The New York herald., 1922-06-18

stature and where are the promising
offspring of the Gibsonesque creatures
of quarter of century ago?
City Overrun by
Diminutive Femininity
The city seems peopled with these
diminutive bits of femininity. Every
where you so you see them. The
streets are packed with mites of hui
manity, schools seem to have UNDER
sized pupils. the shop girl, the clerk
and the factory worker impress you
as being much below the average size
of the girl wage Garner Of twenty
years ago.
At first you try to explain it by
saying 1t is the modern style of dress
and its decreasing effect. Knee length
skirts, little Jackets and tiny round
hats mako even u tall girl look
smaller, you remind yourself, but
when you begin to study the question
more carefully you are compelled to
acknowledge that while present fash
ions are somewhat "runty," they do
not account for the actually smaller
stature of the generation that peoples
New York to-day.
The "runt" is here and she num-
hers thousands Ethnologi"ally she is
something Of puzzle. You cannot
find an adequate explanation for her
prevalence because research workers
have been too busy with other prob
lens to devote special activity to find
ing out the why and the wherefore Of
her existence.
And so we laid the question before
DIR. Thomas d. Wood head of the
physical education department Of
Teachers College. DR.. Wood is par
ticularly well equipped to answer the
question because he not only has seen
hundreds of college girls and young
women training to be teachers pass
through the corridors and classes of
Barnard and Teachers College, but he
has not confined his observations of
physical development alone to stu
dents. He has given some attention
TO the masses of girls in the industrial
field. He has broadened his views so
as to include a comparative study OF
all types of girls of the present day.
DR.. Wood Ascribes Decrease
In Size to immigration
From this general observation DR..
Wood is inclined to think that the
prevalence of the "runty" type is due
largely to immigration. He called at
tention particularly to the vast num-
Der of foreigners who have settled
here in the last quarter of century
or more, and whose children are the
ones we see employed in factories and
shops and who form the largest group
of public school pupils.
although l have no statistics at
hand to prove this statement j should
saw that the foreign element is largely
responsible for the understood girls
we see" DR.. Wood said. LAS you
know, foreigners form a very large
\ percentage ofs the city's population
and many of these men and women
from other countries are undersized
themselves. Naturally their children
would be the same.
There are several elements to con-
slider in the production of an under
sized generation-tEere is environ
ment. development, growth, nutrition
and employment.
"Manutrition is one of the most i'm
portant factors in the development
might say one of the greatest OBJ
stacles to the development, of gen.
Grafton. 1t accounts for decrease of
stature, arrested growth or breadth OF
the body. and proves a general mental
and physical handicap.
Lack of proper nourishment pre-
walls among the poorer workers, but
II Is by no means unknown among the
rich 1t is amazing to find out how
children of the wealthy are improperly
fed | don't know whether this Is to
be attributed entirely to lack of knowl-
edge of what growing children require
TO build up their bodies, or somewhat
to carelessness on the part of parents.
"But it is fact that far more mall
nutrition exists among families who