The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-04-03
Girls! Do
You Spend
So Much?
$1.50 Weekly Budget for
Clothing Is Protested.
What Do You Think?
BY HELEN wELsHIMER

RI HELM WELShimEH
l seem to have started some
thing.
My head is in a hornets nest!
Innocently enough-and all in the
days work. wrote an interview
recently TO the effect that an Amer
ican girl could dress herself, If she
had TO, on $50 a week. Now, from
al parts Of the country indignant
protests are flying at me.
Critics charge:
Their Charges
That I am helping to tear down
the American standard of living;
That am encouraging sweat
shop labor;
That / am boosting the sales Of
the 5 and 10 cent stores at the ex-
pense of other merchants;
That 1 am taking the JOY out of
life for young women, pinning their
lives down to a -pinching
struggle TO keep up barest appear
ancss.
And so on.
Written in Good Faith
The article, which brought all
this down upon me, resulted from
an interview with officials of one of
New York's most highly respected
philanthropic institutions, the very
venerable Association of Improving
the Conditions of the Poor. The
association had made an elaborate
survey of the matter and there was
every reason to believe that its Of
f1cers knew what they were talking
about.
Deans OF women In colleges heads
OF department stores, saleswomen
and secretaries who never have had
to rely on a $3.50 a week clothing
budget, are saying that Il can't be
done.
Girls, whose weekly incomes of
$l2 to $13 have to aid in the sup
port Of family, are saying that it
has to be done!
But, Can II?
The question is:
Can it?
Nobody knows until she triesl
Will a dozen scent handkerchiefs
stay white and crisp for a year or
will they melt in the soapf1akes?
Will. 60-cent slip endure II
months strain with only one COM
panion slip in the laundry? One
that isn't worth one cent more than
the first one?
Will two pairs Of carriers lose their
dimes worth of elasticity along to-
ward the second week or months, or
keep seams straight from March to
March? Will dollar pair of rub
bers last two years without getting
holes in the heels, a most remark
able feat indeed?
Only those who have tried wearing
such clothing know.
Wearer Must Know
Suppose a girl has only $77.75
year to spend on clothes, with no
donation from rich aunts, no hand
me-downs from older sisters. Is it
better for her to risk it all-or as
much of it as she has on hand-on
a set of garments, praying that the
bosss son or a travelling salesman
will fall in love with her and marry
her, or that she will get raise be-
fore she needs another brassiere
or is it wiser for her to proceed on
the assumption that her bills may be
her own for another year-and
budget?
Is it better for her to buy the
cheap qualities and meager quanti-
ties suggested, risking years wear,
and maybe not getting it. or Splurge
for a couple of weeks and let the
rest of the year be sartorial hang
over?
After Money Is Spent?
What will she do when the gar
ments from her buying orgy need to
be replaced, and her dollar pock-
etbook is empty? Yes, what will she
do when the carefully purchased
SIS dresses (four of them) and 60
cent nightgowns 1.-TWO Of them)
collapse from textile strain?
Or can she make the $77.75 ward
robe last four seasons and like it?
"She can't" say the people who
have never tried it.
Its all we can do to get by on a
whole lot more!" girls with fairly
large pay envelopes add.
If a girl has only $l.50 q week for
the purpose of dressing-Well--
what is she to do?
downright, 1886 by NEA Servire, Incl