Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 159, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1911 — Craze For Silk Stockings [ARTICLE]

Craze For Silk Stockings

Women Will Steal to Flaunt Their Natty Ankles. sr or partment Store Gives His Views— Chorus Girls Are Especially Good Buyers. Chicago.—A Judge, a lawyer and a physician discussed from their respective view points the significance of' the silk-stocking craze which Is sweepinjg the country. According to the census report just Issued the number of pounds of silk and spun silk yarn used In manufacturing stockings and sox increased from 266,000 to 980,000, an advance of 280 1 per cent.. In ten years. The gain In Chicago has been tremendous and W. G. Spoerl, manager of the stocking department -of a State street department store, declares that Chicago has gone silkstocking mad. At least 1,000,000 pairs of shapely anklfes, both masculine and feminine, are clad In the daintiest silk, according to'Mr. Spoerl. “Even salesgirls whose salaries may not be over $lO or sl2 a week insist upon having silk hosiery,” said Mr. Spoerl. “I have tried to tell them the cheaper hosiery would be more in keeping with the positions they occupy, but they will not listen and insist upon having the very best Prices for the simon pure article range from 50 cents to $1.50 a pair. Embroidered hose are quoted at $1.50 a pair, but the demand for this article Is not noticeable. “Women will steal to get silk stockings,” said Judge Beitler. “Some women will take desperate chances, turning shoplifters and -petty thieves to gratify their desire to flaunt a natty ankle. They seem to regard hosiery as an Index to breeding and an expression of good taste. When taking the witness stand a woman almost Invariably lifts the edge of her skirt just high enough to display her style of hosiery. They like silk stockings; let ’em have what they like always." “Chorus girls are especially gooii buyers of silk hosiery, and other women almost universally follow their lead. It Is a woman’s one fad, and the business has boomed in ten years to Immense proportions. Ten years ago there were only two factories turning' out silk hose. Today there are at least twenty-five. Men are not so particular about having the pure silk, and are content with an Imitation or a half silk. The advent of the

low shoes is always an indication of heavy buying coming. Other articles of wearing apparel are sacrificed when necessary in the rush for hosiery." ‘ "Are silk stocking Insanitary ?” was asked of L. Blake Baldwin, whose experience as city physician and In Chicago's society life ha- made him an expert on medicine and fashion. "All stockings are insanitary, as a rule," said Doctor Baldwin. "I wear the silk through force of habit, and cannot see how they are any more insanitary than cotton or lisle." According to the census report Issued at Washington the value of the silk used in the making of silk stockings \has leaped from $947,d00 to $3,597,000 since 1904. That Chicagoans have- grown more affluent and more fastidious is manifest by the statements of a number of heads of tho stocking departments of the big stores. The boom in the silk stocking business has been accompanied by a jolt for the woolen variety, and the drop has been 61 per cent., while the difference in the value of materials is 44 per cent