Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-04-07
ROUGE ED|CT
MAY CAUSE WAR
Use of Too Much Powder and
Other Practices of State
House Women

TRENTON, April IA feminine
civil war among State Hous wom-
en- office workers appears to be a
possibility here as the result or an
edict against undue use of rouge and
powder, Just issued by Mrs. Cornelia
4. Meytrott, assistant director Of the
division of Parole of the Department
of Institutions and Agencies. in ac-
cordance with an order Of Maxwell
a.. Rockhill. director of the division
While the request" to cut down on
the camoufiage applies only to seven
DR. eight girls in Mr.. Rockhills Of
dee, "stenogs'' all owe the building
are up in arms, fearing that IL the
precedent is established. they VIII
come next. They are hopping
mad"
The edict, It is understood, is in
the form of a request" but is ey1s
IDENTIFY intended to be obeyed, for 1t
is learned hat a similar request
was made two or three months ago.
That request was obeyed for a time,
AZ appears, but the fair lassies have
ben straying from the path of rue
modesty. The immediate cause or
the second move for occurrences
according to Mr.. Rockhill, was the
entrance one morning this week OF
one of his employees who made the
mistake of wearing huge red ear
rings a long with too red cheeks.
Mr.. Rockhiil thought "the combina-
ton was too much"
simultaneously with the promul-
cation. of the order come rumors
that both Mr.. RockhiIl and Mrs.
Meytrott have been using the state
employees for outside and private
work. Mr.. Rockhill admitted using
state girls to write a letter or two
-rttA Dow CaaIIf work
and perhaps in calling directors
meetings of a local corporation. but
declared that this amount of extra
official work had been less than in
finitessimai."
1t was declared that Mrs. Meytrott
used the girls to run various person.
al errands. and for private steno-
graphic work after hours. h could
not be reached, but Mr.. Rockhill de-
clared that he was certain that IL
any private work had been done by
the girls of his Office, 1t had been
paid for. He said that he was sure
hat mot more than eight hours
extra work had beer done by all
eight girls since he had been in the
Office" He has been there since last
September.
Mr.. Rockhill bases his action In
asking for only "sane" use OF cos
metics on a pure fatherly interest In
the welfare of his girl employees. He
said that so far. at least, efficiency
in his office has not been fnterfered
with by the dangerous habit of using
red paint. He stated, however, that
n carried to a sufficient extent, eff
cheney might suffer.
Mrs. Meytrott is reported to have
told the girls hat she did not care
how they "rouged" on the street. SO
long as they did not carry it to ex-
cess in the office. If the girls do 1t
on the street and also conform to
regulations in the office. 1t Is sup
posed that State House Custodian
Smrre win nave to furnish sand soap
in the ladies' rest room so they can
scrub it off before going to work.
Women workers all over the
building declared today that such an
order as has been issued in the in
s%titution's Office Is a fragrant viola
ton of personal liberty. suppose
they made you wear q coat" said
one girl to a male defender of the
order who was in his shirt sleeves.
"Women have an absolute right TO
dress and-yes-paint as much as
they want said another. I'D like
to see them stop mel
The officer in question is now
QudrlereQ III the Sldte Hhuscuhi, dliiiN
cases of geological specimens, an
Gent forae, and New Jersey fish.
That's where a man who Issues an
order like hat belongs" said an in
dignant fair one, among the other
fossils"
1t is learned on good authority
thai two of the girls in the office,
who never before used rouge. came
In with plenty of it the day after
the order, by way of protest. Mr..
Rockhill, on the other hand, asserts
that so far as he knows. after an
hour or SO of indignation everybody
Is satisfied. He said that one girl
even came in and asked me If she
had too much on. h said that /
must tell her if II wasn't right. so
thai she might conform to the re-
quest"
The division chief admits that If
he took the case of a girl using
more rouge than he thought proper,
he would not get very far by bring
ing charges against her before the
Civil Service Commission. Il would
not do that" he said.
srWhat would you do If n of
Your girls persisted in using too
much rouge. he was asked.
"T'd ask her to get transferred"
he replied.
"But suppose she wouldn't con-
sem to transferrence? ?"
well" was the reply. "T'd let her
rouge from head to foot before I'd
make charges before the civil serv-
ice authorities" he replied. Mr..
Rockhill admitted that 1t could be
made so unpleasant for a girl that
she would quit, without bringing
charges, but said that he hoped"
he would not do that.
The division head came to state
service from a local candy manufac-
tory. where he said he had charge
OF three hundred girls. He appar-
emily feels that he has had plenty of
experience in handling girls.
Commissioner Lewis, head of the
Department Of Institutions and
Agencies, could not be reached. and
how he feels about it could not be
learned. "Stenogs' in the main
Office, however, over which he pre-
sides, asked that it be made plain
that fha order dOes NOT apD1V IN