Arizona republican., 1920-04-28

WASHINGTON. D. C., April 2i-- The rebellion against the wearing or conventional clothes at untouchabie prices, which has already put thous- ands of men into overalls and some women into gingham, is one more H. Iustration of the fact, which has been proved repeatedly in the past lew years that reform always springs from economic necessity.
 Economic necessity is just another name for personal discomfort. Ihe kaiser was able to hold down Germany as long as most of the people were getting enough to eat, despite all the rawlings of all the idealists, but when inc food began to run short, he was kicked out spontaneously and without any reference to theory. It was the same way with the czar- And down III tropical America it has been noted that most of the great political revolutions take place in the mango season. Al that time of the year everybody eats too many mangoes and gets an acute stomach ache. The time Is then ripe for a great revolution based on the highest ideals.
 Tn like manner the continued high and rising prices of clothing have given the American citizen an acute pain in his pocket book. The time IS therefore ripe to achieve a great dress reform. If some philosopher Will oniy furnish the intellectual leadership this movement fer the wearing of overalls may be turned into dress reform which will bring new freedom to the bodies and souls of men and women. Perhaps the dealers themselves VIII take the lead by putting on the market simple and inexpensive garments which are not ugly.
 The case against conventional cloth- ing was made out long ago. Everyone knows that the French heels, the cor sets, the frail and overdecorated frocks IL I.<,d fnt Q health, very expensive and not really beautiful. Everyone appreciates the fact that the three piece heavy wooden suit, the stiff and chafing collar and cuffs. the stiff shirt front and the hard hat which is held responsible for all badness, are equally bad for the men. equally ugly, and expensive.
 It has also been explained before that these things are really survivals of barbarian The African chief, when he begins to acquire wealth and a bevy of wives, wants those wives to wear nose rings and bells on their toes so that it will be plain that they do not have to work-that they are his kept women. The Chinese mandarin wants his wife's feet twisted out of shape so that all may know that she is a lady of leisure kept solely for his delight. For motives not very different, the American husband likes to see his wife go sailing down the street, teetering on high heels her ankles tangled up in a hobble skirt and her body held rigid by corsets. If she threatens to get job. he often objects on the ground that it would be humiliating to him for her to work. People would think she had to. Like the African and the man darin he wants his wife to be a lady of leisure." and he wants everybody to know it.
 So the radical philosopher argues hot ha C10 E.1- nryr o ~<a nothing less than stripes of their eco- homie bondage-the uniform Of the kept woman. And the boiled shirt, the high and unrelenting collar, the im- maculate cuffs, the uncomfortable sack suit are the expensive badges which every gentleman must wear to prove that he is not a menfai laborer.
 Whether these criticims have some. thing in them or not 1t is undeniable that most of the clothes we wear are acutely uncomfortable. They keep us longing for the time when we can get home and pull some of them off, and they also make us relish any ex- cuse for getting into "old clothes that are comfortable"
 Nor have there been lacking thos, who would show us the way out of our troubles. Dress reformers have sprung up sporadically here and there ever since you can remember. Some of them wanted to return to the Ro- man tOga, and some to the colonial knickerbocker. and some to nothing at all All of them had the laudable pur pose of making clothes cheaper, more comfortable and more beautiful Some times they were made fun of, more often the truth of their claim wa s admitted. But no one acted on their advice. People are receptive to ideas. but they do not act upon them until they literally have to. You and may have long understood the theory that our clothes are relics of barbarism; we may have admitted that dress reform would be good thing, we most cer- tainly have cursed the elusive collar button, the collar alternately chafing our Adams apple and wilting and Ieav- ing 1t bare to the winds of heaven, the hard, hot. the stiff shirt front Yet we have gone on wearing the same kind of clothes. Whenever we have gotten flush our first move has been to buy new suit" and dozen collars of the latest college-boy cho<er model. so fetchingly advertised in the popular magazines on the necks of young Adonises. We haze lacked the co,i age of our convictions.
 But now that these same suits and collars have gone so high that we can scarcely hope to buy them and still go on eating. the proposition looks different Without even pausing to consider the theory of the matter, thousands of men are leaping into overalls. Secretary Daniels is order ing overalls for the navy. A preacher in Missouri wears overalls in church.
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