Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-04-05
REVIVING MASCULINITY
FOR MEN OF AMERICA
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

. were denounced as unhygenic and
messy looking.
The little meeting of the advance
guard of masculinity had some trou-
BILE in finding safe territory on which
TO plant their banner of defiance.
Girls are wearing Knockers. mems
shoes. fouc-in-hand neckties, socks
or their equivalent-short hair,
and mannish overcoats. 1t is even
Whispered that some women are be-
coming eligible for the bald head
clubs, whether from too much hair
curling or hair pulling is not GER
tain.
How then. with all these accesso-
ries of manhood taken over by wo-
men, is the herman to retain his
identity, the pioneers asked them
selves mouInfully. They fell back
On denouneing the practices of ef-
feminism and solemly swearing
never to touch lip stick, powder,
rouge. hair nets, shoe polish tor
hair), or perfume stronger than W o
and a half per cent.
This secret meeting shows the
earnestness of the pioneers in his
new cause Other signs, too, foretell
a change in mans status to parallel
the recent changes in that OF wo-
man. Up to now, men nave peen
standing back while women picked
over the bargains in rights Wo-
men have been doing radical Things
IN business. politics. professions ana
with their appearance as well. But
men have had no organizations to
work for their social progress.
Bill of Rights For Men
The first political agitator for h
100 k,rCt f4nnr tho horizon
only a few days ago when a Mary
land enator presented a bill OF
rights for men to the Maryland leg
isIature. This bill, we understand,
was taken more or less as a joke.
But the ionee comforted himself
no doubt with the reflection that all
great ideas are apt to be rldiculed
at first and that he Will some lay
be famous as the father or a cause
II is obvious tina with the status
of women changing so rapidly the
position of men must change to mt
in with the new regime. So Tar men
Lave met the changes caused by
women's progress by stepping pack'
and to a certain extent this was falr
enough, seeing that men had been
the privileged class for some centu-
ries.
But, eventually a more equable re-
adjustment of mans status must
come, we are told py a nfooest
member of the herman clan who
shrinks from being quoted. Wo-
nan, he explained. once contributed
the homework and man the money
toward keeping a home together.
| Now. some women earn money IN
/ the business world like their hus-
bands and both come here at night
/ as h husband once did.
The man Pays
The hitch in such arrangements,
when a hitch occurs, is that the
man foots the bills while the wo-
man may. If she chooses. save her
money for herself. The husband
| promised TO support her. and she
sees no.uing wrong in saving her
| salary while his goes to pay for
coal. groceries and h coo
The balance of responsibility
should bs restored, it is claimed, SO
that both parties would be required
to contribute their share TO the up-
keep of the home. This sort o I
equal responsibility for married cou-
niles was one of the items in the
| MARYLAND statesman's bill OF rights.
The other side of the case, which
has long been a~gitated, should be
provided for with equal
That is, the wife whose contribution
IN the home is a full days housework
| should receive her just share OF Inc
family income.
This is one OF the questions aris-
ing in connection with the equal
rights problem. Another wss
brought into court the other day by
a man of seventy. He asked that
| his wife, who had left him, be or
dered to pay him alimony on the
grounds thai she was younger tnan
he and that she had money.
But the most serious problem. 10
the mind of the college herman at
least is the question of appearance
which so far remains largely unset
lad. Aside-from his stovep1pe trou-
sers scarcely any article of his ap-
nearance is safe from adaptation oy
the fiapper and feminist. And once
worn by a fapper an article OF dress
never has quite the same dignity
ven on n diplomat.