The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-01-03
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, D. @.
WHAT COLOR is YOUR LIFE?

WHAT COLOR IS YOUR LIFE?
washington, D. c., Dec. 31.-That a
large percentage of divorces is due to
too much red in the nuptial home
and that crime would decrease if the
streets were lighted with yellowish
green lights, is the claim of the most
| recent professor to come forward with
a new set of theories about color and
the effects it has upon our lives.
/ = Conservatives will doubtless say
that the professor claims too much,
and perhaps he does, but the part
which color plays in the daily life OF
| every one has never been properly I'M
derstood by most persons. In fact,
to color at all, while most women are
concerned solely in choosing those
colors which harmonic with their
| hair and eyes.
| Tell the average man that the red
| cover on his library table is injuring
Yet it is possible to give him scien-
| tific proof of the fact. Red has been
| shown by many experiments to stimu-
| late the heart action just as surely as
a drug, and to be powerful nerve
| stinulant as well. Orange, yellow,
violet and purple are also stimulating
colors. Blue is a soothing color and
in large quantities even a depressing
one. Green is perhaps the most
wholesome of all colors.
|
conclusively known about the physio-
logical effects of colors. Besides this,
you may read a great deal of theoret-
| ical stuff about the colors of souls aud
of personalities, the relations between
| color and sound and other Specua-
much you may be sure: the colors that
| surround you have an effect upon you,
and by regulating them properly you
may to some extent promote your
| health and comfort.
Natures Use of Color.
1t is interesting to note that the
| only colors which are in nature used
in large masses are green and blue.
If the sky were to turn bright red
and the leaves and grass bright yell
| low, it is probable that we would all
| go crazy. Many interesting refIec-
lions are suggested by the use of color
in nature. 1t is strikingly noticeable
that in brightly sunlit countries, like
our own southwest, where all colors
are more brilliant, where the sunsets
are intensely colorful, and where sun
light and distance work queer color
effects, nearly everyone feels an acute
nervous stimulus, amounting in some
cases to a sense of exaltation. On the
| other hand, cloudy rainy countries
| where all colors are subdued, where
a shrouded green mixed with gray
predOminateS, like the British Isles
for instance, are noted for the pro-
duction of healthy, somewhat stodgy,
people. The differences between per-
sons of the same blood and race liv-
ing in Arizona and in Scotland are
very noticeable. Just how much of
this difference is due to color it would
be hard to say, but it seems proba-
BILE that color accounts for a part of it.
1t has long been a mysterious but
we'll known fact that all migrations and
great movements of people generally
] aY~6 70
flaring reds and yelIows of the sun
set sky in the west have something
| to do with this?
Whatever such speculations may be
worth, it is worth anyone's while to
know that some colors are stimulants
and some are anodynes, and to pro-
coed accordingly in matters of decora-
ton and clothing. It is probably well
! to follow nature, and to make green
and blue the only bright colors that
are used in large masses. All bluffs,
grays, and other neutral tones, are of
course natural in effect. Blues and
greens should be the only bright col
ors allowed te appear in large guam
titles. If red is used it should be
| merely touch here and there. Such
a touch of red is undoubtedly pleas
ing, and probably healthful so long as
1t is not large enough to force it.
self upon the eye. OF course in a
dark room brighter colors may be
|
quantities because its value does not
come out SO strongly. Rooms which
are flooded with sunlight or brightly
lit with electricity should be decor
ated in soothing colors, only.
| 1t has also been often claimed that
color is an index to personality, and
that the man or woman with a strong
affinity for red will always show il
by having a bit of red in the clothing
or in thereon, and that the overstim-
ulated temper which red produces will
always be found in such a person
This suggestion may not be wholly
without value, but like most other
keys to the mystery of human person
ality, it must be used with care. It is
probable that fashion and chance gov
ern the colors worn by most persons
and also those found i'll their houses
Nevertheless a strong preference for
any one color is probably factor
worth taking into account in forming
Judgments of persons.
Exciting Hair.
Some persons, of course, are en-
dowed by nature with strong primary
colors. 1t is interesting to note in
this connection that red-haired girls
are additionally the most stimulating
and exciting of all, their nearest rivals
being the bright yellow blondes, while
the girl with blue-black hair is the
most serene and unexciting OF all
These facts have usually been inter-
preted on basis OF race, but race en-
tiers into the situation less as hair
color becomes more and more a beauty
parlor product.
It is not of record that titian-haired
damsels produced by the henna pro-
cess are less exciting to flirt with than
those endowed with red hair by their
Creator, while peroxide blondes are
certainly no less disturbers of the
peace than natural ones. 1t is proba-
BILE that a reasonably susceptible male
placed opposite a beautiful red-haired
girl under a bright light is an almost
inevitable victim of physiological cir
cumstances. After a certain length of
time his blood pressure and tempera-
ture will rise, his nerves will begin to