Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 182, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1918 — Page 3

New Styles Out of Old Fabrics

New York.—Paris is never handicapped in creating fashions by the actions of other designers. * That is why she is powerful. America has always suffered under this handicap because she has followed Paris, asserts a prominent fashion authority. She has never been Inclined to risk the 'exploitation of fabrics, fashions and -colorings that were not sponsored by the mother of fashions. It is said of ms that we acknowledge "the best in every nation and bring it to our shores. We know the best in -every department of art, science and literature. If we are compelled to put •our knowledge to practical use, we at least have the best to go on. We are not ignorant. ■. The time has come for this experiment, as“we all know, and the observer thinks that a few medals of honor should be distributed to those Who' Shave gone “over the top” in designing clothes in this country. It took great commercial courage and it required a sound knowledge of the American jpublic. What France Did America Does. Here are two anecdotes which accentuate the point. They happened a dozen years apart. Mme. Paquin saw several bolts of checked silk in a manufacturer’s hands. Neither the weave, the coloring nor the design was in fashion, to quote her own phrase. The manufacturer complained that he had mo call for this quantity of material and that he would sell it for about a franc and a half a yard. Mme. Pa■quin took it all, went to her salons •on the Rue de la Palx, turned the -Cheap check silk into an alluring frock of her own design, and then wore it •at Trouville-by-the-Sea. She made the frock/ the design, the color and the fabric fashionable. Everyone wanted ta wear what - she wore. She soldevery inch of the material at a price that brought her unmeasured profit on the transaction.

Last month an American designer ■was looking over the stock of a lace Importer. “Nothing new,” said the Importer- “Here I am held up with about fifty Spanish lace scarfs which I bought at a venture, thinking I could distribute them in the trade in America, but no one took them. The one answer was that they are not in fashion.” ~

The designer said that if the importer would give him one he would turn it into a gown that would sell all the other scarfs, on condition that he received a commission on their sale. The bargain was closed. The gown was designed. It sold immediately. It was copied so fast that the other 49 scarfs melted away like flakes of soap in hot water. Spanish lace wgs offered as a first fashion. That is a good example of the change that has come over the American merchant and the American de-

I One of the new black taffeta gowns that Is far from commonplace. The skirt la a series of small ruffles edged with white silk cord and cut in Reg-top fashion. The slim bodice Is mounted on a yoke of taffeta braided with white cord, and the short sleeves are cut In one with the yoke. There Is a pink rose with green leaves at'the waist, and there are green shoes and stockings.

signer. We no longer have to ask what is the fashion, but are probably enabled to make the fashion for our own continent. Management of Black Taffeta. It is easy to realise that taffeta has come Into a first summer fashion, although the popular mind does not regard it as one of the lovely weaves ■of the world, because it is plentiful. There Is no trouble about getting all the taffeta one. wants, and it'is best that we model our wardrobes-for the • near future on the materials that can be bought in this country in sufficient I quantity to correspond to our needs. Much can be done with this material that wHI result in a gown out of the ordinary and conspicuous for

charm and cleverness. If you could have seen a woman who came into a restaurant for dinner wearing a certain black taffeta gown, you would have been convinced in the twinkling of an eye thatlhe fabric matters nothing if the designer has cleverness. The skirt was made of narrow ruffles that extended from waist to ankles, each ruffle edged with a white silk cord. The hem was excessively The foundation for these ruffles fitted the figure like a sheath. There was a bodice, straight and simple, and the major part of it was a

Here’s a blue serge coat split up the back to make commonplace blue serge less insignificant. There is a long cuirass of colored embroidery on blue tricot, ind the coat is slashed to a deep V back and front to display the vivid undergarment.

yoke with Short sleeves which was braided with white cord in a fantastic design. At the side of the waist was a deep pink satin rose with green velvet leaves. The slippers and stock-. Ings were green. There was nothing demure about this black taffeta gown. Treat Blue Serge In Various Ways. ~ Blue serge is a fabric that will always be with us, as far as the manufacturers and the war board can look ahead. It is usually midnight blue, and, given _a few yards of it in this color, the designers do not want to sit down and turn it out’ into insignificant frocks and inconspicuous suits. A woman who came to a “defense" luncheon one day* wore a blue serge gown that was the product of a clever designer and it surely* turned our ideas about suits topsy-turvy. The coat was split up the back as well as th 6 front .It was worn over a long cuirass blouse, the kind that gains in Importance every day. The blouse was made of a richly embrold>ered tricot in blue, black and dashes of dull red. It did not cling tightly to the figure, but outlined it more than usual. Over It hung the loose blue serge coat opening tn a deep V in the middle of the front and the black. It was closed at the neckline and had a collar of the serge. There was a loose belt of the material, and the skirt was exceedingly narrow and short. By the way, ft is wise for any woman who orders a new suit today to see that the skirt has a sizeable hem, for the new order to tlje shoemakers, given by the government, which demands low shoes for the duration of the war, may change the skirt length. I doubt it The length may be changed, but it will not be because of the low shoes, for gaiters, which are of fabric, may be as high as desired, and / women prefer them to high boots. We may also adopt the French fashion of wearing serviceable Oxford ties with.straight heels and rounded toes. The bootmakers say they have more orders for these today than ever. With such shoes the average woman does not care whether her Skirt is eight or ten Inches from the ground, unless she is given to suffering from exposed ankles. (Copyright, 1918. by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) Foulard in large polka-dot design la very fashionable, .

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER. IND.

WELL, OUTSIDE OF THAT

' The way of the trenchgnsser is hard. Our Idea of no Sort of job Is that of husband to a iady cop. It will be rather difficult to organize a secret service among the lady police s men. ■ , The impression is growing that the kaiser’s military party is Hunsophlsticated. x' v Opportunity is no burglar. It doesn’t knock down your door and pull you out of bed. When they make men’s clothes without pockets a lot of women can get to bed early nights. There is a bumper strawberry crop this season. We know it, because they are 38 cents a quart When they raise the draft age and get the old married men, there will be some real fighting. Let It be hoped the war industries board doesn’t eliminate one, piece of the two-piece bathing suit. On account of the whr the street piano operators have raised the usual donatlbn from a nickel to six cents. Phonograph disks can be used as pie plates. This is the' most satisfactory use to which many of them can be put. Nothing is imperishable in the world except a love letter that a man shouldn’t have written in the first place.—Chicago Examiner.

SHOTS FROM THE MAGAZINE

To mediocrity genius is an offense. I Good ifsteners are. always reputed intelligent. . Kultur develops a race with heart of bronze and cheek of brass. The kaiser is an unscrupulous speculator whose merchandise, is men. - Half hearts that succumb to the first blow have no place in the ranks of democracy. The junkers are slowly waking to a realization that the resources of democracy are inexhaustible. In democracies the orbits of business and politics never join; perhaps that is why no merchant or banker has ever become president.

While the recent German offensive did not feaze the allies it succeeded in crushing the life of the pacifist sentiment in Great Britain.

PERTINENT FACTS

United States banana supply is restricted by ship shortage. Philadelphia must economize on ice. Didn’t put up enough last winter. More than 100 eggs have been found in the alligator. They are eaten in the West Indian is-_ laqjis. I«l I Moss plays an important part in some of retaining the moisture in the ground and in other places in preventing sudden floods.

FROM THE BACK COUNTRY

The only difference between drinkin’ at a bar an’ in « case is that you git tired-sooner standin’ up. If you are a tightwad, a half-pint o’ dry coffee grounds in th’ pocket will keep your money from rustin’. If it wuzn’t fer ah occasional homemade sign t’ laugh at, some roads would be mighty hard to travel. The hardest thing about gardenin’ is t’ keep from raisin’ too much lettuce. —Kin Hubbard of the Indianapolis News.

ANGER DOESN’T PAY

Anger is a weakness that many people mistake for strength. Anger creates a poison within the body which upsets the digestive apparatus. This explains why the grouch is a dyspeptic. Anger burns up bodily energy just as much as bard work. Anger is as bad for the nervous system as sand is for the gearing of a ms chine.—Kansas Board of Health Bulletin.

A HELPFUL HINT OR TWO

Those who despise common things lack common sense. If you nurse and coddle your troubles, you will intlte others. Many persons who refrtly have an alm in life are too lazy to shoot

LEARNING ART of DECEPTION

v Women 3 as Well as Men Are Now Trained as Camoufleursfof Service With the United States K Army J

ECENT orders of the government to the engineering department of the United States army to stop enlisting men as camoufleurs in a special camouflage di-vision-ends a chapter in military camouflage in America. ’ A little more than a year ago it was doubtful whether or not The army would have any great use for camoufleurs in the forces abroad. By the recent decree military camouflage is made an essential in every regiment, like engineering, I trench digging, map making, rpad building, and There are now, according to military camoufleurs in New York city, about 500 expert camoufleurs abroad with the Pershing forces. The new order makes it necessary for each regiment in every training camp on this side to have at leastTO camoufleurs to train other men in the new art of camouflage. Whence will these new camoufleurs come? Who is to make them proficient, when even the best-trained “old” \nilitary' and naval men admit ignorance? Until the airplane cams in the cavalry was the scouting arm of the army, says a writer in New York Times. Now a large part of the cavalry of the United States army has been dismounted and put to machine guns. The airman is the scout. This was the chief factor in raising camouflage to its present rank of importance. A mounted scout could scarcely be deceived by artificial camouflage. Now the scout passing at heights of about 1,500 feet cannot tell whether the camouflage, if clever, is artificial. His kodak, however, is not so easy to fool. It will record many things which escape the eye. Tor that reason lights and shades, depresslops and knolls in the terrain, and shadows have to be carefully studied by the military camoufleur., That makes it necessary for him to know shade and tone value* ds they register on the eye of the birdman and dn the camera lens. Under the instruction of Lieut. H. Ledyard Towle of the Seventy-first InZ fantry is the New York division of military camouflage, in which the men belong to the new National army and wear the uniform and insignia of the engineers, and on the sleeve the letters “M. C.” —Military Camoufleur. They Include landscape gardeners, artists, miniature painters, portrait pajnters, photographers, woodworkers, mural decorators, draftsmen, and engineers. It is probable that these men will be used to instruct the various regiments in military camouflage. Methods of Teaching. An observer need only follow these 'cajuoufleurs to the 60-acre tract which the city of Yonkers donated to Lieutenant Towle for camouflage work, or into their great classroom In New York city, to get an idea of the chief methods of teaching the value of depressions, color values, lights and shades, and locations. There are adjustable wires that tilt the miniature terrain boards to just the desired slant, so that the soldier can view them from the angle of a sharpshooter, as if from an airplane, from the rear or from in front. Gauzy curtains create an illusion of various lights at different hours. Thus light blue curtains make the twilight just before dawn. Light rose and blue and yellow make dawn, noonday, and dusk curtains the evening. From 1,500 feet telephone poles, camouflaged, disappear. Dugouts with a path croksing over the roof are like the side of the hilt Even the gray, blue and red caisson wagon moving along the road is a blur of color. Canvases in triangular shape tied to

INTERESTING ITEMS

Crops of corn are being burned In Argentina because of a lack of ships |n which to export the cereal. Losses from fire in the United States increased over >40X100,000 last year, due to war conditions and the speeding up of industries. The anthracite coal strike of 1902 began May 12 and ended October 21. The employees involved numbered about 147,500. The estimated total loss was >26,210.000. J c

the foot of the telephone poles, outward and on both the road. To an observer on foot or in the air at a thousand feet the hill looks deserted —an almost treeless plain with no distinguishing feature save a neglected old path. Yet that hillside harbors six dugouts, several observation and listening posts, men, cannon, machine guns, and a network of telephone wires. Beyond Yonkers there are trench sections with “No Man's Land” and Its barbed wire entanglements and dugouts. The trenches are dug so deep that the heads of the men do not show above the surface, and the sod re-, moved to dig them is replaced. The openings of the dugouts of the trenches are not, as Is sometimes supposed, far behind the trenches. They are In the trenches with the entrance on the enemy side. Bombs may fall in the mouth of the dugout, but seldom Inside. “The obvious is sometimes as good as the invisible,” Lieutenant Towle said recently. “For instance, the famous dummy fleet' the British used. Another camouflage to which the Germans were dupes was a red cannon, scantily camouflaged, placed by the British at the summit of a hill. The cannon was visible to every German scout flying over it, but It seemed sd obviously a fake that. not a single enemy bomb was dropped on It. Yet It held Its position for a long time, and at night poured Its stream of fire Into the enemy. “The same idea Is out by the American camoufleurs, who model . dummy men and guns for decoys. The enemy air scout sees a partly camouflaged cannon or machine gun with its men bending over It at work and the smoke pouring from its nozzle intermittently. He completely hidden from view, a real cannon whose men are firing a deadly volley from under cover, and whose ammunition comes to them through tunnels. “Such experiments are being made by the military camoufleurs at Yonkers. There are other tricks to be learned, for they also do their own painting of army equipment before using It. Although an ambulance or army truck may not be entirely invislMe on account of the various backgrounds it must pass, it can be mottled into a very poor target. In motion it will appear as a blur caused by heat rays, for It Is mottled In the colors whose values constitute colors which the sun’s rays ..would make.” Natural Camouflage Discarded. At first natural camouflage was used almost entirely. A clump of trees and brush hid a whole machine gun company, a group of rocks harbored a listening post, and a deserted mill might hold a regiment. But the enemy has learned that even the “trees and stones hear,” and a natural camouflaged refuge Is never safe wholly from air attack now. The most Innocent seeming object is nev heless an “object,” and therefore a target for the scout, whereas a perfectly smooth hillside, with no distinguishing marks, may be almost entirely undermined, and yet not arouse suspicion. Lieutenant Towle’s men learn cam- * ■

Building trades returns from 35 Canadian cities for a recent month indicate that employment decreased more than 42 per cent, as compared with the previous month, and over 46 per cent, as compared with the same month In 1917. > .- , The royal borough of Kensington, England, now maintains three communal kitchens, which serve excellent meals for'l2 cents. The menu is: Soup, 2 cents; fishcakes, 4 cents; halfportions of potatoes and cabbage, 2 ‘cents; corn flour mold, 4 cents. _

outrage from the defensive and often* slve points of view—how to advance under cover and how to defend themselves under cover. They have invented scouting and camoufleurs* sharpshooters’ suits which, when worn by the soldier, make him appear like a bit of the landscape, as a boulder, a log, a stump, or a part of the foliage of a tree.

Women Being .Trained. American women camoufleurs are being trained according to the same method as the men, under the Women’s League for National Service and under Lieutenant Towle. Discussing their work, he safd: “There isn't any reason why the women shouldn’t do as well as the men as camoufleurs —that is, In making the materials behind the lines. It Isn’t heavy work, but It demands ingenious jvorkers, skilled In details." Tryon Hall, the old C. K. G. Billings ' place on Washington Heights, bought by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., to bo given, ultimately, to the city for a park, Is the spot chosen for the practical experimental work by the worn-' en. Hither they go with Lieutenant Towle to try out thefr camouflage suits and be photographed, wearing them. In different positions, to see that they blend with different colors of the landscape and would be invisible to the enemy not only on the firing line but on the plates of the enemy photographer. M This is the most serious work that has been undertaken under the auspices of the National League for Woman’s Service. The members of the camouflage corps, of whom there are about 40, confidently expect to cross the water to assist In the camouflage work at which English and French -women are already busy. They will not be accepted by the government as regular workers and enlisted for the service until they have completed their training and shown that they have made good, but the fact that .Lieutenant Towle is on -leave in order to Instruct them Is sufficient proof that their work will be considered.

No Age Limit for Women. There is no age limit, up or down, for women joining the corps, but each member must have had some practical technical training before she joins. This keeps from the corps very young girls. The members are young women who are self-supporting. They are artists, architects',, metal workers, wood carvers, photographers, etc. It Is an exceptionally versatile and responsible group. They take a three months’ course under Lieutenant Towle. Each member of the class mak<% and develops her own camouflage suit, according to her own ideas, with the foundation of Instruction that she has received. Sults as tfiey have been constructed by the girls so far are in one piece, like a diver’s suit, with a hood covering the head. A human face shows white In the distance and tin corps is experimenting with veils ai face coverings. 2 Earth brown Is the usual foundation color, and upon this go yellows, greens, grays, and splashes of black.

Pottery the Oldest Art.

Pottety is the oldest, the longest amt most widely diffused of all human arts. Its history. If recorded, would be as old as the history of man; its recorded history begins with the building vs the tower of Babel. The oldest pottery known is Egyptian, but every people, civilized or barbarian, has practiced the art In one or another form.All study in every deportment of art begins at a.period not long after the Mosaic deluge, but pottery is ths earliest of all forms of art.