Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-04-28
The Clothes Revolt
By Frederic ]. Haskin

Washington, ~. ", EApIH st
hcllion against the wearing oil conVen.I'oh-
al clothes at untouchabe prices, which
has already put thousands of men INTO
nvcraIls and some women into glngham,
is ono more illustration of the TACT, when
has been proved repeatedly IN the pas
few wears, that reform always springs
from economic necessity
Economic necessity is Just another name
for personal discomfort The haiser was
allie To- hold down Germany as long as
most Of the people were getting enough 10
cat. despite all the rawlings OF all the 'aeal-
ists. but when the food began to run snort;
hc was kicked out spontaneously anu
without any reference to theory. AZ was
the same way with the Gar Anu Gown
in tropical America it has been noted that
most Of the great political revolutions take
place I'm the mango season. At that time
~ the wear everybody eats too many man
goes and gets an acute stomach ache. The
time is then ripe for a great revolution
l'ased on the highest ideals. -,
I'm like manner the continued high and
rising prices of clothing have gwen the
kmerican citizen an acute PAIN IN his
pocket book. The time Is therefore ripe to
achieve a great dress reform. III some
philosopher will only furnish the intei-
lcctual leadership, this movement LOT
the wearing of overalls may be turned
INTO n dress reform which will bring new
freedom 10 the bodies and souls of men
and women. Perhaps the dealers them
selves will take the lead by putting ON the
market simple and inexpensive garments
which are not ugly.
The ease against conventional clothing
was made out long ago. Everyone Knows
that the French heels, the corsets, the
fr,il and overdecorated froeks which
women wear. are bad for the health, very
expensive and not really beautiful.
Everyone appreciates the tact tnaI tue
three-plecc heavy wooden suit, the sun
and chatting collar and cuffs, the sun
shirt front and the hard hat, which Is heid
responsible for all badness, are equally
Lad for the men, equally ugly, and ex-
pensivc.
suRvIvALs or BARBARlsM.
II has also been explained before that
these things are really slrvlvals OF par
barisrn. The African chief, when nc re-
yins to ACQUIRE wealth and a bevy OF
Sy;ves wants those wives to wear nose
rinps and bells on their toes, 50 that II
will he plain that they do not have 10
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 oil leisure. kept
.oIelv for his delight. For motives not
very different. the American husband likes
~ 500 his wife 90 sailing down the street,
tcetering on high heels, her ankles tangled
an IN a hobble skirt and her body held
rigid bv corseis. If she threatens TO get 4
iob. he often objects on the ground that IT
would be humihatlng to him Tor her to
work. People would think she had TO.
Like the African and the mandarin he
wants his wife TO be lady OF lelsurei
and he wants everybody TO know 1t.
So the radical philosopher argues that
the clothes our women wear are nothing
less than stripes of their economic bond
are-the uniform of the kept woman.
And the boiled shirt the high and unre-
lentinp collar, the immaculate cuffs, the
uncomfortable sack suit are The expensive
badges which every gentleman must wear
to prove that he is not a menlal laborer.
Whether these criticisms have something
IN tbem or not. il is undeniable that most
of the clothes we wear are acutely un-
comfortable They keep us longing for the
time when we can get home and pull some
uf them off, and they also make US relish
any excuse for getting into old clothes
that are comfortable"
Nor have there been lacking those who
would show us the way out of our troubles.
ally here and there ever since YOU can
remember. Some Of them wanted 20 re-
turn to the Roman toga, and some TO the
Colonial knickerboeker, and some to
nothing at all. All of them had the laud-
able purpose of making clothes cheaper,
moro comfortable and more beautiful.
Sometimes thew were made fun of, more
often the truth of their claims WAS ad-
mittei. 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 under
stood the theory that our clothes are relics
of barbarism; we may have admitted that
dress reform would be good thing We
most certainly have cursed the elusive
collar button, the collar alternately chatting
our Adams apple and willing and leaving
It bare 10 the winds of heaven, the hard,
hot, the stiff shirt front. Yet VIC have gone
on wearing the same kind of clothes.
Whenever we have gotten flush, our first
move has been to buy new suit and q
dozen collars of the latest college-boy
choker model, so fetchingly advertised in
the popular magazines on the neckS OF
Young Adonises We have lacked the cour-
age of our convictions.
SCRAMBLE FOR ovERALLs.
But now that these same suits and col
lars 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 ordering
overalls for the navy. A preacher IN Mis-
souri wears overalls in church. A Demo
cratic convention IN Kansas deliberates
IN overalls, and somewhere else judge
takes the bench IN the same regalia. The
whole male population of Birmingham
Alabama, is going into overalls and The
women are following suit with gingham
These are only a few of the instances
which we have collected. The overall.