about The awful lows -neckcd
dresses displayed IN the shop windows
4 chorus Of aCCanlatlons greeted h,r
Flocks n women gathered around ON
missioner O'Grady and wulng her hand,
producing httlc notebooks and mplorinC
hcr 20 PVT dnvn hcr name 20 sp'ak AZ the
next meeting u the olulS Of which they
ar president Others surrounded Mrs
Ncntr and offered their co-opcraiIor u
the work ~ clothing Nus and Mrs 80
cicty. though somewhat IN fhc ar rs how
20 20 about H.
The welfare worker ~ banking con-
panv, who declined 10 lcf hcr name he
ri.ed offered her testimony On thr dr,sS
fashions of stcnographcrS and other oi-
fiec women Il often palncd tho heads
81 tho firm. she said, 10 observe nov
frivolous snd indeed indclicate was the
attire oi some 81 the young women who
TOOK dlctAtion and - forth ,nd She
hsd lahoTcd with these Young women
bat had accomplished little.
The meeting by The wsv was called hy
the CIrls Protective league ~ she New
y ors prohation Asocmtnn and in 3d.
dIflon 10 the speeches quoted above there
were several hv Mis- NJ ludc Miner 81
the assoCiat ION hy Mrs Jane - Ripp,n
and nv Lieutenant William s Wilson ~
thr United States Puhhc Health Service
The latter complained Of the difficulty
of getting publicity IN TIE fight against
certain diSo ases which the government
is striving 20 lessen.