The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-05-01
MAYOR PULvER, WISE MAN

Mayor Pulver of St. Petersburg
seems well gifted with good sense. We
lclip the following in~-egard to his re-
cent decision on the bathing suit ques-
ton from the Palm Beach Post: /
No Joke
There has been a deal of good ma
tured spoofng of ST. Petersburg, its
Purity League and its mayor, all be-
cause certain citizens of the Sunshine |
| City deemed feminine legs immoral |
unless covered by hosiery, even on a
| bathing beach. Mayor Pulver held
it to be neither his prerogative nor
duty as mayor to censor women's
bathing costumes and further display |
ed no inclination to permit anyone
else to do so. except that the police
are always expected to prevent men
or women offending against the laws
of decency.
1t is not our intention to lend fur
Their aid and comfort to those who ap-
pear to derive so much pleasure from
discovering indecencies and signs of
Decentralization in the garb of modern
women. Usually it is subject which
this paper believes is best treated by
silence. However, the last issue of
the Tourist News carries an article
by Mayor Pulver which we recon-
mend to our readers. 1t dispels any
current notion that st. Petersburg's
mayor has found the bathing suit in
cident altogether testing matter and
sets forth some sane and far from
frivolous opinions worth thinking
over. They disclose a wholesome and
thoughtful point of view and des;r-
: able idealistic tendency. Mayor Pull
yer writes in part:
eff the men and women of the
: period from Pericles to Christ should
4 appear on our streets, or on our bath
t ing beaches, in the simple and meager
e raiment which sufficed for their needs,
our Purity League would have heart
failure from the shock, if it is sincere
/ in it's convictions.
\ "The men and women Of that time
found loose flowing robe or simple
a tunic, which permitted the pores of
the skin, as important as the lungs in
respiration, to function that their
blood might be pure and healthy.
around the warm waters of the
= Gulf of Mexico will develop in the
4 future a civilization greater and
nobler than that of ancient Greece
"God did not give US this perfect
-, climate, this continuing sunshine, this
! responsive soil, without anticipating
that it would be tenanted by the per-
Il feet human race from whom will
u spring a conception of life which will
be an inspiration to all the future
ages. This will be impossible until
we recognize the necessity of health
a prime factor in which is the discard
g ing of unnecessary clothing and per-
:. hitting our bodies the advantages OF
e the pure air and sunshine.
"Had l the power to make rules ano
: Ienforce them on our bathing beaches
e would make it necessary for the
mothers of these girls now so freely
criticized, to- battle in the saline wa,
s tiers of Tampa Bay and the Gulf OF
: Mexico with. as much of their body
It lexposed to the life-giving sun and all
as true modesty would endure. 1t is
: only because of prudery we have in
e herited from our far northern ances
tors who covered their bodies to keeI
out the cold, that we retain in thi:
e climate the clothing that smothers u:
:: and enfevers our blood, and endanger:
n our morals.
d "When we all learn the lesson these
= lyoung men and women of today ar
# teaching us by discarding unnecessar!
o clothing the novelty will have ceased
and our boys will cease to mate will
women physically deficient to the Diet
: riment of the race, because of thu
h concealing possibilities of too wei
If clothed body and our women will re
nj gard young man of immature bodil!
]. development and blotched skin will
t loathing and disdain and unfit to sir
,r the great American of the future. Il
: that glorious age, art, science, musi
a and philosophy will replace the dolla
II mark as the insignia of true great
- ness"