Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-03-22
HASKIN TODAY TELLS OF
WORKIl~G GIRLS CLOTHES
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

for example, are gently informed
that it would be in better taste II
they confined themselves to incon-
%spicuous underwear, and girls VINO
appear in extravagant decollete are
politely requested to desist. Other
wise, the advisory committee seems
to possess rather liberal ideas.
Not even these limited restrictions
are placed upon the 1000 girls and
women who are employed by a large
insurance company in this city.
When questioned as to this seeming
lack of discipline, a business execu-
tive of the firm asserted that the
company was concerned entirely
with the efficiency. of it's employees
and not with their clothes.
IF the girls want to wear short
skirts or wear their hair bobbed or
in Mary Pickford curls, they may.
Some of the company's officials. of
course, have their individual preju-
dices. By the way, a funny incident
happened here the other day which
you might be able to use in this con-
nection. A girl came in to apply for
a Job as stenographer in Mr.. (we1l
call him Smith, Smiths office. She
was the regular fiapper type, with
short hair and short skirts and her
face streaked up like an Indian
squaw. Smart, though; and took
her dictation without a hitch.
Smith, you see, Is one of the old
fashioned kind that Is raising all this
howl about the new girls and their
clothes, and here was a splendid ex-
ample of all he disapproved of ask
ing him for a job. We could see that
H. rr,. s,aDraoca1N IU hor nfhninncv
though, SO we hung around waiting
to see what he would do. After a
long silence he finally said, "Im
sorry but 1 cannot employ you. and
1 am going to tell you why. You
may think me old-fashioned, but l
want people with some degree of
dignity near me while I work. Now,
with your abbreviated hair and
skirt
Transformation Lands job.
"Oh, is that all?" asked the girl
in a relieved voice. "Well, that is a
defect easily remedied. Longer
skirts are easily acquired. If you in
sist upon them, and If you will only
watch patiently for a few seconds !
can show you that my hair Ia not
really bobbed at ALL" Saying which,
she took out a few hairpins and re-
moved the whole short part of 1t.
Her own haid was neatly arranged
in a soft, fiat coil at the back-as
dignified looking a couture as even
Smith could desire. Smith was so
surprised at first that his mouth fell
open, and he had to cover up his
loss of dignity by giving the girl a
long lecture or her a~rtificiality. Then
he hired her at a good salary.
This view hat business women
should dress simply and inconspicu-
ously has long been voiced with
mighty eloquence by various groups
for various reasons but it has re-
manned for a few bankers to come
right out bluntly with the great OBJ
jection-namely, the fact that friv-
olous clothes have d~istracting effect
upon the male employee.
Girls who wear gay clothes to
business are too distracting to the
young men in the office" said one of
this group. 1--WE are letting them out
as fast as We cam"
This view is sharply challenged by
Mary, Alden Hopkins, in an article
recently published in The New Re-
public, in which she says:
WHY ilOuluu L Sllc NtilC puSiiCoS
girl) wear as pretty. silly clothes as
the girl who stays at home to help
her mother? Earrings and strapped
ttoes and high heels and strings of
ba'baric beads and everything else.
"If you put it on the ground of
simplicity for all girls and all wom-
en-why, that's another matter.
Maybe, so and maybe not so. But
the idea that red and orange nastur-
tium yellow and aster puppies be-
long to the girl whose allowance
comes from her father, while navy
blue and dark brown r the colors
for the girl whose pay envelope
comes from her employer-this
seems to me not fair at all. Why
should a business girl be restricted
to the type of costume that no wom-
en- ever turns her head to look at
on the street?.s....
One Dress Must Do
"Headliner business women wear
simple and transformations costumes
because they can afford to buy the
very best models and because by
the time they are headliners they are
beyond the rainbow age. But Twin
kletoes, earning fifteen a week. has